Naruto was reading a book about elemental chakra when the Sandaime commented rather randomly.

"You're just like your father."

It was then Naruto promised to himself to never lie to himself.

Naruto stood impassively with a single kunai in his hand; his face taut and posture slightly tilt to the left.

Ever since Hiruzen jii-san gave him a kunai to train for his third birthday, he always quietly snuck into the village's most dangerous training ground; Training Ground 44, Forest of Death.

It was absolutely the most uncreative and unimaginative name someone must think of in their sleep, but the rumors say it was the training ground where either someone wanted to train to their best ability in surviving or having their death wish what was with the enlarged, poisonous flora and fauna in it.

If someone asked, Naruto had both; so he chose it as his nighttime training playground. Though he knew it wasn't normal for a three-year-old to had a death wish, Naruto was non the wiser as his only companion he had in the village was an old man with a village and a grandson he had to attend himself.

He knew Sarutobi Hiruzen raised him to his best ability, but his best isn't what a three-year-old Uzumaki Naruto needed. Naruto wanted normality. Having parents, friends, homes, the likes. Naruto had once asked what was the meaning of life and the answer given was 'each person has to search it themselves'. That made him downtrodden and quietly asked the old man to kill him because he felt he had no meaning to live as he felt he wasn't normal, the negative treatment from the villagers told him so.

The man's reaction was hilarious that day. Naruto could see that it horrified the old man, as the old man convinced himself into believing it was a mean joke a sarcastic three-year-old kid had pulled to make himself laugh.

Naruto sighed inwardly. Sometimes he thought it was better to lock all the odd and rather bizarre thoughts he had and go being happy all the time with a grin permanently etched on his face, but he didn't have it in himself to pull it off.

As he closed his eyes, Naruto focused on the task of entering the forest.

The forest wasn't guarded, as there was a warning on the gates to enter with caution. Normally, a kid as old as Naruto was told about the forest as a scary bedtime story, but Naruto hadn't had the privilege of it, as the only adult who would warn him was busy with running the village.

The gate to the north was not chained up, he knew. He saw it from his mind eye, Kagura no Shingan, an ability the Sandaime said came from his mother's family. What Naruto had in his disposal was this and a kunai. Naruto had requested to the old man to enter the academy like, ASAP, but the old man was strangely against it. Naruto was quite observant, he knew it was odd for a military dictator such as The Professor, Sarutobi Hiruzen, to deny a willing child wanting to become a shinobi as early as he could possibly. So he compromised by showing that he could defeat a genin by the time he was five and Hiruzen was simply left with no choice as Naruto was not backing up from his plan to enter the academy early.

In his three-year-old life, the man always telling him that he took after his father too much, when he devoured the books, scrolls, and papers that littered around the Hokage Tower like a man on a desert thirsting for water. Naruto itched for knowledge so much, he spent almost every day reading in the library in the Hokage Tower that the old man suspiciously allowed him to enter.

Oh, he still slept, but he always woke up at precisely 1 AM to train his body. Naruto didn't know why, but when he trained his body with the moon above him, he reached his goal in training, faster than you can say 'hiraishin'.

Naruto took a deep breath and jumped inside the forest.

It was different. Tonight, there was plenty of people inside the forest, including him. Naruto wasn't prepared, as such, he hid and concealed his presence.

Naruto was always good with stealth since the day he knew the word 'prank'. There are always some students in the academy that would set up a prank on the Hokage Tower, and he happened to watch a clumsy and slow and definitely not stealthy at all student, by the name Umino Iruka, who ended up getting a gentle scolding from the Sandaime when he failed the prank spectacularly.

In his opinion, the student should study or train harder than setting up useless pranks. There is no time being a child in the shinobi world, as told by the Nidaime himself in a note he accidentally found wedged between the shelves in the Hokage office.

CLANG!

Naruto froze as he felt the fighting nearby. He didn't know what to do in this kind of situation, but being quiet and observant were recommended, as per the Yondaime said in one of the interviews he read about him.

If someone knew that Naruto luck was off the charts, he would be shipped off to Tsunade in a heartbeat. Naruto picked up the right pieces of information about being a shinobi because he wanted it, if that's not luck, well...

"We will be watching from the dark, Uchiha Shisui... Uchiha Itachi."

Naruto held his breath as he heard the not-ANBU man picked up his fallen teammates, left a few words to a two Uchiha and left with a shunshin. The empty, forceful yet murky chakra signature was gone and Naruto could only hope he would never cross someone with that gross chakra signature ever again.

"Oi, come out."

Shisui knew someone was watching the entire time he and Itachi fought the Ne members. He didn't demand the person to come out, as the chakra was small yet powerful. He suspected it was a Genin around Itachi's age.

But the person who quite, hesitantly, came out from behind the tree was Sasuke-kun's age.

Shisui narrowed his eyes as he felt Itachi stepped backward, simply shocked that a child around his brother's age was alone in the forest of death and no one noticed.

"What are you doing here?" While the tone Shisui used was soft, his eyes were the opposite. His eyes' trained at the kid in front of him with intensity.

"Training." The quietly whispered answer was not what Shisui suspected. If the voice wasn't high pitched, he would assume that the kid in front of him was simply a Genin with short stature, but the voice said otherwise.

Itachi shuffled beside him and stated, "You have no hitai-ate."

The kid in front of them rolled his eyes and twirled the kunai, sharp pointy and big one at that, and said, "Duh."

Wow, the nerve of that kid. Sasuke-kun didn't stand a chance against him, this kid was awesome for being so sarcastic... for a kid, that is.

Shisui sighed as he offered a smile, "What's your name?"

The kid eyes' narrowed as he titled his head.

"Naruto. Uzumaki Naruto."

Shisui now knew who exactly the kid in front of him was.

"I'm Uchiha Shisui," he looked to Itachi and when he noticed Itachi was busy staring at Naruto, he gestured to Itachi as he introduced his friend, "and this is Uchiha Itachi. Now, would you come with us?"

Of course, the kid would deny as the kid's glanced to his behind. Any kid with common sense would.

"I'm not yet done with training, Shisui-san," with a quick salute, Naruto ran as fast as his legs could.

Shisui mussed his hair as he glanced at Itachi, "You stay here, I'm going to chase that kid," when Itachi was about to protest, Shisui shook his head.

"You sprained your ankle, right? Now, stay here."

Itachi was not happy when Shisui decided to left him behind to chase the kid who was supposedly the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki, who was even younger than Sasuke if his memory was correct.

He puffed his cheeks. Promptly, he winced when he unconsciously put his weight on the sprained ankle.

Seems he had to wait here after all.

While knowing running away from an Uchiha was a vain attempt (as the Nidaime put it, they would chase someone for hours if determined), Naruto still did it to get a better training than to kill large animals; running away from an experienced shinobi. Uchiha Shisui was not unknown to him, as he always in the proximity of the Sandaime, as such he knew some new Genin, old Jōnin, eternal Chūnin, you name it.

Uchiha Shisui was a rising chūnin, and he already made a name himself; Shunshin no Shisui. Astounding, yet expected as he was an Uchiha.

"Wait!"

It was not even a whole minute, and he was already nearing. Naruto was using chakra to keep the speed he currently using, so... shunshin then?

Naruto wished he knew how to perform the jutsu, but he was still a three year old... who was already brave enough to sneak into the forest of death in the middle of the night... practically every day... and no one stopped him from pulling this stupid action...

He had the hunch that the Sandaime knew about it.

"I told you to wait, didn't I?"

Naruto was, to put it into a word, humiliated. He was lifted like a toddler by the taller and older kid in front of him.

"Let go."

Shisui grinned, easily made Naruto squirm in his grasp, "No can do. I have to know why a kid not even in the academy is alone, training you might say, in this forest."

Naruto grumbled.

Oh well, he knew he would someday be caught in his act.