Part 2 of the final part of the Academy Escapades! Enjoy.
The Academy Escapades Part 5
Failure is NOT an Option
"I'm sorry Naruto, you…fail."
After he failed the genin exam, he ran as fast as he could out of the academy. His tears blurring his eyes, he ran as fast as he could avoiding the questions that came from his friends that were now far behind him. He ran into the forests outside of Konoha and tried to loose himself. He didn't exactly know why he ran but he knew that he had to escape the guilt that was building up inside him. With every step he took, he could see one of his family members smile and give him a compliment then he would hear those words again "You fail… you fail… you fail."
Instantly, the persons' image would change, the face would contort into rage, point an accusing finger at him and shout, "You fail!" over and over again.
"I failed them, I failed all the Uchihas. They all treated me like I was actually someone."
Naruto remembered Fugaku talking to him one day. "If you want to repay our kindness, don't do such small things like laundry or cooking. You should become a ninja and protect those who are important to you. Remember to study hard and one day you'll become a full fledged ninja."
After falling over exhausted, Naruto pulled himself under a low tree and sat down. He looked at the sky and noticed that the sun was almost setting, although it was still pretty hot outside. He was completely covered in sweat so he took his jacket off. When he was removing his jacket, he felt something else on his back. Naruto reached behind him and pulled off a loose piece of paper that stuck to his shirt. On the paper was a kanji for 'Seal'
"What on earth? How did this get here?" Naruto asked. He turned the paper over and a small note was written on it.
'If you want a real challenge, go to training area 2 at midnight. Read this out loud 'Kai''
Naruto stared at the note, "Kai?" he muttered, instantly, the paper burned to a crisp and Naruto felt a strange flow of power inside his body. Any ninja who woke up from a hard day of training would know what this feeling was. "Chakra!" Naruto shouted.
He put his hands in a seal and shouted "Bunshin!" instantly, twelve perfect clones appeared. "Yosh! Now I'll show them all!" Naruto said. He then ran full speed back to the academy. "Otou-san, oka-san, Itachi and Sasuke-nii-san, I'll become a ninja of Konoha and then you won't be upset with me."
Back at the academy, Iruka was panicking. "Where is he?" he said.
"Iruka, you shouldn't stress yourself out like that. Besides, you never liked him anyway, what's with the sudden change?" Mizuki asked.
Iruka sighed, "Of course I hate the boy, but he's still a student of mine and he went missing while under my supervision. So if something happens to him, I'll be the one to blame. And…"
"And what?" Mizuki asked.
"Well, I know this sounds stupid but I feel like it's my fault that he ran away. When I told him that he failed I looked into his eyes. His eyes were so full of sadness all ready but when I told him, it looked like he just died on the inside."
Mizuki could suddenly hear a small sound of quick footsteps in the hallway, "Hmm, Iruka, I think you should take a break and go home." Mizuki said, "If you start to read the demon kid's emotions then that means that you might eventually care for the brat. And heaven forbid that should ever happen."
"Yeah I guess you're right. That kid only spells trouble for those around him. He did kill my parents after all." Iruka then headed towards the door. "Thanks Mizuki for helping me through this."
"Hey, what are friends for, right? I'll tell you tomorrow if the kid's been found."
"I'd appreciate that." Iruka said before he left towards the teacher's lounge.
Just as Iruka's footsteps faded into the distance, the door reopened and Naruto came stumbling in. He looked around the class and his eyes landed on Mizuki.
"Mizuki-sensei! Do you know where Iruka-tem- I mean Iruka-sensei went?" he asked.
"Sorry Naruto, he just left a while back." Mizuki said, "What's the rush anyways?"
"I found out why I couldn't make a clone!"
"Oh? How did that happen?" Mizuki asked with fake interest.
"Someone stuck a chakra binding seal on my back. It's basically a sick version of the 'Kick me' sticky note. Anyways, I can make a bunshin now and I'll be able to pass right?"
"Whoa, wait a minute; someone stuck a chakra seal on you?" Mizuki asked.
"Yeah, but I got it off though."
"Was there anything written on it?"
"Um… yeah, actually, there was a message saying that if I wanted a real challenge I should go to training ground 2 at midnight. But that doesn't matter if I-"
"I think this does matter, Naruto. Whoever put this seal on you did it for some strange reason. They could be trying to harm you, Naruto." Mizuki got a thoughtful look in his eyes, "Naruto… how would you like to take on a mission?"
"A mission? But I'm not a genin yet."
"I'll vouch for you. But this mission will be very important to the safety of Konoha, it may be C or even B rank. Do you think you'll be up for it?"
Naruto got very excited at the prospect of doing a mission, especially such a high priority one. "I'll do it, Mizuki-sensei! Just let me get some things from home."
"No need, I've got all our supplies here." Mizuki walked over to the teacher's desk and pulled out a secret drawer. He searched around for a minute and handed Naruto a small kunai pouch, "I'll need you to act as a diversion and a runner if things get bad. You probably won't need to use those kunai but it's better to be safe than sorry."
Naruto didn't even check his new pouch and just strapped it to his leg. "What's the mission objective?" he asked.
"We're going to capture whoever put that tag on you, Naruto." Mizuki said and was also writing a note which he left on the desk, "It's about ten-thirty right now, so we have enough time to get there. The enemy may be powerful but I have confidence in our combined abilities that we can take him down. So, you ready?"
Naruto just stood and stared at Mizuki, "You're the first teacher to ever have any confidence in me; thank you, Mizuki-sensei."
"You're a good kid, Naruto. It's just a shame that Iruka doesn't see that in you." Mizuki said as he walked up to the boy, "All set then?"
"I'm ready when you are, sensei!" Naruto said as he saluted Mizuki.
"Then on to training ground 2!" Mizuki watched Naruto as he kept a few steps behind the boy, "Only a few more hours and the fallen shall be avenged!"
On the other side of Konoha, Sasuke, Sakura, Ino, Kiba and Shino were gathered at a small park. They all looked crestfallen as they couldn't find their friend/brother, Naruto. It was already night outside and they still hadn't found any trace of him.
"Where haven't we checked?" Ino asked.
"The only place we haven't checked is outside Konoha's walls. I don't think Naruto would want to tangle with the ANBU guards." Sasuke said.
"Damn, if only my nose wasn't blocked, I would find him easily." Kiba said while sniffling.
"Yeah, Kiba, you have a weird obsession with pissing off spice sellers." Shino said.
"How was I supposed to know he would blast me with pepper?" Kiba shouted.
Sakura then spoke up, "Guys, this isn't helping us find Naruto."
Shino then turned to Sasuke, "What about your brother, Itachi? He should be able to track down Naruto."
"He would, but he's away on a mission." Sasuke said.
"Wait!" Ino said, "What about that Hyuuga girl?"
"Someone call me?" Hinata said as she approached the park carrying a small bag of food in her arms.
"Thank Kami you're here, Hinata!" Sasuke said, "Naruto's gone missing and we can't find him."
"I know, he failed the exam somehow and ran away, I've been trying to find him to see if he's okay." Hinata said.
"You weren't planning on making a move on him were you?" Ino asked.
"I might've. Why?" Hinata said with a knowing smirk on her face. Ino then glared at her.
"Um, Hinata, Ino, we still need to find Naruto remember?" Shino said.
Hinata then looked away form Ino and gave Shino the bag she was carrying. She then put her hands in a seal, "Byakugan!" her peripheral vision then exploded into a full 360 degree radius. "Okay, follow me. We'll find him and comfort him any way we can."
"Hai." The six children then ran back into the city to continue their search.
Back at the Academy, a small silhouette of a girl made its way towards the desk at the front of the class room. She reached out and read the note that had been left there an hour ago. A small smile appeared on her face and a high chuckle was heard. Suddenly, the classroom door opened up again and Iruka stepped in.
"Mizuki I forgo-" he stared at the teacher's desk and saw Karin standing there with a note in her hands, "Karin what are you doing here? And where's Mizuki?"
"Oh, he left with Naruto to take care of some… business." Karin replied.
"They found him? Oh thank Kami!" Iruka said.
"Yeah, it's a shame you'll never get to say good-bye."
"Nani?" Iruka was confused by her words. "What do you mean I'll never get to say good bye to him?"
Karin began circling around Iruka like a predator would do to its prey, "I'm just saying that even you won't be able to recognize the brat once Mizuki finishes with him."
Iruka's mind still couldn't process what Karin was saying. "Karin you're scaring me a bit right now. Please just tell me where Naruto is."
"I don't think I will, Iruka." Karin then stood behind Iruka, "In fact I think I'll leave to take the blame."
Iruka hadn't turned around yet to face Karin, "What the hell are you talking about?"
"We're going to kill him Iruka. And you will be left to take the blame." Karin then put her hands in a seal and shouted, "Onpa no jutsu!"
Iruka jumped to the side to avoid the huge blast of sound that would have shattered his eardrums. "How the hell does she know a jounin level technique?" Iruka ducked behind his desk and pulled out a kunai pouch. He then pulled out three kunai and threw them at Karin. She caught all three of them but didn't prepare to throw them.
"You made one critical error right there Iruka." She said.
"And what would that be?" Iruka looked around him, there were no traps and no clones anywhere, so what was she talking about?
"You left the door wide open." Karin then ran through the open door with Iruka right behind her. Once she reached the door frame, Karin threw the kunai at Iruka's legs. One stabbed his right leg and he fell over in pain.
"See ya later Iruka!" Karin then shut the sliding door. On the side of the door facing him were five explosive notes.
"No f---ing way!" The notes immediately began burning and Iruka knew he had about five seconds to escape. Thinking quickly, Iruka jumped onto a desk and gathered a lot of chakra to his good leg. With a powerful hop, Iruka went sailing towards the glass windows and right through them, not a second too soon. The explosive notes went off and completely demolished the west wing of the academy. The intense heat phased Iruka for a second causing him to lose his balance in mid air and falling on his bad leg. But the pain in his bleeding leg wasn't bothering him at the moment, "Naruto…" he then slowly picked himself up and walked towards the forest.
"If Mizuki's involved in this, then he'll be at his favourite training ground, I'm sure of it." Adding more chakra to his leg, Iruka leaped into the trees.
Hinata and her group were running through the city when they heard the explosion.
"What the hell?" Sasuke turned towards it and shouted, "The Academy!"
Everyone stopped and looked at where Sasuke was looking. Sure enough, there was a large plume of smoke that rose high into the sky. "C'mon, I'm betting Naruto had something to do with this." Shino said.
The group followed Shino to the academy to see the local firefighters attempting to put out the flames on the west side of the school. When they got there they saw Choji standing with his father.
"Choji!" Hinata called, "Do you know what happened?"
"All I know was that some low level ninja was seen running from the entrance of the school. Someone said that the one running had black hair and weird eyes."
"It's troublesome, but I think that person was Karin." A voice said. Everyone turned around to see Shikamaru rising from the shadows.
"What do you mean? Why would Karin do this?" Sakura asked.
"Does this have anything to do with what you told me and Naruto last week?" Sasuke asked.
"Yes, I told you something big was going to happen and Karin would be the cause of it. Evidently, this is just a piece of her master pla-"
"ACHOO!" the group turned suddenly to see Kiba sneeze. "Sorry, but I need to clear my nose to check something."
"What are you talking about?" Shino asked.
"Look." Kiba pointed to the ground and the kids could see that there was a small pool of blood.
Hinata activated her bloodline and searched the area. "That blood leads from our old classroom to the training grounds. Kiba, can you tell whose blood it was?"
"Yeah, just a sec." Kiba then sniffed the air above the blood and winced, "This is Iruka-sensei's blood. And Karin's scent is nearby." A smile suddenly appeared on his face, "Naruto was here as well, it seems that Iruka was heading towards him."
"We've got to follow Iruka. If Karin is behind this, she would have gone after him." Shino said. The others began moving towards the training grounds with Kiba in front. However, Shikamaru did not move.
"Oi! Shikamaru, are you coming?" Sasuke asked.
If you looked closely at his face you would have noticed a small flash of mixed emotions cross his face. "Too troublesome, count me out."
"What?" Ino shouted, "But this is Naruto we're talking about!"
Choji then put his hand on Ino's shoulder, "Leave him, once he makes his choice he doesn't go back on it."
"Fine. Let's go guys." Ino muttered.
The group of seven then left and jumped into the trees, leaving Shikamaru behind.
"(sigh) This is going to be a long night…" he thought as he walked away from the fire and towards his friends.
It was finally midnight. Mizuki looked around and tried to sense any chakra signatures, none were present. "You know, Naruto," Mizuki said, "This is my favourite training area, want to know why?"
"Why, Mizuki-sensei?" Naruto didn't really care, but the man respected him so it would only be courteous of him to ask.
"This is the battle ground where the Kyuubi attacked."
Now Naruto was interested, "You mean we're standing were the Kyuubi and Yondaime fought?"
"Exactly, this place right here is where the famous battle took place. However, this is also the place where the blood of many famous shinobi was spilled. They all fought hard to protect this place but they were no match for the power of the Kyuubi, even my parents were killed by it."
"I'm sorry…" Naruto said weakly and looked at the ground.
"No you're not."
"Nani?" Naruto looked up at Mizuki. The man's eyes were burning with hate and anger.
"You're not sorry, you damned piece of shit!"
"Mizuki-sensei what are yo-"
"Shut up!" Mizuki then punched Naruto in the face and sent him flying backwards.
Naruto got up shakily and saw Mizuki glaring at him, "You have killed many of our greatest shinobi in my time, including my parents. In order to avenge them, I'll kill you!" He quickly pulled out a kunai and threw it a Naruto.
Naruto stared in shock at the Mizuki, "Why on earth does he want to hurt me?"
He then noticed the kunai and barely dodged it, the keyword being barely. The kunai deeply slashed Naruto's right arm and blood gushed out of it.
"GAAAHHH!" Naruto screamed, Mizuki almost laughed at the boy's pain but then he spoke, "Why the hell did you do that! Look at this! There's blood everywhere! Ah, jeez, this is my favourite shirt too! Oh, you just wait until Iruka-sensei hears about this. There will be hell to pay Mizuki-sensei!"
"WHAT THE HELL?" Mizuki shouted, "You just got freakin' slashed by a poisoned kunai, doesn't that bother you at all?"
"Poisoned? Well that's all fine and dandy now isn't it! This will take even longer to heal now. I'm guessing that you're not even the real Mizuki!"
"Oh how wrong you are, I am Mizuki in the flesh."
"But the real Mizuki respected me! He saw me for who I am and not what other people saw me as."
"Well, demon-spit, I hate to break it to you but even you're precious otou-san and oka-san hold some resentment towards you. I, of course, hate you with all my living soul. Why else do you think that I dragged you out here? On this spot where you killed the Yondaime you're demon blood will join his and you will go to hell where you belong!" Mizuki said as he pulled out eight shuriken.
What the hell do you mean? I never killed the Yondaime, hell, I didn't even know who he was. Wait, is this your idea of a test, or a joke? Screw this I'm leaving." Naruto turned on the spot and started walking away muttering about his bleeding arm when he realized something, "Wait a minute…He's gonna kill me!"
Panic gripped him and he slowly turned to see Mizuki throw the shuriken. "Kuso!" Naruto yelled as he ducked under the hail of pointy objects.
"You really do plan to kill me!" Naruto shouted.
"I thought that you were the smartest of your class, brat." Mizuki said as he charged towards Naruto, kunai in hand. Naruto reached into his own kunai pouch but found that it was empty. "Shit, this was a set-up from the beginning!"
Paralyzed with fear, Naruto couldn't react fast enough to repel the chuunin. Mizuki was barely two feet in front of Naruto when the unexpected happened.
CLASH! Sparks flew as Mizuki's kunai smashed into another. The wielder of the other kunai spoke, "Mizuki, what the hell has gotten into you!"
"Iruka…" Mizuki muttered.
"Iruka-sensei!" Naruto exclaimed, happy that his least favourite (now favourite +1) teacher saved him.
"Naruto, get out of here before she comes." Iruka said, straining against Mizuki's kunai.
"Who? Who's coming Iruka-sensei?"
"Who else but me, Naruto-kun." A female voice said from among the trees.
Naruto saw a small girl with red eyes stare down at him, "Karin!" Naruto shouted loudly.
Iruka twitched slightly, giving Mizuki an opening. He thrust his knee into Iruka's stomach and then punched him back into Naruto. Both bodies flew back and landed hard. Naruto was the first to recover, he looked up at Karin and shouted, "Karin, hurry and use a jutsu on him!"
Karin giggled and went to stand beside Mizuki, "Now why would I do that to my own partner in crime?" she asked.
Naruto stared at Karin, "Karin what do you mean by that?"
"I mean that we're in cahoots, we've been working together since the beginning."
Naruto stared angrily at Mizuki, "How dare you trick a fellow comrade to do your dirty work!"
Karin smiled mischievously, "Oh, I think I'm a little bit more than a pitiful comrade, Naruto-kun, observe…" she then put her hands in a seal and shouted, "Kai!"
A burst of smoke surrounded Karin and slowly cleared, revealing a beautiful woman with red eyes and black hair. Iruka immediately recognized this woman as… "Yuuhi Kurenai, the famed genjutsu specialist." he whispered.
"That's right, Iruka, my genjutsu-henge was so perfect that not even you saw though it." Kurenai said.
"B-but, Kurenai, you're a jounin of the leaf! You are betraying your own people."
"Heh, the people of Konoha will rejoice once they learn that I've killed the resident de-"
"DON'T even think of finishing that sentence, it is forbidden by the Hokage!" Iruka yelled.
"So? People call him a demon every day, you even do it, doesn't he Naruto-kun?" Kurenai asked.
Naruto looked up at Iruka, "Iruka-sensei, what is she talking about?"
"Nevermind them, Naruto." Iruka said, "Just get out of here quickly and warn the ANBU about these traitors. I'll hold them off." He pulled out a second kunai and stood in a prone position.
Naruto felt a twinge of respect for his sensei that he never felt before. "Are you sure, sensei?"
Still staring at the two ninjas, Iruka smiled and said, "Yes, trust me, I will never let my students get harmed in anyway."
Naruto nodded and began running away from his sensei and jumping into the trees.
Mizuki gave a nod to Kurenai and tossed her his kunai, "I'm going after the brat, make sure to clean up when you're done."
"Yes sir!" Kurenai said sarcastically.
"See ya later Iruka." Mizuki laughed and jumped into the trees.
"Wait!" Iruka tried to chase after him but soon found himself wrapped in wire. He fell down and vainly struggled to get free.
Kurenai giggled as she slowly walked up to Iruka, "It's a shame we couldn't let you join us, Iruka. We all knew that you hate the boy but judging by your actions in the classroom, I think it's safe to say that you actually care for the boy. Because of that we have judged you unworthy enough to recruit; we even think that we'll let someone else take the blame for the boy's death. Too bad, you could have lived a little bit longer, but no, you decided to resist us. Sayonara Iruka." Kurenai raised her kunai above her head and brought it down towards Iruka's heart.
With a desperate burst of strength, Iruka tensed every muscle in his body and ripped through the wire. He then rolled away and sent a kick to Kurenai's face. Seeing the threat, Kurenai jumped backwards doing a flip and landing on her feet.
"I see you still have some more fight in you. But you're not going to last long with those wounds." Kurenai said while looking at Iruka's skin.
All over his body, the wire cut so hard that it pierced his skin along his legs and all along his arms. All the cuts were bleeding freely but Iruka didn't seem to notice. "I may not last long, but at least I can last long enough to give Naruto more time."
"Oh? And how do you plan on doing that?" Kurenai asked.
Iruka merely smiled, "3…2…1…boom."
Kurenai looked at the ground between them and noticed a green tag. "Holy crap, it's an implosion tag!" she thought and turned to run as fast she could. She wasn't fast enough as the implosion started. The power of this one piece of paper was incredible. The implosion sucked in everything, including oxygen, in a half a mile radius and then the resulting explosion would send everything flying back with the force of a hurricane.
Luckily for both of them, Kurenai and Iruka were able to escape the implosion but the flaying debris would be a challenge to dodge. Kurenai looked behind herself and saw three fully grown trees flying straight for her. With a grace full spin, she avoided the first and second tree but the third one smacked against her ankle and shattered it.
"Shit, one broken ankle and there's still more of this stuff flying at me!" Kurenai thought. It was true, although the big stuff passed there were still smaller pieces that were flying at speeds that could rip through skin.
"I'm going to regret using this jutsu so soon." She said. She quickly flew though hand seals and shouted, "mijin ruika no jutsu!"(2)
To the normal eye, it would have seemed that Kurenai had burst into a thousand pieces. But under a microscope you would see thousands of particles and cells that were speeding through every bit of tree and grass that was flying everywhere. Finally, the cloud of cells came to rest at the origin of the explosion and began reforming. Slowly but surely, Kurenai's cells took her original form. Once she was sure she got every cell in the right place, she cancelled the jutsu and fell on the ground. Iruka, however, was no where to be seen. "That bastard is gonna pay for making me use that jutsu!" Kurenai said as she stood up and walked to where she remembered Naruto running.
Meanwhile, Naruto was running as fast as he could through the forest. He was filled with joy knowing that his teacher saved his life and now he was going to return the favour.
"Just hang in there, Iru-"
BOOM!
The explosion caught Naruto's attention and he turned around to look. It was a bad idea however, because he immediately saw Mizuki running full force towards him with a fuuma shuriken in his hand.
"Kuso!" Naruto turned back and ran for all he was worth. It was not fast enough however.
"I got you now, demon!" Mizuki then threw his shuriken towards Naruto.
With no weapons to defend him and no time to dodge, Naruto quickly clapped both his hands together, catching the shuriken a split second before it pierced his forehead.
Mizuki yelled in frustration. "You just don't die do you?" he said as he launched his second shuriken. This time, Naruto was able to deflect it with his newly acquired shuriken.
"For the love of Kami, what have I ever done to you?" Naruto yelled.
"You know what you did, demon spit. Look deep inside you and you'll know what I'm talking about. I'm talking about the Kyuubi demon that destroyed Konoha and left us in shambles!"
Naruto stared at Mizuki, "Sensei, last time I checked, Konoha is pretty much not destroyed. We're the biggest, most prosperous damned village there is! And the Kyuubi is dead! Dead, dead, dead. "
"It wasn't always like this, boy. Once the Kyuubi attacked, everything fell apart. Waves after waves of ninja were sent to kill it but very few survived even more were forced to quit being ninja for good! And then, to top it all off, the Kyuubi killed our Yondaime!" then Mizuki smiled slightly, "But one good thing came out of this. Although the Kyuubi couldn't be killed, our Yondaime sealed it inside something that could very easily get killed."
Naruto was starting to piece things together but he did not want to hear what was coming next.
"The Yondaime sealed it in a child! A child that could easily get slaughtered by the village, but instead was hated and shunned. Naruto, are you starting to understand why everyone hates you? It's because you are the Kyuubi! You are the incarnation of the demon fox that killed my fellow comrades."
"That's why everyone hates me! I killed their families and friends; I committed a crime that is completely unforgivable!" Naruto's brain couldn't take it anymore, but he though of one thing, "Mizuki why did the Hokage protect me then? He thinks that I'm just a child."
"The Hokage protected you because he's senile and crazy. He thinks that you're only a container for the Kyuubi and not the real thing. He protected you thinking that you were just an innocent boy who knew no better. But he was wrong, look at your hands, Kyuubi brat! They are stained with the blood of our honorable ninja. The Hokage is just too blind to see that blood, but I see it all the time! It haunts me and until I kill you I can never rest!"
Mizuki then charged towards Naruto again this time Naruto didn't even try to move. "You're right." He said.
Mizuki immediately stopped in mid-run and stared at Naruto, "What's that?"
"I said you're right! I don't deserve to live if I killed all those people. If you could Mizuki, kill me now." Naruto then lay down on the ground and looked at the sky.
"This is too easy…" thought Mizuki, "But any chance is as good as any."
Naruto heard the slow advance of Mizuki. He closed his eyes and waited for death. However, two voices immediately broke his concentration,
"NARUTO WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?"
One voice Naruto knew as Iruka's but the other was weird; it was like it was coming from inside his own mind. He felt something tug on the back of his mind and he lost all felling to his limbs. He opened his eyes to see Mizuki standing above him but it looked like he was looking out of someone else's eyes. He could see his leg twitch slightly and then it moved at lightning speed towards Mizuki's knees caps. With a sickening crunch, Mizuki's left leg bent inwards at an odd angle. Naruto watched as his hands stole Mizuki's kunai pouch and then move away from the chuunin.
Mizuki screamed in pain and he angrily tried to punch Naruto. His fist, however, connected with Iruka's chest as he took the full blow.
"Iruka-sensei!" Naruto watched as Mizuki again punched Iruka in the head and then kick him in the jaw before he fell to the ground.
Iruka landed heavily and he could feel his jaw was slightly fractured. His wounds from his previous fight were still bleeding freely and his vision was slowly fading. Mizuki managed to get himself back up and slowly moved towards Iruka.
"You have interfered for the last time!" he shouted before he brought his kunai down on Iruka. He closed his eyes when he felt blood fly across his face.
Kurenai finally reached Mizuki and was about to jump in when she noticed Mizuki standing with a kunai and having it impale someone. To her delight this someone had vibrant blonde hair. "Maybe the chuunin wasn't useless after all."
When Mizuki opened his eyes, he saw that he had not stabbed Iruka but Naruto had let it stick into his own shoulder.
"Don't you dare harm Iruka-sensei. Or I'll kill you!" His eyes flashed red for a moment and he threw a punch at Mizuki's chest, shattering his ribs and sending him flying backwards. He was about to continue his fight when Iruka grabbed his ankle.
"Naruto, don't kill him in cold blood. That's not very human of you." He said.
"But, Iruka I'm not human, I am the Kyuubi. I am a demon whose only purpose is to kill."
"No, you're not." Iruka said, "It's taken me a long time to understand but I realize now that you're Uzamaki Naruto, a citizen of Konoha, not a demon of hell."
Naruto calmed down considerably, his teacher, the one that put him through hell during his academy days, was finally acknowledging him. "Thank you Iruka-sensei, that means a lot."
Kurenai had felt the killing intent radiating from the boy only seconds before. But now it was all gone. All feelings of hostility disappeared when Iruka talked to the boy. "A demon would never let words like that get the way of killing things would it?"
He then moved his ankle so that Iruka let go of it. He moved towards Mizuki and knelt down in front of him. "You have been deemed a traitor to Konoha for attempted murder of a civilian and a village ninja. You will be taken before the Hokage and rightfully sentenced. Do not resist or I will be forced to kill you." Naruto had heard this speech many times from Itachi while arresting someone, he just changed the words to suit the situation better.
Mizuki could no longer move for fear of piercing his lungs with his rib bones. He accepted defeat and let unconsciousness take him. Naruto was about to pick him up when Kurenai appeared. Naruto prepared to attack but she held her hands up.
"Relax, I'm not going to attack you. I overheard your conversation with Iruka and was surprised to see that you passed up a chance to kill someone, no demon would ever do that." She said, "C'mon you take Iruka and I'll take Mizuki. We'll go to the Hokage and get this sorted out."
She was about to pick up Mizuki but a sudden rush of pain erupted from her shoulder. An unearthly voice came form her mouth, "No! Kill the boy! I command you!" Suddenly, what looked like black flames grew from her shoulder and covered her face and right side of her body.
"Time to die Naruto-kun!" she screeched.
Before she could even move, a hail of kunai and shuriken fell from the sky and a voice shouted, "Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu!" the hail of metal then burst into flames and showered upon Kurenai.
The area around her burst into flames at each impact of the weapons. Naruto turned around and saw his friends and brother standing behind him.
"Naruto, it seems you have a habit of getting into trouble." Said Sasuke.
Naruto smiled, "Yes, but you are always around to get me out of it."
As Naruto walked towards his friends, eight kunai were thrown from the flames. "Everyone get down!" Naruto shouted.
All the children ducked or fell over while dodging the kunai. From out of the flames came a deranged looking Kurenai. One side of her hair was grey and her left hand looked like a three fingered monster's fist. "Die you bastard!" she lunged at Naruto but froze in mid-air.
"Kage mane, success." A shadow said as it slowly took the form of Shikamaru.
"Shikamaru! Why are you here?" Sakura asked.
"I've said this before, Naruto's a good ninja and it would be a shame to lose him."
"Hm, I guess everyone has a heart then." Hinata said. "Anyways, let's finish her off." She put her hands in a seal and a green yin-yang circle appeared underneath her. Shikamaru released his shadow jutsu before Hinata yelled, "Hakke Rokujuu Yonshou!" Hinata was about to perform all 64 strikes when she noticed that all of Kurenai's power was coming from a tattoo on her shoulder. Using complete accuracy, she focused all her strikes on that one area. The tattoo shattered and Kurenai returned to her natural self. She then fell on the floor unconscious.
"Okay, three people to each ninja, we'll carrying them back to the Hokage tower and end this." Naruto said.
The nine kids walked up to Mizuki, Kurenai and Iruka. However, Iruka decided to tell Naruto his news now instead of later. "Naruto, come here for a minute." Naruto walked up to Iruka who propped himself against a tree. "Now, close your eyes."
After Naruto closed his eyes Iruka began taking off his headband, he signaled the other kids to do the same. "Naruto Uzamaki, in light of your actions today, for your contribution of capturing two rouge-nin, I hereby announce that you… graduate."
Naruto opened his eyes and saw Iruka and all his friends holding out their headbands. "Congratulations, Naruto." They all said together. Tears gathered in Naruto's eyes and he hugged the nearest person to him, which turned out to be Ino.
"Thank you all!" He said.
"Group hug!" Sasuke yelled.
Instead of a nice hug, Kiba, Shino Choji and Sasuke all dog piled on top of Naruto.
"Itai! I'm still injured guys!" Naruto yelled in pain.
After a little while, Iruka, Naruto and Kurenai were in the hospital receiving medical attention. As it turned out, Mizuki and a mysterious man had encountered Kurenai and placed the tattoo on her shoulder. She was then constantly controlled by a voice that only she could hear. No one had missed seeing her anywhere because she was supposed to be on a solo mission for a year in Snow country.
Her cousins and father were killed in the Kyuubi attack and she had always hated the Kyuubi for it. She knew deep down that Naruto was the container but she always held a small amount of hate towards him. But after watching him for a whole year she came to realize that he was a very sweet boy who needed people to like him for who he was and not what he carried. The Hokage was convinced by her story, she would be punished however, nothing major, maybe juts probation. But the punishment would be determined later.
The talk with the Hokage went by very well, The Hokage had sentenced Mizuki to death but because of Naruto's kindness he was sent to prison for life instead. They had gotten very little information about who sent Mizuki on his mission except that 'he hates Konoha for rejecting him'. Apparently there had been other sightings of the tattoo on other ninjas but they were easily dispelled or destroyed. All in all though, the Hokage was impressed with the bravery that Naruto had shown and the loyalty that his eight friends displayed. He awarded each kid an envelope that had the equal amount of a B-rank mission's pay.
"Now, rest up. I'll have Iruka postpone the team selection for a day to let you all rest, you definitely deserve it." The Hokage said.
"Hai!" all the kids then left the tower and headed towards their homes.
"So, Sasuke, do you think we'll be on the same team?" Naruto asked.
Sasuke was counting his money when he responded, "Of course, they'd never split us apart! We're too much of a team to work alone anyways."
"Yeah, you're right!" Naruto said.
"Yup, I'm always right."
The two boys then reached their house and immediately Mikoto and Fugaku was asking about the boys whereabouts that night. Naruto simply held out his headband and said, "Otou-san, I have done what you told me and have become a ninja. Now I will be able to protect those I love."
Fugaku stared at the boys and then hugged them, "You boys have made me proud! Now get some rest, tomorrow we will celebrate your graduation."
Meanwhile, at the Hokage tower…
The Hokage was pacing back and forth in his office. His eyes were scrunched up in concentration and he was stroking his goatee, "It couldn't be his seal that they were talking about. As far as I know, he died in that fire. But if he did survive, this could cause some trouble, especially for Naruto and Sasuke."
Hello! I hope you enjoyed the major fight scene in this chapter. Anyways the next chapter will determine the teams and missions will be handed out. And this is you Last chance to vote for pairings! The polls will close on July 1st. I will try to put the pairings in effect in chapter 10 maybe even chapter 9 if I can. Until next time, see ya!
Jutsu list:
Onpa no jutsu
Sound wave technique: creates a stream of sound that hits an enemy and basically deafens or blows up a person's eardrums. Can also shatter objects and internal organs.
Mijin ruika no jutsu
Particle acceleration technique: The user of the jutsu splits into billions of cells and can freely flow through any space as small as 0.0000001mm. Uses immense chakra control to keep all cells contained together. Should this technique go wrong, the users' cells will scatter everywhere and freely attach to whatever it touches first, thus killing the person in pretty gruesome way.
Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu
Fire Release: Grand Fireball Technique, creates a large fireball to burn enemies to cinders.