Whew, we made it people! Finally past all the exposition and backstory crap! So I'm going to be honest here, a lot of my enthusiasm for the chapter waned the further into I got. This is largely because of how close it follows the first episode of the series. I'll leave it up to you guys how to feel about that. I'm just glad that I managed to get it typed out in a week.

As usual, see you at the bottom!


Ink Stained Leaves

Chapter 12

Welcome to the White Charade


.xIx.

Fire…

Fire everywhere…

Ragged breaths escaped the boy's mouth as he rushed through the burning buildings, desperately trying to find someone, anyone. All he found were bodies, some burned, some burning, all with their eyes gouged out. He tried to find his way to his home, but found that with the fire and destruction the compound was next to unrecognizable. The boy tried to call out but the smoky air prevented him from doing such. Still, he tried. He tried to call for his father, his brother, his mother. Through bouts of coughing he would call out feebly.

No one heard.

Eventually he had to stop making his way through the compound as the flames became too intense for him. He attempted to shield his face from the heat only to have his hands and arms blister. The fire began to roar around him as he fell to his knees. Looking up he saw the flames begin to condense into a monstrous shape. Fiery red eyes looked down on him as a ghastly smile spread and the demonic figure laughed wickedly in triumph.

"The Uchiha have fallen! And now you will join them, Sasuke!"

"Sasuke!"

"Sasuke?!"

"Sasuke!?"

The Uchiha boy opened his weary eyes and looked up at the face of his sensei. Sasuke rubbed the sleepiness out of his eyes as he leaned into a sitting position.

'That dream again…'

"Are you back with us Uchiha-san?" asked the aged teacher. Sasuke gave a curt nod in response. "Good, wouldn't want you missing out on this announcement. With that in mind, Shikamaru? Are you with us as well?"

Rather than give a verbal answer the Nara boy lifted his hand for a second but didn't raise his head. To be expected really. How he got away with napping in class Sasuke didn't know. Granted he himself didn't fall asleep in class often, he must have trained a little too long last night.

"Alright, wouldn't want either of you to miss this announcement. As you all know, tomorrow is the final test to see if everything I've been teaching you for the past six years has stuck. As a reminder, you will be expected to pass a written test followed by your practical test. For the practical you'll have to be able to perform the three basic jutsu of transformation, substitution, and clones. Sai, can I trust that you'll inform Naruto of these requirements?"

"Hai, as soon as Iruka-sensei is finished with him." replied the pale boy.

"Very well. Now, if there are no further questions, you're all free to spend the rest of the day however you want, though I implore each of you to freshen up on your studies and training because tomorrow is a big day for all of us. Sasuke, a word after the bell if you would."

Students began to stream out of class as the bell rang. Sasuke remained in his seat and looked out the window until it was just him and Yomi-sensei. He knew what was coming. He knew as soon as he awoke from his slumber. Yomi walked over to the boy and took a seat in front of him.

"How are things going Sasuke?"

"Fine."

"I think we both know that's not true. Not entirely. You didn't use to fall asleep in class this often."

"I was up late training. It's nothing."

"It's not nothing Sasuke. If you need someone to talk I'm always here."

"I don't need to talk to anyone, let alone you Sensei."

Yomi frowned at the response. He had been hoping that the boy would open up to him, but alas he has remained distant. He let out a sigh. Yomi knew this would be the response but still he had hoped. "Alright. I won't push, just know that I'm here if you ever need to talk."

Sasuke didn't say anything as he stood and left the room leaving Yomi behind. He started thinking about the dream he had. It was always the same up until the end, the end was different every time. Last time he saw his mother being devoured by the fiery demon while she cried for him to save her. The time before that the demon morphed into a dragon and engulfed the rest of the village in flames. Never was he able to do anything to stop it.

Sasuke exited through the main doors and followed the familiar path he usually took to get home. It didn't take him long as thankfully his followers had to worry about finals tomorrow so didn't have time to bother him. Sasuke couldn't wait for tomorrow as he would finally be rid of most of the girls that were crushing on him. Sure, he was aware that he was going to be saddled with one of them as the team makeup often consisted of two boys and one girl. He strongly hoped that he would get a rare case of three boys, but wasn't holding his breath. Those were rare for a reason. If anything, he hoped that he at least got someone who wasn't one of his fangirls. He could stand it if it were Ammako or Hinata, those two didn't seem all that interested in him and took their training seriously. Here's to hoping.

He paused before he walked through the charred gates of the Uchiha compound. It didn't bother him so much to see those gates anymore, but he still felt that twinge of sadness every time he walked passed them. The years had worn away the worst of the damage wrought by the fire, but it was obvious that the scars remained. Many of the buildings were in ruin, shadows of their former selves, empty of any splendor they once held. He marched through the hollow district, focusing on his coming finals rather than the painful memories surrounding him.

Every now and then he would pass by a damaged building that had numerous empty ink wells surrounded by ink stains. Failed attempts to bring a little bit back of what was lost. There was a reason he didn't want to speak with Yomi-sensei after all.

He arrived at his home, a building built in what was once an empty plot meant to be turned into a garden. As always, he looked at the front door with disdain before entering. It wasn't home, no matter what everyone tried to tell him. His home was two blocks away, a charred ruin unfit for anything to live in. Shaking himself free of his thoughts, he entered. He took off his shoes and made his way to the living where he fell onto the couch. He pulled out a notebook and looked at his notes for the written portion of his finals. He didn't get to be the top of the class by skimping on his studying after all. Before he could really get into it though, he was distracted.

"Sasuke, come give me a hand with this." a voice called out.

Sasuke sighed and stood. "Coming Aniki."


.xIIx.

"You're not going home till you've cleaned off every single drop of paint." Iruka told Naruto as he watched him clean his graffiti off of the Hokage faces.

Naruto grumbled in annoyance as he scrubbed. He didn't understand why they were making him do this. Wouldn't it have been quicker to have one of the genin teams clean this up? He was clearly missing the point, but he continued.

"Come on! Sai's waiting for me! Can't I do this after the exam tomorrow?"

"No you can't. You don't get to decide when you go through your punishment Naruto. Be happy that this is all you have to do. Normally we would make vandals clean up their mess as well as pay a fine."

Naruto huffed as he dipped his brush into his bucket of soapy water. He had almost gotten away, why was it that Iruka-sensei could always find him? He managed to get away from those other chunins, so why was it that his teacher seemed to be able to track him down where ever he hid? Even the Uchiha police couldn't catch him when he set his mind to it. He had to find out his secret.

"How are you always able to find me Sensei?" he asked as he focused on a troublesome patch of paint.

"You can't trick a trickster Naruto. Don't be fooled at how I am now, I used to be just as bad as you at your age. I know what you're thinking because I pulled the same crap that you do. You'd have to wake up pretty early to pull one over me." Iruka replied.

"If you were like me, then why don't you let me get away with anything huh?"

"Because I grew up and realized that my pranks aren't the way to get people to acknowledge me. I know you're after the same thing. You need to show the people that you're more than a troublemaker."

"If it's that simple, then why didn't you tell me this before?"

"Would you have listened? I'm only saying it now because you asked. I know some people seem like they deserve some kind of punishment for how they act, but who are you punishing by defacing our monument? There are people who rely on this mountain as a source of security and if you damage it they lose some hope."

Naruto let that sink and started to show a little regret. "Oh. I didn't think about that." In retrospect, it made sense. Hokage Rock was meant to show the villagers that their Hokages, past and present, would always be there to watch over them. How did it look to them when the shinobi forces allowed such vandalism to happen.

"Why would you even do this Naruto? I thought you looked up to the Hokages. You want to be Hokage someday don't you?"

Naruto thought about that for a moment. "Because I want to be greater than all of them. I don't know, this just seemed like a way to show people that I can be just as good as them, maybe even better. The best of the best, you know." He thought back to his first year at the academy, the drawing that he drew. "I just want people to stop looking at me the way they do. Like I did something horrible to them or something."

Iruka stared down at the boy with a saddened look. "I understand that Naruto, more than you'll ever know. But this isn't the way to go about it. It won't be easy and you only make it more difficult for yourself by wrecking things. That'll only make people dislike you more. What is Mrs. Orange always telling you? You need to show people that you're better than their thoughts of you."

"But that's so hard!"

"And it always will be. Those people don't know you like I do, they don't understand how their remarks and glares make you feel. You have to be the better person or they'll only ever see the troublemaker and not the wonderful person I know you are."

"But why do they hate me? I never did anything to them before."

Iruka hesitated. He couldn't tell Naruto, even if there wasn't a law in place preventing him from doing so. It would crush him. He couldn't bring himself to lie either, so he remained quiet.

"You know, don't you Sensei?" for once reading the mood and coming to a conclusion.

"I can't say. That's all I allowed to offer I'm afraid." Iruka lamented.

Naruto's face fell as he felt slightly betrayed at Iruka's words. So it was true, there was a reason. A reason that nobody was telling him.

"Look Naruto. I'm sorry that I can't say anything, but my hands are tied. I'm not going to ask you to understand, but please be patient. If you can pass tomorrow's exam then you'll be a ninja and be privy to certain information."

It took a second for Naruto to catch on. "You mean like why everyone hates me?"

"Perhaps. I couldn't say. That's up to the Hokage." Iruka saw Naruto wasn't convinced. He hated seeing him like this. "Naruto?"

"What now Sensei?" Naruto asked a little bitterly.

"Well, I was just thinking. Maybe after you clean this all up I can take you out for some ramen. The good stuff. What do you think?"

Naruto looked up at Iruka. "Trying to buy me off with ramen Sensei?"

Iruka smiled. "Maybe a little."

"Sounds like motivation. This would be faster if I had some help you know." he replied a smile appearing.

"Hey, you made this mess, not me."

Naruto groaned.

The bowl clattered on the counter top. Naruto sighed heavily as he finished off his third bowl of ramen. He perked up when a fourth appeared. "I should make you feel guilty more often if I get this kind of treatment." he said as he began digging into it.

"Hey now, that's not very fair Naruto. You know I can only afford to feed you once a week." Iruka responded.

"Maybe if you took that Jonin position the Hokage has been offering you."

"Hey, how do you know about that?"

"I have my ways. Didn't you say that you knew all my tricks?" Naruto said coyly around his ramen.

"We'll come back to that. I have my reasons and that's all I'm saying on the matter." Iruka said while thinking how he could tell the Hokage about this.

Naruto seemed content with that and continued to eat his meal. The two sat in silence as they both ate. After a bit Iruka decided to ask the boy something he had been wondering about for a while.

"Hey Naruto. Has Rao said anything about me?"

"Huh? I don't think so. I wouldn't really know, she's usually talking about shrine stuff so I zone out most of the time. That and I haven't seen her in the past couple days, she told me she was going to go on a trip some place, I don't remember where. Why do you want to know?"

"Oh, no reason." Iruka said hastily, trying to hide the redness on his cheeks. He had to change the subject. "So, think you're ready for the exam tomorrow?"

"Why are you asking Sensei? You saw my clone earlier. How am I supposed to figure that out overnight? I haven't been able to get the hang of it since you guys taught it to us. I don't know what I'm doing wrong."

Iruka thought about that. It was true that Naruto struggled with the clone jutsu more than the others he learned. The illusionary copy he made of himself earlier looked sickly and pale. He had honestly never seen anything like it. He had a suspicion at the cause, but he couldn't confirm as no one except Jiraiya-sama was allowed to look at the seal on Naruto. But he couldn't say anything. Maybe he could take this to the Hokage. But even then, there was simply no telling why the boy had trouble with it, his technique was near flawless. He lacked the practiced motions that experience would bring, but other than that he performed it properly. The results said otherwise.

Iruka initially thought that it was just Naruto screwing around, but when it got to be this close to exams and he was showing worry over not being able to perform it, the chunin had to change his thinking on it. Even when the class was performing better than all the other classes in all areas he still struggled with this one. He didn't look forward to it if he had to turn down Naruto's promotion to genin if he failed the test tomorrow.

"I'm not sure Naruto. I'm positive things will work out though."

"If you say so." Naruto didn't look convinced.

Things didn't pick up from there. So when all the ramen had been finished, Iruka did the only thing he could do right now and offered to walk Naruto home.


.xIIIx.

Mizuki prowled the village streets with a self-satisfied smirk as the sun was beginning to set over the village. He still didn't believe that no one noticed that the Fox had an overabundance of Yang chakra that prevented it from forming a clone. How they missed that one he would never know, especially that decrepit old fool who taught the class. Must be going senile in his old age to not notice that. He didn't understand why neither of those two old fools saw the threat of teaching the Fox to become a better killer could mean. Even most of his plans to sabotage the Fox's training were thwarted by that bastard Onigiri. Still, so long as no one discovered the Fox's issues by tomorrow then it would fail. The silver haired chunin chuckled to himself.

Things were going his way. The Fox would fail to become a ninja. Iruka still thought that they were friends and he could covertly make him miserable. His fiancée was ignorant of his numerous dalliances while she away on missions. He couldn't believe that everything was working out so perfectly. Just went to show how much better he was. Shame he wouldn't be around to see this village fall. He couldn't wait for tomorrow to arrive quickly enough. For that was when all his planning would come to fruition and he could finally leave this forsaken pit.

'Orochimaru-sama will be so pleased with me. Perhaps he'll allow me to join him in immorality. I need to celebrate, I won't be able to once I take the scroll and kill that monster.'

Once he thought of that, he went back to seeking out a bar. He could always find some civilian girl who was willing to spend a night with one of the village's elite shinobi at one. It was just a matter of finding one dumb enough to believe his lies of grandeur. He didn't have to worry about other ninja as most of them either went to the shinobi bar or drank at home. He couldn't believe it when he discovered that. It made his cheating all the easier.

He spied a place that he had been to several times. The girls here were often of the ditzy sort and more often than not fell for his charms. He entered with a swagger and went straight to the counter. He noticed that they had a new bartender. He frowned at that. The guy that was usually there often helped him out with picking up women, for a price of course. Looked like he was going to be on his own tonight as he wasn't sure he could bribe this guy. Not that it mattered, he picked up women before on his own, it was just easier with a wingman.

He took a seat and ordered a drink and just watched. Mizuki took note of every woman that entered the bar. He avoided groups, it was hard to convince a single girl to part from the rest of her friends. He simply ignored older women, too crafty and wrinkly for his tastes. So distracted he was with the women entering that he failed to notice the ones that were already in the bar. He felt a pat on his shoulder and he turned. To his surprise he saw a wickedly attractive woman before him.

"Hey handsome. What brings you here?" she asked through a smile that would melt any man's heart. Too bad for her his was cold to the core. Mizuki smiled back.

"Oh, you know. Looking for some company after a long day at work."

"Is that so? Buy a girl a drink and tell me all about it?" she asked taking a seat next to him.

'Of course. Bartender! A drink for the lady." Mizuki sipped from his own drink and took in what he saw before him. The lady was wearing a dress tight enough and showed enough skin that it didn't leave much to the imagination. His eyes made their way up her curvaceous body and rested momentarily on her breast. After that he took in the rest of her. Bright orange hair that covered half of her face seductively, eyes that hinted of things to come, and a mouth with lips full enough to die for.

Her drink arrived and he watched as she sucked on the straw, her eyes on his as she did so. "So what brings a lovely lady like yourself to a dive like this?"

"Oh, you know, looking for company. Haven't found anyone yet."

"Maybe you haven't met the right guy?"

"You wouldn't happen to know where I could find the right guy would you." she said kneeling in closer.

"Oh, I think I can name someone. He doesn't go out with just anyone though. He needs to know first what the girl is after."

"Oh, well, if you can pass this along." She brought her lips to his ear and whispered what she was after to Mizuki. His face flushed as his heartbeat quickened. Jackpot. "And that's just the first round. So, you think he'll be interested?"

Mizuki slammed a handful of ryō's onto the counter. "Keep the change." He stood with the woman and followed her outside. "So, your place or mine?" he asked.

"Mmm… let's go to your place. Mine is quite far and I would prefer to start sooner rather than later." she purred.

Before long the two were entering Mizuki's place. It wasn't until they entered that Mizuki cursed letting his groin do the thinking. He left out a lot of incriminating items in his kitchen, but he couldn't pass his chance with this woman up. He would just steer her to the bedroom and keep her busy enough until he had time to clean up. Once she was in he closed the door and locked up. Turning around he saw that she was already seated on his couch and looking at him with hunger in her eyes. Smiling, he confidently strode to her and sat down.

"So, where do we start?" he asked.

"I was thinking with this." she said as she pulled him to her and placed her lips on his. He was surprised at first but quickly got into it. He felt her tongue enter his mouth and he groaned in pleasure. He still couldn't believe his luck, to have this woman with him along with everything else, Kami must be smiling down on him.

He started to lean more into the kiss and attempted to pusher her beneath him. To his surprise she pushed back until he was the one underneath her and she straddled his crotch. She leaned back to catch her breath and placed a hand on his chest. Her other she rose to her mouth where licked her index finger seductively. Mizuki tried to lean up so that he could kiss her again but she pushed him back down. She giggled at his confused look before she leaned back down and slammed her lips back to his. Once again he felt her tongue push past his lips and touch his own.

He started to twirl his tongue around hers in response but hesitated when he began to feel something weird. The sensation spread across his tongue and started to go down his throat. He tried to push her off him but she held tight, keeping her lips against his even when he started to struggle. The feeling began to tingle as it spread further rapidly through his body. He felt his limbs start to go numb and unresponsive and he started to panic. Did she just poison him?

After about a minute of this she finally leaned back and checked to make sure he wasn't going to move. She stood and walked out of his field of vision as even his eyes wouldn't respond to his commands, leaving him looking up at his ceiling. He heard her moving around and could only imagine what she was up too. A few more seconds passed and she returned to look down at him. She still wore that smile she had when he met her at the bar, this time though her eye were empty of any emotion. That was the last thing he saw before blacking out.


.xIVx.

Iruka arrived at the school the next morning and though he was prepared for the day, he wasn't sure he was ready emotionally. Sure, he was going to be proud to see many of the students that he had helped train for the past six years to become ninja of the village. On the other hand, it wasn't easy to have to see them off. He had gotten so used to seeing their faces every day that he didn't even think what it would be like when they finally moved on to their ninja careers. Of course, that wasn't all he was concerned about. His thoughts drifted to Naruto and his clone issue. He hoped that it was just a mental thing that the boy would be able to overcome, but he had his doubts. Time would tell.

Arriving at the classroom, Iruka noticed he was the first to show. Not too surprising, even Yomi didn't get to the school until just before class started. Onigiri and Mizuki usually didn't show until their portion of training began. But seeing as today was finals, both were expected to be here early to help administer the exam. If everything went to schedule then everything should be finished up around lunch.

So Iruka waited and prepped things for the first round of exams, the written portion. As he organized the papers the door opened and in walked Yomi. They gave their morning greetings as Yomi moved to his desk and pulled out his own paperwork. It was getting close to when the students should begin to arrive that Onigiri shambled his way into class. Why he continued with the deception of the weak old man Iruka would never know. He had asked Yomi about it once but even he didn't know.

Students began to stream into the room, all of them excited or stressed. It was a big day for them after all. Today's tests will determine whether or not they become ninja. If not, then they'd have to wait for the next round of exams, about three months from now and again three months after that. Iruka saw Naruto and Sai enter and noticed that Naruto wasn't as energetic as he usually was. If anything he looked worried and concerned. Not a good sign.

It was only after most of the students had arrived that Mizuki waltzed in. He looked a little worse for wear, usually after a hard night. He looked weary and a little confused, but other than that he seemed fine. Iruka walked up to the silver haired chunin.

"Hey buddy, looks like you had a rough night. You alright to teach?"

Mizuki blinking wearily at Iruka for a second while he registered the question. "Yeah, I'm good. I don't really remember what I did last night. I remember going to the bar, but nothing after that." He rubbed his eyes. "It doesn't feel like I drank that much, I'm just really tired and am having trouble remembering is all. Must have been one hell of a drink right?"

"Why did you choose to even go out at all? Why are you covering your eye?"

"Dunno, seemed like a good idea at the time. I think I must have fell and bruised it. Don't want to show a shiner you know? Doesn't really matter. I'm just waiting for my caffeine pills to kick in and I'll be right as rain."

Iruka shrugged his shoulders as he went back to sorting his paperwork.

It wasn't too long before the bell rang. Yomi along with the other three all stood at the front of the class. "Students, today you are all about to take your first to becoming what you have trained the past six years for. I know some of you may be stressing out about how you'll do, but rest assured, I am positive that you'll do just fine. For right now, we have the written exam. Do your best everyone."

Iruka was going his half of the finished exams and was quite pleased to see that nearly all of them had done fairly well and even the ones who weren't still passed. To his surprise he found Naruto's in his pile and held his breath as he graded it. He knew the boy wasn't the best when it came to anything that other than physical training, but he was pleasantly surprised to find that Naruto's test turned out alright. Sai's influence he had to guess.

He looked up at the clock and saw that lunch was about to end soon. He finished the rest of the tests and was happy to see that none failed outright, that had to be some kind of record. He'd leave that to others though as he was going to take pride in the fact that he was one of the instructors responsible for this achievement. He put the tests away and gave his result to Yomi as he prepared for the final round of exams, the jutsu tests.

It didn't take long for the students to return and be seated. Yomi stood once again and said, "I hope you all enjoyed your lunches. You're going to need the energy for this next segment. You will all be called to the room next door and will be asked to perform three jutsus. These jutsu will the henge jutsu, the kawarimi no jutsu, and the bunshin no jutsu. Should you perform all three, you will be handed a headband and officially join the ninja ranks of Konoha." He gestured at the item in his hand, a blue headband with the metal plate marked by the leaf symbol of Konohagakure. Yomi, Onigiri, and Mizuki all left the classroom to prepare while Iruka remained to call over the students.

"Ok, first up is Akimichi Choji…"

So it went, each student showing what they could do and nearly all passed with flying colors. A few civilian students failed to meet the standards that had been set, but they were welcome to try again in a few months. But for right now it was the point that Iruka had been dreading all day. It was Naruto's turn to perform his jutsu and he looked as worried on the outside that Iruka felt inside.

"Next we have Uzumaki Naruto. Please come on over." Iruka said.

Naruto didn't respond at first, remaining in his seat. Sai put his hand onto his shoulder and gave him a comforting smile. Though it didn't appear to lift Naruto's mood, it did get him out of his seat as he walked somberly to the door. He followed Iruka to the next room over and got into position. Standing in front of his four instructors he looked a little nervous but he shook it off as he mentally prepped himself for what was coming.

"Alright Naruto, you know what you need to do. Show us what you got." Mizuki said encouragingly.

"And don't you even think of pulling off that transformation you did yesterday!" Iruka warned. Naruto smiled sheepishly at that but let it go pretty quickly.

Naruto let out the breath he had been holding and performed the hand signs for the Henge and transformed into a perfect copy of Iruka. Iruka stood up to inspect his doppelganger. Everything was in place, including the smaller scar next to his more noticeable one on the bridge of his nose. He even held himself correctly and wore a smirk that matched his own. He jotted down a few notes before giving Naruto a passing score. He sat back down and gestured for the boy to continue.

Naruto next did the kawarimi and he did so perfectly, seamlessly replacing himself with the log that had been provided. A nodding of heads amidst the instructors showed they all passed him. It was only now that Naruto hesitated. His hands were positioned correctly but he didn't channel his chakra into it.

"Is something wrong Naruto?" Yomi asked.

"N-no, Sensei." Naruto said. 'Alright. Get it together, Naruto. You can do this.'

A puff of smoke appeared and where a clone should have been standing there was instead a sickly looking thing that only just barely could be said to look like Naruto. The boy's face fell upon seeing the pathetic clone he had made. Looks passed between the instructors as none of them were really looking forward to what had to happen next.

"Yomi-san. Onigiri-san. Iruka." The three turned to Mizuki. "He's off, but his moves weren't bad and he did hang in there and replicate. We could cut him a break and pass him."

Onigiri was the first to respond. "I don't think that would be very responsible."

Iruka shook his head. "The other students were able to create at least three clones each. Naruto was only able to create the one. And look at it, it's pitiful. It would be irresponsible for any of us to pass him."

Naruto was shaking in anger at this point.

Yomi looked at the boy as he spoke. "I'm sorry Naruto. We won't be able to pass you at this time. You're free to try again in three months' time." he said with a frown.

Naruto sat outside the main doors of the school on an old swing hanging off tree. He watched all of his former classmates celebrating with their friends and family, proudly showing off their leaf headbands. It only made things hurt all the more to see Sai walk out the doors wearing his headband. Sai looked around trying to locate his friend. He finally spotted him and walked over at first with a smile which vanished as he saw that Naruto wasn't wearing a headband. With even having to guess, he already knew why.

"It was the bunshin wasn't it."

Naruto nodded solemnly. "Could you leave me alone for a while? I need some time."

Sai shook his head and knelt down. "I know how you get Naruto. I'm not leaving you alone right now. You're liable to do something rash if someone isn't around to talk you out of it."

Naruto sighed in acknowledgement. He knew Sai was right and hated to admit it. He was glad that Sai was willing to be there and sit next to him through this rough time and was about to say so when he heard the other people start talking.

"Ugh, look. It's here."

"I can't believe they even let him take the exam. What was the Hokage thinking?"

"Hmmph, I heard he failed his exam. Thank Kami for small favors. Who knows what would've happened if he was made a ninja. I mean really, he's the boy who…"

"Shhh! We're not supposed to say that out loud! Do you want to die!?"

Sai heard this as well as Naruto and tried to get ahead of what he guessed was about to happen. He turned to Naruto only to find that his friend was already gone. He looked around but saw no trace of Naruto. Not knowing what to do, Sai took Naruto's seat and hung his head in shame.

Naruto meanwhile was running through the village with tears streaming down his face. It wasn't fair. He tried his best and still failed. He had been trying for months to master the Bunshin no Jutsu and nothing he tried worked. Sai tried to help him and that failed. He asked Yomi-sensei for help and his advice did nothing. Mizuki-sensei even showed him a trick that was supposed to work and still nothing.

All of his hard work was for nothing.

He finally stopped running when he reached the foot of Hokage Rock. He wasn't sure why he ran here but he looked up at the faces carved into the rocky cliff face, bitterness in his eyes.

He didn't say anything as he continued to stare up at the village's former leaders shaking in anger. At this point he wasn't entirely sure what he sought to achieve here. After his punishment yesterday, he was weary of vandalizing the monument again in such a short amount of time. He could only imagine what Iruka-sensei would do to him if he caught Naruto defacing it again. He closed his eyes and took a few deep breathes.

He fell to his knees as more tears began to stream. What was he going to do now? His whole life he trained for this moment only to have success yanked away because of his own inability to perform a simple jutsu. Sure, he could wait the three months to try again, but then he wouldn't be able to try and get on a team with Sai. He'd be saddled with people he didn't even know and would more than likely show the same amount of resentment that everyone else did. Even if he ended up with someone other than Sai from his class, they were at least used to him and probably wouldn't be as hateful towards him.

He wasn't sure if he could overcome that. Sure, he usually didn't let things keep him down too long, but in this case it hurt more than anything he had been through before. So deep in thought he was that he didn't even notice when a figure approached him from behind.

Naruto twitched a little when the figure sat down next to him, revealing it to be Mizuki-sensei.

"Those three can be pretty tough huh." the silver haired man said.

Naruto said nothing, the sting of betrayal still fresh on his mind. How could Iruka-sensei not even give him a chance? They didn't even let him try again, surely a second chance wasn't out of the question.

"They're not against you, you know. They just have responsibilities they have to maintain."

"Then why?"

"They want you to be strong. All of their training is meant to give you the strength to serve the village. But that won't happen if they went easy on you. Iruka especially would've wanted you to pass. You two are an awful lot a like you know. He didn't have parents growing up either. Didn't have many friends either. No one was there while he was growing up. It really tore him up to have to say you failed."

Naruto turned his gaze back to the mountain. "I just really wanted to graduate, you know? Finally show everyone what I can do."

Mizuki smiled before he spoke. "Hmm, guess that settles it. Would you like to hear a secret?"

"Huh?"

Mizuki's smile grew wider.

Iruka was settling in for the day, feeling more than a little miserable. He couldn't really think about anything else. But what else could he do? He had let Naruto pass then the boy would have gone into the ninja world unprepared and vulnerable. He didn't want to be responsible if Naruto got hurt. He wasn't sure how Yomi or Onigiri felt, but he knew they took it pretty hard having to fail a student. Though they didn't have to emotional connection to him that Iruka did. They cared in their own way, but not the way Iruka did.

Sure, he didn't feel great having to turn down the other students, but unlike Naruto, they weren't even able to perform the Henge or Kawarimi. Naruto managed that and did so near flawlessly, only missing the years of experience to pull them off smoothly. But honestly, those kids weren't as broken up about failing as Naruto was. Naruto's desire to pass was greater than theirs' he knew as he heard them saying that they were only there because their parents wanted them to be.

It was as he contemplated all this that he was torn from his thoughts as someone started violently knocking on his door.

"Alright, alright. I hear you." he spoke loudly to his door as he approached it. Opening it he found the face of Mizuki staring back at him.

"You're needed by the Hokage. Naruto has done something terrible."

"Ah man, why did the first one have to a clone jutsu? Ah well, this one looks different, maybe I can do this."

"We need to find him immediately! There's no telling what that little demon could do with those jutsu!"

"Hokage-sama! Listen to reason. We can't leave him alive with what he knows now! Those jutsu are forbidden for a reason!"

"You moron! If we killed him we get rid of the Fox! The other villages would be on us as soon as they found out. We'd leave the village vulnerable to attack!"

"Forget the brat! What if someone gets their hands on the scroll?! This could spell the end of our village should it fall into the wrong hands!"

Hiruzen rubbed his temples in annoyance. For more reasons than what was being yelled around him right now. He couldn't believe that Naruto was able to get past with him such a simple jutsu. He would take the truth of what happened to his grave. It didn't help his headache having to hear some of the short sighted views that many of this ninja had. Even the few open minded comments he heard had some form of biasness to them. What he couldn't figure out was why Naruto would do such a thing. He had heard about his exam. He didn't think that Naruto become a criminal just because he failed his test, something else was at play here. Hiruzen just didn't know what.

The aged Hokage saw Mizuki run up with Iruka, finally completing the group of tracker nins who were in the village. He really wished that Kakashi was in the village right now. This whole situation would have been resolved in short order. As it was, he was working with he had. His only hope of settling this as quickly as possible was Iruka's uncanny ability to track down Naruto. Now that he was here, he could give the order.

"Bring Naruto to me. Alive."

"Hai." rang out the voices of ninja as they took off.

After nearly a half hour of searching, Iruka finally tracked down Naruto in a far off corner of the village in a heavily wooded area. He was breathing heavily as he had searched faster and harder than the others looking for the boy. He had to be the first one, he had to get answers. The others would just capture him and turn him in. Maybe even kill him. He knew the anger and bitterness that many of his fellow ninja felt towards Naruto, if they got the chance they would take it. Now that Naruto had taken a seriously dangerous item, they could justify going against the Hokage's orders to bring him in. So he had to be first.

He took a second to catch his breath as he saw that Naruto wasn't going anywhere and was too engrossed in his reading to notice him walking up. "Naruto! Turn yourself in! It's all over!"

Naruto finally noticed Iruka coming up behind and turned, a large grin on his face.

"You found me already Sensei? That's got to be a record. It usually takes you longer to track me down. I only had time to learn one jutsu."

"Learn? You've been reading through the scroll?"

"Well yeah, I thought I was supposed to. Why else would I have to take it?"

"What? Why would you think that you had to take it? That's never been a thing!"

"But Mizuki-sensei said that I wanted to graduate I had to take this scroll. He said to evade anyone who came after me. I just thought that I had learn something to pass."

"Mizuki told you to…" Iruka was in the middle of saying before he leapt to the side, barely dodging the kunai that was sent flying to his back.

"Impressive reaction time there Iruka. I was sure that I managed hide my presence." Mizuki said as he crept out of the shadows.

Naruto was frozen in place as the kunai had embedded itself not too far from his foot. He had no idea what was going on. He thought he was doing what he'd been told to.

Iruka on the other hand said nothing as he glared at the man he thought was his friend. He had just tried to kill him. If he hadn't dodged he would be dead right now. He noted that the throw was meant to hit him in a way that if it missed it wouldn't have hit Naruto. He didn't know what to think of that just yet. He needed answers.

"Why are you doing this Mizuki? Why have Naruto steal the Scroll of Sealing?"

"Why? Information really. I needed confirmation on a suspicion I had. Having the boy steal the scroll provided a reason for people to freak out and talk. And my plan worked so well. So many worrying what he would do with that knowledge that they didn't bother to stop and keep their tongues in check." Mizuki said as if it were the simplest thing to understand.

"What? I don't…" Iruka started but was interrupted.

"Oh I know you don't understand. You're not meant to. In fact, you won't be around long enough for it to bother you."

"Sensei? What's going on?"

"Naruto run, get out of here!" Iruka told the blond.

"Nothing you need to worry about Naruto-kun. Just be a good boy and stay put for a minute would you? I need to take care of this nuisance here." Mizuki responded.

"Don't listen to him Naruto. Take the scroll and run!"

"Oh please, like I need the scroll. Such a pitiful thing compared to the font of power holding it."

"Huh?" Naruto was so confused.

Even Iruka was starting to lose sense of what was going on. Mizuki had never referred to Naruto in such a way. And to dismiss the scroll as nothing. The item held knowledge of forbidden techniques so powerful that they could decide the destiny of the Elemental Nations should they fall into the wrong hands. The font of power holding it? The only one holding the scroll right now was Naruto so what could he mea… No. No no. He couldn't mean…

Iruka turned to Naruto with a frightened expression as a few things started to become clear to him. "Naruto you need to run now!"

Naruto finally managed to shake off the fear and confusion that was holding him in place and took off into the forest. Mizuki stepped forward in a feeble attempt to stop him but gave up half way through.

"Ah man, now I'm going to have to track him down."

"Like I would let you anywhere near him. What do you want with Naruto?"

"What does it matter to you? You'll be dead soon. The dead don't need to know anything. You should be thanking me. Death is a release from the pains of living." Mizuki said, his expression never changing.

Iruka said nothing as he took up a battle stance. He took out a kunai and stood between Mizuki and the direction that Naruto ran off in.

Mizuki simply stared at Iruka as if he were nothing more than a nuisance. "You're really going to make me fight you? Make things easy for yourself and just let me kill you now. You won't like where things go if you resist."

Iruka said nothing as he charged his former friend.

"Fine. Have it your way." Mizuki said as he charged as well.

Naruto leapt through the trees going as fast as he could. He had no idea what was going on. Why had those two turned on each other? Why was Mizuki suddenly talking to so funny? He had a lot of question but he wasn't sure who he should ask for answers. He now saw that Mizuki had tricked him, but he didn't understand what he meant when he was talking earlier. While he knew he was the one that Mizuki was talking about as he was the only one holding the scroll but he didn't know why.

What could Mizuki have been talking about? He wasn't a font of power. What was a font anyway? Didn't fonts have something to do with writing? He was so confused.

"Oooh Narutooo-kuun? Where are you?" Mizuki's voice carried through the forest. Naruto stopped moving and hid in the branches of a tree and listened.

"Come out, come out where ever you are. I'm not out to hurt you Naruto-kun. I only want to tell you the truth. The reason why everyone hates you so much. Wouldn't you like to know why? I know you do."

Naruto knew that he should keep himself hidden, but he felt his curiosity was hooked. He would finally know why everyone shunned him. He remained hidden but he could feel his resolve to remain so start to erode.

"Come on. I'm on the up and up here. I have no reason to lie you know. You deserve to know why you've been treated as you have your whole life. You want to know. You need to know."

Naruto remained in his hiding spot now wondering what happened to Iruka-sensei. Something had to have happened if he wasn't there defying Mizuki. That was the only thing keeping him from running out there and demanding answers.

"OK, fine. I know you can hear me so I'm just going to say it. You know how the village was attacked twelve years ago by the Nine-Tailed Fox. Well they've been keeping how that night really ended a secret. The Fourth Hokage wasn't able to kill the Fox. There isn't a ninja alive strong enough to kill a beast as mighty as the Kyuubi. No. The Fourth did the only thing he could do. He sealed the Beast inside a new born child. Guess who that child was Naruto. I'll give you three guesses but you'll only need one."

Things were making too much sense to Naruto now that everything had been said out loud. The villagers' hatred towards him. His general treatment by nearly everyone. But he would be a pretty lousy ninja if he only took this foe at his word. He could be saying anything to figure out where he was.

"I know you're starting to put the pieces together Naruto-kun. You may not be the sharpest kunai in the pouch, but I know you're smart enough to figure this one out. How does it feel knowing that these small minded people hate you for something that you had no control over? Why would you want to remain here where their cold stares will never accept you?"

Naruto was starting to get emotional now. It didn't help that he was starting to believe what the man was saying, but to say that everyone in the village hated just wasn't' true. He had Sai, and the Oranges, the Old man, Iruka, and even Rao. There was no way that he would leave them.

"I know what you're thinking. You have those people in your life that managed to look past what the other villagers think of you. Here's some truth for you though. Most of them don't know what you are. That older couple arrived after the Fox attacked. That friend of yours is just as clueless as every other brat in the village along with those people at the ramen stand you love so much. A decree passed to try and hide the fact that you are what you are. Do you think Iruka really likes you? He's scared of you. Terrified even. More than likely only befriended you in hopes that when your power is unleashed that you'll spare him out of loyalty. How do you think the ones who don't know would react once they hear what you are? You can't trust them Naruto. They'd grow to hate you as much as everyone else."

Depression was starting to set in. Would everyone he had come to care about really turn their backs on him when they learned of what he held within? It terrified him at the thought. He felt tears to fall down his cheeks and he raised a hand to wipe them away only to have his hand brush against a branch, causing it to rustle. Before he could flinch in fear Mizuki's face appeared in front of him.

"Found you."

Naruto reeled backwards from the man and fell out of the tree. Luckily he landed on his head, so wasn't that injured when he rolled himself off the ground. Still holding the scroll tightly he backed away from the tree he was in as quickly as he could. Mizuki dropped out of the tree with a confidant swagger as he landed and looked at Naruto. The blond pulled out a kunai and went into a defensive stance.

"We're never going to build any trust if you keep running and hiding Naruto-kun. If you just come with me I'm more than willing to tell you everything you'd want to know." Mizuki held out his hand towards the frightened boy.

Naruto looked down at the given hand, frowned and straightened his back in defiance. "Why would I join you? You did something to Iruka-sensei!"

"I can understand why you wouldn't trust me after this, but given time you'll see that I'm right."

"NO! What kind of ninja would I be if I abandoned everything that I'm meant to protect?"

"Ah, you see, that's where you're wrong. You're not a ninja. Did that fall make you forget that you failed your exam?" Mizuki said as he stood there looking bored and annoyed. "I'm getting real tired of this you know. We're running out of time here. No telling when the others are going to show up. Now, you either come with me willingly or I'll worry about gaining your trust later and just take you. Either way you're coming with me."

Naruto stood his ground and didn't budge as he continued to glare at Mizuki. The man sighed in frustration. "You're gonna make me work for this aren't you? What am I saying? Of course you are. Very well, let's get this over with."

Mizuki took one step forward only to suddenly flip backwards as a hail of shuriken flew into the spot he had previously occupied. He smiled as he turned his head to look behind him. "Iruka. Still alive I see."

Sure enough, there was Iruka leaping out of a tree looking more than a little beat up with ragged and bloody clothing. He was breathing heavily as he held a hand to a particularly bloody spot on his torso. He coughed as he attempted to say something.

"I already told you. You're not laying a hand on Naruto." Iruka coughed some more, this time hacking out some blood. He struggled to continue standing as he took a couple of shaky steps forward. "I heard everything you said to Naruto. You're wrong. I befriended Naruto because he needed someone to help him. To guide him. I know I'm late to that, he already had the Oranges and Sai. But you know what they say, you can never have enough friends. And Naruto needs friends. His life isn't going to be easy. It'll be hard. All the more so because of his burden. He needs someone to remind him of why he's doing what he is. It's easy to lose focus of what's important in our line of work."

Iruka collapsed at that point, falling to his knees as he coughed up more blood. Still he continued speaking. "You have so little faith in what he's after that you think you can manipulate him to you think he should be. Naruto can be whatever he wants. You don't get to decide that for him. No one can."

Mizuki looked down at the fallen Iruka and blinked a few times. "You picked the wrong person to give the whole be-who-you-want-to-be speech to. It doesn't matter anyway. You're going to be dead soon and then I'll just grab the boy and be on my merry way. So why don't you do us all a favor and die already."

"Don't you dare touch him!" Naruto shouted as he charged Mizuki. The man sighed as he sidestepped the charge and tripped the boy. Naruto tumbled forward and rolled a couple times before flipping back to his feet, now firmly placed between Mizuki and Iruka.

Mizuki seemed amused by this as he chuckled a little. "I don't have to do anything. He's bleeding out and will be dead soon. He's half dead anyway."

Naruto panicked at those words. Iruka was dying? He needed to get him help. "I'll… I'll save him!"

"And how do you plan to do that? The only place you're going is with me and I'm not about to let you go get help."

"I-I'll stop you!" Naruto said as his knees stopped shaking and he straightened his stance.

"Oh yeah? You and what army?"

Naruto smirked at those words. "This one. Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" They area they were in suddenly filled with smoke. When it cleared Iruka saw that every available space was filled with clones of Naruto.

Mizuki let out an impressed whistle and looked all around him. "I gotta say, wasn't expecting you to get over your little problem. But you failed to actually capitalize on your window of opportunity and not get Iruka out while you the chance. These illusions can't help you." Mizuki reached out to grab Naruto only to have his hand stopped by one of the clones. A confused look spread over his face.

"Who said they were illusions?" Naruto said as another came flying down from a tree and delivered a powerful axe kick to Mizuki's head. Before he could respond to that attack another Naruto dove into his legs throwing them out from under him. He landed hard on the ground as several other clones went in for the attack. Iruka lost track of what was happening after that as he couldn't see through the bodies exactly what they were doing to Mizuki, he could only hear the groans, grunts, and shouts he made as a result of his beating.

While his clones dealt with Mizuki, the real Naruto was kneeling next to Iruka administering first aid. Iruka wasn't going to be walking away on his own, but at least he wasn't bleeding out anymore. Naruto sent one of his clones to flag down some help and remained near Iruka for the time being.

The Naruto clones all backed off from a bruised and beaten Mizuki who despite all odds was still conscious if only barely. He seemed out of it, though this could have been because he couldn't visually focus on anything. Naruto walked over and looked down at the defeated man. Mizuki looked around at the numerous Naruto's and his confusion grew even more.

"What?" was all he was able to mutter before he passed out. It was over. Naruto fell back onto the ground next to Iruka in exhaustion, mentally and physically.

Both males smiled at each other as they heard several voices start to converge on their location. Seemed like things were starting to look up. Figuring that everyone was a few minutes away at least, Iruka felt now was a good time to speak with Naruto.

"So you finally managed to make a clone."

Naruto gave a smug smile but remained as he was in his sitting position. "Yeah, I worked really hard on that one."

"You did more than work really hard Naruto. Kage Bunshin is a B-rank forbidden jutsu. Not many are able to make more than one clone without passing out, you made hundreds. If that wasn't worthy of a passing grade I don't know what is."

"What do you mean Sensei?"

"Close your eyes for a second."

Naruto did and soon felt something wrap around his forehead. His breath stopped for a moment as he could guess but didn't want to hope.

"Alright, open up." A cheerful Iruka ordered.

Naruto did an immediately saw that Iruka was missing his headband. He felt his head and felt the cloth and metal plate there. The bold boy stared at his Sensei, tears in his eyes. He would have tackled him into a hug but held back. Took everything he had though. Iruka noticed this and was able to pull the boy into a small hug.

"You should probably apologize to Sai. He seemed upset that you just walked off on him like that."

"Yeah, I'll talk to him tomorrow. That was a pretty douchey thing to do." he said with a small sheepish smile. That vanished pretty fast though, the memories of everything Mizuki said coming back to him. Would an apology even work now? Things were different now knowing what he did. What would he tell all the people that he cared about? How would they react? He didn't have the answers. Iruka saw the turmoil Naruto was going through and decided to say something about it. Before he could though, an Anbu appeared before them.

"Good, you two are still alive. Umino, you good to move or do you require a medic?"

"Got any pain killers? Could also use a blood increasing pill." Iruka groaned out trying to stand. Though he was able to it was shaky at best. The Anbu simply nodded and pulled out the requested medicine and handed them to the injured chunin. Iruka happily downed them, feeling their effects kick in almost immediately.

"Alright, I think I'm good."

Another nod from the Anbu before he said, "Good. The Hokage wants to see both of you. Now. We'll take care of the traitor."

"Right. Come one Naruto." Iruka said and started walking, Naruto on his heels.

Before long the two were outside the Hokage's office. Without even needing to knock they heard a muffled order to enter. Opening the door they found the Hokage at his desk, looking tired and old. He didn't look like his usual self to Naruto, though Iruka had seen him this way before. Hiruzen gestured for them to sit down. He watched as they took their seats before he started speaking.

"You must have a lot of questions Naruto. Go ahead and ask."

"So that's what happened…" Naruto said barely above a whisper.

"I'm sorry I kept this from you Naruto. But please understand that it was for your safety. I underestimated just how close minded the villagers could be. You didn't deserve everything that's happened to you. The Fourth wanted you to be celebrated as a hero for containing the Kyuubi. Not live as the village pariah. I fully intended to tell you once you became a genin, but as you know that didn't go to plan at all." Hiruzen told the boy. "Don't blame Iruka for any of this. Responsibility for his silence lies on me. It was my law that kept him silent. Who you tell from this point on is up to you, but I imagine that you'll have hesitations about doing that."

Naruto say in his seat and remained silent appearing deep in thought. Iruka was worried how he would take all of this now that the truth was out there. He was of course worried that Naruto wouldn't want anything to do with him ever again. This was a minor concern though as Naruto had yet to throw the headband he gave him off yet. Hiruzen had no such connection with Naruto. Sure he often sided with Naruto when others brought him before the Hokage and he usually went to see the boy when he had nothing else demanding his attention. But he wasn't there most days for Naruto like Iruka was. A couple times a month at least. He didn't need to be there to know what the boy was doing, Hiruzen had the Anbu detail tell him what Naruto was up to.

So they were both holding their breaths as Naruto decided what he was going to do. A few more moments passed before Naruto said anything. "So I'm a genin now right?"

Hiruzen let out an exasperated sigh. He should had known. "Yes Naruto. You're an official genin of the village. Being able to perform the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu is an impressive feat and you should be proud of your accomplishment. And the sheer amount of clones you're able to create is an asset that should prove useful later on." Naruto smile became wide at those words.

"That being said. Now that you are a ninja, you're going to have to curb your pranking. It won't do to have one of my ninja going around causing mayhem throughout the village."

Naruto looked as if he were going to argue that point, but gave up before he could really get started. He understood that much now that it was pointed out to him. There was nothing he could do since this did sound like an order.

"Of course, what you do off-duty is none of my concern so long as it doesn't interfere with village affairs." Hiruzen said.

Naruto was a little confused at first with what the Hokage just said, but after a little bit he picked up on the unspoken words. Finally understanding he gave a mischievous grin. This put some of Hiruzen's worries down as Naruto wouldn't be smiling if he actually was against him. Still, he thought it would be best to figure out where Naruto stood with his feelings.

"Naruto, I don't mean for this to sound like I'm trying to make sure you don't do anything rash, but it would put me at ease if you could tell me how you feel towards the village."

Naruto let his smile fall as he thought about that. It didn't take long for him to come to a conclusion.

"Well, sure I'm upset about everything I learned tonight and that's going to take me a bit to come to terms with. But I don't think that changes anything for me. I still plan to show everyone how wrong they are about me and knowing the truth makes that a little easier for me to understand." He looked at Hiruzen or more accurately, his hat. "I still plan to make that hat mine one day old man, so don't think that you sit back and relax with it now that my career as a ninja has started. And you're right, I can't blame Iruka for telling me anything. To be honest I don't think I would have believed him if he did. Only reason Mizuki had me listening was because it didn't seem like something to lie about in that kind of situation. There was no tactical basis for it unless it was the truth. I can't really describe why it made sense at the time, it just didn't feel like a lie."

Hiruzen nodded, it did make a certain kind of sense. But it did bring up the next order of business they had to take care of. "Speaking of Mizuki, anyone care to fill me in on everything that happened? I was only able to see the end of the fight with Naruto, so I would like to know the details.

So Naruto and Iruka told their tale. Hiruzen listened and filed away things he thought would be important later. From the sounds of it, he was going to be taking a deeper look into all of this. He couldn't help but feel that there was something off about this whole story. Not with what they were telling him, but why it all played out.

"I see. Sounds like Mizuki was after Naruto, for what reasons we'll find out later as I'm having him sent to the T&I department. Once we knew to look at him, I ordered Mizuki's place searched. The evidence there is enough to incriminate him to several breaches in security we've had the past couple of years. That is for another time though. Naruto, you should head home. I imagine that you must be quite tired by now."

Naruto yawned just as Hiruzen said that suddenly felt his eyes get heavy. He didn't realize just how sleepy he was until it was mentioned. "Sounds like a good idea. I could use a rest after all that."

"See that you do. Come back to the academy next week to receive your team placement. Dismissed."

Naruto got up and headed for the doorway. Before he could open it Hiruzen called out. "Oh and Naruto. See to it that you keep how you got the scroll a secret. That's an order." Naruto nodded tiredly as he opened the door and left. Hiruzen saw that Iruka hung back but didn't say anything until Naruto was gone. "Something on your mind Iruka?"

"Hokage-sama, I'm not really sure how to put this… I don't think that was Mizuki I fought with tonight. His movements were wrong. I trained with him for years and knew all of his moves and while he was close tonight, everything was just a bit off. The way he spoke, the things he said. Even if he did hide his true self from me, I don't think he could hide it that well."

Hiruzen listened and something tickled in the back of his mind. A small reminder of something he had been told years ago. Something he hoped had been the musings of a stressed police chief. He dug into his drawer and searched for an old file that he hadn't looked at in years. After a minute he found what he was looking for. Pulling it out he looked through it just to confirm. Sure enough, it was a file on the murders of several civilians over the course of years. He read the notes that Fugaku had left about his suspicions. Hiruzen hoped that he was wrong, but with what Iruka was telling him it seemed that a ghost from the past had come back to haunt him and his target was now clear.

"Iruka, I'm going to ask you to come back later. I need to look into this before I can tell you more. For the time being keep what you told me to yourself."

Iruka looked confused but nodded in acknowledgement. "May I ask why Hokage-sama?"

"I think Naruto may be in danger."


.xVx.

Things were quiet in the Uchiha district, that wasn't saying much as things had been quiet now for several years. Through the ruined streets and buildings the wind blew, rustling leaves and debris aside. It was in one of these husked out buildings that a lone figure stood. His clothes were the usual Uchiha garb of their simple combat outfit. What stood out was the extra-long cane he carried and the coverings over the upper half of his face. He stood there and listened. He wasn't sure for what exactly. There was something about this location that spoke to him at some level. As if there was something that he needed to know and it had to do with this spot.

If he wasn't mistaken, this spot was where his family home once stood. Could that be why he came here? He doubted it as this place stopped feeling like home to him a long time ago. But still he was drawn here by an unknown hand. If only he could figure out what that was. There had to be a reason.

A few more minutes standing there and the figure decided that it was time to head back. He wasn't going to discover anything else tonight. Using his cane he started to tap out his way through the darkened pathways to the safety of the main street. Once he reached them he stopped using the cane. It was easy enough to get home from here.


.xVIx.

The night was coming to an end and the skies to the east were beginning to brighten as the sun began to rise. A lone figure made his way down the desolate road leading to the mighty gates of Konoha. His features were buried beneath a large travelers cloak but if one looked close enough they would be able to see the sword that he carried sticking out. Normally this wouldn't stand out to anyone except that there was a brush head attached to the pommel. The figure marched up to the gates to find them closed. Of course they'd be closed. He'd been gone so long that he kind of forgot that they shut at night.

Thankfully for him he didn't have to wait long as the guards soon arrived and prepped for the gates to open. They of course kept a close eye on him the entire time. He kept his distance and let them do their work. It wouldn't do to hamper his entry. Sure he was a citizen of the village, but he had been gone for such a long amount of time he wouldn't be surprised if most people had forgotten about him. It was only once the guards were ready to start processing that he strode forward and presented his papers.

"Looks like you've been gone awhile, these papers are a little outdated. We're going to have to verify that you are who you say you are." The guard told the figure.

He brought his palm to his face, just another thing to go wrong, he really should have known. He was just glad that the guard said that he would require extra screening and wasn't being turned away outright. So he waited while they passed his papers along to be double checked and verified. He watched as other travelers entered the village before him. His years of experience had him watching their movements and check for anything that he could file away as important later. Never knew when some small bit if information could come in handy.

After about an hour someone finally ran up and presented his entry papers. After checking to make sure everything was in order, the guard gestured the figure over. "Looks like everything checks out. Welcome back Pon-san."

"Thanks. It's good to be back." He walked past the gate and looked to the village that he had left behind many years ago. "Look out Konoha, Issun is back in town."


And Scene!

Finally starting to see some of that interaction that I promised over a year ago. So what'd you guys think? Starting to answer some questions only to have two more pop up? I certainly hope so. I really have been looking forward to this chapter for months now and am happy that it's finally out, still kind of irritated that I lost track of how closely it follows the show. I just hope that I added enough twists and turns to shake things up. Anyway, on to reviews!

Dragon Man 180 - Huzzuh! Divine instruments! This was kind of an impulsive add to the chapter, but one that I don't regret as it allowed me to introduce a few more things of interest. I'm glad you enjoyed the intro of this iconic item.

Rao! Everybody's favorite busty priestess. Not going to say much here as her presence is the story means a lot. Let's just say that I've been looking forward to her entry to the story for some time now. I have some fun facts about her that I would like to say in regards to some early ideas I had. I'll mention those later.

Unfortunately no, Sasuke will not be healing anyone with Rejuvenation. As mentioned before, the technique still requires just as much training and skill as what Tsunade does, though it has it own set of pros and cons when used. Sasuke, still an academy student (I don't care how much of a prodigy he is.), wouldn't be able to pull off healing a splinter in his toe let alone saving someone's life with it. A nice thought but no. Sorry to set that idea aflame but I have my reasons for doing things this way. You may be able to read ahead given the context clues I give but you're still far and away from hitting a home run with your predictions. Still, it's fun to see your ideas on what could be.

bladesbane - It seems my first words for her are working as intended! As above though, I won't be talking about Rao very much down here. Hehehe... Just you wait, I got plans. Plans for days.

amurphy616 - If I put in everything I thought of for Naruto for this story there wouldn't be room for anything else let alone character development. As it is I've cut so many ideas that I had in mind including one that was advertised in the summary until recently.

Since I'm on the subject, for those who remember in the summary was a line that said Fuinjutsu-versed Naruto. I have since changed my stance on this. I had originally planned to have the entire class learn about fuinjutsu but I couldn't find a decent spot to place a section for it. And really, when used in fanfics fuinjutsu can get out of hand real quick. There simply isn't all that much info on it that I could work with so I had to fill several blanks which true to what I said, got out of hand. So to keep better focus on what I do intend to keep, I chose to cut out fuinjutsu for now. There may be a chance to reintroduce that later on but I'd rather focus on the more immediate things for right now.

But to more properly answer your question, I do have plans for Naruto to grow beyond his canon teachings. Seems only fitting that since Sasuke learned some burashijutsu that Naruto learn some as well. he will still make use of his canon abilities, but now with some new stuff added in that work with his strengths and not some shoe horned in ability or item. Like a super uber powerful sword that is so legendary that it was thought but a myth lost to the eons. Anyone else find that annoying?

Zoran Dawn-Eclipse - So I'm going to skim over that first part as there's a lot to talk about there, but I would rather focus on the important things here. But yes, I do have an idea to replace the often seen Wave Arc. Don't get to excited is really all I can say. I personally look forward to it but I am unsure how you guys will respond. Either way I still look forward to that Arc.

Once again I am proud of what I did there. Though Divine Retribution is nothing more than your starting weapon in the game, I felt it should have more presence and importance here. I'm sure that you can all guess to at least one other secret that it holds, the Okami just haven't figured out that little feature yet. As for the untranslatable kanji, yes it is mist. I put that there more to show that Jiraiya isn't a master at translation rather than some big mystery. We all know what it is just not the characters. As for the block of text hidden in the mirror, we'll just have to wait and see.

If you're still wondering about the shapeshifter, I don't know what to tell you. After this chapter I'm hoping that the identity should be a little clearer now. I would just like to say that I dislike having to create OC's and can say that I have one true OC in the story and two mostly OC characters introduced so far. The two are of course Rasu and Ammako and my reasoning for this has been explained already and they border OC territory just enough to mark them as such even if they are mostly based off of an established character. At least to me they do. Going to hold off on the true OC for now, I'll talk about him later. With that said, you're correct that you should know who the shapeshifter is as it's not someone I came up with. Changed yes, thought up no.

Sasuke will be given support yes, accepting it though... I'll let the chapter speak for itself. Happy to see that I managed to throw a curve ball on yuh, that was satisfying to hear. As mentioned, Sasuke won't be the only learning some nifty burashijutsu, he was just one of the first. Though as we can see here he appears to be having difficulty adjusting his mindset to use it again. I wonder why.

The glyph hidden in the mirror made sense to me for some reason. Anyone notice how many mirrors are present in the game? I figured that I could work with that somehow and this is another part to showcase that in addition to the Origin mirrors.

Dude,I've hinted at several people and things that have yet to make an appearance, Rao being one of them. Indirectly, but yes. Going to be honest, I didn't think it'd be this soon either. The idea popped up and I ran with it as it didn't change my plans for her at all, it just allowed me a good way to introduce her in a better way than I had intended. Made it nice and ominous.

This is a point that I really wanted to get across. Success only to have it thrown to the side in the wake of bigger issues. Think about that and guess why he's having issues with the technique now.

jiongu-naruto - The brush techniques aren't hiden, the Okami feel that most of what they know is meant to me shared by those they trust so they have no issue teaching them to people they feel can handle it. That being said not everyone can use them. I think I gave a rough explanation in an earlier chapter so maybe give that a look. If not then I think I need to write up a better info chart for how burashijutsu work. Either way I have thought a rule set that I have been attempting to adhere to, though I'm not sure how well I've done so.

Aguion12 - Don't get me wrong, a person being a dick is unavoidable. Look at Mizuki, his entire purpose to the story is to be a colossal dick. But making your big bad one without reason or any other personality traits is, as I said before, lazy writing. Minor antagonists can be as simple or complex as you want them, but the big guys need better motive than "I'ma be a dick or I'm a crazy person."

Unfortunately you would be correct, the massacre is too big an event to pass up in its entirety. We'll see more of the aftermath next chapter though, so look forward to that. I hope I dropped enough in this chapter to grab your interest there.

So with those out of the way. A little director cut stuff here. When I originally thought up this story there were a lot more students in the class, enough to make at least two more teams in addition to the one additional one already there. Rao was supposed to be one of those and would have been an interesting character to that original idea. I planned on having her be this student who was obsessed with the Kyuubi and would do anything to learn more about it. Take that for what it was. I dropped that idea as the story began to form into what it is now. What I do regret losing is the fighting style I had in mind for her. Using her prayer slips she would have been like a mini Konan. She wouldn't be creating a sea of explosive seals, but I did want her to have like this whip ribbon that she could control with chakra and she would've been skilled with making certain types of paper seals on her own. These would've included explosives, chakra sealing, chakra draining, and standard storage seals. I would recycle those ideas but unfortunately they don't really work with anyone else now and Rao is taking a very different path from this original draft. Maybe I could make use of these later but for now they're on the cutting room floor.

And with that I think I've said what I need to, so until next time. Please review and have a nice day.