Rants: Thank you for the support, everyone! Honestly, I never expected to have that many reviews for my pilot chapter. Again, thanks guys. Hope you enjoy the next installment. By the way, does anyone know what Sasuke's father's name is? I really need it for my succeeding chapters. Thanks in advance. D
Sandaime placed the document he was reading over the desk and turned at the other person standing opposite him. "Are you sure you want to do this?"
"Hai."
The old man drew a mouthful of smoke from his pipe before leaning slightly forward against the table. "You have considered this thoroughly, Itachi?"
"Hai, hokage-sama," nodded Itachi.
"And does your father know about this?"
"Not yet." The young man shook his head lightly. "But I will be telling him some time later."
Noting the young man's resolve, Sandaime put away his pipe and glanced back at the papers. "I'll see what I can do."
"Thank you very much, hokage-sama." Itachi bowed politely before taking his leave from the hokage's office.
Sandaime propped his back comfortably against his chair. Thankfully, that was the last meeting scheduled for him in the morning. He was hoping to have a leisurely walk along the village and to pay tribute to the hokage monument later that day. Unluckily, his perfect plans might have been ruined when two ninjas burst into his office a minute after Itachi has left.
"Hokage-sama!" Both of them called.
"What is it?"
"Please come with us hokage-sama! Naruto has desecrated the Hokage Monument!" explained one of the shinobis.
Hokage heaved a heavy sigh before standing up and following the two towards the open platform overlooking the stone carvings of all the hokages faces etched along the stone cliff north of the village. "Geez... What has that idiot done?" The hokage said in disbelief after seeing the horribly vandalized monument. 'He even did that to my face.'
Meanwhile, up on the rooftops a good distance away from the monument, the chase is on between a noisy, blonde kid in an orange jumpsuit and his three chuunin pursuers.
"Get back here, Naruto!" One of the ninjas chasing the fox boy shouted.
"Gyahahaha! None of you idiots can do something that horrible! But I can! I'm incredible!" Naruto called back at them before jumping down on the nearest back alley.
"Don't let him get away!" the chuunins cried as they step up their pace, passing through the alley and into the narrow streets of the village's residential district.
"Nitsususu..." Naruto sounded in suppressed laughter, releasing the cloaking fabric he used to camouflage himself along the wooden fences. 'Losers!' thought the boy as he was about to make his escape towards the other end of the alley but unfortunately for him, he bumped into the last person he ever wanted to find him that time. "Yikes! Iruka-sensei!"
Sure enough, Iruka was raging, his eyes twitching and a large knot of nerves was plainly visible over his forehead. "What the hell are you doing during class time, you baka!" screamed the chuunin. He planted his fist over Naruto's thick skull with so much force that it almost knocked the fox boy out cold. Iruka took the opportunity to do his stuff.
"Hey! Iruka-sensei, what are you doing! Ouch! Let me out!"
Several minutes later, Iruka dumped a tied-up Naruto back in class. "The Academy graduation exam is due next week and let me remind you that you already failed the last time! This is no time to be causing trouble, you moron!" he yelled.
"Yeah, yeah," huffed Naruto.
Iruka seethed and decided to turn his anger to the class. "Time for a review test on Henge no Jutsu! Everyone line up!"
"WHAT!!!" The entire class cried in disbelief. Knowing Iruka, the children complied nonetheless forming a single file on the open space in front of the room.
"I want each of you to transform perfectly into me!" Iruka nodded at the boy on the other end of the line to step forward and perform the exercise. Within seconds, the boy turned into an exact copy of their sensei.
"This is all your fault." One of the boys who helped untie Naruto said.
"Hmph! Like I care." Naruto replied while dusting himself.
"Next, Uzumaki Naruto!" called Iruka.
'Damn. This sucks,' thought Naruto as he begrudgingly walked towards the center of the class. Once there, the blonde boy shifted the googles over his forehead back into place. Naruto began to gather chakra while forming the hand seals. "Henge!"
There came a little explosion resulting in a cloud of ninja smoke which when cleared, revealed not a replica of Iruka but a fully naked babe with blonde hair tied in twin ponytails and a luscious body to boot. Iruka's jaw fell flat on the floor at the sight. All the blood in his body rush up into his face before it squirted in powerful jets out from his nose.
"Gyahahaha! How do you like that?!" Naruto guffawed, reverting back to his old self. "I call it Orioke no Jutsu!"
"You dumbass! Don't invent stupid jutsus!" Iruka yelled after recovering from the shock the blonde gave him. He had to plug his nostrils to prevent more blood from leaking out. "Do it again!"
Naruto grumbled as he gathered chakra and formed the hand seals again. Again, white smoke filled the area where Naruto was standing and when it cleared, a full replica of Iruka stood in the middle. With only one defect... it had fish lips.
The class roared in laughter. With a loud puff, the deformed Iruka turned to the sheepishly laughing Naruto. "That was a joke. Hehehe..." said the boy while scratching the back of his head.
"Dammit! Get serious!" A very ticked Iruka shouted.
"Okay! Here goes!" Naruto once again performed the Henge no Jutsu and the result – the Iruka-sensei replica that still had deformed lips. This time there was an awkward moment of silence that swept throughout the entire room.
A giant sweatdrop sprouted itself over Iruka's forehead. "You can't do the Henge no Jutsu... seriously..."
The sound of heavy breathing slowly filled the air. Standing in the middle of a secluded clearing somewhere within the woods, a beaten Naruto threw the kunai in his hand towards the trunk of a nearby tree before exhaustion took its toll on him dragging his body down to the ground. 'Dammit! I can do this! I'll show everyone!' the boy's thoughts were disturbed when he heard footsteps approaching closer.
"What are you doing here, Naruto-kun?" The new comer asked needlessly. One look at the boy's frail body said it all.
"I'm training. What does it look like to you, idiot?" Naruto answered while slowly pulling himself back on his feet. He then turned around and saw a short black-clad guy that in Naruto's estimate was about five or so years older than him. "Hey you! You're that Anbu guy that came to our shuriken practice! Where's that stupid looking sidekick of yours?! And more importantly, what the hell are you doing here anyway?!"
"Nothing. I was just wandering around." Itachi replied casually.
Naruto crossed his arms looking as if he was trying to weight whether to believe the man or not. It didn't take long though before he came to a decision. "Well then buzz off! You're disturbing my training!" said the boy rudely turning his back at the Uchiha.
Itachi smirked inwardly at the blonde's childish behavior. "Naruto-kun."
"Yeah?" Naruto asked looking back at Itachi from over his shoulder.
"I remember you saying last time that you're going to become hokage someday."
Naruto nodded. "Yeah. So what?"
"I was just wondering what made you choose such a dream." Itachi asked curiously.
"Well..." Naruto was scratching his cheek while he organized the answers to Itachi's question in his mind. "Basically, those that receive the hokage name are the best ninja in the village, right?"
Itachi nodded in response.
"One day I'm going to get the hokage name..." Naruto raised a finger in the air and pointed it cockily towards Itachi, "...and then I'm going to surpass all the previous hokage!"
Itachi was taken aback by that last statement. The boy's resolve and determination greatly struck him.
"And then! And then! I'll make everyone in the village acknowledge my existence!" exclaimed Naruto.
Itachi's hard lips smiled a small, warm smile. He waved his hand at the kid gesturing him to come closer.
Naruto obviously has no idea at what the teen wanted with him. Guessing that it wouldn't hurt to find out, he began to walk towards the jounin. What he heard next made his face brighten up in glee.
"I'm going to teach you a special jutsu that will let you pass the Academy exam."
A week later and Naruto found himself standing at the middle of the Academy testing room where the graduation examination was being held. His other companions, Iruka-sensei and Mizuki-sensei, were sitting behind a table on the far end of the room. Placed neatly over the table were dozens of leaf hite-ates, the thing that Naruto had been long fantasizing of having and the mark of his first step towards fulfilling his dream.
"Alright Naruto, for the graduation exam I want you to create two clones." instructed Iruka. "Begin!"
'Heh! I'm going to surprise Iruka-sensei!' thought Naruto, cracking his knuckles. He then started to gather chakra and executed a string of hand seals. 'Watch this!' "Kagebunshin no Jutsu!"
Just as Naruto has expected, Iruka was very much surprised after hearing the name of the jutsu. 'Kagebunshin? That's a jounin-level ninjutsu! How did Naruto learn it?' thought Iruka. He was anxiously waiting for the white cloud of smoke that erupted shortly after Naruto announced the skill to fade away and see for himself.
After a short moment of waiting, all the smoke had faded away revealing three Narutos... only that the other two were lying on the ground completely immobile with their tongues lulling out. Both Naruto and Iruka were left dumbstruck at the sight.
"FAIL!!"
"Iruka-sensei..." called Mizuki catching the other chuunin's attention. "This is his second attempt. Besides, he did manage to create two clones and they were actual bodies at that, not just mere illusions. We could let him pass."
Naruto's brightened visibly at Mizuki's suggestion. However, that had been short-lived when he heard Iruka's reply. "No way, Mizuki-sensei. It is true that he did create two clones like everyone else but unlike the others, Naruto's clones were useless ones. Those cannot be used in a real-life combat situation. I'm sorry but I cannot let him pass."
With that said, Iruka stood and from his seat and exited the room without turning a glance towards Naruto. Mizuki stood up pitying the crestfallen Naruto before following after his colleague leaving the boy alone within the confines of the testing room.
Itachi and Shishui stood outside the wire fence bordering the Academy premises. Both Uchihas watched the lone boy sitting by the swing away from the rest of the class who were happily celebrating with parents for finally graduating into full-pledged shinobis.
"Poor kid," said a sniffing Shisui. He wiped a tear drop that threatened to fall from the corner of his eye. Even though the brat was rude and tactless, he couldn't help but pity the kid after seeing his dejected feature. "Hey, Itachi. Don't you think it's still a bit too early for that brat?"
"No. He is ready. We just hit a minor snag, that's all." The ever calm and composed Itachi said. "Shisui. We will proceed with the next step of the plan."
"Don't worry. I already have everything arranged."
Itachi nodded, still keeping Naruto under his watchful eye. "Good."
Loud, successive knocks were heard coming from Iruka's door later that evening. 'Geez, who the hell could that be at this hour?' The academy instructor got up from his bed to answer the door. Standing there outside his apartment was Mizuki. He was breathing hard and seemed to be greatly troubled by something. "What is it?!"
"Hurry! We must go to hokage-sama!" said a very tensed Mizuki. "Naruto has taken the Scroll of the Forbidden Seals!"
The news really came as a shock to Iruka. He refused to believe Naruto would think of stealing such an important scroll even if it was just part of another one of his pranks. Quickly, Iruka strapped on his vest and followed Mizuki down to the Administrative Building where a crowd of angry shinobis have assembled.
"That brat! He won't get away with this!" the crowd shouted.
"Hokage-sama! We must do something about this!" demanded a jounin.
The hokage nodded. The look on his face told Iruka of the graveness of the situation. "Yes. The jutsus written on that scroll are dangerous and have been forbidden by Yondaime. If used in certain ways it can cause great trouble." The hokage turned to his shinobis with all seriousness. "Hurry and find Naruto!"
"Hai!!" The crowd disappeared in a wink of an eye upon the hokage's order. The shinobis dispersed in all directions and began scouring the entire village for the missing demon brat.
Dirt and bruises covering his entire body, an exhausted Naruto sat on the forest floor to take a much needed break. 'Damn it. Why did that stupid scroll have to start with the Kagebunshin stuff? That Anbu guy was right after all. I really need to learn this jutsu if I want to pass.' Heavily panting, Naruto pulled himself back up after a couple minutes of rest and was about to try again when someone suddenly spoke from behind almost making his heart leap out of his chest.
"Naruto! I've found you!"
"Iruka-sensei!" The blonde cried after seeing the angry chuunin. Having been caught, Naruto could only laugh sheepishly, scratching his head while his sensei glared at him. He braced himself for a whole round of ear-splitting lectures about to come his way when suddenly Iruka's angered expression softened, much to the boy's surprise.
"Hey, you're all beaten up. What were you doing here?" Iruka asked.
"Never mind that!" exclaimed Naruto, his freakish stamina starting to come into play. He was now bouncing up and down when he had been all worn out just a few minutes ago. "Ne? Ne? I'm going to try that incredible jutsu again! If I do it Iruka-sensei, you'll let me graduate!"
'So you've been practicing here, enough that it damaged your own body,' thought Iruka. If not, he was actually pleased at the diligence his student has shown. It was then that he finally took notice of the large scroll hanging by the boy's back. "Naruto, where did you get that scroll?" He asked.
"Oh this?" Naruto said tapping the scroll for emphasis, "Mizuki-sensei told me about it and about this place too. He said that if I showed you this jutsu, I'd definitely graduate!"
'Mizuki?' Iruka was cut of his thoughts when he felt danger approaching fast. Quickly, he pushed Naruto out of the way leaving himself open to receive a whole barrage of kunais thrown at them by an unknown attacker.
"Nice job in finding him." a new voice said. It's owner leaping out of the shadows revealing himself at the two.
"I see. So this is what's going on..." Iruka pulled out a kunai that buried itself in his side and cast it aside. Thankfully, none of the kunais hit a vital spot and they didn't seem to bury that deep. "...Mizuki!"
"Naruto, give me the scroll!" Mizuki ordered, turning his eyes down at the blonde kid.
"Naruto! Don't give him the scroll even if you die!" screamed Iruka.
"Hey! Hey! What's going on here?!" A scared and confused Naruto asked, turning at both senseis.
"That is a dangerous scroll that has forbidden ninjutsu sealed in it. Mizuki used you to get his hands on it!"
Naruto was shocked at the revelation made by Iruka. He turned, eyes shaking in disbelief, to the other sensei standing high up on a sturdy branch of a nearby tree.
"Naruto. There's no point in you having that scroll." Mizukis lips turned to a smirk. "I'll let you in on a little secret."
"No! Don't!!" protested Iruka.
"Twelve years ago... you know about the nine-tailed demon fox being sealed, right?" asked Mizuki.
Naruto swallowed hard and nodded silently.
"Since that incident Sandaime imposed a new rule for the village. But Naruto, this rule was never meant to be told to you."
"...not to me?" Naruto felt his curiosity taking the best of him. He didn't want to leave now. Too many secrets have been kept from him for too long and he thought that it's about time for him to know the truth. "Why?! What is this rule?!" he asked. Mizuki began to chuckle like a mad man, the sight of which sent tingles down his spine. Down in his heart, he felt that he didn't want to hear any of it but something in his mind prevented him from running away. He had to know. "What kind of rule is it?"
Mizuki gave a hard stare at the boy. "The rule is that no one is allowed to talk about the fact that you are the kyuubi no youma!"
Naruto was greatly shocked at what Mizuki had said. He refused to believe it. Naruto began taking involuntary steps backward until he tripped and fell down with his behind against the ground. "What the hell do you mean?!"
"It means that you are the nine-tailed demon fox that killed Iruka's parents and destroyed the village. You were sealed up by Yondaime, the hokage you admired and..."
"Stop it!!" Iruka's protests fell on deaf ears as Mizuki continued on.
"...you've been lied to by everyone. Didn't you find it strange how everyone hated you?"
Upon hearing this, Naruto's eyes fell on his feet. He felt more than sad, he felt betrayed. 'I never knew why everyone hated me. So this explains everything...' he thought sadly.
"Iruka is the same. He actually hates you!" said Mizuki as he pulled a fuuma shuriken. "Nobody will ever accept you!" he screamed casting the giant shuriken down towards the boy.
However, both to Mizuki and Naruto's surprise, Iruka jumped over to cover the boy just in time and had the tip of the fuuma shuriken pierce his back instead. Naruto looked up to Iruka and saw him cringe in pain. The boy was on the verge of breaking up due to the overload of emotions currently plaguing him. "Why?" he asked weakly.
"My parents... after they died there was nobody to compliment me or acknowledge me... I was so sad. I would always act like an idiot to get people's attention since I wasn't able to do well in things like school and get attention that way. It was better than being nothing so I kept acting like an idiot. It was so painful..." Iruka explained as he recalled his past experiences. He couldn't help for the tears to flow through his eyes as he watched his student. "Naruto, you must be in a lot of pain too."
Naruto didn't know what to feel that time. Finally knowing who he was made him feel more afraid than he had ever truly felt in his entire life. Naruto got up and dashed as quickly as he could into woods and away from anyone else.
"Naruto!" Iruka called out.
"Hehehe..." Mizuki landed perfectly on the ground chuckling. "Sorry but Naruto isn't the type to have a change of hearts. He plans on using that scroll and extract revenge on the village. You saw those eyes earlier..." Mizuki explained as he watched Iruka struggled to pull the fuuma shuriken off his back. "...those were the eyes of a demon."
Iruka glared at Mizuki for saying those. "Naruto isn't like that!!"
"Well, that doesn't really matter. I'll kill Naruto and get the scroll for myself. I'll deal with you later." Mizuki jumped high up the branches and began racing through the woods.
'I won't let you get away!' Iruka thought as he started, despite his wounds, to follow and stop Mizuki.
Unknown to the three them, someone stood from high up on one of the branches a short distance away, perfectly hiding his presence from everyone else. The man, draped in standard Anbu battle gear complete with a mask covering his face, watched as the events transpired on the ground below.
Back in the village Shisui was leaping from rooftop to rooftop while racing across the village. He turned at the group of shinobis on his tail and immediately his face fell into a scowl. 'Damn that Itachi making me do all the hard work! Leading all these people away from that brat's tail was a lot harder than he thought! I guess I'll get back at him big time later on.'
Shisui turned a sharp left and headed towards the outskirts of the village. "Everyone! Let's go check the bathhouse!" He shouted aloud. The shinobis on his tail said their assent and blindly followed the Police Force jounin towards Konoha's hot spring district.
After a few minutes leaping from branch to branch around the forest, Iruka finally caught sight of the blonde boy. "Naruto!" He called out, quickly catching up and racing beside the kid. "Hurry! Pass me the scroll! Mizuki is after it!" To his surprise, instead of giving the Scroll of Forbidden Seals Naruto gave him a sharp tackle on the abdomen sending the chuunin crashing down on the ground.
"Why Naruto?" Iruka turned at the kid as soon as he stopped sliding against the hard ground and saw the tired blonde leaned against a large tree trunk. Suddenly there was a loud puff of smoke that covered Iruka. "How did you know that I wasn't Iruka."
Naruto grinned his patented cocky grin before a cloud of white smoke covered him entirely. "I'm Iruka." The chuunin said reverting back to his real appearance.
"I see..." Mizuki smirked. He had to admit that he was impressed at Iruka's transformation skill. Even he was fooled by that henge. "You'd even transform into what killed your parents to protect him?"
"I won't hand the scroll over to an idiot like you!" Iruka said defiantly.
"You're the idiot. Naruto and I are the same." Mizuki snapped back at him. Unknown to the two chuunins, the person they were talking about was actually hiding behind the trunk of a nearby tree and was definitely within earshot.
"If you use the jutsus written on that scroll you can do whatever you want. There's no way that demon fox wouldn't try to use that power," continued Mizuki.
"Yeah..." Iruka seconded.
Hearing those words come straight from Iruka's mouth, Naruto felt a sharp pain flared from deep within his heart. He felt more betrayed. 'Damn! I knew it! Even Iruka-sensei... deep down... doesn't acknowledge me...' The boy's face was stained with an unbearable sadness and all he could do was to hug the huge scroll tightly within his arms for a much needed comfort.
"...the demon fox would do that but Naruto is different. I've acknowledge him as one of my excellent students. He may not be the hardest worker and he's clumsy that's why people make fun of him. He already knows what it is to feel pain in your heart..."
Naruto could not believe what he was hearing. Finally, after all this time he had found someone who would acknowledge him and knowing that fact sent warmth throughout his entire being. Naruto sniffed as tears flowed uncontrollably from his eyes.
"He isn't the demon fox anymore. He is a member of the Hidden Leaf Village." Iruka stared right into Iruka's eyes and felt his heart swelled with pride as he spoke, "He is Uzumaki Naruto."
Mizuki gritted his teeth in rage. He pulled a kunai and threw it at Iruka. "Iruka, I said I would deal with you later but I'm changing my mind." He took out his last fuuma shuriken in preparation to strike down the heavily wounded chuunin. "Hurry up and die!"
Iruka closed his eyes. He knew his death was inevitable. However, that dreaded feeling of cold, sharp steel stabbing against his flesh never came. He opened his eyes and found that Naruto had struck Mizuki unexpectedly on the face causing the fuuma shuriken to be released prematurely and in effect missed its intended mark. The deadly projectile continued to fly away slicing down branches in its wake.
"You shouldn't have done that," hissed Mizuki.
"Don't touch Iruka sensei..." Naruto turned courageously at Mizuki. His face was devoid of any fear. "I'll kill you!"
"Why did you come out, you baka?! Run away!" Iruki shouted fearful of the fate that may come to his favorite student at the hands of the traitor Mizuki.
"Shut up!" roared Mizuki who had gotten back on his feet, "I'll kill you with one shot!"
"Try it trash! I'll return the pain a thousand times over!" Naruto said. Venom filled his voice. Large amounts of chakra began to pour out of the boy's body that it was starting to become visible creating a bluish light around him. He crossed his fingers forming a hand seal in preparation for his offensive.
"Then do it, demon fox!" challenged Mizuki as he charged towards Naruto.
"Kagebunshin no Jutsu!!"
Mizuki was stopped dead on his tracks. His spine shivered in fear at the sight at the massive number of Narutos that filled that area of the forest around them. "Wha? What's going on?" 'This is impossible! How in the world could that brat created this many clones?'
"What's wrong? Come at me! Weren't you going to kill me with one shot?" All the Narutos said at once. The clones were flexing their arms and cracking their fists dishing out the maximum intimidating effect over Mizuki. The chuunin has been doing a hard job cowering over his small space of the forest. "Well then, I'll start things off!" With that, over a thousand Narutos leapt down at Mizuki.
Punches and kicks coming in from all direction, Iruka finally relaxed and was in fact quite pleased as he watched how Mizuki fared against the entire mob. Thinking that he had dished off enough damage, Naruto dispersed the shadow clones back into smoke leaving only his real body standing next to a badly beaten Mizuki. Iruka was actually surprised that Naruto didn't killed Mizuki, only leaving him looking much much worse than dead.
"Hehe... I think I went a little too far." Naruto chuckled scratching the back of his head.
Iruka smiled weakly. "Naruto, come here. There's something I want to give you."
High up within the trees, Itachi nodded in approval at Naruto's show of skill. "You did well, Naruto-kun." With a sudden burst of speed, the young Anbu captain vanished from his perch.
After hours of fruitless search, the villagers have gathered back at the front of the Administration Building. Anger was the evident emotion there as the shinobis asked each other if anyone had spotted then demon carrier while the others are talking amongst themselves about what they would do if they get their hands on the kid. However, Shisui knew better. There was an overpowering fear and anxiety among the people there though they refused to show it.
"Hokage-sama!" the shinobis called out as they watched the village's leader stepped out of the building.
"There's nothing to worry about," said the hokage. He was now calm, evidence that the troubles have passed and that there was nothing more for the village to worry about. "He will be back soon."
Shisui formed a self-satisfied smile. 'Operation success.'