Hey people what' up? Here's the second chapter, and I do apologize if it seems rushed, there was a lot I wanted to address in this chapter, because the next few chapters depend on what happens in this chapter. That being said I hope you enjoy and please tell me what you think ok? Ichigo would you be a doll and do the disclaimer for me?
Ichigo: But I don't even belong in this franchise.
I know but because I am basically GOD I can do whatever I want.
Ichigo: You know what fair enough, Silver doesn't own any: Person, place, thing, or event from the Naruto Universe, please remember all rights belong to Kishimoto.
Ch 2 - A time for reunions
Naruto opened his eyes as his alarm clock started blaring it's symphony. Behind closed eyes he sighed and turned off the alarm. Yesterday had been hell. Three separate mobs was the meal of the day and avoiding fifty plus people had been exhausting, especially since most of them knew where he lived. It had been four A.M before they finally gave up and went home. He held little regard for the Academy which started tomorrow, September fifth, but they did help his survival skills sharpen enough to where he could get away form most mobs, unless a ninja was amongst them.
That didn't happen to often though, most ninja steered clear of the mobs, since one got banished after helping one attack the young blonde. Today's mission: Try and get some school supplies. If he left early enough, the store owners would be too tired to realize who he was. A quick henge to get rid of his whiskers and he should be good.
He went into the poorly kept bathroom and took a cold shower, having used what warm water he was allotted at the beginning of Summer. Twenty minutes later, he walked out and started brushing his teeth, with his worn out toothbrush. Two minutes later Naruto leaned over and spat out the mix of water, saliva and paster into the sink. Looking up at his reflection Naruto screamed "WHAT THE FUCK?!"
Turning around Naruto was looking at..himself? Only older, like much older. He was eleven at the moment but what was staring back at him looked almost seventeen. But it was strange, he could see through this thing staring back. "Ok who the hell are you?"
In a voice that sounded deeper than his own it responded "I'm you, but I don't know what I'm doing here."
"What the hell is that supposed to mean? And why do you sound and look like me?"
"Weren't you listening to me you idiot? I'm you. Only The you from the future? I think? OY KAMI, SHINIGAMI WHAT'S GOING ON?"
Naruto had no idea what was going on. First this thing came into his house, pretended to be himself from the future. 'Yeah right!'
"What are you doing in my house?"
"I think I can explain."
Naruto nearly fainted when some talking skeleton appeared out of nowhere. "AHHH WHO THE HELL ARE YOU SUPPOSED TO BE?"
"Um..Shinigami-sama, what is going on."
"Give me one moment, I wanted to do this while younger you was asleep but it makes no difference. Naruto this is gonna feel weird but go along with me." Shinigami snapped his skeletal hand and the ghost Naruto started to shrink until he was a glowing sphere no bigger than an apple. SHinigami took the glowing orb and reached out towards the younger Naruto. "Alright this is gonna sound wierd but i need you to eat this"
Naruto just stared at the Shinigami like he was stupid. "Are you serious? You seriously expect me to eat that? No way."
"Look kid I don't have all day , you want answers then eat this it will give you all of the answers you want."
Naruto still stubbornly refused to eat so shinigami sighed and snapped his fingers an image of a sleeping Hinata in her room appeared in the air, a figure he couldn't make out holding a knife near her throat. "I was hoping I wouldn't have to do this you know. It'll just make things difficult. Now I will say it again. Eat it."
"Hinata!"
"She can't hear you boy. Now one more time eat!"
Naruto glared at Shinigami, before taking the surprisingly warm orb. Giving one more glare to the Shinigami, before closing his eyes and offering up a prayer to Kami, 'dear Kami please let this end ok.' In one giant gulp, he swallowed the orb. Then his entire body went rigid, his eyes dulling a shade or two. Then his entire body glowed a bright light, his eyes nothing but pure white, and a beam of light shooting from his mouth. His body started levitating off the ground for a few seconds, before all the light disappeared and slumped to the ground.
Looking to the clock that said 9:00 AM, Shinigami sighed again. 'This is definitely gone take a bit.' He flicked his wrist and the image disappeared, another flick and Naruto was floating, right to his bed again. Shinigami's head lifted up as he felt several figures coming in at high speeds. "Looks like the boy's so called guardians are coming to check in on the screaming and bright lights. Hm...what to do?' He walked over to a dark corner and silently sank into it's shadow, as three Anbu came in, one wearing a purple marked cat mask, the other two an owl and dog mask.(1)
The cat masked anbu looked over her shoulder "You two check out the apartment, look for any signs of intruders or sabotage. I'll check on the boy." The other two nodded and walked away, and as the female anbu approached Shinigami vanished and reappeared behind her, touching her shoulder with his index finger. He didn't like messing with peoples mind but this had to be done. He still had thing to say to Naruto when he woke up after all.
In a quite voice he said "Naruto is fine."
In a monotonous voice she repeated "Naruto is fine."
"This room is clear, he was jut messing with flash bombs. He's obviously been at this awhile and passed out from exhaustion."
"This room is clear, he was jut messing with flash bombs. He's obviously been at this awhile and passed out from exhaustion."
She turned around and exited the room repeating what Shinigami told her to say to her teammates who then left the house and SHinigami sat down on a nearby chair. He hadn't been seated more than thirty seconds when Naruto shot up with a gasp, and started coughing. "Easy there kid, you just had your soul merged with another one, albeit your own younger soul, it' gonna be a bit disorintating at first."
"A little? *cough cough cough* Jesus I can't tell up from down at the moment."
"Well it's what i thought would happen."
"What you thought?"
"Look kid I've never done this before ok? It's no simple task to just bring you back in time. Because there's a you here we have to deal with. I don't think you'd want to kill yourself, and merging your soul with his was easier than making you a new body. Now listen I am only going to say this once we brought you back to the final year of the Ninja academy. Your 12 years old, five years from now Madara will get revived and using the tablet Zetsu forged get himself a Rinnegan eye, and Black Zetsu will use him to revive Kagyuya Otsustuki. You're one and only mission is to prevent that from happening or in case it does happen reseal her. Whatever else you do is up to you so long as it doesn't jeopardize the mission. And remember this is a one time deal. Time is a fickle mistriss, and sending you back in time is already breaking a couple of rules. Got it?"
Naruto nodded, looking around at the house he hadn't seen since coming home from his training trip with Jiraiya. Looking at all the posters he had of the previous Kage, watching the wind brush past trees that had long been burned down by attacks to his house. He sat down on the old mattress that Jiraiya had personally burned down, before buying him a proper bed. His old jumpsuit that had all different marks and stains that no amount of washing or sewing and stitching would make leave.
He laughed softly, he was here, back to when he was eleven, back to when he was still a stupid boy with high hopes, and dreams. Back to when he was so..weak? He couldn't feel the mental connection he once shared with Kurama, which was just discomforting. and hi muscles, how did he ever survive? He'd need to weaken the seal so she could set it up again, but he was never any good at Fuinjutsu, never had the patience to understand the intricacies and the calligraphy to make a seal worth while was just painful. Then a thought struck him "Hey Shinigami I have a question before you leave."
"I honestly thought you'd have quiet a few."
"If you brought me back here with the sole purpose of stopping Kagyuya because it interrupted your plans, wouldn't bringing me back here to the past with all of my future memories just make those interruptions worse?"
"Look kid this is something you'll learn more about at a later date, but Kami and I aren't the only celestial beings out there. And they really frown upon messing with time. Now you honestly impressed me with your life, all of that hate and aggression directed towards you but you rose against it. Man, even if it was part of the plan you played your part well. Think of this as a sort of apology for the crappy childhood."
"Ok next question, did you really have to threaten Hinata-chan like that?"
Shinigami barked out a laugh "Kid I'm the god of death, did you honestly think that was real? it was an illusion to get you to listen to me. An advanced Genjutsu if you will. Now if you'll excuse me, i have some matter I need to think about."
And just like that, in the blink of his eye Shinigami was gone leaving Naruto alone. Naruto laid back in the bed, only rolling over to check the Calander he always kept by his bed. 'September fourth huh? IF memory serves then the academy starts tomorrow, and this younger body of mine, it feels so weak and fragile, and ah hell my chakra control is probably still crappy, not mention years of hand-eye coordination and muscle memory are gone.
Just to test his little theory Naruto rummaged around for rather rusty and damaged kunai 'did I really keep such shitty maintenance on my equipment? Gonna have to fix that before tomorrow. Anyways..' he looked to the far wall of his room Naruto aimed for a cockroach crawling along it. Now in his time, from this distance, Naruto could literally make this shot with his eyes closed, he threw and...missed by a complete two feet. 'AHHH SHIT! Now I remember, I was more into physical fitness and shit than actual training.'
Sighing, he crawled out of the bed and looked at himself in the mirror, man he was scrawny. 'How often did I eat something other than Ramen? Kami damn I know the village back then, well now I guess, had it out for me but I really didn't do myself any favors did I?' Raggedy unkept Blond hair, a loose fitting T-shirt and his orange jumper. 'I really was an idiot. But I've been given a second chance to fix things. But how am I gonna get the things I need to fix this?'
His first thought had been just go around town under a hinge, but most shops that had what he needed where either run by, or hired retired ninja specifically to spot that kind of trick, and his control was to shoddy to try that anyways. Try and be sneaky and steal what he needed? No, he'd run into the same problem, retired or partly active ninja. 'Hmm...think Naruto, at one point the entire Shinobi world rested on your ability to make decisions. "AHA I got an idea, now where does he live?"
*Knock, knock, knock*
Iruka was surprised to here someone knocking on his door at ten in the morning, he usually didn't have visitors at this time of day, unless it was some other teacher who needed help, but the teachers of the academy were scheduled to go the mandatory meeting at twelve which was when they usually asked around for help. He was even more surprised to find Naruto was the one doing the knocking. '"N-Naruto? I'm surprised to see you up so early in the morning, and here especially? Is something wrong"
Iruka had nothing against Naruto except for the fact that he could be a great student but chose not to. Jinchuuriki or no he always held Naruto equal to his other students. And he would eventually be willing to sacrifice his life for Naruto. 'He's the only who would even consider helping me.' Naruto was looking at the ground lost in thought, until Iruka flicked him on the forehead "Yo Naruto, is there a reason you're here or are you running away from another prank you pulled?"
Naruto was quick to shake his head. "No Iruka-sensei i just came to tell you something and ask a request of you." Naruto didn't hold a lot of respect for many people, but those he did respect were held in the highest esteem. And Iruka Umino was tied for Jiraiya at the very top. He bowed low and almost shouted "I'm sorry!"
Iruka's surprise only doubled as he did this, 'I-i'm sorry? You haven't done anything Naruto. Have you?" A wary eye was trained on the young would be shinobi.
Still bowing Naruto said "I've been a terrible student." For this man, and everything he had done for him, Naruto could and would drop his pride. "I've skipped your lectures and pulled numerous amounts of pranks on you, even though you were always one of the few people who treated me with care and equality. And I'm sorry."
His surprise, and eyebrows for that matter had reached it's peak. "I mean I'm grateful Naruto, for the apology but where is all of this coming from? This is out of character for you."
"I realize that Iruka-sensei, but I learned over the summer some hard life facts, and I don't know, I want to succeed. I want to become Hokage, and I realized that I won't be able to accomplish that goal unless I get out of the academy and become a ninja. And the other instructors are going to try like hell to make sure that doesn't happen. Hell most of the village is gonna try like hell to prevent that from happening."
Iruka knew all too well how the villagers treated Naruto, and even though he would never forgive himself for it he used to be part of that crowd too. And Naruto knew it, and yet still found it in his heart to forgive him. It almost brought tear to his eyes, but he fought them back and said "Apology accepted Naruto. Now what was this request of yours?"
Naruto handed Iruka and envelop to which a confused look was his response. "The Hokage gives me a monthly allowance, and this months got brought in early so I could buy supplies for school. However most shops over price me for anything worth while and normally what I can afford is worn, used or rotting. I was wondering if..." Naruto looked away for a brief moment before taking a deep breath "would you got out and buy the things I need for this year?" He bowed again.
'Oh, well that is rather well thought of him to ask me. But I have to be at the school by twelve for the meeting...hmm...'
Several second of silence Naruto a nervous and jittery wreck. "Fine Naruto I will do this for you. However I need you to understand it's gonna take a while, plus all of the teachers have to meet at the academy at Twelve to go over the curriculum for this year. It's going to be awhile until I can get back to you with all of the supplies understand."
Naruto grinned from ear to ear. "Thanks Iruka-sensei! Where do you want to meet?"
Iruka smiled, "How about Ichiraku's around three?"
Naruto nodded before dashing off, the first real smile Iruka had ever truly seen him wear. 'What am I going to do with that unpredictable ball of energy?' He looked towards the envelop in his hands, 'well first I'm going to buy him some proper clothes and then burn that orange jumpsuit of his to the ground. Then burn the ashes for good measure. Then he need's proper texts books, and actual ninja gear, not that second-rate crap he has. Ugh...this is gonna be more work than I thought."
Naruto was happily sitting at his favorite place even then, atop the Fourth Hokage's head. Ten minutes ago he was talking to Iruka nervous as hell, now he was actually happy. It was early enough that he was able to easily ignore the numerous amounts of glares and whispers of the villagers behind his back. His smiled dropped ever so slightly, that was one thing he missed. It wouldn't be for another four years at least when he stopped Pain's invasion that this village and it's inhabitants would truly see Naruto as a human, let alone a hero.
"Oh man I have a lot of work a head of me that's for sure. What should be the first thing I-" Naruto, who had taken a reclining position on his back suddenly rolled to his right as three kunai struck the ground with a heavy thud. 'What the? An assassination attempt already? Come on, I haven;t been back for more than a day!' Naruto got up fast, taking out his best kunai, which was really only barley usable and got in a defensive position, glaring at the woodwork behind him. "Alright whoever you are show yourself and fight me like a man!"
"Oh trust me Naruto, if we fought right now no amount of dirty tricks would let you win." From the trees came the familiar visage of a smirking Hyuga.
"Ne-Neji? What the hell are you doing here? And why the hell did you attack me? What's the big idea huh? And what do you mean dirty tricks?"
"Come now Naruto, have you already forgotten the Chunin Exams?"
Naruto's arms hung limply at his sides, as he stared at the Hyuga in front of him "Wait you came back too?"
"Yeah, Kami wanted to make sure you had some back up for this plan of hers to work. I hope your coming back here was a bit easier than mine. Man was I egotistical. I wanted to fight me just to prove i was better. It was weird as hell"
"Yeah well Shinigami had younger me under an advanced genjutsu, made me believe that if he didn't eat my soul thingy what ever the hell it was, he'd hurt Hinata. But it went about how you'd expect it to go."
Neji chuckled as he stood beside Naruto, looking out over Konoha, "And for the record the first thing you should is start a very damaging training regimen. Because had I been trying to kill you, you wouldn't have been able to do anything."
Naruto glanced over to Neji before laying on the ground like he had been, "speaking of how did you find me?"
"Well I checked your old apartment, man was that place a dump, then Ichiraku's. You weren't at any of those places so my next stop was here. You told Hinata once that this was your favorite spot in the entire village. And I must say this is probably the smartest decision you've made, it has a nice view."
"Hey" Naruto feigned indignation "I'll have you know I am full of smart decisions."
Neji snorted "Like that Jumpsuit perhaps?"
"Ok, look it was fashionable AND affordable thank you very much!"
"Fashionable on what? A cow?"
"You know what I don't have to answer you." Naruto huffed and looked in the other direction, but a small smile played on his lips. It was fun having someone he could have this kind of banter with. Taking a peek at Neji, the content look on his face said very much the same thing. "So how are things at the compound?"
Neji sighed "I had almost forgotten what it was like to be a side branch member of the Hyuga family. With the war going on, I was gone too long to remember that most main house Hyuga think me less than trash, only above the likes of you and homeless cretins." He pointed to his bare forehead, "this seal had me caged for so long, and it's imprisoned the minds of my entire clan. I was brought back to help Lady Hinata be rid of this seal. to free my clan. It is weird, at this point in time, Hinata loves me, because we're family but is hesitant to get near me. I was truly a fool." Neji joined Naruto on the ground, traditional style on his knees.
"Hey now, you know things will get better."
Neji's hands tightened on the pants he wore as he barley was able to say "only after I nearly kill her in the Chunin preliminaries." He shook his head as he tried to get the shocked and betrayed look of Hinata out of his mind. "I have an up hill battle ahead of me, and i think your's is steeper than mine. At least most of the clan elders think me a genius. It' funny if you think about it, some of the brightest minds they are, with eyes that let them see all. yet you were the only one who saw how much of a fool I was."
"Yeah I was wasn't I? So what do we do now?"
Neji's eyes narrowed in concentration. "Well if memory serves the toughest thing my team and I have to do is some B rank mission near the border of Iwa. You need to focus on getting through the academy with your head intact."
"Yeah like that's going to be easy. Half of the village and almost the entirety of the civilian council is going to take every opportunity to get me kicked out of the academy before I graduate. Why couldn't Kami have sent me to the day before I graduate?"
Neji smirked "Because you ruined her plans and she's gotta be petty some how?"
"Well Neji" Naruto jumped to his feet "It's been fun, but I have places to be and people to meet. Let's talk again soon huh?" And then with a cheeky finger salute, he jumped over the edge of the cliff, in a manner he had done billions of times in the future.
'I wonder if he realizes he doesn't have the reflex he's used too?' Neji mused silently to himself.
The resounding "SHIT! GODDAMN MOTHERFUCKING" *SNAP* "OW!" Was the only answer Neji needed as he walked to his teams training ground.
Iruka could be seen leaving market square with many bags with which he was quick to put in a sealing scroll. 'Man, outfitting a kid for his final year at Konoha's Ninja Academy can actually be a lot more troubling than one would think. I mean Kami! No wonder Naruto was always struggling , this cost a lot even for me, who knows how much they were charging for him.' He glanced at the unopened envelop of money Naruto had given him. He didn't know why, but something made him pay out of pocket, his own savings. Which wasn't a lot on a Teacher's salary but damn it if he was going to make his poorest student pay these outrageous prices. 'It must be the teacher in me, now if I'm right, ah here it is.'
Iruka walked into the small Ramen bar, Ichiraku's Ramen. He didn't know much about the shop, nor anything about the owner and his Daughter, save that they were one of the few people that saw Naruto as the small child he was and not for the demon he contained. A little birdy did tweet that this was one of Naruto' favorite hangouts. Looks like he was early, ah he'd grab a booth and wait. The young waitress soon came over to get his order.
"What can i get for you today sir?"
Iruka scratched the back of his head and laughed "actually I'm waiting on a student of mine to get here first. Once he's here then I'll order, but in the mean time can I have a glass of water?" Come to think of it, why was he doing this again? He treated Naruto fairly yeah, but why the soft spot? Maybe it was because he saw a lot of himself in the young blonde. Or at least how he used to be. Shaking his head Iruka grabbed at a small glass and took a few swallows.
Actually what did he really know about Naruto? 'He's eleven, his birthday is October tenth, he's hyperactive, has insane stamina and likes ramen. Compared to the rest of my class I don't really know anything about him. I mean he works so hard too, if only he had the patience to accept a little guidance then he'd be a formidable opponent. But he's headstrong, to reckless, to stubborn.'
Then the person in question came through the curtains that made the entrance to the ramen stand, looking worse for the wear. Standing up quick Iruka walked over to him."Naruto are you ok? You look like you fell a hundred feet down a mountain!"
Naruto's looked towards Iruka slightly surprised to see him there, "that's an accurate description I was doing some training atop the Fourth's head and took a tumble down. Hehe, It's not as bad it looks, my healing factor is already taking care of the broken ribs."
"Oh my god Naruto what happened!" Ayame came rushing over to check the young blonds injury a worried expression dawning her face. "Did someone hurt you again? Because i swear to god they will meet the business end of my frying pan!" It was at this point that rumors of a waitress with near Jounin level skills with cutlery surfaced into Iruka's head.
"I'm fine Ayame-nee. I was training and took a bad fall. No one did this to me but myself. I'll be fine once I have a couple of hot miso ramen in my belly and I...ugh hope you don't mind paying Iruka-sensie, I gave you all of my money."
Iruka laughed and tossed Naruto the unopened envelop. "Actually Naruto, I think you're going to be paying today." Seeing the quickly coming look of sadness Iruka tossed Naruto the sealing scroll, hoping to teach the boy something. Naruto catching the scroll knew immediately what it was and almost gave that information away before shutting his mouth with an audible clack. 'Can't seem to smart or Iruka's going to be curious, and I don't think i can lie convincingly enough to him.'
"What's this Iruka-sensie?"
Iruka immediately went into teacher mode, closing his eyes and point a finger to the sky "this, Naruto is a sealing scroll, the basics of it is that it make transportation of goods easy by ealing them into a different dimension, and then using a burst of chakra you can unseal the item, or items in this case. It makes carrying a lot of things at once easy, as once sealed they don't add any weight to the scroll they were sealed in. I ended up paying for everything in there with my own money, so i guess you can pay for lunch huh?"
Naruto gave a deep bow and said "thank you Iruka-sensei I'd be glad to ay for lunch." People were starting to notice and stare and Iruka gave a boisterous laugh and pulled Naruto into an empty booth.
"It's fine Naruto, were not in school at the moment, please no need to be so formal. It took a while but I managed to get all of the things you would need for this year, including some proper clothing. So as soon you can get out of that jumpsuit."
"But Iruka-Sensei-"
"No but's Naruto, how do you plan to be a decent ninja if you can't even be stealthy? That bright orange is gonna give you away in seconds. I know it has sentimental value, but you need to start taking things seriously. Which means you need to look like you're taking this seriously. I also got you the proper text books for this year, so no slacking off got it!"
Naruto smiled and nodded his head "Yes Iruka-Sensei, no slacking off for me, though I don't know how I'm gonna curb my addiction to pulling pranks on people, hehe."
It was then Naruto felt the change in attitude, the shift in the looks on other customers face, the way their normal looks of hatred differed ever so slightly. Then the memories hit him. It was September Fourth, about to be the start of his last year in the Ninja academy. 'Oh shit I almost forgot what today was. If this keeps up I'm going to get Old man Ichiraku, Ayame-nee and Iruka-sensei caught in this mess. Shit.'
Iruka seemed to notice Naruto's smile go tighten ever so slightly. How his eyes started tracing a path throughout the stand, and looking behind him. "Is everything alright Naruto?"
"Huh? Oh yeah, everything's fine Iruka-sensei, I just remembered a place I have to be, a thing I gotta do ya know? See you later, bye Ayame!" And like that Naruto made a quick exit,, making note of someone across the street following him. 'Ah shit how long has he been tailing me?' What Naruto didn't see was Iruka peek his head out of the curtains, holding an envelope.
"Alright you can come out now, I know you're following me." Naruto had walked for at least half an hour, going through every back ally and short cut he could remember, but his tail was smart, and tenacious. He was obviously trained, so ninja at the very least. Naruto wouldn't be able to lose him that's for sure, but a confrontation would not end well. 'Here's to hoping I can work this out peacefully.'
Who walked out was not who Naruto was expecting. It was one of the civilian students from his class, 'Chato Yemura right? Last year of the academy he had to be expelled because of an anger issue. Was presumed dead or MIA after the Sand/Sound invasion.'
"What do you want Yemura? And why have you been following me?"
"I came here to kick your ass dobe."
"Oh really? That's tough talk for the kid whose rated third worst taijutsu combatant in our class." It was true. Hand to hand combat was not his specialty, he excelled at throwing weapons and mid range combat, though he'd never beat Tenten in that field. "And why do you wanna kick my ass today Yemura?"
"Because idiot, my dad's putting together a hunting party, and the thing they've chosen to hunt today is you. So me and some friends" at this signal two more students, they weren't from any ninja clan, that much Naruto could remember, appeared from behind him, a boy and a girl "are gonna toss you around for a bit and then give you to our parents like a trophy you see."
"Oh so eager to impress mommy and daddy you failed to realize one very important fact."
The girl scowled "and what' that dobe?"
Naruto backflipped and put his back to a corner, pulling out two kunai and getting in a defensive position. "You'll be busy carrying your injuried away to take me anywhere."
Yemura pulled out his own set of kunai and grinned "I don't think so dobe. Keep in mind the only reason you can keep up with any of the shits from clans and their fighting style is because you have a lot of stamina. but no style that's it, and you're even worse using throwing weapons, I think this won't take more than a few minutes."
Even though Yemura was the obvious leader, it was the boy to his left, Naruto's right, that was the biggest threat. Small bits of his memories were coming back to him. Dan Liken, civilian, ranked number six amongst male taijutsu users of his class. Agile, and flexible he would pose the most threat. Naruto wasn't' worried about the other two, who would almost certainly use kunai and shuriken to harass him. They would be aiming for non-vital spots, after all they where only twelve. They didn't have the stomach to kill Naruto, let alone the skill to do any actual harm. They where only students still after all. They'd be an annoyance at the most. No Dan was the one who had the most potential to hurt Naruto at the moment.
'But at this point in time I haven't undergone Jiraiya's training to protect myself from Genjutsu, so the girl, Kaylie Nabari I think, she's a threat too if I give her enough time to cast a jutsu at me. No easy way to get to her, she's in the back of the group. Yemura's got good aim, but should be easily able to avoid him and his weapons. Seriously do I need to waste my time with this?'
Just as Naruto was getting ready to rocket forward to try and get a quick surprise attack, when from the end of the alleyway a voice shouted "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?" All four students jumped in the air, three spinning around to face a very pissed off looking Iruka, his face red with rage.
"I-Iruka-sense! What are you doing here?" Yemura was starting to sweat bullets, as was Kaylie's and Dan's. Their's eyes were darting back and forth from Naruto to Iruka.
"I asked for their help Iruka-sensie." Four astonished faces turned towards Naruto.
"I-i'm sorry what did you say Naruto."
"It is no hidden fact that I am the dead last or 'Dobe' of our class when it comes to academic skills and only slightly above the bottom when it comes to taijutsu, genjutsu, and ninjutsu. It's also widely known that among the civilian population of the class most of them hate me, an orphan for being considered equal to the clan heirs with which make up a good part of our class, where they are seen below them. If given the opportunity most of them would love to beat me, or at least try to, to a bloody pulp."
Iruka nodded his head sadly, while most of the clan heirs didn't consider themselves over their classmates, the fact they from a ninja clan, one of the bigger ones, gave them a considerable advantage with which the civilian part of the class always held a small bit of resentment, with the exception of Naruto of course. His insane amount of chakra and stamina allowed him to keep up, for the most part, with the likes of Kiba, and Sasuke. "And what does that have to do with whatever is happening here Naruto?"
"Right, if given the chance they would happily beat me, so i thought I would give my colleagues that very chance, Spar with me one on three, basic sparring rules. because in the real world that may very well be what I face someday. They get their chance to fight me, and because they don't like me their going to try extra hard to beat me, in return I have to fight for my life to try and win. It's the closest thing to a real encounter I can come up with without actually fighting an enemy ninja."
Iruka had to admit that the idea, while terrible as it relied on the good will of students who wanted to to bodily harm to him, had merit. But he couldn't allow this, "sorry Naruto but I will not allow this. You three" he looked towards the now terrified students "go home, because this was apparently Naruto's idea I won't give you all detention, now leave."
They were quick to run away, not looking behind them in the slightest, leaving Iruka alone with Naruto. "Alright Naruto, what was really going on?"
"I told you Iruka-sensei-"
"No Naruto you lied so they wouldn't get in trouble. Now the truth out with it."
Naruto sighed and looked towards the ground "there's a hunting party, a mob, forming with the sole purpose of trying to kill me. I don't know why, but they haven't formed like this since I joined the academy. I could tell when we were at Ichiraku's. I left so you, Ayame and the old man wouldn't get caught in the middle of it. Yemura wanted to impress his father who was part of the hunt, so he convinced Dan and Kaylie to beat me up and then they'd turn me over to the mob."
Iruka was stunned into silence, his fist clenching in anger. It was bad enough that the adults of the village were out to kill a small child, now they were getting the children involved. Angry did not even begin to describe how Iruka felt. He reached into his pocket and handed Naruto his money. It was official, he had to help Naruto no matter the cost. "Naruto, you left this at Ichiraku's, also take these" he handed Naruto a key, much to his confusion. "Those are the keys to my house, those hunting you more than likely know were you live, so you're going to be staying the night at my house. Make sure no one sees you ok? Now hurry up I have some business I need to attend to, I shouldn't be gone to long."
Tears were forming at the edges of Naruto's eyes. "Th-thank you Iruka-sensie"
Iruka knelt down so he was eye level with Naruto "You can thank me by taking things seriously, and if you want to pay me back for my kindness then graduate at the top of your class this year huh? Now go, I'll be back in a bit." He patted Naruto on the back, the moment his back turned, Iruka's smile dropped into a frown as he started heading towards the Hokage's Tower. It was only Four in the afternoon, the Hokage would be there.
AND CUT! I'm sorry again if it seems like everything was rushed in this chapter, but there was a lot to do this chapter. I hope you enjoyed and for once, note additional notes. Don't got a lot else to say accept have a wonderful time.
Ja ne!
