Chapter 2: The next step

We observe Naruto back in the confines of his 'home'. It's pretty much what amounts to a giant hollowed out tree. In his hands is his newest possession: a beaten-up piece of paper. Sorry, a "scroll".

Due to it's state of wear and tear it could easily be mistaken for random garbage, and not as an important part of the village.

Fun fact: the forest of death is protected from any sort of clairvoyance due to it being a crucial part of the chunin exams.

So no more crystal ball b.s.

Naruto was undergoing deep thought and reflection; he did just kill somebody after all, and was now dealing with the ramifications that come with it.

He had performed a quick substitution with a clone after being kicked into the tree. Normally Naruto's crappy Bunshin wouldn't have fooled even a Genin.

Luckily Mizuki was still half blind from when Naruto hucked stuff at his face. "My hands are stained..."

Caught up in thinking, he almost missed the sound of footsteps outside the entrance to his home.

"Who the heck is dumb enough to enter the forest of death?" Naruto had wondered. It wasn't without reason, as even most Chunin hesitate to enter. This was mostly due to the massive amounts of dangerous animals and plant. There was also that rumor about something going around beating everything up and eating them. Not to mention it was also the middle of the night.

Ridiculous theories aside, Naruto prepared for an encounter with someone most likely Jounin rank or higher. The sound was gone; it was quiet. He poked his head out the front door. ..."Hiya Onii-chan!

"GAAHH!" his sister popped up in his face and jumped on him, making them both fall over. They both ended up in a heap on the floor, rubbing their heads where they had bumped each other.

"Mou...that hurt! Onii-chan is a meanie." Narumi pouted.

"YOU'RE the one that jumped on ME!" retorted Naruto, massaging his head. What was her head made of? Titanium?

"What are you even doing here? It's the middle of the night! The forest is a dangerous place! You could get hurt." warned Naruto.

"It's boooring in the house!" She whined. "I woke up and got bored. And I want to play with Onii-chan." she said, hugging him tightly.

Naruto got up and tried to peel his sister off of him. "I'm busy right now." He finally succeeded in getting her off and he walked back into his house, Narumi following close behind. Upon spotting the scroll again, Naruto remembered his current predicament. His face turning grim, he once again sat down on a stump.

Seeing the look on his face Narumi became worried. "Nii-chan what's wrong?" Turning towards his sister, he decided to confide in her, "Narumi, I killed somebody and stole an important scroll from the Hokage."

If she were surprised she definitely didn't show it. Narumi tilted her head slightly, "Was it a bad person?

"Uhh, probably..."

"Then what are you worried about? They deserved it."

Narumi sure knew how to make light of a situation.

"I guess you're right! No sense in brooding over it like an emo person (I'm looking at you duckbutt). But there's still the matter of the scroll." He said after remembering the stolen property he currently held.

Narumi, of course, had a solution for that predicament. "Finders keepers, losers weepers."

Knowing by now that his sister could care less if they were put in danger, Naruto just simply agreed with her. She just wanted more...stuff. Top-secret scrolls containing numerous high level techniques just happen to be more ideal "stuff".

Besides, he stole stuff from people on a regular basis so who is he to talk?

"Have you even looked inside it yet Nii-chan?" Narumi asked with a deadpan expression.

"Not yet, I haven't had the chance to because SOMEBODY decided to jumpscare me!"

Narumi had the decency to look sheepish.

"Well since I'm here we can look it together! See? It all works out."

Surprisingly, the scroll was not locked or sealed in any way.

"Did you hear that?" Naruto could've sworn that he heard a "Ding~".

It was, in fact, a ding for the sin of convenience.

"Meh it probably got broken or something during my fight."

Unrolling the scroll, brother and sister stared at the contents hidden within. The buttload of forbidden techniques were obviously there, but there was...more.

The scroll documents the events leading up to the destruction of Whirlpool country. It stated in frightening clarity the actions of three hidden villages against one sole victim. They could see letters written between Iwagakure, Kumogakure and surprisingly enough, Konohagakure. They all tell of a plot devised by those villages with one goal in mind: eradicate the Village hidden in the Whirlpools. The plot was simple. Kumo and Iwa launches a full-scale assault on Whirlpool, with Konoha secretly supported the attackers. They bypassed the supposedly impassable whirlpools that were augmented by seals and also acted as a natural defence for the village. Passage was granted to "allies", allowing Konoha to easily backstab them. You could imagine their anger at being betrayed.

After weeks of being under siege Whirlpool eventually fell under the might of three hidden villages. The three villages then proceeded to erase any trace of Whirlpool from their history books. Still to this day, nobody knows of Konoha's involvement in the genocide except for their accomplices. And Naruto and Narumi. Can't forget them!

Nowhere does it clearly state the motive to warrant such a war, but mentions of Whirlpool being a threat became prevalent throughout the documents.

It seemed that their reason to attack Whirlpool stemmed from the fact that everyone was afraid of one clan: the Uzumaki. The Uzumaki were infamous for their powerful sealing techniques. Their naturally increased healing factor and longevity made it a royal pain in the butt to actually kill them.

If an Uzumaki were to, say become a jinchuriki, they would be damn near impossible to kill.

That's great news for our protagonist and all, but what isn't so great is the revelation that your entire clan was practically wiped out by a person you've known your whole life.

To say that the siblings were shocked would be like saying the ocean is wet. It just doesn't do it justice.

Naruto got off the floor effectively dumping Narumi out of his lap, to which she pouted slightly. "So let me get this straight. Our only family was killed thanks to the old man who betrayed his allies because he was...scared?"

"I want revenge!" Narumi could look pretty threatening for a ten year old.

Knowing that detecting against an entire hidden village with his current skills wouldn't be the smartest idea, Naruto decided to be the brains of the pair. "We can't exactly do that right now because we're too weak." She deflated somewhat after hearing that. Naruto then wrapped her in a hug to cheer her up. "But don't worry, the Hokage will get what he deserves just you wait. We need to get stronger first, or did you forget your promise?"

"Nuh uh I would never forget! Narumi exclaimed while enjoying the warm embrace.

A week after that late night event Naruto prepared to return to the academy for team placements. It was only for students that passed but he had a head protector now. Sure, the metal was slightly bent, and the fabric was frayed but it still counts right?

Oh, but why should he care? A new chapter is unfolding in his ninja career! He didn't have time to sweat the small stuff.

And so, with that last thought, Naruto set off towards the academy, messed up headband and all.

He got there rather early, early enough for no one else to be there. Naruto plopped into a desk near the back of the room and proceeded to doze off.

When he awoke the room was almost full. He noticed that the people who passed the exam were mostly from prominent clans. People like Hinata, Shikamaru, Shino and Chouji were okay to hang around, but Naruto didn't have many friends if at all. He mostly spent his time training. Then there were people like Ino, Kiba and Sasuke. Ino isn't bad, but she isn't good either. It doesn't help that she's pretty weak. Kiba is constantly hounding (get it?) Sasuke for a fight and always proclaims to be the strongest, despite never winning even once. Not much can be said about Sasuke. What could be said has been said already. He's just your stereotypical anti-social emo avenger thing.

Naruto was disturbed from his musings when somebody finally noticed his presence.

"Hey, Deadlast! I think you made a wrong turn somewhere!" Kiba sauntered up to Naruto, the odor of wet dog wafting over him.

"Who do you think you are? 'Ruto goes where he pleases!"

Kiba walked closer, strengthening the stench. "In case you haven't noticed, this is for people who actually PASSED the exam!" he practically snarled. Kiba values strength above most things, as does most of his clan, so he looks down on Naruto.

"Look at my forehead you scrub."

"BULLSHIT! You probably stole it! Everyone knows that you're the thief going around stealing things!"

"Prove it dog boy."

"Why you little-

"That's enough you two!" Iruka didn't feel like getting a headache first thing in the morning.

"Kiba, Naruto's headband was personally given to him by the Hokage. He is a registered Genin."

Naruto stuck his tongue out at Kiba. "Naruto don't antagonise Kiba."

"Awww but it's so easy to rile him up. And he's funny when he's raging. Kiba was about to retaliate but quickly stopped when he saw the glare Iruka was giving him.

"Alright class, first off I would like to congratulate you all for passing the exam and becoming Genin. Before we begin, let's welcome a new student: Sai! He was trained privately and is now joining us for graduation."

Whispers floated around the room as Sai walked in. He was wearing a simple black shirt with one sleeve cut short and black pants. Everyone watched with rapt attention as they tried to determine what kind of person he was. Except for Naruto and Shikamaru. They were asleep, as usual.

"Greetings everyone, you all look weak."

...

After calming the students who were offended by that were offended by that comment, Iruka turned back to Sai, who was still standing there. "That was rather mean don't you think?" Sai's expression remained the same. "Sorry I do not have much practice with interacting with others. I guess this has been a learning experience for all of us." he ended with an obvious fake smile.

Iruka sweatdropped, "Well, go and find a seat. I'll be naming teams soon."

"I hope I'm with Sasuke!" The mere thought of being with Ino crush made her squeal, because...fangirl.

"I'm most likely with Shikamaru and Ino." Chouji was informed by his father about the Ino-Shika-Cho trio that was all the rage last generation.

"I hope I'm with you, Hinata!" She still blushed despite Kiba being a typical horndog.

"Ummm...thanks?"

"Hn™." spoken like a true Uchiha.

Naruto was, you guessed it!, still sleeping. He was up all night after all.

After his customary post-graduation speech concluded, Iruka started calling out names.

"Team 1...(teams 1-5 are irrelevant.) Team 6 is still in circulation from last year, Team 7, Sasuke, Sai and Naruto."

A shout of dismay could be heard from the seats. It was probably Ino.

"Naruto, Naruto?" Iruka finally noticed him sleeping at the back of the room. He threw a blackboard eraser at him for good measure.

Unfortunately(?) Iruka miscalculated the strength needed. Not to mention he also missed. The eraser bounced off the wall, straight into an unsuspecting person's face. Luckily(?) it was no one of importance.

"Sorry, nameless background character!"

"I have a name you know!"

Uhh, no you don't.

Iruka gave up after that failed attempt to discipline his student and instead said "Screw it, he can sleep for all I care."

"Team 8: Shino, Hinata and Kiba."

"Aww yeah! I totally called it!"

You can probably guess who that was.

Hey, it could've been Shino. For all you know, the author could've been creative with his personality.

Unfortunately, that's not the case here.

"Team 9: Chouji, Ino and Shikamaru."

"Ugh, why am I with the fatass and lazyass? That's, like, totally not cool."

Seeing that Shikamaru was also asleep, Iruka made sure not to miss this time.

BOOM! Headshot! Get rekd scrub.

"All right, those are all the teams. I will now take you to meet your jounin sensei. Team 7, you stay here. The rest of the class, follow me."

Most of the class got up and left excited and curious, leaving three left behind.

Sai and Sasuke sat in relative awkward silence as they were left alone. Sasuke was well, Sasuke. Sai wasn't willing to start a conversation either, seeing as he felt that he needed to make more observations.

One hour...two hours...three hours! Three hours had passed and still nothing had happened. Even Sasuke was getting annoyed at this point.

Eventually, Naruto woke up. "Ahh that was a great nap!"

Suddenly, Naruto jumped out of his chair, startling his companions. "Holy Crap! It's so late! And I'm so hungry!" he ran out of the room before anyone could stop him.

A few moments later, a tall, masked jounin stepped into the room. He scanned the room in confusion. "Aren't there supposed to be three of you?"

"He left."

"Well, shit."

When Naruto got home, he took off his headband and relaxed in a couch. Don't ask how he managed to steal that. As he placed the headband down, a frayed piece of the metal dug into his hand, drawing blood. He shouted in shock and quickly removed the headband. Drops of blood fell onto the scroll that was tossed carelessly on the ground.

Naruto watched in wonder as the blood caused and intricate seal to appear, resembling a lock in appearance. The liquid was absorbed into the scroll, unlocking the seal.

A/N: Writing a story is harder than i thought T_T. I may go a couple weeks without updating but I will never give up on this story, thats a promise! *cue Rick Astley's Never Gonna Give You Up* See you in the next chapter!