Chapter two
Genin
Six years later
Naruto sat on the swing just outside the entrance to the academy, watching parents congratulate their children on becoming genin, as he looked over at them some of the parents moved their children a little farther away from him as they began talking about him in hushed whispers that he still caught thanks to his demonic hearing. Sitting on his swing naruto knew that his parents and the other sins would be proud of him, he had played the dobe and tricked everyone. A slight noise to his left alerted him to mizuki's presence, the man had been acting strange for the last few days, naruto decided to use search light on him. Gowther's ability revealed mizuki's plans to betray the village and the part he wanted naruto to play in it. Talking with the hokage it was decided for naruto to go along with the plan and learn something from the scroll before taking Mizuki down to the T&I department.
"Hey naruto why don't you come with me for a second" Mizuki asked sounding as friendly as possible. Naruto nodded as he adopted a sad and curious face, he had become a much better actor over the years. Naruto allowed Mizuki to take him up to a ledge on the academy roof where they sat in silence for a few moments.
"You know iruka doesn't mean to pick on you, he sincerely wants you to do better" Mizuki said as if he was the helpful instructor he was supposed to be.
"But this time I was really trying" *not really, I could have graduated if I wasn't keeping my abilities a secret for now* naruto thought before taking a glance at mizuki's smug smirk from the corner of his eye.
"Well then I guess I'll have to tell you about the secret test" naruto turned quickly to look at Mizuki in surprise.
"What secret test?" naruto asked slightly disgusted as mizuki's grin widened.
"It's a test given to the rare few, you see if you can steal a large scroll from the hokage's tower and learn one jutsu from it then you can become a genin. But the scroll has the words forbidden written on it just so no one else takes it by accident" naruto nodded along with everything Mizuki said as he noted the time and place that he was supposed to meet the traitor at later that night. Mizuki left leaving naruto alone for a few minutes before the blond vanished from sight reappearing in front of the hokage.
"I take it Mizuki talked to you today, naruto?" the hokage asked. He had sent his anbu guards out a few minutes earlier so naruto could easily get into his office.
"Yes, and his plans haven't changed, he's asked me to steal the forbidden scroll and bring it to him at training ground sixteen, so he can hand it over to orochimaru. There was some new information thou, he committed information about sasuke to memory. Seems orochimaru has set his sights on the sharingan." The hokage sighed.
"Very well we'll continue with our plan." Forming a hand sign hiruzen called his most trusted anbu "tenzo naruto was just approached by Mizuki to steal the forbidden scroll as part of some secret graduation test. I need you to guard naruto after he takes the scroll just in case Mizuki has more people helping him in this. I am allowing him to choose one jutsu from the scroll to learn." Tenzo nodded watching on as naruto knocked out the hokage with a near invisible black needle that disappeared as soon as it touched the hokage.
Taking the scroll in hand naruto jumped out the window and into the evening light with tenzo his silent and invisible follower. It only took a few minutes for them to make it to the proper training ground, tenzo waited silently in the shadows while naruto searched through the scroll. Deciding on trying the first technique the shadow clone jutsu, naruto started to train.
A few hours later
Naruto sat on the ground panting slightly at the chakra drain from summoning so many clones. It had taken him a good hour to learn the technique but after that he began experimenting with the jutsu to figure out what the clone's limitations were. While the clones could do anything a normal ninja could while having his enhanced strength, speed, and agility; they were only as durable as a normal clone and couldn't summon or use any of the sacred weapons or abilities that he had learned from the sins. The vegetation in front of him suddenly moved but instead of Mizuki as he thought, it was iruka who had found him.
"Naruto what are you doing, do you have any idea what that scroll is?" naruto was shocked silent for a few moments, something that didn't happen often.
"Iruka sensei, you're not supposed to be here" iruka was about to respond when naruto's words registered in his mind. Suddenly iruka pushed naruto out of the way as kunai flew from the forest pinning iruka to the wooden shed behind him stabbing him in the leg and arm.
"I see you found our little hideaway" Mizuki said as he appeared on a tree branch.
"So, this is how it really is, naruto don't let Mizuki get the scroll" iruka shouted out as he ripped a kunai from his leg.
"Naruto give the scroll to me, iruka just doesn't want you to have it"
"Stop lying Mizuki!"
"Oh, I'm not the one who's been lying; they've been lying to you your whole life naruto since the decree eleven years' ago. The decree is that nobody can tell you that the nine tailed fox is inside you, you are the nine tailed fox. DIE NARUTO" Mizuki shouted as he threw a giant shurikan at him. Naruto was prepared to simply dodge it, when iruka put himself in front of the blade.
"Chastiefol, increase" naruto snapped his fingers forming an impenetrable wall of kunai shaped blades. Iruka and Mizuki stared in shock as the massive shurikan was shredded. "I knew you were a traitor Mizuki, but I didn't know you were an idiot too. Anyone with the slightest knowledge of fuinjutsu would know that I am not the fox. That's why the hokage gave me permission to test your loyalty, you see this whole day has been an act designed to see your true intentions, and you failed." With that naruto hit him with a black out arrow, the small needle shaped weapon knocked Mizuki unconscious as soon as it hit him. Naruto sighed as he watched tenzo appear to take Mizuki away, turning to iruka he smiled at the still shocked look he was getting.
"Come on iruka sensei, the hokage and I can explain everything back at the hokage tower."
The next day
Naruto sat in front of the hokage at the academy in his new outfit. A pair of grey tights under a black body suit that came all the way up to his neck with out sleeves and stopped at the top of his legs while completely covering his ass (think black canary's suit), orange ankle high boots with a slight heel, an orange mini jacket, and an orange belt around his waist all with storage seals completed the look with his headband tied around his neck. The aged leader looked over naruto's new outfit in surprise it did complement the boys build but it was a feminine build the boy had especially if he planned on growing his hair out as it was trying to do. The simple photo of naruto sitting on Chastiefol in front of the hokage monument in his new outfit lay before him. Nodding his acceptance with a sigh he set it on a pile of other photos that would be made into the ninja registration cards for his class.
*There really is nothing I can do to get him to change if this is how he wants to dress*"a good photo naruto, now the orientation will be tomorrow here at the academy starting at eleven am so don't be late." Naruto nodded as he got out of his chair. The sound of the door opening drew looks from both people in the room as a child with spiky brown hair wearing light green shorts, a yellow t-shirt, grey hat, and a ridiculously long blue scarf stepped into the room.
"I challenge you old man, I will defeat you and become the fifth hokage" the child ran at the hokage before stepping on the long scarf and tripping on it. Naruto looked on in disbelief as the kid landed face first before curling in on himself to hold his face. Just then a man in standard ninja attire with black sunglasses and a bandana rushed into the room as the kid sat up complaining that something had tripped him.
"Are you okay honorable grandson, by the way there's nothing here for you to trip on its pretty flat." The child looked around before spotting naruto standing three feet away from him.
"Alright you're the one who tripped me aren't you" naruto gained a tick mark as the child pointed his finger at him.
"why don't you try shortening your scarf then we'll see if you still trip over yourself, besides I have better things to do then argue with a little brat like you" naruto said as he walked around the kid but was stopped by the weird guy at the door.
"How dare you insult him, that is the honorable grandson of the honorable third hokage" naruto looked between the guy at the door to the child then to the third hokage.
"heh whatever, respect is earned not given so there's no way I'll call a brat who trips over himself honorable anything" with that naruto walked out the door and out of the academy. Walking down the street naruto could hear the kid following behind him but when he turned around there was this random new boulder sitting in the middle of the road that had feet sticking out. Sighing naruto turned around and walked to a random training ground used by the academy listening to the child following him the whole way.
"Now that we're here would you mind dropping the pathetic disguises all ready." naruto said as he looked at the large boulder that stood out like a sore thumb even without the feet sticking out of it; the child tossed the cover off as he stood pointing at naruto.
"You're really good to have seen through my disguise, it's settled you'll be my trainer and I'll be your student" naruto's eye twitched for a few seconds before he sighed and truly looked the kid over. He was small with scrawny arms and a bit of baby fat still around his middle, but his eyes were a blaze with the determination to succeed, naruto nodded his head slightly. *maybe he has a good reason for wanting to attack the old man and maybe I can talk him out of trying to attack the hokage like that again.*
"alright but If you want to be my student kid you have to tell me why you attacked your grandfather" the kid stopped smiling as he looked down at his feet for a few minutes as if he was deciding if the training would be worth telling naruto his reasons.
"well you see my name is konohamaru, my grandfather named me after the ancient name of the village, so it should be easy to remember but no one calls me that. When they see me, they don't really see me, all they see is the honorable grandson of the third hokage no one knows who I am; It's like I don't exist and I'm sick of it, that's why I have to become hokage now so people know who I am" naruto smiled slightly.
"Konohamaru becoming hokage is not something that is easy to accomplish, you have to work hard and train constantly, always looking to improve yourself. A hokage must be wise enough to coordinate the entire village and contracts between our allies, while also being strong enough to protect it from anything that comes its way. So, what do you know and what can you do, I'll take you from there" konohamaru looked up at him in surprise before a giant smile covered his face.
"All right boss, I know somethings about chakra, math, and a little strategy. But nothing physical, my last trainer wouldn't let me do any physical training" naruto nodded as he looked around the training ground.
"That's okay usually the academy is mostly focused on knowledge, leaving the physical training to the kid to do on their own. To start I want you to run around the entire training ground as fast as you can for as long as you can." Konohamaru nodded and set off running. It took the kid two hours to make it three times around before falling to the ground exhausted. Naruto who had been speed walking beside the kid smiled down at him.
"You can see now why it's so important to train as much physically as you do mentally right" konohamaru slowly nodded, taking the bottle of water that naruto handed him. After a few minutes naruto set up a routine for konohamaru, first was ten sit ups then ten jumping jacks followed by ten push ups. Naruto told him to take his time and do them right, it took over an hour the first time because of the push ups. After going thru the routine a few times with breaks in between naruto looked to the sun as it got closer to the horizon telling him that it was late in the day already.
"alright it's getting pretty late now so we'll go through the routine once more then you better head home, but remember if you're going to train properly then you need to eat a lot and get plenty of sleep" konohamaru nodded excitedly as he got ready to have one more go at the routine. Naruto turned suddenly hearing the rustle of leaves as the strange man from before jumped out of the trees leveling an icy stare at naruto.
"There you are honorable grandson, come it's time to go home." The man reached out his hand to konohamaru as the boy stepped back.
"No! I'm learning to become stronger so I can beat my grandfather and gain the title hokage, so don't get in my way" the man simply smirked
"A hokage must be more than a simple fighter, he must know wisdom, honor, virtue, and have mastered a thousand jutsu. You don't even know one" konohamaru grit his teeth and looked ready to yell at the man again when naruto laid his hand on the boy's shoulder. Naruto nodded to the kid before turning to look at what had to be his previous trainer.
"While it is true a hokage must know those things that doesn't mean that you can ignore the physical aspects that a ninja must know. A hokage is not a simple fighter he is the greatest fighter, he has to be in order to protect the village from any enemy out there. The fact you have been neglecting his physical training means that you don't truly believe in him and I'm sure the hokage and his son will gladly find someone who can properly train konohamaru" naruto moved konohamaru in front of him as they walked away leaving the man standing frozen in shock in the training ground. As they turned down the road to the hokage tower naruto looked down at konohamaru and smiled.
"know this konohamaru if you truly wish to be hokage then you must learn everything that it takes to become one and I think you have a pretty great teacher waiting for you at home, I'm sure your grandfather wouldn't mind, all you have to do is ask him." With that naruto left konohamaru standing in front of the hokage tower as he headed back to his forest home.
Deep in training ground forty-four otherwise known as the forest of death naruto smiled up at the little hut that sat nestled against one of the large trees it was a near perfect replica of the boar's hat on the outside except without the sign. Inside the main floor had an open concept kitchen looking out at a large dining table on one side of the room while the other had an extremely comfy couch in front of a large fire place with two large book cases a good distance away on either side. He sighed as he traveled up to the second floor which only held his room and a bathroom, tomorrow was going to be a busy day.
The next day
Naruto walked to the academy ignoring the stares he was getting from the villagers as he passed. Those that hadn't seen him yesterday were openly gawking at his new outfit; he didn't really care if the outfit was a little more feminine then what most would go for. It allowed him a lot more movement than normal attire would and at the high speeds he can move these cloths didn't snag on objects, they also had less hanging fabric that an enemy could grab. Entering the school yard naruto spotted iruka by the door about to head in, moving a little faster naruto caught up with him.
"Hey iruka sensei" naruto smirked as iruka turned to talk to him but stopped for a moment on the outfit before simply shrugging and going along with it *I'm sure if he's seen gai then he knows that there are weirder style choices out there*
"Good morning naruto, right on time I see, let's hurry I'm sure that the others are already waiting for us" with that they headed up to the second-floor classroom together. As they approached the classroom they heard squabbling and shouting from inside causing them both to sigh. Opening the door naruto stepped in and sat down with no one paying him any mind as they were more focused on the girls fighting over the seats beside sasuke. Iruka finally had enough, enlarging his head with the big demon headed jutsu he shouted.
"SIT DOWN AND SHUT UP" the girls ran to find an empty seat allowing sakura and ino to take the seats on either side of sasuke. Iruka began his usual graduation speech as nearly everyone zoned out. Naruto sat listening with half an ear as he thought about what he knew *hmm last year it was the dead last paired with the rookie of the year and the kunoichi of the year to balance the power out so if it's the same this year then that means it will be me, sasuke, and sakura; huh I'll have to talk to them after we meet our sensei. A fan girl and an avenger aren't exactly the most stable people to have on a team*
"Team seven, naruto, sakura haruno, and sasuke Uchiha your sensei will be Kakashi Hatake" instantly sakura's hand was in the air.
"But iruka sensei naruto didn't graduate how can he be on our team" iruka smirked.
"I'm glad you asked sakura, naruto was asked by lord hokage to repeat the final jutsu for him as it didn't make sense that naruto could use the other academy techniques but never improve on the clone jutsu. What he found was that naruto simple has too much chakra to ever be able to do the simple clone jutsu no matter how small the amount of chakra he put in. the hokage asked him to learn a different clone technique and he managed five good clones within the hour" with that iruka turned to the rest of the class and continued to called out the last two teams specifically ignoring those that wanted to know what technique naruto had to learn.
After being dismissed by iruka naruto moved at super speed getting to the roof to eat his lunch before anyone could see him. Sitting on the roof he looked over the edge and saw sasuke eating alone on a bench while sakura was walking around looking for him, if he was going to tell them about himself and truly trust them then he needed to know about them as well. Naruto nodded determined to talk to them after their meeting with their sensei, you never truly know who was listening and he wanted to surprise their sensei on the true genin test. Soon the bell rang meaning it was time for them to meet their sensei, naruto managed to get back into the class room without anyone noticing as they were too busy talking to their new teams while his was brooding and watching the brooding.
Within a few minutes jonin started to arrive an take the other teams away, only when they were the last team there and the other two were starting to get annoyed did they finally look at their surroundings wondering where their sensei and third team member was. Naruto smirked as sakura looked behind her and saw him sitting in the last row.
"There you are naruto where have you been, and what's with that outfit?" sakura asked as naruto stood and walked down to them.
"I've been here since iruka sensei walked in at the beginning of orientation, you all were simply too distracted to notice me. As for my new outfit, this is how I prefer to dress." Sasuke and sakura stared at him for a few moments in shock before the sound of the door clattering open snapped them out of the daze. In came a person dressed in the standard ninja attire with the jonin vest but his face was nearly completely covered with a mask and his headband so the only thing you could see was one of his black eyes and his silver hair that seemed to defy gravity.
"My first impression is that your all boring, meet me on the roof" with that he was gone. Naruto's eye twitched a little at the nonchalant attitude before calming himself and heading out the door with the other two following behind him.*it's fine if you think we're boring after all a weak first impression allows you to surprise your enemy*
Once they got to the roof the three genin sat down in front of their sensei, naruto sitting to the far right with sakura in the middle and sasuke to the far left. "Well now that we're all here let's start with a simple introduction meaning your likes, dislikes, and dream for the future"
"Sensei why don't you start, all we know about you is your name" sakura asked while naruto and sasuke nodded in agreement as Kakashi just shrugged.
"all right then, my name is Kakashi Hatake, my likes you're not old enough to know about, I don't really feel like telling you my dislikes, and my dream for the future I haven't really thought about it" *we still know nothing more than your name* "now you emo" sasuke grit his teeth a little at the nickname.
"My name is sasuke Uchiha I like very few things and I dislike a lot of things, what I have is not a dream but an ambition to restore my clan and kill a certain man" *oh sasuke-kun is so cool* *knew it seems like a total avenger*
"Alright you pinkie go" sakura gained a tick mark
"My name is sakura haruno what I like is . . . (squeal). My dream for the future . . . (blushes and squeals). What I dislike is ino-pig" *typical fan girl answers*
"Okay your next blondie" naruto smirks
"My name is naruto I like a lot of things, you don't really need to know my dislikes, as for my dream maybe I'll tell you later" silence greeted his introduction as sasuke and sakura looked at him like they had no idea who he was. They were right in that regard he was nothing like the boy who had shouted out his love of ramen and dream of being hokage for everyone and anyone that was willing to listen.
"Right well, tomorrow we'll have a survival exercise; this will not be like your previous training." Sasuke and sakura listened intently while naruto hid a smirk; he had done a bit of research on the past graduates and knew about the secret test. "Of the twenty-seven graduates that just came from here only nine will actually be accepted as genin the other eight-teen will be weeded out and sent back to the academy. In other words, this is a make it or break it pass fail test and the chance that you'll fail is at least sixty-six percent. The supposed graduation test was only to separate those who could never become ninja and those that have a chance. I will decide whether you pass or fail, be at training ground seven tomorrow at five in the morning. That's all you're dismissed, oh and tomorrow you better not eat breakfast or else you'll puke." Sasuke and sakura stared wide eyed as their sensei disappeared while naruto glared at the spot he disappeared from.
"Well I don't know about you two but I'm going to go scout out the training ground, if this test is so important it might just give me an edge." *if I can get them to the training ground then maybe I can truly talk to them, whether Kakashi knows it or not he just helped me big time* sasuke and sakura nodded.
"That's actually a really smart thing to do naruto" sakura said as if it had completely stumped her that he could be smart or at least not a complete idiot. Naruto looked back at her with a mild glare.
"Let's get something straight, you should forget everything you think you know about my behavior and how I acted at the academy. The academy is a joke nothing more nothing less" sakura growled while sasuke scowled.
"What do you mean dobe?" naruto turned and started walking to the training ground as he explained.
"did you know that to pass from genin to chunin there is a competition known as the chunin exams, in these exams you face not only those from other villages but squads from your own as well. Academy information about your opponents is the easiest to find especially if you were in the same class, by playing the dobe throughout the academy it means that anyone who looks into my past will see only that. Camouflaging my skills means that my opponents will underestimate me and have no clue what my real strength is, you two unfortunately did not have this fore thought so they will know that sakura axels in academic situations but has weak tai-jutsu."
"For sasuke they will know he is a high performer on near every level but could use that as a revers of my own situation and blind side him with an unexpected ability or move. This can all be deduced from simply looking at the academy record because most children aren't taught to camouflage their skills and will try their best to raise to the top of the class giving their enemies an advantage." By now they were half way to the training grounds and passing the last few houses, sakura and sasuke took the remaining time to think about what he said. Once they reached the training ground naruto noticed the large black stone off to one side with a good-sized stream running behind it, three wooden training posts and the large amount of forest that surrounded the training ground. Sakura sighed gaining his attention.
"Naruto you said that we should forget everything we thought we knew about you, but you didn't really introduce yourself" naruto nodded his head as he sat against one of the posts, prompting the other two to follow his lead.
"I know but he didn't say anything other than his name and you two were no better than I when it came to sharing information. I mean sasuke can't possibly be the only thing on your mind sakura" sakura blushed "besides I could tell sasuke was trying to be as vague as possible" sasuke glared a little at the ground. "So why don't we start over just the three of us" the other two looked at him for a while before sakura nodded with a smile.
"Alright I guess I can go first, you of course already know my name and I guess I also like flower pressing, reading, and helping my mom in the shop, I don't really dislike ino I mean she was my first real friend but after she started to like sasuke I just tried to fit in. what I do dislike are perverts and bullies, as for my dream well I want to get stronger and everything but I'd really like to start learning medical jutsu." She was blushing heavily by the end of it while naruto smiled and nodded at her.
"That was great sakura; I was a little worried after your first introduction that you would act like a fan girl with no real skill outside of the academy. But now that we know that your serious about training we can help you with the physical stuff and help you find material to study on medical jutsu. What about you sasuke are you nothing more than a depressed kid out for blood not caring who gets in your way." Naruto knew it was a low blow, but it would either bring sasuke out of his shell to prove him wrong or sink him deeper into the darkness. Sasuke sighed as he looked at his supposed team *naruto isn't as much of a dope as I thought, maybe he could help*
"I do like tomatoes, training, and learning my clan's techniques. I dislike, no I hate traitors, what I dislike are idiots and those who are useless, as for my ambition . . . four years ago when my family was massacred, it was my brother that killed them. I will find him and kill him." Sakura looked down sad for the boy's misfortune while naruto nodded before adopting a thinking pose for a few minutes before speaking.
"There is one thing I don't get thou, even if your brother was strong enough to go head to head against a kage and easily win, how did he manage to defeat at least eighty people. Even thou all of them knew the same jutsu as him, had been training longer than him, had the same doujutsu as him, where probably attacking him at the same time, and without alerting the anbu. There must be more to this than what we currently know, but if you ever need my help sasuke even if it's just to make sure no one interrupts your fight with your brother then just ask." Sasuke stared at naruto in surprise, he had never really thought about how his brother had managed it against the over whelming odds. *naruto is right thou there must be more to it, but to know he'll help even if it's just to make sure I can take out my revenge its. . . nice.*
"Thank you naruto, so what about you Mr. Mystery we shared now it's your turn" sakura nodded as naruto chuckled.
"Alright well I like training, the forests around the village, the occasional prank, and you guy's now that I know you a better. I dislike hypocrites, bullies, and traitors; as for my dream for the future I don't really have one, I just want to protect those precious to me." Sasuke and sakura nodded their understanding before sakura started to smirk.
"Well naruto you seem to know our abilities from the academy and it's only about five o'clock so why don't you tell us about your abilities." Sasuke nodded wanting to know what naruto had been hiding.
"alright, but to truly understand I'll need to tell you everything" sasuke and sakura sat quietly as they listened to naruto talking about his past and the kingdom of liones where he was born, his parents and the other sins, as well as Kyuubi; and all the information he learned when he was five. The next three hours were spent going over all of naruto's abilities, weapons, and forms; with naruto literally picking them off the ground in his twenty-meter-tall giant form. Surprisingly his cloths had seals on them that would adjust to his size allowing the full thirty meters. With his demonstrating done they went over both sasuke and sakura's abilities and how they could improve before planning out the surprise attack for their sensei.
All three of them left the training grounds feeling closer and more confident that they would succeed. They had all gained an invaluable thing; naruto had two more people who knew what he was that wouldn't hate him for it, sasuke had gained two people who would help him get the answers and the revenge he wanted, while sakura found two people that would help her reach her goals and become a stronger person. Across the village the unsuspecting jonin shivered as a wave of unease swept through him.