Fate is a strange and weird thing; it can be your best friend and your worst enemy. All it takes to completely change fate or destiny is one thing changing. Just one. One speck of dust that floated where it should not have, or maybe even a butterfly dying before it can flap its wings to make a tornado. One tiny tiny thing can change everything.

We all know the story of Naruto Uzumaki. Orphaned on the day of his birth, a lonely childhood with very few people around him. A village that scorned him, no one to play with. All of that and he still achieved his dream of being loved and leading that village hidden in the leaf. He had willpower unlike any other, despite facing setback after setback, not being taught correctly, his sensei not really training him, his sensei passing him off and favoring one student over another, his grandfather figure dying, his best friend leaving the village, his godfather dying, his village being crushed because of someone hunting him, a war breaking out, facing a literal god in human flesh and then a goddess. All of that and he never stopped. He kept going. On willpower alone.

Willpower, after all is a strong thing, not everyone has it, and not everyone will ever use it. There are thousands of universes where willpower is used, but that's a story for another time.

Every now and then, when one has willpower they can manifest strange abilities, and often not realize it. This was the case for Naruto Uzumaki after failing to graduate during his second run at the Ninja Academy.

So let me ask this, a child who doesn't really have any parental figures, who is growing up in a world where kids are being trained to be killing machines, do you think he has any healthy outlets for his anger or frustrations? No, he does not.

After being told he failed and his class was dismissed, Naruto found a quiet corner of a training ground and started to punch a tree in sheer frustration.

'I really tried this time. I worked hard! I even studied and everything!' Naruto vented inwardly to himself. 'So why did I not pass?'

That was the thought running through his mind as he repeatedly punched the tree with all his might. Maybe he would find the answer here.

Now in another universe, Naruto would eventually just get tired of that and head to his favorite ramen place, eat then continue on as if nothing happened. Eventually, he graduated under weird circumstances on his third try.

But in this one, that tiny speck of dust landed where it should not have, and Naruto's firsts stopped hurting as he kept punching. "I will be stronger. Screw the stupid Clone technique, I'll get so strong that they will have to make me pass without it!" That was his declaration to the heavens as he punched so hard that the tree trunk snapped in half then then proceeded to fall…onto him.

Quickly realizing that he should move, in an incredible displace of acrobatics, he did a few backflips out of the range of the falling tree.

After taking in a moment to settle himself, he stared at his hands and then at the tree. And did this back and forth several times while thinking. Now, felling a tree with punches and kicks was not uncommon in the ninja world, but that was strength that Chunin and onwards were said to possess. Not a random academy student. Let it also be noted that the forest and trees that surrounded the village were not regular trees found in the other lands. These trees were enhanced and grown by the first Hokage. It was tough to fell one.

It just did not make any sense to Naruto right now.

So he did what any 15-year-old would do. He tried it again.

He punched another tree and only ended up hurting his arm. Luckily Naruto always healed quickly. Since the academy was out for the week of team assignments and would not start again for 2 weeks, Naruto had time to figure out if this was just a fluke or maybe he had one of those bloodlines he had head so much about.

For the next week, Naruto would go back to that training ground and punch trees until his hands got numb and bled in order to try and recreate what he did that day. Sometimes, it left like he was close; others felt like he was hitting a block of some sort.

After three days of doing the same thing, he had to think about this.

He remembered how frustrated he felt when he was punching the tree 3 days ago and then he got angry and declared that he would be stronger. Maybe it had something to do with his emotions.

So he got angry and kept punching the tree. The angrier he got, the harder he punched the tree, the harder he punched the tree the more his hands hurt. But that did not stop him, he would do this. Weather by punching the tree until his hands broke or the tree broke. He was going to do it, whether by ability or willpower alone. That was a promise to himself.

With a mighty roar that felt like it reached the heavens, Naruto fell another tree by punching it, but this time, he knew. Somehow, he knew. It wasn't his emotions; no, it was his willpower. His unyielding will to punch this tree to the ground got his hands to do it.

At that moment, it felt like something clicked into place. He didn't really know what yet, but he knew something felt right.

After that day, for the next week, every now and then he could stop his arms from hurting as he punched trees. He didn't really know what he was doing, all Naruto knew was that he had a way to do a strong punch and not get hurt. He just had to figure out how to do it on command instead of every now and then.

He continued to do the tree punching until the academy started up again, hoping the next year would be different from the previous.

XXX

This batch of year three kids had a lot of clan heirs. While Naruto was not the smartest, he did notice a lot of things about the village. There was tension among the clans as they all had a reshuffling of power since the Uchiha clan fell a few years ago. With one more founding clan gone, the only remaining founding clans of the hidden leaf was the Hyuga and the Sarutobi clan. The Shimura clan did not count as it only had 1 member left alive. Everyone was competing this year to see which heir could take their clans to new heights. For the Hyuga, now more than ever they needed to get a Shinobi to the S rank; with their main competitor the Uchiha clan, all but wilted down to one member, this was their time to assert themselves as a legendary clan.

Also from what he had overheard since the Uchiha police force was gone, it was up to the other clans to reform it and run it. So far, some members of the Nara, Yamanaka, Inuzuka, and the Aburame clan have agreed to reform the police force.

It was going to be an interesting year for sure.

That aside, Naruto had 1 goal. Get strong. Get so strong by the end of the year, they had to pass him. That was his mantra and they went through the first week of class. There would be no distractions, even if the pink-haired girl looked cute. He had other priorities.

Every day after class was over, he went to his corner of the training ground and got to punching trees. It was starting to get easier to call upon the power, but he still couldn't do it at will yet. He was making progress, though.

After a week of boring academy stuff, it was time for the sparing to start.

And he got matched with Kiba Inuzuka.

Naruto disliked Kiba; he had a family, a clan, and a loyal buddy in Akamaru. Yet, he still found a way to complain about his life, not realizing how good he had it.

As Naruto went into the sparing ring Kiba asked a question. "Mizuki Sensei, am I allowed to have Akamaru in the spar?"

Mizuki's eyes quickly glanced around as if looking for someone and then responded. "Sure Kiba, it will be good practice for everyone."

Akamaru got in the ring with Kiba and then everyone lined up.

The fight began with Kiba charging towards Naruto. Naruto braced himself and then waited for Kiba to get within his range. Then both of them started to trade blows, and then about halfway through, Akamaru got involved, swinging the fight in favor of Kiba.

'This sucks.' Was the thought running through the head of Naruto as he was pushed on the defense. 'I'm not going to lose this!' He got hit in the face with a brutal punch that had his head spinning for a few seconds.

Once again determination set in as said his mantra in his head. 'I'm going to get so strong that they will have to pass me no matter what.'

Then something strange happened.

He started blocking the punches before they were coming and was starting to know when Akamaru would involve himself. Naruto was not one to waste an opportunity, so once he dodged a punch that left Kiba over-extended, he attacked. Calling on his ability to break trees he landed a fast and brutal 1-2 punch combo to the face of Kiba sending him to the ground knocked out cold.

The whole class was stunned. No one had guessed that Naruto had that much power or how he started to predict Kiba's moves halfway through the spar, but it ended in Naruto's victory.

Even Mizuki was stunned. He had followed Naruto's progress throughout his time at the academy, and in all of his previous spars, he had never fought like that before. Quickly snapping out of his stunned state, he called the match in Naruto's favor. Getting Kiba up and sending him to get checked they went on the next spar. No one noticed Sasuke's look of intrigue at Naruto's victory.

The rest of the spars were very boring to watch Naruto thought to himself. He also thought about what happened in the spar. That had never happened to him before while sparing. He had heard some of the Jonin talk about something similar, but he was sure this was something else. Naruto wondered if it was linked to his ability to punch down trees.

XXX

Little plot bunny in my head. Not sure where it is gonna lead, but I was going to grind out another chapter of how do I win the game, but wrote this instead.

S95N out!