Naruto smirked as he admired his work from a distance. All four Hokage monuments were marked up- and he'd already skipped out. On the cheek of the third Hokage, he'd left his signature. Everyone would have to acknowledge how great he was.
'Move- someone's coming!'
Naruto perked up- there was that voice again. Naruto peeked around only momentarily- the voice had never failed him before…
From a new hiding perch he watched over his old hiding spot. Moments later he spotted Iruka-sensei stop and immediately look into where he had been hiding before. Naruto couldn't help but burst into laughter. Iruka perked and turned strait at him. Naruto stopped and looked Iruka strait in the eyes- then darted away. But by now Iruka had caught up to him, Iruka caught Naruto by the collar.
Iruka was perched looming over Naruto while he scrubbed down the monuments. Naruto scowled for a moment as he looked back up at Iruka.
"You're not leaving until all the monuments are cleaned up."
"Pft, like I've got anywhere to go anyway," now that the glory of the moment was wearing off he was getting depressed again.
"Naruto," Iruka paused and softened his voice, "when you get done-… I'll treat you to ramen…"
"Really!" Naruto beamed. Suddenly he picked up the pace and managed to clean the monument almost as fast as he'd tagged it.
True to his word Naruto and Iruka were at the Ramen shop later, where Naruto asked about borrowing Iruka's forehead protector- then seconds…
The next afternoon was finally the day of tests. Iruka had a second Chuunin teacher with him to judge each students performance. As Mizuki stepped into the room to introduce himself Naruto got a sudden overwhelming feeling of mistrust. In the corner Akumaru started growling and arching his back. Naruto looked curiously at Kiba as he tried to calm Akumaru down. After a moment Akumaru finnaly stopped growling, but he was still clearly upset by Mizuki's presence. When it came time for Kiba's test he headed for the door to the next room and Akumaru stopped at the entryway and started growling again-
"Ah, maybe you could do this test without Akumaru, Kiba?"
"I-guess so, Mizuki do you know why Akumaru doesn't seem to like you?"
Mizuki looked a little taken back, but feigned an innocent look, "I have no idea?"
This time Kiba felt it too, his sense wasn't as good as Akumaru's, but a clear liar like that just leaves a bad feeling. Kiba turned around, "Yeah, I guess, I can do it without him- HEY, Naruto, Akumaru's never had any problems with you, can you keep him company for a bit?"
"Huh?" Naruto was puzzled, but as Kiba came up to Naruto he lowered his head and whispered, "You sense it too don't you, what's upsetting Akumaru?"
Naruto nodded slowly, "Mizuki's untrustworthy."
Kiba looked over his shoulder, "Yeah…"
Kiba took his test, then came out looking pleased. The moment he stepped out Akumaru pounced onto him and the two of them moved to leave- "Good luck," Kiba wished to Naruto as he left.
Naruto went into the room to take his test. He was distracted by the growing well of bile in the back of his throat by Mizuki's close proximity. 'Bushins, I know it's gonna be Bushins'
"Okay Naruto, I want you to do a Bushin no Jutsu."
Naruto groaned, but started the jutsu. He felt the Chakara form in his gut- but it felted twisted by the sickening sensation he was getting from Mizuki- 'Why does he have to stare at me like that,' "BUSHIN NO JUTSU!"
Thud!
A pitiful excuse for a clone landed on the floor looking pale and malnourished-
"YOU FAIL!"
"Now Iruka, he technically did make a clone, are you sure we can't let him pass, I mean this is his third try."
"Exactly why we can't Mizuki, first of all, all the other students managed to make at a clone at each side, and Naruto's clone wasn't even fully formed. Thirdly this IS his third year; we can't just let him pass with a half-rate jutsu…"
Mizuki let it drop and Naruto was glad to get out of there. Unfortunately he had failed again. He went to stew in silence where he could watch all his classmates get congratulated, he was the only one to fail, and the only one to not let anybody down by doing so…
He felt him coming from far off. The hairs on the back of his neck were standing like iron rods as Mizuki came up behind him.
"You know, Iruka's probably hardest on you because he see so much of himself in you. You know, his parents died in that demon attack 15 years ago. So he spent the rest of his childhood alone like you…"
Naruto sat there silently, waiting for Mizuki to get to his point…
"What if I told you I knew another way for you to pass and become a Ninja?"
Naruto gave a minimal non-committal grunt, trying not to show any of the sudden interest Mizuki had managed to spark with that little phrase.
"There's this secret scroll- that the Third Hokage keeps hidden away, if you were to find it, and learn the secret techniques in it, you be guaranteed to become a Ninja. In fact, I even know a good place for you to train. There's this cabin in the forest that hasn't been used in years…"
Naruto looked curiously at Mizuki, he leaned back a little defensively, then pulled himself up to his feet and backed away. Once he was far enough away he leapt off.
………….
"Kiba-Kun!" Naruto dashed down the street when he finally found Kiba.
"Naruto-Kun, hey, so did you pass?"
"I- ah… That's not what I wanted to see you about, look, it's about Mizuki, he came up to me with a plan of some sort and I wanna figure out what he's up to…"
"What did he tell you?"
"Well- he told me about this scroll, that if I master the skilled on it'll guarantee I graduate… I wanna see what he does if it looks like I'm playing into his hands, but I need someone to watch my back."
Kiba held out his hand and Naruto took it, the two put all their might into crushing each other's hand as they smiled doing so. "You got it."
……………
The Hokage heard rustling in his library and went to investigate, "Ah, Naruto, what are you doing here-" It was then he noticed the forbidden scroll in his arms-
"Sexy no Jutsu!"
Fwee!... Thump…
……………
Naruto made it to the opening with the cabin exactly when he planned; Kiba was waiting there leaning against one of the cabins walls. Akumaru was barking happily as Naruto arrived.
"So, that the scroll?"
"Yeah, let's see what's so important," Naruto threw open the scroll with a dramatic flair- "NOO! It figures it starts with one I'm horrible at… Hey wait- no this is different- this is- cool- lemme try that…"
Kiba sighed as Naruto sat down and started reading intently, "Bah- boring…"
"Oh yeah, take a look at this next one," Naruto smirked as he held out the scroll so Kiba could read it too…
AN Edit: this is what happens when I rush a chapter... my friend was insiting I get something out soon since I'd put so much time into Naruto Dusk and all but neglected finishing the second chapter... oh well... at least typos can be fixed...
