Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. This chapter contains descriptions of graphic violence.
CHAPTER 13
He stormed out of the classroom with such velocity, the door banged into the wall hard enough to leave an imprint of the handle. He didn't notice, he didn't care, he was fuming, he was trying not to cry, and the turmoil in his gut was overwhelming. He had to get away, far away from this kami-forsaken place. He should have known, he should have seen this coming, he was so fucking stupid...
"Naruto! Naruto STOP!" He forced himself to pause, panting angrily, as Iruka-sensei trotted down the hallway towards him. The man placed a hand on the shaking boy's shoulder. "Naruto you have to calm down!"
"How can you say that?!" he screamed, jerking away from the comforting touch. He stabbed an accusing finger back at the classroom, his whole body vibrating with indignation. "That was complete bullshit in there! A kage bunshin is still a bunshin! I'm one of the best goddamned students in the whole class and that asshole FAILED ME ON A FUCKING TECHNICALITY!"
"NARUTO!" Iruka was gripping both of his shoulders now and nearly glaring into his eyes, begging him to calm down and think about this rationally. "I'm not disagreeing with you, but right now my hands are tied. After the exams are done I will go to the Hokage and discuss what happened. He can then decide whether substituting the kage bunshin for the basic bunshin is acceptable, ok? But you have to calm down!" His eyes strayed to the thickening whiskers on the boy's face and he swallowed hard. "If you want to be a shinobi, then you have to realize that sometimes, even when we make all the right choices and give it our best, we still lose. But we always endure, and we never give up, remember?"
Naruto was still breathing heavily through flared nostrils, but the edge of insanity was gone from his anger. He grit his teeth and clenched his fists, struggling to accept the truth of his failure despite everything he had worked to accomplish.
Iruka saw his words of reason starting to take affect and his shoulders relaxed a bit. "I have faith in you Naruto-kun," he encouraged his crushed student. "You will be an amazing shinobi some day, one way or another. And as your Sensei, it is my job to help you succeed. I don't know why Mizuki-sensei is making such a big deal about this, but I will get it all cleared up."
Naruto was barely containing his tumultuous emotions, but managed to nod and mumble a thank you before stalking away. Iruka-sensei had been awesome over the last year of academy; listening to Hime about sparring, giving him the attention he needed when his focus wandered off, and had even lined up Mizuki-sensei after that intense spar with Sasuke. The way the assistant instructor and vehemently refused to give him a passing grade for simply using a kage bunshin, had shocked the aspiring genin. He thought they had forged a certain level of mutual respect ever since he'd blown everyone away by beating the precious Uchiha.
Iruka called out to the disappearing orange figure, "After I talk with the Hokage I will let you know what he decides. Try not to fly off the handle in the meantime ok?" He knows that he is asking for a lot of patience from the hyperactive boy. All of this kid's dreams hinged on him becoming a genin, to deny him that hitae-ate would break his heart. With an air of determination, Iruka returned to the classroom to finish the rest of the exams and hurry to see the Hokage.
Hinata was nearly pacing with pre-test jitters in the cool summer shade of the schoolyard, chatting with an equally restless Ino-chan and Sakura-chan when she saw Naruto-kun storming out of the academy, and immediately knew that something was very wrong. His normally sunny countenance was dark and she could practically feel the anger emanating from him.
She darted over to his side and gently grabbed his hand, pulling him to a stop just before he could leap over the back fence. "Naruto-kun, what happened?" she demanded, tugging his rigid body around to look at his face.
"I failed," he spat out the foul tasting words. He can't bring himself to look at her, agonizing shame fueling his barely suppressed outrage.
Hinata's brain doesn't immediately process his words, that's impossible. "H-How? You had all the jutsu down pat, I saw you execute them myself over and over..."
"Baka-sensei and his damn rules," he growls, yanking his hand away and jumping up onto the fence. Hinata gaped up at his crouched figure, her heart aching for him, mind still trying to understand. Balanced on top of the schoolyard barrier, Naruto heaved a deep sigh and looked back over his shoulder. "Sorry Hime, I just need to get away from here," his voice is hollow and raspy, like he is trying not to cry. "Don't worry about me, ok? Just focus on your exam, I know you'll do great." Smiling ruefully down at her, he turned and leapt across the rooftops.
Hinata rubbed at the bandages on her forehead as she shuffled back to the small group of whispering girls, debating whether or not to chase after the distraught boy. At that moment Mizuki-sensei stepped out of the building and called, "Hyuga Hinata, it's time to take your exam." She robotically turns at the sound of her name, and quietly walks past the assistant instructor as he politely holds the door open and follows her inside.
"You're worried about your friend, huh?" he asks in a caring tone.
Hinata doesn't look up but nods her head, staring at the tiles on the floor as she walks down the hall. "I don't know what could have happened," she murmurs, her whole chest hurts just thinking about the dejected look in Naruto-kun's vivid blue glare. "He practiced so hard..." she raises watery lavender eyes up to the sympathetic expression of the assistant instructor. Mizuki-sensei had been more than impressed with her progress over the last year, frequently complimenting her fighting style and Byakugan usage, and always treating her with nothing but kindness. Hinata hoped he respected her enough to not dodge the question in her eyes, and give an honest answer instead of dismissing her worries.
Mizuki makes a show of biting his lip like he's trying not to say something, and terribly torn about it. Glancing down the hallway at the slightly ajar door of the classroom, he stops and leans over, suggesting that what he's about to tell her needs to be kept a secret.
"There was an issue with his kage bunshin," he says quickly in hushed tones. "No big deal, just a little technicality. But you know how Iruka-sensei can be, such a stickler for the rules, right? He always wants to make sure everything is fair."
Hinata nodded slightly in vague understanding. It was true that Iruka-sensei was known for his careful judgment calls, such as making the spars co-ed, but this was the first time she had ever felt the need to question the wisdom of one of his decisions.
"Well, I think there is a way around it," he continues, instantly regaining her rapt attention. "If a sensei signs a petition of supplemental examination on behalf of the student, they can qualify for a different type of test in the case that they do not pass the first one. It's rarely done, mostly because if a student fails they usually deserve it, but in Naruto's case..."
"Sensei!" her voice squeaked with desperate hope. "Could you fill out a petition for Naruto-kun?" Hinata clasped her hands to her chest so tightly the fingernails dug painfully into her palms. Without Naruto-kun, Hinata would not be standing here now, on the cusp of accomplishing her dreams. He had encouraged her, comforted her, pushed her, praised her, celebrated with her. If there was a way she could ensure the continuation of his goals, she would do just about anything to help her precious friend.
Mizuki-sensei smiled kindly down at the eager Hyuga and placed a quieting finger to his lips, reaching into the pocket of his chunin vest, he pulled out a piece of paper. "I already did! All he has to do is follow the instructions for the completion of the alternate practical examination, here on the bottom. Upon verified completion, the Hokage will then sign his approval, and Naruto will officially be a genin."
Hinata snatched the paper out of his grasp and scanned the instructions at the bottom of the official looking document. "I see, it's like a real life scenario, to test his critical thinking and practical skills." She exhaled an anxious breath. This set up was textbook, they went over things like this all the time in class. Naruto-kun excelled in espionage and recon anyways, he would pass with flying colors for sure!
Mizuki-sensei nodded, glancing back at the classroom door. "Give that to Naruto and tell him to be ready to start at sundown, that way we'll have time to clear it with the Hokage and set everything up."
Hinata's relief was so intense she could hardly think straight, and nearly turned to leave before remembering that she still had to finish her own exam first. "Thank you Sensei!" she beamed up at him, quickly tucking the precious piece of paper into her khaki jacket. "Naruto-kun won't forget this!"
As she nearly skipped into the classroom, Mizuki smirked to himself. "I'm sure he won't."
Naruto leaned back against the rock with his arms crossed, staring apathetically out over the city of Konoha from his view on top of the Yondaime's head. He had almost retreated to the little training ground, but Neji was there and he didn't want to have to explain the degrading cause of his foul mood to the Hyuga prodigy. Watching the shadows lengthen and creep across the rocky spikes of carved hair, his anger had melted into a heavy sadness that the boy barely kept at bay with the fragile hope that Iruka-sensei would somehow come through and salvage his dream of becoming a shinobi, and eventually earning his own stone visage on the Hokage monument where he waited.
His senses tingled and even in his melancholic state he couldn't help but smile at the comforting feeling of the approaching chakra signature. As she easily scaled the face of the monument and landed next to him, he greeted her with the best smile he could manage. "Hey Hime, come to try and cheer up a sulking loser?"
His eyes landed on the shining new hitae-ate tied around her slender neck. "You passed!" he grinned, genuinely happy for his best friend. "Of course you did! Damn, and here I am being such a killjoy, c'mon I'll buy you dinner to celebr—"
"Naruto-kun there's no time!" she exclaimed, finally catching her breath after having run full tilt from the academy, to the training grounds, to his apartment, where she had finally been able to spot him way up here with her Byakugan.
Her cheeks were flushed with excitement and her eyes danced. "I talked to Sensei, there is another way for you to pass the exam!"
Now he was all ears, and straightened up, daring to let hope blossom in his chest. "You talked to Sensei? What did he say? Was my kage bunshin ok after all?"
Hinata grimaced a bit, "well not exactly, but he submitted a petition for an alternate exam on your behalf." She was digging into her deep coat pockets as she hurriedly spoke. "If you can complete it, then the Hokage will approve you as a genin." Triumphantly she produced a document, snapping it open in his face and pointing urgently at the bottom.
Naruto forced his reeling mind to slow down as he skimmed over the technical mumbo-jumbo, focusing on the scenario description at the bottom.
It was a mock infiltration and recovery mission: sneak in, steal a scroll, sneak out, deliver the scroll. If he stayed undetected and completed the mission, he passed. It was a piece of cake. Stealth was his specialty. I'll have to tell Iruka-sensei thank you for sticking up for me so I could have a second chance, he thought, feeling foolish for ever doubting his faithful Sensei.
"I've heard of people getting promoted to chunin or jonin for accomplishments in the field rather than passing the exams. I didn't realize they had a genin version of it too, makes sense though." Naruto chuckled as he tapped the precious paper in his hands, "you wont catch me complaining!"
"Do your best Naruto-kun, I believe in you!"
Iruka rounded the corner of the Hokage tower with resolute steps. After finally finishing up the last of the paperwork from the exams today, he was ready to go debate with the Sandaime over Naruto's test results. He had been mentally rehearsing his argument and felt like he had a good chance of convincing the The Professor that the ever determined boy deserved the rank of genin, despite the technicality. He still couldn't believe that Mizuki would pull something like this. They had been working together so well ever since his little "talk". Why would he do this now? What motive could he possibly have?
Looking up he noticed Hinata pacing anxiously near the entrance to the tower, staring with her Byakugan towards the west as though looking for someone. She sees him approaching from the opposite direction and sprints his way with a look of urgent anticipation etched onto her face.
"Is it over Sensei? Did Naruto-kun do it? Is he a genin now?" Her words tripped over each other as they spilled out of her mouth.
"Uh, well, not exactly," the chunin answers uneasily, imagining how disappointed the loyal friend must have been upon learning of Naruto's failure. "I'm actually on my way to see the Hokage right now and the clear up a misunderstanding about his kage bunshin."
Hinata looked thoroughly confused. "Not that exam, the second one. Did he not retrieve the scroll?"
Now it was Iruka's turn to look confused. "Second exam? There is no second exam. Mizuki-sensei failed Naruto for using a kage bunshin instead of a basic bunshin. I'm going to the Hokage to discuss the fact that I think it should still be allowed."
"But, Mizuki-sensei said you failed him," she said in a small voice, a sinking feeling growing in her gut. "Why would he fail Naruto-kun and then try to help him by offering to set up a second exam?" Panic started to lace her tone and her fingers were nervously tugging on her new hitae-ate. "He lied to me and sent Naruto on a pointless assignment. Why would he trick us like that?"
Iruka tried to keep his voice calm as he sorted through the newest revelation of his coworker's underhanded actions. "Hinata, what was the second exam Mizuki wanted Naruto to complete?"
Again searching the western side of the village with her bloodline, she refocused on the chunin's stern face. "I-it was a mock scenario, to t-test his critical thinking and stealth. He had to steal a Scroll of Sealing from the Hokage Tower and d-deliver it to the proctor," she answered, her old stutter returning with her rising alarm. Worriedly she returns to frantically scanning the western horizon, veins bulging at her temples, and growls in frustration when she sees nothing. "We thought it was j-just a dummy scroll, planted for the sake of the t-test. Iruka-sensei, what is Mizuki going to do with Naruto-kun?"
"I'm not sure, but this isn't good," Iruka was rapidly connecting the dots and not liking where this was going at all. "Where were they supposed to meet?"
"The west edge of the f-forest," Hinata nearly stomped her feet over her stupid struggle to get out the words, something was wrong with Naruto-kun, and she had to help stop it. "I'll go with you! I c-can use my Byakugan to find them f-faster."
"No," Iruka shook his head, if this was leading in the direction he feared, the last thing he wanted was more children in the line of fire. "Go to the Hokage, explain everything. I'll go find Naruto, hopefully before this all blows out of control," and with a gust of leaves, he disappeared in a shunshin.
"Hai Sensei," she choked out to the empty air, pressing a hand to her mouth to stifle the frightened sobs that threatened to escape. She couldn't collapse now, Naruto-kun needed her. She had unknowingly led him into some sort of trap and now she had to stay strong and fix it. Never give up, I won't give up, hang on Naruto-kun!
Everyone felt it to some degree. The pulse, the wave of pressure that washed up your chest and trickled down your back like the icy fingers of the Shinigami.
The civilians saw the wind, that suddenly whipped up through the streets, rattling wind chimes in a harsh, unholy clashing of discordant music. Like the devil's own melody was being carried on the sudden gust.
The younger shinobi felt the surge in their gut, and paused, mid task, mind grasping to make sense of the irrationally sudden fear and adrenaline that flowed in their veins and seemed to thicken the breath in their lungs.
The survivors, they knew. Their souls remembered the burn of the vile chakra as it poisoned the very atmosphere; the reverberating roar that clawed at their brains like the shriek of a demon legion. The crippling sensation of hope being sucked from the hearts of men.
Kakashi fell to his knees, and vomited onto the apartment rooftop where he had been anxiously awaiting the arrival of Naruto after his exam, wondering what was taking so long. He coughed and spit, turning to the west from where the toxic sensation was flowing. His voice cracked in disbelief, "No."
Hinata stumbled and missed the next tree branch completely, barely catching herself on the trunk with her chakra before she snapped her neck on the next limb. Gasping, she looked up toward her western destination, dread filling her as she activated her Byakugan, intuition telling her to run away as though her life depended on it. She refused to give in to the feeling of foreboding, and launched her body forwards with a surge of adrenaline and chakra, propelling herself through the forest in the direction her every instinct was screaming against. Naruto-kun, she begged, hold on, I'm coming.
Kakashi raced through the trees with the blinding speed of an elite ANBU as he fought back painful memories of his teammates, and how they had slipped through his fingers. Rin's face, twisted in grief as she begged him to kill her, to kill a piece of himself, to do it for the sake of the village. Obito commanding him to leave, to walk away and let him die alone, and leave a piece of himself behind. Naruto was all he had in this world, all the pieces he had left were tied to that boy. He landed with a knee and a fist planted solidly into the earth, and his eyes widened at the awful scene.
There was blood everywhere. The body of what looked to be the assistant sensei from the academy lay crumpled in a heap at the base of a tree. His neck was slashed open, releasing a river of crimson down a deathly pale chest, which was marred with a disturbing black pattern that was rapidly retreating before Kakashi's eyes back into an inky seal branded into the corpse's limp neck.
Naruto was groaning and whimpering like a wounded animal in the center of the small clearing, pacing protectively around a brown haired shinobi. A massive fuma shuriken was deeply impaled in the fallen man's back, nearly protruding through his chest on the other side. Iruka's irregular, wet gasping told Kakashi that the chunin would soon be dead if he didn't get help immediately.
Crimson chakra frothed and bubbled off the jinchuriki's skin, a clawed hand clutched his limp right arm, that was clearly dislocated with the bone grotesquely bulging under the skin, rendering the limb useless for any kind of hand seals or defense. His eyes were fiery red, slitted, and feral as a fox when they turned to seize upon the Copy Nin who had his Sharingan exposed and spinning. Snarling like a threatened animal, the mindless boy bared his long, sharp incisors in an attempt to guard his fallen companion from this newest intruder.
"Naruto, Pup, its me, Dog," he said in a cautiously light tone. "It's ok, I'm here now, you don't have to be scared anymore," Kakashi crouched and extended his arms in a posture of submission any creature would understand, while trying to get the overwhelmed boy to lock eyes with him. Naruto was obviously warring with his mind for control of his body, and the severely injured teacher was making the fight for sanity a losing battle. "Look at me Naruto," Kakashi pleaded, reaching out his hands. "See me Pup, fight through the hate, come back to me."
His blond hair stood on end, hackles raised in defense of the perceived threat, but at the sound of the vaguely familiar voice, his face relaxed infinitesimally, fear replacing the fury in his slitted eyes. Encouraged, Kakashi slid forward a step, palms up and open, showing he had no weapons. "Thats right Pup, I just want to help you," the boy shook his head as if trying to clear himself from a haze. "Please, come back Naruto, I can't lose you too."
Another step, and another. Then all at once the boiling chakra rippled and surged over the boy's body and he screamed, doubling over as though something was ripping him open from the inside out. Kakashi instinctively dove for him, terrified of what was happening and desperate to ease his suffering. But the sudden movement caused the possessed boy to panic and lash out with his good arm, nearly slicing Kakashi from shoulder to hip. As he skid backwards on the dirt, the jonin watched in devastation as the whiskers darkened even more, and Naruto let loose a heart rending roar of pain and rage.
Sharingan no Kakashi felt hot tears burn his eyes, as his chakra pulsed, and the Mangekyo whirled. "Please, Pup," he croaked, selfishly wishing he could just let the boy kill him and end the misery of going through life knowing he had caused the death of another precious person. "Don't make me do this. Don't make me do this again." Electricity danced down his arm, erupting from his shaking fist with the screech of a thousand birds.
A rumbling growl rolled from his chest as Naruto planted his feet and hunched his back, poised to charge. Kakashi's throat closed in heartbreaking dismay as he watched a ghostly red tail emerge and thrash through the air. "Naruto..." his voice whispered, and his soul cried out with grief.
The savage boy lunged like a wild cat pouncing on his prey. Kakashi couldn't move. Couldn't retaliate. Couldn't defend. Couldn't function.
"NOOO!" It was only because of his active Sharingan that Kakashi knew the blur which collided with the rampaging jinchuriki was actually Hyuga Hinata. She descended from the canopy above like a bolt of lightning, tackling him head on with a powerful juken that curled his enflamed body around her with the force of its impact. She caught the burning, chakra covered figure against her, nearly collapsing from the weight of his burden. He recoiled from her embrace, but she dug her fingers into his back, refusing to release him, despite the wild thrashing of his claws. Instead she grasped him harder, burying her face into his heaving chest.
"This...isn't...you," she choked out, forcing her chakra to flood every tenketsu in her body, enveloping her in its purple hued glow. Kakashi watched with his borrowed bloodline, astounded, as the river of Hinata's chakra doused the flames of Naruto's hell. The boiling chakra simmered and evaporated, blending with her cooling aura into a harmony of perfect balance. The claws retracted, the oppressive miasma lifted from the air. Lifting her soothing lavender gaze to look directly into his hollow scarlet eyes, Hinata placed her hands on his cheeks, running her thumbs over his shrinking whiskers the same way he rubbed away her own tears when she had been broken.
Guttural gasps became panting sobs. Clear blue eyes flowed with tears as the last threads of insanity lost their hold and broke. He clung to her redemptive embrace with the fervor of a drowning man as her purity drove the last drops of evil away, leaving a trembling boy standing in place of the raging demon.
She pulled his forehead down to tap her own, touching her cursed seal to his perspiring brow and repeated the same words he had spoken to her soul on that day when the laundry blew in the wind.
"I see you," she whispered. "I'm here, and I'm not going anywhere. I'm your friend no matter what."
Naruto slipped into the hospital room, his chakra was tamped down to near nonexistence, and he timed his steps to the beeping of the monitor in an effort to further disguise his movements. If the nurses caught him sneaking out of bed again, they would probably stitch him up in his sheet.
A lump formed in his throat as he looked over the bandaged form of his Sensei, the man's shallow breathing sounding raspy in the quiet room. He remembered very little of what had happened, but from what Hime and Dog had told him, combined with terrible flashes of recollection, it was enough for him to know that he owed this man his life.
It had taken a few days for him to work up the courage to face his savior. He had been tremendously ashamed of all the damage and trauma he had brought upon his precious people, unable to even look Dog in the eye until Hime and nearly slapped his cheek with exasperation. Pinching his face painfully hard in her hand until his lips had puckered, she had sternly scolded him. "This is what friends are for Naruto-kun," she had chastised while shaking his head with each word she spoke and he stared at her with wide azure eyes. "You would do the same for us. Besides, nobody is perfect. I messed up too, and you easily forgave me, now you have to forgive yourself. You are still Naruto-kun, no matter what they say."
His Hime was right, but it was a lot harder to put yet another harrowing experience behind him now that he knew what could happen if he ever lost control and understood the reason why he was always so hated.
As he had peeked at the supposedly fake scroll, that bastard Mizuki had attacked him, unleashing a powerful, dark chakra from an evil looking seal which morphed the benign assistant instructor into a bestial figure of inhumanity that left the aspiring genin struggling to survive the vicious assault. In his fright at the horrifying state of the wrathful monster, Naruto couldn't sufficiently steady his chakra to spawn shadow clones fast enough to find an escape. They were being destroyed in waves by the seething creature. His kawarimi had been the only thing saving him. Then the beast had grabbed his arm, twisting it out of its socket and tossing him into a tree, spewing curses and calling him the Kyuubi no Yoko, the curse of all shinobi, a damned jinchuriki who would be better off dead. Naruto had tried to deny the accusations, but something within him, someone within him, had laughed deeply in a voice he recognized from his nightmares and hissed the truth. You cannot escape me. I will make you the living embodiment of my hatred.
In that moment, when Naruto had been frozen in shell-shocked disbelief, Mizuki had hurled a fuma shuriken meant to end his days on this earth. But miraculously Iruka-sensei was there, hovering over him, protecting him, bleeding on him, collapsing on him, and then suddenly the world went red.
Even now the feel of Sensei's warm blood dripping onto his face made bile rise up the back of Naruto's throat. Taking a deep breath he forced his stomach down and his thoughts back to the present, focusing on the pale scarred face in front of him.
He must have flinched during his reverie, because Iruka's eyes blinked open and focused on his timid blond visitor. A weak smile stretched across his tired face, and he gestured for Naruto to come closer.
Hesitantly approaching the head of the hospital bed, Naruto tried to return the smile, but his mouth just wouldn't stop trembling.
"Why, Sensei?" he asked meekly. "Why would you do that for me?"
"Because we are the same," Iruka answered with conviction, but Naruto only huffed.
"I am nothing like you, Sensei. I'm a monster..." blond hair blocked his eyes as he slouched his shoulders in shame, until he felt a warm hand rest firmly on top of his spiked hair.
"You are Uzumaki Naruto. An orphan, a prankster, a soul that is desperate to be seen, a capricious student, just like me. And now..." with a proud smile Iruka reached over to the small table next to him, grabbed something off the top of a pile of his folded clothes, and then reached up to tie it around Naruto's hanging head.
"...a shinobi of The Leaf."