While this is definitely not anywhere near close to canon, there are some things that happened before the point where my story starts which will not be added to my story, with that being that Naruto never met Konohamaru and never became friends with him.

Becoming a genin shinobi was a real eye opener for our favourite blonde haired boy. It was as if he had aged mentally from the 8 year old he was mentally to that now of a 12 year old which he was physically.

Now with the knowledge on why the village hated him it answered a lot of questions and yet, it opened up even more. The most prominent one inside the mind of the Kyubi's jinchuuriki was why was it him? Why did the Yondaime Hokage choose him to be the jailor of the Kyubi?

This was just another one of the questions that Naruto had about his life that went unanswered. The sad thing was that this was one of the only constants in his life. The blue eyed boy mused that this was the theme of his life. Always wanting information and never being able to get it. Whether it was by the teachers at the academy giving him either ripped up or fake text books, or how the village's librarians would always bar him access into their establishments. This was done as the fear of having a smart "demon" was something that they did not want to have. The Kyubi attack was still prevalent in the minds of the older people living inside Konoha.

One of the other reasons Naruto was denied information was because of him being the Kyubi jinchuuriki. The academy did not that Naruto the right to having access to be able to learn. This was a right that every child should have and it brought up a whole lot of ethical questions for Konoha to answer.

With Naruto being an orphan who had nothing to do because he had no friends or any family to play with, the boy tried to just get attention and from anywhere he could. This eventually formed into pranks and petty attempts to gain the acknowledgement that he existed. It didn't matter if it wasn't exactly laughter like it was sometimes, to the psychologically impaired Naruto, it was something that was worth its weight in gold.

At the time and still to this day, Naruto, being someone who had no parents to guide him through childhood, didn't understand the difference between good attention and bad attention. Unfortunately for the blonde haired boy, this was not the only thing that he had no recognition of. One of the many other things was how to have a healthy diet.

With Naruto being the hyper active kid he was, thanks to the fact that he had the Kyubi no Kitsune inside of him, he was forced to eat incredible amounts of food. This was only just to absorb a large amount of carbs, fats and sugars just to keep him going each and every day. If someone looked closely at the physical state that the blonde haired boy was in though, they would know that he was not eating enough food thanks to his ribs being on show.

This was also why he was shorter than what a boy his age should be. It was because of this severe case of malnutrition that only Naruto was able to survive from the scurvy and rickets. It was one reason that Naruto was unintentionally thankful for having the Kyubi inside of him. Had it not been for the great healing power that the Youkai of the Kyubi provided, well then the son of Minato Namikaze and Kushina Uzumaki would have been dead at the age of 5

With Naruto having to take more missions, he got to see that there were missions that were much better than the D-ranked missions he was doing with his team. This revelation meant that his sensei Kakashi, who hadn't really taught him anything yet, was purposely choosing the worst missions he could find just so that he could watch team 7 struggle.

To Naruto this was just not acceptable. Here he was struggling to live off of the small amount of money that he earned. This was compounding onto his bad mood because of the shitty missions that his team was going on. Was it too wrong for him to ask for some light at the end of the tunnel of darkness?

Said missions were something of an eye opener for Naruto as well. For Naruto, being someone who craved attention and acknowledgement from people because of his upbringing, it was hard for him.

Next Morning

Waking up, Naruto found himself in for a shock of a lifetime. There, in front of him was a rattlesnake. The only reason Naruto knew what type of snake because of the noise that its tail was making. Naruto could thank his academy sensei Iruka for teaching him that.

Once Naruto took the time to rub the sleep dust out of his eyes and take a good look at the snake. The boy noticed that this wasn't a regular rattle snake. Oh no… the rattlesnake that was on the end of his bed, on top of his legs in fact; this rattlesnake was much larger than a normal version of what the average version of the snake would be.

No, this was no mere rattle snake. In Naruto's eyes, this was a legitimate predator of the animal kingdom with there being anything barely able to take it on and live to tell the tale. One thing that the blue eyed boy was certain of was the fact that right there, in front of him was something that he was readily able to admit to fearing. With its whole body curled up, it gave off the impression that it was sleeping. Naruto however knew that it was far from that, in fact it was the complete opposite. It was no doubt ready to pounce on its prey and inject its poisoned fangs into its dinner. Unfortunately for the Kyubi jinchuuriki, he was the prime pick on the menu. Talk about luck! Just when he thought that things couldn't get any worse, they somehow always managed to do so.

Now finally fully awake thanks to all of the adrenaline coursing through his body, Naruto realised that uncoiled this snake it would be 10 metres long and was 45 centimetres wide. If anyone from his graduating class ever found out that a little wee came out, then the very minor social ranking that he had would have been instantly shattered.

To counteract the fact that snakes had very weak eyesight, Shakudo opened her mouth and used her sensory glands on her tongue. It was to no surprise that she could smell the radiating fear that was coming off of Naruto. It was coming in large amounts, though she did not expect to smell the small stench of urine coming off of the blonde haired boy. Amused by the fact that she could make children pee themselves, a smirk graced her smooth face as she was proud that she could get that amount of fear out of her prey.

Deciding that she should nip it in the bud and get onto why she was here, Shakudo spoke in a tone that told Naruto that this snake was a female snake. "You are Naruto Uzumaki, correct?" the purple rattlesnake hissed although not in a tone that spelled danger for Naruto. This though she already knew; Shakudo's father had specifically told her to seek the Kyubi jinchuuriki out. He was the one who had been brimming with traits that would make a great snake summoner, she just wanted to see what type of person he was.

Naruto, not being one who was good with his manners spoke his mind when it to came whatever he was feeling. That was why he pointed one of his arms at the snake with a shocked expression on his face as he replied to the rattlesnake. "Holy shit, a talking snake!" Naruto shouted as he looked down at the snake that still had not gotten rid of the proud smirk that was on her face.

Sighing because, from what her father's informants had gathered, that this kid was someone who did not have any manners at. Admittedly, when she first heard the report into how the possible future snake summoner was like personality wise; she laughed it off and thought that he couldn't be that bad. It was too bad for the purple rattlesnake that she over estimated Naruto.

Calming down the emotions of anger, although they were directed at herself for foolishly believing that Naruto would at least have some manners; Shakudo responded to Naruto's statement. "Yes, now are you or are you not Naruto Uzumaki?" Shakudo asked as there was a hiss to each of her words.

Naruto, somewhat forgetting just who exactly he was talking to, spoke in his usual tone. Now normally, Naruto would be a little more pleasant when speaking to people in the hopes of making some friends, but after what happened yesterday, well let's just say that he wasn't in a good mood and talking wasn't something that was going to help it improve.

"Yeah, what's it to you huh?" the blonde haired jinchuuriki said in a grouchy tone that implied that he did not want to be spoken to, which was true; he indeed did not want to speak with anyone today, not even his female teammate Sakura Haruno who he had a major crush on.

Even though she did catch the tone in which Naruto spoke to her, it did not matter to her because she had a mission. Shakudo had been sent by her father, Manda, the king of all serpents. That meant that she would complete it, no matter how crappy of a mission it was.

Not bothering to answer Naruto's question, Shakudo replied by answering with a statement of her own. "Now Naruto-kun" seeing the slight twitch in his left eyebrow told her that it was something that she shouldn't be saying. Too bad for Naruto though, she knew that she could win any battle that the two had and win quite comfortably. This meant that she would be able to get away with using it.

Continuing on from the slight pause as she gazed on at Naruto's response to her question, Shakudo spoke up. "Now Naruto-kun" Shakudo purposefully said just to see the eyebrow of Naruto twitch before getting down to business. "We have been watching you for a while now, Naruto-kun." Shakudo said as she wanted to see the expression on the face of Naruto.

Indeed she got a reaction out of the blonde haired boy as she watched the confused expression form on Naruto's face before it settled into an angry sneer. "Why are you spying on me? Huh, what've I ever done to make someone, let alone a giant talking snake to spy on me?" Naruto wasn't sure whether or not to be flattered that it meant someone had a vested interest in him or worried because it meant that someone might want to have him kick the dust.

Slithering closer to Naruto, now so she was on his lap instead of where his feet were, the purple rattle snaked spoke in a calm and collected tone that she thought was good enough to reassure Naruto. It wasn't enough to reassure him that she wasn't going to kill him; it was just that it made him know that she wasn't going to kill him…yet. "We have been watching you for a while because you have shown some traits as a human that make you worthy to become a member of the snake clan." Shakudo said to which made Naruto exceedingly curious.

Confused beyond all belief, Naruto asked the rattlesnake on his lap as to what traits he had shown. "Whad'ya mean I've shown traits that you find would make me a good member of the snake clan?" Naruto demanded to Shakudo. There was a simple reason as to why Naruto wanted his question answered.

It was to do with the fact that ever since Naruto knew what the word orphan meant, he asked the Sandaime Hokage and how it related to him. Said man subsequently told him that both of his parents were dead and that he wasn't a part of a clan (little did Naruto know that the Sandaime had been lying.) This made Naruto want to have a family badly.

When someone says that you are showing signs that may make them invite you into their clan, it was something that Naruto was going to take full advantage of.

Shakudo was angry. She was angry because someone who had high stature like her was getting spoken to as if she was some peasant commoner. She was the god damn princess of the snake clan, if anything; it should be her looking down on Naruto, Not the other way round!

"You have shown that you are smart with your pranks albeit in an unconventional way. These pranks have shown that you are smart in planning your attack against whatever it is you are preying on Naruto-kun." Shakudo said to which was taken back a little bit and blushed bashfully.

The main reason as to why Naruto was blushing was because everyone, and he meant EVERYONE, including all of the people that he looked up to, had said that his pranks were bad. They had said that his pranks were juvenile and had no benefit whatsoever on his dream of becoming the Hokage of Konoha. When the talking snake said that it was one of his good traits, the blonde haired boy was proud to hear that his pranking had some benefits.

Allowing Naruto the time to digest the compliments because she knew, from what her father had told her, she knew that he would treasure them for all that they were worth. Shakudo also knew that it was morally wrong to prey on those feelings of an orphaned child, but well she was opportunistic. There was a moment which she could manipulate Naruto into a win-win situation for the both of them. What was so bad about that when you were trying to help the person that you were manipulating?

"You have shown admirable amounts of cunning and trickery when you fool your capturers. The fact that you had such limited knowledge and training on how to be good at stealth is quite remarkable." As Shakudo finished, she was once again greeted with the sight of Naruto blushing. The blonde haired boy found the compliment an uncommon but welcoming feeling.

Taking her time, the purple rattlesnake allowed for the compliment to sink into Naruto before she gave him more compliments. This was to butter him up into becoming a member of the snake clan and to become a ninja worthy of the clan's large amounts of honour and pride. "You are shrewd in the way that you use your currency. That shows that you are smart and that you know how to manage your money so that you can live off as best you can. Hardly any other children around your age in the whole world learn how to do that at your age. Too many children take what their parents provide for granted." The rattlesnake said to which Naruto returned the gesture with a smile as thanks of her praise.

Though it wasn't a compliment that made Naruto blush, it was still one that made him happy because he had never received this kind of treatment as a human before.

"When you learned the Ninpou: Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Ninja arts: Shadow Clone Jutsu) in under three hours, it showed that not only are you able to learn fast if you put your mind to it, but it also showed that you have the determination to be the best shinobi that you could possibly be." The serpentine creature stated to Naruto who looked proud because he knew that he had the biggest determination compared to all of his other classmates. It was he who would keep going until he dropped unlike all of the others. The only slight exception was Sasuke as long as he had the right ammunition to fuel his training.

Knowing that it was best to get some traits ingrained into Naruto early before anyone else could try and sink their fangs into the boy, Shakudo spoke up.

"All members of the snake clan don't have to be good right away though it does help a bit. It's just that you must be determined to reach your full potential." Shakudo said in a tone which left no argument on Naruto's behalf.

That was something that was fine by him because he knew that he wasn't the best of shinobi. This despite what the large majority of civilians would think, going by first hand experiences of his personality. This was something that his records at the academy readily agreed with but he was determined to become the best shinobi. It was needed because to be the Kage of a hidden village, you needed to be really strong.

"The biggest trait though that you have shown to us is that you want to be Hokage. It's a position that must be filled only by a person who is not only insanely strong, but you also have to be wise and knowledgeable. You will have to decide which people are best suited to going on what mission." Shakudo said to Naruto.

Naruto promptly let a few tears down his face because he had never, NEVER had anyone say such kind things to him before. Sure the Hokage told him that he could become the Hokage if he set his mind to it, as well as the encouragement coming from Teuchi and Ayame, but he had never had praise and compliments laid on him so thick before. For the blue eyed boy it was truly overwhelming. Seeing that it was a little bit too much for Naruto to handle, she knew that Naruto needed a shoulder to cry on and it was something that she was going to provide.

Slithering up to Naruto, Shakudo uncoiled herself and wrapped her warm body around the small frame of Naruto Uzumaki. It wasn't done though as if it was done in something that her father would do to his prey. No, this was the way that a mother snake would do to comfort her.

Once it took Naruto about 5 minutes to get his crying under control, he felt the cool feeling that Shakudo's skin provided and he wondered why the snake was doing this for him. Before anything could happen though, the purple rattlesnake was already leaving him and heading towards the window.

"Now I must bid you good well Naruto-kun. I have to go back to my father and report that I have sorted you out and told you that you will be able to join the snake clan provided that you improve yourself as a person to be someone who won't tarnish the name of our clan." said purple rattlesnake said before she started heading towards the window as she wanted to get some dinner before leaving.

In his haste to keep the company of the snake inside the room, Naruto asked one final question that would give him a lot to think about. And that question was "Wait a second! Can you tell me how I can improve my chances on becoming a member of the clan? And when you will tell me whether or not if I've made it into the clan?" Naruto desperately said because he had decided in that moment that he wanted to be a part of the clan. The way that Shakudo had reassured Naruto in that he could become the Hokage was something that the boy was incredibly grateful for.

It seemed pointless of her to go and tarnish her previous effort, but if it gave Naruto a fighting chance of gaining acceptance, then she would merit him with the information that he desired. After all, she had helped bring his spirits up, so why not go the whole distance?

Knowing that the right wording was paramount to swaying things into your favour, Shakudo started speaking as she worded what came out of her mouth carefully. This was something that was taught to her by her father, Manda, the king of all serpents.

"Well Naruto-kun, before I start, get a pen and a piece of paper in case you forget what you are trying to learn. You can go back and revise your notes instead of stagnating in your development both as a person as well as a shinobi." Shakudo said to which Naruto pulled off the blankets and got up and went over to the chest of draws and pulled out a pen and a piece of paper. The Kyubi jinchuuriki was eagerly awaited to hear what he had to write down.

"Alright, the first thing that you need to work on is your patience. You are far too hot headed which is bad for not only being a ninja and but also as a person. It is also bad as a Hokage because they need to make the right decision every time. The consequences of making the wrong decision will be fatal. Make no mistake, the lives of all of Konoha's residency rest on your shoulders if you become Hokage." The purple snake said to Naruto.

Gulping at the seriousness in what he had just heard, Naruto nodded and quickly wrote down that he needed to have patience. The reason why the serpentine creature felt this way was because she viewed being the Hokage similar to being the leader of an entire clan of summons. It was the position her father held and she would inherit as time passed on. If there was only one thing that her father could have taught her, it was that snakes always, ALWAYS look after their own.

"Another thing that you need to work on is your manners. At this current stage, they are atrocious. We will definitely not be having the human that represents our clan to be someone who is ill mannered. This is because it not only reflects poorly on that person, but it also reflects badly on the clan as a whole." The reptile said with a distinct accent which was comprised of hisses.

Naruto being an orphan did not have a good concept of humiliation. He didn't care if he embarrassed himself; it was not as if someone would care. Now though, since he could potentially join this clan, his actions would be reflected on the other members of the clan. Naruto made a decision right there and then to improve on his manners. The chance of having a family albeit a unique family was an opportunity that was far too good to pass up in the eyes of Naruto.

"The next thing is your choice of attire. To me it shows that you are an immature little kid, a little kid who doesn't care about his shinobi career. It also shows that you would rather have attention instead of completing a mission that needed the upmost stealth." Hearing it straight from the snake's mouth about how poor and immature his choice in clothing was made Naruto flinch. He had gone through so much trial and tribulation to be called an adult in the eyes of a ninja. It was a definite hit to his pride when someone called him an immature child.

"You do not need to completely change your clothing style. I know how much you like the colour orange." Shakudo said as she looked dryly at the choice of clothes that Naruto had chosen to wear.

"What you do need to change however is so that you have a style that suits being a ninja, not a civilian. That is not the right way to be going about gaining respect from others. The best ways to get attention and respect is through behaving in a proper conduct and being a strong shinobi." Shakudo said to which the kyuubi's jinchuuriki rapidly nodded as he now knew that people respected Sasuke more than him. Sasuke, in their eyes was a better shinobi and carried himself with more dignity.

"The final major thing that you need to have which you don't have is knowledge. You need this because it is one of, if not the most important thing for a shinobi to have and yet it is the area that I find you lacking the most. You are smart when it comes to using your ingenuity with the things that you already know. However… your general knowledge and your knowledge of things that a Hokage needs to know is very poor. It's something that needs to be addressed immediately." Now normally Shakudo would not look at Naruto because she knew that he would be busy writing down on the paper. When her very precise and sharp hearing detected that there was no sound of the metal tip connecting down onto the paper she turned around curiously. It was then that the purple rattlesnake felt a bit of guilt and remorse for what she had just said. She could guess what was going through the mind of the Kyubi jinchuuriki.

Trying to make amends for what she had just said, Shakudo spoke up. "Now Naruto, I know that you might have trouble getting access to the information but I know a good way for you to do that. Just use your Ninpou: Henge no Jutsu (Ninja Arts: Transformation Jutsu) and change into someone else and enter that way." Shakudo said as she tried to get Naruto's spirits back onto the positive side.

Immediately the reptilian creature saw the response that she desired. Shakudo knew it was a smile that in the future would melt the hearts of almost any woman.

It was then though that the snake saw something that she didn't expect to see. On the face of Naruto, there was a scowl as he did not like having to hide his identity. "But I'm not ashamed of my appearance! Why do I have to look like someone else?" Naruto stated, a frown marring his face.

Shakudo was annoyed at the reaction that Naruto gave to her problem solver. This was because if she did anything like that to her father, well her body would be littered with scars. That was simply something that she wasn't worth risking in her mind.

Angry enough that she started rattling her tail and producing a considerable killing intent, Shakudo got her point across to Naruto. The Uzumaki genin was scared beyond all hell wondering what it was that he did to annoy her.

"Do you know how much of a petulant spoilt child you sound like right now!? I give you a solution to your problem and what is it you do in return to thank me? You spit in my face and whine about your appearance! Do you know how much of a spoilt brat you sound like? You are supposed to be a ninja; a ninja is someone who does whatever it takes to get the job done. It seems to me that you don't want to be a ninja because you are doing the exact opposite." Shakudo angrily said to Naruto whose only response was to hang his head in shame.

Realising that she might have been a bit tough on Naruto because of her own childhood, she decided to take it down a notch and try and bring his hopes up again.

"Look Naruto-kun" the female serpent said as she slithered along the ground to Naruto and wrapped her tail around his hand and squeezed it so that she could get his attention. "You are a ninja; you are supposed to be someone who does what is necessary to complete the mission. Just think of it as a mission and that you are infiltrating a foreign ninja stronghold. Your objective is to get as much enemy information as possible." Shakudo said despite the fact that it was a low blow on her behalf. Naruto secretly liked to play games that were meant for kids younger than he was. This was due to the fact that the blonde haired boy did not have the chance to do them when he was younger. He wanted to have the same amount of fun that other kids around him seemed to be having.

Naruto grinned at that, although Shakudo knew that there was some sense of falseness in Naruto's grin, it was enough to get her to smile back at him which gave her the real smile that she had been after.

Looking at the notes that Naruto had managed to conjure up, Shakudo saw something else there that needed to be fixed. That was his handwriting. It was absolutely atrocious in her mind. It was nowhere near the level that the snake clan demanded. Hell it was barely legible enough that she could even read it. "Now Naruto, another thing that you need to work on is your handwriting. We of the snake clan have very high standards for our respective human counterparts. One of the things that we demand is that you have near flawless cursive hand writing."

Nodding at that, Naruto wrote down as best as he could in cursive which he only barely learnt at the academy. There was no doubt that it was a failed attempt because Naruto was behind on normal writing let alone cursive writing.

"Thank you…snake-san, I really appreciate what you have just done for me today. You have given me a lot to think about." Naruto graciously said to the snake who just nodded in its own fashion and headed for the window. Before it could get there, Naruto spoke up once more.

"Excuse me" Naruto said as he tried to practice using manners for the first time in a long time. The last time he had done that was when he wanted to gain access to the library. "You never told me your what you name was. Can you please give me something better to call you rather than just snake-san?" Naruto asked as politely as he could without any real training in the art.

Impressed by the tone of voice and also the words that Naruto used when he spoke to her, Shakudo decided that Naruto deserved at least know her name. "My name is Shakudo, you may call me Shakudo-sama." The serpentine creature said to which Naruto nodded and also wrote down on the piece of paper so he didn't forget.

Shakudo-sama Naruto read to himself as he finished writing the female snake's name down on the piece of paper.

Deciding that Naruto, being a person who had so little in his childhood deserved to have some help. Shakudo decided that she might as well give the boy one last hint on the path of becoming a better person and ninja. It would only constitute into anything if Naruto figured it out himself so she decided that it was okay to part some of her knowledge onto the blonde haired boy. Trying to think of the right thing to say and yet would also give Naruto something to think about was quite hard. In the end though, the purple rattlesnake spoke up once she had made up her mind.

"Naruto, there is one last piece of advice that I will give you before I go." To which Naruto stared at her purple scales and the yellow eyes which had a slit down the centre of them as he waited for the advice.

"You still have yet to learn all you can about the Ninpou: Kage Bunshin no Jutsu. (Ninja Arts: Shadow Clone Jutsu.)" The purple reptilian cryptically said before she slithered down the other side of the open window thanks to her skills in chakra control.

"Wait a minute… she never told me what time they would be coming to tell me whether or not I can become a part of their clan. Oh well, I guess that I just have to be ready for whenever they come." Naruto mused to himself. It wasn't long before he got up and placed the Ninpou: henge no Jutsu (Ninja Arts: Transformation Jutsu) and headed towards the library. Luckily for Naruto, the genin remembered the piece of paper just as he was about to lock the door to his apartment. After heading back inside, Naruto got the paper and left with a newfound determination.

Time skip

One month had passed since Naruto had gotten a visit from the princess of the snake clan. Looking back at where he was at as a person a month ago compared to where he was now, the blonde haired boy had made himself very proud. Proud as he saw just how far he had come from an immature brat to what he personally considered an adult. Now not only by the law, but also by the way that he acted.

When the moment of truth came for Naruto, he could easily admit to being scared. The doubt was heavily casted on his subconscious as to what if his disguise failed him and the librarians found out who he was? That feeling though of anxiety was heavily outweighed by the fact that he now had unrestricted access to all of the information inside the library. The reward was just too great for the risk of failing to not be attempted.

In fact, the Konoha general shinobi and civilian library was the biggest storage of books and novels for people of all backgrounds, ages and skill levels to read in the whole entire shinobi elemental continent. This was a record that was proudly boasted by the people who ran the establishment and it was something that Naruto fully intended to capitalise on.

What Naruto didn't realise until he spent the first full day inside the library was the fact that there was such a thing called chakra exhaustion. Now with Naruto being someone was inside the library holding a henge over his whole body for the best part of roughly 12 hours, it made someone even like Naruto run out.

One thing that Naruto unintentionally got better at whilst he had to look like someone else was his chakra control. Naruto was getting better the more time he spent holding onto the jutsu. It was a great improvement for Naruto considering the fact that he wasn't even actively trying to improve his chakra control. It might have been only a minor upgrade but it was still something. The interesting thing was that Naruto didn't even know he was doing it.

One of the things that Naruto felt he was getting better at was his general knowledge. The not completely stupid person that was Naruto one month ago had changed quite a lot. The amount of improvement that had been made by the genin was quite remarkable!

The transformation that Naruto underwent was not because he had some sort of brain that the second he read the text, it went into his brain forever to remain there and at the drop of the hat, he could pull that information out and use in an argument.

Arguably though, the greatest change in the blonde haired boy over the past month was not his intelligence, it was actually his patience and manners when, not only talking to people but also when he was eating. Now he would not just rush into the food that he was eating straight away like he used to.

No, now Naruto would patiently eat the food that he was ingesting into his mouth. This meant that the food that Naruto was now able to taste the food that he was eating.

When Naruto did this he came to a realisation. It wasn't as if that the ramen that Teuchi and Ayame Ichiraku, the people who had fed him the good part of his whole entire life made bad food… It was just the fact that the food was nowhere near as good as the Naruto of old made it sound like it did. Sure it was a good, quick food that got you full relatively cheaply because of the high amount of sugars and carbohydrates, but it wasn't that great of a meal.

Sure Naruto was truly grateful in a way that he knew that he wouldn't ever be able to repay because of the kindness that they gave him but when Naruto first went to the bistro for the first time after his conversation he had had with Shakudo, it was an eye opener for Ayame. Though she did not comment on it at the time, she did raise an eyebrow and directed it at Naruto who was blissfully unaware of the gesture as he was too busy focusing on eating in a way that would impress the snake clan.

When the next few visits of Naruto however kept up in this new way of eating and talking as politely as he could, it was too big of a shock for Ayame to ignore.

Flash back

She couldn't take it, Ayame had been watching how the person who ate the most ramen in the village and it was killing her curiosity about how Naruto could change so much in such a short amount of time.

Normally, Naruto wouldn't bother about how he ate because it was not as if it would reflect badly on anyone. Now though, it looked like Naruto had changed the ways he ate specifically for the sole purpose of impressing someone. It made Ayame think that Naruto had actually gotten serious about trying to go out with that pink haired teammate of his.

Though it was now high time that she started questioning Naruto about why he was trying so hard to impress the pink haired girl. "Now Naruto, why is it that you are trying so hard to impress that pink haired girl who is your teammate? Are you practising for a date if she says yes?" the ramen bistro waitress / chef asked with a curious frown on her face.

Clueless to what was going on in the mind of the teenage girl, Naruto replied in a polite manner. "No, Ayame, I just got some advice from someone that to even have a chance at becoming the Hokage, you need to be polite and be well mannered for all of the meetings and events that you have to go to." Naruto said ending the statement with a small smile on his face.

And that was that, Ayame had had her curiosity satisfied and went back to taking the orders of other regular customers who were both curious and wary as to why Naruto showing much more respect, patience and .

End flash back

The thing though that improved the most when it came to Naruto and his development as a human being was his skill at reading and writing. Before Naruto had the meeting with the snake clan heiress, his skills in both arts were terrible to say the least.

The scribble that Naruto use to call his hand writing was so bad that it was as good as what a kid who was just starting out learning how to write. The same could be also said for his skills when it came to reading as Naruto had always had trouble following what was being taught at the academy. He fell behind at the start and it was simply too big of a gap for him to recover without putting in the time and effort.

It got to the point that Naruto had just given up thinking that he would ever be able to read and write, some of life's essential things to a level that would be average in the eyes of society.

This all changed as Naruto learnt the secret to the Ninpou: Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Ninja Arts: Shadow Clone Jutsu.) It was a little surprising that Naruto got the hint that Shakudo had left, in fact she thought that it wouldn't be something that he would get at all until she told him about it at a later date.

It all came about when Naruto sent of one of the clones to go to one of the other shelves that made up the library to go and get the next book in the beginner set of reading and writing.

It came back with the knowledge of not only the title, but also the contents page as the clone got curious himself. After Naruto got over the shock of the clone dispersing, he started thinking about if this was what Shakudo-sama was on about when she said there were still things that he didn't know about the jutsu.

Using his favourite method of learning; trial and error, Naruto started experimenting with what a clone could learn. The reasoning behind this was because he wanted to be exactly what the snake clan wanted in terms of a new human to represent them. Unfortunately for Naruto, he never had an arrival time for the offer. This meant that the son of the fourth Hokage had to be ready at any and every possible time.

When Naruto found out that his clones could actually learn things and practise the movements which would make his handwriting improve in leaps and bounds, he was delighted. In fact, comparing to a lot of the other books that Naruto had read, his skill in writing was now up to the level of what an author would use for a book. The thing that made it even better and made him look like he was a part of the upper society of Konoha was the fact that it was in cursive writing which was nothing to sneeze.

While there were a few people who liked the new Naruto most specifically Iruka and the Ichiraku family because it made him look like he was getting more mature which in a way he was.

There were also just as many people who did not like the new Naruto, the two people who were the chief believers of this were none other than his two teammates Sakura and Sasuke. Naruto would have thought that they would have been the two people that would have supported him the most in him becoming more mature, but sadly not everything goes the way for the blonde haired boy.

How wrong was he though? Sasuke, who Naruto had had multiple encounters with previously thought that Naruto was trying to copy him. The prime reason as to why Sasuke thought this was because it was no secret that Naruto had a major crush on his biggest fan girl Sakura Haruno. The mind of the Uchiha clan heir had twisted Naruto becoming more mature into Naruto trying to steal away his biggest fan girl.

It was like that of a spoilt kid who had a toy who didn't play with it but when some other kid, someone who wasn't as fortunate in his upbringing comes to try and have that toy for themselves, well it made the petty jealously come out to the forefront in Sasuke Uchiha.

On the other side of the coin, one Sakura Haruno thought that this was Naruto's newest attempt for trying to win her over so that she would become his girlfriend instead of Sasuke-kun's future wife. This was something that you just don't do to a teenage female girl. The end result wasn't what Naruto had expected though.

That was not what happened at all. In fact, it was the total opposite. Sakura had started going on about how that Naruto was never going to amount into anything that would date worthy material ever, no matter how much he changed as a person.

More importantly though, she had started to go on about how he should stop trying to be polite, and more importantly calm and collected liker her Sasuke-kun. This did have the effect that Sakura had wanted. She definitely got Naruto to stop attempting to go out with her.

Naruto had immediately, now with a brain worth mentioning, thought about all of the qualities that Sakura had which would go well with the snake clan because if he was going to be with them, well then he wouldn't want whoever his girlfriend was to embarrass the clan by being a proxy with him.

It was then that he came to a shocking conclusion. Sakura was not someone that they would allow him to date because they thought that she did not hold herself with proper conduct of a kunoichi in training.

In their eyes, she should have been training to become a good ninja and from the limited time that Naruto actually spent with her as her teammate, he knew that it she did not train one bit.

This was along with the fact that she fessed over her looks to a point that it was pitiful for a shinobi. Sure shinobi are supposed to look good, but that was only when they have to go to an event or dinner as Hokage and his wife or some other prominent person in Konoha's eyes. Naruto now held no reservations to the fact that he was going to become the Hokage of Konoha thanks to the reassurances. All he had to do was put the effort into becoming someone deserving of the title.

The thing that made Naruto realise that Sakura was not the girl for the person who he was trying to become though was that that she had a bad temper which was something that Naruto knew that the snake clan would not like. She got angry far too easily when you pushed the right buttons which were not that hard to find.

In contrast to his teammates hating the new Naruto, there were people who were sitting on the fence concerning Naruto's recent change in personality. Those two people being Naruto's sensei and the person who he wanted to take the job off.

Both Kakashi Hatake and Hiruzen Sarutobi were curious and somewhat apprehensive as to what brought on Naruto's sudden change in his personality. At first they thought that it was good for Naruto as he needed to become a bit more mature.

Then as time went on and they noticed that Naruto was showing less and less signs that indicated that he had undergone a change recently and they thought that there was something that took Naruto's innocence away from him.

If there was anyone in the entirety of Konoha who could have had a motive to leave the village, it was none other than Naruto Uzumaki. He had been delt a severely harsh childhood which only got worse thanks to the population of Konoha. The future of the village hidden in the leaves rested on a single boy's shoulders more than he knew and Hiruzen and Kakashi would do everything to make it so Konoha prospered.