Naruto – Legacy of the Yondaime Hokage
Chapter 11 – Truth revealed, Mizuki's betrayal
Disclaimer – I don't own Naruto. Naruto is the property Masashi Kishimoto. This is just a story using his characters and I'm not looking to make any money out of this.
"Demon/Inner Sakura" talking/thinking
"Flashbacks"
"Normal"
Warnings – Strong (though not invincibly strong), smart Naruto, Major OOC and possible Lemons (unsure at this point)
Umino Iruka lay on his bed in only his ninja jumpsuit staring up at ceiling with his hands clasped behind his head as he recalled the events of the day. Uzumaki Naruto had failed his third graduation attempt and despite both Naruto and his assistant's pleas to cut him a break, he had refused, deciding to abide by the rules. It wasn't that he had anything against Naruto or anything like the rest of the village. He would have given any other student the same treatment. It was just that he felt that if he was lenient with Naruto, it would make him seem that he was playing favourites and being unprofessional. He didn't want Naruto to grow up being spoiled because he was lenient on him because they shared similar experiences in their childhoods. Needless to say, he had no idea that Naruto would insult him and storm out the room and Iruka knew just by looking into his eyes that by refusing to allow him another chance, he had unwittingly hurt him.
It certainly earned him a talk with the Sandaime, who basically ordered him to retest Naruto, though the Sandaime wasn't demanding about it and was as polite as possible.
"Iruka," the old Hokage's voice echoed in his mind.
"Yes, Hokage-sama," he remembered saying as he replied, "What is it that you want to talk about?"
"I know how you feel about Naruto," the Sandaime had said, "You both did after grow up without a happy, loving family to care for you. You know what its like, don't you, not having the love of a mother or a father?"
Iruka did know how that felt and remembered how being ignored with everyone going about their lives as if his parents didn't matter hurt him inside. It had torn him up and he remembered pulling pranks and getting into trouble, not caring what others thought of him. Being labelled a troublemaker and a nuisance was a lot better than being ignored completely Iruka know and that's exact what spurred Naruto.
However, Naruto did contain the beast that had slaughtered both his parents and he thought that perhaps that was a factor in his harsh treatment. Perhaps some small part of him still held him in contempt despite what he had seen eight years previously when he was planning on killing him. As much as Iruka wanted to deny it, he had to consider that possibility.
He remembered that horrible night his parents died. He had been on the battlefield with his parents as he was worried for their safety and had wandered out onto the battlefield looking for them, but he was spotted and he remembered a ninja grabbing him and then fled the battlefield with him in his arms.
"Let me go!" he remembered shouting to the ninja that had taken him away, only to be ignored, "Kaa-san and tou-san are still fighting that thing!"
He remembered looking up into the giant fox's blood-red eye, which was filled with malice and vengeful bloodlust and he wasn't so sure, but he believed that he saw three comma-like tomoe surrounding the pupil; much like the Sharingan of the Uchiha Clan. Anyway, he remembered how badly it had scared him and felt that perhaps some small part of him refused to let go.
However, the sound of someone knocking on his door brought him out of his thoughts and back to reality. The Sandaime had told him to retest Naruto and he was in the process of thinking about it.
"Just who could that be?" he wondered, as the knocking didn't sound all that gentle and sounded rather urgent and Iruka immediately knew that something was wrong.
Getting up off his bed, he rushed over to the door and found a rather panicked Mizuki gasping for breath.
"Iruka-sensei, you must come to Hokage-sama's right away," he said in a somewhat panicked tone, "It's Naruto… I believe you may have angered him more than you realise. I'm afraid that he's stolen the most sacred scroll of Konohagakure."
"You mean the Fuin no Sho!" Iruka said with a mixture of alarm, shock and disbelief in his voice.
"I'm afraid so, though I don't know how he found out about it or how he found out where to find it," Mizuki said in what seemed like stunned curiosity.
"Huh, but why would he…?" Iruka thought in total disbelief; unable to believe that Naruto would do something so criminal, not to mention dangerous.
Surely Naruto couldn't be that furious over failing the Graduation Exam, could he and even if he was, just how on Earth did he find out about the Fuin no Sho and where to find it? This had to be a mistake. Something just didn't add up here. Only ninja with the rank of chunin and above were made privy to the Fuin no Sho's existence. So it seemed strange that Naruto, who was not even a genin managed to know about it.
As soon as he got ready, he and Mizuki both rushed in the direction of the Hokage Mansion. However, unbeknownst to Iruka, Mizuki had a rather evil smirk on his face.
Meanwhile, in a clearing in a nearby forest by an old abandoned hut, Naruto sat with the scroll as he rolled it out and started reading.
"Let's see," he said as he started reading, "The first one is Tajuu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu."
As soon as the words left his mouth, he suddenly realised that it was an advanced variation of the Bunshin no Jutsu.
"Oh damn, bunshinjutsu; why does it have to be a bunshinjutsu?" he complained to himself as he slapped his own forehead, "I failed the Graduation Exam because of bunshinjutsu. Kami's mocking me."
Meanwhile at the Hokage Mansion, Mizuki and Iruka arrived to see a group of ninja standing before the Sandaime as he was giving them their briefing.
"This is not just a prank this time," one of the ninja said, "This is a serious offence."
"That scroll contains kinjutsu sealed away by the Shodai himself," another spoke up.
"If it manages to fall into the hands of our enemies, they could use it to destroy us," a third put in.
Hiruzen, who was dressed in his white and red robes and had the Hokage hat with the kanji symbol for fire at the front nodded in agreement.
"Yes, that would be unfortunate," he said with a sigh before his face became deadly serious, "Right, if that's the case; bring Naruto to me alive at once!"
"Hai!" the ninja all stated as Hiruzen held his arm out at his side as they all scattered.
Iruka landed on a rooftop as he frantically searched for Naruto with a growing sense of panic, unable to believe what was happening. Just how did Naruto find out about the Fuin no Sho and where to find it? It didn't make any sense. There was no way he could've found out about it. That was one of the village's most guarded secrets that didn't appear in the library or the history books. This just wasn't adding up. The only possible way Naruto could have discovered the scroll and its location was if someone who knew about it told him and he doubted that would happen. Many believed he was the human form of the Kyuubi no Yoko and so, the Fuin no Sho would be the last thing they'd want him to get his hands on or did Naruto somehow mange to find out on his own.
"This is absurd," he thought to himself, "How did he know and more importantly, where would he go?"
"Hey Iruka-sensei!" he suddenly heard a girl's voice call out, causing him to look to his left down on the streets where he saw Sakura, Ino and Hinata looking up at him with frantically panicked looks on their faces.
"Hey Iruka-sensei, have you seen Naruto?" Sakura called up to him in a concerned tone with worry in her eyes, "We've been searching for him all night and can't seem to find him."
"That makes all four of us," he thought as he decided to tell the girls what Naruto had done.
He jumped off the roof and landed in front of the three girls.
Meanwhile, Mizuki, had had adorned his hitai-ate, wearing it like a bandanna over the top of his head was racing towards the forest clearing where he had arranged to meet up with Naruto with an evil smirk on his face.
"Now that I've told everyone of what Naruto did, it's all over for him," he thought to himself in sadistic glee, "Once I acquire the Fuin no Sho, I'll eliminate him and do this village a favour, then, should I be discovered, I'll be hailed as a hero… of course, I'll keep the scroll for myself and sell it off to Iwa. Even if Naruto's caught before I can get to him, it won't matter, the Civilian Council will have the perfect excuse to finally do away with him and not even that old fool of a Hokage can't save him without being considered a traitor."
"No, that's not possible," he heard a voice, which he recognised as belonging to Hyuga Hinata say, "Naruto couldn't have done that… at least not on purpose."
"Yeah, Mizuki-sensei probably put him up to it," another voice, which Mizuki recognised as belonging to Haruno Sakura came and her comment caused him to stop in panic.
"Mizuki…?" he heard a third voice, which he recognised as Iruka's ask, "Where'd you three get that idea?"
"During Naruto's test, I had my Byakugan activated to see how he was doing and I noticed Mizuki-sensei perform head seals," he head Hinata explain, "It must've been some sort of chakra disruption jutsu because it caused a disturbance in Naruto-kun's chakra flow while performing the Bunshin no Jutsu and then, afterwards, we noticed Naruto leave with him."
To say Mizuki was scared would have been a massive understatement; he was downright terrified at what he had just heard. However, never considered the possibility that there'd be witnesses. Of course, he knew about Naruto's friendship with the three girls and four of the major clan heirs, but he never thought that would be a factor.
"Are you serious?" he heard Iruka ask.
"Yes, we are, we saw Naruto leave with Mizuki-sensei and went to try and find him," he heard a fourth voice that he immediately identified as belonging to Yamanaka Ino said.
"Right," he then heard Iruka say, "It may just be speculation, but we have to find him before Mizuki does. If what you say is true, then Naruto's in grave danger and Mizuki would be labelled a traitor."
This was bad and Mizuki found himself cursing his luck. How could he have overlooked Naruto's friendship with those three girls, especially Hinata? He knew about the Hyuga Clans Byakugan and how it could allow its users to see through solid matter. He should have known that Hinata would have been curious about Naruto's progress and now he found himself in a predicament. He knew that if word got round that he put Naruto up to it, he wouldn't get very far.
Of course, considering that it was Naruto, he doubted anyone would believe them since it was just speculation anyway. However, Mizuki knew that the Hokage would look into it, as would the rest of those that knew about the Fuin no Sho, since it was one of the village's most guarded secrets and then he'd be in serious trouble as he knew that the Hokage would find proof and make it public and if his connection to Iwa was discovered, he'd be a dead man since relations between Iwa and Konoha were murderously bitter and regardless of Naruto's involvement, he'd probably end up earning a spot next to Naruto in the gallows as many villagers would undoubtably delude themselves into believing that they were both in on it together and nothing infuriated Mizuki more than being next to Naruto; the son of his parents' murderer.
"Well then," he thought to himself with a sigh as an evil grin suddenly materialised on his face, "I'll just have to eliminate them all and who knows, I could get extra bonuses out of this."
He then continued to make his way towards the meeting point. He would kill all of them and then make his getaway and no one would be any the wiser.
"Naruto would probably get the blame anyway," he mused to himself dismissively, "Unfortunately I was too late to save them before I dealt with the demon, that'll make for a good cover story."
Meanwhile, Naruto sat at the meeting place with his back against the wall of the wooden hut panting for breath. As he had just finished perfecting the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu, an advanced forum of the Bunshin no Jutsu that created solid bunshins and not just illusions. The Tajuu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu was the ability to create kage bunshins in great numbers, a dangerous jutsu as to solidify the bunshins, the user had to divide their chakra among the bunshins, which could prove deadly if the user created too many. However, since Naruto had such high chakra reverses, this weakness had been eliminated, though one could tell that he had been practicing.
"Gotcha," a voice came causing Naruto to look up and he saw Iruka along with Sakura, Ino and Hinata walking up to him.
Iruka stopped and looked down at him with his knees bent and his hands on his knees as he laughed, like he had just gotten a really funny joke.
"You didn't think you could actually get away with this, did you?" he went on as he noticed Naruto laugh as he scratched the head of his head.
"Looks like you got me," he said in a rather carefree tone as if he had no idea of the magnitude of what he had done, "I was hoping you'd take longer, I only had the change to master one jutsu."
"Huh?" Iruka said in confusion as he noticed Naruto's exhausted state.
"He's been training?" he thought questioningly, "I can tell how hard he's been working."
"Naruto-kun, what's with the oversized scroll you're carrying?" Ino asked curiously.
"Oh this?" Naruto said in a rather dismissive tone as if the scroll meant nothing before he turned to Iruka with a rather excited smile on his face, "Listen, I've got this really amazing jutsu I have to show you and then you'll let me graduate and everything will be okay, that's how it works, isn't it?"
"Huh, where'd you get that idea?" Iruka asked in shocked confusion and then he remembered the three girls and their accusations against Mizuki.
"Mizuki-sensei told me," Naruto said with a laugh, "He told me where to find the scroll and said that if I learned at least one jutsu from it, you'd have no choice but to pass me."
"Naruto-kun, Mizuki-sensei lied to you," Hinata spoke up in a rather sympathetic tone, "That scroll contains some of the village's most sacred secrets. Mizuki-sensei used a chakra disruption jutsu to sabotage your test. That was why you were only about to create one bunshin. I had my Byakugan activated outside while you were taking your test."
"Mizuki, could he really have..?" Iruka thought as he remembered the kind and caring look on Mizuki's face after he pleaded with him to give Naruto another chance.
He then heard the sound of someone landing on top of a tree branch and then noticed a barrage of kunai flying towards him. Immediately, he spun round and shoved Naruto out of the way and brought his arms up in front of his face as the kunai all flew into him, forcing him to fly into the wall of the hut. Luckily for him, the kunai hadn't hit any vital parts of his body and so his wounds weren't fatal, though he was pinned to the wall.
"I see you found our little hide-away," a sinister, yet familiar voice came; the tone causing the three girls to shudder in fear as they felt their skin crawl.
"Mizuki you traitorous bastard, I should have known," Iruka said glaring up at Mizuki, who was standing on top of a tree branch with what appeared to be two giant shuriken strapped to his back, looking down on the scene with a sinister look on his face and he turned towards Hinata.
"I have to admit Hyuga-"sama"," he said, adding the sama suffix in a sinisterly mocking tone, "I never would have guessed that you'd use your Byakugan and discover my little "contribution" to Naruto's test."
He then turned to face Naruto, his sinister grin never leaving his face.
"Naruto, give the scroll to me," he said in a sinisterly polite and demanding tone.
"Wait a minute," Naruto said in confusion as he looked between Iruka, who was struggling to free himself and Mizuki, "What's going on here, is this a joke?"
"I'm afraid not Naruto-kun," Sakura said in a serious tone, "Hinata was right, Mizuki's been using you."
"Naruto, whatever you do, don't give Mizuki the scroll," Iruka said in a serious tone, "That scroll contains dangerous kinjutsu. Mizuki used you to get the scroll for himself so he can further his own power."
"Don't listen to him Naruto, he just wants the scroll for himself," Mizuki said simply with a sinister chuckle.
"Stop lying Mizuki," Iruka said as he managed to free his right shoulder.
"You're a liar and traitor Mizuki-sensei," Ino said sternly, "How could you? How could you do that to Naruto-kun? You sabotaged his graduation when this time he was planning on passing to be with the rest of us and then you use him to get that scroll for your own gain, how could you?"
In response, Mizuki started to chuckle, making no effort to deny the Yamanaka heiress's accusation and his chuckling soon erupted into full-blown insane laughter.
"Would you be so quick to defend him if you knew the truth about your precious Naruto-"kun"?" he shot back, adding the kun suffix with the same sinister mocking tone he had used while addressing Hinata earlier.
Needless to say, Ino was stunned.
"Huh, truth, you mean the reason why everyone hates him so much?" the Yamanaka heiress asked curiously.
"No Mizuki, don't!" Iruka shouted in alarm.
Mizuki chuckled, ignoring Iruka as Ino and Hinata both looked on in curiosity while Sakura clenched her fist as she knew what Mizuki was planning on doing.
As for Naruto, he just looked on in shocked confusion and disbelief. Mizuki had used him. He just couldn't get his head round that. Mizuki had seemed kind and caring, gentle and nice and even pleaded with Iruka to give him another chance. However, looking at Mizuki now; gone was the kindness, gentleness and caring tone Naruto remembered him regarding him with. Now the tone he had was evil, menacing and sinister and his expression had the look of someone who was clearly up to no good.
"Of course, none of the younger generation born afterwards or who were too young to remember would know about," Mizuki went on as he turned to face Naruto, "Even you, yourself don't know, do you Naruto; not since the Sandaime's decree twelve years ago."
"W-w-what are y-y-you talking a-about, what decree?" Naruto stuttered as he started to feel a sense of overwhelming fear build up inside him.
He knew that Mizuki was going to tell him the reason why he was so hated and yet, he found himself rather fearful of the answer and found himself wanting out. He wanted to find out the answer and he didn't at the same time. Part of him believed that he was better off being kept in the dark, that he'd rather not know as he was terrified of what it could mean for him. However, he knew that he had a right to know.
"You wouldn't know about it, that was the point," Mizuki said in a tone of sadistic glee as he enjoyed breaking Naruto's spirit, "Neither you nor the younger generation were supposed to know about it. Some children did persist in demanding an explanation from their parents, but their parents killed them for their persistence."
Sakura flinched at this, remembering when her mother had threatened her six years ago when she first befriended Naruto.
"No stop, it's forbidden!" Iruka said, after managing to pull all the kunai from his body and the wall.
"You think I care," Mizuki said with a laugh, regarding Iruka snidely, "When this is over, that old coot of a Hokage will be executed for his support of that thing down there, I'll make sure that happens and then I'll hand the scroll over to Iwa and avenge my parents."
"Iwa… yours parents…?" Iruka said in confusion before his eyes hardened with a furious glare, "This is treason of the worst kind; Iwa's our enemy."
Mizuki smirked before turning back to face Naruto.
"That's right, parents murdered their children and it's your fault for befriending them," Mizuki said to Naruto as he smirked at witnessing Naruto's eyes widen in shock, "They've all been sneaking around; not telling you anything. The decree is that no one is allowed to mention that the Kyuubi no Yoko that attacked the village twelve years ago is inside you."
"STOP IT!" Iruka screamed as he tried to lunge at Mizuki, but the pain where the kunai had made contact with his body brought him to his knees.
Ino and Hinata's eyes widened in shock.
"What?" Naruto said in shock, feeling rather terrified as he suddenly realised in the pit of his stomach that Mizuki was speaking the truth.
"Didn't you find it strange how they treated you?" Mizuki went on as his sadistic grin only widened, "They treated you like garbage; like the fact you were even alive was a crime against humanity. The beloved hero, the Yondaime Hokage fought the Kyuubi no Yoko and then sealed it inside you, sacrificing his own life to do so. The Kyuubi then proceeded to destroy the child's soul, assuming control of the body, which means, you are the Kyuubi no Yoko reincarnated as a human being. You're the one that killed Iruka's parents; and not only that, you also killed Sakura's father and Ino's uncle and who knows how many others. Heck your birthday's another clue. 10th October and you were born twelve years ago; the exact same day the Kyuubi attacked, did you honestly think that it was just a coincidence, how the beatings were more severe than normal whenever the anniversary of the Kyuubi's attack came round every year?"
Iruka groaned as he struggled to his feet as Sakura just glared up at Mizuki and Ino and Hinata both turned towards Naruto, staring at him in shock and disbelief, noting the frightened look of disbelief on his face.
"I guess you're not so eager to defend him now, are you Ino?" Mizuki said in a sadistically boastful tone with an insane happy look on his face, "He killed your Uncle Hiro and your father as well Sakura."
Ino and Hinata both turned to glare up at their former sensei with disgusted looks of contempt radiating within their eyes.
However, Naruto just stood in total shock as time seemed to stop for him as he thought back on how he was treated by the villagers. He remembered all the lynch mobs and their screams and accusations; calling him names like demon, hellspawn, monster and accusing him of killing people he never knew existed and how they screamed how his existence was a crime. Summing it all up and knowing that his birthday was on the same day as the anniversary of the Kyuubi's attack, plus the fact that he was twelve-years-old in which he was born on the exact same day the Kyuubi attacked, he knew that it was true.
"Even Iruka here hates your guts," Mizuki went on, even though Naruto was no longer listening, "The Kyuubi no Yoko killed his parents and since you're the Kyuubi, he despises you for it. Don't you understand yet? No one will accept you. No matter how strong you become or even if you became the Hokage, they'd all despise and fear you. You think becoming Hokage will give you acknowledgement, don't make me laugh. The only thing you'll earn from the people is their fear of you."
"Shut up, like I care if he's the Jinchuriki of the Kyuubi!" Sakura stated, causing Mizuki to stare at her in shock.
"Jin… you know about… but how?" he said in utter disbelief.
"I looked it up in the library," Sakura explained while glaring at Mizuki, who was struggling to restrain his seething anger, "A Jinchuriki is a person with a Bijuu inside them and hidden shinobi villages tend to use them as trump-card weapons. They're not the Bijuu themselves."
Mizuki growled, but then calmed down and unstrapped one of the giant shuriken he had on his back.
"That's real touching, but in truth, I could care less whether Naruto was the Kyuubi or not, his father, the Yondaime murdered my parents and with him gone… well, I'll just go for the next best thing," Mizuki said as he started to spin the shuriken and directed his attention back at Naruto and then moved to throw the shuriken at him, "Die son of the Yondaime!"
He then threw the shuriken at Naruto, who was still frozen in shock; not having heard what Mizuki had said.
Naruto!" Iruka shouted as he managed to get to his feet and lunged at him, pushing him down to the ground as one of the shuriken points stabbed into his back.
"You and Naruto are a lot alike," he remembered the Sandaime saying, "The best you both could ever hope for is attention, even if it wasn't the kind you craved. Naruto's the same. Both of you were willing to accept the consequences of your actions, regardless of what they were; just so long as the attention was focused on you, it didn't matter. That's why Naruto gets in trouble and puts on a brave carefree face. He may not show it, but he's hurting inside, his heart's so fragile that even the slightest push could break it. No one will even look at him without looks of contempt and disgust. How would you feel if that was you; to be regarded with revulsion and disdain just for something you had no say in; to be attacked and beaten to near-death, to be afraid to fall asleep in case you may never wake up; to watch the sunset wondering if you'll be around to see the next sunrise? That's what Naruto has to deal with."
Iruka had to admit that the Sandaime was right. He knew what Naruto was going through and yet he was different at the same time. Iruka never had to deal with lynch mobs out for his blood. He never had to worry himself to sleep fearing that he may not live to see tomorrow, but he knew that only added to Naruto's pain and that there was only so much that one could take before they lashed out. Naruto at the end of the day was still just a human being.
"Sensei," Naruto said after coming back to reality and looked around and knew that Iruka had just saved his life, "Why?"
"Because you and I are a lot alike," Iruka said with tears in his eyes as he cried; sobbing in sympathy, "Naruto, I know that you never had a mother or father; you were alone and it hurts inside. I was just like you. I lost my parents twelve years ago. I was upset. Everyone else just got on with their lives as if I didn't matter. It felt like they were regarding me as if I wasn't even there. So I did crazy and stupid things. I became the village fool; the class clown. I got in trouble and paid for what I did, but I didn't care. I just wanted them all to notice me."
Before Naruto could absorb this, Mizuki's laughter cut in.
"Oh that's rich Iruka," he boasted in a sick and twisted gleeful tone, "Don't listen to him Naruto, he always despised you for killing his parents. He'll say anything to get the scroll from you and to shut me up. I'll say it again. No one will ever accept you. If you became Hokage, they'll only pretend to accept you because they'll all be so damn afraid to oppose you."
Once those words hit his ears, Naruto's eyes widened. Unsure what to do, he grabbed the Fuin no Sho and held it close to him tightly and then fled.
"Naruto-kun!" the three girls all shouted.
"Naruto!" Iruka shouted, raising a hand in the direction that he had run off in as he got to his feet.
Mizuki chuckled as he jumped down from the tree branch and smirked.
"You know what he's going to do, don't you?" he said sadistically, "You saw that look in his eyes. He's going to pour all his rage into the Fuin no Sho and acquire enough power to take revenge on the village. He really is just a monster."
"No," Iruka said, glaring at Mizuki as he removed the shuriken from his back, which didn't go in deep enough to cause fatal damage, "Naruto's not LIKE THAT!"
He then threw the shuriken at Mizuki, who easily sidestepped it and it flew into the forest, slicing off a tree branch as it vanished among the trees.
"Naruto-kun is no monster," Ino said, glaring at Mizuki in furious disgust, "I've seen him cry when my bitch of a mother interrupted our first official meeting. He stood up for us and never killed anyone."
"That's right," Hinata said, already having activated her Byakugan, "I don't care if he has the Kyuubi inside him. He never asked to have it sealed inside him."
"There is only one monster here and that's you," Sakura said with disgust evident in her eyes.
"You still defend him even knowing the truth?" Mizuki asked, though from the sound of his tone, it was clear he didn't care either way, "Oh well, it doesn't matter. Once I eliminate Naruto, I'll be back for the rest of you."
He then jumped onto a tree branch and started hoping from branch to branch in Naruto's direction.
"No," Iruka said as he struggled to walk, "I won't let you get away with this."
The three girls all then made off in the same direction, hoping to avoid Mizuki and catch up with Naruto before he did.
"Listen girls, I have a confession to make," Sakura said with a sigh, as both Ino and Hinata turned to look at her, "I discovered the truth four years ago after that incident with Sasuke-teme and Akito-sensei."
Both the other two girls' eyes widen as Sakura started to explain.
Meanwhile, back at the Hokage Mansion, Hiruzen was sitting in a room at a table with a crystal ball sitting on it. Hiruzen had his hand over the crystal ball as it showed Naruto fleeing with the Fuin no Sho. Needless to say, Hiruzen now knew the truth; that Mizuki had taken advantage of both Naruto reputation in the village and his desire to graduate and he also knew that Mizuki had blabbed about the Kyuubi to Naruto and within earshot of Sakura, Ino and Hinata.
"Curse that Mizuki," Hiruzen said furiously with a sigh, "He's probably gone and ruined everything for Naruto, making him feel bad on a level he's never experienced before. I fear that it may unleash the Kyuubi's power sealed away inside of him. If he continues to meddle with the scroll, it may shatter the seal that keeps the Kyuubi inside and release it to finish what it started twelve years ago and if that happens… I can only hope that Kami has us all in good favour."
Back in the forest, Sakura, Ino and Hinata had found Naruto hoping from tree branch to tree branch with the Fuin no Sho in his arms.
"Naruto-kun, don't listen to Mizuki!" Hinata called out, "We don't care if you have the Kyuubi inside you, you're not the Kyuubi itself!"
However, either Naruto didn't hear her or chose to ignore her as he didn't stop and kept hoping without registering that he had even acknowledged her call.
"Naruto-kun; slow down!" Ino called out, but ended up getting the same treatment as Hinata.
"Naruto!" a new voice that the three girls recognised as belonging to Iruka, causing them to turn their heads to see Iruka quickly rushing up behind him, "Naruto, give me the scroll, Mizuki's coming after you to take it away and then he's going to kill you, Naruto!"
At first, it appeared as if Naruto was going to ignore him as well, but then he suddenly turned round and jumped at Iruka, and viciously drove his knee into his stomach, surprising him and the three girls. Naruto then landed on the ground and sat huddled up against a tree as Iruka fell to the ground, rolling to a stop.
"What, it can't be," Iruka said in a shockingly infuriated tone filled with malice, "How, how did you know?"
Iruka then burst into smoke and in his place when the smoke cleared was Mizuki, causing the three girls to gasp in shock.
"A henge," Sakura whispered in fright.
"How did you know that it was me and not Iruka?" Mizuki asked in a demanding tone.
Naruto only responded with a surprising chuckle.
"That's easy Mizuki-sensei, how can you be Iruka…?" he said before bursting into a cloud of smoke, revealing Iruka, who was holding a log instead of the Fuin no Sho, "…When I am?"
"Both of them in a henge," Hinata thought in astonishment, "Iruka-sensei used Mizuki's own plan against him."
The real Naruto was hiding behind a nearby tree, clutching the Fuin no Sho to his chest. In truth he was feeling rather scared. He now knew why everyone hated him and despite the fact he had wanted to know for so long; he now wished that he was still in the dark. He had the Kyuubi no Yoko inside of him and the people were using him as a scapegoat to vent their anger over the loss of their loved ones by the Kyuubi's paws; they saw him as the Kyuubi incarnated as a human and he couldn't help but wonder if that was true; what if he was the Kyuubi and it had also lost its memories; what did that mean? Was his entire life just a lie? He didn't want to believe it, what if the Kyuubi had destroyed the soul of the child it was sealed into and now it believed itself to be that child… meaning that he was the Kyuubi.
"I see," he heard Mizuki say in response to Iruka's revelation that he had been chasing him and not Naruto, "So that's how it is, huh?"
Iruka chuckled from his position as Mizuki looked on in confusion.
"Just why do you defend that disgusting freak?" he asked in a demanding tone, "The Kyuubi killed your parents. Even if he isn't the Kyuubi, wouldn't you feel satisfied knowing that someone suffered for it? Naruto and I are a lot alike. He's going to use the scroll to further his own power just like I intend to do and take revenge on the village for his twelve years of mistreatment. That's how monsters are."
"You're right," Iruka said, much to the shock of the three girls and Naruto.
"I-i-it's true," Naruto thought, feeling absolutely devastated, "Iruka-sensei really does hate me. He never really believed in me. He thinks I'm some kind of demon."
"Iruka-sensei, how could you?" all three girls thought in unison, glaring furiously at their former academy sensei.
"That is how monsters are," Iruka went on, unaware of the girls' glares and Naruto became surprised, realising that Iruka wasn't finished talking, "But that's not who Naruto is. He's not the Kyuubi no Yoko; he's Uzumaki Naruto of Konohagakure no Sato and even though I may not show it, I have nothing but absolute respect for him. He's one of the best students I've ever had despite him constantly getting on my nerves. He works hard and puts everything into his work. Sure, he messes up sometimes, but he refuses to give up and always comes back for more and that makes him stronger. It's that that separates him from the Kyuubi no Yoko, so you're wrong."
"That's right," Sakura said as she, Ino and Hinata walked out, revealing themselves, "Naruto's not a monster. He's one of the kindest people I know. He saved me and Hinata both from Ami six years ago."
"Like I said before, when mom interrupted our first meeting, I saw him flee with tears in his eyes; I've seen him cry," Ino put in.
"And whenever he defended himself or one of us from villagers looking to kill us, he never killed them and let them escape," Hinata added in, "So you see, you're wrong about him. Monsters don't shed tears, they don't spare their opponents."
"Right," Ino went on, "The Kyuubi no Yoko killed Hiro-ojisan and Sakura's tou-san; not Naruto-kun himself. Having it sealed away within him doesn't make him the Kyuubi itself."
"Face it Mizuki-teme, the only monster here is you," Sakura added with a furious look on her face, "I discovered the truth four years ago since that instant with Akito-sensei; me along with Shino and Shikamaru and you know what else I discovered, well mainly just speculation really?"
"What?" Mizuki growled furiously; furious that Naruto was getting support and that he had been proven wrong.
"That Naruto-kun's possibly the son of the Yondaime himself," Sakura said, causing everyone else except Mizuki to gasp, "I mean I can't believe we all missed it; the resemblance between him and the Yondaime. It's so obvious; Naruto-kun's practically a miniature version of the Yondaime, but you already knew that, didn't you? I heard you earlier… something about killing Naruto-kun for being the Yondaime's son."
Mizuki growled as he shook his head.
"My father was from Iwa," he growled, gritting his teeth, "He was a spy posted here after the Third Great Shinobi War. His mission was to find anything that Iwa could use to take their revenge against the Yondaime, whom they solely blamed for their defeat. However, he met a local Konoha woman and they both fell in love. Kaa-san knew about his mission, but it didn't matter to her. He loved her and she loved him and they both settled down. Unfortunately, their happiness was cut short. Somehow, the Yondaime found out about my father's origins and one night, he and his friend, Haruno Takeshi broke into our home and slaughtered both my parents. My father had chosen to betray Iwa and not carry on with his mission and he was killed anyway and my mother was killed just for falling in love with him and she was seen as a traitor. I was there. I witnessed their deaths with my own two eyes."
He then furiously shook his head. He remembered that horrible night thirteen years ago, a year before the Kyuubi attacked. He had been in bed trying to sleep when he heard his parents arguing. He didn't know what was being said and curiosity had gotten the best of him and he went downstairs just in time to see the Yondaime and Takeshi murder his parents.
"Kaa-san, tou-san!" he remembered yelling before looking up at their murderers, "No, it's not fair! Tou-san quit his mission; he was no longer spying for Iwa, why did you kill them?"
However, he had received no answer, since both the Yondaime and Takeshi had been rather shocked at his presence. He then remembered charging at the Yondaime as anger suddenly took over, but Takeshi had knocked him back and he also remembered as he moved to get up, Takeshi had a sword aimed at his throat and he remembered seeing the former Haruno patriarch glaring down at him in what he believed to be a rather cold and uncaring look in his eyes.
"They were praised for it," Mizuki went on in seething fury, clearly not happy at digging up memories that he wanted to bury, "They were seen as heroes and me; I was made an orphan and since everyone knew whose son I was, I was shunned, bullied, ridiculed and beaten."
"Mizuki…" Iruka said in shock, feeling a pang of sympathy for his former friend.
Both Iruka and Mizuki had been friends since childhood. In fact, it had been Mizuki that helped Iruka deal with the loss of his parents, but he didn't know anything about Mizuki's parents. In fact, he didn't know that Mizuki had been a victim of the villagers' anger at all. This must've happened before they had met as it was only after the Kyuubi's attach that he remembered meeting Mizuki for the first time.
"It was only through the intervention of the Sandaime that they stopped," Mizuki went on furiously, "Though I could still see those contemptuous looks in their eyes. I was nothing more than the son of an Iwa spy and a villager traitor and it's all that spiky-blonde's father's fault; him and that diseased billboard-browed friend of his. Unfortunately for me, the Kyuubi beat me to the punch as I was planning on killing both the Yondaime and Haruno Takeshi when I got older. However, I was fortunate to learn that the Yondaime had a son. Of course, even if that fact was known to the village, they'd probably see him as illegitimate as the Yondaime never married."
"He probably did," Sakura commented furiously, "It was probably conducted in secret as the Yondaime had many enemies that could have targeted his wife in order to get to him."
Mizuki chuckled as he shot Sakura a rather evil smirk.
"You're probably right, but I doubt the villagers will see it that way," he said as he grabbed the second giant shuriken that was still strapped to his back, "In fact, if they did make the connection, it would probably disgrace the Yondaime and raise questions as to his motives concerning the Kyuubi's attack. In fact, I may just see to it that that does happen."
Naruto, who was still hiding was shedding tears of happiness after hearing Iruka and the three girls stand up for him.
"Thank you," he thought happily, not really caring much that he was the Yondaime's son for the moment.
"Well, I admire your courage girls," Mizuki said as he got ready to spin the shuriken, "I'd probably have been brought to tears if the circumstances were different, but in truth, I feel like vomiting. I was going to eliminate you all later, but I decided that Naruto can wait. I really can't afford witnesses and besides, I get a few extra bonuses out of this."
He then turned to leer dangerously at Sakura.
"I get to kill Takeshi's daughter for a more absolute revenge," he said before turning to look at Hinata with a ready greedy looking smirk on his face, "And I can get something extra from Kumo and this time Hinata-chan, daddy isn't here to save you."
Hinata flinched as she vaguely remembered that incident nine years ago in which a Kumo-nin tried to kidnap her and bring her to Kumo so they could get their hands on the Byakugan. It had been that incident that had caused Neji to become rather bitter towards her as his father had been killed in place of hers since Hiashi had killed the Kumo-nin and the leader of Kumogakure, the Yondaime Raikage, E had demanded Hiashi's life as compensation for their loss or Kumo would go to war with Konoha. However, what he didn't know was that Neji's father, Hizashi was Hiashi's identical twin brother and the Hyuga Council took advantage of that fact, killing Hizashi and having his body impersonate his brother's and thanks to the seal that all members of branch houses had, the Byakugan was sealed away since everyone knew that it was another of E's attempts to get a hold of the Byakugan.
After that, Neji had become rather bitter towards the Main Household and Hinata knew that he held her in contempt the most; like the whole thing was her fault. It was why he constantly talked down to her and verbally beat her and destroyed her confidence. Since he knew it would be suicide to attack her physically, he resorted to verbal bashing and sought to destroy her psychologically and the fact that she was becoming more and more confident and had learned to ignore him only served to infuriate him as he believed that everyone had a destiny and that fighting against it was pointless and the fact that Hinata was proving him wrong, though he'd never admit it was rather enraging to him and not only that; but he knew that Naruto was the main cause of this and Hinata knew that Neji had grown to despise Naruto just as much as he despised her, deluding himself into believing that Naruto was in league with the Main Household and the fact that none of the Hyuga Clan came forward to clear up the misunderstanding the villagers developed that he had the support of the Hyuga Clan when she first befriended him only served to ct as, what he believed as confirmation of his beliefs concerning Naruto.
"Don't worry though, if it makes you all feel better, I'll kill your precious sensei first," Mizuki said, bringing Hinata back to reality as he started spinning the shuriken and lunged at Iruka with the shuriken still in his hand.
"Girls, run!" Iruka shouted in urgency, "Get back to the village!"
"Too late, I'll just track them down and deal with them before they're even halfway back to the village," Mizuki said as he swung his arm forward.
However, before anyone knew what was happening, Naruto leap out from his hiding place and spun his leg round and brought his knee up, connecting it with Mizuki's face, sending him flying and causing him to release the shuriken, which; like the first one went into the forest. Mizuki landed on the ground on his front and picked himself up as he glared at Naruto.
"So glad you could join us you little punk," Mizuki said as the edges of his lips twisted into a sinister grin, "Now I can kill all of you."
"Naruto, what're you doing?" Iruka shouted out in alarm, "Take the three girls and run! You're no match for him!"
"Naruto-kun!" all three girls gasped in unison, both surprised and happy that he had come to their rescue.
However, Naruto just ignored them as he glared dangerously at Mizuki, placing the Fuin no Sho on the ground at a vertical angle.
"If you ever lay a hand on my sensei or my friends, I swear…" Naruto said in a dangerously low voice before his face twisted into a sinister grin; one that he usually displayed whenever he told a villager that they had already fallen for a prank before they became victim to it, "Well, I won't kill you, but I'll kick your ass… oh wait, I'm gonna do that anyway."
"Big words for a little brat," Mizuki boasted with a scoff, "Bring it; I could kill you in a single move if I wanted to."
"Big words for someone who believes I'm the all-powerful Kyuubi no Yoko reincarnated in human form," Naruto shot back as he formed a hand seal, "Are you sure you can back them up? Anyway, take your best shot Mizuki-teme. I'll just send it right back at you a thousand times worse."
"Whatever, all bark and no bite," Mizuki boasted smugly.
"Really," Naruto said in a sinisterly polite tone, "Let's test that theory, shall we? Tajuu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu."
To Mizuki's shock and absolute horror, there was a big puff of smoke all around him and when the smoke cleared, he was even more horrified to discover a lot of Narutos surrounding him, some on the ground and some standing on all the nearest tree branches to prevent Mizuki from making an escape.
"Wow," Iruka thought as he looked on in amazement, "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu; that means that they're not just illusions; they're actual solid bunshins. Incredible. Not only has he mastered an incredibly advanced variation of the Bunshin no Jutsu, but he's able to perform its kinjutsu state without feeling the effects of its weaknesses."
The three girls all looked on in astonishment, unable to believe what the were seeing.
"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu, that's an advanced jutsu that even experienced shinobi can have difficult with," Sakura said, at a loss for words.
"I guess having an all-powerful demon sealed away inside you does have its benefits," Ino commented.
"No, that's not the Kyuubi's chakra," Hinata said, having activated her Byakugan, "This is all Naruto-kun's own chakra. I think he may have naturally high chakra reverses even without the Kyuubi."
"Yeah, but I bet it's because of the Kyuubi that his own natural chakra is so high," Ino said as she looked at the group of Narutos, "After all, it needs to deal with the demon as well. Maybe all Jinchuriki are like that."
One of the Narutos nearest them turned as flashed a grin at them.
"Don't you worry girls," he said with a laugh, "I'm gonna deal with this traitor and then we can go home."
Mizuki on the other hand was sweating bullets a he frantically looked around for a way to escape as he knew that those Narutos were seriously intending on doing him major bodily harm as he heard them all goading him; daring him to attack. Falling on his butt, he looked dead at the real Naruto with fear in his eyes.
"Well then," one of the bunshins said, "If you're just gonna wait around, then I guess we're gonna make the first move."
"Get ready to scream for your mama," another bunshin said and then they all; along with the real Naruto moved in on Mizuki who, knowing what was about to come screamed with a stereotypical girl's scream.
"I WANT MY MOMMY!" he screamed as his fear and shock caused his bladder to relieve itself of its contents, causing him to wet himself.
After that all the Naruto bunshins and Naruto himself proceeded to punch and stomp on him as the three girls looked on in surprise and disgust; disgust that Mizuki was proving to be rather pathetic as they couldn't believe that this person had been one of their academy senseis since he was easily scared and screamed like a stereotyped girl and continued to scream the word "mommy" over and over again.
"And this guy was our sensei?" Ino thought in complete disbelief, "What a pansy."
"Shannaro, you can do it Naruto-kun!" Inner Sakura screamed, jumping up and down in excitement as outer Sakura looked on with a blank disgusted look, "Kick him in his hairy balls!"
Whether or not Naruto heard her or whether it was by sheer coincidence, some of the blows made contact with the area that Inner Sakura had directed him towards. After what felt like hours to Mizuki, the bunshins all stopped their assault, leaving a badly beaten and bruised Mizuki curled up in the fetal position, sucking his thumb like a baby. The sun had already started to rise, not that anyone cared or anything, they were all stunned and disgusted with Mizuki's pathetic display.
"He even pissed himself," Naruto said as all the kage bunshins exploded into smoke with the familiar popping sound.
"Way too much information, that's so gross," Sakura said, shaking her head as Naruto chuckled.
"Sorry Sakura-chan," he said before looking down as the thumb-sucking ninja and then laughed as he turned to face Iruka, "Sorry sensei, but I guess I got carried away."
Iruka just chuckled as he sat up in a better position.
"Come here Naruto, I have a surprise for you," he said as Naruto walked over to him with the three girls following in tow.
Meanwhile, all the ninja that the Sandaime had sent after Naruto all gathered back at the Hokage Mansion having no luck in finding him
"What do you mean you can't find him?" one of them asked furiously.
"Man, this is bad," another said with a fear of fear in his voice, "He could be miles away by now."
"Perhaps we should smoke him out or something," a third suggested, "Or get some dogs to sniff him out and tear him apart for being the demon he is."
"There's no longer any cause for alarm," the voice of Hiruzen came over their banter, "The scroll is safe, Naruto will be back soon."
Needless to say, many of the ninja were feeling rather infuriated at hearing this. That was another opportunity to do away with Naruto gone down the drain. Despite the Sandaime's orders to bring him back alive, the majority of ninja were planning on killing him and then make it look like an accident and then when the Sandaime had dropped his guard, they would take him out as well for his support of the "demon brat". Many of them had been under the payroll of members of the Civilian Council; spies that they had implanted in an attempt to seize control of the village's shinobi.
However, before they could ponder this further, a group of ANBU showed up behind Hiruzen who gave them all a stern look.
"Oh, by the way," he said in a sinisterly polite tone, "Don't think for one second that I was not aware of your little plan to kill Naruto and use my grief over his demise as a means to assassinate me."
The ninja were all at a loss for words as the colour basically drained from their faces.
"H-how did y-you know?" one of them spluttered.
"You underestimate me," Hiruzen said before the ANBU started making their way towards them, "I have ways of discovering what goes on behind my back; ways that I will not disclose to the likes of you."
The ninja all screamed, knowing that if they talked, it would be all over for the Civilian Council, so they did the only thing they could do; they lunged at the ANBU, drawing out their kunai and shuriken and the ANBU retaliated with their ninjato swords, killing them.
Hiruzen shook his head with a sigh, knowing that those ninja had intentionally provoked the ANBU into killing them in order to protect the Civilian Council. He knew that they were spies for the Civilian Council. It was a tactic that they had adopted long ago, using their own children… having them enrol in the Ninja Academy and become ninja, but who were secretly loyal to them. It was a bit like Danzo and his ROOT, only in Danzo's place were the members of the Civilian Council. Unfortunately, he just couldn't prove any of their misdeeds and he knew that he couldn't act unless he had proof, which the Civilian Council were very good at disposing of before it could come to his attention.
"I'm seriously getting too old for this," he thought with a sigh as he shook his head.
Meanwhile, back in the forest, Naruto had his eyes closed as Iruka had told him to close them in order to give him his surprise.
"Hey Iruka-sensei, can I open my eyes yet?" he asked, feeling slightly frustrated, nervous and excited all at the same time.
"Sure, now you can open your eyes," Iruka said as Naruto slowly opened his eyes.
It took a while for his eyes to focus as the sun was visible behind the tree, beaming its light down on him, but when his eyes came into focus, he noticed Iruka smiling at him and what surprised him the most was that his sensei was not wearing his hitai-ate.
"Congratulations," he said in a playfully professional tone, "You graduate."
"Huh?" Naruto said in confusion before his face burst into a beaming smile.
"Well how do you like that?" Sakura said with a laugh, "Mizuki lied about graduating from learning a jutsu in that scroll, but his lie became truth. Naruto-kun did learn a jutsu from the scroll and he graduated."
"I'll say, Kage Bunshin no Jutsu's a jonin level jutsu," Ino said.
""Uh huh, by dividing his chakra, Naruto-kun was about to solidify his bunshins," Sakura explained seriously, "However, this is dangerous as creating them could leave you exhausted and you could die from chakra exhaustion. To be able to create so many without feeling tired or near-dead and not having even graduated from the academy; that's quite a feat Naruto-kun."
"Uh huh and you had no help from the Kyuubi," Hinata put in, "In most cases, some people struggle just to create one kage bunshin."
"So you three are okay with me having…" Naruto started to say with a hint of nervousness in his voice as he feared they would still leave him because of the Kyuubi.
"You're not the Kyuubi Naruto-kun," Ino said with sincerity in her voice, "Sakura-chan's known for four years and she didn't leave you, did she?"
Naruto's eyes widened in shock and Sakura nodded with a sigh.
"Yeah, I've known since that incident with Akito four years ago," she admitted as she gave Naruto an apologetic look, "Me, Shino and Shikamaru know. However, that doesn't make you the Kyuubi itself. You're too kind and gentle to be a monster and besides, you're not alone."
"I'm not?" Naruto asked curiously.
Sakura shook her head.
"No, you are what is known as a Jinchuriki, a human sacrifice," Sakura explained with a sigh, "There are nine Bijuu, and a Jinchuriki is someone who has one of those Bijuu sealed inside them. Many villages use them as trump-card weapons due to the fact that they have more power than the regular ninja and many are treated the same way you are."
Naruto took a moment to absorb this and then looked at Sakura questioningly.
"But if they're used as weapons, why…?" he started to ask.
"Because the Kyuubi attacked the village beforehand," Sakura replied, interrupting him as she knew what he was going to ask, "The majority of people are too blinded by their grief and hate to see the potential benefits you could bring to the village, which in a way is probably good; otherwise you could have been raised to be a weapon and probably would've ended up losing your humanity. I don't see you as the Kyuubi and I don't see you as a weapon either. You're Uzumaki Naruto and that's all that matters."
"Yeah, she's right Naruto-kun, you still have us, no matter what," Hinata said with a smile.
Iruka looked on with a smile adorning his face; glad that Naruto had found acceptance, even if it was just from a small group; he knew from his own experiences that even just acceptance from one person was a lot better than no acceptance at all.
"Oh by the way, we're going out for ramen tonight to celebrate, my treat," he said.
"Really?" Naruto said as his face lit up in a rather excited smile.
"Yep," Iruka said with a nod.
"Iruka-sensei," Naruto said as he jumped at Iruka and wrapped his arms round him.
Ouch, that hurts," Iruka said with a laugh as he winced in pain; still not having fully recovered from his tussle with Mizuki, who was still curled up sucking his thumb.
"What a baby," Sakura said in disgust as she shot him a nasty look.
"Shannaro, you said it sister!" Inner Sakura said in agreement.
A little later after Naruto and the three girls left, leaving Mizuki to be picked up by the ANBU, Mizuki was still sucking his thumb with curled up in the fetal position. However, he suddenly became aware of the toes of a sandaled foot that entered his field of vision; causing him to stop and look up.
"K-K-Kagetaka," he said as he studied the person; a figure wearing a pure black ANBU like hawk mask and a cloaked draped over their entire body and came over the top of their head.
"You failed Mizuki," Kagetaka said, speaking in an electronic voice, though Mizuki knew that it was because of a voice changer that Kagetaka had on underneath the mask, "And not only that, but you were seen by people who I would have rather have not gotten involved."
"I-i-i-it's not my fault," Mizuki protested with a hint of fear in his voice as he picked himself up, "I didn't know that Hyuga-san would use her Byakugan to spy on the Kyuubi brat."
"Well you should have," Kagetaka said, clearly infuriated at Mizuki's failure, "Now the ANBU are coming for you and you've jeopardised my plans."
"Well, I'm sorry," Mizuki said, with a hint of fury in his voice, "How was I supposed to know that those three would not abandon him and how was I supposed to know that he could pull of such an advanced jutsu; a kinjutsu even without feeling its effects?"
"You were ill-prepared," Kagetaka replied as they took their hands out from the cloak and Mizuki's eyes widened noticing how long and thin they were; just like a woman's.
"H-h-hold on, a-a-are you a…" Mizuki spluttered in absolute shock before trailing off.
"A woman?" Kagetaka finished simply, "Yes, I am, did you think I was a man?"
Mizuki flinched noticing that her voice sounded rather offended and insulted and he also couldn't help but notice the level of hateful malice laced in with it.
"I had a teammate who was a kunoichi and she only made it onto the team before they all believed she was a boy," Kagetaka explained, the hatred and malice not once leaving her voice and only became more evident as she brought a hand over her mask, "Uzumaki Kushina was her name, the brat's mother who took everything from me."
"U-U-Uzumaki K-K-K-Kushina, never heard of her," Mizuki replied, shaking his head.
"Of course you wouldn't have heard of her," Kagetaka replied with a growl, "After her marriage to Minato-teme, he saw to it that her existence was kept a secret; very much like the decree that forbids everyone from talking about their son, Minato made a decree that forbade anyone who knew about the Uzu-mesu from talking about her to protect her from his enemies."
She then removed her mask and used her other hand to pull the cloak of her head and her shadow silhouette displayed hair falling down to her waist as Mizuki's eyes widened in absolute shock and disbelief as he recognised the woman behind the mask and he just couldn't believe it.
"Y-y-y-you…?" he spluttered in absolute belief, "B-b-but it c-c-can't be."
"Oh, I can assure you that it is," Kagetaka replied in a sinister tone, "And unfortunately for you, now that you have seen my true face; I cannot let you live."
Before Mizuki could reply or even react, a kunai suddenly appeared to shoot right our of Kagetaka's cloak and lodge itself in Mizuki's throat. Mizuki's eyes widened in shock as he realised that Kagetaka had reached into her cloak and retrieved the kunai before throwing it, but it was so fast that he never saw her hand move and it appeared as if the kunai had shot out from the cloak of its own accord.
"B-b-b-bitch!" he hissed before dropping down dead like a stone.
Kagetaka then walked over to Mizuki's dead body and bent down and removed his hitai-ate. She then reached into her cloak and took out another hitai-ate; one with a different insignia carved into the metal plate. The insignia was of two boulders; a bigger one behind a smaller one; the insignia of Iwagakure no Sato. Pocketing Mizuki's Konoha hitai-ate, she then placed on the Iwa hitai-ate; a little souvenir from an opponent she had faced during the Third Great Shinobi War on Mizuki's head in the same manner he had worn his Konoha hitai-ate.
She then pulled the cloak over her head and placed her mask back on and fled, only narrowly avoiding being seen by the ANBU that had come to retrieve Mizuki.
Kagetaka was not her true name. It was just an alias the woman had devised to deceive those around her. She believed herself to be a hawk waiting in the shadows as she had observed events those past six years since she first tried pushing Naruto down the path of vengeance after noticing how he had killed someone, so she came up with the name, Kagetaka. However, even before that she had used her disguise, though she remained nameless. After all, she had met with Danzo to discuss how they'd dispose of Kushina… albeit for different reasons.
"Guess it's time to initialise plan B," she thought to herself, finally deciding to give up on trying to push Naruto down the road of revenge, "I'm sure Iwa will be very interested to know whose son he is."
That was her plan B, telling Iwa about Naruto and who his father was despite the fact that she had used Iwa as a scapegoat with Mizuki, which wasn't all that hard. Mizuki's father had been from Iwa and she had overheard everything he said to Iruka, Sakura, Ino and Hinata and how he was going to bring the Fuin no Sho to Iwa as revenge against Konoha for praising the death of his parents. It wouldn't be too hard to convince the ANBU that he had been in league with someone from Iwa with that hitai-ate she had left on him.
Anyway, with Naruto she saw two possible scenarios in Iwa knowing about his heritage. One involved them killing him and the other involved them convincing him to betray Konoha, which would label him an enemy-nin and traitor in which case, he'd end up dead anyway as she would see to it herself that he died.
"A win/win situation," she thought, sniggering evilly to herself, "Bet you never saw that coming Uzu-mesu. No matter what happens now, your son's destined to meet his end even if I have to step in and make sure he's dead myself. Finally, your stain on my life will be removed and I will be laughing last."
Glossary
Kumogakure – Hidden Cloud
Kumo – Cloud
Raikage – Lightning Shadow (Leader of Kumo)
Kumo-nin – Cloud Ninja
Kage Bunshin – Shadow Clone
Tomoe – An abstract shape in Japanese culture i.e. swirl that resembles a comma, the Sharingan's tomoe represent its strength and each eye can have a maximum of three tomoe that surrounds the pupil.
Kinjutsu – Forbidden Techniques (Techniques that aren't allowed to be used either because it causes harm to the user themselves or because they defy the laws of nature i.e. resurrection jutsu)
Bunshinjutsu – Clone Techniques
Kage Bunshin no Jutsu – Shadow Clone Technique
Tajuu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu – Multiple Shadow Clone Technique
Kagetaka – Shadow Hawk (the woman's alias)
Tou-san – Father (the san suffix is meant as a sign of respect)
Kaa-san – Mother (the san suffix is meant as a sign of respect)
Oji-san – Uncle (the san suffix is meant as a sign of respect)
Authors notes – Another chapter done. I have to say I probably would have had this out earlier, but the computer was experiencing problems and I wasted all of yesterday trying to fix it, which I did (thank goodness). Anyway, I realise that in the anime Mizuki was in league with Orochimaru, but that was just a filler arch and I don't count those as canon, so I decided on Mizuki having a back-story and an alternative on wanting Naruto… and by extension, Sakura dead and the whole bit with his beating was just to add an element of humour. As for how Mizuki knew about Naruto's heritage, I'll reveal that eventually, but until then, have a guess. As for giving the woman a name (or at least an alias to address her by), I didn't just want to d her scenes just by calling her "the woman" and as for a name, I had a few ideas, but I didn't think those would fit and I finally came up with the name, Kagetaka as she has watched events like a hawk from the shadows. I'll admit, I'm not the best writer in the world, but I do my best. I've read the latest manga chapter and Sakura surprised me as she stood up for Naruto against Sasuke… something that I never thought would happen as in the past, Sakura would always side with Sasuke and beat Naruto down for "insulting" her precious Sasuke. I know that Sakura does care about Naruto (maybe not to the point of being in love, but enough to worry about him), but I always assumed that her love for Sasuke would override any care she had for Naruto. On a side note, I', going down to Calais, France this Wednesday, though I'll be leaving on the Tuesday and won't be back till the Thursday, so don't expect an update anytime soon. It'll probably be this time next week, perhaps a bit earlier before I can update (provided I don't get writer's block that puts me into another hiatus).