The moonlight carved a path through Naruto's room and across her face. She lay there in a dreamless sleep, and the heat of summer still lingers inside. The rest of the room was nearly pitch black, the blankets of darkness wrapped around every object with the exception of one. This one is standing near the young girl's bed with very little lighting to his figure.

"I wish I could come by more often, but there are problems in the village right now," the figure raises something to his lips and the familiar feel of tobacco filled him, "serious problems, ones that could start civil wars."

A cloud moved and allowed a small portion of light to illuminate an old man's face. He looked out the window and sighed to himself. The next moment, in the blink of an eye, he is gone from his spot. No evidence of his being in the residence is left behind.

The small child on the bed stirred in her sleep, rolling over onto her right side. Drool began to run out between her lips and mix with her sweat.

The moon light is later replaced by sun light as the sun rose into the morning sky. Naruto groaned as the light irritated her eyes, waking her up. She wiped the drool from her mouth then stretched her arm. When she gets out of bed the little jinchuriki starts her morning routine.

Naruto's breakfast consisted of eggs, bread, milk, and ramen. When she was done with that, she brushed her teeth after starting the bath. Naruto liked to take long, hot, and relaxing baths so she could brainstorm and/or think about what she is going to do after school. But today, her mind wandered back to the past year and what she was able to build.

On her night stand next to her bed laid a prosthetic arm, a real simple one made of light metal. At the elbow are a few gears and a locking mechanism so it could stay in one position. Of course she could lock and unlock it with chakra so she did not have to use her real arm for it. Tied around where her bicep would be is a canteen pouch, currently empty, and around where her forearm would be is a senbon needle holder.

The teachers at the academy started to teach their students how to pull out and use chakra, and then the technique to control chakra. Naruto was the first to pull hers out, but was last to control the leaf. After that she seriously studied chakra, reading up on any book she could acquire. Her chakra control improved as she worked on the leaf exercise everyday, while also learning to meditate.

Her physical ability had improved a lot, being able to do just as many push ups as the other, along with other upper body exercises involving the arms. Having a lock system on her prosthetic helped a little too. With the blonde's improvements she has been able to move her grades into a little above average range.

Her secret remains a secret still, or if anyone knows they haven't told. Those people who knew did not want to risk jail or some worse punishment so she knew they would keep it a secret. Plus they might not even know she was alive, because she did not see them anywhere, so they must live on the other side of the village.

She only knows a few people who might find out her secret, sooner or later. One of them has very little time to see her and recently, even less. Another she avoids at every chance possible. And she knows he has not stopped trying to talk to her. It almost pains her to not make a friend, but her dream of becoming the Hokage is on the line.

Shaking her head, Naruto realized how long she's been in the tub. Quickly the young girl got dressed and ran out the door, not even bothering to dry off first. Her class was having a test today, on the more recent ninjutsu that had been taught. No one had performed them, correctly she might add, but the hand seals are the subject it will be over.

It also just happened to be the last day before summer vacation, a month long event. Naruto had plenty of ideas for improvements on her prosthetic and more time to reverse engineer a camera. It had taken her forever to figure out what goes where and what does what, but eventually she just knew. After watching it work a hundred times she knew all the materials needed for it, having learnt their proper names by watching and listening to the forge owner teach his son all about it.

As she ran into the classroom, yelling was directed at her, "You're late, sit down quickly before I change my mind!" Naruto did just that so as to not face a punishment.

"Yes ma'am," Naruto hastily pulled out her books. They are flopped onto her desk, making a semi-loud noise. "Not like you care," she mumbled.

Since the test was all they were doing that day, the teachers let all of the students have a free day after lunch. Naruto was quick to pull her books away and sneak into the school's library where she lost herself in books.

Books, she found, are a great source of knowledge and so much more. She loved the feeling of a book between her hands or a scroll rolled out over her lap. Little Naruto didn't have very much access to ninja books, they are all in restricted areas of the library, if not available to students.

Naruto did not like the idea of 'books' before entering the academy, she didn't like to read. When it became a necessity though, like when she wanted to know more about cameras, she quickly found that it was easy to do and provided plenty of information she would not have found otherwise. Since her venture into reading, her scores in non-physical classes improved greatly.

Naruto was so lost in thought, she did not notice someone approach from behind. "So this is where you sneak off to everyday," she jumped and turned to see Shino behind her, "That book must be good, if it kept you here long enough for me spot you. Why do I bring this up? I've checked this area before." He pushed his shaded glasses up his nose.

"W-what, why are you trying to talk to me?" Naruto asked nervously. Young Uzumaki was ready to bolt first chance she had.

"Why? I'll be straight to the point. I find you interesting, an enigma, a flame that attempts to draw in moths but is suffocated. I want to be your friend and ask you why you steal," Shino held his hand out to seal their friendship.

Naruto was suspicious, just a tad, then she was surprised. She frowned, "How do you know I steal?!"

She sighed and lowered his hand, inwardly he supposed asking why she steals was a bad idea. He replied with thought out but hasty words, "I placed a kikaichu on you, it relayed information back to me, where I learned that you stole a camera and something else. I have also seen you steal other things this year."

"That's it? I mean, uh, yeah I steal, only because everyone refuses to sell to me, especially when I have the money to pay for it," Naruto was kind of surprised he didn't bring anything else up as she gave her reasons.

"I see, and why is it that they refuse to sell their goods to you?" Shino inquired, "They are only losing out on money."

Naruto paused, and thought for a second. She hesitantly answered, "I...I don't know why, but their really mean about it too!"

Shino nodded, " I see, maybe if I ask my dad he'll know. But back to my earlier question, would you be my friend? I don't care that everyone else hates you, I like you and that should be enough."

Naruto slowly reach out her hand, hesitantly, like Shino would bite her as soon as she wrapped her hand around his. Shaking their hands, a deal was made. One Naruto had never been apart of before. Shino briefly noted she used her left hand to shake his right, odd.

Smiling, the blonde spoke, "I guess it won't hurt to not avoid you anymore. And Shino?"

"Yes?"

"Sorry for avoiding you so much."

"It's fine, just don't do it again."

For the entire summer vacation, Naruto met Shino in the park, so the two could read or train together. Sometimes, they would play a game, with rules made on the spot. Or at other places they would eat and discuss their favorite food. During that entire time, Shino found that Naruto was left handed and Naruto was getting ready to tell him of her handicap.

Of course that didn't mean Shino wasn't already suspicious of his friend. She would sometimes wobble for no reason at all, or it would take a moment for her to reach for something. It was like she forgot to use her left hand sometimes.

Naruto had the most fun in her life during the summer vacation with Shino. And the Uzumaki hoped this academy year they had fun too, both eight year olds hoped that, actually. Naruto warned him that the teacher might treat him differently for hanging out with her, thus maybe ruining their fun, or even their friendship. Shino confidently told her that he would endure it, if not for her then himself. Shino was someone who based his actions on his logic, at least he tried to, he was still a kid after all.

The morning sun rose above the horizon, painting the sky a pretty yellow and blue with fog from the river mixed in. Naruto and Shino decided to meet up at Ichiraku's Ramen stand and walk to school from there. The streets that are usually bustling with energy in the afternoon are sparse with people in the morning. Both of them had lunches, specially made by Shino's mother the previous day.

"I can't wait to get into the library again and read. I haven't been able to do that all summer!" Naruto said, "What do you think? We've been in the academy for three whole years, what's your favorite thing about it?"

Shino shrugged, "I guess I like all of it, plus I made a friend where everyone else makes fun of me. I can't understand their fear of bugs."

"Awe, thank you. You're my best friend you know that?"

"Yes, you've said it three times between today and yesterday. My reply is the same. You're my best friend too."

When the two realized they are early, they find their classroom and find some nice seats by the window. The classroom was chilly, giving the two children goose bumps. There was only silence, a comfortable silence in the room, before other kids started showing up.

It was still relatively silent, until Sasuke showed up. No, he wasn't being all loud, but the girls behind him were being noisy. They fought over who got to sit by him; The group of girls are thinking they are in love with him, while not even beginning to understand the topic. At most it was just a little girl's crush.

Sasuke saw a chance to get away from his followers in the form of Shino and Naruto. He sat down next to Naruto, leaving no open seats for the group of eight year old girls.

One of them, Ino, angrily demanded, "Naruto, move so I can sit next to Sasuke!"

Naruto glared as the rest of the girls seemed to agree with Ino. What happened next put a smile on her face and creeped out expressions on everyone else.

Shino raised his hand, his voice was stoic as he said, "I suggest you don't talk to my friend that way, or these might just be crawling all over you." Coming out of Shino's sleeves are kikaichu, at least a hundred of them. All the girls in class squealed and moved as far from the 'bug boy' as possible.

"Thanks for that Shino," Naruto beamed.

"No problem, if anyone picks on you beat them up or call me to scare them away," Shino subtly gave a thumbs when he said this.

Moments later all squealing and conversations stopped when the teacher slid the door open. He was a younger teacher with his hair in a pineapple ponytail and a scar ran across his nose bridge. His skin is tan and his eyes black, he wears a gray uniform jacket with gray uniform shinobi pants.

"Hello class, my name is Iruka Umino," as he said this he gave a slight bow, "and I'll be your teacher for the rest of your time at the academy."

Thanks for reading it this far! Extra thanks if you followed, favorited, or reviewed.

Anyways, what did you think? Any grammar issues? Any contradictions? Something you hated happening? Too cliche? Don't care, it was good anyway? Well whatever you decide I will read it.

There's a poll on my page if you want to add input to a future ability of Naruto's. Keep in mind she will get the toad contract anyway you vote.