Hey everyone, been quite a long time right? Sorry about that. The reason I haven't been updating much is because of all these Idea's that keep popping into my head for new fics, and they don't go away until I put the damn things down, so I've written A LOT of stories, this is one of them, I'm updating them all on here because my friends said they were good, so I figured you guys might want some meat to hold you over until I can work on Harsh Existence and Path of the Hanyou.
Right-o, hope you enjoy the fic, check out my profile, there's like 10 others lol
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Uzumaki Naruto yawned as he went through his daily routine, preparing for another day of his life, he took a shower, threw on his set of clothes, donned his mask and left his apartment for the academy, his last day there in fact, today was the day for them all to take their graduation exam and Naruto was going to pass it this time, he slept through the first exam, and he failed the second time by accidentally exhausting his chakra the day before, but not this time, he was prepared.
He walked through the village letting the harsh glares and insults roll off of him, despite all they'd done to him, what they'd taken from him, he did his best to ignore it all.
He made it through the village with only a few things being thrown at him, and he blocked them all before they could harm him. He arrived at the academy and walked inside his classroom and took his seat, soon enough the room was filled with all of the other children aspiring to be Shinobi.
Eventually the two people he liked most entered the room, Iruka and Hinata. They were his favorite two people in the whole village. Iruka because he was occasionally kind to him, and even offered to take him out to eat on rare occasions, and Hinata because she was kind as well, and she never said anything harsh towards him, hell she had a crush on him, which he found strange since she had never seen his face, none of them had.
Naruto smiled at Hinata's shy behavior, he thought it was adorable, and he idly wondered if she was shy when she was alone, or with people she liked, he wondered if there was more to the timid Hyuuga then met the eye.
He listened as Iruka went through his speech of how proud he was of all of them, Naruto knew the speech already and tuned it out and merely waited for the exams to play through, he wasn't worried in the slightest about the exam itself, the Kyuubi had trained him hard, forced him to master chakra control to extreme levels so that he could perform the bunshin no jutsu, and he generally just trained him into the ground on a daily basis, not that anyone knew.
Kyuubi had insisted that he hold back in the Academy, for if he displayed skills that were far above average, people would surely think he was possessed by the demon and would attempt to do more harm to him. Naruto found that funny, how the greatest 'most evil' being to ever walk the earth, was the person who looked out for him the most, he knew it was out of self preservation, but he also knew that the Kyuubi had become slightly attached to him, he could feel it when they spoke.
He watched with a calculating eye as one after another the students entered the separate room, then returned with a hitai-ite in hand, or already applied to a location on their body.
Eventually his name was called and he stood from his seat, the room grew silent, no one knew what to expect of him, his grades seemed to depend on his mood, ranging from top of the class to the bottom of the list. Naruto walked swiftly across the room, face hidden by his mask, and head shrouded in his usual black hood, and he closed the door to the separate room behind him, and an air of suspense descended on the room of children.
Naruto stood before Iruka and Mizuki, now he he had never liked, he always directed a fair amount of hatred at him, and Naruto knew he was present at more than a few of his assaults.
Iruka smiled "Good to see that you're actually able to participate this time Naruto, I hope you're ready"
Naruto chuckled "Damn straight I am, this is going to be cake"
Iruka's smile grew slightly "Well I hope so Naruto, First up is the Kawarimi no jutsu, please substitute yourself with anything in this room"
Naruto nodded and stunned both of them when he disappeared without using any hand seals to be replaced with a chair, Iruka's jaw dropped as he gasped "Naruto, how did you learn to do the Kawarimi without hand seals? Most Jounin can't do that!"
Naruto shrugged "Lots, and lots of practice. I've performed the Kawarimi and Henge jutsu's thousands upon thousands of times, I've just learned to mold the chakra without seals"
Iruka nodded slowly "Alright...Henge next please, into myself"
Naruto nodded once again and was briefly concealed in a veil of smoke before it faded, revealing a perfect copy of Iruka, down to the tiniest of details.
Iruka was again floored by Naruto's performance, a large portion of the genin missed the slight five 'o clock shadow he was sporting, but not Naruto he had every single detail he could see correct. "Very, very good Naruto. Last but not least, we have the Bunshin no jutsu, if you'd be so kind as to create two or more Bunshins"
Naruto nodded and closed his eye for a brief moment before forming the ram seal and the room was filled with copies of Naruto, they were bunched in shoulder to shoulder, there had to be at least one hundred and fifty of them.
Iruka's jaw hung limply from his skull, that was far more than he was expecting, he himself could only create about seventy Bunshin without killing his chakra reserves. "Wow!" he yelled "That was fantastic Naruto, I've never seen anyone make so many Bunshins, especially at such a young age! I'm proud to present you with the title of genin of Konohagakure, here is your hitai-ite" he spoke with pride, as he handed Naruto a hitai-ite on a short blue cloth.
Naruto took the hitai-ite and bowed deeply "Thank you Iruka" once he stood back up he turned and headed out of the room back to his fellow classmates, he was the last one to take the test, damn alphabetical order.
Naruto walked across the class, hitai-ite in hand. Whispers circled through the young kids and he sat at his desk and placed the headband ontop of it.
Iruka took up the center of the room and began a speech about how now was just the beginning of their careers and that they had a lot of hard work set out ahead of them, then he dismissed them all after telling them to be there the next morning.
Naruto walked out of the classroom and sat on the swing outside the building. He watched as all the other kids met their parents with hugs and kisses, cheers of congratulations and tears of happiness, how he wanted that treatment.
He noticed though, behind the crowd he saw Hinata's back, walking away from the crowd, alone. 'Huh? Why is she alone?' He didn't know why, but he felt compelled to go over and talk to her, and hell he had nothing better to do so he let his emotions rule him and he pushed off of the swing and crossed the school yard, the fact that the parents parted for him, and pulled their children aside didn't go unnoticed, and it hurt.
He made it through the crowd and caught up to Hinata and walked beside her, and he idly noticed she had fresh tears on her cheeks. "Hey, why are you all alone? Shouldn't your parents be proud of you?" he asked.
Hinata looked to him with remarkably cold, tear stained eyes "My father doesn't know the word pride"
Naruto 'hmmed' "So, he doesn't care how well you perform?"
Hinata laughed heartlessly, shocking Naruto at how different she was from the shy introspective girl he always thought she was "Oh no, he cares. Nothing is good enough for him, as long as it's me doing it, nothings enough"
Naruto nodded "Sounds like you need to tell him to go to hell, you do your best, and no one else's"
Hinata laughed, as if saying 'if only' then suddenly spun the conversation to Naruto "Why do you wear that hood and mask Naruto?"
Naruto looked up to the cloudless blue sky above them and sighed "Why else? I've got something to hide"
Hinata nodded slightly "Would you take it off, even for just a minute?" she asked
Naruto's head snapped over to her in an instant "Why?"
Hinata sighed "Well, you're the strongest person I've ever met, emotionally and otherwise, and all I know is a mask, I have no face to put with that name, I just wanted to know what you looked like. I bet you're handsome" She whispered the end, quieter than she thought anyone could hear, but Naruto wasn't everyone.
He chuckled, but it was filled with pain "You think I would be hiding anything if I was the catch of the town? No, I'm just your everyday horror story"
Hinata shook her head, there was no way that voice could belong to someone hideous, it wasn't possible "Please? Could you at least let me decide on my own if you're as hideous as you claim? I swear on my life that I won't tell anyone"
Naruto sighed, he came over to see if she was alright, and now he was being weaseled into taking off his mask. "I don't know why I'm about to do this..." he said as he lifted one hand to his mask and the other to his hood.
He glanced around, making sure no one was close and pulled his hood down while simultaneously removing his mask. Hinata gasped as his entire head was revealed to her, the first thing she noticed was his bright golden blond hair that stood out in all directions, then his bright blue sapphire eye, and the cute looking whisker marks on his cheek.
Then she saw the other side of his face, the reason he wore the mask and hood. The entire right side of his face was covered in scarred skin, his right eye was seared shut, the whisker marks couldn't be seen and it continued back all the way past his ear, and he was missing a portion of his hair from the right side of his face and head.
A tear slid down Hinata's cheek as she reached out slowly and touched the marred flesh "W-what happened to you..." she whispered.
Naruto chuckled sadly "Life happened, you're all aware that most of the village doesn't like me, now you know to what extent"
Hinata's eyes widened as she got the gist of what he said "The villagers did this to you!?" she yelled in a hushed tone.
Naruto laughed, but this time Hinata could actually see the pain in his eye "No, Shinobi did this villagers just do everything else"
Hinata looked horrified "Shinobi did this to you!? Why!?"
Naruto sighed "It's funny, because you're the first person I've ever actually wanted to tell, and I'm not permitted to"
Hinata was confused "Why is it a secret? And such a high level one at that..." she trailed off.
Naruto looked at her concerned expression with a faint smile "I can't tell you, all I can say is it's why the village dislikes me so"
Hinata nodded and narrowed her eyes cutely at him "I'll find it out myself then, then you'll have to answer my questions"
Naruto nodded as he replaced his mask and hood "When that day comes, I will answer them.." assuming you're not to scared of me' He finished sadly in his mind.
He glanced around and noticed they were still alone for the moment and nodded "Right, well I suppose I'll see you tomorrow, I better get out of here before I get you in trouble for being near me, Ja ne" and he was gone just as quickly as he had appeared beside her, leaving her to her thoughts 'I don't care who see's me with you..' she thought to herself
Hinata sighed and headed home to the Hyuuga compound, she had a lot of new information to go over in her head, like what could possibly make the village all hate a relatively harmless child.
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Naruto sighed as he sat in his crummy apartment, what had he just unleashed on himself? Hinata was going to be actively trying to find out his secret now. He couldn't imagine her taking the news well, hell he couldn't imagine anyone taking the news well, he sure didn't when he first found out about his furry friend.
He sighed as he rubbed his blond hair, he looked over to his mirror as a Henge took affect on him and all of his scars disappeared and he looked perfectly normal, two bright blue eyes, six whisker marks "What I wouldn't give to be normal again" he whispered sadly.
Kyuubi stirred in his mind "Well, some fraction of normalcy could be returned..." He trailed off for the inevitable questions.
Naruto's blue eye widened "Huh, what do you mean?" he asked, he didn't care if he spoke aloud in his own house.
Kyuubi sighed dramatically "You're well aware of my powers and what I can do, while I can't remove scars, I could repair your eye...more or less"
"What!?" Naruto yelled "I thought you couldn't regenerate lost body parts!"
Kyuubi nodded "This is true, but I can heal existing ones, so if you can obtain a new eye, I can work it to work with your body, I could even do more then that"
Naruto raised his eyebrow in curiosity "More? Like what? What could you improve about it? I had perfect vision"
Kyuubi chuckled deeply, as if this was all too amusing for him "I could forge the Sharingan into the eye"
Naruto's jaw dropped, he had read that the Kyuubi was the original source for the Sharingan when he looked for anything he could about the furball "But how?" he pleaded.
Kyuubi shook his head at Naruto's simplicity "I gifted the first Uchiha with their Sharingan, now I will simply give this new eye it as well"
Naruto was stunned, not only could he regain his eyesight, but he could gain the arguably second strongest doujutsu ever! "But...but where do I get an eye from?" Naruto asked.
Kyuubi sighed, the boy was honestly to dense at times, "Where else? Kill someone and take their eye"
Naruto recoiled in disgust "I could never kill someone for something like that!" He yelled frantically.
Kyuubi sighed once again, in disappointment, "Then you will have to wait until you happen across a fresh corpse with intact eyes, maybe you'll be lucky enough to get one from a Shinobi on a mission"
Naruto nodded "Then we will have to wait for that day, because I'm not killing anyone any time soon"
Kyuubi nodded in defeat and yawned "Very well, I'm going back to sleep, wake me for anything interesting"
Naruto nodded and noticed that his henge failed in his extreme lack of concentration, he sighed at his reflection before going over to his clothes and modified his hood and mask, he decided he had no reason to hide his good side, Hinata made him realize that.
He went to the Academy the next morning, and boy did he garnish some attention on the way there. His mask had been cracked in two, leaving the good side of his face out in the sunlight, his hood had also been modified so that half of it was gone as well, letting his golden blond hair bounce in the bright sunlight with every step.
He found it hard to keep from laughing at the gawking stares of the villagers, but managed to keep it down to a bright smile.
He arrived at the academy purposefully last, he wanted to both make an impression and to not have to deal with every person as they walked through the doors.
He walked brazenly into the classroom and all chatter instantly ceased as everyone turned to him and saw what everyone else in the village had seen, and gasps rolled throughout the room.
All the girls in the room noticed that from what they could tell, Naruto was a looker, bright blond hair that stood in every direction, cute whisker marks, a bright smile, and eyes as deep and blue as the ocean.
Ino suddenly stood up and called out "Naruto! Why are you still wearing half of your mask? Why not just take the whole thing off"
Naruto chuckled as his eye flicked around the room, judging everyone's reaction "Because, that would kill my mysterious aura, I just wanted to make it all the more mysterious for you" and he was right, everyone was now even more intrigued about him, all wondering things ranging from 'Does he wear the mask for nothing?' to 'I wonder what he's got to hide under what's left of the mask'
Even Iruka was amazed, even he had never seen the boy behind the mask, he was quite diligent when it came to that sort of thing. "Well, it's very nice to finally know what you look like Naruto, please take your seat though, we do have things to accomplish this morning"
Naruto nodded and grabbed an open seat and waited for Iruka to continue, and he did. He once again mentioned of how proud he was of them, and that now the true test of their skills and willpower would come to pass, he mentioned that they would be put into teams of 3 with a Jounin as their sensei, and then began reading off teams.
Naruto was quite happy when he discovered who his teammates were, Sasuke, well he was quiet and a bit self centered, but he was skilled. But more importantly, Hinata! He had Hinata on his team! He didn't know why he was so ecstatic about her being around more, but he was, and didn't care why.
Two hours after the team was formed Kakashi, their decided sensei finally showed up. Naruto sighed "You could have at least been on time for out first day, make a good impressions"
Kakashi was shocked that half of Naruto's mask was missing, he was yet another person that had never seen the child beneath "Hmm, meet me on the roof in threee minutes" and he disappeared in a puff of smoke.
Naruto yawned and stood from his seat "Well, let's go" he said, nodding to Hinata. She nodded and the two left, Sasuke hot on their tail.
They were on top of the roof in a matter of seconds and they were sitting before Kakashi, who looked quite bored to be here. "Right..why don't you introduce yourselves, My name is Hatake Kakashi, I like plenty of things, and dislike a few things as well, and I have a couple of hobbies"
Naruto sighed "How enlightening. My names Uzumaki Naruto, I like training I suppose, and two people who are nice to me. I dislike a good amount of things, I don't bother to keep track, I don't really have any hobbies, no real dreams either"
Kakashi nodded then pointed to Hinata "How about you?"
Hinata nodded "My names Hyuuga Hinata, I like to drink tea, and to relax in the hot springs. I too have a number of dislikes, I like to draw...I guess that's a hobby" Kakashi raised his visible eyebrow "No dreams?" Hinata glanced ever so slightly towards Naruto and blushed slightly "Well, maybe"
Kakashi grinned slightly 'This could be interesting..' "Alright, you're up" he said, pointing to Sasuke.
Sasuke looked like he was the king of the world "My names Uchiha Sasuke, I don't like much, and I hate a lot, I like to train, and I wont rest until a certain man is dead and my clan is revived"
Kakashi sighed 'oh he'll be a joy' "Alright, meet me at Training ground seven tomorrow at eight Am and don't eat breakfast, we've got our first mission"
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One and a half months passed by all to slowly for the team of new genins, and Naruto was fed up with weeding gardens and catching rogue cats.
"Sarutobi-sama, these missions are beneath us and are an insult to our skills and our pride as Shinobi of this village. We're supposed to be sworn protectors of the village taking difficult missions that others cannot, or would not risk. Yet for the passed month all we've been doing are mediocre chores that a five year old could accomplish, I refuse to do another D-rank today" Naruto argued.
The Sandaime Hokage was surprised with the way Naruto worded his argument, he was half expecting a childish outburst and demands for more excitement. "So be it, I just received a C-rank mission that should be perfect for you four, Tazuna would you please come in?" he called.
A moment later Sarutobi's office doors swung open as a clearly intoxicated man walked into the room in somewhat shabby clothes, bottle of Sake in hand "Eh!? These brats are supposed to protect me?" He looked at Kakashi's mask, and then Naruto's "What the hell, what's with the masks? It's not Halloween"
Naruto rolled his eye at the alcoholic "Despite what you may believe, we are all highly trained professional Shinobi of Konoha, this mission will not be difficult in the slightest, and even if there is trouble Kakashi is a Jounin of the best caliber, you'll be fine"
Tazunza grumbled but nodded "I'll be at the gate, you better not keep me waiting" He turned and left the room, and his stench of alcohol left with him.
Kakashi nodded at his team "Right, grab the essentials quickly and meet at the gates in ten minutes"
The three teens nodded and the all left the office quickly to prepare.
Naruto was the first to arrive at the village gates, in just under three minutes, all of his things were already packed at his house, always were. He couldn't be sure if he was going to be forced to spend a night in the streets again when some moron damages his house, or someone throws another Molotov Cocktail through his window.
Tazuna looked closely at Naruto's mask and couldn't for the life of him see any eye holes or such. "How the hell do you see out of that thing, doesn't it make it hard to see?"
Naruto chuckled "The mask doesn't hinder my vision in the slightest." 'The scars beneath it does' He finished in his head. "Thanks for the consideration though"
In no time they were all there and ready and began their trek towards Tazuna's homeland, Nami no Kuni, where they were to protect him while he finished constructing a bridge.
They passed a large puddle a couple hours into their trip, Naruto didn't pay it any mind, that is until two Kiri nuke-nin appeared from it and ripped Kakashi into bits with a jagged, razor sharp chain.
Hinata screamed as Kakashi's blood flew in every direction, and Naruto couldn't blame her, especially if it was her first time seeing so much blood, hell even Sasuke looked a little shaken up by the eradication of their sensei.
Naruto sprung into action and Kicked one of the cloaked Shinobi in the ribs, doubling him over before snapping his head back into blissful unconsciousness with a kick to the jaw, the second Shinobi then charged at Hinata and Tazuna, and was about to rip the two of them apart at once if Kakashi didn't appear, knocking him out with a vicious grapple around the neck.
Kakashi picked up Naruto's unconscious opponent and nodded "Good work Naruto" he then turned to Sasuke and Hinata "Good work at protecting Tazuna Hinata, Sasuke good job staying prepared for any other threats. If you'll excuse me, I'm going to question these two then send them to Konoha to be dealt with"
Kyuubi cursed Naruto "You could have easily killed him, then you'd have gotten his eye! But noo, now he's just going to die in Konoha where he's worthless"
Naruto sighed 'Oh well, there will be later chances to get an eye, it's not the end of the world'
Kakashi returned a few minutes later without the Shinobi "Well Tazuna, it would seem you have some explaining to do. They admitted that they were hired to kill you, but refused to say who hired them. This is already more than enough cause to drop our contract, so spill it"
Tazuna cracked "Fine, you're right, I deceived you, it's stupid and wrong I know, but I had no choice. The man who sent those Shinobi after me, his names Gato, he's an incredibly rich business owner. But what they don't tell you is that he's a tyrannical drug dealer and slave trader who takes over towns and uses them until they shrivel up and die, last year he came to Nami no Kuni and took over. My bridge is the only hope we have of removing him, so I'm his biggest threat. We couldn't afford anything more than a C-rank mission, even after draining our reserves, I'm sorry for lying, just please don't leave or all of Nami no Kuni is doomed"
Kakashi sighed and turned to his group of genin "Well, I'll leave it up to you guys, this is more than we were asked of or paid for, and we're definitely going to be up against tougher opponents in the future"
Naruto looked from side to side at Hinata and Sasuke, the three of them were the strongest kids from the academy, if they couldn't handle it, who could? "I think we should continue, these people need our help, only a coward would refuse a plea for help" Hinata and Sasuke each nodded in agreement and Kakashi smiled.
"Very well, we will continue onwards, lets continue" The three genin nodded and the group of five continued onward towards Nami no Kuni.
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A few hours later in the trek they were assaulted by none other than Momochi Zabuza, Demon of the Mist. He and Kakashi engaged in an all out fight and Kakashi ended up getting caught in a water prison by Zabuza. Naruto and Sasuke teamed up and got him to release Kakashi, who then defeated Zabuza with his Sharingan. Victory was theirs, and then suddenly a masked Shinobi appeared and stole Zabuza away, claiming to be a Hunter-nin, though Kakashi saw through it and knew Zabuza was still alive.
With the danger gone Kakashi succumbed to his exhaustion from his tough fight and collapsed, and Naruto then carried him to Tazuna's house about two miles away.
The next morning they were all up for a late breakfast and Kakashi was fortunately awake, albeit weak. They were eating the delicious food prepared by Tazuna's beautiful daughter Tsunami, when she began conversing with them "So, You guys are all here to protect my father?"
Kakashi nodded "That and to guard the bridge while he finishes it"
Naruto snickered and added his two cents "Don't forget Gato, still have to kick his sorry ass for what he's done to Nami"
Tsunami's son, who had until now been uncharacteristically quiet, raised his gaze from his food to Naruto "You'll die, just like everyone else" he said solemnly.
Naruto chuckled "Good thing we're not everyone else, we're Shinobi"
The small boy slammed his chopsticks on the table in anger "You think that matters!? Gato has hundreds of soldiers, trained mercenaries! You'll be cut down just like this town. You don't know the suffering he's put us through, you just hide behind a mask, you don't know what true pain is!" He yelled.
Naruto lost it in one of his extremely rare outbursts "Pain? Suffering!?" he reached up suddenly and ripped his mask and hood off and smashed it onto the table as well, shattering his mask. Everyone in the room suddenly gasped at what was beneath his mask, even Hinata it was just to disturbing not to be.
Naruto narrowed his eye at the small child sitting across from him "All I know is pain and suffering! My entire village despises my very existence and routinely tries to kill me! You think mercenaries are bad? Try having trained Shinobi come after you, you can't outrun them, you can't outmaneuver them, they take their time torturing you, and don't think your young age will save you! This was done to me when I was five!" He yelled, while motioning to his burnt face.
"I've never had anyone who cared for me, I've never had parents, or siblings, or anything. Even with all the shit that happens in my life, I still stay happy, you know why!? Because, even if it's fake, it's better than nothing!" He looked down at his shattered mask and cursed, then stormed out of the house.
Tsunami looked at Kakashi with horror stricken eyes "How could your village do that to such a young child?"
Kakashi sighed "Not everyone in Konoha hates him...just most of them. I never even knew he had those burns..."
Hinata was slightly worried "Kakashi-sensei, should we go get him?"
Kakashi shook his head "No, give him time, he'll come back when he's ready"
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Naruto was beating the hell out of the forest, he was pissed, pissed that he got so mad, pissed that that little kid got him so mad, but most of all pissed that he shattered his only mask.
Naruto worked himself through exhaustion with his anger, destroying more than a few trees and working until he passed out in a clearing that he stumbled into in a daze.
The next morning Naruto was still asleep in his clearing when a very feminine looking boy came into the clearing wearing a pink kimono, he had a basket in hand that had some herbs and plants in it. He spotted Naruto's prone form and instantly recognized his clothes and blond hair and moved closer.
When he got close to Naruto's body he was able to see over top of him and see the other side of his face, the scarred flesh and his seared eye, it was such a surprising and disturbing site that the boy gasped, which caused Naruto to stir.
Naruto shook his head slightly and slowly opened his eye and focused on his pink clad intruder "Something I can help you with?" he groggily asked.
The boy shook his head slowly "Sorry, it's not often I find people sleeping out in the woods"
Naruto's eye flicked around his surroundings for a moment before he chuckled "heh, Guess I passed out after last night"
The boy couldn't pull his gaze away from Naruto's melted skin, he knew it was incredibly rude to stare, more so at something like that, but he couldn't help it, "Those scars...what happened to you? I've never seen such brutal scars"
Naruto laughed lightly, but the boy saw the pain and hurt flash through his eye, like any trained shinobi could. "Back in my village, I'm hated by everyone. To the point that they routinely try to rid the world of my existence. This was another of their attempts"
The boy fell backwards and caught himself on his palms "Your village hates you? Why..."
Naruto chuckled "Sorry, I can't tell you. One it's an S-rank secret of my village, and second, you're the enemy"
The boys' eyes widened in disbelief and he did his best to look confused "Huh? Why would you say such a thing?"
A faint grin slipped onto Naruto's face "Chakra signatures. I may be a genin by technicality, but I'm quite good. Your chakra signature is the same as that Hunter-nin that scooped Zabuza out at the last second, plus I doubt any civilians would have as much chakra as you, if they somehow managed to unlock their chakra that is. My question is, why didn't you try to kill me right from the start? We're enemies"
The boy sighed "I don't like to kill, plus I was curious as to what happened to your own mask"
Naruto laughed heartily "What are the odds of two Shinobi, who are enemies meet, and neither wants to kill"
The boys' eyes widened once again "You don't like to kill either? What's your reason?"
Naruto shrugged "I don't really have a reason, I just don't want to be some heartless killing machine, once someone dies it's over for them, there is no going back, no do overs, it's done and over and you rot in the ground. I'd prefer everyone get the longest shot on this earth as they can. I would only kill someone who was truly a tyrant to this world or the safety of my village or team mates. I'm sorry to say that if I have to, I will kill Zabuza if he becomes a danger to my team mate. So, what's your reason for hating killing?"
The boy sighed "I...I was forced to kill at a very young age. My father killed my mother when he discovered she had a kekei genkai, then tried to kill me, and I killed him in defense. The feeling of taking someones life, it's horrible. But Zabuza-sama saved me, gave me a purpose, and I will kill if he asks me to. I would prefer not to, but I will kill your team if I have to as well"
Naruto chuckled sadly "Looks as if we're two allies stuck on the wrong side of an uncrossable fence. My Names Naruto by the way, Uzumaki Naruto"
The boy smiled, "Nice to meet you Naruto, my name is Haku"
Naruto smiled and offered a hand "Well, I should be heading back to my team, I've been gone for a while and they're probably worried. Let's hope neither of us has to kill the other, okay?"
Haku grabbed his outstretched hand and shook it "Okay, see you around then Naruto"
Naruto nodded and started walking in the direction of Tazuna's house before turning his head at the last moment and calling over his shoulder "See ya later"
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Naruto arrived at Tazuna's house a short while later and found Tsunami in the kitchen cleaning up from apparently, breakfast. She shivered when she saw his scarred face, she she would ever get used to those scars. "Morning Naruto, good to see your back. Can I help you with anything?"
Naruto nodded "Actually, do you know where my team is? I figured I should talk to them"
Tsunami nodded and smiled "Yeah, sure. They headed east out into the forest to do some kind of training or something, they shouldn't be too far out"
Naruto smiled in return and bowed his head slightly "Thanks Tsunami-san" he quickly turned back around and headed back out into the forest without grabbing anything to eat.
He walked for about fifteen minutes before he stumbled upon his team, and sure enough they were training out in the woods. Hinata was seated up about fifty feet in a tree on a large branch, while Sasuke was glaring at a tree with about nine slash marks in the bark at varying heights.
Kakashi noticed Naruto's arrival first and called out to him "Ahh, Naruto. Good to see you didn't disappear forever on us, are you alright?"
Naruto nodded quickly "Yeah, I'm fine, just needed to blow off some steam and have some time alone, I'm fine now"
Kakashi smiled beneath his mask "Good, because you've got some catching up to do. Sasuke and Hinata have already been training for about fifteen minutes, they've both got head starts on you, and Hinata has already seemed to perfect this"
Naruto looked at the marks that Sasuke had made, and where Hinata was sitting and guessed that they were doing chakra control exercises, but figured he would humor Kakashi. "So, what are you guys doing?"
Kakashi's grin seemed to grow behind his mask "You're climbing trees, without your hands"
Naruto nodded without any hint of emotion, much to Kakashi's dismay "Ahh, I figured as much. I'm going to do my own thing, okay? I already know how to climb trees with chakra"
Kakashi raised his eyebrow in question "Really now? When did you learn how to do it?"
Naruto looked off to the side for a moment in thought before nodding to himself "I learned to climb trees with my chakra the same day I unlocked my chakra, one month after my fifth birthday"
Kakashis' eye widened "You unlocked your chakra when you were five? That's unheard of! The earliest case I've ever heard of someone unlocking their chakra was the Yondaime and Uchiha Itachi, they both unlocked their chakra just after they turned seven"
Naruto smirked "Guess I'm better than the two best Shinobi Konoha has ever produced then. Anyway, like I said, can I go do my own thing then? I already know how to climb trees"
Kakashi shook his head "Negative, seeing as you already know tree climbing, and Hinata mastered it so easily, I'm going to get you guys started on water walking now"
Naruto's smirk grew "I already know water walking as well Kakashi, I've been doing chakra control for nine years, I've mastered all the methods of training I've found, and have created my own"
Kakashi's jaw visibly dropped as his sagging mask was evidence of "You created your own chakra control training methods?!" he asked excitedly.
Naruto nodded "Yeah, though mine are a bit different from standard ways, mine are specifically tailored to help me control my unnaturally high chakra reserves, which are incredibly hard to control. Rather than just trying to control my chakra to a tiny point, I work on controlling it perfectly on the large scale. My chakra just can't be moved in tiny amounts"
Kakashi smiled at his charge, Naruto was taking the word diligence and redefining it. "Alright then, I give you permission to do your own training exercises."
Naruto smirked and nodded "Thanks Kakashi, I guess I'll see you guys later then, Ja Ne" and he quickly jogged off into his own private section of the forest.
Once he had gotten a few miles away, where his chakra would not be sensed he sat down in a small clearing and crossed his legs. He focused on his chakra and a moment later it began to pour out of him, encircling him in a roaring fire of ethereal blue flames.
Naruto smiled at the warmth his chakra gave off and focused it to his backside and legs, and sure enough after a moment of getting the levels right he was hovering about twelve inches off the ground on a cushion of his own chakra, almost like a drastically super charged version of water walking.
Once he had himself stabilized he began to work on the rest of this technique, by shifting and moving his chakra and altering the levels of it below him, he could move around above the ground without ever touching it or having the tiniest bits of friction applied to his body.
He spent the entire day working on the technique, he had been working on it for quite a while but was still a ways off from having it working fully. His end product was to be able to move without moving, with completely silence, and by forming a film of chakra over his entire body as well, he would have no friction at all, not even against the wind.
He spent the entire week working on the technique, and actually made some substantial progress by the end of the week.
On the final night he made the poor decision of sleeping out in the woods at his training spot, and as a result, he overslept.
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He woke up and noticed that the sun was substantially higher in the sky then he'd hoped "Damn, they probably already ate breakfast"
He quickly headed back towards Tazuna's house, they were supposed to go to the bridge today to check up on the progress.
When he approached Tazuna's house he heard what sounded like a struggle and Tsunami scream.
He approached the back door to the house cautiously and found Tsunami struggling against to men, both armed with Katanas. Tsunami's small son was standing before them, telling them to let her go, but they just laughed at him "No, we won't let her go. But you can have her body back when we're done having fun with her" The larger of the two said, while grinning like a sicko.
Naruto's eye narrowed in disgust, if there was one thing he hated more than the someone who hurt him, was someone who would harm a woman.
He appeared in a blur and smashed the smaller mans face into the wall of the house with such ferocity that it cracked the board of the house, needless to say, the man wasn't waking up for a while.
The larger of the two, who was holding Tsunami around the throat, and had his Katana to her throat turned around to find Naruto, looking none to pleased. He looked down to his partners crushed and bloody face and glared at Naruto "Move and I'll kill her, freak!" he yelled.
Naruto narrowed his eye slightly before his chakra exploded out of him briefly in an extremely bright blue flash, blinding the large swordsman temporarily. In that second that he was blinding Naruto moved in another blur, he grabbed the blade of his sword and ripped it back away from Tsunami's throat and knocked her down to the ground out of harms way, and he swept the disoriented mans feet out from under him and cracked his head on a large stone on the ground, knocking him out with a fleshy 'thud'
Naruto turned to Tsunami and frowned briefly "Sorry about that Tsunami-san, I had to get you away from him" he apologized.
Tsunami shook her head "You have nothing to be sorry about, thank you for saving me. Please, let me take a look at that cut"
Naruto turned his hand over and looked at the blood that was leaking rapidly from the deep gash, dripping off his fingers almost in a stream. He shook his head and flicked his hand, splattering blood on the brown dirt. "No need, it's nothing serious, but thank you for the offer. If these two attacked you here, there's no doubt that there will be more of them attacking my team down at the bridge, I need to go now"
Naruto quickly spun around, turning his back to Tsunami and jumped off in the direction of the bridge.
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Naruto arrived at the bridge to not the best of circumstances. Kakashi was fighting Zabuza and had a deep gash in his chest, but he looked confident that he would win, and Sasuke was encircled in a dome of Ice mirrors and was squaring off against Haku, and he wasn't doing to badly, but was headed south. Hinata was fine, in position guarding Tazuna from any surprise attacks or some such thing.
Life had conspired against him yet again. He sighed and ran for the dome of ice mirrors to save Sasuke.
Naruto dove into the ice dome and ended up next to Sasuke. He turned to him an was surprised to find the first stage of the Sharingan burning in his eyes "Sasuke, take a break I'll take care of it from here, you're exhausted."
Sasuke's body accepted Naruto's offer before he could argue and he passed out.
Naruto turned back to the mirrors and sighed "Irony is a bitch, isn't it Haku?"
The image of Haku in the mirrors nodded "Indeed, I'm sorry Naruto, but I will have to kill you if you don't step down, it is Zabuza-sama's wish"
Naruto shook his head sadly "Sorry, I can't stand down and let you kill Tazuna, it's my mission to protect him"
The image of Haku nodded but nothing was said, and Naruto suddenly felt a number of senbons stab into his back. He spun around quickly to counter, only to take another volley in the chest.
He grunted as blood started to seep into his perforated black jacket. "Damn, you're to fast to track" he suddenly felt three more groups of senbons all hit him at seemingly the same moment from completely different directions.
Naruto shook his head sadly, realizing he had no hope of catching Haku currently "I'm sorry for resorting to this, I would have liked to defeat you on my own" 'Kyuubi, your chakra please'
Kyuubi nodded and let forth some of his chakra to the blond.
Naruto suddenly erupted with power, red chakra exploded out from him and began to swirl around like a typhoon of power, carving into the ground with it's ferocity. Naruto hunched over slightly and began to physically change. His hair stood out straight and became more feral, fingers changed into powerful claws with razor sharp nails, his eye narrowed and his face took a feral look, his whiskers grew thicker and darker, his canines grew out into full blown fangs and his eye changed into a burning crimson color with a slit pupil.
Haku was suddenly terrified, terrified like back when his father was coming at him with a butcher knife to kill him for being his mothers son. He watched as all of the senbon he threw slowly fell to the ground as Naruto's wounds closed with a audible hissing and visible steam.
Naruto looked up at the mirrors and suddenly disappeared with a burst of speed Haku had never thought possible, and suddenly half of the mirrors in his dome exploded into shards of useless ice.
He leaped free of his mirror and dove at Naruto with a Kunai in hand, a desperate move in it's self. Naruto moved out of the way though and snatched Haku's arm in an incredibly strong grip and wrenched him forward while he threw a powerful fist at Haku's face.
Haku went flying back from the force of the blow and smashed through one his own mirrors and tumbled along the concrete bridge for about ten feet before coming to a halt and slowly standing up on his feet. In that same moment Kakashi had trapped Zabuza in a trap and was coming at him with his Raikiri fully blazing and ready to kill.
Haku sensed his masters danger and he bowed slightly to Naruto "I'm sorry Naruto, our match must come to a close early" and he quickly disappeared in a plume of smoke, confusing Naruto, that is until he turned and saw what happened with Kakashi and Zabuza.
Just as he turned and focused on Kakashi and Zabuza, he saw Kakashi throw his fist forward, which was engulfed with blue lightning, but right as it was about to impact with Zabuza Haku appeared in a plume of smoke and the Raikiri tore through his chest like a knife through butter splattering blood across Zabuza and Kakashi.
Haku coughed up a large amount of blood and what looked to be a chunk of lung and frowned "I fa-failed you Zab.." His brown eyes grew cold before he could finish his sentence and his head fell forward lifelessly.
Zabuza apparently not caring for his apprentice suddenly broke free of the dogs that were holding him and swung his massive sword vertically down at Kakashi, planning to cut him down, along with the body of his apprentice. Luckily Kakashi acted quickly enough and moved himself and Haku out of harms way, and a second later he disabled both of Zabuza's arms, reducing him to near uselessness.
Naruto let the Kyuubi's chakra fade from him, and picked up Haku's cracked mask from the ground and it snapped in half when he picked it up. He took the broken mask and walked over to where Kakashi was detaining Zabuza, and Haku's body lay.
He looked to Zabuza and narrowed his eye at him "You're despicable, you know. He followed you in life, no matter what you told him to do, and gave his life to save yours, and you'd just as quickly throw his body to the curb like he never meant a thing to you?"
Zabuza scoffed at his remark "He was nothing more than my tool, and I am nothing more than his master, his death has no meaning to me"
Naruto shook his head "You're wrong. You were much more than a master to him, you were a mentor, a savior, you were the light in his world, and he was the light in yours"
Naruto saw a small gleam in Zabuza's eyes as his long bottled up emotions broke through to his mind. "You threw Haku to the side, like so much garbage once he was useless, you're no demon, you're just scum"
Zabuza shook his head, and Naruto actually saw a tear fly from his eye "Be quiet. Your words cut deep, deeper than any blade. You're right-" before the conversation could continue the irritating laugh of Gato rang out across the bridge.
"Zabuza, you useless piece of garbage! You couldn't even deal with a bunch of brats, it's a shame that brat kid died, I was looking forward to making him beg for death. At least I get to kill you, demon my ass"
Naruto's head swiveled over to Gato, and the two hundred mercenaries standing behind him, all armed with weapons. "So, after you're done with all of us, you're gonna move on to Nami right?"
Gato cackled manically "Precisely! The people of this land are useless, I only need their harbor, not their people, they've become a liability"
Naruto nodded solemnly "Well, I can't allow that to come to pass, you'll have to be stopped"
Gato laughed again "What, you think you can kill all of us? You little shit"
Naruto shook his head "No, I won't kill any of you. I don't like to kill, but I'm not against death. Zabuza earned his title of 'Demon of the Mist'-" He checked to make sure Hinata was out of earshot "- I on the other hand, was branded with the name demon, and unlike Zabuza, I really am a demon"
Naruto lowered his head, hiding his blue eye from view 'Kyuubi, kill them all for me, just don't harm my friends'
Kyuubi nodded, all to eager for a tiny bit of freedom. He took control of Naruto.
Kyuubi raised Naruto's head, and his blue eye was replaced with his own crimson one, and the malevolent chakra exploded out of him again, more powerful than when Naruto used it before. It engulfed him in a red aura that shrouded him from view and looked like a fox with two long tails of chakra.
Kakashi and Zabuza looked on in awed horror as Naruto transformed and the Kyuubi took over. Zabuza couldn't help but ask "What in the hell is that kid.."
Kakashi sighed "Naruto, is as he said, a true demon. It's all I can say"
Zabuza's eyes widened as he watched the Kyuubi controlled Naruto stalk slowly up to the group of hundreds of armed men with no weapon in hand "And people say I'm crazy.."
The men struck out and more than a few ran Naruto through with polearms and swords, the blood sprayed out onto the ground but Kyuubi didn't flinch or make a noise, he raised his arm and an arm of pure chakra shot off of his arm and ripped through a group of men like nothing, shredding them limb from limb and spraying blood all over the other men on the bridge.
Blood curdling screams rang out as Kyuubi slaughtered them all without displaying anything except a sickening smile as he ripped them to pieces, sending body parts flying and covering the bridge in blood and organs.
Eventually there was no one except Gato left. Gato shook in fear as he cowered at the end of the bridge, as far away from the Kyuubi as he could. Kyuubi walked right up to him and smiled, he leaned in and whispered to Gato so only he would hear "I am the Kyuubi" and he cleaved the man from skull to groin with one chakra shrouded hand. Knocking the two spliced sides of his body over the edge of the bridge and into the water below.
Just as quickly as it started it was over, and Kyuubi relinquished control back to Naruto.
Naruto looked around at the devastation that Kyuubi caused and nodded in satisfaction that they were dead, he didn't notice it at that moment, but he was becoming more and more accustomed to death and killing.
Naruto walked back over to his group and idly noticed that Sasuke was still passed out where he fought Haku and he had to chuckle.
Naruto looked at Zabuza, who was still looking at Naruto disbelievingly. "So, Zabuza. Gato's dead, your mission is over, Haku is dead, your arms are incapacitated, what's your plan of action now?"
Zabuza looked at Haku's lifeless body and tears streamed from his eyes "Leave me. I'll think of something to do with my life eventually, it's ironic that I didn't know how lonely life was until Haku died, just give him a proper burial since I can't, please"
Naruto looked to Kakashi, who only nodded. "Alright, we can do that for you, no problem" Naruto scooped up Haku's body and turned to Kakashi "Kakashi, I'm going to bury Haku. I'll meet you guys back at the house, okay?"
Kakashi looked over to the unconscious Sasuke and nodded "Yeah...okay, see you there" He was still flabbergasted at the events that took place.
Naruto nodded looked to Zabuza and nodded "Good luck Zabuza, maybe we'll meet again one day"
Zabuza chuckled sadly "Yeah, maybe kid. Thanks"
Naruto smiled sadly and walked off with Haku's body, there was work to be done.
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Naruto took Haku's body to a secluded location and set it down on the damp grass. 'What do I do Kyuubi? Not like I have any medical knowledge'
Kyuubi chuckled 'Don't worry about anything, just let me take over for a bit and I'll do everything, I don't need you to botch this up'
Naruto nodded and relinquished control to the demon and he faded into unconsciousness.
Kyuubi instantly went to work on extracting Haku's right eye and implanting it in Naruto, time was of the essence after all.
An hour later and Kyuubi had finished his work and released Naruto's body back to it's proper owner.
Naruto looked around and forgot how good it felt to have depth perception, it would take a little while to get used to having two eyes again after nine years of half blindness.
He picked up Haku's body once again and made a grave for him under a tree on a hill and buried him there, leaving the grave with nothing but a cross that said 'Haku' any further information could inspire someone to dig up the body for secrets or grave robbers.
Naruto thanked Haku for giving him back his sight, he wished that he didn't have to die for it, but he would never truly be gone, he would live on forever as part of Naruto.
With Haku's grave made Naruto quickly headed back to Tazuna's house to meet up with his team.
He arrived in a fairly short amount of time and walked inside the kitchen and found...no one. So he ventured further into the house and found Tazuna, Tsunami, Hinata, and Kakashi. Apparently Sasuke was still out cold, then again, he did just unlock his kekei genkai, he was probably spent. Hinata was patching up the gash in Kakashi's chest and none of them paid any attention to his entrance, that is until Tsunami turned to him and saw that he was now sporting a light brown eye in his previously useless right eye socket.
Naturally, she gasped. "Naruto, I thought you were blind in your right eye, and it's a different color!" That caught everyone's attention and Kakashi and Hinata turned around to find that Tsunami was indeed telling the truth, Naruto was now looking around with both a deep blue Sapphire eye, and a light brown eye. "Naruto, did you do what I think you did?" Kakashi asked sternly.
Naruto nodded "Yes, I did. I wanted to have my full eyesight back, and I know Haku would have given me his eye were he able to. I didn't tell you guys this, but I met Haku the morning after I stormed off into the woods, he was actually a very nice guy, I wish he didn't die"
Kakashi sighed "Withholding that information could have been detrimental to the mission, also how did you perform the procedure to correctly attach his eye? It's a complicated medical procedure that's difficult even for experts, I would know" he said, placing his hand over his headband as he finished.
Naruto squinted at Kakashi, why the hell would he ask that question in front of Hinata? "Well, I've been missing an eye for many years now, so naturally I researched everything I could about it and even perfected the procedure so that I could perform it on myself one day"
Kakashi nodded his head slowly, it wasn't impossible for someone to learn the technique, especially if they spent years studying and practicing it, plus he didn't doubt that the Kyuubi assisted him in the healing, how he loathed that beast. "Right...Well don't get to comfortable, now that the mission is over, once everyone's injuries are healed, we're going to be on out way back to Konoha, this mission needs to be reported to lord Hokage still"
Naruto nodded "Alright, do you mind if I go out and train then? I assume you won't be able to travel until at least the day after tomorrow, that wound is serious"
Kakashi nodded "Fine, just don't wear yourself out, we do have a decent amount of traveling ahead of us"
Naruto smirked and turned for the door "Don't worry, I won't wear myself out"
Naruto went out into the woods once again and found a secluded spot a few miles out from the house, he sat down in the cool grass and contacted the Kyuubi 'So, I assume you gave the eye the Sharingan?'
Kyuubi chuckled 'Of course I did, the longer you live, the longer I live, and I never plan on dying, even if it is a relatively caged life'
Naruto shrugged, he would prefer life over death too. 'Alright, fair enough. Mind training me in everything about the Sharingan then? Won't be very useful if I can't use it at all'
Kyuubi nodded his permission 'Very well. Firstly, you must keep in mind that the Sharingan you will be wielding is nothing like the Sharingan of the Uchiha clan. Sure I gave them power, but I really granted them the Sharingan because it was amusing to see them destroy themselves for power. They were required to kill their best friend to gain the Mangekyou Sharingan, then once they got that they would steadily go blind if they didn't steal their brothers eyes! It was priceless to watch them go after their friends and family. Like I said, yours is nothing like theirs, there would be no point in making you do all that since you have family. I've already granted you the full Mangekyou Sharingan. There is another higher level of it though, one that only you can utilize. If you use my Youkai, your Sharingan will change into an even higher form, called the Waikyoku Sharingan. It takes the Sharingan's powers and brings them to their ultimate level. Any questions?'
Naruto struggled to absorb everything the Kyuubi just threw at him, and after a minute he had his mind wrapped around it all pretty well 'Well, how do I activate it?'
Kyuubi chuckled 'It activates like any doujutsu would, focus your chakra to your eyes, or in this case, eye, and speak it's name, whether it be Sharingan, Mangekyou Sharingan, or Waikyoku Sharingan. Now, activate it and use it, I want you to spend the rest of the time until your little group goes back to Konoha reading the movements of everything in the forest.'
Naruto nodded and focused his chakra to his right eye and whispered "Sharingan" suddenly his light brown eye changed into a deep red and three black tomoe marks appeared surrounding the pupil. Naruto looked around the forest with his left eye closed and was stunned at just how much the Sharingan did, it was as if everything went into super ultra slow motion at his will, he watched in fascination as he could actually count the number of times a humming birds' wings beat as it flew by. He sat for hours and watched everything in the forest, analyzing everything he could to the finest details, studying body motions and language.
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It took four more days for Kakashi's wound to heal enough for them all to return to Konoha, and in that time the slaughter on the bridge that the Kyuubi performed had been cleaned up and the bridge had been finished.
Naruto never told Kakashi, or any of his team about his Sharingan, it would cause far to much anger in Sasuke, and would cause way to many questions to be asked by everyone, after all, the Sharingan doesn't just manifest in anyone's eye.
The time came for them all to leave and they left quickly, avoiding any kind of big celebration the town may have planned for the official opening of the bridge.
They made it back to Konoha in about the same amount of time it took to get there, minus the fights with the demon brothers and Zabuza. Judging from the reactions of the guards at the gate, Naruto contemplated creating another mask, if everyone was going to badger him for five minutes about 'dude, what the hell happened to you face!?' he might be better off remaining an unknown. In the end he decided against it though, the mask would just be the need to maintain another secret, one was enough.
Once they got through the gates they headed for the Hokage tower to report about their mission, and Naruto quickly came to like not wearing his mask, his scars gave him a much more intimidating look, as did his two-toned eyes and he sent many a villagers scurrying when he glared at them, and even managed to make his right eye flash red without transforming fully into the Sharingan.
They made it through the village without a fuss and quickly climbed the stairs of the Hokage tower and entered his room, once Sarutobi got over his shock of Naruto without a mask, and the question of where the eye came from was answered he got down to the business at hand.
Sarutobi rifled through one of the many draws in his large desk and eventually withdrew three papers from the draw and handed them to Kakashi "It's a good thing that you got back when you did, any later and you would have been unable to participate. Give these to the three of them and explain everything to them, and inform them of the deadline, as it's rather close, aside from that, you're dismissed"
Kakashi nodded as he took the three papers from Sarutobi, he bowed and led his team out of the tower and brought them outside and across the street before leaning against a building with his back and holding the papers out to them "Take one" he said.
They all quickly reached out and snatched one of the three papers. "Those are entry forms, the Chuunin exams are upon us and it's up to you three if you want to participate or not. You must come to a decision very quickly though, the exams begin tomorrow morning. I would have liked to train you guys all a bit longer, but our mission took longer than expected, I think you're all ready to partake in the exam, but the decision is up to you in the end. If you're taking it, fill out the papers and report to room 301 in the Academy tomorrow morning for the first part of the exams. That's all, see you guys around" and he turned and left them all to make their decisions.
Naruto smirked and whipped out a pen he had with him "Dunno about you two, but I'm gonna kick me some ass and become a chuunin"
Hinata smiled and mimicked his action in filling out the form, as did Sasuke. Neither of them wanted to be left out/behind.
In just a few moments their forms were filled out and they all had nothing else to do, Hinata turned to Naruto "Naruto? Seeing as we've got nothing better to do, do you want to get some lunch?"
Naruto smiled, the fact that she still liked him, despite his scars, and more so knowing that he was keeping secrets from her, and she was still willing to pursue him, well that was huge points in his book. "Yeah, sure. I know this great restaurant on the other end of the village, they have some great food"
Hinata beamed, she actually beamed. While she wasn't nearly as shy as she appeared in the academy, she was still terrified of Naruto, not because of how he looked no, she was terrified of his opinion, of what he thought about her.
She nodded her head furiously and followed after Naruto as he led the way to the restaurant, leaving Sasuke in the dust.
Naruto noticed a few things that afternoon, people didn't glare at him nearly as harshly when Hinata was nearby, most likely out of fear of the repercussions if news got out they were glaring at the Hyuuga heiress, but he liked it anyway. He also noticed that he didn't have to fake being happy around Hinata, there was something about her that just made him happier, and he could definitely get used to that.
Most of their time was spent with Hinata telling some of the few humorous encounters that take place in the Hyuuga estate, like when her sister, Hanabi, for all her worth couldn't find her hair ties, which were in fact, already in her hair. The poor girl spent the whole day looking for them, leaving giggling clan members wherever she looked. Naruto laughed but knew how the girl must have felt, he'd spent a good forty-five minutes looking for a Kunai holster he was already wearing before, he'd even looked for his hitai-ite while it was strapped to his arm.
When their lunch ended the sun was already starting to go down, so Naruto walked her until they were just out of sight of the Hyuuga estate, and then wished her a good nights rest for the exams tomorrow, then he himself went home for a good nights rest.
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The next morning Naruto woke up bright and early, got ready and headed out for the Academy to meet up with his team.
Luck was against him though and as he hoped along the rooftops he heard someone call out for help from down in the alley, and it was at times like this he wished he were less compassionate. He stopped and jumped down into the alley.
Turns out that the one screaming for help was the Hokage's grandson, Konohamaru. Naruto had seen the kid around the village before, he was a bit of a brat. The one that was attacking him however, he was tall, and probably a year younger than Naruto himself was, he had on a black body suit with a strange black hood that had cat ears, and to finish off his strangeness he had on face paint and a strange bandage wrapped object on his back.
When Naruto landed in the alley the kid in black looked over to him and did a double take when he saw Naruto's scarred face and two-toned eyes, just like everyone else does their first time seeing him. "What the hell do you want, freak?" He yelled.
Naruto sighed, couldn't anyone think of something original to call him? It was always either freak or demon, and it was getting old. "Well, for starters, how about you let him go?"
The kid scoffed "Hmm, no. I think I'll just kick his ass, then when I'm done with him, I'll kick your ass"
Naruto sighed deeper "That would be a very stupid decision to make. That boy that you're harassing happens to be the grandson of the Hokage, so if you plan to get your ass landed in prison, go right ahead. And kicking my ass? Well it wouldn't be a good decision for you to get your ass kicked right before you take the chuunin exams"
That seemed to hit a button, because the kid tossed Konohamaru to the side, who landed on his feet but stumbled. "What did you just say? You think you can take me on!?" he yelled, as his hand slowly moved towards the object on his back.
Naruto sighed "Think? No, I know I can beat you."
That did it, the black clad boy reached for the object on his back, but right as he was about to unleash the mysterious object a swirl of sand caught their attention on a nearby tree limb and a short red headed boy appeared with a large gourd on his back. He spoke in a cold, harsh tone "Kankuro, you are a disgrace to Suna, and if you ever do something like this again, I'll kill you"
Naruto outright laughed at the black clad boy, now confirmed to be Kankuro "Well, I know who wears the pants on your team"
Kankuro glared at him, but said and did nothing. The red head turned his attention to Naruto and addressed him "You seem confident in yourself, who are you?"
Naruto smirked "You know, it's customary to introduce yourself first before asking someone their name, but I'm Uzumaki Naruto, and I'll be looking forward to kicking your asses in the exams"
The boy narrowed his eyes at Naruto "I am Sabaku no Gaara, I'll enjoy killing you"
Naruto chuckled "Great! I'll see you there then Gaara, later" Naruto quickly left the alley and headed off towards the academy once again.
Naruto arrived at the Academy and met up with his two teammates and the three went inside as a group, they ascended the stairs only to find a large group of genin at the second floor, all crowded around two guys who were blocking the door to the wrong room.
Naruto ignored all of the genin and shoved his teammates past and up the stairs to the third floor before Sasuke could open his stupid mouth about the genjutsu.
They arrived at the third floor to find an eerily empty dojo, Naruto once again nudged his team along and they walked through two large double doors, only to walk right into a literal sea of genin. They entered a large test room that was stuffed with genin, and surprisingly, the members of teams 8 and 10 were there as well, all eyes snapped to the new comers, then to Naruto, and then the usual gasps and whispers could be heard.
In under a second the rookie nine had surrounded him and started to question him. Naruto groaned and yelled for them to shut up, then stated "Now, one at a time damn it"
Sakura pushed through the crowd and asked "Is that why you always wore that mask? To hide those scars?"
Naruto rolled his eyes "No, I wore the mask to hide the perfectly fine side of my face, of course that's why I wore the mask!"
"Soo, why'd you stop wearing it then?" Shikamaru asked.
Naruto shrugged "I broke it on our last mission, didn't bother to remake it"
Kiba asked the next question "Okay, so...why are your eyes two different colors?"
Naruto looked at Kiba as if it was the stupidest question ever "Because one of them isn't mine, duh"
Kiba cringed, along with most of the rookie nine "So, where'd the eye come from?" Ino asked.
Naruto shrugged "Where else would it come from? A person"
