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 mentally was, mentally to that now of a 12 year old which he was.
Now with the knowledge on why the village hated him it answered a lot of questions and yet opened up a lot more of them. The most prominent one inside the mind of the Kyubi's jinchuuriki was why was it him that the Yondaime Hokage Minato Namikaze chose to be the jailor of the most powerful demon in existence?
This was just another one of the questions that Naruto had about his life that were left unanswered. 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 being the fact that the whole village hating him and not allowing him to read a book at the library.
One of the other reasons Naruto was denied information was because of the academy teachers being bias with him being the Kyubi jinchuuriki and not allowing a right that every child, no matter who they are or who their parents were. That right was the right to have access to an education.
It was then, with Naruto being an orphan who had nothing to do because he had no friends or any family to play with, or just get attention from that he turned to pranks and petty attempts to gain some sort of attention from the people around him.
At the time, and still to this day, Naruto, being someone who had no parents to teach him how to live and guide him through childhood did not know that there was a difference between good attention and bad attention.
Naruto being the hyper active kid he was, thanks to the Kyubi being stuck inside of him which caused the boy to eat a family's worth of the noodle dish known as ramen just so that the boy could get the bare minimum amount of calories into his body which still wasn't enough for a growing boy with the Kyubi sealed inside of him.
This was why he was shorter than what a boy his age should be. It was because of this severe case of malnutrition that Naruto was only able to survive from the scurvy and rickets because of the fact that he had the Kyubi no Kitsune sealed inside his body from birth. 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 from malnutrition long ago.
Getting back on topic, Naruto had a quest for information that was always being hampered by practically everyone in the village. 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 because they feared that they would be letting the demon to get stronger so that it could take revenge for its imprisonment.
The other person who was the one that Naruto thought inhibited his growth was one of the people, who if you Naruto you would know that the person was someone who was kind to Naruto. It was none other than the Sandaime Hokage who was this person because of the fact that when Naruto ever asked a question like why was he hated or who his parents were the Sandaime would just look away, not willing to face Naruto and say that he didn't know. When it came to who his parents were, it was this one that annoyed the blonde haired boy the most as he had always wanted to know who his parents were ever since he could think a coherent thought.
Getting back to the story though, Naruto was having to learn that life wasn't anywhere near as happy happy fun fun as compared to what he was led to believe now that he didn't have the money that he was getting from the orphan's fund and that he was now relying on the money that he was receiving from the D-rank missions that he was doing.
In fact Naruto, unlike his two teammates Sakura and Sasuke did not have the backing of either an extremely wealthy clan or having to financially stable parents.
This meant that he had to take more d-ranked missions compared to Sasuke and Sakura because the one mission per day was not enough for him to live off. For a normal genin it was enough to scrape by. For the jinchuuriki of the Kyubi no Kitsune though… well it was a whole new kettle of fish because everyone in Konoha was short changing him drastically by selling all kinds of unfit products for a growing child, let alone a growing shinobi.
With Naruto having to take more missions, he got to see that there were missions that were ranked as D-ranked missions that were still much better than what 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 because he found it funny to watch team Kakashi struggle.
To Naruto this was just not acceptable because here he was struggling to live off of the small amount of money when he had little amounts of money to use because of him being the jinchuuriki and then compounding onto his mood because of the shitty missions they were going on.
Said missions were something of an eye opener for Naruto as well. For Naruto being someone who craved attention and all other sorts of praise from people because of his upbringing. It was hard for him.
The hardest time of all though was the time that he went to an upper class woman's house in which he thought that considering the mission notice that he was just going to be putting up a retaining wall and fixing a few plants.
That was definitely not the case however because as soon as Naruto got to the front door and knocked on it, the woman, well more like a cougar, was dressed in little at all, it was just a black see through kimono in which Naruto got hard from just seeing it.
The sad thing about this was that with Naruto's limited education he did not know what he was getting into when the lady pulled him inside and started undressing him.
This was a shock for Naruto because he had no idea what was going on and he just went with it. 20 minutes later and by the time that Naruto had released his baby making juice; he had just lost his virginity, whatever the hell that was.
Naruto, being someone who only knew that you were supposed to take women out onto dates and kiss them if they were happy or sad so that you can cheer them up.
That was why it was truly emotionally crippling when they had finished and he started snuggling up to the cougar who was also a mother of two because from the contact that they had just had, it was the closest thing that Naruto had ever had to a mother.
When she practically just shoved him off and got dressed and told him to do the same, Naruto looked like a kid suffering from malnutrition that was in the oncoming path of a spoilt Akimichi kid and an all you can eat buffet restaurant.
Seeing the expression on the face of the kid that was still naked on her bed, she felt sad for him but it wasn't as if she was feeling any feelings of remorse for what she had just done. It was not as if she had done anything that would get her sent to jail for crimes of paedophilia because since the kid was a shinobi and not a civilian, well she was just using the rules to her advantage.
Naruto thought what the two of them had shared was something special between the two since from what the girls at the academy who he had overheard, they all talked about it as something that only happens between two people who love each other very much.
Now while Naruto was sure that he didn't lover her like how he loved his beloved Sakura-chan but he was sure that, given a little time he could love her just as much as Sakura-chan.
The cold, well not really cold way that Kushiro dismissed Naruto but it was definitely too harsh for Naruto to not take lightly was something that Naruto would never forget.
Seeing the expression on the face of Naruto, Kushiro tried to make up for what she had previously said by saying that he was the best virgin she had ever had, which was true but only because of the stamina caused by having the Kyubi locked up inside his body.
But, the damage had already been done because Kushiro spotted a tear going down both sides of Naruto's face, this would be the first of many tears that Naruto would shed that day.
The next day would also be a day that changed Naruto's outlook on life and shape him into the person that he would be when he was older.
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 and from the teachings of Iruka when he taught them on how to survive in the forest.
Though once Naruto took the time to rub the sleep dust out of his eyes and take a good look at the snake to make sure that he could defend himself well in the event of an attack from the carnivorous legless reptile.
Naruto 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.
While a normal rattle snake would stop growing when it hit full maturity to around about 2 metres (A/N: Metre roughly equals to that of a yard for you using the metric system) and a width of about 10 centre metres (A/N: 100cm's to a metre.)
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 it was something that he was readily able to admit fearing as it he knew that it was extremely large. With its whole body curled up, giving it the impression that it was sleeping, Naruto however knew that it was far from the that, in fact it was the complete opposite as it was no doubt ready to pounce on its prey and inject its poisoned fangs into its dinner with him being the prime pick on the menu.
Now finally fully awake, Naruto realised that uncoiled this snake it would be 10 metres long and was 45 centimetres wide and it now was the time that Naruto was scared so much he let out a little wee because the head of the deadly serpent reared itself and started to slither closer towards him.
The snake that was coming closer to Naruto will now be referred to as Shakudo because it is much easier to refer to an animal by their name. Now that is out of the way, we can get on with the story.
Shakudo opened her mouth because she saw, with her rather limited thanks to being a snake and saw the indescribable fear stitched onto the face of her the person who she was told to seek out by her father.
Using the obscenely good smelling glands on the tip of her forked tongue that she used to track her prey, Shakudo wanted to get a feel for what the boy in front of her was feeling.
It was no surprise she could smell the radiating fear that was coming off of Naruto was coming in large amounts, though she did not expect to smell the small stench of urine coming off of Naruto.
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. Though she already knew that this was the person who her father had told her to find because he was the one who had been brimming with traits that would make a good snake summoner, she just wanted to see what his expression was.
Those traits being that Naruto was a battler and knew how to survive, not to mention that Naruto was a very cunning person, going by the pranks that she had heard about and witnessed him pulling on the village monument that idolized the Hokage's. The final trait though that made him the ideal future snake summoner though in her father's opinion was the fact that he had big determination to prove himself and be the best ninja that he could possibly be.
Naruto, not being one who was good at all with his manners, he spoke his mind when it 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 talking snake. "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 all and that he was truly obnoxious. 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 what 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 because he did indeed 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 because she had a mission that she had been sent to do by her father, Manda, the king of all serpents and 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 so that 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 expression. "Why are you spying on me? Huh, what've I ever done to make someone, let alone a giant snake to want to spy on me?" Naruto asked because he did indeed want to know. He 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 was going to kill him; 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. The reason as to why Naruto was being this forceful in wanting his questions answered was simple.
It was to do with the fact that ever since he was knew of what the word orphan meant he asked the Sandaime Hokage, the one who he looked up to like a grandfather. 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 here because, had Naruto known about the Uzumaki clan well then he would become a target to Kumo and Kiri as well as Iwa who would view him as the son or at least relative of their most hated enemy) made Naruto want to have a family badly and well 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.
Nodding, although angry at the tone he was using to her, the princess of the snake clan getting spoken to like a commoner, humph of all the things she had to put up with for her father.
"You have shown that you are smart with your pranks which has 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 which included Iruka, Ayame and her father along with the current Hokage, the person who he looked up to the most said that the pranks that he did were juvenile and did not warrant anything to his hopes of becoming the Hokage.
When the talking snake said that it was one of his good traits, well the blonde haired boy was proud to hear that his pranking was not only fun but also meant that he was also training to become a better shinobi although albeit indirectly.
Allowing Naruto the time to digest the compliments because she knew, from what her father had told her, that with Naruto being the jinchuuriki of the Kyubi no Kitsune meant that he had not been given many, hardly any at all forms of compliments so she knew that he would treasure them for all that they were worth. She knew that it was morally wrong to prey on those feelings of an orphaned child, but well she was opportunistic and she saw this moment as one which could help her sway Naruto into the path of the snake clan.
"You have shown admirable amounts of cunning and trickery when you were fooling your capturers with your hiding for someone who has limited knowledge on how to actually be stealthy." As Shakudo finished, she was once again greeted with the sight of Naruto blushing as he found the forms of praise good.
Taking her time, the purple rattlesnake allowed for the compliment to sink into Naruto before she gave him more compliments 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 and that shows that you are smart that you know how to manage your money so that you can live off. Hardly any other children around your age in the whole world learn how to do that at your age because most of them mooch off of their parents." 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 person before.
"When you learned the Ninpou: Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Ninja arts: Shadow Clone Jutsu) in under three hours, it showed that not only were you smart in making your chaser not be able to find you, but mostly that you have determination to be the best shinobi that you could possibly become because other kids around your age would have given up and tried to learn a different technique." 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 and he would keep going until he dropped unlike all of the others with the slight exception of Sasuke if 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 Naruto and change him into someone who would not be befitting of the snake clan, Shakudo spoke up.
"All members of the snake clan don't have to be good right away though it does help a bit, just that you must be determined to reach your full potential." Shakudo said in a tone which left no argument on Naruto's behalf.
And that was something that was fine by him because he knew that he wasn't the best of shinobi which was something that his records at the academy readily agreed with but he was determined to become the best shinobi because that was needed for him to become the Hokage of the village.
"But the biggest trait that you have shown to us is that you want to be Hokage which is a position that must be filled by a person who is not only very smart as he has to deal with all of the politics that surround the title but also they have to be very strong so that they can defend the village from all threats not only external but also internal as well. This is also the trait you show; which is also the one that combines all of your good traits and into one whole complete package of someone who is a worthy member of the snake clan." Shakudo said to Naruto.
Naruto promptly let a few tears down his face because 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 which was all the confidence reassuring that Naruto needed and Iruka along with Teuchi and Ayame were always there for him whenever things got tough for the blonde boy. 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 though it wasn't as if it was done in something that her father would do to his prey and slowly squeeze the life out of them.
No this was the way that a mother snake would do to comfort her hatchlings because her body heat was something that hatchlings craved for so she knew that it would be no different with Naruto.
Once it took Naruto about 5 minutes to get his crying under control, he felt the warmth that Shakudo provided go away which brought his head to see what the purple rattlesnake was doing.
"Now I must bid you good well Naruto-kun, as 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 the 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 because of the way the snakes had told him about because she was kind to tell him how good he was.
Knowing that this was the part that she wanted to avoid because it brought the spirits of Naruto down that she had gotten up to which made Naruto want to join the clan in the first place; Shakudo sighed because she did not want to do it but since Naruto had asked her, well then she would.
Knowing that the right wording was paramount to swaying things into your favour as that was one of the first lessons she was taught by her father, Manda the king of all serpents, Shakudo started speaking as she worded her words carefully.
"Well Naruto-kun, before I start, get a pen and a piece of paper so in case you forget what you are trying to learn and get better at you can look at the paper so that you can remember what it is that you are supposed to do." 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 ready to write that down whatever it is she wanted him to get better at.
"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 as a person, but also as a Hokage because they need to make the right decision every time because the consequences of making the wrong decision will be fatal. Make no mistake, the lives of all of Konoha rest on your shoulders if you become Hokage." The purple snake said to Naruto.
Gulping at the seriousness Naruto nodded and quickly wrote down that he needed to have patience. The reason why the serpentine creature was because she viewed being the Hokage to being the leader of an entire clan of animals, which was the position her father held and she would inherit as time passed on and if there was only one thing that her father could have taught her he would have told her 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 having the human that represents our clan to be someone who is ill mannered because it not only reflects poorly on that person but it also reflects bad 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 because he didn't care if he embarrassed himself; it was not as if someone would care. Now though that if he did something bad it would reflect poorly on other people as well as him, well Naruto now had a reason to get better at using what little manners he had and learn some more.
"The next thing is your choice of attire. To me it shows that you are an immature little kid who doesn't care about his shinobi career and would rather have attention instead of completing a mission because you needed stealth but weren't willing to complete it." Hearing it straight from the snake's mouth about how poor and immature his choice in clothing was, Naruto flinched because now that he had a headband around his head meant that he was now an adult in the eyes of the village and that was something that he took pride in.
"You do not need to completely change your clothing style because 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.
"But you do need to change your clothes so that they suit being a ninja and not just a kid who is seeking attention because that is not the right way to gain attention and respect. The best ways to get attention and respect are through having proper conduct and being a strong shinobi or kunoichi depending on your gender in which you would be a shinobi." Shakudo said to which rapidly nodded as he now knew that people respected Sasuke more not just because of his clan status which he previously thought it was but because of the way he held himself and because he was a better ninja than what he was.
"The final major thing that you need to have which you don't have is knowledge, information because that is one of the most important things a ninja could have and yet it is the thing that I find you lacking the most. You may be smart when it comes to using your ingenuity with the stuff that you already know, but your general knowledge and your knowledge of things that a Hokage needs to know is very poor and 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 what she wanted him to know. Though when her very precise and sharp hearing detected that there was no sound of the metal tip that made up the pen 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 because 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.
Now immediately the reptilian creature saw the response that she desired result as a smile that Shakudo knew that would make many women blush graced the face of Naruto as he realised that she had just solved one of his problems.
Though it was then that the snake saw something that she didn't expect to see, on the face of Naruto, there was a scowl as well as a frown combined as he did not like having to hide his identity. Speaking up about his problem Naruto asked Shakudo for a solution. "But I'm not ashamed of my appearance! Why do I have to look like someone else." Naruto stated with a frown marring his face.
Annoyed at the reaction that Naruto gave to her problem solver and because if she did anything like that to her father, well her body would be littered with scars that she wouldn't want marring her (in her opinion) beautiful body.
Angry enough that she started rattling her tail and producing a considerable killing intent, Shakudo got her point across to Naruto who 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 and how much of a proper person / snake in society she had to be because of her father, 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 and trying to get as much information as possible." Shakudo said as she knew that it was a dirty tactic playing on the fact that Naruto secretly liked to play games that were meant for kids younger than he was because he did not have a chance to do them when he was younger and he wanted to have the same amount of fun that other kids seemed to be having.
Naruto grinned at that, although Shakudo knew that there was some sense of falseness in Naruto's grin though 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 and was nowhere near the level that the snake clan demanded. Hell it was barely legible enough that she could 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 and 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. Trying to do his best to write in the style that was demanded of him by the snake clan if he ever hoped to get into it, Naruto tried his best to write in the cursive style although he failed miserably.
"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 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 10 metre long female snake's name.
Deciding that Naruto, being a person who had so little in his childhood deserved to have some help when it came to getting to a proper standard to which the snake clan would accept. Trying to think of the right thing to say that would still make it hard for Naruto to guess the meaning of her clue and yet make it easier for him to be a good person of society.
"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 yellow eyes that 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 tree climbing with her chakra leaving Naruto with a lot of things to think about.
"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 before he got up and placed the Ninpou: henge no Jutsu (Ninja Arts: Transformation Jutsu) on and picked up the piece of paper that he had been writing on so that he could go down to the library and pick up the books that he needed to read.
Time skip
One month had passed since Naruto had gotten a visit from the princess of the snake clan. Looking back at where Naruto was at as a person compared to what he was at one month before was something that made Naruto 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.
The day that Naruto went down to the library to read about what the snake who he could now call Shakudo-sama, he was a little apprehensive about going in and the librarians finding out that he was underneath a jutsu that covered up his appearance.
Though, that feeling of anxiety was heavily outweighed by the fact that he now had unrestricted access to all of the information that was stored inside the library. To be understating the place would be to say that it had quite a lot of information.
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 was something that 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 who had large chakra reserves run out by the time that he finished reading up all about how to be a productive member of high class society.
One thing that Naruto unintentionally got better at whilst he had to look like someone else was that his chakra control was getting better the more time he spent holding onto the jutsu that changed the way how he looked.
Sure it was not as if he was making any leaps forward that would warrant genius status in the chakra control department but for someone who was unintentionally getting his chakra control better it was great.
One of the other things that Naruto felt as if he was getting better at was his general knowledge, the not completely stupid person that was Naruto one month ago was quite a change compared to the one that new and improving Naruto was quite a tremendous turn around in such a short amount of time.
This 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 off from the top of his head and use in an argument.
No the only feature about having the Kyubi inside his body was the fact that there was no limit to the amount of information he could store inside his brain. Now for practically all of the general populace, they had limitations that Naruto just didn't have. Where he was able to store an infinite amount of data, other people had to trade some information for some other information as that was the price that they had to pay to get some new information.
Compared to all of the other training and emotional control that Naruto had undergone the next thing that I am going to type is the thing that Naruto had had the second biggest improvement in his development as a person.
That thing was 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 food.
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 when it came to how they allowed him to eat at their restaurant when no one else in the whole entire village did.
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 who was the person who was serving the food for him. 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 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 manners when it came to how he was eating and talking.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 the class when he was at the academy and what they were trying to teach the kids.
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.
When Naruto started practising the art of writing, it was slow going much like all of the other things that Naruto had to learn from scratch, by himself with no help from anyone else.
Though 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.
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, which was what the original gave to the clone so he could get the book but also the fact that the clone had come back with the knowledge of what was on the first page of the book because it was curious as to see what the chief would be learning to write.
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 and whether or not it would do well to get them to learn also what he was learning so that they could reduce the time that it took Naruto to learn things.
The reasoning behind this was because he wanted to be exactly what the snake clan wanted when they said they wanted a new human to join their clan in terms of how he held himself and how he acted in public.
When Naruto found out that his clones could actually learn things and practise the movements in which would make his handwriting grow in leaps and bounds. 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 makes 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 at because it was a real achievement.
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 and in a way he was, he was managing his money better now that he used a henge to buy things which meant that he had more money to spend on things, though he had yet to find anything that he thought was worthy of spending money on.
There was 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.
How wrong was he though? Sasuke, who Naruto had had multiple encounters with previously thought that Naruto was trying to copy him in becoming someone the ladies were likely to go with and steal his fan girls away from 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 lucky when it came to his upbringing comes to try and have that toy for themselves, well it made the petty jealously come out in Sasuke.
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 be his girlfriend instead of Sasuke's.
This was something that you just don't do to a teenage female girl who was privately showing the first signs of puberty. That sign was that she had a period. It was just coincidence that Naruto had timed to show off his newfound maturity and manners when it came to his team on the same day that Sakura had started having her first period.
The end result wasn't what Naruto had expected as he thought that she would be the person who would support him the most because of his delusional views on her in that he would be becoming someone that she would want to date.
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 what.
More importantly, 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 been wanting. She hot Naruto to stop wanting 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.
Along with the fact that she fessed over her looks to a point that it was pitiful for a shinobi who was about to go on a mission. Sure shinobi are supposed to look good but that is 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, because Naruto, now that his confidence had been reassured by Shakudo, Naruto had no delusions in the fact that he wasn't going to become the Hokage, now all he had to do was put the effort into becoming someone deserving of the title.
But the thing that made Naruto realise that Sakura was not the girl for the person who he was trying to become was the fact that she had a bad temper which was something that Naruto knew that the snake clan would not like how she got angry so easily when you pushed the right buttons which were not that hard to find.
Though 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 as they knew that he couldn't stay with the personality that he had and hope to gain any rank increase.
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.
This was something that was serious business because if there was anyone inside the village that had the potential and the reason to become a missing nin of the highest level to Konoha well then it was Naruto himself.
With his terrible upbringing and how everyone use to shun him, it would easily make Naruto's view on Konoha an unsavoury one in the eyes of the Sandaime Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi.
When Kakashi asked what it was that brought on the change in Naruto's personality the silver haired Jonin got an answer that he didn't particularly like. That answer was that Naruto received information from someone who wanted to keep themselves unknown which was something Naruto would honour because they made Naruto change into someone knew.
Not wanting to be someone who betrayed the trust of his sensei's son, Kakashi nodded and did his trademark eye smile before turning back to the book in his hand.
And now it was time for the first mission that team 7 undertook that wasn't a D-ranked mission. Their mission you might ask? Well it was not that hard difficulty wise, just the fact that it was important meant that it was ranked as a B-ranked mission. It was to go to the land of grass.
. 
