Disclaimer: This is a fan written work based on the works of J.K. Rowling. Also features Naruto which is owned by Kishimoto. It might possibly also have some elements of a number of other works. There is no money being made from this, it is merely a work meant for the entertainment of myself and the masses. This is merely for fun, and no profit. I repeat: I am not making any money out of writing this.
Warning: OCs OOCs Sues, and some crack. You have been warned.
Note 1: AU.
POWER
chapter fifty-one
"Fail it again," Shiro told Naruto before the boy went to the Ninja Academy for the Genin Graduation Exam.
"But if I fail it this time, I won't have any more chances," Naruto argued, "What's so important about failing this one anyway?"
"Tou-san sent over a tip about a traitor amongst the chunin," Shiro said, "He'll be using you to get the Forbidden Scroll."
"Shouldn't you be informing the Hokage-jiji about this?" Naruto said.
"I already did," Shiro said, "Just fail the test, and get us some evidence to back up the infomration."
"Fine," Naruto said, "But I mean really, I've been on S-ranked missions already, and I'm not even a genin yet!"
"Just do it," Shiro said.
"Fine, I said fine already," Naruto said and left the house.
It didn't take him that long to reach the Academy, joining him were other students, most with well wishers hoping that they would pass. Naruto didn't have anyone today, since his mission was to fail. Every single graduation exam he had so far attended required him to fail, as the Hokage, the old man, needed him to flush out some traitor. Even as an observer Naruto had to pretend to be a genin hopeful, fail, and expose a traitor. He should have been in Anbu based on the number of missions he had gone on and had been paid for by the village. He was even told they'd be added to his profile when he finally became a genin, whenever that was.
He hoped that the Hokage would at least give him a field promotion this time. He was almost promoted to Chunin once, but the only reason why he wasn't was because his village needed him to officially stay as an academy student. While he would admit that they were fun missions, sometimes such things just got old.
Arriving at the academy, he took a seat at the back of the room, the seat he chose was right beside Hinata, a girl who was infatuated with her clan head, while not shy, she still wasn't all that confident in her ability to harm people. She was simply too kind for the profession she had decided to be in.
Being who and what he was, Naruto was privy to a lot of information about the people of the village, his guardian, Shiro, while not a shinobi of Konoha had managed to fill Naruto's head with everything he didn't know about the clans of Konoha. Naruto's own mental database had everything that his other forms knew, which previously limited his database to three clans, not including his own two.
He knew some of the secrets of the Konoha clans, keeping them in mind just in case he needed the leverage or blackmail material. He hadn't actually used any of it, but he did use his being Haru to get the Hyuuga off his back.
He observed the room as if for the very first time, and came to the realization that a majority of those that were sure to pass the exam, of his class, were from prestigious clans, and not only that, but were the named heirs of their clans. Save for the Uchiha, since Sasuke was the last one loyal to his clan. He was automatically clan head, but at the same time did not have the privileges of one since one needed to be at least Chunin to avail of such rights.
Sasuke, Naruto noticed, didn't really become the upstanding citizen the village hoped he would be. He was more of a survival of the fittest kind of guy, always on the lookout for something to make him stronger. His mother, Shiro's wife, had tried to steer him away from the lonely path of the avenger, but he was resolute and determined to walk that path, a path which Naruto believed would not be good for either of their health, how or why he suspected such he didn't know. But it was probably due to a story Ryoku had told him one night, about the battle against the Juubi, and the aftermath of the death of the first Takeshi.
The genin hopefuls, the children of civilians were not all that important, as most of them would fail the real genin test, a test that Shiro had deemed important enough to inform Naruto of, and warned about displaying his abilities in. Deception is a shinobi's greatest asset, tool, and weapon. Naruto already knew that, but it never hurt to be reminded of it, again, and again, every now and then.
Naruto surveyed the competition, and possible future teammates, the children, the heirs of the shinobi clans of Konoha. Aside from Sasuke, there was his seatmate the representative of the Hyuuga, in another row there was an Inuzuka, then sitting beside one another were the children of the legendary combination with perfect teamwork, the children of the Nara, Akimichi, and Yamanaka. An Aburame sat by himself away from the girls that found him more disgusting than dark and mysterious.
He already knew their strengths and weaknesses, he lived with Sasuke which gave him that knowledge, Haru practically oversaw the training of the youth of the Hyuuga, Haru had on countless occasions already dealt with the Aburame by pissing them off with pranks, he saw the Nara, Akimichi, and Yamanaka team dynamics everyday, and had dealt with those clans as well with some pranks, the Inuzuka he dealt with by way of Seigen as one needed a lot of luck to deal some prank damage on that overly alert clan.
He knew what his classmates could do, as well as what they could potentially do, all thanks to experience with dealing with their parents, the information from Shiro, and seeing them almost everyday in class. But the one thing that separated him from them was that he hid his abilities to the best of his ability, while they showcased theirs. Sasuke was not aware of the depths of Naruto's secrets, since he never cared when Naruto trained or even where for that matter.
Throughout his childhood, the Seven Swordsmen never really did come and kidnap him since they already were able to interact with him on a monthly basis whenever Naruto or one of his forms would visit Mizu no Kuni via Floo. He nearly lost an eye when he visited Kiri for the first time as Haru. It was only thanks to Ryoku arriving when he did that his identities were revealed. That didn't stop some people from attacking him on occasion, when they found out that it was him they simply stated that they were training him to keep his wits about him.
The test came in three parts, a paper test, which Naruto decided to sleep through, a taijutsu exam, which Naruto also slept through making one Nara Shikamaru think that Naruto possible had Nara blood in him, and lastly a jutsu exam which needed him to perform the three basic academy jutsu, where he did all three, the first two flawlessly no handseals required, and the bushin his worst jutsu, no amount of magic, chakra control, or whatever allowed him to use such a jutsu. It was as if it was written in his genetic code that he would not be able to use the thing. Little did he know that none of his relatives on his father's side could use it. Ryoku simply didn't care for it, and used magic, Mei never learned it due to its impracticality in her eyes, the twins already knew the Kage Bushin, even the Rikudou Sennin hid the fact that the only simply bushins he could create were dead looking ones, which was why he used other element bushins and the other tricks he had up his normally long sleeves.
So at the end of the day, phase one of his mission was complete, he flunked the Genin Graduation Exam with flying colors, to the extent that he got the worst grade in the history of the ninja academy, negative one hundred. None of the instructors even knew how it was possible, but Naruto accomplished such a feat. Of course if anyone bothered to check his misson report after the rest of the mission was completed they would know exactly what he had done to get such a low mark.
So he waited as instructed, looking all depressed from failing his third and last time, sitting on the swing in the playground just outside of the academy. He waited for the traitor to make himself known. It was another one of those, 'you poor thing, there's another way to become genin' type of things that Naruto had to thwart. He'd done it all before, each time he was allowed to learn one new thing from the scroll, his control was more than sufficient to use the jutsu within, same thing for the chakra requirement, he had more than enough of that.
Just like his previous such missions, the traitor arrived by the swings like clockwork, selling some sympathy, then explaining the other genin test, a harder one, a more challenging one that very few knew about. He left Naruto with the instructions, a regular set, steal scroll, go to woods, wait there, get promoted. It was so dull already, Naruto had done it many times already. He hoped that this last time would be a little bit more interesting for all those involved.
For once the Hokage actually forgot about he mission, which was why his surprise was so genuine that Naruto thought the old man must have taken some acting lessons. With scroll strapped to his back, Naruto went looking for the usual spot, the spot where he trained in what he learned in the scroll, Kage Bushin were useful for mastering such things. He planned on it being his signature jutsu. He had yet to activate his bloodlines in his core form after all, and needed something that would separate him from his realtives, three of whom had a thing for unleashing their auras when pissed off. His other forms had their own signatures moves as well. Haru had the Jyuuken, mixed in with some Ryokuken as the family referred to that relaxed and bored looking taijutsu that they all at some point in time were taught, Haru only really utilized the part where he looked at his opponent with a bored 'you are unworthy of me taking you seriously' look.
Seigen had his passing through people thing and remembering to get a souvenir from the trip, along with watching his foes fall over themselves with bad luck. The part of Ryokuken that he used was the opening stance, which was simply looking bored, uninterested, and all those other things.
Tenma took the whole 'you are unworthy of my attention' part of Ryokuken to a whole other level. He rarely engaged things himself, opting to summon or resurrect things to do his fighting for him. Getting near him was also a bad thing since he was a fuinjutsu master and would simply slap a death seal on his opponent if his aim was to kill them.
Naruto decided that while Kage Bushin would be his signature jutsu, his signture style would be heavy reliance on the use of high level jutsu and kinjutsu. It fit his nature, his personality, and if time manipulation was not a kinjutsu who knew what was.
So he trained his new jutsu, Ryousei Iku no Jutsu, by simply tapping the target, flesh to flesh contact being necessary, the target will undergo a mind blowing feeling of ecstasy, and will feel weak for a period of time. Naruto didn't know who made it, but he believed that he would want to beat the person up while at the same time learn from him or her. It took him a while to master, as the process required some of his bodily functions to activate before their time. In short Naruto forced his body to enter puberty.
It took longer than usual for the traitor to track him down, but eventually the man arrived, but as Naruto turned to face him, his senses finally realized that it was a different person. Something had changed, the traitors usually worked solo, and without any accomplices. As he turned to face the possible accomplice he was shocked to find Umino Iruka there.
'Had he been lying to me all this time? Did he really care for my well being, or was it all an act for me to lower my guard?' were the thoughts that crossed his mind. While he may not have been alone in the world, Iruka genuinely cared for Naruto and saw himself in him on occasion, and tried to encourage him to apply himself more in the academy. He was unaware that Naruto could have made Rookie of the Year any time he wanted to, but had to keep his power secret.
"I found you!" Naruto shouted at Iruka after turning to face the chunin.
"Idiot! I found you!" Iruka said, then demanded, "Why did you steal the scroll?"
"Mizuki-sensei said if I learned a jutsu from it, I'd become a genin!" Naruto said, playing stupid was really annoying, especially when three parts of himself were mature, too mature for the core at times to handle.
"Idiot.." Iruka said, but was unable to continue as a fuuma shuriken hit him in the back, courtesy of Mizuki.
"Mizuki...so it was you," Iruka said, as he turned to face his friend, "Why?"
"Why, to get the scroll of course! And to get a chance to kill the Kyuubi!" Mizuki proclaimed.
"But why!" Iruka said, not seeing why his friend would do such a thing.
"Let's cut to the chance," Naruto said a bit more annoyed than he should have been, he was really tired of the usual monologue his foes went into, "I'm supposed to have the Kyuubi in me, you try and make me give you the scroll, and then I beat you up, now you can either surrender or I can beat you up, your choice."
"N-Naruto?" Iruka said, finally entering the stage of confusion.
"What the hell?" Mizuki said, "What are you babbling about...?"
"I've dealt with your kind before," Naruto said, "Now, either surrender or I beat the living outta ya."
"Eh..." Mizuki said then reached for his other two fuuma shuriken, "Shine!"
He flung the two shurken at Naruto thinking that a mere genin hopeful would not be able to do anything in the situation, and Iruka still in the state of confusion was in no position to be of any help. What he found instead was Naruto slapping the two things aside, then jumping to deliver a vicious punch to Mizuki's gut.
This reaction was unexpected and therefore Mizuki couldn't help but smash into a tree. But other than an aching back he was relatively unharmed.
"I didn't think I'd have to use this..." Mizuki mumbled to himself, then began gathering chakra around his body, a seal on his neck glowed, and he began his transformation. Naruto and Iruka weren't expecting something like this, and therefore actually waited for the transformation to end. In the end the Chunin revealed himself as having turned into some sort of human-tiger hybrid.
"You have got to be kidding me," Naruto let out, then decided that if his opponent underwent some form of transformation, then he would to, "Normally, I wouldn't use this, but for you, I'll make an exception."
"Give me your best shot, I'll let you hit me one time for free," Tora Mizuki said mockingly.
"Naruto, run!" Iruka shouted finally getting back to reality, "You're not even a genin!"
"Trust in me a bit Iruak-sensei!" Naruto said over his shoulder, then diving into his mindscape unlocked the cage in which he kept the power of the Kyuubi, keeping the power beind the seal was the only way to keep himself from transforming into something he did not want to look like, as well as look all flaming all the time. It was also sealed away since he really didn't need all that power all the time. It was in a way like the eye patches, masks, and bandages, that his relatives used to seal, regulate, and control, their power.
"What in the world...?" Mizuki said as he felt Naruto's chakra simply skyrocket, then watched as a single red tail of chakra formed behind the not-even-a-genin, then watched as kind of chakra cloak surrounded the boy.
"Naruto...you..." Iruka said as he too felt the power, as well as watched the transformation take place, 'What have you done...Naruto...' he couldn't help but think that Naruto was unleashing the Kyuubi.
"Let's get this party started," Naruto said, then disappeared, small puffs of smoke appearing around him, revealing Kage Bushin, then he began his assault on the tora-fied Chunin.
Luckily for Mizuki, his hybrid form made him faster and stronger, and therefore was able to avoid, if not, then at least take the punishment Naruto delivered without hesitation, Naruto on the other hand did not notice this, but simply kept at his assault. He dared not allow Mizuki to gain any ground in their fight.
Iruka simply looked on and watched as the dead last of the academy's graduating class could transform from incompetent to being able to take on a chunin to low jounin class shinobi.
A little while into the fight, Mizuki finally managed to land a blow that pushed Naruto back, and allowed the hybrid to dispose of the non-transformed clones, then he began his retaliatory assault, causing Naruto to fall back into defending himself from the blows that he didn't really expect to be so strong.
"*"
As Naruto was fighiting Mizuki, and stalling for the arrival of the Hokage and his Anbu, Shiro got a little worried for Naruto and teleported himself to the Hokage's office, as the man desperately searched for Naruto using his crystal ball.
"What's taking you so long!" Shiro demanded after appearing in front of the aged Kage.
"What do you mean?" Hiruzen asked, not wanting to reveal that Naruto had stolen the scroll.
"Naruto should have been back home by now," Shiro said, "Or did you forget that you sent him on one of those missions again?"
The Hokage's eyes widened, remembering that he indeed did give Naruto that mission again. He didn't or couldn't for the life of him figure out how he could have forgotten.
"I can't believe you forgot," Shiro said, then waited expectantly, "Well?"
"I'm searching for him," Hiruzen said, "He's not at the regular place, he's moved."
"Shit," Shiro said, "I'll go look for him."
"No, wait," Hiruzen said, "I'll look for him, it wouldn't do for a civilian to be found participating in a shinobi exercise."
"Fine, but you better find him, and better make sure that he's relatively unharmed," Shiro said, then walked out of the room, worried enough to forget to ask his father for aid, or to teleport.
Snapping his fingers four Anbu appeared in his office, awaiting orders.
"Inform the chunin out looking for Naruto to stop the search," the Hokage said, "Then I want you to head for the usual place, and start searching for him from there, inform me as soon as he is found."
"Hai," they said, then vanished in swirls of leaves, leaving their Kage to continue his own search, forgetting that his summons would have an easier time searching for Naruto than the Anbu would.
After searching for a few more minutes, he got impatient and got into his battle gear, and left the Tower, and decided to personally join the search, as Naruto was his responsibility during such a mission. While not an official member of the Shinobi corps, Naruto did have a kind of rank that allowed him to undergo certain mission. He was the first and only Tokubetsu Academy Student.
"*"
While he wasn't exactly getting tired, he knew that he couldn't or rather shouldn't allow the fight to last any longer, it wouldn't do for Mizuki to finally get a killing blow in due to desperation, desperate shinobi were able to do reckless and sometimes effective things, and Naruto did not want to be on the receiving end of a lecture from Iruka, the Hokage, and Shiro, about carelessness.
So he decided to up the ante for a short while by unleashing his Kyuubi side, all nine tails worth of it, for a split second, as he delivered a paralyzing blow to the hybrid. The power had been out long enough to be felt and picked up the Hokage and the Anbu for the to pin point Naruto's location.
After resealing the power, Naruto dropped down from the trees, and used his new kinjutsu on Iruka so that the man would think the fight a dream, as it wouldn't do for any rumors about his ability to spread before it was time.
"Naruto-kun," Hiruzen said, landing near the young genin hopeful, "Are you alright?"
"Hai," he said, "What took you guys soooooo long?"
"I...uh...forgot," the Hokage admitted.
"Geez, why don't you just hand over your hat already, before you get even more senile," Naruto joked.
"Now see here, I'm not that old," Hiruzen said in indignation.
"Whatever," Naruto said, "I'll just go home now..."
"Here," the Hokage said, pulling out a forehead protector from out of a pouch, "You deserve the promotion."
"Promotion to what?" Naruto asked.
"Tokubetsu Genin," Hiruzen said, "I decided to keep you special."
"Thanks...I think," Naruto said, "Oh, and I knocked Iruka-sensei out...to hide my abilities."
"If you don't mind me asking," the Hokage said as the Anbu picked up the unconscious forms of Iruka and Mizuki, taking one to the hospital and the other to the T&I HQ, and the scroll to the Tower, "What did you learn this time?"
"Ryousei Iku no Jutsu," Naruto said, "D'ya know who invented it?"
"I can't believe you decided to learn that..." the Hokage said, "And have you mastered it?"
"Yeah...looks like I'll be hitting my growth spurt sooner than expected..." Naruto said, "So who made it?"
"Senju Tobirama," Hiruzen replied a little bit embarrassed that the Nidaime Hokage came up with a perverted jutsu.
"Cool...so I noticed that my Oiroke no Jutsu and Haremu no Jutsu, were in the scroll," Naruto said, "Does this mean I'm destined to become Hokage?"
"I'll have you know that I did not ever make such a jutsu," the Sandaime said, lying through his teeth.
"Somehow, I don't believe you," Naruto said, "So...can I learn the remaining two?"
"Fine...I'll send you a scroll detailing mine and the Shodaime's," Hiruzen said, "As well as one of my student's own creation."
"I can finally accept the fact that otou-san, came up with a perverted jutsu," Naruto said, "Since his predecessors also created their own."
