A Thirst For Power (Naruto Neglect Story)

Chapter 8 - Academy Days III

Two year time skip. Naruto is 10 years old.

Naruto had come up with the perfect way to not waste time at the academy. He would go to the Forest of Death and create wood clone to go to the academy. He chose to use a wood clone as he could will them to not fall asleep, a lesson he learned from the first time he left a clone at the academy. He had placed a Flying Raijin seal behind the academy so he could have the clone use the jutsu and be in the academy. He did this so that he could actually train seriously instead of having to waste time at the academy, learning things that he had already known.

In the Forest of Death, Naruto trained his already existing skills, and created new skills. At the moment, his taijutsu was his worst skill, as his kamajutsu had caught up considerably, and was now his second best skill. This was because he got a new scythe, and it wasn't as small and flimsy as his first one.

Flashback

A certain blond boy was walking towards the Higurashi Weapons Shop. "Hi Tenji-san," "Oh hello there Naruto. What would bring you back to my weapons shop?" Naruto scratched the back of his head, "Well, you know the scythe I bought a little less then two years ago? Well I've out grown it, and I'm wondering if you can modify it and increase the size?" "Well of course! If you could let me see the scythe and what modifications you want to add to it?" "Well, I would like the handle to be longer, and the blade to be a little larger. Also can you replace the leather grip? It's really worn out." Naruto said while handing Tenji his scythe. "Alright Naruto. It won't take too long. You can wait in the lobby."

Tenji walked out of his workshop into the lobby. "Naruto, the scythe is ready. Come in to check it out. Naruto walked into the work shop and took a look at his weapon. The handle was extending with brackets, and the blade had been replaced with a larger one. There was a fresh leather grip on the handle of the scythe. It was exactly what he asked for. "Thank you, Tenji-san. How much will it cost?" (A/N: idk what price to put so ill just pull smth out my ass) "It will be 3500 ryo." Naruto's face immediately went from a smile to a frown. "I am sorry for bothering you today, Tenji-san. I will comeback soon with enough money," as he looked down sadly at his wallet which only had 2730 ryo.

Tenji, noticing this, called out to Naruto. "Wait! Naruto! It's fine. You can just pay with what you have. You can have the scythe. The rest of the cost is on the house." Naruto looked back and mustered up a sad smile. "It's ok Tenji-san. I will come back when I have enough money. You don't have to pay for me." Tenji grabbed Naruto's arm and put the scythe in his hand. "No, I insist. You can keep the scythe. In fact, you don't have to pay at all. It's completely on me." Naruto argued and said that he couldn't accept something for free. The kept on arguing back and forth about the price, and if Naruto should even get it at all. At the end, they came to an agreement. It would cost 2200 ryo, and Naruto would have to recommend the Higurashi's weapon store to people who wanted a weapon.

Naruto smiled and shook Tenji's hand. "Thank you, Tenji-san. This won't be forgotten." He said as he left the store. "Oh, and Naruto? You girlfriend came to the store to get a chakra treated sword two weeks ago. Let her know that the sword is ready for her to pick up." Naruto blushed a  lot after hearing this. For some reason he knew who Tenji was talking about. "Sora is NOT my girlfriend!" Tenji chuckled, "Alright, whatever you say." Naruto ran out to the lobby and saw Tenji's daughter, Tenten. Tenten was a year above Naruto's class. "She's not your girlfriend? One of my friends from your year tells me you two sit next to each other everyday." Naruto blushed yet again. "No! We hate each other. At least, she hates me." He said while he ran out the story.

Flashback End

The reason Naruto's taijutsu was the worst of his skills was because he didn't really have a style of taijutsu. Of course, he could use the academy's style of taijutsu, but at the level of skill Naruto was at, no style was better then the atrocious academy style. The academy style left so many targets open. Naruto needed to find a taijutsu style that suited him. Without a style, he couldn't bring out his potential in taijutsu. He had seen his father's and sibling's hummingbird style. He had seen his mothers whirlpool style. He had seen the Uchiha's Interceptor Fist, and the Hyuga's Gentle Fist. The whirlpool style was the one Naruto felt the most familiar with, but even then, it still felt a little unnatural when he did it. He would most likely have to create his own fighting style to fully make use of his taijutsu prowess, but that's a problem for a different day.

With the clone at the academy.

Naruto's clone was very bored at the academy. He knew why the original didn't want to stay at the academy. It was so incredibly boring. There was nothing to learn, and the physical activities and tests were few and far between. The duplicate sighed and put his head on the desk. Iruka was still lecturing to the class about something or other. He couldn't bother paying attention. Even a regular written test would have been more lively then this. Naruto made all of the clones get scores between 85 and 90 on any test to not seem like a genius. Naruto obviously didn't want the clones to get the same score every single test, so he made them get scores within a range, At least for the written tests. For the physicals, he couldn't pass up the opportunity to show off. The only person to match him during physicals was Sora, and even then Naruto made sure to get the same score as her.

"...And that's why the second Hokage was racist. CLASS! Follow me outside. You guys will be doing spars. I can tell you all aren't paying attention, so this'll make you pay attention." The scarred instructor was correct. Everybody perked up at the thought of spars. They made their way outside, surrounding the dirt arena where the students would fight. (A/N: I will be skipping over the boring fights. i mean, who would want to see smth like Shino vs random civilian?)

"Sasuke Uchiha vs. Naruto Namikaze!" yelled Mizuki.

Sasuke smirked as he walked up to the arena. All of the girls were cheering for him. Naruto was very intrigued of how the fight would go. 'Who am I kidding. It's gonna be a doozy.' He knew that Sora was better than him in every way possible. Naruto had never fought Sasuke before, so it should be pretty interesting, even though the Blond knew he would mop the floor with Sasuke. "You ready to lose?" Naruto yawned in response. All of the fangirls jeered when they heard this. Sora was looking at the fight in her seat. 'Sasuke is gonna be destroyed. Naruto is really strong. He might even be stronger then me- NO! I'm an Uchiha! We are the strongest! anyways, what was I think about? Oh yes. The fight.' Sasuke sneered at Naruto. "Don't you yawn at me! Do you seriously think you would be able to beat me? I'm an Uchiha! We are the strongest!" Naruto sighed and looked to Sasuke. "Can I not be sleepy?" Everybody sweat dropped. Naruto was always sleepy. "Alright guys, quiet down. The fight will begin soon. 3...2...1...Go!"

Sasuke immediately dropped into his Interceptor stance, and signed to Naruto to come to him. Naruto sighed, "No you come to me." Sasuke frowned. "Hn." As he rushed towards Naruto, aiming a kick to his chest. Naruto sidestepped and kicked the side of Sasuke's head. Sasuke stumbled back for a moment, and ran at Naruto with a punch aimed to his head. Naruto ducked under the punch, and grabbed his wrist. He threw an uppercut to his jaw and let go of his wrist. Sasuke flew into the air. A moment later, Naruto flipped into the air and landed a devastating axe kick to Sasuke's shoulder. Sasuke landed on the ground, with a dent from the impact of Sasuke's body, and the force of the kick. Naruto stepped back and dropped a kunai underneath Sasuke's neck, so that if he moved, it would slit his throat. "I win." "A-Alright... Naruto is the winner of the first match!" yelled Iruka. Naruto, with an expressionless face picked up the kunai and walked off the floor.

Sora knew Naruto would win, but she was still surprised that Sasuke lost so easily. It didn't even look like Naruto was trying. Sure, Sasuke wasn't nearly as strong as she was, but he was no pushover. He was one of the best in the class. Sora steeled her nerves. For some reason she knew she would have to face Naruto for the last match of the day.

As Naruto walked back into the crowd, all of the fangirls seemed infuriated because Naruto had beat up and embarrassed their precious Sasuke. Sakura and Ino especially, the former's inflection being akin to a banshee.

"The next match will be Rimara Sarutobi vs. Kinato Namikaze!" yelled Iruka.

Kinato walked into the arena, looking to all of his fans, blowing kisses some of the girls, some of which fainted. Rimara also walked in and Naruto read her expression, and she looked worried, but confident at the same time. Naruto wondered if that was even possible. The match started with Kinato rushing forward, and, in janky looking hummingbird style, sending a palm strike to Rimara's nose. Rimara managed to dodge it, but Kinato punched her in the stomach, sending her back a little. Rimara ran to Kinato, with a punch ready to hit him. Kinato shifted to her side, but that was what she was hoping for. She quickly turned to KInato and punched him in the gut. Kinato groaned from the pain and sent a kick to her side. She caught the kick, but Kinato used her hand to push off of, and elbowed her in the chest. Rimara stumbled backwards, and before she could regain her bearings, Kinato ran over and punched her in the jaw. "I WON!" He exclaimed proudly. His fangirls cheered as they saw their great Kinato win his match. both Rimara and Kinato were pretty battered, so they were sent off to rest.

"Next match! Sora Uchiha vs. Natsumi Namikaze!" Called out Mizuki.

Natsumi strutted to the arena. Sora walked over as well, and both of them stared each other down. "You're gonna lose just like your brother! You should just give up." Natsumi yelled. "I am not like Sasuke. Besides, I am an Uchiha. We do not lose." Natsumi rolled her eyes, "You say your not like Sasuke, but he said the exact same thing." she said while rushing a Sora. Sora ducked under a punch she threw, and grabbed her ankle and through her over her head. Natsumi grunted in pain, and started thinking of a plan. She couldn't just run in because, though she hated to admit it, she was very predictable. Sora could predict everything she did. (A/N: Sora doesn't have the Sharingan activated. Natsumi is just very predictable lmao.) Natsumi made a plan and grinned. She stepped to the side to rush at Sora. She was aiming to kick he in the knee to make Sora unable to move.

Sora looked at Natsumi with a disappointed face. At one point she had thought that the Hokage's children would be much stronger. Now she knew Naruto was stronger then both of them. She was disappointed that she wouldn't have as strong of an opponent.

Natsumi rushed at Sora. Sora didn't see this coming, but from the training she did in the Forest of Death when she had spare time, her reaction time was increased a ton, because the animals in there didn't hesitate what so ever when they attacked. Though she could react to her, Sora wasn't fast enough to fully dodge the kick, and it grazed the side of her leg. Sora counterattacked by punching Natsumi in the chest. Natsumi fell on her back from the impact of the punch. She stood up, only to be met by a kick to her shoulder. She stumbled to the side and regained her senses. She sent a punch to Sora's stomach, but Sora blocks it and grabs her wrist. Sora swings her foreword, right into a punch from her other arm. Natsumi falls to the ground and Sora stands over her, kunai in hand. "Yield," "Mmph." "What was that?" "Ok, ok, I yield." Natsumi said bitterly.

The rest of the matches happen.

"Alright, all of the matches have concluded, except for one. since we have three people here, then they are going to do a free for all match. Naruto, Kinato, and Sora, please come up into the arena." Naruto sighed and bit his lip. He had not signed up for a match like this. This was too much trouble. He considered dropping out of the test, but that would also cause some unwanted trouble. The three academy students stood in the arena, none of them saying a word to each other. Almost every student was cheering for either Kinato or Sora. Iruka and Mizuki were watching the soon to be battle with interest. Iruka yelled, "Alright! You three will be fighting each other! The last one standing will be the person who wins. You may begin your match!" Kinato grinned and rushed at his brother.

Sora was very confident that she would win. If she was fighting Naruto by himself, she might have had some trouble. (Not that she would have lost, of course.) But this fight was different. Kinato was fixated on beating his brother. She could use this to her advantage to take out both of them at the same time. She would have them engage each other, and she would use the moment where Naruto was distracted and take him out. She wanted to take out Naruto first, as he was the actual threat, and Kinato wasn't much of a threat at all. She noticed that Naruto was on the defensive, while Kinato was throwing relentless attacks at him. Sora grinned. This situation couldn't get much better. Sora ran at Naruto, sending a kick to his head, wanting to knock him out so she would only have to deal with a weakling. 

The kick connected, but what she had expected, Naruto, knocked out on the floor, was only replaced by Kinato, knocked out on the floor. She was still shocked and didn't observe that Naruto was about to punch her. the punch sent her flying away. She was on the ground, and Naruto held a kunai to her head. She smirked and did what Naruto had done, and substituted with Kinato's knocked out body. She was behind Naruto now and pointed a kunai to his neck "Yield!" She yelled. Naruto didn't even flinch. "Look behind you, stupid." Sora glanced behind her and saw another Naruto pointing a kunai to her head. She quickly whipped her head back to the 'original' Naruto and saw that even the first Naruto was pointing a kunai to her head. She looked around her and there were at least 15 Narutos, all pointing kunai at her.

"Yield." Naruto said calmly. Sora tried moving her limbs, but found she couldn't. She panicked. She had no escape other then yielding the match. "I yield." She said with ice in her tone. Naruto smiled and dispelled the clones. Everyone had their mouths agape that Naruto, some average kid had managed to beat the best in the class, Sora. Sora went to a bench and sat down bitterly. The teacher had informed everyone that they would be getting a break after what had happened. Naruto sat next to her and tapped her shoulder. She looked over and glared at him. "What." The blond smirked at her and replied, "I thought Uchiha don't lose?" Sora but her head down on the table. "Shut up." Naruto tapped her shoulder to get her attention. "You know, it's ok to lose sometimes. No one can only win. If you put yourself to those standards, your gonna destroy yourself with the high precedents you set. You might not care, but I'm just letting you know." As he walked away. Sora lifted her head up and thought of what Naruto had said.

(A/N: Sorry for the bad fight scenes. This is my first story I've written so they aren't gonna be good. I just wanted to practice making fight scenes so that I can make better ones in the future. Also one more thing. I have been updating pretty frequently (I think?) but I wont be able to update as frequently from today on. I got school and shit so don't expect a chapter every day or every other day. The only thing I can guarantee is that I'm always gonna update at least once every weekend. Other then that, the update schedule is gonna be pretty inconsistent. Sorry for the spiel, hopefully you have enjoyed the story so far!)

+I will be changing the cover of the book soon, so expect a new image at some point. Let me know if you like it or not, when that does happen.

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