Anger flooded Naruto's veins, a surge of emotions that sent his logical thought process spiraling into the backseat. He desperately tried to control himself, as that feeling threatened to rise to the surface once again. A vile, emotional sort of pressure in his gut that he tried his best to avoid. He knew his life would forever change the moment he let that feeling take control.

So he did his best to hide it away, keep it from influencing his life in any way, but here he was failing at one of the few things he'd promised to himself.

He squinted up at the boy standing above where he lay on the ground, dirt already working its way into his clothes and sandals. The boy's face was obscured by the bright sun, his shadow covering his features, but Naruto knew from moments beforehand that he was a bit older than him, possibly pre-teen.

The laughter of children grew, egged on by this escalation the older boy caused, and Naruto's ears began to ring. His vision blurred with unshed tears and he just wanted everything to stop.

Fury spiked, arms raised, teeth grit, he shoved his hand forward at the boy, guided by instinct. The space before him tore as a horrendous ear piercing clang forced its way into the world. The older boy was bifurcated cleanly. The world was still, a moment of frozen beauty, the calm before the storm. Naruto's peace was interrupted by the feeling of a warm spattering across his face.

"Is this… rain..?" He murmured confusedly.

A tanned hand reached up in front of his face, gently touching the offending substance. His eyes widened. Crimson red glistened in the burning sunlight. His body shook. This was… How did…

Screams erupted from the children around him, sounds of footsteps scampering away from the crime scene. He didn't blame them.

The remote nature of the chosen play area meant there would be time to get away. To escape the incoming disaster. Naruto shoved his disgust back down his throat and scrambled to his feet. His eyes were still wet, body still thrumming with power, the capability for violence still coursing through his every movement. He couldn't see anyone like this, he didn't want to hurt anyone else. He let his legs carry him wherever they pleased, the new feeling of strength empowering his movements.

The wind blew through Naruto's hair, golden locks swaying back and forth. His muscles ached, the feeling of power having been channeled sloppily through them. He had shakily scrubbed the blood and viscera off his visage. He glanced at the village below, brain having slowed down enough to be able to think clearly about the events that had just transpired. He had killed someone. 'Killing people isn't right, life has value, eat your vegetables.' Those were some of the things the wrinkly old man had told him when bringing him groceries. Naruto wasn't sure anymore. That child… No. That thing had spit on him, called him names, and been a rallying force for other bullies in Naruto's life. He hated him, despised him for picking on him for the crime of being an orphan. The thing had pushed him over, calling him a little orphan boy, and to go back to playing with his toys. Naruto could deal with rejection, he'd been rejected from near everything for his entire life. He hated that he was rejected for not only no reason, but violently. Nobody had given him their reasoning, even the wrinkly old man had always said that he'd tell him when Naruto was older. He hated it and wanted answers, he wanted to know why he was treated so poorly by everyone, when he just wanted a friend. He had no kin so he sought bonds outside of blood. He found none.

Naruto wrangled his thoughts back to the topic at hand. There was a dead thing back in the forest where the children played. That child was dead because of Naruto. He wasn't sure how, but he couldn't deny the proof. He threw up to the side. The chicken ramen tasted sour on his tongue, and he wiped his face with an orange sleeve.

He replayed everything in his mind. How was the boy killed? Naruto owned no weapons, unless one counted the many fart bombs and paint buckets he'd wielded. The boy was still bisected, and he was still the one with blood on his hands. Naruto tried to draw upon that sensation of power once again, and found it surprisingly simple. A little anger, and his energy was surging through him again. It was a slightly heavy feeling, like his blood had been infused with lead. The course and raw strength in his body offset said heaviness, and he felt like he could take on the world. He let the feeling dissipate as he felt his vision begin to blur. He swayed once, twice, then toppled over in a heap. Naruto knew only darkness.

He awoke on the ground of Lord Fourth's stony likeness, the full moon glinting through the trees. Naruto got to his feet and, having nothing better to do, jogged to the library. Savoring the cool midnight breeze across his skin.

The window silently opened as Naruto swung through and landed not-so-silently. Luckily the place was deserted, so no one caught on to his shenanigans. Naruto glanced around confusedly. This wasn't a section of the library that he was familiar with at all. While he wasn't an avid reader, there wasn't much else to do with his free time so he frequented the place. He picked the first book he saw off of the shelf, which was under the "S" author section. It was a small thing, blue, made of leather and very worn. Sporting quite a few tears and scuffs. Opening to a random page, he glanced at it briefly.

Chakra control basics.

It was written in a messy scrawl, seemingly done in either a hurry or with little regard for tidiness. Having no idea what chakra was, he flipped back a few pages, hoping to find a few answers. He did fairly easily, mumbling aloud to himself

"Chakra is the molding of Spiritual and Physical energies, and Once molded, it can be channeled through the chakra circulatory system, which is to chakra as the regular circulatory system is to blood, to any of the 361 chakra points (called tenketsu) in the body. Through various methods, the most common of which is hand seals, the chakra can then be manipulated to create an effect that would not be possible otherwise, such as walking on water, exhaling fire or creating illusions."

Naruto wasn't stupid, he knew this must have something to do with the Shinobi he'd seen prowling around the village, whether that be on the rooftops, at the food stands or at the secluded training grounds. How else could people run so fast and jump so high? Interest piqued, he continued to read long into the night.

The following morning he got out of bed, lazily sliding out of the sheets and onto the cool wooden panels. He slid on some gray lounge pants, a white tee shirt and finished it all with his trusty orange jacket. He left it open, it was a hot summer day after all. Grabbing a yogurt cup from the fridge, he nimbly stuck the book that he *borrowed* last night in between his teeth, then opened the lid of the yogurt and dumped the contents of said lid into the creamy substance. Mixing the two together, he slipped the book into his jacket pocket and started eating his meal. Simultaneously, he commenced the trek from his apartment to somewhere he could practice in peace.

Arriving at the top of the Hokage monument once again, Naruto surveilled the village far beneath his vantage point, his place behind Lord Second's headband obscuring any onlookers from below. He backed away from the monument's edge, striding towards the clearing behind it. Pulling out the little blue book, worn pages and all. He flicked to a page and read it to himself, humming as he did so.

He stood up and began a brief set of stretches. Quads, Hamstrings, calves, then shoulders, forearms, the works. Settling back down into a meditative stance with his legs crossed, Naruto set himself to finding his Chakra. He closed his eyes, and searched deep within himself. The book detailed a chakra 'nexus' of sorts, where the physical and spiritual energies mingled to create chakra. Having no idea how to look for such a thing, Naruto sat in the shade provided by the large trees above, and thought.

He found it. There were supposed to be two latent energies, waiting to be combined at the nexus. What he found instead was a roiling miasma. A dark and slightly twisted energy reeking of negative emotions. He recoiled in fear, the sheer presence this energy held… His thought process trailed off. Naruto steeled his nerves and dove back into the feeling. The negative energy was there, but it was slightly soothing too. Like sinking one's hands into cool mud. It looks disgusting at first and feels wrong, but as you get used to the feeling it becomes comforting and you might want to stay for a while.

Naruto basked in the sensation for a moment before moving to the next step the book had detailed. He tugged on his chakra, for as different as it was from what the book described, that was what it was he was sure. Heaving and huffing, the chakra pushed against him. It didn't want to be controlled, whether that was due to the fact that he wasn't doing it right or because he wasn't strong enough, Naruto knew not. All he knew was this was not a viable avenue. Changing courses quickly, he tried to guide its direction. The chakra already had a sort of malicious edge to it, a desire to do. Naruto wasn't sure if exactly what it wanted to do, or how normal this was but he did know that he would be directing it for now. He gently coaxed it through his chakra pathways, the sensation of tainted, heavy strength beginning to flow.

Naruto opened his eyes and stood up. The chakra made him feel strong, fast. It was as if time slowed around him. He reached his hand out to grab one of the tree branches and his chakra violently surged out of his hand, similar to the day prior. Startled, he leapt back as the tree branch fell cleanly to the forest floor. That wasn't what he wanted… Or was it? He desired to hold the tree branch, his chakra had simply taken a short-cut to that end. The blond bent over and took hold of the branch with his right hand and using the left hand he attempted to draw upon this destructive energy again.

Clang! A sharp sound rang out once again as the branch was cleft in two.

Dismantle.

The name came easily to Naruto, and he let his chakra leave his grasps of active use. Naruto's lips curved upwards in a soft smile. It felt good to do something all on his own. To accomplish something without the caretaker's disapproving stare, without the wrinkly old man's silent gaze that seemed to look past him, and without the other children's judgemental eyes. He took out the journal once again. Now that he had officially unlocked his chakra - although Naruto suspected that had actually happened yesterday - it was time to try something the little booklet had called chakra control. Gently pulling a leaf off of the branch he had so viciously destroyed mere moments earlier, he carefully pressed it to his forehead. Channeling chakra there was difficult, and it was hard to make it go where he wanted. It felt like attempting to control a river with a drinking straw. There was so much that even if some went where he wished, the rest would mess everything up. No timeouts were taken though, and slowly but surely his efforts began to bear fruit. The leaf was wobbly, and would fall if even a light breeze blew by, but it was attached to his head nonetheless.

A beat. Then an elated cry erupted from Naruto's throat as he damn near jumped for joy. With focus broken the leaf naturally tumbled from its perch upon his tanned forehead, but he had done it. He had done a real chakra control exercise. The feeling of learning and figuring out how to overcome the obstacle of having not only no proper instructor, but no documentation on his strange form of chakra, made his blood sing and his heart dance. If this was what learning felt like then damn it he wanted to learn everything

Naruto's reputation had taken a further hit. While for some reason no one seemed to remember the fact that he had killed someone, nobody wanted to hang too close to him. It hurt but he was used to it. The blond resolved to not need any of them, that he would learn everything on his own. That was until a strange man with even stranger silvery hair that seemed to disobey the laws of physics appeared in front of him. There was a rustle and a swirl of leaves that announced his presence. He had a feeling about him, this man was intensely dangerous and every one of Naruto's instincts told him that The Silver One wasn't to be trifled with. The faint outline of his lips, although shrouded in face mask, were visible enough to be seen in motion.

"Lord Third would like to see you whenever possible." The Silver One intoned blandly. It was clear he had little to no interest in making this a social interaction, given the fact that not only was seventy-five percent of his face covered, but his only viable eye was closed. Either from laziness or some half-hearted attempt to put Naruto at ease. The boy wasn't fooled, but nodded his affirmation nonetheless. His piece said, The Silver One disappeared in a slight breeze and a rustle of leaves. A very confused blond boy was left standing in the middle of the street, leaves stuck in his hair.

Naruto swept his hand through the tangled blond locks, dislodging the offending plant matter. His feet knew the way to the Hokage's tower, so he let them guide him as he lost himself in thought.

The boy clad in orange swept his way through the Hokage's tower, ascending the staircase to Lord Third's office. Pausing before the door, Naruto slowly raised his hand to knock, then seemingly decided against it. Instead he pushed his foot and the door swung open wildly, as he brashly jumped into the room declaring: "I'm here old man! What'd ya need?"

With a large grin plastered to his face and his eyes bright and shining, Naruto was the perfect picture of an excited youngster. Behind the desk sat Lord Third Hokage, or as Naruto oft referred to him: wrinkly old man. There was a pipe between his weathered lips, his large angular hat cast his wrinkled visage in shadow. He had no dimples but one could easily spot the smile lines around his eyes, attained from his brief stint of retirement. Hiruzen Sarutobi's gray-brown orbs twinkled at the orange clad boy before him. His mouth curled at the edges, a smile forming right before he let out a soft chuckle.

"Still as energetic as ever, my boy?" The wrinkly old man inquired rhetorically.

Naruto responded as enthusiastically as ever. "You bet old man! And I'll be just as energetic when I'm wearing your hat!"

"Ho Ho! Still just as ambitious as well!" The older figure let out a hearty belly laugh and entertained Naruto's antics easily. Always a refresher from the seemingly endless politicking. "Well I'll be sure to keep it in good condition for when you're ready." He said with a smile. A deep breath from his pipe. "That's not why I called you here though, Naruto."

Naruto straightened up slightly, at attention. He may be wrinkly, and old, but Lord Third was still someone you listened to when he got serious. "What's up, old man?"

Crossing his leathery hands together Lord Third Hokage suddenly looked every bit as old as he was. "What do you want to do with your life, Naruto?"

Naruto thought about it for a moment, then replied: "I want to become Hokage, and learn as much about the world as I can while doing so!" He trailed off. "That's kinda a mouthful though so maybe just be Hokage?"

A flicker of a smile ghosted the wrinkly old man's lips, before he tempered his countenance. "I see." He took another drag from his pipe. "And what does being Hokage mean to you, Naruto?"

Naruto responded without a second thought. "Power, knowledge, respect, and how to wield them to protect the village."

Hiruzen's eyes widened a great deal. This was not the answer he would have ever expected from Naruto. He gazed at him and took a moment to really analyze him. The boy stood at a respectable height for his age, with messy blond tresses cascaded to about his shoulders. His jaw was set firmly, nose sharp, eyebrows full and slightly tilted. He bore two symmetrical birthmarks on either side of his face, just beneath his eyes. He stood a bit straighter than Hiruzen remembered, and there was an almost imperceptible tension to his frame. Most would miss it but Hiruzen had many decades of Shinobi experience under his belt, and even more in politics. He could read body language as if he was bilingual. Cerulean blue eyes gazed back at Hiruzen. Although there was something he couldn't quite put his finger on behind those azure pools.

Hiruzen Sarutobi hummed, then responded softly. "True in a literal sense, though you'll find the actual meaning is far more mundane. Care. To do any of the things you listed to me meaningfully, you must care a great deal for these people and what this village means. Do you understand?"

Naruto blinked, surprised by the sudden shift in the atmosphere of the room. "I think so, old man." Despite the label Naruto used when addressing Hiruzen, there was nothing but respect in his voice.

"Then I believe it is time." The wrinkly old man remarked, before reaching under his desk and pulling out a large, paper packet. He gently set it on the desk, a soft thump sound echoing around the room as he did so. "This contains a great deal of information, and I'd like you to have it. I know you will do great things, Naruto. I have faith in you. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask. Although I may be busy."

There was a grave, somber sort of feeling settling in the room, and Naruto had a very, very bad feeling that something was going to happen. Something that would change his life forever. He licked at his lips, mouth suddenly feeling very dry. Taking a step forward, Naruto slowly slid the packet toward him, a bit past the edge of the desk. He then gripped the top of the packet, and fully took it into his hands. The paper was thick, durable. Naruto could never afford anything like it. There was a brass snap holding the seal flap shut. He glanced at the wrinkly old man. He was gazing at Naruto intently. Naruto averted his gaze, which was very unlike him. He quickly strode out of the room. He paused as the wrinkly old man uttered his final words. "Please channel some chakra into the back of the packet for your instructions."

Naruto heard and called out behind him "I will, old man!" He planned on ending that sentence with a witty finale but was too rattled to do so. Naruto bounded down the stairs and raced to his apartment.

Naruto decided against opening the packet right when he got home, opting to sleep instead. Though try as he might, the suspense of what could be awaiting kept him up. With an exasperated sigh he swung himself out of bed, planting his bare feet onto the cool wood panels as he did so. Shuffling to the counter where he left the packet, he was about to open it when the words of the wrinkly old man echoed in his mind. "Please channel some chakra into the back of the packet for your instructions."

Naruto wasn't sure how the geezer knew he even had chakra considering he himself didn't know until today, but he wasn't going to question it. He was the Hokage and had his ways, Naruto was sure. Pushing chakra into that backside of the packet as he was instructed, letters began to reveal themselves. Starting at the bottom of the page where Naruto's hands were, red energy gently flowed through the pathways of each letter, lighting up each time. When the entire packet was filled with glowing letters, Naruto ceased channeling his chakra. Characters seemed to cool, leaving imprints where his chakra had been coursing moments earlier. Fingers caressed the divots, short and worn nails brushing across the indentations. Naruto began reading in earnest.

Naruto Uzumaki. Many secrets are contained within, and as you progress through your life you will gain access to further still. For now, know this. Your mother and father loved you dearly. May you bear your burdens with grace and live your life without shame.

S.H.

Each word was penned with extreme precision, a gentle, and skilled hand's work no doubt. Naruto pondered the words, attempting to ignore the tightness in his chest. He flipped the packet over and undid the shiny brass snap on the back. Naruto's head jerked back as a slip of paper spat itself out of the packet, then said packet latched itself back closed. Naruto was still for a moment, before he reached down to examine the paper that had been ejected. Upon closer examination it was a

bundle of papers, held together by a lone paper clip. He slid the paper clip off of the bundle and read the first page.

"Uzumaki Naruto, it is time for you to begin your journey into the world of Shinobi. I have signed you up at the Shinobi Academy, which you will attend 3 months from now."

"Well, whoever wrote this didn't exactly leave any room for argument…" Naruto thought to himself.

"In those three months, you will move into a new apartment that is across the village, and closer to said academy. Your new lodging will be entirely paid for, and includes a private training ground for you to practice in. You are a few years behind the other students, who have either already been going to the academy and/or received supplementary teachings from their clan. To close this gap between you and them, I expect you will follow the training regiment closely. If you have extra energy after completing your assigned tasks, feel free to augment your time with extracurricular learning from the library or direct Shinobi teachings. Do the village proud, and good luck."

Naruto nearly jumped out of his skin when the wrinkly old man opened the door to his apartment.

"Gah! Old man, don't scare me like that, you know?!"

The elderly Hokage chuckled, eyes twinkling with mirth. "I'm just here to help you get packed, my boy."

The boy in question's eyes widened. He'd forgotten about that little tidbit. He hesitated a moment, looking around. The apartment was relatively bare, Naruto never could afford any type of decorations beyond the bare minimum. He didn't have any particularly good memories here anyways. Head shaking to dislodge himself from his thoughts, he looked back towards the old man. Lips curving into a soft smile.

"Sure thing, old man."