The point of this story, aside of stripping Naruto of his opness, is to see what the basic power of positive attention can bring.

Naruto was stunned, hurt and hateful as he looked at the wall. 'Does everyone abandon me?' He thought as he considered what he learned about Jiraiya and his choice to dump Naruto to the side like trash just because he died and lost the Fox. Naruto wanted to scream, to rage, to hate but he was honestly so stunned.

So, naturally, he barely noticed the soft voice of Shizune drifting into his ears. "Naruto?" He turned to her as she walked into his hospital room, carrying six scrolls and two books. "Sweetie, you... the council and Tsunade are letting me be your mentor, your teacher. I cannot always be with you, so I thought you could learn from some of these scrolls and books. Get the basics down then I can have my clone train you or the real me, when I am not busy."

Naruto was stunned. "You want to teach me?"

"Of course I do! Naruto, I care for you, I always did. Tsunade does too, not everyone is disloyal as Jiriaya."

Naruto felt tears prickle at his eyes. "Really?"

"Yes... now, come on, move over." She got into his bed, sprawling out his scrolls. "The first book is on Chakra control, which you lack. I know it will be boring for you, but losing the Kyuubi means you cannot force shadow clones anymore. You need to start to build yourself up, in all ways, and that includes your spiritual chakra. That means reading and learning."

Naruto sighed. " But I already know about Katra-"

"Chakra, Naruto I love you, and most of the crap that you have been through is not your fault but some of it is. I read your file, you never study, you refuse to learn. That is holding you back. I am not being mean, I am being honest. You need to grow in a lot of ways or they will strip you of your title as a ninja."

Blanching, Naruto nodded. "Okay, but books are so boring!"

"I know, but you have to try... now, the other book is a dictionary so you can learn words you don't know. The rest are two scrolls on taijutsu, one on dispelling genjutsu, one on throwing skills, and three on conditioning. You need to build up your speed and strength and agility. So I will spend the next few hours helping you but you need to promise that you will find yourself reading without me. Okay?"

Naruto nodded, eyes wet. "Okay, Shizune Sensei."

She kissed his brow, startling him. "You've been through such hell, but together we will overcome it all and prove that you can become the best of your generation. Now... onto the books, let's find out what books you need to read later. Like your history books, so important."

Chapter end, tell me what you think in the reviews.

This was a joy to write.

Love, your Ninja Overlord,

Mika.