Kamen Shinobi Naruto
Ch. 1: Enter: Naruto Uzumaki!
17 years ago, a strange powerful device has disappeared without a trace. Any ninja wielding it would have access to incredible impossibilities. Once a year, the best of the best shinobi set out on a quest to retrieve the device. During that time, there were more huge shipping and sales of Shippo no Kouseki, or Tail Crystals, than there were previously before the device's disappearance. These Tail Crystals have the power to transform anyone into a physical demonic monster who can nearly match an elite warrior or higher.
Then several years later, from out of nowhere near the Village Hidden in the Tree Leaves, Konohagakure, in the Land of Fire; appeared a monstrous demon fox with nine powerful tails that each could topple mountains and cause tsunamis. Not even all of the brave and well-honed ninja of Konohagakure assembled fighting the mighty tailed beast entity could hold it back that night.
One brave and powerful ninja, however, was able to seal up the beast-like entity, but he died in the process, presumably at the cost of his life. He was the 4th Hokage, the fourth Fire Shadow, the most powerful ninja of the Land of Fire.
Today, 12-year-old Naruto Uzumaki is caught vandalizing the carven faces of the four Hokage on the great mountain, the Hokage Monument, with graffiti in paint. He is easily outrunning and leaping away further from his angered pursuers while carrying a bucket of paint in one hand, laughing his head off at them and calling them losers because they wouldn't do it. After all, speaking for them, the monument is considered very holy ground.
Young Naruto Uzumaki is a prankster that is constantly causing trouble throughout Konohagakure. He is a blue-eyed blonde, whose hair is poked up in jagged tufts as if it had been hacked at with a sword, with whisker-like birthmarks on his cheeks. His favorite attire is his orange-and-blue jumpsuit and he usually wears a green pair of goggles, hoping one day to replace it with his own forehead protector.
The 3rd Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, was sitting in his office practicing his calligraphy until a couple chunin, or middle ninjas, come barging in to report the news—
"Hokage-sama!"
"Don't tell me;" groans the 3rd Hokage "is Naruto causing trouble again?"
A chunin with a ponytail nods "Yes, he has vandalized the Hokage Monument!" "And this time with paint!" shrieks his masked partner.
The Hokage sighs and places on his Fire Shadow hat, getting ready to catch the little troublemaker.
Meanwhile, Naruto seemed to have lost his pursuers, thanks to a simple quick camouflage ninja technique: Kakuremino no Jutsu (Cloak of Invisibility Technique), which is a supplementary-class E-rank ninjutsu technique that takes a cloak or cloth and blend into an object, making the user invisible. He has also used the Shunshin no Jutsu (Body Flicker Technique), a supplementary D-rank high-speed movement ninjutsu technique that appears akin to teleportation, therefore allowing a ninja to move short to long distances at an almost untraceable speed; to escape his pursuers.
Taking down the cloak, Naruto chuckles "Piece of cake!"
"IS THAT SO, YOU MORON?" hollers a very familiar male voice from behind.
Naruto gasps, falls to the ground, and turns in shock to find a stern-looking teacher of his, "Iruka-sensei!"
Iruka Umino is young chunin ninja with dark brown hair in a high ponytail, a green flak jacket, and a definitive horizontal scar across the bridge of his nose.
"What the hell are you doing here during class time?" growls Iruka-sensei, quickly pulling out some rope.
Iruka's classroom has stadium-style seating, with several tiers rising from the teacher's podium.
He brings a tied-up Naruto straight to class, although the small blond-haired boy is not showing any signs of apology.
"Tomorrow is the Shinobi Academy's graduation exam and you've failed it two years in a row!" loudly scolds Iruka-sensei, "Yet you still waste time causing trouble, especially on an important time such as now, idiot!" Naruto huffs "Whatever…"
Iruka-sensei grits his teeth and turns to the rest of the class, "Everyone, line up! It's time to re-take the Henge no Jutsu test! Transform perfectly into me!"
"WHAT?" exclaims the class, who later groan while immediately blaming Naruto.
After a few students get graded for perfect transformation technique into Iruka, Naruto's name was soon called.
Naruto's classmates gripe at him; "This is such a pain, Naruto!" "We always pay for your screw-ups!" "And it's always your fault!" "Yeah, what's with you?"
"Like I care" grumbles Naruto disdainfully. Stepping up to Iruka-sensei, he thinks to himself 'Man… this sucks…' Then he flashes a confident smile, "Henge!"
POOF!
In Naruto's place in a poof of smoke appears a naked beautiful and voluptuous woman with blonde hair in long pigtails, sapphire blue eyes, small whisker marks on her cheeks, and the best curves in the right places who is partially concealed with small traces of clouds to the barest minimum. "Ooo… Hey, baby!" She poses sexually as if she's doing it for a magazine, giggles, winks, and finally blows a kiss to Iruka-sensei—
The man in question gawks and falls back from over-stimulation, with his nose bleeding like a geyser and his consciousness fading fast.
POOF!
Naruto changes back, laughing at Iruka-sensei's pain "I call that the Oiroke no Jutsu!"
However, that technique earns the poor blond boy's head several poundings from several angry girls on an instant warpath. Several boys in class were gawking and some fainted from over-stimulus because of Naruto's technique.
Not amused, Iruka-sensei recovers, jumps up, picks up the beaten-up Naruto by the shoulders, and loudly scolds him "DON'T INVENT SUCH STUPID, USELESS, OR PERVERTED TECHNIQUES, YOU MORON!"
Later… Iruka is watching over Naruto cleaning up the mess he made on the Hokage Monument with a wet rag. Earlier he had to even order the class to study on their own without him.
"This is so uncool!" groans Naruto as he scrubs away. Iruka frowns, "No complaints! You're not going home until you've cleaned off every last centimeter and drop of paint!" "So what?" retorts Naruto "There's nobody at home waiting for me!"
Iruka's frown softens a bit, feeling as though a cold blade is piercing his heart, as he asks himself for the millionth time 'Why is Naruto like this?'
He then says to the young boy "Naruto…" The blond kid asks with a frown, "What?" "Well… um… if you finish cleaning before nightfall… how about I treat you to ramen?"
This prospect excites Naruto, who then loudly cheers "ALIRGHT! TIME TO WORK EXTRA HARD! I'LL GET THIS DONE IN NO TIME!" then he rushes back to cleaning up his mess.
Later that evening, at Naruto's favorite place, a ramen stand called Ichiraku Ramen…
Young Naruto is eating his ramen voraciously while Iruka is eating his at a steady pace, watching the young academy student. Naruto is a favorite patron of that place, as well as a hopeless addict for ramen.
"Naruto?" speaks Iruka. Naruto sucks up some noodles, "Hmm?" "Why did you graffiti the Hokage Monument faces? I mean, don't you know who the Hokage are?"
"Of course I do!" replies Naruto, "Basically those who achieve the title of Hokage are the strongest shinobi of Konohagakure, the Village Hidden in the Tree Leaves; the most powerful ninja in all of the Land of Fire even, right?" Iruka nods with a shrug, "Well yeah, mostly." "And the 4th Hokage, the hero who saved Konohagakure from the 9-Tailed Fox demon beast, was the best there was amongst them." "True," nods Iruka, before asking the boy "if you know that, then why did you vandalize the great faces with graffiti in the first place?"
Naruto finishes his bowl of ramen and answers dramatically with a confident smirk, "Because one day I'm going to become the next and greatest Hokage of all time, surpassing the other four before me, and then the whole village shall acknowledge my strength with respect! Believe it!"
Iruka-sensei sits there dumbfounded.
Teuchi, the middle-aged man who runs the ramen stand and one of the very few people who like Naruto, says "Then you'd better work harder, Naruto-kun."
After a moment of silence…
"Umm…" goes Naruto, almost pleading "Iruka-sensei, I have a little request." "What? Seconds?" assumes Iruka-sensei. "No," says Naruto "actually, can I borrow your forehead protector?"
Touching his forehead protector, Iruka-sensei replies "Sorry, no can do; you can only get your own forehead protector bearing the symbol of the Tree Leaf Village after you graduate. It stands as a symbol that you have come of age. Maybe you'll get yours tomorrow. You know, if you pass the test tomorrow."
"Bummer!" groans Naruto, "You're so stingy!"
"Is that the reason why you've removed your goggles?" asks Iruka.
Naruto demands in frustration, "I want a second bowl!"
The next day, at the Ninja Academy…
Naruto is prepared to take the graduation exam once again, hopefully for good.
"Okay, today's exam should be easy for you;" says Iruka to his class "to graduate, you'll have to do the Bushin no Jutsu. When you're called, come to the next room."
The clone technique is theoretically simple like the transformation technique, except one has to make an illusionary doppelgänger of yourself, over and over again, instead of making oneself into something else.
At the back of the classroom, Naruto panics 'Oh no! That is the technique I'm absolute worst at!'
Soon, after quite a number of his classmates coming out with their forehead protectors, Naruto is determined to try his best. After he is called, he marches into the next room seeing lots of forehead protectors waiting for their future wearers on the desk before Iruka-sensei and the young silver-haired Mizuki-sensei, another chunin examiner. Naruto doesn't know Mizuki well, but he seems to be a swell guy since he never shuns the kid.
Prized Konoha headbands in pristine conditions are spread out on the table where the teachers are sitting behind.
Naruto gets ready and prepares the jutsu, confident that this time he'll produce one or more.
"Bushin no Jutsu!" yells out Naruto, performing the technique.
There's a puff of smoke, revealing Naruto and one very pale and dead-looking copy of himself lying on the ground next to him.
Naruto gasps in horror at his clone.
Iruka sternly looks at Naruto and shouts "YOU FAILED!"
Naruto falls back from his teacher's outburst and slowly gets to his hands and feet, hanging his head in shame.
"Iruka-sensei," speaks up Mizuki "Naruto-kun has great stamina and athletic ability, he did create a clone technically, also this is his third time here in this academy. We could let him pass—"
"No way, Mizuki!" objects Iruka sternly, "All the other students created at least 2 to 3 or more clones, and Naruto only created one, and it's completely useless! I can't let him pass!"
Naruto dismisses his pathetic clone and slowly walks out in shame, feeling the laughter of a lot of his classmates, who overheard he failed from the next room.
Later that afternoon outside the school, Naruto is sitting in a swing, watching the crowd of proud parents congratulating their children for successfully graduating from the Ninja Academy.
He picks up his goggles and walks away, ashamed of himself. He didn't even hear two women saying something behind his back, about how they're glad that he didn't pass and stopped about something forbidden.
The Third Hokage sighs, then he turns to Iruka "Iruka, I need to talk to you." "Yes, sir" nods Iruka.
What almost nobody realizes is that Naruto's outer personality is only a façade. He acts tough but is truly suffering. Because very few people come near him, his treatment from the other villagers causes him pain, loneliness, and suffering. What's made it worse is that both of his parents are dead and he doesn't even know them.
Mizuki appeared toward Naruto and called to him, to which Naruto huddles toward. Mizuki seems like such a kind person in contrast to Iruka. Now they're on top of a roof during the sunset, having a conversation—
"Why does Iruka-sensei pick on only me like that?" groans Naruto sadly.
Mizuki explains with a small smile, "He is a very serious person; his parents were killed when he was young and he had to take care of himself. He's being hard on you because he probably sees himself in you. He probably wants to see you become strong in the real way. Try to understand his feelings, since you also don't have any parents either."
Naruto is surprised at that, but then he sadly sighs, "…I still wish I had graduated."
After a moment's pause and silence, Mizuki says "In that case, I'll tell you a special secret." "Huh?" blinks Naruto, wondering what Mizuki is talking about.
Later that night, Naruto sneaks into Hiruzen Sarutobi's house, the elder and Hokage spots him "What do you think you're doing in my house at this hour?"
Naruto gasps and resorts to one of his tricks—
"Oiroke no Jutsu!"
POOF!
The female adult version of Naruto seductively blows a kiss to the Hokage, who then faints from shock with a perverted smile on his face. Despite his age, the Third Hokage is still pretty darn strong, making him a living legend. But even legends have flaws; and Hiruzen's is sexy, beautiful, young women.
POOF!
Naruto rushes and picks up a very big scroll from a room full of scrolls before running off into the night. In its place, he leaves a note reading 'I'll return it later'.
In the forest, close to a shack, Naruto sits down on the ground and unrolls the big scroll a little bit, then he studies the first jutsu written within it—
"Let's see…" says Naruto "The first technique is the Multiple Shadow Clone Technique?" He then blinks in confusion, "Why does this sound like the skill I'm horrible at?"
In his bed in his apartment, Iruka lies tossing and turning in bed thinking about what the Third Hokage told him—
Sarutobi told him that he understands very well how Iruka feels, but how Naruto is very similar to him; growing up not knowing his parents. How Naruto is full of pain but hides it underneath his bratty bravado and needs affection as well as a firm hand.
Iruka then remembers that night when he was still a child; while watching his favorite show after practicing ninjutsu, his parents ran out to fight the Kyuubi no Kitsune Biju that suddenly appeared. Curious to why they left, he followed them onto the battlefield without knowing. He saw the giant fox monster and his wounded parents still fighting it, he wanted to help them but one of the shinobi carried him away. A swipe from one of the tails zips by, in a single moment young Iruka saw both his parents killed, and at the same time he receives a slash across his face, his own scar.
KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK!
Iruka snaps out of his memories at the sound of knocking on his door, he runs to it and opens it to find a worried Mizuki. "What is it?" asks Iruka. Mizuki tells him, "We must go to the Hokage-sama's place! Naruto has stolen the forbidden Scroll of Sealing as a prank!" Iruka is shocked at the news.
At the Third Hokage's place, groups of shinobi stood before their lord, who recovered and announced the news.
"Hokage-sama! We can't forgive Naruto for this one!" "Yes, the Scroll of Sealing is a dangerous item sealed by the First Hokage!" "If used in a certain way, it could spell disaster!"
The Third Hokage frowns, "It's been hours since the scroll was taken. Hurry up and find Naruto!"
"Yes sir!"
WHOOSH!
The entire platoon scatter in various directions to search for the boy!
Iruka searches from the roof, trying to find Naruto first "Where would he go?"
Somewhere else in the Village, Mizuki is dashing toward the forest with a sinister smirk, 'I'll spread the word throughout the village a little more, then I'll kill both Naruto and Iruka and then make it look like he disappeared with the scroll, keeping it for myself.'
Back at the forest near the shack, Naruto is resting after a few moments to catch his breath.
Iruka shows up, very miffed, then he snickers scoldingly "It's all over!"
Naruto sheepishly grins and chuckles in response and greetings.
Iruka then notices his student's condition, "What happened?" Naruto rubs the back of his neck "Well, all I was doing was train myself on one technique from this scroll."
'He's been out here practicing?' blinks a surprised Iruka, 'That explains why he's exhausted and bruised. You can tell how hard he's been working.'
"But never mind that!" says Naruto, "I'm going to try an incredible technique. If I can do that, will you let me graduate?" Iruka mentally gasps in surprise, 'He's taken the Scroll of Sealing just to learn one technique from it so he could pass the ninja exams as a makeup test? Now that I think about it, he shouldn't know where that scroll is kept.'
He then asks the blond boy, "Naruto, where did you get that scroll?" "Oh this old thing?" replies Naruto displaying the scroll "Mizuki-sensei told me about it, where to find it, and about this place too. He even said that whoever learns at least one skill from this scroll will definitely graduate!"
At that, Iruka is more shocked and confused, 'Mizuki? But why? Unless…'
Suddenly, Iruka turns to see an incoming barrage of kunai coming their way and pushes Naruto out of flying blades' path, "LOOK OUT!"
THUNK! THUNK! THUNK! THUNK! THUNK! THUNK! THUNK! THUNK! THUNK! THUNK! THUNK! THUNK! THUNK! THUNK!
"AAAAAGGGHHHHHHH!"
Naruto, knocked to the ground, looks up to find Iruka hit and pinned down by numerous kunai. He gasps in horror, "Iruka-sensei!"
Both turn to find Mizuki, with a pair of big shuriken strapped to his back, standing on a tree branch before them. Mizuki smugly smiles wickedly "I see that you've found our little hideaway. Nice job, Iruka."
Iruka grits his teeth, "Now I see… what the hell's… going on… I should've known!"
"Naruto!" calls Mizuki coldly, with a nasty smile "Give me the scroll!"
Naruto is both scared and confused, "Eh? What's going on here?"
Pulling kunai out, Iruka tells Naruto "Naruto! Whatever happens, don't give Mizuki that scroll! That scroll is the Scroll of Sealing; a dangerous scroll that contains forbidden ninjutsu! Mizuki used you to get his hands on it!"
Now that Naruto understands what's going on, he turns to face Mizuki so he wouldn't take the scroll and strikes a fighting pose.
Mizuki counters, "Naruto, there's no point in you having the Scroll of Sealing. So I'll tell you the truth." "Well, I think I've heard enough out of you…" growls Naruto. "Not quite," smirks Mizuki.
Iruka realizes what Mizuki was going to do, he urges "NO, DON'T!"
Regardless of Iruka's urges, Mizuki talks "You do know of the 9-Tailed Fox Demon that attacked our village being sealed 12 years back, right? Well, since that day, the Third Hokage and Danzo-sama made a special decree for this village."
Naruto becomes confused, "What decree?"
"Everyone knows it, except you" continues Mizuki, "Anyone who'd speak of it would be severely punished."
Iruka yells "STOP IT!"
Mizuki says "They shouldn't speak that the truth is that the 9-Tailed Fox demon is inside you!"
At that, Naruto's mind begins to break in horror and shock…
Mizuki continues "It means that you are the 9-Tailed Fox demon beast that killed Iruka's parents and nearly destroyed the village!"
Darkness seems to descend over Naruto's mind.
Iruka yells "STOP IT!"
Mizuki continues to taunt Naruto, "You were sealed up by the Hokage you love so much, and you have been lied to by everyone! Didn't ever wonder why everyone treated you like dirt and wished you dead? Even your beloved Iruka-sensei loathes you! NO ONE WILL EVER ACKNOWLEDGE OR LOVE YOU BECAUSE OF WHO YOU ARE!"
Naruto's eyes fill with tears of anguish and anger as his chakra swirls around him!
"Naruto…" cries Iruka.
Iruka then recalls the Third Hokage reminding him that Naruto got in trouble all the time just to get attention since he never had a mother or a father to care for him and had been shut out of everything and didn't know why.
With Naruto too upset to notice, Mizuki takes off of his back one of two big shuriken and spins it, "DIE, NARUTO!"
"NARUTO, GET DOWN!" screams Iruka.
Snapping out of his fit of aguish, Naruto drops to the ground to scramble away…
THUNK!
"ACK!"
When things went black for him, Naruto strangely feels cradled in something soft and warm…
He looks up to find Iruka with the large shuriken sticking into his back!
Iruka's heavy flak jacket had softening the blow somewhat, but he was still seriously injured.
"But… why?" asks Naruto weakly, frightened from everything happening and confused to why Iruka protected him.
"Because… we're the same," explains Iruka, coughing up blood "After my parents died in battle… there was nobody to… complement or acknowledge me… so I became the class clown on purpose, just to get everyone's attention… since I wasn't good at things like studying or doing homework… it was better than being nothing, so I've kept up the act… it was so painful…"
Tears swell up in Iruka's eyes, "Naruto, I know how you really feel; you were really lonely and it hurts inside. I'm so sorry Naruto, if only I did a better job… you wouldn't have to feel like this. No one should have to suffer that much… no one."
Iruka finally understands that Naruto needed a firm hand, but he also needed love. The one brave move he's done has cracked opened his heart to the boy even more. Sure he would scream bloody murder at Naruto's pranks, but now Iruka now knows why Naruto did it. Naruto is a little moved inwardly to see a different and understanding Iruka-sensei defending him like a father figure he needed.
Mizuki laughs at them, "And it's because of your pain and your act that you received far more attention than I ever did! Well, now I'm going get everything I deserve!"
Naruto gulps and runs off into the forest, Iruka looks on and shouts out "That's it, Naruto! RUN!"
Mizuki laughs malevolently, "Don't you get it? He's not running away to keep that scroll away from me; he's running because he's going to unleash hell. You do know that once he makes up his mind, he'll never change it. I bet he's planning to use that scroll to get revenge on the village. You saw those eyes earlier: the eyes of a real demonic monster."
Iruka pulls the large shuriken out of his back, exclaiming "Naruto's… not a monster… Mizuki… YOU ARE!"
Mizuki laughs wickedly, "I'll be back to kill you later, right now I've got Naruto to kill first and take the Scroll of Sealing. Sayonara, sucker!" Then he leaves in Naruto's direction.
Iruka's eyes flare with fury, "I… won't… let… you…"
His legs, like his students, finally obey him and gain the strength to pursue Mizuki.
Iruka also now knows how to handle Naruto, but is it too late?
The Third Hokage has seen everything through his crystal ball, back in his office…
"This is not good…" sighs Hiruzen sadly, "Damn Mizuki, he's made Naruto worse than he has ever felt, he also fears himself now. It could unleash the power inside of him if he keeps tampering with the scroll. It's a one in a million chance if he breaks the seal that locks the demon beast in, but still I fear for us all…"
Back in the woods, Naruto, continuing his escape, finds Iruka catching up to him. Iruka alerts him, "Naruto! Pass the scroll to me! And hurry, Mizuki is coming!"
Instead of complying, the blond turns and leaps forward, delivering a hard blow to Iruka, who falls to the ground, as he lands nearby.
"Naruto…" asks Iruka, then POOF! Reveals a formerly disguised Mizuki, asking the kid "How did you know I wasn't Iruka?"
Naruto laughs contently, then POOF! Revealing Iruka carrying a small log and not the Scroll of Sealing, saying "Because, I'm Iruka…"
What neither of them knew was that Naruto was still nearby, hiding behind a tree, he is still scared, hurt, and confused out of his wits but he knows that he has to protect the scroll from Mizuki yet is still unwilling to abandon Iruka-sensei. He listens and watches all this from a distance—
Mizuki sneers, "I see… you're a fool!" He then asks his former friend from childhood, "Why are you willing to go far as transforming into him to protect that little monster, that beast, that demon, that freak? He's the one who wiped out your family!"
"I don't care… what you say," spits Iruka "you're not getting your hands on that scroll."
"As if you could stop, you idiot!" smiles Mizuki coldly, "Naruto and I are the same now! With that scroll, a ninja could do whatever he wants; such as ripping the heavens open, splitting the ground, or making the stars fall from the sky. He wants the scroll for his own power and his own vengeance. He'll pour all his rage into the scroll and destroy everything! That's how all beasts are!"
Iruka agrees with a pained sigh, "Yeah…"
Naruto gasps in shock, as if his heart is caught in a hangman's noos, he then breaks down in despair 'I knew it… even Iruka-sensei deep down… doesn't acknowledge me… or even love me… maybe I was meant to be alone.'
Suddenly, Naruto hears another voice, coming from a dark place deep inside him. It's a cruel, cold voice, cackling with triumph—
"If you lose yourself, I'll be free again!"
"That is how beasts like the Fox are," says Iruka "but Naruto's not like that." Naruto gasps quietly in his hiding place in surprise, listening to Iruka as his beloved teacher continues proudly—
"I've acknowledged him as one of my students. Sure he is a prankster and a troublemaker, but he did it all for the sake of attention and he has never done anything absolutely harmful toward anyone. That loneliness and pain has given him empathy, I can see that now. Yes, it's true he often made lots of mistakes and people got on his case, but it made him stronger. Sure I've been hard on him sometimes, even when he failed written tests or breaks the rules, but that's because I see much potential and I didn't want him to slack off or waste it. He's one of a kind; he works hard and puts his whole heart into it. That's what separates him from being a beast; he is Naruto Uzumaki of Konohagakure in Hi no Kuni!"
Touched by Iruka-sensei's words about him, Naruto bites his lip and lets tears of joy and relief cascade down his cheeks. He had shed many lonely tears on many lonely nights, but these tears are very different.
As the tears touch the Scroll of Sealing…
FLASH!
A small flash of light pops and creates a strange box-like scroll, with the kanji for 'Mask and Armor for Shinobi Champions'.
"Eh?" blinks Naruto, getting the tears out "What is this?" he picks it up in confusion.
Then he hears Mizuki speaking to Iruka—
Mizuki growls while cursing, "Oh well… Iruka, since you're so sentimental towards him, I'll do you a favor and kill you first so you'll meet him with open arms!" he grabs the remaining large shuriken off of his back and spins it wildly before charging toward a downed Iruka!
'I guess…' sighs Iruka mentally 'this is it. Sorry, Naruto… I really wanted to—'
BAM!
In a flash, Naruto comes rushing in, delivering a powerful knee strike to Mizuki's face, taking him by complete surprise and sending him flying and separating him from the downed Iruka and his large shuriken, which cuts off a few branches and finally gets lodged into a tree.
Iruka is surprised about this, "Naruto…!"
After crashing to the ground on his face, Mizuki gets up and growls at the crouching Naruto before him "You little punk bastard…"
Naruto stands defiantly, pushing the Scroll of Sealing aside and stuffs the box-like scroll into his jumpsuit's pants pocket. He frowns at Mizuki, "Lay another hand on Iruka-sensei again, I'll kill you!"
Although Naruto's standing courageously while defending him, Iruka is worried. How could Naruto, who isn't even a genin yet, possibly defeat a chunin like Mizuki?
"Pretty big words," smiles Mizuki smugly "I can kill a nobody like you with a single technique!"
"Give me your best shot, trash!" says Naruto, gritting his teeth and forming a hand sign "I'll return to you a thousand-fold!"
"Let's see you try, demon beast!" frowns Mizuki, reaching into his flak jacket.
Iruka looks on helplessly…
Naruto roars out, "Taju Kage Bushin no Jutsu!"
Suddenly, all the space around the three of them in the forest is filled with hundreds of clones of Naruto.
Mizuki's eyes widen in shock and terror, he backs away while pulling his hand out of his jacket, "Wha— Wha— What the hell?"
Iruka gasps in realization, 'Those aren't illusions,' then he grins with elated pride 'they're solid clones! Naruto has mastered an extremely advanced ninjutsu technique!'
The clones taunt him to come and attack, but Mizuki's body wouldn't comply. Mizuki knows that even his best ninjutsu is worthless against this army.
"Ready or not," smirks one Naruto. Another follows, "Here we come!"
Mizuki screams as the Naruto army threw hundreds perhaps thousands of strong blows to him!
All that's left of Mizuki is a bloody and broken body of a traitor to the village lying on the ground.
All the clones disappear, leaving Naruto sheepishly chuckling "I guess I overdid it."
"Are you okay, Iruka-sensei?" asks Naruto, walking over to help him up. Iruka nods, "Yeah."
Slipping out of Mizuki's jacket's pocket is a broken glowing crystal of an evil magenta color.
Iruka spots it, "A Tail Crystal?" "What? I thought those were fictional" blinks Naruto, turning toward Mizuki's direction.
The light leaves the crystal pieces, as they turns to dust, and grows bigger and brighter.
Emerging from the light comes a giant silver-furred tiger with black stripes, on its forehead is a bright orange orb shines like a meteor coming to crash from the sky and unto its unfortunate victims; Iruka and Naruto, who dodge its fangs just in time.
Naruto gasps in shock, "What is this? A bakeneko?"
Iruka's eyes widen in horror, "A Shippo Kaiju!"
Naruto gasps, "For real? You mean those monsters on television are real?" Iruka nods, "Yes."
On the other side of the forest, a white-haired jonin spots the giant beast and gasps "A Shippo Kaiju!"
A female chunin gasps in horror, "Why now of all times?"
"That Naruto!" frowns a male chunin, "He's summon that! The 9-Tailed Fox is on its way!"
"No, it's not Naruto!" frowns the white-haired jonin "This aura… it's Mizuki!" He gasps in realization, "Oh no! He's betrayed us and tricked Naruto into stealing the Scroll of Sealing; that Shippo Kaiju is his, not Naruto's!"
"Mizuki?" gasps the chunin in horror.
Watching from his crystal ball, the Third Hokage frowns "I can't believe it, Mizuki has gone much too far to bring one of those wretched Tail Crystals into the village! Now that Naruto has smashed it, now we need a miracle to stop it."
Then he notices the small scroll tucked in his jumpsuit's lower pocket, "That is…"
"Naruto," grunts Iruka "we've got to run, this monster is beyond either of us, especially in our conditions." "Right, sensei" nods Naruto.
The scroll in Naruto's pocket slips out and unfurls itself before wrapping around the suddenly surprised student's waist.
The wrapped scroll then flashes a few times before finally changing into a dark blue belt. The gray oval-shaped metal buckle has a bright green leaf with an octagonal amber embedded in the center with flame-like swirls and looks like it was attached to the belt with black tree roots. A silvery knob with an orb-shaped black hollow is on the right side of the belt while an empty holster is on the right side.
'What is that device around Naruto's waist?' gasps Iruka.
Naruto places Iruka against a tree and turns toward the Tiger Tail Monster, he slowly says "Words… are coming… into my head…"
"Shinobi Henshin!"
In a few circle of quickly orbiting symbols, dancing leaves of green light, and emblems and a flash of light, Naruto has transformed!
His small body is now clad in a bright orange bodysuit with grayish blue seams. Attached to his bodysuit is metallic black armor with iridescent platinum accents that looks built for agility and power without holding its wearer back. On the left breast of the armor is an emblem: a yin-and-yang symbol with a white-colored fox in the blue fiery Yin and an orange toad in the water-like red Yang. Over the abdomen armor is an orange spiraling symbol with several pointed marks.
Covering his head is a bright yellow helmet that has angst crystal blue eyepieces, whisker-like marks on the silver faceplate, a silvery hexagonal plate over the forehead bearing the mark of Konoha, and pointy protrusions like a toad's eyes accents the mask's features.
On his left outer bicep region rests a cuff-like device with a red spiral symbol and wrapped around his left wrist is a bracelet with a green leaf with the mark of Konoha in the center. On his right outer thigh region is a square-shaped black metal kunai/shuriken pouch while a round one exists on the left outer thigh region.
The belt is still around his waist, but now a sheathed sword is in the holster.
The Third Hokage gasps at first, then he smiles "It is."
In Naruto's mind, the imprisoned 9-Tailed Fox demon yips and rushes backward, normally it's unafraid of almost anything because of his power, but now its warden is armed with something that's a threat to his kind, even him.
"The Kamen Shinobi System!" gasps the Kyuubi no Kitsune in horror "NO!"
In the shadows, some of the other shinobi come closer to inspect what's going on.
The white-haired shinobi gasps in surprise and amazement, "That is…"
Iruka stands amazed at what he's only seen in children's shows about superhero ninjas of justice long ago—
'He's not just Naruto Uzumaki of Konohagakure no Sato in the Land of Fire,' smiles Iruka 'he's a Kamen Shinobi, the first one in over 17 years!'
The Ichibi no Tora Shippo Kaiju looks at the armored child with incredible agitation and desperation.
Naruto looks at his hands, "No way! I've become an armored ninja hero?"
The Tiger Shippo Kaiju tries to slash Naruto away with its claws, only to narrowly miss and find a multitude of the armored Naruto raining down at it, with fists glowing with power. When all fists make contact with the monster, the monster explodes in a tower of light vanishing from its existence. Naruto crashes onto his feet to the ground, with the armored clones dispersed, he collapses to his hands and knees.
He looks up and says, "Well, it was exciting." The device comes off and changes back into the strange scroll it was while Naruto's armor vanishes. Naruto says, "So exhausted again, going to take a quick nap now."
Iruka smiles, 'Maybe he will truly surpass all the previous Hokage.'
Naruto says, "I guess since the Scroll of Sealing is dangerous, I've really got to take it back to the old man."
The white-haired jonin comes out of hiding and says, "We'll take care of it, Naruto-kun. You and Iruka-san look like you need to be in the hospital." The female chunin says, "I bet Morino-san would love to torture what's left of this guy."
Naruto recognizes him, "Jan-san!"
Jan Shiba, one of the genuinely kind people toward Naruto, smiles "Everything's going to be okay, Naruto-kun."
Naruto's eyes shut from exhaustion, indicating that he's gone to sleep.
Iruka says, "I've got a surprise for him when he wakes up."
Meanwhile, back in the village. The rest of the shinobi gather, saying that none of them could find Naruto.
Jan Shiba arrives and the other chunin with him plus more are carrying an injured Iruka-sensei, a sleeping Naruto, the Scroll of Sealing, and the broken and bloody traitor Mizuki.
"What happened?" asks one of the other chunin.
Iruka calmly answers, "Naruto's not the one to blame; Mizuki framed him to get the Scroll of Sealing."
The shinobi gathered before the Hokage's place each hang their heads in shame.
"Right now there's nothing to worry about," says the Third Hokage, smiling with content "In a way, Naruto is dismissed of all charges on the return of the Scroll. So, long story short, there's no longer any threat as of now."
Jan shows the box-like scroll to the Hokage, "We've found this on Naruto's person; the legendary Kamen Shinobi System."
The Hokage sighs with a smile, "Who would've believed that out of all the shinobi in the entire village, it had to be Naruto Uzumaki. I'd say he's well on his way to a great future."
Later…
Naruto stirs, "Uh… what happened?" He gasps, "The Scroll! The One-tailed Tiger Tail Monster! Iruka-sensei!"
Iruka's voice is heard, "Relax, Naruto. You defeated the beast, the Scroll is back in Sandaime-sama's keeping, and we'll all okay, all thanks to you."
Naruto realizes he's got something over his eyes, "What is this?"
"Push it up and see for yourself" says Iruka-sensei, who sounds proud.
Naruto does so, letting his eyes adjust to the sunlight… then he finds himself in a hospital bed and Iruka-sensei beaming at him, and without his forehead protector.
Naruto looks down and finds his goggles in his teacher's hand. Naruto feels the cloth-like object on his head and gasps; he's wearing a forehead protector bearing the symbol of Konoha.
Iruka beams some more, "Congratulations, Naruto Uzumaki. You have graduated! And to celebrate, we're going out for ramen tonight!"
Naruto sniffs a bit then he hugs his teacher, "Iruka-sensei!" Iruka reciprocates the hug with a kind smile.
Now that Naruto's a ninja, it's just going to get even tougher.
To be continued…
Next on 'Kamen Shinobi Naruto'; WHAT? Because of Naruto's finding and use of the long lost Kamen Shinobi system is going to place the entire ninja program on a 3-year training regime. Hope the other graduating students don't kill him for it. Also there's the Third Hokage's grandson, hounding Naruto to help him become the Fifth Hokage!
Featured Jutsu—
*Shunshin no Jutsu (Body Flicker Technique): a supplementary D-rank high-speed movement ninjutsu technique that appears akin to teleportation, therefore allowing a ninja to move short to long distances at an almost untraceable speed
*Kakuremino no Jutsu (Cloak of Invisibility Technique): a supplementary-class E-rank ninjutsu technique that takes a cloak or cloth and blend into an object, making the user invisible
*Henge no Jutsu (Transformation Technique)
*Oiroke no Jutsu (Sexy Technique)
*Bunshin no Jutsu (Clone Technique): a technique for creating illusionary intangible copies of the user
*Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Shadow Clone Technique): like the clone technique, but the clones are solid
*Taju Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Multiple Shadow Clone Technique): unlike the Shadow Clones, this creates hundreds and can be virtually exhausting to the user.
Featured Items—
*Hitai-Ate (forehead protector)
*Tail Crystals (Shippo no Kouseki): crystals that have the power to transform anyone into a physical demonic monster who can nearly match an elite warrior or higher. Their name suggests that prolonged usage may make them just as bad as the dreaded Tailed Beasts, or worse become new ones.
*Kamen Shinobi Houshiki (Masked Ninja System): admittedly got this off from the Kamen Rider franchise
Ichibi no Tora Shippo Kaiju (One-tailed Tiger Tail Monster): monstrous beast reflecting the cruelty in Mizuki's soul.
Naruto Uzumaki
—Unarmored statistics
-Age: 12
-Size: 145.3cm, 40.1kg
-Ninja Stats: Ninjutsu: 2; Taijutsu: 1.5; Genjutsu: 1; Intelligence: 1; Strength: 2; Speed: 2; Stamina: 4; Hand Seals: 1; Total: 14.5
—Kamen Shinobi statistics
-Height: 160.54cm
-Weight: 49kg
-Punching power: 3.3t
-Kicking power: 6.5t
-Max. Jumping Height: 32m
-Max. Running Speed: 100m/4.5s
-Finisher Power: 27 metric tons
