AN: Before we dive into the story, I just want you to be aware that this is my first fanfiction but I have read a lot of them. I may probably write a Boruto fanfiction as well. I wrote this somewhere in December 2017, but forgot all about it. Carry on, and don't forget to review.
Chapter 1
Naruto was just running down the street, trying to escape from the ANBU after just pulling off another prank that included painting the Hokage Tower pink. He slightly altered his course so he would be headed for the Academy but when he reached the entrance, instead of walking through the front gate and going inside, he instead jumped into a hole that was being shadowed by the collective darkness of the Academy building and the Academy trees' shadows and made his way through the sewers to the Hokage's office. He purposefully went through the sewers because he knew the chunin following him wouldn't be able to find the hole and the ANBU didn't deem him that important to go through the stinking sewers and get their uniforms wet and stinky and also because they knew that even if they caught him, the Sandaime still wouldn't mete out any punishment to him so they just let him go. All except for one ANBU with the mask of a tiger, who kept tailing him until he reached the Hokage Tower. Now Naruto was aware that he was still being tailed by one remaining ANBU; growing up with people walking straight out of the shadows when you were two years old, you developed a kind of seventh sense, cause ninjas already have six, to tell if you were being watched or followed by said 'shadow-walkers'. But if they (the person trailing him) weren't attacking him or actively trying to capture him, then they weren't hostile. And if they weren't hostile, then he had no reason to pay attention to the ANBU, so he just left only one of his senses on the ANBU to keep track of him ... or her, you never really know who or what's hiding behind those masks.
At long last he made it to the Hokage's Tower where he scaled the back of the building and went in through the window of the Hokage's office.
" I see you've been up to your usual tricks once again" Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Third Hokage, The supposed 'God Of Shinobi', the summoner of the Monkeys, patriarch of the Sarutobi clan and Sensei of The Densetsu no Sannin, Orochimaru, Jiraiya and Tsunade. Each with their own distinctive summonings that are exclusively loyal to them and them only. And a few of their disciples, or in Orochimaru's case, minions.
"What? Why are you looking at me like that? It's not like I defaced the Hokage Monument or something, jeez!" came the voice of our current prankster and chief culprit of every prank in the last two years. Hiruzen really regretted getting him that prank kit for his tenth birthday. He was hoping that the kid would try to prank him and only other people working in the Hokage Tower. He didn't know he would go ape-shit crazy and overdo every freaking prank that he did. He also didn't expect him to start pranking the whole village.
"I know what you're thinking and as I always say, go big or go home" said Naruto. " Jiji, do I still have to go to the Academy today?" he pleaded with puppy dog eyes and even a cute pout and trembling lip that he knew Hiruzen still hadn't developed an immunity to. Just as the look was getting to him, Hiruzen quickly whipped out a pair of sunglasses he got from God knows where and quickly put them on, taking a deep breath before delivering his response," Yes, certainly, absolutely and without a doubt. Or don't you want to be Hokage anymore? Or the strongest ninja. Even Madara Uchiha went to the Academy in his days." 'The Slaughtering and Mind-Raping Academy For Specially Gifted Uchiha, that is' he silently added as an afterthought.
Spurred by the thought of someone as powerful as his role-model, even if Hiruzen didn't agree with him on the choice, going to a place as crude and boring as the Academy, even though it must have been more interesting in his days, he decided that maybe the Academy wasn't that bad if you looked at it in a different way.
"Really jiji." he asked with both hands braced on the table and trying to look straight into the eyes of the Third. "Of course, where do you think he learned how to get so strong?" Hiruzen replied. "Alright, I'm going to march in that Academy, soak up every little word Iruka-sensei spits out and I am going to memorise it till my head splits open" Naruto said with a new vigour.
"That's the spirit Naruto-kun" Hiruzen said, spurring him on.
2 Hours Later
"I can't believe that old man played me again" Naruto sighed boredly. "He played me like a harp. But I will get my revenge one of these days" He grinned maniacally to himself after the last sentence causing Choji who was sitting next to him to inch a little further away from the blond haired boy.
Just then Iruka chose that moment to ask Naruto for the answer to a question he had asked. "Huh, um I think the answer was the Third Raikage." Naruto guessed.
"Good. Nice to see you're actually paying attention when I talk" Iruka said.
"Awww come on Iruka-sensei I'm not that bad. I mean I actually pay more attention than Shikamaru" The blond haired ninja-in-training responded.
Shikamaru groaned in response at getting dragged into this. 'Great. Thanks a lot Naruto. Now Iruka-sensei will be all up on my case again.'
"Now let's get on with the lesson" Iruka called, turning back to the board and missing the raspberry Naruto blew at his back.
"Katon: Gougakyou no Jutsu(Fire style: Great Fireball Jutsu)" was shouted across the clearing right before a ball of fire immediately followed, decimating everything in sight for ten metres straight, burning a few trees as well as singeing the grass for twenty metres straight ahead. Naruto panted after he cut the flow of chakra to the jutsu, effectively stopping the fireball from burning even more of the training ground and bringing more attention to himself. He was sure the burning trees could now be seen from the Hokage Tower.
'I'm pretty sure mine is still less powerful than Sasuke's, what with him being a prodigy and all, and I've got to be more powerful than him if I want to be as powerful as Madara-sama.' He took a swig from the canteen he brought and walked over to the few training posts that had survived the general torching of the training ground.
He settled into the general stance for the Academy Taijutsu style, performing a few katas before settling into the stance for one of the Taijutsu style he was still learning, the Sweeping Scythe. He was learning a few others along with this one but this was among the top four he really liked and felt suited towards him, with his size and stature. He would either take this or any of the other three, those being the Salamander style, the Twin Step Dance or the Mirror Step style.
Right now, Naruto had finished practicing with the Sweeping Style and had moved on to his shuriken and kunai accuracy. He took out six shuriken, three in each hand, built chakra in his legs and blurred out of sight, jumping so fast that he caused the fallen leaves to swirl where he had been standing. In the air, he twirled, turning upside down and releasing one shuriken from each hand. Thunk! Thunk! came the sounds as metal impacted wood. He released two more shuriken, twisted himself in the air and released the first shuriken in his hand before throwing the other, the second hitting the first and making it change direction to hit a hidden mark behind the tree before landing on his feet, crouching low to decrease the damage to his body, before stumbling and letting out heavy pants. His mind went back to that faithful afternoon where he had gotten his inspiration for becoming a strong shinobi.
"Naruto-kun, tell me why you want to become a shinobi?" Hiruzen sat back and lit his pipe.
"Huh? Well, I thought it would be fun. You know, all the other kids my age are gonna become ninja, so why don't I join them?" Naruto looked up at Hiruzen's face, still smiling despite not having a true reason for becoming a ninja.
' So young, so innocent, doesn't know about the dangers of becoming a ninja, not knowing about his burden. And his reason, he has no drive to become a ninja. He could get himself killed out there, and Minato would never forgive me." Hiruzen sat there in silent thought. " Naruto, I want you to go to the Library with this card," Hiruzen took out a black shiny card that had his signature on it, " And read about all great shinobi in the past till you find a new reason to become a ninja." Hiruzen said all this with a firm tone that was devoid of all light-heartedness.
"Sure." Naruto replied and with shaky hands, took the card from Hiruzen and walked out the office door before making his way across the village towards the Library. He ignored the usual glares from the villagers and strode towards the Library with quick, confident strides.
At the Library, the librarian sent a sneer his way before he flashed the card. As soon as she saw the signature, she quickly took him to a private table away from the others and asked him what he was looking for. He told her he wanted books on the most powerful ninja in the world. She went away and after a few minutes, came back with some thick manuscripts and scrolls. When she put them down, one fell out of the others and as soon as she saw the title, made to take it back to the Shinobi History section. Naruto told her to put it down, kindly thanked her like the old orphanage caretaker had taught him even though he didn't like the librarian and took up the manuscript that fell out and looked at the title. It read; MADARA UCHIHA: Man, Myth, Mystery. "Hmph, might be interesting" And with that Naruto piped down and started the book that would give him a role model and a drive towards becoming a ninja.
Later that evening, as young Naruto recounted the tales of Madara Uchiha to the Third Hokage, Hiruzen was silently lamenting his decision of sending Naruto to the Library on his own.
Naruto smiled at the fond memory while gathering his belongings and picking up the discarded shuriken and kunai littered around the clearing and started walking back to the village. He turned back and took a glance at the destruction he had wrought on the clearing, smiled, and happily walked away.
'Two weeks till graduation exams," His face morphed into a grin. 'I am so going to ace these exams.'
Beep Beep Beep
Naruto groaned before hitting the stop button on the alarm, before groggily waking up and slowly made his way to the bathroom to perform his daily morning routine of brushing his teeth and bathing. In front of the mirror were three words painted in red ink over the face of the mirror: GRADUATION EXAMS TODAY. The words served their purpose as Naruto immediately jolted into action and bathed and brushed so fast he would have made the Yondaime look like a snail.
He decided to put on a black short-sleeved shirt with orange lines running up the front and back and coalescing into a spiral on the front and one on the back, with a pair of shinobi pants with orange lines running up the sides tucked into his black shinobi sandals. He topped this off with a black and orange striped jacket. He checked his reflection in the mirror before heading out for the Academy.
At the Academy
Naruto walked slowly into the class, stopping at the doorway with his hands on his hips. He was a man on a mission, and noone was going to prevent him from accomplishing that mission.
"SASUKE-KUUUN!" Came the distinct voices of Ino and Sakura as they raced into the classroom, almost bowling over Naruto who was still standing in the doorway.
"OI! Watch where you're standing next time." Sakura shouted before realising who she was talking to. "Oh. Sorry, Naruto."
Luckily for her, Naruto was in a good mood that day, "I'll let you off the hook this time." With her attention now shifted from Sasuke, Ino finally noticed Naruto.
"What's with the change of clothes, Naruto?" Ino inquired.
"Oh, this, it's just something I picked up a few days ago from the clothing store."
"Well, you look nice in them, if I do say so myself." Ino turned around to take her seat, tossing him a wink over her shoulder. Naruto froze, silently watching Ino walk away before he shook his head to clear his thoughts. 'Did Ino just wink at me?' He began walking to the middle row to take a seat next to Shino, probably relocating someone else but hey, if they had a problem, they could bring it up with him.
"Alright everyone take your seats and let's get started." Iruka entered and after everyone had sat down, started sharing the papers for the written test.
"Naruto, how did the test go for you?" Kiba called as Naruto grabbed his jacket and started for the door. He looked over his shoulder and replied, "Oh, you know me. Nothing's ever too hard for me. At least not in this dump."
Kiba snorted as they walked side by side. "How do you think it went for Sasuke? I'm pretty sure that pretty boy's gonna get a perfect score, as always."
"Of course, Uchiha are supposed to be perfect, so I am only living up to the family name. Dog-breath." And with that Sasuke bypassed Kiba and Naruto and made his way to the benches to take his lunch and brood, as was his daily routine.
Kiba growled at the insult, as he hadn't even sensed the boy standing behind him, narrowing his eyes as he watched Sasuke move through the crowd, his group of fangirls cheering and shouting for him for just walking. "Keep calm, you may just get your chance in the taijutsu exam." Naruto said, amused by the look on Sasuke's face as he was tormented by his female fan base.
After the break, the class was taken outside for the taijutsu portion of the exams. The first matches were some random clanless kids and consisted mostly of poor performances even though some were average. The later fights were the interesting ones, with the clan heirs fighting amongst themselves.
Shino got paired with Kiba, who promptly attempted to break poor Shino's face to relieve some of his pent-up aggression from Sasuke's insult. Shikamaru had to fight Choji. Choji eventually lost as soon as Shikamaru felt that he had shown enough skills to guarantee his promotion. Ino got paired with Sakura. The fight was clearly one-sided as Ino beat Sakura around like a tennis ball, eventually ending when Sakura landed one kick on the inside of Ino's knee, almost breaking her knee altogether. Mizuki decided this was enough and called the fight in Sakura's favor soon after, even though everyone knew Ino was the one who won that fight.
"Ino, you okay?" Naruto asked in concern. Ino looked up and smiled when she saw who had asked that question, shaking her head and responding, "It's okay Naruto-kun. I'm not a fragile little damsel, you know. I'm a kunoichi-in-training; I can handle myself very fine, but thank you for your concern." Naruto watched as she limped back to her sitting place in the grass.
Hinata got paired with a civilian girl who lost in the first ten seconds because she tried to beat a Hyuga with theAcademy taijutsu style. Talk about stupid, but at least you can't blame her for not trying.
"Next up, Uzumaki Naruto vs Uchiha Sasuke" Mizuki called out the names from the roster. Finally, the Uzumaki brat is about to be put in his place.
Naruto grinned as soon as the last name was called. "Give him hell for me, Naruto." Kiba whispered into his ear. In Naruto's mind, he was thinking of how he would finally be able to measure his progress against a suitable opponent. He dropped his jacket to his waist as he strode to stand in front of the proctor, patiently waiting for Sasuke who took his sweet time getting there as he received cheers from the female population of the class. He smirked when he finally reached the fighting area. Naruto decided at that moment to let go a little and reveal a portion of his true prowess.
"So, ready to get your butt whooped, second-best?" Sasuke taunted, hoping Naruto would rise up to the taunt. Luckily, Naruto knew exactly what he was trying to do as he himself was very proficient at it and quietly settled into a taijutsu stance before responding, "You're not Itachi, Sasuke. So don't even try." Naruto licked his lips in anticipation for the upcoming battle. "This is going to be so much fun" He added under his breath. He watched as Sasuke settled into the standard Interceptor style of the Uchiha. 'Hmph, he doesn't have his Sharingan yet, what use is that going to be.'
They both stared each other down as they class watched. The tension in the air was so thick you could cut it with a blunt kunai; as they waited for Mizuki to start the match, each analysing the other, trying to find any weakness.
As soon as Mizuki's hand went down they both rocketed toward each other, Naruto going significantly faster, therefore meeting Sasuke in his side of the area. Their hands locked as they stared each other straight in the eyes, neither backing down from the unspoken challenge. Naruto broke eye contact as he went in for a leg sweep which Sasuke jumped over, causing him to let go of Naruto's hands. This proved to be a fatal mistake as Naruto spun and kicked him right in the stomach, knocking him away. He immediately sped towards him again, not granting Sasuke any leeway to get his thoughts straight. He threw a jab which Sasuke dodged before swinging his still outstretched hand, knocking Sasuke in the head, making him turn from the momentum of the punch. He kicked Sasuke in the nose when he faced him again, throwing him a few metres away. He decided to let him have some breathing space this time and let the severity of his situation sink in.
Iruka silently watched as Naruto dominated the majority of the battle with Sasuke not having thrown even a punch, constantly on the defense before being kicked away by Naruto with a strength a kid his age should not have developed for another year. He almost intervened when he saw Sasuke's nose start dripping with blood. 'He must have been hiding his true talent this whole time, just like a true shinobi. You have made me proud of teaching you, Naruto.' He dipped his head in a newfound respect for his student as a fellow shinobi.
'So was the dobe always this strong? I've never had this much trouble dealing with him in the past. Or was he holding back all those times? No. I have to be stronger than him if I have to defeat him. I have to.' Sasuke struck the ground before heaving himself off the floor, feeling something wet drip down his face. He put a finger to his nose and brought it back to find it covered with blood. 'Did he actually make me bleed?' He wiped away the blood with his arm, glaring at Naruto who was twirling a kunai around his fingers. He took out a kunai of his own before charging straight at Naruto, preparing to hold nothing back.
Naruto, who was silently twirling a kunai around his finger, watched as Sasuke finally came to the realization that Naruto was better at him than something other than tests. He smirked when Sasuke came charging at him with a kunai. 'Too angry to watch his surroundings, big mistake.' He smirked as Sasuke tripped in a spot that was slightly muddier than the rest of the area, losing his balance before quickly regaining it and continuing his charge, this time more cautious than the last. Naruto caught the kunai as soon as Sasuke reached him and blocked a slash from said angry dark-haired boy. He smirked before loosening his grip and relaxinghis body, quickly moving out of the way when Sasuke lost his balance from the loss of force in his direction and came tumbling forward, turning to Naruto to catch a backhand quickly followed by a kick to the stomach, followed by a punch, a sweep of the legs and a punt to the ribs before he fell down.
Mizuki promptly called the match, scolding Naruto for being too harsh, who was simply nonchalant about the whole thing, shrugged on his jacket and said to Mizuki-sensei, "I didn't even try my best. If I did, you wouldn't even have a corpse to fuss over, Mizuki-sensei." He spat the last part as if it was acid on his tongue, walking over to Kiba and taking his seat.
"Dude, that was FREAKING awesome! Where did you learn how to do that?"
"Do what?"
"THAT! All the kicking, punching, speed and shit. I couldn't even see you most of the time you were fighting. Where did you learn how to do that?"
"Hours of vigorous training. When you were sleeping, I was training both my body and mind." Kiba could clearly see from the tone that Naruto was done with the conversation and decided not to bother him anymore.
After Sasuke was seen to, they were led back inside to take the ninjutsu portion of the exams. Naruto could feel the glares of half the girls in the class on the back of his head, the half who weren't scared shitless by now, as well as Sasuke's.
They were all called one-by-one to perform the three mandatory ninjutsu to graduate. Finally, when it was Naruto's turn, he calmly walked into the side room that the teachers had prepared strictly for this purpose. When he was inside, he scanned the faces of Mizuki and Iruka, searching for any signs of discomfort or displeasure. Iruka had a small smile on his face as his arms were crossed in front of him, whilst Mizuki looked slightly angry, though he did not know the specific reason for it, he suspected it had something to do with him beating Sasuke in a straight taijutsu fight.
"Are you ready?" Iruka asked.
"As ready as I'll ever be." Naruto replied with a cocky grin.
"Please perform the Kawarimi jutsu."
Naruto performed two hand seals before switching places with Mizuki, who was surprised that Naruto had chosen to switch with him. Iruka turned to find Naruto in Mizuki's chair with his legs crossed on the table. "Good Naruto now switch back." Iruka calmly stated.
There was a blur before Mizuki was back in his seat and Naruto was standing again.
"Now the Henge."
There was no smoke as Naruto suddenly morphed right in front of their eyes to become a perfect copy of Iruka.
Iruka silently praised Naruto for having the chakra control to pull off both a smokeless Kawarimi and Henge.
"Now the Bunshin Jutsu, if you please."
"Umm, I didn't learn the Bunshin jutsu." Naruto scratched the back of his head sheepishly and grinned like he always did when he was nervous, which was truly a rare sight nowadays.
"What! If you didn't learn the Bunshin then how can you expect to pass this exam." Mizuki screeched.
"Sheesh. I didn't learn it but I got something better." He put his hands together in a strange cross hand seal before shouting, "Kage Bunshin no jutsu."
In two poofs, there were two copies of Naruto standing on either side of him making three altogether grinning at Iruka and Mizuki's gobsmacked expressions. Iruka caught himself first, before cracking a small smile. 'Oh Naruto, always full of surprises. You'll make a great shinobi someday.'
The two corporeal clones disappeared in poofs of smoke before Naruto held out his hand.
"My headband. And I would like it in black."
Iruka picked up a black headband and was about to give it to him and congratulate him when Mizuki suddenly interrupted him with a question. "Where did you learn how to do that? That technique is very chakra-intensive and only meant for jonin and above shinobi."
"A ninja never reveals his secrets. Or are those magicians? But since it's not that important, I'll tell you. But only this once okay. Jiji taught me. Well, he taught me a lot of jutsu but this is the only one I'm obliged to show you. See you later, Mizuki-sensei, Iruka-sensei."
He gave a respectful bow before grabbing the headband and running out the door.
"See you later bitches. Or maybe not, since most of you won't even graduate." And with that, he ran laughing out of the classroom, leaving most of the class with confused faces.
In the Hokage's office
"So Sensei's son passed. I never doubted him."
"What do you think of him?"
"I think it's gonna be fun teaching him."
"And what makes you so sure you're going to be his teacher, huh?"
"Would you trust him with anyone else?"
Hiruzen smiled. "As always, you know exactly what I'm thinking Kakashi-kun. Maybe I should leave the village in your hands instead of Tsunade's like I had originally planned when I retire."
"Keep on thinking and like that and I may just leave the village." The masked shinobi joked. "And now I got to go. See you on Team Selection day, Hokage-sama."
"I told you. You can call me Sarutobi-san when it's just you and me." Hiruzen replied, but it was too late as Kakashi had already crackled out the office in a lightning Shunshin.
Hiruzen sighed before turning around to look out at the Hokage Monument. "Naruto's shaping up to be a fine young man, Minato. You would be proud of him." In his mind's eye, Hiruzen thought he saw a smile tug at the stone Minato's lips. 'I must be going crazy. This job is taking too much of a toll on me. I'm seeing stones smile. I should go on a vacation sometime, I hear the Land Of Hot Springs is quite nice this time of year.' His thoughts were interrupted by his assistant bringing in another stack of paperwork. He sighed again for the umpteenth time that day before making a Kage Bunshin and getting started on the paperwork.
With Kakashi
"Hey Sensei, it's me again. Guess what? I'm about to get a genin team with your son on it. He's growing up to become just like you. Looks and all. You would be proud of him. Wish me luck." Kakashi chuckled nervously, turning around to return back home, his mourning for the day done.
With Naruto
"~I feel good~" Naruto slid across his living room floor in only a shirt and a pair of boxers with a spoon in his hand acting as a microphone. "~I knew that I would now~. ~I feeeel good~. ~I knew that I would now~." He paused for dramatic effect while standing on his toes. "~So good. So good." Naruto sang. He jumped onto his bed and looked out at the full moon, Breathing in the scent of his room. He could almost taste the joy hanging in the air. Suddenly a dark blur sped across his window. 'What the fuck was that?'
His curiosity got the better of him as he quickly dressed, grabbing his kunai pouch and jacket before heading out the window in the direction the blur had gone. It was headed towards the Hokage Tower. He double-timed it there to find a majority of the village's chunin and jonin there and he even spotted a few ANBU that had come out in plain sight. Probably ordered so by the Hokage. Said leader was standing in front of all of them delivering a mission brief.
"Mizuki is suspected to have stolen the Scroll of Seals from the Hokage's office. How he did this is unknown but my ANBU suspect that he used several Bunshin all committing some atrocity in the village to divert me and my ANBU's attention long enough to steal the Scroll. He is headed towards the North towards the Land of Grass. Apprehend him before he crosses the border. Take him dead or alive." With this all the ninja blurred off to capture Mizuki.
Naruto took off as well, heading toward the designated location jumping from tree to tree absentmindedly as if it was second nature. 'So Mizuki was a traitor. Well, I've always wanted to beat him up, I guess this is my chance.' He grinned and charged chakra in his feet before pushing off the next tree branch without even stopping. A few minutes later, he saw Mizuki up ahead, also tree-jumping. He charged chakra in his feet again before using a Shunshin to close in and using the charged chakra to boost himself towards Mizuki.
Mizuki on instinct felt something wrong and turned around only to be speared by Naruto's body, sending them both to the forest floor. Naruto quickly recovered, rolling away to avoid any surprises Mizuki might have had up his sleeves. It took Mizuki a second to clear the cobwebs from his head after being hit so hard and also hitting the ground so hard. He shakily got up to stare at the face of … Naruto?
"So this is what the Hokage sent after me? This is going to be easier than I thought."
"Don't underestimate me." Naruto replied with a grim tone, frowning. He took out a kunai and settled into a stance.
"You'll need about ten years before you're ready to challenge me, boy."
"Haven't you ever heard the saying: Pride comes before a fall."
Mizuki growled before taking the large shuriken off his back and launching it at Naruto.
Naruto timed his jump perfectly so that he would be able to step on the shuriken and use it as a springboard to propel himself toward Mizuki. Mizuki, being surprised by the unorthodox attack, had no time to block properly and got cut on his right forearm. "Why you!" He lashed out with a kick that Naruto rolled away to avoid before dropping his injured arm to his side. He took out a kunai with his left hand, his weaker side and dashed forward in a straight line towards Naruto. Naruto took out another kunai and put it with the other in his left hand before using his right hand to take out three shuriken that had been connected by ninja wire. He threw them at Mizuki, who did not see the ninja wire because of the dim lighting of the forest and the thinness of the wire and dodged one, two, before the first one came back around and curled around his neck. He clawed at the ninja wire, trying to find a way to tear it, while Naruto kept pulling the string, tightening his hold around Mizuki's neck, the shuriken tearing into his neck. Mizuki finally stopped trying to cut the wire around his neck and instead cut the wire Naruto was holding. Bleeding out, he took out a vial of a sickly purple looking liquid and forced it down his throat, ignoring the burning sensation. He instantly went under a transformation as his muscles bulged and his back turned orange with stripes, leaving him looking more like a tiger than a man.
Naruto, distracted by the transformation, didn't see the shuriken that was coming for him till it was almost in his face before performing a sealless Kawarimi. He instantly attacked Mizuki again but found that it was going to be harder than before, dodging some and blocking some attacks. He retreated and switched to ninjutsu. He created four Kage Bunshin and positioned them at cardinal points around Mizuki. "Katon: Gougakyou no Jutsu" they shouted in unison as each blew out a fireball the size of a bungalow. Mizuki started for the hand seals required for the Kawarimi before shadow clone shot out of the approaching fire and delivered a haymaker right into his nose, breaking the clone's fist and Mizuki's face. The disorientation caused by the pain gave enough time for the fireball furnace to swallow him whole, burning him to a crisp. They cut off chakra to the jutsu, quickly dissipating it to leave a crisp, burnt Mizuki. Naruto wretched at seeing the corpse before quickly wiping away the vomit from his mouth, reminding himself that this wasn't the place nor the time for that and searching around for the very reason he fought Mizuki. Luckily, Mizuki had put the scroll down and shrouded it in a genjutsu so it wouldn't get damaged during the fight. Shortly after, the Hokage arrived with his body guards to clean up the mess and collect the scroll.
"What you did was very brave, Naruto-kun. You know that right. Mizuki was a traitor. It was your duty. It was either you or him." Hiruzen spoke in that grandfatherly tone he always used with Naruto, trying to calm him down.
"Yeah, I know." Naruto calmly replied in a dead monotone, staring ahead. "But will I always have to kill for the village? Will I always have to do that?"
Hiruzen knelt down to Naruto's level, held him by the shoulders and looked him straight in the eyes. "Naruto. This is the life of a shinobi: Kill or be killed. And if you want to be a shinobi then this will be the first of many kills, young one. This is why all those years ago I asked you to go to the library and find a motivation. A ninja's will is what makes them strong. It is what makes them stand tall after everything. It is what drives them through pain and torture to do their duty. And even though your choice of mentorship is odd, you have the strongest will of anyone I know, Naruto-kun. And for that I support you. That is why I believe in you." After that, he brought him close and hugged him.
That night, as Naruto looked at the bright moon on his windowsill, he vowed to himself and his mentor, Madara, that he would never let his will be broken.
Chapter 1 done. Review and tell me what you liked and disliked about the chapter. And please, for the love of all that is holy, do not flame this story. Also review.