Chapter 2
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. Naruto is the property of Kishimoto Masashi.
NARUTO
Here's a fun game for you! Spot the bits that were written at 2:00 AM! Go! Also, I might end up dropping the honourifics. They're a little annoying to keep up with, and now that I'm properly looking that them, they might even be a little cringy.
NARUTO
It was two days before the exam, and Naruto, naturally, was panicking. He still hadn't figured out the Bunshin no Jutsu, and the more he thought about it, the more he couldn't help but convince himself that it would be the topic of the test. Despite his mother's warning that his father wasn't good at the jutsu, Naruto still found himself at the foot of the massive Hokage Residence—a massive mansion that contained his father's office. It was also meant to house the Hokage and his or her family, but Minato, the Fourth Hokage, had opted against it before Naruto was born. As such, they lived in a decent-sized two storey house in one of the many residential districts of Konoha.
The Hokage Residence was a very imposing building, especially at night. Backed by a looming cliff face known as Hokage Rock, the stone faces of the previous Hokage seemed to stare down at the massive reddish-orange building which consisted of three circular parts that were enclosed behind a wall of the same colour with brown tiles along the top. Many wires and ropes held up a large red circle on the front of the main area of the building, depicting the character for fire. Even that late at night, the large wooden doors to the building remained open, and although Naruto couldn't see anybody, he knew that the area was crawling with Anbu.
"Thanks for looking after my dad, guys," Naruto couldn't help but say to the unseen assassins as he always did when he entered the building. "Keep up the good work."
There was no response, as always.
Ignoring the silence, Naruto made his way up the steps and into the darkened building, but it wasn't long before his eyes adjusted and the lights that were switched on further down the hall became visible. The building was, in Naruto's opinion, very boring, for it was all the same, consisting of corridors upon corridors of doors, green carpet, and plank walls.
Due to the fact that everything looked the same, people who didn't know their way around could easily get lost if they didn't have an escort. Thankfully, Naruto knew all of the twists and turns within the building like the back of his hand, having explored it many times in his 12 years of life. Being the son of the Hokage had its perks, he supposed. It got him into places that the average child his age could never go.
Suddenly, Naruto remembered exactly which hall he was in, or rather what he had done to said hall. With a hop, he easily cleared a thin line of wire that connected to a very intricate mechanism that would ultimately fire eggs into the face of anybody who tripped it. Come to think of it, the Anbu who patrolled the corridor had only allowed him to put it up because the eggs were fresh. Naruto briefly wondered how long the trap had been there.
"I should probably change those eggs..." Naruto muttered thoughtfully, deciding to make good on that promise, although he had no idea how someone hadn't tripped it yet. Not many people went down that corridor anymore, evidently. That, or they all had very keen eyes.
"It's nice to see that you're upholding your promise," a male voice spoke up with a relieved sigh.
Naruto looked up to see a tall man seemingly appear out of nowhere. The man, who Naruto recognised immediately as the Anbu who patrolled that part of the corridor on certain days of the week, wore a grey flack jacket, underneath which was a black sleeveless shirt. He also wore matching trousers, shinobi sandals, and elbow-length black gloves, over which were a pair of grey guards—a standard Anbu uniform. His most defining traits were the sword that were strapped to his back, and his catlike Anbu mask. Made of white porcelain, the mask had red crescent shapes on the sides, just next to the eye holes, and a pairs of green stripes above and below the eyes, just at the edges of the mask.
"Evening, Kazuki-san. I'll change the eggs after class tomorrow," Naruto sheepishly promised as the Anbu approached him.
Kazuki seemed to let out another sigh. "You've certainly left it long enough..." he mumbled, his tone still conveying his apparent relief. "Lord Fourth is still in his office if you're looking for him," Kazuki finally informed Naruto, seemingly regaining his composure.
Naruto couldn't help but grin at the kindly Anbu. "That's where I was heading, but thanks, anyway. At least I know that I haven't missed him," he replied gratefully, glancing up at his trap which consisted of many wires that all led to a wooden catapult of his own making that held the now-rotten eggs. "How has nobody tripped this, already?"
"We Anbu have been preventing innocent people from setting it off, and Lord Fourth hasn't been coming this way, lately," Kazuki explained bluntly. "If you're going to see him, bring him home with you. There's nothing important down this corridor, so I can go home when Lord Fourth does."
Naruto couldn't help but laugh. "I'll see what I can do," he assured Kazuki with an even wider grin, "but if you can't get him to leave, I don't know what I can do."
Naruto started off down the corridor at a meandering pace once more, giggling to himself as he heard the Anbu's despairing mutter of, "Please try, anyway..." Saying nothing, Naruto put up a hand and disappeared around the corner, somewhat thankful that the Anbu were keeping quiet about his little trap. He heard no movement from behind him, as it should be. Kazuki was definitely doing his job properly. That was reassuring, at least.
Three staircases and seven hallways over the course of separate floors later, and Naruto stood in a very similar corridor to the one he'd been in, yet the door he stood in front of, which looked like every other door in the building—to confuse invaders, his father said—was arguably much more important, for it led straight into the office of the Hokage. It was, therefore, with a great sense of nonchalance, that Naruto ungracefully shoved the door open and entered with a loud exclamation of, "The Anbu want you to go home, Dad. You're holding them back."
Minato, who had apparently been incredibly focused on his paperwork, jumped in alarm as Naruto entered, but didn't stand. Even so, Naruto froze, quickly coming to the conclusion that the hand under his desk likely held a weapon, ready to deal with him had he been a dangerous intruder.
Minato quickly relaxed as he quickly looked Naruto over with tired-looking eyes, dark rings already rapidly developing underneath them. With a sigh, the arm under the desk moved and Naruto could hear the clinking of metal as a kunai was placed into its holster once again. He'd been correct. Naruto resolved to be more careful that late at night from then on, both for his own safety, and the sanity of his father.
"Oh... It's just Naruto..." Minato noted, sounding relieved. Naruto let himself relax as Minato began to rub his tired eyes. "What time is it...?"
"The time? It's time to go home if you couldn't even sense me coming," Naruto told him with a pout, mildly disappointed that the strongest man in the village hadn't even been able to notice the untamed chakra of a child, let alone his own son. "You're holding the Anbu back. The sooner you go home, the sooner they can do the same."
"Is that what you came for...?" Minato jokingly enquired with a yawn before flashing an exhausted grin at his son. "To give the Anbu a break? You didn't come for my sake?"
"I never said that..." Naruto snapped irritably, his pout deepening. "I came because..." Naruto couldn't help but let the words die in his throat. Minato frowned and slowly stood, walking around the desk to face Naruto properly.
"What's wrong?" he asked worriedly, placing a firmly gripping Naruto's shoulder in concern.
Naruto couldn't help but fidget nervously. He hated to ask for help from his father. He was a busy man, as much as Naruto hated that fact, and Naruto almost felt as though he'd explode in anger if his father hadn't done anything to help him all week. Naruto took a deep breath and looked into his father's eyes.
"Dad... Did you ask about that problem I was having...?" Naruto asked sheepishly. He watched as a cloud of confusion settled on his father, and the man raised an eyebrow at him.
"Problem? What problem?" Minato asked cluelessly, his tone laced with exhaustion.
"About...Bunshin no Jutsu..." Naruto responded somewhat disbelievingly, unable to stop himself from gritting his teeth in annoyance until his father's expression slowly became one of realisation. He struggled to remind himself that it was late, and his father was probably to tired to recall it on his own after a day of hard work. Surely, he'd remembered to ask about it earlier.
"Oh! Yes. I asked," Minato responded quietly, removing his hand from Naruto's shoulder to scratch the back of his head in embarrassment. "Sorry, Naruto. I asked the experienced shinobi here when I saw them. None of them could tell me anything other than what your mother could tell you, even Nara Shikaku. It's unfortunate...but you'll just have to rely on hard work."
Naruto couldn't help but heave a sigh, hoping that he didn't sound too disappointed or stressed. His dad had tried his best right? Even so, maybe he should have asked Kazuki... He'd still be there when he was leaving, right? Did Kazuki even use that sort of jutsu? Did the Anbu have something different? Something more advanced, perhaps? Surely, they at least knew the basics of the jutsu, right? They were in the Anbu, too, so that meant that their mastery of jutsu was more advanced than even the average jōnin–
"Naruto?" Minato's voice drew Naruto from his thoughts, and judging by the volume of his voice, he'd spoken to Naruto more than a few times.
Naruto looked up at his father and grinned sheepishly. "Yeah... I'm listening..." He felt his false grin faltering as he saw his father frown in concern, yet continued to speak anyway, his voice shaky as he tried to keep up a mask of confidence. "I-I'll just work hard, right...?"
Minato smiled down at him almost pityingly. "Hey," he started tiredly, getting Naruto's undivided attention. "Your mum and dad believe in you, and even if you don't do well in this test, we're proud of you no matter how you do, OK? You know that, right?"
They'll still be disappointed, Naruto couldn't help but think. If I fail, it'll reflect badly on Dad, won't it? What'll the other Kage think of him and the village if his own son fails?
"I do," Naruto eventually responded, his voice wavering with nervousness as the thought that he might actually fail, disappoint his family, and fall behind his classmates—the people that he felt the most comfortable working with—fully hit home. The feeling was worse than he'd like to admit, and it all came down to his own lack of talent.
His father, he noticed, did not seem at all convinced by his answer, but he had enough tact to let the conversation drop. "Come on," he told Naruto with a bright, yet very tired, smile, placing his arm around his son's shoulders. "It's late. Let's go home."
Naruto nodded slowly and leaned against his father as Minato reached over to lift the keys to his office from the desk before leading his son out of the office. The door was locked behind them, and Naruto followed his Minato down the corridor. Curiously, he looked into his father's face as they approached a branching corridor, and pointed down the corridor to the right.
"Should we tell Kazuki-san that he can go home?" Naruto asked, once again recalling the request of the masked Anbu. Minato pondered for a moment.
"We probably should. He can let the other Anbu members know that they can switch out for the night," Minato decided with a sigh, his voice sounding even more tired than before.
"Why do Anbu members even have to be here at night? You're not here. There's nobody to protect," Naruto pointed out, frowning in confusion.
Minato hummed in thought. "Well, even if I'm not here, they still have to protect the building. The Hokage Residence has a lot more in it than the Hokage," he explained, chuckling in amusement as Naruto's confused frown deepened.
Despite how confused Naruto was by the statement, he had a feeling that he shouldn't push it. His father's vagueness told him that Minato didn't want to—or perhaps couldn't—talk about it. He'd encountered this sort of response so many times that he almost instinctively knew how the conversation would progress if he continued to push it any further. He'd be told it was a secret, first gently, then with annoyance, and if he pushed it far enough, his father would certainly become angry, because he couldn't just carelessly give out important shinobi secrets. Either way, requesting more information was pointless.
"Eh," Naruto responded, hoping that the curiosity in his voice that he tried to hide with an air of smug confidence wouldn't be detected. "I'll just find out about it when I become the Hokage."
That one made Minato laugh, and Naruto couldn't help but smile when his father beamed with pride.
"It's a tough job," Minato told him, enthusiastically ruffling his son's hair. "Are you sure you want it?"
"Tough for you, maybe. I'll be a far better Hokage," Naruto retorted smugly as Minato's laughter reduced to a chuckle.
"That, I don't doubt," Minato responded, sounding proud as they turned down the stretch of corridor where Naruto had spoken to Kazuki. "You're my son, after all." Suddenly, Minato turned his head away from Naruto and, with an air of authority, said, "Kazuki, tell the other Anbu to switch out. You can go home for tonight."
"Yes, Lord Fourth," Kazuki almost immediately responded, unable to hide the relief in his voice, and his unseen presence slowly seemed to fade from the hallway.
The job done, Minato walked on, tiredly rubbing at his eyes, and Naruto was struck by the realisation that he could let his father set the trap off. The wire was just a bit further down the hall, and if Naruto said nothing, his exhausted father would surely trip it. Naruto paused, staring at the spot where he knew that the nearly-invisible wire lay, unable to stop the nagging sense of guilt, and he couldn't be certain that the joy and satisfaction that would inevitably come from seeing his father fall prey to his trap would even that out.
"Wait," he finally said, quickly coming to the decision that he could let his father go no further, but he certainly couldn't hide the annoyance in his voice from not being able to see his plan come to fruition after such a long time of waiting. "The eggs in that trap must be rotten by now," Naruto sheepishly admitted, still sounding disgruntled. "You don't want to trip that at this time of night."
Minato paused, finally noticing the wire now that it had been mentioned to him, and he turned to face his son in amazement. "Naruto, that's...very noble of you."
"I'm a prankster, not a monster, and...not really. I'll set up another one tomorrow. It'll be far better than this one." Minato smiled at Naruto's smugly-revealed intentions.
"Then, I'll enjoy thwarting it," he responded, sounding equally as smug as he carefully stepped over the wire, Naruto following suit.
"Good luck with that," Naruto told him, thinking deeply about his next prank. It had to be perfect...
Naruto was nearly late to class the next day, not because he left late. He'd been so engrossed in what he was doing that he'd forgotten about the time, and so, it was with mere minutes to spare that he'd run into the classroom, winded, but on time. He flopped into his seat beside Sasuke with a sigh, lifting his goggles up to wipe the sweat from his brow.
"What happened to you?" the Uchiha asked monotonously, regarding the blond boy who sat next to him with an air of superiority. Sakura, who was sitting on the other side of Sasuke, leaned forwards to get a better look at Naruto, her soft pink hair brushing against the desk as she did so.
"I just had somewhere to be, first. That's all," Naruto responded with a relieved sigh, his breathing slowly returning to normal.
Sasuke gave a, "Hmph," and looked away from him, quickly losing interest. It was apparent that he was in no mood to talk that morning, so why he spoke in the first place, Naruto wasn't sure. Surely, he was looking for a reason to make fun of him, right? Nevertheless…
"You know..." Naruto continued unabated, "I've been thinking."
"That's dangerous," Sasuke responded gruffly, frowning at Naruto. Sakura giggled at the joke, but didn't dare join in.
Naruto turned up his nose at the young Uchiha, but chose not to address the comment. "I've been thinking," he continued, "that my dad has a lot of secrets."
"Of course he does," Sasuke muttered, rolling his eyes. "He's the Hokage, idiot."
Naruto glared. "So, I'm definitely going to become the Hokage so I know what they are."
"You? Hokage?" Sasuke asked with mock incredulity. "I thought you were just saying that. I didn't think you were actually being serious."
"O-oh, come on, Sasuke..." Sakura implored, blushing furiously now that she was speaking to Sasuke. "Let Naruto have his dream."
"It's not a dream..." Naruto huffed, crossing his arms. "I'll do it!"
"Mm-hmm," Sasuke responded absentmindedly. Evidently, he felt that the conversation was pointless.
Naruto bristled with anger, but he was already thinking deeply, and he certainly wasn't going to let Sasuke stop his train of thought, nor was he going to make him stop thinking about his little plan. He couldn't help but chuckle and grin mischievously as he thought about his plan for that night. First, he'd go back and dismantle that trap to put Kazuki at ease. The last thing that the overworked Anbu needed was for the hallway that he was guarding to smell like rotten eggs. Naruto just couldn't do it to the guy. He was too nice. Once that was done, he would take fresh eggs and–
"What are you laughing about...?" Sasuke asked quietly, his eyes narrowing as he regarded Naruto with suspicion. "I don't like that grin you have..."
Sakura pouted. "You're not going to prank Lord Fourth again, are you?" she muttered, sounding disappointed. "Please don't paint the Monument again... It looks bad…"
"Y-you don't get it, Sakura-chan!" Naruto hurriedly responded, moving to stand up as if to emphasise his point, but quickly thinking better of it as Sakura flinched at his loud reaction. Naruto crossed his arms and adopted what he hoped was a serious expression in the hopes of winning back the respect that he'd likely never had. "It was a challenge."
"A...challenge...?" Sakura echoed incredulously.
"Exactly!" Naruto exclaimed, throwing his arms out wide to emphasise his point. "Dad challenged me! It's a battle between men!"
Sasuke scoffed. "You're 12. I wouldn't call myself a man, never mind you."
"You get my point..." Naruto muttered, glaring at the Uchiha. "Don't you want to beat your brother someday? This is just like that!"
Sasuke stiffened. "Your little prank war and me proving myself as a member of the Uchiha clan are two very different things," he responded in a quiet, no-nonsense tone of voice.
"Um... Naruto's actually right in a way..." Sakura piped up with a sheepish smile. Sasuke quickly turned to stare at her, shocked that she'd turned on him for once, while Naruto's face seemed to light up like the sun and blush just as brightly. "I mean, you are both trying to prove yourselves to your respective fathers... That's what all of this is about, right...?"
"I knew Sakura-chan would get it..." Naruto swooned, his cheeks turning a light pink while Sasuke struggled to find the right retort for such a statement.
"The context is completely different..." Sasuke finally muttered, turning his dark eyes away from the pink-haired girl.
"The goal is the same, though. You have different ways of going about it, but at the end of the day, you're both attempting to display your skills in different ways," Sakura continued, sounding much more confident now that she had Naruto's approval.
"I am not the same as this..." Sasuke stopped mid-sentence to gesture at Naruto, disgust evident in his tone, before finally continuing with, "...useless idiot," with great difficulty, as though no other insults came to his normally quick-witted mind, yet the simple insult was more than enough to set Naruto off. The young blond-haired boy slammed his hands on the desk.
"I'm not a useless idiot!" Naruto shouted angrily, biting back a wince as his throat quickly became raw.
Sasuke glared and opened his mouth to retort, but the sound of the classroom door opening drew their attention before anything could be said. As they had expected, in walked Iruka, a black file full of notes for the class tucked tightly under his right arm.
"All right!" the chūnin shouted over the chatter, letting the file thud heavily onto his desk. "Everybody, settle down. Naruto, I hope you're not fighting again," Iruka said with a sigh, already sounding somewhat frustrated, his eyebrow raised as though he was daring Naruto to try his patience.
Ah. He heard the shouting, then.
Sheepishly, and wanting to avoid more trouble, Naruto settled back into his chair, quickly throwing one last glare at Sasuke before turning his eyes to the front of the classroom. Satisfied, Iruka's eyes left Naruto and he began to look around the classroom, taking in each and every young face there with a somewhat sad expression. Naruto had to wonder if Iruka was really going to miss them as much as his expression was leading Naruto to believe.
"Right. Test time," Iruka suddenly declared, his gaze hardening as only a teacher's could. A loud groan went up from the class, Naruto's being the loudest and the most obnoxious, as per usual. Iruka seemed to nearly roll his eyes at their antics, but he caught himself just in time, immediately becoming professional. "We're going to do one last test of the two jutsu you've been practicing lately—Henge no Jutsu, and Bunshin no Jutsu. Line up at the front," Iruka ordered over the noise, pointing along the front row of desks.
The moaning and groaning settled, but the annoyed muttering did not. Slowly, students pulled themselves out of their seats and made their way to the front of the class, some evidently more confident than others, but nobody wanting to go first as the people at the very front tried to push their way back as far as they could, hoping that they wouldn't be picked. Iruka stepped around his desk and gave the children a stern look, prompting them to freeze where they stood. Silence fell over the group as Iruka cast one last look over the group.
"Since you've had longer to practice it, let's see your Henge no Jutsu, first," Iruka decided. Naruto wasn't sure whether he should be excited or annoyed. He could perform the Henge no Jutsu better than anybody else in his class, so he had no issues there. Finishing with his bad Bunshin no Jutsu would certainly be embarrassing, though. He could almost hear the laughter of his classmates as they watched him fail, already.
"We'll start over here," Iruka told the class, pointing at the far right of the front row. "You'll all be transforming into me." He beckoned to a poor child that Naruto couldn't see from his spot next to Sasuke and Sakura as the three of them stood towards the back. "Come forward and give it your best shot."
It went on in this manner. A child would step up, perform the jutsu, and either succeed, or fail in some minor area, like the skin tone not being exact, or the build being slightly wrong, or a student forgetting to make their mole disappear, or their hair colour change. So far, nobody had failed spectacularly. Sasuke and Sakura both succeeded perfectly, and it was soon Naruto's turn to step up. Holding his clipboard, Iruka fixed his hard stare on Naruto, almost daring him to do something stupid.
Did he dare to do it?
Absolutely.
Of course.
It would be unlike Naruto if he didn't.
Naruto performed the three hand seals with practiced ease, and he immediately began to feel chakra surging through his body and up through his pores. There was a puff of smoke, and the transformation was complete. Peals of laughter from the boys rang out across the classroom as the smoke dispersed, the girls groaning in disgust as the last few tendrils of smoke conveniently swirled around Naruto's much taller body, hiding the most scandalous areas of his naked female figure from view. The boy winked and posed, running a hand past his new long blonde pigtails, watching with satisfaction as Iruka recoiled with a blush so severe that blood was soon sent spurting out of his nose.
It was a success. Of course, it had to be. Naruto had been practicing this transformation in the mirror for months. It couldn't be anything less than perfect, and that reaction was all he needed to see. Iruka, though, had other opinions on the matter.
"Naruto!" he screamed, standing back up, his face red with anger, veins bulging along his neck and forehead like volcanoes that were ready to erupt.
Wow, Naruto thought as he dispelled his jutsu. I've never seen him this mad before.
Cool.
Naruto grinned as Iruka shouted something unintelligible in the midst of his anger, then turned and stepped back into the crowd on the way back to his seat, some of the boys clapping him on the back while the girls shuffled away, disgusted. Sasuke shook his head, rolled his eyes, and averted his gaze entirely, completely unwilling to deal with the stupidity that he'd just witnessed. Panting with exertion, Iruka turned to push some rolls of tissue paper up his nose to stem any further bleeding, now looking more embarrassed than angry.
"Right..." Iruka said quietly as Naruto slid back into his seat. "Who's next...?"
The line slowly disappeared, and once they were done, they were instructed to line up once more for the second portion of the test. More groaning and muttering erupted from the students as they made their way down to the front once more. This time, the results of the jutsu was were being performed were all somewhat similar. While some of the clones that were created were a little translucent, they were, above all, functional clones.
Except me... Naruto thought with a gulp as he walked up to the front. Iruka's gaze was severe, this time. No more messing around. This time around, I would if I could.
Naruto formed the usual hand seal, gritting his teeth in concentration as his chakra began to churn within him to the point where it even began to visibly glow around him with a blue light, producing smoke that surged around him in a wind that only Naruto felt, being right in the centre of it. There was a poof, and even more smoke appeared, but when it finally settled, the most pathetic clone that Naruto had ever seen lay on the floor next to him, its arms limp, its skin deathly pale, and its colours muted. It gazed ahead with blank, unseeing eyes. The clone lasted for only a few seconds before it disappeared in a puff of smoke.
Laughter erupted from all of the students surrounding Naruto—except for Sasuke, of course, who merely rolled his eyes again—and Iruka shook his head in disappointment, writing something down on his clipboard. His teeth gritted in anger, Naruto made his way back up the steps and flopped into his seat with a heavy thud. Sakura glanced at him from across the desk, no doubt wondering if she should even give him the time of day after that little display earlier. Finally, though, she offered a quick, "It could have been worse..."
In response, though, Naruto only let out an annoyed sigh and let his head fall heavily onto his arms.
Well, he thought hopefully, at least I seemed cool for a minute.
"Well, that was pathetic," Sasuke said with a snort that might have been a laugh had Naruto not suspected him to be an emotionless creature masquerading as a human being. In response, Naruto quickly kicked at Sasuke's shin under the desk, but almost as if he had been expecting it, Sasuke quickly lifted his legs out of the way, and Naruto's foot met nothing but air.
Naruto immediately gave up, seeing no point in trying again and feeling no motivation to do so. Finally, he simply zoned out as the class went on, his mind on what had just happened. Even when Iruka threw chalk at him and demanded that he pay attention, Naruto simply sat up and continued to think about other matters.
How was he going to fix that jutsu?
Naruto was in low spirits as he entered the Hokage office to pick up his dad, and he was more than a little miffed. The exam was only a few days away, and he still couldn't do this jutsu. Was it really that necessary to know this jutsu? Surely, he could get by without it.
Without giving his normal greeting to the Anbu outside, Naruto continued on. Stamping down the hallways and up several flights of stairs, he traced the same path he always took to his father's office, making sure to avoid the wire on the floor. Kazuki didn't speak to him, and Naruto wondered if his father had already gone home.
If I came all this way for nothing... Naruto thought as he made his way towards the door of his father's office. He jiggled the knob, and to his annoyance, it was, indeed, locked. Naruto let out a groan that echoed down the empty hallways, and stamped back the way he came, his feet pounding the ground harder than ever. It was when he was approaching the Hall of Techniques—a highly guarded hallway filled with rooms containing forbidden techniques—however, that Naruto began to notice something odd.
It was quiet. Too quiet, even for the Anbu who tended to take his approach as an opportunity to shuffle into a more comfortable, but no less hidden, position after spending hours hidden away in a corner, unseen. Naruto paused to listen, his training kicking in as he immediately dove for cover, silently landing up against the side of a bookshelf in an alcove in the wall. It was as good a cover as anything in this hallway.
Naruto peered down the hallway, masking his chakra. Surely, he was overreacting, right? Slowly emerging from his hiding spot, he slowly crept down the hall, glancing around him as he reached into his bag for a kunai. Surely, he'd have heard someone by now. Surely, someone would have appeared to reassure him by now. Even so, there was no noise, and nobody came. It was further down the hallway that he heard the first noise, and it was an abnormal one, at that. From one of the rooms, he could hear the strange sound of someone rummaging through something, and he could hear the rustling of paper.
Yes. It was definitely strange, at least for this part of the building, anyway. After all, nobody was allowed access to these rooms unless they had his dad's permission.
Slowly, Naruto pressed his eye up against the keyhole of the door and peered in. In the dim light on the other side of the door, Naruto was barely able to make out the figure of a person, taking scrolls down from the shelves, hurriedly reading their contents, and throwing them to the floor. Every so often, there would be a puff of smoke, and more scrolls, much larger than the ones on the shelves, appeared from thin air, unsealed by the person in the room. After a cursory glance at their contents, they, too, would be thrown aside. It was only a matter of time before the person would move to undo the seals on the doors and cabinets, which was where Naruto assumed that the more important documents and jutsu would be.
Backing away, Naruto pressed himself up against the far wall, his thoughts racing. Should I get somebody and risk them getting away while I'm gone? Naruto thought quickly, struggling to keep his breathing steady. Can I deal with them, myself?
Clutching his kunai tightly, Naruto looked the hallway, desperately hoping for someone to appear, but he saw nobody, and when he did see something, he wished that he hadn't. It wasn't big, and yet it made Naruto's heart thunder in his chest so hard that Naruto was almost afraid that whoever was in the room would hear it. On the floor, just by the skirting board, there were a few drops of a red liquid, still fresh, and it didn't take a genius to figure out what it was. Somebody had been injured here...
No... He had to be realistic. If this man was in the room, and the Anbu were nowhere to be seen, then it was unlikely that any of them had survived, and yet, their bodies were nowhere to be seen. Were they in one of these rooms? Had they been hidden, and the evidence cleaned up? There were no scorch marks. That meant that they hadn't committed suicide, so they must have been around there, somewhere. Either way, he had to presume that the Anbu weren't coming. Well, the Anbu who were guarding that hallway, at the very least.
Naruto was on his own with this one, and his skills certainly weren't up to par against a person who could defeat all of those members of Anbu. Surely, if these Anbu were gone, he'd also sneakily taken out the other Anbu on the floor, seeing as no alert went up. Even so, he held onto the notion that there could be other members of Anbu, and maybe even some of his dad's aides in other areas of the building. Again, he thought about running away to find one of them, but again, he was also struck by the fact that, if he did, this person could just get away while he was gone. Then again, what hope did he have of battling this person? Unless...
Naruto reaches into his bag of weapons and felt around inside it. He felt his heart leap with relief. Wire...
Maybe he couldn't take this person on, but could he slow them down, if not catch them completely? Almost definitely. Almost.
Naruto placed his eye against the keyhole again. The person had taken to cracking one of the seals on a tall wooden cupboard. Hopefully, whatever he was looking for wasn't in there. Naruto had enough time, he hoped. A simple wire trap could slow them down, provided... Yes. There were no other doors or windows in that room. This door was the only way in or out of that room. Taking a deep breath, Naruto carefully removed the wire from his bag, and began to search for other items that could help. He could do this...he hoped...
Quickly and quietly, Naruto darted down the corridor and down the stairs, searching for somebody—anybody—who could help him. The moment that person got out, they were all in danger, weren't they? He had to be quick. He skidded around the corner at the bottom of the stairs, his eyes frantically glancing around all of the nooks and crannies of the hallway. He was only one floor down. Were the Anbu here safe? Had they been taken out?
"H-hello...?!" Naruto whispered into the darkness, careful not to attract the attention of the man upstairs. Silence pervaded the halls. "I-is anyone there...?! There's an emergency upstairs..!" he whispered, more urgently than before. More silence. Then, from the around the bend, there was a shuffling. Slowly, a silent figure with a fox mask peered out of the darkness, followed by another with a bear mask, her disguise falling as she stared down from the wall at him, seemingly suspended by nothing. Despite being slightly amazed, Naruto mentally slapped himself and got on with it. This was too important to screw up.
"Th-there's someone upstairs...!" Naruto whispered urgently. "They're in one of the rooms with all the forbidden jutsu...!" The two Anbu stared silently at him, then looked at each other, then back at him. Did they not know if he was telling the truth? "Please...! You have to believe me...!" Naruto continued on, his heart hammering in his chest. "There was blood on the floor...! It was just a drop or two, but I think-!"
Naruto was cut off by the sound of an almighty clatter and a grunt. "My trap got set off..." Naruto cringed as his voice came out louder and shakier than he'd expected it to.
He didn't have to say anything more. The Anbu took off faster than he could see, and quickly, people began to emerge from the shadows with masks that he didn't recognise—a sign that they'd been doing their jobs well. The sound of thundering footsteps filled the upper halls as countless Anbu descended from their hiding spots, the sound of wires and clanging metal—sounds that they would have heard in battle—sending them all into battle mode. Only one Anbu stayed on the floor, standing by Naruto, his hand up to an earpiece. In a deep, scratchy voice, he began to speak in a manner that Naruto didn't understand.
Secret code...?
Above him, the sounds of battle began, and immediately, all fear disappeared, instead being replaced by an insatiable curiosity. This was a battle between shinobi... Surely, nobody would mind if he took a quick peek, right? The hall rapidly began to fill with Anbu, and Naruto took the opportunity to take advantage of the confusion. Bolting away from the Anbu who stood near him, still relaying information, Naruto made his way through the crowd and opened one of the windows, slipping out into the cool night air. A well-aimed kunai that embedded itself in the wall and a line of wire through the handle was all Naruto needed to pull himself up to the upper windows.
Curiously, he peered through the windows, clinging to the ledge, desperate for a glimpse of the fight, but between the crowd of Anbu members, he could see nothing. Even so, the sounds of battle were unmistakeable. This was what Naruto's life would be someday. This was what he would live for. Maybe, it was already what he lived for. A strange feeling—excitement and apprehension, he presumed—had settled in the pit of his stomach. This was it!
Slowly, the sound of clashing metal and the flashing of jutsu came nearer and nearer, Naruto could see a cloaked figure in the sea of masked people. Closer and closer the person came, dodging strikes from swords and kunai with grace and speed that Naruto didn't even think was possible. Every few seconds, flashes of lightning erupted from her body and they wordlessly cast more and more devastating jutsu, and with every strike, at least one Anbu member cried out.
Naruto pressed himself up against the wall as a window much further along the building was smashed, and two members of Anbu flung themselves out without even looking in his direction, shouting something about the Hokage, their eyes focused on something in the distance. They're getting Dad... They must be going to my house...
Naruto looked back up as a particularly loud bang echoed through the hallway, nearly letting go of the ledge in shock. The cloaked person was right in front of him. Instinctively holding a breath, Naruto leaned down, hoping to avoid detection, but something caught his attention. Something that hadn't been there before. Pulling himself back up slightly, Naruto was somewhat able to see what it was. There was something on the person's back that hadn't been there when he'd spied on them through the keyhole. They'd evidently found what it was they were looking for. It was a long, large cylinder. A scroll, perhaps? Naruto had never seen one that big. Even the giant scroll that his godfather carried came nowhere close to the size of that thing.
The cloaked figure made a violent movement, and suddenly, the window above him smashed. Naruto clung to the wall as a bloodied Anbu member soared over his head and plummeted to the ground, hitting it with a sickening thud that Naruto could even hear above all the noise. The person pivoted, their back to the window, and suddenly, Naruto realised that he could do it. He could take back the scroll that she stole.
Slowly, he removed from his pouch one of the few kunai that he had left after making his trap, and with a burst of adrenaline, he pulled himself up and struck the knife down through the top of the leather strap that held the scroll in place, and into the person's shoulder. The person—a woman, by the sound of the shout that she let out—pulled away from the pain, and Naruto tugged at the scroll, which came away easily now that the strap that held it to her body was ruined.
Without even taking a look at his prize, Naruto pulled himself through the window, jumped away from the woman, and as hard as he could, he threw the scroll into the crowd of Anbu, but he didn't even need to. His surprise attack had been enough to throw the woman off for just long enough. Naruto heard a loud gasp and turned to see a hand just inches from his face. It was the woman, her light brown hair slick with sweat, and her light blue eyes wide with pain. A stream of blood dripped from her full lips, and she coughed, sending more splattering to the ground. She had been reaching for him.
A pair of hands roughly grabbed Naruto and pulled him away with a sharp tug just as the woman, who still stood there despite the two swords sticking through her chest and abdomen, gaze a final lurch, and then fell limp. She lay deathly still, and for a few seconds, Naruto dared to hope that she may move again—that she wasn't really dead, because really, this was all too sudden.
Naruto's eyes widened with shock as the Anbu who held onto him hurried him away from the scene. He had expected to see people die in his career. He'd even been prepared to kill, but...he didn't actually expect to see it there and then. It was stupid of him. What else had he expected to see? Did he expect to see the intruder and the Anbu shake hands and apologise? Of course, this would happen. This was the Anbu—an elite force of assassins—so why was it so shocking?
Naruto was dragged back to reality by an urgent, familiar voice. "That was incredibly stupid of you. I only just come off duty, and you go and do this while I'm not around to stop you. What were you thinking?" Naruto looked up into the familiar catlike mask of Kazuki as the Anbu hurried him down the stairs.
"I-I'm sorry!" Naruto hurried to say. "I just thought-!"
"No," the Anbu interjected. "You weren't thinking." Suddenly, he lowered his voice to a whisper so that only the two of them could hear as he directed Naruto down the corridor. "You're the Young Lord, the son of Lord Fourth. Do you know how many people would want to get their hands on you? How many would want to end your life just to get revenge on Lord Fourth? Do you understand just how much work Anbu like myself have to put in every day to keep you safe?"
Of course, he did! Well...he thought he did...
"Never mind," came Kazuki's annoyed voice.
"But...she was killing people, right...?" Naruto muttered, suddenly feeling very guilty. "I distracted her... Didn't I do the right thing...?"
It took a moment for Kazuki to respond.
"Young Lord, just because something went well this time doesn't mean that you should have done it," Kazuki responded with a sigh, his voice quiet and strained. "She was more than capable of killing you. We would have failed in our mission to protect you. This was a result of sheer dumb luck, and next time, you might not be so lucky. Rushing in is not a sign of a good shinobi. Pick your battles wisely, Young Lord, or you may someday find yourself facing someone that you simply don't have the power to overcome."
Naruto grimaced. That stung more than he was willing to admit, but Kazuki was right, even if it didn't feel like he was. Yeah, he'd probably saved some people, but he could have been killed just as easily, and with his dad coming... Did Naruto really need to have jumped in? Now that he thought about it, he was sure that he'd caused the Anbu a lot of stress, and he wasn't even sure what that woman had wanted. The curiosity and an unhealthy amount of worry overwhelmed him as an unwelcome thought entered his mind, and despite his better judgement, he couldn't help but ask.
"W-what did she want…? That woman, I mean… Did she…want to hurt my dad…?" Naruto asked uneasily, his heart suddenly pounding uncomfortably in his chest.
"Young Lord…" Kazuki began with a sigh, seemingly hesitating as though he didn't know what to say. "There's no way we can know that yet," he finally answered, averting his gaze, his voice suddenly much gentler. "A series of investigations still need to be conducted, and even if we had the answer, very few people will be privy to the findings. Unless Lord Fourth makes the decision to tell you, we can't tell you anything."
Hearing those words, Naruto had never felt more powerless. There was a potential threat against the village out there, maybe even specifically against his own father, and Naruto wasn't allowed to know any of it. Realistically, he knew that he didn't need to protect his friends with the older shinobi on the job, and he certainly didn't need to protect his father, but after having seen so many highly-trained Anbu fall in battle so quickly to one person, Naruto couldn't help but feel uneasy about it all.
The thought, however, wasn't allowed to linger long in his mind as a voice from upstairs caught his attention and the voices of the Anbu died down. He couldn't hear what was being said, but that voice almost certainly belonged to his father. There were a few more hushed voices, and then quiet, followed by quick footsteps as someone approached the stairs. As Naruto correctly predicted, the vibrant blond of his father's hair appeared from the top of the staircase as he hurried down it, his startlingly-blue eyes shimmering with worry.
"Naruto! What are you doing here?!" Minato barked, racing forwards before dropping to his knees in front of Naruto to embrace his son in a tight hug, mostly for his own comfort than for Naruto's, Naruto couldn't help but suspect.
"I-I came to get you, but you weren't here…" Naruto stammered awkwardly, "a-and then…"
"I heard," Minato responded with a relieved sigh, but as he pulled away, Naruto saw his worried gaze harden. He was in for it, now. "I also heard that you jumped into a battle and tried to take out a fully-qualified enemy kunoichi who was far above your skill level."
Naruto backed up and gave his father a shy smile. Minato had already begun to search his body for any sign of injury, and Naruto still wasn't quite sure of how to respond to that. His father, however, already seemed to have an idea of where this conversation would be going. He turned to face Kazuki without getting up from his knees, and Naruto finally noticed the large scroll from before on his back, the torn strap tied tightly around his waist.
"Were you the one who pulled him out?" Minato asked quickly, his gaze hidden from view.
"It was, Lord Fourth," Kazuki responded obediently, suddenly standing up very straight.
"I see. I apologise for the trouble that my son caused you. You have my gratitude, Kazuki," Minato told him, his tone sincere and a slight smile on his face.
"I'm honoured to have been of service, sir," Kazuki replied. Naruto could detect no emotion in his voice.
Minato finally stood up and walked past Naruto, opening one of the nearby windows. "You and I…" he began, turning to Naruto, "are going to my office. We need to have a talk." His gaze shifted to Kazuki. "As a member of Team Ro, I'm going to have to ask you to preside over this portion of the investigation. Can you do that?"
"It would be my honour," Kazuki responded, his voice still calm and emotionless. Naruto had to wonder if this was policy in front of the Hokage or something.
"I'll leave it in your capable hands. I'll contact the Yamanaka's. Find out what went wrong. They got through the barrier unnoticed somehow. The clan leaders and the council will also be notified. Do what you can until I return. I'll have more Anbu joining you shortly, and it shouldn't take long for the clan leaders to arrive on the scene," Minato instructed him. Kazuki seemed to stand up even straighter, if such a thing was possible, and in a blur of movement, he was gone.
With Kazuki gone, Naruto opened his mouth to speak even though he still wasn't sure what he was going to say, but yet again, Minato had other plans. He walked over to his son, and before Naruto could protest, he had been scooped up into his father's arms, and in a flash, they were outside the window, Naruto's stomach lurching as he viewed the ground far below. Anticipating the fall and the inevitable pain that would come when they finally hit the ground, Naruto squeezed his eyes shut as the air rushed past them, but…were they really falling…?
Naruto opened his eyes slightly, still afraid of what he would see, but what he saw could only be described as mind-blowing. His father was running up the side of the building! Naruto's eyes widened in shock and awe as they finally came to a stop outside the windows of the Hokage's office, and with a few one-handed seals, Minato awkwardly pressed his hand to the window frame. The window gave a click, and Minato took a step backwards as the window slowly opened up, allowing them entry. Father and son slipped through the window and Naruto was slowly let down, his legs shaking and his eyes still wide with amazement. The window slid shut and audibly locked behind them.
"Y-you just ran…" Naruto stammered quietly.
"Yes," Minato responded bluntly as he walked over to his desk, pulling the seat out with a loud scraping noise.
"Up a wall!"
"Yeah."
"You can walk on walls!"
"Mmhm."
"D-do you need crazy skills to do that, or can anybody do that?! Teach me!" Naruto suddenly found himself demanding, the events of the night temporarily leaving his head.
"Naruto," Minato interrupted, his tone one that left no room for nonsense.
"Y-yes, Dad?" Naruto asked quietly, suddenly feeling quite nervous.
"You're a genius. That trap of yours not only alerted the Anbu, but it slowed down the intruder exponentially," Minato admitted, but he didn't look happy about it.
Naruto stared incredulously, but he couldn't help the somewhat smug smile from making its way onto his face. "I know, Dad," he responded with a chuckle. Minato gave him a stern look.
"Don't ever do it again."
"I can't promise that," Naruto found himself blurting out, his inherent honesty getting the better of him.
"Don't. Ever. Do. It. Again," Minato went on, slowly and deliberately.
"O...K...?" Naruto responded uneasily.
"Promise me," Minato pressed, and suddenly, Naruto could see something akin to fear entering his father's eyes. He didn't like it.
"I... I-I promise..." Naruto finally relented, simply hoping to make that expression go away.
Minato nodded, seeming satisfied as he settled into the chair, reaching for one of the drawers of his desk and pulling out several scrolls which no doubt would soon be addressed to the various clan leaders and council members of the Leaf. Everyone from the old council members to Sasuke's dad would soon be standing in that office, and Naruto couldn't help but wonder if he'd be welcome. In fact, it seemed as though his father had forgotten about him entirely, Naruto noticed as his dad started to write the first letter.
"Dad…?" Naruto tried, taking a meek step forward, a burning question at the front of his mind.
"Hm…?" Minato responded, sounding distracted as he paused midsentence, his pen hovering over the paper.
"What is that…?" Naruto asked curiously.
Minato glanced up. "What's what?" he asked before finally seeming to decide on the wording of his sentence. His pen scratched furiously across the paper, and Naruto seemed to lose his attention once more.
"That. On your back. The scroll…thing… It's even bigger than Jiraiya's scroll," Naruto noted, craning his neck to see the scroll.
Minato let out a chuckle. "There's a lot of content in this thing. It's very old. It's a scroll of forbidden jutsu," he explained, straightening up to give his son a proper answer.
"Wow… What makes a jutsu forbidden…?" Naruto inquired, eyes wide with excitement. "Are they, like, evil jutsu or something…?"
"Not necessarily," Minato responded, glancing down at the scrolls once again before thinking better of it at reaching up to remove the scroll from his back. "They can be forbidden for a number of reasons, but not all of them are necessarily banned. Some have been used for bad purposes. Others just aren't safe enough to teach to people without the proper chakra reserves. Very few people can safely perform these. They were hidden away to reduce the risk to the village's shinobi. It would take someone with chakra reserves like your mother's to perform most of these properly. Maybe you might even be able to handle some of these."
"Me…?" Naruto asked incredulously. "So, they're not, like, super hard to learn or something…?"
Minato shook his head. "Mostly, yes, but look at this," Minato started before hurriedly adding, "I trust you to keep this quiet, by the way."
Minato peeled the scroll open and Naruto hurried his way over to peek over his shoulder, only for his face to fall flat in disappointment as he viewed the first jutsu on the list. He let out a groan and took a step backwards, looking decidedly unimpressed. Minato couldn't help but chuckle at the expression on his son's face.
"Bunshin no Jutsu…?" Naruto groaned. "If that's the sort of thing that's in there, I'm not interested."
Minato laughed a little louder. "This isn't your standard Bunshin no Jutsu. This is Kage Bunshin no Jutsu—a B-rank technique. The clones that the Bunshin no Jutsu produces aren't corporeal." Naruto gave him a strange, confused look, and Minato rolled his eyes before elaborating. "You can't touch them," he explained. When Naruto seemed to understand, he continued. "These clones are just as real as you and I. Unlike the other clones, they can produce real damage, and they can even mould chakra to perform jutsu. It's a highly dangerous technique, and it takes a lot of chakra to even produce one clone. Thankfully, the chakra control that's needed for it isn't quite as precise, so you can focus on amount, instead, and…"
Minato suddenly trailed off, staring down at the scroll with a strange intensity. Naruto frowned and leaned down, only to be somewhat startled as his father's eyes, once more filled with worry, met his own. To Naruto's surprise, his father reached up, his expression sad, and he rested a hand on his son's cheek. Naruto couldn't help but mirror his expression, and he reached up with a shaky hand to take his father's hand in his own, desperately wishing that he could put how sorry he was for worrying him into words. His father was having a much harder time keeping himself together than he appeared.
"I really don't want to lose you, Naruto…" Minato finally whispered, stroking his son's cheek with his thumb.
"You won't," Naruto assured him, trying his best to seem confident, but Minato simply shook his head.
"There's no guarantee. Not out there," Minato responded sadly. "I…" The Hokage trailed off, taking in every feature of his son's face. "I need you to be ready… If you're going to stay safe…you're going to need an edge on the competition… Something enemies won't expect…"
"H-how do I do that…?" Naruto finally relented, his grip on his father's hand tightening.
"Naruto, I trust you," Minato told him matter-of-factly, and Naruto could hear the sincerity in his voice. "I'm going to be calling some of the most important people in this village here. While they're here…" Minato's gaze drifted down to the scroll once more, and removing his hand from Naruto's face, he turned it over and ran a finger along the page, the light of his chakra following it as the scroll was sealed shut, all but for the first jutsu—Kage Bunshin no Jutsu. "While they're here," Minato continued, lifting the scroll up to Naruto, "I want you to learn this."
"But-!" Naruto protested. After everything that had happened, Naruto didn't particularly feel as though he had the patience to learn such a jutsu that night. He already felt as though he'd be bad at it, and he didn't particularly want another knock to his confidence.
"Naruto, this will help to keep you safe. Not only that, but you'll be able to use it in place of the Bunshin no Jutsu in your exam. If you won't do it for me, do it for your mother. Neither of us want to lose you," Minato told him, his gaze stern once more.
Wait… I can pass the exam with this…? Naruto found himself thinking, a glimmer of hope sparking in his chest. Didn't Dad say that this would be easier for me?!
Naruto found himself slowly taking the heavy scroll, and his father lifted a loose sheet of paper from his desk, scribbling something down on it and signing it with a flourish, then stamped the empty space at the bottom with an official-looking seal. The paper was pressed into Naruto's right hand, and Naruto struggled to read what it said.
I, the Fourth Hokage, formally give Uzumaki Naruto permission to learn from the Scroll of Seals. The scroll is not to be confiscated for any reason. I will personally retrieve it when Uzumaki Naruto's task is complete.
Signed,
Namikaze Minato
Fourth Hokage of Konohagakure no Sato.
"Give that to anybody who bothers you," Minato instructed, pointing to the paper. "Go down the hallway to the right. One of the larger storage rooms will be open. I'd rather have you train somewhere a bit bigger, but I'd also rather you be here, and I doubt the clan heads will be too happy to have you practice in here while we're discussing what's just happened."
"Do you…?" Naruto began, trailing off as he looked down at the scroll in his arms. "Do you really believe I can do it…?"
"I do," Minato responded with a nod and a sad smile. "You're my son, after all."
"But, that doesn't-" Naruto began to protest against his father's ridiculous statement, but was cut off as his father raised a hand.
"I suppose you'll just have to imagine the look on young Sasuke's face when you get it right, eh…?" Minato replied, winking teasingly.
Naruto's mind went blank, only to be filled with the image of Sasuke's jealous face as he finally beat him in something. Then, he imagined the proud faces of his parents, and, well…
I just have to learn it, right…?
NARUTO
Translations:
Kage Bunshin no Jutsu - Shadow Clone Jutsu.
Konohagakure no Sato - The Village Hidden by Tree Leaves.
