Later that night

'Well, I was hoping that the Kyuubi brat wouldn't be good enough to pass, but apparently he was. I'll just have to steal the scroll for Madara-sama's eternal glory myself.' Mizuki Umino, younger brother of Iruka Umino, cackled as he sped off through the night towards the Hokage Tower, intent on finding the Forbidden Scroll of Sealing for his master.

Somewhere inside Training Ground 44

"Naruto-kun?"

"Yes, Hinata-chan?"

"Did you hear that?"

"Yeah, it sounded like some crazy guy was running past the entrance while laughing."

"My bugs detected it as well."

"Shino, you shouldn't rely on your hive too much. Overreliance on any one technique will only lead to your own downfall."

"Yes, sensei."

Xi stood up from their stargazing platform atop the trees, before stretching his back. "Well, might as well go see what that was about. Follow me." Xi then proceeded to dive headfirst back down through the trees, with his students following soon after.

12:01 A.M., just outside the walls of Konoha

Mizuki leaned against a tree to rest shortly in his flight from the authorities of Konoha. His respite was extremely brief, however, as a voice in the semi-darkness startled him back to his feet.

"Hello, Umino-san. I wasn't expecting to see you up so early for a morning jog. Especially not with such a large scroll that looks suspiciously similar to the Forbidden Scroll of Sealing attached to your back. It makes it look as though you're trying to defect from good ol' Konoha with a priceless artifact that cannot under any circumstances fall into enemy hands. If that were indeed the case, it would certainly be a shame if somebody took that scroll from you."

Mizuki looked around for the source of the voice, before finally looking up into the branches of the tree above him. The white-clad figure contained therein waved, before speaking again, gesturing to the Scroll as he did so.

"It would also be a great shame indeed if someone were to go so far as to switch the scroll out with a fake that was covered in explosive tags while I was busy talking with you. Well, mostly for you, since you'd be the one who would get blown up."

Mizuki twisted around, before throwing away the scroll covered in sizzling explosive tags with a small curse, after which it was promptly picked up by a familiar orange-clad, blond-haired ninja.

The genjutsu showing the explosive tags faded, and the Number One Unpredictable Knuckleheaded Ninja disappeared into the branches as Xi shouted after him, "Only the first technique! The Hokage said he would let you learn that one at some point anyway, so save him the trouble and learn it yourself now!"

Mizuki growled at being duped by a young boy, and then growled even louder at the "come at me" gesture given by the one who had found him.

In a clearing, just outside Konoha

"Alright, let's try one more time. Handsigns, focus chakra, and—"

"Naruto! What are you doing?"

Naruto looked across the clearing to see Iruka standing there with a shocked and yet somehow also disapproving look on his face.

"Oh, hi there Iruka-sensei! I was just waiting for somebody to show up so I could get this scroll back to the village. It would look really bad on my resume if some unknown person stole the Forbidden Scroll of Sealing in the middle of the night, and then I came back into the village with it without being one of the people officially sent out to find it, don't you think?"

Iruka opened his mouth to reply, but before he could speak, the blond continued.

"But anyway, I figured 'Hey, I've got some time; why don't I learn some stuff from this scroll while I'm waiting for somebody to show up?' Which I did! I've learnt all about the Kage Bunshin and I think I've almost figured it out, too! How about—get down!" Naruto tackled Iruka to the ground as a giant shuriken whizzed past.

"It's rather impressive for someone as young as you to have noticed and dodged in time," a distinctly female voice called out through the night. Iruka turned to see Tsubaki, his sister-in-law, gazing down at the two with an insane smile. "Hello, Iruka-kun, It's been a while since we talked. But reminiscing together can wait for now."

Then, with lightning-quick speed, Tsubaki proceeded to jump down to Iruka, give him a chakra powered punch to the gut that sent him flying out of the clearing, and whack Naruto over the back of the head to immobilize him. She waltzed toward the downed blond ninja, before whispering in his ear, "Do you know why everyone hates you, Naruto-kun?"

Naruto moaned and shook his head, before sitting up against the tree he was near. "No, Tsubaki-san, I don't know," Naruto began, before continuing in a mocking voice, "Why don't you tell me?"

Tsubaki jumped back, pulling out another one of her giant shuriken and winding up a throw. "On the day you were born, the Kyuubi no Kitsune attacked our village, and the Yondaime sealed it into you! But we all know that the seal failed, and that the Fox took over! Naruto, everybody hates you because YOU ARE THE KYUUBI!" The last words of her monologue were spoken in a roar of rage as the shuriken she had starting whistling from the speed it was spinning. "NOW DI—"

Naruto interrupted her insane rant with a chuckle that turned into a full-blown laugh. "Kurama-nee? They're angry because they think I'm Kurama-nee? Oh, that is rich, Tsubaki-san! As if I could ever be Kurama-nee. Do I even look like a big red fox with nine tails and crazy spiky hair? I mean, I have spiky hair, sure, but I don't even have one tail, let alone NINE. Also, I'm not a girl, and my chakra control sucks because of the seal that you were talking about earlier. Kurama-nee has great chakra control and she's a GIRL, something that you idiots can't seem to understand. But really? Me as Kurama-nee? I don't think so! In fact—"

"Just shut up and die, demon!" interrupted Tsubaki as she threw her shuriken at the still chatting blond. Naruto tried to stand up to dodge it, but he still couldn't move from the blow to the head. Finally, as he saw it whirling towards him, Naruto closed his eyes, waiting for the inevitable.

"No! Naruto-kun!"

Meanwhile, back with Mizuki

"Ah, yes gentlemen—" a cough from the back of the search group "—and lady, I was wondering when you would show up for him."

Xi turned around, gesturing to a huge cocoon of wire hanging from a branch.

"That right there, lady and gentlemen, is Mizuki Umino, traitor to Konoha, secret follower of a cult of Madara Uchiha worshippers, and really, really bad liar and fighter. I see now why you put him on teaching duty with his brother instead of keeping him out on the front lines."

"Thank you, Hayashi-san, we shall take it from here."

"You are most welcome. Now, I need to go find my students before one of them blows something up again." This statement was followed by a huge chakra spike and a plume of smoke rising from deeper in the forest, eliciting a facepalm from Xi. "I knew that just had to happen just as soon as I said it, but no, I still said it." He turned to the team cutting the Mizuki-cocoon off of the branch, and bowed.

"I'll go fix that."