A New Frontier

by Wickerstein

The strong devour the weak. That has always remained a fundamental law of nature. Proving otherwise is farcical. For no matter what, there will always be a winner and a loser.

1. Start

Disclaimer: Naruto and Digimon are copyrighted. No claim of ownership whatsoever.

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The hum of a cicada often signaled a bright and humid day, bringing with it a sense of anticipation. That buzz, once it reaches one's ears, is like a subliminal message that stimulates a part of the brain with the simple question.

"What are you gonna do today?"

Work? Play? Maybe stay indoors, relaxing in front of a fan and a cold drink?

For a young man on a mission, he had a ready answer for each and every time upon hearing that soothing buzz, his unkempt blonde hair already soaked to the roots with perspiration, the oils of his skin mixing with the salty excretion causing him no shortage of discomfort underneath his stuffy jacket, but all the same, his deep blue eyes never lost the focused intensity they held as he observed with deathly stealth and silence, a shopkeeper minding their business, sweeping the entrance of his store in preparation.

"Come on…" a twitch of his lips threatened to crack his stone faced expression, the muscles of his legs tensing only slightly, his fingers slowly curling.

Unnoticed, the shopkeeper moved to cover the contours of his shop's threshold with the practiced sweep of his broom, ignorant of the predator watching him like one would prey.

"That's it…" the boy bit his lip after running a moistening tongue over it, the sweat coming down his brow in rivulets. From his hiding place, he could make out the sounds of footsteps from his right, a grin slowly carving itself into his visage, "Perfect…"

A carefree pattering of two men, dressed in uniforms that denoted them as being under the village's service made it known that they were either winding down from their shift, or finally trekking home after a night of revelry.

From their slurred gait and the bit of effort keeping one another from stumbling, it was plainly the latter, in what should have been a simple greeting of the still busy shopkeeper, became a pitiful display of waving at the bare wall from across the more sober man's shop, drawing an emphatic shake of his head and a snicker from the boy.

"Wait for it…" breaking into an eager grin, his hand gripping a wire gave a sharp tug when the duo reached the right distance, the wooden platform from the roof of the store flipping forward, delivering with it a shower of white powder that fell on top of the intended targets.

In any other time, the two men would have been sharper in seeing this coming, the only variable not in their favor as of current being their intoxicated states, rendering them unable to react in time as the powder enveloped them like a miniature avalanche.

The shopkeeper, miraculously, was left untouched, only being able to gawk incredulously at this sudden turn of what he expected was a peaceful, albeit busy, morning.

The men paused in place as they coughed out the stuff that got into their noses and mouths, sobering just enough to take stock of their persons caked in a layer of white.

"Wha…" one of the men, his now runny eyes barely able to peek through the irritation, spat out from his gradually swelling lips spittle, the coughing replaced with sneezing as his nostrils were attacked with a burning sensation. "What the hell is this?!"

His partner, suffering from the same symptoms, used an arm to rub at his nose to help clear his sinuses, or at least scratch away this blistering itch building up-wait!

"I-Itching powder!" he exclaimed in realization, the boy from his hiding place smiling ear to ear upon hearing this.

Collecting themselves, the duo scanned their surroundings from top to bottom, discerning the direction from whence the powder fell, the wooden platform hanging precariously from atop the store's roof tauntingly before they caught sight of it.

Their collective gazes then landed upon the shocked shopkeeper, who blinked at their accusing stares in alarm, the broom still in his hands shifting in front of him defensively.

"Uh…y-ye-yes?'' he mumbled out shakily, getting a good idea of what was about to go down.

The two men glared hatefully at the third man, the itch only doing its best to further enrage them and their muddled minds, unable to deduce if a certain someone else had been responsible for this prank, which only worked to the boy's advantage.

Of course, where was the fun in that?

The next thing anyone knew, the wall shifted, and out emerged the young man in a proud display of joy, grasped in his hands a veil that granted him camouflage.

"Yo! Morons," he greeted them in jeer, enjoying the looks of surprise, followed by disbelief, and finally rage directed at him. "Toodles!"

With a two-fingered salute, he zipped off the wall and out of sight, his two victims wanting to follow but found themselves too angry, itchy and smashed to properly do so.

"Dat damb dembon…" one of the men seethed through gritted teeth and swollen lips, the others silently sharing the sentiment.

Shortly…

The boy laughed uproariously at the success of his plan as he zoomed over the rooftops, building to building. Days of meticulously jotting down the right routine for his timing to land on the unsuspecting suckers was worth it. The two Chūnin, during one of their drunken excursions home, accosted him for jogging one fine morning, that a little boy like him shouldn't be up so early at his age.

Right before one of them threw an empty bottle at him, narrowly grazing his ear from dodging.

The shopkeeper was just a dick. It was one of the few businesses in the entire village that begrudgingly sold him anything short of his favorite cupmen. Those took a long time to go bad. For anything else, he was only allowed food close to the expiration date, at full price, when it was usually half.

His sweat from earlier was cooling dry at the speed he was traveling, the elation of his accomplishment giving him the rush of adrenaline to speed up further, his eyes darting for a spot to land and lay low until he was sure that they weren't tailing him. He had a feeling that they didn't give chase, but experience taught him to never let his guard down. Pranking some of the more veteran Jōnin never ended well for him.

Finding a good spot on top of a random building, he caught his breath, sighing in satisfaction.

"I. Am. Good!" he thought in praise to himself, leaning against the corner wall until his rear landed on the floor, resting his head on his arms locked behind his head.

He took a sharp intake of air, the smell of the summer; or close to the actual start of summer, was always refreshing, his penchant for pranking dipshit villagers at its most frequent. The fulfillment was, to say the least, part of what made him rise from bed, and what made up for improvised training in trapping, stealth, trickery and espionage.

What he lacked in the academic side of his education in the Academy, he made up for it in playing to his strengths after getting some advice from his teacher, Umino Iruka.

From there, he started a makeshift regiment of working on, at the most basic, what shinobi naturally excelled at. Information gathering, sneaking around undetected, and laying out traps that couldn't be disarmed unless done by a pro.

The first year of this was met with…relative success; if anyone can even call it that, clumsily trying to navigate his way through being foiled by those who had gotten wise to his antics, and improving at what failed.

"Playing to his strengths", while he was lackluster at what he, and objectively, still thought mattered most to a shinobi.

His ninjutsu and taijutsu were below average, while genjutsu was dead to him for his abysmal chakra control. When it came to the Academy Basics, they were simple enough at his level of skill, with the only one he failed at being the Clone Technique (Bunshin Jutsu) for the same reason.

He became a bit resigned when Iruka made him stay after class a year ago and told him his failing records.

At sparring, he wasn't even able to beat civilian students. He scored poorly in his written tests, which wasn't much of an issue to him before until he was told how much a big part of it constituted his final grade.

That very year, he had to repeat it all over again, but in a program that included all the heirs of Konoha's Great Clans, decided by the Hokage to give him a better chance.

Any real opportunity of barely passing was to perform the Academy Three perfectly, presenting to the Hokage that he at least fit the lowest standard to being drafted into the service. From there, he'd have the springboard needed at working his way up.

It was the most serious he had ever seen his normally mild mannered teacher, and something had to give before his situation became unsalvageable.

"Be held back a year again…or drop out."

His eyes wandered to the blue, cloudless sky, the sun overhead even higher for noon. He idly reached a hand up, then let the arm drop like a stone on the hard floor.

"Must be nice to fly some time…"

Light as a feather, free as a bird, like the giant, green abomination heading his way, looking like it wanted to crush him between its talons.

Wait.

What.

Said bird cawed loudly in a shriek that was unlike anything he had ever heard before, so loud that he was sure that others close by had heard it. Like a cross between a canary, parrot, and interlaced with that of an eagle. The sound it made was deafening, but what made him stare in awe and just a little smidgen of fear at it was the sheer size of the green avian. Roughly as big as the building he was slumming on.

Yet, something else was…off about it.

He quickly got to his feet in a panic, readying for an escape.

"Crap!" he cursed loudly, the bird just about to nick at him, and with how bigger it was the closer it got, that translated to a gash clear through his torso. To his stunned astonishment, the bird had accelerated at the last second right as he was about to dodge. At this, he desperately motioned to duck from a talon threatening to decapitate him.

He could only let out a gasping scream when he expected the tip of the bottom talon to scalp his crown, eyes shutting tight to brace for the pain.

"..."

When nothing came, he slowly opened his eyes, one by one. He blinked a few times to clear the fog, his heart pounding madly, then patted at himself to see if he was still among the living.

Gone.

As sudden as it appeared out of nowhere, it was gone. Vanished. He took stock of his surroundings - left, right and above. He felt around for anything amiss, wary that the bird was still nearby, waiting to ambush him.

"What…what was that?" he swallowed the lump stuck in his throat, the bird nowhere to be seen. Cautiously, he crawled up and peered over the edge of the roof, looking down to see if the people below had seen the giant bird. His eyes widened when the bustle of activity that morning was uninterrupted, as if he hadn't just witnessed a bizarre looking creature that had almost plucked him up like a worm for its breakfast.

He blinked a few times more to ensure that he was seeing things right.

"Not this again…"

Could it have been the chūnin he pranked? Could they have found him? Hidden nearby to laugh at his expense?

If it was, then it worked. He shrugged the anxiety away, taking a calming breath. Cursing internally, he leaped off from the roof to see if he could find a better hiding spot, or something else to do to distract himself. The rest of the day was uneventful, save for a few more odd pranks here and there that were just as successful as the last.

The next day…

Mondays were the dredge of his life, even more so today, when it was the start of his final year at the Academy. The entire summer was spent working with what he had, taking his teacher's advice to heart. As much good as that did, it was better than nothing. Fat lot of good it made him feel, as well, but he had done his best to work on his self-taught taijutsu, which was a derivative of the standard Academy Style, "personalized" with his own flair to make it his own.

At first, he thought his idea had worked when the first few sparring partners he tried it on were taken aback by the; in hindsight, poorly improvised variation. He was elated, but that was dashed away not long after when his classmates grew more and more accustomed to it, doing short work of him because, as Iruka explained after that disastrous session, many of his moves were telegraphed. They could see him coming a mile away just as well as the chūnin did when they did some light sparring as a test.

So far, he's been trying to make the transition back to basics, but easier said than done.

The Bunshin was the most he had come to practicing his ninjutsu, and every time, the illusory clone was always sickly and subpar. Never alive looking like what was expected. It frustrated him to no end how such a simple thing was hard for him to get the hang of, and that it was partially the key to him finally graduating.

"Whoever came up with this damn curriculum was an idiot!"

It wasn't fair of him to think that, a part of him told himself. Many others struggled with the other Basic Three, and sometimes all of them together, but with practice, managed to pass all the same. Which only meant that it was a personal problem. That there had to be something wrong with what he was doing.

Then, there was his go-to personal theory. His suspicions of being "taught" wrong by teachers that weren't Iruka.

"Could Iruka-sensei be in on it?"

He shook his head at the thought. No, he trusted…or at least wanted to trust that the one person in the Academy that treated him with something akin to respect wasn't complicit, or enabling.

It was just a theory, of course. Borne out of the frustration of his failures.

It couldn't have been him. It had to be someone else.

He was just being taught wrong, likely on purpose.

He wanted someone to blame.

He wanted for there to be a conspiracy that was hard at work in keeping him down.

He didn't want to…accept that there was something wrong with him. That he was just an untalented hack doomed to only be at the lowest of the low.

There was nothing else he could look forward to. He highly doubted that there could be anything else in the village to try his hand at. Any owner or employer that would be merciful enough to give him so much as a part time job, if they didn't already despise him, would be nothing short of a miracle.

Being a shinobi was his only hope of getting any source of income at all.

He only had himself. No one else.

The gap between him and his peers was clear, and he had tried with everything he had to close said gap for these past few years, with none of it seemingly enough.

As he sat at his desk contemplating that this was going to likely be his last ever chance, he heard a few voices to his front. Two girls were chatting loud enough for him to make out the words "cool", "the best", and "prodigy".

With those very words, came a name.

"Sasuke".

It made him groan internally in irritation, stealing his gaze to stare at the chalkboard that was scribbled with today's lesson. His stomach sank in disgust.

His (admittedly) self-proclaimed rival. Who he was sure didn't even care if he had so much stepped on dog shit. Yet, he clung to that designation like a lifeline. A goal that he wanted; needed, to reach and maybe even surpass.

Not long after; speak of the devil, the prodigy entered the classroom, and all hell broke loose as the girl's cheered while the boys rolled their eyes. He stopped caring about him being more popular, and by the irritated and apathetic looks he often pointed towards his groupies hounding him like a piece of meat fresh from the butcher, the Boy Wonder didn't either.

That was one thing he came to respect about Sasuke. As much as he presented such an air, an image, it was genuine rather than his way of attracting said attention in the first place.

The reason why, he could never pin down, but he wasn't one to pry at someone else's private life, nor could he care all that much. Unless he needed to for a really sick prank or cheap blackmail material, all bets were off.

When he tried to do that whole "bad boy" schtick once to himself in a mirror, all he felt was embarrassment. He didn't need another reason to hang over his head at how pathetic his life was.

He slumped down on his desk, silently waiting for the class to end before it even started. When Iruka arrived, the words coming out of his mouth were muffled by the cotton in his ears, thoughts of his problems swirling around the room blurring the image that he was seeing. Like static, the silhouette of a creature on all fours, about ready to pounce on his unsuspecting teacher.

"IRUKA-SENSEI!"

The entire class was snapped out of the lecture in alert at his outburst, eyes roaming to his spot on the rows of seats, the pindrop silence, followed by a cacophony of chortles and snickers.

"What is it now, Naruto? Bored out of your mind already? It's only been 12 minutes," an unruly boy resting his feet on his desk sneered, looking down from his seat in a row behind the blonde. A dog was tucked snugly underneath his jacket, head poking out and snickering along.

Some, like a boy with a ponytail, a lazy look in his eye, sighed at how much of a drag it was that his nap was spoiled. Others simply ignored him, knowing better.

Iruka, the teacher, sighed, his shoulders slacked at the familiar disturbance.

"Yes, Naruto?" he asked with practiced patience, used to his student's spontaneity.

Naruto, his name said with a tone he had grown accustomed to, gulped, his eyes roving over the array of his classmates still shooting him looks and glances. It was always a strange feeling of being the center of attention. Negative it may be, it was still attention. In this instance, he didn't get the usual high, wanting nothing more than to shrink down, or even better, disappear in a puff of smoke.

"U-Um…" both of his hands shifted forward placatingly, proceeding with his right hand scratching the back of his head. "I-I thought I saw…"

Half of the class groaned, rolling their eyes.

"Not this again."

"What is it now? A genjutsu again?"

"If it is, what kind of schmuck would waste time on this knucklehead? He's too easy."

"Maybe because he's too easy."

A snap was heard, and Iruka quickly regained control.

"Naruto. We've been over this. Didn't I already run you through how to break a genjutsu?"

Many students voiced in the affirmative.

"Did I not teach you before the rest of your classmates received that lesson?"

Naruto timidly bowed his head, "You did."

"And?" Iruka prodded.

"Well, it's-"

"Maybe he just can't do it," the unruly boy joined in again, "like everything else he's failed at."

Iruka's voice pushed through the chuckles the boy drew, "When I want your opinion, Kiba, I'll ask for it. Now," he stared expectantly at Naruto, "do you, or do you not know how to dispel a genjutsu?"

Naruto breathed in through his nostrils, his blue eyes wanting to look into his teacher's for a silent apology, but found himself unable to. For the last two years, he's been plagued with sightings of what he can only generously consider genjutsu. Strange creatures, weird landscapes, bizarre weather and architectural oddities.

Many didn't hesitate to criticize his mental faculties.

The surrealism of his situation necessitated that he learned the basic Kai (Illusion Technique Dissipation) much earlier than his peers, but so far, whenever he tried to, the genjutsu would still be there until it dissipated on its own. No matter how many times he repeated the technique, the illusion; at times multiple, would persist. It finally got to the phase that he no longer bothered to use the dispel at all, hence why the large bird was allowed to run its course yesterday.

But, a small part of him felt that they weren't illusions at all.

He buried that thought immediately, and resigned himself to fall back into his seat without a word, eliciting a sigh from Iruka.

"After school," he said with finality, and continued with the lecture.

Later…

The students filed through the door, relieved that their first day of their new, and final, year didn't start out too hectic. No eraser hanging precariously over the door, no surprise graffiti, and no exploding packs of glitter to decorate the room; students and all.

No. Instead, what they got was their potentially crazy classmate interrupting them with his raving lunacy. Said classmate was still seated on his desk, waiting for the earful he was going to get.

"Naruto," Iruka called from his desk, gesturing the blonde closer.

Naruto didn't move at first, but shortly pushed himself to stand and gather his things. He marched in a languid pace towards the teacher's desk, expecting the usual.

"So," Iruka twined his fingers, pressing his lips to prepare his questioning, "what happened?"

The young lad remained silent, until an encouraging nudge from Iruka prompted him, "I…can do Kai just fine. At least…I think I can."

Iruka observed the boy's body language, looking for any dishonesty. It wasn't that he didn't trust Naruto to be truthful to him when it mattered. It was just that he couldn't trust him to be completely truthful. Many of his attempts to reach the boy worked just fine a few years ago. Back then, he was more jovial, brazen. Not the reserved child that was in front of him now.

Not after he started claiming to be a target of genjutsu. While he had directly reported the issue to the Hokage, who made no reservations to investigate the matter, Iruka feared that what Naruto was suffering from wasn't external. The stress of his low marks, combined with how much he was ostracized and shunned, must have already taken its toll on him.

He personally forwarded Naruto to the school guidance counselor, but to no avail did they find anything wrong with him aside from having a complex for the attention of others, but that was more from his status as an orphan and the trappings that came along with his…situation, and Iruka wasn't worried about any bias against his student, for the counselor was a member of the Yamanaka Clan. Part of the Hokage's law ensured that.

"Naruto, you can be honest with me," Iruka smiled reassuringly. A smile that made the boy wince inside. "What's bothering you?"

He wished he knew the answer. Naruto really, desperately did.

"I've…" his mouth felt heavy as lead.

Iruka silently goaded him on. "I've been doing what you told me. Working on my strengths and starting from there. I've been relearning my basics, even practicing with Bunshin to complete the Academy Three."

"That's good," Iruka complimented, but the matter at hand still stood. "But, you haven't answered my question. Are you by any chance being bullied?"

Now, that made the lad scoff. Bullies, he can handle. There wasn't anything better than getting back at that dipshit Kanda every time he ran his mouth off that he was the toughest in class.

No. Naruto knew who that title rightfully belonged to, and he'll be damned before someone else thought to claim it as such without earning it squarely. That was part of why he wanted to catch up to Sasuke. Simply saying it doesn't make something true.

Sure, Kanda would beat the stuffing out of him during their spars, so that evened things out a bit.

"Nah, anybody who bullies me only qualifies for a primetime ticket to getting pranked," a small grin pulled at his lips, but it shortly fell, "it's just…I can't make heads or tails with what's been happening to me. I've done everything you told me," or the best that he could, "and I still keep having these…visions."

He flailed his arms in a shrug, "I don't even know what they are, but I do see them. I don't think I'm going crazy, but if I am…I just…don't know anymore."

Iruka looked on sympathetically at who he had come to consider as a surrogate little brother, ever since he came to know the boy for who he was rather than what he was supposed to be, any ill thoughts he may have had had long faded away.

"Have you talked to the Hokage?"

"Jiji? Yes, but…" he trailed off, biting into his lip. He was goaded again. "I don't…want to make it seem like I'm taking advantage of him. The other kids have been…talking."

His brow knitting together, Iruka asked, "Talking about what?"

Naruto couldn't hide his embarrassed frown, "That I'm getting special treatment from the old man."

"Naruto, that's nothing to be concerned about," Iruka stated firmly. "Hokage-sama doesn't play favorites, and he always extends a helping hand to any student and shinobi that come to him willingly to the best of his abilities. As a villager and close to being christened a bona-fide shinobi of Konohagakure, you're no exception. Since when have you started to care about what others think of you?"

"Since you told me how much I'm behind everyone else."

Iruka blinked, shooting his head back slightly.

"I get it," Naruto licked his lips. "I'm not the best and brightest in class. That doesn't mean I'm-" he paused to scratch at his temple, adjusting the goggles nestled on his forehead, "I work hard, okay? I really do. Not a lot of people may see it, but I'm always at the training grounds busting my ass off to work on my basics. I've even started to read my textbooks," now this really threw Iruka off, "but…it's like…there's this wall. This wall that I can't get past no matter how hard I try to."

Iruka's arms crossed, examining the blonde, "A wall, you say?" he ran his fingers across his chin. "Just do your best to overcome it. It's the start of the year, and you've yet to see what's in store. Who knows? If you're really starting to take your studies seriously, you might be able to see the improvement you're aiming for."

"I want to," Naruto answered. "I just can't tell anymore if what I'm doing is right. You remember our spar? Before the end of last year? I thought I was on my way to inventing my own taijutsu style, but all I really did was make my set worse."

"Where did you even get that idea from?" Iruka asked curiously. "I never did ask you that day since after we were done, you ran off."

Naruto winced the second time, "I was bummed and wanted to be alone."

"...Mizuki-sensei suggested it to me."

Iruka stiffened, his eyes widening. "Excuse me?"

"Mizuki-sensei," Naruto repeated. "He told me that the basics were supposed to be a springboard for us to work on our own style."

Iruka stared intently at the blonde for any sign of dishonesty. He went silent for a moment, the gears of his mind turning.

"I thought so…"

Iruka leaned closer, "Naruto, from now on, you're going to listen to me and only me, and my lessons to the letter," the chūnin's gaze became piercing, "if anyone else tells you something that contradicts what I teach you, report them to me. Understand?"

Naruto's expression was vacant, but his eyes held a clarity to them, as if he had just realized; albeit too late, what he should have suspected from the beginning since being told to deviate from the standard curriculum. It was stupid of him to have trusted such advice at face value. It was stupid.

He was stupid.

He bit his lip and felt like crying, but he had been desperate. Anything to get stronger faster. Faster than his peers, faster than his naysayers.

Faster than him.

He shook that thought away. No, he alone was the sole person to blame for this. He had been made a sucker of, and if he had a chance to come back to that time Mizuki told him such bogus advice, he would have punched the guy, not caring that the man was above him in both rank and skill.

"I…I understand, Iruka-sensei."

Iruka was beside himself, but he managed a warm smile that told Naruto that everything was going to be alright, but the lad knew now; and always did, that he had to put in the work for that assurance to become tangible.

If it still mattered.

"Naruto, you have to remember that this is for your future. I can't do anything more than to teach you what you need to know, but this goes both ways. Ever since you came here, you've always been a handful to deal with," for the third time, which steadily became a new record, Naruto winced again, "but that comes with the baggage of being a teacher in the first place. Kids aren't always well behaved little angels. Back then, I thought you'd calm down from being the rowdy prankster and class clown; wishful thinking, but that was wrong of me to expect. Instead, I told you to take advantage of your strengths for trickery and subterfuge. We are shinobi. We're supposed to be that way. You have been working on that, I take it?" his student nodded, and Iruka was thankful that it had been a private conversation to keep the complaints from raining down on him, "Good. Naruto, let's make a promise."

"Huh?" Naruto blinked. "What kind of promise?"

"More of a deal," Iruka smiled wider. "After class, I'm going to tutor you."

"That's-" the chūnin held up a hand.

"I know what you're going to say, and it's not a problem for me. Think of this as an apology on my part for neglecting a faux pas that I should have rectified earlier. I am going to tutor you, but the brunt of your training has to be on you. I can only show you the things that went wrong and have you correct them on your own. This is where the "both ways" part comes in, and you have to promise me that you'll work hard. I'll be holding you to that."

Naruto looked at Iruka in astonishment, certainly not having expected this. He…he actually cared? All this time, he thought the man was just fine with him pushing pencils and papers, throwing a kunai, and landing on his ass at spars. It was…it felt good. Not the kind of high he had from pulling off a winning prank, but a warm kind of emotion that he rarely ever felt.

And, from experience, followed by another he was otherwise well acquainted with; disappointment.

His deep blue eyes shifted, "I…I appreciate the offer, sensei, but…I think I'll be just fine on my own."

Iruka's brows furrowed, "Naruto-"

"Just-" now the boy's turn to cut in, "thank you for being concerned. I really appreciate it, but I don't think this is going to work out the way either of us would want. And, it's not because of the work you want me to do. Hell, if it means getting anywhere, I'll bust my chops, no problem."

"Which is precisely why I'm offering you the help you need," Iruka persisted. "You won't go wrong with this, Naruto. I swear as your teacher."

"It isn't that," Naruto wished it was. It'd hurt less if Iruka merely deemed him a lost cause from the beginning. "How…about I think about it?"

Those were the magic words, and Iruka had to concede. "My offer is still open, Naruto, but by the time the second semester rolls in, I won't be able to do much. I'll still help you during lectures, but you have to make sure in doing your end of the work, too. If not, your classmates will really think I'm giving you an exception."

Which is exactly what Naruto was trying to avoid. He didn't want to feel like a beggar, nor a teacher's pet. Before Iruka came along, those who often bullied him were regarded by his past instructors a bit more favorably no matter if they were problem children themselves. He couldn't prove it, though. Never could, either, since anything he told the other adults in the Academy was dismissed, or he was reprimanded for being a tattletale.

The shinobi-in-training had wanted to agree. To say yes and have someone actually help him for once. For the life of him, however, he couldn't escape this twist in his stomach.

He began to leave, but not before he felt Iruka's hand on his shoulder. He turned to look up at the teacher, and the eyes that met his own were kind, contrasting the judgemental scorn from other adults.

"Don't forget. If anyone gives you dicey information about the curriculum, or you simply need somebody to talk to, I'm right here. Don't be put off from ever approaching me, Naruto.

"By the way, do not tell anybody else what you've discussed with me in regards to Mizuki. I'm going to go to the Hokage and report this. I'd rather this be kept under wraps until a full investigation can be done."

Again, Naruto felt like crying, but he blinked the tears away and nodded in gratitude, resuming on his way out the building.

Outside, some kids under varying years still stayed behind to play with friends or relax. The sun was overhead, pointing to it being noon. Since it was the first day, classes cut by half, giving plenty of downtime until the full rigors of academia began tomorrow.

Naruto didn't want to waste any of his time here any longer, not that he could help it. None of them wouldn't want to spend so much as a second with him. Passing out the gate, he didn't fail to catch a trail of blonde hair flying past him that was a shade lighter than his own.

"~Somebody got in trouble~!"

He rolled his eyes but kept walking.

"I would, too, if I suddenly yelled out during class like that."

Walking.

"Or, did he get mad and yell at you back?"

Still walking.

"Did he yell at you? He must have been mad since it was the first day, and all. You just had to spoil it for everybody."

He walked more briskly.

"Did Iruka-sensei have you expelled?" the voice, that he begrudgingly knew was female, mock gasped. "He did, didn't he? I can't believe it. Uzumaki Naruto is now expelled!"

"Who's expelled?" a second, more masculine voice interjected.

"I am not expelled!" Naruto swiveled around to snap at the girl through gritted teeth. "Damn it, I'm not! Fuck off, Ino!"

"Hmph!" the girl called Ino, huffed, arms crossed indignantly. "If only you were half as polite to ladies such as myself, I might just be gracious enough to offer you my help."

"That's not-wait…" this gave the other blonde a moment to quickly process what he just heard. "Were you…were you eavesdropping on me and Iruka-sensei!?"

The other boy that had joined them was holding an open, and half finished, bag of potato chips, shoving the contents into his mouth with rapid gusto.

"Eavesdropping on what?"

"Oh nothing, Choji," Ino crooned, "just a stubborn boy who thinks he can keep doing stubborn boy things that a stubborn boy like him can only do as a stubborn boy."

"You just described Naruto to a T," Choji chuckled, his smile reaching the swirl marks on each of his cheeks as he kept eating until he cleaned the bag of its contents, taking out another from his shirt pocket and tossing the empty one into a nearby bin.

Ino grinned slyly at the stink eye Naruto was directing at her, enjoying his flustered cheeks at having taken her bait.

"So, what are you going to do now? Take up Iruka-sensei's offer like anyone with half a mind would?"

Naruto stomped his right foot in irritation, "None of your beeswax, gossip queen!" He points a fierce finger at her, "And, so what if I did? You gonna raise a stink over me trying to be a teacher's pet?"

Ino rolled her eyes, "No, noodles for brains. I just want to know if you're even serious about graduating this year."

"Of course, I am," Naruto responded curtly with a glare.

"Then, what's the problem with you not wanting any help?"

Naruto clenched his right hand into a fist, "I can work it out on my own just fine now since Iruka-sensei warned me about what I was doing wrong. I don't want to waste his time. That's all."

"What you mean is that you want to tough it out like the man's man you think you are and get by with the Academy Three," Ino declared smugly, earning a flinch from the Uzumaki.

"If I pass, I pass. That's what matters," Naruto insisted. "And, what's with you dissing my masculinity? That's not the insult you think it is. I am a man's man! The manliest!"

He curled up both biceps as a show of said masculine prowess, only for his supposed muscles to sag like wet ramen noodles as soon as Ino prodded them, eliciting a laugh from Choji.

"What the hell are you bozos going on about now?" a fourth voice spoke in, a boy their age coming out of a shop that sold fish. The most distinctive feature about him was his spiky ponytail that stood up. His eyes lazily scanned said bozos like the dead frog he had found on the road when he was younger.

"Is this another troublesome drama with you, Naruto?"

"No, it's not," Naruto denied. "Ino here just thinks my life's interesting enough for her to pry into for her gossip circle!"

"Naruto was just expelled, Shikamaru," Ino slyly told the ponytailed boy, who could only blink at the announcement.

"Really?"

"NO! I wasn't expelled! Take that back now, you gossip monger!" Naruto raged, ready to pounce on her.

"The way your grades are going, you'll likely drop out anyway," Ino told him flatly.

The Uzumaki paused, his nostrils flaring, "This is what I told Iruka-sensei. I'm going to work hard at school now. I don't care if I have to grind through textbook after textbook, crawl on my knees through the obstacle course, or practice with a thousand kunai. No playing around anymore. I want to graduate!"

He formed a fist and stared hard at it. "I am going to graduate, work my way up and get stronger. All for my goal," he unfurls his fist to point at the direction of a cliffside above the Academy, where four distinct faces were carved on it as a monument. "To become Hokage!"

"Then, just do it," Ino scoffed. "Yeesh, you'd think you could have just said that to Iruka-sensei yourself."

A vein popped on Naruto's forehead, "You dirty-!

"Is that even true?" Shikamaru interrupted, having had enough of the banter. "You really gonna actually study? Train? I don't see it."

"Skeptical, are we, Mr. Lazy?" Naruto shot him a daring look. "Yes, Shikamaru, I'm going to turn my school life around. This is my last chance, or I get held back a year again."

"Or, drop out. Whichever comes first," Ino added. Naruto growled menacingly at the cat smile she was taunting him with.

"I think he can do it," Choji finally said, now on his third(?) bag of chips.

Naruto shot the fa-big boned boy with a thankful grin.

"Then again, he's made promises like that before."

"No way! This is gonna be the real deal," Naruto shook his head. "Just saying something doesn't automatically make it true."

Shikamaru cocked a brow at him, "Need any help? Maybe I can tutor you."

Hearing this made Naruto stiffen. He stared at Shikamaru as an idea came to mind. Why didn't he think of it before? Why waste Iruka's time when he can just waste his classmate's? It was brilliant.

If it had been anyone other than Shikamaru. The laziest in class, but no less academically qualified.

"Why?"

"Got nothing better to do."

"Gee, glad to hear I'm such a priority."

Shikamaru sighed, "Troublesome. It's not just that. I've been watching you for some time now, Naruto, and aside from the claims of you suffering from genjutsu attacks, you actually are putting in the effort now to get results."

"Hah! As if," Ino flicked at a lock of her hair. "I'll believe it when he passes the first written exam of the semester. No less than an 80 to 90 mark."

Naruto jerked back. 80 to 90? He could barely scrounge up a 40.

"That's doable," Shikamaru yawned. "You can make up for lost time while we're at it."

"Why do you even want to help me?"

"Because, you're a work in progress. Like I said, I got nothing else to do since my performance is just about adequate, and I'd like for it to stay that way," this drew a curious look from the Uzumaki. "Your lagging behind is pathetic compared to me, and I'm supposed to be the laziest in class."

"Ouch," Choji winced. Naruto deflated from the cutting remark.

"This is gonna be reductive of me to ask, but why didn't you reach out to help me before?"

"You didn't ask," Shikamaru shrugged, causing the blonde to stumble. "You never asked anyone for help before, as far as I know."

Naruto looked away from the other boy, "In case you hadn't noticed before, whenever I did ask for some help, they'd blow me off or…" he trailed off. "You guys are clan heirs. You, Choji, Ino. I'm just a nobody."

"A nobody that still needs help," Shikamaru went on. "Look, neither of us has got anything to lose." He paused. "Okay, you more than me, which only means you should take my offer if you really are hellbent on graduating. At best, you'll only be the Dead Last."

Naruto played with the hem of his orange jacket, "I can't-"

"This isn't charity," Shikamaru clarified with a stern tone. "That's what you're worried about, right?"

Naruto sighed, "You think my budget can afford you?"

"I don't even need the money," Shikamaru took a moment to think before clicking his tongue. "How about a sparring partner? At the training grounds after class. That has to amount for something, right? We both get to work on our taijutsu. You and I could use the practice. More so you, of course."

"That's…" Naruto could hardly believe it. A part of him didn't want to. Too many disappointments in his life to count to outright accept this. What was it the fruit vendor told him once? Right after he was handed that day's nearly rotten fruit.

"Never look a gift horse in the mouth. It means not to take someone's good will for granted, brat."

After that, he came to hate that proverb.

"Let me think about it," he held up a hand when Shikamaru was about to speak. "This isn't a 'no'. I just don't have a good track record when it comes to people giving me their own brand of 'help'." He left the part about Mizuki unsaid, and it looked like Ino was going to as well.

"I'd like to think I'm not most people," Shikamaru shrugged. "So, I'll give you 'till tomorrow to decide. If you refuse, still no skin off my back, but don't say I didn't try."

"Yeah," Naruto muttered. "Thanks, I guess. See 'ya."

Soon after…

The trio of heirs were taking the path to their respective homes together since each of the clan compounds were neighbors, having had close ties to one another for as long as Konoha had been founded.

Choji was still busy eating, with Ino not caring how many bags he had ravaged through since leaving school.

"What made you want to help Naruto, Shikamaru?" Ino began asking suddenly, the other boy ahead of them. "And, don't tell me you simply did it out of the goodness of your heart."

Shikamaru let out one of his trademark sighs, "It's a troublesome story. I'm sure you wouldn't be interested." Ino caught up to flank him, ever the gossip, receiving another sigh from his mouth, looking on ahead to deprive the girl further satisfaction. "You just can't help yourself, can you?"

"'Fraid not," she grinned. "Now tell me, or I'll tell your mom that you forgot to lock the fence gate yesterday to watch clouds again."

"Troublesome woman," Shikamaru groaned. "Alright, fine. It was a week ago when I spotted Naruto buying some fruit."

"No way! I always thought he only ate ramen," Choji remarked with no shortage of amazement.

"Choji, do you have any idea how unhealthy a diet subsisting on ramen alone is? At least you have balanced meals," Ino lectured him. "If you only cut back on the junk food…"

"I'm a junk food lover for life, Ino. Never gonna quit." As if to prove a point, he scarfed down the remaining crumbs of his potato chips, making sure to polish what stuck to the corners of his lips with his tongue. "Besides, the extra calories are supposed to help with my family's jutsu, so, who am I to complain? Which I never do," he added pointedly.

"Eurgh," Ino cringes in disgust, swiftly refocusing back to the more…dignified member of their group. "So, what happened next?"

"The guy gave him rotten fruit."

"And?"

"That's it."

"Seriously?"

A deadpan expression drew itself on the blonde, "It isn't exactly a secret that vendors and sellers here don't like Naruto because he's such a troublemaker. How do you think they'd treat him when he keeps pranking them?"

"Seeing it for myself, made me feel like I wanted to help him out."

Hearing this made Ino blink and halt her pace, followed by the other two.

"What about you?" he asked her.

Ino stared at him blankly. "What do you mean?"

"Why did you try to convince him to take Iruka-sensei up on his offer?"

"Don't tell me you were listening in on them, too."

"It was fascinating how far sound can be carried by being so loud as the both of you were in the middle of the street," Shikamaru countered.

Ino stuck her tongue at him, "I just couldn't take how much of a hopeless failure he is anymore. I don't think I can name anyone who I've known to be that pathetic, that…pitiful."

"Yeah, that's the reason," Shikamaru jeered in his own lazy way, becoming amused at her sputtering.

"Like I said, I couldn't stand anymore how much of a pity party he is! What happened in class this morning just clinched it," Ino crossed her arms, flustered, "and also because…don't tell anyone else but our fathers this, but, there's suspicion that there might be shenanigans going on over at the Academy."

Shikamaru and Choji exchanged glances. "Care to explain?"

Ino's expression hardened as she leaned in to recollect what she had heard.

"Troublesome," Shikamaru scratched his head.

Choji pouted in worry, "What would this mean, Shikamaru?"

"It means, Choji, that someone is going to find themselves in hot water after all is said and done," Shikamaru answered his best friend. "We need to go home. Now."

The next day…

The actions taken were swift, and as if he had been expecting it, Mizuki was nowhere to be found when his apartment was raided. The slippery bastard was generous enough to leave behind ample evidence hidden beneath various portions of his living room, bedroom and compartments. Enough to bust him for not only the sabotage of certain targeted students, but to make matters worse, selling information on clan heirs through the black market.

Many parents were left dumbfounded and upset, worried that their own child might have been compromised, with the Hokage having to declare classes suspended until further notice for the investigation to run its course.

Within the building of the village's leader, he and numerous others; namely the clan heads minus one, were having a meeting to salvage this catastrophic oversight.

Beneath his white and red robes, a conical hat obscuring his eyes, the elderly Sarutobi Hiruzen was chewing the filter of his pipe in deep contemplation of the repercussions this breach would have long term.

"Where's the bastard who did all this?" an unruly woman with face markings beneath her eyes and shaggy hair spoke up. "My dogs'll want to sink their teeth into him."

"Gone," an older man who resembled Shikamaru answered. "By the time me and my men raided his place, all that was left were the ledgers and records of his dealings in the black market. Not all of them, but enough to incriminate."

"Not good enough," the woman growled.

"Tsume, a search party consisting of ANBU; a number of which your fellow clansmen with their own ninken, are already on the hunt. Mizuki is to be captured, dead or alive. We cannot allow him to escape the village borders, let alone that of Fire Country."

"Then, why were we summoned here?" Tsume questioned. "Shikaku, you did confiscate all the info he had on our kids, right?"

"Only that of the Inuzuka, Yamanaka, Nara, Akamichi and Aburame," Shikaku paused. "Those of the Hyūga and Uchiha were missing."

This elicited worrying noises from all those gathered. "Everyone, calm down." the Hokage finally spoke. "Where is Hiashi?"

"His highness couldn't come," Tsume rolled her eyes. "It's likely he and his clan are handling this in their own way."

The Hokage took a few huffs of his pipe, betraying the annoyance he felt at that declaration.

"Mizuki might not be the only one," he turned to Shikaku, who nodded.

"Even as we speak, everyone at the Academy; from faculty to staff, is being taken into custody and will be transferred to T&I for further questioning. Umino Iruka has been exempted, being your designated operative Lord Hokage."

The village leader nodded back, his wizened eyes scouring over the clan heads present. "Regular classes are to be suspended. Until then, a proctor personally vetted by me and Shikaku will hold remedial exams to evaluate each and every student individually, one by one. No one but the proctor, myself and Shikaku is to be present for this to take place. Under no circumstances is anyone else, other than the examinee, allowed. Am I clear?"

The tone he used brokered for absolutely zero argument, save for one Choza Akamichi; who his son shared a passing resemblance to save for the red hairpiece that he adorned, stepped forward with a bow to speak up.

"Will this not take too long? Given the number of students?"

"Only third to fourth years, Choza," Shikaku clarified for his friend. "By then, we'll have corrected this matter in time so that the first and second years will be just fine. At the most, we'll be done within two and a half months. Those who manage to pass the evaluation will be allowed to resume their schooling under an instructor that's also been vetted. Those who haven't will be put under probationary classes, and if they fail that, will have to repeat another year."

It was a sound proposal, one that the Akamichi head could agree with.

"What about Mizuki?" asked another man with spiky blonde hair done in a long ponytail, a red haori over his Jōnin flack jacket, arms folded over his chest. "I'm practically dying to know what prompted him to be so bold into pulling this off."

"He likely has a benefactor, probably several if the evidence is anything to go by," Shikaku provided to the assembly. "He's been in contact with shinobi from Iwa, Kumo, and Suna."

The last one caught all of their attention. "Sunagakure is an ally of ours, is it not?" Choza wondered aloud.

Hiruzen closed his eyes, "Alliances can be fickle. Although, I'm counting on the hope these are merely rogue factions. We cannot afford to start anything with Suna. Nothing good will come of it since within this year's time, the Chūnin Exams will be held here in our village, with their crop of shinobi participating."

"We cannot be certain of that, Sarutobi-sama," Shikaku objected. "We've been receiving reports from our spies stationed there of suspicious activities lately."

It was left unsaid that tensions there had been on the rise for years now. The Wind Daimyō outsourcing missions to Konoha that took a toll on Suna's income didn't spell much good will between the two villages, either.

"What? Are they mobilizing? Planning to turn on us?" Tsume hypothesized.

"Let's not jump to conclusions just yet," Hiruzen lightly admonished. "Yet" being the operative word they knew spurned caution, meaning they couldn't outright dismiss it.

"After the last stunt Kumo pulled with the Hyūga, do they expect us to offer another sacrifice?" the head of the Aburame clan mumbled, though everyone in the room heard him clearly, his sunglasses reflecting the outwardly calm Hokage.

That particular incident still left a sore spot within their ranks, having occurred not long after the Uchiha Massacre. As shameless as it was, they didn't exactly have room to point fingers had they been given the chance to do the same.

It was how Kumo decided to save face that irked them.

"Until they make a move, Kumo is to be left alone, Shibi," Sarutobi motioned. "They've had their fill with war, same as Iwa. We cannot engage them under suspicion alone. They'll be looking for any excuse, any provocation."

Shibi nodded, inwardly agitated by this turn of events concerning his son's progress. Though he was confident that Shino was hardly affected, the thought that someone under their noses had done this for what can be speculated to be a few years without getting caught vexed him. He was going to call in his younger clansmen who had ever been in contact with Mizuki for a meeting first thing after this one.

The other clan heads were set on doing the same. This couldn't be ignored for the sake of Konoha's military strength. It was an unprecedented scandal.

"Shinobi are already stationed at every section of the borders that Mizuki can escape through," Shikaku returned to the matter at hand. "We cannot; must not, let him run loose with the information he has at his disposal."

"There's a possibility that he'll lay low for a while," the blonde theorized. "My men and I found two instructors earlier that were in cahoots with Mizuki and covering for him. According to what we could fish out of them, he has several safe houses scattered across Fire Country. The man was ready for anything amiss to happen."

"Anything else, Inoichi?" Shikaku prodded, earning a shake of the head from his friend.

"Unfortunately, Mizuki was only paying them to help gather information on our children, and anyone else of interest to help avoid suspicion," Inoichi answered. "Nothing of actual value was ever made privy to them except for the safe houses in case they ever needed to rendezvous. They're just fall guys."

"You think he'll meet up with whoever is backing him?" Shibi thought aloud.

Hiruzen bit the filter of his pipe, a sinking sensation suddenly overcoming his stomach.

"Could it be…? No. With our shinobi scouring all over Fire Country, that possibility as of present is miniscule. A window of time will be required for him to come in contact with them without any risk to either their safety and whereabouts. Mobilize every man to not leave a single stone unturned."

A cold silence descended upon the room over the Hokage's phrasing of the order, gaining an idea as to who Mizuki might be working for.

"You are all dismissed."

The heads all vanished with Shunshin (Body Flicker Technique), leaving their leader in his office with ANBU stationed nearby in case of a surprise assault.

"Dog."

One of them immediately appeared behind his seat in a puff of smoke, on one knee. He wore the distinct white and red mask patterned after the animal of his codename

"Yes, Hokage-sama."

"Have you checked on Uzumaki Naruto?"

"Yes," Dog answered. "Uzumaki Naruto is safe within his own domicile. I've assigned two ANBU to guard him."

"Good," Hiruzen acknowledged. "Have it be that Uzumaki Naruto is watched at all times until this matter is resolved, which might take several months given the scale of Mizuki's crimes."

"Understood," Dog agreed, vacating his spot the same way he appeared.

Hiruzen leaned back in his seat to relax the tensing of his muscles.

"You continue to prove a nuisance, my old pupil."

Elsewhere…

Mizuki grinned as he scoped out ANBU ghosting past a few miles away from his hiding spot in a canyon, the plan having gone flawlessly.

He was tempted to chuckle at his great escape, but thought better of it with all the ANBU that were still swarming the area, his binoculars giving him good recon from his vantage point.

"Orochimaru-sama called it right. If I'd waited longer, I would have been a goner."

It was fairly simple to use clones as decoys to wander around strategic sections of the village, acting natural, and packing what he needed beforehand to prepare. Months of timing the guards, the routes he had to take, and where he could hole out until the heat died down had served him well. If he wasn't a Chūnin, he'd make a damn fine Jōnin for his ingenuity alone.

Too bad he couldn't bring all of his hard earned contraband. No, he couldn't have the records he held containing the information on the Hyūga and Uchiha heirs on his person at present. He didn't want to risk it in case he was captured. The information within those scrolls was worth their weight in gold. Therefore, he hid them where no one would ever think to search back in Konoha. A place that he was going to return to, with one final stop to procure something else of value. After that, any and all ties he had with the village will be all but severed.

Did he care? Pff! Konoha had made far too many enemies, and it was only a matter of time before they were going to get what was coming to them. A little…surprise the traitorous snake had for his old mentor. He'd rather stand with the strongest and join their ranks as their equal than stew for the rest of his life in a dead end job holding the hands of wet-behind-the-ears brats that wouldn't amount to anything unless they belonged to a prominent clan.

Honor? Village pride? Loyalty? Laughably worthless to him now. Money and power were all that was ever true, ever genuine in this world. Orochimaru inspired him to finally take his chance and tread down this path.

"Mizuki." He heard his name called with an accosting tone. "Come out and surrender now. We won't ask again."

Shit. Oh, well. Better see what he was dealing with.

He shifted from his crouched position to exit the deep crevice of the canyon, being greeted with the bright moonlight, and three ANBU looming over him.

He held his arms up once he got to his feet, taking two cautious steps back, his right hand still holding the binoculars. "Guess you guys get a gold star. The Hokage will reward you handsomely for apprehending me, the Great Mizuki."

The ANBU stood unnervingly still on a small boulder formation a good seven feet apart from their target, refusing to entertain him. "Hand over everything you have. Weapons, scrolls. All of it. Now."

Mizuki couldn't help but quirk a brow - this was unusual. Standard procedure was to bring him in dead or alive. Preferably dead, but being alive still had its perks in the T&I Department.

Each of the masked operatives drew out kunai, ready to attack him the longer he delayed. It then dawned on him who these three might be.

"You're all Hyūga," he deduced, a grin painting itself on his lips. One of them twitched ever so slightly to confirm said deduction, with Mizuki having become intuitive enough to notice it. Like a hunter would prey. Of course they found him faster than the others.

"I take it you lot aren't under direct orders from the Hokage, then?" the former teacher guessed snidely.

"If you do not comply immediately, then we will resort to drastic action," the lead ANBU reiterated, the threat behind his voice having risen, which only gave the chūnin the confirmation he needed.

Mizuki rolled his eyes, "Oh, spare me the threats. You're ANBU, aren't you? Stop wasting mine and everyone else's time and just 'kriiik'-" he made a motion with his thumb across his neck "-get it over with."

The trio of ANBU exchanged looks, confused and not a bit bewildered as to how Mizuki, a mere chūnin, was staring them down with such bravado. Something wasn't right.

Was this another decoy? Unlikely, since he shouldn't have sufficient chakra for another Kage Bunshin (Shadow Clone) based on how long had passed since they found two that were misleading the party they broke away from, and they'd easily tell if he was a clone. Did he have accomplices nearby? If he did have others on standby, they would have already been spotted by their Byakugan (White Eye). Mizuki was alone, and they made sure of that before engaging.

The second to the left stepped forward, whispering something to their leader. Immediately, their demeanor shifted, the three ANBU staring at the rogue shinobi, as if more closely.

Mizuki's grin only seemed to widen when they visibly became more guarded.

Like that of a tiger's.

Sure, this was gonna hurt like a bitch tomorrow from the severe chakra exhaustion provided he survives this, but no better moment to test it out than on a couple of pompous elites.

Incendiary markings started to crawl all over his skin, morphing into an ominous pitch black, taking the shape of sharp stripes, which was the least of what the ANBU witnessed in their final moments before being found in varying states of mutilation.

Two days later…

To say that Naruto was flummoxed upon going to school and being informed of the most exciting news he's heard in a while from an emergency general assembly would be understating the sheer drop of his stomach the more he listened in on the absolute death sentence of his plans, his dreams.

The good news? Mizuki was now a fugitive. A Nuke-nin (Missing Nin). For months now, the authorities had been conducting a secret investigation upon discrepancies with the curriculum ever since a few students came forward to both faculty and parents. Claims that what they were learning differed from others, being told to create their own variation of standard combat techniques both armed and unarmed, numerous forged textbooks and scrolls with omitted details about shinobi history, and written tests being graded incorrectly, etc. Minor issues that could be resolved or ignored until more and more had popped up that they could no longer be considered simple mistakes, but deliberate.

It was because of the assumption that the standards were high that misgivings were stamped down.

Bad news?

When all of the students left, he was the only one still standing like a statue in the middle of the field, jaw hanging and expression void of life.

"...re-re-re-rep-repe-repea-repeaaaaaaa…" the neurons in his head were sent into shock when he picked up the words "probationary", "evaluation" and "repeat another year".

He looked like he was going to collapse any second, the blistering heat of the sun beating down on him barely registering when the thought of dropping out was making him practically catatonic. He thought this was going to be his year, his chance.

His normally tanned complexion went pale as that chance was dashed, as mercilessly as he would polish a bowl of his favorite ramen.

"I'm done, finished…" his eyes had rolled back into his head, his soul leaving his body.

"So, gonna take up my offer, or what?"

Naruto slowly creaked his head to find Shikamaru, Ino, and Choji together, staring at him, his cotton stuffed mouth struggling to form what to say.

"G-Give me a minute," the blonde wanted to faint. "Just contemplating my future, living out my life as a wandering vagabond."

Shikamaru rolled his eyes, "I can see it, but only if you let it get you down. This isn't a chance that you should squander, Naruto. You're not gonna get it again."

Naruto blinked, swerving to fully face the trio. "Why do you even want to help me?"

"I got nothing better to do," Shikamaru shrugged. "Should I even need a grand reason to help you?"

"It's just…" Naruto hesitated. "Helping people for no reason hasn't always worked out for me." The few times he willingly wanted to for no other reason than simple altruism always ended with how he's come to expect most to treat him back. Scorned.

"Cut the 'woe is me' attitude and get with the program," Shikamaru narrowed his gaze at the other boy. "You want me to pat you on the back and tell you it's gonna be okay? I'm not a counselor, a social worker, or the Hokage. I'm your classmate who's willing to waste his valuable time so that the next time I see you, you're not picking off leftover ramen noodles from the trash."

That image honestly made Naruto's skin crawl. "Fine, I get it." He scratched at his head with both hands, swallowing his pride. "Alright! I'll take you up on it. Shikamaru, I need your-"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah! Save it," the lazy boy waved off the gratitude. "First thing tomorrow morning, you and I are gonna hit the books, and after that, hit each other in a spar. Don't be late."

"Right!" Naruto agreed, when a thought occurred to him, prompting him to ask sheepishly, "Wait, how exactly is the evaluation gonna work again?" He kind of blurred everything else out after first hearing about it.

Fully expecting this, Shikamaru didn't miss a beat in explaining it to him, and provided a slip of paper scheduling each of the students their respective date. Luckily for him, he was the very last one on the list. Never was he ever glad at being in the last at anything. Two whole months of preparation.

"You got all that?"

"Yeah," Naruto nodded.

"Good. First thing tomorrow morning at 7, you go to my place. Bring everything you need - books, scrolls, weapons. Don't worry if you're missing any 'cuz I'll have it. Ask me if you want to borrow for review at home, but I'll expect it back, preferably not soaked in ramen broth."

To Naruto's rising bewilderment, this was too good to be true. Shikamaru; the laziest kid in their class, going out of his way to help him. He still found it hard to believe.

The question that plagued him was, why? He couldn't exactly call him a friend. Sure, back when they were younger, he, Choji, and Kiba would play at the park, but it became clear after he got older that was only because they needed an extra playmate. Other children were discouraged to ever interact with him.

In the following years, they grew somewhat distant. Kiba would piss him off along with that dog of his who saw him as a living post. Shikamaru and Choji, while not as abrasive, couldn't exactly claim to be that close with him. Ino often regarded him as one would a bug, like what she was doing now.

Overall, he was completely thrown out of his comfort zone.

"You know, if you'd have applied yourself a lot earlier, maybe you wouldn't even be in this situation now," the Yamanaka heiress boasted. "Be thankful that Shikamaru's the one that volunteered. He might be unimpressive in taijutsu, but he isn't behind Sasuke-kun in class for nothing when it comes to academics."

The Nara heir glared at her, mirroring Naruto's, "You really know how to put people in the spotlight, don't you?"

Naruto clicked his tongue at the mention of his one-sided rival, "I'll take my chances with Shikamaru. He's at least tolerable to be around, and doesn't tell anyone who so much as looks in his direction to fuck off."

He didn't say aloud how that sentiment especially extended to Sasuke's fangirls, which Ino proudly counted herself as one.

She nonetheless got the message, swinging her balled fists down. "Oh, you'd just love that kind of attention, wouldn't you?"

All three boys collectively answered with a resounding "no", wanting nothing to do with hysterical girls who'd drop their interest if someone cooler, richer and more handsome than Sasuke suddenly appeared.

Ino sweatdropped at her two friends. "You guys, too?"

Choji had no problem replying, "Ino, if I had to choose good food over the attention of girls, I'd choose the obvious. I can't get full from attention."

"Ha! You wouldn't be able to snag a girl who'd stand your eating habits anyhow," she spat back at him.

Choji shrugged, "Works for me." Who knows, maybe he'll find a woman after his own heart one day, but until then, he'll keep pursuing the beauty of a delicious meal.

"Remember, 7 in the morning, sharp." Naruto nodded at Shikamaru's reminder.

In the distance, Iruka smiled at the four students, passing them a glance while on his way to sort out the paperwork needed to prepare for the coming evaluation. He had thought to approach Naruto again with the offer of helping him, nearly thinking it asinine due to being chosen as the proctor by the Hokage himself. He was still reeling from Mizuki's betrayal, having known the man for years as both a friend and colleague. A point of view he'd stick through thick and thin had he not started to notice strange occurrences in the Academy in the last few years since being newly minted as chūnin, as he was the one to first approach the Hokage to break his concerns over the possibility of there being a spy or saboteur, never for the life of him suspecting it to be his fellow teachers.

Months of investigation, however, uncovered several clues centered around three instructors whose names kept coming up whenever a student approached him. His naturally friendly demeanor encouraged those to tell him if they had any problems. Not even needing to ask, he allowed them to elaborate on why they were experiencing difficulty, missing aspects of the lessons that should have been there, or flaws in skill after three to four years of being drilled.

Mizuki was seldom mentioned out of the two, which hinted at him being at the very heart of this conspiracy.

His strongest evidence were the texts and scrolls he procured from these very students that were revealed to be well made forgeries. Any and all learning material was approved by a Tokubetsu Jōnin, ensuring that counterfeits were discarded even if an exact copy, word for word. Unless officially greenlighted, fakes were to be submitted to the authorities for inspection and eventual disposal.

Had it not been for Naruto all but completing his investigation, who knows what the scale of damage they could have wrought had Mizuki and his cronies gone on unimpeded.

"He can do it. They all can."

Later…

Naruto took the path to his apartment building after breaking away from school, needing some time to himself and prepare for the tutoring. He wasn't going to mess this up. Far too many mistakes had dragged him down for this to end in failure, and he was going to make the most of it.

Up ahead, he could spy the slum area where it was, used to the smell of garbage and sewage that surrounded him in the familiar street. For as long as he could remember, this was where he lived, but not always alone. After all, how could an infant; much less a toddler, orphaned since birth able to care for themselves?

The last caretaker assigned by the Hokage no longer needed to come when he reached seven years of age. He was raised to be self-sufficient, to care for himself with basics like cooking, cleaning and laundry. It was grueling work. All of his caretakers were people that treated him with the bare minimum of civility. Detached, but efficient. They were dressed like regular civilians, but a small voice in the back of his mind told him that they were shinobi.

He was taught enough to get by, and that was it. Nothing more, nothing less. Had he felt any attachment to them? Despite being at that age, his childlike instincts failed to recognize them as family. Little more than strangers who checked up on him with basic care, a steady hand of discipline, and instructions left behind to stay in his apartment unless he was allowed to wander for some sun and fresh air.

He couldn't see them, but he somehow felt that there were people watching him. Was it like that for all orphans? Was he a special case? Were they still watching him? The hairs on the back of his neck told him that, yes, he was being watched. By who, he had given up speculating. Other shinobi for all he cared. Were they the ones subjecting him to these weird genjutsu attacks? Because, if so, then they were getting more creative as a large creature was heading his way at alarming speed.

The thing was brown in color, nearly twice; no, three times his height, and with large sharp teeth that could tear a grown man in two. It's singular, yellow and large eye was bearing down on him like a possessed entity as it barreled down the pathway, nearly running him over had he not dodged to the side quickly by instinct. When he landed on his rear, he witnessed a harrowing sight. The creature's entire body was ginormous, like a giant snake with rows upon rows of bright scales that jetted past him in a blur.

He forced his breathing down when the illusion finally faded like all the rest, bringing a hand to rub at his head, and thanking his lucky stars that he hadn't landed on a fresh pile of dog feces a foot away from him.

Why? For the past two years, he had kept asking no one in particular why he was being subjected to this. Was it because of his pranking? Misbehavior? Lacking performance? Was this punishment? To be slowly driven mad by these freakish illusions? Intellectually, he knew they were just that.

Intangible.

Unreal.

All in his head.

So…why?

Why did a part of him, deep down, feel like they were all real?

Getting to his feet, he decided that he just needed rest after the panic he felt this morning at the assembly. Stress. That's right. Maybe some cup ramen for a snack will help him feel better. He didn't even need to walk further, catching the street where the building was before the genjutsu struck. To his surprise, though, he noticed a figure that he could have sworn wasn't there a minute ago, and yet, he looked like he had been standing there for a while now.

Moving closer allowed him to get a better profile of the man. Tall, lanky, with long blonde hair done in a ponytail with the rest left to hang loose down his shoulders. He wore a blue button-up shirt with yellow flowers all over, but upon closer look, the patterns more resembled a golden sun or four pointed star. To complete his wardrobe were a pair of white shorts that didn't reach his knees, and simple flip-flops.

He was staring up at the apartment building intently, a large cardboard box in his arms, eyes obscured by a pair of circular shades.

Presuming him a new tenant, Naruto opted to ignore the man and get on to his apartment. He casually headed for the entrance when the man seemed to notice him.

"Hey, kid, you live around here?"

Naruto turned to glance at the man, who looked to be about in his mid twenties, "Yeah? Why?"

For a moment, the man balanced the box on his torso and one arm, the other slipping into his pocket to procure a small slip of paper.

"You know somebody named 'Ushizuki Haruto'?"

Naruto froze, then narrowed a full glare at the man in annoyance. "Don't you mean Uzumaki Naruto?"

He was fairly certain no such person with a name resided here.

The man brought the paper closer to better read, lips breaking into an embarrassed grin, "You're right. My mistake. My eyesight can get misty in this heat. Haha!"

"Then, that's me," Naruto answered, walking up to the odd man. "What do you want?"

Was this guy a solicitor? He recalled having driven away the last one with a sling loaded with rotten eggs, never to be seen again. The landlord thanked him by deducting half his rent for six whole months.

The man blinked at the blunt inquiry before smiling again, "Oh, I was just wondering if you could help me out, kid. Name's Tsubasa, by the way. You see, I'm from a computer hardware company - well - defunct now. We, uh, went bankrupt.

"Funny story, but ultimately unimportant. I've been meaning to find someone who I can give this to," he motioned down at the box.

"What is it?"

Naruto had an idea what the man was talking about, since he came across one in Konoha years ago that developed those new fangled computers. Crazy expensive, but based on what he heard from some of his classmates bragging that they bought one, they were incredibly useful when it came to studying and storing data, but the feature that caught the most interest was being able to play games. The model he first saw was of an older version in a store window that was big and bulky, with a television like screen and other accessories he couldn't be bothered to name.

Soon enough, newer, fancier models called "laptops" that were smaller, flatter and could be folded shut for convenient storage were introduced into the market. One boy in school, Atsushi, brought one to class months prior and it blew most of them away. The novelty wore off not long after, but still.

Like any kid, he was fascinated with what such technology could do on a personal level, wanting to know what the big deal was. It looked and sounded cool, but it was well beyond his budget from the monthly stipend he received until he graduated. Plus, when he asked his landlord if he was allowed to have one, the man told him in no uncertain terms that it'd be murder on his electric bill.

The odd man in front of him didn't say anything else as he gingerly placed the large box on the ground. He flipped the cover open and revealed a large wad of bubble wrap cocooning what could only be, to his guess, a computer.

"Today's your lucky day, kid," he announced, giving the young Uzumaki a hint that he was being pitched. "This just so happens to be the last model we worked on prior to our operations being halted. The latest in computer technology for this generation."

A flyer and instruction manual were pulled out. Naruto ignored the manual and went straight to read the ad in large, stylized letters.

THE PEAR XD

Enjoy power and performance at the tip of your fingers!

"Well?" Tsubasa started, chest puffed out and balled hands on his hips. "What do you think?"

"I think you're just dumping your leftover junk to me."

Tsubasa toppled forward comically from the remark.

"Kid, I assure you, you don't know what you're missing out on with this," Tsubasa clasped his palms together anxiously, his grin getting a little too worrisome; desperate.

"This model is state of the art. Its looks are nothing to boast about, I'll admit, but that's a pale compensation against performance. Specs include, but not limited to, 67 gigabytes of RAM, a 500 MHz processor, and last, but certainly not least, 2; that's right, 2 gigabytes of storage. It is the ultimate PC experience at home! PC means 'Personal Computer', by the way," he added swiftly.

"I have absolutely no problem right now freely admitting that I completely possess no idea what any of that means," Naruto deadpanned.

"Just, try it out-"

"Goodbye,"

"WAIT!"

On the verge of climbing up the entrance stairs, Naruto was barred by Tsubasa frantically overtaking him and falling to his knees in prostration, "Oh please, please, please don't push me away! I have no one else to turn to, Gakuto!"

"It's Naruto," the boy grounded out. "And, what do you mean?"

The now sobbing man had snot rolling down his chin, bawling as he begged pathetically, "The company I founded, PEAR Inc. Like I said, it went bankrupt. I'm…I'm flat broke. All I have left to my name are the clothes on my back and this last model that I wasn't able to complete in time to return what it cost us. This is my pride and joy, and I-I can't just throw it away. Not after all the blood, sweat and tears I've poured into the project. I just can't! Everyone else's turned their backs on me. Friends, family, ex-girlfriend! I'm all aloooooone!"

Naruto brought a hand up to shield himself from the snot that was flying his way, the guy defying his personal boundaries as he started clawing at his jacket.

"GET OFF!" Naruto protested, trying to pry the distressed man's fingers off him, but the grip that held onto the fabric was firm, and only relinquished with a kick that launched the creep away to land in a heap.

"Look," the young Uzumaki growled, staring the creep down as he collected his bearings, "I think you've come to the wrong guy. How am I even supposed to help you? I don't know a damn thing about computers."

"Oh, not a problem," the man stated jovially as he sat up, an angry red footprint visible on his face, traces of his sobbing gone. "I'll show you. I designed it to be so user-friendly that a 5 year old can learn how to use it in no time."

Naruto sweatdropped, but begrudgingly capitulated as he led the man to his room in exasperation.

"Again, how exactly am I gonna help you?" he inquired once more, Tsubasa sifting through the equipment sprawled all over his apartment floor after he helped withdraw them out of the box. "Also, why me in the first place?"

"Oh," Tsubasa chuckled, "that's a funny story, too. I was going around Konoha crying-I mean-pouring my heart out to the good citizens to see if any of them would be kind enough to help me. One name kept coming up who they pointed could do just that. So, I was given your address. How very generous."

"... you're not originally from around here, are you?" Naruto wanted at that very second to slam his head against the Hokage monument. Hard. Over and over again.

"Nope," Tsubasa confirmed, connecting some wires to a black metal box. "I came here in hopes of making my fortune. You have any idea how rich a Hidden Village such as Konoha is?"

"Not really, no."

"Wealthier than the other Great Four, let me tell 'ya," Tsubasa deftly picked up the keyboard in a smooth motion and plugged it at the back of the box, knowing what he was doing as Naruto watched him work hurriedly.

"So?"

"So, I thought I could make it big here." He fished the monitor out next, and much to Naruto's surprise, it wasn't bulky like the older models he was used to seeing. It seemed flatter, black in color, and had a wide brimmed stand at the bottom. "And, for a while, the business went smoothly after we released our own flagship, the PEAR 1."

Tsubasa paused, nursing a wistful smile, "But, ever since our rival company, Doors, put out their own flagship laptop, we fell behind. Big time. I guess people in a shinobi village like space savers more, and the laptop provided just that. "

Naruto stared as the man's shoulders briefly slumped. "Well, that's just business. Can't be helped. There's winners and losers to everything."

"...Yeah," the boy agreed softly. "So, why me?

Tsubasa trembled in eagerness to explain, "Now, this might come off as a longshot, Kakuto-"

"Naruto!"

"-right, sorry, but the way I see it, I need a beta tester-"

"A what?"

"That's a term we use in the business to refer to someone who tests out our products in hardware, software," Tsubasa paused to set up the monitor, "and any feedback we elicit out of that is used to help make the necessary changes to improve on that product."

"... your point?" Naruto picked at his nose as he waited patiently for the assembly to be done.

"Hiruto-"

"Naruto!"

"Sorry. I want you to try my creation out for a while."

"And?"

"And, when I come back, tell me how you liked it."

Naruto blinked, unsure if he heard that right after nothing else was said, "That's…it?"

"That's it," the older blonde confirmed with a friendly smile, which the lad was hardly used to. Didn't this guy know who he was?

Perhaps, that was for the best. At least he was getting a free computer out of it. Provided the thing worked, and this wasn't just some trick to give him plain junk.

"Am I gonna get paid for this?"

Hey, if he was gonna be doing this guy a solid, he might as well take something worthwhile out of it.

Rather than how he expected the man to react, Tsubasa's friendly smile turned…shady, reaching his eyes. "Kid, if we play our cards right, we're gonna be swimming in ryō by the end of this year alone. Trust me."

No. No, Naruto couldn't rightly do that. Common sense told him definitely negative trust was to be bestowed upon this man.

Yet, looking at the pros, he was feeling the free computer. Screw what his landlord said about the electric bill. It's not like he was gonna have to use it all the time. Maybe; no, he'll definitely invite Shikamaru and Choji to check it out. Cool kid status, here he comes!

"Now, for a test run."

Turning the power on, Naruto was beside himself with anticipation. The screen lit up, remaining dim for a few seconds until the logo appeared; a small white pear with a chunk eaten out of it. About a minute of loading later, the desktop blinked into view. Naruto rubbed at his eyes, as right before that, however brief of a second it was, he caught the silhouette of…something.

"Behold!" Tsubasa announced magnanimously before he could ask what it was. "The future!"

The so-called future was a screen with only one folder icon. The background left much to be desired - white, with a yellow circle at the very center that had eight pointed protrusions fanning out. Overall, the future looked pretty bleak, and Naruto mirrored that sentiment by the way he was boring into the beaming man.

"This is…it?"

"Yep, this is it," Tsubasa boasted confidently.

The young shinobi-in-training carefully neared the computer, kneeling to closely eye the screen, becoming entranced by the circle for an instant, before bringing his attention below to the keyboard in no small amount of puzzlement.

"What am I supposed to do now?

"Move the cursor," Tsubasa instructed, pointing towards the mouse.

"The what?"

Tsubasa sheepishly rubbed his scalp, "Oh, right. You're…not literate on this. Well, I can fix that."

And, so, the disgraced developer spent the better part of two hours explaining, teaching and guiding the lad through the basics, and, impressively for the young Uzumaki, he nailed much of the essentials, subsequently lending credence to the claim that even a toddler could manage it. Much to his chagrin.

Tsubasa additionally explained to him that he needed to replace some parts in case they ever got old or worn through overuse, but was assured by the man that, one way or another, he'll drum up the capital to build those parts as they were handmade, the only of its kind.

"Well, I guess that's a wrap," Tsubasa declared, about ready to leave. "Remember, Makoto-"

"For the last time," the young Uzumaki fumed, "it's Naruto. Na-Ru-To!"

"Oh, right, sorry," Tsubasa held his hands forward calmingly. "Now, don't forget to clean it from time to time. You can use an unused paint brush since dust tends to get stuck in-between the keyboard. Make sure to never get any of the components wet. Any and all moisture is a big no. Other than that, you're all set."

"Thanks, I guess," Naruto shrugged, satisfied that the machine wasn't a dud.

"Well, this is where I take my leave." Tsubasa turned towards the door, a lingering glance on the boy. "You can keep the box in case you need the extra storage. I'm sure you'll figure everything else out on your own. See 'ya around, Boruto."

"FOR THE LAST FUCKING TIME, IT'S NARUTO! QUIT FORGETTING MY NAME, YOU WEIRD OLD MAN!" The now enraged boy scrunched his face, "AND WHAT THE HELL KIND OF DINKY ASS NAME IS 'BORUTO'?"

"Oh, I almost forgot!" Tsubasa stopped to pat his pockets, fishing out a device before lodging it forward for the young man to swipe in contempt. "I can't believe I forgot to do this. Kid, when you use the computer, be sure to bring this 'Drive' up to the screen."

"Why?" Naruto examined the rectangular hunk of plastic. It was about the size of his hand, white in color, and a dot at the upper corner. It didn't seem to have any other distinct features.

"An experiment for wireless connection," the developer explained. "There's a component built into each of the CPU and that little baby you're holding right there. The dot will light up as a reaction once it manages to detect the other close by. Once that happens, a window will pop up on the screen and ask you to connect both to one another. It's just to test whether bridging them will work. You won't even need a wire. Once that's done, you'll be able to store files into it for safekeeping in case something happens to the hard drive."

"Wireless?"

"Yep," Tsubasa affirmed. "It was supposed to be the main selling point of the PEAR XD, to push past the limits of wireless communication, not only being able to share calls, but other pieces of information anytime, anywhere. Maybe even globally."

"Really?" Naruto cocked a brow, flipping the device around.

"Yeah," Tsubasa nodded. "You gotta think ahead, kid. Nothing stays the same forever. Sooner or later, technology is going to advance. It always does. It's why the business is so cutthroat. If you ain't got skin in the game, you're never gonna get ahead."

"How advanced are we talking?" Naruto verbalized curiously.

Tsubasa shrugged his shoulders, "The sky's the limit. Who knows? Maybe we'll have self-driving vehicles and smaller computers you can fit in the palm of your hand. Until then, dream the dream. Never stop moving forward. Humanity didn't come this far as a species sitting down. Then again, if you know your history, kid, maybe some things could have been different if they did it every once in a while. Cooler heads prevail, I always say."

"You do?"

"No, not really," Tsubasa grinned bashfully. "Well, thank you very much for your time, Waldo."

"It's-" Naruto started again to correct him, but deflated in surrender, "forget it. See 'ya around."

He hoped that it wouldn't be too soon.

Tsubasa returned to the dirt streetway after exiting the apartment building, hands sunk into his pockets. Night had long fallen as he spared one final glance at the apartment he had just been, a serene twinkle in his eye coupled with a grin that almost seemed…nostalgic.

"Uzumaki…Naruto," he tried the name with the clicking of tongue against teeth. "Nice name. Miss your old one. You may look different, but I still recognize you. Just wish you could have done the same, but I suppose that's already asking for too much. Still, glad you made it. The others are here, too. Not all of them, but you'll all be together again in time.

"The hour approaches."

He snapped his fingers once he was out of view, returning the stationed ANBU to their proper senses, having only witnessed Naruto entering the building by himself as soon as he arrived as opposed to the interaction that actually occurred.

Later…

Naruto yawned as he trailed the cursor dancing across the monitor, clicking through folders and programs for the past 40 minutes since Tsubasa left, the time on the clock reading a quarter to 9:00. He had changed into his pajamas shortly after. The excitement of having a new computer had become supplanted with curious wonder of what it had to offer. Other than some tools he could use to help him study, nothing of keen interest came up.

Like games.

He was imparted with the knowledge on how to install additional programs, but that did little to alleviate his obstacle of having to buy those programs with money. Apart from a simple puzzle game, he couldn't find anything better.

Until he came across an icon under a few layers of folders. Curiously, it had the appearance of a blue letter 'F', shaped irregularly with sharp edges. Creating a shortcut on the desktop, he hovered the cursor over it to read what kind of program it was.

"Digimon…Frontier?"

Maybe a game? He double-clicked it to open and find out, but was met with a pop-up message.

D-SCANNER REQUIRED

"Hm?" What the hell was a 'D-Scanner'?

Head propped on his arm, he languidly checked the time on the bottom right corner of the monitor again; 9:12.

He remembered that he needed to go to Shikamaru's by 7 the following morning. He belted out another yawn as he did a stretch, ready for bed. Whatever this program was, he figured it could wait.

Unbeknownst to the drowsy boy, the dot on the device that Tsubasa had given him blinked a green light after he tried opening the program. He had plopped the hunk of plastic atop the CPU so he could follow what he was told to test about it some other time.

He went through the motions to shut it down, then headed for his room.

Flipping off the lights, he did the same after falling into bed and slipping into a dreamless sleep, the crescent moon watching over him through his window.

In the living room at around midnight, the computer; unplugged and dead in the darkness, lit up. An unknown symbol blipped in and out from view, surrounded by static.

Accompanied by a noise.

̷̡̧̪͕͙͇̰̥̘͚̃̐̓͘ ̷̛̲̫̮̺̬̔̂͆́́̂̒ ̸̡̗̙̱̗̮͐̊̍́̍̉̐ ̴̞͔̟͈̰̘͓̣̔́̀̈́́̊̈̉͑͘ ̷͓̏͆̓̽̚͝ ̴̞̬͇̜͍̳̂̿̓̈͐͒͆̊̊̅̕C̶̝͙͓̖͇̣̖̖̼̏́̍̃͠ ̶̯̻̫̞̤͖͋͑̌͌͆̆̏̓͜ ̷̛̩͆̾͛̽͒̓̉͘͝͝ ̴̨̡̡͇̘̜̹͉̒̓͆ ̵̼̖̠̥̝̬̲̳̦̖̋͂̀̀͌̽́͒̀ ̵̧̛͎̗͊͌̾̋̓̏̋̓͠ ̶̝͚̈́̄̆̔͊́ ̸̛̳̓̍̑͐̏̚ ̴͉̯̥̘̩̓͋͑͗͜ ̴̙͌̑̔͠ ̷̧̜̖̼̟̏̃̿͋͘͜h̷̢̛̫̤͚̾̒̐͐̋̋̑̀̕͠

̷̻͉̝̻͇̥̝͗̈́̉͋̊͒̿̑̚o̶̞̪͐̐͌̐̃͋̓̚s̷̢̆́̈́͛̓̑ ̷̨̥̜̗̲̫̥̥̘̳̌͛͊͒̇́̂̊̽ ̷̲̱̼͕͈͖͆̊̓̀̑͜ ̵͚͆͑͂̽͂̽͑͠ ̸̰̱͕́̈́̉͑͜E̴̛̜͔͚̖̺̗̹̲̾͒̔̿͑͂͜͠ ̴͚̺̀ ̵̭̤̭̞̭̗̏͋̉́͗͐̚ ̷̫̰̫̫̼̂̂̀̎ ̵̞͉̹̻͔̬̮̞͂̇́̌̓́̽͝ ̶͈̐̏͠n̴̨̠͔̩̓̃́͊̀̎́̔̌͝

̵̡̺̺͕̺̖̗̭͛̇̍͒̒́́̅̌͂

̵̛̗̰̬̲͈͔̭͗̎̓̋̀̑͒́͘͝l̶̲̥̗̓̇̆͠ ̷̢̡̡̛̣̺͔̠͉̝͚͔̎͆̏̚Ě̷̡̝̻͉̻̬̗̠̗̜̊̇̉̿͆̀̈́̕ ̸͈̹̑̌̊͝ ̵͙̤̮̺͊̊̔̏̒̐͘ ̴̰̝̒͌́́͐͘͜ ̷̧̧͓̖͈͖̥̘̌͑̎͊̕͜ ̵̢̫̫͉̪̦̠͙͚͋̂̉̾̋̐̿̕͜͠ ̷̯̟̬͙̈͛͗̾͒̆́́͊̕ͅg̶̲̥̩̝͖̫̈́̽͌̏̓̏̀

̴͎̱̞̤̈́͋̏̄̐̇̉ ̷̯̙͈͔͕͚̱̬̠͖̔̕ ̶̢̻̟̽̉̈́ ̵̢͉̙̗̬͚͙͓̋͗̆̚͝ ̶̢̧̯̲͚͉͚̭͎̊̆́̎̀͜͝ ̴̛̺̜̅͛̆̓̽̉̉́ ̵͍̙͒͛̿͐̈́͛̅̚ͅ ̸͓͔̭̤̒̈́͌̏̈̓̌͘ ̵̬̣̱̮͆͌̉̌͒́̏͊̚͜ ̶͓̙̟͖̞̖͙͙̿̉̏̉͝ ̴̧̹̭̤̩̱̈́̂̅̆̇̇͂͊̿̚͝ ̴̣̇̈ ̷̩̜͚̹͈̝͙̗̃͊́̄͝ ̴̳͎̻͈̼̤̬̼͂ ̶̡̥̖̼̙̲̿̊͋̃̾͊̊́̕͜͝a̶̼̮̿͂͑̃

̶̛̠̫̯̥͕̱͈͇̌́̓̓̇̚͘N̶̜͕͈̘̹̝͕̝̫͙͊̈̔̄́̂̈́͆̓̀ ̵̯̝͋̐̓̀̾ ̴̛̱̗͛͂̀͑̈́̂̋̚ ̶̨̾̌̀̐͝ ̴̢̧̰͈̖͕̣̉̊̈́͒͘͘ͅͅḑ̸͔͛͊͑̔̚ ̴͉̦̌̀̌̆͊̃̐͠ ̸̘͈̜̜̤̣̫̪͇͂͊́͑̿͗ ̵͖̰͚̳̤̬̙̭̦̬̺̎̍͂̀̈́͌̿͆̕ ̷̳̞̆́ ̸̧̜͓̞̻̜̬̮̖̲͕̎̃̿̅͌̔̃ ̵̨͔̠͇͚́̍͊̏̌̑͋̕͘͜ ̷̰̹̱̣͉̮̪̰͈͍͒͆͌̔ ̷͚̺͚͚̔̋̍͆̈́ ̵̛͓̫͌̒̆̉̊͋̌̽̃ ̶̡̬̫̝̻̆̇̏̐̑̎̂͗̄̆͘ ̶̛͈̮̩̳͖̗̪̼̾̋̈́̾̉̇̿͊͘͝ ̴̧̘̳͒̆̉͐̊R̴̨̬͍͕̼͉̩̮̬̤̆͊́̔

̵̧̞͓̳̞͔̲̈̀̿̽͆͐͝ ̵̢̺͔̮̱͓̳̯͎͑̉͝ ̶̧͚̼̳̘̗͈͇͗̀̾ͅ ̸͖̥͊̽̄̌͑͝ý̵͍͈̙̤̠̩̰͉̗̋

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Pilot chapter.