Disclaimer: Do not own Naruto.

IT'S STARTING… AGAIN

"WHERE IS SHE?! LET ME GO…!"

"Calm down Naruto…! Y-You… You don't want to see her now."

"What are you saying Kakashi-sensei…? Shikamaru? Konohamaru?"

"Nii-s… Nii-san, she said… she asked you to take care of Hitomi-chan and Konoha. That was her last wish."

"No… This isn't happening. You are lying. NO..!"

A pair of cerulean orbs opened to the light of the breaking dawn. They stared at the ceiling scarred with cracks. The alarm clock that showed the time to be six in the morning was blaring its call. A blonde headed boy rolled on his bed to shut the alarm off. He then rolled to lay on his back and continue staring at the ceiling.

Nightmares…?A deep voice asked from the recesses of his mind.

Memories, Kurama, memories… The blonde spoke with a tired voice before asking Have you guys recovered…?

Hai, Naruto-kun. One year seems to have been enough. We will now be giving you as much chakra as your body can handle. A feminine cat-like voice answered.

Thank you, Matabi The blonde closed his eyes again to rest a little more, the academy didn't open until eight. He still had time.

When he opened his eyes he was standing in place that seemed to be empty and endless with everything devoid of colour. Before him stood nine mammoth creatures who were the biggest sources of chakra known to the shinobi.

"Ha… the brat has finally decided to grace us with his presence." The one tailed racoon spoke up first.

"Shut up, Shukaku." A huge rhinoceros beetle with seven wing like appendages behind it reprimanded.

Naruto chuckled seeing the exchange before speaking, "Thank you, Chomei. Nice to meet you guys, it's nice to see you people when you are not just skins on bones."

"Che… You almost sucked the life out of us brat." The four tailed ape spoke.

"And for that I will be grateful to you all for life, Son Goku." Naruto replied with a nod, to which Goku only waved dismissively, "Back to more serious matters, how soon can you guys bring your Jhinchuriki to this dimension? I need to speak with them."

"I think you need to concentrate more on the matters at hand. You can speak to the other Jhinchurikis after your mission in the wave." The nine tailed fox, Kurama, who was quiet until now spoke up, "Till then they can stop trying to take over their Jhinchurikis and learn to work with them, instead of turning them into homicidal maniacs." Although it would seem the statement was spoken in general but the sly fox was actually trying to get one down with his arch-rival, the racoon.

Shukaku did not miss the jab, "Shut up, you fur ball. You were no better and you were just lucky that you got the brat who did not give in to you."

"What did you say you one tailed wimp?!" Kurama retorted.

"Shut up!" Naruto yelled in hopes of breaking the fight.

"He started it!" Both of them spoke in complete sync, earning exasperated sighs from their siblings.

"Does it look like I care…?! Stop your ass licking and concentrate on the job on hand." Naruto yelled clearly displeased with the regular squabbles between the two, "We will go along with Kurama's suggestion for now. Isobu you don't have any jhinchuriki now, since Yagura is dead, so I want you to remain on guard at all times and keep in contact with me. Gyuki since you have already bonded with Killer Bee, I want you to reveal everything to him slowly. Also, Shukaku you really have to work hard to help Gaara. Alright, so see you guys when I see you. (A/N: I always wanted to say that!)" Naruto finished before leaving the plain of the tailed beasts to return to his bed.

It's graduation day. The thought brought a smile and almost a tear of nostalgia with it.

Alright, there is no meaning in lying around when you can train for an hour before academy.

With that thought in mind he began his morning rituals and cleaning his apartment. His apartment though small was surprisingly clean. After finishing with his work he adorned his trademark orange jumpsuit with blue borders, put on his goggles and jumped out of his house from the balcony to head for the training grounds.

Academy 8:00 am

Naruto walked down the hallway to reach his class. The journey to the academy was filled with the glares of the people he passed by as usual, but instead of sulking and being depressed Naruto smiled at them and wished them a good morning. This change in attitude had begun a year ago and it had surprised the living daylights out of the citizens of Konoha. Some went past the usual glares and whispers to outright insulting and mocking him, but still the smile remained. In the end they reluctantly backed off and now some of the glares had changed to simple ignorance.

Back in the academy, Naruto was covered in sweat and dirt as he entered his classroom. As he entered he noticed a boy with black hair tied up in a high ponytail, he had his head down on his desk with his eyes closed, and he was sitting in the desk right next to the one Naruto usually sat in. Beside him sat a rather chubby boy constantly munching away his endless supply of potato chips.

"Yo, Chouji!" Naruto greeted, receiving a nod and a muffled 'hello' from the boy, "Shikamaru."

The said boy raised his hand for a high –five, his head still down uttering a small "Troublesome."

Naruto proceeded to greet next the trio of clan heirs who sat in the desk behind them. Hyuuga Hinata replied with meek 'hello' and a blush. Aburame Shino just gave a small nod, happy to be acknowledged. Inuzuka Kiba was the most enthusiastic and probably the whole academy was aware of his and his partner, Akamaru's, greeting of Naruto.

In the last year that Naruto had spent in the Academy he had managed to strike up quite a bond with the six clan heirs. Finally, Naruto reached his seat beside his rival, friend and pseudo-brother, the infamous Uchiha Sasuke, the last loyal Uchiha and the clan heir. Becoming friends with him was probably the most difficult but nothing was impossible for Uzumaki Naruto.

"Teme…!" Naruto greeted with a huge grin.

"Hn. Dobe." Sasuke acknowledged.

"Seriously, Sasuke. When was the last time you uttered a full sentence? You know, like normal people, dattebayo!"

"Hn."

"See…! That's what I am talking about, dattebayo! Even a three year old speaks more than you. Do you need me to give you lessons in speaking skills too?!"

"Hn."

"You are impossible, teme!" Sasuke's lips curled into a smile seeing his friend's frustration. This was the usual routine and Sasuke enjoyed ruffling the blonde's nerves every chance he got.

The class waited in silence, or what could be called silence in that class with Sasuke's fan-girls constant fawning and swooning over him. Speaking of fan-girls… The class rumbled and quaked with the sound of incoming footsteps and then the door slammed open.

"Cha! I came first, pig. I get to seat beside Sasuke-kun." A girl with unnaturally pink hair shouted as she entered the class.

"No way, forehead! I came first." Another girl with platinum blonde hair yelled back.

The trademarked word of the Naras (troublesome. If you are wondering…) was the only word heard over the bickering as the two girls pushed and shoved each other until they reached the desk Sasuke and Naruto were seating in.

"Move, baka! I want to seat beside Sasuke-kun." Sakura, the girl with pink hair, shouted pointing towards Naruto.

The happy and cheerful attitude of Naruto had changed to a cool and calm demeanour the moment the two girls had entered the class room. He had his eyes closed with his head facing forward when he answered, "No."

"What do you mean no?!" Sakura was enraged, while Ino fumed with her from behind, "I want to seat there, Baka! So move!"

Naruto opened his eyes before facing Sakura with a look that froze Sakura to the spot, "I said no, Sakura. There is a seat beside me, you can seat here if you want to or find some other place."

Sakura was frozen with fear but managed to give a nod. The blue eyes that usually sparkled with joy was anything but that. They were ice cold and Sakura was terrified. Usually Naruto would move over and let Sakura sit beside Sasuke but today's event had shocked her. She had never seen Naruto speak to someone like that before, let alone to her and that too without adding the customary -chan. Sakura quietly took her seat beside Naruto as he turned away from her. The entire class was shocked at the turn of events, even Ino quietly sat beside Shikamaru. Sasuke smirked and mentally noted to thank Naruto by taking him to Ichiraku's.

No scratch that, I don't want to go broke yet. One cup of instant ramen at lunch should be enough.

The cold atmosphere was broken with the entry of their teacher, Iruka. He greeted them all a good morning after they did the same.

"Alright, today is your final exams for graduation. I hope you have all studied and wish you the best of luck. First of all, we will see you shuriken throwing skills, then you will be paired up for a friendly spar and finally we will test your ninjutsu skills. Alright everyone follow me."

All the students followed their teacher to the field where human shaped dummies were setup for the first test. One by one all students were called up. Most managed to hit the dummy whereas the others completely missed it. Sasuke hit the heart and the head with every throw. His other friends managed to hit their targets too though not as accurately as Sasuke. Sakura managed to hit the dummy with two of her three shurikens while the third barely managed to strike the side of the dummy.

When it was Naruto's turn most of the class taunted and mocked him for he was so far the worst student. The Sasuke fan-girls jeered at him with increased vigour. While Sakura who had still not gotten over his icy stare decided to keep quiet and not offend him any further. His friends cheered, mainly Chouji and Kiba. Even Sasuke wished him best of luck.

Naruto ignored the taunts and jeers as he picked up three shurikens from the ground and held them between the fingers of his right hand. With a sigh he flicked his wrist and the shurikens hit the dummy. The whole class roared with laughter while his friends kept quiet, and Sakura tried to suppress her giggles with her hand lest she offend him again. The shurikens were nowhere near the usual targets that were the heart and the forehead. One shuriken had hit the neck, the other somewhere where the eye should be and the third in the groin.

While the class mocked and jeered at Naruto, Iruka smiled and moved to pat him on the head. This confused the whole class even his friends and the laughter died down.

"Good job, Naruto. You get full marks, now explain to the class why you hit those targets instead of the heart and forehead." Iruka spoke, while Naruto scratched the back of his head with a grin.

"Well, shurikens are light weapons that don't penetrate much and thus cause damage only when it hits certain spots. Hitting the heart is only a waste of weapons for the clothing and vest of a shinobi will by itself stop it from causing any damage. Most shinobi wear their forehead protector over their foreheads, hence the name. Now the neck, the eyes and sometimes the groin, but not always, is the least protected. So, even light weapons like shuriken can cause a lot of damage." Naruto finished explaining to his class who were stunned and gaped at him. Finally, his friends broke out of their stupor and cheered for him. Even Sasuke and Shikamaru smiled and gave him a pat on the back.

"If you all pass today's test, you will become Konoha's shinobi and go on missions. You will have to use your intelligence to face the dangers and keep yourselves alive. Only having the tools will not save you, you must know how to use them too and use them right." Iruka finished his lecture to the class, who listened to their teacher attentively. After finishing with the rest of the class he beckoned them to follow him to the sparring ring to test their taijutsu. Sakura remained rooted to her spot. She could not comprehend the fact that the class dobe had outclassed them all, even Sasuke. She broke out of her stupor when Iruka called out to her to join the class. Embarrassed she hurried after her classmates still thinking about the abrupt change in the class Baka.

As the sparring matches began the fan-girls continued to swoon over Sasuke, who himself ignored them with the resolve of a hermit. As the test progressed Shikamaru and Chouji were paired up for their spar, which lead to both of them giving up and smiling while leaving the ring. Iruka was yelling his head off but apparently it had no effect. Hinata, who was hesitant at first, made quick work of her partner, who was one of the civilian born girls, after a little cheering from her friends. Shino and Kiba did not face much difficulty with their own opponents. Ino and Sakura had difficulty in their own matches and barely came out on top, thanks to their eternal 'love' for Sasuke which strengthened their resolve. As the number of remaining students reduced everybody got impatient to see the match of the class prodigy Sasuke.

"Alright, next up Uchiha Sasuke" there was a huge cheering, "and his sparring partner will be Uzumaki Naruto."

At the mention of Naruto's name the mocks and taunts returned full-force, especially from the fan club.

"Loser."

"Sasuke-kun will wipe the floor with you, dobe."

"You suck, dobe."

Ino and Sakura joined in cheering for Sasuke, but Sakura avoided mocking Naruto. Naruto on his part smiled at Sasuke, who smirked back, and followed him to the ring. As they faced each other in the ring Naruto whispered to Sasuke so that only he could hear him.

"I won't use my hands but I will go all out with the rest."

Sasuke nodded in acknowledgement, as he got into a stance.

He charged at him at full speed while Naruto stood there with his hands in his pockets. Just as Sasuke neared him he dodged the punch aimed at his face, which caused Sasuke to speed past Naruto. Sasuke pivoted on his heel and aimed a kick at Naruto's midsection, which Naruto dodged by jumping backward.

"I told you Sasuke, your Interceptor style won't work until you are fast enough to make me block your attacks." Naruto spoke up.

"Yeah, keep running from Sasuke-kun loser!" One of the more staunch members of the Sasuke fan club, Ami, yelled.

On the other hand Iruka was amazed at Naruto's observation. Is this really Naruto?

Kiba was confused too," What the hell is Naruto talking about? What is the Interceptor style?"

Shikamaru who was watching the match quite intently answered, "What a drag… Interceptor style is the Uchiha's taijutsu style. It was specifically created for their Sharingan. They train their clansmen in that style from quite a young age so they are able to use it even without the sharingan, like Sasuke, though it is quite not as effective without it. The style uses high speed and their Sharingan to force their opponents to block their attacks and then use them as their leverage to attack you from odd angles. So Naruto chose the easiest way out, to keep dodging." Shino and Hinata nodded in agreement.

"Whoa… How do you know all that Shikamaru?" Chouji looked at him with awe.

"Troublesome… I like to read." Shikamaru finished effectively ending the conversation.

The rest of the class was too busy cheering for Sasuke or jeering at Naruto to listen to what Shikamaru said. On the other hand, the spar between the two boys continued. After missing again, Sasuke decided to halt his onslaught to come up with a strategy. Naruto kept grinning with his hands in his pockets. The two boys stood at the same height (A/N: Yes Naruto is as tall as Sasuke since he has been eating healthy and his growth isn't stunted, although the orange jumpsuit remains) watching each other and trying to anticipate the other's move.

Sasuke charged again, Naruto prepared to dodge but Sasuke stopped right in front of him and with a smirk grabbed him by his jacket and used his other arm to aim a punch at Naruto's face. Naruto's surprise didn't last long as he ducked under the punch and head butted Sasuke's chin, effectively freeing himself. The fan-club cried foul, including Sakura, and the others, excluding Naruto's friends, called it a lucky shot. Sasuke stumbled back, with a little blood coming from the cut on the inside of his cheek where he had accidentally bit.

"Good job, Sasuke. Changing to grappling seeing that your style was ineffective. Trying to be unpredictable like me, huh?" Naruto said earning a smile from Sasuke, "Let's finish it. We have been taking too long." Naruto finished and then charged faster than Sasuke could follow and finished the match by kneeing him in the gut.

Sasuke dropped to his knee gasping for breath that was knocked out of him. The entire class went quiet, the only sound came from Iruka dropping his clipboard.

"Are you alright, Teme?" Naruto asked bending forward.

"Did you have to hit that hard, dobe?" Sasuke asked with a glare in between gasps.

"I thought you wanted to be stronger." Naruto teased with a grin.

"Hn."

"Ahem, alright." Iruka finally spoke up, "Do the reconciliation sign and everyone report to class for your ninjutsu test."

Naruto grinned while Sasuke smiled before doing the joining their hands, and then walked back to class with Kiba talking around excitedly. For once the remaining class remained quiet.

The fact that Naruto aced his Ninjutsu test by, creating three perfect normal clones, doing a perfect transformation and substitution, did not register much shock for they had been surprised by him one too many times that day. Iruka smiled proudly and patted Naruto's head while handing him his Leaf forehead protector. He simply grinned and scratched the back of his head in embarrassment. All his friends had graduated with him, along with Ino, Sakura and twenty one others. When the day finally ended, Naruto bid goodbye to his friends and made his way to the Hokage tower. He ignored the curious glances, look of awe and the frequent glares that his now former classmates were giving him.

When he reached the tower he made his way up the stairs to the Hokage's office. He greeted the secretary, who ignored him, and made his way into the office.

"Naruto-kun, how does it feel?" The Sandaime Hokage Sarutobi Hiruzen asked looking up from his paperwork. He had his smoking pipe in his mouth and looked at Naruto with an affectionate gaze.

"It feels awesome to wear the forehead protector, dattebayo." Naruto answered with a smile, before speaking again with a serious demeanour, "Did you do what I asked of you, Jiji?"

"Hai, Naruto-kun. Two of my ANBU are tailing him, so you don't have to worry." Hiruzen replied.

"Alright, then it seems it is all starting… again." Naruto spoke looking out the window overseeing his village.

A/N: Done. First chapter out. I have been trying to do a fan fic of this genre so here it is. You are all welcome to guess what the story is about or you can wait for the second chapter where I will be explaining everything.

Now, about Sasuke's OOCness. It has been shown repeatedly in the manga that if Naruto had befriended Sasuke before then he may not have turned out the way he did. So, I am only using that scenario where Naruto did befriend him and as to how or why, that will have to wait.

As of Shikamaru's knowledge regarding the Sharingan and the Interceptor style, well seeing that Madara was one of the founders of Konoha knowing about their clan should not be so difficult.

Naruto's change in attitude and strength will be explained in the second chapter because that is one of the important elements of this story.

So please read and review.

Hokage's next chap will be out by next week.

P.S. – Beelzebub is by far the most hilarious manga works I have ever read, must read.