CHAPTER FIVE

Despite Hitori-sempai's lessons, Naruto failed the exam spectacularly. His bushiin had never turned out, and Ruito-sensei had told him that even if it had, he wouldn't have passed the blonde. In order to pass someone under the age of ten at least three teachers had to be in agreement and give a valid reason as to the early graduation. Besides, Naruto still need work on his henge and some of the basics he had missed. And wouldn't he rather be in a class with kids closer to his age? The blonde was annoyed at how right Hitori-sempai had been a month ago.

Now instead of a single month break, Naruto had two months until the next year started in July. No one else had failed the exam and all the other kids were still in school, whether Ninja Academy or civilian school. His kenjutsu lessons were only twice a week now, and Hitori-sempai was a Genin and wouldn't be able to teach.

After only a week, Naruto was going out of his mind. He visited Mendo and his gang once that week, but he tried not to go around them more than once a month. A prank would have been nice, but he was trying to be a good ninja, and good ninjas didn't prank villagers… at least he had never seen a ninja prank villagers. Either way, it didn't help him now. And there was only so much training he could do.

"Hey look! It's the brat! What's wrong loser? Is the little brat upset he didn't pass the big kid's exam?" This was just what he needed. A large grin found its place on Naruto's face as he turned to Kouga. By the end of the year he had been able to beat most of his sparring partners, but he had never been paired with Kouga. He had been itching for a chance to put the guy in his place. Besides, there were a few moves he couldn't use in sparing that would be perfect in a street fight.

"Eh, who cares about a dumb exam? If you passed, it couldn't have been that good." Kouga and his two teammates stopped laughing. The two boys were good fighters, just like their leader. One leaned more towards weapons while the other liked to team up with Kouga using taijutsu. They were set up as a heavy combat team. Eventually they would be good enough to go up against the front lines in a war and survive until reinforcements came or a plan was set. Naruto had a fleeting thought of hope that they would keep to one-on-one fights before he had to dodge Kouga's fist.

Hitori-sempai had been right about knowing your opponents style. Naruto added a few more moves to his own style, but kept to Ruito-sensei's advice of staying unorthodoxed. But knowing what the other guy was going to do made it a lot easier to dodge, block and counter. Within a few moments Naruto was able to get a solid hit in Kouga's midsection.

The bully backed off a bit while clutching his stomach. A glare and a growl was the only warning the blonde received before Kouga charged with more determination to beat the snot out of him. Naruto took a lot of hits before he caught the rhythm of Kouga's movements and with a quick step forward after a dodge, the boy was back in the bully's defense and gave a hard roundhouse kick to Kouga's side.

It sent his opponent staggering, but Naruto didn't let the opportunity go to waste and gave him a good kick to his groin. The blonde smirked at the sight of his long-time tormentor on his knees in agony. Unfortunately, he forgot about Kouga's teammates. They seemed to take their leader's fall as a signal for a double attack. Naruto was extremely grateful for all those practice kunai being thrown at him earlier in the year as he scrambled to dodge a flurry of very lethal ones.

Just as the kunai seemed to run out he was dodging a foot aimed for his head, and then a knife-hand aimed for his knee. With all his concentration on defending against his taijutsu foe, he almost missed the kunai aimed for his heart. Ducking out of the way, he heard a meaty thunk as it lodged into flesh. He panicked for a moment before doing a mental check of his limbs. Besides some nasty cuts from the earlier barrage and aches from where Kouga landed a hit, he felt no new pain. It only took a split second, but the realization that he hadn't been hit made Naruto more dazed than the sudden attacks from two directions.

He finished jumping back into a defensive crouch and checked on his two opponents. The kunai-thrower was staring at where Naruto had been in shock and didn't seem inclined to attack anytime soon. When he looked at his previous opponent he realized why. The boy had taken the kunai meant for Naruto just below his neck and slightly to the right. A trail of blood trailed down his chin from his mouth and he seemed to be frozen with both hands holding the kunai as if he didn't really believe it was there even if he could feel it.

The boy didn't sound like he was breathing right and Naruto's panic tripled when he gave a final little choking sound and fell backwards in a faint. 'Kunai-thrower' shouted in denial and Naruto looked back in time to see the older boy rush forward towards his teammate. As he passed, the blonde noticed Kouga still on the ground staring at his downed lackey with wide-eyes.

As if Naruto's attention had reminded the bully he was there, Kouga's gaze locked with his own. They went from wide-eyed surprise to narrow slits of hatred. That was all the blonde needed to prompt him to leave. If the older boy wasn't dead, he would need help, and staying would only get him more trouble with Kouga. Ruito-sensei would know what to do.

-Scene Break-

Iruka watched as Ruito finished a report on his observations of the other Academy classes. Ever since the older teacher had started to try and sway his fellow ninjas to 'understand' Naruto Uzumaki his respect and standing among them had fallen drastically.

On the other hand, the Hokage had seemed to gain more respect for the Academy teacher. While that might have been a good thing in theory, in reality it meant he was given more responsibility and more missions than Ruito had ever wanted. The older teacher had even stated he wasn't sure if he should really take the Jounin test as he had planned. He reasoned that the higher pay and rank didn't seem worth the excuse it would give the Hokage to give him even more work and harder missions.

In the last week since his own class had taken their Genin Exams he had observed a few hours of each teacher below him and was to report on their teaching style and the effectiveness thereof. The Hokage also seemed to want his personal opinion on every student in the Academy as well. Considering there were three years with four teachers each and around ten students to each teacher, it had been a long week.

Iruka hadn't seen Ruito smile save at the tail end of a kenjutsu lesson he had given Naruto a few days ago. It had upset Iruka to see his mentor smile genuinely at the demon brat when he could only dreg up a half-hearted grin when working. That had prompted the large fight the two men had when they caught dinner together that night.

As he had done all year long Ruito insisted that Naruto wasn't Kyuubi and Iruka was an idiot for thinking otherwise. Iruka wouldn't budge on his opinion and it degenerated from there. Iruka had been trying to find some way to break the spell Kyuubi had seemed to place upon his mentor, but he couldn't even find one shred of evidence that he could take to the Hokage or someone higher up that might have more luck freeing his friend.

He had hoped that when Ruito tried to pass Naruto during the Genin Exams that he could contest it and show his fellow ninja just how blind he had been. But Ruito had surprised everyone and didn't pass the trainee.

When Iruka asked him about it his friend had given him a detailed list of what Naruto needed to improve. Ruito claimed he was glad Naruto hadn't mastered bushiin. There were trainees that could pass without knowing bushiin, but they usually had extenuation circumstance. Even if the blonde never learned that skill it would help him to stay in the Academy longer. "The worse thing a teacher could to is to pass a student that isn't ready," Ruito had said.

With the last hope Iruka had on gaining ground in his fight against Kyuubi, his frustration had boiled to an all time high. The young Academy teacher had said some rather uncalled for things in their last argument and it had taken until now before he had the guts to apologize.

Seeing Ruito finish writing, Iruka cleared his throat to gain his colleague's attention. When Ruito's caught sight of Iruka his eyes seemed to light up a little and a small smile graced his face. "Glad to see you Iruka. I was afraid I had scared you off."

Iruka chuckled weakly and scratched the back of his head. "No, no. You didn't do that. I… I said some terrible things and I just… I just wanted to say I'm sorry. We might disagree, but that wasn't a good reason to…" He trailed off, not sure how to describe what he had done. 'Ranted, thrown a temper tantrum, called you everything under the sun and then some just because I wanted to let off some steam.' They all seemed rather inadequate.

But Ruito didn't give him time to find what he was looking for. Instead he waved Iruka's apology off and stood up. "Don't worry Iruka. We've all had a long year. I knew you usually wouldn't have said anything." Ruito made his way over to Iruka and set a hand on his shoulder.

"I keep forgetting what you went through back then. I might have lost a few friends and mentors, but you lost your family as well. Emotions will always have a larger impact than anything logic can show. You'll just have to learn on your own just what Naruto is. I've decided that I'll help him if I can, but I won't be able to change the world. I'm sorry for trying to force my opinion on you."

Biting his lip from saying something that would ruin the apologies made, Iruka wondered if Kyuubi had caught on to his suspicions. Then he set it aside as the two teachers sat down and enjoyed a conversation that had nothing to do with Naruto, Kyuubi, or brainwashing.

-Scene Break-

Luck was with him as Naruto skid down the hall and flung open the teacher's office door. Ruito-sensei and Umino-sensei were both there.

"Ruito-sensei!" His teacher's head had snapped up at the violent opening of the door, but when Naruto yelled his name in a breathless, panicky way, Ruito-sensei was up and at his side before the blonde had time to blink.

"What's wrong Naruto?" The calm voice of his teacher helped his rushed thoughts come together. He took a moment to catch his breath before he poured out the story of being provoked by Kouga and the resulting fights. He left nothing out. This wasn't a time to worry about how much trouble he was in.

Ruito-sensei wasted no time when he was done. Umino-sensei was ordered to get a medic and take him to the site of the fight as soon as possible. Then his teacher picked Naruto up and dashed off to the site at top speeds. If it wasn't for the terrible situation they were in Naruto would have marveled at just how fast an Academy teacher could run while carrying something as heavy as himself. As it was, he hardly noticed.

When they arrived, 'kunai-thrower' was still by his fallen teammate's side and holding a bundled up shirt on the wound. A bloodied kunai was lying next to the unconscious Genin. Kouga was nowhere to be seen. Ruito-sensei wasted no time taking over emergency first-aid and Naruto could only stand and watch next to 'kunai-thrower' as their teacher checked over the bloodied boy.

Only a few moments later, Umino-sensei arrived with a medic-nin. The adults talked in what seemed like another language before the medic and Umino-sensei picked up the boy and headed off to the hospital. Ruito-sensei reassured them that the boy was going to be fine. It could have been fatal, but 'kunai-thrower' had done a good job of holding pressure to the wound.

"Now, with Nemu on his way to recovery I'd like to know just what happened here, Daimon. I've-" Whatever Ruito-sensei was going to say, it was interrupted by a new voice. A loud and angry voice filled with hatred that made Naruto's hair stand on end.

"I'll tell you what happened Ruito. You're 'harmless' monster almost killed my boy's teammate. That thing took those oh-so-handy lessons on how to kill and used them the way his bloodthirsty nature told him to. We've all seen how fast that thing improves. And Kouga's been telling me how violent the monster is when fighting. Now you can see it yourself! It should never have been left to live, let alone taught!" Naruto didn't want to turn around. He knew that voice and he didn't like it one bit.

"Goju! This is not the time! Bring up your own problems later. Whoever was at fault can be found out by questioning all the boys involved. Throwing around baseless accusations will not help matters in the least."

"Who needs to ask! I've already heard what happened from Kouga. That monster stabbed Nemu and I'm not going to wait until you and the Hokage find a loophole to get you're precious brat out of trouble!"

"You've only heard one version of events. A little more light on the situation might be shown by hearing what Daimon has to say." Ruito-sensei's voice was calm and steady with a hint of steel behind it. Goju didn't seem to care. He got right up into the brunette's face, waving his fist in a blatant threat.

"Are you calling my son a liar!" 'Kouga's Goju-teme's son?' Naruto thought in shock.

"No Goju. I'm only saying that we should listen to all the boys before we decided what to do." The calm statement didn't seem to work as the next moment the two Academy teachers were fighting with intensity Naruto had never seen before. The blonde had a moment to wish they weren't in such a secluded section of the city before his instincts screamed for him to move.

Kouga was following in his father's footsteps. While Kouga seemed fully recovered from Naruto's earlier low blow, the blonde was still in shock from all that had happened and had a hard time pulling his attention from his teacher's fight.

"Kouga! What are you doing?" Daimon had asked the exact question screaming in Naruto's mind. Just why was Kouga fighting him while his father was in a very high stake fight right in front of them.

"Shut up! Dad told me what I needed to do. If you're not going to help than just stay quiet and watch!" Kouga didn't waste any more time on Daimon but came straight for Naruto. The blonde sent a small thank you to whoever was listening that Daimon decided to stay out of it, but didn't have much time for anything else.

Kouga was holding a kunai in each hand, which meant Naruto could only block his kicks. Add in Kouga's high ability in taijutsu and Naruto's disorientation and the older boy was dominating the fight.

If it had been any other time Naruto might have marveled at how fast he was able to adapt. He only took a few hits at the beginning before he was dodging every strike. Unfortunately, all the blonde could think about was how he couldn't launch a single attack of his own.

He never realized that despite being pressed by Kouga he should have paid a little attention to where his teacher was fighting. As it was, the only warning he had was Ruito-sensei's yell before it was all over.

He was tackled into the ground and when he looked up, he wondered why Ruito-sensei was smiling. What was there to smile about when they were both fighting a couple of real bastards? The next thing that went through his mind was why Kouga-teme and Goju-teme hadn't attacked yet. Naruto couldn't move from where he was and Ruito-sensei didn't seem inclined to get back up anytime soon.

Then his teacher turned his head into his shoulder and coughed. The wet garbled sound of it chilled Naruto's spine. It was ten times worse than hearing Nemu's short semi-coughs earlier. When Ruito-sensei looked back at Naruto, his green vest where he had coughed at was stained with blood and a trickle of it was making its way down the corner of his teacher's mouth.

"Goju!" Naruto seriously wished it had been Ruito-sensei's voice. Dimly he realized it was Umino-sensei, but his attention was focused on his teacher who had yet to move and was still giving him a bloodstained smile. His nine-year old mind tried to process what happened. It was still working on that when Umino-sensei carefully rolled Ruito-sensei off the blonde.

A sword was sticking out of his teacher's back and Umino-sensei had to be careful how he held him. Naruto slowly sat up and stared at Ruito-senei, still wondering just what had happened. Umino-sensei seemed to wonder the same thing and asked his teacher in a chocked voice, "What happened Ruito?"

"Goju… He attacked me… Kouga fought Naruto… distracted him so Goju could… sneak behind… Saw the attack, but couldn't… had to save Naruto…" It was a valiant effort, but those same wet hacking coughs from earlier cut off Ruito-sensei's explanation.

"Hold on Ruito. Don't talk anymore. Help is on its way." Tears were coming down Umino-sensei's face. Naruto realized they were falling down his cheeks as well.

"No… Severed spine… no help for that…" Ruito-sensei seemed to gather up his strength as he turned to Naruto again. "Naruto… I'm sorry…" Naruto shook his head. After all what did Ruito-sensei have to be sorry about? It was all the blonde's fault. Ruito-sensei seemed to understand. "Not your fault… should have seen it… promise me…" Naruto was ready to promise anything as long as Ruito-sensei came out all right. It all seemed unreal.

"Goju's wrong… not a monster… don't believe… people like that… You're a good kid… but some…" Another wet coughing session, a little longer than the last two. "Some people won't see that… get stronger… surprise them all… grow up and prove… prove to them you're… Naruto Uzumaki…" He coughed again and it took some time afterwards before Ruito spoke again.

"Iruka… don't let hate… blind you… You've got… a good heart…" That short sentence seemed to take the last of his strength as he gave his longest cough yet. His front was stained with blood, and the last few times he had talked his voice had a wet quality that struck Naruto as utterly wrong.

The blonde chanted over and over and over again, praying for something to happen to make this nightmare go away. As Ruito-sensei looked at him once more, the small smile came back to his bloodied lips. "Hey… don't look like that…" Another coughing spell. "Smile Naruto… always liked… your… smile…" And the light in his eyes seemed to die as Ruito-sensei's head dropped limp in Umino-sensei's arms.