And we're back! Welcome to Twilight Key, Chapter 12!
This chapter was much longer than I expected. But I wanted to keep it all in one chapter instead of splitting it up. So new word count record!
Ok, got it. Canon it is.
And why didn't anyone call me out on that typo in the summary?
Plums: Well, it's true that I'm following along canon for now, but I don't plan to keep it up forever. I have some idea when I want to create major plot changes, but we aren't there yet. And what do you want him to do? Just leave? I only stated he has no ties to his parents. That's it. I indicated there is still a relationship with his siblings, however strained, and he still has other people he cares about. And I won't deny it. I totally used the Akatsuki to change the subject. I already know when I want to start getting them to notice Naruto. It's semi-soon, but not now.
Anyways, on with the Story!
I don't own Naruto, Kingdom Hearts or anything else, I'm just a broke college student...
Normal Talking: "Insert witty remark here."
Normal Thinking: 'Insert witty remark here.'
Biju/Diety Talking: "Insert witty remark here."
Biju/Diety Thinking: 'Insert witty remark here.'
Konoha Streets (The Next Day)
It was the day after Urahara got Naruto to pull that idiotic stunt and Naruto was now on his way to the academy to take the graduation exam. He had woken up early and spent some time walking around the village to clear his mind. Looking back on the day before, Naruto was pained to admit that it did actually prove to be a useful test of his physical skills. He, a soon to be genin, managed to outrun the chūnin of the village. Iruka didn't count, he was like some kind of ANBU and chūnin hybrid.
As he walked down the street, Naruto glanced up at the Hokage monument. It looked like the genin teams worked hard the day before because all of the paint was gone already. Naruto had also gone home and changed out of the orange jumpsuit as soon as he could. He was now back in his black cargo pants and white hoodie.
Going back to his thoughts, Naruto reflected back on the beating he gave Urahara afterwards. He honestly couldn't tell if the man had been serious about joking, as much as an oxymoron that was. Naruto mentally shrugged. Even if he had been joking, Naruto wouldn't feel bad about any amount of pain he inflicted on him. Not now, and not ever.
"Hey, Naruto!" A shout from nearby pulled him from his thoughts. Looking over, he smiled at who he saw.
"Hey, Misa." Naruto replied.
Misa wore much of the same color scheme as she wore a few years ago. Her shirt was now a long sleeve blue one that instead of having the leaf symbol on the front, had it on each of the shoulders. She switched out her shorts for ANBU style black pants. On her thigh was a kunai holder. She still wore the typical blue shinobi sandals and on her forehead was a leaf headband.
She jogged up to him. "So, I hear you were busy yesterday." She began with a smirk.
Naruto quickly averted his gaze and rubbed the back of his head with a sheepish smile. "You heard about that?" He asked.
Her smirk grew a bit. "I doubt there is anyone in the village who hasn't heard about it by now. Or at the very least, nobody who didn't see the Hokage monument yesterday. Especially with all the fireworks." Naruto squirmed a bit. "And let us not forget all of the colorful chūnin walking around yesterday muttering about 'stupid punks.'" She crossed her arms. "It only took a bit of digging through the rumor mills to hear exactly who had pulled off what is apparently the greatest prank of the decade." She finished.
Naruto sighed. "Yeah, I sort of regret doing it…but it was a little fun." He smiled a bit as he remembered all of the pissed off chūnin. It was at that moment a chūnin walked by the two of them, all the while glaring at Naruto. Naruto, seeing this, only looked away. Hey, if they could be outran and outsmarted by an academy student, then they needed something like this to let them know they need more training.
Misa smiled. "I'll bet it was fun. But why did you do it?" She questioned him. It didn't really seem like something Naruto would do for the hell of it.
Naruto grimaced. "It was a sort of…test. I wanted to see if I could pull it off and how long I could make it before I got caught." He answered her.
Misa quirked an eyebrow. "A test?" It was then that she remembered something. "Oh yeah, you have the graduation exam today, don't you? Was this kind of to check to see how you do against more experienced shinobi? That's why you decided to do it?"
Naruto, not wanting to tell her that it was assigned by Urahara, nodded his head. "Yeah. I feel confident that I will pass the graduation exam, but I still wanted to see where I stand from actually being able to do something." He smirked. "I'd say I managed pretty well, don't you think?"
Misa reciprocated the smirk. "I would have to agree, if you managed to outrun those chūnin for a while and get them to fall into your traps, you will do fine."
Naruto smiled and nodded. It was at this point that he had a thought. "Hey, Misa…" He began. "Any chance you can tell me what to expect on the exam? Like what areas were covered on it? Iruka-sensei gave us a general outline, but is there anything I should be careful of? It doesn't change that much from year to year, right?" He asked her.
Misa's response was to shake her head. "Sorry, Naruto. No can do. I don't want to spoil the surprise for you." She said.
Naruto shook his head with a smile and a sigh. "I wasn't really expecting anything, but it was worth a shot." He said.
It was at this point that she looked at her watch. "I gotta run. I didn't have much time to talk. My team has a mission today." Turning to leave, she waved at him. "Good luck on the graduation exam!"
Naruto smiled and waved back. "Thanks. Good luck on your mission." She nodded and walked away.
Academy
After parting ways with Misa, Naruto continued on his way to the academy. Upon reaching the academy, Naruto headed to the classroom and entered. Looking around, Naruto saw that Shikamaru and Chōji were already sitting in the back of the room.
Naruto smiled and walked over to the two of them. "Hey, guys." The two of them looked up at him. Shikamaru lazily nodded while Chōji smiled at him.
"Morning, Naruto." The Akimichi replied.
Naruto looked over to Shikamaru. When he didn't receive a response, he smirked a kicked his chair. Shikamaru, who had by now place his head on the table to sleep, jumped as he was startled. Quickly deducing what had happened, the Nara glared at Naruto.
After a few moments, Shikamaru sighed again. "You're too troublesome…"
Naruto simply grinned unrepentantly. "Well, maybe if you actually stayed awake longer than a few minutes, I wouldn't do that." Shikamaru chose to mutter a few choice words to himself instead of replying. "So, you guys ready for today?" He asked them.
Chōji smiled. "I feel good about it. I mean, I doubt I will score the highest, but I know I will pass."
Naruto nodded and looked over to his other friend. Shikamaru has known Naruto long enough to know that he won't simply allow Shikamaru to sleep. So, with a long suffering sigh, Shikamaru responded. "I don't know. Well enough…" Naruto sweat dropped. What a typical Shikamaru reply.
"What about you, Naruto?" Chōji asked him.
Naruto looked back over to him. "Me? I feel confident about it. I mean, I know I will at least pass. And I've seen how the people at the bottom of the class do. I'm not nearly that bad." He contemplated things, before a dark look appeared on his face. "And then there are the fangirls…"
Chōji and Shikamaru immediately copied the dark look on his face. "The fangirls…" They said together. After a few moments, the three of them shivered.
Naruto continued. "I could never be that bad."
Shaking off his disgust, Shikamaru smirked over at the partial blond. "What's the matter, Naruto? Don't like your fans?"
Naruto's reaction was instantaneous. He gagged and seemed to be choking on air. When he recovered, he glared at Shikamaru. "Don't joke about that. That is way past crossing the line, Shikamaru."
Hearing this, Shikamaru took on a thoughtful look. After a moment, he grimaced and nodded. "You're right. Sorry." That was going too far.
It was at this point that Kiba entered the room. Seeing his friends over in the back of the room, Kiba walked over to them. A borderline feral grin plastered on his face. "Hey, guys! We're totally gonna rock this!" He shouted.
Shikamaru sighed to himself. "Another troublesome person has come…"
Hearing this, Kiba glared at the lazy boy. "What was that? You wanna start something?" He questioned angrily. Akamaru backed Kiba up with a few barks. Shikamaru merely grunted in return. Kiba opened his mouth to argue some more, but was interrupted when Iruka and Mizuki entered the room.
"Quiet down and take your seats! It's time to take the final exam!" While he would have been ignored normally, the students were anxious about the test and were less rebellious than normal.
As he headed for a nearby seat, Naruto looked around. The room had filled up with the rest of the class when he wasn't paying attention. He didn't even notice when his siblings got there. Hearing Iruka clear his throat, Naruto looked forward towards the front of the room.
Seeing that he had the attention of the room, Iruka began speaking. "Welcome to your final day of the academy. Hopefully, after today you will be a full-fledged shinobi of the village. There are four portions to the exam. The written portion, the taijutsu portion, the kunai and shuriken portion, and the ninjutsu portion. It will be in that order. For the ninjutsu test, you will have to execute the Substitution Jutsu, the Transformation Jutsu, and create at least three clones using the Clone Technique."
'This shouldn't be a problem…' Naruto thought to himself. He already knew how to use those three techniques and he wasn't even that nervous about the physical portions of the exam. The only potential problem were the clones. He could do it, but it would still require some concentration on his part. While he wasn't a jinchuriki like his siblings, he was still part Uzumaki. And Uzumakis have large chakra pools. He tuned back into the world when Iruka began to speak again.
Handing a pile of papers to Mizuki, Iruka started to speak. "We're going to pass out the written portion now. You will have two hours to complete it. It will only cover things we have already gone over. Good luck." With that, the tests were passed out.
When he got his test, Naruto looked down at it. 'What are the five chakra natures?' He read. After a moment, he sighed quietly to himself. 'Why was I even worried about this? Looking at these questions…that was a stupid thing to do.' With another sigh, Naruto got to work.
2 Hours Later
"Time is up!" The sound of Iruka's voice woke Naruto from his nap. Next to him, he could tell that Shikamaru was also waking up from his slumber. Rubbing his eyes to get rid of the drowsiness, Naruto looked to the front of the room. Iruka began to speak again. "We will now go outside to take the taijutsu portion of the test. Follow Mizuki-sensei out please."
Mizuki nodded. "Alright, let's get going." With that, he led them to the outdoor training ground while Iruka collected the tests. Once they got outside, Mizuki turned to face the large group of students in front of him. "Ok. Welcome to the taijutsu portion of the exam. To pass, all you must do is last five minutes with me in the ring. An alternative to this method of passing is to land a hit on me. But this method is harder to accomplish." Some of the students grew uneasy at this. Picking up on this fact, Mizuki continued. "I won't be going all out on you, I will tone it down a bit."
Iruka soon joined them. "When I call your name, step into the ring." He said. Looking down at his clipboard, he called the first name. "Aburame, Shino."
At this point, Naruto figured he had a little while to wait before it was his turn. So he chose to walk over to the wall of the academy and sit down against it. He allowed his mind to wander on how his training had been going recently.
His kenjutsu was advanced, especially for someone his age, but he knew it would be bad to only rely on that in a fight. What if he was against someone who had years more of experience with swords?
Naruto had also managed to improve his magic capabilities from the abysmal attempts he had done before. While he wasn't extremely skilled with magic, he was passable. At least, that is what Hikari told him last time he was in the Station of Awakening. He also recently gained the ability to cast magic with his hands.
He frowned at the next thought that crossed his mind. The Corridor of Darkness. He has improved in its usage. Significantly. But it still tired him out when he used it. Right now, Naruto could probably cross the entire village with it, but it would tire him out so much he would be gasping for breath and unable to fight when he came out. He also needed to improve his speed when he made it. He currently took too long to create one. At the moment, it wasn't very fit for battle, whether he wanted to use it to escape or get close to his opponent. He eventually wanted to get to that point.
"Oh, wow!" Naruto looked up when he heard exclamations of awe and surprise from the crowd of students. Looking in the ring, he saw Mizuki with a shocked look on his face in front of a smug looking Sasuke. Mizuki was also cupping his cheek. Looking at this scene, Naruto could easily guess what had happened.
'The Uchiha must have actually managed to land a hit on Mizuki-sensei…That's impressive for an academy student.' Naruto thought to himself.
Mizuki quickly shook off his surprise. "Well done, Sasuke. That really caught me by surprise. Needless to say, you pass this portion of the exam…" He said.
Sasuke had a smirk on his face as he walked away. The smirk quickly turned into a scowl though when he heard cheering from his fangirls. Naruto sympathized with the chronic brooder.
Fangirls were a terrible thing that should never have come into being.
"Uzumaki-Namikaze, Menma." Iruka's call brought Naruto's attention back onto the ring. His brother stepped into the ring with an air of confidence about him. Naruto sighed when he saw this. He was slightly worried that he would become arrogant in the future. It wasn't a problem now, but it could be. When he saw that both Mizuki and Menma were ready, Iruka started the match. "Begin!"
Immediately, Menma rushed for Mizuki. He threw a punch at the teacher which was easily blocked, but Menma used this to go for the opening that appeared on Mizuki's side. Mizuki had to jump back in order to avoid it, but he quickly rushed back in to engage Menma in a fast paced battle. Naruto noted that Menma's style revolved around getting in hits whenever he could by using speed and power. This went on for about a minute until Menma feinted going for a kick to Mizuki's side when he was actually using the moment to vault over him and land a hit on his back.
Seeing that a hit had landed on Mizuki, Iruka called the match. "That's the end! Menma landed a hit, so he passes this portion of the exam!" Hearing this, the two of them disengaged and broke away from one another. With a small smirk on his face, Menma walked over to his friends who congratulated him with words of praise and pats on the back. Iruka called out the next person to the ring. "Uzumaki-Namikaze, Narumi!"
From where she sat with her friends, Narumi nodded in a determined manner and stood up. Smiling when she heard her friends call out for her to win it, she strode into the ring. Seeing that that both Narumi and Mizuki were ready, Iruka called the match. "Begin!"
Nobody moved at first. Mizuki had so far always given the student the chance to attack first, and most of them had taken it. But it looked like Narumi would rather keep her distance from the teacher. After about thirty seconds passed and no movement from her, Mizuki was the one to initiate the battle by rushing her and going for a kick to her side.
Narumi dodged this by jumping back, but she was forced to duck when a punch came at her next. From where he sat, Naruto was able to see that his sister fought by using her natural flexibility to dodge her opponent's strikes. When a punch came at her, she bent out of the way. When there was something that she couldn't simply bend to avoid, she leapt out of the way.
The next four and a half minutes were spent with Narumi expertly dodging everything that was thrown at her. Unlike their brother who preferred to attack, Narumi would rather dodge and wait for time to run out. Eventually, that is exactly what happened. Iruka soon call out to end the match. "Time! Five minutes have passed, so Narumi passes this portion of the exam." Narumi smiled and walked back over to her friends. He looked back at his list, although he already knew who was next. "Uzumaki-Namikaze, Naruto!"
Naruto stood up from his position against the wall and walked over to the ring. As he passed, Shikamaru, Chōji, and Kiba wished him good luck. He flashed them a grin in return. He stepped into the ring and looked at Mizuki. He frowned at what he saw. Before now, Mizuki had seemed friendly and semi-nice to all the students. But the moment he looked at Naruto, his smile seemed more strained and his eyes seemed to darken.
Naruto shook his head to clear it of these thoughts as he dismissed them as his imagination. Looking over to Iruka, he nodded his head to show that he was ready. Iruka nodded in return and began the match. "Begin!"
Immediately, Mizuki rushed at Naruto. This surprised Naruto for multiple reasons. The first was that before now, Mizuki always allowed a little time for the student to begin the match. The second was that he was moving at a faster speed than he had before. The last was that Naruto was now sure that dark look in his eyes wasn't his imagination.
Naruto had all of a split second to roll out of the way of the punch. He came up behind Mizuki and he sent a kick to the chūnin's back. Mizuki sidestepped his kick and spun around with a kick of his own. Naruto saw this and jumped into the air and over the appendage. Mizuki took this chance to send a punch at Naruto who had to cross his arms to block.
Naruto was sent back a few feet, but was still in the ring. He was surprised at the amount of force that was behind that punch. Urahara punched harder, but it was still surprising to feel how much power Mizuki put behind that strike.
Naruto was forced to abandon this thought as Mizuki rushed him again. Naruto, deciding that he should end the match quickly and not give Mizuki a chance to deal too much damage, waited for the last moment to dodge the punch that was sent at him.
Moving faster than before, Naruto jumped into the air and over Mizuki. As he passed, he lashed out with a swift kick that sent the chūnin teacher over to the side of the ring. Naruto landed soon after and spun around, ready in case Mizuki didn't want to end the fight.
He needn't have worried however as Iruka called that the match had ended. "That's the end! Naruto landed a hit, therefore passing this portion of the exam." Iruka said all of this while giving Mizuki a questioning look. When the man shook his head in return, Iruka frowned darkly at him but didn't pursue it any further.
Naruto sighed and allowed himself to drop out of his battle stance. Looking around, he noted the surprised expressions of his classmates. No doubt from how quick that battle was and how fast the two of them had moved.
Shaking his head, Naruto walked back over to his spot on the wall. While he was walking over, Shikamaru caught his eye. When he saw that he had caught his attention, the Nara raised an eyebrow. Naruto shrugged his shoulders and shook his head in response. Seeing this, Shikamaru frowned and nodded, glancing over to Mizuki as he did so.
Making it back over to his spot, Naruto sat down as he waited for the other people in the class to finish their turns. He thought over what had just happened. 'I'm sure that Mizuki was harder on me than he had been on anyone else. And then there was that look he gave me…' Deciding that he wouldn't let his guard down around the chūnin, Naruto got comfortable for the rest of the matches.
Eventually, all of the students had finished their test and they relocated over to the nearby area set up for target practice. Once everyone had made it over, Iruka spoke up. "The next portion of the exam is the kunai and shuriken portion. You will be given ten kunai and ten shuriken. To pass, at least fourteen total hits must be made on the target. You may return to the classroom to await the final portion of the exam when you are finished with your turn." Seeing that nobody had anything to say, Iruka began calling names.
Using the chance, Naruto immersed himself in his thoughts once more. He was wondering who would be put on his team. He felt fairly confident that he could work well with most of the people in his class. He would like to get paired with Shikamaru and Chōji, but knew that wouldn't happen. 'Not only are we missing a kunoichi, who they have on every team nowadays, there is no way they would pass up on the chance of a second Ino-shika-cho team…'
Naruto was soon pulled out of his thoughts as he heard his name get called by Iruka. "Uzumaki-Namikaze, Naruto." Looking around Naruto noted that most of the class had already returned to the classroom. Deciding he wanted to do the same, he made his way over to where the targets were.
Once he made it over, he was given ten kunai. Looking over at the target, he measured the distance and let them fly. It took three throws to get rid of them all as he knew that while he could probably throw more at once, he would lose accuracy. Iruka nodded at the results. "Nine out of ten? Impressive." He noted the score and motioned for him to do the shuriken next.
Naruto took the offered shuriken and then threw them at the target. This time, he only needed to take two throws. Iruka was pleased with the results. "Another nine? Very nice. You just took the lead from Sasuke for the target portion." Naruto smiled as he heard this. Thanking Iruka, he moved back to the classroom.
Once he made it there, he saw that his friends were over by their usual seats. He made it over to them and they spent the next fifteen minutes talking about the test and how it had been going for each of them. Or in Shikamaru's case, grumbling on his lack of sleep.
Soon, Iruka and Mizuki entered the room and silence followed them. Clearing his throat, Iruka addressed the class. "Congratulations on making it this far. Welcome to the final part of the graduation exam and your final moments as an academy student." He smiled slightly as excited chattering broke out throughout the room. "We will call you in, one by one, to the next room over where you will have to perform the three jutsus required for graduation. Once you are done, we will tell you whether or not you passed and you may leave. We will now begin calling people in."
Naruto zoned out of the world once again. It was both a good and bad thing to have a last name that started with a U. It allowed him some time to think, but sometimes he would have rather got it over with quicker. But he knew there wasn't much use, he was an Uzumaki-Namikaze. And unless he changed his last name, it would stay that way.
A small frown came upon his face when that thought crossed his mind. He was an Uzumaki-Namikaze, but he sometimes wondered if he should keep it that way. He wasn't attached to his parents, but he didn't want to completely cut ties with his siblings. Sure, their relationship was strained, but at least they tried to spend time with him.
Not wishing to keep his mind on such thoughts, Naruto changed his course of thinking onto other things. Like what he wanted to do after he was out of here. Perhaps a nap. He liked those…
"Uzumaki-Namikaze, Naruto." Naruto looked over when he heard his name get called. Getting up, he walked over to the door and followed Iruka over to the next room. When they reached the room, Iruka sat behind a table next to Mizuki. When he saw that Naruto was ready, he spoke up. "Ok, Naruto. First, can you please substitute yourself with that chair?" He pointed off to the side.
Looking to see where he was pointing, Naruto saw a chair a few feet away. Nodding, Naruto did the necessary hand seals. His form was soon shrouded in a cloud of smoke. When it cleared, the chair was in his place and Naruto was standing a few feet away.
Iruka nodded with a smile and noted down the score on his paper. "Very good. Next, please transform into me."
With a nod, Naruto did just that. "Transform!" With another cloud of smoke, an identical Iruka was now standing in front of them.
Iruka took a moment to inspect his doppelganger. He was looking for any mistakes or irregularities. When he couldn't find any, the smile returned. "That's perfect. Lastly, please create at least three clones." Naruto returned to his original form.
'Thank Kami he said at least three clones. I doubt I could actually get it down to three…My control isn't that good.' Naruto performed the necessary seals, causing eight clouds of smoke to appear around him. When it dissipated, there were nine Narutos in the room.
Iruka and Mizuki both raised their eyebrows. "Normal clones?" Iruka questioned. "Both of your siblings used Shadow Clones."
Naruto frowned. "Our parents taught them the Shadow Clone Jutsu because they had too much chakra to do the normal version. They have the Kyūbi chakra while I have the soul, so they have more trouble than I do." He said.
Iruka nodded in understanding. Mizuki on the other hand, had the dark look return to his face. Naruto saw this and wondered what his problem was. Although, considering the topic of discussion, it wasn't too hard to figure it out.
Naruto looked back over to Iruka when he began to speak again. "Regardless, you have passed the graduation exam with flying colors, congratulations!" Iruka grinned as he handed Naruto a Konoha headband. Naruto felt a rush of satisfaction as he heard this. "You have done so well throughout the year that you have graduated as the rookie of the year, well done." Naruto grinned in response.
Iruka soon continued. "You will need to return here in a week in order to move onto the next step."
This confused Naruto. "Step? Is there more I need to do?" Wasn't this the graduation test? Isn't that why he got the headband now?
Iruka only grinned wryly as a response. "You'll see. Now then, you're excused, see you next week."
Hearing the dismissal, Naruto bowed to the two of them and left. As he headed out, he tied his headband to his head, opting to wear it in the typical manner. As he headed out however, he was stopped as he heard someone call out to him.
"Hey, Naruto! Wait up a second." Turning around, Naruto nearly frowned when he saw it was Mizuki that had stopped him. But he was able to hold himself from showing his reaction.
Instead, Naruto tilted his head to the side. "Mizuki-sensei? Aren't you helping out with the remaining students?"
Mizuki grinned at him, although Naruto was able to tell it was a fake one. "There was actually one more thing we were meant to tell you. Did you know there is an extra exam that the rookie of the year is able to take?"
'Bullshit.' Naruto thought inwardly. On the outside though, he widened his eyes and tilted his head. "There is? I never heard about that." He didn't know what the man wanted, but he would play along for now.
Mizuki nodded his head. "Then I guess we do a good job of keeping it a secret then, huh? Anyways, this test gives the rookie of the year the chance to get a specialized apprenticeship with jōnin throughout the village. If you are able to prove yourself and pass the test, you will be trained by the elite shinobi of the village!" He gestured his hands in an exaggerated way.
'How stupid does this guy think I am?' Naruto grinned. "That sounds awesome! What do I have to do?" 'Watch him tell me I need to become a missing-nin or something.'
Mizuki smirked. Was this kid really this stupid? "All you need to do is break into the Hokage tower and retrieve the specified item without getting caught."
'Did I call that or what?' Naruto frowned. "Sounds tough…What is the item?"
Mizuki nodded. "It is meant to be tough. That is why we only give it to the rookie of the year. And the item you need to retrieve is the Scroll of Seals."
Naruto's brain actually faltered for a moment when he heard this. 'Is this guy really trying to convince me that stealing the Scroll of Seals is a test? The only thing I would be testing is how long I can withstand torture from the TI division.' Naruto wasn't giving away any of these thoughts, though. "Is that all? I've got this in the bag!
Mizuki grinned maliciously. 'Wow, this kid really is stupid!' "That's good. Steal it before midnight tonight and meet me in the location where we had the camping survival exercise last month. And be sure to keep it a secret!"
Naruto grinned and nodded. "You got it! I'll meet you there tonight!" With that, Naruto ran off.
Mizuki smirked when he saw this. "What an idiot…"
Streets of Konoha
"What an idiot…" Naruto muttered to himself. As if anyone was really that dumb! Everybody knew that scroll was forbidden. It would be suicide to steal it.
Naruto shook his head and thought about his options. He could report Mizuki, but the bastard would probably deny the entire thing. Naruto wanted him to get caught. But that would mean Naruto would have to do something nearly as stupid as the prank Urahara had him pull the day before.
With a heavy sigh, Naruto came to the conclusion of what he needed to do. 'I guess I am dumb enough to do this…' Naruto shook his head and went home. He had a few hours left before he needed to do it.
And he really wanted that nap.
Station of Awakening
Naruto opened his eyes and looked around. He was back in the Station of Awakening.
"Naruto-kun." He turned around when he heard his name get called. He smiled when he saw Hikari standing there. "We wanted to congratulate you on graduating."
Naruto smiled. But after a moment, he paused. "Wait. 'We?'" He questioned. But before he could look around for Hikari's counterpart, he felt someone sling an arm around his shoulders and pull him into a noogie.
"Yeah! I'm here too, you know!" Yami's voice appeared right next to him. Although Naruto didn't need to hear her to know who was annoying him. Naruto pushed Yami off and glared at her. She retaliated by sticking out her tongue at him.
Before an argument could break out, again, Hikari spoke up. "Stop it, you two. I don't want to deal with this right now. Do it when you have some one on one training and I'm not here."
Naruto glared at Yami a moment longer before looking away. "Anyways, thanks. The test was easy and I managed to graduate as the rookie of the year." He boasted slightly.
Yami raised an eyebrow when she heard this. "That's cool and all…but what does that get you?" She asked him.
Naruto shrugged. "Nothing, really. Pretty much just some bragging rights." It was then that he remembered his earlier conversation with Mizuki. "But get this, my teacher came to me with an 'extra exam.'" He said.
A Few Minutes Later
"Then I'm supposed to bring the scroll to the forest we went to as a class last month. Isn't the entire thing just extremely stupid?" Naruto had just finished telling them everything that Mizuki had told him he needed to do.
Hikari shook her head. "What a foolish man. Nobody would actually fall for such an obvious trick." She paused. "And you actually plan to steal it?"
Naruto nodded. "Yeah. I'm going to leave my scent all over though so I can be tracked. I will also be leaving some kind of alarm to get people to come and discover the scroll had been taken. This way, Mizuki can be caught in the act."
Yami grinned maliciously. "You know what this means?" The other two looked over to her in a confused manner. "It means that you get some time with that scroll to yourself! All those techniques in there! You should totally learn as many as you can!"
The other two sighed at her. Eventually, Naruto spoke up. "No. Not only do I doubt that I have enough time to learn anything too complicated, but I also have no interest to learn whatever is in there." He paused. "But…the Shadow Clone Jutsu is in there too, I bet. That could be useful for training…" He mulled the thought over in his mind for a bit. Eventually, he nodded. "I'll learn the Shadow Clone Jutsu, but nothing more."
Yami pouted at this. "What a waste. All those techniques and you choose clones?" She shook her head.
Naruto rolled his eyes. "I don't want to learn any of them. I have enough tricks in my arsenal." Yami thought about it for a moment. It was true, He had twilight, light, darkness, magic, jutsu, his sword, and his keyblade. He had enough…for now.
After coming to this conclusion, Yami smirked at him. "Well anyways…" She snapped her fingers, causing the area to transform back into the training ground. "…You have a couple hours to kill." Her smirk turned dark. "And I want to see how much you've improved." Hearing this, Hikari shook her head and walked off to a safer location. Naruto on the other hand, groaned.
He just wanted to sleep.
Hokage Tower (That Night)
Naruto was now standing on a nearby rooftop outside of the Hokage tower, about to pull of his second dumbest stunt that he has done.
Nothing would ever beat how stupid that crap from yesterday was.
Sighing, Naruto contemplated how he was going to do this. There was no way he could simply stroll in there, take the scroll, and leave. There were bound to be ANBU guards or something guarding the entire place. He would get caught long before he even made it to the scroll. That meant…
With a resigned sigh, Naruto thought inwardly. 'Hikari, Yami, I need some protection for a bit. I want to use the Corridor of Darkness to pull this off.' He waited for a few moments. Eventually, he felt something like a wave wash over him. He knew that this meant he was now protected from the darkness. He should have around fifteen minutes before it wears off.
Nodding to himself, Naruto closed his eyes and concentrated. After a few seconds passed, he opened his eyes again. A corridor had opened up before him. Naruto smirked. He would like to see them stop this kind of intrusion.
Putting on his hood, Naruto entered the corridor.
Scroll Vault
Naruto reappeared in the middle of the scroll vault. Once he was inside, he took stock of how much energy he had left. He was slightly winded, but nothing much. A minute of rest should fix him right up if he really needed it to.
Deciding to continue with the "mission," Naruto began to look around for the scroll. He saw all kinds of scrolls in there. They ranged from jutsu to katas to important documents. He noted some that caught his interest, but he didn't have time to stick around. Not only was he running the risk of getting caught, he also needed to leave before the enchantment on his clothes wore off. Hikari and Yami couldn't cast it repeatedly, and he had yet to learn it.
While he looked around, Naruto left his scent on several items. He needed to let people be able to track him.
It took another couple minutes before something caught Naruto's eye. It was a scroll, but a big one. All of the other scrolls were small enough to fit in a pouch or bag. There was no way this one would. It was huge!
Naruto knew right away that this was what he came here for. Deciding to hurry up, Naruto grabbed the scroll and secured it on his back. He needed to leave before the patrol returned.
Closing his eyes, Naruto created another corridor. When it appeared, Naruto got ready to enter. But he paused. 'Almost forgot.' Looking around, Naruto spotted a book shelf nearby. Taking out another scroll, he unsealed several items.
He took out a candle, a rope, and a vase. Naruto wound the rope around the candle and tied it to the vase. He put the candle on the top of the book shelf with the vase hanging over it. After securing the candle to the bookshelf, he lit it. In a little while, the candle would burn enough where the flame would lower and light the rope on fire. When that happened, the rope would snap, causing the vase to fall and crash into the floor. That would alert the guards and they would come and notice the scroll was missing.
Nodding to himself, Naruto put his hood on and entered the corridor.
20 Minutes Later
Minato frowned to himself as he listened to his ANBU report the situation. "So someone broke in here, under your noses by the way." He glared at the ANBU and they shifted in place. "This person stole the Scroll of Seals, rigged it so that you would notice after a little while, and left their scent all over the room? But the scent is just in the room? Not in the halls?"
The lead ANBU nodded. "Yes, sir. But we've found the scent nearby. There is a trail leading to and from the tower."
Minato nodded. "Good. Follow that trail and retrieve the scroll. Also alert available chūnin and jōnin of the situation. Dismissed." They quickly Body Flickered away.
Minato was lost in his thoughts. 'There is something I'm missing here. It is as if the person wanted us to notice the scroll was missing. But why?' It didn't make any sense. This person was skilled enough to get in and out without being caught. So why bother to tell them something is missing?
Forest near Konoha (20 Minutes Later)
Naruto was panting slightly as he had his hands on his knees. He had spent the last thirty minutes mastering the Shadow Clone Jutsu. He was thankful he was part Uzumaki, or that would have been a lot harder than it was. He could create a lot of clones, but nothing on the scale his siblings could make. He knew he would probably never be able to make that many.
He paused his thinking as he heard footsteps nearby. Looking up, he saw an extremely irritated Iruka approach him. "Found you…" The scarred man said ominously.
Naruto smirked in return. "About time someone got here. I was worried nobody would get here in time." This response greatly confused Iruka.
With a growl, Iruka responded. "What the hell are you talking about, dumbass? You stole the Scroll of Seals! Why would you claim to be waiting for someone to find you? And in time for what?" The chūnin interrogated him.
In return, Naruto's smirk grew wider. "Mizuki should get here soon. He approached me after the exam claiming that I would get some special training from the jōnin of the village if I stole the Scroll of Seals and presented it to him. Said it was a special exam for the rookie of the year."
This response stunned Iruka. "What? But…that's…there is no such exam!"
Naruto rolled his eyes. "I know that, Iruka-sensei. That is why I made it so people would be alerted I stole the scroll. But…" He looked quizzically at Iruka. "…I actually expected it to be some kind of tracker that found me using my scent…"
Iruka either didn't hear this last part, or ignored it. He was lost in his thoughts. 'Mizuki is a traitor? I should have known!' But he paused when a sudden thought came to him. "But wait! Why didn't you alert someone that he had approached you with this?"
Naruto shrugged in response. "Then it would just turn into my word against his. I needed to have him get caught in the act, hence why I left a trail." He looked at Iruka. "Now if you could, please hide your presence and get out of sight. We still haven't gotten the incriminating evidence. And take this." He tossed a recording device to Iruka.
Iruka frowned. He didn't like this idea. At all. It would put Naruto in danger. But he knew it was needed as they still didn't have any proof. Just because he believed Naruto, didn't mean everybody else would. Iruka quickly left the immediate area to hide.
Not a minute too soon as well because Mizuki soon appeared in the clearing. He had a dark smile look on his face. "Very good, Naruto. You managed to obtain the scroll and get out with it." He said.
Naruto grinned. "What else were you expecting? That's why you gave me this exam, right? Because I could pull it off." He baited him.
Mizuki smirked. "Yes, that is exactly the reason you were chosen to do this…but unfortunately, there is one more part to this." He slowly reached for the giant shuriken on his back.
Naruto tilted his head to the side. "Oh? And what is that?"
Mizuki snarled. "Your death!" He threw the shuriken at Naruto. Naruto jumped out of the way of the projectile. "Time to die, demon!"
Naruto shook his head. He should have figured that was what this was about. Looking over to where Iruka was hidden, he called out. "You get it all?"
Iruka appeared in the clearing with a dark scowl on his face. "Yeah…I got it."
Mizuki looked shocked at the turn of events. "Iruka?" Quickly coming to the correct conclusion, he spun around to face Naruto, who was smirking at him. "You!"
Naruto's smirk grew even wider. "Yep. Me. You could not have been more obvious with your intentions. How did you ever live this long?" He shrugged his shoulders and shook his head. "You should still be a mid-academy student with those kind of skills…" He stopped though as a frown came upon his face. "Now then. What do you mean demon? I'm only the container of the soul."
Mizuki snarled. "No! I won't be fooled! You may have been a human at birth, but the moment the soul entered that body it must have taken over! There is just no way that a human could hold so much evil and remain human. Let alone a newborn! You are the Kyūbi!"
Naruto sighed deeply. 'What a fucking idiot.' He really didn't want to deal with this crap. "Do you have any idea how fūinjutsu works?" Not even giving the moron the chance to speak, Naruto continued. "No, of course you don't." He shook his head. "I'm not having this conversation with you. Let's just fight." He got into a battle stance.
Mizuki was enraged at the "demon's" dismissal of him. He was so angry, he rushed Naruto. His current speed was a bit faster than what he had used earlier during the graduation exam, but he was less refined due to his rage.
Iruka moved to step in but stopped when Naruto shouted at him while dodging. "No! Don't interfere! I want to do this. You can step in if you see that I'm going to lose." Iruka really didn't like that idea but relented when he saw the determination in Naruto's eyes. Nodding in thanks, Naruto looked back at Mizuki.
Mizuki smirked. "Confident, aren't you demon? All your power has been sealed elsewhere, you only have the power of the boy's body!" With that, he engaged Naruto in a taijutsu fight. He sent a kick to Naruto's head, but it was deflected. Naruto used this opening to send a strike to his torso, but this was blocked.
Back flipping away, Mizuki threw a couple shuriken at Naruto. Naruto, seeing this, quickly took out a kunai and deflected them, causing them to go spinning into the air. He caught them out of the air and hurled them and the kunai back at the traitor.
Mizuki jumped to the side in order to dodge, keeping his eye on the projectiles. This was a mistake as he never saw the punch until it sent him flying. He landed a few feet away, clutching his face. The fact that the weakened demon managed to hurt him enraged him all the more. He pushed chakra to his legs and rushed Naruto.
Naruto, not expecting the extra burst of speed, was caught off guard and Mizuki took the chance to deliver a blow to his chest. Crack!
Naruto winced as he felt a rib or two crack under the pressure. Deciding to return the favor, Naruto pushed chakra to his fist and punched at Mizuki. Mizuki blocked this strike with the back of his arm, but Naruto heard the crack of his bones. "Damn you!" Mizuki yelled at him.
Naruto smirked. "Wow, Mizuki. A newly graduated genin is fighting you fairly evenly, you really do suck." He taunted.
Mizuki was enraged to new heights by now. Only the death of the demon was on his mind. Quickly performing a few hand seals, Mizuki called out his technique. "Fire Style: Exploding Flame Shot!" Creating a few flames with his hands, Mizuki threw a few fireballs at Naruto.
Naruto, not wanting to get hit, lunged to the side. Looking back, he saw the fireballs exploded on impact. 'He is going to burn the whole place down! I need to end this.' With that conclusion in mind, Naruto decided on his next course of action.
He dodged a few more fireballs, waiting for his chance. He wanted to strike in the middle of Mizuki's attack. Right when he would have trouble dodging. He tensed when he saw Mizuki was gathering fire chakra again. 'Now!' Naruto thrust his hand forwards. "Thunder!" A bolt of lightning came from the sky and struck Mizuki. While stunned, he wasn't out yet.
Naruto, taking the chance, rushed Mizuki and sent chakra to his fist. He proceeded to punch Mizuki in the face as hard as he could, sending the chūnin flying into a nearby tree. He didn't get back up. Naruto waited for a few seconds, and when he didn't even stir, he relaxed. But winced as he irritated his ribs. He had been ignoring it for a bit, but it kind of hurt.
Naruto looked over when he heard footsteps nearby. It was Iruka with a stunned look on his face. "You actually won. That's amazing. And with a Lightning Release that didn't use hand seals…While Mizuki isn't the strongest chūnin, he is still a semi-strong chūnin. And you just graduated…"
Naruto smirked. "Pretty good, right? It all went according to plan." He paused for a moment. "And please keep the no hand seal thing to yourself. I want to keep that a secret a while longer." He wasn't about to say it was magic, but the ability to use a jutsu without seals would attract attention.
Iruka sighed, but a small smile was on his face. "I still don't know if this was the best course of action…but well done, Naruto. And sure, I'll keep it to myself."
Naruto grinned. "Thanks, sensei!"
Uzumaki-Namikaze Household (2 Hours Later)
Naruto winced as he lowered himself into bed. Following his defeat of Mizuki, ANBU quickly showed up on the scene and demanded to know what had happened. At first, they were ready to arrest Naruto because it was his scent they were tracking, but with Iruka's testimony and the evidence they had, they were willing to listen.
After getting a full report and healing Naruto's injuries, he was allowed to leave as they took in Mizuki. So he did so after bidding Iruka a good night. Now all Naruto wanted to do was sleep.
A frown appeared on his face. 'No, can't sleep yet. I need to look into this…' Naruto closed his eyes.
Station of Awakening
Naruto appeared in the Station of Awakening. Opening his eyes, he saw that Hikari and Yami were standing in front of him. Seeing him appear, Hikari spoke up. "I can guess why you are here, but let's make sure."
Naruto nodded. "The soul of the Kyūbi is sealed into me. This is my heart. Kind of like my mindscape." The both of them nodded. "What happened to the Kyūbi? Is it here?" He had never seen it. He wanted to know.
Yami frowned. After a moment, she snapped her fingers. One of the floating tile bridges appeared. And off in the distance, light filtered down on another platform. She motioned for Naruto. "Follow us. We will tell you on the way." The two of them walked over to the bridge and began to cross it with Naruto following. "Let us get something straight first. The soul of the Kyūbi no Kitsune is not sealed in you."
This stunned Naruto. "What do mean the soul isn't sealed in me? Of course it is! I got the soul while Narumi and Menma got the chakra." He had heard this countless times. It was the reason that his parents never trained him!
Hikari shook her head. "No, Naruto-kun. You never got the soul…You got the heart."
This surprised Naruto. "The heart?" After a few moments of silent thinking, he sighed. "I shouldn't really be surprised." He said finally.
Yami smirked. "No, you shouldn't be. While you were meant to get the soul, you were given the heart instead." She shrugged. "The person who sealed it messed up. The end result when it comes to separating it from the chakra is the same, though."
It was then they reached the platform. Looking at it, Naruto felt a chill go down his spine. Like all the others, it was round and intricate. Around the edges, were flaming number nines with blood red hearts going in between them. The majority of the image was taken up by the form of giant snarling fox that was a mixture of red and orange. It had long, rabbit-like ears and a torso and upper body that was similar to a human's. Behind it were nine tails.
In the center of the platform, right over the Kyūbi's chest, was a keyhole.
After he finished observing it, Naruto looked up at the other two. "This is…"
Hikari nodded. "Yes, this is where the Kyūbi is sealed. That keyhole is the lock. Be aware though, that you may unlock it at any time with your keyblade. But of course, we do not advise such an option."
Naruto smirked a bit. "Yeah? I'd think so…So what does it mean for me to have the heart instead of the soul?" He looked at the two women, who seemed surprised at the question. He gave them a look. "Yami had said it. 'The end result when it comes to separating it from the chakra is the same.' Meaning there is something else that happens that is different because I have the heart and not the soul."
The two women smiled sadly a bit at him. Yami spoke up. "You caught that? I guess I should have rephrased it, then…" She hesitated. "There is a problem with having the heart and not the soul…especially for someone with your abilities."
Naruto crossed his arms. "I'm listening."
Hikari sighed. "The heart is the center of all emotion and passion. The Kyūbi is a very…passionate being when it comes to hate and negative emotions. While the common theory that the bijū are pure evil is not true, there is still a lot of negative emotions in there. And with those emotions, is darkness."
Naruto looked like he understood where this was going. "You're saying…that darkness will one day be a problem?"
Yami nodded. "It may not be a problem now, but it might become one someday. And you are the twilight wielder. You must have balance. You could be influenced by this darkness." She told him.
Naruto remained silent for a little bit while he thought over what he was just told. Eventually, he grinned at the two of them. He place his hands behind his head. "Don't worry about it! I just won't let it get it to me, then!"
This answer surprised the two of them greatly. After a few moments of stunned silence, they both smiled. Yami let out a bark of laughter while Hikari simply shook her head and responded. "If only it was that easy, Naruto-kun…But ok. Let's see what happens."
There we go! All done with Chapter 12!
I started this chapter yesterday when I finally got rid of the laziness, but I didn't get that far into it. About 7,300 words were from a nonstop run today. This chapter was a little longer than expected…but whatever.
I had him learnt the Shadow Clone Jutsu in case I wanted him to make a physical clone for something. I won't have him rely on it like in canon, but it is useful to have him know how to make a clone.
Pretty sure most, if not all, of you already figured that I actually gave the Kyūbi's heart to Naruto instead. It was kind of obvious. But there you go.
Next chapter is team placement and second genin test!
Questions? Comments? Concerns? Post a review!
Until next time,
Kog6943