Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any other affiliated characters, locations or ideas. I do own all original content including characters, locations, jutsu and plot lines. Likeness to any real people or places is unintentional and coincidental.

Extended summery: Naruto, the young container of the Kyuubi has known only loneliness and hatred, but what if by some miracle he manages to graduate one full year early? And what if Rock Lee didn't quite prove himself and failed? Can Naruto keep up with the wild Gai-sensei, the genius Neji and the dexterous Tenten? Can he prove his ninja ability to Sakura and win her heart, or more importantly; will he ever realize his dream of becoming the strongest Hokage ever?

Author's Note: I hadn't realized that the "Neo" in the fiction name could be confused with the main character from the Matrix. I'm sorry for any misconceptions, but I'd like to make it clear that I do not plan on making a crossover with the Matrix; Naruto Neo is a new look at the Naruto storyline where one change in the beginning vastly changes the world. Again, sorry for those of you looking forward to "jacking in to Konoha" but this is not a crossover fic.

Naruto Neo Pilot Chapter: Konoha's Green Beast

- Konoha academy -

Iruka sighed at the determined look on Naruto's face. It was the end of their fourth year in the academy and the eleven year old blonde had very loudly announced that he wanted to take the graduation exam. "Naruto, you know that you're not ready!"

"I've trained like crazy, Iruka-sensei!" Naruto exclaimed, jumping up on top of his desk to point at the chuunin, "I don't have parents so I was able to train twice as hard as anyone here! I stayed up late every night this year to improve…"

"Sure you stayed up late, but you were also late for every class because you slept in!" Iruka retorted sternly, causing all of the children in the class to jeer and laugh at Naruto's expense.

In a low and dangerous voice, Naruto made one last try, "If you won't let me even try, then you're a failure as a teacher. I've sworn on the Hokage Mountain that I'll become stronger than all of them combined; even if I have to kick your ass to prove it, Iruka-sensei."

Ignoring the threat, the chuunin was none-the-less impressed with the kid's persistence. He'd always been stubborn, and the first day that he learned about the Hokage's of Konoha he began to continuously claim that he'd best them all. Finally his kind heart went out to the boy and he sighed heavily, "Ok. You failed last year, so let's see how you do this time. But remember, if you fail three times then we cannot accept you as a student in the academy."

"I won't even be here for the third try; give me the exam, Iruka-sensei." Naruto demanded, still standing on top of his desk and ignoring the jeering eleven year olds. Except for Haruno Sakura; he could never ignore her!

"You're such a brat, Naruto." she said hurtfully. "Even I'm not ready for the graduation exam yet; Sasuke might be, but not you!"

That hurt. But it only served to rekindle his resolve; because now he had to impress the pink-haired girl he coveted so much.

"I'll take the exam, too." a low, extremely serious voice stated. Everyone looked towards its source, not surprised that it had come from none other than Uchiha Sasuke. "If this bubbling idiot has a snowball's chance in hell, then there's no reason that I can't ace it." Quite unlike Naruto, the raven-haired boy received praises and cheers from his classmates, not to mention nearly 12 girls swooning.

Already having been tamed by Naruto, Iruka silently took out two copies of the graduation exam. Not to be upstaged by these children, Iruka rocketed past Naruto before gently, yet forcefully, striking him in the middle of his chest with his palm. As the blonde cried out and flew back into the air Iruka zipped around behind him and lifted the boy's seat. Nimbly, the chuunin caught Naruto out of the air with the seat before dexterously setting both the chair and its occupant on the ground and sliding it back under the desk. On the desk in front of the blonde was his exam, dropped by the teacher milliseconds before he performed the flashy show of skill.

"Woah, I didn't even see him move!" Ami gasped in awe, staring wide-eyed at Iruka, who was smiling superiorly at the children.

"Iruka-sensei really put that Naruto brat in his place, didn't he?" a nameless boy mentioned in an impressed voice.

"He deserved it." Sakura scoffed, shutting her eyes and crossing her arms. "I kind of hope that he manages to pass the exam. That way he'll be out of my hair for once."

Towards the back of the room, hidden from Naruto by her hands and her neighbor's shoulder, Hinata was frowning at the blonde, worried that Iruka had hurt him. Or will hurt him when he announces that Naruto failed the exam. "Poor Naruto…" she moaned softly, way too quietly to hear over the louder students in the class.

After calmly setting Sasuke's exam in front of him, Iruka announced to the rest of the class that they were going out to practice walking along a rope tied across a pool. So as their classmates stood up to follow their teacher out to the on-grounds training area, Naruto and Sasuke both made a pact that they would not lose to each other, though for their own reasons.

- Hours later -

Iruka once again had to put class on hold when Naruto finally completed the written exam. "Alright, Uchiha Sasuke," Iruka urged calmly, "perform the bunshin no jutsu and create one clone."

"Too easy." Sasuke muttered as he skillfully performed the required hand seals and began concentrating on creating an illusionary clone of himself. When he was ready he activated the molded chakra and leaned his head back, grinning to himself at his accomplishment.

Suddenly raucous laughter filled the room, followed by Naruto exclaiming, "So much for the mighty Sasuke!" Of course he ignored the resulting tirade from the kid's fan base.

"What are you talking about, moron?" the Uchiha demanded coldly as he glanced to his right, spotting his clone, "I performed the jutsu perfectly."

"Oh, really?" Naruto goaded with a smirk, "I don't know too many ghosts that can use the bunshin no jutsu."

"Ghosts? What is this idiot babbling about now?" Sasuke murmured to himself as both his and his clone's eyes traveled down the illusion's body. They both paused, frowning at the scene. True to what Naruto had claimed, the fake Sasuke was floating a foot off of the ground, having nothing beyond his faded knees.

"I'll give you one more try, Uchiha." Iruka mentioned sternly.

"I only need one more attempt." Sasuke grumbled before clearing his mind and focusing on the task at hand. This time he made sure to form the legs. "Bunshin no jutsu!"

Iruka held out his hand before turning his thumb down at the ground and saying, "Fail." in a voice that said that he knew it would happen.

Sasuke glared first at Iruka before looking towards his clone to see what was wrong. This time, the clone Sasuke faded from his abdomen and trailed out, leaving him headless. Of course Naruto was having a fit of laughter at this, rolling on the ground and clutching his stomach as he enjoyed watching the genius fail. "It's just a worthless illusion anyway…" he scoffed before pulling out an eraser and skillfully tossing it through the clone to disperse it. The pink rubber sailed through the smoke generated by the passing of the clone before flying right into Naruto's open mouth, causing him to gag and jump to his feet and shout in rage.

"I'll kick your ass for real!" the blonde screamed as he took a running step towards his rival. Before Sakura and the other girls could stand up to hold Naruto away from Sasuke, Iruka spoke sternly, "Naruto, I don't want you to waste any more of my class time. Perform the bunshin no jutsu, please." The girls had settled down by the time Sasuke made it back to his desk, ignoring how Sakura apologized for Naruto's behavior.

With a nod, the blonde with slanted eyes and bright orange clothes to resemble the fox monster trapped inside him mentally prepared himself for the jutsu. He widened his stance and took a deep breath before imagining Sasuke's look when he made it. He activated it.

Ino laughed the loudest, "Look at that pathetic thing! It's too tired to even stand!" True to her words, Naruto's clone was crumpled on the ground gasping for breath and shaking in an effort to roll over. He had used every drop of chakra that he had molded simply to create the clone, leaving it with nothing of its own to draw on.

Iruka sighed and put his face in his hands only to moan, "Naruto…" into them, sounding quite disappointed.

"Ah! You gave Sasuke a second chance! You have to let me go again!" Naruto exclaimed loudly, pointing at the eleven year old Uchiha. Iruka gave in, allowing Naruto one last try. "I'll show you this time." the blonde muttered as he formed the first seal and held it so that he could concentrate. 'I have to do better than Sasuke…' he thought, feeling the familiar burning desire to best his rival rising in his stomach. 'No, forget Sasuke! I have to impress Sakura so that she'll like me back!' he corrected, feeling an even stronger feeling rising in his chest. Suddenly, he was enveloped in a strong tingly sensation as an epiphany struck him, 'This is for me. I have to do the best that I can to prove that my long years of loneliness weren't for nothing. If I'm going to be the strongest, I have to worry about me first.'

With this powerful thought buzzing in his head, Naruto meaningfully performed each seal in turn, each one fueling his desire to prove himself. Finally, with his ears ringing and his heart pounding, he called, "Bunshin no jutsu!" and activated the chakra he'd molded.

Iruka stared dumbfounded at what stood beside Naruto. The entire class was silent as the teacher slowly reached his hand out, thumb to the side to give his decision. Naruto gulped, the suspense tearing at him. Finally Iruka smiled and raised his thumb to the ceiling, "You pass!" he chuckled proudly. Naruto jumped ten feet into the air…

- Two days later -

With his ID taken care of, retaken and everything, Naruto woke early in the morning and went about his morning routine. As he fitted his goggles onto his head, he paused, suddenly realizing that there was something else that belonged on his forehead. The Konoha forehead plate!

Remembering that over ramen last night, Iruka had instructed him to go to the academy for something today. Confused, Naruto did as he was asked. He slid the door to Iruka's class open and entered with his shoulders back and a grin etched into his face. "I'm here, Iruka-sensei! Now what?"

The room became so silent that birds could be heard chirping gaily outside. Naruto noticed that he was being glared at by a large number of students, though once again he failed to notice Hinata smiling shyly down at him. Right now he was too focused on Sasuke, who was glaring at him with such anger and hatred that Naruto could practically hear them digging his grave already.

Finally recovering from his momentary stupor, Iruka addressed Naruto, "You forgot what I said yesterday, didn't you?"

"What? Did I do something wrong?" the boy asked, confused anew.

Iruka sighed, not surprised that he had forgotten. "Naruto, you're supposed to go to Shizuhara-sensei's classroom; it's room 3 - D."

"Oh…" the blonde muttered sheepishly before taking a step backwards and slowly sliding the door shut. He was blushing deeply, aware of how stupid he had looked in front of Sakura. Shaking this off, he turned and stiffly began walking towards his new destination.

- Shizuhara's classroom -

Naruto was treated to more stiff silence as soon as he entered the room full of recent twelve year old graduates. Finally, a girl he'd seen now and again on school grounds spoke to him, "I think you have the wrong room, little guy."

"I think that's Uzumaki Naruto, Tenten." her friend muttered. "You know, the kid that the rumors are about."

"I think he might have spread those rumors to make himself seem cool." a different girl whispered before taking a peek at him from behind her cupped hand. "He's the boy that all of the adults hate."

"What a loser…" a young boy with green hair grunted.

Naruto took it upon himself to correct the girls, "I graduated already, so I'm here to become a real ninja, dattebayo! If anyone thinks that I can't I'll kick your ass!" Feeling better about himself now, Naruto crossed his arms and grinned.

"Enough!" a woman barked sternly from the front of the class. "Have a seat, Uzumaki. I have a lot of names to announce and I won't let you hold me up; I'm not like Iruka, you know." That seemed to clear up the confusion. As instructed, Naruto took a seat. "Now, please come in."

Ten pillars of smoke erupted along the front of the classroom, revealing a man or woman holding the rank of either chuunin or jounin. Among them Kakashi and Gai looked the kids over, the latter muttering that his students looked stronger. Kakashi, in retaliation glanced towards his rival and asked, "What? Did you just say something?" Gai scoffed, impressed with his rival's cool attitude. He was slightly upset that his favorite, Rock Lee, hadn't graduated due to a lack of chakra control.

"Ok, Kurenai-sensei will take team one, consisting of…" Shizuhara-sensei began. It took her twenty minutes to call teams 1 through 8, but now, "Gai-sensei will take team 9, consisting of Hyuuga Neji, Tenten and…" Shizuhara glanced up and turned her piercing black eyes on the blonde before finishing, "Uzumaki Naruto."

- Outside -

After introductions, Gai led the three academy graduates to training area 12, which was a lake with logs pounded through the surface to form the swirling Konoha leaf symbol. The jounin, decked out in green spandex and sporting a tacky bowl-cut stood on the log that represented the end of the stem, while the three prospective students stood on the three logs representing the point of the leaf. They had been required to leave all of their tools and any perishable object back on dry land.

"Yes! This is the ultra-hard, high failure rate genin exam held by yours truly!" the spaz cried excitedly before pointing at the three unimpressed children. "Listen up, because this won't be as easy as you think it is; there's a 66 percent chance that you'll be sent back to the academy!"

"Why the hell did we graduate, then!?" Naruto screamed, nearly falling off of his perch.

"Naruto…" Tenten mumbled to the blonde, "That was to select the thirty students that were even capable of taking the genin exam." She spoke softly, almost as if talking to a baby.

"This loser will hold us back if he somehow manages to become a genin." Neji stated, not bothering to take his white eyes off of Gai-sensei. "It'd be best if I were alone, anyway." Naruto glared.

"Oh! My lovely students are all so full of youthful energy!" Gai exclaimed happily, giving what he thought was a cool pose. In reality it was little more than spastic posturing from a man with a silly haircut and a large nose.

"Let's just get this over with." Neji muttered in an annoyed tone with his arms crossed and his face blank.

"First Sasuke now this guy… I'll show you…" Naruto seethed under his breath as he gave his gaudy sensei his full attention. This caused Tenten to sigh sadly before also turning her attention to Gai-sensei.

"Yes! This is part one!" he cried as he pulled out a sharp kunai and twirled it before catching it skillfully so that it was held upside-down. "I'm going to throw 30 kunai at you guys and you're going to dodge them; if you take more than one hit you disqualify. You are free to move to any log you wish, but you cannot touch the water." To start them off, he threw the first at Neji, who casually hopped in an angle to land just ahead and to the left of Tenten, singling out Naruto in hopes of having him getting disqualified; he still felt that the blonde would be more trouble than he's worth.

Suddenly Gai threw two kunai at his other targets, both of whom managed to move in time, "Yes! We're gonna speed up just a little, go!" As stated, he began to throw the knives faster, forcing the academy students to work harder to avoid them. All except for Neji, who gracefully twirled as he bounded from one log to another, dodging the kunai by very wide margins without breaking a sweat.

As they went, Gai sped up again, but after throwing eight kunai at Neji, only to have them effortlessly evaded, he began to pelt all that he had at Tenten and Naruto. So far he'd hit Tenten once on the left forearm, but had only come close to wounding Naruto. Gai made it obvious that he was aiming at Neji before sliding his finger along the handle as the kunai flew so that it instead curved for Naruto.

Caught off guard, the kunai sank into his right bicep, causing him to grunt in pain and glare. In reply, Naruto yanked the kunai out of his arm and threw it right back at Gai-sensei. The look on his face said that he wouldn't back down, even with the wound. Gai-sensei grinned at this as he casually deflected the weapon with the next one he was going to throw, pleased with the youthful fire burning in the boy. He sped up once more, throwing the knives at both Naruto and Tenten, while pointedly ignoring Neji standing off to the left with his arms crossed.

The jounin managed to mask his emotions when he noticed that he had the 30th kunai in his hand. "Yo!" Gai cried as he sent the kunai rocketing towards Neji, hoping to catch him off guard. It wasn't to be, because the young genius deftly caught the weapon out of the air by the ring on its handle and spun it on his finger.

"Very good." Gai-sensei laughed energetically before pointing right at Tenten and exclaiming, "Now jump in the water, find those kunai and put them into separate piles over there. That's part two."

When the energetic jounin realized they were standing in uncertainty he cried, "You won't impress me by just standing there!" Gai called a mere second before leaping forward and landing between Tenten and Naruto. With a youthful laugh he grabbed them by the shoulders and shoved them off of their logs. Naruto's cry of surprise melded with Tenten's 'Kyaa!' as they flailed and fell backwards, hitting the surface of the water with a great splash!

Neji blinked once as Gai turned towards him to do the same, but before the jounin had a chance, the Byakugan genius performed a graceful back flip and landed feet first into the lake. He had the advantage because of his wide range of vision; this competition was in the bag.

- Minutes later -

Neji stood calmly on dry land with his wet hair matted to his head. Beside him was a pile of the 14 kunai that he had used Byakugan to locate. He watched with subdued interest as Tenten splashed out of the water and came to a stop by her own pile.

"That's the tenth…" she muttered in an exhausted tone before slowly lowering herself to the ground to sit and watch Naruto in his search. She had assumed that they were only supposed to collect their share of the 30 kunai, so she had only picked up a third of them, but after counting Neji's she became concerned for Naruto; he only had four in his hands, leaving just two kunai in the lake. She didn't exactly like him, nor would it bother her greatly if he failed, but she couldn't help but pity the eleven year old.

It took Naruto another five minutes to find the last two kunai and slog up to land. He still wore the same determined look as he glared at Neji, who had effortlessly come in first.

Gai-sensei dashed across the logs, jogged across the water and came to a stop in front of his students, all the while grinning like a madman. "Super work, guys. Now for part three!"

"There's more?" Naruto and Tenten groaned in unison, both visibly worn out from the swimming and holding their breaths for so long.

"This is pathetically easy." Neji murmured to himself, "It's nothing compared to Kakashi's bell test that I failed last year." Like Naruto, Neji had graduated a year early, but unfortunately the genius with the Sharingan didn't believe that Neji and his companions showed enough teamwork to pass.

"My rival's test is mighty, indeed." Gai-sensei called loudly, "But mine is just as difficult; I've also failed every student I've been offered!"

"Whatever." Naruto growled as he climbed to his feet and looked Gai-sensei in the face, "I'll definitely pass, no matter what. Bring on the test!" He glared at Neji when he scoffed the word "loser" under his breath.

With a grin, the jounin crouched and picked up one kunai from each of their piles before standing back up. "Ichi!" he threw Neji's kunai into the bottom of a high branch of a nearby tree. "Ni!" he cried as he launched Tenten's into a different branch of the same tree. "San!" the bowl-cut wearing man called dramatically as Naruto's kunai joined the other two in the bottom of a random branch near the top. "First one to make it back to me with their kunai wins. Go!"

Naruto smirked as he ran to the tree, his stamina mysteriously restored. Thanks to his many exploits as a prankster he had darted up and down trees countless times; it was one of the few things that he was actually good at. Ignoring the closing wound on his right arm, Naruto threw himself at the tree and began to furiously climb up.

To his left, Neji was doing his best to calculate the best route and pass him, but the blonde just had too much practice from peeking into windows as women dressed or climbing on top of roofs to egg hapless homes or apply graffiti to advertisements. Naruto stayed in the lead!

Below them both, Tenten struggled, her poor girlish body unaccustomed to such rigorous exercise. She was breathing hard and wearing out quickly, but the thought of becoming a powerful kunoichi drove her to continue despite her discomfort.

"Yes!" Naruto gasped as he landed on the branch that his kunai was stuck too, and with a quick reach around he pried it loose just as Neji landed on the branch beside him, having grabbed his kunai as he jumped past. "I'll show you that I'm not a loser…" the blonde promised before doing something inconceivable. He hopped off of the branch and free fell towards the ground.

"That idiot." Neji scoffed as he quickly worked his way down the tree via branches. "I'll make it back to Gai well before that moron kills himself from the fall."

Tenten moaned sadly as first Naruto then Neji streaked past her; she still hadn't even made it to her kunai. Taking a calming breath, she went back to her steady climb.

Naruto, having had a year of tree climbing experience and a special body courtesy of Yondaime Hokage, knew that he had an advantage here. He bit the kunai handle in his teeth and reached out, painfully catching a tree branch as it blurred past. He came to a sudden stop, his hands being cut open as the kinetic energy from his fall was absorbed. Without so much as a grunt, the blonde let go and continued his drop, leaving Neji to curse and speed his descent.

"There's no way I'll lose to this… loser. A genius cannot…" Neji swore desperately, using his Byakugan to watch for stray branches and leaves as he sped up.

Naruto bit harder into his kunai as he once again caught his fall with his bloody hands. He put the pain out of his mind, because he knew that he had something important to do. That same feeling from before, the tingling that he got when he told himself that he had to become a ninja for himself began to grow in his chest again. No longer worried about his own well being, Naruto let go, prepared to fall the rest of the way down.

Neji landed half a second after Naruto and put on a burst of speed, determined not to be beaten by an idiot that younger than he. As he gradually caught up and began to pass the boy, Naruto leaned forward and gave a growl as he put forth more effort than ever before.

With his legs screaming for him to stop and his lungs on the verge of bursting, Naruto made it to Gai and tossed the kunai into the air, unable to stop in time. He continued passed the jounin, and because of this he didn't see if he won or not.

"It's just as I thought;" Neji could be heard chuckling, "a genius can't be beaten by unskilled idiots."

- Minutes later -

When Tenten had made it out of the tree and returned her kunai to Gai-sensei, coming in last, the jounin grinned. "You three look worn out. This was a pretty tough exam, wasn't it?"

"We're finally done?" Tenten breathed happily. She was sure that if there had been one more test she would pass out.

"Almost! Prepare yourselves for part four; this one will be tougher than the other three put together!" Gai exclaimed proudly, evidently pleased that he could create something on such a level. Tenten moaned and hung her head, crying inwardly about having to train under the most childish and insane jounin of them all. "Neji, are you prepared for this?"

Neji shrugged and leaned his head back as he puffed out his twelve year old chest, "I'm certain to trounce any measly training ploy you can muster."

After giving a thumbs-up and a word of encouragement, Gai turned to Naruto and repeated his question.

The fox container put on a mask of hardened determination and answered in a low and dangerous voice, "I don't care if there are 50, even 100 parts to this; I will not stop until I've proven that I'm a real ninja. Even if it's shaving off your amazingly thick eyebrows, I'll do it."

"That's the fire of youth that I love!" Gai-sensei cried as he clenched his fists as the sheer passion of his statement rocked through his entire body. "Now, the beautiful kunoichi! Are you prepared?"

Moments before Naruto's answer Tenten would have asked for a break, or simply back down and wait for a different sensei to take her. But after seeing his unshakable resolve and being moved by his words, she set her feet, took a deep breath and pushed out her own chest. "I'll stick with it until the end, Gai-sensei." she answered with a smile.

"Ok, meet me on top of the academy roof in twenty minutes! Seishuun!" and without another word the wild jounin exploded, leaving nothing but smoke and weary genin in his wake.

- Training grounds 3 -

Kakashi sighed at the three academy students he'd tied to the three logs pounded into the ground. He had been giving them the bell test that he'd learned from his sensei the Yondaime, who had received the same test from Jiraiya, who had learned it from the Sandaime's test who had been evaluated by the co-creator of the bell test, Nidaime Hokage.

The three had failed to work together and were therefore bound to the logs and forced to watch him eat lunch. The fact that they had the honor of seeing his face meant very little, considering they had little chance of becoming genin today. This was visible on the little girl's face, who was crying after having been told that they shouldn't even bother going back to the academy and quit because they lacked all skill to be ninjas.

"Yo, Kakashi!" an exuberant adult cried as he appeared out of a burst of smoke and leaves. Gai stood proudly behind the silver-haired jounin, who calmly replaced his mask, set his bentou on the ground and turned towards his rival.

"Shouldn't you be testing your students, Gai? Have they failed your overly difficult tests already?" the lazy genius wondered, not truly meaning harm with his words.

"Haha! Kakashi, it looks like I win once again! What's the score now?" Gai exclaimed, grinning at his childhood friend.

Kakashi sighed and shook his head, somewhat surprised that Gai had managed to find three kids that could keep up with his insane demands. "We're now tied at 31 wins since you were inaugurated as a jounin."

"Yes!" the spaz cried as he threw both arms victoriously into the air and began to cry tears of happiness. In the next instant he was standing in a 'cool-guy' pose and grinning with his pure white teeth gleaming in the sun, "Next time we meet, Hatake Kakashi, I will pull into the lead! But now I have to go meet my cute students to tell them the good news. Ja!" Once again he exploded, leaving Kakashi with a blank look and three crying children.

- Preview -

Team Gai accepts their first mission. What? Garbage duty!? In the next chapter of Naruto Neo, our loveable yet angry protagonist will begin his new life as a genin of the hidden village of Konoha!