Hello, here is chapter 2. Thanks to those that left reviews. I hope the new chapter will be to your liking too.
Secrets Revealed
During the night Naruto was out to see if some stupid clan had thrown away old scrolls again. Really, for all the talks about keeping clan jutsus a secret, they were pretty lax with the scrolls that had their secret jutsu and sometimes training techniques in them. Whenever the scrolls got too old to be used anymore the clans had somebody copy the content of the scrolls and then threw away the old ones. Instead of burning them directly, they threw them into the trash. Naruto, ever the opportunist, regularly searched the trashcans the day before the trash was collected and destroyed. That was the day the clans threw away those scrolls. Over the years since he had started to do this to even out the advantage the clan ninjas had on him, he had collected quite a lot of scrolls. Naruto now knew perfectly how to fight members of all clans in Konoha. He even could use the gentle fist. It was fairly easy with his vast knowledge of anatomy.
While he couldn't see the chakra network without the byakugan, a chakra strike to a vital organ or a muscle was still fatal for an opponent. And it added to his unpredictable taijutsu. After all, nobody would expect a Non-Hyuga to know gentle fist. But before he could do his little raid, he got suspicious of a figure that left the Hokage Tower with a big scroll on his back. He decided to investigate. He made a shadow clone to continue his trash raid; there was no reason to not do both after all. He stayed in the shadows, his chakra suppressed to not alert the man he followed to his presence. Once he reached a clearing in the forest, the man stopped to gather his breath.
"That went well. It would have been better if I could have blamed the demon brat, but with the brat passing the exams that plan got blown up." He mumbled.
Naruto recognized the voice as the one of Mizuki, his teacher at the academy. So he had planned to trick him into stealing the scroll he had with him. It had to be important that he would risk the theft from the Hokage Tower. Naruto sneaked closer and positioned himself over Mizuki, ready to take him out.
While Naruto was tailing Mizuki the Hokage noticed that the Forbidden Scroll had been stolen and raised the alarm. Many were accusing Naruto, but an ANBU informed them that Naruto was sleeping in his bed at home. The Hokage sent his ninja out to find the thief and bring back the scroll.
Iruka who had taken to search in the forest west of Konoha was really surprised to find Mizuki with the scroll. Never would he have thought his old friend would do something like this. Iruka didn't notice Naruto in the tree.
"Mizuki, what are you doing?" He shouted enraged.
"Oh, look who found me, Iruka. What does it look like? I am taking the scroll to become more powerful than I could ever become in this shitty village. Once I have learned the jutsus in it, I will be invincible. Nobody will be able to stop me and I will then sell it to the highest bidder." He said. "Sadly I can't have you tell my little secret, so you sadly have to die."
Mizuki attacked Iruka with a windmill shuriken, which Iruka managed to dodge. The two started on taijutsu, where Iruka was definitely at a disadvantage.
"Oh, didn't the good little teacher keep up with his taijutsu training well enough?" Mizuki mocked Iruka when he kicked him in the rips and against a tree.
Then he threw the next windmill shuriken at Iruka, who couldn't get up fast enough. But before the shuriken could hit, it was intercepted by a dark figure. Naruto had seen and heard enough to decide he wanted to thwart Mizuki's plans. And with his disguise there was no risk of being identified. Mizuki was shocked to see his attack didn't hit.
"Who the hell are you? What do you want?" He yelled at Naruto.
"I hate traitors with a passion. That's all." Naruto said and threw the windmill shuriken he had caught before it could hit Iruka back at Mizuki with a lot more speed than it had had before. Mizuki dodged the weapon.
"Hah, you missed." He mocked only to be hit from behind and feel the pain from being pierced by his own weapon.
"No, I didn't." Naruto calmly said, holding the end of a thread of ninja wire in his hand, which he had quickly tied to the windmill shuriken and therefore been able to pull the weapon back on a new course.
He took out a senbon covered in a paralysing poison and hit Mizuki in the neck with it. He passed out soon after from the blood loss. Iruka managed to get up, only holding his side a bit.
"Thank you for the help." He said. "You saved my life."
"You're welcome. I think it would be best to get the scroll back to the Hokage. Can you walk on your own?" Naruto asked.
"Yes, I think so. Only a few bruises, nothing serious." He said. "By the way, who are you; I don't think I have seen you in the village before."
"That's a secret. If you want to have a name, you can call me Dark Phoenix. That's my codename." Naruto said.
He had decided long ago that he would use that codename if he ever was seen. It was his best shot to be left alone if nobody knew what he could do. Dark Phoenix would be thought of as a secret operative of the Hokage and nobody would make the connection to Naruto Uzumaki, the demon brat.
"Oh, I understand." Iruka said.
In a ninja village people with codenames were nothing special. Hell, the ANBU only operated that way. While Dark Phoenix seemed to be really young, there had been others that strong at his age. Naruto bound Mizuki with wire and asked Iruka if he could carry him as he had the height advantage.
They walked back to the village not being in a hurry after the culprit was caught and knocked out. And it would be easier on Iruka's bruises. Iruka was carrying Mizuki's knocked out body and Naruto had the scroll. When Iruka was briefly looking in another direction, Naruto quickly switched places with a previously made shadow clone. There was no chance he would pass the opportunity to copy the jutsus from the scroll. It wouldn't take long. Because of his sealing training Naruto could write really fast. Just when they were getting to the edge of the forest, Naruto switched back. Nobody would ever know that he now had the forbidden jutsus of the village.
The Hokage was really surprised to see an unknown ninja and Iruka Umino bringing back the scroll and having a knocked out and bound Mizuki Touji with them. The masked ninja walked over to him and handed him the forbidden scroll back. Then Iruka started to tell what had happened.
"Hokage Sama, I caught up with the thief, Mizuki in the west forest and after he told me he had stolen the scroll to learn the forbidden jutsus and sell the scroll to the highest bidder; once he had done that I attacked him. Over the fight Mizuki managed to beat me in taijutsu and I was kicked back into a tree. Mizuki didn't waste time to throw another windmill shuriken at me while I was down. I was sure that that would be my end when Dark Phoenix appeared and intercepted the windmill shuriken Mizuki threw at me. He then threw the windmill shuriken back at Mizuki but he dodged. Mizuki gloated about having been missed, but Dark Phoenix had tied ninja wire to the shuriken and pulled it back where it hit Mizuki in the back. After that he was knocked out by a senbon that was obviously covered in some poison. He bound him with more ninja wire and we came back here." Iruka reported.
The Hokage was confused. He didn't have a ninja that went by the codename Dark Phoenix. But the boy was obviously strong and on their side. The scroll he had been given back was the original. So the boy didn't intend to steal it. Curious. He would have to ask the boy once they were alone.
"Thank you for the report and bringing back the forbidden scroll, Iruka. That was good work. I think it would be best if you went to the hospital and let them check you if there was anything worse than bruises done. I need you ready for duty." The Hokage said.
Iruka bowed and left the room. The Hokage now turned his look to the boy.
"I would really like to know who you are. I don't know any ninja in my ranks with the codename Dark Phoenix." The Hokage said sternly.
"If you would send your ANBU guards out of the room Hokage Sama, I will tell you. I don't want my identity be known to anybody but you." Naruto said politely.
"Why would I send my guards out for this if you could try to attack me?" The Hokage asked.
"I may be strong, but I am sure you could take me out without problem, Hokage Sama. The only thing I require is a bit of privacy as I am about to reveal two S rank secrets of the village." Naruto said.
The Hokage concentrated his senses on the boy. He felt his chakra being suppressed, so there was no way to get any clues about the boy's identity. What kind of village secrets could the boy know? Well, if he wanted to find out, he would have to take the risk. It was really small after all. He didn't become Hokage while being weak. He gave his guards the sign to leave the office. Once they were out of the office, he activated the privacy seals.
"So, now we are completely undisturbed. Now tell me who you are." He ordered.
Naruto raised his hands slowly to not have the old man attack him and pulled down his lower face mask and his hood.
"My name is Naruto Namikaze, third jinchuriki of the Kyubi." He said seriously.
To say the Hokage was shocked was an understatement. He had never even suspected that Naruto could know about those two things.
"Naruto? Is that really you?" He asked.
"Yes, old man. And if I hadn't figured out by now that having me use my Dad's name would have got his enemies after me I would be really pissed with you for lying to me whenever I asked one or both of the two questions I had all my life. Who my parents were and why the villagers all hate me." Naruto stated while clearly showing his displeasure to the Hokage.
"How do you know that? Who told you?" The Hokage asked, furious that somebody would have broken his law.
"Well, I found out about the fox shortly before the Uchiha massacre. If I see Itachi I will have to thank him for getting rid of my most brutal tormentors. They once caught me and beat me up in a lonely alley. When they left me there bloody and probably thinking that I was unconscious, they talked about how I deserved that because I was the Kyubi container and should just die. They only didn't kill me directly because you would have found out and taken measures. About my parents I found out when I had to clean your storage room after that prank against the grocer in the north part of the village. I accidentally spilled blood on the seal that was keeping the box with the kanji for 'Fourth' on it closed. I looked into the box after the seal opened and found my parents' marriage certificate and my birth certificate. I found out about the location of their house and went there. Well, you can guess the rest of the information I told you, like that I am the third jinchuriki for the fox when I say that I found both their diaries." Naruto explained.
The Hokage looked sad. He hadn't wanted to burden Naruto with the knowledge of the fox at such a young age.
"You said you figured out my reason for keeping your heritage a secret. How comes you didn't do better at the academy then? From the reports I got, you just passed the exams. Congratulations for that by the way." The Hokage wanted to know.
"Thanks, but think about it. What do the villagers fear more? A stupid and weak demon or a smart and powerful one? It was simply self-preservation. I am way stronger and smarter than everybody thinks." Naruto said.
"How strong?" The Hokage asked. "And how did you manage to keep all the training you must have done a secret? I only saw you training some times in the training grounds and then you didn't give the impression of being strong."
"That was my shadow clone, old man. I learned that jutsu by watching Kakashi Hatake test his team when I was nine. He had them fight against his clone in the true genin test. I had memorized the handseal and tried to learn that jutsu as it looked really useful, way better than the clone we learn at the academy, which I still have problems with even after thousands of hours of chakra control training." Naruto admitted. "That damn jutsu just uses too little chakra."
"You can do shadow clone jutsu? You know that it is a forbidden jutsu?" He asked.
"No, I didn't until now. I never had any problems except in the beginning when I dispelled too many clones after training at once. That was a terrible headache I got."
"You use your clones for training?" The Hokage asked interested.
"Sure. It's the best training method there is. At least for me. I can make a thousand clones without ending winded. And with the memory transfer after they dispel they were perfect for me to gain skills, experience and knowledge." Naruto said shrugging his shoulders.
"But why didn't you tell me?" The Hokage asked.
"I couldn't. If the council had any idea that I was getting strong on my own, they would have tried to stop me. I needed all the time I could get to get strong enough to just flip them the bird once I graduated. You know how they treat me. If I had shown my true skills I would have been able to graduate earlier, that much I know you'd have done for me, but what then? A genin still isn't strong enough to be safe from a bunch of determined civilians, especially not if the council would try to make everything I did look like the fox did it. And there would have been the possibility of a jonin just failing the team I was on under the pretence of us not having the necessary skills. Then it would have been back to the academy, under the control of the civilian council.
"And then they would have known that I was stronger than they 'allowed' me to become and would have sabotaged me more. No, I needed to have at least high level chunin skills to be sure to pass the real genin test for sure or you then having a reason to keep me in the active duty roster even if the jonin on my team failed me out of hatred for the fox. While I haven't been beaten up since the Uchiha massacre, the civilians do all they can to screw me over. Shops overcharge me or just deny me service, parents tell lies about me to their children, teachers sabotage my education and the hospital staff only treats me if you force them to. Hell, the only place I can go to eat is Ichiraku's. And I can't live from ramen alone, even if I pretended to do so. Thankfully I don't get the food a clone eats. Alone thinking about eating so much ramen makes me sick. I hate cup ramen by the way. I only like the ramen at Ichiraku's.
"Do you really wonder that I couldn't trust anybody until I was out of the influence of the civilian council? Now that I have graduated and am a ninja, I am under your jurisdiction and you are one of the few people that don't hate me." Naruto explained.
The Hokage understood. He had tried to help Naruto, but he was right. With the council having stolen much of the Hokage's power in the short time between Minato's death and his reinstallation, there wasn't much he could have done for the boy without being accused of favouritism and pushed out of the position of Hokage, leaving Naruto without protection. When Naruto had been found next to the bodies of his dead mother and dieing father, Minato had only managed to get his final wish out that Naruto should be treated like the hero he was for keeping the fox imprisoned. He hadn't told the villagers about Naruto's status, but it had somehow got out. His law came too late and the villagers were shouting for Naruto's death.
"You said you know about the true genin test?" The Hokage asked looking over his intertwined hands.
"Yes, my knowledge was also part of the reason I got results to just pass, at the bottom of my class. The only genin-to-be that is guaranteed to pass is Sasuke. The council will never allow for their precious Last Uchiha to fail and order whoever will be his jonin sensei to pass his team. That is the only possibility for me to surely pass. I know that Ino, Shikamaru and Choji will be put on a team as the three clans have had a bond over generations and are always on the same team if three of them are in the same graduation class. The next clan heirs are Hinata, Kiba and Shino. A classical tracking team, therefore they would normally be put in one team. Those six are the only ones in my class that also have the skill to pass the genin test for sure if they get fair senseis.
"So if I wanted to truly get out of the civilian council's jurisdiction I needed to get on a team that was sure to pass, aka Sasuke's team. I hate the bastard, but I can push my feelings aside if it means you are the only one who can give me orders. To be honest, if I hadn't been sure that I would have been hunted down and brought back by the ANBU I would have run away years ago. While I like you, with a whole village hating me that was not a difficult decision."
The Hokage seriously needed to make plans to get Naruto to stay in the village even after he would one day die. He was an old man. He knew that he would probably die before Naruto turned eighteen. He could understand the boy. He really could. But it was also important for the village to keep the Kyubi there. And Naruto with his heritage shouldn't even think about leaving the village. This was all so screwed up. He had hoped that once the immediate grief for the fallen was over that people would get back to common sense. Sadly the civilian council never accepted it.
"I see. As you know your heritage, what do you intend to do?" He asked.
"I will keep it secret until the next chunin exams. By the way, why did Konoha get to host them two times in a row?" Naruto asked. That question had bothered him for a while.
"I won't ask how you know that they had been in Konoha last time and will be next time in six months. We would normally only have hosted the next exams. It was Kusa's turn originally, but their village couldn't get the premises ready in time and then their leader fell ill. So they asked Konoha to take over as we have the possibilities to organize them quickly." The Hokage answered.
"Ah, I see. That makes sense. And even if you didn't ask, I will answer how I knew. I just noticed all the foreign shinobi in the village. The only reason for that amount was that we hosted the chunin exams." Naruto explained.
The Hokage nodded. That was logical.
"I have a request by the way. Can you make sure that my team is assigned a sensei that isn't a demon hater? To ask for someone that likes me would be too much to ask, but having at least a sensei that would treat me neutrally would be a huge improvement to the teachers at the academy. With the exception of Iruka sensei. While I know he doesn't like me, he was professional about things and taught me the same like everybody else. I can live with that." Naruto asked.
"I will see what I can do. What I would like to know how you came up with the codename Dark Phoenix." The Hokage asked.
"Well, a phoenix is a mythical bird that doesn't really die, but is always reborn from the ashes. Phoenixes are associated with the light and pureness. A dark phoenix also is reborn from the ashes when it dies, but it is not the same bird. It is more like a reincarnation instead of the rebirth of the same bird with the same character. I can't be pure, the village made sure of it, but I will not just die. I will rise from the ashes again and again and nothing they throw at me will keep me down." Naruto stated.
The Hokage nodded.
"I think we still didn't settle the matter of your level of strength. What do you think where you would rank?" The Hokage asked.
"Low to middle jonin level on a pure skill level. I only miss the body for taking on high level jonin. That will have to wait until I get older. I have seen pictures of Dad. I should normally get a similar stature like him when I grow up." Naruto replied.
"Are you sure about that?" The Hokage asked shocked.
"Yes, I have a repertoire of over a hundred ninjutsu, ten genjutsu, which were a pain in the ass to learn by the way, damned fox messing with my control, am proficient in both my clans' taijutsu styles, I can use a bo staff and a tanto really well and know how to use most weapons at least a bit if I ever need to. I am a fuinjutsu master and a poisons and anatomy expert. I guess that should be more than enough to qualify for jonin level strength. The only thing I lack is experience. That's why I said I was low to middle jonin level on pure skill levels. I wouldn't last in a real fight aginast a jonin yet if my opponent didn't massively underestimated me. I couldn't do any missions after all or I would have been discovered." Naruto listed.
"Fuinjutsu master? I guess I shouldn't be surprised considering that both your parents were masters in fuinjutsu and it was the specialty of the Uzumaki clan before they were killed in the third war. I would like to test your skill level though. Probably the best way to do it would be if you fought against one of my jonin in your disguise." He pondered.
"That would be okay, but I only want to reveal my skills to the whole village during the chunin exams. I want them to see who they treated like shit. With all the nobles and important clients present they can't risk being seen as the scum they are." Naruto stated.
"Okay, be at training ground sixty one tomorrow morning at ten. I will be there with the jonin I have in mind to test your skills." The Hokage said, more than a little bit worried about the obvious loathing Naruto held for the majority of Konoha.
"Okay, old man, good night." Naruto said and put his mask and hood back on.
"Good night, Naruto and this was really good work. You will be paid for your help in catching Mizuki." The Hokage added.
"Thanks, I can use the money." Naruto said and left the office.
And done. What do you think? Till next time.
