DISCLAIMER
I do not own the Naruto universe. No profit is being made off this story.

Being Smart and Being Strong Are Two Different Things

Some lessons in life take a long time to sink in. This was what Naruto realized when he and his team returned from their eye-opening mission to wave country. After the team's near death encounter with Gato and Zabuza, several thing began to gnaw at Naruto. How was he supposed to become Hokage when he was the weakest genin on the team.

"Sasule almost died on that bridge in wave. He was protecting me. Me. All because I was too weak. What if Sasuke had really died? Would I be able to forgive myself, or would I end up like Kakashi Sensei, being eaten alive by the guilt of losing a teammate?

All of these thoughts were running through Naruto's head as they wearily trudged back to the village. He was beginning to feel overwhelmingly inadequate. "I only know a handful of jutsus and I've been a genin for over six months. I bet Rock Lee, who can't even do jutsu knows more than I do. All Kakashi sensei ever has us do is team work building exercises." Something needs to change. I need to become stronger. Stronger to protect my team. To protect those precious to me.

As the team drew nearer and nearer to the village and as the sun set high in the sky Naruto's countenance shifted. He had come to realize what the true life of a ninja was really like and he felt woefully unprepared. But, with that realization came a sense of purpose. Before, his only real ambition was to become hokage, and he didn't even really know what that meant. He just wanted the villagers who had always ignored, or in some cases were outright hostile to recognize him. He had always seen the respect that everyone in the village gave to the hokage and in his young mind he wanted that. Now, after having a near death experience and seeing what being a ninja is truly like his priorities shifted.

Naruto wanted to live. He wanted to experience life to the fullest. He wanted to have adventure. He wanted to live long enough to fall in love, to raise a family. But now the truth beagn to sink in. In the dangerous world of the ninja, only the strongest lived to retirement. He knew that at the rate he was progressing that he wasn't likely to live past his sixteenth birthday.

During the trip back to the village Kakashi had been discreetly glancing at his young pupils. Sakura bordered on looking like she was in shock over the whole ordeal and stealing glances at her, "Sasuke kun." He half wondered if she was bipolar as he noticed the way her mood would change back and forth. One moment she would be fawning over her crush and the next she would be screeching at Naruto. He made a mental note to have her go to a psych eval.
Sasuke was brooding as usual, but seemed a bit anxious as well. He probably wanted to get home as soon as possible so that he could start practicing with his newly awakened sharingan.

As for the young blonde, he was very quiet and downtrodden, which was unusual for the normally energetic blonde. As they entered the village gates he noticed that something had changed with his pupil. His shoulders squared, his stride lengthened and a smile slowly found its way on his face . He had found a new sense of purpose.

Naruto had realized that he needed to change. But how? When he arrived home he kicked off his shoes and slumped in his worn chair while he waited for his instant ramen to cook. While he waited his mind kept replaying the fight that he had with Zabuza over and over again. As he analyzed the fight his mind was drawn back to his genin test. While he was fighting Kakashi sensei all he ever did was spam clone and jump in. The only thought in his head was that if he made enough clones he could beat his sensei. How foolish he was. As he thought about how his sensei fought though he slowly realized something. Every move, every dodge or punch. Everything was coldly calculated and executed with as little of effort as possible. By the end of the exam Naruto was struggling for breath and Kakashi hadn't even paused in his reading. It wasn't the strongest that survived on the battlefield, it is the smartest. No, he decided. He didn't need to just get stronger, more than anything he needed to get smarter, more cunning. He needed to learn how to take command of his own life, his own destiny.

This was the lesson that Naruto learned that day, and it would forever alter the course of the elemental countries.

He was so lost in thought that he barely realized that his ramen was done and almost burnt it. After praying to the ramen gods for forgiveness he dug into his lunch. Oh how he had missed his ramen.