Chapter 6
Gaara-Sorry this took so long. . . . . . .
Astral-It's summer time, and instead of working on this, we've been sitting around watching anime, procrastinating. I'm so sorry. We all are.
Mirokai-WE HOPE THIS HELPS!
Getting the scroll had been easy enough. Naruto had used what he called his 'Sexy Jutsu', on the old man, a technique Sasuke was glad he didn't have the eyes to see. Then they just grabbed the scroll and headed off into the forest, where they normally hid to work on training, or when the villagers were being particularly nasty to Naruto. Sasuke still didn't understand what warranted them to treat his best friend in such an awful manner.
"Let's see. . . the first technique on here is some sort of Shadow Clone Jutsu (Kage Bunshin no Jutsu). Aw come on! It's our worst technique!" Naruto grumbled, having opened the scroll and begun reading. As Naruto opened the scroll a little further, Sasuke could tell by the rustling of paper, he suddenly let out a surprised noise and grabbed the Uchiha's hand. "Sasuke feel this!"
As Sasuke ran his hands over the scroll, he felt the ink under his fingers, but how was this possible. He could feel the kanji and katakana, and he understood it. "It's raised print. . ." he murmured in shock. In all his life Sasuke had never touched a ninja scroll that had raised print, only textbooks and translated brail scrolls, it always made him mad because he hated the fact that Naruto was constantly having to read stuff to him. It made him feel useless and stupid. "Open it more." Sasuke said in excitement, hands trailing the length of the opened portion. Naruto did so.
It wasn't long before he reached the last section of the scroll. 'I can't believe it! I can read something! Finally!' He felt his mouth twitch upwards when he read the title for the last section of the scroll. 'Tips for Blind Shinobi'. This would certainly be helpful.
"Hey Sasuke, with this last section, maybe you'll finally be able to pull off the techniques!" Sasuke could hear the smile in his friends voice, and his smile grew bigger at his friends encouragement.
"What are we sitting here for then, Naruto. Let's start training!"
P.+O.+V.+C.+H.+A.+N.+N.+G.+E.+
Iruka was more than angry, he was absolutely pissed. What in Kami's name possessed those two to steal that scroll!? He knew them, they would never do something like that. Sasuke always managed to dissuade Naruto from any particularly horrible pranks, so why the hell did he let Naruto steal the Scroll of Sealing!?
'I'll check the forest first. Those two always disappear in there to hide.'
It didn't take the academy teacher long to find them. They were pretty far in, but Iruka had chased his two students enough times to know where Naruto was most likely to take them. He found them at one of their favorite spots, a little abandoned shed surrounded by a clearing. The two of them were sitting next to each other, panting.
"Gotcha!" Iruka said, standing over the two boys, in one of the most menacing stances he could muster. Naruto looked up, and Sasuke's head tilted forwards, a motion he'd seen enough to attribute it to Sasuke's version of looking at someone.
Naruto hopped up and pointed at Iruka with both hands, a large smile on his face. "About time, Nosebleed! We found you!"
Iruka growled, could the stupid blonde be any more annoying? "No you fool! I found you!" He shouted. By now, Sasuke had stood up as well. 'Huh?'
For the first time since getting there, he noticed that the two of them were giving off no malice whatsoever, they weren't afraid of the fact that Iruka had found them, which was odd.
"Hn, guess you have got us. Too bad you were so fast, we've only memorized one technique." Iruka was shocked by the small smile on Sasuke's lips. Unlike Naruto, Sasuke rarely did anything other than frown and smirk.
"You guys look exhausted, what have you been doing?"
"Wait'll we show you!" Naruto said enthusiastically. "I never knew some of the shinobi arts were so amazing! If we show you we've mastered these techniques, you'll have to let us graduate!"
"Even I can do it, Iruka-sensei. I can finally do something right!" The look on Sasuke's face was one he'd rarely seen before. He'd never seen Sasuke so. . . happy.
The two of them had come here to practice ninjutsu? They had worked themselves to exhaustion. All because they wanted to graduate? 'But then, why did they steal the scroll?'
"Naruto, what's up with the scroll on your back?"
"Huh? Oh this! Mizuki-sensei told us about it! He said if we could show you that we'd learned one of the techniques in this scroll, then-" Sasuke cut Naruto off.
"Then you'd let us become full fledged shinobi! And we actually managed to do it too, Iruka-sensei."
Iruka was shocked. '. . .Mizuki?'
Suddenly, he sensed killing intent, and quickly pushed Naruto away with a palm strike, making sure he his Sasuke and the two of them were thrown out of harm's way. And not a moment too soon, because less than a second later, a barrage of kunai came shooting out of the trees.
P.+O.+V.+C.+H.+A.+N.+G.+E.+
Naruto watched in horror as Iruka was pinned to the wall of the shed by a large amount of kunai. "I'm not surprised that you figured out where to go, Iruka." It was Mizuki, crouched on the branch of a nearby tree.
"Now I understand." said Iruka, pulling out one of the kunai that had imbedded itself into his side. Naruto looked back and forth between his two senseis, confused. 'Huh? What's going on? Why the hell did Mizuki-sensei attack Iruka-sensei?'
"Naruto!" Sasuke said, running his hands along the ground in a wide circle, trying to find his friend. Naruto grabbed his hand. "Naruto, what's going on? That's Mizuki-sensei, but, he sounds like he's going to kill someone. And I heard kunai hit something! What's going on!?"
"I dunno! Mizuki-sensei just showed up and shot kunai at Iruka-sensei! I mean come on! What is this!?" He was so confused. Why did Iruka look so angry, and why did Mizuki just try to kill him and Sasuke? 'Argh! What is going on!?'
"The scroll, Naruto. Give it to me." Mizuki said, glaring at the orange clad boy.
"Don't give it to him! Protect that scroll with your life!" Iruka yelled, pulling yet another kunai out of his arm, glaring daggers at Mizuki. "It's more dangerous than you can imagine- it holds the record of a completely forbidden ninja art! Mizuki used you because he wants it for himself!"
"What?" Sasuke said. As much as the Uchiha was trying to hide it, Naruto knew he was scared. He stood up, pulling Sasuke behind him. Sure, Sasuke was pretty good in a fight, but he was still blind, and Naruto knew he had to protect his friend to the best of his abilities.
"And besides Naruto, even if you've read it, it will still be meaningless! I can show you what it means!"
Naruto watched Iruka's eyes widen and suck in a breath. "Sh-Shut up you fool!" He screamed, a look of horror on his face.
"You. . . know what really happened in the incident where the Kyuubi was sealed up again twelve years ago, don't you?" Mizuki said smirking down at Iruka, Naruto, and Sasuke. "Since that incident, the people of our village have been bound by the strictest decree."
"I don't remember any decree, do you, Sasuke?" Naruto asked. Now he was really confused.
"No. . ."
"You wouldn't. Part of that decree was that everyone would know about it, except you!"
"Except me. . .! Why not me!? And Sasuke doesn't know about it either, so how do you explain that!?" Naruto couldn't help but feel sad at the fact that there was something he wasn't allowed to know. Even if Sasuke didn't know about it either, it still made him feel left out and pushed aside. "What was the decree!?"
Mizuki started cackling. "That no one must ever tell you. . . that what you really are. . . is the Kyuubi itself!"
"W-What!? What are you talking about!?" Naruto's voice cracked, he was the what!? That couldn't be, it couldn't be.
"STOP!" Iruka shouted, desperately trying to find the strength to attack Mizuki and shut him up.
"Don't listen to him, Naruto. Don't listen to him. ." Sasuke mumbled, squeezing his friend's hand. Naruto tried desperately not to, he really did.
"It was you who murdered Iruka's family! You are the nine tailed fox that destroyed the village! Until, at last, our beloved hero, the fourth hokage, trapped you and bound you, in this form."
"STOP IT!" Shouted Iruka again.
"It's not true, it's not true. ." Sasuke had begun repeating this like a mantra. Naruto knew he was trying his best to make him feel better, but it didn't help enough. He felt shocked, hurt. 'I'm. . . the Kyuubi?'
"Since then, you've been made a fool of by everyone in town! Didn't you think it was strange? To be so despised, everywhere you went? The only one who treated you as a person, a useless, blind, outcast Uchiha! If he were honest, I bet even Iruka would admit he hates you too!"
"Shut up, shut up shut up!" Sasuke yelled at Mizuki. "Naruto is nothing like that." Naruto smiled a little bit. 'At least I still have Sasuke.'
Mizuki took one of his large shuriken off his back, beginning to spin it, aiming for the frozen jinchuriki. "No one will ever accept you, except for that outcast Uchiha!"
The white haired man threw the shuriken, the only thought that ran through Naruto's head was, 'I've gotta make sure that doesn't hit Sasuke!' He tackled his friend and brother to the ground, shielding him as best he could. 'I'm not gonna let the one person who actually accepts me, die!'
And then, to his surprise, Iruka was leaning over them, a blade of the shuriken embedded in his back.
Mizuki growled, obviously upset by what had happened. Naruto looked up at his sensei, watching the blood that dripped out of his mouth. ". . .Why. . .?" he mumbled. Why had Iruka protected him? Naruto had killed his parents, didn't he hate them.
"Naruto, what going on!?" Sasuke asked. Naruto just squeezed his hand, and the Uchiha fell silent.
". . . I . . . I know that I was hard on the both of you, you especially, Naruto. Always yelling, scolding. . . it must have hurt. Forgive me. If I'd been a better teacher, maybe none of this would have happened. . ." Naruto couldn't believe what he was hearing. Iruka. . . . didn't hate him? This was too much, he couldn't do it anymore.
"C'mon Sasuke." He mumbled quietly, taking off into the forest with his friend in tow. He ran as fast as he could, not running very far before his racing thoughts forced him to stop. He pulled Sasuke behind a tree, and they sat there, side by side.
"Mizuki-sensei is wrong, Naruto. I know you, I've lived with you since we were seven. You're not a monster. You're funny, happy, optimistic. You can be annoying at times, and your pranks really get on my nerves, you're human. Just like me. You're the best brother anyone could ask for."
Naruto smiled. "Right back atcha, Sasuke. What Mizuki-sensei said about you was wrong too. You're not useless. You always help me when I have trouble understanding the material we're taught, and even though you hate pranks, you help me with them. You can even do jutsus now, so you're not useless, not one bit. The outcast thing may be true, but we're outcasts together, right?"
"Right." Sasuke nodded, a small smile forming on his lips.
Suddenly, there was a crash, and three figures fell through the trees. Iruka had created a clone and then transformed into Naruto and Sasuke, and Mizuki had turned himself into Iruka. 'Iruka-sensei looks hurt! That shuriken must have gone pretty deep! I hope he's alright. .'
Mizuki started laughing maniacally. "So noble, saving your parents' murderer. . . and for what? What happens if we let him live, if we let them both live. The Uchiha's worthless, stupid, with a disability like that he'll only make a good target!"
"Then maybe the scroll is safe from a total scumbag!" Iruka shot back, panting, his back up against a tree.
"You're a fool. Naruto and I are two of a kind!"
"Two of a kind?" Iruka looked confused. Naruto didn't know what to do.
"I can use that scroll to achieve the same kind of limitless power!" Mizuki's eyes gained a crazy glint to them, Naruto watched Sasuke flinch at their teacher's tone of voice. "The demon within him hungers for that kind of strength! You were right to fear him, despise him."
Iruka let out a groan. 'So Iruka-sensei really does hate me. . .' Naruto felt worse and worse, the more he listened. He just wanted to go home with Sasuke, back to their cramped apartment, and cry himself to sleep in the bedroom they shared. But then, Iruka started talking again.
"Maybe I do hate the fox. . . but not Naruto. Not the boy. For him, I have nothing but respect. He's an excellent student, they both are. They work with all their might. But they're awkward and clumsy, quite a lot. People have mocked them, shunned them. Sure, it was for different reasons, but they got the same kind of treatment. They look out for each other. I know for a fact that Naruto would give his life to protect Sasuke, and Sasuke would do the same. They have empathy, both for each other, and others. They know what it's like to be in pain. Naruto is not the Kyuubi, and Sasuke isn't a useless nobody you can just toss aside. They are both. . . citizens of Konohagakure."
After Iruka's little speech, Naruto found himself crying. He couldn't believe that Iruka held them in such high regards. He watched a few tears slip out from under the cloth Sasuke had over his eyes, and pulled it off of Sasuke's face. Those dead eyes stared back at him, not quite looking in the right spot.
"Aww! That's so sweet! Just hearing you say that makes me feel all warm and fuzzy!" There was a malicious edge to Mizuki's tone, leading Naruto to believe that he felt anything but warm and fuzzy. Iruka groaned again, and Naruto could see his blood dripping down the tree. "Well Iruka, I had planned to save you for last, but sometimes things don't work out the way you plan! Say goodbye!" Mizuki howled, his second gigantic shuriken in his hands. This time, if it hit Iruka, he would surely die.
"We have to do something!" Sasuke whispered, that was all Naruto needed to launch himself out of hiding, Sasuke in tow, and headbutt Mizuki. He flung Sasuke upwards with a cry of "High kick!" and Sasuke's left leg shot out and he hit the shuriken on the inner circle, where there were no blades, knocking it off course and sending it flying into the branches of a nearby tree.
"Keep away from Iruka-sensei. ." Sasuke growled out, his dead eyes glaring forwards, somehow making his expression even more terrifying.
"Or we'll kill you!" Naruto finished, a menacing look in his eyes.
P.+O.+V.+C.+H.+A.+N.+G.+E.
"Stupid kids, you should have stayed away! Get out of here, save yourselves!" Sasuke heard Iruka yell.
"Loudmouth brats! I can kill you with one blow!" Sasuke was not a big fan of the tone Mizuki was using. It always sent shivers up his spine when someone spoke like that. But Sasuke knew something Mizuki didn't, and Naruto did too. He smirked, removing his hand from Naruto's and putting his hands in a plus position, he knew Naruto was doing the same.
"Bring it on, you jerk! Anything you throw at us will give back times a thousand!" Sasuke could hear the smirk in Naruto's voice. His body tingled as his chakra flooded his system, a large amount of energy coming from next to him as well.
"You're welcome to try, little brats!"
Then, from behind him, he heard Iruka gasp as he saw what Sasuke knew were hundreds of solid Naruto doubles, and about fifty perfect clones of himself strewn about as well.
"SHADOW CLONE JUTSU!" They shouted together.
Mizuki was hysteric. Sasuke could hear his breathing, and the white haired chunin was ten feet away, give or take a few inches. "What!? How did they-"
"What's the matter, tough guy? Multiple Narutos spoke at once, something Sasuke found extremely creepy. "You're going to kill us with one punch right? Come on!"
Sasuke couldn't help adding his two cents in as well. "Well then, we'll just have to attack you." Yeesh, even he sounded creepy, and he was the one talking!
Mizuki's screams could be heard for miles around, along with a few choruses of, "Hey! Sasuke watch where you're punching!"
"Sorry."
"That's a clone you idiot!"
"Whoops."
Astral-Did we do good? For some reason this chapter feels rushed. . .
Gaara-Nah, it's fine. Again, sorry it took us so long to get this out. Procrastination is one of the toughest opponents in the world.
Mirokai-HIII! THANKS FOR READING! REVIEW!
