Chapter 3: You Look Good In Red

The 3rd Hokage was seated behind his imposing desk with his throat tense and a flushed, red face. A child. A literal child, had just destroyed one of the most important facilities in the village. A student of the academy had burned it to the ground as a graduation prank! Not only that, it was a student who, in every report, was deemed a failure. No failure would be able to commit large scale sabotage on a heavily guarded military facility! Sarutobi Hiruzen stared down a sweating, kneeling Mizuki in the middle of the Hokage's office. "Mizuki… my school headmaster. Would you like to explain to me how a child you nearly failed managed to burn down his schoolhouse while it was full of trained ninja?"

Mizuki paused for a moment to chew his nails before continuing. "Honorable Hokage, his grades were poor because he couldn't perform genjutsu and failed half of his written exams. He had top marks in all practical exercises, ninjutsu, and sealing." The Hokage got up and slammed his hand on the desk, barking at the terrified subordinate. Mizuki staggered back onto his hands and butt. "You had a prodigy in that room and tried to fail him because he didn't want to write essays! How many children did you pass because you rigged the grading curve towards written excercises?" Mizuki's eyes darted to the side, unable to meet his leader's gaze. "I- I don't know what you're talking about Honora-" "I REVIEW THE CURRICULUM AT THE START OF EVERY YEAR. ANY TRAINEE WHO ACES EVERY PRACTICAL EXERCISE SHOULD BE AT THE TOP OF THEIR CLASS!" The Hokage's voice boomed throughout the room like gunshots in a concert hall. Mizuki was too shocked to speak. "You are no longer the headmaster, or even a citizen of the village. Sabotaging an entire graduating class to screw over one boy is treason! ANBU!" A ninja with a fish mask dropped from the ceiling right behind Mizuki. The whitehaired headmaster didn't even have time to scream before he was cleanly knocked out. The Hokage sternly gave out an order. "I want every staff member except Iruko Umino interrogated. Bring Umino here so I can get a real report."

While the Hokage was chewing out Mizuki.

It was early afternoon in Training Ground 44, also known as The Forest of Death. An adult woman and three young boys plus a dog were standing in a clearing between trees so tall that the highest leaves weren't visible from the ground. The branches and leaves covering the sky made the light dim even while the sun was at its highest point in the sky. Anko was leaning against a tree while the three boys were in a line facing her. "So brats, there's one extra test." "WHAT! I thought we were done!" Exclaimed the dog boy. The instructor shook her head. "Not yet, the Jonin all do an extra screening of the babies in the fast track teams to make sure they're top-brass material." "Fast track teams? I thought these were all the genin?" Asked Naruto. Shino clicked his tongue in annoyance. "I forgot that you never paid attention. Fewer than 10% of all academy graduates receive Jonin instructors; the ones who do are all hand selected by the Honorable Hokage in consultations with academy staff. Everyone else goes on to be canon fodder or in a support role." The previously confused blonde smiled at Shino. "Thanks! I didn't know that!" Anko clapped her hands to get their attention. "That's enough review bug brat, it's test time. The rules are simple. When I say "go" your team's goal is to kill me, no holding back, while my goal is to capture you alive. GO!"

Naruto crouched to the ground on all fours and launched like a bullet, pouncing to Anko's position at the bottom of the tree faster than she could blink. He had the go ahead to not hold back, and he was not going to hold back against someone who was probably stronger than him. Shino sent in his bugs to latch onto Anko and drain her chakra while Kiba tried to keep up with Naruto… and failed. Realizing the gap in speed immediately, Kiba provided cover fire with kunai to restrict Anko's movements while ordering Akamaru to scout the perimeter for animal intruders. Anko had already read her team's academy reports, and the three were acting in tandem like a field team, which was impressive for how little they had in common. Narutos' close quarters skills were good for a Chunin, he was fast and Anko could feel the chakra roiling off of every punch, kick, and palm thrust, and the kid was fast enough to keep up with her in the trees. Kiba trying to restrict movement instead of getting in Naruto's way contradicted what she read about the wolf boy's prideful nature. And his aim was solid, this was good coverfire. Shino's clan techniques were very well suited to distance support, Anko had forgotten how annoying the Aburame's chakra sappers were in combat. The three combined for solid teamwork on their first team task…

But it wasn't enough. "C'mon brats, you'll never hit me like this!" Naruto snarled in frustration and pumped more chakra into his legs, attempting to speed up. He landed on a branch and pushed off, winding up a punch, but he overshot past Anko and punched the branch he wanted to land on instead. The branch vaporized, turning into sawdust and splinters that scattered like smoke and shrapnel from a shotgun barrel. Anko let out a low whistle. "Calm down there little Tsunade, you might actually hurt somebody." There it was, the name of his godmother. The name of one of the people who didn't show up for his birth. The name of one of the people who left him to rot, beaten to a bloody pulp in the streets of Konoha. With how heated he was in battle, and hearing his opponent mention somebody he always wanted to punch in the face…

The tug. The pull. The feeling of red pouring out, enveloping my host. The kid's screaming now: "DON'T COMPARE ME TO THAT USELESS COWARD!" This was the feeling that I wanted. This was the feeling that I'd craved, that neither of my previous hosts could give me. The pure anger, the bloodlust, the chakra flowing out over his skin. The rush of combat for combat's sake… I hadn't had this since before Madara. It feels so good… it felt so good. For about 0.2 milliseconds. Ow ow ow ow my skin is peeling off and then healing and then peeling off again and my muscles are screaming at me and ow ow ow ow ow. "NARUTO!" "NARUTO GOD DAMNIT, TURN IT OFF. YOU'RE NOT READY FOR THIS YET." Shit, the kid isn't listening. But damn, is he ripping up the place. Every branch he jumps off of is getting snapped in half from the force, the trunks he jumps off are getting dented and melting, like acid was splashed on them. His teammates are running for cover and his squad leader is panicking. She can barely dodge, but with my chakra backing up the repulsion technique she's getting burned just being close to it. It's so beautiful, I think I'm gonna cry. Go little carnage machine, go! But… I can feel his skin and joints giving out. It's only been a few seconds, but he's gonna collapse soon. I'm gonna have to cut off my end of the seal… "NARUTO, I'M TURNING MY END OF THE SEAL OFF. DON'T DIE!" There, I pulled the plug. Dying fucking hurts and I'm not doing it before I burn Konoha to the ground. But at least now he can use my stuff. Maybe I can teach him to blow up mountains later, hehehe.

Anko was panting. Sweating. She brought up a figure from history class and suddenly the Kyuubi came out? Tsunade couldn't have done anything to this kid, she left the village before he was even born! The red, bubbling, partially transparent chakra surrounded Naruto like he was drenched in a coating of sticky acid. He smelled like the caustic scent of burnt vinegar. He was moving much faster, but more reckless and predictable. He was easier to dodge but the chakra surrounding him… it wasn't brute-force-vaporizing anymore like the repulsion punches, but the new chakra had a much bigger reach and a splash zone where the acidic chakra would melt and burn. Anko grit her teeth and seethed at the pain that passed everytime Naruto shot past her again, the burning, aching sensation that was peeling her skin off. But the thing that was scariest, the thing that was so much more horrifying than the strength and the burning… was the recoil damage. She could see it, his skin melting and regenerating in waves like some sick ocean surface. His hair, burning and growing back and growing like his head was the floor of a barbershop. The blood, leaking out of patches of his skin and the holes in his body and then turning into steam. Anko had tortured people for nearly a decade at this point, but this… this was worse than anything she'd ever done.

This was something reserved for lab rats in her old master's dank caves. She had to knock him out before he died like this. But just as suddenly as it had begun, just as suddenly as Kiba and Shino had fled for their pathetic lives, it ended. The chakra suddenly disappeared with Naruto's skin flaking apart and bleeding. And as the chakra left, Naruto's consciousness did as well, mid-flight. He was careening towards a tree trunk like a kamikaze pilot with nothing left to lose. Anko instinctively shot out her snakes and caught Naruto before his skull bashed into a tree and shattered into a million pieces and then she landed on a branch and stuck to it with her feet. She reeled in Naruto and held her in his arms, getting blood all over her arms, her jacket, her fishnet bodysuit, and walked down the tree with him, holding the unconscious time bomb gently as she could. "WOLF WHELP, BUG BRAT, THE TEST'S OVER! WE'RE HEADED TO THE HOSPITAL!"