Chapter 4: Naruto's Normal Day
The scenery was utterly repulsive and disgusting. It was a reminder that the only thing worse than the stink of rotting, burning human flesh was the stink of mountains of rotting, burning human flesh. Vivid images appeared, showing doomed men and women screaming for their lives as they were butchered by demons. Then, there were the droves of grotesque carrion birds that fed off mutilated carcasses of men, women and children that were strewn carelessly across the soggy, rain drenched land.
"The last of the human filth has been eradicated. What is thy bidding, Kyuubi-sama?" uttered one of the demonic beings with slavish servitude.
"Should we return to our lair to recover?" another offered. Unlike the first speaker, this one appeared unperturbed by its leader's awe inspiring presence. Its twin battered tails swished back and forth in agitation.
"Now? In our moment of triumph, you think we should retreat? I think not," thundered the nine tailed demon in anger.
"Hear me now, brothers and sisters! These human insects swarm upon the land like locusts, spreading their diseased presence like a plague! To think, they even have the audacity to strike at us, the immortal ones. No! We will exterminate their kind for this defiance! The legion will continue forward to the west!" Under the leadership of the nine tailed fox demon, the demonic legion surged onward and where ever it went, destruction and desolation followed.
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Naruto jolted awake in a cold sweat.
"Are you alright, Uzumaki?"
Drooping and drooling, Naruto looked at his teacher with momentary confusion. The class burst into laughter at the blond's antics.
"Yeah! Yeah, I'm fine, Mizuki-sensei."
The assistant teacher gave the demon container a cautionary look, but nodded.
Naruto groaned as he willed his headache to subside. A few days after returning from his first mission with Tenzou's ANBU unit, the Kyuubi had returned from its deep exile in the middle of the night. For whatever reason, it had not been happy, and had subjected him to a savage bout of psychological torture that had denied him any rest. At times like this, he really despised the creature and could almost sympathize with the villagers' hatred. If not for the logical fallacy they made in equating the prison with the prisoner, the villagers' show of restraint would have been admirable.
Naruto involuntarily shivered. As if the mind rape was not bad enough, he kept getting flashes of the bastard fox's haunting memories. The demon had yet to say anything about these transgressions. No explanation, no reason, nothing. Naruto didn't know whether the continued silence was a blessing in disguise or a curse, but he wasn't suicidal enough to ask. The Kyuubi was the most powerful and most feared demon known to mankind for a reason; something the imprisoned creature gleefully reminded him from time to time. This time, however, it had gone too far. If there was any justice in this world, Naruto hoped to one day repay his tormentor for all the pain it has caused him.
"Thank you for covering for me, Mizuki. I can take over now." A grim looking Iruka walked into the class to replace his assistant.
Naruto had noted how loose and casual, not to mention unmotivated most of the staff were. The only exceptions were Mizuki and Iruka, whom to Naruto looked like they were constantly judging and assessing their students' abilities discreetly. Two consequences came from this: first, it made Naruto job of acting as a slacker that much harder, and second, it made him suspicious of the two.
"Hey, Naruto, you okay?" Chouji asked. "You seemed out of it today."
"Yeah, I'm fine." He most certainly was not fine, but he couldn't exactly just blurt out how he got screwed mentally by a demon fox that was sealed inside of him. Naruto's one satisfaction was watching his chuunin instructor squirm uncomfortably every time he glanced at the scroll he had laid out on his desk.
'I didn't know it would get copied and passed out this quickly.' The blond had no doubt what the scroll was. But he was under no delusion about what would happen or rather what would not happen. Like all bureaucratized institutions, without force from above, there would be no changing the ninja academy's current modus operandi.
"Alright, today, we'll have a practical demonstration."
'Maybe I was wrong,' Naruto thought with interest. More practical and less prose was certainly one of his top recommendations.
"Please line up on the wall. Use the henge technique you learned to make a replicate of myself."
'Or maybe not.' The blond lazily lined up with the rest of his class. So, what can he do to make this interesting?
"Uzumaki Naruto. Please make a henge of me. Go!"
Naruto resignedly propped himself in front of his sensei and adopted a mask of concentration. "Henge!"
An enormous cloud of smoke suddenly blocked out everyone's view of Naruto making Iruka wonder if the poor kid had screwed up.
"Oi, is this to your liking?"
The attendance scroll Iruka had rolled out of his clutches as he eyed Naruto's creation.
"Iruka-sama?"
Jaws dropped, noses bled and tempers were aroused as the upgraded version of Naruto's infamous sexy technique made its debut in the form of a female Iruka.
"Naruto! Don't subject us to useless techniques!" Iruka was furious, embarrassed and most importantly, bleeding from both nostrils, but his student only grinned which made the chuunin afraid, very afraid.
"Aw, you don't like me?" Naruto gave her sensei an adorable puppy eyed look and lifted her hands to cup her ample bosoms.
Unlike his original Oiroke no Jutsu, which had clouds floating over the privates, Naruto's new version utilized frilly puffs as substitute undergarments. They clung to the skin like latex and left nothing to the imagination. Iruka stood no chance. The chunnin sensei crumpled like a house of cards along with three of his male students who happened to receive the same view he had. Naruto smirked as he reverted back. The prank sure did its job getting him out of that mental funk.
"How do like that? It's my new and improved Oiroke no Jutsu. Works on all perverts and most men!" the blond declared with pride.
'Wow, he's really out of it.' Naruto thought as his nudge drew no reaction from his sensei. He didn't expect his technique to be this successful. After all, Iruka was hardly a closet pervert like that hypocrite Ebisu, and if he fell so easily to the technique, Naruto could just imagine how devastating it could be if used correctly on the battlefield.
'Yuugao might not be happy about it, but Tenzou would definitely consider it.' Naruto's captain was nothing if not pragmatic. The captain's whole attitude was "if it works, do it." Alas, before the part time ANBU shinobi could consider approaching his superior on implementing his unique technique on the battlefield, he was confronted by a horde of scornful girls. Naruto ducked sharply to the left, barely escaping the first punch.
"Ino-chan, what-what are you doing?"
"Don't call me that! We are going to give you the beating of your life, you baka! Hey, get back here!"
Naruto swerved, rolled, jumped and performed just about every trick in the book, but it was not enough. Crack! The blond reeled back from the force of the blow, courtesy of Sakura.
'Argh! Where did she learn to hit like that?' Clearly, he had seriously misjudged the retaliatory fury of the angry, indignant mob of girls.
At the end of his wits, Naruto pulled his last trump card. He morphed once more, this time, into his perfected teenage female form. Suddenly a fully developed, completely nude and utterly gorgeous blonde goddess appeared in the center of the room. It was one thing to teach a perverted boy a lesson, but quite another to beat up a naked girl.
"My name's Naruko! Please don't hurt me!" the blonde pleaded as she waved cheerfully.
When the vengeful girls temporarily paused, Naruko thought her plan had worked. But then the horde took in the older looking girl's absurdly disproportionate breast to waist, ratio and then glanced at their own flat chests.
'Damn!' Naruko's eyes widened.
The righteous fury in the eyes of his angry classmates was replaced with burning hatred and jealousy. The panicked blonde scurried to the nearest person and grabbed on to his legs without realizing who it was.
"What-what are you doing, you idiot?" a somewhat high voice called out hurriedly.
'Eh, Sasuke!? Hmm, maybe I can use this to my advantage.'
"Sasuke-kun. Please protect me? I promise I'll be nicer to you if you do," Naruko cooed while on her knees.
At first, Sasuke only twitched. For a moment, the blonde cursed. 'Maybe Sasuke is gay.' But then, the Uchiha's eyes rolled into the back of his head, and his body dropped to the ground with a reverberating thud.
Naruko blinked before smirking. 'Wow. Who would have thought that Sasuke was male enough to react just like any other pervert? I wonder what his adoring fans think of him now.'
Alas, if Naruko thought her female classmates were going to recognize their crush's imperfection for what it was, then she had given them far too much credit.
"You, YOU WITCH!"
Naruko paled. From the way they were glaring at her, it was apparent that they had no intention of laying the blame on the Uchiha. If the girls had been pissed at her technique at first and envious of her henged form later, now they were downright murderous. She had caused their Sasuke-kun to faint. In their eyes, her life was forfeited the second their precious hit the ground. Naruko gave one last cry for help before she was swarmed.
"Ow, hey watch it! No, wait, ouch, stop that!" Naruko was not sure whether they actually intended to pinch her to death, but it sure felt like it. Just when she was about to abandon all hope, she was saved by a most unlikely rescuer.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to do that." With her Byakugan active, the Hyuuga heiress began removing the pile of bodies around Naruko. The blonde watched in stunned silence as this normally timid, mousy girl deftly incapacitated the female assailants with minimal use of force and plenty of apologies.
"Ano, are you all right, ahm, Naruko?" Hinata asked hesitantly as she removed the last of the other girls.
"Yeah, I'm a bit sore but okay. Thanks a lot, Hinata-chan!" A thankful Naruko instinctively jumped up and caught Hinata in a tight embrace.
The Hyuuga heiress gasped as all coherent thoughts except for three promptly left her. They were: a) Naruto, or rather Naruko, called her Hinata-chan, b) she was hugging her and c) she was extremely well endowed. For an instant, she wondered about the last point. She had heard that some males desired females with large breasts for companionship.
'Is that what he likes? Is that why he made them so large?' she thought with a frown.
The general result of such contemplation usually served to depress the young Hyuuga's already dangerously low level of confidence. Luckily, this time around, Naruko's renewed cry for help intruded into her thoughts. It appeared the other girls had no intention of staying down.
'Crap, got to think. I can't actually fight them and I can't let Hinata fight all of them.' An idea came to the blonde as she caught sight of one of the very few males who remained standing.
"Oi, Shikamaru! A little help?" When the Nara did not react, Naruko dimpled cutely with hands held in a begging gesture before adding, "Please?"
The lazy genius twitched and shuddered. The poor guy must have reacted naturally to the naked girl's salacious gesture before realizing who it really was. A soft mutter that vaguely sounded like "troublesome blonde" was heard before shadows covered the room. All of the angry girls were suddenly held in place.
In his excitement, a bubbly Naruko kissed Hinata on her cheek before she could protest. Leaving a blushing and confused Hyuuga heiress behind, the blonde turned to her second savior.
"If you even think of kissing me, I'll release them and use my shadows to hold you instead," Shikamaru threatened with absolute seriousness.
Naruko pouted, but then laughed with glee. It was so much fun playing with people.
"You may want to leave quickly. It's very troublesome holding them."
That was the blonde's cue. Waving them goodbye, Naruko shifted back to her boy form and ducked out of the room. Seconds later, the exhausted and sweating Nara boy dropped his technique and sank to the ground. Maybe his troublesome mother was right about him taking his training a bit more seriously.
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"Shikamaru! I'm so mad at you for helping that moronic idiot. Don't think I'm going to go easy on you! And you too, Hinata! Ugh, I can't feel my arm!"
Too soon for his comfort, the angry, scowling face of Ino entered his field of vision. For a brief moment, Shikamaru wished it was another blonde standing before him. At least, Naruko had a nice smile. Then his mind and stomach rebelled at the thought. What was he thinking?
Yamanaka Ino, the self proclaimed love interest of the almighty Uchiha Sasuke, saw a most interesting sequence of events as she prepared to unleash another verbal tirade against her childhood friend. First, Shikamaru sat there looking bored, which was expected. Then his face took on a look interest, which was strange and finally he paled as if he had seen a ghost before falling backwards in a dead faint. The blonde girl frowned. Was it something she said? Had she been that harsh? However, the sight of her precious Sasuke-kun lying on the ground, dead to the world, served to harden Ino's resolve for justice and revenge.
'Where's that baka?' Ino swore she was going to tear that girl… boy… boy-girl, or whatever he or she was, a new one, but first, they needed to inform the teachers.
"Iruka-sensei!"
"Ugh, stop shouting. What happened?" the chuunin sensei awoke with a killer migraine, which was not helped by his screaming students.
"NARUTO!"
The name jolted his memory as he rubbed his head. Iruka looked around the classroom, noticing the absolute anarchy his student had wrought as well as the pools of drool and blood. He swore to make the little brat wipe clean every spot, but first he had to catch the little monster.
'That's it. I'm never ever going to try this again.' The pissed chuunin grabbed the scroll left on his desk and angrily dumped it into the trash before going off to look for help.
While Iruka was occupied, Hinata had successfully pulled the unconscious Nara boy away from everyone's eyes. She thought it prudent that given their role in providing aid to Naruto, they best keep a low profile around the girls for a while. Luckily, her concern was over exaggerated. The kunoichi-in-training were more occupied with the Inuzuka boy, who made an unfortunate comment about a certain "hot blonde chick." Akamaru was still tugging futilely at his partner's pants.
"Eh, my head."
"You should take it easy. Oh, ahm, thank you for your help."
Shikamaru gave the Hyuuga girl a curious look but nodded nevertheless.
"He's so troublesome, but he's still a friend," the lazy genius admitted. Hinata nodded. She felt content. For once in her life, she had acted and believed that her actions had been beneficial. Now, the Hyuuga heiress only prayed that Iruka-sensei would not punish Naruto too harshly for his prank. However immature and tasteless it was, it was also sort of funny.
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'Oi, I need to come up with better ideas in the future,' Naruto thought.
Iruka had been most irate when he finally caught up to the prankster and was not amused by his student's lame excuses.
'It wasn't like I could have told him that I was ordered to do it by the Hokage.' That was a bit of a stretch. The Hokage had only tasked him to evaluate the qualifications of his classmates. Pulling the prank had been his bright idea of doing an assessment test while testing out his unique technique, thus killing two birds with one stone, so to speak. Alas, he had to suffer the consequences, namely the ire of Iruka and his female classmates.
So here he was, toiling away like a janitor when everyone had left. 'Stupid old man, giving me missions without pay.'
At least, the quiet gave him a chance to pull his thoughts together before he reported to the old man. Unbelievable as it was, Naruto did learn a lot about his classmates from his brief adventure. First, all but one of the females appeared ill prepared to become ninja. The sole exception was Hyuuga Hinata, who had been devastatingly efficient, despite her less than perfect form. No big surprises there. Naruto had researched extensively on the Juuken and was fully cognizant of its power.
Out of the remaining females, Sakura and Ino, the two top students, managed to do the best in terms of chasing him down. Though fast and able to throw some mean punches, they appeared undisciplined, indicating they paid little attention to training. For the clanless Sakura, this was understandable though not excusable, but completely unforgivable for the Yamanaka. The Ino-Shika-Cho formation was something of a legend among certain ninja circles.
Naruto frowned. The Hokage would definitely need to be told that a remake of the previously successful triad would not work out. Though, Shikamaru's performance was a pleasant surprise. Something was amiss when the previous dead last of the class managed to incapacitate over a dozen of his better peers. And Naruto knew he had not discovered all there was to discover. He was certain there was at least one other low flyer in the class.
"You're awfully quiet, Naruto."
The blond shrugged indifferently. Iruka sighed. Was he being too harsh? He remembered his school days when he had also been a prankster so that others could pay attention to him. Sympathy wedded with nostalgia compelled the instructor to reach out to the boy.
"If you finish cleaning up quickly, I'll take you for ramen."
That was a tempting offer. On one hand, the old man probably wanted to see him as soon as possible. On the other, he could really go for some ramen.
"It'll be on me."
Free ramen! That sealed the deal. As far as Naruto was concerned, the old man could wait.
"Yatta!" he answered cheerfully, as he finished cleaning the room in record time.
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Naruto shifted nervously from one foot to the other, watching the Hokage carefully read the scrolls. He had already given his report about his classmates so what else did the old man want?
"Is that all, old man?" The blond winced as he felt the pressure of a weak burst of killing intent. Right, he forgot about his captain and instructor standing behind him.
"So, given your assessment, what changes would you suggest to the composition of the future genin teams of your class?"
Naruto looked at the Hokage questioningly. "I don't know. Since they haven't graduated yet, I couldn't guess how the teams would be organized," he answered mildly.
The old man chuckled.
"Come now, Naruto. I'd hope we know each other a little better than that. I did trust you and respect you enough to assign Tenzou here as your instructor. The least you can do is to return the favor," Sarutobi chastised softly and with humor, but Naruto understood that he was being serious.
"There are too many possible team formations. Do you want my thoughts on all of them or–"
"The top three teams will do for now, with the most likely jounin sensei for each if you would."
The blond nodded. Three teams meant nine members. Naruto was tempted to simply list the nine most likely to graduate, but something was off. Why just three teams and why ask for their jounin sensei?
"I assume there'll be a post graduation test to weed out stragglers." Naruto swore that the brightness of the Hokage's smile could light the night. That certainly complicated matters. He had not read too much on the possible jounin instructors, but a few names did pop up in his mind.
Yuuhi Kurenai was a talented genjutsu specialist recently elevated to jounin rank. Young and idealistic, she would likely try the hardest to make her team - likely a stealth and reconnaissance group - succeed. Fortuitously, such a team existed in the form of Hyuuga Hinata, Aburame Shino, and Inuzuka Kiba. The first two were perfect for Kurenai. The boisterous Kiba was a bit iffier, but if he was even half as promising as his sister or mother, then he and his dog would be great assets to the team. That was one team down.
Then there were the Yamanaka, Nara and Akimichi clans, three of the more respected clans in Konoha. It was hard to ignore the obvious Ino-Shika-Cho setup. Despite his own reservations, Naruto was sure this was one team everyone else was expecting. As for their jounin sensei, he had a nasty suspicion that it was not going to be someone nearly as motivated as Yuuhi Kurenai. Two names topped the list of the laziest ninja in Konoha: Hatake Kakashi, the famous copycat ninja and former captain of Naruto's ANBU unit, and Sarutobi Asuma, the son of the Third Hokage. It would have been a tossup had a certain Uchiha not been in the class. But as it was, Asuma would likely inherit the Ino-Shika-Cho formation. That was a second team.
Whatever his personal feelings, Naruto knew Sasuke was definitely tabbed to pass. His jounin sensei was guaranteed to be Kakashi. The blond had procured copies of the historic personnel files, so he knew about the origin of the jounin's Sharingan. And if Naruto had him pegged right, Kakashi had a past to reconcile with and would therefore be obliged to aid the Uchiha. However, there was then the matter of figuring out the other two poor fools who would be dragged into all this. Naruto wracked his brains until he remembered the ridiculous academy rules. By convention, the top male and female students were paired with the dead last, right? A sinking sense of horror engulfed Naruto. How could he have missed this?
"There's no way that I'm going to allow myself to be put on the same team as Sasuke!" Naruto declared furiously after he submitted his guesses for the three teams and their respective jounin sensei.
While he had great respect for the captain who taught and led his own teachers, the blond held great reservations about being placed on Kakashi's team. There must have been a good reason as to why the old man never brought the talented copycat nin into the inner circle that helped train him. No one ever mentioned it, but Naruto had a good idea what the sticking point must have been. Namikaze Minato, the revered Yondaime Hokage, who sacrificed his own life to seal away the monstrous Kyuubi inside an infant, was once Kakashi's sensei.
The Hokage did not respond to his outburst, but handed him a piece of paper. It was a draft list of the possible genin teams ranked by order of preference. Naruto's angry features were momentarily replaced by a visage of satisfaction. His guesses for the top graduates and their jounin mentors were right; every single one of them was right on the dot.
"So, what change or changes would you recommend?"
"You're letting me change the order? I thought that was the academy staff's decision." Naruto's surprise was evident. Sure, he had been making complaints and the old man probably suspected him when that critique against the academy's teachings began circulating, but this was something else.
"Conventionally, they make the team list following their rules and I just sign at the bottom. But given your unique circumstances, I'm willing to accommodate. Both of your instructors agreed that placing you under Kakashi with the young Uchiha might not be a good idea," the Hokage explained.
Naruto nodded in agreement. Still, this was an extraordinary honor. By bringing him into the decision making process, the Sandaime Hokage was placing enormous faith in him.
"I think it would be best if I was placed in Team 10," Naruto stated after a bit of thinking. He smirked at the old man's look of confusion. "While Kurenai's team would be a more logical fit for me, I think being there would compromise my alias in ANBU. With the exception of being underpowered for prolonged and heavy engagements, her team is excellent as it is. I see no reason to change it. That leaves Sarutobi Asuma's Team 10."
The Hokage gave a slight frown. His once errant and still estranged son was not a popular discussion subject for the elderly Sarutobi.
"I see."
Normally, the jounin's lack of motivation would be a detriment to his genin students, but in Naruto's case, this could be beneficial as it would free up his time for other tasks.
"You advised against reforming the Ino-Shika-Cho group but noted that the Nara and Akimichi boys would work well together. That leaves…"
"… Haruno Sakura and Yamanaka Ino," Naruto noted. He swore that the only times those two were not clawing each other's eyes out were when they were ganging up on him. He almost pitied Sasuke.
"My, my, you are growing up, Naruto. Two girls at once?" For a minute, the young blond spluttered, before collecting himself to glare at the laughing Hokage.
Did he really think that he would want those two on his team? Sure, they were his first friends – years ago – and they were quite pretty, and he really would not mind taking them out for ramen after a training session or a mission. Naruto blushed at the thought, sending the elderly ninja leader into another round of laughter.
"Not another word, old man!"
"Naruto!"
The young boy flinched at his teacher's sharp rebuke. But by the slight shuffling sound, even the uptight Captain of ANBU Team Alpha was amused. After letting the two adults have some more fun at his expense, Naruto became serious.
"It's not that I don't like them." Wait, who was he kidding? Of course he did not like them much. They were downright vicious, except to their precious Sasuke-kun. "I know they're at the top of the class and are almost guaranteed to graduate, but I don't think they are cut out to be ninja. It's very dangerous work; kill or be killed, and they aren't ready for that."
"Academy students aren't tested to see if they are ANBU material; they are tested to see if they are suitable to be genin," the Hokage gently reminded him.
The old man's words gave Naruto pause. Could it be true that he was being too tough of a judge?
"Naruto, I notice that you were particularly harsh on those two girls when giving your report. Why is that?"
The blond blinked in surprise. He was not aware that he had done that. Could it be that his subconscious had played some role? Slowly, but surely, his face turned crimson.
"I think in your own way, you were trying to protect them," Sarutobi smiled benignly as Naruto fidgeted, squirmed and then finally scowled at him. "Don't you think you could do that better if you were on their team? Alternatively, do you think putting them in Team 7 with Uchiha Sasuke would be to their benefit?"
"Of course not!" was Naruto's immediate response. He winced when he heard how jealous and defensive he sounded. 'Like one of Sasuke's admirers.' Still, what the old man said made a lot of sense. It was too bad that neither girl wanted to work with him or with each other.
"Look, old… I mean Hokage-sama," Naruto glared at the ANBU, "it's not that they don't have potential. The Yamanaka girl has one of the most tactically useful bloodlines I know and I think Haruno has better chakra control than most chuunin. But those girls are just not motivated enough to train seriously. And given their impression of me, I don't see how I can help them, not without breaking my cover at least. It would be best for everyone if they end up in Team 7 with the Uchiha and I end up in Team 10 with Nara Shikamaru and Akimichi Chouji." Naruto always tried to be fair especially in terms of judging the competence of others. While he did not particularly like it, he knew it was for the best.
"It's not like I want them to be on the Uchiha's team," the young man snorted in mild disgust. "Who knows, maybe the idiot will come around. He's about the only person they'll listen to."
The Hokage gave him a skeptical look. Of course, Naruto did not really believe his own words. It would be a miracle if the Uchiha didn't end up murdering his teammates. The thought left the boy feeling sick, but he squashed it down.
"Besides, they have Kakashi. They'll be fine." Naruto's assertion sounded like he was trying to convince himself. But there was little the Hokage could do.
"Very well, I'll go with your suggestion for now. I do recommend that you show a little more effort in class so the rearrangement would be more acceptable to others. Still, think about what I said. Kakashi will be under pressure to devote most of his time and attention on Uchiha Sasuke. If those girls are as you claimed, it would be a travesty to Konoha if they were kept from developing to their full potential."
"Of course, Hokage-sama," Naruto answered formally.
The young boy frowned. He had not considered the possibility of Kakashi leaving Sakura and Ino to rot on the side. Surely, the great former captain of ANBU would not be so callous. He had much to think about. The blond waved goodbye to his captain and the old man before leaving.
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"He appeared rather uneasy at the end," Tenzou noted.
"Naruto has a generous heart. He is agonizing over his friends and he's not the only one. Inoichi recently conveyed his misgivings to me. He fears that he hasn't adequately prepared his daughter for the hard life ahead. Alas, there's not much we can do for now. There's still time before the final exam."
Sarutobi turned his attention to the ANBU captain.
"What about Naruto? He seemed somewhat wary and haggard today. Was it the mission? Did he have trouble with it?"
"Doubtful. His performance during the mission was outstanding. He came up with an audacious nighttime assault plan that we ended up using. His genjutsu made me wonder if he had some Kurama blood, and his kills were all clean and precise. My subordinates have since expressed disbelief when told that it was his first ANBU mission."
The report was delivered in a simple and straightforward manner, but it was easy for Sarutobi to hear the pride in Tenzou's voice.
The Hokage was both extremely pleased and concerned. On the one hand, Naruto had been every bit as able, talented and resourceful as Sarutobi had believed him to be. On the other, his performance had been almost too perfect. Frankly, the Hokage was overjoyed when Naruto blushed and raged like a normal youngster.
"Since Naruto performed so well, put him through a rotation with the other ANBU teams. Arrange them so that he won't have to take the longer missions. If he goes missing too often, people will become suspicious."
"I'll do what I can, though I believe he was working on a way around that. He told me he was researching into how to make a semi-permanent clone that he can leave behind at the academy. I informed him that he would likely require the use of advanced sealing techniques to hold his double for a prolonged period."
The Hokage rubbed his chin in thought. The kid certainly had some interesting ideas. Unfortunately, Naruto would have a difficult time of it as he had received almost no training regarding sealing techniques. If only Jiraiya were here…
"I suppose it's time to grant him access to my library. I believe I still have those notes on my students' techniques." The Sandaime Hokage was not known as the "Professor" for nothing. "Is there anything else?"
"There is one other thing. Naruto brought it to my attention right before our meeting today. He was concerned about internal security at the academy."
"Security? Why?"
"He suspects a spy amongst the staff. This was not my idea, I assure you, Hokage-sama," Tenzou stated, quick to defend himself.
The Hokage looked skeptical as well. "Did he say who?"
"He named Umino Iruka and his assistant, citing 'exemplary behavior above the norm of their colleagues' as warrant for concern."
Sarutobi could not help but chuckle. Only Naruto's paranoia could produce such a theory.
"But he also suggested having the backgrounds of the entire academy staff be reexamined," Tenzou continued.
Sarutobi drummed his fingers on the table. Treason was a very serious charge to make against a ninja. But the young blond had never joked about security matters before. As he had a knack for being right about such things, it wouldn't hurt to double check, would it?
"Tenzou, I'm authorizing you to make a discreet inquiry on the matter. See if you can enlist Naruto's help and try to get him access to the personnel files."
Tenzou nodded. Naruto was certainly coming into his own, adapting to his new duties and roles like a fish to water.
'I pray for your success, future Hokage.' All too aware of the obstacles along the way, Sarutobi could not help but make a bittersweet smile. 'You'll need it.'
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AN: Lord Sivart made a comment about the Kyuubi being like Darth Sidious, so I couldn't help but put in that classic Star Wars line at the beginning. Amazingly enough, it sort of fit too. I made the Kyuubi a bit more vicious and cruel than I originally planned, so tell me what you think.