Italics - thoughts/letters/books/scrolls

Bold - Demon speaking

Bold Italics - Demon thoughts

Underline - Jutsu

Two Months

Two long months of listening to the same history lessons that he had already read once because Shisui had to be extra sure he couldn't be sabotaged in his education. Don't get him wrong though, Naruto is grateful for everything Shisui has done for him to this point but he's starting to give into boredom.

It doesn't help that Iruka can't give an engaging lecture to save his life. The man was just boring when he got going. It wouldn't be so bad if the topics were interesting but again he's been through them once so he has lost all interest in hearing someone repeat the books almost word for word. I mean cmon, he could at least spice up the lectures a bit to make them interesting.

However, how boring the lectures are is the least of the issues that have sprouted up in these two months. The biggest issue was that the orphanage finally kicked him out. If it wasn't for the fact that Naruto sorta expected something like this to happen after the matron was replaced, he would've been really upset about it. She used the line "If you are old enough to train to be a ninja, your old enough to take care of yourself away from the actual children". Naruto snorted when she said that and just went to get the few school books he kept in his room before hopping out the window and heading to see the Hokage to report what happened.

Naruto has never, and hopes to never again, seen the kind old man that mad again. It proved to him that the title of 'God of Shinobi' was very much deserved to be bestowed on Hiruzen.

-Flashback-

After arriving at the tower, Naruto walks around the back of the building before walking up it and knocking on the Hokage's window. He smiled a bit seeing Hiruzen jump slightly. When the window was opened, he walked in and stood before Hiruzen with as serious a face as his young self could muster.

"What can I do for you my boy and why didn't you use the door?" The aged Hokage asks with some curiosity while noting the serious look.

The same serious look is threatening an ANBU member to lose their composure due to how out of place and adorable it looks.

Taking a deep breath, Naruto responds "Hokage-sama, I would like to request an apartment to live in away from the orphanage."

Hiruzen frowns and looks Naruto in the eyes "And why should I allow a new academy student, who has never had to take care of themselves or live alone, to take up all that responsibility suddenly?"

Taking another deep breath for what he was about to say, Naruto steeled his resolve "Well it's either this, you allow me to take up my parent's residence which is still too dangerous, or I'm stuck on the streets. The new matron has kicked me out."

The temperature in the room dropped several degrees rapidly the moment those words hit Hiruzen. The change in the room was enough to set the ANBU on edge and make Naruto shiver slightly.

"New matron? that orphanage has had and should still have the same one that took over after an incident some years ago. One I personally put in charge" Hiruzen speaks out calmly but on the inside, he's seething.

See this wasn't just any orphanage. No, this was one of the few that encouraged its residents to take up a ninja lifestyle instead of a civilian one. Because of this, this orphanage's staff are usually retired ninjas so they can impart wisdom and watch over the children to hopefully spot any that would do especially well in the ninja field.

"Umm Jiji, she was suddenly replaced by someone younger a few months before the academy started."

"Descirbe the matron for me would you please Naruto" Hiruzen says in a kind tone but everyone in the room can tell that this is about as close to an order without saying it that he's willing to use on a child.

"Okay well she has short brown hair and green eyes, moves like an active shinobi, and barely seems to show emotion unless it's directed at me"

As Naruto said that, a pressure came over the room causing him to drop to a knee and gasp for breath before passing out for a few seconds.

-Flashback End-

The other issue, and the one that Naruto is currently thinking about, is that Shisui had informed him that he would be around even less than originally planned. Due to clan duties, he will be unable to train him for any extended period of time indefinitely. What this means for Naruto is he'll essentially be back to being on his own again.

That was a week ago.

Now we find Naruto on top of the fourth's head, lost in thought about what exactly Shisui had told him.

-Flashback-

Naruto was exiting the academy, about to run off to train like normal until he spotted a crow sitting on top of the through the gate, he watched the crow fly off toward the training ground he had been allowed to use. He ran off after it, excited to see his sensei and hoping it would lead to learning something new.

Upon reaching the training ground, he channeled the small bit of chakra needed to get through the security seals and spotted his sensei sitting under a tree. Naruto walked over to him and took a seat himself about five feet in front of Shisui.

"Hello sensei, what's the plan for today" Naruto chirped happily.

Shisui looked up from his notepad with a small smile to the little boy, no developing young ninja, that has been under his care for a few years now.

"Hey brat" He responded, earning a playful glare from said young ninja "I actually have something I need to tell you"

Hearing that nearly put Naruto on guard, and would have put him on guard if it was anyone else but Shisui or the Hokage that said it.

"And what would that be sensei?" Naruto asked. Something in the back of his mind, that he knew wasn't the Kyuubi, told him he wouldn't enjoy the answer.

"Well," Shisui started slowly before deciding to just rip the bandaid off and say it "I'll be unable to train you myself for the foreseeable future. Something is happening with the clan and I won't have the time to be here in person for some time. I can't give you any details but if all goes well we can resume full-time training soon.

This doesn't mean I'll let you start slacking off though. In the next few days I'll have one of my summons drop off a storage scroll in your apartment so watch out for that. It will have a schedule for the next year of training outside of the academy and the equipment I've been keeping for you. For now, continue on the already set routine and I can oversee you today."

-Flashback End-

Now, Shisui never said what was happening was bad but Naruto got the vibe that whatever was happening wasn't good either. That's what has kept his mind busy this last week, attempting to find a reason for the sudden change in the already fewer training sessions together.

It definitely doesn't help that the Uchiha as a whole seems to have become more reserved over the last few months. That wouldn't have meant anything to Naruto, if he noticed it at all, had Shisui not said it was something with the clan that was taking him away. Too bad he probably wouldn't figure it out without breaking into the compound and spying on the Uchiha and Naruto wasn't too keen on doing that so he'd have to wait till he was either told or something happened.

The summon crow had also shown up yesterday with a storage scroll just like Shisui said it would, not that Naruto doubted him on that. The new training schedule was alright and actually had a few new things for him to learn.

The first new thing he decided to learn was water walking because he knew chakra control would always be one of his major issues. He also could see the benefits of being able to cross rivers and ponds without having to get wet in the process. It was incredibly hard for him to pull off. Far harder than tree walking had been.

It was similar to tree walking where you had to channel chakra to your feet but instead of a set amount of chakra to stick, water walking took a constant flow of chakra that changed depending on the water depth and conditions to stay afloat. Because of the changing flow, he knew it was gonna take a while before he could perform it to his sensei's standard which was a one-hour run on top water and then being able to run through his taijutsu and kenjutsu katas three times each without slipping. Man did he wish he could just do the standard of the village for mastering the exercise but he wasn't willing to let Shisui down. He was also hoping he might be able to use the normal clone jutsu with this added control so he didn't have to show he knew Shadow Clones until after graduating.

The scroll also contained the jutsu scrolls for both Henge and Kawarimi, the other two jutsu that are needed to graduate from the academy. He decided he wouldn't learn either until he mastered water walking even if his former lack of control could've learned both successfully. Better to have the control and not need to apply it than to not and realize you still need more before you can progress.

The last item for his new training schedule that the scroll held was a handwritten kenjutsu scroll for Shisui's personal style that he uses in conjunction with the Shunshin. This style is what he used to cement his name in the shinobi world as Shunsin no Shisui. The style on its own is pretty effective, being based around quick stricks to vital areas and muscles, but when combined with Shisui's improved Shunsin it can rival most other styles.

The last things in the storage scroll were his kunai, shuriken, tanto, a cookbook, and a note for him to read.

The note explained that now that he could safely store his own gear, it was up to him to keep it safe and that the cookbook was an apartment-warming gift so that way he didn't have to rely on the few places he could eat out at. However, he will still have to rely on eating out until he gets the Henge down because no grocery store will sell to him at normal prices, making it far cheaper to not stock up himself.

That's how the rest of this year went for Naruto. He trains alone, goes to class, and gets the occasional visit from a crow summons. All in all, if asked how he's done this year, it's been a good time.

In his training, Naruto has managed to master water walking and continues to have five clones a day to practice both water and tree walking. He has gotten to a point in his weapon throwing that he's started to use clones as moving targets to improve. He has also managed to get Kage Bunshin down to not needing any hand seals anymore but at a higher chakra cost, as well as both Henge and Kawarimi with half as many seals at the normal chakra cost. The last big thing that he's done is finally allow himself to start making basic storage and explosive seals after deeming his handwriting to be good enough, as the book did say perfect handwriting is needed after all.

Speaking of seals, after proving that he could draw a working storage seal in under thirty seconds, he had the Hokage place one on the inside of each wrist to store his kunai, shuriken, and anything else he deemed necessary to have immediate access to. He also got basic exploding seals down to under thirty seconds and continues to try and shorten that time as much as possible. The next seals for him to learn were the higher-powered explosive seal and the basic weight seal. Though weight seals may take him a while due to the danger involved in them if not done right.

He has also gotten comfortable with his tanto in hand and can confidently run through the katas. He can't do them at high speeds yet like the scroll says is needed but is slowly getting there. He also hasn't had a chance to use it in a spar yet because Shisui hasn't been able to show up in person. However, he has used it against shadow clones but feels like that can only push you so far without someone to correct or modify the style to fit you better.

Shisui's occasional note tried to reassure Naruto that everything would be fine and he'd be back to training with him soon. Those notes would've helped if the tension surrounding the clan compound wasn't so thick a blind man could see it. Naruto knows things are just getting worse with whatever Shisui was called back to take care of but he won't let it get to him since Shisui hasn't said so himself.

The academy was going alright. He decided he was going to aim for the bottom of the class to be underestimated as much as possible when out in the real world. Not dead last but bottom five students grades wise should do well enough. He'll let himself excel in the minimal physical courses they will eventually get, but that won't raise his grade any.

He has also made a few more friends with more of the clan kids. One of them was Shino Aburame who he started talking to after he found some of his kikaichu bugs on his arm, taking a little bit of his chakra. He found Shino to be quite intelligent but very quiet. Someone who rarely speaks but when he does it's something to listen to. They bonded over the fact they are both outcasts to the general village. Aburame tends to be avoided by most people who haven't worked with them before due to them hosting a hive of insects inside of their own bodies. So much like himself, Shino has a hard time making friends due to most other kids being scared of the bugs or thinking he is weird due to his quiet nature.

Another was Hinata Hyuuga who he started talking to after noticing she didn't seem to have any friends in the class. He found her to be very kind but lacking confidence in herself. Naruto was really trying to help her with the confidence issues because it could cause many issues for a shinobi however, it was slow going. Whenever they talked she stuttered a lot and couldn't look him in the eyes. She also had this bad habit of downplaying her own skills to the extent of actually causing her to do worse. While not weak by any means, her lack of confidence in herself is causing her to limit what she is capable of. While the kindness her holding back shows, it is a detriment to herself and others as it gives others a false sense of confidence in their skills thinking they can beat a Hyuuga easily.

The last, and most surprising, was actually their sensei Iruka Umino. At the start of the year, Iruka was like almost everyone else who hated Naruto. Just another blind fool who let their hatred cloud their better judgment. But over the year he changed. He slowly warmed up to Naruto after careful observation and came to the conclusion fairly recently that there was no way this boy could be the demon fox. Naruto is still wary of him due to his experiences but is still willing to give him a chance. He just hopes it isn't a ploy to hurt him. They've never talked outside of class but Iruka has stopped targeting Naruto in class trying to make him look bad.

Overall he'd call this a good year. While Naruto wishes he could see Shisui, he's trying not to be a child and get upset over what Shisui has to do. He wishes he had someone to train with but without knowing many and being hated by most it's unlikely he'll find another person to train him without reservations and correctly that isn't a classmate and even then he'd rather not in case their parents don't like him. He did make some friends and made good progress in training so it can't be called a bad year, definitely better than every year prior. Only if he knew that this would be the best year of his life for a few to come.

AN: The next chapter shit really begins and will include the last major time skip for a while. I know I'm not consistent but I'm hyped for what's coming up and to finally get into Naruto's journey as a shinobi.