Naruto's True Nindo

Kyuubi123 here again with my newest fic. Let me know what you think.

Disclaimer: Don't own naruto

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It is said that one little, seemingly irrelevant event can have enormous consequences. Naruto Uzumaki was about to learn this lesson, and he had no idea what effects this would have on his future.

Young Naruto had just failed the genin exam for the second time. He had tried hard but still couldn't pull it off. He saw the sad look in Iruka-sensei's eyes when he had to tell Naruto that he had failed, but he could not and would not make an exception for the young eleven year old.

Naruto was now sitting on the head of the fourth Hokage looking over the village. He was very sad but tried to look at the bright side.

'At least I won't have to be with ninja older than I am.' He thought. However, he knew that if he failed one more time than he wouldn't even be paired with ninja his own age. He would be the only student to ever fail three consecutive times. Most had dropped out of the academy after failing the second time, but Naruto refused to give up.

He stood up and yelled to the village, even if no one could hear him, "I will not give up, and I will never surrender. I am Naruto Uzumaki and I will be the Hokage someday!" he yelled.

"Oh really?" said a voice behind Naruto. Naruto turned around and saw a man completely wrapped in a black cloak that hid every feature about him.

"Who are you!" yelled Naruto fearfully, afraid that this man would hurt him.

"So you want to be Hokage do you?" asked the man, completely ignoring the question.

"What's it to you?!" yelled Naruto. He was sick and tired of others putting down his dream.

"I just want to know why you would want to be the Hokage. Few have that as their dream and I find it intriguing that one so young would have a dream so big." The man said.

"Well if you must know." Naruto said while puffing out his chest and trying to look confident "I want to be hokage so that everyone in this village will stop treating me like I'm a nobody and finally give me some respect."

The man simply looked at Naruto for a while, saying nothing. "That's stupid." He said.

"WHAT DO YOU KNOW I WILL BE HOKAGE NO MATTER HOW MUCH YOU LAUGH AND TELL ME THAT IT IS IMPOSSIBLE!" Naruto yelled.

"Now, now I never said that you wouldn't be the Hokage, I simply meant that your reason for being the Hokage was stupid." The man said.

"Huh?" the confused Naruto said.

"Why do you care what other think about you? Don't you have anyone who already acknowledges you?" the man asked.

Naruto thought about it and the faces of Iruka, the third Hokage, and the people at the ramen stand came to mind. "Yeah, I guess I do have some people who acknowledge me." He said.

"Then that should be enough. I have seen you around the village and see your pranks and very loud personality. You do all that to gain some form of recognition don't you?" the man asked sadly.

Naruto was shocked that this man knew so much about him. Most of the villagers didn't know and didn't care to know anything about him.

"Yeah, well at least when I do those things then they acknowledge me." He said.

The man looked at Naruto, and even though Naruto couldn't see his face he could tell that this man had a sad look on his face.

"Naruto, you shouldn't do things like that to gain their recognition or acknowledgement. It's meaningless." He said.

"WHAT DO YOU KNOW?! YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT IT'S LIKE TO BE LOOKED AT AS IF YOU ARE TRASH OR SOME DEMON! YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT IT'S LIKE TO HAVE PEOPLE LOOK AT YOU AS IF YOU ARE NOTHING!" he yelled infuriated at the man for telling him that what he was doing was meaningless.

"Naruto, the only people whose opinion should matter to you are those who actually care for you and care about you. I have seen the villagers. They don't care about you and thus you shouldn't try to gain their approval or their respect. You already have the approval of a few people who actually care for you. They should be the ones that motivate your goal and dreams. Tell me, do you even know what being the Hokage entails?" the man said.

Naruto had to stop and think. All he really knew was that the Hokage was the best ninja in the village and that the position was one of great respect.

"No, not really." Naruto said.

"You should find out. You may see that it really isn't the job you want. But if it is then you will be striving for it for the right reasons." The man said.

The man turned to leave, but suddenly turned to the boy. "You say that you will never give up and never surrender, and these are admirable traits for a ninja, however is that your true nindo because if it is then you will want to change it." The man said.

"Huh" Naruto said.

"Never giving up and never surrendering are good traits but is that all you want to be known for?" the man asked.

Naruto looked at the village, deep in thought. What the man said had made sense. Why did he care what people who didn't give a crap about him thought of him? Why should he care about their recognition when he had people who already recognized him and accepted him? He didn't like being known as an idiot or a fool yet he had believed that even bad recognition was better than known. He had a lot to think about. He turned to the man.

"I think that I will see the old man now. Maybe I can find out more about what it truly means to be the Hokage." The boy said. "By the way what's your name?"

"I am glad that what I said got through to you. Be the best you can be and don't worry about what anyone but the people who care about you says. If they are proud of you and you are proud of yourself then that's all that matters. If the villagers change their attitude and decide to acknowledge you then that's fine, but if they don't then that's their choice." The man said. "Oh and about my name." he said.

"Yeah?" Naruto said

"That is a secret!" the man said as he suddenly disappeared.

Naruto was left dumbfounded for a moment before he shook it off. He had a lot to think about and he wanted to talk to the old man.

What Naruto didn't know was that that single conversation with the mysterious man would have a large effect on the future.

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The third Hokage was relaxing from a long day of paperwork when Naruto walked in with a contemplative look on his face.

"Hello Naruto, is something bothering you?" the kind leader asked.

"Hey old man." Naruto said while still looking as if in deep concentration.

"Is there something bothering you?" Sarutobi asked.

"Old man, what does it mean to be Hokage?" asked the eleven year old.

Sarutobi was stunned. In all the time he had known Naruto the child had never asked that question. "What makes you ask that Naruto?" he asked.

"I failed the genin exam for the second time today." He said.

"You aren't giving up are you?" asked the third with an expression that seemed to be equally sad as it was alarmed.

"No, but after I failed I went to be alone and then this man came behind me and started talking to me." Naruto said.

"Who was it?" asked the curios leader.

"I don't know, but the point is he brought to my attention that I don't really know what it means to be the Hokage. He said that I should find out if it really something I want to do." Naruto stated. "When I told him that I wanted to be Hokage because it would give me respect and acknowledgement he said that that wasn't a good reason to want to be Hokage."

Sarutobi looked at Naruto and saw that he really wanted a truthful answer. "He was right Naruto." He said.

Naruto was surprised. He had told the old man that that was his dream for a long time and yet he had never criticized it.

"I never said anything before because I didn't want to destroy your only dream. Are you sure you want to know what it means to be the Hokage?" Sarutboi asked very seriously. "What I say may influence your decision."

"I want to know Hokage-sama." Naruto said looking at him with the same intensity and determination that he would soon be known for. "I want to know if the dream I am chasing is really what I want."

"Fine, take a seat." Sarutobi said.

After Naruto was seated Sarutobi closed his eyes and seemed to concentrate.

"To be Hokage is not a job for the faint of heart or those who are not completely dedicated to the job. Everything that transpires in the village is somehow affected by you. Every business, merchant, food vendor, and civilian falls under your jurisdiction. Most of the time you will be doing paper work that relates to these sorts of things. Every decision you make does not just affect you, it affects everyone in this village." The old man said as he rose from his chair.

"Then there is the military. You are in command of every ninja in this village. They all must obey you and they all will follow your orders. You will be sending them on missions and you need to know what team specializes in what area as well as what team is better prepared for the mission. You need to know the strengths and weaknesses of every team as you will control how teams are made. This is very important Naruto because all of their live rest on your shoulders. If you mess up and send the wrong team in the wrong situation then good men and women will die because of your foul-up. You may have to order some ninja on missions that you know are more like suicides missions if it is necessary. You will eventually mess up and the deaths of your comrades will be on your hands, and even then you must persevere and not let the loss of life keep you from leading the village." The old man said.

Naruto looked at the Hokage and he saw pain in his eyes and knew that the old man had seen and made his share of mistakes and was still paying for them today.

"Come here Naruto." Sarutobi said as he went to the window. When Naruto had joined him he asked "what do you see?"

Naruto looked out of the window as saw the everyday life in the village. Families were walking around, shops and stores were open, and friends were conversing.

"I see the village old man." He said not quite grasping what he expected him to see.

"That's right Naruto and when you are Hokage every man, women, and child is your responsibility. Their lives depend on the decisions that you make. As Hokage you bear the burden of carrying and protecting every person in this village even if it means giving up your life. There very well may come a time when you must make the ultimate sacrifice to protect the village. You are the guiding light for the village and everyone will look to your for guidance and leadership. To view everyone under you as precious, to place their lives on your shoulders, to protect them with your life, that is what it means to be Hokage." Sarutobi said.

Naruto looked at him with awe. He never knew that being the Hokage was such a responsibility. After hearing what the old man said he felt ashamed of how he always yelled that he would be the Hokage when he didn't have any idea what it entailed. The man was right, to be the Hokage for the simple reasons of wanting respect and acknowledgement was selfish and was a disgrace to the Hokage who had come and died for this village.

"Then that is what I will do." Naruto said.

"What do you mean Naruto?" asked the third.

"I will become Hokage, but for the right reasons. Another thing the man told me was that I shouldn't strive to gain the acceptance of those who hate me for no reason. As long as I am acknowledged by those who truly know and care about me than that is all I need." Naruto said with conviction in his voice.

"That is very good advice Naruto. If those fools don't accept you and don't make the effort to understand you than you shouldn't worry about the acceptance or their acknowledgement." Sarutobi said.

"Yeah, I will be Hokage to protect this village. I may not be accepted but I will protect those that are precious to me with my life." Naruto said.

Sarutobi looked at the determined look in Naruto's face and swore that he saw an image of the fourth behind him.

"Are you sure Naruto it will be a lot of hard work." Sarutobi warned.

"I am sure, I will defend and protect everyone that is precious to me because that is my nindo, my ninja way." Naruto said.

"Well if you need anything then you can tell me." Sarutobi said kindly.

"Thanks old man, I need to do some thinking now." Naruto said as he left.

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Naruto walked down the street completely ignoring the looks from the villagers. Whereas before he simply pretended to ignore the looks while silently pondering their meaning, he know recognized them but simply didn't care what they meant. If this people didn't want to even give him a chance then he wouldn't concern himself with their opinions. He returned to the Hokage Mountain and sat in deep contemplation for a while. He knew that to become Hokage then there were some things that he would have to change about himself. He first of all had to become a shinobi, and a competent one at that. No one would follow an idiot into battle. He also needed to control his temper. No one would want an impulsive leader ruled by his emotion either. His skills sucked. He couldn't do a simple clone, his taijutsu was shaky at best, and his ninjutsu was non-existent.

'Man, I have a lot to work on if I want to be a ninja and then Hokage.' Naruto thought.

"Oh well, if it was easy then anyone could do it." Naruto said to himself as he headed home. Starting tomorrow he was a whole new shinobi.

Unbeknownst to Naruto, the man from earlier was watching him and heard what he said.

"So he took my advice, Naruto uzumaki, I have a feeling that things are going to be very interesting from now on.'' He said with a smile as he vanished into the night.

Here's chapter one. Who is the mysterious man? What will naruto do to improve himself? You will have to read more to find out. Till next time, Kyuubi123 out.