The Kage Shinobi
Uzumaki Naruto, a child at the ripe old age of ten, stood in front of his Sensei as he waited for the first command to be delegated to him.
"Alright Naruto, please Henge into a fellow classmate." Iruka said as Naruto nodded.
"Alright here it come!" the blonde child said as he started gathering chakra for the jutsu. "HENGE!" he said as smoke poured from his form and covered him in a blanket. As the smoke left the boy, a new form was in his place, the form of Nara Shikamaru; Naruto's long time copy buddy.
"Very good Naruto, now lets opt for Kawarimi." He said as Naruto nodded and started the jutsu, and soon there after changed places with a chair. "Very good Naruto!" Iruka said as Naruto 'whooped' for joy. "Now for the last one, Bunshin."
"Alright, one more and I will be a ninja!" Naruto said as he looked at Iruka who had a smile on his face. "I'll make so many Bunshin that I will have an army of ramen eating warriors!" Naruto said as Iruka laughed.
"Ha-ha, Naruto you only need to make three Bunshin." He said as Naruto disregarded the information given to him.
The chakra swelled around Naruto as he started channeling what he thought to be the correct amount of chakra for the jutsu and let it loose. "Bunshin no Jutsu!"
For a moment there was nothing, not even a cricket chirping from outside the room and then there was one and only one poof. As the smoke dispersed, the glimpse of a half dead clone sat on the floor.
"I am sorry Naruto, but you fail." Iruka said with a frown. Naruto looked at his creation and then cancelled it; he then looked at the ground and waited to be reprimanded as he always was after he failed something. "Naruto how many times a week do you try Bunshin?" Iruka asked.
"None really, I was practicing my Henge and Kawarimi mostly." Naruto admitted.
"From what I have seen here, if you just learn how to manipulate your chakra better, and then start practicing your jutsus and I mean all of them; then maybe next year you could be a genin." Iruka said as Naruto looked at him questioningly.
"How? No one will help me with my chakra control." Naruto said as Iruka felt a little guilty; Naruto was right, no one wanted to take the time to train the boy, he was a magnet for trouble and some people thought that he was just down right evil.
"Next year we will begin a new way of training in chakra control Naruto, but until then just keep practicing with the leaf method and then practice your other jutsus and you will be ready for next year." Iruka said as Naruto nodded and left the room.
--
And that is what Naruto did for the summer break, he practiced almost everyday from morning until noon with chakra control and then started with Bunshin until he was able to produce one whole clone and then went and practiced with Henge and Kawarimi. But not all of his summer vacation was spent on these four things alone, one night walking home from Ichiraku's ramen shop, he was almost the target for a murder; although he made it into his apartment, the old man who lived right across the way was found the next morning with a kunai in his stomach and his apartment ransacked.
That was Naruto's wake up call to begin learning how to be a real ninja by learning stealthy ways of moving around town. From hiding in alleys at select points to sneaking up behind genin who were boasting about being strong and smart, and masters of stealth. Five times out of nine were successful when he did that test, the other four he spent the next few days making sure he hadn't broken any bones.
By the end of summer, Naruto had made two full clones that stayed until he either dismissed them or until five minutes were up and then they left in a cloud of smoke; something that he would have to change in the future surely.
Since the summer began, Naruto had been getting up whenever he wasn't worrying about bones and chakra depletion; at five and out the door by six A.M. but since the academy was starting up again, he dropped his routine so he could sleep in just a bit longer, to gain that last minute or two of sweet joy that was sleep.
As Naruto rose from bed he licked his lips and yawned; he swung his legs over the edge of his bed and got out and started his morning routine, which consisted of a shower, bathroom break and then food. He then grabbed his books and left for the academy with a smirk on his face.
--
Nara Shikamaru was walking slowly to his seat as he thought about how much the academy was a drag. He sat down in his seat, and anyone could tell which one his was due to the discolored wood where his head used to lay during class; the discoloration was due to the amount of drool he unleashed on the wooden decoration.
He looked around to see who was in this class; surely Ino and Sakura would be here trying to gain Sasuke's non existing love, and would be yelling at each other almost as soon as they walked in the room. Hinata was already in her seat as was Shino; they both had clans honor to uphold and they were expected to be on time.
Sasuke was sitting in a different seat this year, on the end of the row, the first one to be exact and next to the window; Shikamaru figured out that it had to be for an easy escape route; sometimes he did feel sorry for the brooder, fan girls were hell to deal with. Chouji was just walking into the room and went straight for Naruto's old desk which was on the right of himself, for easy cheating; Naruto had figured that out last year about halfway through the year, and it was obvious that Chouji didn't like to take tests either.
Kiba would sit next to Naruto and cheat of him for sure, it was a regular copy line in the back rows, although sometimes Iruka would catch them and then they would fail it didn't matter to them, tests were dumb. Speaking of Naruto, Shikamaru wondered where he had been this summer, sure his mother didn't like him but that never stopped him before; he would just hang out with him and Chouji when his mom wasn't breathing down his neck.
The door opened to show the two banes of his existence, or at the moment they were anyways, Ino and Sakura had just tried to walk into the room at the same time, again; the two did this every other day, one would think that they would remember two days into the past right? Shikamaru settled down for another boring and dull year at Konoha's Shinobi Academy.
"Get out of my way Ino-Pig!" Sakura said as she bumped Ino into the door frame as to try to escape the door frame and attack Sasuke; but unfortunately she was knocked back as Ino shoved her into the door frames other side.
"No way Forehead-girl!" Ino spat back as they started wiggling against each other and the door frame to get free. After a few minutes of yelling at each other; they eventually got loose and instantly ran like they had fire at their heels towards Sasuke who looked like he wanted to kill himself.
'Can't those two leave me alone for at least one day?' said boy thought as he tried to prepare himself for the onslaught of prompts and prodding for a date. Sometimes he wondered why he even tried, they always did this, and everyday he felt like pulling an Itachi on them.
The door opened again to reveal a fully prepared blonde boy with a smirk on his face. Naruto started towards Shikamaru and glared at Chouji. 'Just because I am going to listen to keen parts of Iruka's boring speeches this year, doesn't mean that I want to take the tests without…uh, knowing if my answers are correct!' he thought as he took the other seat and nudged Shikamaru who had fallen asleep already.
"Wha? Naruto, why did you wake me?" the lazy genius asked as he looked at the books in the friends hands. "What's with the books?" he asked as Chouji and Kiba looked at him weirdly.
"Well I took the genin exam last year to see if I could pass the test." Naruto started as the other three listened. "And I failed…so I asked Iruka-Sensei what I needed to do to become better and he told me some things on how to do so." He said as Chouji Shikamaru nodded.
"So what's with the books?' Kiba asked.
"I wanted to listen to the speeches this year I guess?" Naruto said as Chouji almost had a heart attack.
"W-What?" he asked as he tried to regain his breathe.
"I felt the same way only a few weeks ago, and then as I was practicing and then I thought about what he told me; so I thought after that, that if I paid attention this year that maybe I could gain more ways to strengthen myself." Naruto said as Kiba snorted.
"So then you'll become another Sakura then?" he asked as Naruto glared at him.
"Don't make fun of Sakura-Chan!" Naruto shot back as said girl turned and glared at him.
"Then if you become smarter than me Naruto, when a test comes up can I cheat off of you?" Chouji asked as Shikamaru looked at Naruto.
"Heck no!" he said as the three backed a bit. "Just because I am going to be paying attention doesn't mean that I am going to do tests like any normal person!" Naruto said as Shikamaru opened his mouth.
"Then how will you pass?" he asked.
"That's where you come in!" Naruto said as Shikamaru sighed.
"All right class, that's enough talking; it is time to start furthering you in your Shinobi training. So the first thing we'll be doing is a test to see how much you remember from last year!" Iruka said as he walked to his desk never minding the groans of anger and hate.
"And this year, don't think about cheating either, I know about the cheat line in the back of the room and have asked Hokage-Sama for another Sensei to help me ALL YEAR!" he said as a new man entered the room.
"Hello, my name is Mizuki, and I am here to make sure that you, the next generation of Konoha shinobi will prepared for the ninja world." He said as the class nodded and said their hellos. 'And to make sure that you fail, Uzumaki Naruto!' he thought to himself as he passed out the test.
-
Half way through the test, and only four people were done, or semi done with it; Sakura, Shino, Sasuke and partially Shikamaru who had given up at the fifteenth question when it asked for the savior of the village. Naruto was about a quarter of the way through, and not even cheating off of Shikamaru either. In his own mind, Naruto was happy and ecstatic about it as well, when a hand came down and grabbed his test.
"Uzumaki Naruto, you fail this test!" Naruto looked up and saw the new teacher, Mizuki standing there with a frown on his face.
"What? WHY?" Naruto demanded from the teacher.
"For cheating!" was the reply as Naruto watched his test being ripped to shreds in front of him.
"Iruka-Sensei! Mizuki-Sensei ripped my test!" He said as Iruka looked up from his desk and glanced at the blonde.
"Well then you shouldn't have been cheating Naruto." He said as he went back to the papers on his desk.
"But I wasn't!" he said as more kids looked at him.
"One more word out of you Naruto and I will give you a detention." Mizuki said as he walked off.
"You can't do that!" Naruto said as Mizuki looked back at him.
"That is one detention Naruto." He then turned around and walked up to the front of the room and threw the pile of ripped test away.
"Then I'm not going!" Naruto said as Iruka stood up.
"Naruto, that is another detention for that check." He said as Naruto almost felt like screaming.
"For what?" he asked.
"For interrupting my class that's what!" Iruka said as his face started to become red.
"EEERRGGHH!" Naruto growled as Iruka nodded to Mizuki. Mizuki came up the stairs and grabbed Naruto by the collar of his jacket and took him from the classroom.
Once in the hallway Mizuki punched Naruto in the stomach and let him fall to the floor. "Since you don't want to serve your detentions, Iruka said for me to punish you right this moment!" a kick to Naruto's face stopped any interruptions from the fallen child.
For fifteen minutes, Naruto was beaten by Mizuki; punches and kicks lit his world into pretty multi-colored lights. Then he was dragged out of the building and into the back of the academy where he tied Naruto to a post and threw practice kunai at the tree, missing every tenth one or so and hitting him. Then after about ten hits, he was untied and given a bucket of water and ordered to wash the floor of the hallway; and if he didn't comply he was going to be punished again.
As the other students came out, they saw Naruto scrubbing the floor; he was also covered in many bruises. Iruka came out and saw Naruto in his condition and asked him what happened.
"I fell down the stairs." Naruto said as he could feel the triumph from a hidden Mizuki as Iruka nodded and left; Naruto still half a hallway to do.
'My plan is underway, now that all I need to do is do this about twice a month and then rip his homework, and he is as good as gone!' Mizuki thought as he watched Naruto scrub the floor.
--
The end of the academic year
--
"Naruto I am sorry, but you just don't have the academic scores to take the test this year." Iruka said as Mizuki, who had stopped torturing him two months ago nodded with a mask of fake concern.
"I understand Iruka-Sensei." Naruto said as he walked back from the desk and out the door.
"Sigh- Mizuki, I don't understand that boy, last year he had a better attitude towards school and made it to take the test; but this year is like he just completely stopped trying to conceal his efforts for cheating and stopped caring completely." Iruka said as Mizuki nodded.
"I believe that his so called friends have something to do with this." Mizuki said as Iruka looked at him strangely. "Last month Shikamaru's mother found Naruto playing shogi with him and threatened him severely; and then two days later Chouji stopped talking to him as well."
Even if he had tried to set this up between the parents of those two boys, he wouldn't have made it so convincing, this event happened completely on its own. Naruto was playing shogi with Shikamaru and Yoshino found out about it and put a stop to it. She then told Chouji's mother about the event and told her that Chouji was in on it too. The next day they told Naruto that he had to stop hanging with them and talking to them even in the academy or they all would be in trouble.
Unfortunately for Naruto, he accidentally stumbled upon them playing shogi at the same time that their mothers had stepped out of the forest near the park and saw him and verbally scolded both Shikamaru and Chouji and then threatened Naruto. And if that wasn't the worst thing, both boys started to throw stuff at him in anger the next day at the park as he walked home from the academy.
"So that's it huh?" Iruka asked as Mizuki nodded. "Well, then I hope that next year he doesn't try the same stuff as he did this year, or he won't ever become a ninja." Iruka said as he got up and left the room.
"Who said that he'd be here after today anyways?" Mizuki asked himself as he left the room. "Tonight is the last night Uzumaki Naruto will be alive!" he said as he left to put his plan together; steal a scroll from the lazy guard in the Hokage Tower and then find Naruto. Knock the brat out and bring him to the shack in the forest; leave the scroll with him and hide. The Anbu would show up and then Naruto would be gone. "Perfect!" he said as he jumped off to begin.
END
I will be working on COTTJ II and JR this week, JR should get done, and then COTTJ II will be next. Then NTSS will be under the pen, and then BK. Underground is going to take some time so if you like it, be patient.