Prophecy (Naruto Neglect Fanfic)

Ninja No More

A/N: I'm going to try and return to longer chapters soon. Hope you enjoy :)

Naruto arrived back at the Academy, and instantly realised how out of place he looked. He was a foot taller than any of the students who all looked at him like he was a freak. The seats were smaller than he remembered as he sat down at the back of the class by a window. Iruka glanced at him pityingly. He remembered back to when Naruto passed the exam. He seemed so happy when he finally received his headband only for the moment to be interrupted by his sister. As the day droned by, Naruto remained motionless, staring at the window while Iruka lectured the rest of the class. When the bell signified the end of the day, Iruka held Naruto back.

"Naruto," Naruto looked at his sensei with a fake smile, "It's pretty obvious to me that you are far ahead of the other students."

"Really?" Naruto asked quietly. Iruka was shocked at the boy's genuine-sounding tone. 'Naruto, you have always been above genin level even when you first enrolled, I wonder why Hokage-sama made the choice to demote you,' Iruka thought.

"Of course, you passed the exams!" Naruto shook his head.

"That was a fluke. It's just like Karah-sama said, ''I'm a weakling." Iruka stared wide-eyed at Naruto. 'He really does think he's useless. And "Karah-sama"? What's wrong with Naruto?' Iruka mentally inquired.

"Don't talk about yourself like that. Also Karah is your sister so you should refer to her as such." Naruto once again shook his head.

"She is a genin and I am not, so I was told I should call her "sama"," declared Naruto quietly. Iruka paused.

"Well anyway, back to the topic at hand. As I believe you are far above the skill of the other students, I am giving you permission to train instead of attending class." Naruto's face brightened up which brought Iruka a strange sense of pride, "I would suggest reading some scrolls and studying lots of jutsus."
"Thank you Iruka-sensei! Thank you so much!" Naruto beamed and bowed before dashing out of the class. Iruka chuckled.

"Scrolls, scrolls," Naruto said to himself as he entered the Namikaze compound. He proceeded to enter the kitchen to make himself some food. He found Naruko at the table.

"Naruto! Don't be so greedy! Y'know Mom's gonna be cooking in a bit so all you have to do is wait," Naruko screeched.
"Hey Naruko-nii," Naruto said tiredly as he pulled out his usual meal, a slice of bread and a banana.

"Don't call me that! You're not my brother! I would never be related to a weakling like you!" Naruko perfectly mimicked her older sister as Naruto began to leave the room.

"Yeah," replied Naruto softly as he walked upstairs to his room. Naruko followed him, a slight look of concern on her face. Usually her brother would've tried to respond instead of concede. She pushed on as her brother slowly trudged to his room.

"You got demoted didn't you? Karah-nii told me! Now you have to call her Karah-sama! You really are useless," she laughed. Naruto only responded with an uh-huh as he slightly nodded. Naruko frowned. "Apparently everyone ignores you now! Karah-nii said it was really funny! You tried to talk to Sasuke and he just left you hanging!"

"Uh-huh."

"She told me that Itachi-sensei and Sasuke love her now. Itachi-sensei even said that she was so much better than Naruto!" Naruko laughed again and was disappointed by Naruto's lack of response. Naruto finally reached his room and opened the door.

"Sounds like something he'd say," murmured Naruto to himself seriously as he sat down in the corner. Naruko followed him into the room.

"Ugh, is this your room?" Naruko, to her recollection, had never entered Naruto's room before. She was shocked by the state of it. Grey wallpaper, slightly drooping off the dusty walls. A small window too high to see out of, barely providing any light. No light switch, not even a bed, just a small cot. Next to the cot was a picture of a baby Naruto on Minato's back. "This is so disgusting, you really need to clean up after yourself." She walked over and picked up the photo of Naruto on Minato's back.

"What's this?" she asked.

"The only picture of me and Hokage-sama," Naruto sighed. Naruko looked slightly shocked before anger took over her face.

"Hokage-sama? Call him Tou-san!" ordered Naruko. Naruto didn't react. She scowled, "Well if you're going to disrespect him like that-" She got ready to tear the photo. In an instant, Naruto grabbed her hand. Naruko tried to move but Naruto's grip hardened causing her to yelp in pain as she dropped the photo. Naruto caught the photo in the blink of an eye and carefully placed it back by the cot. He then thought for a second before picking up the photo and handing it back to Naruko.

"Go on then," he said and Naruko grabbed the photo, "Rip it up." Naruko frowned and tore the photo to pieces. She found herself doing it with slight difficulty and didn't realise the tears building up in her eyes. Slowly all the shreds fell to the ground in a pile around Naruko. Naruto then sat back down and laid his head against the wall.

"Huh? Is that how you're going to sleep?"
"Do you see a bed?" Naruko glanced around the room before shaking her head.

"Wait... what did you do to your bed?" she asked, slightly quieter. She was still to notice the slight wetness in her eye.

"I never had one," said Naruto matter-of-factly.

"T-then where do you sleep?"
"Here or outside." Naruko gasped. She thought to her own room, filled to the brim with toys and books. A massive double-bed and a huge wardrobe with pink wallpaper surrounding her.

"I-I'm sorry," Naruto looked up shocked at his sister's words. He had never thought he would hear her say them. "If you want to have my bed, I can lend it to you-"
"Thank you for offering but you are loved by Hokage-sama and I wouldn't want to risk him punishing you," Naruto said as he finally saw a slight bit of caring in a member of his family's eyes for the first time.

"P-punish me? What do you mean?" Naruto chuckled at his sister's reaction. She really was adorable.

"Thank you," he said to her quietly and Naruko pulled his brother in for a hug. The first hug she remembered hugging him and Naruto's first hug from a sibling. Naruko then got up and left his room before turning back.

"When it's your birthday Naruto-nii, I'll make sure to get you loads of presents!" she said ecstatically and skipped down the hallway to her room. Naruto chuckled again. 'She doesn't know my birthday. But at least she remembers Karah's. Or Karah-sama. Same difference,' Naruto felt his thoughts growing more cynical by the day. As his father stripped his rank of genin away from him, Naruto felt all connections with the man follow. To Naruto, his father and idol was no more than just 'Hokage' to him. As Naruto's mind slightly cleared, he experienced an epiphany. 'Karah's scrolls!' he mentally yelled. Iruka-sensei's words echoed in his skull as he walked into Karah's room and took her dusty scrolls. It had been obvious she had never used them. The message from Jiraiya was still left on them from over 3 years ago.

'To the chosen child whom I will always love,

Jiraiya,'

Naruto disregarded the message as he opened the scroll, now back in his old training area. The first scroll had "Sage Mode," written with a long list of instructions under it. So long that it could be used to fill many encyclopedias. Naruto put the scroll to one side as he focused on something more on his level.

"Mastered Fireball Jutsu" the scroll read. Naruto grinned as he opened more scrolls to find an array of jutsu he would be learning.

"Well, I better get to work," he said to himself and once again, Naruto began training on his own.