-Timeskip: First Day of School-

5 AM: Although he didn't need to be up this early, Naruto had gotten used to waking up before most so he could have at least a little bit of peace before training and the village woke up. Today was different though because it was the day he started the six-year journey to being a shinobi. Slowly getting out of bed, he grabbed a change of clothes and went to take a shower. After showering, he grabbed a quick breakfast and left the orphanage, heading straight towards the Hokage monument knowing he had some time to himself before class started.

Once on the monument, he hopped over the railing and sat on one of the stone spikes of hair on the fourth's head. Looking out over the village, he couldn't help but smile a bit at how peaceful and calm the village looked in these early hours before the civilians got up to start their day. From up here he could see the whole village, the occasional ninja hopping from roof to roof, and far beyond the walls and into the expanse of forest that covers fire country.

After an hour of sitting up on the monument and just watching the village, Naruto heard someone softly land behind him. Turning his head quickly to see who it was, a small smile spread across his face. "Good morning sensei".

"Good morning Naruto, are you ready for your first day at the academy brat?" Shisui said with a grin.

Naruto just rolled his eyes before replying "Ya im ready to start, though I wish it didn't mean that I'd be getting less actual training. It's gonna be so boring going through all the history and geography again after you made me read it."

Shisui just chuckles and grins before getting serious "I just wanted to tell you not to aim for the top of the class even though you could probably get rookie of the year if wanted it easily. Remember deception is a ninja's greatest tool and I want you to use it to its fullest. I'd say aim for the lower rankings if they are still putting together genin teams like they used to. It guarantees you at least a decent team. Im not saying you have to be dead last but remember these titles don't mean anything when you are in the real world."

Naruto smirks "I know those titles don't mean anything outside of our ninja and I didn't want the rookie title anyway. Sounds like a lot of work and you give me enough of that as it is."

"HEY, I DON'T GIVE YOU THAT MUCH WORK" Shisui half shouts in reply, his grin from moments before returning full force. Naruto can't help but laugh at his sensei's antics. After a moment of laughter Shisui continued "Look, I know you've enjoyed your training with me but you also know you'll be getting less now that the academy is starting. I can't train you every day anymore as I am still a skilled ninja of the leaf who needs to take missions to survive. I'll check up on you whenever I can but I want you to train on everything I've taught you so far after class every day, use the weekends to try and sneak into the library and find something new to read. I normally wouldn't ask someone to do such a thing but I know they probably wouldn't just let you enter. be good in class brat, I expect great things from you in the future." With that said, he vanished in a swirl of leaves, leaving Naruto to his peace once again.

7:10 AM: Naruto was walking up to the academy's gates and saw a crowd of kids and parents gathered in front of the building. Not wanting to be glared at by everyone he quietly and quickly made his way over to a tree, a bit off to the side, and sat down to wait to figure out what class he was a part of. He knew it was likely impossible to avoid being noticed but the longer he could put it off the better.

It was after another twenty minutes that the Hokage stepped up in front of the crowd and began his speech to the newest generation. "I would like to welcome everyone to the start of a new year at the Ninja Academy. This year, like every other, is the start of another generation venturing into the beginning of their ninja careers. During these next six years, I want every one of you to do your best and learn as much as you can. The more you learn, the better ninja you will become and the more likely you will be to succeed. I want every one of you new students to try and find within yourself the will of fire during your time here and respect your teachers." At this point, Naruto tuned the old man out knowing that once the old man got going, he could talk for hours about nothing. However, he couldn't stop himself from chuckling along with most of the crowd when Hiruzen said something along the lines of "That's enough of listening to an old man ramble" before they started to call students' names to split them into their respective classes.

As the Hokage's speech ended, Naruto decided it was probably a good idea to stand up and listen now. He briefly met the Hokage's eyes as the man walked away and gave him a small smile. After returning the smile, Hiruzen shunshins to his office to start on his daily task of paperwork and keeping the council in line. Naruto listened intently to the names being called until he heard his and went to stand in the row with the rest of the kids in his class. Unfortunately, upon the rest of the crowd hearing his name being called hushed whispers of the 'demon brat' being allowed to join the academy quickly spread. While outwardly he didn't react cause he was used to it by now from the villagers, inwardly he was annoyed, mad, and sad all at the same time. All for very valid reasons at that.

In a way to distract himself, Naruto glances up and down the row of kids he joined. Surprisingly to him, he saw this group had most of, if not all of the clan heirs in it. "Well, this class setup can't be too bad if im with all of them, they may be better than the villagers." Naruto thought while briefly making eye contact with who he assumed to be a Nara based on looks and the muttered troublesome he caught. Similar thoughts about an Akimichi, an Aburame, and an Inuzuka swirled in his mind for a few more minutes before their new teacher, Iruka Umino, into the building and to the classroom they would be in for the next six long years.

Once in the classroom, Naruto went straight for the seat in the far back of the room next to the window. It wasn't long before the two seats next to him were taken by the Nara and Akimichi. with the Nara in the middle. Naruto gives them both a glance before deciding to introduce himself to his seatmates.

"Good morning, my name is Naruto Uzumaki" He said, a slight bit of nervousness in his tone.

"Shikamaru" said the boy in a black shirt and forest green shorts, with his hair pulled back in a spikey ponytail as he put his head down on the desk and close's his eyes.

"Choji Akimichi" Said the plump boy in a two-tone green shirt and forest green shorts and spirals on his cheeks while munching on chips. "Nice to meet you"

"Nice to meet you both as well" Naruto replied with a small smile and turned to look toward the front of the classroom to Iruka who was beginning to speak.

"Hello class, my name is Iruka Umino and for the next six years" or until you drop out He thinks knowing some just aren't cut out for ninja life before continuing "I'll be your sensei. During these years, I'll teach you everything you need to know to be a successful ninja at the start of your career. We will cover everything from history and math to weapons and basic jutsu to theory. Now im going to so roll call so say here when your name is called." At this point Naruto tuned out Iruka and only payed attention to hear his name. However, one name did catch his attention, Sasuke Uchiha.

After roll call Iruka handed a piece of paper to each student that contained the syllabus for these six years. Giving it a quick read, Naruto raised an eyebrow at how overly reliant the curriculum was on history and other nonphysical aspects. Knowledge is important and all, but to him it seems like this is a setup for civilians to pass easily and not to train competent ninjas. With a roll of his eyes, Naruto folds the paper up and stuffs it in his pocket while thinking I should probably bring this up to Jiji so he knows what quality of ninja is likely gonna come out of his class.

"Alright everyone, that paper contains the outline of everything you will learn over the next six years. As you can see these first two years will be mostly history and some theory to get you started. After that, we will start some physical training and go through the katas for the academy-style taijutsu in the third year. The fourth year will add weekly spars and weapon practice. The last two years will add the three academy jutsu that are needed to graduate. Now before you say anything, no each year will not change what you are learning but add more to our schedule. It sounds like a lot of work but it's more than accomplishable with the time we have. Now as today was just to get you all together and see who's in your class, we have nothing else planned and you are dismissed." As Iruka finished his speech, all the kids rushed passed him and out the door besides a few. Sasuke, Shikamaru, Choji, and Naruto all followed the class out at a normal pace.

Once outside, Naruto sees all the parents there to pick up their kids. Not wanting to deal with the glares and comments, he just gives a small goodbye to his two new friends and runs off while avoiding everyone's eyes. Once out of sight of the academy he slows his run to a walk, shoves his hands in his pockets, and starts making his way toward the Hokage tower with his eyes down. Upon reaching the tower, he quickly goes up the stairs and down the hall on the top floor, completely ignoring the secretary, and knocks and the door at the far end.

"Enter" comes the muffled voice of the aged leader. Naruto opens the door and walks in, his mood instantly changes from subdued to happy as a small smile graces his face.

"Hi Jiji" He says while looking at the Hokage behind a desk covered in what looked like to him endless amounts of papers.

Hiruzen looks up from his current document and smiles seeing who it is "Ah Naruto my boy, How are you? What brings you to me today?"

"Actually I need to ask you something important" He waits for a nod to continue "I don't think the academy is properly teaching ninjas everything they need to survive based on the curriculum."

Hiruzen quirks an eyebrow at Naruto "And what makes you think that?"

"Do you have a copy of the current curriculum?" Hiruzen shakes his head no and Naruto reaches into his pocket and hands Hiruzen the folded-up curriculum. "It focuses more than two-thirds of our time at the academy on history only. Physical training doesn't start till year two and they don't teach basic skills like taijutsu and weapon skills till the last half of our time."

"I see..." Hiruzen says while looking over the curriculum with a slight frown "It is indeed lacking quite a bit even for peace times in my opinion. However there isn't much im gonna be able to correct for your class unfortunately, it may take your full six years to even figure out why the standards have fallen so far."

Naruto snorts "I can take a guess considering it's my year from what little I know of politics from sitting in here during occasional meetings." Hiruzen just stares at him while waiting for the boy to continue making him shift in his spot from the attention. "Who are the only other people with even a slight bit of power, or as I've heard you mumble "more damn power than they should ever have gotten"."

Hiruzen just blinks a few times and sighs, then curses silently "The council, of course it's probably them though I know for sure it wasn't the Shinobi side as your class is full of the council member's kids which leaves the civillians and the elders. I also doubt it was the elders as they preach too much about making Konoha number one when they think im not paying attention." He growls lowly "But the civilians should have the power but they are the only option." that last sentence spoke lowly before sighing.

Naruto just nodded and sighed as well "Ya that was my main target considering the hatred the civillians hold for me. Im assuming it was done to try and stunt my growth but at the same time it hurts the whole class and the village."

"You are far more observant than I gave you credit for Naruto, and sometimes I wish you weren't. Also, what have I told you about listening in on my meetings?" Hiruzen questions with a playful glare, making Naruto rub the back of his head sheepishly in embarrassment.

"Sorry Jiji but it's hard not to hear some things when you sit not even ten feet away." Naruto apologizes while still looking embarrassed.

Hiruzen just chuckles and shakes his head "It's okay my boy just don't make it a habit to eavesdrop on people, it's not a nice thing to do."

"Hai hai Jiji, I won't do it often but sometimes I can't help it" Naruto says with a small smile but still embarrassed.

"Now was there anything else you wanted from me?" Hiruzen asks.

"Actually ya, why do you do all the paperwork yourself when clones exist? I mean shadow clones even return memories if I remember what Shisui sensei said correctly" Naruto asks while tilting his head to the said. A purple-haired, cat-masked anbu guard that's hidden in the office has to resist screaming Kawaii and tackling the young boy in response to this action.

The Hokage's face goes blank of all emotions and he just sits there staring at Naruto for a solid ten minutes causing the boy to start to worry for his adoptive grandfather figure. Right before he can speak up though, Hiruzen slams his head into the desk causing everyone, including the hidden anbu, to flinch at the loud bang. Naruto walks around the desk and hugs the man nicknamed 'The Professor' for not thinking up this solution himself. Hiruzen returns the hug and wipes a small bit of blood off his forehead.

"Well, im extremely disappointed in myself for not thinking of that sooner. Im known as The professor for having learned every jutsu in the village and continuing to learn more. I however never once considered using the best infiltration jutsu for paperwork." He sighs "Thank you my boy for this information, I owe you a lot for this information and for saving my old self from doing paperwork all night. This may even allow me to start digging into the council affairs to start correcting my past mistakes." He quickly makes a cross seal and three clones appear and with a nod split up the work before starting.

"Not to mention, with more help you can properly read through everything so you don't accidently pass anything considering the council somehow got the ninja academy under their control when that should be ninja business." Naruto said.

"Indeed, that is very true my boy" Hiruzen says with a slight frown at a child knowing how to do this job better than him "Now if you're gonna stay please go work on something or read over on the couch I have a lot to work on. Otherwise shoo, I don't need any more distractions." Hiruzen chuckles out. Naruto just smiles and shakes his head before sitting on the couch and starting his sealing work hoping he can start making his own seals soon.

-2 Days Later: Council Chambers-

The Hokage was sitting at the head of the chamber with his advisors and civilian council to his right and shinobi council to his left. Currently, he was just listening to the council, mostly the civilians, bicker with each other. In his opinion, other than one topic besides what he will be bringing up soon was worth even discussing with them. Ever since being clued into using clones for work by Naruto, even if it was only two days ago, he's come to realize how much he has potentially missed by being overworked. In just these two days, there were nearly thirty attempts to take more power from him and he was sure as hell not going to allow these mistakes to continue while he was stuck in office.

"Quiet" Spoke loudly but not a yell, instantly gets the council to settle. Smiling inwardly to himself that he still had that power at least. "I have one last thing I'd like to discuss and then this meeting will be over. It was brought to my attention that our ninja academy standards have decreased drastically. Would anyone like to explain why and how this was possible as I certainly did not approve of this myself" Hiruzen looks around the chambers, making sure to make eye contact with every single member present. Everyone except Shikaku Nara who had his head on the table and his eyes closed.

"Hokage-sama, we thought that in these peaceful times, the curriculum was too harsh. We aren't at war any longer and don't need to be pushing these kids that hard" Spoke Muchiro, the head of one of the larger merchant guilds in Konoha. Getting a few nods of agreement from the civilians, he opens his mouth to continue but is silenced by a raised hand from the Hokage.

"While I agree that we don't need to follow the wartime standards anymore, it has been brought to my attention that currently we are barely training ninjas, let alone competent ones that will be of benefit to the village. Care to explain why it was decided to reduce the academy to barely harder than the normal schools. Before anyone answers, I want you to remember ninjas are trained to kill, steal, and lie so you can peacefully continue to work."

"Sir, even so, this is for the best" Muchiro speaks up again.

"Please explain how making it so you can graduate with only book smarts is the best for our military" Hiruzen snaps back in a cold tone. Danzo could only inwardly smirk at the spine Hiruzen seemed to have grown suddenly. "Especially when we have never gone for the quantity of ninjas, we have always aimed for quality ninjas who will survive the harshness of this world so please explain."

Now sweating a bit Muchiro stutters out another response "Th-thats what j-jonin sensei are for r-right?"

"That explains why you did it, and since it's already too late to change the system for the current batch of hopeful genin there's nothing we can do to save this group. You however avoided how you did it without my approval."

"A-a-after the Kyuubi attack, th-the council had to pick up slack be-before you took over again. Education is one of the things we took over." Muchiro stutters out while gaining his confidence as he spoke "We deemed it more reasonable for us to control after that."

"So again you CIVILIANS thought it prudent to take control and get involved in NINJA matters, something you have no right to do. In fact, this council has no power at all outside of war times. All you truly are is advisors on various matters." Hiruzen snaps in an icy tone while inwardly laughing his ass off and making a note to thank Naruto for giving him the push he needed to set some things straight. "Truthfully, you don't even have a say in civilian matters according to the actual law of this village, you are nothing more than people to get opinions from. Do you understand me?"

"H-h-hai" Muchiro chokes out with fear just wafting off of him.

"Good, now three things are going to happen after this meeting. One: the civilian council will be stripped of all of its power, including the power that has been granted to you legally by a Hokage, former or present, until some things have been taken care of and even then you likely won't get most of it back, if any, depending on the results. Second: The elder advisors are being stripped of all power permanently as they shouldn't have had any say in any matter to begin with. No Hokage has ever granted you power and therefore you will only be doing as your title says, advising. And third: The entire civilian council will be taking a trip to T&I to have a talk with Ibiki. Outside of the academy regulation, I have found a few other major issues that won't be mentioned until the culprit/s are dealt with." He states in the same icy tone while releasing a bit of KI to get his point across. "Now ANBU remove them." In a flash of movement, a masked ANBU operative is behind every civilian member before shunshining them away to T&I.

After all is said and done, Shikaku finally shows some interest in the meeting "As troublesome as this is Hokage-sama, who was it that brought the curriculum to your attention? Im sure many of us would like to know so we can thank them as the latest class has every major clan's heir in it besides the Inuzuka with Hana still holding that title." That brought many nods of agreement from the ninja council and surprisingly the elders.

With a smirk, Hiruzen happily answers "In fact, the one to bring this issue to me was someone in that exact class. One of the students believe it or not." his smirk slowly becomes a fox-like grin that reminds many of them of both Kushina and Naruto when they had an idea for something, which puts many of them on edge not knowing what to expect next "It was one Naruto Uzumaki"

Silence. Complete silence was the initial response before Shikaku regained his bearings and spoke up. "Troublesome, I knew that kid was more than he looked when I saw him on the first day." He sighs and puts his head back down getting a few chuckles from Inoicho Yamanaka and Choza Akimichi.

Hiruzen stands and gives a real smile "Now that some issues are being dealt with, this meeting is dismissed" Everyone nods and slowly funnels out of the chambers and begins the trek home with some things to consider. This leaves Hiruzen and Danzo alone. "So Danzo, what is it you would like to speak of? If it's to try and get him as your pawn again it's not going to happen as long as we both live." His tone becomes icey again at the end but the smile never leaves.

"Although I disagree with allowing him to be trained as any other, no I know where his place in this village is after seeing what him bringing one issue to you has caused. I am curious though, why are the civilians being interrogated? Seems a little harsh for ruining a few years of ninja hopefuls. I also have a suggestion to figure out how long it's been going on so we can fix the education issues in already active teams if possible." Danzo says in an even tone but for the first time in many years, he has a small smile of his own on his face at seeing the 'God of Shinobi' and 'Professor' return even if it doesn't last.

Hiruzen gives a small chuckle before signaling ANBU to reseal the room. Once it's sealed tight again he responds. "You are correct, the education isn't why they are in this much trouble. While I won't give you everything you want as I know you are holding back information as well, I will however humor you a bit. Naruto made a suggestion that helps out in my day-to-day business and it allowed me to catch some attempts to pass laws that only benefit the civilians alongside some much much larger issues. May I know why your stamp seems to have been used for some of these attempts?"

Danzo genuinely frowns at that not knowing what is happening anymore "Im afraid im not sure what you mean. I haven't used either the Shimura clan stamp or my advisor stamp since I was running black ops and even then I had a copy of your stamp for anything of true importance. Which stamp was used?"

"Your advisor stamp, luckily it seems nothing of major concern was passed through with it or you would very well be with them speaking to Ibiki. I have already nullified everything with an Advisor stamp that didn't provide more benefit to the village than an individual or group. No, the big issue with this is that I was so swamped with paperwork after the Kyuubi attack that I physically couldn't read everything or I'd have never left the office to even hold one of these meetings. Many things likely slipped through the cracks and it's about time to correct my mistakes from then. In fact, I would greatly appreciate it if you could flip through the list of laws and decrees passed since the attack and point out the major ones that need to go immediately while I continue to look into a few things that could cause even larger issues for Konoha in the future if not handled delicately."

"Of course old friend, I'll get on that when I get back home" Hiruzen nods and snaps his fingers causing an ANBU to appear. He whispers a few things to him before the anbu is gone as Danzo continues. "Now as for helping with the education issue, I suggest running a small skills test for any team that has remained genin over the last five years. As few as there are, any who haven't made an advancement either do not have the mentality to advance yet, which can only be gained through experience unfortunately, or have failed to put in the work to increase their skills sufficiently that is if they weren't already behind the curve that is and having to play catch up."

Hiruzen hums before nodding again. "Well, we only have six genin teams remaining from these last five years. I will set up something with our current ANBU commander and have him plan it. He would know best where teams should be to handle missions outside the walls. The few boxes of decrees and laws passed will be in your entryway before you get home, I hope you don't find anything too bad in there I already feel bad enough knowing I let anything slip by in the first place." Danzo takes that as his dismissal and makes his way out to do as he was asked. Hiruzen is left to think for a few moments before vanishing from the chambers himself to get back to work.