Different Perception
Author's note:
The usual about all of the Japanese honorifics and short words, I will not use them.
The pairing in this story will not be for a very long time. So don't expect a lot of romance for now.
Author's Rants:
I'm starting at the night of the Forbidden Scroll Incident.
I do not own Naruto.
Different Person Arc: Episode I
Not Who You Knew
Perception:
The act or faculty of apprehending by means of the senses or of the mind; cognition; understanding.
Source: http:/ dictionary. reference. com / browse / perception (Remove spaces for URL)
"You are the Nine-Tailed Fox Naruto!" Mizuki shouted with a wild, sinister grin on his face. He smirked viciously when he saw Naruto's eyes become shadowed over by his hair and his head lower in sadness. Or so he believed.
"What's so funny?" Mizuki snarled when he saw a quick humored chuckle escape the blonde academy student's lips.
"I've known about the Nine-Tailed Fox my whole life you dumbass," Naruto said coolly.
"Ha! So admit to being- urk!" Mizuki hissed as a kunai zipped by his face, tearing open a wound. He scowled due to the fact he was barely able to dodge that! How could he, a chunin, not be able to see a kunai thrown by not even a graduate! That was shameful!
"I said I've known about it you moron. I never said anything about being the Nine-Tailed Fox," the orange garbed civilian stated. "It's not that hard to pick up a book in the Hokage's office and read you idiot."
"Tch, doesn't matter either way Nine-Tails, once I kill you I'll be a hero!" Mizuki pulled off one of the fuma-shurikens on his back and readied it is his hand. "Now, die!" he yelled, flinging the large shuriken at Naruto.
Before Mizuki even saw it happen, and before Iruka could even attempt to protect the jinchûriki, the fuma-shuriken crashed to the ground with a loud, 'Thung!'
"What the!" Mizuki screeched.
"How?" Iruka whispered to himself.
"Was that throw really meant to kill me?" Naruto asked while toying around with the handle of a kunai. "Because if that throw was really beaten by one of my weakest, well by my standards anyway, then you have no way of beating me anytime soon."
"What!" Mizuki hissed as he looked at the grounded fuma-shuriken. And, lo and behold, there was a shuriken embedded into the base of two of the fuma-shuriken's blades.
'When has Naruto ever been like this?' Iruka asked himself. 'There's no anger or frustration in being the jinchûriki. There's no resentment for being withheld the information. He doesn't even seem to be scared at all. In fact,' Iruka looked directly at the blonde and gauged the aura that surrounded the blonde. 'He's completely cool and collected, confident even! And the way he threw that shuriken and deflected the fuma-shuriken! If that's his weakest throw, then that means he's been holding back.' Iruka's eyes narrowed as he gazed at the orange-jumpsuit-wearing blonde. 'How much of you have we seen in the academy the real you?'
"Tch! I'll just have to go all out on yo-" Mizuki suddenly stopped in his unneeded villain ranting when he felt something connect with both of his palms and ankles, causing him to fly backwards into a tree. The traitorous chunin tried his best to move when he stopped but realized he was pinned against the tree with kunais.
"Arrrgggghhh! You son of a bitch!" Mizuki yelled in pain. "I'll fucking kill you! Hurk!" this time he felt a kunai embed itself into his knees and his shoulders. "Nraaagghhh!"
"Talk about my mother like that and I'll make sure you die a bloody death you traitorous piece of shit," Naruto said coldly, his eyes an ice blue like color. "Iruka-sensei!" he shouted, turning to the chunin, "You've already alerted the Old Man where I was correct?"
"Ah! Yes, of course!" Iruka acknowledged, as he stood up wobbly. "He should be sending a contingent of ANBU here any moment."
"Well then, they're a little late for the show."
"Huh?" Iruka asked bewildered, staring questioningly at the #1 knucklehead prankster of the Hidden Leaf until he felt five strong signatures appear in the clearing they were in. 'How did Naruto even know they were here before me?'
"Good evening Cat, Boar, Tiger, Falcon and Dragon."
"Now is not the time for pleasantries Naruto-kun," Cat giggled.
"She's right you know," Tiger stated in a bored tone.
"You have something Naruto?" Dragon asked, holding out his hand.
"Oh yeah. Here ya go!" the blonde said as he hefted the Forbidden Scroll of the Hidden Leaf into the ANBU captains hand. "Make sure not to get that thing lost now ya hear?" Naruto teased. "I don't want to have to be the one to search all over the place for it while everyone else has their chopped off chicken heads shoved up their asses do I?" he said in a somewhat condescending voice.
"Don't worry Naruto-kun," Cat said after she had bashed the blonde over the head, causing him to crash into the ground with smoke rising from his head. "Just leave everything to us." One could tell she was not happy with the blonde's tone of voice.
Of course it was almost impossible to find Naruto Uzumaki (Namikaze) whenever he did not want to be found. How in the Elemental Nations could one boy, garbed in a 'Kill-me-now-orange' manage to evade not only chunin and jonin, but ANBU as well after painting the Hokage Monument! The thing was frigging near the HQ of the ANBU yet they didn't even realize until he announced it to the whole village! Needless to say, Naruto Uzumaki (Namikaze) had put the whole of the Leaf's ninja forces to shame. It was even more shameful due to the fact that this boy, not even a ninja, was able to beat their Hokage. Not only that, he was able to sneak into the Hokage Tower, the most highly secured building of all in the Leaf, only second to the ANBU HQ. Even the HQ wasn't safe from Naruto due to the fact he pulled a prank in the HQ and was able to escape the ANBU infested building without anyone knowing where he went.
People were either getting too lax in the time of piece, or Naruto was just that much better than anyone else was.
"My, my, so scary," Naruto said in a bored voice as he got up and dusted himself off. "You guys going to take out the trash too?" he asked as he looked at the bloody heap still connected to the tree.
When all five of the ANBU had turned to see what Naruto was looking at, they all seemed to have frozen. To anyone else, they would have looked the same as usual. But to Naruto, his trained eyes saw them freeze for a microsecond and jump only a micrometer. He knew they were surprised to see Mizuki in such a state, but they must have been surprised to find out who did it.
"Iruka, did you do that to Mizuki?" Dragon asked as Boar and Tiger walked over to the traitorous chunin.
"I didn't," Iruka stated, "Naruto did it to him before I could even see the kunais flying. All I saw was a very fast movement of his arm and then I saw Mizuki pinned to that tree. Do you also see that shuriken?" the scarred chunin asked. Cat and Falcon walked over it and found a shuriken embedded it the side of the weapon and held it up in the dim moonlight. "Naruto was able to stop it with that shuriken."
Dragon nodded and turned to his squad who held the evidence of the occurrence and the traitor. "We're returning to Lord Hokage team. Move out!"
'I'll need to report about Naruto's abilities to Lord Hokage. He'll want to know that everything known about Uzumaki, Naruto is all false.'
"Yes sir!"
"Before you go," Naruto interrupted, whilst he leaned against a tree examining his fingernails, "He broke the Third Hokage's law about telling the younger generation about the Nine-Tailed Fox before he attacked me and Iruka-sensei. As such, he must be interned to the Interrogation and Torture Department before being imprisoned for life."
'So Mizuki broke Lord Hokage's law eh?' Dragon thought to himself. "Thank you for the information Naruto," the ANBU captain said as he turned back to his squad. "Boar, Tiger, you two know what to do as soon as we get back." That was an order, not a question.
"Yes sir!"
The five ANBU plus one unconscious chunin phased out of existence and headed to the leaf.
"Naruto?" Iruka asked as he approached the blonde two-time academy failure.
"Hmm?" Naruto asked as he turned around to the scarred chunin. "Yes Iruka-sensei?"
"Have you really been holding back this entire time Naruto?" When he received a nod, he sighed sadly. "Why have you been holding back Naruto. I thought you wanted to be the next Hokage? Aren't you supposed to be the best if you want to be the Hokage?"
"I do, but I wanted to wait for a moment like this."
"Huh? What do you mean Naruto?"
"I meant I would rather become a ninja the real way. I wanted a rite of passage to start my ninja career. Do you really think I want to earn my forehead-protector by just passing some idiotic bullshit tests? Please. Save those for the wannabe ninjas and those who dream of glamorous careers as murderers." Naruto spoke softly as he gazed upon the moon. "In this world, only death, destruction, pain, famine, vengeance and hatred thrive. I want to change all of that."
"How are you going to do that Naruto? We need the ninja system in place, it's the only thing we can do to keep balance among the Elemental Nations."
"Then I'll find a way! My mother and father gave up their lives to stop a madman who wanted nothing but revenge! I was given one of the greatest curses in the world, yet it is my greatest strength and gift! My grandfather received a prophecy that I would be the one to destroy the ninja system and bring about peace to our world! And my gramps is one of the strongest men in this world! And my great-great-grandfather was the one who was able to bring peace between his clan and the madman's clan! I have a legacy to uphold, and I am the living legacy of those who have fought long and hard to bring down this ninja system and bring about peace! I'm not going to let any of them down! When I become the Hokage, like my father and ancestors before me, I will change this world so that a better future may shine!"
"Naruto-you-" Iruka said then stopped. He smiled at the young blonde and began to realize that this was not the Naruto he once knew before. The one before was never serious, never resolute, and never had a truely unwavering conviction and will. The chunin smiled as he walked over to the short for his age group kid and bent down onto his knee.
"Close your eyes Naruto." Naruto did as asked of him and stood perfectly still and heard a piece of fabric unfurled and his goggles leave his head and become replaced with a different object.
"This is..." Naruto whispered to himself as he touched the heavy metal plate attached to the headband. "This is a forehead-protector. Iruka-sensei you-"
"I never told you the reason why I came after you did I? I came here because I didn't want you to get hurt Naruto. You remind me much of myself when I was your age. I was quite a prankster myself you know. That's the reason why I didn't want you to confront Mizuki by yourself. I consider you to be a little brother Naruto."
"Iruka-sensei..." Naruto whispered as he felt tears well up into his eyes.
"Congratulations Naruto. You're now officially a genin of the Hidden Leaf Vill- oof!" Iruka wasn't prepared for the blonde and orange bullet that tackled him to the ground, but he only smiled softly as he hugged the young boy.
"Thank you so much Iruka-sensei!" Naruto said as he bawled his eyes out. He had never had anyone, other than the Ichirakus and the Old Man, tell him he was like family.
After a minute of crying into the chunin's vest, Iruka looked down at the blonde and asked, "You okay now Naruto?"
"Yeah, thanks," the blonde now genin said as he smiled a true smile at his surrogate older brother. "Hey can we go get some ramen Iruka-nii?"
"Sure. Why not?" Iruka said as he stood up and pulled the blonde up as well.
"All right! Let's go!" Naruto shouted at the top of his lungs as he ran back to the Leaf, pulling along his sensei/older brother.
"Slow down Naruto!" Iruka shouted, somewhat amused judging by the smile on his face, "Ichiraku doesn't open until 6:30 a.m.!"
Authors Notes:
Short chapter, huh? Anyway, this is supposed to for in-between readings of Memories Lost, Lingering Futures. As always, read and review.