A/N Okay guys, wow, that response was astounding to me, and while some of it could be counted as it being a Naruto fic and a new one, I'm shocked that even when it left the first page, it was constantly getting more views. Thanks so much for that, and just as I promised, here's the next Chapter! I'm going to keep working on this as I promised, and I'll keep towards the 10k chapter stuff, but don't be surprised if sometimes it's less than 10k words, I'll try my best to keep to my rules. Where we left off, Honoke had just been found murdered by Naruto, and now we get to have fun with the aftereffects of that, as well as finding some things about Honoke he didn't tell Naruto! Try guessing who murdered him, I'm actually pretty interested in your guesses to be honest, now before we start, I'm going to do something a bit new to me, answer reviews in the chapter!
Joe: "Interesting story continue it as soon as possible please"
Me: Don't worry Joe, I'm on it, the absolutely insane response to Chapter One nearly brought me down to joyful tears. I never expected this outcome and the fact that at the making of this, it had 2 reviews, 13 (THIRTEEN! That's the highest amount of any of my stories!) followers, and 9 favorites, also the most of any story I've written to date! It's just downright incredible. Don't worry, the test was a resounding success! On top of that, it keeps growing each time I look back at the Manage Stories page! Thank you guys so much!
Party in LA: "I felt inclined leave my review for this story. I enjoyed it and I hope you continue with it. The concept is intriguing to say the least and how you already established a relationship between Naruto and his Landlord in one chapter says a lot. My only complaint is that I thought you introduced Sasuke too early but nothing major here. Can't wait to read the next chapter."
Me: I'm so glad that you felt inclined to leave a review, it helps a lot and I can't say thank you enough! Honestly as I stated in the end note last chapter, if it wasn't for that being a mega chapter (Even though those are most likely going to be the size of regular chapters on this story lol) he wouldn't have died that fast. But it was more that he went through what he was supposed to go through, he was meant to die then because a certain someone might or might not have been listening in to them, but I'm glad you think I wrote Honoke well enough for it! I was trying to make it seem like Naruto had a Father figure in Honoke, as Honoke and Iruka both did their best to help him out. (Remember, he trusted Iruka as a brother figure, Kakashi and Jiraya as his senseis) so I wanted to try something with Honoke as an OC. Don't worry, his death will DEFINITELY have an impact on Kurama and Naruto, as well as Iruka and Choza, which you might or might not see this chapter, who knows? Also yeah I was also thinking Sasuke was a bit early, but at the same time, I can totally see Sasuke snooping in on Naruto after his birthday party fiasco. Then to see he training on some cool stuff you never even heard of? Yeah I think Sasuke got in at the right time. On top of that, I wanted to set a REASON for their rivalry, what better reason than Naruto met Sasuke before, thought he was a emo prick, and wanted to beat him up?
One more thing before we start this chapter. I have only watched Shippuden up until Team 7 reunites at that cave system place with Yamato. That's legit all my experience with watching Shippuden, everything else I know was from the manga, which I had read up until about where Gai died opening his eighth gate? I think it might have been a bit further, but I honestly don't remember because that was back in middle school to ninth grade for me, I honestly remember next to nothing about Part II(I can't be the only one that calls sequel shows season two or stuff? Just me?) of Naruto, and the little things I do know come from the wiki. I was only doing the Kaguya and Hashirama stuff mostly as nods to it at how bloody insane Naruto got towards the end of Part II, and since I know next to nothing about it, and I know I can never do the insanity justice, I don't know if I'll even continue on past Jiraya training. I'll leave that all up to you guys, but know that if I ever go for it, it will be under a sequel story thing called Two and the same: The era of the Shippuden or what have you, I don't know yet, but my point stands. I'll leave this story off on a satisfying conclusion I bloody swear to you all, because I also hate open-ended stories that don't close a story on a good ending, I might leave a few strings untied just in case I do write that sequel (Honestly I would most likely epilogue chapters if you don't want me to do that, and that's perfectly fine by me, just to close the story up on a satisfying conclusion.) I'm just letting you know of all of this now so you can have it in your minds while you read through this story. I don't want an answer on that sequel or not until I'm nearing the very very end of this, I'm just letting you know back here as these are my personal doubts as well, and I want you to know that I'm not an author that will hide things from you in these Author Notes. I'm being honest here, and I hope you guys believe me on that.
Well with all that out of the way...Without any further rambling from me, let's begin the next chapter!
Edit: I noticed a missing Bold Italics for Kurama, and went back over to do that as well as split Kurama and Naruto's chat since people seem to think that's better and I can't really say I disagree.
Now for the concept art of the chapter. The Pre-Academy wasn't originally a thing. The whole thing with Honoke was supposed to happen 3 days before the start of the Academy. The problem was that the author never specified the age of which kids entered the Academy, nor did he mention for how many years they stayed there! With how Naruto went through and attempted the graduation exam 3 different times before the canon attempt, I assume it was 4-5 years in total, with or without one year of practice with it. Thus, I figured 5 years was too long and then thought, "Well, the Hokage would want to protect him, as well as view that the apartment was no longer safe for Naruto, their Jinchuriki, so the Pre-Academy came as a result for wanting to protect the heirs and prepare them faster in case they got hurt. Thus, in order to make the Pre-Academy not look as just its main purpose of protecting the clan heirs, they decided to also put the citizens that would have been in his class as well. At least, that's the whole gist of it. This was supposed to cover Hinata's situation as well, but I felt that the ramen was a better place to end it at tbh, since I wanted to have these two as happy chapters with a bit of sinister events happening in the background.
Another one, Orochimaru may or may not be the guy there, I just haven't decided yet. Remember the Anbu died pretty easily, but that's only because he was writing a message to the Hokage, which will come into play later on in the story after the Academy Arc. I personally feel that Orochimaru wasn't there, but was using a proxy, but I would love to hear your theories on the chat. We only got to see what the Anbu saw, so hey.
Two and the Same
Chapter Two: Ramen is the answer to everything!
Shock. That was the best way to describe how Naruto felt right now, as if a hundred volts of electricity constantly ran through his body. Numbness spread through his body, to the point where not even Kurama, the famed Nine-Tails beast known for killing hundreds if not thousands of people, would talk either, the expression shared between the two. Kakashi was talking to Iruka, wanting to get Naruto away from Honoke's..."Death. Don't shy away from it Naruto." Kurama placed with a bit colder of a tone than he personally intended. Death was barely the word to describe it, it was a downright massacre... Blood had sprayed his walls to the point that the image burned itself into Naruto's brain. He couldn't even break down or anything, as if the tears turned to stone in his eyes. Numbness spread as he felt himself being moved by someone.
The world seemed to ripple itself away in favor for Kurama's cage. The caged fox watched as Naruto fazed through the cage walls and sought comfort from him. Kurama sighed as he wrapped himself around the young boy, watching as he started bawling against his fur without a care in the world. Kurama wasn't really in the mood to care as he felt Naruto's body being led towards a room, sat down in front of a man with gray bangs that looked around the same age as Iruka. Kurama sighed as he looked back towards Naruto, who was hugging his fur and bawling some more, looking nowhere near stopping.
The man coughed slightly, unaware that Naruto simply was not in control of the body at the moment, and Kurama simply didn't want to control it without Naruto's permission. It felt wrong somehow, even thought some part of him demanded to kill Naruto and gain freedom, he just...couldn't bring himself to it for some reason that alluded him. Was it in those missing memories of his? Even then...would he want to kill Naruto if he got them? He shuddered a bit at the thought before turning his attention to the man to distract from his own troublesome thoughts. Naruto didn't even notice Kurama's turmoil as his bawling didn't stop. Kurama sighed a bit at this, "My name is Mizuki, and I brought you here to see what you know of what happened to Honoke." Mizuki asked neutrally, no emotion at all portrayed upon his face, but Kurama knew better than that and saw the hidden rage that consumed him. He couldn't hide from a real beast like himself, and was nothing in comparison. Kurama didn't like him one bit from his tone, but couldn't tell if that was from that weird bias of Naruto or whatever it was that made Kurama care for the boy or if it was from his own distaste for liars. Either way, the fact remained...he really didn't like the man. Kurama stayed silent as Mizuki growled lightly from annoyance, "Are you even listening!?" He snapped quickly, but still to no response. He walked towards Naruto as Kurama growled in warning. The man rose an eyebrow and a smirk grew upon his face. Mizuki walked towards Naruto once more.
"You touch Naruto and I will rip you apart slowly and painfully." Kurama snarled out as Mizuki leaned back in preparation of grabbing Naruto and shaking him. Mizuki visibly flinched back before the smirk returned upon his face.
"Oh ho ho, so you really are the-" He tried to say before Iruka opened -slammed- the door before glaring daggers at Mizuki. Kakashi stood a bit behind Iruka, looking at his book that even Kurama couldn't hide a tick of disgust over seeing, but was still openly paying attention to Mizuki.
"And what do you think you're doing Mizuki? We been trying to find Naruto ever since he had went to the bathroom, so why is he here?" Iruka said, much to Kurama's surprise. They went to the bathroom? God the shock was worse than he thought to make it where he wasn't even aware of his host's movements. Mizuki quickly put a smile on his face that caused another growl to come out from Kurama, who was struggling to contain his weird hatred for the man, while also trying to comprehend said hatred.
"I had found him standing still outside the bathroom, I figured I'll bring him here and ask what happened with Honoke." Mizuki calmly explained as if he wasn't threatening to punch Naruto and Kurama mere seconds ago. Iruka sighed in relief, but looked at Naruto in concern. Kurama scoffed at the idea of him believing this man, but found himself unable to disprove any of it. Mizuki walked out of the room as Iruka walked up to Naruto.
"Are you okay Naruto?" Iruka asked out of concern as Kurama shook his head.
"Sadly Naruto isn't okay, for now I'm helping him out. He's pretty messed up after last night and is currently bawling his eyes out on me." Kurama admitted, much to the shock of Iruka, "Relax, I have personal stakes of helping him out, I'm not going to go out of control and stuff, but watch out on that Mizuki guy, he looked like he was about to harm Naruto before smirking when I interrupted him. I trust you enough to know of me, so don't betray that trust." Kurama continued as Iruka nodded firmly, now knowing that Kurama was on their side. He didn't fully trust him, but he trusted him enough with Naruto's well being.
"Okay..." Iruka seemed to pause as Kurama rolled his eyes.
"Kurama, now can we get on with it?" Kurama answered sharply, noticing the flinch from Iruka he sighed, he didn't want to scare him. "Sorry, I guess I also just want to rip apart whoever did that to that man..." He apologized, much to the shock of Iruka. Kurama could apologize!? Kurama snorted, fully knowing what Iruka probably was thinking as Iruka stuttered a bit before coughing.
"O-Okay Kurama, well we're thinking of adding a new addition called Pre-Academy level as to start the Academy a year earlier to prepare kids towards the Academy. We were thinking of enrolling Naruto into its first year if that's okay with you. Is it?" Iruka asked as Kurama seemed to ponder. They were asking him over this? Heck, they were asking if that was okay with him!? The irony wasn't lost upon the demon fox as he struggled to not burst out laughing at it.
"Give me a bit, stay put." Kurama instructed Iruka in the most neutral of tones, who nodded as he saw the eyes fade away towards a soulless gaze again, inferring that was probably when neither soul was in control of the body. Kurama's gaze had a sharp crimson overlaying the blue undertone, while Naruto's was the exact opposite look, with a sky blue overlaying a deep crimson red. He chuckled a bit from that, they were basically two souls in the same body, working together. It nearly made him forget that Kurama was responsible for tons of murdered folk with how he treated Naruto...nearly.
Kurama on the other hand was back towards Naruto, who still bawled on his fur. He raised a paw and tried gently laying it on Naruto, who looked up towards the Fox Demon, tears still rolling down his face.
"Naruto, Iruka was wanting to ask something, I talked to him a bit and he was wanting to offer you to be enrolled in the Academy a year early." Kurama started, noting that Naruto was immediately trying to protest he held up a paw finger in a universal sign of 'Wait', "I know you want to find Honoke's killer," Naruto nodded firmly at this, wiping his tears a bit as he did it, "But you need to get better as well, think of it this way. You can use the time at the Academy to be able to look around for clues about it. You got me here, and I'm sure if you ask that Old Fart and Gray head, you can get some help around it. It'll be a good experience for you to also make new friends. Maybe Choji will be there too." Kurama listed out, watching the once tearful face slowly become more and more excited, leading a smile to reach its way onto both of their faces. "And know you aren't skipping out on Choza days, he makes good food that I know you like too. I'm not letting you skip out on your meals!" He winked with a hearty laugh that most would find terrifying, and a sharp grin to meet it; however, to Naruto, it was a sense of safety that came from it, a sense of home. "Now go on, Iruka's probably getting tired waiting on you!" Kurama said as Naruto nodded with a grin, finally fading away from the caged area, Kurama felt two presences nearby in the cage and looked towards the seal, but couldn't see a thing. He looked confused for a bit, but shrugged it off. Probably wasn't anything important.
"Naruto?" Iruka asked as he saw the blue eyes fill back those gray-tinted eyes. Naruto blinked a bit before grinning.
"Did I worry ya?" Naruto asked to the laughter of Iruka, who proceeded to hug him. "Iruka-sensei?" He asked in confusion before hugging him back. Soon Iruka moved back with a sheepish look on his face. Naruto looked as if he just remembered something, "Uh, Kurama was saying you wanted to enroll me in some Pre-Academy thingyabobber, right? Sign me up!" Naruto grinned with a thumbs up, completely missing the shocked look on Iruka's face fade into a content smile.
So The Nine-Kurama really can take control here and there, but looks to be really nice to Naruto, even comforting him...I should take them to the Hokage. Iruka thought to himself, finishing with a determined nod. "Hey you two, can I take you to the Hokage? I might be able to pull a few strings to get you and a few friends of yours in it. We just need both of you to help out. That okay?" Iruka asked as the colors in the eyes seemed to combine into a deep violet, as if the two layers swirled together, but neither said a word, just nodding with a smile. As soon as it had appeared, it moved back towards Naruto's blue, "Okay then, then let's get going, okay?" Iruka said with a smile as he led Naruto out of the room, Naruto looking towards Mizuki, who only smiled towards him. Naruto smiled back, not entirely sure why Kurama seemed suspicious of the man, he didn't look that bad. Iruka led the two, one?, towards the great big tower in the middle of the Academy. Soon they traveled up a spiral staircase, and were beckoned in by the Hokage himself.
The room looked...neat, organized. Just the same as other times Naruto had visited it, yet there were a few extra additions added to it. One was the great giant stack of papers that covered the desk that he sat at, the second was the hat he wore wasn't on, instead it had been put on the chair as if he took it off for a break. Iruka and Naruto carefully sneaked around the desk to see, as well as hear, the Hokage snoring away in sleep. Naruto's eyes carried a glint as he grinned, bringing out a marker. Usually Iruka would say something to stop him, in fact he thought about doing so this time too, but even he was slightly annoyed that the Hokage snored away on such an important day. Tomorrow they would be graduating the Academy students to see who past, failed, or would be placed in different fields. It was a hard day for everyone and to see him snoring insulted Iruka with envy. He put his hand on Naruto's shoulder and nodded. Naruto had froze for just a second before his grin grew into a look of menacing pranksterism. He silently uncapped the black marker. Naruto avoided the hat, but nothing else survived the wrath of a markers-carrying Naruto. The papers were the last ones touched as Kurama himself had a plan for that. But the Hokage's clothes, face, neck, arms, almost everything in the room was acceptable grounds for Naruto's marker, at the very end, he walked in front of the desk and smirked. He slowly did the signs for a Jutsu he didn't know, but Kurama explained to him and at the end took a deep breath. Iruka's eyes grew as he walked away, having recognized it with a chuckle. Never knew that Kurama was a prankster as well, those two really are the same... He guessed it was Kurama who showed him the jutsu as Naruto blew out the breath, causing a light wind, but a strong enough wind to knock the papers clean off the table, all towards the sleeping Hokage.
Sadly the poor man still slept, much to the annoyance of Naruto, who took a deep breath, went straight to the Hokage's ear, and performed the jutsu again. He jolted with a shiver rushing down his back from it, before noticing the room in a mess, as Naruto was finishing another jutsu he knew well. Naruto grinned as Sarutobi was struck with the power of Naruto's Sexy Henge Jutsu yet again. Blood splat from his nose in a rush as he fell backwards, past out. Iruka hastily looked away in time, but even he couldn't hide the start of a nosebleed that came on. Naruto burst out laughing from the well timed jutsu strike, while Iruka just groaned in annoyance.
"Great, now we get to wait until he wakes up again..." Iruka whined, before looking at Naruto with a sigh, "Ramen?" He suggested as Naruto responded with a resounding YAHOO! The fact that it didn't wake Sarutobi scared Iruka more than he wished, knowing that it wasn't him actually dying or anything...but still being disappointed over him falling for such an obvious henge transformation. The two of them moved to leave, talking about grabbing ramen, but then Sarutobi groaned. Both Naruto and Iruka glanced at each and slowly, as if they were the second hands of a clock, ticked their heads towards where Sarutobi was. The man deadpanned at the two as they mechanically, tentatively, walked back on over to the man.
"Old man?" Naruto asked bravely, only receiving an annoyed glance from the man. He soon fell silent aside from the mental laughter from Kurama and himself.
"Wow he looks absolutely stunning with that! What's that phrase everyone says but never really means Naruto?" Kurama was laughing, nearly panting from it, as he asked Naruto.
"Teamwork makes the dream work?" He suggested, much to Kurama's amusement.
"Yeah, yeah, that thing! Pfaahhhh that was good! We sure showed him, mister Old important Fart!" Kurama seemed to slur with his laughter. Naruto didn't dare think it, but Kurama was onto him as he glanced, nearly glaring, at the young boy. He quickly looked away towards the window, surprising Sarutobi with the look of fear on his face.
"Yes Naruto?" Sarutobi asked, not expecting the response Naruto would give in response, though it looked like Naruto failed to hear him.
"KURAMA STOP ACTING LIKE YOU'RE DRUNK ALREADY! I'M TRYING TO NOT LAUGH IN FRONT OF THE OLD MAN!" Naruto suddenly yelled out, much louder than he intended, but Iruka had expected this, having activated the placed privacy seals quickly when they walked over towards the window. Naruto's eyes soon turned gray again as Naruto ran from an very annoyed Kurama.
"I'M NOT DRUNK YOU BRAT, GET BACK HERE!" Kurama blurted out next, as they noticed the eye color seemed to shift from blue to red over and over again in a certain rhythm.
"KURAMA STOP CHASING ME ALREADY, WE'RE MAKING A SCENE!" Naruto blurted out again as that seemed to stop the mental chase.
"Wait what? Oh S- THEY CAN HEAR US!?" Kurama hid his curse well, surprised that they accidentally were using the mouth of the body.
"AGHH KURAMA! NOW LOOK AT WHAT YOU DID!" Naruto seemed to pout with the whine in his voice. Sarutobi couldn't help but try and hide his snickers at the two. Iruka wasn't fairing much better himself in that department, as when Naruto yelled that out, it seemed to kick-start the chase all over again. Sarutobi and Iruka decided to let the two have their bit of fun while they talked, appreciating the entertainment, and payback in terms of Sarutobi, that Naruto and Kurama by extension gave him.
"I take it that this is what you wanted to tell me?" Sarutobi smirked, gesturing towards the soulless body, currently occupied with its occupants chasing each other around rather than messing with the body itself. Iruka rolled his eyes with a smirk when he noticed the multitude marks on Sarutobi's body.
"You have to admit..." Iruka started, seeing a threatening glare from Sarutobi he sheepishly laughed before changing subjects, "T-tt-t-t-that they make a good pair! Yeah, t-they seem to make a good pair and it seems they're both becoming friends with each other." Iruka...subtly changed the subject, Sarutobi chuckled a bit before continuing on.
"So it seems that unlike with...that Kurama and him seem to...share the body so to say. That'll make an interesting tale. Is there anything else you want to say?" Sarutobi skipped over her name with a glance towards Naruto, who seemed to still be having a chase with Kurama if the rapidly shifting eye colors were anything to say about it. The yelling seemed to finally go down to a whisper of the two yelling at each other, much to the amusement of the two next to him.
"Yes, Naruto wants to go ahead with the Pre-Academy decision. We should have the ones we were planning to put in next year all be in this program, if only so no one suspects the true purposes of it." Iruka explained, noticing Sarutobi seemed to sober up a bit from that news.
"Ahh...indeed. Are you certain this is for the best? It would mean that we would have to keep this Pre-Academy level in, even past this year. We could run it as a testing program, but that might raise suspicions even higher." Sarutobi explained, but before Iruka could open his mouth, they turned to Naruto, who carried both of the eye colors in his eyes. He grinned.
"Of course it is! We won't let you down you old Man/Fart!" The title seemed to be split between Man and Fart, and he had a pretty good feeling who said which given Naruto's history of nicknames.
"No need to call me an old fart Kurama, but know that Naruto might be in danger if we do it, are you certain about this?" Sarutobi asked towards the Nine Tails, wanting to prove something that Kakashi and Honoke had placed in their reports once.
"If they want to try it, they would have to knock me dead before they get through me! I won't let anything harm Naruto! He's my charge and I'm not going to let him drop that easily...it would hurt my pride." Kurama seemed...a bit undecided on the reason, but his motivations shown through with his words, Sarutobi's eyes, along with Iruka's, rose from the startling claim he made. "So go ahead with that Pre-Academy whatever you call it stuff, I'll be training Naruto myself as well, so it's great to have regular humans get him started on the way there. I can only train him if he becomes strong enough to handle it, and right now he's too weak! I know the real reason you're doing this isn't at all related to getting us stronger and the like...you're doing it because of that landlord fart aren't you? We're helping out, regardless on if you accept it or not, so don't you DARE try to stop us!" Kurama growled near the end, still angry that he had let his guard down and gotten him killed. A small part of him wondered if he was losing his touch. Whatever happened to the Great Destroyer of Konoha? You're just a failure! He growled a bit more, mostly at himself as Sarutobi put his hand on his shoulder, shocking the two of them.
"Okay then, how about this. I'll let you work with Kakashi and find clues related to the Academy, when Iruka and myself will look for clues towards the body and apartment. Until then, I'll be having you stay over at the Akimichi compound with your uncle Choza, (the uncle stuff is on purpose, Honoke meant Uncle as part of Choza's name, while the Hokage means of it as just a standard uncle and not an extension of the name. Difference of intent.) while we work with this. Also, please try to make friends with your classmates if possible, since five years is a long time together to go through and I never want to see you lonely Naruto. You are a kind boy, even capable of converting Kurama, if anyone can do it, it's you. School will start the day after tomorrow, so just be aware of that. That'll get you more used to the home as well as for us to determine those that will be teaching your class." Sarutobi explained with a smile, ruffling the hair of Naruto, much to the two's chagrin. They still smiled in the end as Sarutobi continued, "...just please for the love of Kami don't actually have your gut swell. Eat in moderation Naruto." He sighed and mumbled out, much to the chuckling of the others present.
The seals went down as it revealed both Kakashi and Tenzo...Yamato, whatever he decided to call himself today, standing right at the edge of the seal. Kakashi looked up.
Silence befell them until Tenzo smirked a bit, "Do you need a wet wipe Hokage-sama?" He said calmly as laughter burst out from the group. Kakashi didn't show his laughter and Tenzo looked like a stone brick while he mentally laughed his butt off, but Sarutobi quickly saw through them as he unleashed unrivaled rage towards them all, quickly and effectively shooing them out of the room. The four stared each other as they heard Sarutobi slam the doom, mumbling about childish adults. The four started snickering as they walked away.
"That was some perfect timing Yamato." Kakashi chuckled, seemed he was going by Yamato right now, "I'm more surprised that he didn't immediately try to pound us into next week for that one." Kakashi admitted with a shrug. Naruto, as seen from the blue eyes currently shown, looked towards Kakashi. "Yes Naruto?" Kakashi asked.
"Who do you...Do you need any..." Naruto started, ending with a groan, "Who do you think killed Honote-sensei?" Naruto asked before mumbling, "Might as well start with that one..." The silence was baffling and the question cleanly cut through the elated mood that was going through. A groan came from Kurama as he looked at Naruto.
"You really don't understand Tact do you?" Kurama asked to Naruto's sheepish face.
"Sorry Kurama!" Kurama could only shake his head at this. Kakashi finally coughed, snapping their attention back to him.
He sighed, trying to collect his thoughts before looking straight at Naruto, "I don't know enough to even begin answering your question there Naruto. And this really isn't something you should help with." Kakashi explained, putting a finger up when he saw the dual-colors flare up in protest, "Sadly I have no choice but to accept your help if Iruka isn't saying anything to agree with me saying to keep out of it." Kakashi sighed in annoyance, "Honestly I don't have any suspects yet, since we yet to even get to the autopsy, which might be delayed for quite a while, for some reason the doctors keep delaying it and it's starting to get annoying. Sadly we don't have anything we can do to help with it...unless..." Kakashi said with a glint in his eyes that the dual-colored Naruto grinned to. Kakashi said nothing more but Iruka continued on with a glare towards his superior.
"Not that I mind you helping, but you are NOT breaking into a hospital or anything. Don't you dare you two, if you get in trouble it will fall down on all of our a-" Iruka tried to say as Kakashi covered his mouth. Iruka rolled his eyes, "butts, all of our butts." he said sharply instead, "Instead, try to find what you can without being illegal. I'll be checking the apartments later on to check on if we can find some evidence. Sadly, I bet someone already cleaned up the scene after you saw it, just to hide the evidence itself. Whoever it is has connections, but I managed to ask the Aburamas for some of their jutsu bugs in order to bug the room in case someone came and disturbed it. They agreed and left some there and told me a while ago that someone moved in, but proceeded to kill the bugs. By the time ANBU arrived to check it out, whoever it was was gone. It's annoying, but I have to hope they left something behind." Iruka finished in annoyance from that fact. He groaned lightly before Kakashi stepped back into Naruto's attention.
"Now Naruto, Kurama, you know that this is going to be pretty dangerous, right? Whoever killed him is probably also after you guys. Heck, we don't even know why he died!" Kakashi tried saying, seeing the dual-colors sharpen themselves.
"SO WHAT!?" They shouted in union, halting Kakashi in his words, "It doesn't matter what danger awaits us! We'll face it head on, BELIEVE IT!" They continued on as the eyes dulled a bit from that, as if the union was taxing upon them, which it probably was. They had seemed...stronger during it, but it was still vastly incomplete between them.
Kakashi and Iruka smiled from this. "Yeah Naruto, we believe it, just...be careful, okay?" Iruka asked as he held a thumb to his chest once more.
"I swear I'll come back alive! Believe it!" Naruto grinned as Yamato coughed, noting they were still in the stairwell this whole time. They finally got a move on, with Kakashi and Yamato deciding to wait a bit to make sure they weren't all caught together.
"He's one interesting kid." Yamato said bluntly, much to his partner's chuckles.
"He is indeed..." Kakashi replied.
"Ramen!" Naruto sang the word on repeat for the whole way over to the popular Ramen shop that Iruka took him too. If Honoke was the one who introduced him to Yakiniku Q, then Iruka would have been the one that introduced him to Ichiraku Ramen, and as much as he liked Yakiniku Q, he couldn't say that it beat Ichiraku Ramen ever. He dug in immediately after his bowl was delivered. Kurama was the complete opposite, claiming that Yakiniku Q was superior to Ichiraku Ramen any day, which led to many fun-natured arguments between the two over the debate.
"So Naruto, what do you think about the Pre-Academy? You looking forward to it?" Iruka asked as Naruto demolished his ramen bowls one after another, frightening Iruka as he had offered to pay. Oh Kami he's going to run me dry! Iruka panicked as Naruto finally looked over to him after the fifth bowl, only because that had been the last of the original order. He had asked for more right after.
"Hmm...I guess it's cool? I just don't really know how to feel when that means I would have to be in the Academy for five whole years instead of four. It just scares me a bit honestly...five whole years, at that point I would be twelve years old, and I might not be any closer to finding out what happened to Honoke..." Naruto's hands rolled into fists, nearly scratching him if not for Kurama subtly moving them so he could focus on the conversation instead of healing. Iruka noticed this with a worried look on his face, not liking the fact that the usually hyper-active knucklehead Naruto was...strangely remorseful, strangely silent, and most importantly...playing around with his favorite ramen. He was losing the motivation to eat his ramen after the third bowl, with it taking longer and longer to finish up until right after this fifth one, even though he had asked for more. Iruka sighed as he noticed that he barely even ate any of his first bowl.
The silence was deafening with that sigh and Iruka didn't know what to say. Ayame, having noticed the two not eating, had walked over with the intent of yelling at them to eat or go before noticing the tense atmosphere that befell them. Iruka bit his lip lightly as he thought about what to say, only for them to hear Ayame herself sigh.
"Look, I might not know what's going on here, but...I know you Naruto, you like to shoulder the guilt of everything that happens around you even if it's too much for you to carry alone." Ayame started, looking towards the downcast Naruto, "Trust in them! They're only there to help you, not hinder you in any way!" Ayame continued on, almost helpless in the situation.
"I know..." Naruto started, but Ayame wasn't done yet.
"If you know, then do it! I know you're better than this Naruto, you have the trust of so many people that if the villagers got off their idiotic ideals and actually got to know you, they wouldn't hate you, they would praise you as a hero! You have a heart of gold that drags people in, and while you don't have many yet, it's only going to grow and get stronger! I know it! So instead of feeling down about yourself and what you can't do, focus on what you CAN do instead! If you do that, then you will reach your goals in no time!" Ayame smiled as she said it, happy that the smile and optimism was returning to Naruto's face who grinned in appreciation.
"Thanks Ayame! More ramen please!" Naruto asked as Ayame nodded and went to work. Iruka smiled towards Naruto, happy to see him back to his normal happy self, it didn't matter what the world threw at him, he would take it, grow stronger, and use that strength to protect his friends and family.
"One more bowl of ramen please!" Iruka himself said, hearing a Hai in reply as Naruto grinned at him, and Iruka smiled on back.
The hours passed on by as the two enjoyed their ramen, and soon the sky had set, and night had fallen. Iruka's wallet cried in pain as Iruka could only pay for some of the meal, with Ayame and Teuchi putting the rest on Naruto's long running tab with a understanding pat to his back.
Elsewhere in the Village, near the Academy.
"You know your mission, correct?" A sinister voice seemed to hiss his words. Another person laid cased in the midnight moonlight as a very familiar character.
"Of course, I won't let you down. Naruto won't graduate from the academy if I can help it." Mizuki answered back toward that shadowed figure, "You can trust me...Orochimaru." Mizuki grinned as he knelled down on the ground.
"Quiet!" The newly dubbed Orochimaru hissed threatening at him, "We're in enemy territory you idiot! We don't know who's watching us, now go!" Orochimaru continued, before the shadow disappeared into the ground, slipping out into the night.
"Of course." Mizuki said with a smirk, even though Orochimaru himself was long gone. A kunai went towards a hidden ANBU agent, who fell down dead. "I'm well aware of idiots trying to interfere." He smirked, before getting to work.
Naruto yawned as he found himself in the cell-like room inside of him once again. He smiled as he looked to Kurama. "Hey Kurama!" He waved as he got closer, noticing the worried look on his face. "What's wrong?" He asked.
"I'm not sure exactly...just a gut feeling honestly." Kurama sighed, nearly sending Naruto into a panic over how tame Kurama was, which led to Kurama lightly ("THAT STILL HURT!") bopping Naruto on the head. "Relax, no need to panic over something so insignificant. I called you here more so we could practice actually dragging your Chakra out and using it in the form of jutsus. For the most part, you have a huge amount of personal Chakra, not even including mine, but because of that, your Chakra control sucks." Kurama casually and calmly stated, as if it was simple fact...which it was. As mad as Naruto was for bringing that up, Kurama was completely correct in his statement, no matter how much Kakashi and Honoke had trained him, his Chakra control still remained almost completely terrible, to the point where he struggled with the leaves and tree climbing exercises, as cool as his race with Sasuke was, he had yet to be able to even go back all the way to the top since that day, and even halfway was a huge struggle. He had temporary broke through his Chakra control barriers that day, but not truly grown into using it. Naruto sighed in defeat, leading to a smirk to take Kurama's face, "And that's why we're here, in the center of your body. I'm going to teach you how your Chakra Network works, and since we're here, it should be much easier to control your Chakra, since you're in the body itself and not outside." Kurama explained as Naruto nodded. He had felt powerful here for some reason, which if Kurama's statement was true, which it was, that made sense when put in that context.
"The Chakra Network is the system in which your body pumps its Chakra around, going through to each part of your body. These have specific points of Chakra, where the Chakra is stored, powered up, and taken to whichever part of the body needs it the most. When you were doing tree-climbing, it went to your feet, when you were trying to do the leaf exercise, it went to your head, then to your hands when you went for manipulating it around. It was a matter of which part needed it." Kurama began, before looking towards Naruto.
Naruto was downright confused, it was so obvious it hurt Kurama as that was the simplest part of the explanation to get through. A groan escaped Kurama as he asked him what he was confused about. "If the Chakra points are where everything is stored and stuff...then where are we?" Naruto asked, surprising Kurama with how thoughtful it was.
"W-Well we're in the very center, a Chakra swirl that your father placed at your stomach in order to seal me at. It is at the very core of the network and integrates my Chakra with yours." Kurama desperately hid the stutter, but saw the glint in Naruto's eyes. He glared harshly at Naruto as the boy wisely said nothing about it.
"So this is the center of my Chakra? Then why does it look so..." Naruto struggled to find the word for it, but Kurama had a pretty good guess as to what he meant.
"Empty?" Kurama saw Naruto nod to that, "Well that's because this is more a physical representation of the Chakra field, and is used to give a physical place to house me. The only reason it looks like this is because that's how it was designed in order to fit around my size and demeanor. Most Chakra centers, or swirls, don't have a physical realm to step into, since it would just keep the Chakra compressed and ready to use. You don't have to worry about that because of the insane of Chakra we possess, thus it's much harder to control the Chakra within you." Kurama explained, still seeing a slightly confused face on Naruto.
"So basically because you're here, my Chakra is forced into a physical form to house you, yet we have insane levels of Chakra that make up for that, and those factors together make my Chakra control so bad?" Naruto summed it up as Kurama nodded, "WHY DIDN'T YOU SAY THAT TO BEGIN WITH!?" Naruto yelled out of frustration, soon carefully backing up to a frustrated Kurama.
"WHAT DO YOU THINK I BEEN TRYING TO EXPLAIN TO YOU!?" Kurama yelled back, Naruto screamed as the two chased each other for the remainder of the night.
And there we have it at the end of Chapter 2. It might not seem much compared to Chapter 1, but I figured that the next real event is the day of the Pre-Academy, since you would have the scene with Hinata, as well as a very interesting scene concerning what happens when Naruto enters class (that should be fun!) not all the parts of Naruto were of intense scenes, as there were relaxing chapters too. Kurama's scene basically is kinda lifted off of Tales of Demons and Gods, in based on how the Soul Realm works. I figured the two systems were pretty similar and used it as a baseline for how Naruto's Chakra Networks work. I figured that Kurama was sealed in the center since the Chakra manifested itself as a physical place, making it harder to control and get Chakra from (Since you would have to turn it back into normal Chakra, then manually move it around) add that on top of massive inhuman Chakra levels, and control gets sloppy. Basically my explanation to how the Chakra Control works. Next Chapter is mostly going to lean around the Pre-Academy, and how that impacts everything, as well as introducing the Team Seven.
We might even get to see a Sasuke POV! Look forward to that!
Sorry for the length not being on par with the Chapter 1, but I bet this is going to be around the length of chapters for most of the story, with some heading longer depending on circumstances.
Once again, THANK YOU for all the wonderful support, it really inspires me to keep writing and get this story out to you guys, and lets me know that you care on seeing where this goes. I just hope that my writing satisfies your appetite for this story! Well, until next time guys!
-Char