A/N: Sorry to disappoint, but my protagonists generally don't become super-powered monsters overnight meaning they need to either grow stronger or make long-range plans if you want any sense of justice and/or closure. Besides, that makes obtaining said justice all the sweeter in the end, doesn't it?
I've had a few people lament the relatively slow buildup to my stories but that is the reality of my writing style; I like a story that draws you in and builds a bond with the characters (or hatred towards the villains) in the story.
I write stories that I like to read and, if the main character of the tale becomes unstoppable in the first five chapters then the rest of the story becomes superfluous (and boring). I'd quickly lose interest and (I imagine) you would as well.
Still working the next chapter of "No More" and hope to have it edited and released by this weekend. Please be patient and know that your questions about Ino, Hinata & Shino, and (surprisingly) Ebisu (talk about a hated villain) have been heard. I can guarantee at least two of those concerns will be answered in that chapter.
For now, enjoy this bonus release due to the growing panic surrounding a growing pandemic. Be safe people and kind to each other.
~Siva'a
Updated to include the opening cut-scene that earned this chapter its title (can't believe I overlooked that).
Chapter 11: A Thief's Tale
~III~
Old Jurou lurched forward in bed, bleary eyes trying frantically to focus while his ears strained out into the darkness of his opulent bedroom for the sound that dragged him from his deep slumber. It was a shame really as it was his favorite dream – he'd been taunting the demon brat after managing to single-handedly capture the beast and tying it over a roasting spit. As he routinely poked the monster with a sharp stick, he laughed maniacally while lording over the fifty fox hides pelted to the many trees in the clearing established for just this purpose, all the while the Hokage sat helpless and bound at the edge of the great pit while his pet demon charred to a cinder. It was his favorite dream of all time.
Yawning wide and smacking his parched lips together for good measure, the groggy merchant grimaced at his empty nightstand glass and lumbered from his expensive and imported feather mattress to refill it.
Thumping loudly through his still dark three-story home, Jurou plodded down familiar territory past his second-floor guest and trophy rooms only to pause at the top of the stairway leading to the ground floor. His ears strained once again for that sound, any sound only to be greeted with blessed silence. On impulse, he reached for the handle to his study conveniently located to his right on the second-floor balcony and tested the lock.
Satisfied at the clinking jiggle of the firmly bound door, he grunted happily and finished his trek to the first floor where sounds of his kitchen tap opening up were followed by loud gulping noises. With a heavy sigh of contentment, the sound of the once again empty glass clinking on to the marbled countertops was soon followed by the corpulent merchant trudging back up the stairs to his top-floor bedroom. Along the way, he mumbled incoherently about punishing his lazy house staff for failing to fill his nightstand glass before his retirement, the closing of his bedroom door signifying his second retreat of the night.
The shadowy figure clinging to the ceiling of Jurou's second-floor skylight waited patiently until the bed springs compressed in agony under the larger man's bulk. For good measure, it waited until the greedy merchant's ear-splitting snoring picked up once again before gently dropping to the carpeted hallway in front of the still locked office door. The deep blue eyes buried in the dark cloth shrouding its head flicked from shadow to shadow giving off an eerie amber glow as they amplified the dimly lit foyer.
With an annoyed sigh, the figure glanced back up to the ajar skylight above the central living room area, the dusty glass and rusted metal framework nearly the cause for its capture.
It was a good thing the drowsy slob didn't have the urge to look up. Not only would he have seen the ajar skylight, rusted piece of crap that it was, but he would also have been prodded by fear to look about further possibly discovering the would-be burglar not three feet above his head when the merchant stopped to test the door handle.
With one last check to verify the ongoing and ragged snoring reverberating off the largely empty home's walls, the figure glided over to the locked door and drew two slender picks from a small pouch at its waist. Those fragile seeming tools found their way into the locked handle and, with a deft twist, the mechanism gave way with a silent click.
Without a second glance, the figure slid into the darkened room and closed the door behind it.
Not ten minutes later, that same figure exited and re-locked the office door before shimmying spider-like up the wall and out of the same skylight it entered through without a sound. Not even bothering to close the latch, it leaped away into the night.
It would be later that morning when an enraged Nakajima Jurou stormed in off the street to sidle up to the desk of the Hokage's secretary. Despite the pleasant appearance of the petite blonde, his ire had been fully stoked at his servant's discovery of the aforementioned skylight and the frantic rifling of his own (still-locked) office only to learn that his illicit ledger had gone missing from his hidden stash spot underneath the lower left-hand drawer of his overly impressive imported mahogany desk, which was also still locked.
Apparently, Jurou was not alone as the comely blonde kunoichi attempted to placate the four other merchants angrily protesting similar break-ins to the flustered and sighing female as she huffed a lock of her striking hair from her face. For the tenth time that morning, Kyou calmly reminded them this was a matter for the Civilian Police Corps until it could be definitively proven that a nin was the perpetrator and that there was nothing more she or the Hokage could do for them.
From behind his slightly cracked door, the Hokage listened to Badger's report of the crime scene with interest.
The perpetrator, in every case, gained entry through impossible means alluding to the use of chakra and stealth to an advanced degree, a fact that immediately ruled out first, second and most third-year academy students. While the irate merchants were trying to hide what was stolen from them by avoiding... probing questions, a sure sign it would be incriminating to the merchants themselves, the thief used neatsfoot oil, a common natural lubricant used in conditioning leather or sharpening knives, to coax reluctant and neglected access points into giving him purchase into the residents of his victims.
It didn't help that the oil only served to limit the suspect pool to civilians that trafficked in leather goods, butchers, tailors, blacksmiths, and every shinobi or kunoichi within the walls of Konoha. It was a dead-end lead no police force had the manpower to track down.
Beyond those clues, the thief left no other traces of their passing. The fact that Jurou nearly stumbled on to the individual through his own lazy residential neglect of maintenance was an odd stroke of luck.
No, Sarutobi was more interested in what the thief was after rather than whom it was taking it from.
~I I I~
The remaining year of classes was anything but drama-free. Kiba quickly established Naruto as his rival even though Naruto showed repeatedly that he could care less.
Iruka spent more time looking into biases from the instructors highlighted during the Jounin review. As a result, unfounded biases and sabotage were cut off before they could fester providing at least a fair chance at a shinobi education for our beleaguered Kitsune Taichou.
Finding tolerant instructors was difficult, true, so the Hokage substituted low-ranking ANBU with the enticement of long-term B-rank mission pay. Being directly answerable to the Hokage and more familiar with how sealing actually worked, lessons (and subsequent test grading) became more fair and balanced.
At some point, Ino's expressions towards him had changed. It was less scornful, sometimes tinged with…remorse? Naruto tried to shrug it off despite the day-to-day exposure to the increasingly curious blonde. He didn't notice when the change first occurred, but he found her less defensive over the emo wonder and slowly inching her way near the foursome during afternoon spars.
Naruto's reinforcement and extension training had become lethal. Tatsua was randomly picking a day in the week and increasing his weights to one hundred kilos apiece. In order to move around, Naruto had to keep a steady stream of reinforcing chakra flowing through his whole body or he'd find himself face down on the ground unable to move. Those nights led to his best nights of sleep and he was beginning to get less weirded out when he woke up sandwiched between two Kitsune, especially on the days when they were mostly-naked Kitsune, which was often as the nights went by even with the pheromone suppression seal working overtime.
Tama-chan's training had evolved to storage and explosive seals. As an academy student, his ID gave him access to the shinobi library, which increased his access to shinobi literature, and that included low-grade E and D-rank jutsu across the five elements. He was able to pick up all ten of the camping jutsus as well as the minor key-skill jutsus focused on espionage and evasion (substitution, sleight-of-hand, rope escape, wire use, and so on).
Naruto excelled in stealth and survival training. He'd had plenty of practice walking the mean streets of Konoha as a child. In the early training ground excursions, the four bonded. Whenever possible, they grouped up to share skills and secrets (splitting up watch rotations also helped keep their supplies from being stolen by other groups).
Naruto progressed to basic weapons crafting under Higurashi's tutelage and he got plenty of practice replacing lost shuriken and kunai for Tenten, which he often recovered later at her abandoned training ground and used as stock to practice since the metal was good quality. He was even given normal use of one of the two smaller forges in the shop as his very own. This made keeping track of specific projects and his personal stock of ore easier to maintain, like the tanto blade he was currently folding over for the fifth time. This was exactly how Kurenai found him in the back.
Naruto, tee shirt and iron mesh removed and replaced by a leather apron, stoked the bellows, formed a half ram seal, and shot another burst of fire into the coals thankful for Kyuubi's memories of previous containers performing jutsu during training or actual fights (he was able to take notes from those and learn a handful of lower-level techniques). Tatsua was curled up high near a cracked window where the air was freshest, her eyes flitting from her Taichou to the leggy brunette now standing near the entrance to the forge area, her eyes hungrily devouring the minor as he heaved, hammered, and went about his crafting trade.
She didn't know that the sealed entity's youki, in addition to the genetic re-engineering done during his transcendence, laid the blueprint for his body's ability to repair and rebuild itself at inhuman rates. All the attractive Jounin saw was a young shinobi whose body reacted well to manual labor, his lean build layering thicker slabs of muscle as he trained and labored at the forge. Oddly enough her slightly skewed preferences were okay with that as her mind wandered to the land of questionable fantasies.
Then he ruined her train of thought by letting her know that he was aware of her presence.
"Old Higurashi-Jiji is better at taking orders than I am," Naruto called over his right shoulder as he eyed the heat of the coals, the still-forming blade glowing a bright yellow fading to orange back by the tang. He took a half step back, ran through short series of seals, adding two reverse rat seals to reduce the power of the jutsu, then blew a steady stream of white-hot-nearly-blue fire into the coal bed.
Kurenai didn't hear the jutsu chant but the flames shadowed the muscles along his back and heated the room another five degrees sending a trickle of sweat along her neckline and down into the valley of her breasts.
"I'm not here to talk to Higurashi-san, Naruto."
Naruto removed the heated blade, placed it on the anvil, then began to carefully hammer and fold the metal until it was elongated, folded in half, then pounded flat again. He kept his pace even, the resounding CLANGS of hammer-to-metal setting a melancholic rhythm.
"I hope you don't mind talking while I work sensei." Naruto checked the blade for gaps in the fold. "I can't stop working this piece or it will cool and shatter."
Kurenai understood that. It would be frustrating to start again so she settled in to watch his shoulders heave, his arms flex and his back muscles clench with each blow of the hammer. Somewhere in the back of her mind, a small voice kept reminding her that she was over twice the age - just barely so - of this muscle-bound dwarf.
"Sure, but how did you know I was a sensei? I could be a vendor or a clan servant."
Naruto plunged the metal into a barrel filled with the liquid mixture of clay and straw ash, before setting it back into the coals to reheat and cure. "I recognized your scent from that first day of class."
Kurenai's eyes shot open. 'How could he smell me in all this soot and ash?' "What scent?"
Naruto chuckled. "I couldn't recognize it then, but I've been to the Yamanaka flower shop since that's the only place to buy seeds." Naruto turned around to stare at the Amazonian kunoichi. "You smell like baby's breath. It's faint but it's there."
Naruto glanced back at the tempering mix and wondered if the husks from rice grains would work just as well. Husks would be much easier to gather than straw from the Nara's but that was a thought for a later time. He turned back to the kunoichi while wiping his hands on his apron.
She smiled just a hair. It was her one vice. Most shinobi try to leave as little trace as possible, so trackers can't find them, but she'd been found out by an academy student… who apparently had a highly developed sense of smell. She'd have to find another soap, unfortunately.
"I have a proposition for you." Naruto raised an eyebrow and smiled.
"Aren't I a little young for you, sensei?" Kurenai blushed but tried to laugh it off as a voice in the back of her head screamed at her to change his mind.
Naruto turned back to the blade and resumed folding. 'Was this five or six?' Kurenai watched the interplay of back and shoulder muscles that belonged more on an older ninja, mesmerized. With a quick shake of her long, wavy hair, she cleared her thoughts and plowed on.
"Have you thought about what you want to do when you graduate?"
Naruto's reply was off-handed. "Nope. I am going to be a ninja. I go where they send me."
"No reservations? No…preferences?"
"None though I assume they'll assign me to a heavy combat team." Her voice hitched and she only just resisted the urge to hug him from behind, sweaty breasts and all. That answer settled it as far as she was concerned as a sensei.
She would press her claim based on his acumen with genjutsu and, if Kakashi forced the issue, she'd mention the heightened sense of smell. The fact that he had tracker-levels skills only gave her a stronger claim for a tracker team. His genjutsu cinched it given her position as the reigning genjutsu master and he could provide heavy combat power to help extricate his team if things got hot and heavy in a not-so-enjoyable way. Kakashi could have the dog-nin in trade since she fully expected him to cater to the Uchiha anyway.
She vanished in a swirl of leaves and the blond student went back to shaping his blade for the sixth time this month.
'Seventh, Taichou.' He grunted his thanks and resumed the melodic serenade of the anvil.
Eventually, winter in Konoha gave way to spring. Spring gave way to the final survival exam of the first school year. For the final, the thirty-student class had to pair off and prepare for a week survival event at Training Area Forty-One. Choji and Shikamaru immediately linked up, leaving Hyuuga Hinata, Yamanaka Ino, Uzumaki Naruto, and Aisawa Irumi. Not wanted to be paired with either of the other girls, Hinata glommed onto the blond and immediately burst into mega blush mode - but did not release him nor did she faint.
She did scowl at Ino who was inching her way over to the unclaimed boy moments before.
The message was clear. Mine.
Pairs established the groups were to meet at the appointed training area Friday after class. Higurashi was sad to be without help but they would manage. Naruto was clearly spoiling the old man.
Naruto met his friends just outside the training area as the instructors took roll. There were a few voluntary observers to help monitor the students. It was okay to pair up mixed-gender teams, but no one was taking anything for granted stating for the record that chaperones would be monitoring the area.
The training range was huge, but Naruto was already familiar with it; this had been one of Tatsua's favorites after all. Fifteen pairs were to be spread out a mile apart and along the large lake near the center, with Naruto and Hinata at one end of the horseshoe arrangement (apparently parents took issue with their special snowflakes being too near the demon child). Choji and Shikamaru would be set up next to them keeping their pair effectively isolated from the rest of the class.
This was perfectly fine to Naruto as they had ready access to a large body of water, a free-flowing stream feeding it, and the connected forest.
"W-W-Where do you want to s-s-set up our t-t-tent, Naruto-k-kun?" He noticed her stutter was resurfacing. This would not do. He walked over to the blushing girl and hugged her without warning. In response, she nearly 'eeped' herself into oblivion. He simply held onto her tightly until her breathing steadied and her forehead lifted from his chest.
"Hinata-chan?" She perked up at the addition to her name.
"Mmmm?" She was very warm and very happy.
"I don't know what I've done to make you so nervous around me," he had an idea, "but I need you here with me. I need you focused so that we can succeed."
Her eyes focused on the fox nose nuzzling her cheek as she mumbled something incoherent.
"What was that Hinata-chan?" Her fists were clenched in the back of his jacket now and she took in a big, sobbing breath.
"I'm sorry that I'm so weak." It was almost a whisper. "I'll only let you down."
"How many spars have you lost?" She glanced up to his chin but didn't answer. "How many?" he asked again this time more insistently.
"I have only lost to you and Sasuke, and with him only half the time since we've been training together." He smiled into her hair.
"You are not weak."
"I am! My family tells me so all the time!" Her voice was strained, painful to hear, her vehemence shocking him for a second. Tatsua's growl shook him out of it.
"Then your family is stupid. You're the strongest girl I know (the twins were women so, technically, he wasn't wrong). Hinata blinked, this time looking up into his blue eyes and his smile took her breath away.
"I am going to prove it to you one day. Just you wait and see." He leaned down and kissed her forehead and she sighed at the sensation. A rough cough abruptly killed the mood but Naruto did not release her.
"Did we come at a bad time?" Naruto turned with a sheepish grin to Shikamaru and Choji.
"Not at all. We were just deciding where to set up." Naruto kissed her one more time, this time on the cheek, and released her to clasp forearms with the two boys. At the sound of something falling into the soft grass, everyone turned to look at Hinata. She was out like a light.
When she came to, she was leaning against a tree with their tents set up just inside the edge of the treeline. Tatsua was curled up in her lap sleeping.
"Ano, I thought we were supposed to stay in our areas?" Hinata was happy to see the other boys but she seemed disappointed at something.
Shikamaru answered her pouty question. "We are supposed to pair up and have been given a stretch along the lake, this is true. The rules, however, do not prohibit teams linking up. This will help split up the chores and ease watch rotations meaning we'll all get more sleep, as well as time to watch the clouds." That last bit wiped the frown from Hinata's face as she noticed that Shika and Choji had their tent and that left her with…" She hopped up with an indignant squeak from (and apology to) Tatsua as she went about helping with the rest of camp set up.
Looking around as she stacked up more firewood, she didn't see the blond. Noticing her look of apprehension, Choji pointed further into the woods. "He said he was getting us a special treat for dinner and he'd be back soon. He left after setting up the tent for the two of you."
"Treat?" Then her mind locked onto Choji's last comment about a tent for the two of them and her brain began to shut down again.
Choji nodded. "I wished we had some barbeque I could grill so he said he'd fix that." Too bad Hinata couldn't hear him anymore in her decadent wonderland.
Almost as if it were a call, Naruto appeared with large boar twice his size slung over his shoulders. Choji's eyes grew to the size of saucers as the blond hunter strung the boar up from a tree branch and began to flay the leather hide from the carcass. Once that was done, he used a kunai blade to carefully scrape the inner dermis while Choji got to work setting up the rotisserie and unsealed a bunch of spices, his job made easier since Naruto had already field dressed the hog, and soon the pleasant smell of roasted pig filled the campsite.
Naruto spent another hour rubbing sea salt into the hide from a tin he'd unsealed before laying it flat over the peak of their tent and then heading down to the water's edge.
Up in a tree, Kurenai's mouth started watering at the sight of a shirtless Naruto going into the lake to rinse off the blood that leaked down his shoulders and back. It made her legs rub together unconsciously. Kakashi had his vice and she had hers - she just didn't publicize it.
In the camp, Hinata failed to notice the bowl of rice Choji passed to her until he nudged her arm with it. His knowing smirk didn't make her blush any less severe either. Tearing her eyes from the broad shoulders of her secret crush, she thanked the pleasantly plump Akimichi wearing his "Kiss the Chef" apron and nibbled on a few grains. Eventually, her eyes began their wayward trek back to the sound of splashing water and…
"You know Naruto, I was worried about starving to death this week but your idea to team up was the right thing to do!" Choji's apprehension came way down with that nervous chuckle and the sound of meats sizzling. Even with Choji's appetite, that boar gave them enough meat for several days.
"No problem, Choji." The four quickly set up their watch rotation with Naruto taking the first followed by Hinata, Shika, then Choji. In the meantime, Choji grilled up the meat and sealed the unused bits in another sealing scroll his mom and dad provided for the exercise. Naruto, once everyone was settled and fed, took an extra plate with rice and tender shanks then headed off towards the trees. The other three looked up in surprise.
"Naruto-kun?" He smiled back at the group before leaping up into a branch and holding a plate out at arm's length. The three gasped when the plate disappeared. Naruto chuckled before leaping back down to the camp and, without another word, sat down to finish eating.
Kurenai had to fight the urge to grab his arm and ditch the plate; Naruto had not yet put his shirt back on making her almost forget how hungry she was and how unsatisfying that ration bar tasted.
~III~
The next morning found Naruto being repeatedly head-butted by Tatsua. A quick glance, even with his enhanced night vision, showed it was still early, earlier than normal. He could hear Choji poking the fire mumbling about how he could best prepare yesterday's leftovers (something about hoping he brought enough dry rub). Hinata had inched her sleeping bag up next to his own, her back nestled up against what would be his chest, her breathing soft and steady. Aiming his parabolic ears, he could hear Kurenai waking up in her perch, the reinforced clasps of her vest stretching against her decent-sized… wait, why would human ears need to rotate? Suddenly the urgent head butting of his female attendant made more sense and he gently patted her forehead with a thankful smile on his face. Forming the half seal, Naruto cast the Kitsune transformation and rose from his bedroll.
Might as well get the day started.
Tatsua climbed into Hinata's bedroll and curled up under her chin with a yawn. 'Mas…er, Taichou would be so lost without my help.' She congratulated her diligence and sighed as the pale-eyed Hyuuga snuggled her like a stuffed animal even if she was muttering something about "strong back muscles being good for clutching."
Grabbing a clean shirt from his backpack and donning his hitai-ate, Naruto exited his tent and waved to Choji as he headed down to the water's edge to wash.
Kurenai, no longer feeling bashful after re-establishing her genjutsu, also repositioned closer to the water's edge.
Naruto stretched and flexed, his shorts providing no issues with wading into the muddy shore. The morning was cool but not overly chilly. It wouldn't have made any difference as he rarely felt the cold. He always ran warm thanks to the Kyuubi, something that kept the twins wrapped around him at night.
Cool water after waking up with Hinata right next to him also helped to cool his blood. She made him feel warm inside, happy. He hoped they could be really close friends. Could they be more? That was a question for another day.
Kurenai's eyes traced every line. The warm plate last night was a sweet touch but this display first thing in the morning was getting her face flushed. Unbidden, her left hand started to wander.
As Naruto's thoughts bounced around in his mental file folder, he began trickling chakra to his eyes and ears while drawing a kunai from his pouch. This particular kunai had a long wire attached to it. Slowing his breathing and his movements, his arm took aim and shot out, the corded muscles in his back and arm snapping like a whip as the kunai struck home. Seven more tosses and eight fish were soon lined up on the shore for breakfast, two for him, one fish each for Hinata, Shika, Kurenai, and three fish for Choji. As an afterthought, he cast the line once more for Sua-chan.
He paused as he stepped out of the water trying to decide if that was heavy panting he was hearing. When he recognized the other sounds that accompanied the frantic panting (the moaning and gasping), he immediately cut off the chakra to his ears and gathered up the fish deciding it would be better to gut them at camp. He could always discard the innards and bury them somewhere using Doton jutsu. The stifled whimper in the trees behind him gave all the incentive needed to hurry.
Other than Choji asking him if he was feeling well, Naruto went about prepping the catch while Choji started pulling out the items needed to make rice and season the fish. By the time Hinata and Shika made it to the fire, Naruto's blush was gone, breakfast was ready, and the four were ready for a new day.
When Naruto shared the morning meal with Kurenai sensei, he tried not to notice her lidded eyes and the heady aroma coming from her body.
"Shika?"
"Yeah, Choji."
"I know our dads want another Ino-Shika-Cho combo but… er, can we trade Ino for Naruto?" Shikamaru's laughter could be heard on the other side of the lake.
Ino sneezed while trying to re-light their fire pit scattering sticks and twigs in all directions.
Periodically, Iruka sensei would come by to check on the camps. He made no comments about the various groups banding together (several others had done the same) but he did comment on their teamwork. None of them seemed fatigued or malnourished by the third day (like that would ever happen with an Akimichi on their team) and their camp seemed orderly, even complete with traps and tripwires tied to alarms.
By the fifth day, the group had a comfortable routine and could have kept the exercise going for another week easily. It all ended without issue, although Naruto was more careful about his morning baths.
In the end, Naruto finished the first year near the top of the class still behind "the teme." Stealth, survival, and traps bolstering his score. Impartial instructors helped a great deal in getting decent grades. Naruto figured it best to do just enough to stay under the Uchiha. If he outscored him on an exam, he'd miss a few points to lower his score the next time around. He didn't mind losing out in target practice, but he refused to lose in taijutsu, a trend that would follow him to the end of his academy days.
Word spread through the village and it was, as expected, ill-received. Some villagers even pressed council members to order an investigation into the demon child's cheating as no one could defeat the Uchiha without obviously having to resort to foul play.
Naruto took it all with a rather large grain of salt.
The second academic year saw his rivalry with Kiba taken up another notch in the belt. The dog-nin made another challenge during the afternoon spar but this time they were allowed to use nin-ken so he figured he could make a good showing and win Hinata away from the blond failure. The Inuzuka, as a result, became more aggressive and, during one particularly heated win over a non-clan student, yelled that he would become the "alpha" and win his mate from the blond "dobe." None in their tight-knit group found that amusing, least of all the lone Hyuuga.
"She's not a prize, mange, so stop stalking her." Kiba merely glared at the whiskered boy and snarled.
"Today you go down, loser!" Naruto merely smirked as Tatsua took her place and slammed her fuzzy tail on the ground, cracking it in a spiderweb spiral out from the point of impact. Suddenly the Kitsune seemed less snuggly to the Inuzuka duo.
Mizuki started the match and Kiba snarled out, "Beast Mimicry!" Kiba's muscles bulged and Naruto cut the chakra to his gravity seals. Shrieking out, "Gatsuga!" the boy and his dog turned into whirling drills and rocketed towards the Uzumaki duo, who leaped above them to let the drills pass. Kiba didn't have the best control yet so he couldn't spin back around fast enough and had to halt his attack before he drilled himself out of the ring.
Turning to face Naruto, he blocked a flying roundhouse and responded with an ax kick that was blocked in kind. The two began to trade blows and counters while Akamaru tried repeatedly to pin Tatsua, the slower dog snapping for her forelegs only to have the fox leap to the side and swipe her tail across the Akamaru's head or body, knocking him repeatedly to the ground.
"Akamaru!" Kiba yelled after a particularly brutal swiped knocked the dog out of the air. "That's it boy, Dynamic Marking!" Akamaru hopped back before leaping high into the air, his body spinning like a top as he shot urine out in all directions. The entire class cringed as it soaked Kiba's opponents (they were trapped in the ring and couldn't flee without being disqualified) and even splashed some of the Sasuke Fanclub who was too busy laughing to dodge being splashed.
It became less funny when some of the dog's urine got in their mouths.
Naruto was disgusted and quickly becoming enraged. Iruka was incensed. The teacher body flickered into the center of the ring and cuffed the snickering Inuzuka on the top of his head. At least Akamaru had the decency to feel ashamed at the technique as it wasn't meant for humiliating a classmate during a routine spar.
As Iruka excused Naruto to go home and get cleaned up, he dragged the still snickering Inuzuka to detention while Mizuki marked the fight as "postponed." It would be the one non-victory in Naruto's academy career.
Naruto and Tatsua reeked when they reached the apartment. Tamami sent them directly to the bathroom without saying a word, her nose pinched closed by her fingers. The two spent several hours trying to remove the chakra infused dog urine in the shower and Tatsua was beyond furious muttering the whole time about having a shaggy dog liner for her winter coat hood. Even Naruto scrubbing her hair and tails couldn't completely assuage her mood as she wanted revenge in the worst way.
On a positive note, she was growing less hesitant about sharing a shower with him.
Every spar for the remainder of the year, the two would stop holding back trying not to injure the dog-nin and his nin-ken. Their matches would be brutally quick, less than a minute total with Kiba and his companion taking a beating that often left them both unconscious. As a result, Akamaru never used that disgusting technic in another spar despite his partner's often demanding requests to do so.
By the end of the year, Kiba would have to bribe his partner to continue the spars as he began to develop a genuine fear of the baby fox fighting with Naruto.
Akamaru developed a near phobic-level fear of the fox's tail.
By the end of his second year, Naruto had grown from the class midget to a few centimeters taller than Sasuke. With the help of the shinobi library, his personal jutsu library contained extensive information on basic seal theory, chakra control, and a large number of elemental jutsu from each of the five primary elements, grades E through C rank, his only real weakness being the dreaded Bunshin no Jutsu. It wasn't until the end of the year that Naruto's life would change for the strange and provide an alternative to his bunshin nemesis.
'Again, Taichou.' Naruto crossed his fingers and finished the seal sequence for the twentieth time, three puffs of smoke exploded in front of him. For the twentieth time, three sickly bunshins fell flat on the ground.
He could almost hear the frustration in the transformed Kitsune's bark.
'You're still putting too much chakra into the exercise.' Naruto huffed and released the genjutsu. 'You just need a tiny amount for this. Try using what you use for the camping jutsus, Tai-.' The rest of her thought was cut off by Mizuki sensei landing in the middle of the training area.
"Still at it, Naruto?" Mizuki had a large scroll strapped to his back along with two large Fuma shuriken. Naruto released his seal and lowered his hands turning to fully face the angry-looking instructor. Something felt…off.
"Late night for a stroll, sensei. Can I be of help?"
"Certainly Naruto. I'd like you to be a good demon and die for me."
Naruto's face scrunched up in confusion, especially since the older shinobi wasted the chance for a quick kill by stopping to dialogue and giving up the element of surprise. "I am not a demon, so I don't think I can help you there." Mizuki's face twisted into a rictus of anger.
"DO NOT MOCK ME DEMON!"
The man was livid, but Naruto remained unphased. "I am not the Kyuubi." Naruto patted his stomach and smiled. "No, she is nice and warm right in here."
'Strike. Him. Down.' Kyuubi's normally dulcet voice was deep and menacing.
Mizuki's eye twitched and his hand snapped over his shoulder, one of the Fuma uncoiling with a click and spinning like a saw blade. "You dare?!" His voice was a hiss as his arm shot out, the spinning blade slashed through the air. Naruto vanished and the blade struck the first tree in its path.
"That's not very nice sensei. You could have hurt me there." Mizuki's eyes were frantic, searching left and right for the voice.
"Come out so weee… can discuss it, Naruto." Mizuki eased his last Fuma out of its sling and edged towards cover.
"I don't think that will work for me, sensei." Mizuki's head shot back over his left shoulder. 'Had he moved? So quick.'
"They'll never accept you, you know that, right?" The answer to his question came from directly behind, Mizuki's eyes nearly bugging out of his head.
"And I don't think you're up to any good with that scroll marked 'Property of the Hokage's Secret Vault' so I'll need to take that back."
The Chunin instructor spun to slash across his body and found only air. Leaping to reach the safety of the upper branches, Mizuki found his upward progress rudely interrupted by a crushing grip, his body yanked back to the earth violently. "Gaaah!"
Mizuki tried to stand and found his leg wouldn't support him. No way he could escape like that and now ANBU were more than likely on his trail. He'd have to kill the Kyuubi brat and blame the theft on him. It wasn't perfect, but it would have to do for now.
"Let's end this, demon!"
"Yes, let's."
Four heavy thuds struck the ground, a metallic clang echoing into the trees. A streak passed Mizuki and his world blurred as well, blood (and a few teeth) erupting from his mouth. When he stood shakily on one leg, another blow knocked the wind from his lungs and smashed him against a tree.
"Your lessons in class were always wrong, sensei..." Another blow sent him rolling back into the clearing and he still couldn't see the demon child.
"…but I could see through you." A blow snapped the bones in his right forearm, the shuriken spun out of control and to the ground.
"Can you see through me?"
Mizuki found the laughter after that very disturbing. With one eye and the entire side of his face swollen, he couldn't see well. With his jaw broken, he couldn't yell at the demon brat either. Only a frustrated gurgle escaped his swollen lips.
"Goodnight sensei. Kyuubi is looking forward to seeing you in hell."
Mizuki's eyes went wide again right before there was a crushing blow to the back of his neck and his world went dark.
Naruto dropped the camouflage as he re-energized his weighted seals, his body rippling into view as the light blue reinforcement aura faded away. Mizuki lay broken and bleeding at his feet but alive. With a heavy sigh, he reached down and lifted the large scroll to strap it to his back then, with curiosity getting the better of him, unfurled the first few feet of it. Being almost a meter in width, it was rather large, large enough to hold almost two-dozen justu clearly written in the flowing styles of multiple authors.
Tamami shimmied up his leg and back regaining her perch to better peer down at the scroll, her curiosity well and peaked. She was Kitsune and Kitsune were curious by nature. She shook her muzzle to clear the sudden burst of pheromones, her eyes heavily lidded for a moment before the seal on the back of her neck pulsed and she could regain her focus.
Naruto's mind committed the first half dozen to memory before it clicked as to what exactly Mizuki had done. With a gasp, he snapped the scroll closed again, strapped it to his back as Mizuki had done before hefting the heavy sack of dead weight. Taking to the trees, and later to the rooftops of Konoha, Naruto streaked across town to the office of the Hokage.
It was later as the traitor was being hauled to medical confinement that the import of the night's events resonated in Naruto's (now) high-functioning mind. Mizuki was fleeing Konoha to become a missing-nin. Mizuki was fleeing Konoha with the sealed scroll of forbidden jutsu, one of the closest guarded secrets held in the Village Hidden in the Leaves.
Mizuki was a traitor.
Killing Naruto was nothing more than a bonus, a perk that comes with being an evil bastard.
The Hokage, after having finally called off the search for the scroll, was complimenting the student on his timely and appropriate action saying that his efforts possibly saved dozens of Konoha nin, and perhaps the city itself given what was on that scroll. For his efforts, he was to be awarded successful completion of an A-class mission, for while Mizuki himself only rated a B-rank threat, recovery of the scroll was worth far more.
"Come by tomorrow after class Naruto and I will pay out the voucher myself."
Naruto's smile nearly made his eyes vanish. "Hai, Jiji-sama." Hiruzen's face crinkled into a smile before briefly turning serious.
"I must ask Naruto, whether you studied the scroll's contents?" Naruto didn't miss a step or the Hokage's voice inflection, his eyes locking onto the Hokage's face and never wavering.
"No, Jiji. While I did open the scroll to see what he stole, I immediately closed it once I recognized what it was then promptly returned to your balcony with Mizuki-teme in hand."
He conveniently left out the fact that one of Kyuubi's gifts upon removing the limiters was a photographic memory that could memorize each stroke and dot of entire pages at a time, which he had also taken full advantage of while reading the three bunshin jutsu variants along with the next three jutsus on that forbidden scroll. With that knowledge successfully squirreled away in his brain, he was planning to add them to his jutsu library with Tama-chan. Heck, two of those jutsus had his father's name on them as the author and, by right, were part of his inheritance. He would not apologize for being gifted.
"Very good Naruto. Why don't you go home and get some well-earned rest? I will see you tomorrow after school." Naruto knew enough to recognize that the conversation was over. He was gone before the old man had struck fire to his pipe with his right index finger.
As Naruto leaped away, his mind reached in to poke his inner muse. 'Neh, Kyuubi-chan. Mizuki fell pretty easy. Do you think that I'm ready to take on the Inuzuka or the Hyuuga yet?'
Kyuubi had to consider that request. Mizuki, while a bastard, was a Chunin instructor arguably more knowledgeable than the average Chunin, an elite if you will. They knew next to nothing about Inuzuka Pagu or Hyuuga Hoheto and that was a liability.
'It is possible, but we need more information about our targets. We know nothing about them. Would you stumble onto a wounded bear unprepared?' Naruto shook his head.
'What can we do? I can't get near either clan house to spy. The Hyuuga are too good at seeing my chakra and those damnable mutts have strong noses… very strong noses.'
Kyuubi smiled. 'We do it the Kitsune way then.' Naruto landed then dashed into his apartment and closed all the blinds. Once he'd locked his door, he plopped down in the middle of his "living room" and turned inward.
'I want you to summon the Kage no Futago Kitsune. They will find what we need.' Naruto rose and pricked his thumb with a canine, the seals running through his mind for the summoning. Once he felt the energy build, he slashed the blood from his thumb across his palm and slammed the bloody appendage on the floor with a firm, Kutchiose no Jutsu: Kage no Futago! Naruto spent the next few minutes looking for a window to crack open while Tamami flicked on the oven hood fan.
When the smoke cleared, two black foxes, all black save for a small white patch under their chins, sat calmly with their tails swishing back and forth along the carpet. Both glanced over the two tails before their eyes locked onto Naruto. Snapping to rigid attention, the shadow twins bowed with their paws extended until Naruto inclined his noggin.
"What is your wish, Taichou?" Naruto spun a painting around that hung on the wall behind his couch, ripping off two hand-sketched portraits to hold up in front of the foxes.
"These two, Inuzuka Pagu," he waggled the left portrait ignoring the snicker from the smaller Kitsunes, "… and Hyuuga Hoheto," he waggled the second portrait, "…are my enemies. I need to know my enemies, almost as well as I know myself." The red eyes of the two dark-furred foxes glistened as they yipped once before leaping out of the now fully open kitchen window (thanks to Tatsua).
Naruto returned the portraits to their hiding spot. He'd dealt with Watanabe but couldn't find Yamanaka Rikuto anywhere – it was like the man had vanished from the face of the planet. Perhaps he should have asked them to locate him as well. 'Oh well,' the boy thought. He would focus on how to get past the Yamanaka mind control later. Dogs and creepy eyes would come easier since they could see those threats.
An inspired thought crossed his mind. "Tatsua dear." The golden-eyed vixen looked up at her Taichou's curious tone. "We have many types of Kitsune in the army. Do we have assassins as well?" Tatsua paled but nodded her head.
"Good, I need the names of two of them, two that will become my go-to shadow hands when I need to be… isolated from blame." Tatsua bowed deeply then went rummaging through a journal of her own written in the ancient Kitsune dialect.
While she was engaged, Naruto turned his attention to the new scrolls he'd finished copying from his mind to fresh parchment.
By the end of the week, he'd learned the Kage Bunshin, Daibakuha Kage Bunshin, and the Shuriken Kage Bunshin variants, and had those scrolls on individual sheets sealed in his personal library. True mastery would have to come over time. The other three jutsus he picked up would be saved for later, once he had more secure storage arranged.
~III~
A/N: Behind the Scenes: Diary of a Perverted Sensei
I never believed that all of the men in Kishimoto's world were horrific perverts, closet or otherwise, while all of the women (except for Anko) were perfect saints. A lot of the excentric behavior was brought on by the trauma of their extremely violent lives and Kurenai has had just as horrible a kunoichi life as any male.
So, I gave her a perversion of her own only hers is super buried below the surface. Just because she has these thoughts doesn't mean she's gonna mob her Genin. She has a bit more control than that but it does play better into her "Ice Queen" reputation as she overcompensates to throw off suspicion based on her less than acceptable behavior.
I remember the first time I published this story and folks went ber-zerrrrrrkooid! I guess making Kurenai less than perfect is a cardinal sin. So, guess what? I left it in this version as well.
Enjoy!
~Siva'a