AN: I'm back with the next chapter of The Silent Fox.

I want to send a thank you to the reviewer Mr. Cuddles needs hugs. I'm going to shoot for at least fifteen-hundred words a chapter, as the length of the last chapter was the number one issue he brought up. Thanks for reviewing, now on to the chapter.

WARNING: CHARACTER DEATH

CHAPTER 1

Umino Iruka ran through the trees in the forest surrounding the Village, cursing his student, Naruko, under his breath. He just couldn't understand it. What in the hell was she thinking, pulling off a stunt like this?

Flashback

Iruka and his friend, Mizuki, were walking along the main road in Konohagakure when they came upon a large crowd of shinobi gathering and screaming about something. Worried that something might have happened, Iruka broke out into a run towards them. As he got closer, he could hear the angry shouts clearly.

"We should have killed her when we had the chance! Now the whole village could be in danger!" the Leader of the Hyuuga Clan, Hyuuga Hiashi, yelled, receiving mutterings of approval.

"Stay calm," Iruka heard the Third Hokage say, his deep voice carrying throughout the crowd, despite its low volume. "We must not act rashly. I'm sure there is an explanation-"

"An explanation!? That demon has stolen the forbidden scroll! I say we execute her as soon as she is brought back to prevent this from ever happening again!" interrupted one of the council members, gaining more mutterings of approval.

"Hokage-sama!" asked Iruka as he made his way over to Sarutobi. "What's going on? What happened?"

"It seems as though young Naruko-kun snuck into the Tower and taken the forbidden scroll and left the village."

"WHAT!? Do you know which way she went?"

"She was seen going east into the forest-"

Iruka stopped listening and shot off in the direction that the Hokage mentioned, intent on finding out what the hell his student was thinking.

End Flashback

Iruka shook himself out of his thoughts as he came upon where Naruko was waiting next to what appeared to be an abandoned shedin a small clearing. She wore her usual outfit, black sandals, dark grey shirt and pants, with a black jacket with the hood up, as she always wore it. She seemed to be reading through the scroll, and was more excited than he had ever seen her. Usually in class, she was quiet and reserved, but now she was bouncing upmand down in place, a huge grin on her usually somber face.

Iruka jumped down from his tree and she noticed immediately, turning her head to look at him. She jumped up and walked quickly toward him. When she came close enough, she held out the scroll for him to take.

"What the hell were you thinking, Naruko-kun!? Why would you steal the Forbidden Scroll? Its Forbidden for a reason!" She gestured to his headband and then to herself, then pointed at the scroll. After a few seconds, he asked, confused, "You thought this would pass you? Stealing a scroll?" She shook her head, confusing him further . Than, opening the scroll, she pointed at the first jutsu, the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu, then tapped her temple, then pointed at his headband. Iruka suddenly understood. "Who told you that?"

As soon as the words left his mouth, a large shuriken flew towards them. Hearing it coming, Naruko tackled Iruka out of its path, nearly getting decapitated in the process.

Getting to their feet, they faced the direction the attack came from, only to come face to face with-

"MIZUKI?"

Mizuki was crouching on a tree branch, two more large shuriken on his back. He had a grin on his face, but it wasn't friendly in the least.

"Iruka-san, fancy seeing you here. Unfortunately for you, your in my way. You see, my master wants that scroll, and he doesn't take kindly to failure. Head it and the beast over, and I'll let you live. "Having been called worse, Naruko simply shrugged it off and held tighter to the scroll.

"No Mizuki, I can't let you do that. If you want the scroll, you're going to have to go through me." As soon he finished speaking, Mizuki through several kunai and shuriken at Iruka, who managed to dodge most of them, but one kunai got lodged into his leg, causing him to stumble back into the shed.

"I have to say, Iruka, I thought better of you." Mizuki taunted. "Protecting the very thing that killed your parents ... they must be rolling around in their graves right now at the very thought. Just what would your mother say?"

This confused Naruko. How could she have killed Iruka-sensei's parents? She would remember if she killed someone, wouldn't she?

"You mean you don't know?" asked Mizuki, truthfully shocked at this information. "You don't know the reason why your not wanted?" he started grinning, enjoying the torment and confusion showing on her face. "The reason everyone hates you? The reason you are no better then a rabid dog that needs to be put down?" he was thoroughly enjoying this, his grin widening at every question.

"NO Mizuki!" shouted Iruka, trying to stop him. "It's forbidden!"

"She should at least know why, shouldn't you, Naruko-kun? You see, when the Kyuubi attacked Konohagakure, the Fourth Hokage didn't kill it. The third made a law preventing us from speaking of it."

"Stop it ,Mizuki!"

"The Fourth had to seal it away, trapping it in human form so that it couldn't destroy the village. You see, Naruko, the beast would be hated, ridiculed,abused because of what it was."

Naruko's eyes widened in realization.

"Yes, so you've realized, you are the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox!" Sensing an opening, Mizuki threw one of his large shuriken at the defenseless academy student. She closed her eyes waiting for the pain that never appeared. Opening her eyes, she saw Iruka-sensei in front of her, the point of the shuriken protruding from his chest.

Looking at his student, he saw the question burning in her eyes: Why?

"I did it ... because ... you're not a beast ... I used to believe ... that you were just a demon ... a reincarnation on the Fox ... but now ... after getting to know you ... I know that that isn't true," he turned his head and started coughing up some blood.

"He's lying! He doesn't believe that, he just doesn't want younto take the scroll!" shouted Mizuki. Naruko looked back at Iruka, anger and sadness filling her eyes.

"Naruko ... please ... " Naruko backed away from him, then turned and ran off into the woods, taking the scroll.

Mizuki laughed. "Now she's going to your the scroll to destroy your precious village, and there's noth-" he was cut-off when Iruka yanked out the shuriken from his back, and threw it at Miuki, nearly hitting him.

Meanwhile,

Naruko sat against a tree, holding tightly to the scroll. Was what Mizuki said true? Is that really all Iruka wanted, the scroll? Tears started to fall from her eyes ss she silently sobbed. She looked back at the clearing, and saw Iruka-sensei falling to the ground, the shuriken no longer in his back. She listened closely, wanting to know if what Mizuki said was true.

"Pathetic. You're still going to defend that creature? You know that it can't resist using the power in that scroll. It's in the nature of beasts to try to gain power by any means necessary."

"Yeah, you're right ..." At this, Naruko looked down and clenched her fists. Even Iruka-sensei doesn't want me around. "That is how beast is." Naruko's head snapped up. D-does that mean ...

"But Naruko isn't like that. She hates the village ... but she doesn't let that hatred ... rule her life. She works hard ... and she is one of my best students ... even if she can't create a clone. She isn't the Fox ... she is a ninja of Konoha."

Mizuki stared at him for a minute. "I was going to save you for after I had the scroll, but I think I'll just kill you now and be done with it." He took his remaining shuriken and launched it at the chunin leaning against the shed. Naruko then decided to do one of the stupidest things she had ever done.

Both chunin were dumbfounded as, seemingly out of nowhere, Naruko jumped in front of Iruka, stopping the shuriken with the scroll. Throwing it down, she put her hands together in a cross and used the only jutsu she had time to learn.

As the smoke cleared, Mizuki found himself surrounded by hundreds of clones, and none of them were illusions. Iruka looked to where the scroll fell, open a bit, and looked at the first Jutsu listed. Kage Bunshin no Jutsu?! But that's a B-ranked Jutsu!

All at once, the clones charged the chunin and, for the next hour, kept beating him until he was within an inch of his life.

As the clones dispelled, Naruko made her way over to where Iruka was sitting. She looked worriedly at the growing pool of blood under him, wondering if there was anything she could do.

"... Naruko ..." She looked to his face. "Close your eyes." She looked at him like he was crazy. "Just do it." Reluctantly, she did as he asked, and felt something being placed on her forehead. "Okay, open your eyes," he said, and she noticed that he was missing his headband. Realization dawned on her and her hand shot up to feel her forehead and, sure enough, there it was. "Congratulations ... you passed," he turned and coughed up a lot more blood. Naruko was worried, but he waved her off. "Listen to me, Naruko." She nodded.

"You're going to be ... a great ninja one day ... Naruko. You're going to do ... great things ... wonderfull things ..." He coughed some more, causing Naruko to start tugging on his sleeve, silently begging him to get help.

He chuckled dryly, wincing as it hurt his wound. "No ... Naruko ... I don't think ... anyone can help me now. It's too late for me." Tears were freely falling down her face at this. "Just promise me something ... Naruko." She nodded. "Promise me, no matter what ... that you won't ... give up ... that you'll always ... push on ... promise me." She nodded more, and he breathed a sigh of relief. "Good ... good ..." he took one last shuddering breath, and closed his eyes for the last time.

And that's how ANBU found them, with Naruko cradling her dead sensei, nodding nonstop, silently sobbing.

AN: Thank you for reading please leave a review and the next chapter should be up sometime tomorrow, if I'm lucky.