The world is a cruel place. Grass grows, birds fly, and this place is hell. People die here and for what? Because it's right? No, it's because they're in it for the money. Back when the 1st and 2nd Hokages were in office, Shinobi lived and died for the village. Now, they only do it for their own gain, "Hey! Naruto-kun! Let's play Shinobi!" Naruko said as I looked at her. It's not often that she invited me to play with her, so why not? I gave her a small smile as I said: "Sure!"

"Alright! Me and Menma will be Shinobi and you'll be a bandit!" Naruko stated, making me sad. Every time she wanted to play, I ended up being the bandit. It was tiring, no... it was torture. Soon after she said that I saw Menma charging at me, using the Hummingbird Flashing-Fist that Tou-san had taught him. I tried my best to defend myself, but it didn't work out so well, "Haha! The bandit is defeated, thanks to your Shinobi Hero; Menma Naimkaze!" Menma shouted at the top of his lungs

"Way to go, Menma!" Naruko cheered

'Urgh, I hate this,' I thought to myself, 'I'm tired of being the bad guy. Every time, I'm always getting my butt kicked,'

"Come on, Naruto! Get up!" Menma said with a smile as he extended his hand to help me up. I grunted as I swatted away his hand and stood on my own two legs. Brushing myself off, I saw Tou-san and Kaa-chan call us over, "Menma! Naruko! Naruto!" Kaa-chan cried out

"Come on you three!" Tou-san said as we all hurried over to them

"Good, you're here!" Kaa-chan said with a smile

"What's going on?" I asked

"Naruko, Menma, I have something for you two," Tou-san said as he pulled out two presents from behind his back, "Happy Birthday!"

"Yay!" Menma and Naruko shouted. I was excited too, as I saw them pull out Kunai and katana. I wondered what I was going to get. Kaa-chan handed me my present, and as I opened it... it was a book. A book called 'The Tale of the Utterly Gutsy Shinobi'. I could only stare at it as Kaa-chan and Tou-san seemed to give audible gulps as I held the book in my hands, "Why?" I asked.

"W-what?" Kushina asked

"W-why do they get Shinobi weapons and I get a book?" Naruto asked again

"W-well, Naruto, you see... w-we're, sorta... oh, how do I put it? Kushina, help me out here," Minato asked his wife, who too was struggling to find the right words

"I-Is ie because I'm weak?" Naruto asked

"N-no, sweetheart! That's not it at all!" Kushina said, "Listen, w-we're just worried,"

"Worried?"

"Yes, son, you see, you're brother and sister, they need help," Minato explained

"Is there anything I can do?"

"No, I'm afraid not," Minato said with a sigh, "we're sorry, Naruto... how about this, you go out and play for a while? Here, get yourself something, eh?" he continued as he handed Naruto some money. Naruto took it as he looked at his parents, who gave him warm smiles. Naruto gave a smile back, but it was a fake one. They called themselves Shinobi and yet they couldn't tell the difference between a real and fake smile. Naruto left the Namikaze Compound without a word as his parents bid him goodbye. Naruto walked into through the village as he was glared at by the villagers, "Would you look at that, the runt of the litter comes out of his home,"

"How can Kushina-sama and Minato-sama have such a weak child?"

"Why can't he be more like Nauko-sama and Menma-sama?" the villagers said, but Naruto ignored them. He continued walking through the village until he felt that something was off. He felt like he was being watched. Naruto tried to shrug the feeling off, but he couldn't. So, he decided to make a turn into an alley-way. As he did so, he was suddenly pushed into the wall by a Chunin, "Well, well, well, what do we have here?" the Chunin asked as he punched Naruto in the stomach

"Seems like the black sheep of the family is all alone," a Jonin said. He looked like an Akimichi, seeing as he was 'big-boned'.

The Jonin smirked as he said: "How about we do the Hokage a favor and get rid of this brat?"

"We may even get a reward for ridding him of this burden," the Chunin said

"Yeah!"

"Well, how about you have the first punch?" the Chunin asked

"With pleasure!" the Jonin said as he pulled back his fist. Naruto saw the punch as he braced himself to get hit. But after a while, Naruto didn't feel any pain. Opening his eyes, he saw that the Jonin's punch was caught by someone. A man with white hair, shaped in a 'V'. He wore a skin-tight black shirt and white pants with yellow ribbons coming out of the front.

"Really? Picking on a kid? And you call yourself, what was it? A 'Shinobi'?" the man asked as he pulled back the Jonin's arm. There was a sickening snap as the Jonin felt his arm break, but before the Jonin could scream, his head was in the ground in a small crater. The Chunin instantly dropped Naruto as the man seemingly vanished and landed a left hook on the Chunin, sending him into the wall. Naruto was breathing heavily as the man looked down at him. There was fear in Naruto's heart as the man extended his hand... and patted Naruto on the head, "You alright, kid?" the man asked

"Y-yeah, t-thanks," Naruto replied

"Good, so what was their problem with you? You shit in their cereal or something?" the man asked, making Naruto laugh a bit

"N-no, I'm just... weak," Naruto said as he stood up

"Weak?"

"Yeah, just that," Naruto stated. The man raised an eyebrow as he said: "Weak? Finding that hard to believe, seeing as they were picking on a kid. What's your name, anyway?"

"N-Naruto. Naruto Naimakze Uzumaki," Naruto said

"Garou," the man replied

"Well, Garou-san, it was nice meeting you and thank you for saving me," Naruto said as he bowed

"It was nothing, kid," Garou said as he waved it off

"Will I be able to see you again?"

"Maybe," Garou stated, "I usually sleep in the park, so if you need anything, just find me there,"

"Okay! Thank-you again, Garou-san!" Naruto repeated as he ran off. Garou watched the kid exit the alleyway as he glared, "That kid... he's like me," he whispered to himself as he soon walked out of the alley.

It was just turning dark and the stars were just showing in the sky. Naruto returned home with several bags in his hands. Inside each bag were movies and manga, stuff he wanted, but not what he really wanted. He wanted Kunai and a Katana, but there wasn't enough money for him to get any, or the fact anybody would sell any to him at all. So he resorted to movies instead. Walking up the stairs to his room, he passed his parents' room where he heard: "Minato, you can't be serious!"

"What else can we do?! I fear for not only Menma and Naruko's lives, but Naruto's!" Minato said

"But sending him to a civilian school?! You know he wants to be a Shinobi!" Kushina pleaded

"But we can't and you and I both know why!"

"Is it because he was born underweight?" Kushina said, "Because if so, that's the stupidest excuse I've ever heard!"

"No, that's not it! You heard what Tsunade said, he wouldn't make it past 8 and he's 7!" Minato said

"Yes, but there haven't been any problems! Sending him to a civilian school for no reason at all just because the old hag said he was gonna die is stupid! Remember when she said I was gonna die before we had the triplets and I passed a kidney stone and was fine? I'm sure this is the same exact thing!"

"You don't understand! He's gonna die and I want him to be comfortable before he dies! Sending him to a Shinobi Academy would only put more stress on him! His chakra coils were weaker than Menma and Naruko's, to begin with, and I can imagine what would happen if the teachers there push him too far!" Minato explained. Naruto shook at this knowledge as he continued to eavesdrop on his parents' conversation, "Minato-kun, I understand that you're worried, but if you really want to make Naruto happy, then send him to the Academy," Kushina said

"No can do, Kushina... I-I just can't," Minato said

"Bu-"

"No means no, Kushina!" Minato shouted, causing Kushina to flinch. Naruto felt tears roll down his cheeks as he ran to his room. Minato and Kushina heard something from their door as they opened it and saw nothing. Meanwhile, Naruto was crying on his bed with the bags of his movies in hand. He cried and cried until he turned his head and looked at his TV. Drying up his tears, he pulled out a movie from his bag and inserted the disc into the DVD player. He then pushed play as he watched the movie.

During the entire movie, Naruto couldn't help but sympathize with the Joker. He was right, all it took was one bad day... just like today. Naruto thought and thought as the rest of the movie played, but Naruto ignored it. The last thing Naruto heard was the laughing of the Joker fading out and replaced with Batman's. It was strange to Naruto, somehow he felt sorry for the Joker. Sure he was the bad guy, but that was because the world forced him to be. It was something Naruto couldn't explain, not in a million years. Yet, it was a burning feeling in Naruto's heart that made him hop off his bed and put on what clothes he could find. He slowly snuck out of his room and ran out of his home and to the park.

Garou slept on the park bench with his arm over his eyes. He snored lightly as he felt someone poke his face. He jumped a bit as he opened his eyes and saw Naruto standing next to him, "What the hell? Do you have any idea what time it is?"

"Train me," Naruto said

"Huh?"

"You're strong, aren't you? Train me!" Naruto repeated

"Hold on, I think I'm still dreaming. I thought you said you wanted me to train you?" Garou asked, sitting up

"I did!" Naruto answered

"No way,"

"What?!"

"I've got no time to train people, I've got things to do," Garou replied, putting his pinkie finger in his ear and flicking out a ball of ear-wax. Naruto frowned as he punched Garou in the chest. Garou didn't flinch as he raised an eyebrow, "I WANT YOU TO TRAIN ME SO I CAN BE STRONG!! EVEN IF I HAVE TO BECOME A BAD-GUY!" Naruto shouted. Garou sighed as he laid back down and said: "Fine,"

"W-what?"

"I said fine, come back tomorrow and we'll start your training," Garou said, causing Naruto to smile

"Y-you mean it?"

"Yeah, yeah, sure. Now beat it, I need to sleep," Garou said as Naruto ran off. But what Naruto didn't see was Garou smirk as he watched Naruto run back home.