Author's Note: This story is technically a sequel to the story A Mentor Steps In, which is also featured on this account. A Mentor Steps In covers fem Naruto's Academy days, therefore I will not be covering them in here. You don't have to have read the former story to enjoy this story, but it would help, as I will not be doing many explanations or flashbacks.
This story covers part one of the Naruto series.
1.
Umino Iruka hadn't been sure what to think when Uzumaki Kamaboko had been taken out of his Academy class years earlier.
On the one hand, it meant he'd let his prejudices get in the way of his teaching to such an extent that the village jinchuuriki was taken out of his class and trained privately by the great Koharu-sama instead. There was also the fact that the Hokage seemed to think the girl housing the thing that had killed his parents was worthy enough to get private tutoring from Koharu-sama.
On the other hand, the terror had been taken out of his class and out of his hair. And that could only be a good thing.
So he treated her like a bomb about to go off at any second when she arrived back in his class for the last few days of term. He would be proctoring her Genin Exam, he knew with dread, and all he could think was that she had better put in one hell of a showing if she expecting to pass.
"Everyone," he said stiffly, reserved, "this is Uzumaki Kamaboko. You may remember her. She has been undergoing private tutoring for a number of years, but she has returned to your class to take the Genin Exam with you."
Kamaboko stood beside him before the Academy classroom, gazing at the ascending tiers of students at their desks, sunshine from the far right windows filtering light onto the setting. She smiled a little and waved cheerfully, at least outwardly friendly.
She was a pretty young thing, most boys would probably concede to that. She was small, curvy, lithe, and muscular, blessed with peachy sun-kissed skin, light honey gold hair put up in long pigtails, electric blue eyes, and a curved, delicate face. Her lips were a glossy pink. The whisker cheek markings were the only sign of her demonic heritage. There were seals tattooed entwined all over her body, and she wore a full-body suit of skintight black fishnet armor, a poison orange kunoichi dress hung over it with an exposed midriff that just revealed a strip of skin.
Inuzuka Kiba laughed from the middle row. "Hey, I remember you! You're that dropout girl who could never do anything right! No wonder you were taken from the Academy!" he jeered. There was some laughter. For some reason, Iruka, who was trying not to chuckle, saw the normally quiet Hyuuga Hinata's jaw tighten in anger.
But Kamaboko needed no defense. "Hey, I remember you!" she said, grinning fearlessly. "You're that kid who was always really loud and braggadocious to make up for his micro-sized penis! The one I spilled blue hair dye on top of that one time! Still smell like the dogs you work with, Inuzuka?" Her bright, sing-song, smiling manner just made the whole thing worse.
Suddenly, the laughter was turned on Kiba, who became a brilliant shade of red.
"Kamaboko! That's enough! Go sit down!" Iruka scolded.
"Kay," said Kamaboko idly, as satisfied as the cat who'd eaten the canary, and she sauntered toward a desk. "Oh, and Iruka-sensei?" She looked back over her shoulder, faux bored. "I've told you a thousand times. It's Kama."
She walked over and took her seat next to Hyuuga Hinata, who smiled and moved aside to give her room. They beamed at one another, giggling. Iruka was in disbelief. Were the demon girl and the Hyuuga heiress… friends?
Hinata had been acting much tougher and more confident lately - quiet, kind, and graceful, but a hard, fast, and confident fighter. It couldn't be because - no way.
Could it?
Kama stuck to Hinata's side during the following days of reviews. Most tests, she found, were performed in front of the entire class, which was fine by her because Kama was the exact opposite of "performance anxiety" and it would give her a chance to show off her new and improved skills to her future classmates.
Buddhism taught not to get caught up in arrogant feelings of personal accomplishment, but Kama had another motive besides satisfaction. If she wanted to be elected as Hokage someday, she had to impress these people.
She had to admit, though. It was kind of nice, every time she did something amazingly well and Iruka gritted his teeth and forced out a, "Good job," as he scribbled a positive grade angrily on her clipboard. Every time she showed her mastery of an Academy level technique and her former classmates gaped disbelievingly.
Mostly, though, she found her former classmates a little immature. The girls were all obsessed with the Uchiha survivor, a handsome boy with pale skin, black hair, and coal black eyes named Uchiha Sasuke. They would do well in something and immediately turn to him and squeal in his direction, asking him if he'd seen it. They would chase him around giggling at lunch, or fight over who got to sit next to him in class. They would offer him gifts and presents, trying to gain his affection and attention. Some would even grab his arm and rub themselves up against him, not even asking Sasuke for his permission to be touched - this in a culture where casual touch was never an okay thing.
In Kama's opinion, it was all for nought. She observed Sasuke curiously from a distance, remembering their clan rivalry that he knew nothing about, and in her opinion, though he was very good looking, he didn't seem to care much about anyone. He was cold, arrogant, silent, and distant. He did well in school, mastering all the basic Academy arts at least, but he seemed not to form an emotional attachment to anyone.
Sasuke had been a child during the Uchiha massacre. Perhaps watching your family die did that to a person. In this case, Kama felt for Sasuke. He lived alone, like her - only for him, it was by choice. He'd refused all attempts to adopt him, clinging to the memory of his family. Like her, his clan existed only in a memorial shrine and his apartment was often still and silent. Unlike her, he knew what it was to have a family, and then lose one.
Kama knew in a clinical way how she'd get under his armor if she were a fangirl. Kama had been trained to pick out the weaknesses inside a person's personality or techniques, and use them against that person. She didn't even have to look at the victim for long. She was an expert strategist, her childhood pranking skills being put to good use.
An expert flirt and a trained seductress, she knew exactly what colorful, obviously flirtatious things she'd send to Sasuke. And he'd just keep throwing them away and throwing them away. Then she'd get all up in his face and challenge him, pissing him off and turning him on at the same time. (Sasuke's weakness was his temper, and he was so contemptuous of the weak and silly and submissive women before him that it was easy to see what kind of man he was.) Then she'd grin and start chattering away, asking him sort of flirtatious, sort of inciting questions to force him to respond heatedly and actually make words come out of his mouth. And from there she'd use her body to win him over, in a non physical contact way as a sign of respect for someone who seemed pretty reserved.
And then she'd have him. At least mentally.
Unfortunately, Uchiha Sasuke seemed to have all the personality of a dead tree stump and he wasn't a mission target, so she wasn't interested. She didn't hate him because of his clan - that would be stupid, she'd decided - but the Uchiha name did make her wary, and she wasn't a particular fan of his sparkling personality either.
Sasuke and his fangirls aside, there were some other eccentric and somewhat immature characters in class who didn't exactly impress her.
Nara Shikamaru was so unmotivated he barely passed any of his classes, so there was no telling how good he was. He complained a lot when being asked to do simple tasks. Akimichi Chouji never stopped eating - Kama didn't intend that in a demeaning, insulting way. She meant that literally. He never stopped eating. He was very out of shape and he did not seem to exercise a lot to make up for his massive food intake. He also reminded her a little bit of Hinata before she had discovered that by fighting hard against a friend, you actually helped them - he had that same kind of gentle timidity. Chouji and Shikamaru were best friends.
Inuzuka Kiba hadn't matured at all. Still loud and braggadocious, except now he had a puppy barking on top of his head to agree with everything he shouted. So maybe he had improved in skill, if his clan had allowed him a canine companion? Aburame Shino was even more silent than Sasuke, but always covered in a long trench coat and dark shaded glasses, so obsessed with sequential logic that talking to him was a bit like trying to decode a cipher. On the plus side, he got good grades and Kama suspected there was more to him than met the eye.
Still. Most of her peers frankly puzzled her. She'd expected to be a terrible flirt, but was disappointed. Perhaps because of her flaws sensitivity training, none of these guys interested her. None of the girls besides Hinata did either - most of them were silly and ridiculous and weak. Everyone thought they were so cool and up on everything and they knew exactly what being a ninja would be like. Everyone plainly thought they had it all figured out.
Hinata and Kama often had conversations about this over a lunch they shared on the tree swing in the Academy's front courtyard, looking out over the white stucco buildings with swirling red roofs decorated with the Fire Country symbol that signified the Academy. They both agreed that none of these people were really as cool or prepared as they thought they were, giggling lightly and daydreaming about the moment when they really became ninja and discovered what it was like for themselves.
In her free time, Kama did hobbies to keep herself busy and keep the nerves about her impending Genin Exam from getting to her - she gardened around her apartment, painted, and made a brand new ASMR video to put on her vlog in the meantime. She painted herself some brand-new nail art. Her karaoke and hip hop dance classes in the next town over had been put on hold till after the Genin Exam. She drank green tea and did her morning crossword and sudoku puzzles, bought herself a cute little frog wallet and a new stuffed animal, danced around to silly bouncy pop music doing air guitar and lip syncing, cooked meals, immersed herself in books and articles and watched horror movies while snacking shamelessly. She worked out as per usual. She and Hinata did flower picking and pressing together one afternoon to put in their albums - putting dates and fun times in pen beside each and every flower. Everything had retained some strange, false semblance of normality and calm.
Hinata and Kama shared a dinner at Ichiraku's the night before the Genin Exam was due to start at the Academy.
"I won't be able to congratulate you tomorrow after the Exam," said Hinata, frowning in worry. "Because, you know -"
"Yeah. Your clan will be there." Kama tried to give a smile and a nod, though she was uneasy and attempting not to be disappointed. Hinata's clan didn't know about their friendship, and that was probably for the best. No way Hinata's stiff, formal family would want her being friends with the village jinchuuriki.
"Come in after you pass your Exam and you get a free bowl," said Ichiraku Teuchi from behind the counter. "And if you fail, come over anyway and you still get a free bowl."
"But you won't fail," said Hinata confidently.
"Yeah," Ayame added, "you're too good to fail!"
"Thanks Grandpa Teuchi. Thanks Ayame-nee-chan. Thanks Hinata-chan," said Kama, smiling, feeling better.
"Has Koharu-sama contacted you at all?" Hinata added, concerned.
"Nah. And I know why. Granny Koharu doesn't think there's any point in wishing me luck. She's too confident I'll pass," said Kama. Her blue eyes became hard, determined. "She's waiting for me to become a Genin. And that's exactly what I plan on doing.
"After all, what kind of future Hokage can't even pass a Genin Exam?"
Kama knelt and burned incense, praying before her family shrine in her apartment that night.
Mom, Dad, clan, ancestors. Tomorrow I test out to become a ninja. Wish me luck. I promise I'll make you proud.
The Academy exam turned out to be very easy. They had to make at least three illusory clones of themselves, last five minutes against a peer in a standard Academy taijutsu fight, and pass a written test. And the written test didn't even involve codes or ciphers.
Kama sailed smoothly through the test, holding back all knowledge of her abilities from everyone. She did Academy style taijutsu instead of Uzumaki style, did an acceptable amount on the test but nothing extra, and she even tried to make as few clones as possible with her imperfect chakra control.
This was the final round. She was called into a second room, alone. Mizuki and Iruka, the proctors, were sitting behind a long table that cut the room in half. It was a fairly small room, humble, with long lines of shining new hitai-ate piled across the table. There they were. Her goal.
"Please make at least three clones," said Iruka, revealing nothing of what he was feeling or thinking.
Kama made the correct hand seals, called up her chakra, formed it into a tighter and tighter point - Finally, when it became painful, she announced, "Clone Technique!"
Five clones appeared around her, illusory but in perfect working order, looking virtually the same as Kama herself.
Iruka and Mizuki gazed for a long moment, as if trying to find something wrong with the clones. Then they turned to each other. "We have to pass her," Mizuki admitted.
Iruka paused, and sighed. "Yes, we do. Very good, Kama," he admitted. "Come up and get your hitai-ate."
Kama beamed, jumping on the balls of her feet, cheering. Mizuki smiled slightly, watchful. The jinchuuriki did not seem particularly bright, he was thinking. Bit of an airhead, really. Iruka laughed in spite of himself, warming to the girl at last.
Kama walked up and picked up a brand-new Konoha hitai-ate, slinging it around her hips at the place where the skin of her abdomen was revealed.
She tied it in place, and smiled in pride. A Genin at last. And her proctors hadn't even wanted to give it to her.
She walked outside, and it was fairly horrible, of course. Everyone's families were there to congratulate them and she had no family. Not even Granny Koharu was there - at least not yet. She caught Hinata's eye in the crowd and saw her own hitai-ate tied like a kerchief over her dignified sweater. They shared a tiny smile, but Hinata's clan was there, so Kama moved on. People whispered and moved away from her in the crowds.
Kind of depressing. But hey. She had a hot date with a big warm bowl of free ramen tonight.
So she was walking off campus, and she paused, spying Sasuke doing the same thing. They stopped, staring at each other, meeting face to face for the first time. "... Where is your family?" Sasuke asked, frowning slightly.
"Oh, you didn't hear?" Kama smiled brightly, pain hidden in her eyes. "I'm an orphan like you. My parents died when I was a baby."
Sasuke stared at her for a moment. "... I'm sorry," he offered at last. "The isolation… It's terrible."
"We both had it bad in different ways," Kama agreed. "You lost your family, and I wish I knew what it was like to have a family worth losing." She was still smiling with determined brightness. Sasuke gazed back at her, sad and somber. "It's always hard, though," Kama admitted, looking away. "On days like this."
He put his hands in his pockets. "Yeah," he said quietly. "It is."
Kama looked up at him… and after a moment she smiled, not one of her usual bright fake smiles, but a genuine, softer one that made him feel very strangely. "You know," she said. "I always thought you were kind of an ass. But you're not so bad."
That was right, Sasuke had thought. She was one of the only girls in class who hadn't fawned all over him. And she'd put in a good showing in class, too - enough to get her a hitai ate. That private tutor must have been pretty good. "Careful, you haven't gotten to know me yet," he said after a moment dryly, and the Uzumaki girl gave a surprised, quiet laugh, almost in spite of herself.
"True," she admitted, amused.
"Uzumaki." They turned to find the proctor Mizuki standing there seriously. "I need to talk to you for a minute."
Uzumaki turned away, but she smiled back at Sasuke over her shoulder. "See you later," she said, and left with the exam proctor.
Sasuke frowned after them, curious and oddly concerned, almost suspicious, for a while after they'd left. What could Mizuki want with Kama, now that she'd passed the Exam? It didn't make any sense.
After a few moments, he turned away toward home. It was probably nothing.
"Kama." Mizuki turned around, very serious and close to her face, in the alley. His voice shook. "You have to listen to me carefully. Iruka the other proctor is prejudiced against you. He told everyone else about an extra exam you have to pass to truly make it into the ninja ranks - everyone except you."
"And why are you helping me?" Kama wondered.
"Because it's the right thing to do," he said fiercely.
… Kay, Kama thought skeptically. "So what's the test?" she asked.
"You have to break in, steal a massive scroll with a black seal from the Hokage's private stores, and make it back out of the council building without being caught. You then have to learn a technique from the scroll by the end of the evening. Everyone has a different test, but that was supposed to be yours," said Mizuki. "I'll proctor you. Meet me by the old spy outpost in the forest near the gates, with the scroll and the technique, at nine o'clock tonight."
Kama's mind was racing, but she was outwardly calm. "Alright," she said. "I'll do that. Thank you, Mizuki-sensei." She bowed formally.
She left and walked right back to the Academy. Sure enough, Granny Koharu and Grandpa Hokage were there, talking to Iruka. She walked up to all three of them and said in a voice of iron without preamble, "Touji Mizuki just tried to get me to steal something from the Hokage's private stores, telling me it was a second Genin Exam. And if you'll allow me, I can prove it."
There was no quicker way to get three adult Konoha ninjas' attention.
The Elders Council, several ANBU members, Kama, and Iruka were all in the Hokage's private office.
"It's a terrible idea," the Hokage rumbled. "I can't send you out there with a fake scroll and use you as bait for a stakeout, Kama, you're twelve and you just became a Genin an hour ago!"
"But this way you won't have to worry about not trusting me," said Kama, glancing meaningfully at Iruka. "I wouldn't have the real scroll, so I'd have nothing to gain from this, and if I'm alone with Mizuki you can see him confess to the crime himself! We can't let him keep proctoring children if he's after the scroll of forbidden jutsu that it sounds like he is!"
Iruka bit his lip, torn. He'd never seen Kama so impassioned. And though he didn't want to admit… it would make him feel safer if she didn't have the real scroll. It did make sense.
"Hokage-sama, I think we should do as she says," he offered after a moment. "I would be willing to come along with the ANBU for the stakeout. Mizuki is my friend and if I can't trust him, I'd like to see that for myself."
"She can handle it," said Koharu unexpectedly, and everyone turned to her in surprise. Koharu nodded to Kama. "She's my prize student and I know her better than anyone. Her abilities are far above that of an ordinary Genin's," she said scathingly, with dignity.
Kama felt warm with pride for a moment.
"She's been training all this time," Danzo offered, curious. "Let's see those abilities put into action."
Hiruzen at last turned to Homura. "She'll be surrounded by ANBU," he offered, cautious as always in his replies. "She should be alright."
"I appear to be outvoted," Hiruzen sighed irritably. "Alright, then let's -"
"Hokage-sama, one more thing," said Koharu. "Kama will need to have mastered a jutsu from the scroll in order for her act to be convincing. I would recommend she master one that is fairly common, one that many Jounin know.
"I will personally teach her the Kage Bunshin."
"Can she do it as a Genin?" said Homura, Danzo, and Iruka as one in surprise.
"Can she learn it in a few hours?" Hiruzen wanted to know.
Koharu turned with pride to her student, who grinned slowly and maliciously, revealing sharp teeth. An involuntary shudder went around the room.
"Yes, and yes."
So they were allowed into a side room, where they had to learn the technique.
"The Kage Bunshin makes physical clones of you, unique for having all your power and abilities," said Koharu. "They are also useful because when they dispel, you gain all their memories and training retention. They require a lot of chakra, but that shouldn't be a problem for you."
"Alright. Let's do it. Show me the hand seals," said Kama.
She wrote down the technique details for her private stores and had the whole damn thing mastered in under two hours. She went to the Hokage proudly and filled the entire room with clones without even breaking a sweat.
The Hokage's eyebrows lifted practically into his hair. "Well done, Kama," he said as Kama beamed, pleased. Then he looked behind Kama at Koharu and gave her a subtle nod of thanks and respect.
Utatane Koharu knew she had done well.
And so that was how Uzumaki Kamaboko ended up jumping through the branches of a forest, a fake scroll tied to her back, amid ANBU and Umino Iruka, the night after her graduation exam.
"Anyone want to take bets on how long it'll be before he spills the beans?" she asked, grinning.
"Uzumaki, be serious," said the ANBU Captain sternly.
Kama sighed, pouting. "I know, I know, I'll get the job done," she said, rolling her eyes.
They made it to the forest clearing by the abandoned spy outpost, moonlight glinting through the leaves, and Iruka and the ANBU hid and watched. Kama stood there with the fake scroll, waiting. Wondering.
At last, Mizuki jumped down before her. It was time for the act.
She gasped, bright and faux delighted. "Look, Mizuki-sensei, look what I can do!" she squealed, making a hand seal and having a single Kage Bunshin appear beside her. "Isn't that great?!" She beamed. "So you'll pass me, right?! That's what you said!"
Mizuki laughed harshly. "You little idiot," he said condescendingly. "You honestly thought I meant what I said?" Kama paused, pretending confusion. "I just wanted you to get the scroll. I'll give you a little secret: your body will never be found."
He'd leaned forward, his eyes wide and unstable.
"Why are you doing this to me?!" Kama cried, pretending to be upset.
"You really want to know?" said Mizuki. "Why everyone hates you? It's because you're a -!" And in the middle of the sentence, he threw the fuuma shuriken from his back at her, attempting to catch her off guard and cleave her in two.
Kama reached up a seal-tattooed palm and the attack was sucked up inside. The smile faded to reveal a very ugly look. "A demon fox, right?" she spat. Mizuki had paused, stunned. "You idiot," she said flatly, returning the insult. "I know things about myself that your puny little mind could never imagine."
She leaped into the air, made the hand seals, and called out, "Whirlpool Technique!"
And a whirlpool of wind and water appeared from the air, slamming into Mizuki and drowning him and everything around him.
The ANBU jumped on top of Mizuki in the aftermath, as he gasped, choking, soaking wet and with several bones broken. "Good job, Uzumaki," the ANBU Captain complimented her, nodding. "Your first mission is completed."
And Mizuki realized what had happened.
"You little bitch!" he screamed as he was pulled away. "You little demon bitch!"
Kama smirked and waved sarcastically as her former proctor was yanked away.
"Kama, I'm sorry." She turned around to Iruka in surprise; he looked genuinely distraught. "All that time I doubted you, and if I had known -"
"Don't worry about it, Iruka-san," Kama sighed. She smiled down at the hitai-ate slung around her hips. "Now I feel like I've actually earned the right to wear this."
The Konoha hitai-ate glinted in the moonlight.
"Now!" She looked up, all business, and Iruka was surprised. "I have a date with a bowl of ramen that is long overdue!"
"Ichiraku's, right? My treat," said Iruka. "As an apology."
Kama paused, and smiled. "Maybe I'll invite Granny Koharu, too. I'll make a day of it with my two big instructors to celebrate making it to Genin."
As they walked away, Iruka began, "Now, Kama, it only gets harder from here on out -"
"Sensei, here's a suggestion," said Kama, putting a hand on his shoulder. "Maybe, just this once, you don't think about work so much. Okay?"
They walked off together.