Naruto: Saiyan Warrior

Chapter 1

Naruto was nervous. He knew the Clone Jutsu was going to be part of the exam, but despite all his training, he was still incapable of creating even one passable clone! His Transformation Jutsu was flawless, his Substitution Jutsu worked just fine, but he couldn't make a single clone for the life of him! The boy growled a bit in irritation, scratching his fingers through his red, spiky hair.

Meanwhile, a young girl a few seats back and to his right, with dark blue hair and eyes like the moon, was nervous as well, but for Naruto's sake instead of her own. Currently, she was cursing her shyness for keeping her from telling him what he was doing wrong with his Clone Jutsu. She'd found out a week or so ago, when watching him attempt it with her Byakugan, but her only chance to tell him about it had been ruined by a combination of her own nerves and poor timing on the part of her caretaker, Ko. She resolved that if Naruto failed, she'd tell him as soon as class let out so he could try to make a whole bunch of clones where everybody could see him! Then they'd have to let him pass!

"Uzumaki Naruto!" their teacher, Iruka, called from the front.

The young redhead rose from his seat and walked to the front, determined to at least go down fighting.

Later…

Dejected, Naruto sat on a rope swing away from all the students celebrating with their parents. He had failed. Iruka had been upset when he'd seen it, muttering something about a waste of untapped talent, then patting his head and telling him he'd speak with the Hokage about remedial lessons. Then the scarred Chuunin had stormed off with a look of determination, and that was the last Naruto had seen of him since.

"Hey, look, it's him."

"I heard he failed."

"Good thing, too. Could you imagine what would happen if he passed? That monster would-"

"Shhh! We aren't supposed to talk about that!"

They obviously thought he couldn't hear them. They were wrong, and it hurt.

Abruptly, there was a hand on his shoulder. One of his other teachers, Mizuki, was there with a smile on his face. "Hey, kid. Don't look so upset. You wanna know something awesome? There's a secret test that you can take to become a Gennin. Meet me at the water tower in a couple minutes, and I'll tell you all about it," he said with a wink.

Smiling, Naruto nodded. "I'll see you soon, Mizuki-sensei!" he exclaimed happily, leaping away. As soon as he was gone, Mizuki's smile turned into a sneer.

The entire exchange was witnessed by Hinata, who now had a look of suspicion marring her sweet face.

Meanwhile, with Iruka and Hiruzen…

"...and that's why I think you should consider hiring a tutor to teach Naruto fuinjutsu. Even if he never makes it to being combat ready, it's a horrible waste of talent to not have an Uzumaki who could work with the Barrier Corps! I know he failed the shinobi exam, but please, consider what he could do if he were allowed to hone such a talent!" Iruka exclaimed from his position of bowing his head to the floor before his Hokage, having finished his plea.

Hiruzen smiled gently at the young Chuunin. "Raise your head, Iruka. As soon as he showed me his iron will and his desire to do good by the village, young Naruto had earned his headband. The academy was to give him knowledge and training, and while some teachers there didn't do well with him, I'm proud to say you excelled in pushing him and his classmates forward. Have you forgotten already, that I can make any civilian a Gennin with their consent if I see fit to do so?" the wizened old man replied.

Iruka raised his head, tears brimming in his eyes. "Then that means…"

Hiruzen nodded. "Yes. Naruto will be getting his headband. I would request that you allow me to tell him. I want to see the smile on his face when he gets the news. I have an opening in my schedule tomorrow, when I will inform him personally. Now get going. He's not excused from cleaning the Stone Faces, Gennin or not. I expect that cliffside to be clean of paint when I wake up tomorrow."

The young Chuunin rose to his feet and bowed at the waist. "Right away, Lord Hokage!" he exclaimed happily.

That evening…

Naruto and Iruka sat down to a meal at their favorite ramen stand, Ichiraku Ramen, after Naruto had finished cleaning off the stone faces.

"Naruto...Why would you paint over the Hokages' Stone Faces like that? I know more than anyone what the title of Hokage means to you, so please tell me why you'd do something so ridiculous?"

The whiskered individual in question smiled goofily. "Honestly, I wanted to challenge myself. All of my pranks thus far have been simple, easy to pull off. I want to be Hokage someday, though, and to do that, I'll have to go on crazy dangerous missions, some of which I will have to never be seen performing. So, I thought to myself, how can I test my stealth in a really big way, that wouldn't be dangerous to my life, but also required I not get caught until the deed is done? It took a lot of planning and a lot of camoflage tarps to paint the Hokages' Stone Faces, especially since the village center is on twenty-four hour guard! Weirdly enough, Iruka-sensei, by messing with our village leaders, I proved to everybody with half a brain that I might be able to pull off becoming one of them!" Naruto explained excitedly, then grinned cheesily at his teacher and asked, "Speaking of shinobi business, do you mind if I try on your headband for a minute, and maybe you can transform into me with it on so I know how good it looks? I promise to give it right back!"

Iruka groaned. "Naruto, as much as I'd love to let you try it on, you know that's a federal crime! I can't let a civilian wear something that marks them as a shinobi! We'd both get in big trouble for that!" he elaborated, then smiled and half-lied, "I spoke to Lord Hokage regarding your career, regardless. He agrees that it would be a waste for you not to become a shinobi, so you're getting another chance. I fully believe that I will be seeing you in the near future with a headband of your own, kiddo!"

The redhead's eyes widened, watering a bit. "THANK YOU SO MUCH, IRUKA-SENSEI!" he exclaimed, tackling his teacher in a bear hug, then getting back up and exclaiming, "In a few years, I'll be taking you out to get ramen!"

The duo happily went back to their ramen after that emotional outburst, neither of them with a care in the world.

Late at night, shortly after midnight

Iruka awoke gasping, covered in a cold sweat. He'd just had another nightmare about that night, twelve years ago. Sighing as he turned onto his side, he clenched a fist. "That monster is lucky its life force is tied to Naruto's. Maybe when he's older, he'll be able to manifest it in a safe way, and I can deck it in the schnozz. It's the closest to revenge I'll get, but that's probably a good thing," he mumbled to himself, having heard stories of how people could be driven mad by a desire for vengeance, the thoughts of such making him worried for his Uchiha student briefly before he sent a prayer to Kami for the souls of the Uchiha clan to be at peace and for his student to do well.

Nearly the instant he was finished with his prayer, he was startled by the sound of rapid banging on his door. Iruka opened the door to see Mizuki with a panicked look on his face. Worried, Iruka asked, "What's wrong, Mizuki?"

"Naruto has stolen the Scroll of Seals!" the silver-haired Chuunin exclaimed.

Iruka frowned, a dark look on his face. "That's not a very funny joke, Mizuki. Now tell me why you're really here," he growled.

"I'm not joking! Lord Hokage has requested all Chuunin in the village to gather before the Hokage's tower! Get your gear on, and get moving!" the man shouted, running off without Iruka.

Solemnly, Iruka shut the door, and went to equip his gear. Another prayer went up to Kami for his jinchuuriki student to be safe.

Meanwhile, another of his students was already on the move, hoping she could help keep Naruto out of trouble.

At the base of the Hokage's tower…

"He's gone too far this time!"

"This isn't just a prank! The village's safety is in jeopardy!"

"We should have killed him when we had the chance!"

Upon the utterance of this last statement, a wave of Killing Intent washed over the gathered Chuunin, though Iruka couldn't feel it, due to having been spared the Hokage's wrathful feelings.

"Chuunin Ibaraki! For such murderous tendencies toward a child the age of your own, you are demoted to Gennin! Go home and rest up, because there will be many a solo D-rank for you to perform in the near future!" the old professor ordered. After the newly-demoted Gennin was gone, the Hokage leveled a glare at his men. "Does anybody else have any bright ideas about what we should have done to Naruto when he was an infant? No? Good, because while he doesn't know it yet, he has been given the rank of Gennin, and if you harm him needlessly, you will be tried for assault towards one of your fellow shinobi! From what I've heard concerning his painting of the Hokages' Stone Faces, this could very well be a prank to him, as he has no idea the scroll he possesses is so dangerous. You will all spread out and search for him. If you find him, for Kami's sake, don't attack him, talk to the poor boy, and explain what's going on and why he needs to come back with the scroll! Escort him and the scroll to me, UNHARMED. If one of you takes this as an opportunity to 'finish what the Fourth started', you will be following him to the afterlife soon after! He is one of us now, and we treat our own as family. Now, SCATTER!"

Looking up at the moon as his Chuunin headed out, Hiruzen sighed, and said to his guards, "I'm going for a walk."

Deep in the forest, near a small, run-down shack…

Naruto groaned. He was tired, but that didn't get rid of the grin on his face. He'd somehow managed to learn a really powerful clone technique from the scroll, despite clones being his weak spot! The Shadow Clone Jutsu! "When Mizuki-sensei sees what I've learned, and how many of the dang things I can make, I'm definitely getting that headband!"

"What's that about getting a headband, NA-RU-TO?!" Iruka scolded from behind the boy, fist coming down on the newly-promoted Gennin's head to deliver a noogie.

Naruto smiled. "Iruka-sensei! You came just at the right time!" he exclaimed.

The scarred Chuunin smiled softly. "I'll say. Are you okay? It looks like you've been training! You didn't try one of the techniques from the scroll, did you? There are some dangerous moves in there that could kill you! PLEASE, for the love of Kami, tell me you didn't try to learn the Edo Tensei!" he exclaimed, a worried look crossing his features.

Naruto gave his favorite teacher a quizzical look. "But, Iruka-sensei, Mizuki-sensei said that to pass the secret test, I had to take the scroll here and learn one of the techniques! I couldn't leave the job unfinished!" the boy explained.

Iruka gave his little friend a dumbfounded look. "Mizuki said wha-"

Just as Iruka was replying, his senses went haywire, warning him of an attack. Grabbing Naruto, he pinned him against the cabin behind him as a flurry of kunai flew at them. Tears fell from both boys' eyes as they heard numerous squelching sounds, Iruka in immense pain, and Naruto knowing enough to know his teacher had been hurt badly protecting him. Coughing up a bit of blood, Iruka looked down at his comrade. "Are you all right, Naruto?" he asked.

Unable to form comprehensible words, the boy simply nodded, something hot burning in his gut as he looked at the cut up form of his dear friend, his big brother.

Iruka smiled. "I'm glad you aren't hurt. I will hold him off. When I get off of you, I want you to grab that scroll on the ground there, and hot foot it back to the village. Don't worry about me. I will be fine."

"Ha! Don't make me laugh, Iruka! You couldn't beat me on a good day, so there's no way you'll be walking away from this with those injuries!" Mizuki cackled, his eyes wide with sadistic glee. "And telling him to go back to the village? What a joke! They'll never accept him, and you and I both know why!"

Iruka growled, pushing himself off of Naruto, who stood still, gasping in shock. "Shut up, you traitorous bastard! You know he's not ready to learn about that! Let the poor boy keep his innocence a little longer, Kami damn it! I know you have a heart somewhere in there, so use it!" the bloodied teacher roared, standing between the traitor and his precious student.

Laughing, Mizuki leapt down from the tree he was perched upon, knocking Iruka aside with a vicious kick, and landing between student and sensei. "You know, Naruto, this fool here used to despise you, too! But like this entire village, he's grown soft! It's just ridiculous that you weren't killed the night you were born, after all…"

Interrupting, Iruka roared, "YOU SHUT YOUR TREASONOUS MOUTH, MIZUKI! YOU GET AWAY FROM NARUTO, OR I WILL DESTROY EVERYTHING YOU ARE!"

Frustrated, Mizuki rushed at Iruka, and kicked him in the face, busting his jaw, and thus hampering his ability to interrupt him again. "You talk too much, weakling," he muttered, then turned back to Naruto and sneered. "Let's continue where we left off, shall we? The reason everybody in this Kami-forsaken village hates your guts, the reason your parents left you, and the reason you will never amount to anything, is that on the night you were born, they didn't kill the Kyuubi. No, they sealed it. INSIDE OF YOU!"

Gasping for air, and in the grips of a panic attack, Naruto could only breathe, "No...No...No…"

"YES! That's right, idiot! They all hate you because YOU'RE THE KYUUBI!" the monster in human flesh howled, then pulled one of his fuuma shuriken off his back and flung it. "NOW DIE!"

A chakra-infused piece of paper flew between the shuriken and Naruto. "Sealing Jutsu! Barrier!" a girl's voice called out. A small wall of chakra expanded from the paper, blocking the shuriken and sending it sailing harmlessly off to the side. "You clearly know nothing about the art of sealing, Mizuki, so don't pretend to understand what the Fourth Hokage did with Kyuubi," the girl said as she walked out of the underbrush, revealing Hinata Hyuuga. The young girl threw another piece of paper, this time at Mizuki, and the man was suddenly covered in sealing writing, which bound him in place.

The small Hyuuga quickly made her way over to Iruka, placing a seal tag on him, which knocked him unconscious and slowly started healing his injuries. Gently, Hinata hoisted the injured man on her back, and made her way over to Naruto. "Naruto, please snap out of it. We have to go now. That binding seal will only last so long, and it's taking all my chakra to keep it going," she told the boy gently, but urgently.

Slowly coming around, Naruto softly asked, "But...why…"

Sweat now visibly pouring from her forehead due to stress, Hinata smiled at the boy. "Kyuubi is a monster, but Naruto is a good person who I care about and admire. Now hurry and grab that scroll. We have to get out of-"Hinata was interrupted when she was kicked in the side, tumbling away with Iruka.

Landing on Hinata's back was Mizuki, with her arm pinned behind her painfully. "You dumb bitch! Did you forget I'm a Chuunin? You don't have nearly enough chakra to hold me prisoner! Now, I'm going to take you with me. You're going to be my ticket into Kumo! I'll make sure to kill your weakling teacher before you go, but before anything, I'm going to break these dangerous arms of yours…" Mizuki elaborated, then looked Naruto in the eyes, leveled Killing Intent at him, and said, "And I'm going to make you watch…"

With that, a shadow clone was made, and it grabbed the broken boy, holding him in place as Mizuki pulled at Hinata's arm painfully.

"No…" Naruto whimpered as his new friend screamed in pain.

Suddenly, something snapped. It wasn't Hinata's arm.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

The darkened clearing was now alight with a golden glow. Lightning struck, setting the nearby shack aflame. The shadow clone holding Naruto in place was vaporized, and Mizuki was blown off of Hinata.

Groaning, Mizuki lifted his head, and gasped in shock. Gone was the boy's red hair, now replaced by spikey golden locks. His eyes, once blue, were now a cold teal. And he was glowing with an aura of power that shone, lifting his tears into the sky.

The sadistic Chuunin growled. "I don't know what demonic magic this is, but it changes nothing! Die!" he screamed as he threw his remaining fuuma shuriken at the boy.

The golden warrior backhanded the projectile mid-flight, and it shattered to pieces. "Get. Away. From. My. FRIEEEEEEEEEENDS!" the boy roared as he charged at Mizuki, picking the traitor up like he was nothing, and running with the bastard in front of him through tree after tree after boulder after tree, getting the man battered and broken while Naruto had nary a scratch on him.

After literally running through two miles of forest and a few hills as well, Naruto dropped the broken traitor, not caring that he was still alive. He was in no shape to ever hurt his friends again. The boy made his way back to Hinata and Iruka, intent on getting them both to a hospital.

As Mizuki groaned, barely conscious, a figure walked calmly out of the woods towards him. "Mizuki, you have made such a mess. Young Naruto has unlocked his first powerful form, but to hurt poor Iruka like that, and threaten young Hinata with a fate worse than death as well! You nearly broke the poor boy and two of the people who love him most! Why couldn't you have stayed that innocent little boy who befriended Iruka?" Hiruzen said sadly, smoking his pipe. "I did not anticipate little Naruto ascending to his super form so young. I had hoped he'd grow a bit first before unlocking such an awesome power. It was not supposed to turn out like this. Take solace in the fact that your fiance will not be blamed for your crimes, and that I will make your death swift and painless. Goodbye, Mizuki."

With that, the elderly Hokage snapped the man's neck, then shut the man's eyes for him, signalling for his guards to eliminate the body as the old man walked solemnly back to the village.

Back at the clearing…

Several Chuunin were surveying the scene, having patched Iruka up, put out the fire, and made Hinata was safe. The Scroll of Seals had since been secured. This is the scene a golden, glowing Naruto walked into. A couple of the shinobi made to restrain Naruto, but Iruka, with his jaw mended, said, "There's no need for that. You remember what the Hokage said." Then, looking to Naruto with amazed eyes and a smile, Iruka motioned for him to come near.

Falling to his knees before his teacher and new friend, Naruto's golden aura vanished, his hair turning red once more, and his eyes shining blue again. The boy grabbed Iruka and Hinata and held them both in a hug. "I'm so glad you're both okay!" he wept. Hinata leaned into the embrace and rubbed Naruto's back soothingly, while Iruka reached a hand up and ruffled the redhead's hair.

After a few minutes like that, Iruka cleared his throat. "Naruto? I want you to let go, lean back a little, and close your eyes." he instructed.

Blinking, Naruto did as he said. As his eyes were closed, he heard the sound of clinking metal, and felt his goggles get removed, then replaced with some sort of cloth with a bit of weight. "Open your eyes, Naruto." the teacher instructed. Again, Naruto listened to his teacher, and upon viewing the man before him, he noticed he was missing his headband. Naruto blinked, then reached up to his forehead, feeling metal with the leaf insignia engraved in it covering his brow. "Lord Hokage wanted to wait till tomorrow, but after everything you went through tonight, I think you deserve to have your headband a few hours early," the scarred Chuunin said with a grin.

Wrapping his arms around Iruka and Hinata again, Naruto wept, shouting, "Thank you! Thank you so much!"

And thus, a new story began...