After everyone had gotten their own forehead protectors, Iruka had dismissed them and told them that one week from now, they would be sorted into several three-man teams led by a jounin teacher in order to become official genin of the Leaf. Most of them were frustrated since they won't get to have their new teams right away, while some shrugged it off and planned to use their free time to train, which included Sasuke Uchiha.
As Juzo walked down the stairs, he noticed that Sasuke was still sitting in his spot, staring out the window. This was a strange scenario, because once Iruka would tell them that they were dismissed for the day, Sasuke would waste no time and head home to train his ass off.
Perhaps he had an answer to his question already?
Worth a try.
He approached the Uchiha's desk and cleared his throat to get his attention. "Have you made up your mind yet, Sasuke?" he asked bluntly, just like how the latter spoke to him earlier.
Sasuke sent a small glare to his direction for distracting him from his moment of peace and tranquility, before clasping his hands in front of him and then bringing them up next to his face. "No." he said, shaking his head in denial.
As soon as heard his quick but meaningful answer, Juzo was about to leave when he heard Sasuke's voice once more.
"Give me until next week. I'll decide by then." Sasuke explained, looking back towards Juzo. "I'll try doing what you did by myself and if I really can't learn to do it, I'll tell you what you want to know and you give me what I want."
"Whatever you say." Juzo shrugged his shoulders and continued on his way out the door, with Sasuke keeping his eye on him as he left.
"Juzo-kun, please go out with me!"
"No, don't listen to her! Go out with me instead!"
"Please, just one date Juzo-kun!"
The dark-haired boy was doing his best to ignore the fangirls that were getting in his way, since he wanted to just get out of the damn place and go home.
Eventually, Juzo had gotten out of the academy and decided to fill his stomach as since he was feeling a bit hungry and surely his roommate back in his apartment would want to celebrate him becoming a shinobi, even if he didn't want to. This would save his roommate the trouble of buying food for them later on.
"I hope she doesn't mind something Ichiraku's… but I can always buy her favorite when I get home. Been a while since I ate the food of the gods… I've been focused training a lot recently." Juzo told himself, allowing a smile to appear on his face in a rare moment of happiness.
The young man was on his way to Ichiraku's Ramen when he sensed someone running through the woods nearby. Narrowing his eyes in suspicion, he looked around him if there was someone nearby and once he was sure that he was alone, Juzo rushed into the woods to investigate what he just heard.
Mizuki was running through the woods with a large scroll on his back, unaware that he was being tailed by somebody else. When he felt that he was finally far enough from the academy, he stopped on a tree branch and took the scroll from behind him.
"With the scroll of seals, Orochimaru-sama will give me power beyond anything I can ever dream of…" Mizuki thought out loud with a wicked grin on his face.
At the mention of the name "Orochimaru", Juzo's face already darkened, with his hair shadowing his eyes that barely hid the anger he felt inside. He was hiding on the upper branches of one of the trees in the area, so he was able to hear everything that Mizuki just said. So this bastard knew something about Orochimaru? Killing him now would bring him another step closer to his goal and plus, the Leaf can dispose of another traitor hidden among their ranks.
"I NEED TO FIND OUT IF HE KNOWS WHERE THAT SNAKE BASTARD IS HIDING!" Juzo nearly screamed out, about to charge and make this quick when all of a sudden Iruka appeared in front of Mizuki, also making the boy freeze in his place. "I-Iruka-sensei? Wait, does he know where I am?"
"Mizuki, how could you do this? You just betrayed the Leaf, your own village." Iruka said, unable to understand how his close friend could betray his home and steal an artifact belonging to the Hokage.
"The answer is simple, Iruka. I want power and once I give Orochimaru-sama this scroll, he'll give me more power than the both of us can think of." Mizuki smirked, tapping on the scroll that he had stolen.
"If that's how it is, then so be it." Iruka sighed sadly as he pulled out a kunai. "I have no choice but to fight and capture you here, my friend. You are nothing more than a traitor in my eyes now!"
"Then let's see what you've got, old friend." Mizuki said, throwing the scroll behind him and pulling out a couple of shurikens before throwing them at Iruka, yelling "Shuriken Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" The shurikens multiplied into more copies of itself and became a total of 20. Iruka was frozen in place out of hesitation and ended up pinned against a tree on the ground, barely conscious. Mizuki jumped down and took out a fuuma shuriken and made it spin, before rushing towards Iruka to end him once and for all.
"Is this the end for me? What a stupid way to die… I didn't even get a chance to attack, but at least…" An image of a blonde-haired kid that he was quite fond of appeared in his mind, smiling during what seemed to be the last time he ever saw the brat. "I'll be able to see my parents… and Naruto… again." Iruka smiled softly and closed his eyes, accepting his doom.
"This is the end, Iruka!" Mizuki screamed out, about to throw the fuuma shuriken only to be stopped in place when he heard a voice from behind him.
"The Shadow Clone technique, a B-rank kinjutsu that is considered a kage-level technique requires a large amount of chakra to perform, but is extremely helpful against hordes of enemies." Juzo read the contents of the scroll out loud, all while sending a dangerous look in Mizuki's direction.
"You damn brat… you just can't stop interfering in my plans, can't you?" Mizuki snarled, now turning his attention to the raven-haired boy.
"Then fight me like the man you are, fucker." Juzo growled out in the same tone of anger as Mizuki, glaring hard at the man in front of him as if he was about to lose it.
"Tch. Prepare to die, brat!" Mizuki screamed, charging towards Naruto with his fuuma shuriken with a large amount of killing intent. Unfortunately for him, Juzo was much quicker as he rushed forward as well, ducking the incoming attack before delivering a punch straight for Mizuki's gut.
Time appeared to have stopped as Mizuki widened his eyes in shock, slowly turning his head towards Juzo's face below him as he spat out a handful amount of blood, before being blown away by the boy's monstrous strength.
Mizuki crashed against a tree feeling most of his bones cracking as a result. He felt like he couldn't even move! "W-What was that? How did he… get so strong… all of a sudden?" he grunted in pain, trying to reach out for the fuuma shuriken that was just lying in front of him.
"Finally…" Mizuki immediately looked up to see Juzo walking towards him with a sinister look on his face, which was completely different from how he usually looked like.
"Here I have someone who knows something about Orochimaru… and he's nothing but a traitor…"
Mizuko finally reached the fuuma shuriken and aimed it at Juzo, attempting to threaten the boy. "Stay back! I'll kill you if get any closer, brat!" he screeched out, unable to move properly due to the internal damage done to his abdominal area.
"You've got it all wrong…" Juzo raised his right arm as it shifted into larger three-fingered one-thumbed knife-like claws with dark red and black colors. Mizuki's eyes widened in fear as he looked at Juzo's arm change into such a form that his whole body was now shaking. "I'm the one who's going to kill you." he whispered coldly, grinding his claws into another tree that terrified Mizuki all the more.
"Stay back, you monster! I warned you!" Mizuki blindly threw the fuuma shuriken and Juzo was able to dodge it easily just by tilting his head to the side. The man shivered in fear when a feral grin appeared on Juzo's face.
"Monster… I've been called by that name way before this." Juzo finally reached Mizuki as he grabbed him by his neck and lifted him off the ground with his left arm. The man tried to pry away from his grip, but he was losing life fast due to the boy's strength. Knowing that he was nearing his end, he used the last of his strength to mutter out something.
"W-Who… a-a-are… y-you…" he murmured, losing more of his strength.
Juzo leaned in close to Mizuki's ear. "I'm your worst nightmare, bastard." he growled out before driving his claws through the man's stomach and proceeded to consume his biomass, momentarily turning into Mizuki before going back to his natural form as Juzo, with his right arm already back to normal.
Mizuki was now gone and Juzo grabbed his forehead before leaning against a tree, as the man's memories were flooding throughout his mind. He tried to search through all of his memories the ones that directly involved Orochimaru, but all he got was an encounter between Mizuki and the snake bastard, in which the latter gave him some kind of seal on the neck through biting his skin.
"Son of a bitch! He didn't know shit!" Juzo shouted in frustration as he punched the tree trunk he was leaning on. "But don't think I'll stop here, you snake bastard… I'll find you one way or another…"
That was when he noticed the few puddles of blood on the ground, causing him to quickly turn his head towards where Iruka was. Seeing his sensei about to wake up, he went through a set of hand seals and spat out a stream of water to cleanse the blood off the ground.
After making sure that no traces of blood could be found anywhere, Juzo quickly went back to the scroll that Mizuki had stolen and closed it, before heading towards Iruka just in time as he opened his eyes.
"Are you okay, Iruka-sensei?" Juzo asked. Despite having a serious exterior, Iruka was one of the few people that Juzo genuinely cared about in the village, and he wasn't known to be that much of a social person.
"Juzo? What happened?" Iruka replied, rubbing his eyes as he shifted in his position before memories of what just transpired earlier filled his mind. "Mizuki! Juzo, have you seen Mizuki?! I need to stop—!" he stopped in his own words because of the wounds he had sustained.
"Iruka-sensei, he got away." he lied, causing his teacher to widen his eyes in both shock and fear. "B-But I did get this back from him," he showed Iruka the scroll behind him, which was the same one that Mizuki had stolen earlier before he lowered his head in apology.
"I wasn't able to catch him, sensei. Forgive me," he muttered loud enough for Iruka to hear.
"That's fine, Juzo. If anything I should be sorry. If I didn't hesitate to attack earlier, I could've caught up to him." Moments later, two ANBU members have arrived on the scene and they were about to take the both of them to the Hokage when Iruka spoke once more.
"Wait. Juzo-kun has nothing to do with this incident." Iruka explained as he was supported by one of the ANBU up on his feet. "He was simply at the wrong place at the wrong time when it happened."
"But we were asked to bring the two of you to Hokage-sama." the one who was holding Juzo by his shoulders said, who bore long purple hair underneath her mask.
"I'll talk to him personally regarding this matter. I think we should let the boy be on his way home, he's seen enough for today. If Hokage-sama insists on seeing him however, then you can go to his home and pick him up there." Iruka said, silently hoping that they would be understanding enough to let Juzo go home.
The ANBU with purple hair turned her head to the one holding Iruka, who had short brown hair underneath his mask. After a few seconds, they nodded at the same time as the female ANBU let go of Juzo.
"Very well. Let's be on our way then." she said, picking up the Scroll of Seals that was lying on the ground. Juzo simply stared at them as they left, noticing that Iruka sent him a smile before jumping into the tree branches above.
"I feel bad for lying to Iruka-sensei… but I don't want him to be involved in my problems." Juzo reminded himself as he stared at his hand before enclosing it into a fist. "But I do hope that there are no flaws around what I said… otherwise I'm caught… especially if Jii-chan takes this incident seriously." he shook his head as he continued on his way, heading towards Ichiraku's Ramen to buy himself something to eat.
"Tadaima! (I'm home)" Juzo called out as he entered the apartment unit, closing the door behind him. He was carrying a bag filled with dango, a few ramen packs and barbecue strips, indicating that he had just went shopping for food.
"Don't you know how to knock?" a woman in front of him asked in a sarcastic way, crossing her arms and smiling fondly.
She was a fairly tall woman with a slender frame and light brown, pupil-less eyes. Her purple hair is styled in a short, spiky, fanned-ponytail. She wore a fitted mesh body suit that stretched from her neck down to her thighs and a tan overcoat with a purple in-seam and a pocket on each side. She also wore dark orange mini-skirt, a dark blue belt, and pale grey shin guards. Along with her hitai-ate, she also had a small pendant that looks like a snake fang and a wristwatch. She was Anko Mitarashi, a tokubetsu-jounin of Konoha who was also a member of the ANBU for a time.
"You and I both know we're the only ones living here. The neighbors are gone because you're so fucking loud at night." Juzo retorted, smirking slightly as he took off his forehead protector.
"And who's responsible for that happening? Besides, I love how rough you are." Anko teased with a sly grin, which honestly got Juzo to blush and widen his eyes for a moment.
"S-Shut up. Let me rest for a while." he turned his head away and sat down on the couch, placing the plastic bag that he was holding on the table in front of him before he leaned back and let his body relax.
"You look like you took your time. What did you do after the graduation? I headed home after I lost sight of you when Iruka dismissed your class." she asked, raising an eyebrow in curiosity.
"I ate at Ichiraku's, then went out to buy food. If I didn't, you would've dragged me to the dango stand to buy your favorite." Juzo said, pointing to the plastic bag before him.
"Wow, how sweet of you to remember!" Anko chirped, her eyes transforming into hearts when she saw her favorite dango among the food that her companion had bought for her. "But…" her tone changed from being cheerful into being slightly serious.
"I know something's wrong with you. I can see it in your eyes, you know. Tell me what happened." she implored, crossing her arms and sighing deeply. "Was it those stupid fangirls chasing after you? That emo Uchiha kid? Random villagers? You can tell me, I'm available."
"I'll talk about it later. Just let me rest for a while… I might get angry with you because of it." he shook his head, looking up at the ceiling as he remembered his earlier encounter with Mizuki.
"You know…" Anko chuckled, removing her overcoat which left her in just her skirt and body suit. "I have a reputation in the prison for being able to make any man fall for my charms… do you want to test that out right here?" she sent him a seductive wink, slowly making her way towards him.
"Don't you dare —" Juzo tried to protest, only to be silenced when Anko pressed her finger against his lips, before she made herself comfortable on his lap.
"You forgot something, by the way." she reminded, and Juzo raised an eyebrow at her statement. She leaned closer to his ear and the young boy's face turned red when he felt her large breasts pressing against his chest. "I like you better as the real you," she whispered closely, licking his earlobe afterwards.
Juzo shivered once he felt her tongue make contact with his skin but once he was about to make a move himself, Anko had pulled away with a smirk on her face, while waving her finger at him playfully.
"You're not getting anything until you're back to your real self. I refuse to do anything with your disguise. It's not the same." she told him as Juzo scowled at her, but Anko simply kept her composure.
Without warning, Juzo's entire form started to shift in a mixture of dark red and black colors yet amazingly, Anko wasn't affected whatsoever by this weird transformation. Moments later, her smirk grew larger as she now looked at the boy she was currently straddling.
He had spiky blonde hair just like his father and blue eyes, while inheriting the shape of his mother's eyes and face. He was wearing the same clothes as earlier but his most prominent characteristic were three whisker markings on his cheeks.
It was none other than Naruto Uzumaki, in the flesh.
"Now, do you think you can tell me what's been bothering bothering you, Na-ru-to-kun?" she asked playfully, adding emphasis on her last word as she leaned her forehead against his, giving him a soft kiss right between his eyes that made the boy blush cutely in response.
Naruto sighed, deciding to give in and just tell Anko everything that happened. This woman surely knew how to distract him from his problems and make him feel better at the same time.
It's been that way for four years, anyway.
I told you things will be interesting. Just a little note, Naruto/Juzo and Anko are both 5'4 with Naruto taller just by a little margin. What's gonna happen next chapter? Hohoho, Naruto explaining? Hiruzen making an appearance? A lemon? Sasuke making his decision? Take a guess!
Goodbye… and good night! BANG! *too sweet gesture*
-Lance