Naruto was in any way and in every way, an overthinker.

His silence as he sat on the swing only further proved that point. His hair tickled his whiskered cheeks along with the wind blowing by. Catching a leaf within his palm, he let out a little frustrated groan as he thought back to Mizuki-sensei's words.

Steal a scroll, learn a jutsu and past the test! That seemed simple enough, as hard as it is. Naruto was fully confident he couldn't even learn anything even if he did manage to steal it. After all, he couldn't even do a simple clone jutsu. He could nail a transformation almost perfectly, but it wouldn't last long. Maybe he has too little chakra to do anything, or he has too much chakra that he can't control it properly. Though, he was certain the last one definitely wasn't the answer.

He isn't worthy of being a shinobi, really. He had no skills, no smarts, no one liked him. Even the teachers at the academy won't help him with practice. Iruka sensei seemed nice, but all he really does is yell at Naruto and drag him back to class. There's no way Iruka thought of him as anything else other than a troublemaker.

Mizuki, on the other hand....

It was evident to the boy that the man had always disliked Naruto, with how clearly he'd show it. But maybe he's finally beginning to realise Naruto's efforts in his studies- Hours of staying up for written tests, jotting down every thing he hears in class, trying to make clones, dragging out transformation jutsus, and really any kind of practice you could think. He tried really, really hard... and Mizuki sensei was the first to realise that.

Mizuki might just be using him, he'd considered that fact already. But if it meant the littlest chance that someone would acknowledge him....

Iruka stepped out of the academy, his head turning left and right but there wasn't a single sign of the blonde boy he was in search of. A concerned frown was on his face. As much as he felt bad for the boy, he couldn't just let him pass with such sloppy clones. Becoming genin meant going out to the real world, and letting Naruto wander out without actual abilities as a shinobi would only harm the boy more.

"Here I was hoping I could treat him to some ramen to cheer him up...I guess I'll go look for him now," Iruka rubbed his head with a sigh before leaving the main compound of the academy. He hoped he hadn't crushed Naruto's will to become a shinobi completely. Iruka swore he'd pay more attention to Naruto this time round and take his time to help him. That is, if the boy allows it...

Before he could head to Naruto's apartment, however, a shinobi suddenly appeared before him, startling him a bit as he quickly got into a defensive position. He relaxed his posture when he realised it was a shinobi of his own village, before giving a smile to greet him. "Sorry about that. What do you need-"

"No time to discuss, Umino. Naruto Uzumaki has stolen the forbidden scroll, we gotta look for him."

The shinobi disappeared immediately after that, leaving a flabbergasted Iruka standing at the entrance of the academy.

Naruto what now?

He was fully confident now. For the first time in his life, he was absolutely sure, and he was never going to doubt it. Naruto's hands shook as he stared at Mizuki sensei, wide eyed. Of course, god, how stupid was he? Why would Mizuki treat him differently compared to other villagers? Of course Mizuki sensei was using him. He's so dumb.

"Come on now, what are you waiting for? Hand it over," Mizuki urged the blonde boy who flinched, backing away slowly. This is probably it for him, Naruto thought. The end of his shinobi career. No one would want someone who stole the forbidden scroll as a shinobi of their village. No one would want someone who assisted a criminal in turning against the village. No one would ever trust him.

No one would love him.

"Naruto! Hurry up!" Mizuki yelled, mildly irritated now. Any longer, and the shinobi would be able to find them and Mizuki can't deal with all of them at once. He glared down at the trembling blonde boy for a few more seconds before clicking his tongue. This is useless. He'll just snatch it and get it done with, the act is ending here.

Naruto barely had time to process the situation as he saw Mizuki sensei pulling out a kunai in a second, and the kunai being inches away from him in the other. He raised up his arm to block the impact and found it to be a terrible solution as there was a huge slash wound across his arm now.

The boy was panicking. There was blood coming out of his arm wound at an alarming rate. Mizuki sensei is a traitor to the village. Naruto is causing trouble. He is causing trouble. Fear grew in his heart, from wondering whether he'll die from bleeding out and if Mizuki sensei would kill him before that would happen and if the others will hate him more if they find out what happened-

No one likes you to begin with.

He bit his lip to hold in the cry threatening to tear out of his throat from the pain. He has been kicked to the ground, sure. He has been cut with some paper or shuriken, kunai, sure. But never has he experienced a wound so deep it almost reached his bone, and it hurt like hell. What made him feel worse was when Mizuki picked up the scroll with a smirk, and he could only watch so helplessly, uselessly.

No wonder why no one likes him.

"Naruto! Are you okay?!" As if on cue, a brunette figure none other than Iruka Umino threw a kick aimed at Mizuki's skull, the light haired man slamming straight into a tree with blood trickling down the back of his head. He was unable to move with a blade at his throat, threatening to pierce through his neck any second.

Iruka turned his head to stare at Naruto, worry written all over his face. His eyes held an expression of regret and pain as he stared at Naruto's heavily bleeding arm. This man, this traitor dare hurt his student like this. What if the wound was too deep that Naruto would never be able to heal from it? If Naruto can't become a proper shinobi because of this.... "Naruto... run from here and get to the hospital right now! I'll take care of Mizuki!"

Tears prickled at the corner of Naruto's eyes as his feet shuffled against the ground while he clutched onto his wounded arm tightly. Yes, the hospital. Come on now, Naruto, have some brain and realise that you can't do shit here, you'll only be dragging Iruka sensei down.

Mizuki saw this distraction as a chance and sprung up from his position, three kunai ready in his hand to be flung at his former comrade who was too occupied with Naruto's condition to notice. Naruto widened his eyes at the sudden attack, chakra immediately flowing through his body, creating somewhat of a flare at the same time.

Naruto's lip bled from biting on it too hard. Although it's only causing more pain, it somehow distracted him from the wound on his arm a little. Managing to put his fingers in a hand sign unknown to most genin, he glared at Mizuki with eyes full of determination. Mizuki was surprised from the sudden chakra flare, which gave Naruto all the time he needed to complete the jutsu.

Maybe? There were no 'maybe's. It didn't matter if Iruka sensei hates him or not. He protected Naruto, he wanted something the better for the boy, even if its only for that one little moment. That was really, really.....all he ever wanted.

"Shadow clone jutsu!"

Two shadow clones appeared in bursts of smoke, one kicking the kunais out of Mizuki's hand and the other slamming a foot into his stomach. Iruka watched in awe, amazed that his student could pull off such a jutsu, and....that chakra flare.

The clones however, were dispelled in less than a minute as Mizuki slashed right through them. "Hah! You think just two more copies of your pathetic ass can beat me? Maybe....maybe if you released the Kyuubi no Kitsune inside of you, maybe you'd stand a chance against me!"

Iruka's awe immediately turned to shock and anger as his head snapped towards Mizuki. Now he's done it! "Naruto, go to the hospital now! You can't fight!"

"He can't let you fight because he's scared you'll release the nine tailed fox inside of you, Naruto Uzumaki!" Mizuki laughed almost maniacally as he watched Iruka's horrified expression at his false claim. Naruto clutched onto the scroll tighter, blood trickling down his lips as they continued to bleed from his biting. "All along, he's been watching you just so that you don't get a chance to release the damned fox that killed his parents! You killed his parents!"

That was it.

Naruto stood still on the bloodied grass as more shadow clones appeared, this time tenfold, no, possibly fiftyfold of what he summoned just now.

"T-The hell...??" Mizuki's eyes widened in disbelief. He thought the little brat shouldn't have any chakra left! They should've seen his chakra reserves in the academy, there was barely any and he couldn't make proper clones because of that, so why-!? "Come on now, foxy! Wanna destroy the village all over again? What's with that expression!? You scared?"

Without uttering a single word, all of the Naruto clones charged straight at Mizuki. Now, Mizuki was a proper chunin with proper chunin skills, but he just got kicked in the head, in the stomach and he possibly has a few broken ribs. Naruto wasn't even a genin yet, but....this jutsu was no genin level.

Before he could cuss out another sentence, he found himself getting absolutely beaten up by a brat everyone thought was stupid.

"N-Naruto...."

As Iruka approached the blonde boy, all of the clones burst into smoke, leaving an unconscious Mizuki with Naruto and Iruka in the middle of the forest.

"I...I don't know," Naruto uttered softly under his breath in a choked tone as he collapsed on the ground. Iruka's gaze softened, noticing the tears running down the boy's cheeks. He squatted down in front of Naruto, a comforting hand resting on his head.

"I'm sorry for being stupid, I- I shouldn't have believed in him. You'd think I would be better than that but I'm not- I don't know, Iruka-sensei. Whether you believe anything or not, whether I believe anything or not, I don't know how to feel," Naruto choked out, clutching his pants tight. "I know about me being the fox people hate. Everyone talks about it, but your... I'm sorry...? I-I really don't know..."

Iruka's heart ached at the sight of his student in this state. At some point, he was ashamed to admit, he did hate Naruto. He hated the boy for something out of his control, something he hadn't done at all, just because everybody else did. He unknowingly had pushed all the responsibility to this young boy, and said boy himself never ever complained about it.

It's honestly...very, very heartbreaking to him.

"Naruto, the apology isn't yours to say," Iruka breathed out, the sadness evident in his voice. "My parents passed because of the fox, yes. But you are not the fox, Naruto...."

The blonde boy flinched as he felt a cloth wrap around his forehead as Iruka sensei tied a knot at the back of his head. His eyes welled up with tears, immediately touching the hitai-ate that now rested on his forehead that was once Iruka's. "You are a Konoha shinobi, Naruto Uzumaki. Be proud of that name, because you deserve it the most."

"I-Iruka sensei...." Naruto stuttered, fingernails gently scraping against the metal part of the headband without making a sound. "I don't....deserve...... You're too nice to me, Iruka sensei."

"Well, get used to it," Iruka smacked the boy over his head with a joking grin as Naruto looked up at him with a bright beam. "Now, let's get you to a hospital before you...."

The two of them stared at Naruto's now missing wound in silence. His arm was completely fine, except that there was a whole fountain of dried up blood on his arm. "The...fox..." Naruto whispered to himself quietly. Iruka didn't notice, continuing to stare at his bloodied arm that was somehow completely recovered.

"That's...wow. Nevermind, I guess. Let's focus on Mizuki instead."

——

Hey! Thanks for reading this book. Before we hop onto the next chapter, i just wanna let you know that this won't be updated very frequently. I won't discontinue it, but do expect slow updates. Maybe sometimes I'm in the mood and I'll do a few chapters a week, sometimes I completely forget and come back after a year. But these fanfics have been such a big part of my life i dont think i could forget them completely haha. You'll find this note in some of my other Naruto fanfics as well.

Honestly, I haven't watched Naruto in a long time and forgot a lot about it, so bear with me. I hope you enjoy!

Rest assured though, I have 10 chapters ready for this fanfic rn. So I'll deffo still update