Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto nor am I an expert on the Naruto Universe.
Warning: This will be somewhat depressing but is necessary for the character.
Chapter 4: Horrible Truths
The first sheet was the last page of his real end-of-year test with Mizuki as his homeroom instructor. He remembered the answers he'd written and verified the marks on the back of the page. Turning it back over, he clenched his fists, almost destroying the paper in his rage. Whoever the mystery person was, they either knew or had access to his real tests. He wondered for a moment if they were the ones tampering with his Academy grades. Putting the test down, he picked up the second page, one with a small photo.
It was a picture of him as a younger child in the orphanage with a bloodied nose. Again everything was in his handwriting as if he'd done a self-evaluation of his life at the orphanage. As his eyes flicked over the page, he froze about halfway down. "The Hokage is aware of my abuse at the hands of the staff and other children," he read aloud. He continued reading a self-narration of how the Hokage signed an S-Ranked Secret into law about his treatment and did nothing to save him from the abuse. The fake Naruto speculated that nothing happened to the caretakers of the orphanage after the truth came out. In the next paragraph, he had the dates and times of each visit to the orphanage, verifying the continued health of the matron and her cronies.
At the bottom of the page, he gave multiple examples of how his current caretaker didn't care about him or his health. She often ignored his pleas for assistance. One sentence stood out to him. Did the Hokage even care? Thinking back, he couldn't remember a single instance of the smiling, grandfatherly shinobi asked about his caretaker.
The next two pages had every Clan's stance toward him and villager on the Council. It was a surprise to read that the Nara Clan thought poorly of him. With each summary came a short personal history of each Clan Head and his thoughts on the danger they posed to him. Ino's father, Inoichi Yamanaka, was marked as a danger level of extreme threat. As a whole, most of the Clans were neutral to him.
The three names of the prominent members of the Hokage's Special Council, Mitokado Homura, Utatane Koharu, and Shimura Danzo, were all names he'd heard of in passing. Danzo's name came up from the villagers who wanted a strong change in leadership from the current Hokage. Naruto knew Hiruzen saw Councilman Shimura as a rival for his position. The other two names were old comrades of the Hokage. Koharu helped the farmers and civic-minded villagers while Homura focused his efforts on the craftsmen and merchants in the village. Naruto heard Homura's name spoken a lot around the shinobi shops and on market days while Koharu had several pictures of her in her prime around the hospital. The Hokage's ex-teammates showed threat levels of high, while Danzo had a neutral stance toward Naruto.
Putting the three pages to the side, he tried to decipher why the mysterious person wanted him to read the next page. It looked like he'd copied an incident report of some kind, but it didn't have any names, times, or locations for him to figure out anything of real use. He read over the short, incomplete report twice before setting it aside. The movements of two unknown shinobi, code names Crow and Mouse, didn't interest him.
The last three pages made his blood run cold. Each page had several accounts of villagers, their names underlined, that attempted to kill him. Each report had a date and time written across the top. Most of the reports had 'Dog' as a signature. He blinked as his hands shook. Each entry gave a clinical account of what happened, what damage was done to Naruto, if any, and what action was taken by the Anbu in charge. In every case, even the one where a young Naruto was stabbed in the side, the villager was let off with a warning. A warning not to try and kill the boy again.
Naruto wanted to throw up. His stomach tensed and roiled as anger, pure, white-hot anger pulsed in his chest. He knew the villagers wanted to kill him, but the sheer number of attempts rocked him to his core. In two accounts, one of which he'd forgotten, they almost succeeded. The Anbu did nothing. They sent the villagers off with a warning like they'd been caught trespassing. His eyes burning, he read the last entry on the last page aloud.
"By order of Hiruzen Sarutobi, Third Hokage of Konohagakure, any villager who attacks a child with the intent to kill will be punished to the fullest extent of the Konoha Military. All properties will be seized to pay for any and all damages the child sustains. The villager(s) caught will serve no less than four years of hard labor at the border."
Naruto raged inside as he slammed the page down. An ominous crack resounded around the room as the wooden table splintered in the middle. He stared at the last entry. The realization that he couldn't keep the pages washed over his rage like a wet blanket. No one would believe that he hadn't written everything on those pages. The last three looked like they might have come from some secret records book. He'd spent enough time in Hiruzen's office alone to conceivably have copied the damning information. An image of Dog appeared in his mind. He could tell her. His eyes fell on the reports she'd written.
The mysterious man was right. He had questions, many of them. Why did the village hate him? He hadn't done anything to them! Snatching up his flint and steel box, he lit the last three pages with one fierce pass, producing multiple sparks. As they burned to nothing, he realized he had to destroy something precious to him too. He'd never be able to explain how he got his real test, not without telling Iruka-sensei how he got it. It hurt more than he wanted to admit as he watched his test burn away to nothing. Twice he had to put out the fire that spread across his cracked table. He'd had the presence of mind to move his books once the fire started.
That night, he couldn't sleep. The next morning he skipped class and beat his frustrations out, bare-knuckled, against a thick tree in the forest. Finally exhausted, he dropped to the ground and stared at the sky. Fat white clouds lazily passed overhead as his bleeding hands and shins throbbed. For the first time in a long time, he cried.
Time seemed to go by in a blur. He no longer cared about the Academy. Iruka-sensei tried to engage him multiple times, but he lied or made up an excuse to distract the inquisitive Chunin. The allure of becoming a medical-nin faded as he ruminated about his life in the village. One report stood out to him, one that kept replaying over and over in his mind. The Anbu, code-named Horse, reported the village wouldn't lose such an asset as the demon. That's all he was to them. An asset to be controlled. If whoever it was, wanted him to pass the Academy, then he would, or he'd become a villager. They would seal his chakra, to ensure he couldn't defect or run away. He'd do menial labor for the rest of his life. A life without the freedom to do what he wanted.
The Rinne Festival was fast approaching, and with it, the Kyubi Festival. While the actual attack and massacre happened in early October, the village celebrated their lost heroes in December. Two days before the Rinne Festival, the villagers drank and shouted their thanks to the dead who protected the village. The Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze, or The Yellow Flash, saved the village by making the Nine-tailed Fox disappear. Most villagers believed the Fourth killed the great chakra beast, but others whispered it was sealed away, destined to destroy the village once more.
Naruto watched from a great tree at the edge of the park as fat snowflakes fell from the sky. Fireworks lit up the night sky as hundreds of villagers danced and sang in the middle of the market square. He'd never seen the festival before. The villager's hatred for him peaked more on this day than at any other time. It'd always confused him.
"Why is that familiar?" he muttered as he stared at a float moving down the street, carried by ten men on each side. Atop the float was a life-like sculpture of the Fourth fighting the Nine-tailed Fox.
Naruto's heart hammered in his chest as he stared, wide-eyed at the float. He'd seen pictures of the Fourth, they were everywhere in the village, but he'd never really looked at him. Villagers dressed up to look like the hero all the time. He'd always looked up to the shinobi, the fearsome and powerful civilian-born Hokage, but never studied his face. Why would he? It was on a monument he saw every day. His eyes slid past the child-like sculpture, hanging both arms around two others his age, and to the red rings around the Demon Fox. The tingle of recognition, as if he'd looked in a mirror, faded as his thoughts latched onto a terrible realization.
"No way," he muttered as his eyes roamed over the float. The red ring around the fox made him shudder as a memory, a nightmare made real, came to him again.
"Slaughter them," a deep voice demanded. "Kill them all! Make them pay for what they've done to me."
Naruto wanted to look away, wanted to ignore the voice, but he slammed a hand down on two villagers, their eyes wide with fear. Fresh blood caked the already bloody walls lining the street. He crushed a small building and smiled as he heard screams coming from inside. Red chakra pulsed around him as he sent a wave of pure chakra toward a group of shinobi with leaf headbands.
Blinking back tears, Naruto forced himself to the present. He almost fell out of the tree, catching himself at the last moment with his chakra-infused hand. The wood splintered and gouged a furrow into his palm. It was a coincidence he might look like the Fourth, nothing more, but the red chakra. His eyes locked on the fierce look on the Nine-tailed Fox's muzzle. He watched in mute horror as a group of villagers removed the life-like statues of the Fourth Hokage and his friends. Several children, many of which he'd seen at the Academy at one time or another, took the torches from their parents and threw them onto the large float in the middle of the square.
"Burn demon! Burn!"
"Take that, you Demon Fox! We'll take what you took from us."
"Forever remember the Fourth!"
"You'll never have power over us again, Demon."
"...sealed away! We won't let you hurt this village any longer."
Naruto listened to the shouts and ravings of the villagers. His sensitive ears picked up most of the cheers and cries as the villagers hurled insults and danced around the burning pyre that was the Nine-tailed Fox. A sickly feeling rose in his stomach as he watched on. Instructor Mizuki talked about the tailed beasts in his history lessons. He'd called those who had the beasts sealed into them Jinchuriki, the power of human sacrifice.
His mind raced as he followed the strings of thought. If he was a Jinchuriki, then it would explain why the villagers hated him and called him a Demon. They burned an image of the Nine-tailed Fox every year and tried to kill him. The word 'asset' echoed in the corner of his mind. Mizuki stated the Jinchuriki had massive chakra reserves and were living weapons against other hidden villages. His hands shook as he watched the head of the Demon Fox fall into the raging inferno. The villagers screamed their excitement into the night while a line of somber men and women walked up to the fire. They threw white slips of paper into the fire before being handed a bucket full of water. He watched half the community repeat the ritual before the last ember died out. Even then, several dozen more villagers placed their white slips on the blackened mess that was the float before the festival concluded.
Naruto felt hollow as he returned to his apartment in a daze. He took the long way home, circling around the entire village so no one would bother him. His thoughts kept coming back to his theory about being a container for the Nine-tails. As the water scalded his skin in the shower, he focused his chakra around his body to his stomach. A black swirl with eight evenly spaced markings like he saw written on sealing scrolls appeared on his belly. He'd first discovered the strange markings while he was a small child, running away from a group of orphans that attacked him in the communal baths. Later, while he worked on his chakra control, he'd rediscovered the seal and had the time to examine it.
Now, he stared at the repulsive inscriptions on his stomach in horror. The Fourth Hokage, his hero and strongest shinobi of the age, must have sealed the Demon Fox into him. His stomach roiled as the room spun. They picked an orphan, someone no one would care about, and cursed their life forever. He would be a weapon for a village that hated him. It explained so much. Why he healed faster than everyone else. His massive chakra pool that never seemed to run out. But most importantly, why a Hokage, the busiest and strongest shinobi in the village, would come and sit with him. It wasn't because he thought Naruto an outcast. No, it was because he needed to make sure his weapon wouldn't turn on him.
Naruto threw up everything he'd eaten in the last day as he collapsed to the hard tile. Everything he wanted seemed to be slipping out of his hands, and there was nothing he could do about it. The Kami-cursed Fourth Hokage saw to that. The hot water stung his face and eyes as he curled up into a ball.
The winter break from the Academy passed by in a haze. Training lost its appeal, but he kept to his routine because he didn't know what else to do. He tried sitting in his room, doing nothing, but his boundless energy prevented him from laying around and wallowing in his dark thoughts. During class, he stopped reading the medical-nin books and stared out the window on the opposite side of the room. He couldn't see much more than the clouds passing by. When an instructor forced him to participate, he would do the absolute minimum required before quitting. After class, he went to a training field and completed his regimen before going home. Everything seemed to fade into the background as he stared at the chakra-infused metal kunai at night.
A few hazy weeks after classes started again, the Hokage knocked on his front door. Naruto could smell the familiar minty smoke outside his kitchen window. He got up and tried to muster a fake smile. The worried face of the old man made him grimace. "Hokage... sama," he greeted.
His mistake in forgetting the honorific rewarded him with a deeper frown. "Naruto, is everything okay?" Hiruzen asked in an even voice.
"Yes, Hokage-sama," he lied with what he hoped was a convincing smile.
"May I come in?"
Naruto moved aside and went over to his kitchen. He put on a pot of water for tea. "You look tired, did you have a long day?" he asked as he moved over to his table.
The old man stared at the blackened spot on his table and looked up at him. "Experimenting with fire jutsus?" he questioned with a strained smile.
"An accident."
"Ah, I've had a few of those recently myself. Age isn't everything it's cracked up to be," the Hokage commented with a crooked smile. "If you have some time. I would like to talk to you. There is an opportunity you might be interested in."
Naruto blinked before nodding. He went over to the low chair beside his table and sat down. The old man took the chair opposite him and pulled out his pipe. "You've been smoking more recently," he commented with a gesture at the metal tin in the Hokage's gnarled hand.
"Stress," was the grumbled reply. "A lot of events are circling around and within the village. Anyway, I'll be able to get some rest soon." Naruto watched as the Hokage lit his pipe and tapped the mouthpiece against his lips. "Do you still wish to try to become a medical-nin? There is an opportunity for you to get some first-hand experience. While you won't be able to do anything, you can watch as long as you remain respectful and quiet. Does that interest you?" the old man asked as he took a deep pull on his pipe.
Naruto scratched his head. If he said no, the old Hokage would know something was wrong. He didn't have any interest in going, not anymore. "Yes, it does," he lied with a smile.
"Drop by after class on Thursday. Now, what happened during the Kyubi Festival. I know you watched the closing... ceremony for the first time."
Naruto froze before forcing himself to scratch his head. "It was shocking to see was all," he muttered.
"Talk to me," the old man urged as a thin stream of smoke trailed out of his mouth.
The blonde boy stared at the smoke dissipating as an image of the burning Nine-tails flashed across his mind. "The villagers..." he said, trying to find something that would deter the old man's questioning. The Hokage waited without saying anything, his eyebrow raised. "I just didn't like it."
"Didn't like what? I want to understand why you've gone through a complete change. You no longer care about your Academy grades, trying to make friends, or studying. There aren't any books or scrolls out," the Hokage commented with a gesture at the pile of books in the corner of the room. "I can't help you if I don't know what is going on. I care about you."
Naruto opened his mouth to tell the Hokage nothing was wrong, really, but he heard something other than what he intended to say. "You mean your asset!" He froze as the words echoed in his ears. A shadow crossed over the aged leader's face as his smile dropped.
"You are many things to me, Naruto, but an asset is not one of them."
Naruto stared at the Sandaime Hokage and realized how big the aged shinobi was, in spite of his small frame. He flinched back as their eyes met. "I..." he tried to say, but his mind was blank.
"Sit," Hiruzen ordered with a nod to the marred table. Without waiting, he flung out his long white cloak and sat down, crossed-legged. Resting one arm on the table, he waited for Naruto to comply.
"I..."
"Sit."
Naruto gulped and sat on the opposite side of the table. A chip in the wood seemed much more interesting to look at than the expression on the Hokage's face.
"There are some situations in life that no matter what you do will hurt someone," Hiruzen said in a low, steady voice. "I am the Hokage and must make hard decisions about the futures of everyone within the village. Every choice I make affects someone in one way or another. Naruto, as your Hokage, I am ordering you to tell me what you think you know. I assure you that one, I care about you, and two, what you think you know may not be the whole truth. I am a shinobi, and if you rekindle your desire to become one, then you will be one too. Look up at me."
Naruto bit the inside of his mouth and wished more than anything that he was anywhere else. He looked up and saw a grandfatherly smile on the Hokage's face. With a shuddering breath, he clenched his fists. "I am a Jinchuriki," he muttered as he felt his stomach roil. "The Fourth Hokage put the Nine-tails inside me." He couldn't keep the bitter hatred out of his voice as he looked away. The Hokage remained quiet. After a minute passed, Naruto continued, "someone has tampered with my tests and doesn't want me to graduate. I hate going. Everything I do is laughed at. No one respects me or anything I say!"
Hiruzen shifted, and a moment later, Naruto heard him refill his pipe. "Why didn't you come to me about your... trouble at the Academy?" he asked in a quiet tone.
"No one believed me until Iruka-sensei gave me a test away from the Academy."
"That isn't the reason. Why, Naruto?"
Closing his eyes, Naruto clenched his fists. "I wanted to do it on my own. I wanted to show everyone I could do it. I know the material. I've been watching the classes for years. No one likes me, no one wants to be around me, and no one wants me to be a ninja!" he all but shouted as his emotions boiled over.
"Take a deep breath," the Hokage ordered and tamped his pipe on the table. Naruto stared at the old man as his chest heaved. "I believe you have the capacity to be the greatest shinobi the Elemental Lands has ever seen. You are a Jinchuriki."
Naruto felt a shiver of fear run through his body as the Hokage's words slammed into him. The room swam as he shuddered. "Why?" he got out a moment later.
"The truth will kill you. Not because I think you will hurt yourself, but because if the wrong people learn the truth, they will stop at nothing to destroy you. What have you learned about secrecy from your studies?"
Naruto stared at the Hokage. Thoughts and images raced through his mind as he tried to piece together what the Hokage was hinting at. "The more who know a secret, the higher the chance someone will talk," he recited. He tried to take a deep breath but found his chest too tight to manage anything more than a wheeze.
"Let me be clear. What you know now, what you may learn in the future, is an S-Class Secret. If someone speaks about your status, they are killed. To date, eleven villagers tried to sell the information of what you are to other hidden villages. They were all executed."
Naruto felt his hands shake. "But, I'm not an asset to the village?" he challenged as he set his shoulders. Fear, anger, and confusion battered his mind as he tried to understand the new world he found himself in.
"I made a promise long ago to protect you from enemies outside and within the village. You're a remarkable boy. I need you to trust me. I know it's hard. Iruka-san came to me a while ago. To talk about you. Do you know what he said?" Naruto felt himself shake his head in a detached, jerky movement. "He spoke about a determined young boy who wanted nothing more than to be the best shinobi to protect the village. That your Will of Fire is stronger than anyone he'd ever taught. Is that true, Naruto?"
Time slowed down as the events of the last few years seemed to flash by in a wash of colors and feelings. Naruto's throat felt dry. "Yes, I want nothing more than to be a shinobi," he answered a moment later. His heart seized, and his hands shook. The Hokage hadn't answered his question.
"Then where is your Will of Fire? Shinobi wade through adversity with grim determination and honed skill. They do not buckle under pressure. You've learned something tonight that will change your life forever. If you truly have the Will of Fire, what will you do?" Hiruzen questioned with a flinty look in his eyes.
"I will do everything I can to rise above and complete my mission," Naruto replied in a quiet voice.
"You don't sound confident," the Hokage challenged. "This is what you call your Will of Fire?"
"I will be a shinobi," Naruto declared as he stared the Sandaime in the eyes. "I will be the greatest shinobi this village has ever seen." As the words left his mouth, he realized he believed it and, more than anything, wanted it to be true. No matter what, he would become the best. A Senin above all the others. The truth of what he was, what was in him, changed nothing. He was still Naruto. If anything, it might help him attain his goal faster.
"Then show me," the Hokage challenged. "Rise above this challenge and become a true shinobi. Iruka and I will continue working on finding out the truth of the switched exams. What I need is an Academy student who I can proudly promote to a Genin. If you were in my position, would you promote yourself to become a Genin, with your current performance?"
Naruto grimaced and rubbed the back of his head. He knew how he'd been acting. "No, Hokage-sama," he muttered. "I know all the stuff the Academy teaches though."
"There is more to the Academy than learning the tactics, book knowledge, and basic justus before becoming a Genin, Naruto. How many friends have you tried to make? I know you've given up in the last year or so. Do you expect to work as a team without learning anything about those you might become teammates with? How are our Genin teams structured? Should I allow someone to graduate if I know they won't help their fellow shinobi? Look me in the eyes and tell me that you are ready to be a Genin. Or, like everyone else in the Academy, do you still have things to learn?"
Naruto wanted to argue that the Hokage was wrong, but he couldn't. Iruka-sensei emphasized the importance of teamwork during team exercises. "I still have things to learn," he admitted.
Hiruzen puffed on his pipe as he stared at Naruto, seemingly lost in thought. Not knowing what to do or say, Naruto fidgeted on his cushion. "This wasn't how I wanted you to learn," the Hokage said into the silence. "Once you became a Genin and would eventually leave the village, then I would have told you."
"That's why the Anbu watch over me."
"The Anbu have many duties. I have them watching over two children from another hidden village to ensure nothing happens to them as well. No, I won't tell you the children's names, but you've come into contact with them a few times. Anbu are the shadows of the village. They do what they must to ensure the betterment of the village as a whole."
Naruto shifted on his seat and ran a finger through the crack in the wood on the table. "What opportunity did you have in mind?" he asked as a way to escape the uncomfortable topic of his status. The knowledge the Hokage hadn't promised he wasn't an asset to the village seemed to gnaw at the back of his mind.
Hiruzen took a deep pull from his pipe and released it with a slow, steady breath before answering. "A young Genin, a few years older than yourself, has distinguished himself as a powerful medical-nin. While he's older than many Genin, he's spent the vast majority of his time honing his knowledge and skill in the arts of healing. Yakushi Kabuto, and his instructor, will host a basics seminar at the hospital in a week's time. If you are interested, I can allow you to attend," he stated as he crossed his fingers in his lap. Confused and still trying to choke back his anger, Naruto nodded, not trusting his voice.
"There is something more," the Hokage continued after a minute passed in which Naruto fidgeted. "I need a smart, capable, assistant to help sort the workload of the upcoming Genin teams. Normally, I have a recently raised, Chunin help me, but I think, you'll do. It will give you some experience if you know what to look for."
Naruto felt a frown crease his mouth before he pushed it away, schooling his features to a blank mask. "Thank you, Hokage-sama," he got out in what he hoped was an even voice.
"You will be subject to knowledge none of your peers have access to, so you will not speak to any one of it," the Hokage warned. "There is a certain pleasure Genin Instructors get from watching their new charges learn what a Genin-level mission entails. Give me your word that you will not speak of what you see while working with me," he ordered. "You will be working with me in an official capacity and not a social one."
"I promise, Hokage-sama."
"Good, now, is there anything else that is bothering you?"
Naruto felt like laughing at the question but knew it would be a bad idea. "Why did the Yellow Flash put the Nine-tails inside me?" he questioned once he was sure his fluctuating feelings wouldn't make him yell.
The old shinobi pursed his lips and tapped his pipe on the table once, lightly. "I can't answer that question, because I wasn't there when he did it. I have my suspicions, but I won't tell you. They could be right or completely wrong. Can you accept that for now?"
Naruto wanted to yell at the Hokage, to demand everything the old man knew. He instead nodded. An uncomfortable silence stretched between them for a time. "Would you like something to drink?" he asked once he realized his throat felt dry and raspy. A moment later, the water in the pot came to a boil with a hiss of steam.
"Tea, please," the Hokage answered with a soft smile.
Naruto was grateful for something to do with his hands. For a time, the two sat in silence as they drank the smooth, cheap tea. "Why do you need me?" Naruto asked a while later.
"I trust you. Oh, also, you'll be sorting through old files," Hiruzen answered with a frown. "There are numerous documents that have found their way into my possession. A... colleague of mine came across a small treasure trove of notes and ramblings from a retiring Fuinjutsu specialist. I need someone to read through the stacks of notes to see if anything looks useful. I'd rather not save someone's shopping list into official records if at all possible."
Naruto scrunched up his face as he rearranged the stirring stick and holder in front of his tea. The familiar movements helped clear his mind. Once they were perfectly aligned, centered with the wood slat of the table, he looked up. "I have a few sealing scrolls, but I don't know a thing about fuinjutusu. I wouldn't know what would be important to keep and what to toss," he admitted. The thought of the sealing scrolls and the seal embedded into his skin made his anger rise again.
"I don't expect you to understand what you're looking at, only sort through the boxes of information. I'm told Yusuke Kohaku, the old Fuinjutsu specialist of the Kohaku Clan, was a genius in some ways. My contact informed us that his genius slid into a form of focused insanity toward the later years of his life. The Clan kept much of his early works, which is their right, but I might be able to obtain a nugget of information for our own specialists if we're lucky."
Naruto kept up a steady stream of questions, more to keep his mind focused on something other than the creeping dread and unabating mental weariness that permeated his body. He wanted time alone to think, but the Hokage seemed to want to talk for hours on end. In the end, Hiruzen's duty to the village pulled him back to the Hokage Tower.
"Before I return to the needs of the village, I want your word that you will speak to me if you are having trouble with anything. You are a bright young man, Naruto. Don't doubt yourself. If you allow me, I will help you become whatever you want to be," the old man promised. "Come to the Tower tomorrow after class."
"Yes, sir," Naruto promised in his best 'grandson' voice. Asking questions about fuinjutsu and what he'd need to do helped him reassert his mask in front of the Hokage. That night, no amount of training could make his brain stop thinking or calm his raging heart.
The next morning, it took everything he had to get out of bed and go to class. After a series of nightmares kept him from getting any sleep, he struggled to remain awake through Instructor Fumi's class. She reviewed material on the proper handling of sensitive scrolls during the course of a mission. Most of the class stared at her with glassy eyes as her voice droned through the familiar material. Naruto glanced across the room at Hinata, who was furiously writing everything down. Hinata, Shikamaru, Choji, and to some extent Kiba all tried to engage him in conversation while he mentally disconnected from the Academy.
Watching the young heiress focus intently on the instructor, he wondered if he should start trying to make friends with her. Hinata's white eyes still creeped him out, but she greeted him daily with a small smile. He knew he was rude to her sometimes, but that never seemed to deter her efforts. Shikamaru glanced at him and raised his eyebrow.
"Uzumaki, I asked you a question," Fumi spat.
He looked back to the front of the class, shocked the instructor acknowledged him. He wasn't the only one. The room was dead quiet. "What?" he asked. He winced when he saw the insane instructor's nose flare.
"I asked you for your chosen profession to work on next. I have to write it down," Fumi hissed through clenched teeth.
Naruto thought he could see a vein pulsing in her forehead. The last thing he wanted was another trip through a nightmare Genjutsu detention. "Sorry, ma'am," he quickly said and tried to think as fast as he could. Since the start of his second year, every student chose a profession to learn on Saturday for six weeks. It had the dual purpose of exposing children to different professions they may become interested in and gave them general knowledge in case they had to blend in as a shinobi later in life. So far, a number of students quit the Academy to join one of the various trade schools after being exposed to one profession or another.
"Fuinjutusu," he answered as he thought of the request the Hokage made.
The silence broke as someone snickered. In seconds, the classroom devolved into gales of laughter. Fumi looked nonplussed as she stared at him. "You... want to try and learn sealing? You? No. Not only is it not offered to students, but with your capabilities, it would be a waste of time and effort for an expert to even attempt to teach you. Pick something off the standard list," she decreed with an eye-roll.
Naruto gritted his teeth but didn't retort with what he wanted to. "Trap-making," he managed to get out.
"You took that in your second year. Whatever, trap-making it is. Maybe you'll pick it up this time. Next, Ino Yamanaka."
During weapons practice, he tried to talk to Hinata, but her face kept turning bright red. Iruka-sensei separated them when Hinata's distracted throw almost hit a passing group of younger students. He spoke to Hinata in a low voice, away from everyone else, for a few minutes before sending her to the other side of the training area.
"What's going on with you today?" Kiba questioned with a smirk. He whipped his arm in a fast arc and sent the metal kunai hurtling toward the wooden target. With a thunk, the kunai bounced off the rim and sunk into the ground.
"Kiba-san, aim before you throw," Iruka-sensei called as he helped Sakura with her shuriken throwing technique.
Kiba grunted and fished out a shuriken from his white hoodie. "I hate kunai anyway," he grumbled as his hand flashed. The shuriken streaked across the yard and thunked into the middle of the target.
"Nice," Naruto complimented as he sent a kunai into the head of his target.
"You still owe me a real rematch," Kiba growled. He squinted his eyes at Naruto's target. "You're a front-liner, like me. Why did you keep reading those medical-nin books? It's not like it'll help you."
Naruto gritted his teeth and sent another two kunai toward his target. Two solid impacts echoed in his ears as he turned to Kiba. "Because I want to read them," he grumbled. The Hokage's admonition to try and make friends echoed in the back of his mind, but his fellow student grated on his nerves.
"Your time," Kiba muttered with a shrug. He flicked his wrist and sent another shuriken hurtling toward Naruto's target. The deadly tool hit the target in the knee. He grunted and wiggled his wrist. "What about that rematch? A real spar. Away from the Academy. First to submit," he challenged with a fighting grin.
Naruto was going to say no but the ear-piercing cheers from the Sasuke Fan Club drove the thought from his mind. He watched as two shurikens arced high into the air. Sasuke flicked his wrist and sent a kunai flying toward the two shurikens. With a sharp clink, the kunai hit the first shuriken, redirecting it toward the target. Naruto watched the three weapons fall to the earth around the same time. The struck shuriken slammed into the head of the target but the other two tools missed by inches.
"Show off pretty boy. Who would do that in a real fight?" Kiba growled. "I've got to get better," he spat and turned back to his practice. Iruka-sensei's admonition to Sasuke for playing around got drowned out by the yammering of the enamored females in the class.
Naruto waited for a few minutes, but the other boy seemed to have forgotten about the challenge. He shrugged and went back to riddling his target with the rest of his projectiles.
"Naruto, I'm glad you came," Hiruzen called as he waved a hand to the open chair beside his long desk. The Hokage's Office, on the top floor of the Hokage Residence, was a wide, circular room with large windows to overlook the hidden village. A large, lacquered wooden desk with the character for kage painted onto a tan banner took up a full quarter of the room's size. Numerous stacks of papers adorned the floors and most of the work surface of the Hokage's desk. In all, the office was a simple space. The Administration Hall, leading to the Mission Assignment Desk, had more art and decorations than the Hokage's Office did. "Genin Osen-san just dropped off the first set of boxes," the old man explained as he waved a hand toward a small forest of brown cartons beside the only door.
"That... is a lot," Naruto grumbled as he tried to do a quick count of what he could see.
"I did mention there was a bit to go through. This is the first group I'll need you to go through," Hiruzen stated with a grim smile. "I'll have a small table brought in for you."
It took ten minutes for Naruto to decide that coming was a terrible idea. He didn't understand half of what he was attempting to read. The little he could understand made him wonder if the dead Fuinjutsu specialist had been more than a little insane. Entire scrolls had the character for time written over and over again in a small, flowing script. Still, he did the job and fought against the mounting agitation of sitting still for so long. A knock came at the door, interrupting his thoughts.
"Enter," the Hokage called in a distracted tone.
Naruto looked around to see a thick-set Chunin, his forehead protector with the leaf symbol etched into the metal swung from his belt. The dark-haired man clutched a bloody rag in one hand. It took Naruto a moment to realize it was another forehead protector. "Hokage-sama," the shinobi said in a thick voice as he went to one knee, the hand with the bloody headband close to his heart.
"Rise, Kuba," Hiruzen ordered and pushed the paper he was working on aside. "What news?" he asked as he flicked his eyes toward Naruto.
Taking the hint, Naruto turned back to his work but kept an ear on the hushed conversation ten feet away. With his sensitive ears, he heard everything.
"Sir, we pushed them back from the safehouse. Sasaki and Muto fell. I have them sealed," Kuba reported with a small sob. It took him a second to regain his composure. "We got the scro... objective," he tempered with a rustle of clothing. Naruto thought he might have looked his way but he continued to pretend to be working. "I have it here," the ninja offered as the sound of a small click or snap echoed in Naruto's ears.
"You... and your team have done more than I could have hoped for," Hiruzen answered in something just above a whisper. Naruto had to strain to hear him. "Your team is to be commended and given the highest honors. While we knew the risks, they are more than any of us wanted to pay."
"It is what we do," Kuba answered in an even lower voice than the Hokage. "We had a chance to abort the mission, but we all agreed to see it to the end."
"Rest, recuperate, and honor the dead," the Hokage stated in a louder, firm voice. "This could prevent war and I will not forget this," he continued as a low rustle came from somewhere behind the desk. "Do you need anything from me?"
"Time," Kuba stated in a low, flat voice. It seemed like all the vibrancy in his voice faded to a dull, muted tone.
"Granted."
Naruto stayed working, to maintain the illusion, while Kuba left and Hurizen closed the door. The Hokage stood somewhere behind him when he spoke. "I must reiterate again, Naruto. What you see, hear, and learn while working with me, must be kept secret. I will not explain anything, as you are too young to know," he stated in a firm voice. Hiruzen made his way back to his desk. "The price of information is always the worst a village must pay. Battles might have the greatest number or most memorable death tolls, but the real war is in the shadows. Countless die, from old to young. From skilled to inept. We, as elders, attempt to educate the young to survive. Only to send you out on dangerous missions," he finished with a sigh as plopped into his chair.
Naruto wasn't sure what to say. "I understand, Hokage-sama," he tempered.
"You don't, not yet. Wrap up what you're working on. After that, you're dismissed for the day."
"Uh, yes, sir."
Naruto finished looking through the small folder of complicated fuinjutsu designs scratched into a strange cloth-like material. He set the folder in the keep pile. "All done, sir," he announced.
"You may go," Hiruzen called as Naruto looked up.
The old man stood in front of the window nearest to the Academy, looking down at what Naruto knew to be Training Field #1. He got up to leave but stopped when he saw a massive scroll on the Hokage's Desk. He knew what it was. The tan and green Scroll of Sealing, or Forbidden Scroll, lay across the desk, one end hanging off the edge facing the door. His fingers itched to get closer and look but he mastered his impulse and moved toward the door. The Forbidden Scroll would have many cool justus he could learn.
That Thursday, he did his best to look presentable before heading to the hospital. The dull tan jumpsuit he wore was one of his newest sets of clothes, but it stood out amongst the other occupants of the main auditorium. Not only was he the youngest occupant allowed in, with the Hokage's invitation, everyone else was at least ten years older than he was. Seated at the back, nearest the emergency exit door, he watched as fifty men and women, civilians and shinobi, found seats as close to the front. Everyone wore their best clothes and more than half of the room had headbands adorning their foreheads or attached somewhere on their bodies, proclaiming their status as a full-fledged shinobi or kunoichi.
"Welcome all," a tall, lanky man of middling years in white robes greeted as he strode into the hall from a door in the lowered platform in front of the auditorium. A shorter man in glasses with onyx eyes and ash-gray hair strode in behind the speaker. The forehead protector on the shorter man's head flashed as they passed under overhead lights. The two came to a stop next to a raised bed affixed to the floor in the center of the half-moon floor.
A murmur of greetings answered the tall man. "Welcome to my apprentice Yakushi, Kabuto's first seminar. He's made great leaps and bounds in his knowledge and contributed to the village as a whole. Thank you all for coming. I will give the floor and the lesson over to Kabuto," he stated before stepping away.
"Thank you, Master Onikuma," Kabuto stated in a carrying voice. He bowed to his mentor before turning to the assembly. "Thank you for coming," he greeted with another, shallower bow. "I see many familiar faces," he continued with a small smile as he adjusted his glasses. "For those of you I don't recognize, I am Kabuto Yakushi, Genin. I've spent the last several years studying the various techniques, doctrines, and knowledge amassed by Konoha's expert medical-nin teams as soon as I graduated from the Academy. Recently, Master Kozato Onikuma has granted me an apprenticeship with several other promising students within the hospital. Today, we'll go over the basics before moving on to some of our recent research on Age Prevention."
Naruto frowned and crossed his arms. He saw many people in the audience shuffle as they produced notebooks and writing supplies to take notes. With a shrug, he uncrossed his arms and drew out his sealing scroll with his school supplies. If the Hokage thought this meeting would help him, then he'd be an idiot to ignore whatever would be covered.
