Kakashi looked over the mission report he received from Sakura while she and Team 10 waited patiently. The silver haired Hokage double checked the report before placing it down and steeping his fingers to stare at the pink haired chunin.
"What happened?" Kakashi asked after giving the girl a moment to stew, she seemed offended.
"What do you mean what happened!?" Sakura shouted, uncaring that she was shouting at the leader of her village, "The mission went perfectly! Ino, Shikamaru, and Choji captured the bandit leader and I covered their escape! The only way it could have gone better is if Ino hadn't gotten heard on the way out!"
"Hey!" Ino protested, "Choji was the one eating!"
"Well you shouted at him for it!" Sakura shouted at Ino.
Kakashi seemed perplexed as he looked over the mission report again, "No enemy ninja?" he asked, receiving a shake of the head from the shinobi reporting, "No secret plot to give bandits drugs that enhance their chakra ten fold?" he asked and the Akamichi looked nervous but they shook their head, "No cursed artifact of untold power in the hands of the bandit leader?" he asked.
"He had a fancy sake bottle." Shikamaru supplied with a shrug, knowing damn well that didn't count.
Kakashi wasn't sure what to make of this development, absolutely nothing had changed during the mission parameters, he determined that he needed to run more tests and dismissed the team with their pay slips.
Jinchuriki training was hard, Naruto knew that now. The kitsune did not like giving up it's power for free, he learned that the demon's chakra, while it flowed to his own hatred and rage, was filled with inhuman levels of malice. It was impressive he could control what he had as well as he could, but the more he pulled the more his thoughts blurred.
The initial form of drawing out the red chakra was easy enough to control, and the benefits were amazing. What Jiraiya referred to as the Yoko no Koromo was much harder to keep under control, the blonde vaguely remembered feeling the urge to attack Jiraiya while trying to get angry enough to draw more chakra, he remembered thinking a fight would get the blood pumping and draw out even more power.
Naruto had stopped there, Haku was nearby and he knew from experience the boy couldn't match his power when using the demon, he didn't dare risk losing control around Haku. Jiraiya had seemed surprised when Naruto had taken a deep breath and the chakra of the beast was subdued.
Worse was the training was far slower than anything else Naruto had attempted yet, within a few months he'd managed to get nowhere.
Kakashi was giving him a C rank to do with Haku, a vacation from training the silver haired Kage was calling it. All they had to do was deliver a shipment of lumber to a nearby town and bring the payment back in full. It was a decent paying mission for its rank but Naruto was worried it would get boring.
Still, a mission was a mission, and Naruto needed to pay rent. Karin may be working as a nurse at the hospital but the blonde Uzumaki felt like it was his responsibility to pay the entirety of the rent. With that in mind Naruto had prepared a Fuinjutsu in a scroll to store the lumber while they traveled.
Haku stood in Naruto's blind spot, on the left, keeping his right hand rested in the crook of the younger shinobi's left arm as they walked. Besides being comforted by each others touch, this allowed Haku to flutter chakra through Naruto in the event of genjutsu or squeeze his arm if he spotted something. Mostly they just enjoyed the closeness.
It was slow to travel like that but they were expected to be dragging a cart of lumber so they could afford to enjoy the scenery a bit.
Eventually their path was blocked when the ground rose up in front of them by a muscular old man who flexed his muscles as he smirked at them, then the man looked around, confused, "Oh, is uh," the man stumbled over his words for a moment. Despite his stature the man was balding and had a long mustache, and dressed only in black pants with a white obi, he didn't even have sandals.
The man pulled out a piece of paper and glasses, Naruto decided to wait patiently and Haku wasn't even sure if the man was a threat or some eccentric messenger, "You guys are from Konohagakure no Sato, right?" he asked and they didn't even respond, knowing their village allegiance was on their forehead protectors, "Shit, did I sleep in? Uh, I'm looking for a team transporting a shipment of lumber." the man explained.
That got Naruto's attention and his visible blue eye narrowed, "Who wants to know?" he asked, right hand itching to grab a kunai already. Haku prepared to palm senbon if the man proved hostile.
"I am the great and powerful Pachi-jiisama!"
"Isn't that only half of a name?" Naruto asked and the old man seemed to deflate.
"No, that's my name." Pachi sounded offended, "You punks must be too young to have heard of me," he began, his mood lifting in an instant, "they call me Oni no Doken!" the man declared, lowering his stance and pointing a palm at the two shinobi as his other hand made a fist near his chest, "I am the mightiest A rank shinobi to come out of Iwagakure!"
Naruto didn't look impressed, "So are you here to steal the lumber delivery?" he asked.
"Yes!" Pachi declared, altering his pose to stand on one leg, "I!" the man continued by crossing his arms, "AM!" he finished by stomping the ground, lifting his fist above his head at an angle and thrusting his palm towards the two.
"So why didn't you wait for us to deliver it and then steal it from the town after we left?" Haku asked, Naruto nodded as he wondered the same thing. Pachi didn't respond, the old man just stood there for a moment.
"Farewell!" Pachi called out, turning to to dive back into the ground. Haku tossed senbon at the man, wondering how someone like that had become an A rank, musing that perhaps he had gone senile in his old age. The senbon struck dirt as the soil swallowed the old man up.
Naruto frowned, "We should do something." he said, "That jutsu takes chakra right, so he can't stay under there indefinitely?" he asked, trying to think of a way to complete the mission and protect the people from the odd enemy ninja.
"He could have an underground resting spot, deep but hollow with enough air for himself to recover." Haku suggested, guessing that might be the case since the man had apparently been waiting for a team to perform this mission, "The bigger issue, is how did he knew we should be coming by here by now?" the dark haired teen wondered, worried that Konoha had some kind of spy or informant.
Naruto nodded, "Yeah, I should warn Kakashi-sensei that someone knew we were coming." he said, biting his thumb to perform a kuchiyose.
"Wait a moment!" Pachi's face appeared from the dirt below Naruto and the blonde jumped back startled, Haku lodged a senbon at the man's face as he joined Naruto, frowning when the strange old man caught it with his teeth, "When you say Kakashi-sensei do you mean Sharingan Kakashi? The Godaime Hokage?" the man asked, seeming completely unbothered by the senbon he started chewing on.
"Yeah, he was my jonin sensei." Naruto confirmed, more curious about why the old man cared before said old man stood fully out of the ground.
"Ah," Pachi said, suddenly serious, "then for the crimes of the sensei of your sensei," the old man intoned taking a deep breath, "perish." the man breathed the word, surprising Naruto when he crumbled to dirt, the senbon in his mouth clattering to the ground.
Naruto doubled over as a massive fist burst out of the ground and slugging the blond in the stomach. Haku jumped and threw senbon at the arm, pulling the winded blonde into the tree with him. The Uzumaki chunin raised his headband to reveal the dojutsu.
The arm didn't react or bleed as it pulled the senbon into the ground as it pulled back, "Ah, interesting, you take after the sensei of your sensei in looks, yet bear a single Sharingan in your left eye like your sensei!" Pachi's voice reverberated from the ground around them.
Naruto frowned, he didn't know any Doton no Jutsu to deal with the man, and while it was tempting to just blow everything up he did know at least one Raiton no Jutsu, which were supposed to counter Doton.
"Naruto-kun, should we pull back?" Haku asked, concerned since his specialty was Suiton, which was weak against Doton, "This man can't have too much range on whatever jutsu this is." the boy pointed out.
"You would run away, Sharingan Naruto!?" Pachi's voice called from all the ground around them, sounding accusatory.
"Like hell I'm running from this freak," Naruto growled, personally bothered by some strange ninja insisting he pay for the crimes of another, it hit a little too close to home, "I just need one good shot." he decided.
Pachi rose swiftly from the ground and slammed a fist into the tree they were standing in, "Move, Haku-chan!" Naruto ordered, running through hand seals and rushing at the elder ninja with a Chidori in hand. Haku obeyed and jumped to another tree as the force of the old man's fist sent the one they were in down, turning Naruto's vertical dash into a diagonal one and the boy was horizontal by the time he plunged the Chidori into Pachi's chest.
Pachi collapsed into dirt again and Naruto leaped away in time to avoid a rising uppercut from the old man, "Are you even the real one this time?" he asked angrily.
"Ohoho," Pachi laughed, waving his hands in circles at the young blonde, "what is real and what isn't, are you real?" he asked and Naruto really wasn't sure if the old man was okay in the head. When the old man started striking Naruto realized it didn't matter because this old man was dangerous, sane or not.
Haku watched the taijutsu exchange with worry, wanting to do something to help but knowing Naruto had already determined to fight the man. The dark haired boy frowned as he pulled out a scroll, determining that he'd help anyway.
Naruto ducked under a hook and slammed his heel into the old man's chin, jumping when that one dissolved into dirt too and narrowly avoiding a crescent kick that broke the surface of the ground as if it was water.
Another Pachi rose up, hopping from side to side and shadow boxing at Naruto as Haku poured all the water out of the scroll. Naruto made a kage bunshin and ran through two different sets of hand signs, crouching down as his bunchin released a Suidan at the old man, who smirked at the jutsu, before Naruto enhanced it with a Toppa and the swirling water drilled into the man and destroyed his upper torso, revealing another fake made of dirt, well mud in this case.
Haku jumped down and froze the ground with his Hyoton, pushing his chakra into the surrounding water to put a layer of permafrost between them and their enemy. There was a moment of eerie peace over the battlefield.
Pachi burst out of the ground covered in stone armor that resembled samurai armor, shattering ice where it blocked his entrance and startling the younger two ninja with his laugh, "I had no idea I was fighting a member of that cursed bloodline, my apologies for neglecting you, Yuki-neesan." the old man said with faux politeness, directing his stance towards Haku.
Naruto stepped between the two instantly, a Chidori screaming in his hand, "You aren't touching Haku-chan." he growled at the old ninja facing him down. Pachi just smirked and punched at the blonde from across the distance with his right hand, launching one of his stone gauntlets at the blonde. Naruto knocked it out of the air with the Chidori and ran at the seemingly senile shinobi as Haku performed a familiar hand seal.
Pachi met the Chidori with his right fist, then twisted as the Raiton no Jutsu tore his stone gauntlet to pieces, removing his hand from the gauntlet before slugging Naruto in the head, sending the blonde skidding across the icy ground.
Haku's heart skipped a beat when the old man rushed him, the young shinobi sank into the ground, reflecting into the mirror he'd positioned above before reflecting back down to land near Naruto
"Huh, faster than you look." Pachi said approvingly as he rushed the two yet again, his stone armor melting around his fists to create another pair of gauntlets.
Naruto got up to his knees, feeling dizzy but running through hand seals, "Hyoton:" the blonde declared and the old man's eyes widened, "Haryu Moko!"
The ice around the young chunin cracked and a tiger of ice leaped at Pachi, who struggled to block the blow with his stone gauntlets but found his gauntlets torn away by the pressure.
"Oh the cold ain't good for these old bones." Pachi managed to complain breathlessly, the skin on his arms raw and frostbitten from his attempt at blocking the attack. The old man made to move but stopped short when he realized the frost on the ground had crept up his legs.
"Alright old timer, you're pretty strong." Naruto confessed, "Unfortunately for you, I'm the next Hokage, y'know." the blonde bragged as he stood up, wincing at the ringing in his ears from the simple act of standing.
"Bah, you kids should have mentioned you were both Yuki clan." Pachi said dismissively, sounding aggravated by such information being kept from him.
"We aren't," Haku began, "Naruto-kun is Uzumaki, and I am his." the boy explained simply, and the old man didn't like the sound of that.
"Oh shit, seriously?" Pachi asked, sounding genuinely confused, "Hm, no that can't be right, I'm not that out of the loop am I?" he wondered out loud, "Ah well, get it over with and kill me."
"What?" Naruto asked, "You're a prisoner, we need to know how you knew we'd be here!" the blonde explained.
Pachi just grinned, "Boy my arms may be disobedient right now but unless you've got the guts to torture it out of me yourself you ain't learning nothing." the man insisted, "As soon as this ice melts I'll kick, and if you tear my legs off I'll come at you like a worm with teeth."
Haku found the man unnerving, "Fine, I'll figure it out." Naruto grumbled, performing a kuchiyose, "Yo, could you go tell Kakashi to send some Anbu, we got a prisoner but he's kind of a handful." the blonde asked the summoned toad who shivered in the cold but nodded before dispelling itself.
"Are you brats serious?" Pachi asked, "Come on, I'm on my feet here, I fought well, let me die like this. Put that weird bird chirping sounding jutsu through my heart or something!" the old man insisted on dying.
"Naruto-kun and I aren't very good at cold blooded murder, ironically." Haku spoke up, "Personally I still haven't actually killed, although I did assist Naruto-kun once." the dark haired youth explained, making small talk with the captured old shinobi.
"Bah, soft hearts all over the shop these days, back in my day being a child soldier meant something." Pachi grumbled, mostly to himself.
Eventually a team of Anbu arrived and started wrapping seals around the man for transport. The two young Konoha nin watched them go as Naruto rested his sore head by sitting and leaning his head back against Haku's shoulder, the older boy holding the younger protectively against himself.
Soon they were continuing their mission, not sure what to make of the strange old man or his words.
"Thank you for your work, shinobi-san!" An old civilian said with a bow after Naruto unsealed the lumber and stacked it in their cart, however he said it to Haku.
Haku bowed back, "Pardon me, but Naruto-kun is the chunin in charge of this mission." the older boy corrected, "I merely assisted."
The old man looked surprised but bowed to Naruto, "Ah, my apologies then, shinobi-san." he said, "I have grandchildren about your age, so I presumed without thinking."
Naruto wanted to be annoyed but was placated by the apology, "It's okay, I get it." he assured with a grin. Haku smiled, happy to have helped ensure the blonde was recognized for his efforts.
Maito Gai considered himself a patient man, he also considered himself quite honorable. He felt nothing but respect for his eternal rival, Kakashi, becoming the Godaime Hokage, and had witnessed the Chunin Exam finals first hand so he knew there was no favoritism when Team 7 had all become Chunin.
"Maito-sensei, please teach me Hachimon!" Sasuke asked the green spandex wearing jonin, and Gai wondered at his own patience. The Uchiha asked that fairly often, once he'd even asked twice in the same day.
Gai truly had nothing against the boy, but he had his own genin to think of. He was sympathetic that Kakashi had no time to train the young chunin now that he was Hokage, but the Hachimon were kinjutsu for a reason, and he'd only taught Lee because he felt the genin needed it.
He had tried telling Sasuke this, but the Uchiha reasoned that he needed it too and had insisted that he would be careful and respectful of the kinjutsu, "Sasuke-san," Gai began, "I do not hold that you and Kakashi-san have copied parts of the Goken I taught to Lee against either of you," he assured to start with, "but are you willing to work hard to master your body for the level of taijutsu required without activating your dojutsu?" he asked, finally deciding to see if the young chunin would be able to handle it. Lee was still recovering but coming along well, and could use a sparring partner like Sasuke.
Sasuke nodded, "Yes!" he agreed without hesitation. Gai knew Kakashi had told the boy he had permission to learn the kinjutsu provided Gai agreed to teach him, he also knew Kakashi only said that to get the Uchiha to stop pestering him and start pestering Gai.
"Then let us stoke your flames of youth!" Gai said boisterously, startling his new student with the sudden mood shift.
Kakashi was certain now. Anbu had captured Oni no Doken, the man was old but it was rare for a missing nin to reach his age, and the old shinobi had attacked Naruto during a basic delivery C rank mission.
"Sakura-chan," Kakashi began, the pink haired chunin was clearly not sure why she was there, "although I was not Hokage at the time, I apologize for the team you were placed on." he continued and the girl seemed more confused, "We had no idea that Naruto-kun and Sasuke-kun were both cursed to draw in excess danger and enemy shinobi like moths to a flame."
Sakura just stared blankly at the Hokage, "Kakashi-sensei, that makes absolutely no sense." she argued.
"I gave all three of you fairly low threat missions, yours went off without a hitch while your two teammates ended up facing A rank threats that shouldn't have been involved." Kakashi argued back without preamble, "It happens from time to time, mission intel isn't always perfect, but it has affected every single mission of C rank or higher that either of those boys goes on." he explained, feeling quite sure of himself.
"That's ridiculous!" Sakura insisted, "How bad could these missions have been? Sure we faced off against Zabuza during our first C rank, and we had to fight ninja without your help in Takigakure, and the whole Yuki no Kuni thing was pretty messed up." she confessed, "But that was just bad luck, there's no curse." she was adamant on this point.
"Sasuke-kun fought a missing nin from Konoha who stole the Raijin no Ken and defected to Amegakure no Sato while his team faced off against genin from Amegakure." Kakashi argued back, "Naruto-kun was delivering lumber when he was attacked by an old missing nin from Iwagakure no Sato who held a grudge against my sensei and tried to take it out on my student." he explained, satisfied that Sakura had no response to that, "Aoi Rokusho was A rank even without a legendary weapon and Pachi is a veteran of the last two shinobi wars who developed methods of fighting against Sharingan wielders and used a Seishitsu Hensha that put Naruto-kun and Haku-san at a distinct disadvantage."
Sakura was adequately stunned by this information, "Okay," she said shakily, "that does sound cursed." she admitted, sounding concerned, "Are they okay?" she asked after a moment.
"Oh they're fine, Sasuke-kun retrieved Raijin no Ken, killing Aoi, and Naruto-kun captured his opponent for Anbu pick up, Pachi the Oni no Doken is now contained within T&I." Kakashi assured, "Although Ibiki-san tells me that the old man is refusing to give up any information on how he knew when and where the lumber delivery would be." he added, deciding not to mention to the pink haired chunin that the old man kept insisting they kill him.
Sakura wasn't sure what to make of this, "Well," she began, "I still want to do missions with them, they're my team!" she insisted, "I'll just get stronger and do my best to keep up with them." she decided with a nod. Kakashi raised an eyebrow but was proud his teachings about never abandoning your comrades had stuck.
"That's nice," Kakashi agreed easily enough, "but we're honestly still recovering from the invasion, our jonin are spread thin and we even need to pull academy instructors into active duty." he explained, "Iruka-san is lucky Tsunade-sama was on hand, he became injured trying to capture an escaped prisoner recently. Asuma's team were almost hurt trying to capture another pair of escapees, Tsunade-sama managed to convince the two back into their cell, but the last prisoner is still out there." he finished, deciding not to mention that the prisoner was Mizuki and he'd gotten away by throwing his blood at the hematophobic Sannin.
"Iruka-sensei got hurt?" Sakura asked, worried about her old academy instructor, she wasn't as close to the man as Naruto but she respected him all the same.
"He'll be fine." Kakashi assured, "His opponent was someone he should have been able to take on, but the enemy used combat drugs of an unknown make, luckily Tsunade is around to fix him up." the man explained, "Iruka-san is on bed rest for a bit, but Team 10 has been asking to go after the escapee. Asuma-san won't be returning from his mission for a week, but Naruto-kun will be returning today and I know that boy will jump at this mission if you want to go with them. If that is the case I'll be assigning Team 8 as well, Kurenai was recently injured on a mission but they are tracking specialists." he finished, smiling under his mask at Sakura's determined nod.
Naruto had not been pleased to hear Iruka had been hurt while he was gone and followed Sakura to meet the chunin in hospital. Team 8 and Team 10 were already there, the six genin seemed upset too.
"What happened?" Naruto demanded to know, he could feel the biju chakra responding to his anger and kept a lid on it. Haku stood to the left of the blonde looking more concerned for the blonde than the injured chunin.
Iruka didn't hold it against Haku, "Mizuki escaped from prison," he began, noticing the dark haired boy looked even more murderous than the blonde at that, "he tricked the Densetsu no Bakayodai into going with him." he added to the confusion of Sakura and Naruto, he saw Sakura mouthing the title in her confusion.
"Don't let the name fool you," Shikamaru spoke up, "their strength is downright monstrous. They can overpower the Ino-Shika-Cho formation with raw strength." the Nara genin explained.
Ino nodded, "We're lucky Tsunade-sama showed up when she did." the girl added as Choji nodded too.
"I managed to find and confront Mizuki," Iruka continued, "but he had taken some combat drugs I'd never seen before, apparently he got the recipe from Orochimaru somehow." he explained, noticing the way Naruto and Sakura tensed at the mention of the Sannin, "The drug enhanced Mizuki's chakra drastically, it even seemed to transform his body. I'm only even alive because he started to slow down before he won and Tsunade-sama showed up." he finished as the blonde Sannin herself arrived.
"We have no idea what kind of drug he took or how he made it," Tsunade spoke up, bringing the attention of the younger shinobi on herself, "but the Nara compound was apparently raided, they provided a list of the ingredients and I've been trying to figure it out. Near as I can gather this isn't the sort of thing that just anyone could make, and without the instructions on how to mix them or a sample I have no idea what the hell it actually does, but knowing Orochimaru it can't be good." she explained, "My guess, based on the ingredients, is that whatever it is must be addictive. If Mizuki was slowing down the drug in his system must have been running low, he likely retreated to make more but the Nara compound hasn't been attacked again and our Anbu found neither the tools nor any leftover ingredients at Mizuki's hideout."
"We'll track that traitor down!" Kiba promised and Akamaru barked in agreement, Hinata glanced shyly at Naruto but nodded in determination as well.
"I take it we are to investigate the scene of the battle, why? Because that is the last known location of Mizuki, his scent and chakra are likely to be all over the place." Shino spoke up.
"Alright team!" Naruto began, punching his fist into his palm, "I thought I already taught that bastard Mizuki a lesson, but apparently he's too stupid to learn!" he exclaimed and Ino decided not to mention that was how a lot of people thought the other blonde was like in the academy, "We gotta hurry if we want to catch him before he gets picked up by that snake!" the blonde chunin had taken charge of the situation apparently, Sakura was impressed and didn't argue, she was the only one on the mission with the same rank and even if she wanted to boss Ino around she knew that the Yamanaka would be even more humiliated to be taking orders from the 'dead last' of the academy.
It was rare for a group of nine ninja to take a mission together, but Mizuki had been reclassified an A rank threat and the six genin were mostly there for their expertise in tracking and capture while Naruto, Haku, and Sakura were there to provide muscle. To be fair most of the muscle was expected to come from Naruto, but Sakura wanted this mission too and would be an additional chunin if the group had to split for some reason and Haku went wherever Naruto went.
They were titled the Mizuki Capture Team for the purposes of the mission and the nine of them followed Iruka and Tsunade's directions to Mizuki's last known location. Akamaru was sniffing around to try and catch a scent and Shino had spread his kikaichu around to search for traces of chakra.
"We should check the hideout," Shino spoke up, "why? Because although I have detected his chakra in the area, Mizuki did not frequent this clearing, and only clashed with Iruka-sensei briefly. I can only track to a certain distance, it will be up to Kiba and Akamaru to pick up a scent." the Aburame explained, "That being said, the ambient chakra I am detecting is strange, like it blended with the surroundings. I will not be able to track our target." he finished, sounding upset and confused by this.
The others were confused by the explanation as well, Sakura had never heard of chakra blending into the environment before, but with no other leads they moved onto the hideout.
Akamaru jumped off Kiba and sniffed around the ransacked lair, the Inuzuka assisting his ninken by lifting tossed over furniture for the canine to sniff out. After a few moments Akamaru barked at a pile of burned wood.
"We're lucky," Kiba began with a grin, "Mizuki may have known to take everything that had his scent on it with him, or destroy it, but he must have forgotten this." the Inuzuka explained, using a kunai to drag a ceramic bowl from beneath the ashed of what had once been a table.
"He must have assumed the fire would destroy it, or at least burn away his scent." Shikamaru mused as Akamaru sniffed the bowl.
Kiba sniffed it too, "Smells like some of those stolen ingredients were stored in it, but not mixed." the boy commented, "But his scent is underneath the smell of ash, besides which the smell of smoke is likely clinging to his clothing." he explained, picking up Akamaru and moving to leave the hideout.
Naruto nodded, "Alright, Kiba, Akamaru, take us to that bastard!" the blonde ordered, a fire in his visible eye.
Mizuki was dying, he could feel it, the former chunin of Konohagakure knew the potion Orochimaru had given him the recipe for was ending his life. The man decided he'd let the Sannin know that if he'd given him a complete version of the formula then Tsunade would be dead by now.
That was if he made it to the snake at all. Mizuki had retreated to make more and continued on his way towards a pick up point, taking small doses of the potent drug just to keep his chakra flowing but his cells were dying.
The traitor stopped to catch his breath and decided that dying really hurt. He was pretty sure his cells weren't actually screaming in pain, but he could be convinced otherwise after the day he'd had. His entire nervous system felt like it was on fire.
Mizuki noticed them, he'd helped train some of them so he recognized the genin chasing him, and they were gaining ground. The former chunin considered it an honor that nine shinobi had been sent to deal with him, but he figured Konoha must be stretched thinner than he thought if they were sending a bunch of kids to deal with him.
Taking another dose of the drug, the man prepared to fight. Mizuki took in their appearances as they arrived, he assumed Team 8 was there to track him as Kiba was on point and wondered what he'd left for the Inuzuka to track. He guessed Team 10 was supposed to contain him and smirked, knowing that the power granted by the drug in his system would be enough for them. Naruto and Sakura had flak vests on, and he didn't recognize the older girl with them.
"That Godaime sure is a fool," Mizuki opened, "promoting you," he spat at Naruto, "and sending a bunch of kids to fight me!" he laughed, feeling the chakra bulging his muscles as the tiger patterns appeared on his arms.
"They're not here to fight you," Naruto spoke up, surprising his own team, "I am!" he roared, using shunshin to get in close. Mizuki was surprised but threw a right hook to catch the blonde in his blind spot, to his continued shock Naruto caught it on his left forearm as he delivered a right straight punch into the solar plexus of the older shinobi.
Mizuki noticed Naruto's eye was red and slit pupiled, "You little demon!" he coughed, raising his guard and matching the blonde in taijutsu, using his advantage in reach to gain the upper hand before sending the boy back with an uppercut to the solar plexus.
A grouping of senbon struck Mizuki's arm and the man jumped back to dodge another volley of the thin metal projectiles, "As if we aren't here to fight!" Kiba yelled as he jumped and tossed shuriken at their former instructor, "We've all got a bone to pick with this traitor!"
Mizuki dodged the kunai with a smirk, "Oh, I'm the traitor? Did it ever occur to you brats that I was trying to protect you from a monster?" he asked, "I wonder if that little secret is out of the bag yet." he mused as Naruto rushed him again and Kiba landed nearby.
The former chunin saw a shadow move out of the corner of his eye and jumped back, Naruto and Kiba gave chase, Haku and Sakura jumping after them with Hinata following after a moment of hesitation, and Team 10 staying in formation around Shikamaru.
"Come on kids, don't you wonder how the dead last became so powerful?" Mizuki asked as he blocked a left hook from Naruto with his right knee before snapping the ball of his right foot into the young chunin's jaw.
"Shut up!" Naruto roared, lifting his headband to reveal the Sharingan, warped by red chakra.
"Ah, I was wondering where Sasuke-kun was," Mizuki said instead of obeying, "and it sounds like your fellow students don't get it!" he shouted, palming the last of his drug, "You're more of a monster than I've become, Kyubi no Yoko!" he accused the blonde, confusing the genin and Sakura.
"All shinobi are demons," Haku interrupted, "we are weapons who kill for money, our power is far above what the standard human is capable of." he said, remembering Zabuza's teachings, "But Naruto-kun is loyal to his home and he saved my life," the boy said as he landed next to the blonde, "despite your attempts at sabotaging him, he had become a splendid shinobi without needing to ever kill his heart."
"That's right!" Hinata shouted suddenly, she didn't know what was going on but wanted to defend her crush as well, "Naruto-kun is strong because he refuses to give up, and he's kind! There is no way he could be a monster like you!" the usually shy girl accused Mizuki.
"I always thought the dead last smelled like a fox for some reason," Kiba admitted with a wry grin, "but the Kyubi no Yoko? Come on, that drug must be messing with your head if you think you'd last this long against an actual Biju." the Inuzuka pointed out.
Shikamaru thought he figured it out and decided to voice his thoughts, "If the Kyubi no Yoko was standing here we'd all be dead," he pointed out, "so Mizuki must mean that the power of the biju is sealed within Naruto." he guessed, knowing from the way the blonde tensed and the traitor grinned that he was right, "In which case Mizuki is even dumber than I thought." he added to the chagrin of the former chunin, "I always thought it strange that the Yondaime somehow defeated the bakegitsune, a supposedly immortal monster. Making a Jinchuriki for the village out of an orphan paints him in a pretty bad light, so I guess I see why they hid it from us." he finished to the surprise of the other genin.
"Orphan?" Mizuki asked, grinning again, "You guys don't seem to get it, that kid has no parents!" he shouted, "There were no children born in any of the hospitals in Konoha on the night the Kyubi attacked all those years ago, the Yondaime didn't just seal the biju to make a Jinchuriki, he incarnated that monster into a human form!" the man accused, pointing at Naruto.
"No," Haku spoke up, "Naruto-kun is Uzumaki." he stated simply, "A survivor of that clan has confirmed it."
"Lies!" Mizuki insisted, taking the last of his drug, "But no matter, if you'd all rather side with a demon than your dear old sensei, I'll just take you all out." he laughed as fur grew along his body. Naruto scowled and started forming a Rasengan, Haku helped him stabilize and condense the swirling ninjutsu.
The former chunin rushed at them and the blonde chunin dashed to meet him, "Kagemane no Jutsu, success." Shikamaru intoned as the shadow caught Mizuki. The man struggled but couldn't break free in time to stop the orb of chakra drilling into his torso.
The traitor was blown back, spinning through the air and crashing into trees, "He's-" Hinata began, her Byakugan active and she was confused, "something is strange, his chakra is disappearing quickly," she explained, "I think he's dying." she realized and the nine shinobi converged on Mizuki's position.
The man was emaciated now, his skin wrinkled and his body seemed malnourished, "It must be a side effect of the drugs." Shikamaru mused out loud as Haku checked the body.
The vassal ninja frowned, "He's beyond saving," the boy said calmly, "his body is completely shutting down."
The Mizuki Capture Team weren't sure if that counted as a mission success or not, but Naruto covered up his dojutsu and sealed Mizuki into a scroll before they returned to Konoha.
Kakashi had half expected Mizuki to perish, it was a shame they couldn't get information out of him, but his body could be studied to determine the nature of the combat drugs in case Orochimaru used it against them in the future. There was something he hadn't considered as a consequence of the mission.
"Hokage-sama, the nature of Naruto-kun's red chakra was revealed to the others by Mizuki." Haku informed at the end of the report, Sakura and the six genin were looking at him curiously.
"Ah," Kakashi said, "well," he actually wasn't sure how to deal with that, "you all need not worry, Yondaime-sama was a master of seal work, and Jiraiya-sama is overseeing Naruto-kun's training to ensure the biju is fully under control." he decided on finally.
"That's not the issue!" Sakura shouted suddenly, "Why did no one tell me my teammate was a Jinchuriki!?" she asked furiously. Naruto was keeping his head down.
"Well, honestly, Sandaime-sama made it illegal to speak of," Kakashi began, "the idea was to give Naruto-kun a normal childhood, rather than force him to become a weapon like many villages use their Jinchuriki as." the man explained, "I never repealed the law because I didn't want any of you to be distracted from your missions, it would be bad for morale if you guys started being scared of your teammate." he finished with a shrug.
"I'm not scared of Naruto-kun!" Hinata shouted out of turn, then blushed and looked down when everyone looked at her in surprise.
"Yeah," Kiba spoke up, "neither am I. Naruto may be getting way stronger, but he's never tried to kill me." he pointed out.
"Neji deserved it." Shino spoke up, remembering the chunin exam finals, "Why? Because he was needlessly cruel to Hinata, and even then Naruto-san only roughed him up." he pointed out logically.
"I shared chips with this dude." Choji spoke up, remembering when the blonde would skip class with himself, Kiba, and Shikamaru.
"Naruto may be a loud mouth and a braggart, but he's way too nice to be a demon, that Mizuki had a screw loose." Ino added with a nod, crossing her arms.
"Besides," Shikamaru decided to add, "he's way too dumb to be some ancient chakra no bakemono." the Nara pointed out with a smirk.
Naruto was too happy with the acceptance to be overly upset at the insults they included, "Well that's nice," Kakashi said, smiling at the heartwarming moment, "I won't publically repeal the law, but I'll start paperwork for it. I would prefer if you keep it to yourselves however, and only allow Naruto-kun to inform the people he wants to know of it." he explained and they all nodded in agreement, "Oh and Sakura-chan," he added, earning the pink haired girls attention, "Sasuke-kun already knew." he finished, dismissing the ninja with their payslips.