A/N: To all readers, new and old, especially a few of you. I want to give you guys a fair warning. A warning that I actually thought I did not need to dedicate an entire author's note for!
This is not an instant superpowerful naruto fanfiction!
Some do not understand something so simple as this, so if you want a Naruto who is suddenly supersmart AND superpowerful as a general rule, I'm afraid I am going to disappoint.
So choo, be gone I have heard enough pointless comments about how I do not indulge your kind.
Chapter One:
The Trade
'Ugh... FAIL!'
'Um… Iruka, we could let him pass…'
'No way, Mizuki, I can't let him pass.'
"I will show him!" Naruto shouted as he plopped down in a secluded part of the forest, next to a shack. He was slightly winded from escape. He allowed himself to laugh at Hokage-jiji. Knocking him out should have him pass even if he did not learn anything from the scroll. He grinned from ear to ear at the memory. Damn pervert…
'Naruto, I'll tell you a special secret. There's another way to graduate… all you need to do is steal a scroll…'
Naruto grabbed the scroll from his back, and opened it.
'Learn one skill from the scroll and you pass.'
'Hehehe, this is going to be so easy!' Naruto proclaimed inside his mind.
"Let's see… Kage Bunshin no jutsu…WHAT THE HELL?! Why does it start with the one I'm bad at?!"
With a frown on his face he roughly rolled the scroll out a few lengths and began reading from there.
"Shinri no jutsu…?" Naruto raised an eyebrow at that one but shrugged in the end, it did peak his curiosity so why not?
"let's see… hand seals… ram, dragon, snake, snake, boar, ox, boar, dragon, tiger, snake, monkey, snake, boar, hare-" Naruto carefully activated each seal as the long wall of text continued on, he lost count around fifty but the seals just continued on.
In any other case he would have given up but this was a jutsu, and a jutsu that needed this many hand seals for must be awesome! So he persevered.
"-ram, Shinri no justsu!"
He exclaimed and promptly collapsed…
Naruto found himself standing in a white void; he could see nothing but a faint shadow at his feet.
"Where am I?" he asked, "What is this place? How did I get here?" His voice echoed.
"Nowhere, everywhere, nothing, and you should know."
Naruto jumped in surprise and whipped around to face the newcomer. What he saw was a white faceless head. He gave out a small yell of surprise, stumbled, and fell over his own feet.
The odd and creepy white being in front of him chuckled. It's equally whitewashed limbs hanging limp by its side.
"W-who are you!?" Naruto shouted.
The being grinned; invisible lips parted revealing perfect rows of teeth.
"Who am I? One name you might have for me is the World, or you might call me the Universe, or perhaps God, or perhaps the Truth. I am all and I am one, so of course this also means that I am you."
"I… huh? I don't understand?" Naruto asked rubbing the back of his head sheepishly.
"No matter." the being said, "You are here because to gain you must give. Everything has a price, a toll if you may."
The being stepped aside, revealing a huge stone double-door. How Naruto had not noticed the door before he did not know.
"You are free to enter."
Naruto rose from the ground and approached the door. As he passed the self-proclaimed god he did not see the sinister grin.
As Naruto was about to touch the gate he stopped.
"Wait… what price exactly?" he turned looked over his shoulder at God in askance.
Truth dropped the grin.
"Depends on what you want, equivalent exchange, something of equal or greater value must be given in exchange for something else."
"But I have nothing to give!"
"Yes you do. A hand… an arm… your memories or," Truth smirked, "your captive."
"Ano… what captive?"
"That would be cheating now wouldn't it?"
"Cheating how?"
"Knowledge, it is what you came for and knowledge always comes at a price."
Naruto was dumb struck. He did not want knowledge, he wanted a cool jutsu so that he could prove himself strong and become hokage.
"But I don't want it I just want to learn cool and powerful jutsu!" he exclaimed loudly and slightly frustrated.
"Then what harm will it do, to give something you never knew you had for something you always wanted?" God smiled widely.
Naruto pondered a few moments before finally nodded sagely.
"Sure, sounds fair."
Naruto felt hands grab hold of his clothed.
"Wah-" was all he managed to say before being harshly pulled, lifting him off his feet, "aaaaaaaaaah!"
Naruto was thrown into the black void, the door slowly closing in front of him. He could see the slight silhouette of truth waving at him.
"Goodbye, Uzumaki Naruto." It grinned and looked down at its stomach which was now adorned with a new four symbolled seal.
Naruto snapped his eyes open with a huge breath of air. His lungs ached for the precious gas.
Something felt really weird. The cool air bit harder at his skin and he felt utterly exhausted. The feeling was utterly foreign.
'What did I do?'
"Hey!" Naruto looked up at the man towering over him, "I found you…"
"Hey, Iruka-sensei." Naruto weakly replied.
Iruka's expression turned from anger to worry in a heartbeat.
"Naruto, what's wrong?" he knelt down beside the boy, worried now at how pale he looked.
Glancing to the side he noticed the scroll rolled out on the ground.
"Please, Naruto, don't tell me you used the scroll." Iruka begged as he grabbed the boy by the shoulders, when Naruto did not look him in the eye he got really worried, "That scroll is forbidden for a reason, Naruto."
"Mizuki-sensei told me that if I managed to take the scroll and learn a jutsu from it, you would let me graduate."
"What do… you..."
From the corner of his eye, Iruka saw a glint of reflected moonlight. He shoved Naruto away, and took the brunt of a hail of kunai.
"Nice job in finding him, Iruka-san." Mizuki said from where he crouched up in a tree.
"I see what's going on,"Iruka answered and ripped one of the Kunai out with a pained grunt.
Mizuki looked at Naruto, keeping Iruka in his sight.
"Naruto, give me the scroll."
"Hey, hey! What's going on?!" Naruto was confused and looked frantically between his two teachers.
"Naruto! Don't listen to him," Iruka shouted desperately "Don't give him the scroll! That scroll is dangerous, it holds many powerful and forbidden ninjutsu inside!
"Mizuki used you to get his hands on it!"
Naruto recoiled in shock, a man he trusted had betrayed him, used him, and it shook him to the core.
"Naruto… there is no point in you having it, I'll tell you the truth."
It only took Iruka a moment to realize what Mizuki was planning and cursed that his legs got injured, otherwise he would have been able to stop him.
"N-no, don't!" it was a feeble attempt but at least he tried.
Mizuki only chuckled.
"Twelve years ago… you know about the demon fox being killed right?" Mizuki smiled at the boy's confused stare, "since that incident... a new law was created... naruto. This rule was never meant to be told to you."
"What law, why?!" Naruto took a step forward, confusion and out right fear showing on his face.
"Heh he he…" Mizuki chuckled, "The law is that nobody is allowed to talk about the fact that you are the demon fox."
"Huh?" Naruto froze as the missing puzzle piece fell into place. Now it all made sense, the stares, the banning, the isolation… but he couldn't be the demon could he? No impossible…
'Wait… what price exactly?'
'Depends on what you want…'
'But I have nothing to give!'
'Yes you do. A hand… an arm… your memories or… your captive.'
Naruto's eyes widen in realisation as the weird guys words made sense now; He had been the host of the nine tailed fox… but why?
"Watch out!" Naruto did not know what happened, but as he looked up he got tackled to the ground, hard. Iruka was covering him.
"Don't listen to him Naruto… I-I was the same like you. I… I have felt your pain… when my parents died… I-" Iruka winced from pain.
"Iruka, spare me your sob stories." Mizuki interrupted, and landed behind the pair, next to the scroll. "I got what I wanted."
after placing the scroll on his back Mizuki sighed and drew a kunai.
"To bad I got to kill you now, can't have witnesses now can we?"
Iruka Glanced behind him before locking eyes with the still prone Naruto and whispered.
"Run."
Naruto just stared for a second, glancing between his two teachers, before he leapt to his feet and did as he was told.
"Hah, see Iruka. The little demon doesn't care about you, like no one does. He would have been better off dead."
Iruka removed the giant shuriken from his back with a guttural scream;
he'd been lucky that it missed his spine, and lodged itself between his ribs. His flak jacket had done its job and stopped the sharp weapon from doing anymore harm.
Iruka stumbled to his feet cursing.
"Shut up Mizuki, you're a dead man walking, no matter the outcome."
"Ain't we all?" Mizuki shrugged.
Iruka whipped out a kunai, and popped a soldier pill into his mouth. Throwing himself into the fight.
Naruto ran with all the power his legs could give him, for each step he understood the gravity of what he had done.
He had screwed up many times in his life, but this was probably the biggest to date; he had given up the Kyuubi.
It was weird how much he suddenly knew and understood the difference with such clarity it astounded him.
He had been a jinchuriki, and he had thrown that legendary beast away without even knowing it!
He berated himself for not seeing the signs, understanding the hints… No he had to hurry, Hokage-jiji would understand, he would be able to fix things.
He hoped that Iruka would survive long before he got help.
Sarutobi Hiruzen sighed at the recent development. The search had already been called off and a small ANBU team sent to take care of Mizuki. Iruka was beaten and bruised but would be up back on his feet within a few hours. Some of his injuries would take a bit longer to heal, but thankfully it was nothing that would keep him bedridden.
No the source of his worry was Naruto. He had not been able to find him using his crystal ball, a fact that confused him greatly. It was fool proof as no one could change their chakra signature, yet Naruto had. It had been a subtle change.
He removed his pipe and rubbed the bridge of his nose. More worrisome was what the boy had yelled at him in his hysteria. At the time he had not thought much off it. Thinking it had been the boy confusion and panic speaking…
Naruto told him he had used one of the forbidden techniques, he was sure of it, how else would or rather could he reasonably explain why his chakra signature had changed… He did not like the implications. It was why he sent for Jiraya, he would know for certain.
He looked out the window, at the rising sun climbing up above the trees past the village wall. Despite what had happened or what he suspected he did not have the heart to put the same on the boy.
Naruto had almost gone through the roof when he'd told the boy he was allowed to redo the exam as payment for his troubles. Naruto always managed to bring a laugh to his lips.
'Better turn in for the night… I am not getting any younger…'
The creak his office chair made eerily sounded like how his own joints felt.
It was a happy Naruto who arrived at the academy, alone, that Saturday morning for his well-deserved second chance.
It did not help that this was his fourth try; it was embarrassing when his same-age class all passed and he alone went home with his goggles instead of a shiny forehead protector.
It had almost become routine. He arrived only to barely pass the written part of the exam. Go outside and run around the training field for half an hour, throw kunai and shuriken and then spar with one random student, passing with an above average score. Then came the last part, the bane of his existence, the bunshin no jutsu.
He sighed and wished for a miracle that he was able to do one clone good enough to pass this time.
Iruka greeted him, looking only slightly better than a mummy, when he entered his classroom.
"Good to see you alright, Naruto, sit down and I will start the countdown. You've got one hour."
Naruto wasted no time in going through the test and was done well before the time was done. He passed the physical test without much problem like he had before.
"Good job Naruto!" Iruka grinned at the boy but felt sorry for him; he would probably not make the last part unless a miracle happened. Exceptions were made for those who excelled in the physical part of the exam. Naruto just did not have the score to make up for the lack in ninjutsu
Iruka eased himself carefully into his seat and placed Naruto's test file a little off to the side. He extracted the proper blank form and nodded towards Naruto who shifted uneasily.
"Alright I know you can do this already but for the sake of being proper, transform into me."
Naruto did as instructed with a loud affirmative and transformed into a perfect copy, 'No surprise there.'
Iruka scribbled down a few comments and instructed to do a kawarimi with a prepared log in the back of the large room.
Naruto went through the seals in an adequate time and soon afterwards exploded in a cloud of smoke leaving only a similar sized log in his wake.
Iruka nodded in approval, text book perfect. Naruto smiled despite having successfully done it multiple times before.
"Now Naruto…" Iruka paused to look the boy in the eye. "Perform a bunshin." This was it the last and possibly his only real hurdle to pass.
Naruto swallowed hard and went through the hand seals one by one carefully.
Iruka looked on in suspense as Naruto formed the ram seal and noticed something he had not done the other times. Naruto's hand seals were… perfect, Iruka could not see anything that could have improved the seal. He quickly started to scribble a note to take to the Hokage. It was exactly what the elder had asked him to do.
When Iruka looked up again Naruto had just finished the snake seal and went for a perfectly executed tiger seal. The boy had suddenly as if out of nowhere become… better…
Naruto was in complete concentration and his hands seemed to move on their own, forming seal after seal in with so small pulses of chakra he was afraid he put in too little. He never thought it possible to use so little but it felt right… was it supposed to be that small?
As he finished the tiger seal he felt a sudden burst of excitement and shut his eyes and shouted.
"Bunshin no jutsu!"
Naruto was enveloped in an explosion of smoke that soon dissipated. Naruto did not dare to look.
Iruka was shocked to say the least. There stood not one Naruto but two. And not just a sick parody of himself. Naruto had done it…
Iruka shook his head and picked up his jaw from his desk. On a closer inspection the clone was not a perfect imitation, it looked slightly pale and the colour was not entirely the same but it was a standing clone and a useful one… at least for a start… and against genin in the heat of a battle or in the dark…
He grinned at had the urge to laugh as Naruto still had his eyes screwed down shut. Iruka did the only thing he could think of and started to slowly clap.
"Good job, Naruto, you pass."
As Naruto heard the word he opened his eyes in surprise looking at the clapping Iruka. He slowly looked to his side. His eyes watered at the sight. He felt an unbridled happiness as a mountain of endorphins' flushed through his veins. In one big bound he leapt up into the air, fists pumping the air.
"YATTA! Do you see, do you see Iruka-sensei, I did it!" He started to dance around the room in happy bounds.
In an attempt to hug his creation he fell flat, face first into the ground when it promptly disappeared but rebounded from the floor and threw himself at Iruka, and started to bawl "I did it!" in almost unrecognizable sobs.
Iruka chuckled at Naruto's behaviour, and patted the boys head. The young teens grip hurt, like hell, but he did not want to ruin his rare moment of happiness.
"Say Naruto, let's go eat ramen, my treat." Iruka smiled.
Naruto was almost out the classroom before he finished the sentence.
"Hey, Naruto, don't forget this!"
"Huh?" Naruto turned around barely managing to catch the hitai-ate Iruka had lobbed at him.
Naruto dried his runny nose and took off his googles and put on his new headgear.
"Now you look like a proper ninja." Iruka smiled who was met with Naruto's own.