Don't Own.

Enjoy!

Hinata smiled. "Good job Naruto-kun."

A small, content smile graced Naruto's normally stony facade. He reveled in her praise, her acknowledgement.

"Can someone explain what in Kami's name is going on?!" asked the stupefied Tazuna.

"Perhaps we should retire to your home Tazuna, before I explain?"

"Oh, right."

A while later - Tazuna's home

"It all started when we were four-"

As his angel walked away, he knew he had to become stronger. Strong enough to serve her. Strong enough to protect her. And so he began his search for strength.

At age 5, Naruto burst into the Hokage's office. "Jiji! Jiji! I need someone to train me!"

Sarutobi Hiruzen looked up from the endless piles of paperwork he had on his desk. "Oh? Is that so Naruto? And for what reason do you want to someone to train you?"

"I met this girl today!-"

'Oh? His first crush? A little young, ne?' Hiruzen stroked his beard as Naruto went into great detail about his supposed angel.

"She LOOKED at me Jiji! Actually looked! She didn't pretend I wasn't there, or see me and disregard me!"

His words were filled with such emotion that Hiruzen felt like he had been slugged in the gut. 'Where did I go wrong? Why can the villagers not see past their hatred? Was I too trusting of the populace when I announced he held the Kyuubi?' His eye's found the picture of the Namikaze Minato, the Fourth Hokage on the wall. 'I am so sorry Minato. I have failed you, and your son.'

"-and so I need someone to train me! To make me strong, stronger than anyone else! You'll help me, right Jiji?" Naruto finished, with a pleading look on his whiskered face.

Bright cerulean eyes looked up at him with hope. His response was not immediate, as he turned over the idea of assigning someone to train Naruto. 'Could I? I already owe him so much… No. He is only 5 years old, maybe when he gets older, then he can join the academy. That should appease him… hopefully'

"How about this Naruto-kun, when you turn 8, I will help you get into the Ninja academy. Then you can start training and become strong like all of the other ninja in this village!"

Despair welled up within Naruto. If his Jiji, the Hokage, the most powerful person in this village, would not help him, then who could?

'No one,' He thought helplessly. 'No one will help me. No one will even look at me… Fine. FINE. I can do it all by myself, dattebayo! I don't need anyone else to be strong, I will make myself the strongest!'

Naruto ran out of the office, betrayal clearly displayed in his eyes. He ran, and he ran until he couldn't anymore. Falling onto his back, his tired eyes slowly closing he stared into the treetops as he lost consciousness.

'Wait, treetops?'

When Naruto woke up, he felt completely at peace. Utterly content.

'How odd…'

As he sat up, examining his oddly peaceful self.

"What is happening to me?" Naruto muttered, frightened.

New emotions not his own swamped his senses. He experienced a vast range of these new emotions, all based around one fact that he was able to gather. Help. These emotions were willing to help him.

Elated, Naruto glanced around wildly, hoping to find some clue of his new teacher. But there were none. He stood up and spun around quickly, as if his new teacher was behind him. But no one was there, just the trees swaying in the wind.

"I swear someone was trying to help me!" He spoke, slightly crazed.

Amusement tingled the edges of his senses. Then he was assaulted with images, flashing too fast for him to see, but oddly he still understood. Images of a vast land, empty, spare for the grass that carpeted the rolling hills. Then images of a man, one he faintly recognized. Suddenly the man knelt down and touched his fingertips to the ground. Instantly, trees and plants of all kinds started growing at an immense rate, spreading like wildfire, raising an entire forest in a matter of seconds.

The images then told of a village, newly founded, under the guidance of the man who had created the forest. Soon the images shifted to a picture of Naruto himself, looking vulnerable as people yelled insults at him from all sides.

And finally, the images showed an image of a boy, nearly in his teens, wearing dark green boots, pants, and a lighter green shirt. A white, sleeveless trench-coat, with light green flames running along the bottom, adorning his torso. His spiky blonde hair swayed in the wind, and each cheek was adorned with three whisker marks. His stance and more importantly, his eyes conveyed a sense of nature, peaceful, yet wrathful.

And Naruto understood. The forests of Konoha were created by the man whose face was on the Hokage Mountain. And they retained some form of sentience, which they wished to use as a guide for his own learning.

Immediately after, Naruto jumped into the air in joy, ecstatic that he now had a sensei, a teacher.

"I promise, I will learn all you have to teach me! And I will work my hardest to master what you teach me! And then when I am strong enough, I can find my angel and then I will be able to show her my devotion!"

Around Tazuna's table, people sat in stunned, and incredulous, silence. Wide eyes turned to Naruto, who was standing a respectful two paces behind and to the left of Hinata's chair. He nodded to confirm the validity of Hinata's story.

"Ok, I know you are strong as hell. But the Sage Arts? Seriously?" Naruto nodded once. "You were trained by the forests of Konoha. Which are sentient." .

Again, Naruto nodded once.

"Okay. Welp. I'm done for today. Thank you for dinner Tsunami-san, it was very good. Good night everyone." And with that, she stood and left the table, walking up the stairs muttering, "A sage. I'm supposed to teach a fucking sage. No wonder he's so fucking strong. And taught by trees no less!... What a fucking day."