I Own Nothing. Sadly.

A Visit that can Change Lives! Academic Happiness!

Naruto Uzumaki wasn't your run-of-the-mill orphan. He was, as every orphan was, without a parent. He was, as every orphan was, lonely. He was, as every orphan was, sad. He wasn't, as almost every orphan was, looked at with pity and kindness however.

No Naruto Uzumaki was looked at with disdain and hatred. Simply walking down the streets incurred several cruel beatings. He had no idea why, but the entire population of Konohagakure no Sato seemed to hate him. He had very few precious people, in fact the only ones he could name of the top of his head were Hiruzen Sarutobi, or as he had dubbed the Hokage, jiji, Ayame, a girl who helped her father run a nearby ramen shop, and Teuchi, the father of said girl. It was sad actually, a boy his age, eleven, being hated by everyone.

Naruto looked glum as he walked over to the Hokage tower. His usual bright cerulean eyes filled with mischief and happiness were dull and sad, and his blond spiky hair covered his eyes. He was glared at by the people of the village; however they weren't dumb enough to do anything to him so close to the Hokage. Even the Anbu that were supposed to watch him, but usually slacked off, were paying attention.

Naruto walked through the doors of the tower and straight past the secretary; however he earned a glare from her at doing so. She hated him to, although she would at least appreciate it when demons respected her. She wasn't bottom-of-the-barrel trash like him.

He walked up the stairs of the bleak tower before he turned, looking at the double, wooden doors in front of him. He sighed and pushed them in, speaking in a timid voice.

"Jiji?"

The man sitting at the desk looked at Naruto with shock. The man was light skinned of below-average stature with grey spiked hair with a small goatee. He had pronounced cheekbones, few wrinkles, and a wart near his left nostril and a few liver-spots. He wore the customary hat of the Hokage and a haori, along with a red, full-length kimono that was tied using a white sash. He was smoking a pipe.

However, the man was shocked by Naruto's clothes. The black shirt with the red spiral in the middle was in tatters, and his orange shorts had been nearly torn off. It made him seriously wonder if the Anbu he sent to guard Naruto did their job, and even more than that, if the villagers of Konoha had all but lost their mind. He understood them not understanding much about fuinjutsu, but this was ridiculous.

"Come in Naruto."

The boy walked in the room, not releasing any of his usual brash and extroverted behavior. In fact, if anything he looked scared. He ignored the oval room, that while usually filled with stacks of unfinished paperwork, was clean and the large window behind the old mans back.

He began to talk, "Jiji why do people hate me?"

Hiruzen sighed. He couldn't tell the boy about the Kyuubi, even if the three whisker marks per cheek gave it away quite easily, it would be foolhardy; however he couldn't just leave him there wondering. Sometimes he hated being the Hokage, paperwork, the spawn of the devil, giving out missions knowing that some of his shinobi were not going to return from, and this, lying to the people he cared about.

"Naruto they are not wise. They do not see you for you, but only for a creature that used to live in the village. They are blinded by hatred, and take it out on you."

"But why me!?"

"I don't know."

Naruto frowned as he sat down on the hardwood floor. "Why me…"

Hiruzen frowned at the boy. He truly pitied him, and in a way he was his only true precious person. It pained him that he had to lie to the boy, especially when he had so few that cared about him, but he had no choice.

"Naruto how was your day at the Academy?"

"Bad, there were these big jerks that picked on me and then I had to spar with Sasuke, and of course he won, so all the girls fawned over him, AGAIN!"

'It comes with being an Uchiha. Girls fall for the dark look, it's weird though. Naruto's personality, if he matured, would be perfect for many girls,' the Hokage thought, chuckling to himself. However, he noticed that talking about the Academy seemed to cheer Naruto up, as he had begun to yell, so he pressed the topic.

"Make any friends?"

"Well…no."

And just like that the mood was killed. He really wished Minato was here, it would help so much. The man could relate to Naruto.

"I'm sorry about that Naruto, however I may have something that can cheer you up."

Naruto immediately went back to his normal behavior, an exuberant brat or, more specifically, an exceedingly hyper, short, blonde haired brat. He ran over to where the Hokage was, bouncing up and down with excitement.

"What is it? What is it?"

"Calm down Naruto," the old man chuckled out before he opened the drawer to his desk. He grabbed a small card from the desk drawer.

"Naruto, you said that you wanted to become the Hokage right?"

Naruto nodded, still wanting to know what his gift was.

"Well, this card gives you access to the shinobi library. Now originally I wouldn't let you have this card until you were a shinobi, however you seem to be in a dire situation, so I'll let it slide. Grab something you think may be helpful. The basics on shuriken and kunai throwing, a taijutsu style, chakra theory, and I think you may have a natural knack for fuinjutsu. Also, if you want to be Hokage you have to be well educated in politics, meaning get a few books on that. Also, get a change of clothes with this money, it should help. NO ORANGE. Shinobi are not supposed to stick out like a sore thumb."

The Hokage handed Naruto money, looking strictly at him.

"Okay, but the shops don't let me go in them."

"Well, for the library just say the Hokage is allowing you to since I control it. As for the shops, there is one shop you could enter, called Higarashi Shinobi. Go there, it should be helpful."

Naruto nodded excitedly, before rushing out of the room. He was going to go to the library immediately, and then focus on training. He was going to rub it in that Uchiha's face when he got to the Academy tomorrow.

The Hokage smiled. Now if only he could get those Anbu straightened out, and make sure that he could help the boy along. While he didn't have enough time on his hands to personally train the boy he knew two people who would love to train him. One was the only other man who knew who Naruto's parents were other than Jiraiya and Tsunade and the other was a purple haired, blood loving woman.

XxX

Naruto pushed open the doors of the library, smiling all the time. He frowned when he saw all the books however. He hated books, absolutely hated them. If you gave him a jutsu or other cool new technique he would be all for it, however books were the bane of his existence. They were, simply put, evil beyond belief.

He walked through the library, trying to find anything of use. As he walked down the 'Shinobi Basics,' aisle he found a book that looked helpful.

"'The Guide to Being a Good Ninja.' Sounds good."

Naruto grabbed the book before continuing on his journey. By the time he had reached the fuinjutsu aisle he had several books and scrolls in his hands, all on exactly what he was told to get. However, his luck, which was actually quite good to get this far and not get caught, had run out.

"What are you doing here demon," sneered a lady.

He turned to face the black haired lady. She had caramel eyes, which just screamed out hatred, and wore a red dress.

"The Hokage said I could be here, I even have his card," Naruto said, producing the card as if he could pull things from midair.

The lady frowned. She knew the Hokage and the boy were close, although she had no idea why such a sacred person like the Hokage would want to protect something that was worse than filth. Still, the Hokage would support the boy over herself so she could do nothing but have fits about the demon being in her library. She would definitely lose business over this.

"Fine, but if you ruin any book you're paying for a new one," she said, stalking away, obvious anger in her steps.

Naruto smirked and continued on his way.

XxX

Naruto had gotten all of the books that he needed. Now he was headed to the Higarashi Shinobi shop. While he knew it wasn't in the civilian shops section, as they rarely had decent shinobi gear, he didn't know where in the shinobi shopping section it was in. He hoped that he would pass it on his walks through the area, but that in itself was doubtful. Looking up was painful.

While the shinobi seemed to not hate him as much the ones that did hate him hated him with a passion. The amount decreased, but the pressure increased. He would show them. He would show all of them that he would be the best ninja and Hokage ever. Everyone would respect him then.

He continued his search for the place before spotting the shop. It was surrounded by small tress and had a katana as its logo. He walked inside the shop to see a massive array of weapons that made him drool.

He was never much of a person for weapons, he liked relying on kunai and shuriken as his main weapons, but the sight of this many was attracting, but he wouldn't use any of them.

"Excuse me, are you lost?"

Naruto turned sharply, surprised by the appearance of the girl. She had dark brown eyes and brown hair. She wore a pink sleeveless qipao-style blouse with red sleeve trimmings and yellow fastened buttons, with dark green pants and standard blue ninja sandals. Her hair had Chinese-style buns on either side of her head with short fringe-bangs falling over her forehead.

"Hello, little guy," the girl said.

Naruto stumbled over words before blushing. "Hi."

She smiled, at him. "You're so cute. What are you here for?"

"I came to get some new clothes."

"Oh, aren't you a civilian though? Dressing like a shinobi might not be a good idea if you are."

"I am a civilian now, but I'm graduating from the Academy next year."

The girl smiled. "Interesting. I'm graduating from the Academy this year, so I'll be one year your senior."

Naruto frowned. "Then I'll just be better than you."

The girls smile grew dark before she hit him on the head. "DREAM ON BRAT!"

Naruto struggled to stand before smiling at her again. "What's your name?

"Tenten, what about you?"

"Naruto Uzumaki, the man who's gonna become Hokage, believe it!"

Tenten giggled at the eleven year olds cuteness. He was a troublemaker, she could see it in him, but she also could see his potential. It was great, above average; he just needed to be sculpted in the right way.

"Well anyways follow me to the clothing section."

She led him over to the abundant shinobi clothing area. All of it was in top condition, and it surprised him, he had never seen clothing so well taken care of before. It was, if nothing else, impressive.

Tenten then gave him a wad of clothes.

"Try those on, I'll tell you what I think."

After much trial and error Naruto and Tenten came to a style that they both liked. Naruto wore black shinobi pants that ended at the standard shinobi sandals. Dark orange bandages were wrapped around his right arm, and he wore a dark orange shirt. Over all of this he wore a black, unzipped coat with dark orange trim. She had tried to get him to ditch the orange, but he refused, saying he would rather die than go without it. For some reason, she believed him.

"Better, anything else?"

"Yeah, could I get about 100 kunai, 150 shuriken, some training weights, a sealing scroll, smoke bombs, ninja wire, and some explosive tags?"

"Sure," Tenten cheerily responded.

She quickly grabbed the items before putting them on the counter and counting up the cost of Naruto's items.

"All-in-all this will cost… 15000 yen."

Naruto groaned. That was the exact amount Sarutobi had given him, and he had wanted to save the majority of it. However, apparently now he could not. He had to get better; he wasn't good enough to be a ninja as it was right now. Getting better could save his life in the future.

"Here you go."

Naruto smiled and grabbed the items. He could barely carry everything, including the books he still had from the library. He would manage though. He didn't want to seem weak in front of his first friend; well he would consider her to be a friend. He smiled at Tenten before rushing off yelling a quick, "Bye!" over his shoulder.

Tenten smiled and waved at the eleven year old. She couldn't wait until he became a ninja.

XxX

Naruto had briefly stopped at his house to get everything settled in. He had only staid long enough to put down the things he wasn't going to use before he rushed off to one of the villages training grounds, weights on his legs and arms of course. He actually didn't know of many, only training ground 42 and training ground 30. He knew there were more, but he had never found them.

He decided to take training ground 42 as it was closer to the village, surprisingly as it had the higher number. He had quickly settled down. It was still early in the day, and he had enough time to train. As of now he was reading the basics on throwing kunai and shuriken. He had to slap his forehead at how simple it was. All this time he had been gruffly throwing the kunai, but he was supposed to let it flow with a flick of his wrist. He couldn't believe he hadn't noticed that.

He grabbed the 20 shuriken and kunai he had brought with him, ten of each, before looking at the tree that stood in front of him. He smiled at it, before realizing something. He needed targets. He frowned at that, there was no way for him to actually make any. He just had to shrug it off. He'd get something next time.

He took all the shuriken, five in each hand, before launching them the way the book told him to. While it wasn't as good as he had hoped he had hit more than his usual three out of then. He had actually hit five.

"YATA! This is great! By the end of the day I'll be able to hit all of the shuriken and kunai!"

And so began Naruto's first day of self-preservation training.

XxX

Naruto awoke with a groan the next day. He had stayed up late last night training hard. While he hadn't been able to hit all of the shuriken he had improved, as he had with the kunai. He had read up on politics, which bored him to no end, and on chakra theory and how to improve your chakra control. He had even learned why his Bunshin (Clone Technique) was so bad. He had too much chakra and not enough control. He had begun to practice that, however spinning a leaf on his hand, as was the first step to basic chakra control, had been unsuccessful so far. Lastly, he had found a scroll that actually suited him with taijutsu. While he usually just fought like a brawler, this taijutsu was useful, as it felt comfortable when he practiced and it was all about lethal strikes. It was a martial art called Krav Maga. All-in-all his training had been going good so far, with little low moments.

Naruto quickly threw on his brand new clothes. He wouldn't wear the old ones anymore or more like he couldn't as they were torn to shreds. These were the only clothes he had, and he planned to take care of them. He went into the bathroom and quickly got ready before rushing out into the kitchen. He didn't know how to cook, he realized as he walked in the kitchen.

He would have to fix that soon. He had also learned that eating food healthily helped you get taller, and since he was short for his age, he would start to eat right. He hated being teased about his height and planned to fix it.

He just grabbed some bread and stuffed it in his mouth. He didn't have enough time to have ramen today, which truly saddened him. After all, ramen, in his opinion, was the food of the Gods.

He ran, or more like fast walked as the weights were heavy, down the street, ignoring the glares adults sent his way. He was happy, ecstatic even, and nothing would bring him down. Why, you may ask? Because now he could rub everything he learned in that Uchiha's face.

To be honest Naruto didn't hate Sasuke. In fact, he wanted to be friends with the boy, as they both knew the curse of loneliness, although Sasuke had once had parents. However, since they died Naruto felt like he should be his friend, not only so they could support each other, but because Sasuke reminded Naruto of himself. Naruto wanted to remove that look of darkness and sadness in his eyes.

Naruto ran into the huge building, past the secretary. The Academy was quite large and was comprised of several buildings which were erected over time. The building could be identified by the tree in front of it which has a swing on it and more so, by the giant sign with the kanji for, 'Fire,' on it.

Naruto walked into his classroom, smiling at the teacher. He was earlier than usual, which surprised Iruka, the teacher, greatly. Naruto usually came in late, to catch everyone's attention.

The classrooms were large and had high ceilings. In front of the blackboard in the front of the room was a podium, situated far from the students' desks and put in a position where the teacher could view everyone at once.

Iruka Umino was a man of average height and build. He had brown hair that he kept in a ponytail, dark eyes and a scar that ran across the bridge of his nose. He wore the standard Konoha shinobi outfit complete with a forehead protector, sandals, and flak jacket.

"Why are you here so early Naruto?"

"I just felt like it," Naruto said, smiling.

He quickly walked to the back of the class. Only three other people were here, Mizuki, Sasuke Uchiha, or as Naruto had dubbed him, teme, and Hinata Hyuga. Mizuki had shoulder-length, white hair that had a slight tint of blue to it and green eyes. He wore the standard attire of a Konoha-nin, including the flak jacket and forehead protector, which was worn like a bandanna.

Hinata had dark blue hair and fair skin. She had the customary white eyes of her clan, the Hyuga clan, which had a tinge of lavender in them. Her bluish-black hair, with the blue being an undertone, was in a short, leveled hime-cut style just above her forehead, with chin-length strands framing her face. She wore a cream-colored hooded-jacket with a fire symbol on the upper right and left sleeves and fur around the cuffs and hem, with navy blue pants.

Sasuke was a fair-skinned ninja who had onyx eyes and black chin-length hair. His hair was spiky in the back with bangs. The bangs roughly framed his face. He wore the traditional Uchiha clothing: a navy blue, short-sleeved shirt with a high collar and the Uchiha crest on the back and white arm warmers, along with white shorts.

Naruto took out the one book he had brought with him to school as he waited for everyone to trickle in the class. It was a book on fuinjutsu, the only book he hadn't been able to get to when he trained yesterday. As he began reading about it he smiled. The book, 'The Art of Sealing,' written by this guy named Jiraiya, had a warning on the first page. It said, "You must have perfect handwriting to use fuinjutsu!" in all capital letters. This was what made Naruto smile. He had perfect handwriting, Hiruzen had told him so, as did Iruka. It was surprising considering the fact that he didn't like to write unless it helped him fight.

That's what made fuinjutsu perfect for him.

He hated writing, but he loved fighting. Fuinjutsu allowed you to write and use that writing in battle for unlimited affects. It gave a prankster like Naruto many ideas. All he had to do was learn it. He continued to read, until Iruka had called his name. Class had started, even though it felt like five minutes to him, when it really had been an hour.

"Naruto, class is starting, please put the book away…wait."

The entire class stared at him as if he had grown a second head.

"What?"

"YOU'RE READING!" they hollered at the blonde.

Naruto blushed, slightly embarrassed at the fact they thought he disliked reading. It wasn't false, but he could handle it when necessary.

"I don't like reading, but I admit it can be helpful," he mumbled. This caused the entire class to stare at him with a questioning gaze before looking at Iruka, who began teaching.

XxX

Naruto was bored out of his mind at the moment. Iruka was teaching the history of Konoha, and while Naruto liked this part of the day the best, at least the part when they were inside the classroom, however, he had promised the Hokage that he would be better than all of the previous Hokages, and doing that meant knowing your history.

This surprised the person who sat next to him, Shikamaru Nara. The boy had a surprised expression; however it was usually one of laziness or irritation. He had shoulder-length black hair tied in a spiky ponytail and narrow brown eyes. He wore a simple pair of silver hoop earrings. He wore a green lined mesh T-shirt under a short sleeved gray jacket with green edges, adorned on both the sleeves and the back was a circle with a line through it. He completed his clothing style with brown pants and blue shinobi sandals.

"You're actually paying attention Naruto?"

Naruto looked at Shikamaru, a bored expression on his face.

"Unfortunately."

"Troublesome," Shikamaru said, however Iruka noticed their conversation and yelled at them.

"Naruto Uzumaki, Shikamaru Nara, stop talking!"

The two were laughed at by the rest of the class, but they just shrugged it off. However, Iruka wasn't done with them.

"Shikamaru, who did the first Hokage battle after the creation of the village?"

It was something Iruka did often. If he ever caught you not paying attention he would ask you a question on the topic, to make sure that the embarrassment would make you learn more as you didn't want to look like a fool. It worked, on almost everyone, however three boys, Naruto, Shikamaru, and Chouji just didn't care.

"Madara Uchiha," Shikamaru responded in a bored tone.

Iruka just frowned. The boy wasn't wrong, but such lack of enthusiasm wasn't good for a ninja. However, the boy was a Nara, so it was expected of them to be lazy, the entire clan, at least the males, were.

However, Iruka still had to peg Naruto.

"Naruto, who was Madara Uchiha?"

Iruka knew he had Naruto. The boy never truly listened, but something was off about today. If he could get him this time Naruto may actually start trying in school. He wasn't expecting the answer Naruto gave.

"Madara Uchiha was a legendary shinobi and a former leader of the Uchiha clan. After allying with his rival, Hashirama Senju, also known as the first Hokage, their two clans created Konohagakure to achieve peace in the world. He eventually came to an impasse with Hasirama and defected from the village. However, he came back with the Kyuubi no Yoko to battle Hashirama for the position of Hokage. He lost, and died in the battle."

The entire class froze at the answer. Naruto answered a question…correctly. NARUTO! The dead-last, the loser, the orphan, the freak. He answered a question correctly when he rarely paid any attention in class.

"C-correct," Iruka said, stumbling over his words.

He turned and continued to teach, although he promised that he had to keep a closer eye on Naruto from here on out.

XxX

It was time for lunch, and Naruto had decided to go up to the roof to eat. He had brought a small bento that he bought early yesterday for himself to eat. As he sat down on a nearby table he looked around. He began to eat before he heard a shout. His head snapped up and he saw some bullies picking on the Hyuga in his class, not that he knew that, to him she was just some girl. The bullies were in the grade above his. He growled when he saw that. Who did they think they were? They didn't have the right to bully her.

He marched over there and shouted, "Hey leave her alone!" The bullies turned and glared at Naruto before breaking out into raucous laughter.

"You think you can hurt us, dead-last?"

Naruto growled. "Just leave her alone."

The bullies smiled.

"HOW ABOUT NO!"

The three bullies charged, all lifting their fists to punch Naruto. However, Naruto dodged the first one before punching him in the gut. He didn't turn fast enough however, and was hit from behind by another one. He turned, growling before jumping in the air. He came in with a flying side kick that landed straight in one of the boys' chest, sending him to the ground groaning.

He still had two more to deal with however, as they began to use combination attacks against him.

'These guys fight well together,' Naruto thought, however he wasn't the only one paying attention to the fight.

'Amazing,' thought Hinata.

'The dobe can fight this well? Maybe he isn't as bad as I thought.' Sasuke thought, a quick smirk gracing his face.

One boy came in alone, getting bold at them keeping Naruto on the ropes. He threw a straight punch, preparing to knock Naruto's block off. However, Naruto jumped backwards, forcing the boy to hyperextend his elbow.

The boy hissed in pain and dropped to the ground; however Naruto came in with a swift low kick to the boys' side and left him groaning on the ground. However, he was hit from behind by the last boy, also the most polished taijutsu fighter among them.

"What's your name kid?" the boy asked, slightly interested at the so-called dead-last that took down two of his friends.

"Naruto Uzumaki, what about you?"

"Raylin Shuga, nice to meet you," the boy said before charging.

During this charge Naruto took in Raylin's appearance. He wore a dark blue shirt, with a black vest over it. He had brown eyes and black hair, with bangs that fell over his eyebrows. He wore dark brown pants, with shinobi sandals on his feet.

Raylin threw a roundhouse kick at Naruto's face; however the small boy ducked under the kick, only to be caught by a hook kick to the face that sent him tumbling.

'I've heard of this style. He uses Karate, and that technique. That was a roundhouse kick hook kick combination, he's good.'

Raylin charged again, bringing his fist up to guard his face. Naruto lifted his leg, preparing to lash out with a side kick; however the boy grabbed Naruto's leg and held it in place. He then swung it to the side, sending Naruto off balance. As the blonde fell Raylin smashed a knee into his forehead, drawing blood.

Naruto spat some blood out of his mouth, trying to look like he was fine, but truly his head was spinning. This guy hit hard, very hard. He had never been hit this hard, even by the villagers that tended to beat him.

Naruto looked up to see a fist coming towards his face, however he ducked, albeit it barely. He saw an opening, but he knew he would have to capitalize on it immediately to get passed the older boys defense. He swung up for an elbow smash towards Raylin's head, however the older boy ducked. Naruto smiled at seeing that and brought his elbow down into the back of Raylin's head. As the boy stumbled Naruto brought his knee into Raylin's face, knocking the boy out.

"Take that," he shouted, smiling as Raylin fell to the ground.

Again he felt the eyes of many people on him. It was unnerving. While he liked attention they were staring at him as if he was a completely different person. He turned his face down and walked back over to where Hinata was.

"Are you okay?"

"Y-y-yes," the girl responded shyly.

Naruto then looked at her intently, causing her already rosy cheeks to burn.

"You're in my class right?"

"Y-y-y-yes, I'm Hinata Hyuga," the girl said, still a little shy around the blonde.

"Nice to meet you Hinata-san. I'm Naruto Uzumaki, believe it!"

Naruto then frowned at the girl. "You know, you shouldn't let those guys pick on you."

The girl looked saddened at that. "B-b-but there s-s-so b-big, how am I s-s-supposed to fight against that?"

Naruto smiled. "By getting stronger! I'll help you too."

The girl smiled and nodded timidly.

"Well then, follow me Hinata-chan, you have made yourself a friend today, a friend who will one day become the Hokage."

The girl smiled. She liked this boy. He was nice and didn't look down on her for being timid. She truly hoped she could be his friend.