Naruto was walking in the woods, when suddenly he saw Menma run over, with the forbidden scroll in his hands.

Naruto walked over. "Yo!"

Menma jumped, and then scowled. "What are you doing here?"

"Just passing through, and wondering what you're doing with the forbidden scroll of seals," said Naruto.

"Forbidden scroll of seals? Mizuki-sensei told me to find this scroll and learn a technique on it to pass the exam," said Menma, looking perplexed.

Naruto looked amused. "Actually, it's a scroll of techniques so dangerous that the first hokage wrote them down in the scroll for future hokages to guard."

Menma looked horrified. "They'll kill me when they find out!"

"Relax," said Naruto. "People will hesitate because of your parentage, and during the hesitation period, you can tell them that Mizuki tricked you."

"Oh." Said Menma. "So what now? I suppose I don't get to learn a cool technique."

Naruto laughed. "Don't be stupid. It's not everyday you have a good excuse to learn a technique from the forbidden scroll."

"Excuse?" asked Menma. Suddenly, realization dawned on him. "I like the way you think, brother."

Naruto laughed. "Lemme look through it, to see if there's a technique particularly suited to you."

"Why can't I look through it?" asked Menma.

"Because I know a speed-reading technique," said Naruto.

"Well, okay," said Menma hesitantly, "But you gotta help me with the technique I choose to learn afterwards."

"Okay," said Naruto.

He then, for the sake of melodramatics, slowly went through the series of handseals, pressed his fingers to his eye, and then opened the eye, channeling chakra into it to make it glow blue, and shouted "Secret ninja art: speed reading technique!"

He then quickly opened the scrolled through the techniques, memorizing every one of them.

Huh. The shadow clone technique was a forbidden technique? It was surprisingly well-known. He had received it in the mail three or four times. It would probably be easy for Menma to learn, due to his high chakra capacity.


"Menma!" yelled Iruka. "Why did you steal the forbidden scroll?"

"Forbidden scroll?" asked Naruto, the better actor of the pair, "Mizuki-sensei just told Menma to take the scroll and learn a technique from it. I saw him and wanted to learn a technique too!"

Iruka paled rapidly. Mizuki? No, it couldn't be…

Suddenly Mizuki walked into the clearing. "Hello Menma. I see that you- Naruto?" he added, seeing Naruto holding the forbidden scroll.

"I wanted to learn a technique from the scroll too!"

Mizuki gave a fake smile. "I see, well, if you'll just hand the scroll to me…"

Iruka quickly interjected "Naruto don't!"

Menma tried to fade to the sidelines, and despite being slightly jealous, his brother seemed to be a cool guy. Maybe he had misjudged him. Also, he was clearly better at acting than he was.

"What's going on?" asked Naruto.

"Naruto, let me tell you something that the whole village has been hiding from you. Have you ever wondered why everyone hated you?" asked Mizuki.

"Well," said Naruto, "I always assumed that it was because I am the Kyuubi jinchuuriki."

Mizuki and Iruka were both drinking some water, when they heard Naruto and did a spit-take.

"How did you know?" asked Iruka. "Who told you? It's an S-rank secret."

Naruto, who had just been drinking some water that he had created by channeling some water chakra to his mouth, did a spit-take. "It is?"

"You didn't tell anyone, did you?" asked Mizuki, with barely masked glee.

"Well," said Naruto, "I told Shikamaru, Sasuke, Kiba, and all of my fangirls."

Iruka facepalmed.

"For the record," said Naruto, "I didn't know it was an S-rank secret."

"Wait," said Menma, "What's all this about being the kyuubi jinchuuriki?"

"You have three tails of the Kyuubi's chakra sealed inside of you," said Naruto.

Menma fainted.

"Alright," said Naruto, "Seeing as this is all one big misunderstanding, I propose we go back to the Hokages office, and let him judge this situation."

Iruka was quick to agree, but Mizuki said, "Naruto, you don't understand, do you? I've come here not to congratulate Menma for learning a technique, but to kill him and leave Konoha with the scroll of sealing!"

"I'll stop you!" yelled Naruto.

"Hah!" said Mizuki. "How are you going to to that? An academy student versus a chunin?"

"You forget," said Naruto, "that I learned something from the forbidden scroll of sealing."

"Bring it!" yelled Mizuki.

"Edo-tensei!" yelled Naruto as he slammed his hand onto the ground. After he had read the forbidden scroll of sealing, Naruto had realized that the whole aspect of sacrificing someone could be circumvented by pumping enough chakra into the technique. And enough chakra was exactly what Naruto had.

Naruto had never seen anyone pale as fast as Mizuki did when three wooden coffins rose out of the ground.

Minato arrived in a flash, to see three dead hokages advancing on a pale looking Mizuki.


Omake

The three dead hokages had finished beating up Mizuki, when suddenly, the Shinigami appeared.

"Who dares to steal souls from me, the mighty death god?"

"I did," said Naruto, "But it was an accident."

"I don't care!" yelled the Shinigami. "For this offence, I will eat your soul!"

"Eat my soul? You wouldn't dare!" declared Naruto "For I am the king of the sky, the ruler of the light, and the lord of the sharks."

"The lord of the sharks?" asked Shinigami. "Oh, you must've gotten that ugly furball to give you a few titles. I suppose you're right. I can't take the soul of someone as awesome as the lord of the sharks."