The people of Konoha gathered beneath the Hokage monument to stare, stunned and angry, upon the young boy seen painting the great monument with graffiti and lewd comments… well, lewd for an 11 year old, anyway. The insults and angered cries began to taper off as the Hokage arrived at the scene and looked at the boy he failed so heavily.
'Don't worry you will soon be able to show your true strength Naruto…' The Third Hokage Thought. Numerous ninja were within the crowd as well, and as always, the Third tried to listen for anything even remotely positive about Naruto.
Hearing someone laugh to his right, the Third turned to look at one of his ninja. "Kid's style ain't bad! Could've used more varieties, and better words than 'poo', but not bad!" the ninja laughed.
"Kotetsu, for once in your life…!" a ninja beside the laughing one groaned.
The Third couldn't help but smile. 'Leave it to those two…' His musings were broken as he arrived at the railing to hear someone's apology.
"Lord Hokage … I can't apologize enough…" the young man said as he leaned against the railing.
"Oh! Is that you, Iruka…?" the Hokage asked. Iruka was a kind young man, brunette, scar across his nose from one cheek to the other. 'It's too bad the man never made it past Chuunin.'
"What do you think you're doing, you idiot? Get down from there and get back to class!" Iruka yelled, leaping onto the railing. 'Then again, he does have a way with the kids.' The Hokage smiled.
The young boy, decked out in bright orange and black, with spiky, bright blonde hair, paled and started swinging his arms around in fear. 'It's the teacher, Iruka! I'm so screwed!' he thought frantically. He flapped around so much, he wound up tangling himself in the rope.
It took three ninja to get him down safely.
Naruto scowled as he looked up at Iruka-sensei from his bound position on the floor. When he raised an eyebrow at him, Naruto grunted and turned his head to the side, towards the amused-looking class.
"Tomorrow all your classmates will pass the finals and graduate from the Ninja Academy, but the last two times this day came around, you flunked every course you'd taken in the secret arts," Iruka growled at the blonde, as he pointed at Naruto and continued, "So you chose NOW for your stupid tricks? You MORON!"
Naruto snorted, and dryly replied, "Sir, yes, sir!" He almost laughed at the look of disbelief on Iruka-sensei's face, though Naruto have to give it to him. If he hated him like all the other villagers, he hid it better than most of them.
"Today in class we'll be reviewing the arts of illusion and apparition. All you have to do is… conjure a form that looks just like the teacher!" Iruka yelled at the class.
An almost deafening scream of, "WHAT?" could be heard nearly on the other side of the village from the academy.
Once the students were all lined up, one by one they were called up for the demonstration. "Right. Well done," Iruka informed a student. "Next up, Uzumaki."
As Naruto stepped forward, he heard one genin behind him growl, "This is all your fault."
"Yeah, yeah," Naruto sneered. 'This sucks I hate pretending to be the dead last! But might as well have fun with it…' He paused for a moment to concentrate, and then smirked as he called out "Change!"
Iruka froze, stunned, before he squeaked.
Standing before the teacher was a very naked female with long blonde hair in pigtails, bright blue eyes, tanned skin, and small wafts of smoke around her, thankfully covering all the naughty bits. Naruto burst out laughing. "I call this one the ninja centrefold!" he proclaimed as he changed back to normal.
Iruka just looked at him shocked for another moment before exploding. "HOW BIG A FOOL ARE YOU? You waste all your time and talent investing in these stupid tricks!" Naruto just stood there and let him berate him.
"Crap," Naruto growled. "Double crap." Naruto was dangling on a little platform on the Hokage monument, with a bottle of soapy water beside him.
"You don't leave here until every drop of paint is gone!" Iruka yelled down at him.
Naruto looked up defiantly. "So? It's not like there's anyone waiting at home for me!"
Iruka winced, as Naruto got back to work. He wasn't the only shinobi to know what that kind of loneliness felt like. But then he had to wonder, 'How much worse is it for Naruto?' As Naruto continued to work, for the first time, Iruka tried to imagine, truly imagine, what life was like for Naruto. From the hungry look the kid sported before to the hideous clothing, and the way he would be even more hyper than normal meeting someone, bouncing around, never getting close…
He spoke almost without realizing it, feeling a lump form in his throat. "Naruto…"
The blonde looked up with a disgruntled expression and asked, "What?"
Iruka looked away and lightly scratched at the edge of his scar as he stammered, "Well… Once you're through here… I'll… We could… I'll buy you some ramen."
Hearing Naruto freeze, Iruka paused his nervous scratching. Then, Naruto exclaimed, "Yeah BABY! Whoohooo! Talk about motivation!"
Many known faces of Konoha were filled with disgust, confusion and worry as they passed by Ichiraiku Ramen Bar, for inside sat well-respected chuunin Umino Iruka, side by side with the Demon Brat.
Iruka turned to look at Naruto, ignoring the stares and glares from outside, wondering how bad it got without him. The energetic blonde was swallowing down noodles at a rate he'd only ever seen from an Akamichi before. "Naruto…"
Naruto made a curious noise, as he finished slurping more noodles.
"Why, of all places, did you choose to deface that spot? I mean, you do know who Lord Hokage is, right?" Iruka questioned. He could've sworn that was one lesson Naruto did pay attention to.
"Of course! To inherit the name Hokage, he'd have to have been the best shinobi in the entire village. The name Hokage means dancing flames. It was the Fourth Lord Hokage who saved our village by finding a way to beat the demon fox." Naruto recited, surprising Iruka.
"OK, then… why?" Iruka asked, flabbergasted.
"Because one of these days, they'll be calling me Lord Hokage!" Naruto declared, turning to face Iruka. He snapped his chopsticks towards the man and cried even louder, "I'm going to surpass every one who came before me! And when that day comes, everyone in town will have to kiss my ass!"
Iruka just stared, stunned. He could swear he heard someone laughing their ass off at least a block away after that declaration "I know who was laughing at that dammit Rai ill get you later" thought naruto. "…By the way… Iruka-sensei, I need a favour…"
"Another bowl of ramen?" Iruka smiled.
"Well, that too, but I wanted to borrow your leaf headband. Pretty please?" Naruto gave his best puppy dog eyes, but Iruka didn't fall for it.
"My… My hitai-ate? No. Not yet. No way. It's a badge of the shinobi, of adulthood. You don't get one until you graduate the academy, as you should be doing tomorrow," Iruka chuckled.
"Aw! No fair!" Naruto yelped, before being silenced by another bowl of ramen being placed before him.
Naruto sat at his desk, heart thumping madly. He knew he was in trouble, no matter the test.
"For your final exam, you must each generate a bunshin! Wait here until your name is called and then come next door," Iruka called to the class. "While I'm not in the room, I expect you to stay quiet and in your seats, though I'll forgive some light chatter. Just please, keep it down, I know you're all nervous and excited."
Naruto started wondering what was going on. 'Bunshins? That's all we have to do a couple of bunshins? That's utter crap anyone can do that !'
Finally he was called in. Naruto paused to look over the shiny, new, hitai-ates all lined up on the desk before Iruka-sensei and his assistant Mizuki-sensei. 'Here goes maybe I can finally get back to my proper rank…!'
"Behold! A perfect double!" Naruto cried as the smoke sprung around him. When it cleared, Naruto had a vaguely disgusted expression on his face as he eyed his double. It was spread out across the floor, arms all akimbo, lifeless look in its too-blank eyes, tongue lolling out, and drool pooling on the floor. Naruto twitched, and barely suppressed a laugh it was so easy to fool people.
Iruka just narrowed his eyes rather sadly for a moment before declaring angrily, "You fail!"
"Iruka-sensei… this is his third time, and he did manage to basically conjure up his other self, even if it was a little flawed… What if we just give him a break and…" Mizuki's soft voice questioned, his ever-present smile just a little warmer than normal which was completely fake.
Naruto looked up with a fake hopeful look and looked between the two of them. "The answer is no Mizuki. Every student is supposed to create three perfect doppelgänger… Naruto barely produced one, and it was done very badly," Iruka proclaimed, waving Mizuki off. "With all due respect, his performance doesn't merit a passing grade. I'm sorry Naruto. Maybe next year."
Naruto sat on a swing by the academy and watched his fellow classmates celebrating their graduation with their families. It was probably one of the only times you'll ever see certain families in the same area without starting a huge argument.
He saw Kiba prancing around, singing his own praises while what could only be his mother and sister took turns trying to calm him down some he actually quite liked Kiba after all his boyfriend was an Inuzuka, the quiet Aburame off in one of the more quiet areas, the Akimichi loudly making plans for a big barbecue party that night…
"Great job, son. Your old man is proud!" He heard another voice laugh as he looked down to the dirt. "So now, we're all adults!" One of his classmates whooped. "Congratulations on graduating! Tonight, mom's gonna cook up a feast!"
"Hey, isn't that the kid who-?" an older girl asked. Naruto could already tell she was talking about him. "Yeah, that's him. The only one who failed!" another girl's voice answered. Naruto only sank down further in the swing as he heard them continue. "Serves him right…" "Can you imagine if they let someone like that become a shinobi…?" "Loser…" "Don't even go there."
Unable to believe the stupidity of some people, Naruto got up and walked away, noticing the pair of white eyes that watched him go and trying to figure out how to tell hinata that he wasn't interested in women.
"Iruka, could I have a word later…?" The Third softly questioned the teacher.
"Of course," Iruka sighed, watching Naruto until he left.
Perched upon a rooftop, Naruto was waiting hoping that Mizuki took the bait.
"Naruto," he heard a soft voice call as someone landed beside him. Naruto finally turned to give Mizuki a bit of a look. Silver hair cut to his shoulders, a kind, soft face, and the regular Chuunin outfit made it easy to see why the girls in class gave their attention to him whenever Sasuke was unavailable.
"Iruka-sensei is a really serious guy… His parents died when he was young, so everything he's accomplished he's done by himself, with a lot of hard work and discipline," Mizuki said softly, turning with a kind smile to Naruto but he could see the malice that hid behind that smile.
Naruto just shrugged. "So? What's that got to do with me?"
"So you remind him of himself." Mizuki laughed gently, catching Naruto's attention he couldn't believe the audacity of this guy to use Iruka to manipulate him. "He thinks he's helping you to grow strong. Try to give the guy a break… Can't you understand where he's coming from? …One orphan to another...?"
Naruto looked down trying not to laugh at him. Blinking back the tears, Naruto murmured, "But… I really wanted to graduate this time."
Mizuki smiled. "Then… I guess there's no choice." Naruto looked up at him in fake confusion. "Let me tell you a secret that I've been keeping for a very long time…"
Naruto had very little trouble sneaking into the Hokage's house especially after informing the hokage about this. Even when he was caught, all that was needed was the ninja centrefold technique, and he was able to get the scroll and get out.
Landing in the clearing Mizuki told him too, he opened the scroll and groaned. The first technique was multiple kage bunshins he didn't need it but he had to at least pretend to look and practice it…
In another part of town, Iruka laid awake, unable to sleep for the conflicting memories in his head. On one hand, he lost his parents to the fox. They lost the Fourth Hokage to the fox. Many great ninja were killed by the fox. On the other hand, Naruto was the container for the fox, not the fox itself, which he, himself, was only beginning to understand.
Hearing a knocking on his door, he went to answer it to hear disturbing news about Naruto while he was en route to the Hokage.
Landing amongst chuunin and jonin class ninjas only worried Iruka further. "The scroll he has taken is so dangerous that the First Hokage sealed it away! If misused, in the wrong hands, it could be deadly!" The Third sadly proclaimed. 'Oh Naruto, I hope you can pull this off…?' "It was taken only a few hours ago. We have to find him!"
Immediately, all ninja save the Hokage split up to search the village; the Hokage headed inside to watch Naruto his own way.
Sitting heavily down, Naruto sighed. He was nearly exhausted, but he thought he had to make it seem like he actually had to try to learn the technique. Seeing a shadow above him, Naruto looked up, surprised, into Iruka's angry face. Naruto laughed weakly. "I guess you found me. Too bad; you were so fast, I've only managed to memorize one technique."
Not wanting to jump to conclusions, Iruka swallowed and asked, "Naruto, what's up with that scroll you're carrying?"
"What, this? Mizuki-sensei told me about it, and this place. He said if I could master the techniques in this scroll… you'd let me be a shinobi!" Naruto grinned with a fake grin.
Iruka felt his heart nearly stop for a moment as that thought sunk in. A second later, he threw Naruto out of the way as a barrage of kunai was flung at him. Most missed as he was forced back against the shed; however, two got him in the left shoulder, one in his stomach, and two in each leg.
Naruto stared, shocked that Iruka would take the blow for him, as Iruka pulled out the first two kunai, before Mizuki interrupted. "The scroll, Naruto. Give it to me."
Naruto looked back at Iruka as he pried another kunai out. "Don't let him have it, Naruto! Protect that scroll with your life! It's more dangerous than you can imagine! It holds the record of a completely forbidden ninja art! Mizuki used you because he wants it for himself!" Iruka continued to free himself of kunai;
"I already know Iruka" Said Naruto calmly when both of them turned to look at him and there was a blast of smoke that covered his form. When the smoke cleared both of them were shocked when they looked at him he was wearing anbu trousers a black t-shirt and a chunin vest with the kanji of metal on the back his blonde hair was linger and tied in a pony tail reaching between his shoulder blades on his fore head was a Hitatae with the symbol of Konoha on it he was also about 6" taller that he was before. "I was assigned to infiltrate the academy and report about the training and be on the look out for a spy and I found him"
"What are you talking about naruto you aren't even a genin yet" asked Iruka incredulously
"Actually I am I graduated before even entering the academy at 6 because I created several techniques and a whole new element to manipulate but it requires a lot of training to use" replied naruto " Observe my element" Quickly making several hand seals he slammed his hands on the ground and called Kinton: Kane Soutei kusari there was a slight pause then from all sides of Mizuki chains appeared out of the ground and wrapped around him making him incapable of movement.
"OK Iruka-sensei let get back to the Hokage and ill explain more later OK." reasoned Naruto as he walked over to Mizuki and picked him up over his shoulder and began walking back to the village with Iruka following behind.