Chapter 1

His advance came as sudden as the killing intent. It hit with a force so unfamiliar to Naruto that he barely had time to brace himself for impact. Punches soared at his face and chest, but if the blond haired boy was anything he was fast. Ducking to the side of a fatally powerful jab, Naruto rolled into a spree of flips that left him ten feet in the air on the branch of a tree.

"What the hell was that, Saru-Sensei?" He yelled with melodramatic agony, holding his ribs that had taken a minor beating, "They told you to teach me to fight, not kill me!" Sarutobi Asuma just smirked, pulling out a cigarette and lighting it with abandon. Growling at his apathetic sensei, Naruto rushed him with all the speed he could muster. Next thing he knew, there was a flare of pain from a fist in his gut and he was lying on the ground beneath his heavy Jounin-sensei. "Erg! G-get off of me you psycho!"

"Oh, so you can keep trying to hit me?" Asuma asked, looking down beneath his legs at the diminutive Naruto while still pulling on his cigarette. The blond hacked when the smoke hit him in the face, "And again with the drama. Kid, you are starting to remind me of a woman." Naruto just pouted, crossing his arms and waiting impatiently in silence. A moment later, and after a good, painful readjustment, Asuma slowly rose off the boy and let him stand with as much dignity as he could still muster. Flicking his cigarette, the man turned and began to walk back towards the village. "Come on, Gaki. I'm hungry and your sorry excuse for a Shinobi physique isn't going to get better eating noodles all day."

Naruto knew when he was being goaded, but still had to resist the temptation of attacking the man when he insulted Ramen. No one insults the noodles! Instead, Naruto just grumbled out a few choice words, kicking dirt up into the air before jumping after his sensei.

Though it was called a village, for all intents and purposes Konohagakure was a massive, bustling city. Vendors lined the streets of the market district, looking to make bank on the heavy wallets of Konoha's people. Asuma and Naruto, both having grown up with greedy hands and eyes searching for chances to get free food, had a healthy respect for the area and walked swiftly past.

Soon enough, they were sitting at a table in a restaurant famed for its barbecued pork, staring in content silence at their menus. Asuma, a long-time customer before his flight from Konoha during his teens, already knew what he wanted; it was just a matter of habit that he stared down at the familiar, hand-written characters. Naruto, on the other hand, was trying his best to find a food as close to Ramen as possible, but was sadly in for a devastating surprise.

"This place doesn't sell noodles at all!" He cried out in dismay, looking aghast as crocodile tears rolled down his face.

"Oh suck it up, brat. Ancestors help me, I'm going to start calling you Naruko if you don't quit this soon." The blondes pout came back in full force, only for him to form an inquisitive look on his face.

"So, Saru-sensei, are you going to be teaching me some awesome jutsu tomorrow? I'm really excited to learn how to use the trench knives." Asuma laughed. Naruto, not expecting this, just glared at him until the man finally ended his spree of gut-wrenching laughter.

"Naruto, I'm going to be honest," the Jounin said with a final chuckle, "you are not going to be learning any jutsu, especially my Ninjutsu, for a long time. How old are you, eight?"

"Nine!" The blond yelled out indignantly.

"Nine, then, and still far too young to learn the big stuff. My father," and at this his voice turned bitter, "asked me to train you as a favor to him … not that I have any reason for doing my father favors." Naruto, unusually somber, nodded as the table fell into an uncomfortable silence. He still didn't understand the reasons why his sensei disliked his own father so much. The man was the Hokage! The leader of the village! The strongest in the village! And he liked Ramen, too!

"Asuma-sensei?" Naruto asked hesitantly. The man looked away from his menu, his eyes still hard, "Why'd you come back to Konoha, then?" It was a simple question, but Asuma was still at a loss on how to respond. Fortunately enough for him, the waiter chose this moment to appear, giving the Jounin a golden opportunity to turn the subject away from himself. Still, he knew he would have to answer his student some day. At that time, maybe the blond would learn that Hokage isn't synonymous with perfect.

Somehow though, Sarutobi Asuma doubted it.

Naruto collapsed to the ground, panting heavily against the still vibrating wooden post. It was his least favorite exercise: five-hundred punches, as Saru-sensei called it. Still, it definitely had improved on Naruto's performance. At ten years old, his body was devoid of the infamous childhood fat and lean with a fighter's musculature. He was slowly learning the Sarutobi Clan Taijutsu: The Monkey Fist. It was a bit too slow of a Taijutsu style for him, concentrating on the power and suddenness of the movement instead. Still, it helped him to take things slow and think through his actions rather than just rushing in blindly. Well, at least that's what Asuma said.

"Come on. Get up, you lazy punk! I don't spend my days helping you get better so you can lay down on the job. Now I want you to recite as much as you know about Chakra to me, now." Naruto glared at his sensei who was sitting in the corner cleaning one of his trench knives. That man was ten times lazier than Naruto! He was almost as lazy as Naruto's classmate, Nara Shikamaru, and that was saying something when the boy's fondest pastime was sleeping. Staring at the clouds took too much energy, most days.

Instead of complaining, though, Naruto slowly used the post as leverage to gain his bearings and stand up. When he made it to his feet, he wobbled over to his sensei.

"Chakra is your body's energy and your mind's energy swirled up into one big … hunk," Naruto explained with his usual verbal acuity, nodding when he came up with such an appropriate adjective. "This hunk is then shot from your body in a certain way through hand signs." At this he showed off the specific hand signs, grinning boldly at his sensei who stood there for a few minutes just staring.

"Is that really everything you know about Chakra?" Naruto gaped back at the question, his expression comical.

"What!? That's like everything there is to know about Chakra! Ever!" At this, Asuma pulled out a trench knife and formed energy. Little Naruto could only stare in awe at the awesome Chakra forming around the end of blade.

"This, Naruto is Fuuton. Fuuton, otherwise known as Wind Release, is one of five elemental Chakras. I'm an expert in this element and one of the other five, Katon. Hopefully …" Asuma paused abruptly, trying to pull back before Naruto heard more than he needed to. "Well, never mind. I'll teach you about elemental affinities later.

"All you need to know is that Chakra can form into five elements: Fuuton, Katon, Suiton, Doton, and Raiton. Each of the major five villages has a common affinity for their people. Ours is Katon." At this he went through a series of hand signs before turning and extending his palm towards a large rock,

" Katon: Endan!" A ball of fire easily ten feet wide erupted from Asuma's hand, engulfing the boulder and charring it as well as the grass around it. Naruto was once again left gaping before energy seemed to well up in his body and he jumped high, crying,

"That was so cool!" Asuma laughed at that, grabbing for another cigarette and sitting back down against the tree. Reaching about him, he grabbed a leaf and raised it up for Naruto to grab. The blond did as told hesitantly, looking at the leaf as if it was diseased.

"This, Naruto, is what will allow you to execute Ninjutsu. Well, the first step at least. What I want you to do is place that leaf in your palm." Naruto did so. "Now, your job is to keep that leaf from falling to the ground."

"Hah, that's it?" The ten year old scoffed, happy with himself for getting such an easy task. He was well on his way to Hokage already, if this was the first step!

"Now keep it from falling to the ground after turning your hand over with just Chakra."

"…. WHAT!?"

The next few hours were truly trying for the blond. His efforts seemed in vain each time he tried, because the damned leaf just kept falling! He would slowly turn his hand, concentrating on getting his Chakra to his hand, but it wouldn't work!

"Gah! I'm done! What am I doing wrong, Saru-sensei?" Asuma just laughed, flicking his cigarette butt before standing up.

"Don't worry, kid. I didn't get it on my first day, either. I actually felt something from you, though, which is surprising enough. Just take a night and think on it. Maybe then it'll come to you." With that, and a casual wave, Asuma made his way out of the training ground, leaving Naruto to stand there in desolate silence. The petulant blond kicked at a rock, making his way back towards the city. He would have academy in the morning, anyways.

Falling asleep that night was tough for the blond. He couldn't understand why he was failing!

"What the hell's Chakra, anyways?" At that, Naruto stopped dead, wondering to himself. What exactly was Chakra, in all truth? He had never felt Chakra from himself before. He was good with his fists, and could throw a few shuriken, but that was about it. Maybe … maybe he couldn't use Chakra like Saru-sensei or the old man could? Looking at his clock, he jumped out of bed. If he was lucky, he could make it in to see the Hokage before he left and find out!

Running down the streets full tilt, the blond dodged between closed vendor stalls and trash bins to keep out of sight. He knew that in this village, at this time of night, bad things could and would happen to him: multiple scares proved that much.

Quickly enough, though, Naruto was knocking on the Hokage's office door. A throat cleared through the door before he heard a familiar voice call out for him to enter. Twisting the door knob with relief, Naruto grinned and waved at his sensei's father and Hokage.

"Hey, old man! I've got a question!" Said old man just sighed and smiled, noting the time with a hint of wonder and vague happiness for an excuse to get away from backed up paper work.

"Yes, Naruto-kun? What is it?"

"Well," said blond began, " I wanted to know if you felt your own Chakra before the age of ten?" At this, the Sandaime's attention was caught. He smiled.

"Naruto, you have no idea how happy it is for me to hear that you have never been forced to use your own Chakra before now." Standing up despite Naruto's aghast look, he came around the desk and sat on the couch next to the blond boy. "Did you know that in my day, most young boys and girls had been in a true, deadly battle by the age of six or seven? A clan of ninja taught their children to be killers from the time they could walk. Would you be happy that way, Naruto?"

The serious turn of the conversation had caught Naruto by surprise, but not enough that he wouldn't stop and think about the question. He could only shake his head no, wondering how anyone could be. He didn't want to fight now! Yeah, he wanted to be a cool ninja, but the thought of fighting … bleeding, hurting, and dying … it took the breath out of him.

"You see, Naruto," the Sandaime asked with a serene smile and light fingers rubbing along the blondes scalp, "that picture over there?" He pointed across from them, to a portrait of a very familiar figure: the Yondaime Hokage. "That man, Namikaze Minato, our Yondaime Hokage-sama, sacrificed everything so that you wouldn't. The most I could do in response is give you as much of a childhood as possible under the circumstances." Suddenly realizing he was saying too much, the Sandaime coughed.

Naruto wasn't paying attention, though, immersed in memories. His childhood may have been rough, but he hadn't been forced to fight for his life against deadly Shinobi. Gulping at the thought, the blond decided that from this point onwards he would do whatever he could to become just like the Yondaime.

"Yatta!" he cried, jumping up and shocking the old Hokage, "I'll protect this village with my blood, just like you and the Yondaime, old man! I'll figure out this Chakra thing, I've got to!" Shaking off any more thoughts about being unable to use his Chakra, Naruto ran out of the Hokage tower with a new purpose.