Just saying now this is my very first fanfiction ever and I hope that you will all enjoy this work. I know that not everyone is going to like how other people write and to be honest, I am fine with that because one nobody is perfect when they are writing. I also realize I will not be able to please everyone, but I write to take the stress of everyday life away and as you know it can get to be quite a handful.
I will be using USD and not Ryo just saying now but I will be paying them however much I think is worth for the mission.
Another thing, this will be a story where Naruto will progressively get stronger and not be strong immediately because I think that doesn't make good fanfiction. Anyway, thank you for taking the time to read this and I hope you have a good day.
"Talking"
"Thoughts"
"Kyuubi talking/Inner Sakura"
Chapter 1: The Good and the Bad
Naruto wouldn't lie when he said this, he was tired—really, tired. After Naruto had stolen the Forbidden Scroll from Mizuki telling him to, he had gotten a ripe 2 hours of sleep last night and he was looking to catch some Zs. To topple all of that with learning a forbidden ninjutsu, the Shadow Clone Jutsu. He did not understand why it was so much easier to learn than the Clone Jutsu. However, he was currently in class barely keeping his eyes open sitting next to the last Uchiha who was currently brooding and staring outside the window. Naruto was falling asleep when Sakura and Ino busted down the door.
"I was the first forehead!" exclaimed Ino.
"No, I was Ino-pig, I beat you by a centimeter," yelled Sakura.
They continued to do this until they made it to where Sasuke was sitting when Sakura saw Naruto and grew frustrated. He looked like he was sleeping but she would have none of that.
"Naruto-baka, GET YOUR LAZY BUTT UP! DON'T THINK INGORING ME WILL HELP YOU ANY" she screamed causing many of the other classmates to cover their ears.
Naruto did not budge; he was out of it. Shikamaru opened his eyes to see Naruto out cold and sighed tiredly, "Troublesome, you know Sakura, the fact you yelled that loud and he didn't move at all kind of shows that he is exhausted and is sleeping," he said sitting up right now.
"Doesn't matter he needs to move so I can sit next to Sasuke-kun before Ino-pig does!" she said cocking her fist back and making direct contact with Naruto's face.
Naruto fell out of the chair stammering and very confused as to what happened. He stood up so frantically that people were snickering and laughing at him.
"Huh...what...happened; why am I so dizzy," he said tumbling over.
It was at that moment Iruka Umino came into the classroom to see this scene. "Hey Naruto, what the heck are you doing, why are you not in a seat?" he said in a kinder voice than he usually would.
"Sakura over there decided to have her precious Sasuke…munch…sit next to her so she punched him to get him…munch…out when he was sleeping," said Chouji eating a bag of chips.
Iruka knew why Naruto was dead tired as he was too. He could handle it better from experience, but he remembered Naruto was just a kid even if he was just a newly minted Genin. He would cut him some slack because a 12-year-old on 2 hours of sleep is not a good combination. He then glared at Sakura, and she flinched under it. He walked over to Naruto to help him up placed him in a seat and said to her, "Now Ms. Haruno, you should learn to respect those whether they're young, old, or more experienced than you. Naruto could have had a very long night for all we know, and you could have hurt him with that direct punch you did to his head."
Sakura nodded in understanding and kept to herself. Naruto would be sitting next to Shikamaru now let out a long yawn. Shikamaru asked Naruto curious, "Why are you so tired man and how did you become a ninja?"
Naruto covered up yawn and said, "Firstly, it was a long night for me, and secondly Iruka-sensei will explain that to you," he said putting his head into the palm of his hand.
A random kid yelled, "Hey Iruka-sensei, I thought Naruto failed, and where is Mizuki-sensei?"
Iruka was slightly sweating, "Oh god, I have to come up with something quick."
"Naruto is here because he took a makeup test from me because it was found out that Mizuki had purposely failed him so when he took it again he passed and now here he is." Iruka stated in his teacher's tone. He then went on about how to be a proper ninja and started to list off the teams.
"Kakashi Hatake will lead team 7 with his students Sasuke Uchiha, Sakura Haruno, and Naruto Uzumaki." Naruto was smiling knowing his crush was on the team and Sasuke would be a pain in the rear, but he could manage it.
"Team 8 led by Kurenai Yuhi with her students, Shino Aburame, Hinata Hyuga, and Kiba Inuzuka."
"Team 9 is still in circulation."
"Team 10 led by Asuma Sarutobi with his students, Shikamaru Nara, Ino Yamanaka, and Chouji Akimichi."
"That will be all and good luck with you all," he said leaving the room.
NEARLY 3 HOURS LATER
"This is ticking me off where is our baka sensei," exclaimed Sakura.
"YEAH, let's beat him up when he gets here," yelled Inner Sakura.
Naruto was glad this sensei was late as he got a couple of hours of sleep, and he was nearly fully energized now. He thinks nearly as if he was still a bit too sluggish to get up and prank his sensei for being annoying and late. It didn't change the fact that he was still annoyed by him not showing up.
Then, the door opened to show a man with his left eye covered by his headband and a mask on his face. He had gravity-defying grayish hair.
"Huh, my first impression of you all…...is you suck. Now meet me up on the roof in 5 minutes to discuss something important."
After recovering from what he said, they made their way up to the roof of the building to see Jonin sensei reading an Icha Icha book, something not appropriate to read in front of anybody. They all took a seat, and the sensei began to speak.
"How about we all introduce ourselves, with likes, dislikes, dreams, stuff like that. I will go first. My name is Kakashi Hatake, my likes, dislikes, and dreams…I do not think you are all old enough for that yet." Everyone's sweat dropped as he only gave his name.
"You first pinky," said Kakashi.
"It isn't pinky, but my name is Sakura Haruno. My likes…" she blushes staring a Sasuke. "My dreams," she still stares at Sasuke.
"How about dislikes," said a bored Kakashi.
"INO-PIG AND NARUTO-BAKA."
Naruto frowned upon hearing this; he was getting tired of being put down by Sakura. Kakashi was thinking along the lines of why he had a fangirl on his team.
"You next emo."
Sasuke grunted, "My name is Sasuke Uchiha, I don't have a whole lot of likes or dislikes, but my dream…no ambition is to kill a man and restore my clan to its former glory." Sakura stared at Sasuke with stars in her eyes while Naruto just stared in envy and annoyance. What was it with women seeing emo and mysterious men as "hot" as they called it?
"Now for you traffic cone," said Kakashi.
Naruto grumbled about the late sensei before saying, "Well, my name is Naruto Uzumaki. I like to train, eat ramen, and play pranks. Although, I don't do those that much anymore. My dislike is being disrespected before people get to know me and waiting for ramen to warm up for a few minutes before I eat it. My dream is to be Hokage, the strongest one to ever face the Leaf Village and to prove everyone wrong."
Kakashi just nodded and said, "Interesting traits all of you have but tomorrow we will be doing an exercise if you will. We will have a survival exercise to see if you will be an official team."
Sakura then asked confusedly, "I thought we already passed the academy, sensei."
"You did, but this is to see if you will be an official ninja. The test is going to be a nice 66% chance of you failing. So, we will see tomorrow. The test will be at 5 am at training ground 7. Try to make sure that you don't eat anything so that you do not throw up tomorrow." With that, he disappeared in a swirl of leaves.
Sasuke got up to leave when Sakura excitedly asked, "Sasuke-kun, do you want to…" She was cut off with a sharp NO. Sakura looked downcast, "Sakura-chan, I can…" and he did not get to finish as a fist collided with his face. "LIKE I WOULD GO OUT WITH YOU IDIOT." With that, she left and ran after the Uchiha. Naruto sat there rubbing his cheek pouting.
"Well, at least I have the chance to be on the team. Today can't get much worse."
1 HOUR LATER AT NARUTO'S APARTMENT
"What do you mean you raised my rent?!" exclaimed Naruto.
"That is exactly what I mean, I raised it from $800 to $1400. Just give me the money and you're fine and if not, you can go pack and leave by tonight and I will not interfere," said the landlord in a firm tone.
Naruto pulled out his frog wallet and counted and was shocked. He only had 500 dollars in his wallet. He was so used to the previous 800 dollars that he formed a routine but when he was recently mugged, he had a lot of money stolen and his monthly stipend would not help him here as he was now a ninja. Naruto sighed and stopped the tears that were getting ready to flow. He looked at his feet saying, "I'll be out soon enough." He said, running into his apartment. The landlord was laughing before saying. "Be out by 5 alright demon." Naruto sat in his apartment crying. First, he finds out he has the Nine-tailed fox sealed inside of him and now he will be homeless.
It doesn't help that the old man said he would have to start doing things on his own and when he becomes a ninja, he will no longer get his stipend. He also told him he needed to start his own life in his way, and he didn't want to burden the old man with anything as he had a whole village to look out for. He wiped away his tears and started to put some of his belongings in bags. He had a large trash bag with everything he had. It consisted of his 4 sets of orange jumpsuits and 5 packs of 12 ramen cups, and he was holding a few of his plants in his hands. He left his apartment at speed as he did not want people to see him leaving. To be honest this could be a good thing because he has been living in the red-light district for 8 years and his apartment was so run down, he wouldn't be surprised if it collapsed any day now.
Naruto had found a bridge across town and saw that there was nothing under it, but it had quite a bit of space. There was a decent-sized stream with fish swimming in it. The area under the bridge had enough room and it was slightly dug in so he would have a nice shelter for a while. The other side of the bridge had vegetation so that he would not be seen. The Fire Country rarely has super cold days too so he would be alright. He decided to put his stuff down and set up camp.
After a few hours, he had a fire and was eating some cup of ramen. He was thinking about it and realized that he no longer had to pay rent and he could save some money. Even though he was in a pickle he would be alright. He also knew he was not dumb enough to go on an empty stomach for tomorrow morning. Naruto sighed watching the moon starting to rise as the sun was beginning to set. "Well, I am going to do everything in my power to make sure that I will be alright and pass tomorrow," he said to himself.
Naruto finished eating and resided in his area under the bridge. He had removed most of the vegetation inside of it and he now had an elevated dirt bed to sleep in as well as an elevated table to have his stuff on. Most people thought that he was dumb but when it came to surviving, he was all for it and knew more than an average twelve-year-old should. The area was about 8 feet long and 7 feet tall which he was fine with for right now. He laid down on his elevated bed in his sleeping bag and drifted off into dreamland.
"You know maybe some good luck will come my way soon." He thought smiling.
THE NEXT DAY
"GUYS, COME ON, PLEASE COME AND HELP ME OUT OF THIS"
Naruto has been screaming for his teammates or sensei to help him for the past hour and still nothing. He started to think about why he was left here. He was still struggling to get out of the rope from Kakashi-sensei tied him in early. Naruto was pissed because Mizuki was the one that taught him the Genin Rope Escape Jutsu and realized after about a few minutes he had taught him wrong and would be stuck for a while.
He was glad he had two ramen cups in the morning as it took Kakashi until 10 am to reach the training ground. Then on top of that, he humiliated all of them by beating them to the ground. Moreso him than Sakura and Sasuke but the reason why they passed was because Sakura and Sasuke decided to feed him even though Kakashi said not to. He then went into a speech about how if you break the rules, you are trash but if you abandon your comrades, you are worse than trash. Then what did that make him and his teammates? They had left him there. Naruto then stopped and slacked down. He would have to hope someone is going to come by soon. He would just have to be patient.
It was now around six in the afternoon and Naruto was still there. Naruto tries to be positive and hopes that someone will come soon. In the distance, someone was coming. He had slightly black hair with a beard and a cigarette in his mouth. He was holding some flowers and was coming to do his biweekly visit to the memorial stone. It was for his brother and mother who died sooner than they have should. His name was Asuma Sarutobi.
Asuma stood there and gave a quick prayer placing the flowers down. He stared at it and began to reminisce about the times with his family before their death. He turned around to leave when he did a double take on what was on the post. He saw a mop of blond hair and an orange jumpsuit, and he knew immediately that it was Naruto Uzumaki. He knew his dad had taken a liking to him and knew that if the old man could like him then he could too. He walked over drawing a kunai and cutting the ropes. Naruto then awoke, looked around him, and smiled happily. Someone had finally come to get him.
Asuma had cut the ropes and stared at the kid. Naruto hugged him and Asuma just stood there and gave him an awkward pat on the back. Naruto then backed away and bowed.
"Thank you so much sir, I appreciate it."
Asuma chuckled taking a puff from his cigarette, "It was no problem kid, but why the heck did you not get out of it with the Rope Escape Jutsu or something?"
Naruto frowned, "I am sure that you know of Mizuki right." Asuma nodded and Naruto replied, "Well when I did try to use it and realized he taught it to me wrong."
Asuma's eyebrow raised but nodded anyway. "Well then kid, I'll show you how to do it real quick."
"Really? Thank you so much," said Naruto jumping up and down.
For the next hour, Asuma had taught him the Genin Rope Escape Jutsu and was surprised he was able to get it down so quickly. He was a quick learner and a hard worker. Asuma then begged the question.
"You're Kakashi's student, aren't you?"
"Yes, I am Asuma-sensei, we passed so we are finally true ninjas," Naruto said giving him a thumbs up.
"Why the heck were you tied to the stump then?" he asked confusedly.
Naruto shrugged "I do not know; I was there since a little bit past noon I'd say."
Asuma's eyes widened. He was there for 6 hours, Kami, Kakashi needs to get his shit straight."
"Well at least you are out now, how about you go home, kid? I am sure you have had a long couple of days."
"Sounds good Asuma-sensei, thank you again," Naruto said waving his hand to go to his shelter.
Asuma was now in his thoughts. "I know that the kid will be alright, the fact he was able to learn the Rope Escape Jutsu for Genin level rope knots is amazing. It usually takes kids a week to learn and master. Maybe I can teach him a thing or two eventually."
Naruto was now in his shelter with his thoughts. After going to the bathroom and eating he decided that he would see how Kakashi-sensei planned to train him and he would work around it. He knew that he wanted to start training but where to start was the question. He would give his team a second chance because maybe they just made a mistake, and he could try to earn their trust or something.
Naruto had a big reality check when he was fighting Kakashi-sensei. Kakashi beat him to the ground and used a jutsu he would never even think of doing. The 1000 Years of Death was something not to take lightly. He was still feeling phantom pains from that but that was beside the point. The point was he sucked, bad. He had the Henge, Sexy Jutsu, Harem Jutsu, The Substitution Jutsu that was very slow, and Shadow Clone, and that was about it as far as that went. His taijutsu was sloppy but his stamina was the only thing that he had going.
He sat next to his dirt table and started to write down what needed work. He knew that everything Mizuki taught was wrong and when he thought about it. So, the rope escape was fixed but he realized that his Kunai and Shuriken throwing was probably out of whack as well as his academy taijutsu style, the Tiger Fist. Everything was fine but now he needed to worry about the finances. He has $500 and he does not know how much money he will have; he needs to limit the amount of money until he knows how much money he made on missions.
Naruto put down his pencil and sighed, he knew that he needed to eat healthier if he wanted to grow and become something of himself and he knew that sacrificing some of his ramen was what he had to do. He wouldn't completely cut it out, but it would minimize it and go out less to Ichiraku's.
He would come up with a better training regimen later but right now he needs to work on the basics so that he can move on. It was time that he started to get serious about being a ninja because if Kakashi-sensei was able to do that when he was the best Elite Jonin they had, then he would be cannon fodder when facing an actual ninja.
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