Author's Note: While I've been working on Drifting, I was once again struck by sudden and unexpected inspiration. This is just a little something I felt like writing in my time editing my other stories.

What if Naruto grew up differently where, instead of pulling pranks to get people to notice him, he got into fights on the streets instead?

Not only does it give him a chance to work on his fighting skills, it also builds his reputation as a fearsome brawler and also changes his attitude towards life, where he first attempts to get people to acknowledge his existence by fighting the kids who bully him. The problem with this though that while he gets good at fighting at an earlier age, people become more wary of him, making that step towards finding friends a little more challenging.

I got the idea from three characters from two of my favorite anime, one being Seiji 'Mad Dog' Sawamura from Midori Days and Ryuuhei Sawamura from Hajime no Ippo, while I took the model for this Naruto's personality from Sendo Takeshi. The guy is sort of like Naruto in a very funny, very violent way.

I'll give this idea a swing by to see how it goes.

P.S, the character Yagura that shows up in this chapter is the Yagura that gives Rock Lee a hard time in the Third Great Beast Arc of the filler series.

Oh yes, and for those of you wondering about the first message they received, I had to take the first version of this story down and make some changes to it, since I didn't like the way that version was done. So I tweaked the prologue a little and here it is.

NARUTO

Unbreakable

Prologue

Konohagakure…

Ten years after Kyuubi attack…

Standing in the middle of a rundown courtyard behind one of Konoha's disused warehouse storage areas, a boy with blonde spiky hair, whiskers on his cheeks, and wearing a blue shirt, a zipped-up, orange vest with the hood pulled over him, and khaki green shorts and blue sandals, could be seen glaring down a taller, much older boy with spiky brown hair, a red shirt with a brown tunic over it, jeans, and wearing a Konohagakure headband above his brow with the village symbol painted over it in kanji reading Yagura Gang.

It was also worth noting that the mob affiliated with said symbol was also standing just several feet behind the teen heading the pack, all of them dressed differently from one another, but all of them sporting headbands of various types with the same symbols painted over them. The blonde haired youngster looked over the platoon's worth of troublemakers numbering around two dozen strong, which had him consider the hooligans for a moment before once again focusing on the one who'd lured him all the way out here and the obvious leader of the troop.

The youngster with his hands in his pockets smirked excitedly, "It's been a while since the last time I saw your ugly faces. How've you guys been?"

The older teen standing ahead of his group returned the boy's smile likewise, before responding in a voice that sounded like he was pinching his nose with his fingers, "Pretty good. You seem to be doing quite well for yourself too, Naruto… or should I call you Yasei Dōbutsu (Wild Beast)." Simply speaking that title had the leader and his cronies snicker in amusement. "That's rich. Who came up with a shit nickname like that for a brat like you?"

Naruto replied with a grin, "I believe that was Sukima after I beat the snot out of him and his friends when they tried to pick on me. Getting the shit kicked out of you by a Genin isn't exactly the way I wanted to spend my Saturday evening, so I gave him a broken nose, a couple of cracked ribs and a black eye for his troubles." Nodding upwards from under the shade of his hood, the blonde chuckled, "It looks like all of your buddies are doing fine as well. I think I even remember a few of them from that afternoon a few weeks ago."

"Damn right, you little punk."

"You're mincemeat!"

"We're going to make you pay for messing with us the way you did!" the boys jeered.

"And I'd gladly do it again," Naruto said loudly before pulling one hand out from his pocket and rolling his shoulder. "Nobody calls me out and gets away with it."

The head honcho sneered confidently and widened his stance, signaling his friends to follow suit, "You think you can pull a miracle out of your ass like the last two times? Dream on." The delinquent gestured towards the band of other thirteen to fifteen year olds standing behind him with a sharp nod. "There's no way in hell that we're going to let the little brat that we used to mess with push us around. You think you can win? There's twenty-four of us and only one of you!"

"Yeah. There's twenty-three sandbags and one academy dropout," Naruto snorted while his grin and expression intensified. Sizing all of them up, he then gave them a cool smirk, "Now, as far as I can see, this can only go two ways for you guys. One; you walk away. Two; I walk all over your faces." His eyes darkened when he lowered his head and blasted them with killer intent. "Personally, I prefer option two."

The gang's expressions for the most part became serious, with the boss heading the group also frowning deeply. "Don't screw with us, you brat! Wild Beast or not, we're taking you down right here and now!"

Naruto's eyes flashed and he leant forward sharply, "It's option two then. Alright!" Without needing to be told twice, the jinchuriki then exploded from his spot and charged straight at the leader, the blonde grinning maniacally as the two fighters sprinted and met each other halfway. "BRING IT ON, YOU BASTARDS!" His mighty bellow echoed out with righteous fury as his right fist cocked back before shooting forward in a spearing strike. The jinchuriki ducked under the jab the fifteen year old confronting him lead off with, before drilling his antagonist straight in the face with a swift overhand that had the force of a mule's kick behind it.

The punch landed across the bully's face with a deafening crack and blasted the older boy clean off his feet. After a grand journey of a few meters, he then hit the ground, back first with a dull thud. Knocked unconscious, the teen then lay there forgotten with a fist imprint in his cheek, blood dripping out of his nose and eyes crossed from having his brain knocked about like a ball in a cup.

Rushing to his aid, the gang of delinquents charged forward and attacked the blonde haired punk all at once, the one leading the platoon's charge drawing his fist back and yelling at the top of his lungs.

"UZUMAKI!" the hooligan roared, swinging in with a punch of his own, only to receive an uppercut in response that sent him barreling into the guys running up behind him.

As soon as Naruto knocked the second guy down, he saw a third boy rush in at him from up front, wielding a kendo stick that he pulled back and swung down at him with reckless abandon. Reacting quickly, the jinchuriki grinned and blocked the downward attack with his left arm, the stick smashing against his guard and exploding in a shower of splinters. Upon parrying the attack, the blonde then sprang up and nailed his attacker in the face with his lightning fast right cross again, knocking him blasting back with saliva and blood flying from his mouth. Before his body could even touch the floor, Naruto rushed passed him and slipped around another downward blow from another boy wielding a kendo stick. As soon as he evaded, the blonde hiked up the teen's forward leg and struck him down with a roundhouse kick that sent him sliding across the ground on his face, where he too lay in an unconscious heap a second later.

Dropping to the floor, the jinchuriki quickly slipped around a hook thrown by another delinquent before catching the flying wrist. As soon as he did so he spun around his foe, twisting his arm to lock it up behind him before pushing the brute into another incoming attacker, knocking them to the ground before being engaged by three other boys at the same time from all sides. They cut out at him with a wild flurry of punches and kicks, with one of them swinging at the runt in orange with a stick from a broom. But the young jinchuriki effortlessly slipped around the attacks, grinning all the while as he took out one of his attackers with a hook and then spun at the armed punk with an elbow. The blows echoed out with simultaneous loud cracks as he dropped two more adversaries in one go.

Naruto then proceeded to deposit every single one of the ruffians that came at him to the floor within seconds of each other. Left and right they came in swinging, but the jinchuriki expertly singled each of them out and nailed them with kicks, punches and elbows with boxing like finesse. He slipped left and right, overwhelming the gang by swiftly moving between them using deft footwork, speed and raw hitting power.

Tossing one boy over his shoulder and slamming him into the ground, knocking him out, Naruto then spun around and rushed at another approaching delinquent wielding a tenth kendo stick. Before the boy could even swing at his head, the jinchuriki hiked right up his chest before delivering a kick straight into his chin, the blow knocking his target's head upwards in a spray of blood, as well as knocking him to the ground in a single blow.

As soon as he landed, Naruto turned swiftly when he heard a loud yell from behind and saw the last of the hoodlums rushing at him with a haymaker. The jinchuriki slipped around it, at the same time nailing him in the stomach with a knee. After that the blonde hit him with a left cross and a right uppercut, discombobulating and setting the crook up for one last finisher, leaping off of the ground and spinning at his last opponent with a butterfly kick that he slammed straight into his collarbone. The blow smashed the kid into the ground, where he then lay motionless as the jinchuriki landed gracefully following his beautifully executed hit.

Breathing out a sigh of relief, the ten year old blonde then took in the sight of the two dozen plus bodies he'd left scattered about the place, some of them groaning but most of them knocked unconscious, all of which were the result of one of the finest one-sided beat downs in that area of the village. Since it had pretty much taken place behind a rundown and disused storage warehouse, the blonde doubted there would have been many people present to witness it… only the victims.

Rising up under the afternoon sun beating down on him, Naruto surveyed the ground one last time before slipping a hand into his pocket. A smirk appeared on his face a second later, "Are you punks still alive?" The sound of simultaneous groans from some of the downed teenagers was his immediate response. "Then my work here is done."

However, before he could start heading on his merry way, the sound of a new voice stopped him dead in his tracks.

"Man. You stop for some yakisoba and you miss out on all the fun."

Raising an eyebrow, Naruto looked over his shoulder to see who it was that had spoken up. When he did, he spotted another teenager with long, dingy brown hair, ice blue eyes and wearing a purple, long-sleeved shirt and pants, and a light purple mantle with yellow trim over that, standing inside the open gate. Like the squad leader from before, he also had on a Konohagakure headband with kanji painted over it, identifying him as another academy dropout belonging to the group.

Watching the newcomer drink in the area for a moment, a second smirk formed on the jinchuriki's face. Turning around, Naruto locked onto the teenager in time to see the real leader of the troop saunter over to him, while stepping over the bodies of his fallen comrades.

When the cool looking kid coasted to a stop a few feet away from the jinchuriki, the two teenagers glared each other down.

"Did you just beat up my whole gang?" the boy Naruto identified as Yagura asked curiously.

The jinchuriki chuckled, "Nope. It seems like I missed one."

Looking the boy in the eye, the brown haired boss also sprouted a grin of his own. Rolling his head on his neck and cracking it, he then slid a foot back in preparation. "I'm impressed. Judging from your attire and those whiskers on your face, I'm going to venture a guess that you're the 'Wild Beast' Naruto Uzumaki. Am I right?"

Cracking his knuckles on either hand, the blonde tilted his head curiously, "So what if I am?"

Stepping into a fighting stance, Yagura answered, "Word on the street is that you're a good fighter… able to take down opponents several times your own size and age. I hear you're also quite scary when you're serious." His eyes then narrowed dangerously as he dug his feet into the concrete floor, the sight of him challenging the jinchuriki being watched on by those one or two boys from the group lying across the courtyard who were able to regain consciousness in time. "I'm quite the taijutsu specialist myself. It was the one thing that I passed with flying colors out of the academy before failing in the surprise test. You're not too tired for a second round?"

"Tired? After fighting these losers?" Naruto asked before blowing a raspberry and waving his hand dismissively, "As if." He then set himself into a stance as well, with his fists held up and a smile drawn across his lips. "They weren't even tough enough to be called a warm-up."

Yagura blinked in surprise before putting his amused game face into play. "Since you kicked the crap out of my friends, I'm going to take my time beating you into a bloody pulp."

"Likewise."

Without another word, the two boys then launched themselves at one another at speed, the jinchuriki hooking in with a left jab while the older teen responded with a right cross.

Seconds after the start of the fight, the sounds of heavy thumps and cracks could be heard echoing out across the surrounding streets, a sound that went on for some time, before silence once again fell upon the warehouse district…

OOO

Later that night…

Ichiraku Ramen Stand…

Sitting at the end of the serving counter with a small smile on his face and a bowl of ramen simmering directly in front of him, an obviously hungry Naruto licked his lips in heavy anticipation of his meal and, not wanting to waster anymore time dillydallying over its supposed deliciousness, decided to dive right on it. Upon tasting the broth and delighting in the noodles that came immediately after that from his chopsticks, the boy savored the sweet sensations of victory washing around in his mouth before swallowing. A satisfied moan escaped his lips as he then breathed out a sigh of delight moments later.

"Oh man, this is great!" He then picked up another helping of noodles along with some sticks of vegetables, which he marinated using the oily broth to give it more flavor for its journey to his stomach, "Nothing beats a serving of Ichiraku's ramen after a long, hard day of work. I've been thinking about this bowl of miso and noodles since morning!" Inhaling another few spoonfuls, the boy gave a childish giggle and looked up over the desk. "Hey, ojisan! This is your best dish yet! Thanks so much!"

Teuchi, the owner of the youngster's favorite establishment, chuckled heartily as his daughter came into view from the back room carrying more ingredients with her. "I can always count on you to enjoy my cooking the most, Naruto-kun. If you want to, maybe you would like to try a free sample of one of the newest items I had added to the menu. It's spicy ramen with pork and fish cakes." Of all the customers he received on a day to day basis, nobody complimented the head chef or viewed him more highly than the whisker-marked blonde in front of him, who treated this place like it was his second home.

The least he could do to reward the kid for his honesty was toss him some compliments of his own.

Throwing his arms out, Naruto grinned ecstatically. "Sure. Why not? Send it my way and I'll give it the Uzumaki seal of approval."

"Whatever you say, kid," Teuchi laughed, tossing another basket of noodles into the hot pot beside him while his daughter collected the empty bowls and payment from previous customers, "One serving of our new number twelve, coming right up."

It was then the peace and serenity of the moment was suddenly shattered by a shocked gasp from Ayame, the girl's exclamation drawing Naruto's attention across the counter to see the girl lean forward and unexpectedly touch his cheek.

"Oh my gosh. Naruto-kun, w-what happened to you?" the normally chipper daughter of the owner asked as she brushed the scratches visible on the jinchuriki's face, "Are you okay?"

Looking up from his work as well, Teuchi saw exactly what had his daughter's immediate concerns when he too caught his first, good glimpse of his best customer's expression. Aside from the surprise the boy received from the sudden attention, it was the fact that he was covered in scuffs and bruises that was the most glaring issue at the moment. He had a cut above his eye that had recently been cleaned and covered in a band-aid, had one across his nose, a black eye that was still healing, and various bruises on his two swollen cheeks, with gauze slapped across his left one and a strip right next to his lip.

From the owners' point of view, it looked like someone had taken a bat to the kid and beaten him down to size. That or he fell repeatedly onto his face for most of the day.

Feeling the gentle touch of Ayame against his skin, Naruto quickly shook her off before trying to hide inside of his bowl of ramen, an annoyed visage coming over him. "I'm fine, Ayame-neechan. Leave me be." And he had been having such a good time too.

Blinking at his immediate dismissal towards his injuries, Ayame frowned and leaned away while folding her arms. "No. You're not fine." Her eyes narrowed angrily when she realized what must have happened, "Don't try to brush this off like it's nothing. You were fighting again, weren't you?"

"Yeah? So?"

"So?" Scrunching her face up irritably at his response, the girl took her dishcloth and slapped it over his head, covering him with it. The fabric falling over his eyes startled the boy out of his reverie and upon pushing it out of the way he saw Ayame scowling down at him disapprovingly. "Naruto-kun, you can't keep getting into random fights with people on the streets, especially with kids who are older and bigger than you are. You're going to get yourself into a lot of trouble if you keep doing that… or worse… you're going to get seriously hurt."

"I get into trouble on a day to day basis, and getting a few bruises in between is just an added bonus. They're just a reminder to duck next time," the jinchuriki shot back, throwing the cloth off of him and grinning up at the girl. "Taking a few hits every now and then is good practice. Besides… they are the ones that started it."

Ayame processed his answer quickly before giving a tired sigh and placing her hands on her hips, shaking her head, "What is it with you and fighting? I just don't understand, Naruto-kun."

"You don't?" the jinchuriki asked, still grinning when he suddenly slammed his hand down on the table declaratively and straightened up, startling a couple of the other patrons over at the other end of the counter. "Come on. It's easy. Fighting isn't just about violence and settling disputes, neechan. It's also a means of measuring a person's worth and mettle. It decides who's the most skilled, who can dodge the best, who's the fastest, who's the strongest, who has the most power in their punch and who can take the other's hit better. 'Test the manliest of men'. That's what fighting is to me."

Hearing his excitement, the waitress sweat-dropped a little at the enthusiasm radiating off of him as he was now standing there beaming at her, having risen from his seat during his string of outbursts. "Don't you think you may be overdoing it a little?"

"Not at all," Naruto replied, rubbing his knuckles against his vest. "If I do anything less, then I wouldn't be able to enjoy myself as much." He then saw the strange look being thrown at him by the girl who often served him at the bar and returned it with a suspicious stare of his own, before leaning forward inquisitively, "Wait… you think I'm just another common ruffian who likes getting into fights?"

Hearing the question and the tone the boy asked it with had the young, secondary owner of the bar jerk upward in surprise before turning away. "W-Well… I uhh…" Ayame murmured uneasily, scratching her cheek while trying to avoid answering the question altogether.

Unfortunately for her, Naruto wasn't going to let her get that reprieve. He was determined to press forward. "Yeah? That's what you're thinking, isn't it? And then I started doing taijutsu naturally, right?"

"Umm, well that's…"

"Well?"

"N-No… that's not what I was thinking at all."

"Really?" Naruto pressured, his eyes narrowing further and brow crinkling. He could feel it coming.

The real answer was right there on the tip of her tongue. He just needed to pry it out.

Giggling a little under the intense waves of intent flooding her way, Ayame then made a small gesture using her thumb and finger indicating a minute about of space. It was this very sign that sealed the deal right then and there. "Maybe… just a little."

"I KNEW IT!" Naruto shouted, slapping his hands on the desk in outrage and scaring the daylights out of both Teuchi and Ayame. The blonde then lent further towards the older girl as he practically clambered onto the table to glare at the waitress giving him the various looks. "Damn it, I hate being misunderstood! Okay. Listen to me very carefully this time Ayame-neechan, because I'm about to tell you the real reason why I fight so much! And it's not because I'm a violent delinquent!" Seeing the girl freeze and start sweating up a storm, the boy sucked in a deep breath of air and, upon positioning himself properly, spoke with absolute certainty and collectiveness in his voice. "It's because… I love to fight. It's as simple as that."

"…"

"…"

"…"

An awkward silence passed over the stand, seconds before Naruto slapped his face in exasperation, "Damn it! I do sound like a ruffian. That's not what I was meant to say." Backing off of the table, the blonde thought over it for a few seconds longer before snapping his fingers and grinning triumphantly across at his audience, who had just now eased up from his many intense exclamations. "Okay then. How about this? If you ask a mountain climber, 'why do you climb', and he answers, 'because the mountain is there', then the reason that I like to fight so much is that, only it applies to what I do and not scaling some ridiculous wall of death."

With that, Ayame stopped trembling like a leaf and thought over his answers for a moment. Taking her chin between her finger and thumb, she along with her father considered the boy's words carefully as the jinchuriki then sat himself back down in his seat and returned to his noodles. When they heard him grunt as he reclaimed his chopsticks, the pair looked over at him a third time, where they saw the child stirring his bowl of noodles with a content smile on his face and sincerity glowing strongly in his eyes.

"To trade blows with another person as an equal, to see who can come out on top and to determine who the strongest and the most skilled is; that's why I love to fight. Even if the odds are stacked against me, I don't care. It gives me a chance to be able to show everyone that I'm not just some stupid, worthless kid. If I become the strongest out of all the shinobi in this village, then the people of this village will stop disrespecting me and start treating me like someone who matters, somebody important," Naruto stated, while also picking up some noodles from the bowl. A small laugh followed his response as he gazed sheepishly at the father and daughter. "Not only that, but I also get to hang out with other kids close to my age. Sure, they're not the nicest guys in the world and they hate my guts for kicking the crap out of them, at least I'm not alone all the time."

Hearing these reasons had Ayame nod in understanding as she finally processed what the boy was getting at.

He was a kid that liked to scrap, not just for the fun of it, but because it allowed him to be with other people as opposed to being all alone. While it was not the greatest way to hang out with company, in fact it was a terrible way of hanging out with others, since he didn't have any parents, family or friends; as long as what he did made him happy then she was not going to argue against him. Upon collecting all of the dishes and watching the jinchuriki go back to his meal, the girl spared him one last look and spoke with the smallest of smiles, "Did you at least win?"

Pausing momentarily, a wild grin appeared on Naruto's face followed by a quick nod, "Of course I did! Who do you think I am, neechan?" He turned to look at the girl and drove his thumb into his chest, "I'm Uzumaki Naruto. That's who I am."

Returning his determined glow with a cheerful one of her own, Ayame then went out back to do wash-up, leaving Naruto and her father standing at the front and watching the pots of water and broth bubble. Upon seeing the curtains settle in her wake, the middle-aged owner of the store turned towards his best customer again and gave him another look over. Once he did, an amused visage quickly came to his face.

"This is the first time in a long while since I last saw you come into my store with marks like that, kid. Every other time it's just been a bruise to the cheek or a busted lip. Was he tough?" Teuchi asked, genuinely curious as to what kind of delinquent could possibly give the village's most renowned troublemaker those kinds of lumps.

Naruto chuckled and nodded in confirmation, "Oh yeah." That guy Yagura had been crazy strong. He actually had the upper hand for the first half of their fight, but when the jinchuriki finally got his timing down he started beating the shit out of him until he could no longer move.

It was a make or break fight, and Naruto, through hell and high water, had made it to the top of the food chain.

"Who was it this time?"

"The boss of a group who used to push me around and beat me up when I first got out of the orphanage," the youngster replied, as if the whole ordeal had just been a casual thing. After countless fights with teenagers on the streets and a couple of punk Genin who wanted to bully him, you would be surprised how laidback you got about these sorts of things. It didn't bother him at all though. "Yagura: tall, brown hair, didn't make it past the final Genin exam, and fights using kenpo. I gotta say… it's been a few months since I last fought a dropout who could use that style. He quit going to the academy when his team didn't make the cut-off and formed the gang."

"I see," Teuchi murmured, folding his arms and nodding his head approvingly, "So you went and got a little payback for all the weeks they spent kicking you around. I assume this was the first time you fought the boss."

"Uh-huh. The guy was seriously tough. But now that I've beaten Yagura and his gang, that makes me the strongest street kid in the entire village," Naruto informed, looking quite proud of himself when he looked back up at the man and puffed his chest out, at the same time shaking his fist that had a few welts around the knuckles. "Not a single one of those punks will ever mess with me again. If they do, I'll just beat them up some more. I've claimed their turf as my own and I'm never giving it back, dattebayo."

"I doubt this will sit too well with the folks at the academy though," Teuchi added, getting the jinchuriki to simultaneously drop his chopsticks back into his bowl and summon a proverbial raincloud above his head, which began to drizzle down on him in a clear show of displeasure. "Your classmates especially."

"Ugh. Yeah. That's true."

"It's give and take in this world, kid. You can't have one thing without giving up the other, unless you can somehow make it happen and get both. Then you would be set for life." Grinning cheekily, the old man leant forward and poked him in the shoulder, resting against the desk as he engaged the youngster in another round of good-natured banter, "Well… give it some time and I'm sure things will start looking up for you. Nobody's bad luck can last forever."

"Yeah," Naruto mumbled, going back to stirring his bowl absently while turning to glance at the old man again, a wry grin popping up, "I just need to keep trying to connect with people, no matter how many times I get shot down. And if my fortune doesn't pick up anytime soon, I'll always have good, old-fashioned perseverance to fall back on, right?"

"That's the spirit."

As well as being a connoisseur of fine ramen, the man also took his time to listen to the numerous problems experienced by his customers. It was like working at an actual bar with alcohol as the main product being sold. You'd be surprised how many of those troubled cases he had duck into here from the other side of those curtains.

The kid across from him that fought with every aspect of life, regardless of its physical value, just happened to be one of them.

XXX

The very next morning…

Unfortunately for Naruto the day his luck would eventually start to pick back up would not be today. Because, for what felt like the hundredth time in a row, he found himself in complete and utter isolation in a room filled with kids his age, as the young jinchuriki sat at the very edge of the hall, right next to the window, playing with his thumbs as every other kid in the class had quite literally moved to sit and chat on the other side. This meant that the small row that he was occupying on his side of the isle, the seats in front of him and behind him, were pretty much empty.

It was a really cold and unforgiving spot. A physical void if he could describe it in any way. But hey, it could've been worse.

"Hey, did you hear? Naruto beat up another group of kids the other day," a boy whispered.

"Really? Were they older or younger than him?" another voice asked in surprise.

"Older. It was Yagura's gang."

"Holy crap. Aren't some of those guys supposed to be academy dropouts from, like, three years ago?"

"Yeah. And the Wild Beast beat every single one of them."

"Somebody should lock him up," a girl whispered.

"Shh, don't say that so loud. He'll hear you."

"Yeah but, look at him. He gives me the creeps."

Eye-twitching in a very animated way, the jinchuriki then gave a groan of frustration and allowed his head to slump forward as the streams of familiar whispers flooded over him. Since almost the entire class was there and he was sitting inside a chamber that was pretty much designed to echo for the lecturer's voice to be able to reach every ear and corner of the place, the fact that they were all trying to keep their voices at the lowest decibel possible wasn't really helping him much. He could still hear every single thing they were saying about him.

Appearing a bit dismayed, the boy then grinned a little and shrugged, "Well… at least they're talking about how good I am. That's a plus, right?" It was a comfort he was hoping to derive from the stench of fear wafting in his general direction.

To be completely honest though, his current situation wasn't that much of an improvement from his last one.

Not too long ago, about a couple of years by his estimate, Naruto remembered how everyone in the village had just plain, straight-up ignored him whenever he was around. Everywhere he went, no matter where and what time of day it was, the orphanage, around the academy, public venues, the streets, shops, restaurants… every single person he'd ran into or passed by on the main highways had gone to great lengths to keep their eyes trained on anything else but him. Every villager would just keep their attentions fixed on a distant horizon and practically pay him little to no mind, like he was just part of the scenery, and whenever they did look at him it was always with the same, cold stare filled with loathing and disgust.

The culmination of every villager participating in this act made it feel like Naruto was nothing more than a ghost to them; someone who didn't exist and wasn't even part of the world.

His interactions with other people from what he could recall of his years spent in the orphanage and the days when he finally left the institute had been close to zero, until a couple of years ago when kids started beating him up for 'wandering onto their turf'. They saw him as easy prey and someone they could pick on, a plaything for their amusement and something to just pass the time until they got bored. The reason they'd kept on doing so was because Naruto purposefully went out of his way to cross paths and start trouble with them over and over again, because the delinquents and gangs he ran into in the alleys and streets actually acknowledged his presence in a way, even if it was for a bad thing.

Before Naruto knew it, getting into fights with the troublemakers and rogue mobs wandering around the village became an absurdly fun and almost regular occurrence for him, and soon he got so good at fighting that not even a whole group of people were able to cause anymore problems for him. Hell, even Genin level kids who were two years ahead of him in the department were no longer an issue.

He was able to ward off the bullies and make a name for himself as a strong, powerful brawler who could take down multiple armed opponents within seconds. The only problem was, as a side effect of his violent interactions with the various gangs in an effort to get people to acknowledge his existence, the adults and kids from his neighborhood and class became more wary and scared of him. People in the hidden leaf started misunderstanding him, viewing him as someone who got his kicks beating up on others, a violent kid who acted out regularly and someone who was, to put it simply, a bad influence.

This was the main reason why Naruto felt like he'd traded one unpleasant experience with the regular villagers for another that was just as bad. Even though the only people who approached him and recognized his presence in any way were bullies and delinquents wanting to fight him, the father and daughter of the Ichiraku ramen stand and about two other faces, for the most part everybody else just gave him an extremely wide berth.

Actually, the distance between him and other people seemed to have increased a little more from what he could remember.

His social life on the surface with the general populace had really taken a nosedive in the past months. The only reason he'd been able to keep it together so far was because he was actually experiencing real human contact on a day to day basis, most notably the comfort he received from Teuchi and Ayame, and the bruises he got from the troublemakers he fought.

"But it's not like this is any better from my previous situation," Naruto thought in a disgruntled tone, sighing again before turning to look at the kids sitting or standing on the other side of the room. The moment he turned to them however, every single set of eyes that had previously been locked onto him turned away, and heads and voices were lowered to a deathly silence. The sight prompted the blonde to fold his arms on the desk in front of him in childish annoyance and rest his head on top of them. "Damn it. This sucks."

As much as he tried to not let this get to him, it was still incredibly grating.

"Did you see his eyes?"

"Yeah. I did."

"He really is scary."

Naruto shut his eyes and closed his ears, deciding to take a nap until the voices of his peers eventually ebbed.

A few seconds after putting his head down, the door to the classroom opened up and the stirring within the classroom ceased when Iruka strolled into view, clipboard under his arm and his game face on. "Alright everyone, take your seats. It's time to start the lesson. What the heck are all of you doing on this side anyway?" He then stopped when he noticed Naruto sitting on the other side, which quickly answered the Chunin's question and brought a small smile to his face. "Oh. Of course. The infamous 'Wild Beast' is in the house. Geez." An amused glint flashing across his eyes, Iruka adjusted his headband before depositing his stuff onto his desk. "Come on. Don't dillydally. Pick a spot and plant yourselves there. Chop-chop!"

Hesitantly, every student in the class slowly made their way to a row. Those who were quick enough were able to get seats as far away from Naruto as possible, while those 'unfortunate' to secure them next to the troublemaker resigned themselves to their fates. Of course, everyone who wound up sitting near him kept as many feet away from the 'scary blonde delinquent' as they could, during which time they would also pass him a few worried glances.

"Glad to see you were able to make it today, Naruto," Iruka chirped in greeting, seeing the boy sit up and look at him in surprise. "Didn't get up to much this weekend?"

Processing the man's question, the jinchuriki grinned and rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, "Oh, you know, just… stuff. Long walks around the village, studying at home… the usual." He reminded himself to eat a bar of soap at the end of the day because all of that was just a load of horse shit.

All he did on the weekend of any significance was run some errands, bump into some old acquaintances, and kicked the living daylights out of them.

However, he didn't want to say that in front of the rest of the class for fear of incurring more bad press and adding it to his already hit-and-miss popularity and standing amongst his peers.

Iruka chuckled, "Right. Well, as long as you're here and not causing trouble out there, then that's good enough for me." Giving the boy one last look over and taking in the band-aids he was still wearing on his already healed face, which he'd forgotten to take off, he then moved on with his lesson and started teaching his class like he would any normal day.

As far as he was concerned, it was just like every other day.

OOO

The lessons for that morning and into the afternoon went on business as usual. It was so ordinary in fact that the entire ordeal kind of had Naruto question the actual purpose of his being there. But after some careful consideration and thought, the boy was able to reason with himself that because this was all educational stuff and not practical material he could physically learn with his body, it was only logical the day started off so bland and lifeless. It was the routine of the world.

Naruto did his best to blend in with the rest of the students like he was actually part of the group, despite his obvious position amongst them, and put forward all of his effort into absorbing the drawl that escaped Iruka's lips. It was pretty much all the normal hooray involved with their studies here in becoming future shinobi of their village. The jinchuriki tried his hardest to listen and take in everything the man had to say, but would every so often drop out to consider some of his own problems.

When the bell for recess rang later that day, Naruto tried not to flinch at how quickly people seemed to retreat from his side. For the sake of business and respect to their teacher, they'd put up with his presence throughout all of the lessons in the first half of the day. The second the call for a break resounded throughout the building it didn't take long for the kids fearful of him to head out the door and return to their friends.

The only person who really lagged behind out of the entire class was, Sasuke, whom threw his usual, emotionless stare the jinchuriki's way before deciding to take his leave.

Though Naruto found it strange that every time class left the Uchiha would hang back for a few seconds longer to consider him for a moment, he quickly dismissed it as the guy just being weird. He didn't even let it dawn on him for any longer than a few ticks before the blonde went out to get recess as well. Just like every other day, he took to walking the grounds of the academy while eating the rice cakes or pork buns he often brought for his breaks. During which time he would also go off and try his luck to hang out with the other boys and girls.

Eventually finding his way over to one of the more popular clearings outside of the school building, Naruto waited beside one of the trees on the edge watching a few of the students playing ball with one another. In spite of the fact that they were supposed to be shinobi in training, they were still kids who enjoyed all the little things in life, including activities of this nature that didn't involve hurling knives at targets.

For as far back as he can remember Naruto only had the pleasure of watching the kids playing from a distance. It was something he'd done both before and after his reputation changed, and his name started to associate with a less reputable crowd. But today he wanted to try something different and, finding the right time to interject, walked over to them with his hands in his pockets and hood pulled back to show his face as per the norm.

He stopped when he got within reach and speaking distance of them. The kids didn't even notice he was standing there with them on the grass until a few seconds later, with all of them jumping away with a start when he just appeared out from behind one of them.

Grinning cheerfully towards his five classmates, the boy waved pleasantly. "Hey, do you need an extra guy?"

Stammering and looking between each other, Tobio, who was heading up the group in their game, rubbed his head and smiled nervously towards the jinchuriki. As he did so, the other kids behind him started backing down little by little at the 'terrifying' look they were getting from the blonde, even though he was just trying to appear his normal, friendly self. "S-Sorry… Naruto… uhh… we… already have five players… and we want to keep it an even number."

Blinking in confusion, Naruto rubbed his chin and looked down thoughtfully for a moment. After which he then panned back up. "Hey! Wait a second. Five isn't an even nu-" By the time he'd turned to face the group again, all of the kids had run off, leaving him standing there with an unfinished sentence.

While they were dashing away, Naruto heard their voices drift back over to him.

"Did you see the way he was looking at us?"

"I know. That was scary, man."

"We need to be a lot more careful from now on, otherwise he might attack us."

Unable to get another word in as they were now long gone, Naruto's expression developed a frown and a disappointed tick. Head dropping and hands in his pockets, he kicked the ground irritably and went off on his own. "Damn." Maybe somewhere else a group of other kids was willing to include him. The problem with that though, was that he had no idea which group.

It had always been like this for him, ever since the orphanage. The children would run away or keep their distance whenever he came by, regarding him with extreme caution and concern. Even if he just wanted to ask them something or ask for direction they would always scamper off. All of this hassle and fruitless searching eventually led to Naruto going over to his favorite tree outside the academy building and sitting under it, where he would then absently push the tire swing from side to side and watch the other children have their fun until the bell for the end of recess sounded.

The same could be said for his lunch period too. As hard as he tried, he always came back to the classroom empty-handed and feeling a little miserable. But this didn't mean he was done trying to get close to his peers.

He was far from giving up at this point.

Eventually, the time came for everyone in school to clock out. When the final bell rang, every student inside the building returned home. The one who lagged behind the longest out of all of them this time was Naruto, who sat in class until everyone had cleared out before picking up his notebook and slowly trudging out of the room. However, the moment he exited into the hallway, he saw Iruka standing outside and waiting for him with an expectant look on his face.

The sight of the Chunin surprised the jinchuriki, but the boy had a feeling he knew exactly why the instructor was out there. After all, everybody had been talking about it.

It wasn't that big of a stretch to think that Iruka had heard about it too.

"Okay… if this is about me beating up a group of idiots yesterday in the storage house district, I just want to say Iruka-sensei that… they had it coming." Right. So the first words in his defense weren't going to help him in any court. He basically confessed to the fact that he was wholeheartedly responsible for hospitalizing a group of fifteen year olds all by himself, and got a few decent bruises in return for his efforts. However, this being Iruka, it was next to impossible for the boy to hide anything from his discipline prone, eagle-eyed teacher, who somehow had this weird sixth sense about what Naruto did in his off time outside of class. With that in mind, the jinchuriki threw both his arms out and sighed. "Go ahead. Lay it on me. Just promise me that it'll be quick."

Shaking his head at the kid's willingness to surrender to him, the Chunin stepped forward and placed a hand on top of his head. His gesture had the blonde blink in confusion at his instructor, before he eventually spoke. "You didn't get hurt too badly, did you, Naruto?"

The jinchuriki stared incredulously for a moment and dropped his hands, "Huh? What was that?"

"I'm asking whether or not you got hurt in that fight," Iruka repeated with a warm smile in play. "You don't normally wear so many band aids to my class unless the scrap you got into was a rough one. You're normally a lot more careful than that. So I just want to know…"

Blinking, Naruto quickly processed the fact that the man wasn't scolding him yet and that he was actually asking him about whether or not he was okay. A little bit surprised by the switch, the boy stiffened a little and massaged his head anxiously, "I just got hit in the face a few times, Iruka-sensei. That's all. Just another one versus twenty in a courtyard."

The man tilted his head, "You against twenty other kids. Wow. That's impressive." He placed his hands on his hips and grinned. "But I guess that's nothing for you, isn't it? Nothing that the 'Wild Beast' of Konohagakure can't handle."

"Y-Yeah…" Naruto mumbled, expression becoming a bit more downtrodden as he breathed a sigh of vexation.

Seeing his face turn gloomy and his eyes reflecting a bit more disappointment then they normally would, even though his posture and gestures didn't, the Chunin considered him quietly for a second before scrubbing his own neck uneasily. After giving it some further thought, another smile came upon him and he leant forward to gaze down at the youngster properly. "Hey… if you're not meeting up with anyone tonight, how about we go get some dinner?" He saw the blonde's eyes shoot up towards him, earning an encouraging grin from the scar-faced teacher. "I feel like some ramen tonight. How about you?"

At that, Naruto's expression almost instantly cheered up and he nodded his head vigorously, "Yeah! Definitely!"

Wow. It was like the whole social outcast and labeling had never even occurred to him.

Iruka chuckled and began walking down the hall, quickly followed by his student who immediately fell in step with him. "Alright. The first round's on me."

"Awesome. Thanks, Iruka-sensei."

OOO

That afternoon…

For the next hour or so, Iruka sat alongside Naruto at Ichiraku's Ramen bar, where he was then indulged not only in the aromas of the store itself, but in the story of the jinchuriki's encounter with Yagura's band of cronies and the big man himself the day before. With Teuchi and his daughter standing on the other side and cooking, and the Chunin hanging onto every word his student had to say, the now reinvigorated blonde had no problems in telling him all about the event.

Needless to say, it was quite an exhilarating story.

"So they bumped into you on the streets… and told you to meet up with them at the warehouse area because they wanted to 'talk to you'?" Iruka repeated, seeing Naruto nod affirmatively as he inhaled another length of noodles. The Chunin gave an understanding gesture as he too slurped up the noodles hanging from his mouth and chuckled, "Heh. It was obviously a setup so that they could gang up on you and try to beat you up again… but you still went anyway."

"Yep," Naruto responded with a proud smile. "They asked me to meet them there, so I went. It's no big deal. If they had something they needed to say to me, then they would just come out and say it." Oh yeah. They definitely came out and said it. All he did afterwards was offer them a response in kind when he realized their true intentions.

Iruka smiled and stirred the contents of his bowl. "I guess you can't help it sometimes. A lot of kids in places don't know what to do with themselves when they're bored, so they form groups and go out looking for trouble. The same can be said for the kids from the academy who weren't able to make it through the Genin exams. Instead of going back for another try, some of them just drop out and kill time however they can."

This had the jinchuriki chuckle, "Man. I sure hope I don't fail in the final exams. I've been killing myself for months just to get this far."

"Yeah. I can tell," Iruka agreed, knowing full well how determined the kid next to him was. "You're a strong kid and a hard worker. You're good at physical activities and you always do your best in class, even in the stuff you don't know. Just keep doing what you're doing, focus on your jutsu and your studies, and I'm sure you'll pass with flying colors." After several moments of silence and slurping up the ramen from their second servings, the instructor then gave the youngster a bit of a lopsided smile. "Still having trouble getting along with the rest of the class?"

Naruto groaned at that, a sour expression falling over his face. "Yeah." He took to glaring ahead of him, ignoring the small chuckle of amusement that his teacher gave. "This bites. I try to come off as friendly, but everyone just keeps running away from me because they think I'm going to punch them or something. It makes me want to go chase after them when they do."

Wait. That didn't come out right.

Whatever.

Obviously sulking, Naruto then turned to look at his teacher again. "Do I look like someone that would just randomly walk up to a person on the street and punch them in the face?"

Opening his mouth to respond, Iruka then stopped when he thought about it some more and made a hesitant, wishy-washy gesture. "Kinda-sorta."

At that point Naruto decided to slam his head down on the counter, rattling the utensils and getting Teuchi and Ayame to look across at him in worry. The next words that came out following his collapse was expressed in low grumbles, but not before he let out a loud groan of mock dismay, "This is annoying. When I wasn't getting into fights for fun, nobody wanted to talk to me or have anything to do with me. But then when kids started picking on me, and I started hitting back and making myself into something else, people take it the wrong way and back off even more. What am I doing wrong?"

It was a tough question. Iruka knew this well. After all, a lot of Naruto's past experiences and childhood mirrored his in a lot of ways, except instead of pulling pranks and coming off as the class clown to get attention in the academy, the jinchuriki chose to become a fighter and build up a reputation, as well as his skills. While their positions were similar, their transitions into getting people to recognize their existences differed.

This was why Iruka spent a lot of his time chatting with Naruto and looking out for him. Even though he was a tough kid and liked getting into scraps, he was still just a child, one who was desperately looking for normal human interactions, in spite of the way he seemed to shrug off the need.

Deciding to offer his own two-cents on the matter, the instructor patted his student on the back and gripped his vest somewhat, "Maybe you're being a little too aggressive in your approach." Seeing the blonde sit up at this, Iruka beamed. "While it's good to be confident and to smile a lot to others, you also have to consider your reputation and standing amongst your peers. A lot of the kids may not be aware that you're a nice guy and that you just want to be friends with them. You should play to your strengths. Show them that you mean well and that you don't intend to hurt them. Move slowly, show some restraint, and give them reasons to like you and to start trusting you." He then gestured towards him with his chopsticks, pinching them together twice. "One step at a time, Naruto. That's how you should do it."

The jinchuriki straightened up, blinking across at the man, "You think so?"

"Yes. And it wouldn't hurt you to stop getting into so much trouble either," the man mock-growled while flicking him in the ear, causing the blonde to wince and rub the affected area. "Ease up a little on the fighting and try to have a normal life. Focus your time and energy on something else… something more constructive." Seeing the boy look at him in displeasure with clear signs of wanting to protest, Iruka quickly continued so that he could avoid the inevitable argument. "Now don't give me that look. If you want to have a chance of making friends you have to start making some changes in your life, and that also means sacrificing a few things. You can keep fighting to improve your skills and to increase your strength, just… keep the public brawls to a minimum from now on, alright."

He was saying this because, even though he was the boy's teacher, there was only so much he could do for him. Outside of class, there were always going to be things that happened that were beyond his control and authority, and fighting amongst children that weren't from the academy was one of them. Though it was a frowned upon practice in a community setting, even in a shinobi village where relationships and normalcy was greatly encouraged by the ones running the place, fighting out in public wasn't outlawed.

If it was then all shinobi training that was physically based would be band as well… probably… and that would be extremely counterproductive.

Though he wanted to dispute the man, since fighting was in his blood and something he loved to do, Naruto took a minute to think about what was said to him some more. Reasoning with himself that in order for him to start making friends with the other kids in his class that he needed to change his image a little more, as well as his approach, he then relented on his stand against the Chunin and slowly returned to his ramen.

Answer in hand and a smile on his face, Naruto nodded to his teacher's words in understanding. "If you think it will help, then I'll try to reframe from getting into more fights outside of class, Iruka-sensei. Though I can't make any promises that it'll be easy," the blonde responded with a wide grin on his face. "I still intend to get stronger… and there's no changing that. I just need to work on polishing my skills some other way."

Satisfied, Iruka nudged him in the side and beamed at him once more. "That's all I wanted to hear."

Really. It was.

Though Iruka was concerned that the kids in Naruto's class would be so scared of him by the end of his academy days that any attempts to form a solid Genin team with him in the future would really hamper his performance, he was more concerned about Naruto's wellbeing in general. After all, he didn't want the kid to grow up alone and go home disappointed every day. He needed friends… real friends.

Even when Iruka tried his best to fill in that void in the boy's life because he saw a good kid in him, the truth was he wouldn't be there to look out for him all the time.

Naruto needed a companion his age he could trust, have fun with and talk to daily.

Knowing who he really was under his tough and incredibly gallant visage, Iruka strongly believed that the teen would be able to pull through somehow. It would just take a little more time, effort and a little more positive reinforcement. Kami knows that he needed it.

"By the way, Naruto," Iruka spoke up again, looking at the troublesome youngster with a curious smirk. "How are you doing with the Bunshin no Jutsu (Clone Technique)? I know you've got the Henge no Jutsu (Transformation Technique) down pat, but your last test involving the clone technique was just awful…"

This had Naruto frown animatedly and glare ahead of him in a distasteful manner, as he remembered his poor performance in class all too well. "It's… It's getting there, sensei. I've been practicing with it a lot. The last clone I made at home a couple days ago actually turned out to be pretty good."

"…"

"…"

"…"

"It was terrible, wasn't it?"

"…"

"…"

"Yeah."

Cue proverbial raincloud and incoming storm.

TO BE CONTINUED…

Author's Note: So that's it. Naruto is a kid who loves getting into fights because it was one of the only things that allowed him to interact with people after being alone for so long and having no one to talk to.

But even though he's able to interact with some people, he still wants to make real friends. However, thanks to his history in the village as a brawler, which spawned a lot of bad rumors about him, it makes it a lot more difficult for him to get closer to others.

Since the next Drifting chapter is taking a while to edit, I decided to write this just to clear my head a little.