About an hour later, Naruto and Iruka were standing in front of Hiruzen's desk, with a limp Mizuki on the floor before him. Hiruzen let out a smoky breath before saying, "So Naruto. Are you going to tell me where you learned those jutsu that you were using when you fought Mizuki?"

"Uhh…well…" Naruto said, playing with his collar. "You see…"

Iruka sighed and said, "I can probably answer that, Hokage-sama," cutting through Naruto's trying to dodge the matter.

"Oh? I was unaware that you knew them either Iruka," Hiruzen said, well aware that he didn't.

"I…uhh…don't. Sorry. You see, soon after I was assigned as Naruto's homeroom teacher, some of the other students in his class tricked him into going into the hills where a battle had broken out and…"

"Yes. I remember the incident." Hiruzen frowned and said, "Wait. I thought that we confiscated that kunai Naruto."

"We-ell…" Naruto said, scratching the side of his head as he chuckled. "Last night wasn't the first time that I've broken into this tower after dark."

"It's not the…" Hiruzen let out a calming sigh, more than annoyed that a child wearing bright orange could break into what should have been the most secure building in the village. He said, "Naruto."

"Yes?"

"How did you know what we would do after you set off those explosions last night?"

"Well, it's not difficult."

"What do you mean?"

"No offence, but you change the security details on a regular basis. And even then, you use the same layouts all the time. So if you make a record of the different ones, it's not difficult to determine which one you are working off of, and, well…you saw what happened."

"You made a record of our security layout!?" Hiruzen exclaimed, in stunned dismay that none of his guards had ever seen him do it."

"Well…yeah. I've got a layout of the ANBU barracks and library too."

"The…" Hiruzen said, but was distracted by the choked laughter coming from the two ANBU guards that were supposed to be hiding in the back corners of his office, finally having proof that it was Naruto that was responsible for 'the incident' in the ANBU barracks a few years ago. He sighed and said, "Naruto. I want those records."

"Sure," Naruto said, shrugging a shoulder.

"Just like that?"

Naruto said, "Well, I'm not going to have much use for them now, am I?" pointing at his hitai-ate.

"Hm. I suppose not. Now, those techniques?"

"Right! Yeah. That incident that you apparently know all about, I saw the seals that those kunoichi's were using, so I just did what they did until…well…it worked…basically."

"I see," Hiruzen said, sighing. He thought, 'Well, at least this means that he hadn't been receiving any training from someone from outside of the village. So that at least has worked. It also means that Danzō hasn't been able to get his claws into him either.' He asked, "Before we go on, just out of curiosity Naruto…"

"What?"

"During the test, you switched places with Mizuki."

"What of it?"

"That's a very advanced application of the technique. How did you come up with it?"

"Oh. That. Neko-san switched out with me a bunch of times when she was on guard duty."

"And that was enough for you to copy it?"

"No. I went to the area above the Hokage Faces after school and trained using one of the boulders there."

"I see. Then in that case, because the pair of you identified and captured a traitor conspiring against Konoha, I shall be awarding you the pay of an A-Rank mission, though it shall be classified as an S-Rank secret."

Naruto didn't hear the bit about classifying what they'd just done, his eyes were lit up by dollar signs as he thought. 'With that much, I'll finally be able to do that! After all this time I'll finally have a full new set! Although, maybe I should shop around for a bit first…nah. No time for that. I'll just go to the Yellow Dragon. That weapons freak from last year said that they had some pretty good stuff there.'

When Hiruzen asked, "Is that clear Naruto?" Naruto muttered some incoherent platitudes. Hiruzen said, "Naruto!" in a sharp tone.

"Hai!" Naruto yelped.

"You are not to tell anyone about this incident, or how you captured Mizuki. Am I understood?"

"Yeah. Sure thing," Naruto said.

"Good. Then in that case, you can pick up your pay for the mission at the pay office when it opens in a few hours."

"Great. Thanks a lot ol' man!" Naruto cheerily said, waving as he started to leave the office.

Before he could, Iruka called out, "Naruto! Come back to the class in a week."

"Eh? But you just passed me, didn't you?"

"Yes. But in a week all of you will be getting assigned to teams, and that's where it happens."

"Ah. Right. Sure thing," Naruto half-heartedly said, all his thoughts already on his plans for the money that he would receive in a few hours.

When Naruto was gone, Hiruzen said, "About Naruto's team."

"Yes?" Iruka said.

"I don't think that the one that you put together for him is entirely suitable."

"Why? Sasuke's marks were the best, Naruto's, the worst, and Sakura is by far the most intelligent of their class, and her abilities with chakra control mean that she'll be able to…"

"Yes. But that doesn't necessarily mean that that is the best team to put him on."

"It's usually how it goes though."

"It is. However…"

"Is it Sasuke?"

"Partly, yes. But the problem, is Sakura. You are correct in that she should be able to help them. The problem, is her attitude towards her potential teammates."

"What do you mean?"

"Have you even seen how they interact?"

"…"

"…"

"Well. Sure, but with the right teacher, she should be able to get over that."

"Iruka. That, isn't the role of a jōnin-sensei. Sakura will be put under Kurenai, alongside Kurama Yakumo and Aburame Shino."

"But then. What about Kiba? And Hinata? Surely she won't…"

"She will be put in Sakura's place on Team Seven. Inuzuka Kiba does have some potential, I'll give him that much. However, his attitude is only going to get himself, and his team, killed, and his scores are almost as bad as Naruto's."

"But Kiba's the…It's not going to go over very well with the Inuzuka if we arbitrarily hold back the heir to their clan."

"Let me deal with them."

Iruka sighed and said, "Alright. Is there anything else?"

"No," Hiruzen said, "you can go."

"Thank you, Hokage-sama," Iruka said, bowing before he left.

When Iruka was gone, Hiruzen sighed, swivelled around in his chair and stood up to look outside. He sighed again and said, "So, what did you two think?" prompting two ANBU to appear from either corner adjacent to Hiruzen.

The silver haired nin in the dog-like mask said, "I think that you've given me hell to work with, Neko."

The purple haired ANBU wearing a mask decorated to resemble a cat, said, "My pleasure Inu, someone had to."

"Well, that said, it is good to know who was responsible for 'the incident'. Did you know about that?"

"No. Well, that said, I think that we all suspected who it was."

"I'm sorry, 'incident'?" Hiruzen asked, unaware of anything untoward that occurred within his ANBU's barracks within Naruto's lifespan.

Neko sighed and said, "You remember when all the female ANBU died their hair pink?"

"Yes. I believe that it was over some pricing scheme at one of the hair dressers, wasn't it?"

"Not exactly," Neko said in a strange tone.

"Ah. Do you know why he did it?"

"No. But it did put a stop to the teasing that I got over my purple hair, so I had no problems with it."

"Do you think that's why?"

"No. I'd never met him before then, though I had seen him running away after some prank or another every now and then."

"Come to think of it, didn't all the male shinobi start to wear masks for a while around that ti…" Hiruzen looked at Inu. "What happened."

"Well…"

"The male ANBU's teeth got turned orange."

"Well, he did always like that colour," Hiruzen said, shaking his head. He thought, 'Maybe it's genetic. Kushina did always like bright colours.'

XXXXX

A few hours later, Naruto was standing in front of the Yellow Dragon, Gama-chan full to bursting with the money that he'd just received. He entered through the door and didn't even bother looking through the store's stock, heading straight to the counter, wanting to get the important stuff out of the way at the start. Anything else that he could buy would have to wait. The store owner said, "What are you doing here demon?"

"Hey! My name is Uzumaki Naruto, and don't you forget it!" Naruto announced.

"I'll call you whatever I want, boy. And don't you forget it!" the store owner mocked.

Naruto growled, tempted to just leave and break into the store later, leave a few paint seals around the place. But he sighed and calmly said, "Well then, I guess that Tenten was lying then."

"Tenten?! How do you know her?" The store owner demanded.

"We were in the same class together last year. We got on well together, though I wouldn't exactly have called us friends."

The store owner thought, 'If Tenten got on with him, then maybe he isn't the…' he sighed and said, "So, what did she tell you about this store?"

"Nothing really. I just overheard her when she was ranting about some new weapon store that opened up and how their products were far infurryer to this place's."

"That would be inferior. Also, if it was last year, then it was probably Genbu's weaponry, and she's right. Their stock is of a far less quality than ours. That is why they are a heck of a lot cheaper than this store. So maybe you should try there."

"Why would I want inferior weapons?"

"That…actually wasn't what I meant."

"Then…"

"I don't see how you, essentially a civilian orphan, would be able to afford anything in this store."

"Oh. Right. I see. Well then, I'd say that it's a good thing that I'm not a civilian anymore," Naruto said, grinning as he pointed to his hitai-ate.

The store owner grunted and said, "So it seems." He thought, 'What were they thinking at the academy? Letting that thing become a ninja?' he gruffly said, "In that case, what do you want?" still wanting to get 'the demon brat' out of his store as fast as he could, before his regulars no longer were.

Naruto reached into his kunai pouch and said, "I'd like a full set of these made please," placing his takigakure style kunai down on the desk.

The store owner frowned at the item and asked, "Now where did you get something like that?" yet to pick it up.

"I wish I could tell you, but ol' man Hokage just finished classifying that."

"Hiruzen did?" the store owner asked, finally picking up the kunai, satisfied that it wasn't going to get him into trouble if his fingerprints were found on it. He turned it in his hands and thought, 'This thing's the real deal alright. If I can get him to give it to me, I'll be able to add the smithing techniques of takigakure to my own, and that could lead to my weapons being even better than that hack Iō.' He said, "Alright. I'll do it, however, there's a condition."

"A condition?"

"I get to keep this," the store owner said, hefting the kunai in his right hand.

"Keep it? Why?"

"You're probably too young to understand, but to get ahead, sometimes you need to copy someone else's work."

"Oh…I get that, believe me. But how about this. You can keep that until you get whatever it is you want out of it, but then, when you're done, I want it back."

"Alright. You've got yourself a deal. You can pick up your new set in about six months then."

"Six months!?" Naruto exclaimed. "That's way too long! I need them by next week!"

"By next week? Don't be ridiculous. Deciphering the smithing techniques used in this will take a lot more time than that."

"Oh. Seriously?" Naruto asked, very disappointed by what he was being told.

The store owner sighed and said, "Why do you want them so badly?"

"Well, I'm getting assigned to a team next week, and I kinda wanted a full set of new kunai to celebrate the start of my ninja career."

"Ah. I see. Well, if that's the case, then I can do a rush job using my current skills within that time, however…"

"However…" Naruto echoed.

The store owner sighed and said, "They won't be the same. You especially will be able to tell the difference if you've been training with it as long as I assume you have by the state it's in."

"Why's that?"

"Because, the end result of the rushed job will be, essentially, a misshapen Konohan kunai. They weight and feel will probably be different to what you are used to, which means that you'll need to work on relearning what you can do with the new set."

"I see," Naruto said, "then in that case, I want to pay half price for the rushed job and I'll pay full price for the full set, whenever you're done making them, and I'll only ever come here in the future. How does that sound?"

"Why only half?"

"I figure that that kunai should at least get me that much, shouldn't it?"

"Hmm…tell you what…"

"What?"

"I'll give you half off everything in the store for today only, on top of that half on the rush-job, but, you are going to have to pay for everything now. How does that sound?"

"Hmm…sure, how much is it so far?"

"Hmm…the full cost of a custom kunai order is two hundred thousand ryō, so with the rush-job being at half price, that comes to three hundred thousand ryō. Are you sure you can afford it?"

"Yeah. I'll be fine," Naruto said as he grinned in happiness at finally having a full set of new kunai to his name. Naruto then made his way through the store. When he was done, he had two sets of white shinobi pants, two black shirts that had sleeves that reached past his elbows, a pair of black shinobi sandals and two orange vambraces made of hardened leather, causing him to delve into his savings to pay for everything. When he handed it over to the stunned store owner he thanked him and left the store with the clothes sealed into some scrolls that he had made a few weeks previously. As he walked through the streets he was grinning happily, as he left a store other than Ichiraku, for the first time since…well…ever.

As he left the store, the owner thought, 'Damn! Where the heck did he get all that money from? I guess it's a good thing that he didn't want any other weapons. I would've been taking more than a slight loss.' Then he looked down at the kunai and thought, 'Although, I suppose that even if I did, this kunai would more than make up for it.' Then another customer came in and he put the kunai under the counter.

When Naruto reached the end of the street, something happened that soured his mood immediately. He saw Kato. One of his classmates who took particular joy out of his failures in the past. He turned around and tried to walk away, but Kato saw him and called out, "Hey! Naruto! Why do you have that? Who'd you steal it from?"

"I didn't steal nothin'," Naruto said, turning around to face him.

"Then how else would you explain it."

"I took a make-up exam later, after you all went home."

"Hah! Nice try! My dad's a teacher at the academy. There is no other test. Now, give it to me," Kato demanded, reaching for the hitai-ate on Naruto's head.

Before he could even touch it though, Naruto grabbed his wrist and said, "Don't even think about touching it," glaring at Kato.

"Hah," Kato scoffed. "Like you stand a chance against me!"

"Oh? Would you like to test that theory?"

"It's not a theory when it's true," Kato boasted. "Fine. Let's do this. Four o'clock, at the academy sparring area."

"Sure, sounds good," Naruto said, releasing Kato's hand, letting him leave.

XXXXX

When four o'clock rolled around, Naruto arrived at the field to find that not only was Kato there with his cronies, so too was hibachi and his friends, including Ami. Naruto demanded, "What the heck're they doing here?"

"They're here as my witnesses so that you don't try and lie about the outcome of this fight."

"Well, okay. So long as they stay out of it, no matter what."

"Of course. After all, what would be the point?"

"True," Naruto agreed.

"Good. Then Ami, if you would like to start this?"

"Sure thing Kato," Ami said. "Hajime!"

Kato grinned and ran at Naruto and jumped a bit to put his weight behind his punch. Naruto side-stepped and brought his knee into Kato's stomach. Kato staggered back, away from Naruto, who went after him and punched Kato in the face. Well, he would have, had Kato not barely go an arm in the way to weakly redirect it to the side. Kato then dropped down and spun, trying to kick Naruto's legs out from under him, but Naruto jumped backwards, out of the range of Kato's legs. He waited while Kato stood back up. he glared at Naruto and said, "That's it!" and made a handsign. He said, "Bunshin no jutsu!" splitting into five individuals circling Naruto. They all smirked at the blonde and said, "Now, what are you going to do, huh?"

Naruto grinned and made a handseal of his own. He said, "How about this? Gen'ei Bunshin no jutsu!" and four clones appeared him, each one facing a Kato.

"What the hell!?" Kato exclaimed. "How can you make that many clones?! You failed on that jutsu in the test that we just had!"

Naruto said, "That's in the past," as he and his clones ran at their counterparts while the original dodged Naruto's deliberately wild strike.

Kato took the opportunity to bring his right leg around in a roundhouse kick. Naruto kicked at Kato's shin, bringing his kick to an abrupt end, causing him to do the splits. As he tried to get up, Naruto strode over to him and performed his own roundhouse kick into Kato's head, knocking him out.

Naruto looked at the onlookers and asked, "Now are you satisfied?"

"Uhh…" was the general consensus.

"Well, if that's all," Naruto said and started to walk away.

"Hey! Wait up a sec!" Fuki yelled.

Naruto turned back and said, "Yeah, what is it, Fuki?"

"How did you just…?"

"What? Beat him?" Naruto asked, flicking his thumb at Kato's downed form.

"Well…yeah. His scores were far higher than yours in both taijutsu and ninjutsu. So how?"

"Well, what did you expect? They kept on putting me up against two clan fuckheads that got special treatment and outside help with their taijutsu while I got the grand total of bupkiss." Naruto said, "Well then, later," waving goodbye over his shoulder as he left.

XXXXX

In the Hokage's office, Hiruzen had seen the whole thing and grunted at what he'd just seen and heard through his crystal ball. He said, "Neko, Kurokuma, excluding Iruka, I want you to round up all of the teachers that Naruto has had, as well as the present and past principals and vice principals of his time at the academy."

A kunoichi with her long purple hair in a ponytail wearing a mask with cat-like markings on it, dropped her Meisaigakure jutsu before disappearing in a shunshin. As did a man with short brown hair wearing a black mask with bear-like markings. However, unlike Neko's Shunshin, which used smoke as a distraction, his used a flash of fire.

Within the hour, all of the teachers were standing before him, minus Mizuki, who was currently being attended to by Anko's 'careful' hands, and Iruka, who Hiruzen knew was innocent of purposefully messing with students' scores. One of them said, "Uhh…why are we here, Hokage-sama?"

"I'm glad you asked," Hiruzen said. "It has recently been brought to my attention that for the past…four years or so, there has been an active effort to manipulate students' scores."

"Surely you don't mean to suggest that we've been taking bribes, because I assure you, we ha…"

"Oh no no. I would have been aware of that. This is much worse."

"How so?"

"I'm sure that you have at least some idea of what this relates to."

The ex-principal sighed and said, "I assume you are talking about the Uzumaki brat?"

Hiruzen said, "Correct Izuna-san," slowly nodding. "Well, originally anyway."

"What do you mean by that? I was only aware of…"

"So you knew what was happening?" Hiruzen demanded, starting to leak his killer intent. Of course, what passed as 'starting' for a Kage, was comparable to what a mid-tier jōnin could manage. Also far more than what the chūnin teachers could handle themselves, so they fell to their knees, unable to stand under the pressure. He said, "Izuna, explain yourself."

"I…I…" Izuna said, struggling to think straight under Hiruzen's killer intent. Hiruzen lessened it on Izuna, but kept it up on the other teachers. Izuna sighed in relief and said, "I'm sorry, Hokage-sama. In hindsight, I should have reported what was happening to the boy to you. However, at the time I thought that the boy's teachers were justified in their actions, even if said actions were more than somewhat misguided. That is the reason that I quit. I couldn't willingly work in such an environment, knowing that there was nothing that I could do to change it. But again, I was only aware of this happening in regard to Uzumaki. Who else was affected?"

"Apparently, Naruto was used to inflate up Sasuke and Kiba's scores." The Izuna's eyes widened, stunned that the lecturers would actively try and make a student out to be better than they were, knowing full well the dangers that that could lead to in the field. Hiruzen saw this and sighed. He said, "Well, since you quit when you saw this happening, I can't exactly place any blame on you, so you can leave," and released Izuna from his killing intent completely, letting him leave, but kept it as strong as ever on the other teachers.

"Thank you," Izuna gasped as he left the room.

When Izuna was gone, Hiruzen focused on the teachers before him and said, "Now, which of you were the taijutsu instructors for Naruto's class?" When four of the teachers had sluggishly raised their arms, the killing intent that Hiruzen had focused on them all but disappeared, letting them stand and breathe normally again. "Good. Now, what do you think you've done that has warranted this meeting?"

All four shook their heads, no idea at all what their Kage was hinting at. Hiruzen sighed and said, "I see. It was just revealed to me that all of you continuously placed Naruto up against the students in his class that had the greatest skills in the art of taijutsu, whilst at the same time giving the both of them extra aid in class, instead of doing as I instructed when I first established the academy and placing him up against persons of a comparable level, thereby increasing a large amount of our future shinobi's skill level and, subsequently, their chances of survival. Something that is of even greater importance for a village's jinchūriki in the current shinobi world. Something that you should be well aware of Kirako, given the fate of your previous team." Kirako at least had the guts to feel guilty about what she'd done.

The same couldn't be said of Hiroke,who said,"We were just doing our bit to contribute to fulfilling the Yondaime's will."

"Oh? And what would that be exactly?"

"To put an end to the demon's existence!"

"And you would do this by killing his son?" Hiruzen queried.

"Of cour…wait…what are you saying?!" Hiroke demanded.

Hiruzen nodded towards the far wall and said, "Look there. Surely you can't be that blind to the similarities between the two."

From her place behind the Meisaigakure, 'Neko' thought, 'He's the son of the Yondaime? I had wondered. If that's the case, then I suppose it's really not that surprising that he's developed that fighting style after all. Though I don't know where he gets his cheek from. From what my senpai have said, Yondaime-sama was always cool-headed and serious. Nothing like his son.'

By now, every single shinobi before Hiruzen was scared stiff, looks of extreme worry on their faces. Hiruzen levelled his killer intent back on the hapless taijutsu teachers and lessened it on the ninjutsu teachers. He said, "Now, what about you?"

The teachers of the first two years said, "We did, sir," completely depressed and resigned to whatever fate Hiruzen deigned for them. Hiruzen asked, "What about you?" Hiruzen asked, forcing the first two back to the ground with his killer intent.

The last one sighed and said, "I did…but only because he was too far gone by the point that he got to me. I had hoped that pairing him up with the top students would help him to improve rather than try and start over from the basics."

Hiruzen sighed and said, "I see. Alright. You can go."

"Thank you sir!" the teacher said.

"However, you won't be teaching any more students and your rank will be frozen for five years. Understood?"

"Yes sir!" The chūnin said, glad that that was all that would happen to her. She then rushed from the room so that Hiruzen wouldn't have the time to change his mind.

Hiruzen turned his gaze onto the current Principal and the Vice Principal and said, "As for you pair, I find it difficult to believe that neither of you were aware of what was going on."

"Well, yes," the Vice Principal said. "But I thought that it was justified, so I…" he stopped talking, no longer even able to think straight with Hiruzen bringing his full killing intent down upon the chūnin. He gasped out, "But…I…uhh…" and lost consciousness.

The Principal said, "Hiruzen! What are you doing?"

"He was trying to lie to get out of this. I suggest that you don't do the same."

"H-hair, Hokage-sama!" the Principal said, letting out a sigh of relief.

"Now, answer."

"I only just received my post this last year while Iruka had charge of that class. I'm still getting the lay of the land, but form what I could tell, nothing untoward was happening."

"Alright. Since you aren't responsible for the learning of any students, your rank will be frozen for ten years, and, for that period, you will serve in your current role. You can go."

"Thank you, Hokage-sama," the Principal said before dashing back through the tower as fast as he could.

As the Principal made his way through the Kage tower Hiruzen stood up and walked to the window. When he saw the principal walking away from the tower, Hiruzen turned back to the teachers on their knees before him. He let go of his killing intent, letting them all breathe easy and stand up. one of the teachers said, "Thank you, Hokage-sama," as she stood up.

Hiruzen asked, "Why are you thanking me?"

"Why am I…?"

"I never said that I'm letting you go."

"Then what're…?"

Hiruzen sighed and said, "Before I determine your fate…that is, all of your fates," glancing at each of the teachers in turn. "I would like this one question answered."

"What is it?"

"Why did you think that it was alright to disobey your orders and abandon your duty to the village?"

"Why did we…?" the female chūnin said, biting her lower lip as a look of great concern crept onto her face, only now realising exactly what kind of predicament she and her colleagues had created for themselves. She said, "I didn't think I was."

"Why is that?" Hiruzen asked as one of the woman's colleagues said her name in a warning manner.

"Well…I don't know about my colleagues, but I was told to ignore him, so I did."

"I see. Who told you to ignore him?"

"It was Vice Principal Tanaka."

"I see," Hiruzen said. "All of you are hereby removed from your positions as teachers at the academy and all bar you, Makoto, will be demoted to genin."

"To genin!?" some of Makoto's colleagues exclaimed. "Now hang on! You can't just…"

"I am Hokage." Hiruzen flared his chakra, belying his calm tone. "This is my village, and you serve under my command. No one else's, Satoru." He paused to let his words sink in, not that they should have needed to be said at all. Hiruzen said, "You will not be restricted to the missions of genin, but you will receive the pay of one. Also, none of you will reach a higher rank for at least ten years, or until such time as the Hokage deems that you have repented for your crimes."

"Thank you, Hokage-sama," all of the teachers said before turning to leave, each of them glad that they were getting the shinobi equivalent of a slap on the wrist for their actions.

"I wasn't finished!" Hiruzen said, annoyed at the disrespect that was being displayed. "None of you will ever participate in a Chūnin Exam again." Hiruzen savoured the looks of stunned dismay on the now genin's faces as they realised that their prospects of advancement now rested solely on the reigning Kage. He said, "Now, you are free to go and return your flak vests to the armoury on the second floor."

"Hai, Hokage-sama," the genin said in a far more subdued tone.

One of the genin hesitantly said, "Uhh…"

"What is it, Kazuo?"

"What about weapons?"

"You can keep them."

"Thank you, Hokage-sama," Kazuo said, in a relief-laden tone as almost all of his ninjutsu techniques relied on the presence of a weapon other than the standard kunai and shuriken available to most genin.