The bell rang, as a horde of kids flooded into the academy. This was the last day of school, the day where they would have their final exams, which would decide their place in society. So it came to much surprise that they were receiving a new student today. A man, with brown hair, wearing the standard shinobi attire with the addition of a scar running across his nose walked in. This was the academy's teacher, Iruka Umino.

"Alright class, today we are getting a new student," Iruka stated calmly.

"That's not fair, Iruka-sensei." A girl with long blue hair said dryly.

"It was Hokage-sama's decision, Akane," Iruka replied.

A boy wearing a hoodie with red marks on his face wasn't having it. "We've had to go through years of your boring lectures! Why does this newbie get to skip it all?!"

"I SHOULD'VE BEEN ABLE TO SKIP ALL OF THIS IF THIS LOSER CAN!" A girl with pink hair yelled arrogantly.

"Kiba, Sakura, settle down, before I fail you both on the spot." Iruka threatened, making both of them pale. "You may come in now."

A minute passed, and nobody came into the room.

"Umm, where is he?" A girl with braided brown hair and eyes with white pupils asked.

"Perhaps he got lost on the way." Iruka remarked.

"Loser doesn't even want to show up." Kiba scoffed.

"Oh I'm sorry." A new voice said, shocking everyone, as all of them found the source of the voice, a boy their age, with long, loose black hair, wearing a black trenchcoat standing behind Kiba. "I was busy listening to you blabber, mutt."

"What was that?!" Kiba asked in anger.
"That dog in your jacket is less of a mutt than you." The boy mocked.

"You little-" Kiba pulled back his fist and threw a punch, which the boy caught without effort.

"Kiba you sit still right this instant!" Iruka yelled angrily. "I apologise for his behavior…"

"That's alright, Iruka-sensei." The boy replied, throwing Kiba into his seat.

"Your name?" Iruka asked.

"Ishiro." The boy revealed.

"I've never heard of such a name…" Sakura muttered.

'I swear I've heard that name somewhere, but where?' The girl with brown hair asked herself. 'I probably should ask.'

"Well, Ishiro, you can take a seat next to Kiba, I see you're both already acquainted." Iruka said, to which Ishiro nodded, sitting in the chair next to Kiba, who had an agitated look on his face.

"Alright the first test out of five, the writing test will begin in earnest. Don't try to cheat, or I'll fail you without hesitation." Iruka announced to the whole class, before handing out the papers. "If there are no other questions you may begin."

Ishiro began to answer the questions. 'Question 1: Who founded the village? - Hashirama Senju and Madara Uchiha. Question 2: Is the author lazy? - Probably. Question…'

-Thirty minutes later-

"Time's up! Now everyone put your paper on the teacher's desk, I will be waiting upstairs for the second exam." Iruka said, disappearing in a cloud of white smoke. Groups of kids began to file towards the door.

'Now's my chance!' The brown-haired girl thought as she saw Ishiro walk towards the desk. She walked up to Ishiro, who turned around. "So, ummmm, Ishiro, was it?"

"Yes." Ishiro stated. "And your name is?"

"Umm, so my name is Dhuveena Hyuga…" The girl replied, while the blue-haired Akane walked up behind her.

"Wow, Dhuveena, wow." Akane said with sarcastic disappointment. "You've just met him and you're already hogging the new boy."

"I-I-I" Dhuveena stammered.

"Where even is he?" Akane asked. Dhuveena turned around, to see that Ishiro was nowhere to be found.

-Upstairs on the roof-

Everyone assembled on the roof, patiently watching as Iruka marked the exam papers that somehow appeared upstairs. After finishing with the last paper, Iruka looked up. "I'll call out the names of those who failed, those whose names are announced please get out." When he finished, thirty students remained.

"Right guys, I lied. We only have two more tests." Iruka revealed, getting mixed reactions. "We will now be conducting the Taijutsu test."

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN TAIJUTSU TEST?!" Sakura screamed.

"That's correct. The first test was a knowledge test, the second is a taijutsu test, while the last one would be a ninjutsu test." Iruka revealed. "Now let's get on with it. First up we have Ishiro against Kiba!"

Ishiro and Kiba walked into the improvised arena, basically four flags on all four ends of a drawn square. Kiba let the dog out of his jacket, letting it jump out. Ishiro stood in a calm stance.

"I'm going to show you who's the top dog here, loser! No one shows me up!" Kiba yelled.

"Why would I want the title of a dog?" Ishiro mocked, fueling Kiba's anger.

"Begin!" Iruka announced.

Kiba immediately rushed at Ishiro, throwing a punch, which Ishiro dodged, responding with an elbow to Kiba's stomach, which connects, knocking him back slightly. As Iruka was watching, a chunin with blue hair walked up behind him.

"Sorry, Iruka, I had a wardrobe emergency." The chunin said.

"It's alright, Mizuki." Iruka replied.

"So that's the new student, I assume?" Mizuki asked.

"Yup." Iruka replied.

Kiba then called his dog, Akumaru over and stood next to him.

"Now I'll show you why you don't mess with the heir of the Inuzuka Clan!" Kiba yelled. "Juujin Bunshin(Man Beast Clone)!" Akamaru disappeared into a cloud of white smoke, leaving a clone of Kiba behind when the cloud faded.

"Kiba! Ninjutsu is prohibited!" Iruka yelled, right when he was about to call the match off, Ishiro raised a hand, leading Kiba to smile, thinking his opponent would give up.

"Iruka-sensei. If he used ninjutsu, can I use ninjutsu as well?" Ishiro asked, shocking everyone there.

"While unconventional, I think we should allow this, Iruka. But only one jutsu each." Mizuki spoke up, Iruka reluctantly sighed. 'This will give me a chance to see what this kid is capable of.'

"Let's see if you can even pull one off!" Kiba yelled, as he and his clone jumped at Ishiro, both slashing at him with their sharp claws, only for Ishiro to dodge. Kiba continued to attack, while Ishiro kept dodging.

'This is ingenious! By continuing to push him, Ishiro could be forced into a corner!' Iruka thought to himself.

Kiba then jumped up, as his clone then swept Ishiro, who had to jump to dodge, giving Kiba an opportunity, as he threw a punch. Right as the punch was about to connect, Ishiro leaned his head back, right as he was about to land face first, Ishiro planted his hands on the ground, using them as springs to kick Kiba in the face with both his legs.

"He's quite skilled at Taijutsu." Mizuki analysed, to which Iruka nodded.

"IRUKA-SENSEI ISHIRO IS CHEATING! THERE'S NO WAY SOMEONE WHO SKIPPED ALL THE LESSONS IS SO GOOD!" Sakura screeched.

"Ever tone it down?" Akane asked.

"WHO THE HELL ARE YOU TO ASK ME YOU DAMN IMMIGRANT?!" Sakura shrieked.

'If I'm paired with you, god help me not kill you…' Dhuveena thought in anger.

"WHAT ARE YOU STARING AT YOU BRUNETTE?!" Sakura yelled, turning to Dhuveena.

'No way…' Kiba thought, lying on the ground, rubbing blood from his cheek, as Ishiro threw his clone next to him, making it revert back to Akamaru.

"Wait, I never got to show my jutsu." Ishiro remembered. "Can you stand up?"

Kiba gave a confused face, and stood up. Ishiro smirked, brushing aside his side bangs, revealing what seemed to be whisker marks on his face, before he began to make different shapes with his hands at incredibly fast speeds, before stopping, and putting two fingers at his mouth. "Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu!(Fire Style: Great Fireball Jutsu)" Ishiro exhaled a ball of burning fire at Kiba, with the blast flying next to the latter, missing on purpose.

"Iruka-sensei, I forfeit." Kiba said, bringing his arms up. "You're quite good, but I won't lose again!"

'That boy, he has the same marks as… That demon! And his skills with hand seals, also elemental ninjutsu… I have to inform Orochimaru-sama about this…" Mizuki thought.

"Well done, Ishiro. You have aced the Taijutsu test! Next up, Sakura against Dhuveena." Iruka stated.

'Perfect.' Dhuveena thought.

"LET ME SHOW YOU ALL HOW IT'S DONE!" Sakura boasted.

Ishiro took a seat, as a boy with blonde spiky hair, blue eyes and distinct whisker marks sat down next to him. "So who do you think is going to take this?" The boy asked.

"If she is as good as others in her family, Dhuveena will win easily." Ishiro replied.

"I don't know about that, Sakura-chan's quite amazing dattebayo!" The boy replied. "Oops I forgot to introduce myself my name is Menma Uzamaki, and I'll become the next hokage dattebayo!"

"Nice to meet you, Menma, my name is Ishiro." Ishiro replied. "That's quite the ambitious dream you have."

Right as Menma was about to respond, they heard a loud crash. Turning around, they saw Sakura being launched into a wall, as Iruka announced Dhuveena as the winner.

"Told you." Ishiro stated. 'So this is the kyuubi jinchuuriki, interesting…'

-After all the tests-

"Alright. The final test will be held at midday. Go have lunch now." Iruka announced.

"Hey Ishiro, wanna have ramen?" Menma asked.

"Haven't had it in a while, sure." Ishiro replied.

"Can we come too?" Akane asked, walking over with Dhuveena.

"Sure!" Menma exclaimed. "Oi Shika! Do you wanna get ramen?"

A boy, previously sleeping on a chair with a pineapple-shaped hairstyle woke up. "Huh, sure… You're the new student, Ishiro, right? Nice to meet you, the name's Shikamaru Nara… What a drag…" Shikamaru said lazily.

-Ramen Bar-

The five academy students walked over to take a seat, as a brown haired waiter walked over. "Well, I see a new face. Nice to meet you, my name is Ayame Ichiraku, and I am a waiter here."

"Nice to meet you, Ayame." Ishiro replied. "My name is Ishiro."

"May I take your order?" Ayame asked.

"Can I have ten bowls of Miso Chashu Pork Ramen?" Menma asked, to the shock of Ishiro, while Ayame took the order like it was normal.

"Can we both have one bowl of Shoyu ramen each?" Akane asked for herself and Dhuveena, Ayame nodded as she took the order.

"What a drag… Can I have a bowl of Tsukemen?" Shikamaru asked as Ayame nodded.

"I think I'll have a bowl of Tonkotsu Ramen." Ishiro stated, Ayame nodded and went to put in the orders.

"So Ishiro, why did you only join the academy today?" Menma asked.

"Certain people didn't let me join." Ishiro replied.

"Who?" Dhuveena asked.

"Specifically, two of the village elders and the civilian council." Ishiro replied. "Which was why seeing you throw that banshee into the wall was so satisfying for me."

"Why? Is her family from the council?" Akane asked, as Ishiro nodded.

"Why else is she so arrogant?" Ishiro asked rhetorically.

"What about your family? What is their status?" Dhuveena asked, as Ishiro looked down and stayed silent for a while.

"I- They- I don't have a family." Ishiro replied.

"I know how that feels…" Menma replied.

'That Ishiro… Seeing how well he handled himself against Kiba, who is the heir of the Inuzuka Clan, one of the most famous clans for combat and tracking… He's most likely from a shinobi clan…' Shikamaru thought, as he rested his head on his palm.

"Here's your ramen! Enjoy!" Ayame announced, bringing over bowl after bowl of ramen to their table.

-After lunch-

"We need to leave now. We have one last exam." Menma said.

"Don't worry, I'll take this one." Ishiro stated, pulling out his wallet.

"Wow, you sure are generous…" Akane replied.

"No, I'm just sure I can make it to the academy faster." Ishiro replied, writing a check for three thousand ryo. "Keep the change." Ishiro then disappeared in a vortex of leaves in front of everyone, shocking all present.

-At the academy-

"Alright. Hope you all had a nice lunch." Iruka announced. "First off, Sakura, start first. Start by demonstrating the Henge no Jutsu(Transformation Technique), secondly the Kawarimi no Jutsu(Substitution Technique), lastly, the Bunshin no Jutsu(Clone Technique)."

Sakura walked eagerly up to the front. First she transformed into a perfect copy of Iruka, secondly she switched with a chair next to her, lastly, she made a basic clone, which appeared in a cloud of white smoke.

"Good." Iruka said. "Back to your seat."

"YEAH! BEAT THAT YOU LOSERS!" Sakura shrieked.

"Next, Ishiro." Iruka announced.

'Time to mess with that freaking banshee…' Ishiro thought. "Ok, so let me try this…" Ishiro made a ram seal, and turned into a copy of Menma. "I'm Menma Uzumaki! And I'll become the future hokage, dattebayo!"

That scene and phrase would have seemed like Ishiro mocking Menma, if Ishiro didn't manage to speak in Menma's exact voice, speaking style and everything.

"Per-perfect." Iruka acknowledged.

"Iruka-sensei, can you throw a kunai at me?" Ishiro asked.

"Umm, are you sure?" Iruka asked.

"Crystal." Ishiro stated.

"FREAKING SHOW OFF STOP CHEATING ACTUALLY DIE NOW YOU DESERVE IT!" Sakura yelled.

"Shut the hell up Sakura! It's his choice!" Akane yelled with killing intent, immediately shutting Sakura up.

"Thanks Akane." Iruka stated. "Ready?"

"Yup." Ishiro replied.

Iruka threw the knife at a medium speed towards Ishiro, who disappeared right as the edge was about to stab into him, leaving a whiteboard duster in his place, while Ishiro appeared in front of the whiteboard.

"Incredible…" Iruka muttered.

'There's definitely something peculiar about this boy…' Mizuki thought.

"Lastly Ishiro, do a bunshin." Iruka instructed.

"One step ahead of you." Ishiro stated, pointing to his seat, revealing a clone there.

"When?!" Iruka asked, confused.

"I am the clone." The Ishiro in front said, before dissipating into ice spikes.

"That's not a normal clone, how did you do that?!" Iruka asked once again.

"I'm afraid the hokage said it's classified information." Ishiro stated.

"Well, I think you aced this test. Excellent." Iruka acknowledged.

"WHAT?! BUT IRUKA SENSEI, HE DID ALL THE SAME THINGS I DID, EXCEPT HE CHEATED!" Sakura shrieked.

"First off, he did not cheat, it's impossible to cheat in this test. Secondly, he did technically do all the normal skills, but he perfected the Transformation Technique, he showed great skill at the Substitution technique, and he invented his own kind of clone technique." Iruka explained.

'The council will hear about this, loser!' Sakura thought angrily.

'I need to tell Orochimaru-sama about this… It's the first time I saw ice manipulation…' Mizuki thought.

-After all the tests-

All of the students managed to do all the skills well, except Menma, who was unable to do a basic clone.

"Alright, everyone, come back tomorrow morning for team placements." Mizuki announced, as the students began to file out of the building, Menma dropped his head and walked out slowly.

The students walked outside to be greeted by their parents, all Menma could do was sit on the swing outside the academy and watch, as the parents from the civilian families started to hurl insult after insult at him. Suddenly, Mizuki appeared behind Menma, as Ishiro and Iruka watched from a distance.

"Iruka-sensei, the hokage wants to talk." Ishiro informed.

"Oh, thanks, Ishiro." Iruka replied.

Both looked up, and saw that Menma and Mizuki had vanished.

-That night-

Iruka was just about to doze off when he heard banging on his door.

"What is it?!" He yelled out as he opened the door, to see Mizuki there.

"Go to Lord Hokage's now! It's about Menma!" Mizuki informed.

"What did he do now?" Iruka asked.

"I've heard, he stole the Scroll of Sealing!" Mizuki replied, completely shocking Iruka.

-In the forest-

"Let's see…" Menma muttered as he opened the scroll. "The first jutsu is… Multi-Shadow Clone Jutsu? What?! Already a jutsu I'm no good at?"

-At the hokage's meeting-

"Hokage-sama! We can't forgive him!" A jonin said. "This is no prank!"

"The scroll is a dangerous item that the first hokage himself sealed!" A jonin with an eyepatch brought up. "Depending on its use… It could become a disaster for the village or even an international crisis!"

Iruka and Mizuki arrived.

"You're right. Bring Menma and the scroll back." The hokage ordered, as all jonin jumped off, Ishiro sat perched on the roof, listening to the conversation. "You can come down now, Ishiro."

"They didn't see me, did they?" Ishiro asked, jumping down.

"They did. Now, we have something to discuss."

As Mizuki ran across the village, a sinister smile formed on his face. 'I will tell everyone across this village about this and eliminate Menma, then, the Scroll of Sealing will be mine!' He thought as he jumped.

-Back in the forest-

Iruka cornered Menma, but before he was able to speak, he was pinned to a tree by five kunai, as Mizuki stepped out of the shadows.

"Well, well, Iruka, didn't we have an agreement?" Mizuki asked.

"We do." Iruka replied, giving a smirk, as he stood up.

"Wha-what agreement?" Menma asked.

"We work for Orochimaru-sama, and we were given one goal, steal the Scroll of Sealing, and we saw you as the perfect scapegoat!" Mizuki revealed.

"Bu-but, why?" Menma asked.

"Because, I hate you the most, you killed my parents!" Iruka yelled.

"I did no such thing, Iruka-sensei!" Menma defended.

"You did you demon!" Iruka yelled, as he smacked Menma into a tree. "Let me tell you the truth… After an incident twelve years ago, a rule was created."

"A rule?" Menma asked, confused.

"That is, Menma, a rule everybody but you know…" Mizuki explained. "The rule forbids anyone from revealing that you are the demon fox spirit! You are actually the demon, Nine-tailed Demon Fox! The one who killed Iruka's parents and destroyed our village!"

"No… no!" Menma cried out.

"Now you die!" Mizuki yelled, as he and Iruka threw two large fuma shurikens at Menma.

Menma tried his best to crawl away, but he knew it was all in vain. Before the shuriken were able to make contact, Menma laid down helplessly on the ground.

"If I really am the demon, then I'll fulfill my goal to help others… one last time." Menma said in acceptance, as he closed his eyes. Nothing happened… Confused, Menma opened his eyes, and saw that Ishiro had deflected both fuma shurikens.

"For the record, I take offense that you called him the actual Nine-tails, the technical term for people like us is jinchuuriki." Ishiro stated calmly.

-Five minutes ago-

"That Mizuki, has a big mouth…" The hokage muttered to Ishiro, looking at a crystal ball. "With the scroll of seals, and Menma's current state, there's no telling what Menma would do! He might unleash the nine-tails."

"I realised Mizuki smelt of snakes, so I made an agreement with Iruka-sensei so that he would pretend to help Mizuki." Ishiro revealed.

"I see, well done, now for your first official mission, I am labeling this a B-rank mission, relieve Iruka and prevent at all costs Mizuki from attaining the scroll!" The hokage ordered. Ishiro nodded and disappeared.

-Present-

"Iruka-sensei, remember our deal?"

"I do." Iruka said, as he vanished in a cloud of white smoke. "Goodbye Mizuki, I'm off to the hokage."

"I see, so Iruka had tricked me, and left a genin and a failure to stop me?" Mizuki mocked.

"Ishiro… What did you mean by people like us?" Menma asked.

"We are the same, you see. We aren't actually the Nine-tailed fox. We host two halves of the same bijuu, we both have two halves of the Nine-tails sealed within us, that's what a jinchuuriki is." Ishiro explained.

"So you see me as a demon too?" Menma asked.

"I don't. Take this as an example. If you seal a kunai into a scroll, what does it become?" Ishiro asked.

"It still remains a scroll… Oh I get it!" Menma remarked.

"Good. Now we have to take care of this traitorous snake." Ishiro stated.
"Wait, Ishiro. Leave him to me." Menma stated, standing up. "He tricked me into stealing this scroll, telling me that this is a test Iruka-sensei set. I learned one of this Jutsu, and now, I'll use it on him."

"One try it Demon! I'll beat you in one blow!" Mizuki yelled, rushing at Menma.

"Kage-bunshin no Jutsu!(Multi Shadow Clone Jutsu)" In a cloud of white smoke, a thousand clones of Menma appeared in the forest around Mizuki. They then proceeded to beat Mizuki into a bloody pulp, before both Ishiro and Menma dragged Mizuki to the Hokage's office, where Iruka and the Hokage were already waiting.

"Well done, Ishiro." The Hokage acknowledged. "You as well, Menma. Learning a forbidden Jutsu as a genin is unheard of."

"Nah it was nothing. I was relieved to learn that Iruka-sensei didn't hate me after all." Menma remarked.

"Speaking off, I think you deserve this," Iruka said, as he untied his headband, and tied it around Menma's head. "From now on, you are a genin of Konoha."

"Thank you Iruka-sensei," Menma replied.