Hey everyone this is my first fanfic ever, i hope you guys enjoy it and support me !

This story features a relatively smarter Naruto (he was just too big an idiot before shippuden), they'll be a lot of canon but a lot of changes as well so keep an open mind and if there is something you don't like don't just downvote PM me with a comment telling me what you didn't like ! Any input is valuable so have fun reading and peace out !

Naruto had always been alone, but it didn't bother him, everyone looked at him with such menace that he would instinctively run away from them, but what more could you do when you were only five years old. He didn't even understand why everyone hated him, they just did, try as hard as he could, he couldn't remember anything he had done to deserve being punished. It was a sad world and he was already tired of living in it...

Naruto had just been thrown out of the orphanage, it was the middle of winter and snowing despite the usual warmth Konoha displayed, even in winter. He sat outside, shivering and cold, he had long ago given up banging on the door, he wanted to cry but something within him told him not to.
"I won't give them the satisfaction" he said to himself. "I'll just have to find somewhere else to go." He slowly got up and looked around, no one was around, which was probably a good thing. Naruto had long since learned that it was a bad idea for him to be out after dark, evil people roamed the streets after nightfall. He tried to think of someone he could go to, at first he thought of Choji and Shikamaru, they were his friends after all, he talked to them and watched clouds, Choji even shared some snacks with him sometimes, but Naruto had no idea where they lived and he knew he couldn't ask anyone.
"Jiji-san!" A young Naruto exclaimed and ran off towards the hokage building.

"Hokage-sama." an anbu appeared in front of Sarutobi who was quietly sitting at his desk working. The anbu wore a black jumpsuit with silver armor plating, his mask was that of a fox, although many people thought the anbu constantly switched masks in order to further hide their identity.
"What is it now?" Sarutobi was not in a pleasant mood, he had hoped to finish all his work before going home and enjoying Christmas evening.
"It's Naruto." Suddenly a fire lit deep within Sarutobi's eyes, if anything happened to Minato's son he would never live it down.
"It appears the orphanage has thrown him out, one of my contacts is following him, it appears he plans on coming here." Few can remember Sarutobi's anger, but the anbu agent in front of him trembled in fear as a killing intent washed over him. It was not easy to unnerve an agent of anbu.
"THAT BITCH!" Sarutobi shouted out. He pinched the bridge of his nose in thought, what would he do with Naruto now, the orphanage was no longer safe, the harpy would probably just throw him out again, or treat him so badly Naruto would just leave. Bring him here now, I'll talk to him. The anbu shunshin'd away and Sarutobi turned to look out across the village. "Minato, what can i do? The village hates him for no other reason than the Kyuubi, where would he be safe." The answer slowly came to him. "But is that wise."

Naruto was slowly making his way through the empty streets, quiet as a mouse he could feel someone watching him but couldn't see them. Whenever he looked around the streets were empty, everyone was inside celebrating something.
"I never get to have fun." Naruto could feel the tears swelling up inside. "No, no no, I must not cry." He shook his small head and continued walking, although his pace had slowed to a crawl, he felt sick and hungry and cold, he just wanted to crawl up into a ball and die, just as he was about to do that he bumped into someone.
"I'm sorry, please don't hurt me, I'll be more careful just don't hit me." The poor five year old finally broke out in tears. The anbu stood there unsure of what to do, he slowly reached out his hand and patted Naruto on the shoulder.
"Hey Naruto."
"I said I'm sorry, please don't hurt me."
"I'm not going to hurt you silly, I'm here to take you to the Hokage, he wants to talk with you, says he misses you." Naruto still sniffling and crying a bit, looked up at the anbu, the fox mask looked cool on him and his long spiky white hair made him even cooler.
"Are you a ninja?"
"I am see, this mask means I'm ANBU, a special type of ninja sent out on really important missions, that means that the Hokage thought it was really important for me to come get you." He left out the part where he had volonteered to watch over him whenever he could.
"OK, let's go." Sniffed the young Naruto and followed the white haired anbu towards the Hokage's office.

A few minutes later Sarutobi heard someone knock on his door.
"Come in." He said, just loud enough to be heard, in came the fox masked anbu followed closely by the small Naruto. "Ah Naruto, it's good to see you!"
"Hey Jiji-san."
"Naruto is it true the matron from the orphanage threw you out?" He nodded unable to speak for fear of crying. "Well, I'll be having some serious words with her and she will be in a lot of trouble." The anbu behind Naruto swallowed silently, he really didn't want to be in her shoes right now. "But I guess you can't go back to the orphanage."
"Where will I go?"
"Well I thought for a moment of getting you your own place, but it seems you have a knack for walking into trouble, and thought it would be safer for you maybe to go a trip with someone for a while, you know like a holiday out of Konoha until you are older." The anbu was slightly surprised by this but didn't let it show.
"Who will I be going with?" asked Naruto, now excited at the thought of having an adventure.
"He will be arriving early tomorrow morning, I sent an urgent message to him and he said he would be back as soon as possible. In the mean time, I have so much work I don't think I'll be going home so you can stay here for the night, is that all right with you Naruto?" Naruto nodded and thanked him, then turned around to the anbu.
"Thank you anbu-san." The anbu smiled behind his mask and gave him a mock bow.
"It was a pleasure Naruto-san, now a young boy like you should get some rest don't you think."
"HAI!" Naruto shouted out, nearly deafening the anbu and the Hokage. The anbu quickly found a blanket and Naruto lay down on the couch near the Hokage's desk. In a matter of seconds he was out cold.
"Thank you for watching over him Kakashi."
"It's the least I could do, in memory of his father." Sarutobi seemed surprised that Kakashi knew who Naruto's father was, after all it was a SS-rank secret.
"How did you figure it out?" he asked Kakashi
"I trained under his father, they look exactly alike, the question is how come no one else has figured it out?" Sarutobi laughed.
"Because unlike you and me, the others don't see past the Kyuubi within him. They don't even see him as human, when in fact he is more human than any of the monstrous adults who mistreated him."
"I have a question Hokage-sama."
"Go ahead."
"Who is the one coming to get him?"
"None other than his godfather."
"You mean..."
"The one and the same."
"Is that wise, you know of his... habits." Once again Sarutobi laughed.
"I'm sure he'll be able to hold back for a bit and only time will tell if what I did was right."

Early in the morning a white haired man walked through gates of Konoha, his sandles barely making a noise as he strolled over the guard house, his red jacket ruffling slightly in the breeze.
"Excuse me, I was told I had to report in with the Hokage." The guardsmen were dumbfounded, staring at the living legend in front of them. After a moment one of them finally managed to speak.
"Yes, I believe you know your way to the Hokage's office?"
"Yes, and please don't stare like that. It's weird." And off he went. The guardsman who had spoken turned to his comrade.
"Was that really who I think it was?"
"No mistaking, that was definitely Jiraiya." They both turned their heads just to see him walking away.
"Wow." They said in unison.

"Hey sensei how's it going?" He burst into the office only to find his sensei with his head on the desk, sleeping. A small blond boy with a brush and ink was preparing to draw on his face. When Jiraiya burst in the small had stopped, completely still, the brush only inches away from the old man's face.
"What are you doing kid? That's the third Hokage, not some random old man."
"I know, he's the third Hokage, but he takes things so seriously I thought this would make him laugh." Jiraiya knew that he shouldn't but couldn't help but laugh, this kid was gold, pure gold.
"Well if you're going to pull a prank you have to do it properly. Come on I'll teach you something.

When Sarutobi finally awoke it was to witness both Jiraiya and Naruto giggling wildly while pointing at his face.
"Naruto what did you do now?" He got up and took a step forward only to fall face first onto a small bowl full of ink that had been carefully laid out, his feet had been tied to his chair. Sarutobi's blood boiled and he shouted out. "NARUTO!"
"And you thought that helping him would be a good idea?" The third Hokage questioned his pupil.
"Well... yeah." Sarutobi had spent nearly half an hour getting all the ink off his face, and was now in a very bad mood.
"The reason I called you here was so that you could look after Naruto, but now I don't think that's such a good idea anymore."
"In truth sensei, why did you even consider it, you know I'm always away on my business." He said with a quick side glance to Naruto. "Not exactly optimal for watching him here."
"That's why you would be taking him with you." Jiraiya was stunned for a moment, it would be incredibly difficult to raise a kid, he didn't know how in the first place let alone do it alongside all the rest of his work, but when he looked at the kid and saw how Naruto was staring intently at his ninja tools he briefly saw Minato.
"On one condition." Jiraiya said in a serious tone. This intrigued Sarutobi, it wasn't every day his pupil could be serious.
"And what is that?"
"I am allowed to train him to be a ninja and in a couple of years he'll join the academy." Sarutobi thought about it for a moment, training with Jiraiya would be no easy feat. But, Naruto would go strong from it and be able to become a ninja, just like his father, maybe even as successful as his father who was also trained by Jiraiya.
"If I say yes then I too must lay down a condition."
"And what is that?"
"No ecchi stuff, no peeping, no women, no nothing." Jiraiya looked as if someone had just sentenced him to death.
"You've got to be joking. No way." Naruto gently tugged on Jiraiya's sleeve.
"Will you really teach me to be a ninja?" His eyes shone and a part of the Sage's heart melted away. He sighed and clenched his teeth.
"I will accept then, but when it's over don't expect to see much of me, I'll have a lot of research to catch up on!"
"Then it's a deal, for the next two years Naruto will be absent and you will train him to the best of your abilities, upon his return he will take a small exam and be placed in the academy according to his grades. Jiraiya you shall receive money periodically so you can support Naruto, and nothing else." He said sternly. "Does everyone agree?" Both Jiraiya and Naruto smiled and shouted out an affirmative. "Then off with you!" Sarutobi smiled as he watched Jiraiya walk off at a brisk pace with the small Naruto running alongside. "I hope I made the right choice Minato."

"Before we go, let's get something to eat shall we?" Naruto's stomach growled hungrily.
"Jiraiya-sensei, can we go to a ramen shop I know, the owner is real nice to me." The Sannin was happy that apparently someone had been nice to the small boy, Sarutobi's message had briefly explained how some of the adults behaved around the boy and honestly, Jiraiya thought he should go on a killing spree.
"Sure Naruto, let's go and I'm only sensei when I'm teaching the rest of the time just Jiraiya is fine." Naruto flashed him a huge smile, then grabbed his hand and started pulling him along.
"Come on old man, I'm hungry." Jiraiya was almost regretting taking him on, almost but not quite.
"Hey Teuchi!" Naruto shouted out as he hopped up onto the stool. Jiraiaya had stopped for a moment to look at the sign, Ichiraku Ramen. He silently laughed as he remembered the forth's appetite for ramen, apparently some things were genetic.
"Hey Naruto, it's been a while, what'll it be. Oh my, is that... Jiraiya-sama?"
"Yeah, he's taking me on an adventure for a while so I'll be away, but I couldn't leave without saying goodbye to you old man."
"Haha, it's a pleasure to meet you Jiraiya-san." Jiraiya looked at the old man sternly, analyzing him, trying to find any ulterior motives. His look sent chills down Teuchi's back.
"Could we have a word in private Teuchi-san?"
"Of course, Ayame, please take care of Naruto's order." A young woman walked over to the counter towards Naruto.
"Well if it isn't Naruto, what will you be having today." Jiraiya followed Teuchi but stopped next to Ayame.
"Give him whatever he wants I'll pay for it all."
"Don't worry old man, I'll take care of the kid." She said with a large honest smile.

"I've heard a lot of things about how the adults treated the kid, is it true?" Jiraiya asked the Teuchi.
"I don't know what you heard, but in general, a lot of the adults were cruel to him, those that weren't couldn't help out of fear of being reprimanded by those cruel bastards."
"What about you?" Teuchi smiled.
"I found the kid wandering the streets looking through trash cans searching for food when he was two or three. I don't care what people say, all I could see was a small hungry boy. I sat him on that very stool and served him a bowl of miso ramen. Nothing extravagant but the boy looked like I had offered him the world, I knew then that the other villagers were plain stupid, a small child like this couldn't hurt anyone, but they all believed he was a monster. Anyway, long story short, I taught him how to count and pay for things, I never told him but I always give him a discount." Jiraiya who had remained silent the whole time spoke up.
"You're a good man Teuchi-san, thank you for caring for him."
"Is it true he's going with you for a while?" The old man seemed almost worried.
"Yes, it's in his best interest to get away from here until he can defend himself." Teuchi smiled, tears forming in his eyes.
"I'll miss him, he's one of the most innocent things I've ever seen, but he needs to get away from here and these people, teach him well, I don't think he can read too well, his numbers are good and well, he has a big appetite so I hope you can feed him well." Jiraiya extended his hand.
"Thank you for watching over him so diligently I'll take good care of him."Jiraiya and Teuchi returned to the front of the shop to see Naruto hiding behind a large pile of bowls.
"Told you he had a big appetite." Jiraiya could already hear his wallet weeping.
"I'll just have a bowl of pork ramen then we'll be off."
"Yes sir." shouted Naruto before resuming his enormous meal.

Jiraiya and Naruto left behind a very happy Teuchi and Ayame, even thought the sage was quite a bit more lighter in the wallet department he had to admit, that was some good ramen. As they reached the gates someone called out to Naruto.
"Hey Naruto, who's the old man?" The blond kid spun around instantly, recognizing the voice as that of Shikaramu's.
"Hey there, this is Jiraiya, he's a super ninja or something like that, I'm going on an adventure for a while, so I won't be able to watch the clouds with you guys anymore, sorry."
"Tch, sounds bothersome but we'll miss you Naruto. Have fun on your adventure." Shikamaru walked off hands behind his head and gazing up at the clouds,
"He seems to be a good friend Naruto."
"He's Shikamaru, if I'm lucky I can watch clouds with him and sometimes his friend Choji will share some snacks with me." Jiraiya was happy that the kid had managed to make some friends despite his situation.
"Come on, we're falling behind schedule as it is."