CHAPTER 5
TITLE: Hope
Nara Shikamaru never claimed to be a the, 'super-genius' or 'child prodigy' others were so quick to assume that he was. Most people just guessed that he must be smart either because of his clan renown as competent tacticians or becasue his dad happened to be the longest standing Jounin commander in Konoha's history.
He never really bothered to correct them, that was basically in invitation for all kinds of troublesome messes.
He was typically content to allow their assumptions to remain untarnished by his, underwhelmingly banal self.
Not that he cared what people thought of him. But being burdened with annoying and boring conversations about his bright career as a shinobi whittled away at his spare time that he'd prefer to spend cloud watching or something.
Anyway, he guessed he must be at least a little smart, since seemed to talk about it so much. But he really didn't have to be that smart to know that there was something really strange about his class, and somehow it all revolved around that Naruto guy.
It was actually pretty hard to ignore, despite the effort of the adults in the village trying to keep anyone from finding out.
He'd be lying if he ever told himself that he actually tried, the most he did was treat him like he treated anyone else. Naruto seemed surprised by this art first, picking up on his laid back, and not at all hostile demeanor almost immediately. Seeming to expect poor treatment.
He did a little digging, but hardly found out anything. Noticing a certain reluctance whenever he brought up the subject with anyone.
As far as he could tell, it started with Naruto's disappearance, and then his sudden, suspicious return, followed immediately by the announcement of Iruka's suicide. Then the subsequent fallout of whatever actually happened, with certain students, and various adults acting strangely around the now injured Uzumaki.
The whole thing was fishy, despite the best efforts of the adults to make it seem like it wasn't. He'd even tried to ask his father about Naruto, and even he, who was typically more than happy to go on and on about village bureaucracy and politics, basically stonewalled him, refusing to speak a single word about the subject.
Shikamaru would normally find the whole situation rather interesting, if it wasn't so damn infuriating.
For him, answers were a common form of currency. Isolate the data, sort them by relevance, and extrapolate details. Eventually deducing the most likely answer, which for him, was correct more often than not.
But not now, for a reason Shikamaru could not explain for the life of him.
Naruto seemed like a good guy. Dense, and a little too blunt, but honest at least. Along with a certain, genuineness that was hard dislike, and even harder to fake.
It makes sense that some might not like him. But not this many people, this intensely, for no discernible reason at all.
Shikamaru looked up from his comfortable resting position. His head between his arms, resting comfortably on his desk, and looked around his classroom.
To his left was Chouji as usual, the plump, merry Akamichi feasting happily on a bag of sweet and salty chips. The red haired boy gave him a nod and offered a chip to him, he took one, nodding back politely before tossing the crunchy chip into his mouth.
As he chewed on the snack he looked around the classroom some more and saw most of the others in their usual seats. The ones that were normally late or out of their seats right about now sat in their chairs, either fidgeting or studying for the upcoming exam. Some were talking, but the classroom was a whole lot quieter than normal.
He spotted Ino, sitting patiently in her own desk next to Sakura, both studying and comparing notes. Shikamaru looked around more and after a few seconds he noticed two more irregularities. Naruto, and Sasuke, although seated almost entirely across the room from each other, both seemed uninterested in the activities of the room. With Sasuke leaning on the wall and gazing out the window, and Naruto with his head rested in his left hand, and his right hand tapping away on the desk. On a normal day he might've found this to be rather normal, but of all people, for Naruto to be the most calm on a day like this was far from the norm.
It was no secret to most that the Uzumaki was, at best, unlikely to pass. He'd noticed how he had put in more work and seemed to be improving over the last two months, but it did seem inevitable that Naruto wouldn't be getting his headband today, if ever. Maybe the Uzumaki had merely accepted his fate, and had decided to merely go through motions today. It was a move that Shikamaru could almost respect, and honestly he could see himself doing something similar if the roles were reversed. But unfortunately in the words of his father, there were things expected of him, and certain responsibilities of a clan heir that he had to fulfill. Both to ensure the future of their clan, and secure the safety of the village.
The young Nara yawned and lay his head back down to the desk, closing his eyes in the hope of securing at least a few more minutes of rest before the test.
He still felt bad for Naruto though, especially when he heard that Naruto tried to take the exam early twice before, failing both times.
But it wasn't really his business, he still had to pass too after all. He couldn't avoid it now, or he'd catch hell from BOTH his parents, instead of just one.
'But, dad did only say that I had to pass...' He smiled to himself.
If there was anything Shikamaru was good at, it was aggressively, and skillfully shooting for perfectly lukewarm, calm, mediocrity.
As Hinata stared at the mess of tangled blond hair that made up the back of Naruto's head, she felt the pit of worry she felt in her stomach twist around in nervous anticipation.
The written portion was over, and now Hinata waited patiently in line to preform the three jutsu needed to graduate. She couldn't get a good look at him during the test, but now she stood only a few spots behind him.
The teachers were in front, with both Rei-sensei and Mizuki-sensei sitting behind a desk grading the performance of the three jutsu needed to pass.
If Hinata could pick one word to describe the blonde, it would've been 'distracted'. Naruto was behaving sort of similar to an average day at the academy, which was worrying, as least to her.
Through her...Observations, of his training, she knew that most of the exam would probably be a walk in the park.
Well... other than the written part, but other than that he should be fine.
It was that one jutsu that Naruto just couldn't get down that was worrying her. After another second of waiting she took another step, and the feeling got worse when she realized that Naruto was next in line.
'Oh Naruto-kun... I know how hard you've been working at this...'
Hinata vaguely heard Rei-sensei congratulate the student she was grading, only to move on to Naruto. Rei seemed to match her concern based on her tense expression, her previous polite smile replaced with a frown and furrowed brow.
Naruto stepped forward lazily, and Hinata could see the tension from the stare Naruto shared with her teacher. After about a minute of silence, Rei sighed and gestured to Naruto, "The three jutsu if you please..." She said, sounding much more tired and resigned than before.
Naruto nodded and stepped back, and after weaving the appropriate hand signs, a puff of smoke exploded from where he stood, to reveal a copy of the Sandaime, pipe and all. The copy said nothing, it didn't move or make a single sound. It just continued to stare at the teacher, and Hinata couldn't help but feel a little awkward at the display.
By now, the entire class had noticed the tension between Naruto and Rei, the ambient noise fading gradually until most stood silent as they watched Naruto go through the test.
Eventually Rei nodded in satisfaction and the copy exploded in smoke once again, revealing Naruto exactly how he was before.
Rei nodded again, "Now the body replacement Jutsu." She used the pencil she was writing with to point at the trash can next to the door, "...Substitute yourself with—"
She was cut off as a loud pop, along with the telltale smoke of a jutsu being preformed erupted from where Naruto once stood, only to appear next to the door, his hands still in the last hand signs position.
Hinata felt hope bloom in her chest when she saw the ease at which Naruto preformed the other two techniques. Her hopes didn't seem to be matched by naruto himself, who still seemed withdrawn, if not a little irritated at the whole affair.
He walked back to the desk at a slow pace, eventually ending up right back where he was. Rei sighed and gestured to him again, "And now, the clone Jutsu."
Naruto nodded, and his face went from bored to determined in an instant. Naruto once again preformed the hand signs for the jutsu only with more deliberate intensity than before.
Hinata brought up her hand in the confrontation seal, and discretely activated her bloodline limit, and hoped no one would notice.
Her vision opened up, and every detail of the room, along with the chakra pathways of everyone there became visible. But Hinata wasn't interested in everyone, just him. As she focused, she saw how his chakra shifted and flowed according to each hand sign. She watched carefully for the changes when suddenly she saw chakra erupt from within him. Hinata nearly jumped when she saw the raw amount that poured from Naruto and into the air, shifting into a human form faster than she could see.
Hinata's eyes widened when she saw the sheer amount that lay within the clone as it flopped around uselessly before popping.
'What? But...how?' Hinata thought, confused.
However her confusion was soon replaced by anger, as she heard the raucous laughter that exploded from the occupants of the classroom. Hinata let the chakra fade from her eyes and felt her hands ball up into fists, but when she looked at Naruto expecting a similar reaction, she saw only disappointment as Naruto let his arms fall limply at his sides.
It was then that it hit her, Naruto was trying his best to forget his own anxiety, trying to push past it and still try his best.
Hinata looked desperately to both of her sensei, both looked forlorn, with Rei's eyes searching and hopeful, while Mizuki's were sad, with a trace of pity in his dark eyes.
Mizuki turned to look at Rei, "Maybe this time we could give him a pass. He really worked hard this time and—"
Rei struck down the proverbial gavel with a stiff shake of the head and an apologetic glance at Naruto.
"Naruto, wait outside please."
The only sign that Naruto heard him was his hands clenching tightly at his sides before he pivoted and strode out he door. Hinata felt her heart sink at seeing his departure, and her eyes followed him until he disappeared from view beyond the doorway.
She watched as Ino raced from her spot in line to follow him, and heard as Rei called out her name and she walked forward, all her previous excitement and apprehension at the test she was about to take forgotten.
Replaced only by fear and a cold sense of helplessness.
Ino leapt from her place in line, running past the shouts from her teachers ordering her to stay.
She reached to door, hugging the doorway and bending her body to peek around the corner and into the hallway. But her fears rang true, he was long gone.
Ino heaved a sigh, turning around slowly as her worry steadily increased as her thoughts raced.
'It doesn't make any sense! Naruto might be a dope but he's way better at this ninjutsu stuff than me! How can he just fail like that?'
Ino bumped into something hard and she flinched backwards, only to look up to see the stern but concerned look of Rei-Sensei. Ino bowed and mumbled an apology, "He's gone isn't he?"
Ino took a moment to look surprised before she nodded to her sensei.
Rei sighed, and looked past her at the door for a moment before shaking her head. Ino was looking down at the floor when she felt a hand on her shoulder, and when she looked up Rei was smiling, but her eyes were still sad.
"Come on, your up next. When you're done, we'll go and find Naruto. Okay?"
Ino nodded and walked with Rei back to the desk, 'Naruto... What's going on? Where are you?'
The door to Naruto's apartment flew open, and Naruto raced through the door and into his room. He searched through his things, attaching his kunai holster and grabbing as much gear as he could carry. He reached out to grab his old binoculars, and his hands hovered over the old things before he finally grabbed them, attaching them to his head.
He turned around, and nearly screamed when he saw Tori, her hands on her hips.
"Why are you back so soon?" She demanded.
Once Naruto calmed down from the near heart attack she gave him, he recovered and answered as he went to leave, "Rei-sensei let me leave early once everyone passed."
"Everyone?" Tori asked. Naruto hated how surprised she sounded, but the happiness in her tone also made him feel all the worse for lying to her. He nodded, "I want to meet with the Hokage."
Naruto watched for Tori's reaction, and was both surprised and not surprised to see the lack of reaction. After a beat of silence she finally spoke, "You do?"
Naruto swallowed thickly at the prospect, but he steeled his nerve and nodded, "Yeah. It's been...a long time."
Tori straightened, "...I'm sure if you request a meeting, the Hokage will accommodate you. But if you want to meet him now—"
Naruto nodded again, "Now would be good."
Tori didn't say anything to that, she just nodded and let him pass. Naruto walked past her without saying a word, and he was out in zero seconds flat, heading straight for the Hokage tower.
Rei arrived at Naruto's house hardly five minutes after the last student was done with their last test. While her face was the epitome of calm, her mind was a hurricane of anger and confusion.
Rei typically prided herself on having plans upon plans when she wanted to solve a problem, but she honestly didn't know what to say to her student. She had half a mind to march him right up to the Hokage herself and demand an explanation.
The school teacher hurried up the steps, and a quick flare of her chakra dialed up her senses to an eleven, and another flare sent out a chakra signal that acted as a quick scan of the apartment. The scan told her that there was no one but Tori there, and she sighed in disappointment.
'Oh Naruto. Where have you g—'
As she thought about Naruto's whereabouts, the door swung open to reveal a familiar looking bird mask. Rei was confused, but walked inside regardless. She walked inside, noting the mess coming from Naruto's room, but otherwise, the apartment was missing.
She looked back to Tori, and with a quick nod, the ANBU poofed into a cloud of smoke.
Rei had only a short moment of confusion before a look of understanding crossed her face.
'Damn...'
Rei left the way she came, closing and locking the door behind her before sprinting off. She abandoned the streets, leaping on rooftops in order to reach her ultimate destination all the more quickly.
The old Sarutobi glanced at the clock on his wall and frowned, feeling a little bit disappointed in the young chunin. He'd thought, or at least hoped that the chunin would've come stomping into his office some time ago. It was the main reason that he wasn't in the middle of some meeting or neck deep in paperwork right now.
Not that he was complaining or anything, but it was hard to feel relaxed when he sat there in anticipation for the wrath from a furious kunoichi, let alone face Naruto again.
Hiruzen furrowed his brow and sighed when he thought of the young boy. The blonde student that looked far too much like Minato for his uncannily similar appearance to be anything but some cruel trick from Kami himself.
Hiruzen almost felt himself begin to doze off, but the old man stirred when he heard the sound of footsteps approaching. The footsteps grew louder as they approached, and eventually the door opened to reveal his secretary that was stationed just outside the door.
Hiruzen's graying eyebrows went up in surprise, Masako-san didn't have an appointment until the next week, and Rei wouldn't stop for the secretary if she was here to talk about Naruto.
The woman he knew as Itsuka spoke up after a brief moment of silence, "U-Um, apologies for disturbing you Lord Hokage, but you told me to let you know if Uzumaki Naruto ever arrived..."
Hiruzen's eyes flew open in shock, "Is he outside?"
Itsuka stumbled over her words, but ultimately nodded, "Y-Yes, h-he's requested a meeting. S-Should I let him in?"
Hiruzen nodded vigorously, "Y-Yes. By all means, let him in."
The woman bowed and disappeared behind the door to do as he ordered. Hiruzen sat back in surprise, but ultimately steeled his nerves as he had a dozen times, and prepared himself to face the one he failed.
He was determined not to do that again. Never again.
The closer he got to see the old man, the faster his legs moved, and the faster his heart beat.
He felt more excited than he thought he would feel, which was to say not at all. The last time they spoke, it went badly. Although, Naruto was four years older now, and even though he'd like to say he was wiser now, but he really had no idea.
He certainly didn't feel wise, standing in these halls made him feel as small and insignificant as ever. He did his best to stand tall as he began to march through the large wooded doors.
He slowly pushed the huge wooden doors open, and there he was, The Hokage of Konohagakure no sato. It was no surprise that nothing had really changed, everything looked exactly the same. And that mostly included the Hokage himself.
He had a few extra wrinkles, and his hair was a shade whiter than he remembered, but otherwise the old man was the same too. all the way down to his warm, conforting smile he gave him now.
Naruto smiled nervously back, stepping into the office as he closed the door behind him. He walked forward, counting the seconds as he headed towards the desk in the center of the room. Only letting his eye wander to look at the wall of previous Kage before he finally stopped in front of the Sandaime's desk.
"Hey, Hokage-sama." He thought that maybe he had mistakenly said something wrong at first, based on the Hokage's sad expression. But after anything moment of silence, the old man smiled lightly, "Hello Naruto-kun. It's been a while."
Naruto smiled thinly at the choice of words, "Yeah."
Naruto had thought about what to say to the old man for a long time now, he thought that he might be more scared or mad at the old man, but he couldn't quite bring himself to be angry at the man before him.
Naruto saw the look of pain in his eyes when he looked at him, and it reminded him of how the old man used to look whenever he brought up his parents. He knew that whatever happened, the old man seemed to blame himself, or at least felt sad at the thought of their deaths.
Either way, he didn't feel angry, he didn't feel much of anything when he looked at him, and he wondered why he was so scared to come.
"I hear that you are preforming well, as of late. It is good to hear that you are working so hard." The Hokage said after a while.
Naruto frowned when she remembered the reason he was here, "Yeah, a lot of good it did me."
Hiruzen smiled wryly in sympathy, "Yes, I heard. Complications with the clone jutsu is it?"
Naruto let his frown melt into a more neutral expression, he was positive that the Hokage already knew the answer to that question, but decided to answer him anyway, although if you asked him, he wouldn't be able to properly tell you a reason why.
"Yeah, I tried really hard for a long time too. I just can't seem to figure it out."
The Sandaime pursed his lips and brought a hand to his pointy bear, "Do you have any idea what the cause or reason for that difficulty could be?"
Naruto crossed his arms and gave the Hokage a petulant look, "Well if I knew I would've passed dattebayo."
The old man burst out laughing, and eventually Naruto, despite himself, found himself laughing along with him.
The old man wiped a tear from his eye, still chuckling, "Yes, I suppose so. Forgive me for phrasing it in that way. I suppose a more appropriate question to ask might be if you had any ideas for what the problem may be?"
Naruto scratched his head for a moment, "Not really..." His hand stopped and fell to his side as a thought suddenly popped into his head, "...Except for...Well... You know..."
Naruto stammered on a bit longer, but from the look on the older man's face, he likely figured out what Naruto was trying to say.
Upon mention of the fox the Sandaime's face darkened, and his eyes took on a heaviness that wasn't there before.
"...As I thought..."
Naruto barely kept himself from jumping in alarm at the sudden voice, but he managed to contain his reaction enough so that he didn't alarm the Hokage still looking at him.
'...So content to let the 'monster' take the blame.'
Before he could ask what the fox was talking about, the old man spoke up again, "Do you believe that could be the cause?"
Naruto took second to think about it and found it unlikely. If that was the case, then it was also likely the the fox would've fixed the problem by now, or at least told him about it. So he shook his head, "No, I don't think so."
The Hokage nodded, "I see, well have you noticed anything strange, anything at all?"
Naruto hesitated, but shook his head, "No, not really." The Hokage seemed to buy it, and nodded slowly. He lied. Regardless of their prior relationship, he still felt awful lying to the man who was basically his grandfather.
"All for a just cause Naruto..." the fox said.
The Hokage cleared his throat loudly, drawing his attention away from the dank cellar in the bowels of his mind, and back to the Hokage.
"So how well do you think he did on the rest of the test?" The Hokage asked.
Naruto sighed, holding his hands behind his head, "I don't really know. I knew some of the answers on that test we took though. Guess all those dumb books Tori made me read were some help though."
"Yes." The Hokage said, his voice flat but somewhat amused, "That would be what books are for."
Naruto's eye twitched, and he somehow got the feeling that he was just made fun of in some way. But without a proper retort he just resorted to irritated grumbling.
The Hokage laughed, "Well anyway, was there anything of import you managed to learn outside of what was on the test?"
Naruto grinned devilishly, "Actually yeah."
Naruto pointed at the Sandaime, "I managed to learn a whole new jutsu!" The Hokage's eyebrows went up in surprised, "Learning a whole new jutsu is no small feat Naruto-kun. What does it do?"
Naruto laughed in anticipation, "I'll show you." Naruto used the ram seal to focus his chakra, and the Hokage laughed nervously, sweat dotting his forehead as he waved a hand in the air. "Ah, maybe now is not the best—"
A loud bang cut off the Hokage, and a puff of white smoke appeared where Naruto once stood. The Hokage's eyes were wide and searching as he searched the smoke for the young boy, but when the smoke cleared what was revealed was an almost completely naked girl, the remnant wisps of smoke blessedly covering the naughtier bits. The girl had blonde pigtails, and was posing sensually as she basically moaned at him, "Hokage-sama, please..."
The mighty god of shinobi paused for a split second before a fountain of blood burst from his nose, launching him past his chair, and slamming him to the ground.
After a moment, the girl popped in to a could of white, and Naruto stepped through the cloud, and gingerly walked around the desk, and spied the Hokage dazed on the ground. He was obviously dazed, and mumbling things Naruto didn't really understand, so he just moved away from the desk, "What is up with grown ups and this kind of stuff anyway?"
Naruto walked from the front of the desk, and opened a drawer near the bottom of the desk, just where Mizuki said to look. What he found was a huge scroll that he had to grip with both hands to carry. Naruto grinned, "Bingo."
He quietly made his way to the window, glancing back to the Hokage briefly, before launching himself from the office, and into the cool night air.
The Hokage wiped the blood from his nose with a handkerchief, Rei standing next to him, with both of them staring out the window looking for where Naruto may have gone.
The Sandaime shook his head, "That 'pervy jutsu' of his, really is a quite a sneaky and devious technique."
Rei glanced at him, looking distinctly unimpressed, "Hmph." She grunted, obvious displeased, but with him, or her wayward student he couldn't tell.
Hiruzen chucked nervously for only second before he snapped back to reality. His gaze now serious, "Is it true?" The Hokage asked her.
She stared ahead, "Yes. Mizuki is almost certainly responsible. Naruto is headed for his location now."
He nodded, "I already gave the order, go and bring them both back here." Rei turned and nodded, then disappeared in a swirl of dust and leaves, leaving the Hokage to himself.
Hiruzen turned from the windows and sat at his desk, forming a half ram seal before opening the drawer to his left, and pulling a cloudy white crystal ball, "Oh Naruto..."
He placed the crystal ball on his desk, and after a moment it began to glow. A picture forming on its surface of a yellow haired bow reading from the great scroll.
Hiruzen's grey eyebrows creased with worry, "...Just, be careful."
He was about two jutsu deep into the scroll, when Naruto started to think that he made a mistake.
Naruto sat in the middle of a clearing just outside the village walls, reading with more ferocity and enthusiasm than he ever had in his life. The second jutsu was as much a dud as the first, mostly because they involved writing some kind of pattern on his skin, and he had neither the knowledge or the patience to find out how to do that.
Naruto scoffed as he turned the page, "Ugh, sounds boring anyway."
After what felt like an eternity of more reading, Naruto pulled at his hair in frustration, "Ugh, there's gotta be a way to learn how to do this! I can't have come all this way for nothing!"
The fox was strangely silent, but Naruto couldn't imagine that the fox would be of much help trying to understand the 'blasphemous' justu of his village, as the fox describes it.
With a loud groan and no small amount of cursing under his breath, Naruto reluctantly gave up and turned the page, and saw tons of warnings about overuse of chakra, possible death, yada yada yada...
"Ah! Finally." On the next page was another jutsu, this one needing no supplies or stupid writing, just one hand seal.
Naruto grinned in satisfaction, "Perfect..."
As Rei jumped from branch to branch, she finally honed in on Naruto's chakra signature, and began to close in as soon as she confirmed that he was alone. But as she got closer, she noticed that the chakra she was running towards kept shifting and changing.
Rei picked up the pace and eventually made it to the clearing. She launched herself from the branch of a tree and landed a short distance away from Naruto.
Her blonde student flinched at her arrival, and when she bared down on him with her piercing stare, he had the good sense to look a bit afraid. She narrowed her eyes at him, "Naruto. Explain."
Naruto gave a weak chuckle, "H-Hey Rei-sensei, you caught me!"
Rei wasn't amused, and crossed her arms to make her feelings about his act of playing dumb, "Naruto..." She warned.
Naruto waved his hands in the air, "It's okay, I know about the alternate test. Mizuki said—"
Rei cut him off, "I don't care what Mizuki said." She growled.
"You knew the penalties of stealing the scroll of seals, let alone the risks! You could've gotten yourself killed." Naruto shrunk back at her anger, backing off a couple of steps from the angry kunoichi.
Naruto's face drooped a bit, his fear morphing into guilt on his face, "But, Mizuki..." He said lamely.
Rei shook her head, "You don't trust Mizuki. You hardly trust me if you thought that stealing property of the village was a better alternative to waiting for me to help you."
Naruto looked stricken for a moment but after another moment of silence, his face took on an angrier tone, and he went silent. Rei continued to stare at him for another minute, but when it became clear he wasn't going to say anything more, she let the subject drop for now.
Rei sighed loudly, resting her hands on her hips, but as she looked around, she noticed a multitude of heavy footprints and scuff marks in the dirt. She turned to look at Naruto, and as she looked she found scratches in his clothing and skin, with a fine sheen of sweat covering his visible brow around his binoculars.
Rei quirked her head to the side, "You've been training..." She stated. Naruto looked down, but didn't say anything. Her worry rose along with her anger, if he found a way to use a technique in that book he could seriously injure himself, or possibly others.
"Naruto, if you—"
"You said I'd pass if I worked hard..." He said with finality. Rei froze, and guilt ate at her.
She frowned sadly, "Naruto—"
"I guess you're right, I didn't trust you." Naruto leaned on the scroll to get up, his eyes misty as he stared at her dead in the eyes.
"But I have to pass. You said that if I'd pass... You know that I'm not lazy, I'm not fucking stupid. You're not like the other teachers, you knew that I just can't do it. I... Tried... EVERYTHING... And you failed me anyway."
Naruto's words hurt her more for the truth in them, than the venom in his words. He wasn't wrong, and after he was done it all made sense...
"Is that why you listened to Mizuki? Becasue he could get what you wanted?"
Naruto glared at her, "You're damn right! You don't get it Rei-sensei. I HAVE to get stronger, why don't you—"
Rei's eyes flew wide open as she heard the telltale sound of kunai flying through the air, and she whipped around just as two flew past her head, one clipping the side of her neck, just centimeters away from her exposed neck.
Rei cursed, and in an instant, she had a kunai with one hand, and a fist-full of Naruto's shirt with the other as she forcefully dragged them both backwards, avoiding the deadly projectiles.
The kunoichi batted away shuriken and kunai out of the air like a deadly whip, slinging her arm back and forth through the air, the harsh sing of metal hitting metal whizzing through the air.
As she deflected, she watched as more and more poured through the trees like a swarm of insects, and as she realized that she wasn't going to deflect them all, she threw naruto to the side, only briefly hearing his cry of alarm and pain on his impact with a nearby tree, she she felt a hot, piercing pain erupt from her side as she felt two kunai stab into her exposed back. She fought to keep her eyes open and pulled another kunai, but as soon as she did, she felt her world flip as someone or something hauled her off her feet by her left arm and slammed her into a tree.
The impact alone very nearly thrust her into unconsciousness, with the various wounds on her body only making the allure of oblivion that much more appealing. She shook her head, trying desperately to remain conscious. The only anchor to the waking world being the sharp pain in her back and side. She looked up and saw exactly what she'd expected, the white haired traitor, leering at her as she lay bleeding on the ground.
Naruto's vision swam as he got up from the ground, still clutching the scroll tightly. He shook his head, but then his eyes widened in horror when he saw Mizuki leaning over Rei's still form. He rose to a shaky stance as he faced down the traitor, "B-Bastard, what the hell are you doing? I thought you were after me!?"
Mizuki gave a short huff of laughter at his desperate comment, all malice in his reply, "So you did know what I was doing! Ha! Nice to know you're not a complete fucking idiot."
Mizuki walked away from Rei as she groaned in pain behind him, and the ex-instructor stalked towards Naruto, hefting two Fūma shuriken in his hands.
The two heavy weapons dragged across the dirt floor as he walked, "Still dumb enough to come though, fatal mistake."
Despite his bravado, Naruto felt his heart pounding as hie eyes flitted between Mizuki's eyes and the huge weapons he bore, "Damn you, you dirty lying bastard!"
That seemed to give Mizuki paused, until the ashen haired chunin burst into cackling laughter, "Lying? Whew! That's a good one!"
He shrugged a shoulder to wipe a tear from his eye as he continued to glare at Naruto, "Of all people to accuse me of that, you've got to be the worst hypocrite I've ever seen."
Naruto's eyes widened, and his jaw slackened as his head whipped over to look at Rei, who was listening, but seemed confused.
'No...' Naruto thought desperately.
Naruto glared at Mizuki with increasing intensity, "Bastard, shut the hell up or I'll—"
Mizuki whirled on Naruto, his crazed eyes staring deep into Naruto's, "Or what!?"
Naruto's glare wavered, and he took a hesitant step back. Mizuki turned away dismissively, and Rei flinched slightly when his manic gaze was fixed on her, "I'm gonna go out on a limb and guess that no one told you about Umino Iruka..."
Naruto charged at the chunin, wielding the scroll as a club as he rushed for the chunin. He heard Rei scream for him to stop, but by the time he heard her, he was within an arms reach of the man.
Mizuki moved, and far faster than he could see, his foot struck the scroll and him faster than he could blink. He felt the air rushed out of him as the kick to his chest instantly winded him.
Naruto reeled as he flew through the air, eventually skidding across the forest floor, and thudding hard against a tree. Naruto felt the air leave his lungs, and felt his teeth rattle upon contact as he came to rest at the base of the tree.
Mizuki smirked in sadistic satisfaction, turning back to leer at Rei, "...As I was saying, you never knew, everything about what happened to him did you?"
Rei was silent, and only glared with all her might at the chunin, Mizuki shrugged and continued, "...Probably not, chunin like us are hardly told anything am I right?"
Mizuki's face drooped as all the manic joy left him, replaced with pure anger and hatred as his eyes darkened and his happy smile turned into a rueful frown, "Well, I happened to be good friends with Iruka." Mizuki shrugged again, "We grew up together, and although we disagreed on some things..." He turned to glare pointedly at Naruto, "...I thought we were pretty close."
Naruto clutched the scroll as his gaze shifted from Mizuki to Rei. Her face was more or less expressionless, and Naruto dreaded to know what she may be thinking as Mizuki reached the point of his speech.
Mizuki whipped an arm out to point one of his shuriken at Naruto, "At least we were, until the demon brat killed him!"
Naruto felt the blood drain from his face, as he stared pleadingly at Rei. He waited for several agonizing seconds for her to say or do anything, until eventually her face went from blank to sad, "Naruto..."
The blonde child felt the world fade away as his mind went back to that time. That place...
Naruto felt a searing pain in his mind, and he grabbed both side of his head as images and memories flashed through his mind. An image of Iruka, of blood and pain and anger.
A slashed throat, barely recognizable as such, now a glob of mutilated flesh bubbled as Iruka breathed his last words to him.
"Naru...to...It's...your fault...It's...not..." He could still smell the blood, feel his own disgust, fear and anger all mixed together and turned to fire in his veins.
He opened his eyes, feeling the heat of his own chakra burn and bubble. It was on him, on his skin, his bones, his muscles. It was inside him. In his gut, in his head.
It was him.
Naruto grabbed the scroll and ran. He didn't care what direction, he didn't care how far he had to run, he just ran. Anything to get away from Mizuki.
Anything to not see that look on Rei's face too.
Mizuki knew that the Kyuubi brat couldn't have gotten far, the second she bolted she kicked the useless Kyuubi loving bitch further into the forest, and sped off to find the annoying brat.
Unfortunately for him, the brat was faster than he anticipated. Likely he was fueled by using that beast's chakra. But it wasn't long before he found him anyway. He spotted a flash of orange from his ugly hoodie he seems to love, and after a few choice leaps from branch to branch, it wasn't long until he was only a few yards behind the irritating little shit.
Mizuki smirked, "Oh poor Uzumaki. You're gonna have to be faster than that to—"
His taunting was cut off suddenly as the young academy student suddenly stopped on a dime, and rocketed backwards with more speed than he thought possible for one so inexperienced, and tackled them both from the canopy, and back down to the floor.
Enraged, Mizuki threw one of his Fūma shuriken at the boy, but the Uzumaki pulled a kunai from his pouch and deflected the projectile. Clutching the kunai with both hands and swinging the blade down on the shuriken, deflecting the projectile safely into the trees.
Mizuki landed gracefully, while Naruto hit the ground roughly, his momentum from his attack throwing him backwards and eventually sliding to a stop only a couple of yards away from the recently missing ninja.
Mizuki chuckled as he stared at the fake, "Impressive Rei-chan. But you can't hide the brat from me forever."
The fake naruto smirked before a cloud of smoke burst from the henge, revealing a cut up and bruised Rei. She panted hard, both from the exertion and from the pain of her injuries, "I can try."
Mizuki shook his head at her, disappointed that such a promising shinobi couldn't see the truth as he could. "You know Naruto isn't like you noble types. He stole the scroll so he could gain strength, and he lied to trick you into trusting him."
Mizuki stalked towards her, his last shuriken Fūma shuriken glinting in the moonlight, "He's going to run away, run away with the scroll, just to gain enough power to destroy us all. Just let me put him down, its a win-win!"
Rei growled in anger, but said nothing. She merely raised a single kunai at him as her only answer.
Mizuki's head drooped and he to shake his head.
After a moment he laughed, his laugh both haughty and sad, "You know, it's funny. As I said me and Iruka grew up together, so we knew a lot about each other." Mizuki began to walk slowly towards Rei as he talked, "...I knew about his family and his past, so forgive me if I don't find it a little funny that after the fox killed his entire family twelve years ago, now the fox killed him for trusting it." Mizuki stopped just as his brow furrowed as he stared at Rei, "I warned him you know. I told him, 'He's just a beast. The fox can't be trusted, the second you trust him, the moment you give him just a little bit of leeway, he'll take you and everything you have.'"
Mizuki's mad, crooked smile widened, "This life, it turned me into, this. That's why I know what Naruto will do. Becasue if it's anything I know about, it's monsters."
Naruto tried desperately to stifle the sound of his harsh panting as he sat at the base of a tree. The effect of the kyuubi's chakra had long worn off, and the effects were taking their toll. He legs felt like they were made of lead, and his chest ached terribly.
And without the distraction of the chakra to keep his fears at bay, he felt them in full force now.
'Naruto...' The fox warned. 'It's time to leave. Take the scroll and go.'
Naruto wasn't surprised to hear the instruction from the Kyuubi, and his current feeling made him somewhat willing to comply.
The thought of seeing that same distrusting, hatful gaze from Rei was almost too much to even think about, let alone see.
He was about to get up and run, but then he froze as the sound of a voice he recognized rang out from the depths of the forest, "Well, you are right about some things."
He felt a stabbing pain in his chest as he heard it, 'So the Kyuubi was right, they really don't care about me. Not even her...'
He felt the despair crawling at the corners of his psyche, but then she continued, and although he couldn't see her face, he heard an almost mocking tone to her voice that he'd never actually heard from her before, "...You really are a beast Mizuki."
He heard Mizuki growl in anger, but she continued on, "The Hokage told me about the incident including Umino Iruka years ago."
Naruto felt the pit into his stomach grow into a gaping hole, ' The Hokage... He... Told her?'
She went on, her tone cold and condemning, "I looked into as much as I could. Whatever wasn't redacted or hidden, I studied. looking endlessly for any proof whatsoever of the 'monster that so many people saw in him. But if there's anything I learned in the years of being Naruto's teacher, its that he is nothing, compared to you."
Naruto felt his world stop, and although he could hear the words of the Kyuubi echo in his mind, they felt as if they were as airy and meaningless as clouds in the wind as he focused in on the voice of his teacher.
"I know what it's like. To be used manipulated, sucked dry and then cast aside when you've reached the end of your usefulness. But Naruto is kind, caring, and selfless to a fault, and if I could name an individual as far apart from you as I could, it would be Uzumaki Naruto."
Naruto felt his throat tighten at the words of his sensei, and he gripped the scroll tightly as he felt the tears drip past his cheeks and on the forest floor below him.
Rei huffed out a laugh of amusement, "It's true, a beast lurks inside Naruto. But him at that beast are nothing alike. Naruto can be a troublemaker, but I know what its like to live as an orphan, and he's already better off than I was at his age." The kunoichi sighed, "No, I think Naruto will do just fine. His suffering will become his strength. Just like it was for me, he's no bijuu."
Naruto slid down the rough bark of the tree, tears cascading down his face, barely holding his harsh, hiccuping sobs as she continued. Her voice, that of iron, "He's Uzumaki Naruto. A ninja of Konohagakure in all but name."
He heard Mizuki growl, and then heard telltale sound of metal on fabric. Without even thinking, he channeled his own chakra, moving faster than he even thought possible, running at the sound of Mizuki's voice. The rogue chunin grunted in exertion as he threw the massive shuriken, and Naruto palmed a kunai from his pouch, slicing downward to knock the huge bladed projectile away from him and his teacher.
Naruto kept his momentum, flying though the air and landing a solid knee to Mizuki's smug face.
Mizuki yelled in pain, flying back from the force of Naruto's attack. They both hit the ground at the same time, Naruto's graceful slide contrasting harshly to Mizuki's hard landing.
He heard the shuriken break through branches in the background behind him, just as Mizuki began to rise. He didn't turn away even for a second as he stared down Mizuki, the chunin taking a moment to gawk at him in astonishment, and then glare at him in anger anger as he growled in annoyance at his attack being thwarted.
"Nice move brat, but don't think that'll save you or your precious teacher from me."
He lifted his head to glare at Mizuki for all he was worth, channeling his chakra into his stare, "If you lay a finger on my Sensei, I'll fucking kill you..."
Naruto put the kunai back in his pouch, and brought the scroll of seals out in front of him, taunting the arrogant chunin with a pat to the village artifact.
Mizuki just grinned, more amused than threatened, "Brave words for just an academy student. I'm a fully vetted chunin. You don't stand a chance against me you little punk."
Naruto merely raised up both hands, crossing his fingers in the seal he had practiced nearly a hundred times, "Take you're best shot asshole. Whatever you hit me with, I'll give back to you a hundred times over."
He heard Rei gasp quietly behind him, but Mizuki ignored them both as he charged forward, two kunai in his palms in the blink of an eye, "Go ahead Kyuubi no kitsune! Show me how a real monster fights!"
Naruto grinned in anticipation, uttering his next words with all the gusto and passion he could manage, "Shadow Clone Jutsu!"
The sound of a hundred puffs of smoke filled the clearing, and after second, the entire space was filled with flashes of orange and black as a hundred identical copies stated down at the chunin.
Mizuki froze, dropping both kunai and sputtering in disbelief, "Wha—, b-but h-how I..."
Naruto grinned, and felt a great amount of satisfaction when he saw the same expression repeated over all of his clones.
Mizuki whirled on the clones, his eyes snapping between all of them, his eye's widened in shock.
Naruto brought his fist to his palm, "Get ready for an Uzumaki style beat down asshole..."
Mizuki had only a second to let out of wail of despair before his clones descended on him, and Naruto very much enjoyed the music of Mizuki's pain filled screams along with the sounds of punches and kicks landing on the poor, defeated chunin.
As he looked down at the beaten and bloodied traitor, Naruto cleaned the dust, dirt and blood from his hand with a few short claps of his hands.
He chuckled to himself, "I might've gone just a little bit overboard, but its not like he didn't ask for it." His attention was distracted from the groaning form of Mizuki by a familiar laugh a few feet away.
Rei leveled a knowing stare at him, "Come on Naruto-kun, we both know you're not sorry at all."
Naruto chuckled nervously, knowing he couldn't really deny it.
Rei broke the stare with a short laugh as she leaned her head back against the tree, "But you're right. He did ask for it."
Naruto jogged over to Rei, and he frowned in worry as he saw the several cuts that bled through her chunin uniform, especially the long one that went from her waist to her upper back.
He crouched down, hovering his shaking hands over her, "Rei-sensei, are you ok?"
Rei continued laughing, her laughs eventually settling down into a light chuckle, "Not quite ok, but I'll live."
Naruto nodded hesitantly, "Ok, what's so funny."
She calmed down a little more, smiling gently at the Uzumaki, "Oh, I'm just appreciating the proper beating you gave Mizuki. He really was a jerk."
Naruto beamed at her, flexing his biceps brazenly as he struck a 'dramatic' pose, "Yeah, that asshole was no match for me, I'm awesome!"
"Language." She drawled tiredly.
"...Hehe, my bad."
After a beat of silence, the both of them burst into raucous laughter, and Naruto slid down next to her, feeling exhausted after fighting Mizuki.
Both of them sat there in content silence for a moment, admiring the sounds of the forest around them.
"Hmmm."
"What?" Naruto asked brightly.
"...It's funny. Here I am trying to be a good example of a shinobi, but I must not be a very good shinobi if you're protecting me instead of the other way around."
Naruto smirked, "Well I guess that means more training for you then huh?" He said smartly"
Rei scoffed, "Of course. Word to the wise Naruto-kun, training is not just for the young or inexperienced. So keep up with your training, lest you end up old and washed up like me." Rei murmured, her tone flat and depressed.
Naruto turned to face her fully, a little offended of her behalf, "Your not that old."
Rei rolled her eyes at him, laughing a bit at her dense student, "Thank you Naruto-kun."
The older chunin furrowed her brow, "Actually. Naruto, would you mind closing your eyes for a moment?"
Naruto squinted in suspicion, "What for?"
Rei giggled, rolling her eyes again, "Just do it real quick, trust me."
Naruto was still suspicious, halfway expecting some kind of prank, but he complied, but still raised an objection when he felt someone remove his goggles from his head.
"H-Hey, hands off! Those are m—"
Naruto cut himself off when he felt the odd sensation of pressure, along with the soft texture of thick fabric caress his forehead. He heard the sound of someone tying a knot behind his head, and he waited with baited breath for the order to open his eyes.
"Okay, you can open them now."
Naruto obeyed, and was greeted with the sight of Rei, her headband missing, smiling at him warmly, "Congratulations Naruto-kun!"
Naruto stared blankly, even as Rei went on congratulating him, "You graduate Naruto! You earned it."
As Naruto felt a tingle in the corners of his eyes, he remembered vaguely that it had been years since he'd cried last. And if he remembers correctly, he remembered promising that he'd never cry again.
But as he felt the telltale feeling of moisture welling up in his eyes, he launched himself at his Sensei, embracing her tightly as he thanked her over and over again.
'It doesn't really count. I'm not sad, I'm happy. Happy tears don't count.' He decided.
Rei hugged him back, ignoring the cuts on her arms as she embraced her now ex-student.
"You're welcome, Naruto."
Hiruzen walked back to his office at a slow pace, the building anxiety he felt in his gut now gone. He had just left the Jounin headquarters to announce that Naruto, as well as the scroll of seals had been returned.
He was surprised to learn the truth of Mizuki's deception, but not shocked. He was really just glad that the scope of his treason is relatively small compared to the last time something like this happened.
He marched along his usual route, and eventually made his way to his office. He walked through the large doors, taking care to shut them behind him before he continued walking, going right past his desk, and standing in front of the window in his usual spot.
He lit his pipe, regular tobacco in it this time, much to his chagrin.
After a few moments of him admiring the nocturnal view of his village, he heard a rushing wind behind him, and he turned around to see Rei in her usual ANBU attire of white and black.
Tori stood smoothly, "You summoned me Hokage-sama?"
Hiruzen nodded, and gestured for her to stand with him. She complied, walking over to stand next to the old man. Both of them just stared for a while, admiring the view of the city at night. The light from the moon and the stars cast an ethereal blue tint over the rooftops, and Hiruzen would be hard pressed to remember a sight as calming and beautiful as this one.
Hiruzen breathed out a plume of smoke, "Is Naruto safe?"
Tori nodded, "He's sleeping in his room now. A detail of a dozen ANBU stand guard over his apartment as we speak."
Hiruzen nodded, he knew as much, but hearing it said aloud by someone other than him made that fact seem a lot more real and present.
The Sandaime took another long drag from his pipe, and for a brief moment, the glare from the orange glow from the embers in his pipe shone brightly in the reflection in the glass. Obscuring his glorious view, and covering the glass in an orange glow.
"He was never going to master the clone jutsu." He stated simply.
Tori took a second longer to answer, then she shook her head, "His chakra is enormous, far larger than expected, larger than even your own."
Hiruzen nodded, feeling ancient.
"Not for lack of trying, skill or even motivation. He could've trained for years and never been able to make a normal chakra clone."
Hiruzen said nothing, sighing out a messy cloud of smoke.
Tori quirked her head, "Give him time. He cares about you, he's just scared."
'And who's fault it that?' he thought sardonically.
Hiruzen turned away from the window, suddenly not in the mood to smoke. He doused his pipe with the soft wooden cap he kept on his desk, depositing the used up tobacco in a metal can once the embers had died out.
The third Hokage sat down in his chair, and Tori assumed her previous position in front of the desk as both went straight back into 'professional mode'.
"I doubt that Mizuki acted alone." He stated simply.
Tori didn't seem taken off guard by his statement, she just stood there, as firm and rigid as a statue, "I agree."
The Sandaime leaned closer, putting an edge into his tone as he spoke to one of his most qualified shinobi, "Are you prepared to do what is necessary for the good of your village?"
Tori didn't move, she didn't do anything at all, but in an instant, her demeanor shifted, and Hiruzen was pleased to see the will of fire blazing brightly in her partially obscured auburn eyes, "I am at your humble service, Hokage-sama."
A/N- Betas requested. Hope you enjoyed the story so far. This'll be a LONG one lol.