A/N: Does anybody know a good site for Japanese/English translations for jutsu names and such? I really don't want to have to create second hand names for some new jutsus.
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Nine months later…
Naruto walked down the streets towards the Academy, he was smiling, today was graduation day, and with Kyubbi's training, he was sure to pass! Happy as he was, almost oblivious to the world, he didn't notice the three masked shinobi. He did notice however, when a barrage of kunai and shruiken started to pierce his body.
Lying face down among a field of assorted ninja weaponry was a young boy, about eleven to twelve years old with blond hair and orange clothes. He was obviously dead, no human, no matter how strong, could have taken several dozen kunai and shruiken to their back and still live. No human.
"Not even a decent shinobi, to not notice that coming."
"Did we get the demon brat?"
"Sure looks like it. Hey, we just eliminated any future threat to the village from the Kyubbi. Do you think the Hokage will reward us?"
"Maybe, but look, I think he's moving,"
"Can't be, nobody could take that and still live. Probably just last minute death throes"
"But he's not human, he's a demon!"
"Still, for now, he's a human, and humans die…" The words from the last masked shinobi trailed off as the figure in the middle of the street painfully pulled himself up. All three hidden figures stared in silent shock as the demon brat started to yank kunai and shruiken out of his back and drop them one the ground while cursing all the time.
"Ouch! CLINK! Ow! CLANK! Damn that hurts…"
"He's…he's not human!" one of them breathed.
Damn, Kyubbi is going to have my hide for this, crap that hurts.
Damn right I am, how in the nine levels of hell did you not notice that!
Um, I wasn't paying attention? Ouch. Naruto hoped against all hope that the Kyubbi wouldn't be mad at him.
Damn right you weren't, and just for that, YOU CAN"T GRADUATE!
WHAT! THAT"S NOT FAIR!
War isn't fair kit, besides, ninja aren't people that are just going to walk up to your face and demand a straight out fight. Shinobis backstab, lie, trick, and deceive. They set up ambushes and traps, they try to outnumber you, shinobis will do anything to win, and if that means through dishonorable means, so be it.
BUT STILL…I haven't graduated in the past three years, and I really wanted to impress Iruka-sensei…
In a some what kinder but still stern tone, Kit, if, in the months I've taught you, you haven't learned enough to dodge such a simple attack, your teammates will die on your first serious mission. With my gift of regeneration, you probably won't die from such an attack, but your teammates will as they're trying to help you out as you recover.
Damn…Well…just a suggestion, but you could still fight those bastards who just 'killed' you…
Grinning at the prospect of revenge, Naruto didn't notice the slight aura of red chakra that the Kyubbi pushed out. With heightened senses, Naruto located all three masked shinobi, then turning around and leaping into a tree, Naruto grinned in the manner of a wild animal, showing canine teeth that were longer than any human's had any right to be.
The other two were stunned that the demon child could locate one of them after that abysmal example of shinobi talent. Before they could do anything, they both heard several sounds of flesh meeting flesh, and occasionally, a choked off cry. Then before either of them could move, a body flew out of the tree and landed on a roof across the street. Another figure leaped out and followed the previous one, once he landed, his friends relaxed as they saw a figure masked and dressed all in black. Leaping towards their friend and landing next to him, they were surprised when he suddenly snapped both his arms out and cuffed them both under the chin. With both of them in the air, their friend turned towards the one on his left, and began to beat the crap out of him. The one on his right had the misfortune of being on his dominant side, and so was knocked off the roof and down several flights before crashing into the street.
Grinning at his handiwork, Naruto released the henge and hopped back down into the street, ignoring the broken flagstones where the other shinobi landed and the curious stared of the villagers; Naruto took off his jacket and proceeded to collect the kunai and shruiken left from the first attack. Examining some of them, Naruto raised an eyebrow, some, roughly a third, of the kunai, were of a very good make; they were of higher-quality metal, and had beaten edges that never needed to be honed, quite expensive but a great time-saver as these rarely had to be looked after much. The others were regulation shinobi equipment, well used and dull-looking, but still deadly when thrown. Most of the time, shinobis used the regular weapons as they were usually used and thrown within a few days. With this many good weapons around, it probably meant that one of his attackers belonged to a large and prestigious clan. Crap! If there was one thing Naruto didn't want, it was the observation of a strong clan.
Sighing, Naruto continued to pick up the weapons, making sure to pick up the good-quality ones though, and when his jacket was full, he stuffed weapons into his ninja pouch and his shruiken holster until he couldn't hold anymore. Slinging his heavy load over his shoulder, Naruto started to sprint the rest of the way to school. Smiling at the thought of all the metal he carried on him, Naruto thought that the one good thing of being hated for having the Kyubbi was the weapons that he could carry off when they were done. He often sold some of the worse ones to the nicer metal-workers for the price of the iron, the ones in better condition, he either kept for his ninja pouch, or wore them down in target practice before selling. His mind coming back from a land of figures and extra Ichraku ramen, Naruto frowned as he thought of the good kunai. What am I supposed to do with these high-quality ones?
I have an idea.
Jumping slightly at the Kyubbi's voice, Naruto left a branch slightly early and started to drop, starting to run as if nothing happened, Naruto yelled at the fox, Don't do that! I have several dozen pointy objects that were just in my back if you don't know, and I would like to keep them out of my skin. Anyway, what's the idea?
Well, first I think you should let me take a look at one of the kunai. Just relax, and you may feel a slight pain in your right eye.
Naruto stopped in front of the Academy, then yelped as pain suddenly flooded his right eye. Anyone that could see chakra would notice that a lot of chakra was suddenly concentrated into Naruto's right eye and was heading off towards his belly where it stopped, apparently right at nothing. The pain quickly subsided however, as his right eye turned red and the pupil became a slit. When he pulled his hands off his eye, the Kyubbi said Ah, it's so nice to see color again. Kit, you should really redecorate that cell of mine, its so dark and dreary, no color except gray and black. Even you are a relief on the eye when you show up in orange.
Yeah, yeah, cut the chitchat, I'm going to be late for the exam!
That's not a bad idea, since you're supposed to fail, REMEMBER!
I remember, I remember, but I at least want to make a good impression with Iruka-sensei. Now, about those kunai…
Yeah, these are good-quality, steel if I'm not mistaken, hold on kit, this might hurt a bit…
Aaargh! What did you do to my hand you fox!
Don't worry, I just borrowed it, like I'm borrowing this eye, hold on…aaagh! DAMN! DAMN! Oooh, that smarts! Yeah, that's steel alright, almost pure if my burn is any indication.
WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO MY BODY YOU DAMN FURBALL!
This one time, I'll let the furball remark go. Now hold on for a minute. Taking out a blank scroll, and taking control of the other hand, the Kyubbi cut Naruto's right hand then started to quickly draw figures over and over again on the scroll with the blood. When he was done, he started to place the weapons Naruto collected, one on each figure, and started explaining what he was doing. Alright kit, quick lesson. Scrolls can be used for other things than just writing on. You can write certain ninjutsu or genjutsu on these, you can write one-time summoning contracts activated with blood or spit, and if you do it right, you can store items in characters, such as I'm doing now. People have found that it makes for easy carrying of large, otherwise unconcealable, weapons, or larger numbers of smaller ones. Now, what you do is write the character for the weapon's name, actually you could probably do this with any character but this makes it easier to seal as it is the actual name, and it allows you to know what weapon you want. Then you mold chakra into the shape of the character, imprint it on top of the item, and…there it is. Naruto watched with shock as the weapons started to sink into the characters underneath. And here's your body back.
With a slight sensation of his right eye and hands going dead, then having blood rushing back in, Naruto staggered for a bit as his vision went blurry for a moment. Looking at his left hand, Naruto saw a slight burn mark that came from just touching the kunai to his skin.
What happened to my hand?
I'll tell you later, right now, you're late for the test.
Yelping in surprise, Naruto hurriedlypulled on his jacket, and grabbed the scroll, rolling it up as he ran. Sliding into the entrance, just as Iruka was about to close the door, Naruto ran in and sat down before he could be called as late.
Five minutes later, Naruto was bored out of his mind as Iruka started to talk to the class about the Shinobi code and all it's rules. Calling upon the Kyubbi in his head, Naruto started to pester it.
Kit, if you don't stop this soon, I will never teach you anything again!
Horrified at such low threat below the belt, Naruto reluctantly stopped bothering the Kyubbi, then something hit him. Kyubbi?
Grumbling at losing his sleep, What?
What were you going to do with those new steel kunai?
Sleep was forgotten as the Kyubbi warmed up to the subject. Oh that. Well, have you ever heard about imbuing a weapon with an element?
Huh?
Sighing at his vessel's incompetence, It's when you take an element, say katon, and capture some of it's essence into a weapon, which would allow you to use katon jutsus when you're wielding it, no hand seals, just chakra pushed into the weapon, and suddenly, your opponent has a karyuu endan to deal with. Naturally, lots of people want them but it takes you guys a real long time to make, since seals have to be carved into it in every step, and naturally, they are quite expensive.
So what does that have to do with those kunai? They're already fully made, and I'm not one for waiting.
Chuckling The kit's getting smarter. Out loud in Naruto's mind though the Kyubbi said, Well, we demons aren't known for much patience either, so me and a few other demons devised a shortcut. The only problem was, that you need very good quality metal, or otherwise the essence would be too much for the metal to handle and it would shatter or break. However, anybody that's a full demon can't touch steel in any of it's forms, and we needed pure or almost-pure steel for the jutsu to work.
Cool! Why can't you touch steel though?
I don't know, nobody does, but some demonic beings can't touch certain types of metal. You're lucky that you have a higher-class demon sealed in you though, I've heard nasty stories of some half-wolf demons farther west, and they're proper half-demons, not humans with a full demon sealed in them, beings with a demon and a human for parents, bloody wolves are in heat half the year and go to a human for respite. Ah well, anyway, they usually look normal, but the light of the full moon force them to change into something roughly half-way, not fully wolf, but not human either, those are the lucky ones. Most look like humans for the major part of the month, but some are…leaning more towards the wolf side you could say. Some look halfway all times of the month, and others have it backwards. All of them are vulnerable to silver though, so it's a good tip to have something silver on you if you plan on killing one.
Naruto was so engrossed in Kyubbi's explanation that Iruka had to call Naruto's name several times before it registered in the blond's mind.
"Naruto!"
"NARUTO!"
"Huh? Wha? What Iruka-sensei?"
"Naruto, it's your turn for the graduation exam, you're last." Looking around, Naruto saw that everybody had left one by one for the exam and, due to his name, was last. Shrugging, Naruto sauntered out and down the hallway towards the exam room. When he got there, both Iruka and Mizuki were waiting.
"Alright Naruto, show us your bunshin no jutsu. Create three clones of yourself."
Remember kit, you became vulnerable, so you fail.
And if I try to pass?
The Kyubbi grinned, Don't, you won't like the consequences, and I'm flooding your chakra system so you can't control it.
Naruto grumbled, now that that damn fox mentioned it, he could feel his chakra fluctuating madly, some times it was painfully full, and other times he could feel only a trickle. Both Iruka and Mizuki must have felt the fluctuating, but Naruto figured they would put it down as nervousness and they did. Trying anyway, "Bunshin no jutsu!"
What appeared could only be described as pitiful. Naruto created only one clone that was almost entirely a bluish tinge, and lying on the ground like a rag doll. Naruto gagged, and tried not to laugh at his own pitiful attempt, it even had foam coming out at the mouth! Naturally, Iruka and Mizuki would fail him, but there was always that slight chance…
"Naruto," said Iruka.
"Yeah?" asked Naruto hopefully.
"YOU FAIL!"
When everybody else got their leaf hitae-ate, Naruto sat alone on the swing, slightly depressed and only half-listening at the adult's remarks.
Aw damn, I really wanted to pass to. Now I'm stuck in the Academy for another year! Crap! I already learned this stuff, and will anybody take a twice-failed genin for their team?
Slightly sad at his vessel's thoughts, in an attempt to cheer him up, Hey kit, I'll teach you a new jutsu tonight…
Really? Alright! Brightening up tremendously, Naruto jumped off and started to find a roof to sit on while the Kyubbi started to grin again at the easiness and abruptness in changing his vessel's mood. Ok, I'm ready, so teach me this new jutsu!
You know kit, this isn't any low-level jutsu, so listen carefully… The Kyubbi's voice trailed off as Mizuki's started to become louder, Naruto's face became dejected again, except this time it was at the interruption of a jutsu lesson.
"Hey Naruto"
"Hey…"
"I'm sure Iruka didn't mean to be so harsh on you."
"Hm."
"Well, you know that Iruka didn't have any parents growing up, so he grew up alone and feeling the consequences. He knows what its like to grow up alone but he wants you to grow up strong as well."
"Yeah, I guess, but I still wanted to pass."
Looking sideways at Naruto, Mizuki began, "Well, I guess there's no helping it…" and with that, he began to outline his plan to Naruto.
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A/N: I've been asked the ever vital question of pairings and I thought maybe slight NaruHina. I also figure that maybe after the main story plot, I might continue this in a sequel with more fighting. Any takers? If so, I hope to be done within twenty to thirty chapters, hopefully I'll be able to fit this story in, I have a tendency to run on a bit.
If not, I'll just kill this, and start without the first chapter and under a new title, and type more fights in. Vote on this please.