A/N: Here's your new chapter. Hope you like it!


Chapter 6: Restart


"You know," said Mizuki as he stood over Naruto, "Iruka's not against you. He'd have liked nothing more than to pass you."

"I know," mumbled Naruto, looking at his feet so the Chuunin wouldn't see him fighting back a grin. He remembered this from last time, and only now did he see what a fool Mizuki was. "It's just… I really wanted to be a Ninja, you know?"

There was a moment's silence and then Mizuki said softly, "Well, given the circumstances, I suppose I can tell you."

Naruto looked up, blinking in his best 'innocent child's' face. "Tell me what?" he asked.

Mizuki leaned down and whispered in his ear, "There's another, more secret exam that students who fail the normal exam three times can still take."

Naruto made his eyes widen in a passable imitation of surprise – and Mizuki was eating it up, so convinced was he of Naruto's idiocy. "Really?"

"Yes," murmured Mizuki. "Now be quiet. If you want to be a Ninja, you have to pass this exam. I warn you, it's hard – it's meant for people who failed the normal test but are still capable of becoming splendid Ninja."

"Well, I'm going to be a splendid Ninja!" shouted Naruto, pretending to play right into the hands Mizuki was laying for him. "Believe it!"

"Shh!" hissed Mizuki. "Tonight at dusk your exam will take place. You have to steal the Forbidden Scroll form the Hokage's office and meet me in the forest afterwards. By the time I arrive, you must have the scroll and have learned one jutsu from it. Do you understand?"

"Yes!" whispered Naruto, and his voice was ecstatic – though not for the reasons Mizuki believed. Finally he was back in action – this had really been his first act as a Ninja.

"Good," said Mizuki, straightening. "Then I'll see you in the evening." He spoke with a smile, but his eyes were feral. Naruto smiled back, and his eyes were closed so Mizuki couldn't see the laughter in them.

As the Chuunin/soon-to-be Missing-nin walked away Naruto sent a thought to the Kyuubi. Well? Did you need a Genjutsu in the end?

No, said Kurama. Why?

Naruto shrugged mentally. Just curious.

Well, get going! Kurama told him. You've got things to do – and quickly! The sun sets at seven. You have four hours.

I know, replied Naruto. Calm down. There's not a lot of prep to do, really. Just gotta head home and eat something. At about six-thirty we'll head for the Hokage's office.

Fine, said Kurama. I hope this works this time as well as it did last time.

Naruto grinned. It will. Once a pervert, always a pervert.


Sasuke grasped the exterior walls of the Hokage's office like a spider – except with Chakra. He was waiting for Naruto to make his appearance. The sun was setting now – it was exactly when Sasuke expected him to make his move.

The Uchiha was using the Chameleon Jutsu to mask his presence, bending light around him. His Sharingan was out so that he could instantly observe and memorize whatever technique Naruto used. He still didn't fully understand why Naruto had never used a jutsu powerful enough to defeat the Sandaime Hokage on him, Sasuke, his most dangerous enemy (second to Madara).

Still, he trusted he'd understand when he knew the jutsu.

And then Naruto came into the office.

"Ah, Naruto," said the Sandaime, looking up from his paperwork at the boy. "I heard about the exam. I…"

That was the last conscious thing he said. Naruto formed a Ram Seal as Sasuke observed and cried out, "Sexy Jutsu!"

The Hokage fell backwards in his chair, blood flowing from his nose. Sasuke blinked, stared at Naruko for one instant longer (as chance would have it, his Sharingan took the opportunity to memorize every detail) and then he was sliding down the walls as his Chakra control went haywire.

Blood was flowing from his nose, though it wasn't in the explosive quantities of the Hokage's. Now he knew why Naruto so rarely used that technique – all his life, Sasuke had never shown the slightest amount of interest in a female or the female body.

Fool, Sasuke thought as he hugged the walls of the building, unmoving – luckily he'd managed to keep the Chameleon Jutsu up, though it had been a close thing. He was now using a strip of the gauze he always kept on him to stem the flow of blood from his nostrils. Naruto was really a fool, though. Does he not get it? Sasuke wondered. There's no such thing as a teenage male with no perversions to speak of!

Well, and how would he have known? Naruto, for all of the comrades and friends he'd made who would die for him, and who he'd die for, had never had anyone who would teach him about puberty.

Five minutes after Naruto used the jutsu, Sasuke realized he still had the Sharingan active. He lowered it slowly.

Unfortunately, this did not remove the mental images that his Sharingan had photographed. Sakura would be jealous – of all the people whose female body would draw his attention…

Sasuke had seen the just before. Once or twice, in their very early careers. But he'd been just a child then – no older than he was now, in fact. And, more importantly, he had been focusing on his battle with the blond not on the blond himself – or rather the blonde herself.

And, even more significantly, this time he'd been using the Sharingan.

It took him almost a full half an hour of meditation to clear his mind enough that he could walk home.


Naruto laughed to himself as he hopped from rooftop to rooftop, making his way to the forest. The forbidden scroll was on his back, just as it had been the time before. This time, though, he intended to get everything on the dang thing learned.

Once he'd reached a secluded part of the forest he immediately began to read.

First, of course, was the Multi-Shadow Clone. It was forbidden because it took too much Chakra for any but a Chakra Reserve specialist to hope to perform. Naruto had plenty of chakra, though – more than even most of the best reserve specialists. Especially now, after having trained for years.

After he'd read that technique through once to refresh his memory on the theory he moved on to the second technique.

He blinked at the name. It was clearly forbidden for the same reason. Multi-Shuriken Shadow Clone Jutsu, he thought. Getting faced with that must be like staring down a sharp wall with slots in it.

He quickly read through that one. It wasn't hard to learn, since he already knew its brother.

Then he turned his attention to the third jutsu. He blinked. Burning Leaf Hail? he thought. I wonder what that does.

Soon he saw that it did exactly what it sounded like – the Ninjutsu called down a storm of sharp leaves on fire from the sky.

He quickly memorized the theory, but the technique was too dangerous to practice in the forest. It had been forbidden because, in addition to taking massive amounts of Chakra, it was too destructive to be used in Konoha or anywhere around it without controlling factors. The fire was too likely to spread and burn everything down.

Fortunately, Naruto knew a few basic Water-style jutsu, so he'd be able to practice this one using Shadow Clones later.

There were two more jutsu on the scroll, but as soon as he tried to start on the next one, he heard a telltale whistling from behind.

He rolled, dodging the massive Shuriken as it came towards him and embedded itself in the ground.

Son of a… muttered Kurama. Mizuki found us first!

Damn, said Naruto. Still, this should work out.

"Mizuki-sensei," he said aloud, not turning to face the Jounin. "Good to see you made it."

"Well, you seem confident, kid," said the Chuunin's snide voice. "Now, I'll take that scroll – and your life – off of your hands, you miserable whelp."

"Give it a shot, by all means," said Naruto, turning to face the older man. "I haven't had a good fight in weeks."

Mixuki tossed his second massive Shuriken and, lightning-quickly, formed Hand Signs – Ram, Ox. "Shuriken Shadow Clone Jutsu!" he shouted, and suddenly there were ten massive Shuriken bearing down on the boy, impossible to dodge.

So he didn't he was already moving. He'd just tossed two shuriken of normal size and formed the same seals as Mizuki did. "Multi-Shuriken Shadow Clone Jutsu!" he screamed.

A thousand small shuriken faced down the ten larger ones. Mixuki's shuriken were beaten away, nine of them puffing into smoke and he was still faced with several hundred shuriken.

A moment later, a log loaded with blades fell to the ground. A substitution, of course, thought Naruto. They can never make it easy.

Naruto made his way to the giant shuriken, pulled out a ready weapon scroll, and quickly sealed the tool into it. It might come in handy.

"Well," said Mizuki, clearly having recovered from his momentary stunning at Naruto's surprising skill. "That's certainly a useful jutsu. It's in the scroll, isn't it?"

"Why yes, as luck would have it," said Naruto. "It is. You know, it's generally unwise to give weapons to someone you want to kill."

"Those jutsu are supposed to take too much Chakra to be really usable," said Mizuki cautiously. "How are you managing it?"

He's at two o'clock, said Kurama. Let's scare him.

Naruto grinned. His canines sharpened, and – though he couldn't see it – his eyes grew red with slits for pupils. He turned in the direction Kurama had indicated and glread at where Mizuki was, grinning ferally, releasing some of the Kyuubi's Chakra in Killer Intent. "Do you really think," said Naruto, and his voice was raspier than normal, "that the technique exists that takes too much Chakra for the Jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi no Youko to use?"

Kyuubi no Kitsune, now, Kurama muttered. Youko was when I didn't like you.

Shut up now, furball, Naruto advised.

"Kami above!" screamed Mizuki – allowing Naruto to pinpoint his position. "Demon! You are a demon!"

"Nah," said Naruto with a feral grin as he body-flickered to be right behing the Chuunin. As Mizuki turned to face him, eyes wide in stark terror, he whispered, "Just a Jinchuuriki that's good at his job."

Mizuki flew into the clearing and crashed into the trunk of a tree, denting and cracking it with the force of Naruto's side-kick.

Now Naruto body-flickered again to be right in front of the Chuunin. He allowed the Killer Intent to fade away as he looked down at the Academy instructor. His canines shortened and his eyes once more became blue. "You idiot," he said in the voice of a child again. "You guys just don't think things through, do you? On the one side, you think I'm a demon plotting to destroy the lot of you. On the other, you think you can manipulate me and trod on me like dirt. It's amazing I didn't come out of it wanting to destroy the village."

Iruka's arrived, Kurama told him suddenly.

Let him listen, Naruto replied. I need him to understand.

"But you see, I'm neither an idiotic kid, nor a demon that wants to kill you all," Naruto continued his monologue, now aware of his second audience member. "I'm a Jinchuuriki – a Bijuu's jailor. The Kyuubi's power is a part of me. I am not an extension of it. And I will protect those who I care about with my life." Here he turned under Kurama's directions and looked at the place where Iruka hid among the leaves. "You're among them, Iruka-sensei."

He turned back to Mizuki, who was looking up at him in something like wonder. "I've been trodden on by this entire village for my entire life. As a whole, it's hated me since the day of my birth – October Tenth, the day of the Kyuubi's attack. But the way I see it, if they – if you – can afford to pay attention and hate the Jinchuuriki among you, then it means you're safe enough that your attentions aren't focused outward. And I will willingly lay down my life alongside this village's Ninja to keep that safety. But you, Mizuki," he sighed and sat down. Now he was working under Kurama's instruction, trying to manipulate Iruka. "Your hatred's taken that chance from me. You knew I couldn't do the Clone Jutsu. So you rigged the exam so that I'd have to do it – and so fail. Now I can't fight for the village. Maybe this village will die because of it. Well, look at this – a technique from that scroll you had me steal."

Naruto quickly formed the Ram and Ox seals in quick succession. "Multi-Shadow Clone Jutsu," he said quietly, and suddenly there were five hundred Narutos in the clearing. "A little late for that now, though, I suppose," he muttered as, one by one, the clones dispersed.

"Stupid kid," muttered Mizuki, clearly trying to rise. He couldn't though – Naruto had broken a couple ribs, and Mizuki was a peace-time Chuunin. He didn't have the resilience and determination that Ninja got in war. "You think I care about this village? I never got attention for them either! Iruka always got it! People pitied him because he lost everything in the Kyuubi attack! Well, I was alone too, but no one cared about me!"

"And that's the difference between us," Naruto countered softly. "You reacted to just a lack of affection with hatred, while I reacted to pure hatred with love. So tell me, Mizuki," his eyes met the Chuunin's and held his gaze, "Which of us is the better human being?"

Without waiting for an answer, he turned away. He took up the forbidden scroll from the ground and tossed it to Iruka who had just leapt down from the trees and was staring at him with wonder and something like worship in his eyes.

That'd fade, hopefully. "Take that to Sandaime-sama," said Naruto. "And send someone for the Missing-nin." He gestured at Mizuki. "I'll guard him."

"Wait!" said Iruka, walking up to him. "There's something I need to do first." He put down the Forbidden Scroll and reached up to the knot of his headband, untying it.

"Naruto Uzumaki," he said. "As your Academy instructor, it is my honor to present you with the rank of Genin of Konohagakure no Sato. Take this headband as your badge of office."

Naruto stared at the headband in Iruka's outstretched hand. "I can't take your headband!" he cried aghast.

Iruka grinned at him. "I'll get a new one. Just take it; you've earned it many times over."

That happened last time, idiot, said Kurama dully.

Oh, said Naruto sheepishly. My bad.

With that he took the headband and tied it behind his head. "Watch out, enemies of Konoha," he whispered, feeling the comforting cloth about his forehead – how he'd missed it! "Naruto Uzumaki is coming for you." And this time, he swore silently, I won't screw it up.


A/N: Well, there you are. Sasuke's witnessed the Sexy Jutsu, Mizuki's down, Naruto's a Ninja, and Iruka has seen an epic monologue. Hope you liked the chapter! More coming soon! Please review!

First Full Revision Notes: It's come to my attention that in the Leaf's History filler arcs, Sasuke actually saw the Sexy Jutsu. I've altered the chapter to accommodate that.