"Normal Speech"
'Normal thoughts'
"Bijuu speech"
'Bijuu thoughts'
special/flashback
[electronic]
~locations and transitions~
No Beta Reader
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto
Reviews corner
StarDragon001: you'll find out why in this chapter
SPark681: the answer to who is acting on Naruto's behalf revealed soon
Zachosg7: it leads to this
Dragon and Sword Master: pairing is not something I thought of for this one. The mysterious red-eyed person will be revealed soon
Vermillion54: here's more
Chapter 3: Too much
It was the start of another typical day at the academy with all of the students dreading getting through the same boring lectures that they had listened to for all these years.
But there have been a few changes that happened in the last few years.
One of them was the drastic change in attitude in Satsuki Uchiha. And the reason for this change was the massacre of every single family member she had at the hands of her brother.
For some reason, that she just couldn't figure out, her older brother had killed everyone in the Uchiha clan except for her. She had walked in on him that night right after he had killed both their father and mother before he showed her what he did with his Sharingan. One thing she didn't get was why she left her alive. When she woke up from being knocked unconscious, she was furious and heartbroken. Her older brother, someone she strived to be like, had done something that was out of character for him. And the excuse he gave her: "to test my strength." didn't make any sense.
Satsuki knew that Itachi was one of the strongest in the clan, he knew it, she knew it, everyone in the clan knew it, so there was no point in him doing this to test his strength or prove to be strong. And why did he leave her alive if he killed their mother and father? Sure he said that she wasn't worth it, that she was too weak, but what about the other children in the clan? What about the newborns? Were they worth more than a kunoichi in training?
Satsui knew that there must be something else going on behind the scenes and she swore to herself that she would find her brother and get answers. She wanted to know the truth and the best one to get them from is Itachi.
The incident still left a scar on her heart but she did her best to get past it. But there was something that infuriated her.
"Morning, Satsuki!"
Satsuki looked up to see the smiling face of Naruto Uzumaki. And she hated it. "Hn." she turned her head away so as not to look at him.
Naruto walked up to her and spoke. "I hope today is a good day for the both of us. I heard that we have sparring practice this morning and I want to wish you 'good luck' on your match."
Satsuki clenched her fist as she spoke harshly. "Go away, Naruto."
Naruto's smile dropped for a second before it came back. "Ok, I can see you are worried so I'll let you think about it. Bye."
Satsuki heard Naruto walk away and waited for a minute before she looked to where he went. She couldn't stand Naruto. Sure when they first met, she found it fun to be around him but after a while, she started to find his very presence to infuriate her. Every time he spoke, she wanted to wipe that smile off his face. But no matter what, he just wouldn't stop. After so much of this, she began to hate being around him. She saw Sakura and Ino reprimanding him for bothering her but there he stood, smiling. Her fist clenched harder and she might have drawn blood if Iruka didn't call out to the class
"Alright, everyone! Take your seats."
Satsuki looked forward and just wished for this day to end.
Iruka looked at all of the students as he mentally did roll. Seeing that he wasn't missing any students, he spoke again. "Alright, everyone. With the graduation exam coming up in a few days. We want to make sure that you are ready for what comes after so as many of you heard, we are having a mock sparring session. STOP!" he had to stop his class from going crazy when he said that. "Now, Mizuki and I are going to escort you to the training field and then we are going to set you up with a sparring partner and we will judge your skill level." looking over to Mizuki and seeing the man nod, he looked back to his class and gestured for them to follow him
Satsuki was sitting in the shade of a tree as she watched the matches go. So far, the civilians weren't that impressive. She wasn't really looking down on them but based on the fights she had seen, it was a given that she wouldn't think they were any good. The other clan heirs and heiresses were much better and but still not the best fights she's seen. She sat there waiting for her turn as she had yet to be called up. But she realized that there were fewer and fewer choices in who she would fight and soon it was becoming clear who she would be fighting.
The last match between two civilians ended as Iruka marked up where they needed to improve so he could give them to their sensei if they pass the exam.
Mizuki looked down on the clipboard in his hand and smirked as he set up who would fight who. "Satsuki Uchiha, Naruto Uzumai! You two are next!"
Satsuki didn't know what she wanted to hit first, the man that called them or the smiling face of her opponent. She now stood in front of Naruto and got into her fighting stance
Naruto bowed to her before he brought his hands into a fighting pose.
Satsuki glared even harder as she saw him get into the stance. It was pitiful. It was the standard academy style but it held no stability. His legs were too close together, which would make it easy to kick them out from under him. His fists were up but they were so spread out that they couldn't be used to defend himself and it would take too much time to get them into the proper position to even through a counter.
Mizuki stood in between the two before looking at them. "Are you both ready?"
Satsuki nodded her head while Naruto did the same
Mizuki brought his hand up before swimming it down. "Then begin." he moved a few steps back as he waited for the fight to begin
Satsuki charged at Naruto as he stood there waiting for her to make a move. She dropped into a slide and kicked his feet from under him before she spun on her feet and kicked him while he was still in the air.
Naruto rolled on the ground till he righted himself and got to his feet. He ran towards Satsuki and was going to attack while she was still getting her footing back. Unfortunately, Satsuki saw his charge and recovered fast enough to meet his charge with her own.
The two exchanged blows and blocks with a few of the hits connecting. All of them, from Satsuki.
She grew angrier and angrier as the fight continued. 'His fist holds little to no strength, his punches were scattered and predictable, his defense and offense are pitiful!' leaning her head to the right to avoid a punch, she grabbed the extended arm and spun around before she threw him over her shoulder and slammed his back into the ground. Once he was down, she jumped at him and straddled his stomach with her hand raised ready to slam it into his face. She paused as she saw the look on his face. The look infuriated her even more. "Stop…..smiling!" was her harsh whisper as she gritted her teeth. She continued to harshly whisper at him. "Stop smiling like everything is ok! Stop looking at me with those happy eyes! just…STOP LOOKING AT ME!" that last part may have come out as a loud whisper that could have been heard, but the cheers from the other students drowned it out.
Naruto did hear it. He tilted his head in confusion. "Why?"
Satsuki's eyes grew wide with rage as she grabbed his collar and pulled him up with her fist pulled back and set to break his face. She threw it, aiming at the center of his face but it stopped at the last second. She was heaving as she saw her fist stop only an inch from his face. She had stopped herself from finishing it. After a second she shoved him down as she got up from his waist and walked towards the others. "You're not worth it."
Naruto got up from the ground and looked at her back with a tilt of his head "what'd I do?"
~Hokage office~
Hiruzen was looking over some papers with the typical business propositions and reports that he was used to. Before he could even mentally groan at the amount, he heard a knock at the door. "Enter."
The door opened to show a single Anbu walking into his office. Normally something like this would have confused people but Hiruzen knew this specific Anbu's mission and spoke. "Report."
Sparrow, the Anbu that came in, nodded before speaking. "Reporting on the spar between the Uchiha heiress and the Uzumaki boy."
"Well?"
"The two had fought, with Satsuki winning the fight easily. His taijutsu needs work while hers seems to be excellent. Might be wise to ask for better instruction on his taijutsu."
Hiruzen nodded. "Noted. Any sign of the Sharingan in the young Uchiha?"
Sparrow shook his head. "None, sir."
Hiruzen groaned as he leaned back.
"Sir, if I may?" seeing his leader nod he continued. "It has been a few years since you posted two Anbu teams to follow these two specifically. Longer with the Uzumaki boy. I want to ask if you still think that the assassin is still related to them. And it almost seems like you want the young Uchiha to be the one that committed all those murders."
Hiruzn groaned again. "You know as well as I do that the only clue we got on the murder was the memory of those red eyes, that Inoichi had been able to extract from the dead man. Ever since we found that out, I had a team of Anbu investigate the Uchiha clan. And then one lone Uchiha ended up massacring all of them leaving just two living Uchiha. One of which is now a rogue ninja and another left on her own," he made sure to keep quiet on the real reason Itachi had murdered his family and left Satsuki alive. There were very few that knew that reason and Hiruzen was going to keep it that way. "After the incident, it was suspected that Itachi might have been the murder and that his leaving the village would mean that the killings would stop, yet only two months later there was another case with a group of chunin found all over the park." he slumped in his seat as he remembered that case as he grimly spoke. "Five chunin…in fifteen parts of the park."
The Anbu did his best to hold the shiver as he was part of the team that had to pick up the pieces before dawn broke. He may be an Anbu but picking up so many mutilated pieces made him uncomfortable. He still did his job though. "Yes, but we haven't had any since then."
Hiruzen nodded. "If I had to give a reason, it was because I put a team of Anbu to watch over Naruto. Whenever I had the boy watched by Anbu, the murders stopped, yet when I had pulled the team off him for important missions, that is when it happened. Either the culprit sensed the Anbu following the boy or there is a leak within our ranks. It is also when I had the team begin to keep an eye on Satsuki that the killings lessened."
The Anbu tired his head. He wasn't surprised by the possibility but he had a hard time thinking of who the leak could be. "Are you sure?"
Hiruzen shook his head. "It is only a guess. We have very few leads and only one extremely unlikely suspect." Hiruzen thought about everything that he was dealing with and in a bout of anger, he grabbed a couple of pieces of paperwork and lit them alight, and watched them burn. "A village of shinobi….. And we can't find one single killer!" he let his killer intent leak from him as he was furious about the situation. He threw the small pieces of burning paper into the trash before he took a few calming breaths.
The Anbu felt nervous due to the amount of Killing intent coming off the village leader. He knew that it wasn't aimed at him but that didn't mean that he wasn't afraid that the man would take his frustrations out on him. Once the Ki dissipated he asked, "And what about Satsuki Uchiha?"
"The first memory clue we were able to get pointed to the Uchiha and the quick glimpse another victim saw of those eyes, pointed to them as well. Yet the only one remaining is that girl. I do not believe she could be the culprit but I am not taking any chances."
The soldier bowed. "Very well, sir. Thank you for indulging my curiosity. I better get back to my post."
Hiruzen nodded as he gestured to the man. "Thank you. You are dismissed." he watched the man leave before swiving in his chair and looking out the window. 'Where could you be hiding?'
Satsuki was walking aimlessly through the streets as she berated herself for getting so angry earlier. Especially at Naruto. 'Why the hell is he even still in the academy? He should have been removed from the program a long time ago. He isn't meant to be a shinobi.' she sighed as she finished these thoughts as she knew that it wasn't up to her if he wanted to be a shinobi but….she paused her thoughts as she heard some of the whispers coming from the adults.
"Did you see how it walked through the streets like it owned it? Nothing but trouble."
"We should do something. We can't let it go on like this."
"Shh! You know about the Anbu team following him. They step in and stop anything from getting violent. Honestly, why the Hokage allows it to continue living is beyond me."
Satsuki looked around to see who was whispering these things and saw it was just a bunch of civilians gossiping about something. What she picked up from this was that they were talking about something commonly disliked. It was then that she recognized that these people were usually always smiling and having a happy aura around them. But now, they looked like they were ready to kick a puppy if it walked in front of them. 'What the hell are they so angry about?' As she looked around, she saw the familiar jumpsuit that she had gotten used to. She was not in the mood to deal with him so she was about to turn in another direction till she saw something out of the corner of her eye. She turned her head and barely caught sight of movement on the roof of one of the buildings. Curious, she stood there for a bit longer as she focused her eyesight to see if she could spot anything else.
Another flash of movement from her peripheral caught her attention again.
Satsuki chose to go in the direction of where she thought the movement was going but stopped when she realized that she was going in the same direction Naruto was walking. She sighed again as it was either her curiosity making her move in the same direction or her disgruntled mood making her go in another direction. She then turned down another street and walked away. 'It has nothing to do with me. Besides, if those were shinobi, then they are doing their own thing.'
As she walked down the street, she didn't notice that several of the ones on the roof were following her
Naruto made it to his apartment and moved to his room, thinking about the graduation exam coming up. He was able to do two of the three required jutsu but it was a necessity to do all three. 'I better practice.' He wanted to graduate this time with Satsuki. He remembered that last time he tried to graduate early and fail.
Satsuki was mad at him for doing it when he wasn't ready. He didn't want her to be mad at him again so he was going to make sure he got it right.
He stood in the middle of his bedroom before he brought his hand up into a tiger seal and channeled his chakra till he was enveloped in a dome of chakra. Trying to focus on the jutsu for a few seconds till he activated it and heard a poof next to him. He turned his head and saw that he made a pale deflated clone of himself that collapsed to the ground. He stared at it for a few seconds before he fell to the ground, laughing hard. He couldn't help but think it looked funny as it stuck its tongue out and flailed its arms like it was a balloon. After a minute, he finished laughing and got to his feet to try again.
On the roof of the building across from Naruto's apartment was a group of Anbu watching the kid practice.
One of them looked at the others and asked. "How long do you think he will last this time?"
A female Anbu shrugged her shoulders. "Who knows? The last time he did this, he kept going for hours, and when he finished, he wasn't even tired. He could probably go till next morning."
A third Anbu scoffed in disinterest. "Let the kid practice till he is out of chakra. Once he is done, we can go off and do more important things with our time."
A fourth Anbu looked at the third. "This is important. Do you really think that we should just let the kid be on his own when he has such value to the village?"
"He is the one with value. All he is is just the holder of what is important. It could be any kid that held it and you seem to think that we should actually care about him. If it were up to me, we should send the kid to one of our enemy villages and let the beast loose."
"Let that thing in that apartment loose on the enemy is something that we should do. It could cement our place as the best village in all of the elemental nations. I remember Danzo saying that he should have taken it in to be trained to follow the village's will. Personally, I think Lord Danzo should take it in."
"And the both of you should remember that our orders to watch over the boy come from our Hokage. Therefore, you will grit your teeth, shut up, and do your job." came from the first Anbu. He already knew how these two felt about Naruto Uzumaki. Many in the Anbu had similar thoughts. One group knew that the boy was only the holder of the bijuu but they want the kid to unleash the beast on other villages, while another group was just like the idiotic villagers. He couldn't understand how many came to that conclusion since even the basic genin with any sort of training in seals knows that Naruto is the scroll and the Kyuubi is the kunai. He was one of the few that saw the boy as just that, a boy. A boy that doesn't deserve any of the scorn or hate that is thrown his way, but with the political headache that surrounds the boy, barely anything good comes the blond's way. Thought there was something that did bug him.
Naruto always seemed happy.
Even when they were first tasked to watch the boy's interactions with the public, he always had a smile on his face.
Through the words of hatred, the stones and garbage throw, and the assaults. Naruto always seemed to smile through it all.
There was even a time where he had a Yamanaka from the interrogation department join him in observing the boy do a visual evaluation on him but the only thing that came back from the man was….
"He shows no signs of anger, frustration, or disdain for any of the people around him. With all of my experience of seeing small tells on the people I deal with, he doesn't have any."
The Anbu even thought it best to have a Yamanaka who specializes in the mind to meet with the boy but the Hokage turned this down.
The Hokage wanted to do the same with Naruto but since many of the most efficient ways of dealing with this was to use a mind-walking jutsu, it wasn't hard to see why this was a bad idea.
Not much was documented about Jinchuriki and how they deal with the bijuu inside them and the last one that was in the village was kept secret from everyone, even the Anbu. Though it was known that there was one, no one but the highest authority knew.
"Bet the team watching Satsuki is having a better time."
He rolled his eyes under his mask as the one that spoke was being difficult for no real reason. He refocused on the boy that went through his twentieth clone attempt. 'Good luck, kid.'
~graduation day~
Naruto was shaking in his seat as he was excited to do the graduation test.
"Geez, Naruto, if you keep shaking like that then the whole room will begin to shake."
Naruto looked to his right to see Kiba looking at him with a grin.
Hinata walked up behind Kiba as she looked at the Inuzuka with a small reprimanding stare. "Kiba, be nice. I'm sure he is just excited to do the graduation test."
Kiba chuckled as he turned to her. "With how much he is shaking, I can tell."
*arf!*
Kiba looked up to his ninken partner. "Hey, I wasn't that bad."
Naruto chuckled at the interaction. "Morning, Kiba. Morning, Hinata…. Morning Shino."
Kiba turned around to see Shino standing a few feet away from him. He jumped a bit at the sudden appearance. "When the hell did you get here?"
"I've been here the whole time." Shino then turned to Naruto and bowed his head a bit. "And good morning to you, Naruto."
Naruto smiled wider as he asked. "You guys ready for the test?"
Kiba gained a cocky smirk as he crossed his arms. "You kidding? We've got this in the bag. Besides, it's an easy test."
Hinata looked at Naruto as she spoke. "You look like you are excited to become a genin."
Naruto paused for a second as he thought about that. Was he excited to be a genin? For a second, he felt like he wasn't really looking forward to it but then remembered that his Jiji encouraged him to do this. Thinking that becoming a genin would make the old man happy, he smiled at the group. "Yep! Been waiting for this ever since I started"
"If you get too over excited then you are going to make a mistake and fail the test.
The five turned their heads to see Satsuki sitting in her seat a couple of rows in front of Naruto.
Kiba gained a sour look. "Man, can't she be a little excited for this? We finally get to leave the academy and all the lectures and she acts like it is just another day."
Hinata patted Kiba on the shoulder. "I'm sure she is just as excited but is keeping it in. I mean, look at Shino, he is extremely excited about graduating."
Kiba looked at Shino and to him, he looked the same as always. "Are….. are you excited about it?"
Shino nodded as he spoke in his usual monotone voice. "I am absolutely buzzing in excitement."
Kiba sweatdropped as he couldn't tell if he was being serious or sarcastic
It was then that Iruka and Mizuki came into the classroom with the former calling for all the students to get into their seats.
Kiba, Shino, and Hinata turned to go to their seats with Hinata looking back at Naruto. "Good luck, Naruto."
"Thanks, Hinata." Naruto watched them go to their seats before he looked forward to the instructors.
Iruka looked around at his class as they went to their seats and his eyes landed on Naruto. He sighed as he hoped that the boy had practiced the jutsus that were needed in order to graduate. The boy had failed the previous two attempts due to not being able to do the clone jutsu.
The three jutsu were a requirement because of their simplicity and usefulness. To go out into the shinobi world without them would be a very bad idea.
The Kiwarimi could save your life if hit by a kunai.
The henge can keep you hidden from danger
And the clone jutsu could get the focus of an enemy off of you.
That is why these three were required.
He knew about Lee, who could not do the jutsu due to his messed up chakra coils but that boy was able to become a genin because of a recommendation from Guy.
Naruto didn't get the chance because there wasn't a jonin interested enough to endorse the boy.
Iruka couldn't do it because he was a chunin instructor, not a jonin sensei.
He had heard that the Hokage would have done it but as the Hokage, he could not train the boy himself due to the political backlash from the council and the amount of work the man already had under his belt.
Iruka shifted his gaze back to Naruto as he thought to himself. 'Good luck, Naruto.' "Alright, class! Now…"
Naruto was sitting on his swing as he looked at all the parents congratulating their kids on becoming shinobi.
But he didn't
Like the previous times, he failed to make a clone. He didn't know why he couldn't do it even after all the practice he went through.
Yet, despite the failure, he continued to smile. 'I guess I can try again.' he looked at the parents again and saw them whisper to each other while looking in his direction. He felt something in his chest as he saw this but after a second it disappeared and the slight frown he was gaining turned back into a smile.
"Hey, Naruto!"
Naruto looked up to see Mizuki waving him over. He got up and ran over to the man. "What's up, Mizuki-sensei?"
Mizuki smiled at the boy before he gestured for the boy to follow. He led the boy into a hallway that had no windows and was void of anyone else. "How are you feeling Naruto? You ok after messing up on the exam?"
Naruto nodded as he put his hands behind his head. "Yeah, even if I wasn't able to pass this time, I can try again."
This caught Mizuki by surprise but he then internally smirked as it could help him out in this. "Naruto, you won't be able to take the tests again. You failed three times and because of this, you won't ever be able to become a shinobi."
Naruto seemed to freeze when he heard this. 'But, if I don't become a shinobi, Jiji will be sad.' his smile dropped as he had this thought. His right eye twitched as this thought ran through his head.
Mizuki, seeing the distress on Naruto's face, smirked as the boy had his head down but he put on a gentle smile as this was working better than he thought it would. "But there is a way that you can still become a shinobi."
Naruto looked up, with a smile back on his face. "Really?"
Mizuki nodded. He pulled out a slip of paper and handed it to Naruto. "On this is a set of instructions for a secret graduation test for those who show potential on becoming a shinobi. What I want you to do is go home, close the curtains and then read the instructions on the paper. You have to follow them to the letter. When you finish it, you will become a shinobi of Konoha."
Naruto looked at the slip of paper before bowing to Mizuki. "Thank you very much, Mizuki sensei!"
Mizuki grew panicked at the shout. "Shhhh! Quiet, Naruto. This is a secret test, so don't tell anyone about it. In fact, when you finish reading the note, burn it. I'll see you later, Naruto, and remember, don't tell anyone."
Naruto smiled wide as he covered his mouth to show that he understood. He then stuffed the note into his pocket and ran off.
Mizuki gave a cruel smirk as he saw the boy leave. 'This was too easy.' he then turned around and began to walk down the hall so he could grab some stuff he usually leaves here in the staff room. Once that was done, he was going home to grab the scroll that had all of the things he wanted to take with him when he abandoned this village. He thought about the instructions on the note he gave naruto and wondered if the thing would be able to follow them
- 9:01 - leave the apartment and take the back alleyways to the Hokage tower and be there at 9:27 and stay hidden
- 10:13 - use the west emergency exit to enter the building and sneak into the Hokage office. Take the large scroll that has the tag. "Forbidden scroll"
- 10:20 - leave the office with the scroll and head to the cabin in the forest outside of the east village gate.
Mizuki internally smirked as this plan had two outcomes. Either Naruto succeeds, brings the scroll to the cabin and is then killed by him, or Naruto fails and is executed for this act of treason. Either way, Mizuki wins. But he wanted Naruto to succeed so he would have the joy of killing the demon and leaving to meet with Orochimaru and present to the Sannin the scroll. He had to thank his contact Kabuto for the Anbu schedules for the security rotations on the Hokage tower and the Anbu team that watched the boy.
At 9 was when the Anbu team watching the boy would switch. But there was a two-minute window between the rotation. This is why Naruto needed to leave one minute past nine so that when the new team shows up, they would either not notice that he wasn't in the apartment or frantically searching for the demon
For the tower, when Naruto goes in, Anbu security would be on the other side of the building on the first floor but there is a staircase not far from the exit so the boy could go up and not be spotted. He would then need to stay quiet in the office till 10:20 to bypass them again. After that, it was nothing but a straight shot to the gate.
Kabuto had even told him that the security seals that were on that side of the building would be disabled, giving this a greater percentage of success.
By the end of the day, Mizuki will be gone, with or without the scroll, and Naruto will be dead, either by his hands or Konoha's for treacherous actions.
'This is a good day.'
~later, Hokage tower~
A pair of Anbu finished doing their second round on the first floor of the Hokage tower and were heading up the stairs to the second floor as another pair walked down. One of the Anbu asked the incoming pair. "Anything to report?"
The two Anbu heading downstairs shook their heads as one of them spoke. "No. nothing out of the ordinary and none of the security seals were disturbed. What about the first floor?" this pair received the response
The first pair nodded before they continued on their way upstairs. They walked down the hall, observing every little detail to make sure nothing was out of place. This was their second time up here tonight so they know where everything was, even the position of the leaves on the hallway plants. After a few minutes though, they froze as something was off. The door to the Hokage office was slightly ajar
One of them brought a hand to his ear and asked. "Has anyone entered the Hokage office at all since the last full rotation?"
[Team 3: negative]
[team 5: Negative]
[Team 4: negative.]
[Team 2: negative]
It was the instant that the last one was said, that the pair burst forward into the office with kunai drawn in case there was someone inside. Their eyes scanned the room and stopped at a corner to see the hidden compartment in the wall was open and empty. They rushed to the safe and checked the seals to see that they were deactivated. They rushed out of the office with one of them calling on the radio.
"We have an emergency! The Forbidden scroll has been stolen! Check all the exits and security seals! And alert the Hokage!"
The other teams set out to do their tasks with one of them sending an emergency chakra pulse to call in all of the shinobi, chunin, or higher.
That includes the Anbu team set to watch Satsuki and Naruto's apartment
~elsewhere~
Mizuki was beyond the east walls of Konoha's when he felt the pulse. He gritted his teeth as he looked over his shoulder. "Shit. damn brat must've messed up somewhere. Better get to the cabin and hope he gets there before anyone gets any ideas on where he is." he began to move faster to his destination aiming to grab the scroll, kill the demon, and leave for the land of rice.
~meanwhile~
Satsuki was walking through the streets as she enjoyed the quiet of the night. She enjoyed the tranquil look the village had while under the moonlight. This was something that she had started doing a month after the event at her compound. During that time, she had continued to live in the compound but it was unsettling for her to be there. The silence in the compound felt so different from the silence of the main streets of the village. So she began to take a walk outside of the compound to clear her head. Even after she got an apartment outside of the compound, she continued this as a way to make herself feel better.
"Satsuki."
Said Uchiha looked behind her to see Hinata walking up towards her. "Hinata? How did you find me?"
Hinata now stood next to the Uchiha and smiled. "You always take the same path. Would you like some company?"
Satsuki sighed before nodding and continued the walk with Hinata by her side.
The two had an odd friendship as the two clans had been at each other's throats for a good long while. When the Uchiha were around, they boasted that they had the best dojutsu in the village while the Hyuga said the same.
The reason these two were friends was mainly that Satsuki didn't see the point in holding on to something so trivial and Hinata did it as a sort of rebellious act against her father and the Hyuga elders.
The two walked in comfortable silence till Hinata asked
"How do you feel about Naruto not passing?"
Satsuki knew this question was going to come up and she really didn't want to talk about it. But knowing of Hinata's caring nature and the slight friendship the Hyuga had with both her and Naruto, the lavender-eyed girl was not going to let this go. She groaned as she answered. "He shouldn't have even tried if he couldn't get the jutsu right. He's better off doing something stupid like being a clown for a circus. He's got the damn attitude for it."
Hinata frowned as she heard the anger in what was said. She knew that at the start of their time at the academy, the two were friends. Naruto always had a smile on his face when he came in and it always seemed to brighten up their day. But after the incident with the Uchiha clan, that smile became something that Satsuki hated. "You know you don't mean that."
Satsuki scoffed as she didn't need to answer that. The mood became tense for a moment till it died down as they both knew the conversation was over. However, Satsuki caught a flash of orange in her peripheral vision and turned her head to see the very boy she did not want to even think about right now, running towards the eastern gate. She groaned as she spoke. "What is that idiot doing?" she focused on him and saw that he had a large scroll on his back. "And what the hell is he carrying?"
Hinata looked to where Satsuki was looking and could see the same thing but she had no answer to her questions. "I'm not sure."
As members of clans that specialize in Kekkei Genkai that deal in the eyes, they have exceptional eyesight so despite the great distance Naruto had from them, they could see the boy clearly
Satsuki scoffed and was about to walk away but she stopped as something in her gut told her something was wrong. She berated herself for thinking such a thing but she remembered the last time she had this feeling and it was the worst night of her life.
Hinata also had the same feeling like something about Naruto running in the direction of the east gate was not normal.
This feeling increased in both of them as they saw several shinobi jumping over them and heading towards the Hokage tower.
Satsuki's mind began to think about what she had just seen and based on the distance Naruto was and where he was heading, and away from. She grit her teeth as she looked at Hinata. "I have a bad feeling about this. Go find out what is going on while I go and see what the dobe is doing."
Hinata nodded before she jumped up and moved towards the Tower to find out what the problem was
Satsuki spun around and ran after Naruto. 'That dobe better have a good reason to be doing this.'
Iruka had been informed about the Forbidden scroll being stolen and was looking around the village, looking for anything that could be suspicious.
"Iruka-sensei!"
Said man stopped as he heard his name called and turned to see Hinata dropping in front of him. "Hinata? What are you doing out here?"
Hinata looked up at her former sense and asked. "I was on an evening walk with Satsuki and we saw all the shinobi running towards the Hokage tower. On my way, I saw you and decided that it would be best to ask you about what is going on."
Iruka thought about this and figured that it wouldn't hurt to inform her. 'She might have seen something that can help.' He then informed Hinata that the forbidden scroll had been stolen.
Hinata froze at the mention of the scroll. "Iruka, is the scroll large with green edges?"
Iruka nodded. "Yes, but how do you know?"
Hinata pointed towards the east gate. "I saw Naruto running towards the East gate with a scroll with that description on his back."
Iruka was shocked at this. "Naruto? But that doesn't sound like something he would do."
Hinata nodded. "I know. Satsuki is going after him to see what he is doing. She told me to find out what is going on since we have a bad feeling about this."
Iruka's mind was going a mile a minute at what he was told. 'What would Naruto be doing with the forbidden scroll and heading to the East gate? It almost sounds like he is betraying the village but…..' he shook his head since he felt like he was missing something. "Alright, I'm going to find Naruto and get some answers. Hinata, go home and see if you can inform someone about this. And point them in our direction." He then jumped away at full speed towards the East gate, in order to find Naruto.
Hinata would have protested but Iruka was already gone before she could say anything. She stared in the direction he left and thought about what she should do. After a minute of contemplation, she made her choice and jumped after Iruka.
Iruka made it to the East gate in time to see Satsuki running through it and dropped down in front of her. "Satsuki."
Said girl stopped at the sudden appearance and saw who it was. "Iruka-sensei? What are you doing here?"
"That's what I should be asking you. You know you aren't allowed to leave the village walls yet. And just because you have that headband, doesn't give you all the privileges shinobi are allowed."
Satsuki gave a soft glare at him but one that held no real malice. "I know that. But Naruto just ran out of the village and I need to go see what the hell he is doing."
Iruka shook his head. "No, you need to head home. I am going to go get Naruto and get answers from him."
Satsuki raised an eyebrow at the harsh tone coming from the normally calm teacher. Sure she had seen him in bouts of short anger but there was a seriousness in the man's voice that she had not heard before. "What's going on, Iruka? I saw a lot of shinobi heading towards the Hokage tower and now here you are acting like something major happened."
Iruka looked at Satsuki before he sighed. "I won't know this until I see it for myself, but from what I heard from Hinata, Naruto has stolen the forbidden scroll from the Hokage office."
Satsuki's eyes widened as she knew about the forbidden scroll. She had learned of it years ago because many of the jutsu inside were put there by Uchiha hands. She also knew that it was meant for only Hokage hands and if someone were to take it, it can be seen as an act of treason. "Why would that Dobe take something like that?"
Iruka shook his head. "I don't know, but I am going to find out. Go back to your apartment and inform any chunin, jonin, or Anbu you run across to head to follow me. Now go!" without another word, Iruka ran off into the forest.
Satsuki stood there as her mind was trying to comprehend Naruto, the ever-happy boy that never seemed to get mad, sad, frustrated, or even a little depressed, committing an act of treason against the village. She was so deep in thought, that she didn't notice Hinata land next to her.
"Satsuki!"
Satsuki blinked and looked to her right to see a pair of lavender eyes looking at her fiercely. "Hinata?"
"Did Iruka pass by?"
Satsuki nodded before she shook herself from the thoughts in her head and she pointed towards the forest. "Yeah, he just left to go after Naruto." she then gained a determined look as she wanted answers. "I'm going after them!" She was about to leave the Hyuga girl behind but stopped when she felt her arm being grabbed.
Hinata was not about to let Satsuki go off on her own. "I'm going with you. Something is going on with Naruto and I want to make sure that he isn't going to be in trouble too much. And I won't let you go off on your own."
Satsuki would have argued but the look in Hinata's eyes told her she would be unsuccessful in convincing her out of it. "When did the wallflower go against a teacher's orders?"
"When my friends are in possible trouble."
Satsuki nodded as the two then ran off in the direction Naruto and Iruka ran off to
~forest~
Naruto was running in the direction that was on the note. "With this, I will be able to become a shinobi!" He was thinking of the happy smile that his Jiji would have when he passed this test. He had been running in the forest for a few minutes and looking around to see if he could see the cabin he was told about.
"Naruto!"
The blonde stopped running and looked around to see if he could see who called him. He jumped as someone dropped in front of him and saw that it was a very angry Iruka. He smiled at the sight of his teacher. "Iruka! Are we finishing the exam early? Do I pass the extra credit test?"
Iruka was confused as he listened to the boy. "'Extra credit test'? Naruto, what are you talking about?" he shook his head as this was getting off track. "Forget that! Naruto do you have any idea how much trouble you are in?! You stole the forbidden scroll from the Hokage office! That is an act of treason! You could be punished heavily because of this. It could even lead to execution!"
Naruto's smile faltered as his head flinched a bit. "B…b-but, I was t-told that I could become a shinobi i….if I was able to get this…."
"no."
Iruka raised an eyebrow in confusion, not just from the statement but the way Naruto seemed to be twitching. "Naruto, who told you this?"
Naruto's twitching subsided as his smile came back. "Mizuki-sensei told me about it."
Iruka's angry look dropped as he thought about what was said. "Mizuki?" He couldn't understand why Mizuki would say this unless. He looked at Naruto's smiling face and it started to make some more sense. 'Naruto was fooled by Mizuki!'His insects warned him of danger and he shoved Naruto away as a hail of kunai showered at them. Iruka was able to dodge a few of them but he was hit in multiple spots on his body. Because of his injuries, he had to take a knee before he looked up to see the very man he was just thinking about.
Naruto groaned as he was surprised by the shove and sat on the ground till he looked at Iruka to see the man covered in wounds. His eyes widened at the sight till he heard chuckling coming from his left. Turning his head to where the sound was coming from, he saw Mizuki on the branch of the tree. "Mizuki-sensei?"
Mizuki enjoyed the sight of Iruka on the ground and bleeding but he turned his gaze to Naruto, who was getting to his feet. "Well, I was hoping to do this by the cabin so I could get away easier, but this is far enough away from the village that I won't have anyone tail me. Naruto, hand over the scroll."
Naruto looked over his shoulder at the scroll still strapped on his back before he looked to Iruka. "Why did you hurt Iruka-sensei?" His smile dropped as he didn't like the sight of Iruka hurt
"No."
Iruka pulled the kunai out of his legs and turned to Naruto. "Naruto, don't give him the scroll. Run1 head back to the village and inform someone….ARGH!" Iruka was interrupted by a kunai to the shoulder. As he fell on his back.
"Shut it, Iruka! I'll deal with you later." he then turned to Naruto and with a great sense of sadistic glee, he thought of a way to mess with the boy. "Hey, Naruto, wanna hear a secret?"
Naruto looked at Mizuki with a sense of curiosity. "What secret?"
Mizuki's smirk became dark as he thought this was too easy. "You ever wonder why everyone in the village hates you? Why they keep glaring at you when you walk through the streets?"
Iruka's panic grew as he started to force his body to get to its feet. "Mizuki, no! It's forbidden to ever mention ARGH!" Iruka found another pair of kunai in his feet, forcing him to the ground again. 'Shit!'
"I SAID SHUT THE FUCK UP, IRUKA!" he turned back to the boy and continued. "So, you ever wonder about it?"
Naruto thought about all the times he walked through the street and all the adults glaring at him, throwing stuff at him, being mean when he entered a store…and he didn't like it.
"No!"
"Why? Why are they mean to me?"
Mizuki moved his hand to the large shuriken that was on his back as he spoke. "It is because of what you are. What everyone in the village knows and has been keeping a secret from you."
Satsuki and Hinata ran towards where they heard the noise as they figured that it was Iruka talking to Naruto about the scroll. But when they heard a scream of pain, they slowed their pace and began to sneak closer to see what was going on.
They were able to make it to the tree line of the clearing as they heard the familiar voice of Mizuki. The two of them hid behind one tree as they peeked out to see what was happening and they heard Mizuki speak
"...everyone in the village knows and has been keeping it a secret from you."
They both almost gasped at seeing Iruka bleeding from several spots on his body and a bunch of kunai around him. It was then that they chose to stay hidden as they didn know what was going on. But it was when they saw Naruto standing there that they were about to go out and help.
"What are they keeping from me?"
It was that question that caught their interest as they both wondered what was being kept from him. They wanted to go out and help but their curiosity was keeping them rooting to hear this
Mizuki saw that Iruka was about to say something but he chose to beat him to the punch. "It's that twelve years ago the nine-tailed fox attacked the village and was sealed into the form of a baby. And that was you. You are the reincarnation of the nine-tailed fox! And everyone knew about it! The Hokage knew and he never told you"
This caused the three youngest in the clearing to freeze as they took in what was said with the male of the three feeling like something was breaking
Naruto's eyes widened at that as he thought about all the mean comments, mean actions, and every negative thing that had happened to him in the years. And the Hokage knew. 'Is…..that why everyone was mean to me? but…..Jiji said that he didn't know why they were mean. But that means that Jiji lied to me….'
Satsuki and Hinata were frozen on the spot as they thought about what was revealed.
Hinata had heard stories of the infamous Kyuubi and the destruction that it had done to the village. With the stories told and the illustrations of the event, it was easy to instill fear in many. But her brows furrowed as she thought about the boy that she had taken classes with for the last few years. The happy smiling boy that would have trouble hurting just about anyone could not be the beast that took the lives of countless people that day 12 years ago. But then something clicked in her mind. 'Naruto's birthday…it's the same day as the horrible event.' She had a similar thought about this before. 'I had assumed that he was just a lucky survivor but…. 'She shook her head as the very idea was absurd and the cruelty in Mizuki's voice made her disbelief in it more solid. She peeked around the tree and saw that this was affecting Naruto negatively 'No. There is no way Naruto can be the Kyuubi. And with how Mizuki is speaking, he is messing with him.' she used to respect Mizuki but this was something that cannot be forgiven.
Satsuki was having similar thoughts. 'Naruto….the Kyuubi? Is that why his birthday is the same day as….no! That's just stupid! Naruto is too kind-hearted to be that monster!' S
he looked past the tree to see Naruto not taking it well and her anger at Mizuki grew quickly.' I may find Naruto infuriating but this is just cruel! I'm going to make Mizuki pay!
Naruto placed his right hand on his face with his eye peeking through his fingers and his pupils shrinking. 'Jij doesn't lie…..right?' his breathing began to become heavy as he was trying to comprehend what he was told. 'Jiji…..Jiji lied. And everyone knew?! That…. That means that Ayame knew, Teuchi knew, Iruka knew….everyone who was mean to me…knew!' he began to hyperventilate as his left hand clenched over his chest and his body began to shake
"No no no no!"
Mizuki pulled off the large shuriken as Naruto seemed to have tuned out the whole world. "But don't worry, you won't have to deal with it anyMORE!" he threw the shuriken at the still shocked Naruto and smirked even more as he saw the boy just standing there with his head down
Iruka saw the large projectile heading towards Naruto and tried to move to get Naruto out of the way but his legs gave out and he fell on his stomach. "NARUTO!"
Satsuki and Hinata saw this as well and called out to get him to move. "MOVE!/NARUTO!"
Mizuki laughed maniacally as he saw his weapon get closer
"NO!"
Everyone froze as they saw what happened next
Naruto's left hand shot up and caught the weapon with the blade point mere inches from his head.
For a minute, they all stood there till Mizuki glared at the boy. "Well, the little demon got lucky. Let's see if little shit can stay alive!" He jumped towards Naruto with a kunai in his hand and aimed to cut the boy to pieces.
This time, Hinata and Satsuki got out of their hiding spot and were about to intercept the traitorous teacher.
Mizuki made it to the ground and was about to jump off the ground to finish Naruto off but the second his feet touched the ground all his momentum abruptly stopped as something grabbed his throat and forced him to his knees. His eyes widened when he saw Naruto was no longer frozen in place but right in front of him and gripping his throat.
"You fucking waste of space."
Everyone was shocked to hear not only Naruto curse but how cold it sounded but it was Mizuki who was the most shocked as he saw Naruto lift his head and look into his eyes
"You have no idea how long I have wanted to kill you."
Black began to flow from the side of Naruto's sclera as if someone spilled ink on it. As it flowed through his eye, his iris and pupil changed from blue and black into one solid color. Red as blood.
Mizuki glared at him as he grabbed the boy's wrists. "So the little demon shows his true….. *wheeze*!"
Naruto gripped harder on the man's throat and smiled as he heard him wheeze for air. "Do you realize how stupid it is to insult the one that literally has your life in his hands?" He then dug his nails into the man's neck and watched as his hand began to drip in blood. He brought his free hand up to grab the wrist of the oncoming fist before he squeezed hard.
*CRACK*
Mizuki would have screamed but with the pressure on his throat, he was finding it hard to even wheeze anymore.
"I want to hear you scream. Why aren't you screaming!?" with a quick pull, he ripped off the man's arm
Mizuki finally began to make noise but only gasps and strangled screams.
Hinata covered her mouth in shock as she just sawNaruto rip off the man's arm and from what she could see, he had a smile on his face. Not the smile she was used to but a sadistic smile that relished in the action. 'This…can't be Naruto. The Naruto from class would ever do this.'
Satsuki was frozen as she had flashbacks to what she was shown by her brother's Sharingan. But this was different. The images she was shown from Itachi showed that he killed them quickly with little to no suffering and Itachi doing it with a stoic look on his face. But the look on Naruto's face was…cruel. 'Is this really Naruto? Is this really the infuriatingly happy boy that would jump into a leaf pile because it was fun for him?'
Iruka stared at the sight of his former friend being mutilated by one of his students. The student that was at the bottom of the academic list, had barely passable taijutsu, was only able to do two of the three simple academy jutsus, and would smile no matter what. "Naruto?" as he tried to get up, he pulsed his chakra in an S.O.S pattern that would signal anyone who could sense it.
Naruto grinned as he tossed the arm aside. But his grin dropped as he saw the sneer the man gave him. "He always hated that look. That look that made him feel worthless." he brought his hand to the side of Mizuki's face and then dug his thumb into the eye.
"AAAAAAAAARRRRRGGGHH!"
This snapped everyone else out of their frozen state as they saw Naruto look at Mizuki, now with a scowl.
"He never liked your voice either. The condescending tone you never even tried to hide. He hated it!" he dug his nails deeper into the throat before he pulled back the hand that gouged into Mizuki's eye and pulled it back and looked like he was about to plunge it into Mizuki.
"Naruto, Stop!"
Naruto froze at the voice and turned to his left to see Hinata and Satsuki looking at him in shock and fear. 'When the hell did they get here?!' he gritted his teeth at them but he then looked in the direction of the village. "Fuck. company." he then felt the chakra pulse and turned his head to Iruka who flinched at the look in his eyes.
Iruka stared into the red drop in the black abyss that became Naruto's eyes. 'That's not, Naruto.'
"You had to call for help." He huffed as he then threw Mizuki to the side as the man began to grip at his shoulder. Naruto turned to fully face Iruka as he looked down on the man. "I would kill you for calling more of the damn shinobi of that village if it weren't for the fact that he likes you." he then turned his head towards the village. "A village full of liars. Monsters in human skin. He's not going back. Lied to all his life, lied to from the few people he liked, friends that will abandon him the second they learn." he looked at Satsuki and Hinata and saw the fear in their eyes. "Never again! I won't let him be hurt by anyone again! I would like nothing more than to watch the village burn to the ground as the people scream for mercy…." he took a deep breath before he glared at them all. "But he would hate seeing that." he felt that the shinobi were closing in and chose that it was time to go. He spun on his feet and disappeared in a burst of speed that shocked Iruka as he couldn't see where he went.
Satsuki and Hinata called out as he disappeared. "NARUTO! WAIT!" but he was gone
Hinata activated her Byakugan to see where he was going but to her shock, she only caught a glimpse of him before he went beyond her field of vision.
A few seconds later, a group of Anbu landed in the clearing with the Hokage.
Hiruzen looked at the sight and tried to piece together what happened. It was when he saw the one arm, one-eyed Mizuki, he figured that the murderer he had been trying the capture was here. He turned to the group of Anbu here and ordered. "I want four of you to help Mizuki and Iruka, one to escort the young ladies back to the village, and the rest of you fan out and find the one who did this! They should still be close by, bring them to me! Lethal force authorized."
"Lord Hokage!"
Hiruzen looked to Iruka as the man was helped into a straight sitting position. "What is it, Iruka?"
Iruka winced as he spoke. "It's Naruto…"
Hiruzen now panicked. "Naruto? Was he here?"
Iruka shook his head as he still couldn't believe he was saying this. "No. Naruto was the one that did this to Mizuki."
"...what?"
"It's true, sir."
Hiruzen turned to the two clan heiresses as they stepped forward
Satsuki gulped as she looked at the man. "Naruto was the one that did this after….Mizuki said something about him being the Kyuubi."
Hiruzen's worried face turned into a scowl as he looked at the silver-haired man that was now unconscious. He then turned to the three still conscious witnesses. "I want to know everything that happened!"
~unknown~
Naruto was walking in a dark damp hallway not caring about the few inches of water his feet were in. For a few minutes, he continued to walk as the water began to subside and the dark yell concrete walls began to turn into plaster walls. He walked up to a door before he opened it to reveal his apartment bedroom. Moving inside, he turned to the bed and looked down at the one occupying it. He knelt next to it as his red eyes looked upon the sleeping form of a child Naruto, sleeping peacefully. "You will never again see those eyes of hatred."
Naruto's red eyes looked over his shoulder to make sure he wasn't being followed as he ran further and further away from the village. "I'll make sure of that." his gaze fell to the scroll still on his back for a second before looking ahead and moving faster. Not caring about if he had it or not.
End of Chapter
Sorry that this chapter took so long but I had so many other stories coming out of my head that I wanted to get out. Those who read my other story "Broken" might get where I am going with it but for those who haven't, you will learn in later chapters. Or you might go read "broken" to get an idea
On that note, please go and read some of my other stories.
I added Hinata as her reaction would be the best one I think would have worked on what happened. I just couldn't see Ino or Sakura taking Hinata's place as Satsuki's friend.
I wanted to hurt Mizuki more but I felt that Satsuki and Hinata would stop him before he could continue.
The next chapter might take a while again but I hope you look forward to it and leave a review on what you thought about this chapter
Flames will be ignored.
Criticism is accepted
Ideas are taken into account and considered
Positive reviews are appreciated
Favs and Follows are motivation
And your enjoyment in reading this is the goal
So please Read, Favorite, follow, and review
