Author's notes: wow. Over 225 hits in less than one day, I'm grateful that people are reading this story and I hope you all continue to like it. I don't think a put in a disclaimer last chapter so: I don't OWN NARUTO OR SAILOR MOON!!! There, I said it and I don't think I have to repeat myself on any latter chapters. Agreed? Good, now let's continue the story.
Naruto roof-hopped as fast as he possibly could towards the Ninja Academy hoping that he wouldn't arrive late for the exams. Still, he had to admit, that if he was late he would at least have a good excuse. That would be if, as he realized, he could tell it to Iruka. However, Luna had taught Naruto not to break his word once he gave it and Naruto especially didn't want to break his word to Luna.
Luckily for Naruto, he managed to make excellent time and got into the classroom before Iruka. So, even though Naruto was technically late, Naruto didn't get in trouble for being late. Naruto managed to contain his excitement as he listened to what Iruka was saying. "Now then class, today is the day you have all been waiting for. Today you will be able to show that you have what it takes to become full fledged ninja of Konoha!" At this almost the entire class broke out in cheers before Iruka quieted them down. He then handed them a paper test and told them to start.
Once he collected the completed tests; Iruka then said to the class, after pulling out a clipboard, "Now I want you all to form a line and we'll head down to the gym. Once we get there, you will all be tested on your throwing accuracy, your taijutsu, and your stealth capabilities." It took a few minutes and the use of Iruka's infamous, at least among students, 'Big head jutsu' to get the rambunctious 13 year olds to form the line that Iruka wanted. Once he had corralled the cats- err graduate hopefuls, Iruka led them down to the gym where Mizuki was waiting for them.
Once their throwing accuracy test, in which Naruto scored above average, was done the students were told to sit on a bench. The students had been sitting for a few minutes while Mizuki and Iruka talked to each other before Mizuki walked up and said, "Okay then class, I'm sure you all want to know why your sitting here. Well then, we've decided that, in order to test your taijutsu skills, were going to have each of you fight a one-on-one match with your fellow students. Please note that you will not be allowed to use Nin or Genjutsu in the match and you are also not allowed to use weapons of any kind. Now don't worry if you lose, this is just for us to see how good your pure taijutsu is and while taijutsu is important to a ninja, it is not the only skill a ninja needs to succeed."
Since only one match was being held at a time, the students not currently fighting were just shooting the breeze with their friends. Naruto was sitting with his legs in a lotus meditating position with his hands crossed over his chest deep in thought. However much Naruto wanted to think about what he had found out about his life, his musings were quickly interrupted by Kiba who yelled at Naruto saying, "Hey moon fish, what happened this morning? Did your funny feline excuse for an aunt have trouble with a hairball or something?"
Not wanting Kiba to get the last laugh or insult Luna, Naruto fired back, "What would you know dog breath? After all, your owner Akamaru knows that you're too stupid to understand the spoken language." Kiba's mouth was wide open in shock as his and Naruto's classmates started laughing at him. Turning to see Naruto smiling at him with laughter in his eyes, Kiba shook his head and thought to himself, "That's a point to you my friend." Although Kiba and Naruto seemed to fight like cats and dogs, the two were reasonably good friends.
Suddenly Naruto and Kiba heard Mizuki call out, "Will Naruto Tuskino and Kiba Inuzuka please come up for their fight." At this the two friends got up and smiled at each other as they approached the ring. Once the two of them had reached their ends of the ring turned to face each other, each confident of their victory over their friend. Mizuki just looked at the two and said, "You both know the rule for this match, BEGIN!"
The two boys shot at each other and began to ferociously attack each other. Both the Inuzuka and the newer Tuskino family styles were animalistic in their attacks. It seemed to the onlookers that Naruto and Kiba were trying to claw each other's throats out. However, Kiba spent most of his taijutsu practice time at home and in class working with Akamaru. This fact meant that Naruto, who was faster and more unpredictable, was able to exploit several holes in Kiba's defense that would normally be protected by Akamaru.
Finally Naruto ended the fight by exploiting one of the holes in Kiba's defense. Naruto delivered a powerful kick to the other boy's ribs with one foot and another kick to Kiba's head. Naruto then back flipped off of Kiba, who was falling to the floor unconscious, to land on the ground hunched over on his back legs like a cat. A couple of the students who had been watching the fight clapped and Iruka smiled saying, "Very good Naruto. Now can you bring Kiba over here so that I can wake him up? After all, do you want to have a rematch after class with an angry Kiba and Akamaru because you caused them to miss the rest of the test now do you?"
When Naruto heard this he just grumbled a bit and dragged Kiba over to the sidelines. Naruto was starting to look around where he was for something to wake Kiba up when a hand went in front of his face. In the hand was a small container of smelling salts. Looking down the arm attached to the hand Naruto saw that it was Ino who had gotten the salt for him. With a quick "thank you", Naruto grabbed the container from Ino and promptly used it to get Kiba up. Ino and Naruto then helped the still wobbly Kiba get over to the bench.
Ino then had to leave for her match against one of the other girls in class. Kiba then, while only paying half attention to the fight going on, turned to face Naruto and said, "Good fight there Naruto." Kiba then smiled and said, "But you do realize moon fish, that if I was allowed to have Akamaru with me in the fight we would have cleaned your clock." Naruto playfully shook his head and said, "I must have hit you harder then I realized dog breath, you're suffering from delusions brought on by head trauma."
The two rivals and best buds stopped their good natured teasing to see Ino knock out her opponent. The two boys knew that Ino would win as her opponent was one of, besides Sakura Hurano, Sasuke's biggest fan girls. Although it annoyed the two boys that Ino, who was kind of their friend, was an Uchiha fan girls; they knew that at least Ino didn't let her crush distract her too much from her training, which was more than most girls could say.
After the last two students had their match, everyone headed outside two where some genin (in the most desired D-ranked mission available that day) had set up a very complex obstacle course. Iruka walked in front of the class and then said in his stern teaching voice, "Alright class. As you can see, behind me is a large obstacle course. Inside of this course are numerous non-lethal traps and noise makers. You must go through the obstacle course to the other end where there is a scroll inside a blood seal with your name on it place by me. After you've retrieved the scroll, you are to make your way back through the course to here where you will give me the scroll.
"Now then, before I start calling out names there are a few things that you should know about this course. You will be graded on how fast you complete this course and how SILENTLY you complete it. All along the course are various things set up that, if disturbed, will cause a bell to be rung. Also, if you activate a trap and are caught by it you will automatically fail this part of the test." Iruka then let that information sink into his students' brains, then he started calling people to run the course.
The first few people he had called up were abysmal failures getting caught by the first of 30 non-lethal traps. The next person managed to get through the course, but rang the bell a few times and took a good while to complete. Most of the class ether completely failed the course, rang the bell a lot of times, or rang the bell a few times and took a very long time to complete the course. However, Naruto just had to be difficult and disrupt the set pattern by finishing the course in the fastest time without ringing the bell once. A few of Sasuke's fan girls were baffled that Naruto was able to complete the course so well compared to Sasuke who was only average in the course.
Finally the students were herded into the classroom where they waited to be called for their final test. After a few minutes Naruto's name was called and the smiling blond boy was led by Iruka to a separate room for his testing. Iruka closed the door and with a smile on his face said to Naruto, "Okay Naruto I want you to use the substitution jutsu, the hedge jutsu to become the Hokage, and create at least 2 clones."
Naruto was confident about the substitution and the hedge jutsu, but he was nervous about the clones. Even with his hours of training for years, he still was pathetic with the clone jutsu. Still, he was so close to becoming a ninja, so Naruto left it up to chance and tried his best. His substitution jutsu was quite impressive as he switched with a potted plant on the other side of the room. Next Naruto hedged into the Hokage and was given a simple nod from Iruka showing that he had passed. Finally Naruto preformed the clone jutsu and closed his eyes.
Naruto opened his eyes to see two clones around him. One could pass as him, if a person's eyesight was less then great. The other clone looked like a badly burnt large roast. Naruto cringed at the sight and turned to face Iruka and asked. "Do I become a ninja or not Iruka?" Iruka scratched his head, thought about it for a moment, and then said. "While your clone technique is, to be blunt, the worst in the history of the Ninja Academy; your other skills are enough to make it up. Therefore it is my pleasure to declare you a new ninja of Konoha."
Naruto practically jumped up and down when he heard the news that he had graduated. He watched as Iruka put his hand in the box containing the forehead protectors for the graduates and pull out a protector. Iruka then handed the forehead protector to Naruto who eagerly put it on his forehead. Naruto then left the academy after hearing Iruka tell him when to show up for team placements.
Upon arriving at his and Luna's home Naruto found that Luna had left him a note on the table. Picking up the note Naruto read:
Dear Naruto,
Sorry I'm not here to great you when you get home from your genin exam. It doesn't matter to me whither you pass or not as long as you do your best at it. However, I do sincerely hope that you pass your exam as I know how much you want to be a ninja. I've picked up some groceries that we were out of and put them away. I'm now heading over to visit the Hokage to talk about the you-know-what. However, you know how busy the Hokage can be so it might take a while to talk with him. Hopefully I won't leave you here alone for too long and I won't be mistaken for that hell beast Tora again!
Love,
Auntie Luna.
Naruto smiled after he read the note and placed it back on the table. It still amazed him that people could mistake his Aunt Luna for the most feared nightmare of all D-ranked missions. The last moron who had made that mistake was still walking funny from Aunt Luna's 'thousand years of pain' technique, which involved shoving the poor victim's own arm up their own butt. Not even Sarutobi had been able to figure out she did that on one of his own ninja, and in cat form no less!
Naruto then sat at the dinner table trying to decide what he should do while he waited for Luna to return to the house. Suddenly a thought came to Naruto's mind that he said out loud, "Hey, Luna doesn't want me to reveal my royal powers to anyone until she can talk to me. However, she never said anything against me practicing my powers as long as I don't get caught!" At this Naruto rubbed his hands together like the arc typical trouble maker before he ran out the door to go to one of his favorite training fields.
Naruto ran for a few minutes until he reached a meadow that was far away from any home or training ground in Konoha. Once there and Naruto made sure that no one was around, Naruto grinned and shouted out, "Moon Crystal Armor, Energize!" Naruto felt the now familiar power of his Senshi form flow into himself leaving him stronger than any two average Jonins.
Naruto then said to himself after he saw that he was in the same exact outfit as last time, "Ya know if I'm not supposed to reveal that this is me, how on earth can I use this form to fight other ninjas?" At that thought, Naruto crossed his arms across his chest and thought for a few minutes. Then he snapped his fingers when the answer came to him. "I know! I can go by an alias! Now what's a good name for this form? Mighty Moon, no that name's horrible. Should I go as Serenity Soldier? No, that just isn't right for me." Naruto thought long and hard about his options for a few minutes before he said. "I know! I'll go by the name Moonlight Knight. It fits as it connects me to the moon, which is where I get my extra power, and it shows my royal heritage with the noble title."
The newly named Moonlight Knight then thought about the next issue he should solve. One thing that he hadn't gotten to test with his senshi form, which was one of many things, was if he could use his ninja skills in the senshi form. To start this off, Naruto preformed a simple substitution jutsu. After running though his, admittedly small, collection of jutsu Naruto found that he couldn't use his hedge jutsu and that the clone jutsu just as bad as his untransformed state.
Naruto spent a few hours going over his skills and getting used to his senses and reflects while in senshi form. He was about to go home when his enhanced ears heard the sound of maniacal laughter. Naruto, while still in his senshi form, quietly approached the source of the laughter to see Mizuki running with a large scroll on his back and a sadistic grin on his face. Naruto thought about what to do when he heard Mizuki say something that made up Naruto's mind, "Once I deliver this to Lord Orochimaru, I'll become even more powerful than that old fool of a Hokage!"
Naruto recognized that name from his history class and knew that, what ever it was that Mizuki had on his back, could not reach the most vile and infamous traitor that Konoha had ever produced. From his position on a large tree branch above Mizuki, Naruto pulled out three Shuriken and let them fly at a ferocious speed. Mizuki barely sensed the shuriken in time to avoid a fatal encounter involving them and the back of his head. However, while Mizuki did avoid death, he lost several locks of hair and had his right ear cut.
"AAAHHHGG!!" Mizuki cried out, reflexively protecting his bleeding ear with his right hand. Enraged and with a touch of madness in his eyes, Mizuki yelled out into the night, "Who's the bastard who did this?! Whoever did this should reveal themselves to me right now, and I might just grant them a quick death!" At this Naruto smirked and said, thus drawing attention to his location on the branch, "I did that you traitor."
Mizuki looked on at Naruto standing there with on hand on the trunk of the tree and the full moon glowing behind him and yelled out, "I just want to know, before I kill you, just who the devil are you!" Although a little nervous do to the fact that he had never been in a death match before, Naruto confidently answered back, "I'm the Moonlight Knight. Just so that you know, I shall be the last person you meet before you met the Devil in Hell."
With the 'pleasantries' dispensed with, Mizuki started off their fight to the death. He pulled out a huge windmill Shuriken from a small seal on his wrist and sent it flying at Naruto. Naruto waited calmly for the Shuriken to come to him as he planed out his next few moves, eternally grateful now that Luna had made him play those strategy war games.
Just as Mizuki was about to smirk at the thought that his over-sized Shuriken would hit Naruto, Naruto quickly drew his sword and quickly sliced the Shuriken in half. While Mizuki was shocked at the sight, Naruto just smirked and yelled out, "Not good enough, now why don't you try my attack, Serenity Slash!" With that Naruto preformed a quick horizontal slash and a wave of silver energy went flying in the shape of a crescent moon towards Mizuki at extreme speeds.
Mizuki instinctively knew that the Serenity Slash, if it hit him, would kill him no if, ands, or buts. The traitor leaned back and rolled quickly to the left. Mizuki was rolling away so fast that he lost track of where he was in the forest and hit himself against a tree. While the tree didn't do any lasting damage, it did stun Mizuki. This stunning, along with the shock at seeing the 'Serenity Slash' dig into the ground about a foot before exploding leaving a two foot wide and several feet long crater in the ground, gave Naruto the time he needed to get down from the tree and stab Mizuki's heart. The last thing Mizuki saw before his eyes closed forever was Naruto de-transforming back into his regular form.
Once he dropped out of his senshi form, Naruto came out of his adrenaline rush and fell down on the ground in shock at what he had done. Naruto, while trained to be a ninja and had known that this would eventually happen, was still a young teenage boy who had just taken his first human life. Naruto raised his hands and looked slowly between them and Mizuki's still warm body and back again for a few minutes. He then leaned over and heaved up the snack that he had before training.
Naruto, after he was done emptying his stomach, smacked his face and shakily said, "Get a gripe Naruto. You knew that this was eventually going to happen when you signed up to be a ninja. You've stopped a traitor from giving something that is of obvious importance to one of the greatest criminals out there. What was it that the old man told you about this situation? He said 'one can't restore or return what was lost, only continue on and never forget about it; never forgive themselves should they forget the pain.'"
Naruto approached Mizuki's corpse and turned his gaze to the scroll on Mizuki's back. Speaking to himself again in a very tired voice, "Come on Naruto, You just have to return this scroll the Hokage and then put this behind you." Naruto took the scroll from Mizuki's back and started walking off towards the Hokage tower. He was about to leave the area when he shook his head and returned to Mizuki's body. Traitor or not, Naruto knew that he just couldn't leave the body there in the field exposed. With a great deal of effort, Naruto picked up the body and carried it bridal style back to the village.
It was ten minutes after Naruto started walking towards the tower that he ran into Iruka and Anko, who had teamed up with Iruka to find Mizuki and the scroll. The Chunin and Jonin took one look at the blank look on Naruto's face, the scroll on his back, Mizuki's body, and figured out that Naruto had stopped Mizuki. Iruka promptly sealed the body of his deceased, now ex-, friend and then lead Naruto strait to the Hokage.
In the Hokage's office when Iruka and Naruto arrived were a very worried Sarutobi and Luna. Both of them quickly grew sadder and more worried when Naruto told them that he had killed Mizuki after he heard him talking about giving the scroll that was on Mizuki's back to Orochimaru. Sarutobi, sensing that Naruto was leaving something out of his report, dismissed Iruka after telling the worried Chunin that the team lists would be on the Chunin's desk at the end of the week.
Once Iruka had closed the door, Sarutobi turned to Naruto and said in his worried grandfather voice, "Now then Naruto. What was it that you were leaving you were leaving out of your report?" At this Naruto's surprise showed for a moment before he realized that the Hokage had been around and had been a ninja since, according to Luna, before hisfather had been born. Naruto then said, "Everything is as I reported it. However, I was training in my senshi form at the time Mizuki encountered me and in was with the sword I have in senshi form that I slew Mizuki."
Sarutobi figured how hard it must be for Naruto to use something he had been so excided about earlier today to take another person's life. The kind old ninja then go out of his chair and gave Naruto a comforting hug. Softly the old Hokage whispered in Naruto's ear, "I know this is difficult for you Naruto. Just remember this, you have been given great power and with great power comes great responsibility. Tonight you wisely used the power that you have to protect this village from a very dangerous enemy. That scroll you recovered contains the most powerful Jutsu known in this village, and you prevented it from going to a man who would use it to kill the people of this village."
Sarutobi ended the hug and sat back down in his chair. This allowed Luna, who had now transformed into her human form, to walk up to Naruto and give him a hug. She also hand some words of comfort to say to her charge. "Naruto, I want to tell you something about your mother. When she first received the ability to access her powers, your mother was quite scared by it. I can't tell you how many nights she would cry herself to sleep because she didn't want the power she was burdened with. But your mother was able to find the courage and strength within herself to accept her burden and use it to protect others. I'll tell you something Naruto, I see that same courage and strength that I saw within your mother within you as well. And just like your mother, you have your friends who will help you through this and all other challenges."
Naruto now had a smile on his face. He was still upset and in pain due to what had happened with Mizuki, but he no longer was tormented by it. Knowing that he had Aunt Luna, old man Sarutobi, Iruka, and even Kiba & Ino, backing him up had returned Naruto's spirits to him. Remembering the scroll on his back, Naruto swung it around and into his hands before he handed it over to Sarutobi. Sarutobi gladly accepted the scroll from Naruto before putting it by his desk.
Lighting up his pipe, Sarutobi let out a puff of smoke before he started talking. "Naruto, in all of the commotion today, we've never gotten to explain to you the full situation with the Kyuubi. You see Naruto, when the Kyuubi attacked Konoha; it was like a force of nature. None of our jutsus slowed the beast down or even scratched it. Even at he strongest, the Yondaime Hokage could only hope to seal the foul demon. To this day, I am convinced that only one person in history who could have hoped to have truly slain that beast once and for all on that day. That person was your mother, Usagi Tuskino Namikaze."
"However, about a month before you were born, your mother was attacked and badly wounded by rouge ninjas from Iwa. Both you and your mother lived through the attack, as your standing here shows, but your mother was badly wounded. At the time the Kyuubi attack Konoha, your mother had been confined to her hospital bed due to a horrible infection that had set in as well as the lingering effects of poison from the attackers' weapons. Your mother had somehow established an empathic connection with almost all the ninjas of Konoha. The mental shock of all of their death by the Kyuubi, plus her injuries, prevented her from living more than a few minutes after your birth."
"Left with no other hope, your father Minato Namikaze took you and used the Dead Demon Consuming Seal to lock the Kyuubi forever within you at the price of his soul. Yes Naruto, your father Minato Namikaze was the Yondaime Hokage. I had your last name changed to your mother's maiden name to help protect you from your father's enemies. I can understand if you want to take the Namikaze name again, but please don't do so until you are at least a chunin so that I can rest easier knowing that your can protect yourself from your father's enemies."
Naruto closed his eyes for a few minutes to fully digest what Sarutobi had told him. He had for a while suspected that he had some sort of blood connection to the Yondaime due to how much they looked alike and how little information about the Yondaime's family was available. However he had figured that their relationship was something like the Yondaime being an uncle or cousin to him, not that the Yondaime was his father. While other boys might have been angry at the Yondaime if they were in his position due to what his old man had done to him, Naruto wasn't angry at all. It was the only way to protect the village and he would have never respected his father if his father had chosen someone else instead of him to bare the burden of the Kyuubi. Besides, The Kyuubi was dead thanks to the power of his mother that flowed through his veins.
Opening his eyes Naruto looked directly into Sarutobi's eyes and said, "I understand why my father did what he did. I would have cursed him if he had dared to choose someone besides his own flesh and blood to have to bare the burden. Don't you worry about me going by my father's clan name anymore Sarutobi. I belong to the Tuskino clan and it is the Tuskino clan, not the Namikaze clan; that I plan to make into the greatest ninja clan. I would greatly appreciate it if you would transfer any and all holdings my parents left me in the Namikaze name over to the Tuskino family. I may respect and admire my parents, but I will not rest on what they have done and I will not have people respect me just for what they did." With said, Naruto bowed his head in farewell before leaving to go home.
About three minutes after Naruto left to go home Luna left to join her nephew with a scroll in her mouth. The scroll contained a few techniques that Sarutobi had written down and had asked Luna to give to Naruto. On the way out the door of the tower Luna passed by a Jonin who waved at her. Luna recognized the Jonin as one of the ninjas that Usagi had been very good friends with. If Luna could read the Jonin's mind then she would know that the Jonin was determined to get Naruto as part of their genin team and would accept no other answer but yes.
In the classroom about two weeks latter all of the new gennin were assembled and waiting for Iruka to come in and tell them which teams they were going into. Naruto was thinking back to the four jutsus on that scroll that Sarutobi had given to Luna. On the scroll was Earth release: inner head decapitation jutsu, Shadow clone jutsu (which was a clone technique that he could actually do), Great clone explosion jutsu, and Shadow clone Kunai jutsu. Currently Naruto was only able to perform the first two techniques on the scroll, but he was happy with his progress.
Naruto was so into his thoughts that he missed Iruka coming into the room and Iruka's speech. When Naruto stopped musing on the jutsus that Sarutobi had given him, Iruka was partway through the list of teams. "-Now then, team 7 we have Sasuke Uchiha, Sakura Haruno and Shino Aburame. Your sensei will be Kakashi Hatake. Team 8 is Hinata Hyuga, Choji Akimichi and Shikamaru Nara. Your sensei will be Asuma Sarutobi. And finally, For Team 10 we have Naruto Tuskino, Ino Yamanaka, and Kiba Inuzuka. Team 10's Jonin sensei will be Anko Mitarashi.
Author's Notes:
So what do you think of the story so far? Do you like the Jonin teacher I've selected for the new team 10? Hope someone can find the pattern to my team placements. Also remember, the vote for who you want as Naruto's wife or wives is still going on. I may not choose the most popular choice, but it does have a real impact on me come decision time.
