Don't own Naruto, you know the deal.

A Brush with Death

It was a quiet night; in the hidden leaf village all the civilians would be tucked away in their quiet homes with peace knowing that they were safe due to the village's ninja. Only one would be found up at this late hour though, and he was the professor, the Sandaime Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi, and we find the Kami no Shinobi in a fight for his life against the greatest enemy of the Kages.

Paperwork…

'Why did I take this job again?' he asked himself for the millionth time.

There was a noise at the door revealing it to be opening, 'Who could that be, and I don't have any appointments at this hour.

When he looked up he saw a blob of orange with some yellow spiking out of the top. After realizing that it was his favorite (not that he would tell anyone) blonde academy student Uzumaki Naruto.

He was just about to say hi to the orange clothed boy when he felt the feeling of imminent doom enter his heart, accompanied with the grin on the boys face only one thought made it before he was knocked out.

'Oh shit, not again.'

*With Naruto*

"Hehe perverted old man" the hyperactive blonde thought to himself as he carried the rather large scroll to the designated meeting place.

"Huh I'm early" he thought out loud "I guess I could look at the scroll."

As he stared at the scroll of sealing he couldn't help but think of why he had taken it.

*Flashback*

'Stupid Bunshin no Jutsu,' the usually cheerful blonde thought to himself, 'so what if I can't do it, I can still be a good ninja.'

Before he could continue brooding, he heard his name called out. He turned and saw his assistant instructor Mizuki walking over.

"Hey can I talk to you for a minute?" He asked.

"Ok Mizuki sensei." The whiskered blonde replied.

"You do realize that Iruka only wants you to be ready to be a shinobi, he doesn't want you to get hurt." Mizuki stated.

"I know Mizuki sensei." He replied with a depressed look on his face.

"All right, I think it's time I got to the point." Mizuki says "I had a look in the rule book and fond something you may be interested in."

"What is it?" the boy asked curiosity pushing the depression away.

"It's a makeup test, for the students who failed the exams."

"Really?" the blonde asked excitement evident in his voice.

"Would I lie to you?" the chunin asked rhetorically.

'I got you now demon brat and everyone will think I'm a hero.' He thought

"Ok so here's what you need to do…"

*End Flashback*

"He didn't say anything about looking at it…" the blond said with a grin to himself. "I'll do the first thing I see, DATTEBAYO!"

He opened it up a little and the first thing he saw was…

'Tajuu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu? Great another Bunshin technique, well best get started.'

*2-3 hours later*

'Wow that didn't take too long now did it?' Naruto looked around wondering where Mizuki could possibly be. When his eyes land on the scroll, he sprouted a shit eating grin. 'No point of wasting the extra time.' He thought to himself.

When he opened up the scroll more his eyes nearly popped out of his head at the number of Jutsu, seals, and theory on his scroll. Like any 13 year old boy would do in his position, he skimmed until he found something interesting. Right as he got a good look at what was there, he heard a rustle behind him; he quickly closed the scroll due to him being unsure if he was allowed to look. When he looked at the noise he saw something he didn't want to see. He saw his head teacher, Iruka.

"Hehe hey Iruka sensei" he sheepishly started "is you going to do the makeup test instead of Mizuki?"

"Make up test?" Iruka asked forgetting to yell at him for a second.

"Yeah Mizuki sensei said if I was able to infiltrate the Hokage Tower and get this scroll, I would pass!"

'If Mizuki is behind this, which means…' Iruka was about to continue the thought when he heard a familiar whistling noise. He traced the sound in a second only to realize a Giant Shuriken flying strait towards the blonde that was still staring at him. So he did the only thing he could do.

Squelch!

He stares up at the man who until a moment ago was easily ten feet away suddenly appearing in front of himself. He was about to ask why, when he was grabbed and tossed in a random direction, scroll and all. He looked back at Iruka to ask why he did that, when he saw a rather large shuriken stab into the ground right where his head was. Naruto looked up to where the metal star came from, to see a scowling Mizuki.

"So you're behind all this after all huh Mizuki." Iruka stated wincing in pain as he pulled the shuriken out.

"That's right Iruka, this was all my idea." Mizuki stated with his scowl changing into a smirk. "Naruto, give me the scroll!" he started "Iruka is trying to steal it!"

"No Naruto he's lying! He wants the scroll!" the chunin screamed, "Run, I'll hold him off!"

So Naruto ran as fast as his adolescent legs could go, and took cover in the forest within earshot of the two chunin.

"How noble of you, to let him get away while I kill you here." The traitorous ninja sneered.

"You're wrong about one thing; I'm not going to die." Iruka said with confidence.

"Then let's test your metal here Iruka, you could never beat me in the spars." Mizuki replied.

"This isnt a spar now is it?" Iruka replied hurling the shuriken at Mizuki who dodged with minimal effort.

And they were off, Mizuki started with a round-house kick aimed for Iruka's head. He stopped the momentum with his forearm, and caught his shin with the other hand; Mizuki prepared for the block and swung the other leg to perform a devastating heel-drop. Iruka used his arm that stopped the kick, and blocked the heel drop. Mizuki used the momentum from the heel-drop and wretched his other foot free, as well as back flipping away.
Not allowing Mizuki to rest Iruka jumped forward and began his attack with several punches, followed by a leg sweep. Mizuki was able to block, the punches but was tripped up by the leg sweep. He was able to catch himself and delivered a hard kick which landed and sent Iruka stumbling back. They both recovered and started making hand seals.

"Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu!" Iruka growled out after the six seals.

"Doton: Doryūheki no Jutsu!" Mizuki countered.

The ball of fire smashed into the wall and exploded sending heated rocks in all directions.

"It seems were even" Iruka stated while brushing the hot dirt from his face "are you sure you can beat me?" He continued mockingly.

"Why are you protecting him?" Mizuki nearly screamed from frustration ignoring Iruka's quip "he's the Kyuubi, he killed all your family, and I thought you hated him"

Naruto who was hiding behind a tree, feeling fear and awe at the shinobi battle going on, heard Mizuki and felt dread enter his sistem, he was a demon?

And then everything clicked for Naruto, the glairs, the whispers, the hatred, it all made sense now.

"You're right, I do hate the Kyuubi" Iruka stated.

'Iruka sensei, why?' Naruto began to cry, all of the strain was getting to him, and he prepared to run when he heard what Iruka said next.

"But, I don't hate Naruto, because he's Naruto Uzumaki, not the Kyuubi."

A smile formed on Naruto's face when he heard that.

"Ok then," Mizuki started "then you can die with the demon, you demon loving bastard, and I know just the way to do that." The Chunin said with a malicious smile.

"huh?" Iruka questioned.

"Behold, my gift from Orochimaru" Mizuki stated ignoreing his questioning noise.

"Orochimaru?" Iruka asked shocked to hear the name of that trator.

Mizuki didn't talk anymore, which prompted the curious boy to look up from his hiding place just to see something he would never forget.

Iruka watched with astonishment as Mizuki grew around six inches, and his muscles began to bulge out enough to tear his sleeves and reveal some black stripe like marks on his arms as well as some on his forehead. He smiled devilishly revealing fang like teeth, and in an instant he was behind Iruka, he didn't have enough time to do anything but look back and see the fist smash into his face and send him crashing into a tree. Iruka was able to get up, and they started a mostly one sided Taijutsu match between the two. Even when he used ninja tools Mizuki would just swat them away.
After one particularly painful hit to the ribs, Mizuki said "I think I'll end this now." Now with a smile that makes babies cry Mizuki picked up the forgotten giant shuriken that was burried into a tree, and prepared to gore Iruka with it.

He lifted the shuriken above his head and said "any last words?" Iruka was about to speak when something orange hit Mizuki in the head. And that orange thing turned out to be Naruto, more specifically Naruto's foot.

"Naruto, I told you to run!" Iruka yelled.

Ignoring Iruka the pissed blonde said to Mizuki "If you touch Iruka sensei again… I will kill you."

Mizuki looked like he just heard a bad joke and said "You're kidding; I'll kill you in one hit!"

"Well let's get started." Naruto said. "Tajuu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" he screamed.

The two chunin looked both shocked and impressed with the wall of orange that surrounded them.

"You think this will matter, ill tear them apart!" Mizuki roared.

"We'll see." They all said at the same time.

Chaos ensued… Mizuki was slowly losing the battle with the sheer number of Shadow Clones, coupled the temporary blinding from them dispersing, he was hard pressed to keep them from catching him unaware. He felt his knee buckle from a kick from behind,

'How is the demon doing this?' Mizuki thought 'I won't lose here, no, No, NO, NOOOO!'

A spike of chakra came from the middle of the crowd of Narutos, but not normal chakra, it was a wispy dark purple.

"What is this?" a Shadow clone asked, "I don't know" another replied.

They all suddenly heard a dark chuckle, turning they only saw a monstrous tiger like Mizuki who is twice as big as before tearing through the army of Shadow Clones like wet tissue paper. Naruto got into a defensive stance in front of Iruka preparing to defend him from the monstrous Mizuki.

"You weakling," Mizuki roared with a triumphant smile, "You had no skills whatsoever; with that many solid clones you may have stood a chance if they even knew a little taijutsu!" Mizuki smiled "and now you die."

What happened next was a blur to Iruka, one second the blonde was standing there preparing to die to defend the one who cares about him, and the next second he gets skipped like a rock into a tree laying there unresponsively.

"NARUTO!" Iruka screamed at the downed boy.

"Demon brat didn't even stand a chance" Mizuki said with a dark chuckle.

After that statement something in Iruka snapped. With a roar Iruka attacked Mizuki with all his remaining strength in an attempt to avenge his younger brother figure. Iruka began with a hard kick toward Mizuki' knee, causing it to buckle, followed by an elbow to the eye. Getting over his shock at the sudden attack; Mizuki began counter and attack Iruka back, blocking a few shots at his chest he threw a hard punch at Iruka who dodged, right into the monster kick from the opposite direction.

After that kick, Iruka was sent flying back into a tree leaving a crack in its trunk.

"Shit!" Iruka painfully growled. Mizuki slowly walked over to Iruka and prepared to stab Iruka with his claws until he heard Naruto get up. Confusion was evident on their faces, along with anger for Mizuki. But what they heard next stopped them in their tracks.

"NINPO: MUGEN CHAKRA NO JUTSU!" they heard Naruto scream.

*With Naruto a few minutes before*

All he could remember was standing in front of his teacher, and then nothing but darkness… as well as echoes of things happening on the outside, at least that's what he thought. Then his vision began to clear. As he was standing he heard a crack, as he looked over he saw Iruka slumped against a tree with Mizuki stalking over towards him.

Anger overwhelmed him as he prepared to charge in, but he remembered what happened to his clones and to himself. Then it came to him, he remembered something he got a good enough look at in the scroll. He smirked to himself as he began a chain of hand seals.

"I will get you for hurting Iruka sensei," Naruto growled, "and this will help."

"NINPO: MUGEN CHAKRA NO JUTSU!" he screamed.

And everything slowed down for him, not noticing (or caring) he charged the tiger like traitor.

*Iruka's perspective*

Iruka as a chunin has seen many things in his life. But none of those things compared to the chakra and killer intent he felt except the Kyuubi no Yoko, thirteen years ago. He looked at the source only to see Naruto release so much chakra; he looked as if he was on fire, and it was forming a column that went past the tree limit, as well as forcing a crater into the ground from the pressure. When he looked more closely he saw Naruto's skin was dark red and muscles bulging enough to tear the top of his jumpsuit. At first he thought the Kyuubi was escaping, but he remembered what the Kyuubi felt like, this was nothing compared to the fox.

Now what happened next was shocking to both Iruka and Mizuki, Naruto jumped at Mizuki leaving a shallow crater in the ground, as he landed he forced another crater, then he charged leaving a trench in the ground, as well as a trail of dust and dirt. He reached Mizuki in an instant with his fist cocked back and prepared to deliver a hard punch to his face. Mizuki in his transformed state was able to block, and returned a punch which connected, causing a huge amount of damage, but didn't seem to deter the flaming boy which began to throw several sloppy but extremely fast punches at Mizuki. Mizuki not to be out done began his taijutsu combo. Iruka watched in amazement as Naruto took hits that would permanently cripple people twice his age and kept on fighting.

Naruto was on a high, he couldn't feel any of the hits he was taking because his body went into shock when he first used the Jutsu. All he knew was to keep throwing punches and kicks at the transformed man in front of him. Mizuki on the other hand, was feeling every hit Naruto was throwing at him. And no matter how hard he hit back, it never seemed to hurt him. Finally Mizuki got a lucky hit while Naruto's feet were off the ground sending him flying into a tree. Naruto was knocked out, instantly despising the chakra. Mizuki covered in bruises and cuts, slowly advanced on the downed academy student, and suddenly fell over with a grunt.

Iruka stood in shock as he saw the monster that he was fighting suddenly drop. He slowly crawled toward Naruto due to one of his legs being broken. When he reached Naruto he stared in shock at what he saw. Naruto looked like one big bruise, and every injury was slowly draining blood.

As he was thinking of what to do, a squad of Anbu black ops along with the Hokage appeared in a shushin. Two of the Anbu came over to him and picked him up, one went to the scroll, and one went to Mizuki's body. The Hokage went to Naruto and picked him up as carefully as he could.

"Take him to the hospital and get him fixed up." Hiruzen started "and take his body to the morgue, you handle the scroll."

"Hai Hokage sama." The masked men said simultaneously.

"Now let's find out what happened to you Naruto." The aged man said to himself, and with that he shushined away.

*Hospital*

Almost instantly the old Kage appeared at the entrance of the leaf's hospital. He quietly walked in only to be ambushed by a nurse.

"Good evening Hokage-sama." The nurse said with a bow "do toy need help with him?"

"Yes that would be great." He said with a smile, though no one could tell, he was nervous.

Before the nurse could stop herself, she growled out "It's him!"

The Hokage was about to do something before she made a scene but the damage was done. Everyone in the waiting room was now glaring at the purplish blue blob in the Hokage's arms.

"All right now listen here," the old man started in his no shit tone "if you don't get him a room, I will have you fired for malpractice, are we clear?"

The nurse didn't answer, but she went over to the desk and told the nurse there, she returned and quickly moved to take the Hokage to the prepared room.

When they arrived at the room the Hokage placed the boy on the bed and prepared to wait for the medic ninjas to do their magic. As he waited he couldn't help but wonder how the boy hurt himself so badly, because he left his office and his crystal ball Jutsu as soon as the traitor transformed into that tiger like monster. He was about to ponder it some more when the medic ninja walked up to the bed and ran the diagnostic.

"How is he?" the old man asked.

"He's seen better days," the medic started "several of his bones are broken clean through, his muscles are torn in his arms and legs, punctured lung, a concussion, but those are the normal ones"

The Hokage looked at the medic with wide eyes and replied "Normal injuries?"

"Yes," he said "it's strange, his chakra network is stretched to the point of rupture, his capillaries and veins have ruptured due to some sort of pressure from the inside of his body, we believe his chakra network is the cause, and last there is..."

"Trauma to the stomach and symptons of a small heart attack..." Sarutobi finished.

"How did you know?" the medic asked.

"I have seen this before; these injuries are from a Jutsu, that's all I can tell you." The Hokage replied with a sorrowful voice.

"Oh… I see." The medic replied with a bead of sweat rolling down his forehead.

"Now get working" The Hokage said, "and I'll be watching."

The Hokage sighed as he sat down in the chair and prepared for the excruciatingly slow process of patching up the boy. Usually this wouldn't take too long thanks to the fox, but with this Jutsu it may take weeks to fix him, and that's saying something.

"So much for getting ahead with the paperwork." The Hokage mumbled to himself.

End

AN- hey there, im paintotheworld2, and this is my first story. read and review, love to hear from you all, sugestions would be appriciated, flames will be ignored yatta yatta yatta.

Next chapter The Fox And Recovery.