Chapter 1 : A Different Beginning

Konoha Forest

Iruka watched as the blonde headed boy flew and collided with Mizuki. "Naruto!" Mizuki growled and wiped blood off of his lip. "Damn you..." Naruto stood in front of him, glaring. "Don't lay a finger on Iruka-sensei. I'll kill you if you do." Mizuki smirked and took a step forward. "Talk while you can. I'll finish a kid like you in a flash." Naruto gritted his teeth and made a seal with his hands. "Try, jerk. I'll do a thousand times more damage back to you." The silver haired teacher grinned and also made a seal. "Why don't you try if you can, you monster fox!" Naruto snarled and shouted "Shadow Clone Ju-!"

"Activate!" Mizuki yelled. Instantly the ground around Naruto lit up, and lightning coursed through the boy's body. Naruto screamed, then collapsed in a smoldering heap. Iruka winced as he tried to stand. "Naruto! Are you alright?" No answer. Mizuki laughed. "It pays to think ahead. This little trap was to be sure the demon couldn't get a hit off. And now..." The evil Leaf Nin pulled out a kunai and walked towards the still non-moving Naruto. "The demon will die. GOODBYE KYUUBI!"

With a shout of triumph, Mizuki brought down the kunai onto Naruto's head.

Only to be blindsided, forcefully, by a rather hard walking stick.

Iruka didn't know what to think. One second he was watching Mizuki about to kill Naruto, then he saw Mizuki tumbling through the air and hit a tree. The stranger that knocked the Leaf nin aside was wearing a dark purple kimono, and was carrying a wooden cane. Iruka couldn't tell much else, because the stranger moved to fast to get a good look at him.

As soon and Mizuki landed and stood up, he was met by another blow to the head. Slightly dazed, he shouted and swung his kunai at the attacker. The man dodged, then wacked Mizuki's hand with the stick, causing him to drop the kunai. "Who the He-" A swift punch to the gut silenced him. Mizuki doubled over, then hit the ground with a sharp blow to the head. Then... All was quiet.

Iruka watched as the stranger picked up Mizuki, threw him over his shoulder, then walked towards Naruto. Iruka shouted when he got close to the young boy. "Leave him alone!" The stranger looked at Iruka and gave him a small smile. "No need to worry." HIs voice was clam, like he hadn't exerted any energy while fighting Mizuki. "I'm a doctor. I was hoping to seek shelter here in Konoha." He gestured at the unconscious man in his shoulders. "Although I wasn't expecting this."

Iruka gave a weak laugh.

"Well, it's been a strange day."

The man chuckled and scooped the boy up in his arm.

"We need to get you two to a hospital, and this one to a jail cell. Can you walk?"

Iruka nodded and slowly stood up.

"Thank you for your help. Things would've gotten uglier if you hadn't showed up, mister...?"

The man turned to Iruka and smiled.

"Call me Karasu Tsubasa"

With that, the two men headed for Konoha

Konoha Village, Hokage's yard

"Did anyone find Naruto?"

"No."

"Damn, this isn't good!"

Just then, the Third Hokage appeared. "There's no need to worry anymore." He said, smiling slightly.

All the Ninja turned at his sudden appearance. "Hokage-sama!"

Sarutobi Looked up at the twilight sky. "Everything has been taken care of. He'll come home soon."

Konoha Hospital

When Naruto woke up, the first thing he realized was that he wasn't in his own bed. With a jolt, he stood up franticly.

"Iruka-sensei!"

"Calm down, Naruto."

Naruto looked to se Iruka sitting next to the bed. Naruto blinked.

"Uh... Where am I?"

Iruka sighed tiredly.

"You're in the hospital. You've been out for about an hour. After Mizuki set off the trap-"

"Wait, Mizuki! Where is that guy? I'm gonna tare him apart!"

"Calm down!" Iruka said, annoyed. "Mizuki is taken care of. A doctor jumped in and stopped him from killing you."

Naruto tilted his head to the side. "A doctor?"

Iruka nodded. "Yeah. And a pretty good fighter. He took out Mizuki without much trouble. Afterwards he brought you here and patched you up."

Naruto looked down, disappointment written on his face. Iruka looked at him.

"What's wrong Naruto?"

"Well, I wanted to show you my jutsu... So I could graduate..."

Iruka chuckled, and Naruto looked at him.

"What?"

"Well, the doctor who helped you said he'd watched you train, and said you were pretty good so..."

Naruto's eyes lit up. Iruka grinned.

"Come on outside. Let's see if you really learned anything."

"ALRIGHT!" Naruto said, jumping out of the bed and followed Iruka. Outside at one of the training grounds, Iruka looked down at Naruto.

"Okay, Naruto. Show me what you got!"

Naruto grinned and made a hand seal.

"Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

In an eruption of smoke, Iruka was surrounded by a bunch of smiling Naruto's. He grinned and shook his head. "Very nice Naruto. Very nice." As all the clones cheered, Iruka thought to himself "What a guy... He really might surpass all the previous Hokages..." A loud POOF later, and Naruto was standing in front of Iruka, grinning and scratching the back of his head. "So, do I pass?"

Iruka didn't say anything, just reached behind his head. Naruto starred at him confused, until Iruka took off his forehead protector, knelt in front of Naruto, and began to tie is to him.

"Iruka-sensie..."

"Naruto, not only have you passed in flying colors, but you've earned this in more ways than one. You've fought to protect, and fought to defend." Iruka stood up and smiled down at the blonde. Naruto starred up at his teacher, stunned.

"Congratulations, Naruto. You're a Ninja."

Naruto just stood there, and his eyes started to well up. Iruka went on. "All right, let's celebrate. I'll treat you to ramen!"

Naruto jumped and hugged the man, knocking him over.

"Iruka-sensie! Thank you!"

Iruka looked down, annoyed.

"Ouch, that hurts!"

Even though he was grousing on the outside, Iruka was smiling on the inside. Not far from the two, Karasu watched them, a smile on his face.

"It looks like I came to the right village after all. That Uzomaki kid is something else, I'll have to keep an eye on him." Look over the forest, he could see the sun just breaking the horizon. "It's a new dawn... Time to make the most of it."