4 Ambition

'A natural-born sensor powerful enough to sense one of the strongest ANBU we have. Just what will your future bring, Naruto Uzumaki.'

The Sandaime Hokage sat in his chair and thought long and hard about his words to Yugao. Naruto had always been a source of guilt for Hiruzen. He sent the boy a present every year, a bit of spending money as well, but it was just too hard to see him in person and he rarely had reason to put himself through it. At first, he tried to reason that he just didn't have the time and that the boy was doing fine, then 6 years had passed.

'I have failed you Naruto, I hope you forgive me when you realize that as well.'

"Tenzou, go to Naruto and give him an access card for the library, he wants to go to the academy and he'll want to be prepared."

The ANBU went to do just that.

Before Itachi, he would've let Naruto go earlier than the usual age, but seeing what that pressure did to Kakashi and Itachi, he decided it would be better to have zero people enter early, and those that wanted to graduate early would have to willingly do so, only getting two opportunities to fail. He wanted mentally sound Shinobi, not monsters.

'We'll see just how far you go, Naruto."

-----

1 month later

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Naruto stood up in the library and made a single seal he only knew from memory. A seal very few in the Village knew of. A seal that would be useless if he wasn't Naruto Uzumaki.

"Kage Bunshin No Jutsu!"

A poof was made and an identical Naruto stood right next to him. Naruto wanted to cry.

He knew the seal, but it had taken a month to learn how to use hand seals along with how they directed Chakra.

He then silently repeated the action about 20 more times.

"All of you, start reading whatever you find interesting."

Then Naruto left the library to practice physical training for the day.

The librarians weren't averse to his presence as he didn't bother them, he guessed the original was not calm enough to be allowed.

He had used every waking moment since he began learning that Jutsu, and he had the *perfect* explanation for whoever asked how he knew it. He had always known about it, hadn't he?

He made as many Kage Bunshins as he could on his way to training ground 3, the ANBU following him was clearly very annoyed and shocked.

When he made it to the training ground he began going through the tree exercise, as he now knew the basics of chakra control and needed to advance. His clones could do whatever they wanted as long as it was training-related.

The knowledge from the clones that dispelled, as he discovered, was unnoticeable, he just started knowing what would fail and what would succeed as far as tree climbing went, so that was interesting and kinda weird. He made the decision to test more later.

He took a break after failing at climbing a tree for about an hour and made as many shadow clones as he could. After about 6 the ANBU ran out and tried to stop him.

"What are you doing kid!?"

"Cheating"

"What!? Stop, you'll kill yourself!"

"I'm a sensor, I'll know when my chakra gets too low."

"STOP!"

"No."

The ANBU moved faster than he could see and held Naruto's arms to his side.

"If you die, I get killed, you get it?"

"But...shadow clones."

"God damned kyu...brat."

"Damn, that was a slip up you should not have made, sir."

"What?"

A third voice entered the fray.

"Turtle, return to the tower, we will speak of your demotion later.", Hiruzen Sarutobi spoke from behind the ANBU.

The ANBU froze, then shunshined away.

"O-genki desu ka, Hokage-sama."

"Ohayo, Naruto-Kun. Where did you learn to make shadow clones, if I dare ask.", He had sad eyes and a slight smile as he spoke.

"I've always known how."

"What do you mean?"

"I've just always known the Kage Bunshin, Hokage-sama."

"I...see. Are you familiar with the dangers of using multiple shadow clones?"

"Yes, but I have more Chakra than the village's Chunin combined, sir."

"Is that right? Well, you would know better than I, I'm no sensor. Why don't you walk with me Naruto?"

"Okay, Hokage-sama."

"Why don't you call me Jiji, I'm the guardian for all the orphan's and you're no exception."

"Okay, Jiji!"

Naruto didn't know why, but that simple offer brought a warmth that was... unfamiliar to him, which was mildly depressing.

"Tell me Naruto, you wanted to be a Shinobi, right?"

"No"

"No?"

"I want to be the *best* Shinobi."

Hiruzen laughed heartily at that.

"I apologize for my lack of appreciation for the magnitude of your ambition. Why do you want to be the best?"

That...was a good question. What would the original Naruto say?

"I...I'm an orphan. Everybody looks at me like I took something from them; like there's a void and I'm the reason. Sometimes it makes them angry, sometimes sad, sometimes they even pity me. I want to change that. I want to show that whatever I took was worth it, that whatever they see and hate in me can make sure that they lose nothing ever again. I can only do that if I'm wearing the hat on your head right now. And maybe...maybe my parents, wherever they are, could take pride in what I became."

"That's...a good reason for Naruto. You'll go far, and you'll need to go farther if you ever want to take this hat from me."

"You have a bet old man!"

"That I do, Naruto, that I do."