Hello all, welcome to another fanfiction from me, Objudge1399. Overall it's my fifth story but my first Naruto one.

Before we actually get into the story let me just say that if you came for a fanfiction with a god-like Naruto that's killing people by the time he's 6 years old, I'm sorry but that's not happening. Obviously he's going to get stronger and stronger as time goes on but there's character development that has to come with that and he certainly won't have any at like 6 or 7 years old.

Also, there won't be a lot of that cringe edgelord, tough guy stuff. It's weird to me. Also, no, Naruto isn't going to meet Kurama and be friends with him in like, 2 minutes. I hate when that happens. I'll also try to stay away from character bashing but there will be a few characters that will be portrayed negatively.

The young generation characters will be 3 years older in this story than in canon. I repeat, the young generation characters will be 3 years older. That means there may be a shift in the date of certain events.

This will be almost all English because I'm about 0% Japanese. If you see a Japanese term in here it'll be pretty random, maybe for a jutsu or something like that.

Pairings were voted on in the poll that was on my profile. The final results were close but I know what the pairing will be for this story. There's a possibility that Naruto might end up with 2 girls but that's only a possibility at the moment I'm not sure. Review who Sasuke should be paired with, though.

Any questions, just leave a review. Thanks for checking out the story. Let's get right into it.

Naruto Uzumaki. The name gets a variety of different reactions depending on who you're talking to in the Hidden Leaf Village. A select few would smile to themselves, having grown fond of the cheerful little boy. Those same few would recall memories of the boy's parents, Minato Namikaze and Kushina Uzumaki. Unfortunately, the overwhelming majority of people reacted negatively when the child was brought up. Would the knowledge of Naruto's parentage change that? Perhaps. Unfortunately, almost none of the villagers in the Hidden Leaf were aware that Naruto was the son of their beloved Fourth Hokage. As a result, there was almost nothing to tame their hatred of the young Uzumaki.

The intense dislike of Naruto didn't come from nowhere, though that doesn't make it reasonable. Most villagers in the Leaf hate Naruto because of the incident that occurred 7 years ago on October 10th. The Nine-Tailed fox had attacked the village, destroying nearly everything in the process and killing many villagers as well. In the end, the Fourth Hokage was forced to seal the demon inside his own son to save the village, at the cost of his own life as well. The knowledge that Naruto contained the Nine Tails was supposed to remain a secret among the higher ups in the village. Unfortunately, the knowledge spread to the villagers and soon, almost all of the Leaf knew what Naruto held inside him.

Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Third Hokage who had come out of retirement after Minato died, had been forced to pass a law making it illegal to speak about the Nine Tails, not wanting the hate of Naruto to be passed down to the younger generation. Unfortunately, the law didn't stop the parents from telling their children to stay away from him.

Even with all the glares and undisguised hate, Naruto was still a cheerful kid. Sarutobi had always told him to keep his head up no matter what. That didn't mean that Naruto was always all smiles, though. There were times when the 7 year old would wonder why no one liked him. There was a night every now and then where he would stay up late and just cry. Living alone in an apartment while everyone hates you is very depressing but Naruto tried to make the best out of everything.

We'll began following Naruto Uzumaki's journey on a cool September morning. Naruto started out his day by accidentally taking a large gulp of expired milk.

'Definitely going to Ichiraku's for breakfast' he thought as he washed the disgusting taste from his mouth.

Minutes later, Naruto was heading towards his favorite place to eat wearing his favorite orange and blue T-shirt/hoodie and orange shorts. He was, of course, met with the usual dirty looks but Naruto has gotten used to that a while ago.

"Hey Ayame," Naruto said with a bright smile on his face. Ayame smiled at the boy as he slid into his usual spot at the ramen shop. He'd been coming for over a year, mainly because Ayame and her father Teuchi were one of the very few that didn't discriminate against him.

"Hello Naruto," Ayame said, "I'm guessing you'll be having the usual today?"

Naruto nodded and Ayame went off to make him a bowl. Not long after, she was back with a huge, steaming bowl of ramen.

"Thanks, Ayame," Naruto said as he began to dig in.

"So, where will you be off to after this, Naruto?" Ayame asked.

"I'll be off to the library," Naruto said. "Gramps says that I'll be going to the academy in a few years so if I want to be a good Shinobi I have to know as much as I can."

"You've already began studying? Naruto, the academy is four years away," Ayame said.

"I know, but the other kids will already know more than me since they've got help from their parents. I already have to read a lot just to catch up to them. To be better then them I have to do more than a lot," Naruto explained. "Plus, I don't really have anyone to play with so there isn't much else to do."

Ayame gave Naruto a sad smile and patted the boy's head as he went back to shoveling ramen in his mouth.

"Thanks," Naruto said when he finished the ramen. "I might come back a bit later. Going through all those big words make me hungry. Say hello to old man Teuchi for me."

Ayame smiled and waved at Naruto as he left.

It didn't take Naruto too long to reach the Hidden Leaf Library. The library held all types of information from Shinobi history to current geography to medical textbooks and much more. Naruto had only started going there a few weeks ago and soon he found that he enjoyed reading there. When he sat alone in the very back corner there was no one to glare at him hatefully. It still sucked having no friends but at least he could immerse himself in books instead of being reminded that no one likes him every few seconds.

Naruto entered the library and smiled at the librarian, who ignored him. The 7 year old made his way to his usual spot in the back corner with a few history books in his hands but when he got there, he was surprised to see someone else sitting at his small table.

The boy had pineapple shaped black hair that sat high on top of his head. He was flicking through a book but he looked like he was barely staying awake.

Naruto didn't know this boy at all but he liked this spot. If the boy was like everyone else he would get up and leave once Naruto sat down anyway.

Naruto pulled back the other chair at the small table and sat down across from the boy. He placed his small stack of books down and opened the first one, a biography about the First Hokage Hashirama Senju. The other boy glanced up and then looked back down at his own book.

The next hour or so was spent in silence. Occasionally, Naruto would glance from behind his own book at the other boy, wondering why he hadn't left yet.

Naruto soon finished Hashirama's biography and placed the book down on the table. As he yawned and was about to reach for another, he caught the other boy's eye.

"You're Naruto Uzumaki, correct?" he asked in a bored tone. Naruto nodded, stunned that the boy was talking to him. "My name is Shikamaru."

Naruto, not sure what to say, just nodded again.

"I've seen you in here a few times," he drawled, "you like reading?"

"Yeah I guess," Naruto said. "Do you?"

"I don't particularly love it," Shikamaru said with a shrug. "I usually just come here to get away from my mom. She's such a nag."

Naruto let out a small laugh and Shikamaru grinned slightly.

"Why were you reading about the First Hokage?" Shikamaru asked.

"Because I want to be Hokage, too," Naruto said, "and I want to know as much as I can about the others if I want to be one myself, right?"

Shikamaru sighed and shrugged. "Everyone wants to be Hokage until they find out just how much work it actually is. That's why so many great Shinobi never bothered with the whole Hokage business. Ever heard of the legendary sannin?"

"I think they were mentioned in a book I read," Naruto said as he tried his hardest to remember. "I think it was about the Second Great Ninja War."

"Correct," Shikamaru said. "They're the greatest ninja of their generation and the heroes of that war. Orochimaru, Jiraiya and Tsunade Senju. Jiraiya and Tsunade could easily been Hokage but neither wanted to and they both left the village for some reason. As for Orochimaru, well, I'm not really sure what happened with him. Some people think he was bitter that Minato was chosen over him as Fourth Hokage and he left. Others have their own wild theories about him. He was always a bit strange according to my father."

"Are there any books about him?" Naruto asked. Shikamaru shrugged.

"I don't know about that, but I do know that Jiraiya has written a few books."

"What are they called?" Naruto asked. Shikamaru turned a bit red.

"I think they're a bit much for kids our age."

A few hours later

Naruto left the library feeling better than he ever had at any point before in his life. He didn't want to get his hopes up but he was pretty sure that he was close to possibly making a friend for the first time.

He was drawn out of his thoughts, though, by loud voices coming from around the corner.

Naruto turned the corner to see three boys that looked a bit older than him surrounding a girl his age. They seemed to be trying to intimidate her and she looked pretty scared. The girl was shorter than Naruto and she had dark purple hair and pale eyes.

"Hey, leave her alone!" Naruto yelled. The three boys turned to Naruto and the biggest one raised an eyebrow at him.

"Who the hell do you think you are?" he growled.

"Hey, that's the kid my mom told me to stay away from," one of the other boys said.

The leader looked Naruto up and down. "He doesn't look like much."

Naruto frowned. "I may not look like much now but I'm going to be Hokage one day."

The boys snorted. "You? Hokage? Nobody likes you. There's no way you'll ever become Hokage."

Naruto clenched his fists but somewhere deep down, he knew that they were right. Still, though, Naruto said, "I'll show you. I'll show you I can be Hokage."

The leader grabbed Naruto by the front of his hoodie and his other two friends started punching him. The now forgotten girl stood behind them and could only watch, her eyes wide.

Suddenly, a person dropped from the roof of the building next to them, startling the boys. When they realized the person was a ninja, they dropped Naruto and ran away. The ninja, who had the same pale eyes as the girl, stepped around Naruto and quickly grabbed the girl by the hand.

"Hinata," he said, dragging her away, "what are you doing in this part of the village? I've been looking for you for over an hour."

"Ko, that boy helped me," Hinata said, pointing back at Naruto, who had managed to sit up. As her guard warned her to stay away from Naruto, Hinata looked back at him. Naruto gave her a lopsided smile and waved at her. Hinata gave him a small smile too and waved back.

A few days later

3 days ago, Naruto couldn't believe his luck. Sure he'd gotten a few bruises from some bullies but he'd actually gotten two people his age to be nice to him.

He'd returned to the library each of the last 3 days hoping that Shikamaru would come but he didn't appear any of the 3 days.

Today, Naruto was back in his usual spot in the library. This time, he was reading a book about clan history in the Hidden Leaf. He had just started the Uchiha Clan section when he heard a familiar voice say, "What're you reading, Naruto?"

Naruto looked up to see Shikamaru standing on the other side of the table. He tried to hide his excitement but a wide grin still appeared on his face.

"I'm reading about clans."

"Clans, huh? They take a lot of work to understand," Shikamaru said as he sat down.

"It still sounds cool to be part of one, though," Naruto said.

"You do know that you're part of a clan, right?" Shikamaru said. Naruto's eyes widened.

"What?"

Shikamaru frowned. "No one's ever told you? You're part of the Uzumaki Clan."

Naruto furiously flipped the pages until he passed the Uchiha section and, just like Shikamaru said, there was the Uzumaki Clan.

"Why hasn't gramps told me about any of this?" Naruto muttered. He carefully read through the pages of his clan's section, not wanting to miss a single detail about his supposed family. His heart sunk, though, when he read that his clan's village was attacked and destroyed during the Second Great Ninja War by the Hidden Cloud, Hidden Mist and Hidden Stone.

"Your clan was considered far too powerful by those three villages so they decided to work together to destroy the Village Hidden by Whirling Tides, which was your clan's village that was created after they left the Leaf. They tried to sneak attack and completely destroy it," Shikamaru explained. "They succeeded in the destruction of the Village Hidden by Whirling Tides but the Mist, Stone and Cloud suffered huge losses which helped us, the Leaf, win the war."

"Are there any of them left?" Naruto asked hopefully. Shikamaru shrugged.

"There may be, there may not be. There's been rumors of Uzumakis that survived the attack and spread out among the villages but I'm not sure. They're just rumors," Shikamaru answered.

"How do you know all of this?" Naruto asked.

"My dad is a Jonin and leader of the Nara Clan. He's also pretty close to the Hokage. He tells me plenty of stuff that he honestly probably shouldn't," Shikamaru replied.

Naruto flipped back to the Uchiha section in the book, still thinking about his own extinct clan.

"So when will you be starting at the academy?" Shikamaru asked.

"I'm pretty sure gramps said it'll be when I'm around 11," Naruto said.

"Yeah, that's when most kids enter," Shikamaru said. "Dad wants me to go to the academy early so I can graduate earlier since he thinks I'm a genius. Mom wants me to go at the normal age so I can have friends my age, though."

"I didn't know you can enter early," Naruto said.

"You didn't? A few have. Ever heard of Kakashi Hatake?" Shikamaru asked. Naruto shook his head. "He graduated from the academy at 9 years old. Itachi Uchiha graduated at 10. Most kids graduate at 15."

"Wow," Naruto said. "What do they do now?"

"I'm pretty sure Hatake is either a Jonin or ANBU. Itachi is definitely ANBU, even though he's only 14. There's even rumors he's already an ANBU captain."

"Cool," Naruto breathed. "I've read about the ANBU. I want to be one before I become Hokage."

"It's less work than being Hokage, that's for sure," Shikamaru said. "It takes a lot of skill, though."

"I know that. That's why I'm going to start training soon. By the time I get to the academy I'll be better than any Uchiha, Hyūga or any of those other clans."

"I highly doubt that," Shikamaru said as he let out a yawn, "but don't let me bring your hopes down."

The two talked for almost two more hours. By the time Shikamaru left so that he wouldn't miss dinner, Naruto was almost 100% sure that he'd finally made a friend in the Hidden Leaf Village.

There goes the first chapter of "The Darkest of Shinobi." I hope you enjoyed it.

This chapter was clearly just a short introduction so that you guys can ease into the story. Obviously I'm not going to have an entire arc while Naruto's 7.

As you guys read, academy students usually enter at 11 and graduate at 15 in this story as opposed to entering at around 8 and graduating at 12 in canon. Just making that clear again for you guys.

Let me know anything you want to let me know in the review section as well as any questions. Next chapter coming soon. See you next time.