The sun set over Konoha, the village seemed to slow as the light faded, what with her occupants retreating to their homes for dinner, and the majority of the shops closing for the day. As the last of the light started to fade, dark clouds rolled in from behind the Hokage Monument, and as night finally fell upon the village, so did a large downpour of rain. The last of the villagers who hadn't found shelter yet were scrambling to get to some, a flash of yellow amongst the rain that went unnoticed by most, was the young Uzumaki Naruto, who bolted toward his home.
"Stupid rain!" Naruto shouted, "I wasn't even able to finish half of the ramen I wanted to!"
Anger evident on his face he sped further down the road, which was lit up from time to time by lightning that began flashing from the storm. Naruto's apartment was in sight, but just as the last roll of thunder finished, a flash of blue lit up the sky, and Naruto found himself tumbling across the empty streets, before he ultimately blacked out.
The blonde groggily sat up, and struggled to open his eyes, which, when opened, blurred the surroundings into an unrecognizable state. Blinking away the blur, the blonde eventually found himself sitting in an emergency room.
"What happened…" Naruto asked, massaging his head to ease the headache he was feeling.
"What indeed." A voice to Naruto's right chuckled out, causing the boy to jump and snap his gaze in the direction of its origin.
"Calm down Naruto, it's just me." The graveled voice assured. The carrier of said voice was an old man with a white goatee and tanned, leathery skin. The man wore a red and white hat with the kanji for fire in the center of it, as well as a red and white robe. Naruto recognized him as his grandfather figure, the sandaime hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen.
"Hokage-jiji! Why am I here? Did I get beat up hard enough to not remember again?" The boy questioned lightheartedly, to which the sandaime grimaced.
"Nothing like that Naruto," He began, "In fact it was merely an accident that you came, you were struck by a bolt of lightning from that freak storm."
"Oh." Was all Naruto could say in reply.
"Enough of that though, how are you feeling?" The sandaime asked sincerely.
"Uh..." Naruto began slowly, "I'm not sure, I don't feel bad, but... I don't know, I feel a bit weird I guess." He finished with a shrug.
Hiruzen grunted humorously at the blonde's words.
"I'd probably feel weird too if I was struck by lighting." He joked lightheartedly, "From the looks of it though you look as if you weren't struck in the first place, I think the doctors would release you if they were here right now, so I'd just say you're free to go home." Hiruzen then reached into his robe and pulled out a small envelope and passed it to Naruto. "Here, you can have your allowance a little early this time, just don't go spending it all on ramen you hear me." With that he got up from his seat and started for the door. "Take care Naruto." Were his parting words.
The blonde sat in silence for a minute as he listened to the Hokage's footsteps recede down the hallway. Naruto then carefully got to his feet and grabbed his things, before heading out. He began walking out of the room he was staying in, and made to leave the hospital, ignoring all the glares that were thrown his way.
The blonde left the hospital out into the night while deep in thought, the storm had gone, when he started heading down the road to where his apartment was, he decided to run the rest of the way there. When the boy made it to his apartment, he felt slightly winded, and recovered in no time at all. After entering his home, and closing the door, he took in his surroundings. The apartment was rather small and basic, it had a kitchen, a dining room, and a fridge that sat directly across from the hallway. The boy made for the hallway, and halfway through, passed the bathroom, before ending up at his bedroom.
The bedroom was basic, and had little in the sense of decorations, a calendar here, a poster there, the most prominent theme of the room was the state it was in, garbage littered the floor, in such a way as that it was nearly impossible to see the ground. Naruto used to be fine with this, it was his, and no-one had ever told him to clean it, however, now, he saw it as appalling as most others would.
"Ugh…" Naruto groaned to himself, "I'm gonna have to clean up tomorrow." Shaking his head, the blonde laid down and drifted off to sleep.
Naruto made his into his ninja academy class the next day, and quickly found a vacant seat near one of his classmates, Uchiha Sasuke. The boy didn't take notice to Naruto, and elected to instead glare at the window to his left. Naruto glanced around the room and noticed that of the notable names of his classmates, only a few were there. He noticed that himself, Sasuke, Nara Shikamaru, Aburame Shino, Hyuga Hinata, and a just few civilian-born children were the only ones in class at the moment. Shikamaru was napping in his seat, Shino was looking intently at a fly that was buzzing not far from him, and Hinata was organizing her school supplies near the back of the class. Weird… Where's everyone else? The blonde silently questioned, then looked at the clock at the front of the room. Oh. I'm early. Wait… WHAT THE HELL? I'M EARLY? He mentally screamed. Damn. I'd follow Shikamaru's example but I'm actually wide awake… He scratched at his head in irritation. I'm not only early but I also chose to sit next to 'ten-mile-stick-up-his-ass' 'personality-so-bland-a-brick-wall's-more-interesting' blue teme himself. He sighed dejectedly and slouched further into his seat.
"Quit squirming dobe, you're being rather distracting." Sasuke ordered, which caused Naruto to snarl.
"And what am I distracting you from? It sure as hell isn't class, and I'm sure there's nothing interesting going on out there, or am I wrong teme?" Naruto argued.
Sasuke crossed his arms and looked out the window again, his only response was a huff of indignation. Naruto was about to gloat about his victory over 'the blue teme' when he heard the seat next to him move. The blonde looked to see who had sat down, and noticed it was Shikamaru.
"Why'd you get closer?" Naruto asked the lazy boy.
"Came to ask you why you're here so early, raising my voice would have been too troublesome, and I also wanted to watch the clouds, it's easier this close to the window." Shikamaru responded.
"A lotta words for a lazy bastard." Naruto joked, to which Shikamaru muttered a 'troublesome', "Don't know why I'm here this early honestly, just ended up here I guess. I think the better question's why a lazy ass like you is here so early." Naruto deflected the boy's question.
"Mom won't get off my ass until I leave for school each day, so I've been coming in early to catch up on sleep away from home." He sighed, "Troublesome woman."
"Wouldn't know what that's like, I manage my own schedule, and if I'm late, I'm late, who cares." Naruto added. "Speaking of my schedule, I need to work on it. I'm not coming in this early ever again… Damn it's boring without everyone here… I should extend my training time as well…" The blonde mumbled to himself.
"How much training do you even do dobe?" Sasuke asked, showing that he was tuning into the blonde's conversation.
"Huh? Do you mean how much training I get done, or how long I train for?" Naruto asked.
"Why would I ask you how much you get done, I can tell it's next-to-none just from your grades." Sasuke berated.
"I train for 5 hours a day. I leave school, eat, train, eat, go home, and sleep. That's my schedule. I think it got fucked up after I got struck by lightning last night…" Naruto thought aloud, "Eh, just gotta get back into the rhythm of things again."
"So you're telling me," Shikamaru started, drawing the two other boy's attention, "You train 5 times as much as me, probably 5 hours more than most girls in this class, maybe an hour more than Sasuke here does, and yet, you still suck ass at all things ninja." Shikamaru concluded.
"Yeah. Wait a min-" Naruto started.
"How?" Shikamaru asked plainly.
"What?" Naruto questioned.
"How are you still shit? How do you train? What are you training with? What are you training on? How long do you spend on each thing?" The boy probed.
"Whoa slow down please! Holy shit, I thought I was going to have an aneurysm!" He paused for a second, "And I don't even know what an aneurysm is!"
"Fine, I'll start over." Shikamaru began, "How are you still as bad as you are?"
"I don't know. I try to train the way I think is best." Naruto explained.
"Wait, do you mean that you aren't learning from anyone, or anything, just doing what you think is best?" Shikamaru asked.
"Yeah kinda, not like I have anyone to train me, it's not like I have any clan members to teach me either." Naruto answered.
"Well are you at least using the school-issued scrolls to train?" Shikamaru questioned.
"The what?" Naruto asked.
"The scrolls that we were given at the beginning of the year? The academy taijutsu, Henge no Jutsu , Bunshin no Jutsu , any of those ring a bell?" Shikamaru explained further when he realized Naruto still didn't seem to get it.
"Oh you mean the graduation Jutsu? We still have two years until those are important anyways." Naruto said while waving his hand in a nonchalant manner.
"Yes, but what about the taijutsu? From what I've seen during spars, you still suck ass at fighting." Shikamaru asked.
"Mizuki's been teaching me an advanced taijutsu instead." Naruto explained.
"If what you've been using is considered advanced then I'm going to stick with the academy style for the rest of my life." Shikamaru joked, "Are you certain he's teaching you an advanced style?"
"Told me so himself." Naruto started, "He said that 'the academy style is easily defeated in real combat', and that 'a real ninja needs to be able to think on their feet'."
"Yes a real ninja needs to be able to think on their feet but they need a solid taijutsu style before they can think about real combat, not the glorified street brawling style you use." Shikamaru sighed, "Troublesome, you should train with those scrolls, and then I'd recommend you hit up the Konoha ninja library when you get them down, if you're as serious about being Hokage as you say you are." The lazy boy finished.
"Yeah I should do that, thanks Shikamaru." Naruto conceded. "Do you think Iruka-sensei has those scrolls?"
"Did you lose yours?" Shikamaru asked.
"Lose them? I never got any of those scrolls." The blonde explained.
"What? Mizuki-sensei handed them out at the beginning of the year." Shikamaru explained, then seemed to get a concentrated look on his face before sighing. "Troublesome."
"What?" Naruto asked.
"I'll just lend you mine since I've already got them down." Shikamaru offered.
"You already have them down? And you're not requesting to leave the academy early?" Naruto asked incredulously.
"I don't want to overachieve." Shikamaru stated plainly.
"Well then what do you want to do?" Naruto asked.
"I wanted to live a simple civilian life, get married, have a kid, maybe two, and die before my wife, but my mother wants me to become a ninja, so I'll do that, but as a ninja." Shikamaru explained.
"Huh. Weird." Naruto stated.
"Says 'Mr I-wanna-be-Hokage'." Shikamaru retorted.
"That's 'Mr I'm-going-to-be-Hokage' to you." Naruto replied, eliciting a troublesome out of the lazy boy.
"Whatever. Just swing by my place after class, and if I were you, I'd take your training into your own hands until you get your Jonin instructor. Don't listen so much to Mizuki-sensei, you're a smart kid." Shikamaru finished.
"Thanks." Naruto said.
After the two boys finished their conversation they heard a pair of rapid footsteps approaching the classroom. The footsteps halted at the door and it slammed open revealing Haruno Sakura, and Yamanaka Into shoulder to shoulder in their daily battle to arrive first to sit next to Sasuke. The two girls almost started arguing over who arrived first when they realized both of the seats next to their 'prize' were taken. Sakura started stomping over to demand that the two boys move when Iruka arrived.
"Take a seat everyone, and we'll get started." Iruka issued.
Later that day
Naruto walked onto training ground 7 with the scrolls Shikamaru gave him. He set his bag down, and began sifting through it, he reached for the Henge scroll first, and pulled it out.
"Alright, Henge no Jutsu. Let's see, it says here that I have to wrap chakra around myself and transmit an image onto the chakra by thinking of a person, or thing in its entirety." Naruto read, and then formed the hand seal required, " Henge no Jutsu !"
The blonde was engulfed in a plume of smoke, and looked around for a moment after.
"Did it work?" He asked, then walked toward the pond that was on the training ground to look at his reflection.
When he arrived at the pond and looked into it, he saw a rough replica of the Hokage staring back at him, and couldn't help but burst out laughing. When he got ahold of himself, he tried to get a better looking Henge working, and attempted it four more times before getting a near identical copy of the Hokage.
"Yatta!" The NaruHokage shouted while jumping and pumping his fist into the air. "Alright what's next?" The blonde asked after cancelling his Henge.
Naruto looked through the scrolls and saw the other Jutsu scroll, the one for the Bunshin no Jutsu , and pulled it out.
"How does this one work?" The boy asked while looking at the scroll, after reading the instructions, he formed the ram seal, and with a poof off to his side, a perfect copy of himself stood.
"Hell yeah!" The blonde yelled while grabbing his clone and spinning around, embracing it in a hug. "This is so awesome! Who knew Jutsu would be this easy to learn?" The blonde yelled, then released a bout of excited laughter.
"Naruto!" A familiar shout came from behind him, and the boy turned to see Choji and Shikamaru heading towards him.
"Oi! Choji! Shikamaru! I got the Jutsu down see!" The boy cupped his hands around his mouth to shout, then pointed toward the clone to his left.
"Yeah we saw." Shikamaru stated.
"Good job Naruto! That was a neat trick with the spinning around." Choji remarked.
"Huh? What trick?" Naruto asked.
"About that, I accidentally gave you the wrong scroll, and my mom yelled at me until I came to give you the right one, what you learned was the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu , or in other words, a solid clone." Shikamaru explained. "How are you feeling by the way?"
"Oh, I'm feeling fine, wait so do I need to learn the actual Bunshin no Jutsu as well?" Naruto asked.
"No, the Kage Bunshin is much more useful, you should read the scroll all the way through to know every benefit." The shadow user answered.
"Alright," Naruto began, while dispelling his clone, "Huh."
"What's wrong?" Choji asked.
"Oh nothing, I forgot what I was gonna say."
"Maybe that's because you were pumped full of the information your clone took in." Shikamaru suggested.
"What!? The Kage Bunshin is like another pair of eyes!?" Naruto exclaimed.
"Kinda." Shikamaru gave, "It's more like another brain, like…" Shikamaru paused, looking for the right words.
"It allows you to learn Jutsu quicker, by transmitting muscle memory, chakra memory, and all memories in general, with feelings from all five senses, or six if you're a sensornin." The black haired boy explained. "Essentially it's the ultimate tool, good for training, scouting, overwhelming, and overall fighting. How are your chakra reserves, do they feel drained?" Shikamaru furthered.
"I don't think so, why?" Naruto asked.
"This is a Jonin level Jutsu, you should at least notice a difference in your chakra levels, make another one, and tell me how you feel." Shikamaru said.
Naruto complied and made another clone.
"Nothing." The blonde said.
"Another." Shikamaru ordered.
The two went back and forward until over a hundred Narutos crowded the field, Choji was eating a bag of chips rapidly in fascination of the two.
"Wait, I think I feel a bit of chakra missing. I don't know though, is it supposed to feel like when you first wake up? Like… Uh… What's the word?" Naruto explained.
"Groggy?" Shikamaru asked, to which Naruto nodded. "Yeah, that's how it's supposed to feel, except for with the amount of clones you made, it would kill anyone with lower than Kage level reserves, maybe even double Kage level, I don't know."
"Really? That's awesome!" Naruto exclaimed.
"I think it's more troublesome than awesome." Shikamaru sighed, before laying on the ground to watch the clouds.
"Why would you think that?" Naruto asked, while him and Choji laid down next to the lazy boy.
"Eh? Oh, I think it's just too much of a hassle to experience something twice, I already have to deal with your day-to-day idiocy once, I really don't want to see more of that." Shikamaru teased.
"OI!" Naruto shouted in mock anger.
"Now that I think about it, I'd agree with Shika on this one. Want a chip?" Choji piped up.
Shikamaru and Choji ate a few chips while Naruto complained about 'not getting enough respect for being their future Hokage' for a few minutes, before he ultimately settled down and munched away with the two boys while cloud watching.
3 Weeks Later
Naruto entered Iruka's classroom and took his usual seat next to Sasuke, while he waited for his lazy, yet more talkative than Sasuke, friend to arrive, he pulled out a book he checked out from the Konoha Ninja Library at said lazy friend's suggestion. This book, 'Basics of Chakra Control', was one of the many books Shikamaru wrote down on a list for Naruto to check out, all of which built upon eachother to build a solid base for Naruto to work off of, and 'learn cool jutsu with' afterwards. The classroom's door slid open just as Naruto finished the chapter he was on, so the blonde looked up from his book to see Shikamaru walking in.
"Yo Shika!" Naruto called out.
"Yo." Shikamaru responded, while giving a weak wave.
"You wanna hang out over break?" Naruto asked. "You, me, and Choji can watch clouds, or you two can watch me train, it'll be fun!"
"Sorry Naruto, neither Choji nor I can hang out." Shikamaru said, while taking his seat next to Naruto.
"Eh? Why not?" Naruto asked dejectedly.
"Trust me, I wanna hang out with the two of you but our fathers lost a bet to Ino's dad, and are gonna have to train us in our clan techniques a year early." Shikamaru explained.
"What was the bet?" Naruto asked.
"Whoever's kid makes it the highest in the class doesn't have to pay for drinks for 10 nights out, and the losers have to amp up their kids' training to catch up." Shikamaru answered.
"Huh. Is that really a punishment? I mean, you guys will be getting stronger and all." Naruto said.
"It's troublesome is what it is, I know Ino's dad was the one who made the bet, and I know Choji's dad and my dad were just hoping that we would brute strength our way to the top, or outwit everyone else respectively." Shikamaru began, "But it wasn't enough, Ino's dad always had more drive than the other two, and trained Ino on her clan techniques early just because." The lazy boy finished.
"Damn. Well, at least we'll see eachother once classes start again after the break." Naruto said.
"Yeah. You want me to recommend you more books to read over break or do you think you can be independent enough to get your own?" Shikamaru asked teasingly.
"Oi!" Naruto joked.
The boys shared a laugh and even Sasuke gave a small smirk at the two boys' antics.
"Okay, but seriously," Naruto began while his laughter subsided, "I could actually go for a list of higher level books."
"No problem, at least it'll give me something useful to do while class is going." Shikamaru stated.
The classroom doors once again slid open, and Iruka walked inside. The teacher walked up to his desk and waited for the talking to start to quiet down before clearing his throat.
"Alright everyone, I know break's about to start, but I request that you please take a seat."
Naruto made his way back to his apartment, which would take him right next to the bookstore.
"Glad I can get the books I need for free at the library and don't need to spend all my money on books like everyone else does." Naruto mumbled to himself while walking.
As he neared the bookstore a couple of older, bland-looking men walked out of the shop with a few bags. He took note of them, but was ready to just ignore them, when suddenly the puffed into smoke, and in the place of the two older men were two kids, younger than Naruto.
"I told you henging would allow us to get the new Icha Icha books!" One of the boys said.
"I don't know why I doubted you, what else do you think we could get while henged?" The other asked, as Naruto walked past them.
"Well when my father usually drinks sake, and I ask him if I could get some, he says 'this is an adult drink' or 'you'll get some when you're older' so I think we should try that!" The first boy exclaimed, before the two took off in the opposite direction Naruto was heading.
Naruto meanwhile was deep in thought on what he saw happen in front of him. If I use a henge I can get stuff I usually don't… The blonde thought, while a few images of him getting kicked out of shops popped up in his mind. Wait! I CAN GET HEALTHY FRUIT, AND NON-EXPIRED MILK THAT WAY! The boy shouted in his head, before taking off at a quicker pace toward home. Oh man, I won't be able to get much because of taxes but I will be able to get a good amount. He finalized silently, while opening up his apartment door.
"I'm home!" He called out to his plants, before rushing to prepare his quick after school snack of ramen. When he finished making his ramen, he set it down on the dining room table to cool, and sat in front of it, before thinking aloud. "Now what sorta henge should I use?"
Naruto sat in silent contemplation as a few dozen thoughts came and went, such as using existing people, or variant versions of said people. He eventually started picking at his ramen, when he resigned himself to crafting a new persona that was nothing like anyone he'd ever seen. If I remember correct, the best disguises are the ones that make you unique, not too unique to the point of suspicion, and that you should create a look that is not like anyone within the mission's boundary, or something like that. Naruto finished his ramen, and grabbed the last photo he had taken, which was his student identification card, and placed it next to the mirror in the bathroom. He looked into the mirror and began finalizing the design of his henge.
"There are quite a few people with white hair around Konoha, and I don't think their very old, so maybe I can use that." Naruto thought aloud, "Hmm… Maybe I should change my eye color also… Nobody else has eyes this blue…" He said while observing himself closely in the mirror. "Maybe green… Yeah. That's nothing like my eyes now… Hmm… But what style should my hair be? Long? Short? Ooh! If I do it not too short but long enough I can further hide the fact that it's me by henging into a girl! One of those books said something about opposites mislead or something like that." The blonde concluded aloud, before once more falling silent as he worked out the final details of the henge.
"Yosh!" He exclaimed, in a manner he once heard while walking past some training grounds a while back. "I think I've got the perfect disguise! Henge no Jutsu!" He called out.
When Naruto looked back at the mirror, he saw that the person standing there wasn't him, but an emerald green eyed girl, with wavy, shoulder length, white hair, and no whisker marks like he had. Her face was softer, and, overall, much more feminine. She looked back and forward between the mirror and the ID card, and a feeling of success began bubbling up as she happily began dancing around the bathroom.
"Yatta!" She called out in a feminine form of Naruto's voice. "Eh." She said, and stopped dancing after hearing the butchered feminine voice she tried making.
"Hello, hello, hello." She began as a way to set her tone of voice.
It took her another forty-five minutes before she completely fell into the voice.
"Hell yeah!" She called out in a voice unique to her. "Now I just have to create a convincing story as to why nobody's ever seen me before…" She grabbed the ID card and placed it on the dining room table. Before making her way to her bedroom.
She laid down and stared at the ceiling for a while lost in thought before she sat up and slapped the bottom of her fist against her other palm.
"I've got it! Okay," She started, "my name is Chizuru Ikeda, my parents are merchants who are getting ready to retire, we've been to Konoha before, so I know my way around quite well, but we only just decided to move here. My parents are off doing one final route before they retire, and decided that having a place to come back to would be preferable, so they left me to find a place and set it up for us. I'm staying at a hotel that I don't know the name of because I never checked, as they checked me in and all, and if I don't find a place here we'll probably move to a smaller town in Hi no Kuni." Chizuru began reciting to herself.
After 10 minutes of pounding the cover story into her mind, she got to her feet, and made for the door. When she was about to unlock the door to head out, she paused. Maybe I should henge back into myself before leaving, that way nobody knows I came from this apartment. Chizuru mused, before releasing her henge.
Naruto stepped outside and made his way to the marketplace, and only when he saw the first shops did he slip into an alleyway to henge back into Chizuru, before leaving out another alley exit. Alright, time to shop!
Later that day
Chizuru had already gone home to put her groceries away, before heading out again. Her shopping trip had cost her way less than she was expecting, so she decided to go out and do some leisure shopping for a change. She was heading toward a clothing shop she saw while grocery shopping earlier, before she got sidetracked by another store. Yamanaka Flowers? Isn't that Ino's last name? Chizuru asked herself silently, before walking inside of the flower shop.
"Welcome to Yamanaka Flowers!" The cashier called out from behind her counter.
Chizuru nodded her head in greeting while looking at some of the flowers close by to her, before doing a double take at who the cashier was.
"Ino?" She asked, before mentally slapping herself for the slip.
"Eh? How do you know my name, I don't think I've ever seen you before." Ino asked.
"Oh, I'm sorry, my name is Chizuru, I'm new in town and was told I'd probably like to visit this shop by a girl named Sakura..." Chizuru explained while rubbing the back of her neck, "She told me I'd probably see her friend Ino there, but didn't explain that you'd be a cashier..."
"Guess that makes sense, not many as young as me are seen running registers." Ino said. "Anyways, you said your name was Chizuru? It's a pleasure to meet you."
"It's nice to meet you too, I think I'll take a minute to look around." The white haired girl said, then turned back to the plants.
"Take as long as you need!" Ino said, slipping back into her customer service voice.
"Come again!" The cashier at the clothing shop called as Chizuru left.
"Phew!" Chizuru sighed out as she made her way down the street. I wish I had picked out a new plant while at the Yamanaka's... At least then I could say the lying was worth it... She thought.
Chizuru continued down the street, heading toward her favorite ramen shop to get some post-shopping dinner, when a flash of pink caught her eye. She turned to the source and saw Sakura walking a little bit to her left. She must be heading home after doing some training. Wait, she doesn't look all that tired. What kept her out so late? Chizuru thought. I know how I can find out! I just have to get her attention.
Chizuru sped up her walking, and changed her direction a bit until she was walking slightly in front of Sakura. She watched the road closely for anything that could be used, and saw a bottle that looked like it had rolled out from an alleyway. Locking onto her target, and checking to see if Sakura was paying attention, she sped her walking up until she reached the bottle. Putting her foot down on it, she kicked it forwards with her heel, and feigned a slip backwards.
"Whoa!" Chizuru called out, while falling backwards into Sakura.
The two crashed into eachother and fell to the ground, Chizuru let out a groan to emulate pain, and looked behind her at Sakura.
"Oh! Are you alright?" She asked, while getting to her feet.
"Yeah, yeah. I'm alright, what about you?" Sakura asked, while trying to get up.
"I'm fine," Chizuru started while holding out her hand to pick up the pinkette, "I think I slipped on a bottle... Oh! I'm Chizuru by the way."
"Sakura." The pinkette offered her name.
"Your name fits you." Chizuru offered jokingly, while looking at the pinkette's hair.
"I get that a lot." Sakura said while rolling her eyes playfully, "I haven't seen you around before, are you new?"
"Hm? Oh yeah, I recently moved here, or at least we're planning on moving here." Chizuru explained.
"Where are you staying now? If you haven't moved into anywhere yet that is?" Sakura asked.
"Some hotel off that way." Chizuru said while pointing toward the part of town with the highest concentration of hotels.
"Makes sense, where are you heading now?" Sakura asked.
"I just finished shopping, so I was heading to a restaurant I heard some blonde kid yelling about." She explained.
"Must have been Naruto about Ichiraku's then..." Sakura deduced.
"Yeah that's the restaurant!" Chizuru exclaimed.
"Well I was just heading home for dinner myself, so I can't join you." Sakura said.
"Oh? What were you doing anyways?" Chizuru asked.
"Uh..." Sakura began, while a blush appeared on her cheeks, "Bird watching?"
"What kind of birds?" Chizuru asked.
"Ravens... and... Ducks?" Sakura explained.
"How was it?" Chizuru asked.
"It was good. Uh... What about you, where did you go shopping?" Sakura asked.
"Oh I don't remember, just some place to get some food, and another to get some clothes." Chizuru said, then remembered something, "I was hoping to get some flowers to grow but I couldn't find a shop."
"Oh I know of one, it's called Yamanaka Flowers, and I think you'd like it." Sakura gave.
"Thanks, I think I'll check it out before I go home." Chizuru gave, before looking at her destination. "Looks like this is goodbye. It was nice meeting you!"
"It was nice meeting you too. Bye!" Sakura called while walking away.
Chizuru watched her leave, before turning toward Ichiraku's and heading in.
"Welcome to Ichiraku Ramen!" Teuchi called.
"Thank you, I'll be a minute before I order." Chizuru said while putting her bags by her seat.
"Take your time." Teuchi said.
Chizuru looked at what was on the menu, and contemplated for a moment what to order. I can't just order what Naruto does, or else I will have a tie between the disguise and Naruto... I've tried too hard to just throw it out over ramen... So maybe I should try something else... Like... Fried rice? Yeah that sounds good.
"Uh... I think I'll have an order of chicken fried rice!" Chizuru called out.
"Chicken fried rice coming up!" Teuchi called out.
2 Weeks Later
Chizuru made her way down the street, a smile on her face while she went. She had come to realize that when she smiled at people while being herself, she got way more smiles back than when she would go out as Naruto. It confused her to no end, but she made do and just went out less as Naruto. She would do her shopping and civilian-esque stuff as Chizuru and go to ninja places as Naruto, easy as that. Well except for training grounds, and sometimes the Ninja Library when she needed another book, and... Well she just started going out as Chizuru more than she thought she would, not that she had a problem with it, in fact, she looked forward to seeing Ino and Sakura, or having the ability to make conversation with random people whenever she felt like it. It was nice.
Chizuru walked into Yamanaka Flowers and greeted Ino's mother, who was at the register.
"Hello, is Ino here?" Chizuru asked.
"Hello Chizuru, no she just left with Sakura." Ino's mother said, "I'll tell her you were here when she gets back but I can't do much other than that."
"Alright thank you." Chizuru said politely, while turning to leave.
"You know, you've been a real help in getting Ino and Sakura to get back to being friends." Ino's mother said.
"I have?" Chizuru asked, "I thought they were friends already?"
"Oh, they used to be, but that was before they both got eyes for the same boy." Ino's mother sighed, "They went from being the best of friends to being 'rivals' at the flip of a coin, but that's in the past."
"I never knew." Chizuru said, "I guess I'll help all I can to mend their friendship!"
"Thank you, and have a nice day Chizuru." Ino's mother called.
Chizuru sat at her dining room table and looked around the room in contemplation.
"I should talk to Jiji..." She said. "I really don't want to go to the academy as Naruto everyday if I can help it, and I know with his help I can help it..."
She stared at the wall for a good minute, before sighing.
"I guess I should have an excuse to see him shouldn't I?" She said, then grabbed out a scroll and brush, and began writing.
Sarutobi Hiruzen sat behind his desk in the Hokage's office with a stack of papers off to the side. I need a distraction. The old man thought, while rubbing his temples. He was about to pull out a little orange book from one of the drawers of his desk, when a knock sounded at the door. Well I did ask for a distraction.
"Enter." He allowed.
One of the doors opened to reveal a short white-haired girl, who bowed before she walked in.
"Ah hello there." Hiruzen greeted while smiling widely. "And who might you be?"
"Hello Hokage-sama, my name is Chizuru Ikeda, I have a written request from my parents that I came here to deliver." Chizuru explained.
"Ah, let me see it then." The Hokage said, while extending his hand to grab the scroll.
"It's mostly about our future plans in Konoha, including my entering into the Ninja Academy, but I think there's something else in there that would interest you." Chizuru further explained while passing Hiruzen the scroll.
"I'm sure you'll make an excellent kunoichi." Hiruzen stated with another smile.
He looked down at the paper and learned in a single moment why he hadn't seen his surrogate grandson in the office recently.
"I didn't expect that the thing I would be interested in was personal?" The Hokage motioned for his ANBU to leave the room, much to their confusion, however they complied. Once the room was cleared, Hiruzen activated the office's privacy seals before continuing the conversation.
"Well Naruto, you have my attention. You've done a good job at hiding yourself, this is also really neat handwriting, you filled an entire page for this report, and yet it's legible." The Hokage complimented.
"Please Hokage-sama, consider this an ongoing mission as I requested in the report, you should only refer to me by my alter ego." Chizuru requested.
"Alright I will Chizuru." Hiruzen complied, The things kids do to rationalize things, I have to give her props, she's seriously matured since the last time we spoke.
"As per your request, I will have you marked into next year's academy records accordingly, and I'll even compensate you for an ongoing A-rank infiltration mission alongside an early allowance." The Hokage offered.
"Eh? Really Jiji? That's a lot of money." Chizuru questioned.
"Nonsense, if anything I'm underpaying you. An infiltration mission in a ninja village automatically classifies as an A-rank mission, allied or not. Add in the length of said mission, and how long it will continue still, and the bill is steadily climbing. I will give you a one off payment for this, even though this was a self assigned mission, just so that your cover story lines up." The Hokage stopped for a second to gauge Chizuru's reaction. "How else would you be able to afford a new place to house three? I also must commend you on the fluidity of your story, it's hard to poke holes into, and allows for twists and bends, in particular, the aspect you directly referenced in your report, with the disappearance of your parents, this would allow me the ability to compensate you with a second payment for the mission. You seem to have learned a lot since we last talked, have you finally gotten serious about becoming Hokage?" Hiruzen finished.
"Yes Hokage-sama." Chizuru stated.
"Good, I'll hold onto the hat for you for the time being, I just hope you'll be ready to take it when the time comes." Hiruzen offered with a smile, "Retirement sounds really good right about now."
"I take it I'm dismissed?" Chizuru asked.
"Of course, take care, and come see me more, I could use the distraction sometimes." Hiruzen chuckled.
"I'll try!" Chizuru called as she opened the door to leave.
Once the girl had left, Hiruzen took out a scroll and began writing orders for his students.
"It's about time their vacations end. It's been too long, and I've been far too lenient." He thought aloud.
Two days later
Chizuru went to the Konoha ninja library to checkout a few more items before training for the day. While there picking up a few more essentials, she came across a book that really piqued her interest. It was titled 'Fuuinjutsu for Beginners, So You Want to be a Seal Master: Book 1 of 6', but the extra long title seemed minuscule in comparison to the name of the author: Minato Namikaze.
"Fuck." Chizuru stated simply, while grabbing the book. "I didn't know the Yondaime wrote anything. If I did I'd've checked it out long ago."
She headed for the front counter with her load and began waiting for the Chunin on duty to finish jotting them down, when he got to the Yondaime's book he smiled.
"This book's really popular, I'm certain at least half of the currently active Konoha ninja have checked it out, it just returned and I'm not surprised it's already on its way out. Most people don't even check out the next book in the set, let alone all six, think you have what it takes to get past where most failed? It'd be nice to see the other sets finally leave their dusty shelves." The Chunin rambled while finishing with the rest of the items.
"Really, it's that popular? No wonder I hadn't seen it yet. Wait, so your telling me that the Yondaime wrote not just a set of six books but multiple sets as well?" Chizuru furthered the conversation.
"There's three more sets of six, each book gets harder than the last I've heard. The only person to get to the second set so far has been Hatake-senpai." The Chunin explained, while handing Chizuru her items.
"Well then, I'll just have to beat him and reach that fourth set." She said in a competitive manner, and grabbed her stuff.
"That's the spirit, take care!" The Chunin called to her as she left.
"I'll be back for that next book!" She called back.
Chizuru walked away from the library and made for her home, she decided that today she would do light training because tomorrow was the start of the new school year. Her second to last year would be where she proved herself, and then when it came time for her last year, she would show her true power, and become top of the class. She arrived at the gate to her home, and headed inside. She placed her scrolls and books down at one end of the dining room table and set herself down next to them with the Yondaime's book in hand.
"Alright, let's see what this book has to offer." Chizuru muttered to herself while opening the book.
'Your handwriting skills must be perfect for you to even consider working on your seals on sealing paper proper. Not good enough, not the best you can do, but absolutely, positively, no better way to do it, perfect. One small mistake can cost you an arm in the art of fuuinjutsu, a slight nudge to the left, or a minuscule motion to the right, and a simple storage seal can be as deadly as an explosive tag. This is lesson one for seal making, and in this book there are a multitude of exercises to perfect your handwriting skills, as well as a seal on the back of the book that can trace any exercise you perform in order to judge how perfect it is. To reach the next book in the series, you must master the art of calligraphy, if you are unable, you cannot proceed.'
Chizuru flipped through the rest of the pages to see if she could skim anymore information out of the book, and found them all to be chock full of calligraphy exercises. The white-haired girl sighed, before getting up to grab a sheet of paper and a brush.
"Might as well get started on this." She said, and got straight to work.
Chizuru made her way into Iruka's class, wearing a new set of clothes, a long-sleeved black v-neck, white skirt which was tied in the front, and black Konoha-nin sandals. She was just on time, and found an open seat near the back of the class, she made her way over, and sat down. Iruka walked in after her and started the lesson for the day, after prompting her to stand up and introduce herself to the class. When she sat back down, she grabbed her Fuuinjutsu book and a piece of paper out of her bag to continue her calligraphy practice. She finished drawing her tenth copy of the page she was on, when she felt a tap on her right shoulder.
"Um... Sorry for bugging you... But... Shouldn't you be paying attention to Iruka-sensei?" A timid voice whispered from the same direction as the tapping.
Chizuru turned to see who was talking and noticed it was Hinata, the bluenette was slightly turned to her, but was still trying to pay attention to Iruka's lesson.
"Oh sorry." Chizuru whispered back while scratching the back of her head in embarrassment, "I kinda got a bit ahead while studying over the break… so I decided to get the most out of my time here and continue with my Fuuinjutsu training."
"Whoa! You're training to become a Fuuinjutsu master? Isn't it supposed to be incredibly hard?" Hinata asked, her earlier fear replaced by amazement.
"Is it? I don't know, I only just started, but I think I'm finally getting the hang of my handwriting, I trained for hours on it yesterday. I lost track of time and went to bed at midnight!" Chizuru exclaimed, getting a few other students to look at her, and Iruka to briefly stop talking, before he continued the lesson. "Whoops, didn't mean to get so loud."
Hinata giggled at the white-haired girl's antics, and settled back into the silent state of paying attention to Iruka's lesson. Chizuru was called on a few times in class, and answered each question correctly, before getting back to work on her training. Eventually class ended, and everyone was packing up for the day. Chizuru put her things in her bag, and turned to Hinata.
"Hey we should go get something to eat!" She stated cheerfully.
"Huh? Oh, yeah sure! That sounds fun." The bluenette agreed while finishing up with putting her things away.
The two girls left the classroom, and made it outside of the academy in silence, eventually the conversation picked up again.
"So where were you thinking of going?" Hinata asked as they made it out of the front gate.
"I was thinking of going to Ichiraku Ramen. I've only been there a few times, they have good ramen, but I'm going to get some fried rice." Chizuru explained.
"With a place called Ichiraku Ramen I'd hope they'd have good ramen." Hinata joked.
"Okay, when I said good ramen, I meant the best damn ramen in the world." Chizuru corrected.
"I might need to get some of that ramen than. Why are you getting fried rice?" The bluenette asked.
"Oh I'm more of a fried rice fan is all." Chizuru said.
Hinata nodded her head in acknowledgement and the two continued to idly chat while they made their way to Ichiraku's.
Chizuru stood in the Hokage's office. She had been collected by an ANBU and was told by Hiruzen to just wait for their other guest, and much to the young girl's confusion Hiruzen turned to look out the window instead of the door to the office.
"Um... Hokage-sama... Who's this other guest?" She asked.
"Someone who's late." He jokingly said.
"Oh." Chizuru said.
Suddenly the window flew open and an old man leaped through it.
"You're late." Hiruzen said.
"At least I'm not Kakashi late. Just overestimated my top speed." Jiraiya explained.
"Aren't we all these days." Hiruzen replied jokingly.
"Now what was so important that you called me back on 'urgent' business? Diplomatic issues that have yet to reach my network or?" Jiraiya asked.
"Nothing like that, it's just time you find a replacement for the head of your network." Hiruzen explained.
"So a show of force..." Jiraiya deduced. "Wait, who's this?"
"Jiraiya, Chizuru Ikeda." Hiruzen introduced. "Chizuru, Jiraiya of the sannin."
"Nice to meet you kid." Jiraiya said.
"S-sannin?" Chizuru stuttered out.
"I get that a lot." Jiraiya said smugly.
Hiruzen cleared his throat to get the two's attention.
"Now, I have a mission scroll for you Jiraiya that details your next orders, as well as a request." Hiruzen said.
"A request?" Jiraiya asked.
"Yes. A simple one really, but first, Chizuru?" Hiruzen asked.
"Yes Hokage-sama?" Chizuru said.
"What is your devotion to your special mission?" The Hokage asked.
"My devotion?" She queried.
"Is this a mission that you really wish to follow through with? I must tell you, you aren't the first to take it, but do you believe this to be the path you want to take? Perhaps for life?" Hiruzen questioned.
"For life... I... Y-yeah..." Chizuru began hesitantly, before taking a deep breath, "Yes Hokage-sama. I wish to continue this mission for the rest of my life."
"And how can I be so certain?" The Hokage prodded.
"I gave you my word Hokage-sama, and I never go back on my word! Because that's my ninja way! Believe it!" Chizuru shouted with renewed energy.
"Believe it..." Jiraiya mumbled, contemplating all that was happening at the moment. 'Wait a minute... Hokage-sama-"
Hiruzen cut Jiraiya off and mouthed 'mission report' to him before turning back to Chizuru.
"Then here's a mission scroll and supplies. You are dismissed." Hiruzen said while putting two scrolls down in front of him.
"Yes sir." Chizuru said, then turned to leave with the scrolls.
"Have a good day Chizuru." Hiruzen called to her while she waved goodbye.
Once the door shut the two older men stared at eachother for a few minutes, neither speaking, just contemplating.
"Sensei." Jiraiya said curtly.
"Jiraiya." Hiruzen replied.
"When were you going to tell me?" Jiraiya asked.
"Trust me, I told you as soon as I learned." Hiruzen replied, while grabbing his pipe off his desk.
"Really? That means she... Recently... Hmm..." Jiraiya trailed off.
"Now I can reveal my request," Hiruzen began, "Stay here for her. Help her grow."
"It's not that simple..." Jiraiya started.
"It is that simple." Hiruzen cut in.
"But-" Jiraiya said.
"No buts. She is your goddaughter. You will help her grow into being the kunoichi she was meant to be, or I will order you to." Hiruzen gruffly responded.
Jiraiya sighed. He knew his sensei wouldn't budge anymore, and had no other choice but to concede.
"Yes Hokage-sama." Jiraiya said.
"Good. Now get to your missions." Hiruzen said dismissively.
"Missions?" Jiraiya questioned while leaving out the window, and opening the mission scroll.
The mission scroll turned out to be a storage scroll disguised as a mission scroll and inside it was two mission scrolls, one titled 'Slug', and the other titled 'Prodigy'.
"Uh oh." Jiraiya muttered.