Academy

So today is the day, the day that I enter the academy, the academy which Shinobis go to, that academy. The poison for Kuzk-

Wait enough sidetracking.

Anyways it turns out orphans like me have a stipend/debt to the government if they want to go there. Konoha will pay for my tuition but in response, I will pay it back after I become a genin.

It's not a bad deal even if it raises some questions, like what happens to the kids who don't pass or if there are any interest rates. But these do not bother me right now, all that matters is that I'm actually here.

I survived one of the most difficult parts of my life even if it may not look like it. To be honest, these few years have been stressful. Always being paranoid and as to not slip up. But I think I did a good job of it, I haven't been recruited into Root nor have I been dissected by Orochimaru.

I have painstakingly trained day and night and endured countless sleepless nights just for this. Now I can finally show my self a bit more and have more freedom

From here, my life starts for real. But I still live in the orphanage but I think I can change that soon.

Anyway, the fruits of my labor are now ripe for picking. Through that door is a whole new world of opportunities and potential.

-------------------------

I'm bored...

This is boring.

Most of this stuff is things I already know, also a fun fact is that they write in English too, and when I said some Japanese words I know they knew what it was.

For example, I said "Konbanwa" to a caretaker before and she replied with "Good evening" so I assume that I come with an automatic translator.

Come buy your own Hiro Translation today! It comes free with death so you better be quick!

Anyway aside from that, I have a plan right now, a super schemy smart plan that should help me in the near future and much more in the far future.

The plan is that I'll-

"Hiro! Pay attention!"

"Yes sir"

Uggh somehow the teachers know whether I'm lazing off or not. I have to at least pay minimum attention I guess.

Now about that pla-

"Psst, Hiro look at this"

"What do you want Naruto" Seriously, I keep getting interrupted in my mind, is that going to happen often now?

"Hehe, look at this. It's him," He says with a goofy grin and handed me a piece of paper with an admittedly funny drawing which I made myself chuckle on purpose. However, it seems like someone else didn't find it as funny as we did.

"Naruto, Hiro, out of this class right now!"

I pretended to be surprised along with Naruto and got kicked out of class for that, which was my goal considering it was getting too boring. It's easy to get on someone's bad side, especially the older folks. Just be friends with Naruto and bam, you're a social outcast.

I go and take a seat outside the classroom to reflect on my dumb decisions like making friends with Naruto of all people.

"That teacher sucked anyway, there were other kids laughing too"

Naruto beside me grumbled a bit before taking a seat next to me on the floor and started rambling about random stuff.

Man, this was not what I planned at all. I can't believe I almost wasted a month here now. And I even befriended Naruto somehow, stupid MC charisma and its law-defying powers. I was just trying to be polite to him and somehow this BS happened.

Stupid Talk No Jutsu and plot, forcing me to make friends with him. Because aside from him being pitiable as hell, somehow destiny/fate or whatever keeps sending me signals to befriend him.

I mean it's not that difficult to block out but it gets irritating after a while and messes up my flow, ya know.

"Maaan~, this school stuff is boring, do ya wanna go and play outside?" The dumbass says with a carefree tone. Man, I wonder how this kid's gonna graduate much less become a Hokage.

" I guess there's nothing else I can do, Sigh " I reply back with a sigh and get my butt in gear.

"Wait, did you just say 'sigh' out loud? Man, you're weird Hiro,"

"Oh shut up and let's go play somewhere else"

That comment from Naruto isn't out of place though.

Well moving on, usually, a student wouldn't be kicked out of class just for a reason like that but it seems like even the teachers are biased. Man, why can't I have a normal life for once?

Something inside me replied back that I'm already starting to forget who I was and this is a stupid charade.

I ignored that part and went on.

But looking at the blond beside me washes away those negative feelings, maybe it wouldn't be so bad after all.

Wait...did I just jinx myself? Ah, Fuc-

Six years later

"Hey stop causing trouble!"

"Now he's even defiling the Hokages!"

"You'll pay for all this!"

A whole lot of people were shouting loud remarks like these. The reason why was because a certain someone was painting the Hokage statue with colorful paint.

A colorful cast of people was there, but in the middle of those people was an academy student who looked like he was blending into the background.

But only that person knew the truth, people all around him may brush it off as a nuisance or an annoyance for the day but only he knew that the story of Naruto had truly begun.

Flash forward to him getting caught and the suitable punishment.

"Aigoo, you know, I told you that it was a stupid idea, Naruto"

"Psht, It's not that bad"

Naruto and I were whispering to each other while everyone was distracted.

I reply back with a face that says 'Kill me' "Nope, you're the reason why we have this stupid exam"

"Haha...it's not that ba-

"Next! Hiro"

And it seems like it's my turn. Iruka sensei called my name. I guess I can show a bit of improvement for now. I gotta keep up the facade.

"Ah, wish me luck"

"Yeah, you're gonna need it, Hiro"

To be honest, I could probably ace this and everything in the academy. While I'm not on the same scale as the 4th or Itachi, I could be a genius for my own effort.

I spent many nights practicing these techniques, so much that it's been engraved into my bones at this point

I make a great effort to show off my acting skills as I barely pass the test.

"Pass"

I went back and gave the blond idiot a high five with a goofy grin, but the mood froze as his name was called last.

While canon was happening in front of me, it was kind of surreal honestly, like I knew everything that will happen in the future. This was only a show but it's now my reality.

I put myself through hell and back for this kind of meager power, all just to survive what will happen in the future. A lot of sore bodies and sleepless nights went into this desperate training.

I pushed my body to the limit during the day and trained in my chakra at night, honestly, I don't even know if all this is worth it. But I have to keep going and just live. Just for tomorrow night, I've increased the intensity for the past few months.

I can't die here, I have to stick to the plan now.

"Hey Hiro"

Hmmm?

"Stop spacing out man, school's over already"

Oh. It seems like I've spaced out again. This is kind of troubling to be honest. It's very easy for me to get stuck in my thoughts, I have to stop blanking out or it might bite me in the ass.

"Anyway as I was saying, wanna get something to eat tonight?"

"You mean Ichiraku ramen?"

"Duh, obviously"

"Blergh, pass. I gotta go back early today, and besides don't you have something to do today?

"Uhh, what do you mean?" asks Naruto with his dumbfounded face.

I just silently point at Iruka sensei and Naruto gives me a groan in response. After getting out of there, I head back home, while thinking about what today represents.

I go to the woods nearby for scouting and training. If nothing goes wrong, Naruto is gonna be here tomorrow night.

I do some stamina/chakra training by climbing up the trees with charka at the soles of my feet. I keep climbing and jumping around the woods to help acclimate running in this terrain.

After half an hour I'm already panting, I push my body to the limit and finish the exercise after another 30 minutes.

This coupled with my daily training is really taking a toll on my body, If I didn't have chakra and its miraculous powers, I would have probably dropped dead even in an adult body.

The moonlight shines on me as I meditate in the woods sticking and unsticking the leaf I snatched from the tree. It's a surprisingly fun and useful exercise which recovers my chakra faster while still training, I have almost mastered this by now which is good.

I can probably run on water though I haven't tested it yet.

I head back home after another few hours of jumping and other various exercises that utilize chakra. For example, practicing taijutsu on trees.

The hard bark used to almost fracture my knuckles at first and bloody my fists but now it's the tree's that are breaking. Hah, who's the boss now dumb trees.

But due to this, I've been wearing bandages on my hands lately, to heal my hands and to hide the mangled flesh from the others. If I didn't feel much pain, I would've never preserved this far, to be honest.

While it can be effective towards training, I have to keep maximum concentration to not overwork my body too much and not drop dead because of it.

I cradle my bruise-filled body and go back to my room at the orphanage.

I used to share it with a couple of other kids at the start but they either mysteriously disappeared or moved out to other rooms due to "complications.

But now I can finally move out of this place, It has been hell trying to live like a normal kid but thankfully my acting has gotten much better due to it.

Silver lining at its finest here folks. I massage my bruised body as I laid there trying to sleep, wondering how tomorrow was gonna turn out.

Though something kept gnawing inside of me as I laid there, things like that I could tell Naruto the truth or I can prevent that douche Mizuku "sensei" from harming him and Iruka sensei.

But it's no use thinking about this now, I already decided that I wouldn't interfere with canon much, Naruto has to grow up and mature and I need Naruto to steal away the Scroll. If I take away his opportunity to grow by shielding him from his challenges, then that won't be the Naruto I admired and could look up to as a child.

So as guilt wrecking and painful this is, I have to do nothing and focus on the future. Speaking of the future, I wonder which team I would get assigned to. I probably won't replace the main Konoha 9 though that is unlikely to change.

With random thoughts like these, I will my body to sleep.