Hi everyone! I know I have three different unfinished stories running about, but this has been sitting around waiting for piloting since, like, 2012 around the time I first started writing Uzumaki no Michi. In fact, this was my very first attempt at writing a Naruto fiction, even before the ideas Uzumaki no Michi or To Change the Future decided to knock around my brain. So, I decided it was time to finish the pilot chapter and see whether you guys liked it enough for me to keep writing it. So welcome everyone to Naruto: Sealing Bonds, Finding Family.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, nor do I feel like writing some fancy, witty disclaimer.

Uzumaki Naruto was never the type to mince words. If he didn't like something, he'd make sure it was damn clear that was the case. However in the process of making his extreme dislike for the library well known to populace of Konohagakure, he was causing Umino Iruka a very large headache.

The normally kind, relatively patient Chuunin-sensei in charge of Naruto's class at the Ninja Academy was finally reaching a breaking point. The "field-trip" to the library was supposed to be a way for the teachers at the Academy to get the students interested in learning on their own – however unlikely that may be. Naruto, not seeing his sensei's eyebrow twitching dangerously, had his complaining abruptly interrupted with a threat that would cause him to pale dramatically and quickly close his mouth.

"Uzumaki Naruto! One more word out of your mouth and I'll be making sure that Ichiraku-san won't be seeing your face for a very long time! Do I make myself clear!?"

Iruka had threatened his ramen, and Naruto was sure that his sensei would follow through with his threat. The last time Naruto had ignored him, he had sent the blond to work as Ichiraku Teuchi's dish washer, with the stipulation that there would be no ramen as a reward. Being tempted by the scent of his precious ramen without the opportunity to eat any had been the Uzumaki's personal hell, three hours a day for a whole week. Knowing he was outclassed, the orange-wearing boy decided he had made his point clear enough, and summarily shut up.

Ignoring the giggling and pointing of his classmates, Naruto glumly followed his teacher into the dreaded building. Oh, Naruto knew that knowledge was important, how else would he be able to dye the Hokage's robes bright orange without being caught? It wasn't the contents of the building that caused his displeasure; it was the people guarding said contents. How was he supposed to learn anything from the place if the damn librarians kept all the scrolls from him? He sighed. Maybe he'd have a chance at learning something this time. There were thirty other people to distract the vultures, after all.

After an hour of his attempts at studying being constantly thwarted by the people who were supposed to be there to help, Naruto threw in the towel with an ice-cold glare at the matronly librarian who had confiscated the scroll he had been reading about the founding of Konoha. The blond rested his head in his arms with a huff of resignation.

Naruto wasn't so emotionally blind as not to realize that a good percentage of the village really didn't like him. If it hadn't become clear when he'd been thrown out of the orphanage on his fifth birthday, then it had certainly been made so when on the same night he'd been chased into an alley and badly beaten by a crowd of drunken civilians and a few shinobi. If it hadn't been for the intervention of the dog-masked ANBU and his raven-masked companion, Naruto was sure he'd have lost his life that day.

Being pulled out of his reverie by a solid thunk to his head and a bout of fangirlish squealing, Naruto groaned. Lifting his head, his blue eyes locked onto what had caused the rapidly growing bump on his head. Quickly taking in his surroundings he noticed a distinct lack of supervision in his direction, he picked up the scroll and quietly moved toward an abandoned corner he had spotted, Naruto finally had a chance to look at what he'd obtained.

A Beginner's Guide to Fuuinjustu: Theory and Application Vol.1 by the Gallant Jiraiya; annotations by Namikaze Minato, was written in small elegant script down the seam. Quirking an eyebrow at the title and overlooking the author, Naruto figured he might as well take a look. They had talked about sealing at the academy, but had not delved into anything more complicated than storage scrolls and explosive notes. Opening the scroll, Naruto began to read.

To say that Umino Iruka was upset was akin to saying that the Kyuubi was big, or that the Sandaime sometimes enjoyed a smoke. It was an extremely massive understatement. The scarred chuunin was missing a student, a student who had vehemently denied any and all positive feelings toward the library. Uzumaki Naruto was missing and Iruka had yet to find him. When the irate sensei rounded the corner of one of the shelves and noticed the mop of spiky blond hair, he was ready to blow up in rage. However, upon noticing the blond's distinct lack of recognition of his presence Iruka finally took in a sight he had never believed he would see in his lifetime.

Naruto was studying. Voluntarily. His brightly-clad student was bent over a stack of scrolls reading intently and taking copious notes. Upon seeing this, Iruka had to wonder why the blond did so badly in his class. His notes seemed thorough and it appeared as if he actually could concentrate for more than a few minutes at a time – if the size of the stack and the amount of notes was any indication. Iruka, having heard the blue-eyed boy's protests about this trip, was stunned at the sight.

Deciding to leave the blond alone, Iruka directed his teaching assistant to escort the rest of the students back to the academy, indicating that he had something else to take care of. Assuming Iruka meant chasing down the missing student; the other chuunin made no protests and did as asked.

Iruka rejoined Naruto in the back corner of the library watching the growing stack of notes with wide eyes. The chuunin-sensei sat quietly as not to disturb the blond who was studying in Iruka's presence for the first time since he'd met the boy. Iruka was stunned as he watched what many considered the academy's worst student as the boy cross-referenced terms and information from scroll to scroll, continuing to add to the formerly empty scrolls he was using for notes.

After reading the introduction chapter of the scroll that had originally caught his attention, Naruto found that it recommended several other scrolls to have on hand for reference diagrams and information, many of them being written by an Uzumaki – Mito, by name. It was the first time he'd ever heard of someone in Konoha with the same clan name as he had. For the longest time, he'd just assumed that his name was just made up and slapped on him as an infant orphan after the Kyuubi attack. As the scrolls progressed he had learned more about his clan than he ever thought he would. Apparently most of Konoha's fuuinjutsu was based on teachings the Uzumaki had shared with Konoha as part of the alliance between the Uzumaki run village Uzushiogakure and Konohagakure.

It was nearing four in the afternoon when the blond resurfaced from the stack of scrolls in which he'd buried himself. Not noticing the time or Iruka as he began to replace the scrolls in their correct spots on the shelves around his little corner, the blond set about gathering his stuff. When he'd finally stashed the last scroll of his notes in one of the copious pockets in his eye-searingly orange – but supremely functional – jumpsuit, Naruto finally spotted the awestruck chuunin-sensei.

"Um, Iruka-sensei…are you alright?"

The chuunin nodded, bringing his facial expression back under control, "Yes, Naruto. I'm fine. It's you that I'm worried about."

"Why, sensei? I was studying like you brought us here for dattebayo." The blond tilted his head to the side in confusion.

"That's what had me over here in the first place. You missed the call to go back to the academy. It's nearing four in the afternoon; we were scheduled to go back around lunch time."

The blond frowned, straightening up, "Am I in trouble, Iruka-sensei?"

Iruka smiled softly at the blond and shook his head, "No, you're not in trouble, Naruto, but there are some things I want to talk to you about. Would you like to join me for some ramen? Neither of us have had lunch yet."

Naruto eyed the chuunin warily, but decided that if Iruka said he wasn't in trouble, then he really wasn't and agreed to join the tanned man for a late lunch. The blond nine-year-old had been in the academy since he was six – two years longer than most of his classmates, and had been in several other classes before being transferred to the scarred chuunin's class. The other teachers had often kicked him out of class without reason or given him bent or rusted equipment to train with. At least Iruka had always been reasonable with him, even kind to him after the first few months of cold, but fair treatment.

Naruto followed Iruka out of the library, but turned to catch one last glimpse of the building before following the chuunin to Ichiraku. The library, he decided, wasn't so bad a place so long as he didn't have the attention of the librarians focused on him.

Geeting Teuchi as they entered the ramen stand, Iruka told Naruto to order what he wanted. After ordering the chuunin decided to get down to business.

"Naruto, I want to talk to you about what I saw at the library."

Naruto looked at the older man in confusion, finished the noodles in his mouth and replied, "But Sensei, you said I wasn't in trouble -ttebayo,"

"You're not in trouble," Iruka reassured, "I just want to know why you don't apply yourself to classwork like you did today at the library. I always thought you just had trouble sitting still and paying attention, but you seemed to be able to concentrate just fine in the library." The chuunin clarified.

Naruto looked down at his noodles and sighed, deciding to trust Iruka. "Iruka-sensei, before you became my teacher I was regularly kicked out of class without reason, and more than half the time I was taught the wrong material only to find out when I got my failed tests back."

The chuunin-sensei was both thunderstruck and angry. Finding out his fellow chuunin had been sabotaging a hardworking student rankled him. It was their job to pass on the Will of Fire, not smother it! "Why didn't you try learning from the textbooks then? They're standard and should have all the information you need to pass the tests," the chuunin prodded, wondering where the boy's studying skills had come from.

Naruto looked up at the chuunin and studied him with serious blue eyes, causing the scarred 19-year-old a little consternation. Seeming to find what he was looking for in Iruka's expression he turned back to his bowl, "This isn't really the place to discuss these things, Iruka-sensei," the blond said, puzzling the chuunin. "Let's finish eating, and I'll take you somewhere I'll answer your questions. We're in far too public a space for me to be comfortable answering questions like this dattebayo."

Iruka's eyes grew wide. The blond's vocabulary and social awareness seemed to expand the more they spent together. Nodding in assent, the chuunin finished his ramen and waited for the blond to do the same; eager to solve the mysteries Naruto presented.

Slowly, Naruto finished his ramen, savoring what was probably the only full meal he'd get that day. Standing up, he thanked the old ramen chef and led Iruka out of the stall. The chuunin followed the blue-eyed boy along several seldom used paths through the forest lining the village walls, wondering where Naruto was taking him. Finally, Naruto led Iruka up an obscure trail that led to the top of the Hokage monument.

Thinking they were there, Iruka began to speak but was quickly hushed by Naruto before being led through more trees until the blond reached a clearing with a stream running through it feeding a small lake. The clearing seemed to have been used as a training ground, as there were a few tree stumps in the middle that had been wrapped with hemp rope at some point to be used as training posts for taijutsu. The blond pulled his teacher over to a few flat boulders that cantilevered a few feet above the lake indicating Iruka should sit.

Naruto looked at Iruka sternly as if he were the adult and Iruka the child and said, "This is a place only Hokage-jiji and I know about. I come here often and can tell when it's been used and usually by whom. If I find anyone else has been here, I will know who told them the location and you won't be hearing anything else out of me. Clear?" The chuunin nodded, his eyes wide. "I'm going to say this now, to get it out of the way. I'm placing a whole lot more trust in you than I have ever placed in anybody other than Sandaime-ojii-san. I hope you are worthy of that trust," the blond said with a resigned sigh.

"I hope to prove myself trustworthy to you, Naruto. I'm here to listen when you're ready to talk."

Naruto closed his eyes and took a deep breath, readying himself to speak of things he'd never even spoken to the Hokage about. "To be honest Iruka-sensei, I have tried studying out of the textbooks. I know that usually students get standard issue textbooks, but when you're the 'monster,' or 'demon child,'" Iruka stuttered something along the lines of 'don't talk like that, where'd you hear…' but Naruto just ignored him and continued, "some things are not the way they should be. Most of my textbooks are missing large chunks of vital information; the page count is nearly half of the standard issue books." Naruto looked at the scarred teenager. "I'm not blind or deaf Iruka-sensei; I know what the majority of the village thinks of me. They're not really discreet about it, dattebayo. When you're set up to fail, the only way to succeed is to fail at face value and succeed in private." The blond relocated his gaze toward the water. "I'm not stupid, Iruka-sensei," the blond said, "part of the reason I act like an idiot most of the time isn't really to get attention, but to relocate the attention that I already get. If I'm going to get negative attention I might as well get it for stuff I actually do, rather than stuff they think I did." The blond snorted in self-deprecation and Iruka's eye widened in surprise, "The best way to get people to stop being afraid of you is to take away the fear factor. If I act like a stupid unsuccessful failure of a shinobi who plays pranks and wears eye-searing colors for attention they're less likely to fear me than if I'm smart and seem to know what I'm doing -ttebayo." Naruto said sardonically moving to lie on his back to watch the clouds through the treetops.

Iruka was surprised and saddened to hear such logic from a child not even ten-years-old, "Naruto, I want to see you succeed. If you need help you can come to me, that's what I'm here for as your teacher."

"As I said before, none of the other teachers wanted to help me. They set me up to fail! I had to know you were different from them before I could even chance putting that kind of trust in you, Iruka-sensei," the blond said in a harsh whisper, sounding as if he was trying to hold back tears. Iruka moved toward Naruto slowly and wrapped the younger boy in a hug. Naruto stiffened, unused to the positive human contact. Feeling Naruto's insecurity, the scarred teen just continued to hold him until he began to relax. They sat together in silence watching the sky change color through the treetops, as the heavens darkened and the stars began to come out Iruka looked at his blond student and noticed he had fallen asleep. Lifting Naruto as he stood, he decided to bring the blond home with him for the night, not wanting to leave him alone as he was sure to be in the morning otherwise. Iruka wondered just where this day had brought him in regard to his blond student.

Well, there it is. Tell me what you think, comments, questions and suggestions are welcome whether as Reviews or PMs. Follows and Favorites are also welcome.

Thank you!

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