AN: Welp, I finally found canon. I sure took the scenic route though.

Enjoy!

Chapter 9: Graduation

When I finished school my first time around it felt like aeons had gone by. I'd had no freedoms, depended on my parents for almost everything, school was boring, classmates were annoying, and I had zero motivation for classwork.

Compared to that, my six years at the academy went by like the turn of a page. The rookie ninja were fun to hang out with and I could pursue advanced topics at my leisure. Despite anomalies like Naruto's insistence on getting a puppy—the answer was no—or Sasuke's Sharingan-fueled rise to classroom dominance, this childhood had been an enjoyable experience.

Outside of my mandatory classwork, I also drew manga, smithed, and refreshed my memory of natural science in an attempt to further unravel the mysteries of ninjutsu. To my disappointment, most information regarding chakra only taught about practical applications, like control, technique variation, and replenishment. Hardly anyone bothered to question the underlying question of what chakra was beyond a mix of spiritual and physical energies.

I should probably get off my high horse. Not like I've figured out much more in that regard on my end.

At least the extra research helped me tutor my friends. This was especially important for Akuma and Yuu, whom I still hoped to wind up on a genin squad with. Beyond those two, the person who probably benefited the most from my tutoring sessions was Naruto.

He may not have been naturally inclined to sit still and quietly pay attention in class, but he wasn't stupid. Sadly, for all his scholastic improvements, I failed to aid him very much with chakra control.

I'd already struggled hard just to deal with my own reserves, and that's despite how 'slow' my chakra flow was compared to most others. Naruto's, meanwhile, reached a whole new level—as if he'd injected caffeine straight into his chakra network. Visualisations that worked well for the rookies and me—like unwinding strands of fabric into thinner and thinner fibres—didn't function at all when the chakra fluctuated like a guitar string. Even Iruka had been stumped when we brought it up with him.

This issue left Naruto unable to reliably cast not only the clone technique, but even the basic transformation! Thus, on the final Sunday before finals, I decided to pay him a visit after my training with Akuma and Yuu.

"Oy, Naruto! You better not be slacking off!" He'd gotten more and more frustrated at his failures and spent the weekend in his room for special training. "I know you're in there. I can sense you!"

Hell, he's not going to open up. Guess I have no other choice…

I went back to grab his spare key from my bedside table, and let myself into his apartment. Walking past his living room and opening the door to his bedroom revealed a lithe, golden-haired, scantily clad bombshell sitting on his bed.

"Oh my goddess." She's beautiful.

I licked my lips, tasting something faintly metallic and feeling a bit woozy. I heard her gasp in surprise as I grabbed the doorframe and toppled to my knees.

Next thing I knew, Naruto stood above me with a worried look. "Hey, is your nose okay? It's bleeding real bad."

"That seriously happens to people? Huh." I looked around the room to find any trace of the woman, and noticed two very conspicuous things: Paint and… porn?

What should I ask about first?

"So uhh, Naruto. Who was the pretty lady from earlier?" I mumble, feeling my cheeks heat up. Wait, that's not what I wanted to ask! Dammit onset puberty!

Naruto only laughed in response, and I scowled. To be fair, I'd been abstinent for an absurdly long time at this point. I didn't feel an ounce of shame.

"That girl was me!" Naruto cackled.

Okay, maybe I did feel an ounce of shame.

"I finally figured out the transformation. This variant's the Sexy Jutsu," he proudly announced, to which I groaned in frustration and buried my face in my hands. How could I have forgotten about that?

"I assume the book over there was what you used as reference material?" I concluded aloud.

Naruto vigorously nodded his head.

"Where did you even get that?" I questioned, crossing my arms and raising my brow like my mom used to.

"I took it from gramps' office," the cheeky brat replied with a smug grin plastered across his face.

"And why did you choose that as your reference? Why not turn yourself into someone else?"

He hesitated. "I don't exactly know how to make perfect copies of people without pictures yet. Mizuki gave me some tips, but I haven't been able to follow them all."

Alarm bells set off in my head, "Mizuki gave you advice? What kind of advice?"

"I was doing the hand signs all wrong! And my chakra's thicker so he told me a different way to shape it. It felt really strange at first, but once—"

I held up a finger, "Slow down a moment. Can you just show me how you perform the technique first?"

"Oho ~Satoya~, are you a closet pervert?" he chided.

I wrinkled my nose. "I don't need you to transform into a pretty woman, I just want to see how you move your chakra."

"Huh? You already know how to do a transformation though?"

"I just want to evaluate your performance," my eyes flicked to the cans of paint. "So will you show me, or should I bring up those cans of paint with Iruka?"

Naruto paled. "I'll show you!" He sped through the short sequence of hand signs and I sensed his overwhelmingly dazzling chakra flood out into the room, enveloping him like a protective shell.

"Oiroke no jutsu!"

For whatever reason Naruto decided to eskew any clothing this time, kicking my brain into overdrive.

It's just Naruto, calm down. Nothing you haven't seen before.

"Ahem. Very impressive," I said, trying to keep my voice steady and holding my nose to stem the potential drip.

Okay but damn if it isn't a convincing transformation.

I poked the now female Naruto in the stomach to inspect the transformation's stability. What I felt immediately banished any lecherous thoughts straight to the shadow realm.

Henge were typically unstable and felt somewhat like they're made of glossy paper, especially if they didn't conform to a caster's original dimensions. This transformation, however, perfectly emulated realistic temperature and texture.

"So how did you manage to make it so lifelike?" I asked him, absently tracing my hands along his—

"Hey,"—he slapped my hands away—"No perving!"

Naruto undid his transformation as I blushed in shame.

"Anyway, I dunno why it's better than normal. I just cast it the way Mizuki said."

"Could you cast the jutsu again? Slowly this time. Your chakra is so bright it makes it hard to tell what's going on if you rush through."

Naruto rolled his eyes and stepped a bit further back. His hand seals shifted from monkey, to boar, to ram and he was enveloped in a puff of smoke.

Monkey? That's definitely not how henge normally goes…

In front of me now stood an imperfect copy of myself. The wavy hair and muscular physique was there, but the facial structure still reminded me of Naruto somewhat. Besides that, however, it looked like a totally real flesh and blood human. The surface motions and rippling fabric perfectly mimicked reality.

This wasn't just a standard henge, it was an entirely different technique altogether. No wonder his transformations managed to trick so many people in the show, even veteran ninja like Zabuza and Pain.

"Naruto, I'm not sure how you got this to work, but if we iron it out this jutsu will be an incredible asset."

"You mean it's better than normal?" he asked, eyes wide. "I thought I was doing something wrong."

"It's better than better. The Oiroke—ahem, improved henge is totally awesome! One of the most amazing jutsu I've ever seen! I would love it if you taught me."

Considering his blushing cheeks my flattery was working. "Hehe it is amazing, isn't it? Way better than some dumb bunshin!"

Hopefully learning this wouldn't take too long.

"Okay, you basically gotta push out your chakra really hard, and then it'll whoosh back in." He blew out a bunch of air and wildly flailed his arms to emphasize his words.

I'll be stuck here all day, won't I?

Mizuki was a goddamn bastard. Truly, I take back any kind words I may have said to him. That ass seriously gave Naruto the exact opposite of fitting advice. Flush chakra out instead of slowly trickling it around you. Cycle chakra faster instead of slowing it down. Monkey instead of dog hand signs.

In trying to make these nonsensical instructions work, Naruto had discovered a game changing ability at the age of twelve.

Stupid prodigious protagonists and their stupid plot powers.

By all means, the technique should have failed most spectacularly, and yet it somehow created an even better variant of the usual. Maybe Mizuki was an accidental genius and used this technique to worm his way into Naruto's good graces? Probably not, considering Naruto himself barely even knew what he was actually doing to make it work.

It must have been some kind of grand cosmic fluke to explain why Kishimoto didn't just have every single ninja transform all the time. I could imagine if the Sexy Technique had been consciously invented by a chunin academy instructor he'd have been generously rewarded. There wouldn't be any need to act as Orochimaru's spy.

I spent every day working my butt off, and Naruto just got things dropped into his lap. Thankfully, watching him perform the technique a couple dozen times gave me some idea of its inner workings. They were whack as heck.

See, the standard academy three all worked off the same principle. You slowed down your chakra flow before expelling and shaping it into a facsimile of a person's likeness. Bunshin were very thin and malleable, allowing them to move with a minimal exertion of will.

The substitution technique was thicker, and had to be anchored to a physical object to not dissipate too quickly. The dummy body could be controlled at range, but it was difficult to uphold the mental connection and the structure fell apart when rapid movements or too much pressure created additional stress.

For the transformation technique, chakra was slowly pushed outwards, seeping through a multitude of big and small tenketsu and surrounding the user in a bubble. This bubble was fed a constant small stream of chakra and could warp its internal space—don't ask me why that worked—to adjust size and shape. Though it was the most stable of the basic techniques and could be kept active with a tiny bit of concentration, it still wasn't what I'd call durable.

The Sexy—Okay, I'm not going to keep calling it that in my head.

The perfect transformation started off with the caster revving up their chakra cycle like for taijutsu. One then proceeded to violently shove a huge amount of it out through exclusively the largest tenketsu, constructing a branching, semi-liquid cage.

The trick behind it was that expending so much chakra at once created a kind of vacuum, allowing your smaller tenketsu to suck your contorting chakra cage back into the stream. This birthed an entirely new pseudo-network around the user's original one, seamlessly merging the two into a larger supernetwork.

The transformation that followed didn't just warp the space inside of a bubble, it warped the fabric of one's very body to conform to an entirely new circulatory system. It was a true transformation.

I spent so much time playing around with shifting my body it was long past midnight when I finally went to bed. I decided to skip morning classes the following day and headed straight to the training grounds at noon.

With nothing better to do, I decided to test out something else with the technique that I knew from the show. A new pathway overlaid itself upon the old, cancelling out my chakra signal. A small puff of smoke followed as I morphed into a flat shape and clattered to the ground.

Without any organs to physically sense with, my somewhat shuriken shaped self had to rely on my aura sensory ability. I focused on Naruto's comforting beacon of giddiness, bobbing in his seat, itching to start physical training. Without the distractions of a physical body, observing everyone's auras floating around wound up lulling me into a serene trance.

I must have underestimated exactly how long was left before taijutsu started. Perhaps the final week was different than usual. My head felt a little—wait no I have no head. My soul? Maybe I could…

"IDIOT!" Akuma shouted, making me clutch my head in pain. "Can't you go a month without hurting yourself!?"

She drilled her fingers into my side and I spasmed uncontrollably from her tickling.

"I yield! I'm sorry!" I yelped, as I tried to curl into a ball to protect myself from her merciless attacks.

"You better be," she grunted, poking me one more time for emphasis. "What kinda dumbass gets chakra exhaustion while skipping out on the academy!?"

I didn't have an exact answer. Something about the transformation must have blocked my measure of its chakra upkeep. Next thing I knew I woke up in the Hospital with a killer headache. I would have to be more careful using that in the future.

"It would have been rather uncouth to get yourself killed so shortly before we became Genin. I would prefer not to get lumped together with some random civilian-born from our class," Yuu said from the other side of the bed.

I cleared my throat. "Yeah, I don't really have a justification for my actions other than whoops? I'm sure I'll be out in time for the graduation exam." On exactly the final day as a matter of fact. I had to nag Kawasaki extra hard for that allowance. "You guys feel prepared for it?"

Light sparkled off Akuma as she grabbed her bicep and energetically fist pumped, "Heck yeah I'm ready!"

Yuu in contrast only gave me a slight smile and nodded once before speaking, "Naturally, my skills are more than adequate. As long as you do not flounder, we have nothing to worry about."

"Oh-ho-ho. That is most fortunate news, my compatriots. I shall ensure to reach the standards that you have set. It would be most shameful to falter after hearing such heartfelt declarations. I wouldn't want to lag too far behind my superiors," I responded.

Yuu drew his brows together and challengingly raised his chin. "I would hope not," he nasally spoke, playing along to my gentlemanly charade, "I recall you had not landed a single hit in our last spar."

Ouch, that comment stung a little. "My dear sir, that was hardly a fair battle. You had done nothing but lie in wait, setting traps and striking at my back. You ran away—"

"Tactically retreated!" Yuu interrupted.

"Ah yes, tactically retreated from every prolonged engagement. None of the damage I took had been the result of a fair fight," I reasoned, feeling Akuma's agitation rising the longer we kept up our charade.

"A ninja is always prepared," responded Yuu immediately, sticking his tongue out for good measure. I was about to retort but got cut off.

"Zip it you guys! You know I hate it when you talk all fancy shmancy!" Akuma said, crossing her arms as she turned to the wall with a pout.

"I count on it. How else would I get to see you make such an adorably annoyed expression?" Yuu teased.

"Shut up! I'm leaving," she answered, jumping up from her seat and storming out of the room. "You better rest up for the exam, Satoya! Else I'll never forgive you!" The door slammed shut behind her.

I looked up at Yuu. "So, Yuu-sama, were you flirting on purpose, or…"

"Satoya, I have not the faintest idea whatever you mean," he replied, shrugging innocently.

I couldn't tell if he was serious or not. I only sensed amusement. "So what'd I miss in class?"

He raised a brow. "Did you hit your head? Since when do you care about classwork?"

"Ugh, I was talking about our friends. What was the squad up to without me to mediate?"

Yuu gave a thoughtful hum. "Standard fare. Naruto came late and got chewed out, after which Sasuke commented how it's no surprise he's, and I quote, 'such a dumbass'."

I sighed at that. "They had another fight?"

Yuu gave me a look.

"Jeez those guys won't ever give it a rest, huh?" I said, smiling fondly. Naruto and Sasuke really were more like an antagonistic married couple than friends. I wasn't sure whether it was a step up from their canonical relationship at this point. At least Sasuke wasn't purely a brooding emo.

"One can only hope that with a bit of distance from being in different teams they won't be so bothersome in the future," Yuu commented.

I bit back a laugh. "Right, I'm sure they will." Before Yuu could tell something was up I asked, "You think everyone will pass?"

"Most likely," he said. "However, I feel that some of our class aren't truly ready to become fully fledged ninja."

"Well, maybe there's more to it?" I not-so-covertly implied, "We get our own private teachers as well, don't we? They likely judge our readiness for themselves."

He stroked his chin. "You might be correct. If such is the case, perhaps I should stock up on some additional supplies. Do not forget to bring your sword when we meet our Jonin sensei."

"Ugh, yeah yeah," even though I hated the thing, both Akuma and Yuu insisted I pick up the basics. "You don't need to watch over me like a mother hen."

"Of course," Yuu conceded with a nod, getting up and leaving the room, not before adding, "Not like you'll hurt yourself."

I gave him the finger as he left, both of us snickering in amusement.

With nothing better to do I spent most of the week idly sketching the basic outline of what I remembered from the manga's first issue in a small notebook. All I could recall was that he'd painted the Hokage monument and failed the academy exam. Though Naruto kept assuring me he was fine during his visits, that was an obvious lie. He was too embarrassed to admit he still had trouble with the clone technique.

The graduation exam takes place tomorrow at noon. If things go as canon, that means he could steal the scroll at any point between noon and late evening.

The Shadow Clone technique was no basic skill. Even if Naruto was particularly talented, it should still take him at least a few hours to learn, meaning he must have stolen the scroll quite early in the afternoon.

He'd run away after stealing it. I recall the fight being in the forest somewhere but that isn't very helpful.

After all, the city wasn't called 'hidden in the leaves' for nothing. Forest surrounded us on all sides. I ruffled my hair in annoyance. Why was I even bothering to think about this? Getting close to Naruto while he studied was unnecessarily risky considering Mizuki could show up at any moment.

But… the scroll was simply too tantalising to ignore. A wealth of knowledge ripe for the taking. I was not as averse to reading up on abilities and most definitely not a kinesthetic learner like Naruto. That scroll was my best shot at getting an edge over the other Ninja I might stumble across in the future.

Then again, I wasn't even sure what I'd do if I had the chance to look at the forbidden techniques. My memory was good, but not photographic. The best I could come up with was to copy any interesting techniques onto a notepad.

I get the feeling I might get 'disappeared' for treason if I do something like that.

"Why can't things ever be simple?" I asked nobody in particular. Maybe I should just give up and have Naruto teach me the Kage Bunshin after he learnt it for himself. He could certainly be convinced with a bit of nudging. I could still stick somewhat closeby to monitor events and make sure Naruto hears everything he needs to.

Having made up my mind on how to progress, I contentedly spent the rest of the afternoon practising control by unwinding my chakra into small strands to animate my pens in a mock swordfight.

"You're a tough little brat, I'll give you that," Kawasaki spoke up, having popped into the room in the middle of my 'show'. "I'd normally keep you here for observation just in case, but seeing as you have no issue using your chakra for frivolous activities, I suppose you're good to go."

"Finally!" I jumped up in relief and quickly began gathering up my things. "Thanks doc!"

His face was a mix of amusement and disapproval. "Tell your classmates not to nag me so much next time," he said, shaking his head. "There's a blond ball of energy that's been jumping around the waiting area for the past twenty minutes."

That was all the motivation I needed to run down to the waiting room. "Naruto!" I shouted, wrapping him in a hug.

"Satoya!" he happily replied, spinning me around himself.

Wrong genre! I quickly freed myself and shuddered in horror at the imagery flashing through my mind. Goodness puberty was bothersome.

"Satoya-kun, good to see you doing better," I heard from a seated man.

"Iruka-san? Why are you here?" I questioned, my mind abuzz trying to recall if he and Naruto were meant to be together today.

"Since Naruto worked so hard cleaning the Hokage monument after his prank," he shot the boy in question, chastising, prideful? look, "I promised to take him out for Ramen. Naruto insisted we bring you along."

Who was I to turn down free food? "I'd be happy to join you two."

The sun was slowly disappearing behind Hokage mountain, painting the sky a picturesque red hue as the three of us made our way to imbibe the food of the gods—Naruto's words, not mine. The fresh smell of spring was in the air, and the townspeople appeared to be in good spirits. I noted Naruto didn't get nearly as much negative attention as he once had. 12 years since the Kyuubi attack must have given people time to cool down somewhat.

"Evening, Teuchi-san," Iruka said once we arrived.

"Iruka-san! Two miso pork and one shoyu beef?" Teuchi asked—he already knew all our regular orders. Iruka agreed, and a few minutes later we were busily slurping down our respective bowls of noodle soup.

Eating at a sedate pace, Iruka spoke up, "Satoya, do you think it's respectful to our dear Hokage to paint all over their monument?"

Naruto immediately stilled. Ain't that a loaded question.

"Honestly, I don't think they'd care very much. Lord third might, but the others aren't around anymore, so I don't see how it could bother them."

Iruka raised his brow. "Oh? But that wasn't the question. Wouldn't you say it dishonours their memory to vandalise their faces?"

I set down my chopsticks and rested my head on my now free hands. "Maybe, but Isn't it unfair to place them on such a high pedestal? In the end they were people like us and not beyond reproach. I'm sure they'd be happy to get treated as such."

Then again if I remembered it right, the second Hokage had a really big stick up his ass.

"Perhaps that's true," Iruka conceded and directed his view towards a once again busily slurping Naruto. "What do you say, Naruto? Do the Hokage deserve to be put on a pedestal?"

Naruto glanced back at him and furrowed his brows. "The strong will always be on a pedestal. I bet once I get a forehead protector, I'll be put on a pedestal too, and then I'll continue onward to reach higher and higher!"

Iruka gave a good natured laugh in response and dropped the issue. "I'll hand it to you personally once you graduate."

Class the next morning was distinctly uncomfortable. Imagine all the nervous energy you have for an important exam, and multiply it by a factor of twenty from feeling that very same nervousness from all the other people sitting in the hall with you.

It didn't help that the first three hours were spent going over what it meant to be a ninja and the importance of protecting the village instead of just getting the damn thing over with. Will of fire, fighting for what's right, ugh just get on with it.

At least after today I wouldn't ever need to listen to village propaganda again. Or at least not nearly as much.

"Alright class, I'm sure you're all nervous about the exam," Iruka finally announced. "This year you will have to perform the Clone Technique. Enter the next room when your name is called so we can evaluate you."

Perfect, just like canon. No written part, no physical exam, no other jutsu. Naruto really drew the worst possible hand. I tried to give him a reassuring smile, but since I knew how poorly this would work out I doubted it looked convincing.

Ah well, he was destined to fail here, and everyone else I cared about would pass without trouble. Being fairly high up in the alphabet, Choji and I were the first two of our group to receive our headbands and he shared a 'victory chip' with me. Kiba filed in right afterwards, eventually followed by Akuma and Shikamaru.

They suggested we move outside to escape the stuffy waiting room. I gazed at clouds with Shikamaru while the others debated fighting styles.

"Oh shut it! With your dumb clan techniques of course you wouldn't do anything else!" Akuma snapped at Kiba. "I'm gonna beat you all up with my own Kenjutsu style, just you wait!"

Her conviction made me snort. She may have gotten a lot better at forging blades over the past six years, but her Kenjutsu left to be desired. It was too straightforward. In my eyes, our best kenjutsu combatant was actually Yuu. Despite acting like some regal prince, the guy was ruthless.

Speaking of which, "Oh, you actually made it, huh?"

Yuu stood above me on the field and sneered. "It was never in question. Though I suppose the standards must have dropped to an unacceptable degree if scum like you managed to pass."

He dramatically whipped his blue ponytail over his shoulder, and I couldn't help but think he'd evolved into such a pretty boy™ over the years he could probably give Haku a run for his money. Then again, he acted like way too much of a doofus.

Guess I ruined his chances with my corrupting influence.

I was about to give him some witty retort, but got cut off by Akuma zipping by and fiercely glomping the target of my ire. "You did it!" she shouted gleefully while Yuu tried, and failed, to ply her off. "That means we're all ninja! Let's go celebrate!"

Celebrate? But I have plans this afternoon!

Of course I couldn't really tell them that. Maybe make up some excuse of still being a little tired from my chakra depletion?

"Actually," Yuu started, his muscles straining against Akuma's as she stubbornly clung to him, "My parents mentioned they'd take us all out to lunch after today's exam. Your father was also invited, Akuma."

Oh right, parents. I forgot people typically had those.

Akuma stared up at her friend, easing her grip just slightly enough for him to break free. "Really? I can hardly believe my dad would agree to that."

"They are business partners," Yuu argued, walking around my prone body. "In fact, it's almost one o'clock, they're probably waiting for us right now."

Darn, I suppose there's no getting out of this one. I stretched, said goodbye to Shikamaru, and the three of us walked off to meet Yuu's waiting parents.

I only hoped that Naruto's conversation with Mizuki would go as planned.

It took only a few minutes of sitting in the restaurant for me to realise this had been a terrible mistake.

"I must say I'm quite delighted that all the training you've done has paid off," Yuu's father stated in a tone that suggested the opposite. "I suppose you have made good use of your grandfather's manuals."

Right, being from a samurai background helped quite a lot with learning kenjutsu.

"And this is the friend who kept stealing you away for the weekends?" Zoku inclining his head in my direction.

"Ogura-sama…"—I gulped. Civilians shouldn't be this scary!—"I believe we have actually met a few times before."

Zoku regarded me in the same way one would regard the neighbour's cat after it took a dump on one's patio. "Indeed, I apologise for having forgotten your name."

"Oh darling, don't be so rude!" Tehomi—Yuu's mother—said, lightly tapping her husband on the shoulder. "Your name was Satoya, wasn't it?"

Tehomi was the polar opposite of her husband in nearly every way. Short, extremely friendly and always supportive of her son no matter what he did. I had no clue how Zoku ever ended up with her.

"Yes, ma'am. I am he," I replied.

"At least you have manners," Zoku snidely remarked, "I can hardly believe you're the very same kid who kept pranking my business partners with that little blond."

"Don't let his polite demeanour fool ya, Ogura-san," Gotsu chortled. "You should see him cussing up a storm after hammering his thumb. Hah!"

Akuma facepalmed beside me as any goodwill I'd built up disappeared in a flash.

Zoku frowned. "Such unruly behaviour would have been harshly disciplined in the Land of Iron."

Yup, coming to this 'afterparty' was definitely a mistake.

Thankfully both Akuma and Yuu were just as aware of the awkward atmosphere as I was and the celebration—read: interrogation—only lasted long enough to eat our meals before I excused myself. No doubt the parents had something more private planned for the rest of the day.

Meanwhile I would be looking for our dear Mr. Protagonist.

Seven hours.

That's how long I waited for them to sound the alarm, and I knew for a darn fact that Naruto stole the scroll a long while ago because I'd literally been watching him for the past two.

Unbelievable. How is Konoha still standing?

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" shouted the kid in question. I looked down from my perch on the tree branch and could see him among a small group of doppelgangers. The mad lad had finally done it.

"YEAH I DID IT! NARUTO UZUMAKI'S GONNA BE THE BEST; BELIEVE IT!" my future Hokage cheered in tandem with his clones. He then quickly dispelled his copies and sat down to bury his face back in the scroll.

What's he up to? Trying to learn the edo-tensei next?

Just imagine a kid Naruto casually resurrecting the fourth Hokage for one of his earlier battles. That made me chuckle a bit. Honestly, I didn't understand why the Shadow Clone was even forbidden. Compared to edo tensei, it seemed like every single ninja and their mother knew the ability. There must be something—

"Alright, Let's do this!"

Naruto suddenly flooded the area with a truly outrageous amount of his chakra and goosebumps spread out across my skin.

"Tajū"—Realisation dawned in an instant. Without a second thought I channelled my chakra.—"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"

The smoke parted and the clearing was covered in a sea of orange. There were clones all over the place, some of them even on the branch directly underneath mine. They didn't spare my transformed body a second glance, even though it was a standard henge. I blended right into the crowd.

He dispelled the mass of copies a moment later, slumping down onto the ground with a satisfied grin. However, before he or I could relax I sensed the arrival of a certain someone.

"I found you, you little troublemaker!" Iruka growled.

"The nosebleeder!" Naruto shouted back.

I honestly didn't bother listening much further, since I had to focus on sneaking further away without arousing suspicion. If Iruka showed up, Mizuki was probably close behind. His maliciously bubbling chakra wasn't exactly hard to detect.

And there go the Kunai.

Yup. It sure seemed like this would go just as planned.

Ouch Iruka, why'd you take those for Naruto? The kid's got a healing factor!

He got straight up pinned to a tree. It actually looked pretty dangerous. Would Iruka really be okay? He definitely wasn't supposed to die here…

"Naruto! Don't give him the scroll no matter what!" shouted Iruka, gasping in pain, "It's filled to the brim with dangerous forbidden Techniques! Mizuki only used you to get his hands on them."

A look of betrayal came over the poor boy's face as Mizuki chuckled evilly on the tree above them.

"Naruto, let me tell you something," the blue-haired Teacher taunted, "You don't deserve this scroll. You don't deserve to be taught anything in the first place. I'll tell you the truth."

Iruka's eyes widened as he shouted out, "NO, DON'T!"

He couldn't stop him, pinned to the tree trunk as he was. Mizuki continued his speech unimpeded.

"Twelve years ago, when the Kyuubi attacked our village. When it destroyed our homes and killed our fellow people, you know what else happened that night?"

"W-What, what's that got to do with anything!?"

"Don't listen to him, Naruto!" yelled Iruka in vain.

"After the incident a new rule was instated, boy. A secret of that night, that nobody was to reveal, especially not to you," Mizuki said, pausing his explanation to let out an unhinged laugh.

"What rule?" Naruto asked, though he didn't seem too interested in Mizuki's words.

"The secret that you are the nine tailed demon fox!"

"NO!" Iruka helplessly yelped, pulling the Kunai from his shoulder and starting to free himself from the tree.

"The Hokage you admire so much is the very same person who sealed you! Didn't you find it odd how everyone looked at you with such disdain?"

"The hell!? What kinda weird {bullshit} are you spouting?" Naruto asked—Crap, I'm a bad influence—"That's an obvious lie! None of my friends look at me like that!"

Naruto's retort just made Mizuki laugh harder. Jeez man we get it; you're a douchebag. Turn the insanity down a notch, will ya?

"You really think they'll see you as a friend once they find out the truth?" the traitor hissed.

"Satoya would never—"

"You idiot!" Mizuki interrupted, unclasping the fuma shuriken from his back holster, "Of course he wouldn't know. Who'd tell him? You killed his parents after all. Just like you killed Iruka's parents too!"

Naruto pointed his finger accusingly. "You're obviously just trying to freak me out! I'd know if I did any of those things."

"If I was lying, why did Iruka try so hard to shut me down?" Mizuki posed, looking at the man in question. He noticed just in time that Iruka had almost freed himself from the tree, pinning him with another Kunai. "Stay put, Iruka. For your own good."

Iruka could do little more than grit his teeth in pain.

Naruto looked lost. "So it's true? I'm the—"

Mizuki began rapidly spinning the shuriken in his hands. "That's what I've been saying! Now, why don't I do the village a favour and end you."

Naruto was trembling in what looked like a mix of fear and anger.

This isn't right…

Iruka was out of commission and it looked like Naruto wasn't going to put up a fight.

"DIE!" Mizuki tossed the spinning death. Time froze and for a moment my mind went completely blank. When I returned to awareness I felt a searing pain in my back.

"Why didn't you dodge, dumbass?" I wheezed as blood ran down my torso.

"S-Satoya?" Naruto asked, blinking up at me with wide eyes. "Why?"

What could I tell him? I'm from the future and have to protect you? The pain made it rather hard to come up with anything better to be honest.

"Naruto,"—I coughed—"I taught you better than to listen to that bastard. I know you. Getting called a monster doesn't make you one! You're my closest friend. Fox or no fox." I could see tears welling up in his eyes and I added, "Us orphans need to stick together, don't we?"

I tried to smile reassuringly when my legs buckled and I collapsed atop him. Even with chakra reinforcement, that thrown weapon really did a number on me. Mizuki dropped off his perch to land in front of us.

"Satoya-kun, I really didn't want to do this, you know?" my ex-teacher growled. "You leave me no choice."

The next moment, Mizuki dodged a volley of blades from off to the side.

"That's enough, Mizuki," Iruka spoke coldly. "He isn't some demon, he's Uzumaki Naruto, one of my excellent students! I won't let you harm these two kids."

Naruto removed his jacket in a panic, trying his best to wrap up my wound after removing the Shuriken. I tuned out the pain and focused on the faceoff in front of me.

Mizuki glared at Iruka as he pulled out two Kunai. Iruka did the same. They circled each other warily, the atmosphere electric. One step, two steps, and they were upon one another.

Mizuki flashed his knife at Iruka's neck, he dodged by a hair. Iruka followed up with a counter. Mizuki parried. Metal sparked as their weapons collided.

Mizuki grinned. "Feeling sluggish, Iruka?"

Sensei's leg kicked out and Mizuki dashed back. The traitor quickly regained his footing only to willingly drop to the floor as his adversary's Kunai soared past him.

Rolling to the side, Mizuki picked up the bloody fuma shuriken that Naruto had thrown into the distance. He then pulled it up in front of his chest just in time to block another strike. Iruka kept his knife firmly in hand and kept pushing, eventually forcing the weapon from Mizuki's hands.

Their followup strikes were faster than I could track in my state. I only heard a string of metal clangs, Iruka eventually getting shoved violently backwards. Our teacher put up little resistance so Mizuki overextended and got slashed along his arms as punishment.

Both teacher's were panting now, but Iruka looked about ready to keel over.

"Iruka.. that fucking hurt!" Mizuki hissed, glaring at the bloodied man.

Naruto, who'd just finished up with my first aid, took off and sprinted at our would-be killer just as he wound up for another throw. Mizuki must have written us off completely, because Naruto ramming into him from the side caught the man off-guard.

"Don't you dare hurt Iruka-sensei!" he threatened. "Or I'll kill you!"

"Kill me? Pah!" Mizuki laughed, "I'll make you shut up permanently, Demon."

"Naruto, stop! I got this," Iruka said, trying to sound reassuring.

"No, Sensei. This time I'll protect my friends!" Naruto answered. "I'll show you that I got what it takes to graduate."

Mizuki merely stared in bemusement. So certain of his victory that he didn't bother closing the distance right away. A big mistake, as I felt a truly insane level of malevolent power.

"Tajū Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"

A horde of blond ninja exploded into the clearing. They were all shouting various insults and taunts at a suddenly very nervous looking Mizuki.

"Hey," I heard a clone say beside me as he picked me up off the ground, "I'll go take you to the hospital."

"He-ahck," I tried to laugh only to cough up blood, "Thanks."

I was confident Naruto had the rest well in hand.