Mephistopheles

"You fail."

The words pierced through Naruto like a flaming arrow, but not the implication of those words, but the very tone of how the words were spoken, coupled with the disconcerted look which adorned Iruka's visage. Of course, he wouldn't let that show on his face.

"Aww! Iruka-sensei! Just let me pass!"

Iruka's fellow examiner Mizuki gave a concerned glance at Naruto, before looking at Iruka placatingly.

"Yeah, why not let him pass for once? He did make a few clones this time after all, even if they look half dead..."

Iruka let a vexed frown crease his forehead, before his lips sank into a frown and his features showed a genuine apologetic and regretful being.

"I'm sorry Naruto. No means no, I can't let you pass with this kind of results. I'm..sorry"

Naruto gave a small nod, and he exited the examination room silently. The classrooms were already empty since he was the last to take the test. The erupting cheers from outside pervaded his ears, the jovial celebrations sounded like harsh cacophony to him. Regardless, he knew what he had to do.

Naruto dragged his feet outside of the classroom, and let his body slump onto the swing that was nearby, allowing an agonized look to cross his face. As though waiting for this moment, Mizuki who exited from the classroom a while ago approached Naruto with a friendly demeanour.

"Hey Naruto, i know you really tried your best. I could see it in your eyes."

"There's no point isn't it? I still failed."

"No exactly...if you really want to pass, i know of a secret way..."

"Really?! Please tell me Mizuki-sensei! I really want to pass!"

Mizuki fought to contain the smirk that threatened to spilt his face, suppressing it to become a faint, effable smile.

"Well, this is what you have to do, it's exam which puts your stealth abilities, speed, and intelligence to test. First you have to go to the Hokage Tower, in the top floor of the tower, there is a room and inside holds a scroll...the Forbidden Scroll...."

Naruto listened attentively as Mizuki detailed the plans of the test.

As night encroached, Naruto got to work. Getting into the hokage tower was easy enough, the lack of security almost made him laughed, but he caught himself in time. Swiftly and stealthily, he made his way to the top-most room of the tower, and as though eager to be stolen, the forbidden scroll laid there on the table. A pristine and mysterious aura seemed to envelop the scroll, causing Naruto's outstretched hand to hesitate for a second, before making a hurried grab for the scroll, and a quick escape from the tower.

It only took him less than half an hour before he reached the scheduled meeting point in the forest, and he was still a few hours early. He sat. He stood. He skipped. He ran. He jumped. He was bored out of his mind.

Finally, curiosity got the better of him and he unwound the scroll, who cares if he was breaking part of the deal, it wouldn't matter as long as nobody knew. As he read through the secret trove of techniques, his mind exploded with the possibilities that mastering these techniques could bring. Kage-bunshin was just one of the many propitious skills listed. Without wasting a second, he started feeding his mind with the new information he received.

Sarutobi looked grim as he stepped into the forbidden room. In the place of the forbidden scroll was a piece of paper with a few scribbled on it. He took a cursory glance at what was written. It was hard to tell in the shadows whether his frown lessened or got even more pronounced.

With a few handseals, he assembled more than 50 chuunins and jounins, and gave his imperious order:

"Find Naruto, and bring him back here. I want him alive."

"Yes, hokage-sama!" the ninjas answered as one before embarking on their new mission with breakneck speed.

The sandaime gave a long sigh, "Naruto...what are you thinking..?"

It was time. Mizuki leaped into the forest clearing, and just as he expected, he found a smiling Naruto along with the forbidden scroll, which looked to be in mint condition. Forcing a smile on his face, he praised him.

"Good job Naruto! Now give me the scroll and you'll pass!"

"Sure Mizuki-sensei!" Naruto answered jovially as he threw the scroll towards Mizuki, who caught it with ease. "Where's my headhand, sensei?"

"Oh! Its right.." Mizuki rummaged through his waist bag. "HERE!" He grasped his kunai and flung it at Naruto, watching with relish as it sunk deep into Naruto's forehead. Naruto staggered, as he dropped to the floor...and disappeared into a pile of smoke.

Mizuki's eyes widened. "Wh..What? What's this?!"

A soft laughter echoed through the woods, as another Naruto stepped out from behind the foliage. "I was wondering when you would stop this pretence; it almost made me puke to go along with your act."

Mizuki felt a shiver across his body. This Naruto was different. It wasn't the slight uncharacteristic smirk, nor the condescending eyes. There seemed to be an aura of confidence bordering on arrogance which surrounded him, as well as a scent of danger and death. Mizuki gritted his teeth, he wasn't about to be intimidated by a academy student! Not even a genin for goodness sake!

"Oh, looks like you finally figured me out! Pray tell how did you see through my plan you demon child, before i end your miserable life?"

Naruto seemed unfazed by the threat. "Well I guess i would enlighten an ignorant soul. The first thing which alerted me to you was the surreptitious glances you cast at me when you thought I wasn't looking. Then I thought it was weird how you tried to befriend me all of a sudden, I didn't do anything to deserve your attention after all. Next, there was the contradiction between your speech and behaviour, you encouraged me, yet when i turned my back, you sent me looks of contempt. Don't think I didn't know that."

Naruto surveyed Mizuki, who seemed to be shaking with anger, and he went on. "Of course, it was only my conjectures thus far, so i went to ask around, and the general consensus was that you were an extremely strict teacher, even stricter than Iruka, and does not show any favouritism. This begs the question of why you acted to friendly towards me, and why you even argued for me to pass the test. However, at this point, i haven't totally dismissed the idea that you liked me genuinely, although i was very doubtful. Of course, my theories were proven true. If you had really been on my side and wanted me to pass, you wouldn't have stopped after such a feeble argument against Iruka. Anyone could tell that Iruka was conflicted, and with a little push, he might actually let me pass, but you stopped there. The real reason was you didn't want me to pass. You needed me to fail for your plans to progress."

Naruto stopped to take a deep breath. Mizuki gripped his kunai. "At that moment, i was 90% sure of your nature. The final 10% came when you proposed your plan to me. You couldn't have been any more fatuous. Which idiot would believe that stealing the Forbidden Scroll would allow you to pass? This was unheard of and obviously fictitious. Despite that, i decided to go along with your plan, in order to expose you."

Naruto smirked, as he watched Mizuki redden with anger. "It's my victory, Mizuki-sensei."

Mizuki gripped his kunai tight. He couldn't believe that he had been seen right through by a 12 year old academy student. His pride was shattered. "Well, assuming you were right...why did i choose you then?! Couldn't i have chosen someone else? Another person who failed??"

Naruto sneered. "Of course you couldn't. You wanted to kill two birds with one stone. You wanted me specifically, to get your revenge on the demon kid you thought to have taken away your family, isn't that right?"

Mizuki was speechless. He let out a warcry, before raining kunais down on Naruto, who simply vanished into tendrils of smoke as the kunai reached him.

"Where are you? You demon! You're right! I wanted revenge! Revenge! Hahaha...i have the forbidden scroll now! I shall be invincible, come on out so that i can end your life demon!" Mizuki tore open the forbidden scroll, and horror coursed through his body."What's this?" What met his eyes wasn't a multitude of secret techniques, but rather, a large scribble of "You Lose!"

Anger coursed through his veins. "NARUTOOOO!" He clenched his fist hard, as his fingernails cut into his palm, and trickles of blood fell to the ground.

"Fufufu...Hey Mizuki sensei, the scroll is here." MIzuki stood rooted to the ground, as a chorus of voices greeted him. One by one, Narutos with the forbidden scroll emerged from behind the trees. 5...10...20...50...no...it was more than a 100! For the first time in his life, Mizuki thought he saw the devil.

"Its my victory..." Naruto uttered, as his legion advanced on Mizuki, who could only gaped in horror, letting out a silent scream.

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