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It was a rather peaceful day in Konohagakure, the Village Hidden in the Leaves. Well, as peaceful as a ninja village can be. There weren't any attacks on the village, no robberies, and nothing to interrupt the Hokage from finishing his ink painting. Which is exactly why, at the moment he thought that, something happened to interrupt him from finishing his ink painting.
"Hokage-sama! We have a problem!" Two ninja burst into his room looking flustered. The Hokage sighed and turned around.
"What is it?" he asked, going into his serious Hokage Mode.
"There's a fight in the streets! Naruto is beating up some of the villagers!"
"Yeah!" the other one spoke up. "And he's even beat up some of the elderly!"
"What!?" the Hokage roared, getting up to put on his Hokage uniform. "Take me there, now!" And so they led him down a few streets to where the said incident took place. Except that when they got there, it was nothing but an empty alleyway, not a soul in sight. The Hokage turned around, anger clearly written on his face. "What is the meaning of this?" He asked the two ninja. They just shrugged, grinned, and poofed into smoke.
"Wow, I honestly didn't think I'd get you with this one," a very familiar voice said behind him. "I mean, I know I can get angry really fast, but beating up the elderly? Who would do that?" The Hokage sighed for the second time in five minutes.
"What is it, Naruto?" he said, exasperated.
"I just wanted to see you for a little before I have to take the shinobi graduation exam. But do I really have to do it? I suck at the bunshin no jutsu and, knowing my luck, that's exactly what they're going to tell me to do to graduate."
"What makes you think that, Naruto?" the Hokage said, rubbing his temple, still facing away from Naruto.
"The fact that they did it the last two times and failed me both times, even though the rest of my jutsu are really good. Can't you just change it? Please?"
"No, Naruto, I can't change it, and even if I could, I wouldn't."
"Why not?" Naruto complained.
"Because it would make other people want me to give them a test which they were good at too, and then it wouldn't really be a test, now would it?"
"I guess not, but still. I'm going to fail again and I can't do anything about it. No matter how hard I try, my clones always end up looking like they're dead and I can only make one at a time. It's just not fair. They always pick the one thing that I'm not good at."
"Naruto," the Hokage said, turning around at last. "If you'd just believe you can do it, and don't try so hard, you'll be able to do it. I believe In you."
"Yeah, but just because you believe in something, doesn't mean that belief is valid. My jutsu is still gonna suck, no matter what I do." The Hokage put his hand on Naruto's shoulder.
"You need to believe in yourself every once in a while, too, you know. The best ninja didn't get to be the best by putting themselves down." Naruto playfully chopped at his hand.
"Yeah, yeah, it's not like you don't tell me that every other day," he said, smile on his face. This caused the Hokage to smile, too.
"Well, it is true," he said. "Besides, how can you surprise them by being better than they thought you were if you don't believe you can do one jutsu? If you don't believe you can do something, then you'll never be able to do it."
"Yeah, you say that, too," Naruto said, with a slightly bigger smile.
"Now isn't it about time for you to get to class?"
"Oh, crap, you're right! I need to get going or I'll be late! See ya, old man!" Naruto shouted as he ran off.
"How many times have I told that boy to just call me Hiruzen?" the Hokage asked himself, smiling despite himself. There was just something about that boy that made you like him. Not that any of the villagers could tell, seeing how they've always treated him as a monster. "Well, after today, they won't, or they at least won't see him as the stupid idiot they all think he is." He still remembered the first time Naruto came up to him with a bad grade. He'd thought it was the end of the world. That's when the Hokage suggested to play it stupid and then surprise everyone with how smart he really was. They'd even got Iruka, Naruto's teacher, in on it, though that didn't stop him from failing Naruto on the exams. After all, you had to be proficient in all jutsu to pass. Except for that Lee kid, who literally couldn't use any ninjutsu or genjutsu, but that was another story.
The Hokage sighed once more and began slowly walking back to the Hokage tower. What was he thinking though? He should have known Naruto wouldn't actually attack the elderly. He shook his head, chuckled, and continued on his way.
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"Naruto, you're up next." Naruto gulped as he walked into the testing room. "Preform the bunshin no jutsu." Naruto sighed. He knew it was going to be this again. Iruka seemed to sense his exasperation.
"Come on, Naruto, I know you're holding back on me. You've shown that you are a very capable student. Why do you insist on performing badly?" Naruto chuckled in his head.
'Yeah, I've been holding back, but not on this,' he thought. Out loud he said, "What are you talking about Iruka-sensei? I really can't do this!"
"It doesn't really matter, if you choose to fail, then you'll fail. Again. Now, preform the bunshin no jutsu. Or pretend to fail at it again, your choice." With a small amount of grumbling, Naruto got into position.
After settling himself in the center of the room, he performed the correct handshake and focused his chakra. "Bunshin no jutsu!" he shouted, unleashing the jutsu. There was a puff of smoke next to him. When it cleared there was,... another faulty clone, just like the last two times. "Ugh, and I could have sworn I did everything right this time!" Naruto exclaimed.
"Fail," Iruka said. Grumbling once more, Naruto left.
"Come on Iruka, give the kid a break, at least it doesn't look as deformed as the last one. Especially that first one," Mizuki, the other instructor, said.
"If he's going to hold back on me, on all of us, then he doesn't deserve to pass. I know he seems like a good kid, but all of the other students made perfect clones and made two. It wouldn't be fair to them for me to pass him." Mizuki couldn't say anything after that. It really seemed like Iruka thought that Naruto was holding back. But that couldn't be possible. After all, no one in Konohagakure would ever teach that demon brat to be proficient in ninjutsu.
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"Hey, Naruto."
"Hmm?" Naruto was sitting up on one of the taller buildings in the village. Mizuki found him after a few minutes of Naruto sulking.
"You know Iruka has to be hard on you because of the other students, right? It's not like him to play favorites, you know," Mizuki said, sitting down. He stared off in the same direction as Naruto. Naruto had been staring at the sunset, complaining to himself that he hadn't passed the test.
"Yeah, I know. But would it have killed him to change the test every year? If it's always the same test, then how are the people who can't do it ever gonna pass?"
"So you want to have passed the test? To have graduated?"
"Yeah, why?"
"Well, here's the thing," Mizuki said, turning to Naruto. "There is still a way you can pass. All you have to do is sneak into the Hokage's office, steal a certain scroll, and learn one of the jutsu on it."
"Really? How come I've never heard of it then?"
"Oh, it's not well known, but trust me, it'll get them to see it your way. They'll graduate you for sure when they see that you've mastered a jutsu from that scroll."
"Well, if you say so. Where is this scroll?" Nearby, a figure clad in black and purple jumped off of the neighboring building, jumping across the roofs in the direction of the Hokage's office.
About a minute later, the figure landed inside the Hokage's window, behind the chair in which the Hokage sat.
"So he's made his move then?" He asked, without turning around.
"Yep, he's probably planning to get the scroll tonight at dark," the figure said, it's voice distinguishing it as female.
"Well then, make sure he doesn't get his hands on it."
"I was going to do that. Later," the figure said, jumping back out of the window. The Hokage sighed. Knowing the person she was, she wasn't going to stop him until the last second.
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Naruto had been in the training grounds for about an hour before Iruka came down on him.
"Naruto, what are you doing!?" he yelled, jumping down from one of the trees. Naruto turned towards him, dirty and a little bruised.
"Oh, Iruka-sensei! Now I can show you the jutsu I've been working on and then I can graduate!"
'What' s he talking about?' Iruka thought. 'And why does so beat up? Out loud he said, "Naruto, that's a forbidden scroll. The jutsu on it are S-class jutsu, to be seen only by the Hokage himself. Where and how did you get that? How did you even learn about it?"
"Well, Mizuki told me you'd let me graduate if I performed one of the jutsu on here, you'd let me graduate!"
'Mizuki?' Iruka thought. Just then, he sensed a presence and shoved Naruto out of the way, getting hit by the barrage of kunai in his place.
"Nice job finding the moron," Mizuki said from his perch in a nearby tree.
"I see... so that's what you're up to...," Iruka said, blood pouring from multiple wounds.
"Naruto, give me the scroll," Mizuki said, turning to Naruto.
"Don't do it Naruto, whatever you do, don't give him that scroll! Mizuki used you to get his hands on it!" Iruka yelled, beginning to rip out the kunai.
"Naruto, there's no point in letting you have it," Mizuki began. "I'll just tell you the truth.
Iruka, realizing what Mizuki was talking about, yelled out, "No, don't!"
"12 years ago," Mizuki continued, "...you know about the Kyuubi being sealed, right?" Naruto looked confused. He knew what Mizuki was talking about, but didn't know why. "Well, there's been a rule since then. A rule no one is supposed to break."
"What rule?" Naruto asked.
"But this rule was never meant to be told to you," Mizuki said, not answering Naruto's question.
"Not to me? What type of rule is it?" Naruto asked. Mizuki chuckled to himself.
"The rule is that no one is supposed to talk about the fact that you are the Kyuubi."
"What?," Naruto asked, shocked.
"You are the Kyuubi, the very one that destroyed this village and killed Iruka's parents!" Mizuki yelled, getting out one of his giant shuriken from his back. So wrapped up in his story, he didn't notice Naruto trying hard not to laugh. Iruka did, though, and looked over at Naruto, confused, forgetting about his injuries for the moment. "You were sealed up by the Hokage you admire and you have been lied to by everyone!" Mizuki continued. "Didn't you find it odd how everyone hated you? Iruka is the same, he also hates you!" Mizuki pulled back his arm, ready to throw. "No one will ever love you! That scroll was used to seal you up!" Mizuki threw the shuriken... and hit nothing but the ground. "Huh?" he said, confused. He started looking around, when he heard laughter above him. He looked up to find Naruto a few branches above him, laughing his head off.
"Oh, man! I only let you continue because I was curious as to what the secret was, but I just find out that it wasn't even a secret at all!" Naruto said, continuing to laugh. Mizuki and Iruka just looked at him, confused. "You know," Naruto said, calming down a bit. "The thing about big secrets like that is that they don't stay secret for very long. I knew about the Kyuubi for at least a couple of years now, if not more."
"Well, I guess it really doesn't matter," Mizuki said, grabbing his other shuriken. "You're going to be dead anyway. I don't know how you dodged the first one, but there's no way you're dodging this!" he yelled, throwing the shuriken two times as fast as the first
"No!" Iruka yelled, knowing, just like Mizuki, that there was no way Naruto could dodge that one, even with as much as he believed Naruto to be holding back. He was right. Naruto didn't dodge it. Instead, he caught it.
"What!?" Mizuki yelled, looking like he'd just looked up to find that the sky was green.
"I think I let this go on a little bit too long," Naruto said. Then he disappeared in a puff of smoke. Then, one after the other, Naruto clones sprung into existence on every available space all around Mizuki. Mizuki and Iruka looked at all of them, completely shocked. After all, neither of them had expected one thousand perfect clones of Naruto to pop up.
Then, all at once, they said, "I think it's about time for your beating, don't you?" Mizuki could only look on in absolute terror.
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"You really were holding back on me," Iruka said, looking at the beaten form of Mizuki. "Though I didn't know it was this much. I thought you said you couldn't do the bunshin no jutsu?"
"I can't," Naruto said.
"But didn't you just...?"
"That was the Kage bunshin no jutsu. I can't do the original thing. I just can't get the chackra to mold right. I used the jutsu I learned from the scroll I said I would show you. It works a lot better, but it's not the same." Iruka took the time to look at Naruto, really look. So he may be holding back on some things, if he was only just able to form a clone, and with a scroll he only had about thirty minutes with at best...
"Naruto, close your eyes." Iruka ordered him.
"What, why? Naruto asked.
"Just do it."
"Fine," Naruto said, closing his eyes. He felt something placed around his head, across his forehead.
"You can open them," Iruka said. Naruto opened his eyes and saw Iruka without his forehead protector. "Congratulations on graduating, Naruto," he said, smiling.
"But I'm not able to make a regular clone," Nauto said, surprised.
"You just made about a thousand perfect clones. It doesn't matter what jutsu was used, that alone is reason enough to pass you." Naruto broke out into a huge smile.
"Woohoo! I finally graduated!" Naruto yelled.
Meanwhile, in the Hokage's office, the girl in black and purple was once again reporting in.
"So you put a stop to it?" He asked.
"No, I didn't." Before the Hokage could reply, she continued. "Naruto beat me to it."
"Naruto? How exactly did he do it. From what I saw, he learned the Kage bunshin jutsu and beat Mizuki to a pulp."
"But he only had about thirty minutes by himself, how could he have learned such a powerful jutsu?"
"Beats me," the girl said, shrugging. "Am I allowed to go now?"
"Yes, yes," the Hokage said, distractedly. As the girl was climbing out the window, the Hokage stopped her. "Wait," he said. She stepped back into the room.
"What is it?" she asked.
"I want you to keep an eye on Naruto, to see if he hasn't learned anything else from the scroll. If you find out he has, let me know immediately. This mission may take only a matter of weeks, or it could be a couple of months. Either way, I expect you to report back to me when you have completed this task. Understood?"
"Yeah, monitor Naruto, tell you if he's learned any other jutsu, then report back. Got it," she said.
"That's another way of putting it. You may now leave."
"Kay, see ya!" She said, hopping out of the window. The Hokage sighed again. She was the only ANBU to ever act so casually in front of him. He kind of wished the oothers would act more like her. Actually, no. No he didn't.
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Naruto opened the door to his apartment, wiped out.
'Man, that was a long celebration,' he thought. 'I can't believe that Ichiraku can put away so much sake. Or that he liked me well enough to throw a graduation party for me in the first place.' As he was taking off his shoes, he noticed that the window was open. As he got up to close it, he saw a figure in the kitchen, rummaging through his cabinets. He walked in to get a better look. The figure turned around, revealing to Naruto that it was female and had black and purple clothes.
"Yo, I'll be monitoring you from here on out. Oh, and you're out of bread."
A/N: So, that was that. As I (think) I've said in my other profile, I'll be making fanfiction where a certain character will act how I would and taking off from there. As you can probably tell, I did this with Naruto. But just who is that mysterious ANBU girl in black and purple? You'll find out. Anyway, I'm posting this on this profile because I, once again, forgot the password to my other account. Only this time, I can't change it or get back on it because I'd have to get on my email account (one of many) to change it and, surprise surprise, I don't have the password to that either. It was on my phone, but that got stolen a couple of months ago. Hurray for me, I suck. I'll try to get the stories on that account transferred to this one, though that may take some time. I will finish those eventually though, you can count on that. And I'll finish all the ones on this profile to, it just may take a while for me to get back into the motivation, though. Anyway, that's a wrap. Omnitroid out.