I don't own Naruto or any of the characters or situations associated with it.
The following chapters were found in one of my digital photo albums. I have no clue how they ended up there.
As per the (now closed) poll outcome, I am posting them, but I won't be turning this into a full story.
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Academy
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"You alright, Naruto?" Anko asked quietly as the duo approached the front gate of the Academy complex. Naruto nodded and brushed his long hair back, fastening it into its regular loose ponytail which incidentally hid the insect-holes on the back of his neck.
"I'm fine, nee-san." Naruto replied with a smile. "I may be a year younger than the others here, but I'll be fine."
Anko nodded, then froze as a pair of robed figures walked past them. "Shit, that's a Hyuuga, looks like he'll be in your class!"
Naruto froze. "You mean…?"
"Yeah." Anko exhaled in disgust. "I know you don't like it, but it's time for me to tell the Old Man about the Hive. I'll get Gai to help, but you try to keep it hidden until the Hyuuga brat decides to spill it. Probably a good thing there aren't any Aburame in your class, they'd know within minutes even if they weren't paying attention."
Naruto nodded slowly.
"What do you think Jiji will do?"
"Well, you've been hosting the Hive for three years without any ill-effects, so probably nothing. I wonder if the brat's learned to activate his Byakugan yet?"
"There's an Uchiha over there." Naruto noted. Anko glanced across and nodded.
"Uchiha Setsuna, named after his great-uncle or something. I don't know if he's activated his Sharingan yet, but be careful how you use your jutsu around him."
Naruto grinned. "No worries, nee-san, remember? Thanks to… you know, I can do most of my jutsu without using hand-seals. Can't copy what you can't see."
Anko nodded, Naruto's ability to get the Hive to shape his chakra for the Jutsus meant that he could perform most of the low-level jutsus without giving his opponent any sort of warning at all. Anko had even called in a favour and got Uchiha "Shunshin" Shisui to teach Naruto the Shunshin teleportation trick. Within a week of Naruto learning, the two of them were often found engaging in impromptu races using only Shunshin, races which Naruto occasionally managed to win since he could use the Hive to "rack" several Shunshins, holding them ready for when they were needed.
Hatake Kakashi had noted that Naruto's Shunshin was almost as fast as the Yondaime Hokage's famed Hiraishin (albeit with far less range), something with which Shisui had agreed without hesitation despite the ongoing (albeit mainly one-sided) animosity between the majority of the Uchiha clan and the Copycat Ninja.
"As long as you're sure." Anko grinned. "Now go on, off with you, I'll see you this afternoon."
"Thanks, nee-san." Naruto grinned, standing on tiptoe to give her a quick kiss on the cheek before running through the gate. For a moment, Anko stood watching him go, then she sighed and walked away, pulling up her left sleeve.
"Good luck, Gaki. Hive, relay to Gai. Meeting, Hokage, backup, urgent."
A moment passed before Gai's reply came and Anko squared her shoulders as she headed for the Hokage's tower.
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"…and as I call your name, stand up and give the class a few facts about yourself." The teacher said. "Name, likes, dislikes and dreams. My name is Mimoto Takashi but you will call me Sensei, I like reading and seeing my students learn, I dislike slackers and those who think they know everything and my dream is to see those of you who have the ability to do so become proper shinobi. Now you know how it's done, let's see how you do."
Naruto promptly zoned out as several names were mentioned, then a familiar name sounded, catching his attention.
"Higarushi Tenten"
Naruto's gaze snapped round and he grinned at the daughter of the owner of the shop where he got most of his supplies.
"My name is Higarushi Tenten, I like all kinds of weapons, I dislike those who see Kunoichi as being weak and it's my dream to become a Kunoichi like my idol, Senju Tsunade of the Sannin."
As Tenten sat down, Naruto gave her a thumbs-up, causing her to return his smile even as the teacher read out the next name.
"Hyuuga Neji"
"I am Hyuuga Neji. I don't have any real likes but I dislike those who are weak. I have no dreams since I follow fate."
"Wow, what a grouch." Naruto muttered to himself, earning himself a death-glare from the offended boy.
"Kohaku Ayumi"
A girl stood up and looked round.
"I am Kohaku Ayami. I like nature, dislike those who act without thinking and my dream is to help foster closer relations between Konoha and my hometown."
Naruto looked out of the window, seeing the faces of the former Hokages. After several moments, his attention was once again grabbed by a name that he had come across before, one often mentioned by Gai-sensei.
"Rock Lee"
The boy that stood up had dark hair pulled back into a ponytail and wore similar style clothes as Tenten. Naruto stared at the large-eyed boy, then flinched as an image of the boy dressed in green spandex and with a pudding-bowl haircut flashed across his mind.
'Hell, no.' He thought to himself. 'I am so not letting him get brainwashed by Gai-sensei.'
"My name is Rock Lee." The boy declared in a manner slightly reminiscient of Maito Gai. "I like training and testing myself, I dislike those who look down on others and it is my dream to show that one can be a great ninja without relying on ninjutsu."
"That boy has almost no chakra that we can detect."
'Explains his dream.' Naruto mentally replied. 'I wonder if he'll accept any help in achieving his goal?'
"Uchiha Setsuna"
The black-eyed boy stood up, his pose screaming arrogance as much as Neji's had. "My name is Uchiha Setsuna. My likes are my own, my dislikes are none of your business. My dream is to help bring more honour to the Uchiha clan."
Neji snorted and Setsuna promptly glared at him, a glare which Neji returned, enhanced with his Byakugan. An instant later, Neji froze, then turned to stare at Naruto, his expression perplexed.
"And last and least, Uzumaki Naruto." Mimoto Takashi sneered and Naruto rose, keeping his expression calm.
"My name is Uzumaki Naruto. My likes are training, ramen, dango and my adoptive family. My dislikes are those who hate without reason and who cannot see the scroll for the kunai within. My dream is to prove myself worthy of the rank of Hokage, although given what I've seen from my teacher and several of the students, I may be better going for the rank of Raikage or..."
Neji slammed to his feet. "You traitor!"
"Much as it pains me to do so, I agree with the Hyuuga." Setsuna sneered. "I've heard about you, Uzumaki. Unwanted orphan scum living with the that bitch of a snake whore…"
Rage briefly overtook Naruto and the window shattered as Setsuna was sent flying out of it, his left shoulder misshapen from the force of the punch. Naruto inhaled deeply, then he sent his glare around the classroom.
"I will say this only once. Insult me all you want, I'm used to it. But if anyone insults someone I care about, that person dies. This is your only warning. And as you can see, the Uchiha just demonstrated why I might be better off in another village."
Several students rose, fists clenched, but Neji waved them back.
"Don't. He's not kidding about killing. He's got… you look like an Aburame."
The teacher froze and Naruto pasted a feral smirk on his face, mentally cursing the fact that he had a classmate who could literally see through him.
"Nah, the Aburame aren't anywhere near as badass as me." Naruto stated. "I've got three full colonies of Death Bite Beetle inside me, they're so deadly that even a small colony is too lethal for an Aburame to bond with. One bite from one of my Kikkai, and you're dead."
"Yeah, right." Another student snorted, but Neji motioned for him to shut up even as Naruto released a tithe of his bugs to swarm around him. Naruto let the bugs spread out a bit, then recalled them back to under his Haori. Looking round, he saw that most of the students, as well as the teacher, were pale with fear.
"As I said." Naruto repeated. "You can insult me all you want. But insult someone I care about… you won't live long enough to regret it."
"Actually, I'd prefer it if instead of killing, you reported it to me and let me deal with it. I don't have enough shinobi as it is, so I would prefer not to lose more to their own idiocy." A new voice said and Naruto turned with a grin to face the door.
"Lord Hokage!"
"I came as soon as I realised that there might be a problem." Hiruzen said as he walked into the room, followed by Anko, Gai and a sunglasses-wearing dark-haired man that somehow looked vaguely familiar to Naruto. "Naruto, Aburame Shibi has an interesting offer for you. As you have Kikkai, he offers a place in his clan to you."
Naruto shook his head. "When I was four, I was attacked by an Aburame who called me a demon and stabbed me, leaving me to die. I do not hold the clan itself at fault, but until that man publicly apologises for his actions, I will have nothing to do with the Aburame clan itself."
"And when were you going to tell me about that?" Anko demanded, stalking across to glare at Naruto. "Someone hurt you and you didn't tell me?"
Naruto shrugged. "I heal fast, remember? And it was before we met."
"This could present a problem." Shibi whispered to Hiruzen. "Your own law would mean that whoever it was who attacked him would be put to death for what he said. I do not think that any of my clan will be willing to step forwards, knowing they would die for attacking one who has stolen our Kikkai."
"Hey, they chose me!" Naruto snarled. "I didn't steal them! If anything you could say that they stole me!"
Hiruzen sighed. "Very well. Since you have bonded with the Kikkai and kept it a secret for three years, I believe that you have more than enough control over them for me to let you retain them. I will announce this afternoon that from this day on, anyone who attacks Naruto and dies due to his colonies will be deemed to have committed suicide."
"No-one will want to spar with him." Takashi managed to say, his gaze still fixed on Naruto.
"I'll be happy to spar with him." Tenten said with a grin. "I know him from my shop, he stayed over a few times while Anko-san was on missions and I've been teaching him to throw shuriken and kunai. He's fun."
"I also am eager to spar with Naruto-sama!" Lee exclaimed.
"He's too lethal, I won't let him participate." Takashi countered and Gai shrugged.
"Then I shall train the three of them every Friday."
"I'll help!" Anko chimed in.
"But… he punched a student out of the window!"
"He deserved it." Anko and Naruto said in unison, then they looked at each other and had to fight down their laughter. Gai simply rolled his eyes and Naruto remembered his earlier thoughts.
"Lee, whatever happens, don't let Gai convince you to wear green spandex. The lack of pockets can be a real problem."
Anko promptly tried to hide her laughter with a bout of fake coughing while Gai looked slightly scandalised.
"Naruto, after the academy has finished, please come and see me." Hiruzen said, carefully ignoring the Kunoichi. "And don't worry about Setsuna, once he has recovered, I'll be… discussing his actions and attitude. No-one gets away with insulting my ninja."
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"Three years." Hiruzen stated and Naruto squirmed in his seat. "Why didn't you tell me?"
"Well," Naruto sighed, "It taught me why everyone hates me."
Hiruzen froze and Naruto nodded. "Yeah, I know about the Kyuubi. He's been teaching me how to use his youki and the Hive has been changing it into chakra to boost my reserves. Heck, the Hive isn't just using my chakra to live on any more, half the chakra it needs is actually converted youki, giving me more for my own usage."
Hiruzen gaped at him and Naruto shrugged, then looked down.
"I was scared, Jiji." He whispered. "The Hive was my first true friend. It doesn't judge me, or hate me, it's always there for me, it wants to help me, make me stronger, help me to be the best ninja that I can be. I… I was afraid that you'd take it away."
Hiruzen leaned back, his sharp gaze catching the glint of a tear on Naruto's cheek. A random thought occurred to him and he gave a chuckle.
"What?"
"Naruto, since you know about the Kyuubi, I may as well tell you that you were in line to be offered the Toad contract when you were older. But since you have Kikkai, and the toads eat insects…"
Naruto blinked. "Toads? As in the Yondaime?"
Hiruzen nodded slowly and Naruto shrugged. "Why? I'm just an orphan who happens to be the one the Yondaime chose to hold Kurama. Why should that mean that I was going to be offered the same contract as the Yondaime?"
"Perhaps because you're his son? And the son of my previous Jinchuuriki?" Kurama sent and Naruto's eyes shot open. Hiruzen stared at him.
"I'm… the Yondaime's son?" Naturo gasped and Hiruzen couldn't stop his own face from showing the truth of Naruto's question. "Then why was I put into an orphanage?"
"Because of politics." Hiruzen sighed. "After the attack, Konoha had lost many ninja and needed to rebuild. But the amount of political power you represented meant that if any clan took you in, that clan would have been able to use you as a puppet to get more power, maybe even control of Konoha. And I couldn't take you in myself, I have too many rivals who would have used you as an excuse to have the Daimyo remove me, and thus my protection would be ended. Any civilian family would have been unable to resist the pressure on them to hand you over, so I had no choice but to register you with an orphanage using your mother's clan-name since if anyone found out whose son you were, the assassins targeting you would have had to line up. At the very least, Iwa and Kumo would have sent several assassins to kill you, or worse, kidnap you. Although the secrecy about your family worked, your status as a Jinchuuriki was leaked, and I still haven't managed to find out who it was who betrayed you and Konoha like that."
Naruto sagged slightly, his face blank as his mind turned inwards. After a few moments, he nodded.
"I… think I get it. I don't like it, but the Hive and Kurama explained it to me. And don't worry, I'll keep quiet about it."
Hiruzen nodded, then looked up as a knock sounded.
"What?!"
The door opened and Naruto grinned at one of the people entering.
"Shisui-nii-san!"
"Hey, Naruto-nii-kun." Shisui grinned back, then his face set. "Sir, the matter we've discussed, the timetable's been shifted up. It's happening tomorrow. Itachi and I have come up with a plan with Anko's help, but… sorry, but we need Naruto's help, and it won't be pretty.
The Uchiha standing beside Shisui nodded. "We know our targets, but we need to do this tonight, silently, if we are to save the clan.
Naruto looked at them curiously. "What's happening and what can I do to help?"
"Actually, it's your Hive we need. Setsuna was complaining about it as I took him to the hospital, and we already knew about the Death Bite Beetle project, but we thought they were extinct, not Joined." Shisui said. "Can the Hive act without feeding the memories back to you?"
"I'll ask it… You need our help in removing a threat to Konoha, a threat to our Host, the future Hokage. You need us to kill without mercy, but only those you need to be killed. If it is for the good of Konoha and thus our Host, we will help. Whoah, that still feels weird."
"I'll get the spare communication armbands for you." Anko said, then she glared at them. "And I'm helping. Don't argue!"
Anko walked out of the room, leaving a perplexed Naruto looking at the others.
"She obviously worries about you." Shisui said with a smile. "Perfectly understandable."