The day after graduation and Mizuki's arrest, Naruto was walking down the street with some of his closest friends, which consisted of Sakura, Hinata, Sasuke, and Kaede, and the five of them were hungry. With Kushina busy at a village meeting they saw no reason to eat at the Namikaze Mansion. And each of them was proudly wearing their hitai-ates in their preferred ways, Naruto, Sasuke, and Kaede wearing them on their foreheads, Sakura as a hairband, and Hinata around her neck.
"Okay, since we already know Naruto's suggestion, anyone got any alternatives?" Sakura asked.
"Hmmm... could we please go to Ichiraku's? Teuchi said that he was working on a new ramen recipe, and if I don't get there soon Choji may eat the whole supply for lunch." Naruto pleaded.
"We certainly can't let that happen now can we?" Hinata joked. "I'll go with you if you want."
Sakura frowned jealously and Kaede spoke up. "Well I've got no better ideas so why not?" Sasuke just shrugged.
In no time the five of them went to Naruto's favorite restaurant. It was his favorite not only because of the food, but mainly because of the two who ran it. Both Teuchi and his daughter Ayame had always treated Naruto well. Both before and after the event that turned him into a real fox demon. They did not to see Naruto in a hostile light and considered him their favorite regular.
"Here you go kids, four bowls of ramen" Ayame said as she set five bowls each in front of them all. Naruto was having a beef ramen, Sakura miso, and Hinata cooled chicken ramen since too-warm food isn't favorable to yuki-onnas. Sasuke and Kaede had the weirdest types, their ramen made out of blood rather than broth. Restaurants such as Ichiraku's were required by law to make reasonable accommodations to the dietary needs of the demon children such as this. They got the blood from blood banks, which were required to have some available for sale to the few vampires. Donors were compensated with pay for their part.
Naruto took a deep inhale of the aroma of his bowl and drooled, which caused Ayame to laugh. She was one of the few youths who had not been effected the 'Great Change.' Like Itachi, she had already been old enough to escape being transformed. The oldest demon children were thirteen years old and the youngest were five. Both she and her father seemed to pay the change in the children of Konoha with little thought. In fact they seemed to like it, because most of the children now had a higher metabolism, which meant they needed more food, which meant they ordered more when they came to their shop, which was always great for business.
"Thanks Ayame." Naruto said happily.
"It's still weird seeing you two eat ramen with blood rather than broth." Sakura said to the two vampires.
"At least we don't eat raw meat." Kaede commented.
"Who does that?" Hinata asked.
"I saw Kiba do that once when he was being a little wolfish." Kaede answered.
"And Chouji too one time for lunch." Naruto added.
"Can we not talk about eating raw meat please? I like to not gag while I'm having lunch." Sakura insisted.
"Okay. So Sasuke, what blood type tastes better? I personally like B type best." Kaede said, making Sakura look grossed out, which in turn made the vampire girl laugh.
"To be honest, I never thought about it. But I do notice some batches have a tangier taste than others. Maybe it's the positive or negative factor." The male vampire commented.
"Don't make me scream." Sakura threatened.
That shut everyone up good. In fact it was effective enough that for the next few moments no one was brave enough to say anything.
"Is something wrong? Usually you guys aren't this quiet. Cat demon got your tongue?" Ayame asked when she saw none of them were talking.
"More like banshee got our tongue." Naruto joked and Ayame snickered.
Naruto's nose quickly caught a new scent coming from an alley across the street, and it was from a kitsune. This surprised Naruto because he had thought he, his mother, and Yakumo were the only kitsune in the village.
Naruto turned around and saw the source of the scent. The boy looked to be around 8 or 9 years old, and for some odd reason he was not disguised as a human right then. He had spikey brown hair which nearly covered his fox ears, black eyes, a yellow shirt with the Konoha symbol in red, grey shorts, and a long blue scarf. Coming out of his shorts was a single brown tail.
"Prepare to die!" The child shouted as he withdrew a kunai and ran at Naruto, yelling.
The three-tailed kitsune sat there motionless and stared at the little one tailed kit, and when the child got close enough-
"Owwwww!" The boy cried as he rubbed his head gingerly where Naruto had hit him. "YOU BULLY!" He shouted. "FIGHT FAIR, AND MAYBE YOU CAN DIE WITH SOME HONOR!" He then charged at Naruto again.
'Uhhh, but aren't you the one who snuck up on me with intent to kill?' Naruto thought in confusion.
The Uzumaki still sat on his stool and then quickly sidestepped his would-be assassin, who after missing his target tripped on his own feet, collapsed against the ramen counter, and fell flat on the ground.
Naruto shook his head and gave a slight chuckle. "Are you finished?" He asked as he held out his hand to help the boy up.
The boy flipped on his back and stared at the blonde coldly, and then smiled and took the older boys hand. "Yeah, I'm done."
"Great, now why don't you have some food first before you try anything like that again." Naruto said, acting like nothing had happened.
"Yes, thank you." The younger boy said.
Naruto order the younger kitsune a bowl too, which Ayame provided. When he got it he began to eat with the gusto of a starved dog, as if ramen was a delicacy he never had before, and he finished in less than five minutes.
"Wow, and here I thought Naruto, Hinata, and Chouji were the only ones who could eat ramen that fast." Sakura commented.
"So who are you and why did you try to kill our friend?" Hinata asked, giving the boy a cold look. Coming from a yuki-onna, it almost could literally freeze him had she lesser control over her powers.
"And why are you showing off your demon side? Do you want everyone to know what you are?" Sasuke asked. All of the demon children knew it was a bad idea for them to go around showing their youkai traits. The first reason was so any potential spies that made it into Konoha after the Great Change wouldn't find out, and the second reason was so any demon-hating citizens wouldn't immediately know how best to harm any of them by finding their weakness. Every demon was vulnerable to something, but as long as their type or species was hidden potential slayers would struggle to know what their specific vulnerability was.
"Yes. I'm Konohamaru Sarutobi and I want everyone to know about me and what I can do."
"Sarutobi? So you're related to the Old Man?" Naruto asked as he ate a mouthful of noodles.
"YES, I AM KONOHAMARU SARUTOBI!" He shouted proudly, as if wanting the whole world to hear. "I'M GONNA BE THE NEXT HOKAGE, AND THE STRONGEST KITSUNE IN THE WORLD!" His fox tail wagged a bit at that part.
Naruto choked on his noodles at the last part, coughing and hitting his chest a few times, before swallowing and turning to Konohamaru. "I'm sorry, what was that last part?"
"I said that I am gonna be the next Hokage, probably the greatest after my grandfather, and I am also gonna be the strongest kitsune in the world."
Naruto nodded as the boy explained this, and then cleared his throat before speaking. "Uh huh, well three things wrong with your statement there. First, I am gonna be the next Hokage. Second, while the old man was awesome, it was the Fourth Hokage, my dad, who was the greatest Hokage. And third, my mom is the strongest kitsune in the world."
"It's true." Sakura commented.
"I know. That's why I attacked you." Konohamaru said as he ate a few mouthfuls of his meal.
"You attacked me because of my mom?" was the older boy's response. Everyone else was just as confused to hear that.
"Nope, I attacked you because if I killed you, then I could prove that I was strong enough to kill a kitsune with more than one tail. And then I would be strong enough to go after your mom." The boy said, reciting his whole plan.
"And yet I was able to defeat you by just hitting you on the head." Naruto smirked.
Konohamaru frowned. "That was a lucky shot."
"What are you stupid?" Sakura almost yelled. "Do you want to go to jail?"
"Jail?" Konohamaru asked, like he didn't even realize that had been a possibility. "But I'm just a kid."
"You'd still get punished for murder had you succeeded in your little game there. And your age and grandfather would not have been able to save your sorry ass." The banshee added, very upset that this child thought he could kill her friend/crush and no one would do anything about it.
Konohamaru looked undaunted. "No one would dare punish me. I'm-"
"I DON'T CARE WHO YOU ARE!" Sakura shouted, making everyone cover their ears. "YOU THINK YOU CAN DO WHATEVER YOU WANT TO WHOEVER YOU WANT AND NO ONE WILL PUNISH YOU? YOU'RE NO DIFFERENT THAN THOSE ASSES WHO TRIED TO KILL US ALL FOR NOT BEING HUMAN!"
Everyone there silently sympathized with the pinkette. There had been demon hunts in Konoha for the first year or so after the Great Change, similar to the 'fox hunts' for Naruto before then, and it had been a sore subject to her for years, ever since her parents turned against her when she became a banshee. The young girl had never really gotten over that and since then had very little patience for victimizers. Fortunately for those around her, this prevented her from growing up thinking she could hit anyone who annoyed her.
Konohamaru's ears were ringing so he couldn't argue back right away. When he could hear he looked away from Sakura and ended up facing Sasuke, who didn't look too friendly right then. "You think that because your grandfather is famous you're untouchable and can do what you want? Wrong kid. And even if it was true, the guy you just tried to kill is the son of the strongest one of us in Konoha. Do you really think she'd care who you're related to if she heard you succeeded in killing her son?"
"Lord knows I wouldn't." Kaede added.
Now the young boy looked like he finally realized there were consequences to what he did. 'If I couldn't stand up to a three-tails in a good mood, how could I survive a nine-tails in a bad mood?' He then turned to look at Naruto. "You got lucky today, but someday I'll show you I can be tougher."
Naruto looked at the younger kitsune, grinning lightly. "Call it what you want kid, but luck had nothing to do with it. Doesn't matter really, because if you believe you need to beat up someone else to prove you're stronger, you've got bigger problems than whether you win or lose. Not only is that illegal, but power doesn't come that easily. No, you have to earn it."
"It's true." Sasuke said, remembering what Itachi taught him years ago.
"Wha-?"
"Omago-sama!"
Everyone at the ramen counter turned around to see running towards them was a man who looked to be in his late twenties, dressed in the standard Konoha shinobi outfit wearing dark shades. Konohamaru groaned quietly, but Naruto noticed this.
The man stopped in front of the young boy and the young teens, and took a moment to catch his breath before speaking directly to Konohamaru and ignoring the others.
"Omago-sama, you should not run off like that. I have spent the last half hour trying to find you," The man said, "And here I find you having lunch with…" This seemed to be the first time he even noticed Naruto's presence because his face showed a great deal of displeasure. "Oh it's you."
Although he had never met the man before, and could tell the guy did not like him, Naruto acted polite and nodded. "Hi, how are you?"
Once again ignoring Naruto, the man turned back to Konohamaru who was staring into his bowl of ramen. "Omago-sama, you should not be hanging out with this boy. He is nothing more than a trouble-making nuisance. His pranks caused no ends of trouble for your grandfather back when he was in office." The man said in a matter-of-factly type voice.
"Hey! My pranks are an art. Who exactly are you? And why do you keep calling him Omago-sama?" Naruto asked
The man straightened himself up to his full height, as if trying to emphasize any glamour or status he may have. "I am the Tokubetsu Jōnin Ebisu. I specialize in the private training of future elite ninja, such as the Honorable Grandson of the Third Hokage, Konohamaru Sarutobi."
Naruto stared at Ebisu for a moment, with a dull look on his face, but he wasn't the only one. "Really? Well I guess that is cool."
Ebisu looked slightly offended, as if expecting Naruto to be shocked and surprised at his high level of importance. Instead though he fixed his glasses before responding "Yes, well what is not cool is that the Omago-sama spending time with a hoodlum like you, whose past antics show how much respect you have for this noble village."
Naruto simply smiled. "Speaking of my past antics..." He reached into his pocket and withdrew a small pellet, which he threw onto the ground and-
'POOF'
The whole shop filled with a thick grey smoke, making it impossible to see.
Ebisu coughed and hacked as he had inhaled a great deal of the smoke. He stumbled outside and took in a few gasps of air before storming back into the shop, moving his hands around to move the smoke away. "Oww you little brat. Just wait until I get my hands on you."
However to his shock and surprise, Naruto's group was gone and to his horror, so was Konohamaru.
"AHHH, Omago-sama! Omago-sama!" Ebisu said as he looked wildly around. "Grrr… don't think that either of you can get away from me. I will find both of you-"
"Yes well before you do that..." Teuchi said, suddenly appearing behind Ebisu, placing his hand tightly on the shinobi's shoulder "Who is gonna be paying the bill?"
"What? Why don't you send the bill to the boy's mother?"
Teuchi handed him a piece of paper. "Give this to her and I won't hold you responsible then. Oh, and I'd avoid badmouthing her son so much if I were you. Not a good idea to make more enemies than you have to."
"So now that we're away from that guy, let's talk. Why exactly do you want to be the strongest one here?" Naruto asked when he and the others stopped escaping Ebisu.
Konohamaru saw they were on top of the Hokage monument. "How did we get here so fast?"
"I'm good at escaping. Even before I became a kitsune. It should be natural to you when you get more practice in." Naruto answered.
"And by then I'll have more tails than you?"
"Why does strength matter so much to you?" Sakura repeated.
"I… I just wanted to get noticed on my own."
"What do you mean?" Naruto asked.
"All my life, people have never really see me for me. They always see me as the grandson of the great Third Hokage. Most people don't even refer to me by name anymore. I got tired of only being a mere part of the Sarutobi family instead of an individual."
"And that is why you wanted to be Hokage. To try and get out of the old man's shadow." Kaede commented.
The boy nodded. "Yeah, I was actually willing to go after him in order to try and claim the title, but since he is no longer Hokage I thought that if I could beat another kitsune that I could show that I was strong enough to be the next Hokage."
Naruto stared at the boy, and realized just how much he had in common with him. He then walked over and sat down next to Konohamaru. "You know, once I kinda wanted the same thing."
"Really?"
"Yeah, back when I was about your age, I was hated and feared by pretty much everyone in the village. When they looked at me, all they saw was some kind of monster. I wanted to become Hokage, so that way when the people looked at me, they would see me as a hero and great person."
"Makes sense." Konohamaru stated.
"Yeah, it does... if you're a kid who doesn't know any better." Naruto commented.
"What do you mean?"
"Well, while I still want to be Hokage, I've now realized it is not the title that makes a person great, it is what a person does to earn the title that makes them great. No one is just given the role of Hokage. Not even the First was simply given it on a platter. You have to work hard for your goal because when it comes to becoming Hokage, there are no shortcuts."
Konohamaru looked like he wanted to say more, but-
"OMAGO-SAMA!" The loud voice echoed in the air.
Everyone spun around to see that standing behind them, panting slightly and looking a bit ticked off, was Ebisu.
The shinobi glared angrily at Naruto. "Did you really think you could escape me with such a childish and immature trick?"
The Uzumaki shrugged. "No not forever." He then smiled. "But I didn't expect you take this long to catch up either."
Ebisu went red in the face. It was true that tracking them had taken a bit longer then it normally would have. Mainly because he had been held up finding Kushina and it wasn't as easy as he thought it would have been. But regardless-
"Omago-sama, you cannot hang out with this… this troublemaker anymore. He is beneath you. And any further affiliation with him will only damage your chances at becoming Hokage."
Konohamaru looked at Ebisu for a moment, and then he turned and looked at Naruto. The older Kitsune looked down at the boy and smiled. It was then that Konohamaru turned back to Ebisu and said something that shocked both the trainer and Naruto.
"I want Naruto Uzumaki to be my second sensei."
There was a silence in the air, and it was harder to tell whose jaw had dropped further, Naruto's in shock, or Ebisu's in utter horror.
"WHAAAAAAAAAAAAT?" Ebisu stammered
Konohamaru nodded. "Yes, Naruto is right. Ebisu-sensei, you always kept telling me that training with you was the fastest way for me to become Hokage. If I have two sensei's that will help me out even more. Besides, how can a fellow kitsune not be able to help me?"
'Wow, I really made an impression.' Naruto thought to himself, feeling kind of proud.
Snapping out of his shock, Ebisu began to march forward. "I will have no more of this nonsense. Omago-sama, you are coming with me now."
Naruto however took a step in front of Konohamaru. A mischievous smile on his face, "Actually I think that you will be leaving." He suddenly performed a few quick hand signs. "Sexy Jutsu!" A large puff of smoke surrounded Naruto for a brief moment, and when it dispersed a bit there was a tall well-developed woman with red hair in ponytails standing in a provocative way. The remaining smoke covered up the parts that weren't supposed to be exposed to public view.
Konohamaru was surprised and confused, and Ebisu was struggling to keep himself from getting a nosebleed. Naruto's friends, having already seen this jutsu, weren't affected at all, though Kaede checked to make sure Sasuke wasn't enjoying it.
"You see Omago-sama, the only thing this cretin can do is make a fool out of himself. There's nothing good you can learn from him." Ebisu said, repressing his dirtier thoughts. The fact that Naruto's eyes, hair color, and whisker marks were still evident made it easier for him to not think of this woman as attractive.
"Let me ask you one thing before I or my friends do more." Naruto said. "What exactly do you have against me?"
"You are immature, disrespectful, uncoath, and a bad influence to everyone." Ebisu answered.
"You just described half the people our age." Sakura countered.
"We're not adults, not in the same sense you are at least, so you shouldn't judge us like we're supposed to be." Hinata added.
"So what's your real reason?" Naruto insisted, returning to normal human form. "It's not because of my old connection to the old Kyuubi is it?"
"Kitsune are notorious heathens that do nothing but make a mess of others lives for their own amusement, and I'll be damned if I allow you to influence the one kitsune here with potential to be above that to sink to your level." The tokubetsu jōnin told Naruto firmly.
"So it's hate by association." Naruto said, frowning at Ebisu alongside his friends. The jōnin felt their collective KI aimed at him and saw them release small demon traits. Naruto's ears and tails, Sasuke and Kaede's fangs, Sakura's semi-see-thru body, and Hinata's ice armor claws. "We don't like people who think that way Four-Eyes."
"I'm not afraid of a bunch of genin." Ebisu said, though secretly he did hope to avoid a fight with them.
"But are you afraid of demons?" Sasuke asked, his eyes turning red but not from a sharingan. Kaede's eyes turned red too.
"You see how quick they are to get bloodthirsty Omago-sama? You do not want to be like them." Ebisu repeated to his charge.
"And why should he become like you?" Hinata asked. "What makes you so much better than us?"
"Enough." Konohamaru said firmly, standing between the two opposing sides. "Ebisu-sensei, there are things Naruto can teach me you can't. And there are thing you can teach me that he can't. Both would help me get stronger faster like you always say, so why should I refuse his help?"
"He can't teach you anything appropriate."
"And how would you know?" Naruto asked.
"Your little display is proof enough." Ebisu stated.
Naruto shrugged. "Kitsune impersonate women all the time in legend. It's my nature, and Konohamaru's here too, to use a jutsu like that."
"It's disrespectful to women and serves no purpose but to embarrass yourself." Ebisu claimed.
"Oh it serves a purpose." Naruto countered, remembering all the times it helped him out before. Like when Iruka needed to see a useful disguise, or when Kakashi was trying to bring him back to class when he was playing hookie. "When a pervert sees it, they're often too distracted by their own dirty thoughts to focus on anything else, leaving them vulnerable to more painful techniques. Besides, there are three women here and neither look that offended to me."
Sakura, Hinata, and Kaede indeed did not look offended. They had all seen it before and had the positive aspects of it explained to them by Naruto and surprisingly Kushina. Sakura and Hinata by now thought nothing of it, though Kaede was still bothered by its use a little but couldn't deny it was effective on its appropriate targets.
Konohamaru looked between the two groups and suddenly smirked. "Hey, I've got a great idea. How about the two of you spar? If Naruto wins, I get him as a second sensei. And if Ebisu-sensei wins I stick with him for now."
Naruto looked perplexed but Ebisu smiled. "Sure, sounds suitable."
Naruto then sighed. "I'm not exactly sensei-material yet, but I guess I might as well show this kit just what kitsune can really do."
"You're going down Four Eyes. No one can beat Naruto." Sakura cheered.
"Except for Sasuke." Kaede added/countered.
"What was that?"
"You heard me."
"Naruto is WAY stronger and cooler than Sasuke is." Sakura claimed. (AN: I beat almost all of you reading this are thinking 'I never thought I'd see the day when Sakura would say that.')
"Yeah right, a vampire can kick a kitsune's ass any day of the week." Kaede offered.
"Could not!"
"Could to!"
"Could not!"
"Could to!"
Before this could continue and get physical, both girls were frozen in ice. "Enough arguing already." Hinata said to them before smiling at her friend/crush. "Go get him Naruto."
Ebisu stood there cracking his knuckles in preparation. 'If that naked girl method is his first choice to show off then he's bound to have little else to use against a jōnin such as myself.' "Go ahead little brat. I'll even be nice at let you make the first move."
"Everybody knows letting your opponent make the first move is a big mistake." Naruto grinned and made a single sign. "Shadow Clone Jutsu." Suddenly dozens of Naruto's surrounded Ebisu, much to his shock.
"But how? This is a-"
"It works very well with me. That's all you need to know." Naruto said before his clones proceeded to attack Ebisu. The older man was slower to react than he would have preferred, but he did defend himself and eliminate the clones. Though from the looks of it the clones got a few good hits in on him too.
"Is that all you got?" Ebisu confidently asked.
"Yes but it's your turn now."
Ebisu did three hand signs. "Fire Style Great Fireball Jutsu." He then exhaled a large ball of fire that flew right at Naruto.
"Fire Style Foxfire Wall Jutsu." Naruto countered, creating a barrier made of light blue flames that effectively stopped the fireball. In fact it sort of swallowed the other attack.
"Whoa." Konohamaru said in awe.
Naruto smirked. "Like that? It's a jutsu only kitsune can use. Now watch this." He returned his focus to Ebisu. "Fire Style Foxfire Minor Shot Jutsu." The blue fire condensed into a volleyball-sized orb and shot out at Ebisu, impacting him and covering him in flames.
Ebisu screamed and tried to put it out with the standard stop-drop-and-roll method but it didn't work. Only when Naruto snapped his fingers did the fire dissipate, and to Ebisu's and Konohamaru's surprise there wasn't so much as a singe mark on him. "That attack is sort of like a ninjutsu/genjutsu combination. The damage you feel is more in your mind than anything else, but you can't dispel it like a genjutsu and as you can see the victim isn't the only one who sees the flame or can even be hurt by it if someone else touches you. If you want I can show you a version that actually does leave damage."
"No thanks, I'd rather not." Ebisu said, getting back to his feet. "Illusion or not, my skin still feels hot and burnt."
"That's part of it's effect. Your body may receive no physical damage but it feels the damage the fire would have done."
"What good is a fire that doesn't burn?" Konohamaru asked.
"It's for when trickery is more important than strength, and believe it or not kit, outsmarting your enemy is sometimes better than overpowering them." Naruto explained.
"Good thing I can do both." Ebisu proclaimed as he tries to get Naruto in a headlock until he surrendered.
Naruto let him get close then did another jutsu. "Harem Jutsu." Suddenly dozens of blonde girls wearing nothing but smoke surrounded him. "Oh please hug us Ebisu." Many pleaded.
As expected, this time Ebisu collapsed with a nosebleed.
"So do you concede?" Hinata asked the jōnin when he recovered, having already thawed out Sakura and Kaede so they could watch the fight. Both girls were shivering and occasionally glaring in her direction.
Ebisu sat up and dropped his head. "Very well. Naruto Uzumaki, I still think you're not an appropriate role model for anyone, but maybe Omago-sama can benefit for your tutelage. I will... give you a trial run to see if you can assist him, but the moment I feel you are simply making things worse, I will put my foot down and keep you away from him."
"Yes!" Konohamaru cheered.
Naruto simply sighed. 'Something tells me I should have just walked away.'
"Can you teach me those fire techniques Boss?" Konohamaru immediately asked.
"Actually, first thing I'm going to do is order you to remain in human form in public unless you're trying to confuse an enemy. And stop going around shouting out your name. Ninja don't want everyone around them to know who they are."
The younger kitsune was surrpised. "What? But if I don't-"
"If you don't it will be harder for people to know how to best hurt you." Naruto told him. "You may be the grandson of the Sandaime, but I'm the son of the Yondaime and even I have enemies. People that want me dead or simply gone. No one is so liked they cannot be hated kit, and that includes you. Someday you will gain an enemy, and if you go around broadcasting everything about yourself you're only going to give them something to use against you."
Konohamaru looked on in disbelief, but he saw all of Naruto's friends nod in agreement with what he said. "Alright. Then will you teach me those methods?"
"Not until your tutor says you're ready to learn attacks like that."
Ebisu was quite surprised to hear that. 'Maybe this kid knows more than I gave him credit for.'
"Hey Touji, you've got a visitor." A prison guard told one of the inmates.
Mizuki, sitting and looking like he had nothing left to live for, raised his head and looked at the small window to his cell door. "Who?"
"Apparently one of your old students." The guard answered plainly.
'Damn, I was hoping it was Tsubaki-chan.' Mizuki thought, depressed. But he got up nonetheless to see who'd bother to see him so soon after his arrest. He looked out the window and was indeed surprised. "Tenten? What brings you here?"
"I heard what you did at the party last night. Why Mizuki-sensei? Why would you do that?" The cat demon asked.
"Why do you care? It's not like you can get me out of here." The former teacher replied.
"I care because you were always nice to me in the academy, even when I had a hard time passing the jutsu requirements. And I refuse to believe you did this purely out of greed like some people say you did. You're too smart to steal something and think you could get away with it like that. There has to be a better motive."
"You're so naive Tenten."
"But am I wrong?" She pressed.
Mizuki sighed and stepped back. "It doesn't matter. This town is biased against me, favoring the rights of demons more than normal people."
"I don't believe you really hate all demons. If you did you wouldn't have offered me help when I was struggling." Tenten told him.
"Demons and humans are not meant to live together. It's unnatural, like fish living with birds. And... I kind of have a soft spot for cats. I guess you could say you simply had more appeal to me than the other students."
Tenten was silent for a brief moment. "Mizuki-sensei, you still haven't told me why you stole from the Namikaze Mansion or if I'm wrong on whether or not you had a good motive for it."
"That's because it would be pointless to tell anyone before my trial and even then I doubt it will do me any good." The pale-blue-haired chuunin told her.
"Be that as it may, I still suspect you didn't do it out of greed or selfishness. I don't know why, but I do. And until you admit otherwise I won't. If you were such a bad person, you wouldn't have bothered helping me and several other struggling students. You would have left us to fail, since a true demon hater wouldn't want us to pass."
"Maybe I just wanted a few of you to lower your guards. Did you ever think about that?" Mizuki asked.
"Yes, and I don't buy it. You could have killed several of us by now if that was your goal."
"Again, you're so naive Tenten. Just please, leave me alone for now." Mizuki told her.
"Alright Mizuki-sensei, but I will hear the truth someday and I prefer it come from you. And I prefer I not have to use any of my cat tricks to get it out of you."
"Before you go, could you please tell Tsubaki-chan that I need to see her before it's too late?" He pleaded, then told her his girlfriend's address.
"Sure Mizuki-sensei." Tenten said before she walked away.
Maybe it was because she was in human form or he was thinking too much about something else, but Mizuki forgot about her heightened sense of hearing when he whispered to himself.
"Tenten, you're not wrong."