[A/N: So, the first chapter of my first story, yay! Anyways, I've only made one change in the overall story, that being Naruto's character and maturity. He's smarter in this story than he is portrayed in the manga and anime, basically slightly OOC. In any case, have fun!]

Naruto knew he'd regret this. He was sure that it was going to cause problems for him down the line. His mission to retrieve the Scroll of Sealing had been a bit too easy if he had anything to say about it. The chūnins stationed outside were easily bypassed, the ANBU guards were much harder to slip by but it was done regardless and the Sandaime Hokage was easily knocked out with the help of an improvised Henge based off on women and their umm… unique physiology.

He wasn't completely sure whether Mizuki-sensei was lying to him after seeing how furious the Hokage was, but he couldn't just return the scroll now, he was almost at the forest! His breaths quickened and his heart beat against his chest, eyes darted around at the slightest sounds and movement, he couldn't stop now, he was so close to finishing his test!

An hour later saw Naruto attempting techniques that would normally be reserved for jōnins or chūnins with high chakra reserves. One such jutsu would be the infamous Tajuu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu, a jutsu created by the Nidaime Hokage, Senju Tobirama, and a technique that was known for its immense numbers.

"Naruto! What did you do!" came an angry voice.

Naruto jumped, turning around in shock, his orange eyesore-of-a-jumpsuit smudged with dirt and caked in dust.

"Iruka-sensei? How the- how did you find me so fast?" he responded.

The now named Iruka-sensei had a grim expression. His disappointment and anger soaring high. Nowhere as high as the bewilderment he experienced at his student's actions.

"I tracked you down, you knucklehead. Now, why the hell did you steal the Scroll of Sealing from the Hokage Tower!? Do you have any idea what could've happened had you been found by someone other than me? What in the world possessed you to think of something this stupid?"

Naruto did not know the consequences and now that he realised something was off, he was certain that he regretted this. But, if the scroll was this important, why did Mizuki-sensei ask him to retrieve the scroll? He voiced his questions.

"Mizuki? Did he ask you to retrieve the scroll? Wha- why would he do such a thing?" Doubted Iruka, his confusion ever-growing with every word.

"Well, you remember how I failed the graduation? Mizuki-sensei told me…" and as Naruto continued retelling the events, he realised the mistake he made in trusting Mizuki.

"I see. Mizuki did this huh? We should get out of here then, he will be here soon and we have to make sure that he doesn't get his hands on the scroll," he said with a frown.

"Well, that's a disappointment. And here I had hoped, you would have stuck by me and killed the little brat." Interjected an amused voice.

'He's in the trees,' thought Naruto, his face now scowling in anger. 'I need to get out of here. A fight between chūnin is nothing to laugh at. I'll just be in the way for Iruka-sensei.'

As Naruto looked around for an exit, Mizuki jumped trees, coming into sight.

"Where do you think you're going? Don't leave just yet, we haven't even reached the main event. Trust me, you're going to love it," he cackled with a smirk.

"What do you mean 'I'm going to love it'? What's happening, Iruka-sensei?"

The scarred chūnin didn't respond, his frown disappearing, replaced by a look of horror and panic. He could guess what Mizuki was planning to do. If he told Naruto what he was, Naruto would definitely be too shocked to move. He'd be an easy target to hit.

"Stop!" Cried Iruka, his eyes shifting in nervous anticipation. "You know you shouldn't! It's against the law."

Mizuki ignored him however, his eyes focused intently on the academy student behind Iruka.

"Don't you want to know, Naruto?" He grinned in excitement. "Don't you want to know why the villager hate you, why they distrust you? Don't you want to know what you really are to them?"

"What…what do you mean? What does he mean, Iru-Iruka-sensei?" Hesitated Naruto, his mind desperately running a thousand miles an hour.

"It's nothing!" Yelped Iruka desperately. "He's just lying Naruto. He's trying to make you confused. Please! Don't listen to him." His desperation was clear, even to Naruto.

Mizuki's grin widened, his smile appearing to almost split his face.

"You see, Naruto?" Chuckled the blue-haired traitor, his smug amusement growing, "Iruka-sensei doesn't want you to know. Wanna know why? It's because he detests you, hates you, just like the rest of the village."

'Iruka-sensei…hates me? Is that what is happening? Is he also lying to me?' Naruto's thoughts ran wild with disbelief, his thoughts bordering on paranoia.

"Tell me," he whispered, his eyes locked intently into the eyes of the traitor, "Tell me!" His voice was louder this time, his eyes desperate for answers, clinging to the words of the ex-academy teacher.

"Very well," began Mizuki, "do you remember what happened to the Kyūbi? The defeat of the demon by Yondaime-sama? It's a lie. You can't kill a tailed beast, it's just a mass of chakra. No, the Yondaime did something clever, something so controversial, that people are unsure whether it was a wise decision or not. He sealed it, sealed it into a baby, a baby born on the same night as the attack, a baby who grew up detested and alone and despised. You can guess who it is, right?"

Naruto's world froze, the chirping of the crickets grew silent, the warm air prevalent in the summer months felt chilly to him, his hearing deafened as blood rushed to his head, his heartbeats grew louder after the revelation.

'I-I have the Kyūbi in me?! But, why? How could this happen? Why me!?' His thoughts raged like the ocean, unrelenting in questions and unable to derive answers.

Mizuki was ecstatic, revealing the secret made his heart pound, his body pumping adrenaline. Seeing the horrified faces of the container and his ex-colleague made him feel on top of the world.

'And now, to finish it off,' thought Mizuki, "It's not just that you know. You, Uzumaki Naruto, are the Kyūbi reincarnated! And now, after I kill you and Iruka, I'm going to pry that scroll out of your dying hands and make my way to my master. So, no hard feelings yeah? It's just business!"

Naruto didn't respond, his thoughts stood still at the second revelation. Holding the Kyūbi was one thing, but to actually be the demon in human form? He understood now, all of it, the villagers didn't despise him because he held the Kyūbi, they despised him because he was the Kyūbi.

As Naruto had gone still to the world, he was open to attack and this was the opportunity that Mizuki had capitalised on. He quickly pulled out a few shurikens and with practised ease, pegged them at the unaware student.

Thuck!

Thuck!

Thuck!

Naruto's eyes snapped to attention at the sound, freezing at the sight of Umino Iruka hunched over him with shuriken sticking out his back, his expression one of pain and grim determination.

"I-I'm sorry Naruto," began the scarred chūnin, wincing slightly, "I thought I could stop him from revealing that little fact. You need to understand, you are not the Kyūbi. Y-yes, it's sealed in you but that doesn't make you the Kyūbi. It-it's like a scroll and a kunai, sealing a kunai into a scroll, doesn't make it in-into a kunai, it-its still a scroll.

"I-I was one of them you know, I disliked you when I first met you because of it, but I wish I could slap myself then, it was a stupid judgement really, I saw you grow and try to learn and I guess that just made me see who you really were, a scared, lonely kid, looking for the same thing everyone else is, a place to belong. For that, I really am sorry and-"

"So touching," interrupted Mizuki, his patience wearing thin. He had no time for sentimentality, "I feel like crying a bit you know, See, tears!" The blue-haired traitor mockingly pointed at his eyes.

"Run," whispered Iruka, stumbling as he stood up, "run as fast as you can, away from here. Take the scroll with you. I'll hold him off as long as I can. GO!"

Naruto nodded, for once without words. He jumped to the nearest tree, before hopping away as quick as he could. Mizuki immediately noticed this and prepared to intercept him but was blocked by a scowling Iruka.

"You," Iruka announced, "you shouldn't have done that. I'm going to make sure you face the proper consequences for this."

"As if," Mizuki jeered, "you never could beat me, Iruka. Not when we were students and definitely not now since you're injured. But let's leave that topic for a second, why do you protect him? What do you apparently 'see' in him that you like soo much?"

"I-I see me." Answered Iruka, "I see who I used to be in him. A lonely orphan with no one to depend on except for a handful of people. I see someone who strives for great things but has no one to hold him to it and I-I'm going to make sure that he will have someone to support him and talk to him when the going gets tough."

"Pathetic words from a pathetic chūnin," mocked the traitor, disregarding the words of the beloved teacher, "have no fear though, I'll make sure you both have each other, IN HELL!"

As the chūnin rushed each other, elsewhere in the forest, an academy student stumbles on roots and stones as his mind replays every event. Taking refuge behind a large maple tree, Naruto's mind attempted to make sense of the Yondaime's actions.

'Why me? Why did the Yondaime choose me as the container for the Kyūbi? Think, Naruto, think! Alright, alright, calm down, let's do this properly. The Yondaime was definitely the smartest of his time, he would know the consequences of sealing a tailed beast into a child. So, if I was the Yondaime, what would I do? I-I, no, the child would be hated for what he held so he wouldn't have anything in the village to fight for. So, h-he might be related or something to someone important to the village. Any regular ninja wouldn't work, it has to be someone that the village looks up to. So, the Hokages or the Sannin. The Sannin haven't been to the village in years, it can't be them and even if they did have children, they wouldn't just leave me here, they have high morals, right? No, wait, Orochimaru was a traitor who experimented on children, he definitely can't be who I'm related to. Senju Tsunade and Jiraiya were people with high morals, they wouldn't abandon family…probably, so it may not be them.

"That leaves… the Hokages. I definitely can't be related to the Shodaime and Nidaime Hokage, they have no relatives except Senju Tsunade, so they're out. I don't think I'm related to Hokage-ojiisan since he wouldn't just leave me in the orphanage right? Right? Then that leaves… the Yondaime. But if that's the case, why would he seal the Kyūbi into one of his relatives? That can't be right, so I might just be a clan-less nobody then.'

Naruto had no idea how close to the truth he was and he wouldn't until after the events of tonight. While Naruto experienced a…identity crisis, a traitorous chūnin bounded across trees, searching for the elusive academy student.

'Where is the little demon? I need to get that scroll quickly or I'm going to be in huge trouble with not only Master but with this godforsaken village,' Mizuki thought.

All of a sudden, he saw a flash of orange clothing through the tree branches, making its way to back to the village. Seeing this, Mizuki dashed forward in an attempt to intercept him only to get tackled by a second orange-wearing blonde.

"What the-" exclaimed Mizuki, his voice cracking under the immense pain he felt.

"Y-you will not touch him, I will make sure of that. You will die for your actions today, traitor," declared the scarred teacher, his henge dissipating

"We'll have to see about that huh? But how will you be able to stop me, when you can't stop this shuriken!"

"What shuri-" began Iruka until he saw Mizuki unseal a Fūma shuriken and hurl it at him," Oh, that one."

Iruka leapt out-of-the-way and just as he was about to land, his body stiffened in pain, causing him to lose his footing and landing painfully on his back, driving the embedded shuriken deeper into him.

"AAARGH!" He screamed. Blood oozed out of the chūnin's injured body even faster since there was nothing sealing the wound.

"You," Mizuki hissed as he jumped down from the tree and walked closer, " are a thorn in my side. You could've had anything you wanted if only you had just killed the little brat, but no, you just had to be noble and sentimental and try to protect him."

The traitor pulled out a kunai, ready to use it against the downed chūnin when suddenly he was tackled once more but this time, from a different person, a familiar orange-wearing blonde, the real one.

"H-how dare you," Naruto wheezed, his eyes brimming with unholy rage and determination, " Who are you to harm Iruka-sensei?! He trusted you and you literally stabbed him in the back! I'll make you suffer for what you did. Why? Because that's what a Hokage would do, that's what I will do, because I am Uzumaki Naruto!

Mizuki snickered, his quiet giggles growing louder and louder until it was just outright, hysterical laughing, his humour growing at just imagining the dead-last beating him. It was just too funny for words.

"Right," he drawled, his jeering tone riling up the academy student even more, "you, a failure of a ninja, are going to make me, a chūnin, suffer? That's definitely going to happen. What're you gonna do, make me die of laughter? It's already working, might I add!"

The orange, knuckle-headed genius grinned, " With one of the new jutsus I learned of course! What was it called again? Oh, that's right!" Forming the signature hand-seals, he called out, "Tajuu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"

And as far as the eye could see, it was nothing but smoke. Though it soon cleared away to show a sea of grinning identical faces, one that was recognisable as the face of Uzumaki Naruto.

"Crap-"

When the ANBU eventually came a few minutes later, they were unprepared to see a grinning genin with a forehead protector, a smiling academy teacher and a body on the verge of death that was later identified as the traitorous Mizuki.

*LATER IN THE HOKAGE'S OFFICE*

The Sandaime Hokage sighed again, for the fifth time, "So let me get this right, you snuck by the chūnins in the lobby by transforming into a mouse using the Henge and then you slipped past the ANBU by flying through the window as a bird, once again using the Henge no Jutsu."

"Mmhmm," Naruto hummed in agreement, seated in the chair opposite the Hokage.

"And on top of that, you stole the Scroll of Sealing, then disabled me by using an interesting Henge variation and then learned a few jutsus from what you just said and defeated a traitor using one of the said learned jutsu."

"Yep," chirped Naruto. Sure he wasn't proud of what he did but was he impressed? 'Hell yes!'

"I see," murmured Sarutobi Hiruzen. He was definitely tired, 'Maybe I should retire? I could call back Tsunade-chan or Jiraiya-kun and convince them to take over…'

The Sandaime peered closely at the young blonde, he appeared to be relatively fine but the Hokage knew it was just a mask.

'Of course, it would be a mask, he was just told the reason he was hated by most of the population.'

"Naruto-kun, I am extremely sorry that you found out about your burden this way, I was planning on letting you know after your graduation. This…fiasco with Mizuki certainly changed all that though." Hiruzen spoke.

"Jiji, I don't care about that though," Naruto cut him off, "what I do want to know is the reason the Yondaime chose me as the…the prison."

"A jinchūriki," the Sandaime corrected.

"A what?"

"Jinchūriki, that's the term used for the people used to hold the bijū. That is what you are, Naruto-kun. While you are a shinobi and a human being, you are also the jinchūriki of the Kyūbi no Kitsune. As for the reason you were chosen instead of any other person, it's because you were born on the night and were one of the few people available to hold back the immense power of the fox." Explained Sarutobi Hiruzen.

"That's it? That's the only reason? I was just the 'closest' and one of the few 'capable' enough to hold it back? Is that all?" Naruto demanded, his anger rising.

"Yes. That is all," stated the Hokage, his body seemingly ageing with every word, "Is that all you had to ask, Naruto-kun?"

"No, I have one more and just this once, please Jiji, answer truthfully," Naruto pleaded, "am…am I related to the Yondaime?"

The Sandaime's back stiffened, his gaze narrowing almost imperceptibly before he exhaled wearily.

"Yes." He answered, " What made you come to such a conclusion, Naruto-kun?"

Naruto visibly sagged at the answer before he responded, "It was pretty hard to come to that conclusion. Ya see I knew Yon- …dad was a smart man. I kinda risked guessing that he would've predicted that the villagers would hate me for what I hold and that would almost make sure I had no one in the village that I would hold close. So I kinda jumped logic here and there and came to the assumption that I would have to be related to someone important and loved by everyone so that I have a reason to stay here. I went through the Sannin and the Hokage before I decided I might be related to dad."

The Sandaime Hokage just gaped at Naruto before he just opened a drawer and pulled out his tobacco pipe.

"That… that is quite the logic, Naruto-kun," the Sandaime began, "but you should know this by now that making assumptions and leaps in logic is disastrous and could eventually get you killed as a shinobi. Though I can't fault your reasoning. You are correct in guessing that most, if not all jinchūriki are related to their Kage in one way or another. From what I remember, there have been a few jinchūriki who have no relation their Kage but they have been well-loved regardless. But, let's move away from this topic, for now, I believe you need some rest after tonight's events."

"Hai," responded Naruto, standing up from his seat.

As Naruto turned to leave, Sarutobi called out again, "Wait! Before you go, I believe you should have this." He chucked a scroll at Naruto, who caught it. " It has your father's most well-known jutsu and other possessions he had sealed away. I thought you should have it now that you know who he is."

"Thank you, Hokage-Jiji, I won't let you down!" Naruto called out before he left the room, this door slamming shut after his exit.

'Naruto-kun, you never have and you never will,' the Sandaime Hokage smiled, his spirits higher now than they have been for the past few years.

Jutsu List:

Kage Bunshin no Jutsu - Shadow Clone Technique - Originally created by the Nidaime Hokage, Senju Tobirama. It splits the user's chakra evenly and creates a clone that is sentient and solid, unlike the original Clone Technique which is an illusion.

Tajuu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu - Multiple Shadow Clone Technique - A technique recorded in the Scroll of Seals and forbidden as it normally kills the users due to their chakra being spread too thin.

Henge no Jutsu - Transformation Technique - While it is a commonly used technique, it's classification is debated as either a genjutsu or ninjutsu. It seems to appear that the Henge used by the Academy is usually an illusion while the Henge used by higher ninja are usually solid in nature. (The amount of chakra fed into it might be a key in its usage)

[A/N: Well, that's done! I'll add jutsu summaries and such for new jutsus that appear or reappears after a long time. Anyways, R&R]