A twelve year old Naruto stood in front of Ashina with a bow at the waist. "You've reached an acceptable level in your kenjutsu and ninjutsu. So much so that I'm going to let you have a break for a week or so. Constantly training gets boring quickly." Ashina said, earning a nod.
"Before you let me back to reality, can you help me with my bunshin? I still can't create one after all these years and I want to pass this year." Naruto asked. He heard Ashina chuckle.
"My boy, I fear you'll never be able to use the bunshin jutsu. A normal Uzumaki wouldn't be able to create one and you've got the Kyuubi boosting your reserves as well. You're better off using the Mizu bunshin anyways. I don't see why you want to pass that test anyways. If you become a genin and then leave, you will be marked as a missing nin and they can put a bounty on your capture."
Naruto grumbled at him. "I know that but I don't want to feel like I've wasted all this time in the academy." The older Uzumaki shook his head. "You haven't wasted time in the academy, you've learned good information such as the standings between each village as of right now. Plus, you've forgotten that your Nara friend is planning to flunk to avoid said entry into the bingo book."
"He just wants to impress his vixen." The Kyuubi said from behind Naruto. The 5'6 tween turned to the immortal being with a blush on his face. "Shut it you stupid furball. At least I don't dream about chasing down a fire cat."
Kyuubi clawed at him for that one. "You said you'd keep that secret." He hissed, earning a childish smirk from the boy. "I said I'd keep it a secret if you allow me to use your chakra." The demon fox grew his own smirk.
"If you want it so much." Kyuubi said as Naruto got wrapped in a cloak of red chakra. Naruto just hummed. "Hmmm warm." The giant being fell back comically and the cloak dissipated. "Hey! That was really cozy!" Naruto shouted.
"I'm sending you back now." Ashina said.
*Naruto's room*
The Uzumaki opened his eyes in his bed and quickly turned both of his swords back to smoke to store them. He hopped out of bed to go use the restroom when he felt a familiar signature appear at his door.
Forming a quick ram seal, he created a Mizu bunshin before running to the bathroom with a now severe urge to pee. The bunshin threw on a shirt that was on the floor and opened the door. Without even asking, Amaya walked in and sat on his bed.
"Rude." The clone remarked. "We have three days." The girl said, her tone meaning urgency. "What do you mean?" The real Naruto asked, walking back from the bathroom. Amaya looked at the clone and noticed a small puddle on the floor.
"The council is planning to take me right after I become a shinobi. From what I heard, they plan on making me take my shinobi license picture right after the exam so I can be considered an adult faster."
Naruto felt the urge to go kill the geezers but settled with spitting in his trash can. "Well then we need to start planning. We should leave the night of the exams. Since results aren't released until the next day, we should be fine. I'll meet you in your room."
The Nara nodded at him. "Are we still stealing the survival supplies tonight?" She asked. Naruto shook his head. "No, I grabbed them last night. I found out the shop owner was out so I figured to take advantage."
Amaya stood from the bed. "Still planning on flunking the exams?" The shadow user asked. "Yeah, I'm gonna flunk the practical while keeping my idiot behavior up. You just keep your laziness up and flunk the written."
The 5'3 girl simply sunk into the bed's shadow and started her way home. "I hate how she can do that. It's like she can pop up anywhere at any time." The redhead said, turning off his lamp. "I can pop up anywhere." Amaya said, her head poking out of the wall.
Naruto glared at her. "Go home and get some sleep. Iruka-sensei is gonna stuff our brains with the stupid review tomorrow." The girl shrugged at him and sunk into the shadows before popping up on his bed.
"Just skip school until the exam. Play one more prank before we leave." This time when she sank in Naruto opened his sensing field. He felt her in the Nara compound and turned off his field.
'It's quite convenient that I can turn my sensing field on and off.' The boy thought as he went to sleep.
*Day of the exam*
Iruka walked into the classroom with a smile on his face. "Ohayo class. Today we'll be taking our shinobi exams." Iruka noticed all of the students were staring at Mizuki. He looked closer at his assistant and noticed multiple bandages on him.
"What happened to you, Mizuki?" Iruka asked. "I got invited to the hot springs yesterday and the water started boiling whenever I got in." The man hissed out. In the back, Amaya smirked at the orange plaid Naruto.
"You used a Katon jutsu to heat up the water?" She asked. "Nope, I just broke into the control room and turned the temperature up. That reminds me, did you know there's hidden cameras on the women's side? They weren't on but they were definitely there." The Nara seemed surprised at that and shook her head.
"No but now I'm glad my clan has their own hot springs." Their attention was put back up front as the tests were handed out. When all the papers were put out, Iruka spoke. "You have 40 minutes. Begin."
Every paper was flipped over and when Naruto saw the first question he sighed. The questions on the paper went over things that they'd never gone over in class. 'I planned to fail anyways.' he thought while writing down the most random thing he could think of.
Once the 40 minutes were up, the papers were collected and Iruka began calling people up for the practical exam. Amaya went up and completed the three jutsu before going back. When it was Naruto's turn, he walked up with a stupid grin.
"You know the drill Naruto-kun. Kawarimi, Henge, and then Bunshin." Iruka said, earning a nod. "Please use Kawarimi on that chair over there." Iruka pointed. Naruto used a few hand seals and in a puff of smoke, changed places with the chair.
"Very good, Henge please." After Naruto walked back to the instructor, he used a few hand seals. In another puff of smoke, he was the Sandaime with a functioning pipe. "Did you ever finish those reports, Iruka-kun?" He asked in the Hokage's voice.
After Iruka looked all around him, he nodded. "Good job. Extra points for the voice. You can perform the bunshin whenever you like." Naruto reverted to himself and made a few hand seals. A puff of smoke came beside him.
Whenever the smoke cleared, a flimsy and colorless clone stood there. "Sorry Naruto-kun but it seems that you fail the practical part. If you did well enough on your written exam then you can pass." Iruka said, giving a thumbs up at the last part.
Naruto acted all dejected as he walked back to his seat. Hidden under his dejection was a grin. "Alright class. You can all either head to lunch or go home. Report back here tomorrow at 8am for your results." The classroom cleared out and Mizuki walked out as well under the guise of having to use the restroom.
The blue haired man found his target sitting on the swing outside the academy. A grin grew on his face as he walked to the redhead. "Hey Naruto." Said genin looked up at him. "I feel bad about failing you in the practical with such a close attempt at a clone so I've decided to give you the secret exam. It's an exam that us chunin instructors can only give to one student each year."
Naruto's confusion turned to fake excitement. 'What is this idiot planning?' The boy thought. "What is it, Mizuki-sensei?" Naruto asked in his fake voice.
"In the Hokage residence, there's a scroll in there that you must get without being detected. If you can get that scroll, learn one jutsu out of it, and meet me in the northern forest at 10 tonight then you'll pass." The man said.
"What does this scroll look like?" Naruto asked. "It's a giant scroll that's at least 2 feet tall. It's a cream color with a surrounding green barrier. It should be in Hokage-sama's home office." Naruto jumped off the swing and bowed to his sensei.
"I won't let you down!" With that, he ran off. Once he was a far distance away, he opened his sensory field to make sure no one was around. When finding no signatures nearby, he turned his body to smoke and drifted towards Amaya's signature.
He found her sitting at Akari's waiting to eat lunch. The smoke cloud went into the alley way before turning back to Naruto. The boy walked into the stall and sat beside her. "Afternoon Naruto-kun. The usual?" Akari asked, earning a nod.
Once the man walked into the back to start cooking, Naruto spoke. "I just spoke with Mizuki-sensei, he's trying to trick me into stealing some scroll from the Hokage. He told me to steal it, learn a jutsu from it, and meet him in the northern forest to pass the exams. He called it the secret exam."
The girl beside him just nodded. "Did he give you a description of the scroll?" She asked. "Yeah, he said it was 2 feet tall, cream colored with a green barrier." Amaya grunted at the description.
"That's the scroll of seals or the forbidden scroll. The Shodaime put forbidden jutsu in it so no one could use them. There's no secret exam so my guess is that he wants the scroll for himself. Most likely going to use you as a scapegoat while he leaves."
It was then that Akari came back with two Miso Mackerel. "I let these brine in the Miso so please tell me how they are once you're finished." The man went back into the kitchen, leaving the two academy students.
"I want you to go ahead and steal the scroll. We could use it as a bargaining chip when we get to Kiri if your relative isn't there. I have enough faith that you won't be caught so I want you to do it." Amaya said before digging in.
Naruto joined her and after a few minutes, they were finished. Akari came back and grabbed both plates. "It was better than normal. The Miso brine made every bite taste like miso, I'd cut back the time it brines because it kind of overwhelmed the fish." Naruto said.
"I agree with him." Amaya said, putting some money on the desk. Naruto put his own money down and the two walked out. "Before we leave, I want to visit Ichiraku's once more. If you wanna come with me you can." Naruto offered when they reached the street.
"I don't see why not. We need the extra fuel anyways." She said as they began walking down the way. Naruto unzipped his jumpsuit whenever they reached the ramen stall. "This thing gets so stuffy." He commented.
"It's also ugly." The Nara added, earning a shrug. "Well it paints me as an idiot and it's the only thing I could get legally." The Uzumaki said as he moved the flap to the side for them to enter. "Ah Naruto-kun. Long time no see." Teuchi said.
Just at the mention of the redhead's name, Ayame came running out the back looking for her little brother. "Oji-san, Nee-chan." Naruto waved, sitting on the stool. Once on the stool, Ayame hit him with a metal ladle.
"You don't come in here for a few months and you come in here with a girlfriend. What does that say about how I taught you?" Ayame said, holding the ladle in a threatening manner. "I'm not his girlfriend, miss. We're just close friends." Amaya said, earning a nod from Naruto.
"Sure and I don't know how to cook ramen. So what do you two want?" The brunette asked. "Miso with extra pork please." Naruto ordered. "I'll have a veggie please." Amaya said. The waitress walked over to the counter and started putting their orders together.
After a few minutes, the orders were out and the two were eating. "What have you been doing recently, Naruto-kun?" Teuchi asked, seeing that Naruto was taking his time eating. "I've just been attending the academy. Nothing much has really happened." The boy answered.
"I heard today was the genin exams, did you do well?" Ayame asked. "Not really, I failed the practical exam because I couldn't make a bunshin. If I did well enough on the written test then I should be able to pass."
"I'm sure you did. You've always been a smart boy no matter how much you try to hide it." Teuchi commented. The two tweens finished their ramen and Naruto set some money down. "Listen you two, I'm not going to be in the village from now on so don't wait for me." Before they could ask anything, he walked out.
"I'll see you tonight. Around 9 or so since I don't feel like fighting off ANBU when leaving." His partner in crime nodded and headed off to her compound while he walked to his apartment. 'My ANBU haven't shown for a few days. I hope they don't show up today.' He thought.
It only took him a few minutes to reach his apartment and get inside. Once inside, he looked at the clock and saw it was 1:30. "I should make my move around 5. The Hokage won't be home at that time." He said to himself as he pulled up his shirt and pulled out the backpack.
"Time to get to work." He said, unzipping the bag. He threw it onto his bed while rolling his jacket off. After pulling the sleeves inside out, he removed the weights and set them on the bed. The boy did the same for his pants before emptying the backpack.
After all the stuff came out, he put the weights in and set all of the survival gear back in. The only thing left on his bed was his new outfit. The Uzumaki put it all on and took a look at himself in the mirror.
He had black sandals on that led to the taped bottoms of some thin black ANBU style pants. The right thigh was surrounded by the same gray tape with a kunai pouch over it. His abdomen was covered by an unzipped dark blue flak jacket. It was pretty much the flak jacket that most Konoha jounin wore but converted blue.
He kept the front unzipped for now so he could put his backpack in there. The pockets on the flak jacket were filled with sealing scrolls for different things. Naruto looked back at his bed and noticed that he forgot the back pouch.
After quickly putting it on, his outfit was complete. "Not too shabby. Just realized I'm gonna have to take the jacket off to put the scroll in my back but oh well. I've got 3 hours so it's packing time."
*Three hours later*
Naruto stood in the Hokage's home office with a deadpan. Literally right beside the wooden desk was the scroll that Mizuki described. Plus there were no ANBU in the entire mansion, the only person there was a sleeping maid.
"It could be a duplicate. That old monkey isn't stupid enough to keep something that valuable right there." Kyuubi said. "There's only one way to find out." The redhead said, spitting out a Mizu Bunshin to open it. The water clone walked over and opened the scroll.
"It has writing on it. The first entry is a jutsu called Tajuu Kage Bunshin." The clone said. "That's the scroll. The Kage Bunshin takes a fraction of the chakra, the Tajuu version makes hundreds of Kage Bunshin so it would kill the user if they didn't have big enough reserves." Kyuubi said.
The real Naruto took off his flak jacket and allowed the scroll in smoke form to go into his back. Once it was done, he put the jacket back on and let the Mizu Bunshin turn into a puddle in the trash can.
"Time to meet Amaya-chan." He said, turning to smoke and entering the ventilation system.
*A little later*
Whenever Naruto arrived at the Nara compound, he used his sensing abilities to see that Amaya was having dinner with her parents. The Uzumaki frowned at how she was forced to leave them and an anger came to him.
"Go ahead and kill the elder council. They're nothing but a bunch of old pedophiles." Kyuubi told Naruto. The smoke user turned back to smoke and drifted towards the building he knew belonged to the elders.
When he went in through a cracked window, he saw all four elders laying down in the same room. 'I'm glad I stole those silencing seals.' The boy thought while placing the paper on the wall.
'From what Ashina-jiji said, this should make this room entirely soundproof.' Naruto thought. "That's perfect." He said out loud while sending out 8 shuriken from his palms. The still smoke projectiles entered the mouths of each elder.
Two for each elder and one for each lung. Once all eight shuriken were in their place, Naruto let them revert to their solid forms. Each elder awoke and started screaming. Their shouts quickly became quiet as the air they were sucking in started compressing their internal organs.
Naruto released his fire sword in his left hand and ignited it with Katon chakra. The light caused by the fire lit up his body in a menacing manner. "This is your punishment for ruining Amaya-chan's life." The boy said, watching as each of them bled inside and lost air.
"You shouldn't die for another few minutes." Naruto said as one of the elders stood and rushed him. When the man got close enough, Naruto crouched down and slashed. The sword moved through the man's stomach with relative ease.
As he fell to the floor dead, Naruto moved to the other two elders. The woman looked to have given up, one of the other two men was already dead, and the other was trying to stand. "Disembowelment sounds like a good punishment to me." Naruto said, seeing the last man's guts coming out.
He walked from elder to elder, slitting each of their stomachs until their intestines fell out. Taking advantage of the fire aspect of his sword, he burnt the blood off before storing it back into his arm.
"Hm, that bloodshed was nice. I suggest you kill more often." Kyuubi said, obviously satisfied. "I'm sure we'll see enough in Kiri, they are called the bloody mist even if the civil war is fake." The boy said, taking down the silence seal.
"You should destroy the brain if you don't want the Yamanaka to see what happened." Kyuubi said as Naruto's smoke form went out the window. "No, I want them to know I did it and why." The boy said, drifting towards the main house.
He turned back into his solid form on the roof, just above Amaya's window. Inside the home, he felt Amaya move from the dining room to the bathroom before she disappeared. The girl came up from the shadows beside him.
"I swear you're a sensor." Naruto said, looking at the sunset. "I'm a different type of sensor. I can sense people through their shadows. Your shadow is very warm so I know it's you." She explained while also looking at the sunset.
When she looked over at him, she immediately took notice of the blood. "What the hell did you do?" She asked, noticing how blood was on his arms, face, and clothes. "You don't want to know." Naruto said, earning a glare.
"I asked what you did so I want to know. Now you either tell me or I make you tell me." The Nara said, holding up a shadow kunai. 'Where the fuck did she get that?!' Naruto internally screamed, seeing said pointy object so close to his face.
"Alright alright." He said, holding his hands up. "I killed the elders." Amaya's glare softened. "You didn't have to kill them for me." She said. "I couldn't let them live knowing how they ruined your future." Naruto said, turning back and looking at the sky.
Amaya didn't speak for a while and took a deep breath. "Did they suffer?" The ravenette asked. "Yeah, I solidified shuriken in their lungs. After that, I let them suffer for a little before disemboweling them."
The Nara grimaced at that. "Thanks for making them suffer for me. I'll be back in ten or so minutes with my stuff." She sunk into the shadows and reappeared in the bathroom. After flushing the toilet and waiting a few seconds, she walked out.
Seeing that her parents were no longer in the dining room, she figures they were in the living room. Walking in, she saw her mom laying on her dad's shoulder while they turned on a movie. "Come over here and join us." Shikaku said, waving her over.
"We got popcorn." Yoshino said, holding up the bowl. "Nah, I'm just gonna go to sleep early tonight. I want to be well rested for the results." She said, while giving a fake yawn. "That's reasonable. Come over here and give us some goodnight hugs first." Yoshino said, holding out her arms.
The girl walked over and hugged both of her parents. "Goodnight guys. I love you." The young Nara said before walking upstairs. When she reached her room, she pulled her backpack out of her shadow and began to change.
After changing, she packed what she needed and placed a note on her bed. A sad smile graced her face just before she sunk into the shadows and appeared beside Naruto on the roof. The boy was already standing up and he looked over at her.
When she saw him looking at her, she noticed some blood under his nose. "Did you overextend your sensory field again?" She asked, using her sleeve to wipe away the blood. "Yeah…" He said in a quivering voice.
"Black bra and underwear. I never would have guessed." Kyuubi said in his head. Naruto shook his head and focused on the girl's outfit. She had an exact copy of his vest over a black hoodie. The sleeves were slightly too long but Naruto guessed it was a comfort thing.
Her entire lower body was the exact same as Naruto's with the same pants, tape, kunai pouch, and back pouch. "You look good." He complimented. His eyes lingered at certain parts for a little too long for his liking but he wouldn't tell her that.
"Thanks, you look good yourself. Let's start heading southeast, we should be able to get to a port city by tomorrow morning." She said, jumping off the roof and onto the ground. Naruto followed her and they started their journey.
"We should just run so our chakra spikes don't alert anyone. Did you get the suppressing seals?" Amaya asked. "Yeah, I got five for each of us. The sensors won't be able to sense us if we use five of them." The boy said, handing over the five pieces of paper.
"Put them on your skin, it might burn a little but they're permanent and reusable." The girl nodded at him. "My parents never wanted me to get a tattoo but oh well." She said, putting all five in a row on her left forearm.
The Nara hissed a little as they burnt into her skin before peeling the paper and threw it away. She pushed a little chakra into each of them and her signature was suppressed. "For a minute there I thought you got the wrong suppression seals." She joked.
"For your information, I didn't get these. I made them with help from Ashina-jiji." The boy said, humfing. "Ah yes, the sword genie." She said as they jumped onto the outer wall. "Call him whatever you like, he was a clan head and feared shinobi." The boy said, getting a shushing noise.
"We don't want to wake the gate guards." The girl whispered, pointing to the gate just to their north. Naruto nodded and prayed silently as they walked through the barrier. "I didn't feel the barrier surge. They haven't detected us." Naruto whispered, jumping from the wall into the forest with Amaya.
"Now the real journey begins."