Time skip CH 16

Timeskip: 4 years after discovery of bloodline == Naruto's Age: 13==)

Naruto was currently hammering away on a piece of metal that he was shaping for an order of a katana by an ANBU. He had come a long way in his skills as Saji's unofficial apprentice.

When he was 11, Saji announced that his skill working with metals for 2 years have improved and he was ready in shaping metals for larger weapons. This was the time that Naruto became Saji's unofficial apprentice in the art.

Under Saji's tutelage, Naruto learned the art of sword making, as well as applying what he learned to create other weapons, like spears, sais, halberds, and the likes. He absorbed every bit of knowledge from Saji like a sponge and the old weapon maker was more than happy with the results.

It has been 4 years since he started working with Saji and Naruto is a very happy camper. Aside from his skills in metals and weapons, the blonde boy has changed from a scrawny boy to a powerful shinobi-in-training. He now stood at 5'11, way taller than those in his age group with muscles that would make any female swoon. If one didn't know Naruto, he could easily pass himself off as a teenager and nobody would ever know.

As he was hammering on the red-hot metal, Naruto's thoughts drifted off to the various changes in his life, his body going on auto-pilot crafting the metal as if his subsconscious mind was taking over, leaving his conscious thoughts to his own.

He was no longer the Academy pariah, or the dead-last as some students used to call him. Due to his increasing skills in weapons and in Taijutsu, he easily rose in the score bracket to 4th best in the class. The only thing hindering him is his inability to make clones but the other facets of Ninjutsu was quite easy for him, especially the Henge, which he sometimes used when he needs to buy some stuff in the village from shop owners who was quite adamant that he not shop from their stores.

Speaking of Taijutsu, he was able to modify the current Academy Taijutsu to create his own style based on speed and power. He called it Wolf's Rage – an attack that utilized the basic academy katas to inflict powerful blows while using his agility and speed to get under his opponent's guard. His style was similar to the Goken that he saw a green-spandex wearing Jounin used during one of the Academy demonstrations. The only difference is that his movements was wild and unpredictable, similar to how a wolf would dart, evade, and attack when facing an enemy.

He was proud of his new style since Iruka told him that the lack of pattern in the style makes it almost impossible for the Sharingan to copy or anticipate. It was far from being perfect but it was a work in progress with promising results.

His Academy days were better too since he made friends with a lot of the Clan heirs in his class.

He first made friends with Choji and Shikamaru when the 'chubby' Akimichi invaded Ichiraku Ramen and challenged him to an eat-a-thon, which he conveniently won due to his increased metabolism. Since then, the three boys were fast friends and sometimes trained with each other, except for Shikamaru who preferred to just lie on the grass and stare at the clouds while his two friends sweat it out with their training.

He also made friends with the ever-stoic Aburame Shino. They usually meet each other in the forest – Naruto practicing his skills in the wild while Shino was looking for bugs to add to his colony. Their relationship was more on professionalism since the bug-user refused to speak more than a few words at a time to Naruto's disappointment. He did earn the bug-user's respect when he used his knowledge of the forest to point out where the rarer bugs resided. What Naruto didn't know, this action endeared him to the Aburame clan and would offer him any help if he deems to just ask for it.

He also made friends with the brooding Uchiha though Sasuke prefers to call it rivalry much to Naruto's amusement. They usually sparred during their free time in a Taijutsu-only match since Naruto didn't have a clan library to fall back on in terms of jutsus. Their frequent spars made them the best in Taijutsu in Academy with Naruto in the lead due to his physical body and speed followed closely by Sasuke who's reflexes and attacks were quite fluid since Naruto was merciless on him.

All in all, both boys were happy with their positions and the result of their relationship showed in their performance in class. Naruto treated him as a friend but Sasuke treated him as a rival (though Sasuke just want to deny that they were friends in the first place).

Also, his teachers in the Academy improved their outlook on Naruto except for Mizuki. The white-haired Chunin always tried to ruin Naruto's education but the blonde just ignored the man and always asked for second opinion in Saji regarding lessons so he was corrected before the wrong teachings were too ingrained into his psyche.

Due to his apprenticeship under Saji, Naruto's reputation in the village also improved as well.

Sure there were still glares directed at him when he walk the streets but he noticed that there were only a few of them now. The Konoha Shinobi now knew who was making their quality weapons and they were astounded when Saji explained to them that it was all Naruto's work when they commented on it upon purchase. He explained that due to his age, Naruto, more or less, took charge of the smithy, only giving tips and instructions every now and then to improve his creations. He relegated himself to watching the store and taking orders while reading an orange book which Naruto found suspicious since Saji always giggled like a schoolgirl after a few pages with blood coming out of his nose.

His various deliveries around the village made him visible to many. At first, many were curious when they see the speeding blonde carrying heavy packages to and from different parts of the village. However, as time passed, they were able to piece things together that Naruto was earning himself a living by working as Saji's apprentice while studying in the Academy. This made some of the villagers respect his hard work and conveniently forgotten what he was carrying inside him.

After all, if the respectable Saji likes the boy, who were they to refute?

He was also enjoying a close relationship with his new doctors,Tsunade and her assistant, Shizune. Sure, he was flabbergasted at first when he found out that Kaito passed him off to the Legendary Sannin for his check-up and at first he couldn't accept the fact that such a famous figure was concerned about his health. At first he was awkward but he eventually opened up to the both of them and treated them like family – Shizune as a doting sister and Tsunade as a crazy aunt – crazy when she practically demolished the office when Naruto offhandedly commented about her age.

That was one mistake he would never commit again. He shuddered every time he thought that it could have been his body hit by Tsunade's famous punches instead of the wall which was pulverized into dust upon contact with her legendary fist. He knew that his body could never hope to survive, bloodline or no.

Another of Naruto's accomplishment is his newly improved apartment. After 2 years of working with Saji, he noticed that his apartment was no longer being attacked by mobs. He didn't realize that the villagers were starting to accept him slowly but he was oblivious to the fact since he trained himself to ignore them for years after he was thrown out of the orphanage and being subjected to their hate for years.

Using his savings, he purchased materials to help repair and renovate the apartment and used the skills he gained from Saji to turn his 1 bedroom apartment to a 3-bedroom flat complete with kitchen and lounge room. His apartment didn't have the necessary space but he bought the rooms besides his own and broke down the walls so he could change it to his needs.

He renovated one room to store his own weapons, which was a grand collection considering that he made them himself. He wanted to put a dojo on the lower floor but he needed to ask the Hokage about that if he is willing to sell the entire floor to Naruto since the apartment building he was staying was the property of the village. He put this plan on hold, however, since the forest was served well as a training ground.

He was brought out of his musing when he noticed that the metal he was pounding was properly shaped. He picked it up with a pair of tongs and dropped it in a vat of water to cool down. The hiss it made was spectacular and Naruto was proud to finish another weapon for the use of the Leaf. He took pride in all the weapons he made and the quality was testament on how he showed attention to every piece he worked with.

When the metal was significantly cooled, he pulled it out using the tongs and placed it in front of his work table for inspection. It was perfect. He nodded to himself and placed it in one section of the wall for the next step to be done tomorrow – sharpening and shaping the blade. His Genin exam is scheduled this afternoon and was hoping to pass it so he can finally become a part of Konoha's military and achieve his dream.

He wiped the sweat from his brows and removed the leather apron he was wearing revealing a powerful, muscled body without an ounce of fat. He took a white shirt from one of the hooks on the wall, placed it over his head and tugged it in place. He left the smithy to the front of the shop where he saw a giggling Saji reading his orange book again. He just sighed at his sensei's eccentricity.

"Eh sensei, reading that smut again?" berated Naruto with an exasperated sigh.

Saji closed the book and frowned at his apprentice. "Shut up gaki, you can never become a man if you don't read this fine piece of literature."

Naruto scoffed. "That's just porn. Only perverts read those. And I'm no pervert!" declared the blonde boy.

Saji gave Naruto a perverted grin. "Really now? So the blush you were sporting when Higurashi's kid, Tenten, came by a few days ago was nothing? Huh?" he finished with a leer.

Naruto blushed and scowled. "Shut up sensei. Anyway, I'm leaving early. I need to get to my apartment to freshen up so I won't be late for today's exam."

The old man nodded and gave the boy a pat on the back. "You will do great boy. Make sure that you come by AFTER you graduate. I have something that you would find interesting."

Naruto gave him a curious look. "Is this about the project you were making for months now?"

Naruto knew that Saji was working on the smith during his off days and effectively hiding it from him. His curiosity was peaked but he didn't want to badger his unofficial master about it. Patience, after all, was one of the most important lessons Saji drilled into his head.

Saji just waved his curiosity away. "Ask me no question and I tell you no lies." Then he roughly pushed Naruto out of his shop. "Beat it squirt and give them hell."

Naruto grinned. "Sure sure. Will do that. Bye now old man." With that Naruto sprinted towards his apartment at top speed to make sure that he didn't arrive late for his exam.