Naruto: The Apprentice
Chapter two- Confetti!
As Naruto entered the double doors of Konoha's council chamber, people were already finding their seats and as he stood there, looking for a place he should sit in that would be acceptable was when he felt Inu put a hand on his shoulder and guide him to a set of raised seating at the back of the room where several other shinobi sat in waiting.
"This area is reserved for spectators and witnesses, usually for Jounin who are privy to these sorts of meetings, you will sit here with me and observe, I will try and explain what is going on when relevant" Inu explained as he sat Naruto down and took a seat to his right.
A few moments passed as Naruto observed what he assumed were the clan heads seat themselves at a long table on the right ride of the room and what he assumed where the civilian council body on the left, mirroring the clan heads. On a central table there were three seats at a slight elevation compared to the other tables, on the left side sat an old man wearing a pair of glasses, discussing something with the civilian councilor sat closest to him. On the right of that table sat a decrepit looking old woman with a permanent scowl etched on her wrinkled face. The room quietened down as the Hokage entered the room at a quick pace and took his place between the other two.
"This meeting of the Council is now in session" The Hokage spoke with air of command Naruto couldn't help but find impressive as the entire room became deathly silent.
"Inabi, I would like some tea please, chamomile" Sarutobi said as he looked at a kunoichi guarding one of the doorways. The young woman paled slightly and bowed.
"At O-once, Hokage-sama" She stammered before leaving the council chamber.
A long moment of silence passed in the room before someone spoke up "Should we start, Hokage-sama?"
Sarutobi narrowed his eyes at the civilian councilor as he spoke in a sharp tone "We will start when I am ready to start"
Naruto couldn't suppress the very slight smirk on his face as the civilian shrank back in their seat in silence.
Naruto tried to use his new sense to feel out the room, it was difficult to rein it in and stop it going out of control but managed to get a glimmer of an all-round feeling of what he could only describe as fear before a sharp nudge from Inu interrupted his concentration and cut his sense off.
"Not in here … they will feel your chakra spike" Inu whispered as he nodded in the direction of the clan heads.
Naruto followed Inu's gaze to see the clan heads sat upright and tense, yeah, they had definitely felt something but it was the clan head with the white eyes who turned his head in Naruto's direction with a blank expression for but a moment before closing his eyes and turning his head back. In that moment, naruto felt something akin to mortified horror overcome him as he stole a glance at the Hokage who was looking back at him with a subtly bored expression.
"Shit! Jiji's gonna kill me…" he thought bitterly to himself as he broke eye contact with the old man.
It was at this point someone else sat next to him and spoke in a hushed tone "Wonder which one of 'em fucked up this much, eh Inu-chan?" came an almost sickeningly sweet voice.
Naruto looked to the newcomer and almost broke out in a cold sweat as the first thing to enter his vision was the well endowed chest of a woman, said chest being almost too perfectly wrapped in mesh as she leaned back casually in the seat next to him. Said woman brought a hand up to Naruto's eye level and pointed upwards.
"My eyes are up here you little perv!" she hissed.
"Naruto… Anko, Anko, Naruto" Inu introduced lazily without sparing either of them a glance.
Naruto looked up to the woman's face and flinched at the utterly predatory smile adorning her face as she eyed him like a hawk.
"Double shit"
"S-sorry" Naruto squeaked and turned his gaze back to the room.
"So … who dun fucked up? Inu-chan?" Anko repeated her question quietly as she turned her unsettling gaze to the Anbu captain.
"Just wait and see" Inu replied quietly.
"Pfft … you're no fun" Anko replied playfully.
A moment later the woman returned with a tray with a single cup and a pot of steaming tea into the room and brought it before the Hokage, placing it down gently and taking the teacup and placing it before the Hokage.
"The C-Chamomile tea, Hokage-sama" the woman stuttered as she stood upright.
"Thank you, Inabi, you may return to your post" Sarutobi spoke sternly and waited for the girl to return to her place before he lifted the teapot and poured the hot tea into the cup placed before him. The entire room kept in silence the entire time. Sarutobi picked up the teacup and slowly brought it up to his lips, he paused for a moment as he used his free hand to place a black notebook on the table and open it before he took a small sip of the tea and placed the cup back down on the table.
He let the maddening silence continue for a few more seconds before he spoke, his voice emotionless and cold.
"I am sure you're all wondering why I have called this unscheduled meeting and at such short notice … we shall now begin" His voice carried over the entire room and the deafening silence that followed was unnerving.
"Someone in this room … A counselor, in this room has circumvented the Konoha shinobi curriculum guideline … Shikaku" Sarutobi turned to a man with a slightly tired expression with spiky black hair pulled into a high ponytail that resembled a pineapple.
"Hokage-sama, No changes Have been made to the official curriculum in the last fourteen years, as the Jounin commander, I personally review all official training programs and protocols within the academy each year as they are renewed at the start of each new year" the man replied, his voice laced with confusion and slight concern.
"Someone has removed a key subject from the Village History curriculum portion of the approved format" Sarutobi spoke as he took another sip of his tea before turning his gaze to the civilians to his left.
"If I may, Hokage-sama, which subject was removed?" Asked a large heavy set man clad in armour with a spiky mane of auburn hair and purple tattoos trailing down each cheek.
"Uzushiogakure no Sato" Sarutobi spoke clearly, letting his anger flow out with every word.
"Hokage-sama, I never removed nor did I authorize the removal of Uzushiogakure's history from the academy curriculum as it is a core subject in relation the founding of Konoha" Shikaku explained.
"And the Records support this?" Sarutobi questioned.
Shikaku's face took on a look of confusion for a moment before it looked like he had just realized something before he spoke "Yes, official office records will show that the curriculum has not been tampered with in the last fourteen years, nothing removed nor added to the History classes"
The Hokage looked toward the entrance of the council room and made a motion for someone to step forward "Chunin instructor Umino Iruka, present yourself before the council"
Iruka stepped up to stand between the two tables that seated the council and stood at attention and placed the manila folder on the table before bowing to his Hokage.
"Report"
Iruka took a deep breath before clearing his throat "Earlier today, Hokage-sama tasked me with retrieving the records of the Academy curriculum for the past twenty years to compare them to the official copies kept in the Hokage's office for discrepancies" the chunin spoke as he opened the folder and retrieved several copies of the academy curriculum and passed them around to the councilors.
"These documents prove that eight years ago a subject on the official academy curriculum did not appear to be included on the curriculum handed out to instructors at the academy, History core module 6A has not been taught at the academy for the past eight years" Iruka finished.
"How is it, you, an academy instructor did not pick up on such a major discrepancy?" Snapped the woman sat to the Hokage's right. Naruto Knew this woman was Utatane Koharu, one of the Hokage's advisers and teammates from their Genin days.
"I have only been an instructor with the academy for four years, as instructors we are given the year's curriculum at the start of the year directly by the head Instructor of the academy, who, I believe receives it after approval from the Jounin commander" Iruka explained.
"So you mean to tell us that the head instructor of the academy purposefully removed the subject without authorization?" asked the bespectacled man sat to Hokage's left. Mitokado Homura if Naruto remembered correctly, was the the other Advisor and teammate of the Sandaime.
"I've heard enough!" The Hokage announced before taking another sip of tea, sending the room back into silence.
"Does anyone have anything they wish to say?" Sarutobi asked as he eyes both sides of the council.
It was at this point that a man with long dark brown hair stood, dressed in pristine white robes, his white pupil-less eyes narrowed toward the civilian council "To attempt to eradicate the history of a clan is tantamount to sabotage if not teetering the edge of treason and aside from a full investigation being launched, I believe it proper to hear any grievances by said clan against them" the man spoke as his gaze shifted intently toward Naruto.
Naruto's eyes widened slightly at the unnerving gaze as he sat up straight.
"This is the part where you go down there and talk" Inu whispered as he nudged Naruto.
"Right … no pressure" he muttered nervously as he stood and made his way down to stand aside Iruka.
"Uzumaki Naruto, do you wish to make a grievance statement before the council?" asked the Hokage.
"I…" Naruto paused trying to comprehend exactly what was going on and what he was being asked to say or do. He had followed the meeting to the best of his ability but some of the words used confused him. It was at this moment that he was saved by a feral looking woman with wild brown hair, sharp eyes and red fang-like tattoo's on her cheeks. She reminded Naruto of his classmate, Inuzuka Kiba.
"How do you feel about the attempt to cover up the history of the Uzumaki clan, your heritage?" the woman asked softly.
"Oh. Well. Until this morning I never knew the Uzumaki clan existed and I even found out accidentally. So I guess I'm angry, how would you feel if all of your family's history was hidden away from you?"Naruto spoke firmly as his face took on a scowl.
The moment those words left Naruto's mouth, the Hokage tipped his hat to hide his smirk of satisfaction, the boys speech wasn't as eloquent as he had liked but at least he hadn't made a fool of himself, he was only nine years old after all and Naruto's bad habits weren't going to have subsided in the space of a few hours.
"Uzumaki Naruto, on behalf of this council, I, Sarutobi Hiruzen, Sandaime Hokage of Konohagakure apologize for this grievous offence and I declare that an Investigation will take place effective immediately" Saruobi spoke as he stood up and bowed low to Naruto.
Naruto, still completely out of his element crossed his arms over his chest awkwardly "Eh … it's okay Hokage-sama, the blame lies with the person responsible"
Sarutobi stood up straight and smiled at the blonde before he looked over the entire council "This meeting is adjourned, you're all dismissed"
As people got up to leave or stay and discuss other topics of interest, Anko looked over at Inu and smiled manically "Welp, Inu-chan … love to stay, but I just got my orders … I have an instructor to hunt down and interrogate … you can tag along if you like?" she smirked wickedly as she clasped her hands together and stretched her arms above her head, effectively pushing out her chest for Inu to see.
Inu remained quiet for a moment "Sure, first to make him piss his pants buys the first round later tonight?"
"Deal"
And with that they both disappeared.
Naruto was left standing next to Iruka who placed a hand on his shoulder and smiled at the boy "You did great today"
"Indeed, I'm pleased to see that you can keep your cool in a high stress situation" Sarutobi spoke quietly as he ruffled Naruto's hair.
Naruto smiled and let out a sigh.
"But if you think I forgot that little stunt you pulled at the start of the meeting, you're sorely mistaken!"
'Log damn it'
Two Years Later
Naruto walked toward the village gate at a leisurely pace as he reflected on the last two years of his life since he had begun his training under the Third Hokage. The training had been brutal and he had worked himself to the bone to learn everything the Sandaime had to teach, along with a few others who had stepped in when he had been too busy to oversee the training personally. The first couple of months had been especially hard as Sarutobi had all but beaten manners and etiquette into the blonde along with the village's history, its many functions and workings. He had spent the first six months after leaving the academy on academics for the most part, aside from physical conditioning and chakra exercises. He remembered the promise he had made to the Hokage to not complain about the lessons and teachings but when the Sandaime himself had been too busy, he had been instructed by a Jounin named Ebisu. To say Naruto and Ebisu got along with one another was like comparing a warm campfire to a dumpster fire. Ebisu clearly resented having to teach such an 'Uncouth brat' as he had so eloquently called Naruto. For his part, Naruto saw Ebisu as a snide bootlicker and he had been barely capable of dealing with the man. But a promise was a promise so he had bit his tongue and bared the lessons. Although he had played a few pranks on the man in his downtime as a sort of benign payback.
Working with Inu and his Anbu squad had been some of his favourite moments over the past two years as they had taught him several physical and chakra control exercises a long with honing his already impressive stamina and stealth skills in the form of games and challenges at first until the Hokage had decided he was ready to begin learning Taijutsu and shuriken jutsu. But strangest request Sarutobi had heard from Naruto was when the boy requested training in Kenjutsu, initially, Sarutobi had been sceptical as to whether Naruto would take to the sword, and he was shocked when the boy not only showed a rapidly growing skill with the sword but began to develop his own effective Kenjutsu style. Naruto hadn't rejoined his former classmates once over the past two years, opting to take all of his tests privately and all of his physical evaluations were graded by Inu.
Inu had taken a major role in Naruto's physical development alongside the Sandaime and had become a sort of older brother Figure to Naruto over the past two years. Inu had even taught him the three basic jutsu to pass the academy graduation exam; however Naruto had no talent with the standard Bunshin technique and had only been able to produce fatally ill looking clones. This had prompted Inu to teach the boy the Kage Bunshin and to his teachers shock, he had learned the jutsu within a few hours and was capable of producing a seemingly endless stream of solid clones. It was shortly after this that Naruto had learned why the villagers held so much hatred for him, Sarutobi had told him what had happened during the night of his birth and how he had become the Jinchuuriki of the Kyubi. He had made sure Naruto understood that he was the jailer and not the beast itself and that the man who had made him this way had hoped he would be hailed as a Hero for holding the beast back from the world. Naruto had asked many questions about why he was chosen and what had happened to his parents. The hokage had told him he was not ready to learn that truth, and though it took some convincing, Naruto had accepted it, but not without a concession and had managed to leverage the Sandaime into giving him what remained of any Information or property remaining of the Uzumaki clan within the village once he had passed the Genin test.
Walking past a large concrete complex, Naruto glanced at the front entrance and remembered one of the few parts of his training he had not enjoyed at this particular place. It had been a year into his training when he had been sent to this exact building to learn under two people Naruto both liked and respected for vastly different reasons. Morino Ibiki was the head of the torture and interrogation branch of the ANBU, an intimidating scared bear of a man who had unnerved Naruto at first. The second was someone he had a previous dealing with but was no less wary of, Mitarashi Anko.
Ibiki had, with surprising care and patients schooled the young blonde on the many methods of interrogating and extracting information from a target, thankfully they had him practiced on willing participants. Anko however was the flip side of the same coin, the woman enjoyed making him feel uncomfortable and she relished the opportunity to extract every ounce of information from her victims by force, be it physical or otherwise. Naruto had developed a Kinship with Anko after learning of her past and similar situation with the villagers. This kinship had developed into a sort of squabbling sibling's kind of relationship with the young woman.
Despite the not enjoying the lessons learned under the two T&I specialists, he had a bit of talent for the work they did and had said if he so wished, he could apply for a position with their department once he reached the rank of jounin.
It was six months ago he had met his last instructor.
Six months ago
Naruto was sat on a couch, reading from a scroll on the History of the third shinobi world war in the Sandaimes office while the old man did his paperwork. The room was fairly quiet as both occupants were concentrating on their respective tasks until the office window was opened and a tall man wearing green clothes and a red Haori with a spiky white mane of hair jumped through the opening. Naruto looked the man over taking in his appearance for a moment before going back to his scroll.
"Hey, Old man! It's been a while!" Came a cheerful greeting from the man.
"You're late" Sarutobi replied plainly as he didn't look up from the document he was signing.
"Well I was busy, maintaining a spy network in several hostile territories isn't easy or quick work" The man replied offhandedly as he slumped into one of the chairs in front of Sarutobi's desk.
"No doubt you made time to visit every brothel and hot spring on your way back" Sarutobi calmly replied as he gave the newcomer a bored stare.
The man chucked in response as he scratched the back of his head "Yeah, one or two" he admitted sheepishly before he leaned forward slightly "So, what's so important that you called me back so urgently?"
Sarutobi nodded to a space behind the man in Naruto's direction. The man turned his head to look and for a moment he almost lost his composure at seeing the blonde boy sat there reading. He stared at the boy with a neutral expression as the blonde glanced up at him for a scant moment before returning to the scroll.
The man turned back to Sarutobi with a worried expression "What's happened while I've been away"
Naruto almost snorted at hearing this 'A spymaster that doesn't even keep decent tabs on his home while he's away … wow. Just. Wow!'
"Naruto, this is Jiraiya, like you he was once a student of mine" Sarutobi said, getting Naruto's attention.
Naruto looked at Jiraiya and nodded his head slightly "The Toad Sage"
"Ho Ho! You know who I am, eh?" Jiraiya stood as he struck a pose, ready to make his customary introduction.
Naruto Stared blankly at the man as he began to hop on one foot.
"So lame"
Jiraiya stumbled and fell on his face at Naruto's dismissal.
"Jiraiya, I have called you back to oversee Naruto's training for the next few months" Sarutobi began to explain.
Jiraiya immediately shot up and rounded on the Hokage "This brat isn't even a ninja yet and you want me to waste my precious time teaching this kid how to throw his Kunai straight! Are you senile old man!?" Jiraiya bellowed as he pointed at the blonde.
"He can use Natural chakra" Sarutobi stated sharply in attempt to get his point across without having to go into a lengthy explanation as to why.
"Senjutsu? Impossible!" Jiraiya scoffed as he turned to look at Naruto critically.
"And yet he can access natural chakra from his surroundings" Sarutobi snapped back.
Jiraiya stared pensively for a moment at the young blonde boy as if he were sizing him up. Internally he was in a state of personal disbelief and turmoil over this encounter, he hadn't planned on meeting the boy for a while longer. He felt this was too soon, he was still raw with emotion surrounding his late student's demise and this boy was the image of his prized pupil.
"Fine"
"He doubt's me" Naruto stated as he leaned to the side to look at the Hokage.
"Prove him wrong then" Sarutobi smiled before he clapped his hands together "Our old training ground is free for you both to use so I would get started If I were you, Jiraiya"
Jiraiya tore his gaze away from the blonde to his sensei to give the man a glare before turning back to the blonde "Let's go then"
Training ground
Naruto stood in front of Jiraiya who looked over the blonde impassively for a moment before he sighed.
"So … let's see this Senjutsu" He said boredly bordering disbelief.
Naruto smirked slightly as he took a few steps back and stared at the man before him.
Jiraiya waited for a moment, he was expecting to feel a flare of potent chakra from the boy at best, the Kyubi's chakra at worst. However he was almost blown off his feet as a potent wave of natural chakra passed through his body. His eyes widened as he felt the sheer potency of the power emanating off this mere child. As suddenly as it came, the feeling disappeared. Jiraiya stared at the blonde in open shock.
"H-How?" he muttered quietly
Naruto Looked back at him with a small smile "No idea… Sarutobi-sensei thinks it's a possible new bloodline"
"T-that could be an explanation for it …" Jiraiya spoke, still in a state of utter disbelief. He was drawn to the prophesy he was given many years ago by the Elder toad sage 'You will one day take a student with the power to change the world'
Suddenly that thought filled him with both a sense of comfort and extreme dread. As he stared at the child stood before him. He took a deep breath and forced a smile to his face.
"Let's get started!"
Present
Naruto sniggered to himself remembering Jiraiya's reaction that day "heh His dumb face, classic"
As the blonde reached the gate he walked over to the booth at the entrance and greeted the two chunin guards stationed there.
"Izumo! Kotetsu!" Naruto raised a hand to wave as he approached while reaching for his pouch to retrieve a scroll he was to deliver to them "I have the VIP visitors schedule for the week ahead" he said as he handed the scroll to a young man with brown hair, dark eyes and a bandana styled Hitai-ate.
"Hey kid, hows it going?" he asked with a friendly smile.
"Great, I rejoin academy classes for the final year today" Naruto couldn't help the excited response as his face split into a grin.
It was then that the other Chunin spoke up with a grin on his face "Got any decent pranks planned? It really livens up our days seeing the Anbu and Jounin chasing you all over the village!"
"Kotetsu, You know I can neither confirm or deny any involvement in any past, present or future pranks that happen in the village" Naruto replied with a knowing smirk despite the mock innocence he spoke with.
The two Chunin let out a chuckle as Naruto hurried away towards the academy for his first day back in two years. As he walked he checked himself over to make sure he had everything he would need for his first day back. He still wore the outfit that he had picked out two years ago though; he had made some additions to his wardrobe. His forearms and shins were now covered in ANBU standard Issue armour and he had added a wide leather utility belt to his wardrobe, His kunai holster sat on his right leg and a standard utility pouch was clipped to his belt. Another leather belt looked under his left arm and over his right shoulder, holding a shortened ninjato securely in place on his right shoulder. He smiled to himself as he was sure he had everything he needed and continued is leisurely pace to the academy … he was already five minutes late but he decided he could afford to annoy his sensei for bit for a laugh.
Soon the academy came into sight and Naruto felt himself get excited at the potential to make some real friends this time round. He remembered a few of the people he had been in class with originally and Sarutobi had promised he was going back to the same class with the same students and teacher.
"Oh I can't wait for this!" Naruto muttered devilishly as he picked up the pace.
Academy class room
Iruka was almost finished with roll call when students and teacher alike jumped in fright when there was a sudden explosion of smoke and orange confetti at the front of the class "TA-DAAAA!"
The Smoke dissipated to show Naruto stood there with his arms crossed over his chest and a grin plastered on his face.
The class was deathly quiet for a moment before all hell broke loose with students either laughing or cursing the blonde. Naruto just stood there grinning 'Damn, that was great'
"NARUTO! IT'S YOUR FIRST TIME HERE IN TWO YEARS AND YOU PULL A STUPID STUNT LIKE THIS!?" Iruka shouted at the blonde with frustration.
Naruto turned to look at Iruka "Didya miss me sensei?" He asked with a grin.
Iruka sighed to himself as he gave Naruto a weak glare "Just get to your seat! And you're cleaning this mess after class!" the chunin declared as he pointed to the orange confetti littering the floor, his desk … oh Kami it got everywhere.
Naruto just grinned as he took an empty seat in the middle row of the class and rested his head on his arms, still smiling at his handiwork. Iruka spent a moment trying to brush the confetti off himself in frustration before giving up and started his speech, welcoming everyone back for the final year of the academy, at which point Naruto zoned out completely as he focused on spotting people he could remember from two years ago.
'Okay … the teme is still here. And his two shadows' he observed as he noticed Uchiha Sasuke and the two girls ever present nearby, Haruno Sakura and Yamanaka Ino. Naruto shrugged at the sight, he was not interested in that group of people or the horde of lesser fan girls nearby. His gaze shifted to a boy with a grey fur lined coat, a few spikes of brown hair poking out from under the hood and red fang tattoos on his cheeks. He also noticed the boy also had a small dog perched on top of his head.
'Inuzuka Kiba … and dog, that's new' he thought dismissively as his eyes roamed once more, only to land on a portly boy with brown hair and red spiral tattoos on his cheeks working his way through a bag of potato chips and the boy next to him with hair that reminded Naruto of some sort of spiky fruit, though that was all he could see as he was clearly taking a nap with his head down on the desk in front of him.
'Akimichi Chouji and Nara Shikamaru … well they haven't changed much' Naruto mused to himself before moving on until a boy with a light grey high collard coat, almost fuzzy looking brown hair and sunglasses caught his attention. Naruto stared at him, squinting his eyes until a look of realization dawned on his face before quickly shifting back to impassive 'Nope'
His gaze wandered a little more until he caught sight of a girl at the back of the class who more a light beige coat with white fur lining. She had short midnight blue hair and pupiless white eyes. He watched her as she seemed to fidget, poking her index fingers together rather roughly until she stopped suddenly, Naruto looked back up to her face to find her eyes locked directly on him and her face was turning a darkening shade of pink.
'Hyuga whatshername … definitely Hyuga, Kami why do they stare at me like that' Naruto shivered as he recalled the few interactions he had with Hiashi Hyuga over the past two years, notably when he would just stare at him from across the room.
Naruto was brought out of his own thoughts by Iruka loudly telling the students to make their way to the training ground outside. Naruto got up and started to follow other students until he felt a hand on his shoulder. Turning around Naruto came face to face with iruka who smiled sweetly at him.
"You can clean up this mess before you join us outside" He said gesturing to the orange confetti all over the floor, Iuka's desk, books … it just covered everything!
Naruto let a mischievous smirk take over his face as he brought his hand together in a tiger seal. The effect was instantaneous as every bit of orange confetti popped out of existence leaving little puffs of white smoke behind. Iruka's eyes widened a moment before settling to glare at the blonde trouble maker "You could have done that anytime?" he asked with a hint of annoyance.
"Well … yeah" Naruto replied as if it were obvious.
"SO WHY DIDN'T YOU DO THAT FROM THE START!?" Iruka shouted as he smacked Naruto on the back of the head.
Naruto merely smirked at the light tap and started laughing before replying as he ran to catch up with his classmates "Because you never asked me to!"
Academy training ground.
All of the students were stood in front of Iruka and another Chunin with shoulder length silver hair.
"All right class, settle down. This Is Mizuki-sensei and he will be participating in many of this year's lessons and exams as my assistant, I expect you all to treat him with the same respect you show myself" Iruka introduced the man and then lifted a clipboard.
"Okay, we're now going to evaluate your Taijutsu skills to see where you're all at after last year and to see if you have been practicing as you should have over the summer break!" Iruka announced to the students, much to their annoyance by the sounds of sighing and quiet 'awws' coming from a few people in the crowd.
"First to spar will be …" Iruka started but Naruto was no longer paying attention as someone had just nudged him. Turning his head, he found Shikamaru stood next to him, looking bored and tired as ever.
"Hey, Shikamaru! Been a while" Naruto started with a slight smile.
"Wondered if you were gonna come back, it's troublesome but it's good to see you" Shikamaru replied as he gave Naruto a slight nod and a genuine smile.
"Anything I should know about the class?" Naruto asked quietly as he completely ignored Iruka giving a speech on the spar rules.
"Nothing much, Sasuke's still top of the class and I'm at the bottom since you left" Shikamaru explained quietly.
As Iruka droned on about the rules and regulations of sparing matches to the students, Naruto was busy sizing up the competition when he caught sight of the Hyuga girl staring at him briefly before looking away just as he noticed her.
"Weird" he mused to himself before he heard his name being called.
"Naruto, you will go first as you currently have no class scores or position" came Iruka's voice.
Naruto looked around "So who will I be fighting?"
"Actually, you'll be fighting me" Came the voice of the assistant, Mizuki as he took a step forward with a barely hidden sadistic smile.
Naruto didn't need his senses to clearly see that this guy was looking forward to being able to hit him and just rolled his eyes as he stepped forward onto the training field to face Mizuki.
"Both fighters ready?" Iruka asked as the rest of the class watched from the sidelines at the fight about to take place.
Naruto nodded his head and kept his eyes on Mizuki.
"Here I come … try to keep up" Mizuki called over to Naruto, trying to sound sincere if only to try and hide the underlying threat. Naruto quickly analysed Mizuki's body language and figured he'd go for a single overpowering attack to try and put him out of the fight.
"Like that will happen" the blonde muttered to himself as he slid into his Taijutsu stance.
"Start!" Iruka called and with it, Mizuki charged in toward Naruto, who leaned backwards slightly. Mizuki closed the gap in a matter of seconds and took a swipe at Naruto only for Naruto to bend backward into a flip and out of striking range for a moment before he ducked under a kick aimed for the side of his head. Mizuki smirked as he used the momentum from his kick to launch another spin kick at Naruto's face as he was rising back up from his crouched position. Naruto smirked at this as he blocked the incoming leg with his forearm and took a firm grip of Mizuki's ankle with his free hand and used the tensed outstretched leg to spring his body up off the ground and deliver a vicious heel kick to Mizuki's chin followed by another flat footed strike hit Mizuki in the chest, pushing him back a bit, allowing Naruto to spring backwards and land on both his feet ready to continue.
Mizuki brought his hand to his mouth to wipe away some blood from the busted lip that Naruto's heel had inflicted. He stared at the blonde and glared. He readied himself once more and charged. Naruto for his part allowed a small smirk to appear on his face. Seeing the boy smirk, Mizuki hesitated for a split second and that was all Naruto needed as Mizuki came flying at him with a straight punch, Naruto quickly spun to out of the way of the fist before it could connect and reached out, grasping, the wrist of the outstreatched arm whilst simultaneously ending his evasive spin by kicking the Chunins legs out from beneath him. As Mizuki hit the floor hard, he yelped in pain as Naruto pulled Mizuki's arm back under his own armpit and braced the instructors arm at the elbow using the other arm to apply pressure whilst placing his foot on the side of Mizuki's head.
"Move, and I snap your arm like a stick of pockey" Naruto warned as he applied a little more pressure, making Mizuki grunt in pain as he flailed his other arm and legs to try and break free, but Naruto's grip was like Iron in this position.
"That's enough! Well done, Naruto, very impressive! Class, take note of how Naruto used Mizuki's size and strength against himself and managed to manouvre his opponent into trap using his own momentum, Sometimes a mission will call for you to capture a target alive, a technique like this is a perfect take-down for this kind of scenario, The enemy is pinned and cannot break out without suffering a broken arm, thus reducing combat effectiveness and giving you the advantage in hand to hand combat" Iruka explained to the students, who all looked on with mixed reactions from shock to awe.
Naruto released his hold on Mizuki's arm and took his foot off his head and walked back over to the group of students.
Mizuki got to his feet, cradling his aching arm and turned to Iruka and spat "That little bastard almost broke my arm! And you're praising it!?"
Iruka stepped closer to Mizuki and levelled a hard stare at the assistant before snapping at him in a hushed tone so as to not let the student's overhear "You underestimated him, you got hurt! You're a Chunin, you should know better! And for the way you went at him like that … you deserve what you got and be thankful that was all you got! You come at any of my students like that again, and I will personally see your career ended!" Iruka left the threat hanging for a moment before he spoke again "Get yourself to the hospital and get it checked, Idiot!" He whispered heatedly before turning back to the class to continue with the evaluation.
On a nearby rooftop
A small group of people were watching the fight as it unfolded, Inu along with is Anbu squad.
"Damn … that was a flawless arm-bar execution, did you teach him that, Kuma?" asked a Hawk masked Anbu, Taka, as he glanced at his much larger teammate, Kuma, who bore the Bear mask.
"Hn! Yeah … kid did me proud just now!" Came the gruff voice of Kuma who made no effort to hide the pride in his voice.
"That chunin came at him like it was an actual fight, not like a teacher should with academy students!" Came the sharp feminine tone from Neko wearing the cat mask as she shook her head in anger, her long purple hair flowing with each movement she made "what do you think Inu-Senpai?"
"I give him a solid seven out of ten" Inu responded calmly as he watched from a seated position.
Taka turned to Look at Inu "Only a seven?" he asked out of curiosity.
"He finished his spar in two moves and executed the Arm-bar perfectly, a seven, however he lost three points for not snapping that pricks arm" Inu replied lazily as he stood slowly and turned to leave.
"Well when you put it that way…" Taka muttered sarcastically.
"I don't like leaving the Kid here, alone, Inu-senpai" Neko spoke up.
Inu merely pulled out a small orange book and flipped it open as he put his other hand in his pocket.
"Don't worry Neko-chan, Senpai has noticed you" Inu spoke before disappearing in a swirl of leaves.
The three remaining Anbu glanced at each other for a moment before bear spoke up "Why is he so weird?"
Naruto spent the next few days settling back into the academy, Mizuki had returned to class the day after the fight with his arm in a sling, it turned out that while the Injury was relatively Minor, A certain Dog masked ANBU had made it clear to hospital staff that they should let this injury heal on its own. Naruto had managed to make a couple of friends in Choji and Shikimaru and to a lesser extent, Kiba, though his friendship with kiba was based on friendly banter and jokes at one another's expense. He had even offered to teach them the technique he'd used to take down Mizuki, which both Kiba and Choji had agreed. Shikimaru deemed it too troublesome to put more effort than was needed to scrape by and politely declined the offer. After the academy would finish each day, he would head straight to the Hokage tower to meet with the old man and continue his studies. It was a few weeks into the new year when during another of Iruka's lectures, Naruto had caught the Hyuga girl staring at him again but he pretended he didn't notice. He just slumped down on the desk next to Shikimaru.
"Why does she keep staring at me? It's starting to creep me out a bit" Naruto whispered just loud enough for shikimaru to hear.
"She's a Hyuga … it's kind of their specialty … you know, looking at things" The Nara replied with sarcasm.
"Oh wow, Shika, very insightful of you. Such perception. Much " Naruto replied in a deadpan tone as his head hit the desk with a thud.
"You could … and this is just a suggestion, but you could actually just talk to her?" Shikamaru shot back.
"Oh yes that would go down well "hi there, I was just wondering why you keep staring at me" yes, that would go down so well, have you met her father!?" Naruto hissed.
"Nope, don't care to either"
"He does the exact same thing!" Naruto complained.
"This seems like a very "you" problem, and we've already discussed my policy on those types or problems now shut up and let my sleep" Shikamaru shot back in mild annoyance.
"I best not get lumped on a team with you after graduation" Naruto snidely remarked as he decided to just follow Shikamaru's example and fall asleep, at least until Iruka eventually woke him up by screaming at him with that weird big head jutsu thing he does. After what seemed like forever, Iruka finally dismissed the class for the day and Naruto had the rest of the day to himself as Sarutobi-sensei had a council meeting. Naruto decided to head towards one of his favourite places to eat in the village, by virtue of being the only place he could eat in peace and not be treated like trash, Ichiraku's. As he arrived at the ramen stand, he pulled back one of the flaps to enter only to be surprised to see Anko waiting for him. He let out a deep sigh and crossed his arms over his chest as she stared at him neutrally.
"Can I at least eat before you drag me off to who knows where, to whatever fresh new hell you're managed to conjure up this time around?" the blonde pleaded quietly as he sat on the stool next to Anko.
Anko grinned at the boy "Aww … hard day at nursery?" she teased playfully.
"Very hard, some kid tried to knock my block tower over, so beat him up" Naruto replied with a slight smirk.
Anko just laughed "Heard about your fight with Mizuki" She replied in a singsong tone of voice.
"Wasn't much of a fight" Naruto admitted honestly.
"Yeah … been on a few missions with that guy when I was a Chunin, and I wasn't impressed" she admitted offhandedly as Naruto made his order with Ayame, a pretty young woman with mousy brown hair and dark eyes.
As Naruto waited patiently, Anko decided to get straight to the point of why she had been waiting for him "Well you'll be happy to know, there is no fresh hell or anything like that for you today, I come baring gifts!" she spoke as she pulled a scroll from her jacket pocket and handed it to Naruto "The last payment of the restitution fund set up by Hokage-sama … The now Ex-civilian councilor who bribed the now Ex-head instructor of the academy to have the Uzumaki wiped from the history lessons was ordered to pay to you, 250,000 Ryo per year of the 8 years it had been removed from the curriculum for a total of 2,000,000 Ryo in compensation. Had to beat every Ryo out of the bastard but we got there in the end, turns out he had some hidden accounts set up in other countries, besides the compensation he'll be doing 5 years in prison for each year" Anko explained.
"Well, Thanks for that, I know you spent more time working the two of them than you would have liked, so" Naruto replied as he handed the scroll back to her as his Ramen arrived.
Anko stared at Naruto for a moment "I can't accept that, Naruto, besides, it was a paid mission"
"A C-rank mission if I remember correctly! Hardly seems worth it considering you had to lean on them for so long. I'm just happy that this is the end of it, so consider this a thank you from me to you!" Naruto smiled as he pushed the scroll to Anko.
The woman gave him a genuine smile before ruffling his hair "You're a great kid, you know that?"
Naruto was finishing off the broth from his third bowl and sighed contently "I know"
Naruto stood up and paused a moment "Oh, Anko-chan, could you cover my tab for this meal, I just gave you all the money I had on me, see ya!"
The last thing she saw was Naruto's mischievous smirk before he disappeared in a swirl of leaves. Anko stared at the space the blonde had occupied a moment ago and let out a low growl.
Naruto appeared nearer to home and paused for a moment as a smile crept on his face.
"NARUTOOOOOO!" came the angered voice of Anko in the distance.
"Ah, perfect end to my day!" he laughed to himself as he started running home.
Well here it is! the second chapter! Some of you may have hoped that I would go in depth into Naruto's "sage" training; however I didn't want to give too much away to the direction of the story, I want it to be a surprise so I spent a lot of this chapter tying up some loose ends after the two year time skip and establishing some bonds with other characters whilst making Naruto more mature, smarter and stronger whilst retaining his childishness and pranking. Some of you may be thinking that Having Naruto beat Mizuki in two moves may be overkill and in a way it kind of is. And that is entirely the point. Mizuki is a Chunin who is eventually beaten to a bloody pulp by Naruto. In this story you have to take into account the many different teachers Naruto has had besides the Hokage. I wanted to show that he hasn't just trained for two years, but been taught and instructed and I felt you all deserved an Idea of the results after I've kept a lot of the training secretive. I want to thank those of you who have reviewed, followed and favourited the story. I hope you stay with the story and enjoy it as much as I am writing it, the next chapter should be ready in about a week, give or take a few days. Thanks