Chapter 1: Looking Forward

They say wherever someone is still thinking of you, that place is your home. -Jiraiya

"Just where do you think you're going?"

That voice belonged to one of the several nondescript, local Academy students recently-turned Genin. To Naruto, it belonged to just another bully wanting to exact some sort of invisible retribution, sate some personal, sadistic desires, or a combination of both upon his being. The lines were quite blurred in that sense; there really wasn't much of a difference to begin with. He however never gave it too much input—they all led to the same thing one way or another.

His plight started the year before when he had recently turned five, for reasons unexplained. It was as if all of the sudden, the children caught wind of some rumor pertaining to the bright toddler and afterwards made no attempt to converse with him. Some would be hesitant to approach, but peer pressure seized a dark victory in the end. Whatever entailed it forced Naruto to lead a socially-ostracized life, progressively worsening as days ticked down to weeks.

It was about five months afterwards that his lonely situation had escalated to harassment, primarily verbal rather than physical. Each encounter was a different bully, so he never knew their names. Regardless, he would recognize their intended course of action very quickly. Some however, remained a constant to toss up the mix—these were the ones with personal grudges or some sick ideology of superiority. A few times he was told of the reasons, but they would never add up in his mind; each had a story to their own.

Instead, Naruto did all he could to escape the wild flames of torment. He would not loiter in the village for too long; he would walk quickly or run back home; he would stay indoors, preferably in his apartment, for most of the day. In short, Naruto never really left the space of his small abode outside the purpose of necessity. Mornings were much safer without the tigers prowling the fields, but he wouldn't take his chances—a holiday break a few months back, coupled with a few students with too much free time on their hands, capitalized on a great deal of his sense of security.

But today he had failed to escape his demons, ultimately concluding his running nineteen-day safe streak—his longest to date. It was just the wrong place at the wrong time.

"Leave me alone," Naruto murmured as he pressed forward. He tried veering to the left, the right, then the left once more. Each attempt however, failed as the Genin barred him from passing by moving in accordance. "You're in the way..."

"What about it? It's not like you live around here anyway," he sneered as he made a taunting jab at younger child's sternum. Naruto stumbled backwards upon impact before leveling a aquamarine gaze to his antagonist's own.

"But I do, so move!"

The larger boy made no move to step aside. "You know, I haven't seen your face for about two... three weeks, maybe? Did you really think you could run forever?"

"Once I become a shinobi, I won't have to run anymore."

"A beast like you wants to be a shinobi? You'd be the first ever in village history if that were even possible." The older boy snickered to himself at his own dark humor.

"I'm not a beast, and I can be a shinobi! I'll prove it!"

A brief scoff left the Genin's mouth at the challenging declaration. "Some big words coming from a little shit like you. But that's right, you're all bark and no bite. You're really just a coward to the core!"

"Shut up!"

Egged on by the taunts, Naruto hurled a rage-induced right hook in the older boy's direction, only for it to be intercepted by a reactive left-hand palm in defense. Fingers quickly and securely locked down upon his balled fist, maintaining a vice-grip nearly strong enough to crush an apple. The intense pressure forced out several pained yelps from Naruto as his very fingernails dug into the palm of his clasped hand; his only free hand fruitlessly tried to pry the other from the agonizing lockdown.

"You can't even throw a punch, and you're telling me you can become a shinobi? You're pathetic."

Almost immediately, his opponent drove him through with a powerful uppercut to the diaphragm. Oxygen violently expelled itself from the confines of his lungs, leaving a breathless Naruto desperately heaving for air. It could have been worse; at least lunch didn't spill out.

However, he was given no time to recover from the fierce blow. Following the uppercut, the Genin released his hold over Naruto's fist to spin towards the left, allowing him to transition into a punishing back side-kick. Naruto took the full brunt of the blow at the ribs and tumbled back towards a wall. The moment he collided against its solid surface, a sharp kunai lodged itself into his right shoulder, but he could not properly respond to the pain that followed; his lungs still harbored no air.

"Looks like I missed, but I've had my fun today. Maybe next time will be a bull's eye."

The larger boy made no attempt to retrieve his metallic projectile and proceeded to walk away. However, he stopped for a moment. It was a bit of an afterthought, but he stopped nonetheless; perhaps he needed to shoot off another reminder.

"By the way, you don't belong here."

It was left at that, with Naruto in agonizing pain and his tormentor fading away from the scene unscathed. The child finally managed to inhale a deep breath of life, initiating an unwanted resurgence of affliction all around his chest. Naruto invested a few breaths whimpering as he became aware of the heaps of pain plaguing his entire right side. Struggling to move the almost crushed fingers of his right hand, he eyed the foreign shrapnel embedded in his shoulder—his first serious injury.

It was deep; had the kunai buried itself another two inches deeper, it's edge probably would've been protruding from the other side. It cut quite a bit of the muscle underneath the skin and probably sliced bone as it dug; there was no way Naruto could move his right arm without a large bout of pain following it. He allowed it to go limp as his other hand made to dislodge the blade. All five fingers grasped the handle unprofessionally—big mistake—only to recoil at the flare of agony localized at his shoulder. He stifled his whining as best he could, breathing raggedly as a small amount of perspiration coalesced over his forehead.

But Naruto couldn't just leave it in there like that, it had to come out one way or another. He took a moment to reaffirm himself, to steel his nerves as he made another go to unhinge the weapon from biting into his flesh. He hissed loudly once more as he gripped its handle and ignored the instinct to leave it inside, instead forcing his hand to pull back, kunai along with it. Another yelp escaped his lips as he shut his eyes tightly, teeth grit like a crocodile's inescapable maw.

The audible clattering signaled the fruit of his success, offering a split second of relief before reminding him of the searing sensations that initiated the necessary removal in the first place. The lids of his watery eyes slowly rose, greeted sickly by the sight of sanguine red darkening the only white shirt Naruto owned. His wound was now an open exhibit to the passerby elements, bleeding profusely with the sudden absence of the kunai that formerly stopped it to an extent. Warm blood trickled down his collar underneath the single-pieced clothing as he righted himself up slowly, the wall to his back as a means of supporting his debilitated frame. He still hurt all over.

The toddler forced himself off the wall as soon as he gained proper footing, placing one foot ahead of the other as his left arm ringed over the injured shoulder in a protective manner. Naruto made sure not to disturb or touch the open wound directly, lest he be invited whole-heartedly into another session of unnecessary pain. His mind lingered to his shoulder—how to stop the pain, heal it, make it all better again. Naruto's answer came from behind.

"The hospital is the other way."

A flash of not-so-bright orange dashed through the outskirts of the village and into the surrounding forests, shrouding the figure in a cast of their shadows as it went. A young, dark night with a full moon as its visitor graced the star-lit sky, its moonlight rays glistening and dancing peacefully over the cerulean eyes of a golden child. A light breeze licked a pair of warm cheeks belonging to a seemingly innocent face, evolving into harsh wind in midst of the rush.

Uzumaki Naruto was tired, his legs giving out under the painful stress as he contemplated on stopping for a breather. Most of the initial adrenaline, courtesy to the thrill of the hunt, slowly began to relieve itself from his system as his being inched further away from the village walls. He jumped branch to branch with a goal in mind; his destination point: a small warehouse only a kilometer away from Konoha's Southern Gate.

It came into view beyond the mess of trees ahead of him, renewing his depleting vigor with newfound determination. Naruto ignored the fatigue plaguing his aching muscles along with the desire to stop; it wasn't worth it when the finish line lay just before his very eyes. Additionally, he couldn't hold back the exhilarating excitement coursing through his body as a grin made its way on his face.

Two years, and it's finally going to pay off! I can hardly wait! His cheerful thoughts threw him into a fit of laughter as he made way to victory. After all, nothing could taste as sweet as the delightful fruits of your diligent efforts.

Naruto barely hopped over the tall, thick shrubbery barring him from his goal, nearly tripping him over face-first in the process. The broken branches and raised roots gave him several nicks and cuts as he made his clumsy landing, all of which could have been avoided had he chose to wear his long green pants. Instead, he had chose to wear a pair of shorts this night, orange shorts for that matter, simply because he wanted to. And, he just simply didn't care. After all, how would a few cuts and bruises hold him back anyway?

Following his arrival, he had made to unstrap the troublesome burden occupying his back. The relief on his face was quite evident when the large scroll thumped soundly upon the forest floor. With his task mostly done, Naruto slumped against the cold wooden walls of the shack, his heavy breathing being the only sign of life other than the primal callings of fauna nearby. His heart thumped rapidly as his eyes tiredly clamped down to relax, allowing the sweat to roll down his face and plummet to the lush grass he sat upon.

Naruto remained motionless for what seemed to be an eternity before he opened his eyes once more, quickly taking in his surroundings as his breathing stabilized to a more comfortable rate.

He was on the spotlight: his audience the countless blades of grass lightly dancing, swaying to the wind in response to his vigilant gaze; his orchestra the scattered band of crickets and owls producing delicate music to his ears, a peaceful rhythm of reverberations that clashed with no one.

Naruto was at peace for the moment, and nobody else would enjoy his attunement to nature, except him. It was absolutely beautiful.

Unfortunately, relishing in the beauty of nature was something for another time. The task at hand involved the heavy object resting directly adjacent from his position; to learn at least one technique, any technique of his choosing, from the Scroll of Seals, a prerequisite to pass the graduation exam. He wasn't told what kind of techniques were inscribed into its contents, but seeing as how difficult it was to slip by what looked like a dozen of ANBU—and the Hokage himself—just to get his dirty little fingers on it, he could only imagine what riddled its contents. Perhaps effort matched the reward? He sure hoped that rung true.

"Finally! I went through hell to get my hands on you, and I'm not going to waste all that effort and two years just to fail! I got a test to pass!" Naruto loudly exclaimed, his hands already making to relocate the scroll onto his lap in greed. Without a second thought, he charged his chakra into the paper seal, breaking it open as he prepared to unravel its hidden contents before him. He set the scroll down over the bed of grass and unrolled it to his right.

"So, the first one is... Kage Bunshin no Jutsu..." He blinked once. Twice. Then, a sudden realization rushed into his mind as he read it over once more. Naruto let out a growl in irritation.

"Damn it! The bunshin is my weakest technique..." He couldn't believe it. The first technique he came across just had to be one based on the clone. Of all things, why did it have to be related to that? If he couldn't pull off a simple Bunshin no Jutsu, how the hell was he going to do this one? He decided to skip to the next technique on the list, and with some luck, it wouldn't be something he already sucked at doing.

"Tajū Kage Bunshin no Jutsu..." His eyes widened in disbelief. "What?! Another bunshin no jutsu? Kami, you've got to be kidding me..." Naruto growled once again as before reading over the next technique.

"Bunshin Daibakuha..." His teeth grit in anger as he came across the word bunshin for the third time. If this kept up, he was going to fail for sure. What kind of game was Kami playing at? He did not find his current predicament funny at all.

"Shuriken Kage Bunshin no Jutsu..." This time, Naruto slammed his fist on the wooden surface of the cottage. "And they call this the Scroll of Seals?" He scoffed, down-trodden in bitter irritation. "Had me fooled, it's probably called the Scroll of Bunshins, because all there is are stupid bunshin techniques in here. If I come across another bunshin no jutsu of some sort, I swear..." He took a moment to calm himself down before continuing on.

"Hachimon..." he muttered. And finally, things started to look up after all.

"Oi! Finally something that isn't a bunshin no jutsu!" As quick as Naruto exclaimed those words, he unrolled the scroll further down to get a detailed overview on the non-clone technique. The formerly hidden internal contents revealed themselves, gracing his azure eyes with a detailed diagram of the human body's chakra system, with eight particular nodes with a mess of kanji in color coded boxes. Next to the diagram lay color coded information to correlate with the boxes, which Naruto figured revealed how to utilize the technique. Or something like that.

He began to read aloud to himself, not that anyone was around to hear.

"Kaimon, the first gate. In the human body, a mechanic within the brain is used to prevent clusters of muscles from exhausting quickly when used, restraining them to work at only at an efficiency rate of an estimated 20% for endurance-based purposes. By localizing chakra in the left hemisphere of the brain, a neural signal, with the aid of chakra, travels throughout the muscular system, lifting the innate threshold so that muscles can work at maximum power. Soreness and aching are common after-effects..."

Naruto's eyes narrowed at the information he digested, taking careful note at the precautions of using the technique even if he didn't completely understand everything it mentioned. He quickly skimmed over the other remaining seven sections, slowly discovering that each successive step continued to improve in power and likewise the drawbacks of the after-effects. Naruto also made a mental note to do some more reading to improve his vocabulary, seeing as how he encountered several words which made zero sense to him.

"Well, let's try it out and see if it works." He rolled up the scroll as it originally used to be, or tried to, and stood up, facing the wall of the wooden shack. "So, gather chakra to the... left? Yeah, left side of the brain and... Kai!"

With that, Naruto slowly drew his fist back, then proceeded to slug it directly at the wall's surface with a decent amount of effort. What happened next was something clearly unexpected of him.

As soon as his fist made direct contact with the wood, its planks snapped violently as his knuckles burrowed through the wall, leaving behind an impressively large hole big enough for his head to fit through comfortably. Even with the massive amount of force behind the punch, Naruto didn't feel any pain on his knuckles. His face was at first riddled with shock, then amazement and finally with joy. He really hoped the shack didn't belong to anyone in particular.

"Alright! That means I've definitely passed and I'll officially become a Genin tonight!" Naruto cheered as he laughed out loud at his accomplishment. A wave of relief washed over him as he smiled.

At that moment, a figure burst through the clearing a few yards from Naruto, who had simply looked over to the disturbance.

"Mizuki-sensei, what are you doing here?" Naruto asked, confusion obvious on his face. The man revealed as Mizuki had both hands on his knees, panting for breath. His long, silver hair fell over his eyes as he attempted to get his breathing under control, obscuring his view of the fazed student.

"I could ask you the very same question Naruto," the man had gasped out, pausing for a moment to catch his breath. "Do you realize what you've done, how much trouble you're in?" Worry was etched all over his face as he peered into Naruto's eyes; the instructor begun to wonder just how the boy got himself into such a mess.

"Trouble? What do you mean?"

Mizuki shook his head in an unconvinced manner before pointing at the scroll. "You just stole the Scroll of Seals, an ancient scroll with a number of powerful and forbidden techniques belonging strictly to Konohagakure within it! What were you thinking doing something like that?"

"Well, isn't it for the alternative graduation exam? You know, learn one jutsu from the Scroll and pass if you didn't the first time?"

Mizuki's face stiffened at the information. "Naruto, there is no alternative graduation exam. In order to become a Genin, you must pass the exam just like the rest of your peers... who told you that there was one?"

"...what? But I don't understand... Ebisu-sensei said so. We were supposed to meet up here and—"

"Great, we need to get out of here, now!" Mizuki sharply interjected, rushing over to Naruto and securing the Scroll of Seals on his back. "You're in deep, deep trouble, and Ebisu-teme is bad news!"

Confused, Naruto probed the instructor for clarification. "Now wait a minute, what's the big hurry for? And what's the deal with Ebisu-sensei?"

Once again, Mizuki shook his head. "Please Naruto, I promise to explain everything later." The boy merely shot him a disbelieving look.

"Naruto, we're running out of time, and I'm serious about you being in huge trouble! Knowing the Hokage, a search party is already being dispatched to get you and it's not going to look pretty when they do get their hands on you!"

Naruto quickly contemplated on his situation before nodding hesitantly at his instructor; his safety was now in Mizuki's hands, for better or worse.

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Immediately, three identical copies of his sensei warped into existence, side to side at the ready. "Take off your shirt."

Naruto's eyes widened, his face etched in shock. "W-what?! What's that supposed to me—gah! Ouch!" He held his head down, both hands massaging where Mizuki had hit him.

"Idiot! That's far from the point!" he growled. "Kage Bunshins have the same scent as the user, so I'm going to create multiple trails to distract them. But to do that, I need a few things that have your scent on them, too!"

Realization finally hit Naruto's head and he quickly took off both his shirt before handing it to Mizuki. Said man took the shirt and ripped it into four strips, though they were not too far from being shreds either. It looked nothing more than mere tatters.

Naruto visibly winced at the sight of his torn black shirt. Even the Uzushio symbol wasn't at the mercy of his sensei. There goes my favorite shirt...

As if reading his thoughts, Mizuki muttered a reply. "Don't worry about it, I'll get you a new one later. The most important thing right now is to not get caught." He distributed the tatters among the clones, each of them taking a piece before dashing off in a random direction.

Before Naruto could say anything, he was swept off his feet and landed in the arms of Mizuki, heading West from the cottage.

A lingering silence fell over the two runaways as they dashed from tree to tree. One was focused on reaching a certain destination and the other was wondering just what exactly was happening. The lack of noise was unnerving for Naruto who decided to break the thick silence between them with a question that lingered in his mind for a while.

"Mizuki-sensei, where are we going?" Mizuki looked down at Naruto for a brief moment before averting his gaze back to the trees ahead.

"We were heading in the direction of Amegakure and Tanzaku..." The man stopped momentarily, setting the boy down before creating another Kage Bunshin. Mizuki took the fourth and last strip of cloth from his pocket and handed it to the copy, which continued to run in the direction they were formerly going.

"...but only to divert the trackers from our true destination." He smirked, albeit tiredly. "We're actually going to the Tenchi Bridge that joins Hi no Kuni and Kusagakure, part of Na no Kuni. That... is our rendezvous point."

Naruto gave his sensei a quizzical look. "Ren-de-what?"

The man let out a sigh. "It's basically a meeting point, Naruto... It looks like you still have a lot of studying to do." Mizuki laughed lightly as Naruto pouted.

"Whatever... So, who're we meeting up with? I was supposed to meet someone soon back in Konoha, you know? Right after graduation and all..." The boy's gaze lowered a bit, seemingly disappointed at his situation.

A smile formed on Mizuki's lips. "You'll see soon enough, and don't worry about it."

Naruto's azure eyes bored into Mizuki's own in disbelief. "What do you mean, don't worry about it? I'm not sure if you understand how important it is for me to meet this person."

Mizuki shrugged. "Maybe you're right. I might not understand that, but I'd really like you to trust me on this one. We'll even ramen once we get to Kusa—sensei's treat—so how about it?"

The boy had settled with a very pensive expression for a long while, trying to figure out if his sensei had any ulterior motives. Unfortunately, he couldn't fish up anything probable that would benefit Mizuki in the process. Without anything in mind, Naruto decided that he'd put some faith in his sensei after all, now that they were quite a distance away from the village as well.

He mumbled something incoherently, catching the attention of Mizuki.

"What was that, Naruto? I can't hear you if you're mumbling, you know?"

"...fine," Naruto muttered.

"Hm? I still can't hear you, you'll need to speak up!" Mizuki's face broke into a grin from his teasing. He had obviously heard it, but it too much fun to pass up. It wasn't every day that Naruto had to swallow his pride.

He grumbled in annoyance, knowing that Mizuki was playing with him. "I said fine... I'll trust you." His voice strained through grit teeth as he finalized his defeat, though he paused for a moment before quickly adding, "but you owe me that ramen deal—I'm holding you to your word!"

Mizuki chuckled at the remark. "I'll live up to it, so don't you worry one bit." He gave the boy a reassuring smile before stopping abruptly and settling Naruto against a tree. "We should've got an entire day's worth of distance from the tracker team from the information my copies received, so we'll stop and rest here. Tenchi Bridge is nearly half a day away from our location, so we'll need the energy if we want to make it in a timely manner."

Naruto merely nodded, noticing that he was indeed tired and sleep sounded like a good idea. Sure, he had more questions, but he'd get them answered later. What was Na no Kuni? Where was Kusa? What was Kusa like? Was it big like Konoha? How was he going to be a Genin if he was going to Kusa? Maybe he should have paid more attention in the Academy, another mental note to pair up with improving his vocabulary. Never again would he be caught in another wreck over some big words.

"Oh, I almost forgot. I need to mention something important before you get to sleep Naruto."

Naruto looked up at Mizuki who was staring back in the direction of Konoha, now blocked by several kilometers' worth of trees. "Hm, what is it Mizuki-sensei?" Now what could be so much more important than sleep?

Mizuki's face stiffened slightly as he prepared to deliver the information. Reaching into his vest, he pulled out a single, lone metallic object before revealing it to Naruto. Before his eyes was the Konoha forehead protector, but there was one distinct feature that it had that made it... different—a diagonal slash was etched across plate.

"Starting from today... Konoha is not our home."

Kage Bunshin: Shadow Clone

Tajū Kage Bunshin: Multi-Shadow Clone

Bunshin Daibakuha: Great Clone Explosion

Hachimon: Eight Gates

Shuriken Kage Bunshin: Shadow Clone Shuriken

Hi no Kuni: Land of Fire

Na no Kuni: Land of Greens

Disclaiming Naruto. Cover art belongs to sheiku42 of deviantArt.