Disclaimer: I Do Not Own Naruto/Jinchūriki—Hitai-ate

—XX—

1.

In the middle of a forest, I sat on the ground in a daze. I wasn't confused, just stunned. Moments ago I had been sitting in my house re-watching Naruto for the umpteenth time, and now I was sitting in the middle of a forest outside the walls of Konoha.

Again, I wasn't confused. I knew that I was in the world of Naruto, and I knew that I was now Naruto. His body was my body. His life was my life. Whoever, or whatever had pulled me from my home had given me knowledge. I knew that I had been summoned into the Naruto world and part of the summoning ritual involved limiting any panic or confusion in being brought to a new world.

I looked down at the Scroll of Seals lying at my feet. Tonight was the night that Naruto had been tricked by Mizuki and snuck into the Hokage Tower to steal the Scroll of Seals. I went through the motions of arguably the most iconic Jutsu in the Anime.

"Multi Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

Around me, dozens of puffs of smoke popped into existence. When the smoke cleared, I was surrounded by blonde-haired, blue-eyed Jinchūriki.

"I need one of you to transform into the Scroll of Seals," I ordered, while I rolled up the real Scroll of Seals.

There was another puff of smoke as one of my doppelgangers vanished, and a copy of the Scroll of Seals fell to the ground. I handed the real Scroll to another clone and picked up the fake.

"Take that back to the village," I told him.

The clone took off into the forest. Not a full minute later I heard a loud shout.

"Narutooo!"

I turned in the direction of the voice, then I grinned. "Hey, sensei! I found you!" I said, content with following the script at moment.

Iruka glared at me. "I found you, fool!" he yelled, his anger and frustration abundantly clear.

The Chunin looked me over and the anger was quickly replaced by concern.

"What are you doing out here, Naruto? You looked dead tired."

"I am dead tired," I admitted. "I've been practicing ninjutsu."

"You have?" Iruka asked, glancing uneasily at the Scroll of Seals at my side.

I nodded and set the Scroll of Seals to the side. "Here, watch this!" I said, getting into position. "If I do this, you'll have to let me graduate!"

Iruka frowned. "Who told you that, Naruto?" he asked.

"Mizuki-sensei said I could graduate if I learned a jutsu from this scroll. So I borrowed it from the old man."

"Mizuki told you about the scroll?" Iruka gasped, then his eyes darted to the trees.

Without warning, he lunged forward and roughly pushed me aside. I fell back as a wave of shuriken spun right toward Iruka.

"Hello, Mizuki," Iruka said grimly, glaring up at a nearby tree.

Mizuki stood on a branch near the top of the tree. Several huge windmill shuriken were strapped to his back. "I thought you might lead me to Naruto," he said, descending from his lofty perch.

Iruka pulled a shuriken from his arm and grimaced as he replied. "I see...so that's what's going on."

Mizuki ignored him and turned to me. "Naruto, give me that scroll." he said coldly.

"Don't give it to him, Naruto! No matter what happens!" Iruka ordered. "That scroll contains dangerous jutsu that have forbidden by the Hokage. Mizuki tricked you into stealing the scroll so he get it for himself!"

"You don't need that scroll, Naruto! Just give it to me!" Mizuki demanded.

I shook my head. It wasn't time yet. I had to wait a little longer before giving Mizuki the scroll.

The traitours chunin didn't take my rejection well. "Why? Because Iruka-sensei said not to?" he scoffed. "Would you like to know what Iruka-sensei really thinks of you?"

Iruka suddenly looked horrified. "No, Mizuki!" he shouted. "It's forbidden!"

He's already come this far, I thought, confused as to why Iruka thought saying that would somehow stop Mizuki. It should have been pretty clear by now that Mizuki didn't give a shit about the Hokage's laws.

"Do you know who killed Iruka's parents?" Mizuki asked.

"The Nine-Tailed Fox, right?" I replied, playing along to buy my clone more time. Every minute counted.

Mizuki snorted in amusement. "A brilliant answer, Naruto," he praised sarcastically. "Especially coming from you."

"I said stop!" Iruka yelled, lunging at Mizuki only to fall painfully to his knees. The shuriken had done their damage.

"Think hard about my question, Naruto. I asked you who killed Iruka's parents not what."

"Who?" I repeated. "You make it sound almost human."

"Because it is, Naruto!" Mizuki shouted, his eyes wild. "The Nine-Tailed Fox has changed its form, but it's still alive!"

Wow, he's really lost it, I glanced away from Mizuki. To be honest, I was uncomfortable with how unhinged he actually looked. As someone who'd never been in a situation like this before, it was unnerving to me.

"The Fourth Hokage didn't kill the Nine-Tailed Fox. He just sucked out its spirit and sealed it inside a human," Mizuki explained, grinning. "Ever since, our village has had one strict decree: that human's identity must never be revealed."

I almost snorted. That strict decree was almost completely useless. Sure, it kept the younger generation from knowing about the Nine-Tail's, but what was the point? Their parents kept them away from Naruto anyway.

Iruka pulled a shuriken from his thigh and made a wild throw. Mizuki dodged it without effort.

"Naruto, the human with the spirit of the Nine-Tailed Fox inside of him is...you," Mizuki announced laughing. "Did you never wonder why the villagers shun you? Keep their children from playing with you? Treat you like trash?"

"Don't listen to him, Naruto!" Iruka pleaded. "He's not telling the—"

"Truth, Iruka? The truth is, you hate the Nine-Tailed Fox more than anybody," Mizuki sneered.

Iruka shook his head. "No, Naruto. Mizuki is lying to you!"

I had to give props to Iruka. He was really sticking to his guns. But I already knew the truth, and Naruto didn't believe him in the Anime either. Mizuki pulled one of the massive shuriken from his back.

"Iruka hates you, Naruto! You killed his parents! No one can stand the sight of you!"

The big shuriken spun in Mizuki's hands, and I tensed up. I knew Iruka was supposed to save me, but I couldn't help but worry. What if Mizuki killed me right here and now?

"You did your job, Naruto! Die in peace!" Mizuki shouted. He threw the massive shuriken.

I was already ducking down to dodge. Even if Iruka was supposed to save me, I wasn't just going to stand there like an idiot and wait. A shadow fell over me and I heard Iruka grunt. Just like in the Anime, he had shielded me with his body. I looked over his shoulder at the giant shuriken sticking out of his back. If he wasn't wearing his flak-jacket, he'd be dead, I thought. Or at the very least paralyzed.

I saw tears forming in Iruka's eyes. Now was the time to act. I pushed him away and stood up.

"If I give you the scroll, will you let us live?"

Mizuki frowned and Iruka gasped. Neither of them could believe I was just giving up.

"You could kill us here, but if this scroll is really that important, the Hokage will have every ninja in the village looking for me," I said, tossing the Scroll of Seals to Mizuki. "Why not leave now and get a head start?"

Iruka grabbed my jacket and pulled himself to his feet. "Naruto, what have you done?" he muttered, staring at me with disappointed eyes.

I ignored him and formed the clone seal.

"Multi Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

Two dozen orange-wearing blondes filled the forest. I stared at Mizuki and waited for him to realize that killing Iruka and I wouldn't be as easy as he thought.

When he didn't move one of my clones took off into the forest. "He's going back to the village to tell the Hokage where we are," I said, hoping Mizuki had a least a little sense left.

Mizuki looked at me with hatred. Then he jumped up and ran into the forest with the scroll.

I threw Iruka's arm over my shoulder and started back toward the village. "Naruto, you shouldn't have given Mizuki—"

"It was the scroll of us, Iruka-sensei," I said, shaking my head. "Mizuki won't get far."

—XX—

2.

Later that night, hours after the "Mizuki Incident" the Third Hokage was writing in his journal. He was old, but he wasn't feeble. In fact, most of his skills were still as sharp as shuriken points.

So it was no surprise that when I snuck back into the Hokage mansion he heard me. "Naruto, is that you? Again?" he called out.

I crawled the rest of the way through the window and called back. "Yeah, it's me," I replied.

The Hokage stood up and moved closer until he could see me. "What are you doing here?" he asked.

I pulled the Scroll of Seals from my back and held it out. It'd been hours and I no longer needed the scroll itself. The pictures I had of its contents would work just as well.

"Mizuki doesn't have the real scroll?" the Third Hokage realized, closing his eyelids. There was a small smile on his face.

"No."

"A transformed Shadow Clone?"

I nodded, not the least bit surprised that "The Professor" had deduced my plan so easily. "Yeah, I would have given it back earlier, but we never talked alone and I didn't know who to trust."

A complete lie, but one that was quite believable. To the Third Hokage, I had just been betrayed by one of my teachers. Why wouldn't I be suspicious of others after something like that? And with something as dangerous as the Scroll of Seals missing, the Hokage didn't have time for an Academy student. We'd only been in the same room for a few minutes. Just enough time for Iruka to report what happened in the forest.

After that, I had been escorted home. Where I spent the next few hours taking pictures.

The Hokage sighed. In relief, or maybe he was annoyed. "Thank you for returning the scroll, Naruto," he said, as he took the Scroll of Seals from my hands.

"Well, I was the one who stole it," I said, rubbing the back of my neck. "Sorry about that by the way."

"It's fine, Naruto."

I glanced at the scroll, then back to the Hokage. "I didn't just come here to return the scroll," I admitted.

Messing with what happened in the forest meant Iruka didn't give me his Hitai-ate and make me a ninja. To him, I was just the dumb kid who had given a powerful and dangerous weapon to a traitor. Why would he let me graduate?

"I know Mizuki was lying about the extra test to graduate, but—"

The Hokage cut me off. "Iruka told me about your ability to use the Shadow Clone Jutsu. Quite impressive," he praised.

"Impressive enough to make me a ninja?" I asked. That was the gamble.

I didn't have much time to debate it back in the forest, but I hoped I made the right call. I mean, I was Konoha's Jinchūriki. How could the Third Hokage justify not making me a ninja?

"Learning a B-Rank Ninjutsu at your age is very impressive, Naruto. And your plan to fool Mizuki—a Chunin—was quite clever."

Okay, but does that make me a ninja or not? I wondered, shifting nervously. My nerves only calmed when the Third Hokage walked back to his desk and pulled a Hitai-ate from one of the drawers.

"What are the three jutsu students are required to perform before they can graduate from the Academy, Naruto?"

"The Transformation Jutsu, the Substitution Jutsu, and the Clone Jutsu," I answered, automatically.

The Hokage nodded. "You performed the Transformation and Substitution Jutsu during your final exam, and the Shadow Clone Jutsu tonight. Correct?"

"So I pass?" I breathed a sigh of relief.

"You pass, Naruto." the Hokage said, removing the goggles on my head and replacing them with the Hitai-ate. "You are now a Hidden Leaf Shinobi, congratulations."

Fuck yeah, I am! I pulled off my goggles and tied the Hitai-ate around my head.

"Lord Hokage!"

I nearly jumped out of my skin as a masked ANBU ninja appeared in the center of the room. He kneeled on one knee between me and the Hokage.

"We've located the traitor, Lord Hokage." The ANBU turned around and stared at me. "Naruto Uzumaki was dragging him back to the village."

"Oh?" the Hokage lit his pipe. "Your clone managed to capture a Chunin, Naruto?"

I shrugged. "My clone can make more clones. Mizuki might be a Chunin, but one hundred of me would still be too much for him to handle."

It was your standard quantity and quality. Right now I was still relatively weak. Until I started abusing the fuck out of the Shadow Clone Jutsu I was an academy-level fighter. However, Mizuki didn't have the stamina or the power to beat one hundred opponents. Even if they were academy students. He popped a few, I will give him that, but once he was overwhelmed it was over.

"Did you plan for this as well?" the Hokage asked.

"Not at all," I answered truthfully. My plan stopped at letting Mizuki go and copying the Scroll of Seals.

But catching him was not a bad idea, I thought, silently agreeing with my clone's ambition. Mizuki was trash and deserved to rot in prison. The only reason I let him go was that I needed the spotlight to shine away from me for a few hours. It was selfish as hell, but I was living in a world literally full of killers. I needed to get stronger.

"Hmm..." the Hokage went back to his desk. "Then I suppose the bounty belongs to you, Naruto."

"Wait, what? Bounty?"

Prologue to my Naruto Self-Insert Fic!