Author Note: This is an idea that was started a long time ago over on TFF. I didn't have anything to lose really, so for your enjoyment I decided to finally post it on . A few things to keep in mind though. The first is that this is a very rough set of snippets; the idea in question is that Naruto gains a civilian mentor rather than the ninja mentor cliché. However, the mentor in question is the owner of a manga shop; he has skills in martial arts and the blade but is nowhere near strong enough to take on say Orochimaru or Akatsuki or even a mid-level Jounin. As a character, he's meant mainly as comic relief. Naurto's mentor is mostly his 'trainer' similar to those in sports movies or manga, and gives him advice and ideas, many of which come from Tatsu's own favorite manga. As If they can have short wave radios in Naruto, they can have old copies of manga.
Also, as I have no beta reader, and this is almost three years old, please ignore any small grammatical errors. Enjoy if you wish. Don't flame just based on the idea. If you don't like it, don't read it, that's all. I may decide to turn this into a full-fledged story if the response is positive enough.
Manga-nin: The Legend Begins!
In another world, ours to be precise, there would be made a story of a boy. A boy who dreamed of gaining the respect of not only his peers, but everyone in his village so that people see him as the person he was, rather than their preconceptions brought about by ignorance and stupidity. A desire that I believe quite a few of us share.
This story would inspire millions… for a time. Until a certain mangaka disappointed us terribly by replacing it's main character with a hopelessly emo asshole and bringing us all close to the last straw, surprising many by making something worse than many fanfics.
Ahem.
This however, is not that story. This story begins during Naruto's merry chase with several Chuunin after having just come from a rather epic prank involving a cherry bomb in the toilets of the Hokage tower. Rather than be caught by Iruka however, one little divergence would change Uzumaki Naruto's life forever as he ducked into a non-descript shop tucked within a street corner…
Naruto panted, beginning to feel that he was safe. Finally free of his pursuers, the young ninja to be looked around the small shop that he had ducked into.
Almost the entire shop was filled with stacks upon stacks of paperback manga and manga magazines. Sport manga, ninja manga, shonen manga, shoujo manga, and even cooking manga! Every kind of manga, manga magazine or data book was contained within the shop, and Naruto gazed in wonder, never having read the stories contained within their pages save for a few he wasn't able to follow from garbage bins.
Apparently, the ruckus he had made had attracted the shop owner, as footsteps began coming from within. Before Naruto could even think of escaping and resuming his chase from Iruka-sensei, he was surprised to see a rather young looking man emerge from the back room. What was especially surprising was that the young man had an enormous smile on his face as he gazed at the village pariah.
The man was quite tall, mostly skinny and lanky. He wore a pair of aviator sunglasses, a pair of forest green shorts, and two brown sandals, a pink Hawaiian palm tree shirt and spiky hair the color of snow. Naruto couldn't tell if it was dyed or not, but it didn't seem that way.
Though he was just an academy student, Naruto could tell that this man was no ninja. His stance was far too relaxed, there was a small amount of huskiness still on the man's stomach and the man wore extremely garish colors. (Of course, Naruto wasn't really one to talk about this but…)
"I presume you're a customer? Well, I'm very glad you chose my shop for your manga needs! I'm Muhi Tatsu and this is the Dragon's Vault. What can I do for you?"
Tatsu stood expectantly with a large grin on his face and Naruto chuckled sheepishly.
"Uh, Muhi-san, I'm sorry, but I've never really read manga before. I just came in here because I was trying to escape my sensei."
Tatsu's smirk faltered, but came back after a few seconds. "Well then, we'll just have to fix that, won't we?"
The shop owner began to drag a protesting Naruto into the back of his shop, shoving the young man into a supply closet as his door burst open for the second time in about thirty seconds.
Tatsu's smirk didn't falter as two Chuunin came in. They both looked exhausted and were surprised to see the shop so barren. Tatsu then gave a bow.
"Welcome to my shop honored ninja! How may I help you?"
Of course, what they didn't seem to notice is that Tatsu's voice was laced with sarcasm. Nonetheless, they launched into a hasty explanation of the young 'delinquent' they were pursuing and how it was vital that he be caught for 'the safety of the village'.
Tatsu nonchalantly picked up one of his manga and began reading, halfheartedly listening.
"Sorry, haven't seen anyone like that in here. Oh, and you guys are Chuunin and got bested by a kid? Gee, you probably need some training or something."
The two Chuunin glared at the shop owner, but he ignored them. They left in a huff, and when they were gone, Tatsu opened up the supply closet.
"Sorry about that kid, but I doubt you wanted to get caught eh?" Tatsu apologized.
Naruto nodded thankfully. "Yeah, thanks Tatsu-niisan. I'd like to repay you somehow, but I don't really think I have enough money to buy anything here, and I wouldn't know where to begin as far as manga goes."
If one looked carefully, they could see the start of a fire beginning to ignite behind Muhi Tatsu's eyes not dissimilar from those of a certain Taijutsu specialist and his pupil.
"Like I said, we'll just have to fix that, won't we?"
However, when he began to look at Naruto, the fire dimmed and the beginnings of a frown started to form. The boy looked somewhat threadbare and a little malnourished. Tatsu was no expert on human biology, but he didn't think that kids were supposed to be that short at that age. The orange jumpsuit, pants and shirt that the boy wore had several tears and nicks in them, mended with somewhat sloppy needlework. The boy's fingernails were dirty and there was grass in his hair. It seemed as if he didn't get much money…
Tatsu regained his smirk and in a much exaggerated fashion began looking over his shop with an appraising eye.
"Well kid, there is one way you can enter the wonderful world of manga without having to steal it from me. It just so happens that I'm in need of someone to do inventory for me. It's basically mundane and thankless work, but you will get paid for it, and as a bonus you'll get a store discount! So how about it little one, do you want to work for me?"
Naruto's eyes widened in surprise. This person… this person didn't ignore him! He actually seemed to… like him! Because of this constant want for acknowledgement, the choice wasn't very hard for Naruto to make, even never having read manga for real.
"You got it, Tatsu-niisan!"
Over the next few weeks, Umino Iruka began to notice a startling change within Uzumaki Naruto. Although normally he could care less about the boy who reminded him of the worst period of his life, it was almost impossible not to notice the changes that took place.
The first was that Naruto hardly played any more pranks; there were still a few that went on, but what was even more surprising was that some of the students recognized the intent behind these pranks even when the adults could not as they were modeled after manga of all things. For example, there had been the one time where Iruka's gradebook had been changed to read 'Death Note' on the cover, with the phrase 'strangled by parents' written after particularly troublesome students. There was also the time when Ino, Sakura and Hinata had come to class with a permanent Henge making them look as if they were wearing some sort of strange cyber armor; the phrase 'future members of the Knight Sabers' were inscribed on this transformation and what was especially surprising was that Hinata and INO of all people seemed to really like this backwards compliment. He couldn't believe he thought this, but these kinds of pranks were actually… clever!
Naruto still cut class, but rather than just goof off he seemed to put himself into a super-intensive training regime. It was mainly physical exercises, but what caused Iruka's eyes to bug out was that Naruto seemed to be wearing a giant turtle shell of all things on his back.
Naruto also seemed to pay much more attention in class, although he still occasionally nodded off when he thought that Iruka's lectures were particularly boring. That being said, he was much quieter than normal and hesitantly began a friendship with Hinata. Of course, he had had to explain himself several times due to the fact that she fainted, but Hinata was getting better.
Of course, Iruka had had to deal with a very confused Yuuhi Kurenai who was wondering why Hinata had taken to wearing a turtle shell of all things, but other than that he was relatively fine.
Unfortunately, this new training regime wasn't enough to help Naruto make a perfect Bunshin no Jutsu. So let's fast forward. Iruka acknowledges Naruto as a person and Mizuki comes in to strike.
"If you lay one hand on Iruka-sensei… I'll remove your nutsack just for starters!"
Both Chuunin had a comical look on their faces, which gave Naruto the opportunity to remove his ever present turtle shell. Naruto then formed the ram seal and let out a fierce cry.
"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"
Ten Naruto clones rushed forward and knocked Mizuki in the air, juggling him with various punches and kicks. When Mizuki was at his apex, the Bunshin dispersed and the original Naruto brought his hands together in a cupping position.
"Eat this! Ka-me-ha-me-HA!"
To Iruka's astonishment, a small beam of pure Chakra erupted from Narutos hands and pierced through Mizuki's stomach, blackening a good deal of his body. Finally, Mizuki's body landed, defeated.
Naruto gave a strange hand gesture and shouted at the top of his lungs.
"UBER PWNAGE!"
Gaping, Iruka could only summarize his thoughts with two words.
"…the hell?"
As promised, Iruka had taken the newly graduated Naruto to Ichiraku ramen. To both of their surprise, Tatsu was waiting for them, trying to conceal a yawn in the early morning sunlight. His eyes (or what could be seen of them behind his sunglasses) widened upon seeing the two; when he saw the Hitai-eh on his young worker's forehead, he gave a great smile.
"Hey there kid. I see you've graduated, haven't you?"
Naruto smiled in return. "I sure did Tatsu-Nii-chan! I even managed to perfect Kamehameha!"
Tatsu's eyes regained their fire from before and he startled the poor Ramen shop owners by slamming his hands on the countertop, unfortunately spilling his ramen in the process.
"AWESOME! I knew you could do it kid! And you told me that duplicating techniques from manga was impossible!"
Naruto's face soured slightly. "Okay Nii-san, you were right. I guess this means I have to paint your house and clean your toilets huh?"
Tatsu nodded, almost giddy in his expression. Iruka cleared his throat to gain attention and Tatsu turned towards him.
"Yes, may I help you?" The shop owner asked.
"You… you were the one who taught Naruto how to use that power? But you don't seem to be a ninja…" Iruka pondered.
Tatsu chuckled. "I just made a little bet with my little worker over here and gave him a basic idea of how to perform the technique based on what I read in a Dragonball manga. I'll leave the fighting to you guys thanks. Who might you be though? I assume that you're a friend of Naruto's right?"
Iruka's expression cleared. "Um, yes. I'm Umino Iruka and until last night I was Naruto's teacher in the academy. Naruto really managed the technique by himself?"
Naruto pouted. "Yes sensei. It took a really long time, but Tatsu-Nii-san's advice helped a lot when I was trying to do the technique."
Iruka chuckled sheepishly. "Sorry Naruto. I guess I shouldn't doubt you after last night."
Naruto crossed his arms. "No, you shouldn't. Still, it was good of you to wait for me, Nii-san."
Tatsu huffed. "I don't know what you're talking about. I just happened to want ramen for breakfast, that's all. You know I hardly ever cook."
"Sure Nii-san. I know." Naruto smiled.
Iruka motioned for them to order and he began looking forlornly at his wallet. While he expected Naruto to consume vast quantities of Ramen, he was amazed at how much Naruto's older friend was putting away. At his dumbfounded look, Tatsu answered the unasked question.
"I own a manga store. I eat as much as I can, whenever I can."
The two managed to pause long enough to talk somewhat and let their food settle.
"So kid, how long until you have to get started in those Genin duties?" Tatsu asked.
Naruto looked up from his ramen, looking confused.
"Um, I'm not sure Nii-san. How long do I have, Iruka-sensei?"
The pair turned their heads to look at Iruka in unison, giving him a bit of a scare. He gained a sweat drop.
"Well, team assignments take a little while Naruto. You should still have another week while registration goes on. I think for you, registration is the day before team assignments, seeing as how you're in the 'U's."
Naruto jumped off his stool.
"All right! Then I can finish my other special move!" he exclaimed, pumping his fists in the air.
"And which move would that be kid? I hope it isn't Bakusai Tenketsu. I still need you for inventory help."
Iruka's face gained a look of contemplation and no small amount of pride as he stared at the two, animatedly talking back and forth.
Naruto…finally, people are starting to acknowledge you.
Of course, this tender and heartwarming scene was shattered when Iruka heard the words,
"Nii-san, are you sure we need to have me drop from the top of the Hokage monument in order to learn how to fly?"