Mizuki smirked as he jumped between branches in the Forest of Death. The training ground he was in was one of the only ones that connected to the outside of the village, and it was the only one that had regular patrols on the inside edge rather than the outside edge, meaning that once he made it past the border, he was effectively beyond Konoha's reach. They expected the dangers in the forest to act as a natural barrier against attacks, forgetting that someone skilled enough could make it through relatively easily if they were alone and using stealth. Now, he simply needed to make his way to Oto with the Forbidden Scroll, present it to Orochimaru-sama, and claim his rightful place by his sid-

Mizuki's thoughts were rapidly derailed when he felt himself slam into something very solid and apparently invisible while he was in mid jump. He managed to recover and catch himself before falling more than five meters, but when he did, he still couldn't see what he'd slammed into.

"Did you honestly think it would be that easy, Mizuki?" came a familiar voice, seemingly from all around him.

"Who's there?! What's going on?!"

The voice chuckled darkly. "Hehehe. Isn't it obvious? Apparently to you, it isn't, so allow me to educate you, sensei." The last word was said in a slow, contemptuous drawl. "The fact that I discovered and dispelled the genjutsu you put on my test, severed the chakra strings you had attached to my kunai and shuriken, outfought you even when you were attacking at chūnin strength, and neutralized the chakra disruption seal you placed on me should've told you I'm far, far more skilled than you give me credit for."

"You." growled the traitorous chūnin, reaching for his back. "It's time for you to die, demon."

Naruto dropped the cloak that was hiding him from Mizuki and froze the enraged shinobi midway through the act of throwing a fūma shuriken. "Despite the fact you won't believe me, and you're about to die anyways, I still feel the need to educate you on the difference between a prison and a prisoner." In his mind, Naruto contacted Kurama. 'You ready in there?'

'I am. Even in the much more pathetic form I'll be taking, it'll be nice to get out of this damn seal, if only temporarily.'

'Just make sure not to kill him too quickly. We need to lure ANBU and the Hokage here for the plan to work.'

'Bah. You and your plans. I couldn't care less, as long as I get to kill somebody. Now get on with it.'

Lifting his shirt, Naruto channeled a bit of chakra to his seal and made it visible. "This, Mizuki-baka, is a prison, and this…" he trailed off as he gathered a sizeable amount of Kurama's chakra and created a shadow clone, which came out as a much smaller version of the Kyūbi, "is a prisoner."

Mizuki was white as a ghost, and were he capable of it, he'd likely be whimpering in terror. As it was, the most he could to was sweat buckets and try to open his eyes wide enough to roll out of his skull.

"Hello, insect." stated Kurama blithely, slowly pacing around the horrified chūnin. "My container informs me that you've been rather… disrespectful towards him. Since his status is a reflection of my status, you were effectively being disrespectful towards me, and I'm afraid that is something I simply can't allow. What do you have to say for yourself, worm? Naruto, let him speak."

'ANBU and the Hokage are on their way.' sent Naruto mentally. 'Try not to play with him for too long.' When Naruto loosened his hold on Mizuki's lips and tongue, the chūnin let out a wail of terror that almost made Kurama wince, given his sensitive hearing. Naruto quickly shut him up again.

"Nothing important it seems. In that case, let's get to your punishment." The grin Kurama gave with that word was enough that Mizuki finally lost control of his bladder and bowels.

When the Hokage arrived on the scene with half-a-dozen ANBU a minute later, he came to a screeching halt when he saw a miniature version of the Kyūbi covered in blood with the remains of Konoha's most recent traitor scattered around him. Naruto was nonchalantly leaning against a tree a few meters away, looking mildly amused by the scene, and only turned towards the Sandaime when the ANBU surrounded him.

"Good evening, Hokage-sama." began the blond boy. "I hope you don't mind, but I felt it would be prudent to deal with Mizuki before he could get the Forbidden Scroll any further away from Konoha. I'm afraid I went a bit… overboard." Once again communicating mentally, Naruto spoke to Kurama. 'Be ready to change into me.'

'Yeah, yeah. Whatever.'

The Hokage's face was hard. "You have quite a bit of explaining to do Naruto. But first, how did the fox escape your seal?"

Naruto quirked an eyebrow. "Escape? You misunderstand. The fox is in exactly the same place he's been for the past twelve, almost thirteen, years. That's actually a henged shadow clone I created with his chakra to intimidate Mizuki." A moment later, a puff of smoke from Kurama signaled his change into a copy of Naruto, before he dispelled in a second cloud. "See. No fox, only a kage bushin."

The Hokage's frown remained, but his posture relaxed slightly. "I see. Perhaps we should discuss this further in my office."

Naruto nodded. "I'll be waiting there." Without giving the Hokage a chance to react, he disappeared in a swirl of leaves.

The Sandaime blinked in surprise. "Sealless shunshin and kage bushin from a green genin? It seems we have a great deal more to discuss than I first believed. ANBU, grab the Forbidden Scroll and form up on me."

When the Hokage and his bodyguard reappeared in his office, they found Naruto sitting before his desk patiently, apparently unconcerned. The ANBU took various concealed positions around the room, and Naruto spoke as the Hokage took a tin of tobacco and his pipe from his desk.

"Before we begin, are all of your ANBU cleared for the various S-class secrets involving me?" asked Naruto.

Again, the Hokage blinked in surprise, but he nodded as he took his seat and lit his now filled pipe. "They are. But which secrets are you referring to?"

"All of them."

"All… of them?" asked Sarutobi with a hint of worry in his voice.

"Let me put it this way: if you assume I know about everything you've tried to hide from me in my life, you won't be far from the truth. I'm better spy than my useless pervert of a godfather by leaps and bounds."

The Sandaime felt like he'd been punched in the gut. This was very bad. "I… I see. Naruto, I hope understand why I kept things from you."

Naruto nodded. "You wanted control of me. A stupid, weak jinchūriki is far easier to deal with than a strong intelligent one."

The Third's eyes widened in shock, and he shook his head rapidly. "No! I simply didn't think you were mature enough to handle the information!"

Naruto scoffed lightly. "So I was mature enough to survive being evicted from my supposed home when I was five, live on the streets for a year, survive dozens – and yes, I said dozens – of murder attempts, and then live on my own for half my life beginning at an age when most children are still attached to their mother's apron strings, but I wasn't mature enough to know why I was almost universally feared and reviled, or who my parents were? You honestly expect me to believe that?"

Again, that feeling like he'd been punched in the gut, only worse this time. "I… I hadn't thought of it that way."

"I'm not sure you thought at all." Naruto rejoined. "Regardless, you want answers, and I intend to give them to you. That said, it would probably be best if I gave my answers to the Shinobi Council as a whole. Now that I'm a genin, there are going to be quite a few things change in regards to me, and telling them all at once will save time and effort in the long run."

The Hokage sighed. "Perhaps that would be for the best. I'll arrange a Council meeting tomorrow afternoon. However, I still have some questions regarding Mizuki and what I saw in the forest."

In response, Naruto created a shadow clone, which immediately dispelled. Before Sarutobi could ask about the odd behavior, a second clone appeared in the room via shunshin and set a scroll down on his desk before dispelling as well. "The pertinent details, including my observations on Mizuki and the actions I took in regards to him over the past few months are in there. I can't recall everything you'll want to know at the moment, but I had my shadow clones prepare that in advance to save time."

The Hokage picked up the scroll and scanned through it quickly, before nodding and setting it back down. "I'll go over it more thoroughly later. Lastly, that trick you pulled with the fox. I know you said it was a shadow clone, but I know what the Kyūbi's chakra feels like, and that clone reeked of it."

At that moment, a rather devious plan occurred to the blonde jinchūriki. 'Hey Kurama, you interested in pranking the Hokage?'

'Depends. What do you have in mind?'

'Standby and follow my lead.' Out loud, Naruto responded. "That's not a surprise. I have some measure of control over the fox's chakra. I used a fair amount of it to create that clone, and the smoke prevented Mizuki from seeing a henge. As I'm sure you're aware, while I might be able to use the fox's chakra, that doesn't make me the fox. And while the clone may have been made with the fox's chakra, and been in its form, that doesn't make it the fox either. It was simply an intimidation tactic, one which worked quite well."

The Hokage nodded thoughtfully. "That makes sense, but you do understand my confusion."

Naruto hummed. "Perhaps you'd like an offer of proof? Give me a moment to prepare."

'OK. I'm gonna create another clone using your chakra. When you get outside the seal, do something funny and ridiculous.'

'Like what?'

'Like… like dance maybe. Yeah, that'll work. Just dance wildly, but try not to break anything.

'WHAT?! You can't be serious!'

'Oh come on, it'll be funny! He'll never believe it's actually you dancing in his office. Can you imagine the look on his face?'

'Fine.' he grumbled. 'But you owe me.'

Gathering some of Kurama's chakra, Naruto quickly created another clone for his tenant's mind to occupy. The moment after he appeared, Kurama began to shuffle around the room, quickly gaining speed and confidence until he was gliding across the floor smoothly, his four paws tapping out a rhythm only he could hear.

The Hokage and ANBU in the room stared at the scene in open-mouthed shock, the Sandaime's pipe having clattered to the floor without him noticing or caring. Even when the ANBU who'd hidden herself on the ceiling lost her grip and fell onto the Hokage's desk in a mess of limbs and purple hair, no one noticed in the slightest, so entranced were they by the sight before them.

"What in Inari's name…?" mumbled Sarutobi weakly, much to the amusement of Naruto and Kurama, who were trying and failing to suppress grins. After a moment, he seemed to regain a bit of his composure and let loose a pulse of chakra in an effort to dispel what he believed to be the genjutsu before him, only to be met with failure. After trying and failing twice more, he turned to Naruto in complete bewilderment. "How… what…?"

Naruto finally lost his battle against laughter and a tremendous giggle escaped his lips. "See. Told you it was all me. After all, there are only two possibilities here. The first is that I've somehow managed to create a variant of the henge even you can't dispel. The second is that the Kyūbi no Kitsune is tap-dancing in your office. I'll let you decide which you think is more likely." Continuing to giggle at their reactions, Naruto rose from his seat and ordered Kurama to dispel. He did so, but not before he gave a cheeky bow to his audience. As he left, the last thing Naruto saw was the Hokage taking an experimental sniff of his tobacco while mumbling about hallucinogens.

'Hahahaha! Alright, I'll admit, that was funny as hell.'

'Told ya.'