Nine years ago, with the help of his tenant the nine tails he moved out to the wilderness. He would occasionally return to his apartment and keep up the rouse of his still living there, he lived off the land. He didn't care for the ongoings of the leaf or neighbors, instead doing nothing but training, learning and eating.
He had situated his small house at the base of pine needle mountain, despite its high altitude the mountain always remained warm year round. Covered in thick vegetation that allowed him to hide in the cover of darkness should a squad of Shinobi pass through the area. Of course he would suppress his chakra to its maximum just in case but hiding in plain sight seemed to do the trick.
Today was what Iruka called, team selection. After the laughable genin test students would be placed in a three man cell consisting of one Jonin and three genin. Naruto finished downing the five pounds of Elk meat before burping and quickly downing his water. His appetite seemed to have sky rocketed once he began training, now he could down two days worth of food in an hour or so. He grabbed his head band and wrapped it around his forehead, tightening it for a moment before pulling it back and making sure it was falling too far down.
Tapping on the cool steel for a moment before taking to the trees. At the speeds he was moving at, he would arrive at the academy in under five minutes.
Once he arrived he quickly took a seat and promptly fell asleep, his quiet snores making those next to him growl in annoyance. "Team seven will consist…Naruto Uzumaki, Sakura Haruno and Sasuke Uchiha." The scarred man said as he crossed the names off his clip board, "Ha!, in your face Ino pig." Sakura shouted as she made an almost child like taunting gesture. "Don't get ahead of yourself bill board brow, you don't have the charisma to pull Sasuke." Ino said as she huffed.
"We'll see about that!."
Naruto shifted slightly, moving his head to one side but staying asleep all the while. Sasuke looked back and shook his head, his faith in his teammates plummeting even further.
For the next two hours Sasuke had to deal with watching his classmates be picked up and Sakura asking him on a date in six different ways, "So Sasuke…I was wondering…I'm free on—"
"No." Sasuke said bluntly, *where the hell is this damn teacher?!* he thought as he practically ripped his own hair out. After a few more minutes of trying Sakura finally gave up and put her head down dejected.
Naruto shifted again, his eyes shooting open, a new chakra signature. A stronger chakra signature. His eyes wandered over to the door, whoever was waiting outside of that door was their Sensei. *next he's going to open the door and say we're boring.*
True to his prediction the door slid open and a tall man with gray hair walked into the room. He stared at the students, scratching his covered cheek before speaking. "Hmm…my first impression is that you're all boring." He said.
Naruto snickered at the accuracy of his of observation, even after training it. He couldn't help but marvel at its ability. Kakashi looked up at Naruto and squinted, "Meet me on the roof." He said simply.
Naruto yawned as he listened to Kakashi's introduction, it's what Naruto would describe as a nothing burger. *is he expecting us to dig into his life?, what kind of introduction is this?…what is he too cool to share a few things about himself?.* Naruto thought.
Sakura went next, "My name is Sakura Haruno. I like…, my hobbies are…and I dislike Ino pig!." She shouted, her infatuation with Sasuke thrown to the way side as her hatred for Ino was suddenly remembered. "Alright fish cake you're up."
Naruto laughed at the nickname before clearing his throat. "I am Naruto Uzumaki. I like training…eating and studying, I like to study certain things not everything. I dislike…well I don't particularly dislike anything unless you would count people as a thing?"
"Sure why not." Kakashi said.
"Ah well in that case I'm not very fond of the villagers…we've never seen uh eye to eye." He continued, laughing at the last bit. "My hobbies are training and studying…occasional cooking as well." He finished, his relaxed demeanor only seeming to increase.
*weird kid…* Kakashi thought simply, his eye hovering over Naruto for several seconds before he moved onto Sasuke, "Alright Mr.Dark and moody you're up to bat."
This seemed to cause a reaction from both Sasuke and Sakura, "Don't call him that!."
Sasuke said nothing for a moment. "My name is Sasuke Uchiha…I like what I like and dislike what I dislike…my dream, no my inevitable reality is that I will kill a certain man."
Naruto snickered but said nothing. Kakashi looked back at Naruto before he spoke. "Alright…tomorrow, at 5:00am I will conduct the real genin test."
"but what about the test we just took?." Sakura asked, "That test was done to separate the wheat from the chaff…this test is the only test that matters. Oh and don't eat anything, otherwise you'll throw up all over yourself."
With that said Kakashi dismissed his team. Watching Naruto as he walked away.
He immediately went to see Hiruzen.
Today Naruto would be spending the night at his apartment purely for convenience. Plus it would be much quicker and easier to cook dinner here.
He was aware of the hokage who was currently standing outside of his door, he wasn't very concerned with him. Naruto emptied the massive bowl of ground elk meat onto the the red hot frying pan, moving it slightly with a wooden spoon before dancing his way to the spice cabinet.
He danced a bit more, looking over to the living room as the door opened. Paying no mind he grabbed the small radio that sat in the uppermost cabinet and turned on some music, continuing to dance as the music grew louder.
Hiruzen slow walked to the pathway that led into the kitchen, peeking behind the tan wall and looking at Naruto. Dancing and cooking, unconcerned with the time the meat spent on the stove, Naruto looked back. "Joining me for dinner?…if you are you're a little early." He said as he grabbed a lemon, "You're going to love this…have you ever tried elk, it's just like beef…happens to be a little bit sweeter tho."
"Uh, no…I just came here to talk." Hiruzen said, Naruto's hand waved around in the air for a moment before he turned down the music. "You smell that?…you're missing out. I mean seriously how can you say no to that?"
"Thank you, really. But I just ate."
Naruto chuckled as eyed the ground meat, shaking the pan for a moment before grabbing a clean bowl. "I heard your meeting with Kakashi went well." Hiruzen said, "That it did. Very predictable guy that one…gives out bad advice."
"Bad advice?."
Naruto grabbed a bottle of water from his fridge, "Told us not to eat before we took the test tomorrow. Bad advice, never do anything taxing on an empty stomach, physical or mental."
"Hmm…he told me something interesting." Hiruzen began as he took off his hat, "Said you weren't particularly fond of the villager's."
Naruto ignored this statement, instead continuing to prepare his meal. He paused for a moment, "you know in the past I tried my hardest to be very friendly with the villagers, sometimes I'd play coy, sometimes I'd be outgoing and other times I'd just flat out lie."
He set the plate down on the table, "It was fun…I was…hmm I guess i was trying to fill the void that had suddenly become noticeable."
Hiruzen frowned, "Naruto are you feeling alright?."
"Thank you for asking lord third, I'm feeling great. You never have a set moment that you can define as your happiest, well most people don't anyway, but…for me, I have one. Nothing will ever beat the feeling of satisfaction and triumph." Naruto said as he sat down across from the kage and began eating, Hiruzen said nothing, instead letting the boy continue to see if what Kakashi had told him carried any weight.
"When you get it…it's like heaven. Sweet and euphoric." The boy continued, "you know recently I've been thinking about something, it's been…I want to say three years since it happened."
"There was this woman, a librarian."
Hiruzen felt his stomach churn as Naruto continued to talk, "I was very polite to her and husband and they were cruel in return…made a big deal to show that they weren't scared of the demon."
He took a sip of water and put his spoon down, "I think…I think he was a restaurant owner…you know the old BBQ place near the academy. He brought it up a few times when I talked with them. His wife, I don't know what she did…smelled of paper so I assumed she was involved with books."
He looked up at Hiruzen with a smile, "That asshole was so proud of his money, his house, his wife and children…but when it burned…it all smelled like shit."
Hiruzens stomach dropped, he knew of the incident Naruto was referring to, he knew who died but never in his wildest dreams did he think Naruto would do it. "Naruto—"
"I went back inside…of course the wood was still hot, melted my sandals but I got my souvenir." He said as removed the small locket from around his neck, hidden by the king collar of his jacket and tucked under his shirt it was no surprise Hiruzen hadn't noticed it before. "I've kept it all these years." He said as he opened the locket to reveal a family portrait. The image was blackened around the edges, "It really does bring back memories."
Nothing more was said between the two, through Naruto's short story Hiruzen had Kakashi's claim confirmed and now he just wanted to leave.
Naruto waved him goodbye and went back inside.
"Boy I'm beat." He said with a yawn.