A/N: At first I kinda wanted to make a female Naruto, but then I went ahead and got way too creative with it, so she ended up being more like an OC. I hope you guys don't mind too much.
Naruko sat on the swing, staring at the ninja graduates. They had passed, she hadn't. Naruko was angry, but of course she couldn't show it. As the years went by, she had come to realize that getting angry had done nothing for her. Every time she would throw a tantrum or yell uncontrollably at the world, nobody would be there to listen to her. It wasn't fair.
Naruko knew that she wasn't the best ninja in her class, that right belonged to that damned Uchiha. But still…she never would've thought that she'd be so horrible that she wouldn't pass. It was all that damned clone jutsu's fault! If those damn academy teachers hadn't used it as a test, then she would've graduated! She had passed all the other test's; barely, mind you, but she had still passed. Iruka-sensei was too mean. She just wanted him to let it slide this one time so she could become a ninja, but he didn't, and now it was onto another year at the academy.
Naruko looked up at the other children, they looked happy. They had their parents there to congratulate them, so of course they'd look happy. Naruko just hated them sometimes.
Mizuki was watching. He was always watching. This would be perfect. She would be perfect for his plans.
The young academy girl was a complete and utter failure. She scored lowly on all of the exams, and had even failed one, true, but she had potential, true potential.
Yes, she was the container of the Kyuubi, she would be perfect.
Once he had gotten her to steal the forbidden scroll, he would take her out of the village and find the certain someone who had come up with this plan. He would use the scroll as leverage against this hooded figure and get them to train her. When she was strong enough, he would use her as his own personal little weapon, and then he would become powerful, much more powerful than anybody in this damn village.
He walked up to the young redhead, smiling. "Naruko, why the long face? I'm sure with enough practice you could conquer this exam next year."
Naruko looked at him with a blank expression, but there was still a hint of sadness in her blue eyes. " I don't understand why I'm not good enough." The tears started welling up. "I always tried my hardest; I always did! But it's never enough!" She was sobbing now, and unconsciously started hugging Mizuki.
Mizuki was shocked, but he couldn't let himself show it. Who knew monsters had feelings, he thought sarcastically. He finally responded, trying to sound as nice as possible, as if he were a stranger trying to get a little girl to eat his candy. "Hey, Naruko, you know what? There just might be a way for you to graduate after all…"
Her crying lessened at she looked up at him. "Really?"
"Yeah, really." He smiled softly at her. "All you need to do is get this scroll…"
Naruko genuinely smiled for the first time in a long time.