Hey, guys. I am sorry for the long wait, but I had a lot to do these past few weeks and to be honest I am still very busy. I have skipped Naruto's days before the academy for now. I am going to cover that aspect of his life in a flashback, just like I am going to do with Sakura and Sasuke.
This part is basically the first chapter of the manga. I have added some things that weren't in the manga. But the added things aren't so important. They are just needed for my story, because I am not going to follow the manga 100. I am not going to make an AU story, but my story will differ a bit from the manga.
"Hello": regular talking
'Hello': thinking
'Hello': Inner Sakura and Kyuubi talking
Don't forget to R&R ;)
Enjoy
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Becoming a shinobi
It has been more than twelve years since the Kyuubi had invaded the village of Konoha. The village had lost a lot of people because of the demon fox, but the yondaime hokage had put a stop to the destruction of the beast. He had sealed the destructive force into a small boy. One of the students of the sandaime hokage had told the people that on the day that it all happened. The fox was sealed in a boy named 'Uzumaki Naruto'
The said boy was currently walking towards a big building in the village with a big smile on his face. He was wearing an orange jumpsuit with a blue stripe. He had wild blond spiky hair and he had three whiskers on each cheek. He was also wearing a set of green goggles on his forehead. He was happy, because today would be the day that he would graduate from the academy.
The academy is the school where you have to go if you want to become a ninja. Almost everyone in the village was or had been there sometime. This is because he was living in the village of Konoha. Konoha is a hidden village and is located somewhere in the country of fire. The hidden village trains ninjas to protect the country and to keep it safe from harm.
Naruto had been accepted in the academy three years ago now. It is pretty early for someone to enter the academy so young, but he was accepted because he was very good with taijutsu for his age. He became a little sad, when he realised that he was also the only one from the school who didn't pass the graduation exam two times straight. Although he was good at taijutsu, to be able to pass the exam, you have to be good at other things too.
You have to learn all kind of things about the ninja world too. And in order to do this, you will have to read books. And this is just the thing. Naruto hates reading. It is not just that he is so bad at it; he thinks that it is boring too. So most of the times he totally forgot to study and he messed up a lot of written tests. He has always been the one with the lowest grades.
But this year things had been different. Although he hated it, he collected all of his will power and actually tried to learn something this year. He read his books and even tried to pay attention in class. It helped a lot that he had a really nice teacher this year, but it was a great feat nonetheless. He was still the one with the lowest grades this year, but his grades were passable. If he didn't screw up the exam this time, he would be able to graduate no problem.
But that's when the second problems comes in. To be able to pass the exam, you have to perform a jutsu. They don't tell which jutsu you have to perform until just before the exam, so it always is a nice surprise. It's always one of the three jutsus that you are taught at the academy though. These three are: henge no jutsu, kawarimi no jutsu and bunshin no jutsu.
The kawarimi no jutsu was no problem for the boy, but the other two….let's just say that he could do them better. The last two times he had to perform the bunshin no jutsu and he failed both times. He wasn't even able to create one bunshin and in order to pass you will have to make at least two of them.
He became a little nervous now. He thought he was prepared, but while practising today he wasn't able to make one good bunshin and his henge could still use some work too.
"Hehe, luck is an important part of strength too right. I just have to hope that I am going to perform the kawarimi no jutsu." Naruto said when he finally saw the academy.
After entering the building he could see that most of the teachers gave him cold looks and didn't say anything to him, while they were being friendly against everybody else. He didn't care though, it had been like this since he became a student at the school and he had learned to ignore it. And it weren't just the teachers who treated him like this. Almost all of the adults in the village gave him those cold looks.
He just wanted to know why they treated him like that. Was it because he was a prankster? He knew that the people weren't happy with him pulling pranks all the time, but that isn't a reason to hate someone, is it. He had thought about this matter a lot of times, but he just wasn't able to find an answer. Sighing he started to find his way to his classroom.
When he was almost there he bumped into a tall man. Naruto fell on the ground because of the collision and was starting to get up. He was about to say that he was sorry, when he saw who the man was. It was none other than his own teacher. The man was smiling at him and it made him really happy. All of the cold glares were immediately forgotten and when he was standing on his two legs again he gave the man a smile of his own.
"Hey, Iruka-sensei!" He said with a big smile on his face.
"Good morning, Naruto. Today is the big day, eh. I hope that you have been practising a lot the last few days. I want to be able to pass you this time, okay." The man with a scar on his face said while placing a hand on the boy's head.
"Don't worry, I have been practising like hell, sensei. I am going to earn that forehead protector today. I am done with being a small boy now and I am going to show everyone what a great ninja I am!" He said almost screaming, what attracted the attention of a lot of people in the building.
Iruka couldn't help but smile. He really wanted Naruto to pass this exam. The boy had always been a loud, troublemaking kid, but he just couldn't help feeling much for the kid. He didn't let Naruto know though. He was still his teacher and it was forbidden for a teacher to think better of one student than another. But still, he wanted Naruto to pass, especially because of what had happened yesterday.
The boy had once again pulled a prank. And it wasn't just a little prank…he had disgraced the stone faces of the hokages by vandalising them. When Iruka had found him he was running away, but the scarred man was able to catch him. It was one thing that the boy did it, but the worst thing was that he did it while it was time to go to school. So he did the only thing what he could think of and brought the boy back to school.
He then ordered all of his students to perform the henge no jutsu. Everybody had blamed Naruto for this, but the boy didn't seem to mind. They all had to transform into Iruka and everyone was doing a good job. That was until it was Naruto's turn to perform the jutsu. When Iruka saw the grin on the boy's face, he knew that it would mean trouble. The boy did the seal and transformed, but not into Iruka. No, now a beautiful naked blonde girl was standing in front of him. Iruka then got a nosebleed and the rest of the class started laughing. After that he scolded the boy and brought him with him to clean up the stone faces of the hokage.
What happened then hurt Iruka a lot. The boy was cleaning the stone faces and Iruka could see that the boy hated it. But when he told the boy that he couldn't go home until he cleaned everything, the boy replied that he didn't have anyone to go to anyway. This hit Iruka like a rock. He knew that Naruto didn't have parents. The boy was living on his own in this world and that was a hard thing.
Iruka had lost his parents too when he was very young and he knew that it was hard with nobody at your side. He had become a prankster himself too in order to attract some attention. Then one day the third hokage had come his way and told him that he never had to feel alone again. The old man had saved him from the loneliness. The academy teacher realised then that he resembled the yellow haired boy in front of him very much and he sighed. He walked over to the boy and told him that he was going to treat him to ramen after cleaning. He can still remember how happy the boy seemed after hearing those words.
When the boy had finished cleaning they went to the ramen shop. Iruka knew that he had made a mistake by saying that he would pay. The boy kept eating and eating and he just didn't know how to stop. Iruka did the only thing that he could think of and started to talk to the boy then, hoping that the boy would forget eating while talking.
"Hey, don't eat too much, Naruto. You will get stomach ache if you keep eating like that." He said with a smile on his face.
When the boy didn't respond and even ordered another bowl of ramen, he just sighed. He knew that there was no stopping this boy when he started eating. He grabbed his notebook and a pen. He started writing: 'Never and I say never treat Naruto to ramen again.'
"So, why did you do it? You know who the people on that rock are, right?" He said while putting away his notebook.
"Of course I know who they are! They are the hokages of the village. They are the strongest ninjas of their time and they have protected their village with everything they had." Naruto said with a mouth full of noodles.
Iruka was about to say something then, but Naruto was faster. "I am going to be a hokage someday too. No forget that. I am going to be greater than all the kages in the world. That way I can protect everybody and make sure that everyone will acknowledge me."
Iruka was struck by awe then. He hadn't known that the boy was this determined to seek acknowledgement. It was amazing for someone like him to be so determined and the man was very impressed with the boy. He knew how hard it was and this boy had it even tougher than he had when he was young. He didn't say anything and just gave the boy a smile.
After that he had let the boy eat in peace and just thought about the resolve of the young boy. He was his worst student of all times and here he said that he would become greater than all the kages. It is true that the boy had talent, but he just needed someone to help him. Without help the training of a ninja can be very hard. This was one of the reasons why the boy had such a hard time now. Usually parents help their kids with their school. They help their kids to learn jutsus and other important things. The boy next to him just needed someone to help him, support him. Iruka had then decided that he would be that support for the boy.
He turned his face to see what the boy was doing and to his surprise the boy was taking off his goggles. He then raised a brow, because he didn't understand why the boy would do that. The boy wore those goggles for as long as he knew and it was the first time since years that he saw the boy without them.
He was broken out of his thoughts then though, when the boy started to speak to him. "Sensei, can I please borrow your forehead protector? I want to see how it looks on me."
Iruka looked up and touched the forehead protector with his hand. "Oh this, sorry, I can't give it to you. When you are allowed to wear this, it means that you have come of age and that you are a real ninja. Just do your best and then I can give it to you tomorrow. I believe in you, Naruto."
Iruka could still remember the look that the boy got on his face that moment. It wasn't just happiness, it was something more. It was an emotion that he wasn't able to describe. That's why he wants the boy to pass. When he saw that the boy was now walking towards his classroom and his exam, he smiled. 'Do your best, Naruto.'
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Naruto entered the classroom and walked over to his seat. He noticed that a lot of people were nervous today. Most of the kids were walking around or talking with each other with strained looks on their faces. But one of the kids got his attention. It was the only kid who didn't seem to be nervous. It was the kid that he hated more than anything. It was the so called child prodigy of the village. There, in the corner, was sitting his long time rival: Uchiha Sasuke.
Naruto walked over to the raven haired boy. When the dark haired boy saw that Naruto was walking towards him, he smirked and turned away. This made Naruto even angrier and he sat down next to him. After glancing to the boy a few times, he was about to say something when he heard another familiar noise.
"Get out of the way, Ino-pig!"
It was the most beautiful voice he had ever heard and he knew exactly who the voice belonged to. He turned around and saw two girls entering the room. One of them he truly hated. It was the blonde haired girl who always pestered him. He knew that she worked in the flower shop and the girl always acted so terrible towards him. She was totally upside down over Sasuke, just like any other girl of course.
After giving the blonde girl in front of him a mean look, he turned his attention to the other girl. His face lightened when he saw who the other one was. He was right. The angelic voice belonged to no other than his beloved Sakura-chan. He would never grow tired of looking at the cute girl. She was the only girl he had ever seen with pink hair and somehow he had fallen totally in love with the colour. He was about to walk over to her when he saw that she was waving at his direction.
'It can't be right? Is Sakura-chan really waving at me?' He thought and he stood up and started waving at her too.
"Good morning, Sakura-chan!" He said when he saw that Sakura started to run towards him.
His smile couldn't get any bigger. The girl he had liked for so long was running towards him. When the girl was within arms reach, he looked the girl in the eyes. Her eyes were truly beautiful. They were made of the most beautiful emerald green he had ever seen. What surprised him the most was that she looked him in the eyes too. Surprised he almost fell down, but he didn't dare to look away. It surprised him even more when the girl gave him a cute smile. He was so lost in the moment that he didn't notice that she had run past him and was now hanging around Sasuke, just like all the other girls.
He didn't mind though. He knew that Sakura had a thing for Sasuke, just like the rest. But he wouldn't give up anyway. That look that she gave him just now, only made him stronger. It was only for a moment, but he was sure that she gave him a smile when their eyes had locked just now. It wasn't a great smile, but she smiled nonetheless. He felt really happy now.
He turned his attention to the group now and he just had to smile when he saw that Sasuke hated all the attention he was getting. All the girls were swooning around him and it went like this every day. Naruto would have loved it, but Sasuke seemed to hate it. When Sasuke made a loud growl the girls backed off and went to their respective seats. Naruto had become even angrier now and just couldn't understand why all those girls would be so crazy about that boy. He decided that he would find out what was so special about the boy.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sasuke was happy that the girls had finally left him alone. He hated all the attention. Why couldn't those girls just leave him alone? He hadn't done anything to draw their attention, hadn't he? In all of the time at the academy he hadn't even looked at one of the girls once. He always distanced himself from them, because they were just a bother. He wasn't able to train properly if those stupid people were hanging around him. Because of this he was always the first one to leave the academy when class was over. That way none of the girls was able to follow him to his training spot.
After sighing he had closed his eyes and he started thinking about his past. He became angry when he saw two big red eyes with three black spots in it. The eyes were extremely big and he himself was like a rodent in front of those eyes. The face became clearer and clearer and before he knew it there was an entire face before him. He recognised the face like no other and started running towards it. When he had reached his destination though, the face disappeared and he fell down into a big dark hole. He could hear someone talk to him when he was falling though.
"Foolish little brother."
"Hate me."
"Detest me."
He almost hit the ground when he quickly opened his eyes. He was surprised when he saw a big orange blur in front of him. He looked up and saw that Naruto was standing on the desk before him looking down on him. He didn't want to let the boy in front of him know, but the bastard scared the shit of him just now. He hit himself mentally. Was he really so distracted that he couldn't even sense the 'dead last'?
"What are you doing, dobe?" He asked while looking the boy in front of him fiercely in the eyes.
"I really can't see what those girls see in you. They have to be blind or something." Naruto said while looking up and down.
At this Sasuke raised a brow. The boy in front of him was talking nonsense and he was started to become rather irritated because of it. Why couldn't everyone just leave him alone? He tried to growl, but the boy in front of him didn't even flinch. Why couldn't it just work with him too, it worked with the girls…He sighed and just decided to close his eyes again.
Naruto heard some voices, so he turned his head to his side and saw that all of the girls were standing next to each other. Sakura and Ino were standing in the middle of the group and they seemed like the leaders. All of them had angry looks on their faces. He didn't understand. Were they now jealous of him, because he was sitting in front of that bastard?
"Get away from Sasuke-kun!" All girls screamed in unison.
Naruto had no intention of doing so and he just turned to face the raven haired boy again. The boy who was sitting behind Naruto was shocked when he heard the outburst of the girls though and he quickly turned to the noise. When he was turning though, his elbow hit something and he just didn't know what. So he turned around and saw that there was a boy on the desk behind him.
"Oh, sorry, my bad." The boy said.
When he saw that all of the girls had become quiet and had unbelieving expressions on their faces, he decided to look what had happened. His eyes widened when he saw what he had done. His elbow had caused Naruto to fall forward and now his lips were touching Sasuke's.
Naruto and Sasuke quickly broke apart and both of them started puking. When they were done with that, they quickly wiped their sleeves around their mouth. Both had expression of pure horror on their faces. They both turned around and looked the boy who had caused this in the eyes.
The poor boy didn't know what hit him. Naruto and Sasuke both had the eyes of a demon now and the boy became awfully scared. When the two angry boys started fisting their hands, he tried to take a few steps backwards. The desk stopped him from escaping though and the last thing he saw were the fists of two extremely angry boys.
Naruto felt relieved now after hitting the boy and turned to Sasuke. The raven haired boy was already back to his normal self. The said boy was enjoying the inside of his eyes again. Naruto grinned at this, but he quickly regained himself when he suddenly felt a lot of chakra coming from somewhere. And there was something else too. Hate…pure hate.
He turned around and his eyes widened. The girls were glaring at him with cold, horrifying looks on their faces. Naruto started sweating and he knew that he was in deep shit. He turned around, hoping to find an escape route. But when he jumped away, he was pulled back by a few hands and the last thing he saw were a lot of scary faces. "Help!"
When the boy came to he saw that he was sitting on a chair again. He looked around and could see all of the girls glaring at him. Three girls on a table next to him were whispering something, but he could hear it anyway. Since his birth he has been able to hear better than most people and at times like this, he cursed himself for this ability. Some things just weren't meant to be heard.
"That stupid monster. He always causes trouble and it pisses me off." One girl said to another one.
"Why can't he just die and leave us alone." The other one said back.
"My parents say that he is a demon and that we need to stay away from him." A third one said when he heard where the other two were talking about.
Naruto became sad when he heard all of this. It was bad enough that the adults were treating him so badly, but now his own classmates were treating him exactly the same. He sighed, because he knew that he couldn't do anything about it. No matter what he would tell them, it wouldn't make a difference. He just had to pass this exam, so that he could become hokage and make everyone acknowledge him.
He continued looking around until he saw the person who was sitting next to him. It was no other than Sakura. The pink haired girl who had just beaten him to a pulp was sitting next to him. She was staring to the other side and Naruto took a look and saw that Sasuke was sitting next to her. He sighed and then quickly covered his mouth. He hoped that Sakura didn't hear him, because he didn't want her to hurt him again.
When the girl started to turn around he cursed his own luck. He desperately looked around searching for an excuse, but in the end he wasn't able to find one. When nothing happened he turned to the girl again and was surprised that the girl was looking him in the eyes with an angry look on her face. Naruto knew that he shouldn't be thinking about it now, but he still thought that she had beautiful eyes. When she started to motion her hand to him, he closed his eyes and he started praying for a quick death.
His eyes spat open though, when he felt something soft touch his cheek. He was shocked when he saw that Sakura's hand was touching him.
"Sakura-chan? W..what are y…you doing?" He said stuttering. He was surprised when the girl gave him an angry look again.
"Sit still. Your cheek became a bit dirty after hitting the ground because of me and the other girls. You can't do the exam with a dirty cheek now can you?" She said with a serious expression on her face.
Naruto didn't even question her; he just obeyed and stayed still. He knew that the girl in front of him didn't take no for an answer. When the pink haired girl removed her hand, she gave him a small smile. This scared the shit out of Naruto.
"There all done." She said. "Now why don't you stop being so annoying for a change and try to behave. This is a very important day for you too, right?"
Naruto's eyes widened. Not did she just talk to him, but what hit him the most was the fact that she didn't call him a monster or a demon. She just said that he was being annoying and he really couldn't blame her for that. He knew that he was being pretty annoying. The girl had already turned around to look at the raven haired boy again, but Naruto couldn't help but feel really happy right now. 'Pink is now more than ever my favourite colour.'
Naruto sighed and watched as Sakura was still looking at Sasuke, while the other students silently panicked over the test. He looked behind him and saw that Ino was glaring at Sakura who was now started glaring back at the girl. He didn't know why, but he wouldn't want to be between those two now. It would mean instant death. He was broken out of his thoughts though when Iruka walked into the classroom. He was carrying some papers and had a serious expression on his face.
'Took him long enough.' Naruto thought while he was getting ready for the exam.
"For your final exam, you are going to perform the bunshin no jutsu. You have to generate at least two bunshins. Wait here until your name is called and then exit the classroom. There will be a man waiting for you outside and he will bring you to the room for the exam." Iruka said before he walked out of the room again.
Sasuke silently laughed in his head. The rest of the students seemed to relax as well.
"Just two bunshins. This is going to be much easier than I thought" Ino said on.
"How troublesome. Can you pipe down a bit?" Another boy said.
Naruto on the other hand was freaking out. Again he had to perform his worst jutsu. Why did the heavens hate him? When the first name was called, Naruto tried to stay calm. He started thinking about happy thoughts. He thought about Sakura, about ramen and about many other happy things.
Another name was called. It just didn't seem to help. He became only more nervous by the minute. He started to sweat now and his eyes became wide. The man who called for the names came into the room again and Naruto became awfully scared now. There weren't many people left in the room. He had been so freaked out that he even hadn't seen Sakura leave for her exam. He hit himself, because he had wanted to wish her good luck.
"Uchiha Sasuke, please follow me." The man said
Sasuke soon left to go take the exam. When he was walking past Naruto he gave the boy a smirk, because he saw how scared the boy was. He knew that the boy hated the bunshin no jutsu more than anything. When he had left the room, only Naruto and two other remained. Naruto clenched his fist and decided to just get it over with. If he couldn't get through this exam, then he would never become hokage. When the man entered the classroom again, Naruto had a determined expression on his face.
"Uzumaki Naruto, please come with me."
Naruto took a breath and stood up. He looked behind him and saw the two others still sitting there with confident smiles on their faces. Naruto didn't get it. Was he the only one who hated the bunshin no jutsu? He walked to the door and walked past the man. When he did this, he just could help but see the cold glare coming from the man, but he didn't mind.
He walked to the next room, where the desks and chairs were all shoved to the sides of the classroom. He could see that two teachers were sitting at the teacher's desk. One of them was his own teacher and the other one was the teacher from another class. He was called Mizuki. It was the only teacher besides Iruka who didn't give him cold looks. There were still three forehead protectors lying on the table. That meant that everyone before him had passed. For a moment, Naruto wanted to run away, but he fought off the feeling and tried to make a determined face
"Naruto," stated Iruka, "Please perform the bunshin no jutsu now. You may begin whenever you are ready."
Naruto placed his hands together and made the seal that was necessary for the bunshin no jutsu. He started gathering a lot of chakra and while he was doing that he tried to remember everything he had learned. This was the time that he was going to pass. It was now or never.
"Bunshin no jutsu!"
There was a puff of smoke and Naruto didn't want to look to his side. Something just didn't feel right to him. When he saw the weird faces on his teacher's face, he decided to glance to his side. His eyes widened when he saw the result of his jutsu. He had made a clone, but the clone was dead looking. It was also deformed and it didn't have any colour.
Naruto knew that he had messed up now and glanced over to his teacher. Iruka's whole body twitched as he stared at the dead thing on the ground. He was able to see the disappointment in his teacher's eyes. Mizuki looked disappointed too, but gave the boy a smile nonetheless.
Iruka sighed and pointed a finger at the door. "You fail!!!"
Naruto became sad when he heard his teacher say this and turned around to walk towards the exit. He couldn't believe it. He had failed again. What kind of failure was he? He just wanted to become a ninja. Was that so much to ask? He was broken out of his thoughts when he heard the other teacher's voice.
"Iruka-sensei, this is the third time that he is doing this exam and he did manage to basically make a bunshin, even if it was a little flawed."
Iruka sighed and started to rapidly shake his head. "The answer is no, Mizuki."
Mizuki looked slightly disappointed and Naruto could see that he was trying to think of something. He was about to say something again, when Iruka started talking again.
"Every student is supposed to generate at least two bunshins. Everyone else made two clones or more. Naruto only made one and it wasn't even a good one. The thing couldn't even fool the weakest of enemies. In order for a ninja to survive he must be able to perform this jutsu. I am not happy with Naruto failing too, but it is for his own safety." Iruka said with a sad tone.
Mizuki nodded knowing that his fellow teacher was right. Naruto saw that Mizuki had stopped trying now too and turned around again. He exited the room and started to walk outside.
Outside, Naruto immediately made for the swing set. He sat on it and was deep in thought. He hated himself for failing, he really hated himself. In front of him he could see all the other kids with their parents. They were all acting happy and the kids were being praised by their parents. Naruto became even more sad now, because he would never know that feeling. He had no parents, so he would never understand how that would feel like.
When he looked at the group, he could see that several people were looking at him with looks of disgust on their faces. They started to talk to each other and although they were pretty far away, Naruto was still able to hear what they were saying to each other.
"Hey, isn't he the kid who?" The woman on the left said while looking at Naruto.
"Yeah." replied the one on the right, "That is him. He is only one who failed."
"Imagine if they let someone like him become a shinobi. I mean think about what he is." The left one said again.
The woman on the right held up her hand now "We can't talk about that, remember."
The two women walked away, leaving Naruto with some odd thoughts. He was really unhappy now. He was quite used to it by now, but that didn't mean that it hurt less. And what really confused him is what they were going to say before they stopped. They were talking about him like he wasn't even human. 'Just what am I?'
Iruka walked outside the building after the exams and he could see that Naruto stood up from the swing and walked away. He had never seen the down so down before. He wanted to go talk to him, but was stopped by a hand. When he glanced over his shoulder, he could see that the hokage was standing next to him. His eyes widened at the sight.
"Hokage-sama."
"Iruka, I need to talk to you." The old man said with the pipe still in his mouth.
"Yes, hokage-sama." Iruka said, before he left with the hokage.
Naruto was walking through the village with no destination in mind. He didn't feel like going home yet. He would be all alone and being alone was a thing he didn't want right now. He was interrupted when he hears someone call his name. He turned around and saw that Mizuki was coming towards him.
"Mizuki-sensei." He said in a surprised tone.
Mizuki made a hand gesture indicating Naruto to follow him and Naruto did just that. Mizuki led him to the roof of a house and they both sat down. Naruto wasn't in the mood for talking, so he decided to keep quiet. He was again lost in thought when Mizuki suddenly started talking to him.
"You know, Naruto, Iruka-Sensei is a really serious guy. Did you know his parents died when he was young? So he had to do everything himself. It took him a lot of hard work, but eventually he reached his goal to become an academy instructor."
"What's that got to do with me?" Naruto asked with a sad look on his face. He didn't know that Iruka had a sad past too, but he still didn't get why the man next to him was telling him all this. Was he trying to make him feel better or something? It wasn't really working.
"I think he sees himself in you." said Mizuki, "He wants you to become strong the hard way. By working hard and doing your best. Try to understand his feelings, Naruto. Just like you, he didn't have parents while growing up too. He didn't fail you because he hates you. He failed you because he wants you to become strong. Please try to understand Naruto."
"But I really wish that I had graduated." protested Naruto. He really couldn't think of anything else to say.
Mizuki sighed. "Looks like I have no other choice. I will tell you a special secret then."
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Iruka was lying on his bed. He was still thinking about Naruto. The boy resembled him so much. The hokage just told him that too. Naruto has had a though life and he just needs someone to be there for him. He still remembered the day that he lost his parents like no other. They were fighting the Kyuubi and suddenly Iruka was taken away by some other ninja, saying that they had to pull back. It turned out that his parents had been killed by the Kyuubi that day. When the Kyuubi was finally defeated, he had nobody left. But the hokage had saved him and Iruka vowed now that he would save Naruto too.
He was surprised when the alarm suddenly went off. He jumped out of his bed and saw that every chuunin and jounin was heading towards the tower of the hokage. He quickly put on his clothes and headed towards the tower as well.
A group of angry chuunin stood in the front of the tower when Iruka arrived. The Lord Hokage stood at the centre. Iruka was about to ask what was wrong, when the hokage started to speak. "Uzumaki Naruto has stolen the scroll of sealing."
Iruka's eyes widened then. Did he just hear that right. No, Naruto wouldn't do something like that. He looked around and saw that everyone was as shocked as he was. But something just didn't feel right. He looked around another time and saw that Mizuki was missing. Then something hit him. He saw that Mizuki was talking to Naruto today after the exam when he was walking home. He was broken out of his thoughts when a chuunin started to speak.
"Lord Hokage," he shouted, "This is not just a prank, this is a serious crime."
"That scroll contains secrets were sealed away by the previous hokage. If it falls into the wrong hands it can destroy our way or life." The other chuunins nodded.
The Hokage, watching all of the people before him, finally came to a decision.
"Alright, find the boy and bring him here at once. Please don't hurt the boy. I don't think that he knows what he is doing. Please bring him back unharmed!" The Hokage raised his hand and everyone vanished.
Iruka decided the first place to look would be the apartment, but looking there he didn't see any sign of Naruto. He then looked throughout the whole village, but there wasn't any trace of him left. He landed on a high rooftop and sat down for a bit to rest a little. He thought about all the places where he had seen Naruto, but he just couldn't think of any more places. He stared of in the distance and then he remembered. He knew that Naruto's favourite training spot was in the forest. He stood up and headed towards the great forest around the village.
Iruka became happy when he finally saw the boy in the distance. He was right, the boy was at his favourite training spot. He increased his speed and landed right in front of the boy who didn't seem to flinch because of it at all.
"It's all over, Naruto, I found you." Iruka said with a devilish smile on his face.
Naruto stood up, scratching the back of his head. "Hehe, you caught me already, sensei. I only had the time to learn one technique."
Iruka was really surprised this time as he pondered over these words. Then he took his time to take a good look at the boy. He had bruises and scrapes all over his body and he seemed exhausted. He was broken out of his thoughts when the boy spoke.
"Look, Iruka-sensei," said Naruto with a big smile on his face. Iruka hadn't seen that smile since this morning and he wondered what made the boy so happy. "I'm going to show you this amazing jutsu, and you're going to let me graduate, then everything will be okay."
'Has he been training here the whole time while we were looking for him?And you even trained enough to hurt your own body?' Iruka thought.
"Huh, where'd you get that idea," he asked wanting to know where he got that stupid idea.
"Mizuki-sensei told me about it. He told me where to find the scroll. And then he told me that if I showed you one of the skills on this scroll that I would definitely graduate." He said with a big grin on his face.
'Mizuki? Why would he tell Naruto about the scroll? What the hell is going on?' Iruka thought. He just couldn't believe what he was hearing. He had known Mizuki since they were little kids and he was one of the only people who acknowledged him when he was younger. Suddenly Iruka turned around, when heard some noises.
"Naruto watch out!" He shouted.
When he saw that Naruto wasn't moving, he pushed Naruto aside with all his power. Naruto hadn't expected this and flew backwards. When he finally got up he looked around and saw what had happened. Iruka was pinned to a three with some kunai imbedded in his body. Blood was pouring out and Naruto couldn't believe what he was seeing. He looked up and his eyes widened when he saw that Mizuki was standing on a tree branch with a big shuriken tied to his back. The man didn't look like the nice teacher from earlier anymore; he had the expression of a true killer on his face.
"So that's what going on." Iruka said while he was pulling on of the kunai out of his body.
Mizuki now turned to Naruto and became very serious. "Naruto! Give me the scroll now."
Naruto looked from Mizuki to Iruka with a horrified expression. He didn't know what was going on and he didn't like it. He had never seen someone getting hit by kunai like that and it scared him a bit.
"Wait a minute. What's going on here?" He said with fear in his voice.
Iruka pulled out another kunai. He had trouble breathing and was losing a lot of blood, but he didn't care at the moment. He had to protect Naruto and the village with his whole being. "Naruto, don't let Mizuki get the scroll. Protect it with your life! It contains forbidden jutsus that can put this village in grave danger."
When Mizuki saw that Naruto was starting to listen to Iruka, he decided that he would have to use another approach. "There really is no point in you having the scroll, Naruto. I will tell you the truth now."
Iruka's eyes widened, realizing what Mizuki meant. "No, Mizuki!"
Unfortunately Mizuki paid him no attention. "You know that the Kyuubi had been defeated twelve years ago, right? That's what we teach you at school anyway. The third hokage created a rule after that. And all of the adults know. Iruka's trying to hide it from you even now."
Naruto looked up with confusion in his eyes. "What is this rule? Why does everyone else know about it?"
Mizuki had an evil smile on his face when he continued. "This rule is that no one can tell you that the nine tailed fox is sealed within you!"
"What?!" Naruto asked with a expression of unbelief in his eyes.
"The Kyuubi was so strong that he couldn't be killed. So the fourth hokage did the only thing he could think of and sealed it within you. So you are the one who killed Iruka's parents and the one who nearly destroyed our village." Mizuki said with a dark smile on his face.
Iruka was almost begging Mizuki to stop, but it didn't help one bit. "They've been lying to you your whole life, Naruto. Didn't you think it was strange how they treated you? Now you know why they hated you. Even Iruka hates you deep inside!"
"Damn it, damn it, damn it!" Naruto screamed while he was building up a lot of chakra.
"That's why you'll never be accepted in this village. You can even find the jutsu that sealed the fox in you in that scroll you are holding. Quite ironic, isn't it?"
Iruka looked on horror. Iruka knew that he had always been alone. 'He had never known what it meant to be loved by a parent. Everyone in the village hated him and he didn't even know why. The poor boy makes a lot of trouble to find attention, but deep down he is the one suffering. He is seeking for acknowledgment in every way.' He thought and he got tears in his eyes. When he saw that Mizuki was grabbing his big shuriken, he quickly stood up.
"Die, Naruto!" Mizuki screamed when he threw the giant object towards the boy.
Naruto didn't know what to do. He was so scared and his legs just wouldn't move. He saw the shuriken closing in on him and closed his eyes, hoping that everything what just happened was a dream. He was surprised when he heard something.
"Naruto, get down!"
Naruto opened his eyes and his jaw dropped when he saw what had happened. Iruka stood over him and had taken the hit for him. There was blood everywhere and it even came out of Iruka's mouth. A droplet of blood fell on Naruto's cheek, but he was too surprised to notice it. Mizuki was surprised too. He hadn't expected that the man would still be able to move after being hit by so many kunai.
"W…why!" Naruto screamed.
"B...because we're the same." Iruka said.
Naruto was surprised when the man said that and he became even more surprised when he saw that the man was crying. "When I lost my parents, I was just like you. I wanted attention so badly. So I started acting like an idiot just to get attention. It was so painful and I know how you must be feeling, Naruto. You must be in a lot of pain too. I am sorry for not being there for you, Naruto."
Naruto was nearly in tears himself, he had forgotten this from his memories, and hearing Iruka's words made him feel sad all over again.
Naruto didn't know what to do and took off running. Mizuki landed next to Iruka and laughed. "Naruto isn't going to have a change of heart. He's going to use the scroll to take revenge on the village." Mizuki said while he sat down next to the scarred man. "You saw that look in his eyes, didn't you? Those were the eyes of a demon."
"No." Iruka said with a low voice, while he pulled out the giant shuriken. "Naruto isn't like that!" He threw the shuriken towards Mizuki, but was surprised when the man easily caught it. He put it back on his back and smiled.
Iruka sighed. "Just why are you doing this, Mizuki? I thought that we were friends. Haven't we always been together? Haven't we done so many things together? Why have you changed so much?"
Mizuki laughed and leaned against a three. "I guess I could tell you. The Mizuki that you knew has been long gone. I have been acting this way for a long time. You have always been the favourite of the third hokage and I hated it. You were always weaker than me and I did everything to help the old geezer, but still, he chose you over me and I couldn't take that. I even saved your life a few times, like during the academy teacher exam. But still that stupid hokage chose you!"
"But why did you let Naruto steal the scroll of sealing then?" Iruka asked with a confused look on his face.
Mizuki started laughing with a devilish smile. "Because Orochimaru told me to do it!"
"Orochimaru! How did you get in contact with that guy?!" Iruka screamed out, not believing that he heard that right.
"While you were being comforted by the third hokage time after time, I trained and trained like hell. Then one day I met him and he told me that he could grand me a lot of power if I would help him with something. But he told me that we would have to wait until I had gotten stronger, so that's what I did. I decided that I would get power to be able to defeat everyone in this stupid village. Then he came to me again and told me that I only had to steal the scroll of sealing for him. It was that easy, so I decided to do it." Mizuki said while he was walking around.
"You fool, you know what kind of man Orochimaru is, don't you!? If he gets his hands on that scroll, he will surely use it to destroy the village!" Iruka screamed out.
"Hehe, you're a joke. As soon as I eliminate the demon boy and take the scroll, I'll be back for you." Mizuki jumped into the woods leaving Iruka behind. Although the man still had a lot of injuries, he wasn't about to let Mizuki get away with this. He stood up and headed in the same direction. "I won't let you!"
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Naruto frantically jumped from tree branch to tree branch when he suddenly heard a voice. Iruka appeared from a tree and headed towards him "Naruto! Give me the scroll. Mizuki is after it!" Iruka shouted.
Iruka was surprised as Naruto suddenly slammed into him. He went flying and landed near a tree. He was breathing heavily and was hurt. He hadn't expected this and had landed hard. Naruto landed too. He was panting hard too.
"Why, Naruto?" Iruka asked softly.
Naruto took the scroll off his back and slumped down against a tree. Iruka struggled to stand up and gave Naruto a fierce look. "How did you know, Naruto? How did you know that is was me and not Iruka?" Mizuki said when he undid his henge.
"Because, I'm Iruka." Iruka said after undoing his own henge.
Mizuki stood up and grinned with an evil expression on his face. "You would even change into the monster that killed your parents. Why are you protecting that monster?"
Meanwhile Naruto and watched from behind a tree. He didn't know what had just happened, but he knew that he couldn't run away when they were so close. Deciding that it would be better to stay put, he listened to what Iruka was about to say.
I won't give you the scroll. I would die before I give it to you." Iruka said with a determined expression on his face.
"Naruto is just like me. If you have that scroll, you can do whatever you want. There is no way that the demon fox wouldn't use that power!"
Back below, Iruka suddenly agreed with Mizuki. "You're right."
Naruto buried his head in the scroll and tears started to fall out. 'I knew it, deep down even Iruka-sensei doesn't acknowledge me.' He was broken out of his thoughts when the man continued.
"The Kyuubi would do that, but Naruto is different. I have acknowledged him as one of my excellent students. He may not be the hardest worker, but he puts his hearts into it. He is rather clumsy, so nobody accepts him. But he knows what it is to have pain in his heart and that makes him strong. So he's nothing like the demon fox. He is a member of the village hidden in the leaves. He is Uzumaki Naruto!" Iruka said with a proud look on his face.
Naruto was crying at this point. He couldn't believe it. Iruka really acknowledged him for who he was. This meant so much to the boy and he shamed himself for even doubting the man.
Mizuki's eye twitched as he grabbed his shuriken. "I was going to take care of you later, but now I am changing my mind. You're finished!" Mizuki shouted while he was spinning the big shuriken. He was about to throw it when Naruto kneed him in the face. Mizuki went flying and landed a lot of meters further. The traitor was getting up and had an expression full of hatred in his face. "You should not have done that." He said while he wiped away some blood from the corner of his mouth.
Naruto looked at the man with the intention to kill now. He put the scroll down next to him and held it in place with one of his hands. "Don't you ever touch Iruka-sensei again. I'll kill you!"
"Haha, I can kill you with one hit, demon boy!" Mizuki shouted back when he stood back up again.
Naruto glared him down, while making a hand seal. Iruka saw this too and he became confused. Naruto was making the cross seal. That seal was only used for a few jutsus and he wasn't supposed to know one of them. He was about to tell Naruto that he should run away, when the boy started talking again.
"Just do your best, you piece of trash. You will pay for what you have done to my sensei." Naruto said with his hands still in the cross seal.
Mizuki started to charge with an evil grin on his face. He knew that the boy was bluffing. He was the all time failure. There was just no way that the boy would be able to defeat a chuunin like him. He grabbed a kunai and smiled. "Let's see what you can do then, Kyuubi boy!"
"Kage bunshin no jutsu!"
There was a gigantic puff of smoke and Iruka couldn't believe his eyes when he saw what had happened. Naruto had multiplied by a lot of times and everywhere he looked he could see a copy of Naruto. He then looked up and there were Naruto's in the trees too. His eyes widened. He had never seen anything like this before in his life.
Mizuki became confused and scared now.. He did not have any idea what technique was being used against him. Was it possible for someone to make this many bunshins? These thoughts just made him more unfocused. "What the hell is going on!?" He fell down on his back, terrified. There were too many clones; he was definitely not expecting this.
"What's wrong!" One of the clones screamed.
"Weren't you going to kill me with one shot!" Another one said with a smile on his face.
"You are going to pay for what you have done to Iruka-sensei!" They all called in unison before they all jumped towards their enemy.
The first line of attack kicked Mizuki in the air. Mizuki was hurt pretty bad and began making seals to defeat the clones that kicked him up. He turned around when he heard some noises behind him though. His eyes widened when he saw that Naruto clones were coming from behind too. He tried to block, but it was no use. He was hit by a lot of kicks and punches and fell on the ground. Then the last ones walked right up to him and spit him in the face. Then Naruto dispelled all of his clones and walked over to the man who was lying on the ground. The poor guy had a look of pure horror in his face and he was trying to get up. Naruto clenched his fist and hit the man on the cheek with all the strength he could muster.
"If I see you near Iruka-sensei one more time, I am going to kill you for real. You got that!" He said before he walked past him.
Iruka still couldn't believe what had just happened. It weren't just bunshins, but he made real clones. It couldn't be right. Naruto had just mastered the 'kage bunshin no jutsu' in a few hours. That's a jounin level ninjutsu and even most jounins have trouble performing the jutsu. He just couldn't help but smile. The boy might really have what it takes to surpass all the kages.
"Hey Naruto, come here. There's something I want to give you." Iruka said with a smile on his face. He wanted to walk over to the boy himself, but he had lost some blood and was feeling quite dizzy at the moment. Naruto complied and walked over to the man. He was planning on doing that anyway, but if his teacher was telling him to come, it had to be important.
"What is it, Iruka-sensei? Do you need help?" He asked with a worried look on his face.
Iruka smiled. The boy was truly fascinating. Almost nobody had ever loved him or showed him compassion and here was asking him if he was alright. Tears started to come up again, but he wasn't about to let Naruto see that he was almost crying. "Please close your eyes for a moment, Naruto."
Naruto raised an eyebrow. "I am not going to hurt you or something, Naruto. Lets say that I have a surprise for you."
Naruto still didn't understand, but he decided to listen to the man before him and he closed his eyes and waited for something to happen. After a few seconds he became impatient. Naruto has always been one of the people with a short fuse. "Can I open my eyes now, sensei?" He said it in a complaining way.
"Okay," Iruka said, "you can open your eyes now."
Naruto opened his eyes, but for a moment he was blinded. He blinked a few times and his vision came back to him. He was surprised when he saw Iruka standing before him without his forehead protector on his forehead. "Congratulations. You graduate." Iruka said with a big smile on his face.
Iruka waited for a response, but when he didn't receive it he opened his eyes. Naruto stood before him with a shocked expression on his face. His jaw almost reached the ground. Iruka smiled when he saw this. He knew that this meant so much to the boy. He closed his eyes, before speaking: "Come on, I am going to treat you on some ramen because you passed."
Naruto's mouth went from shocked to almost happy and before Iruka knew it the boy hugged him and tackled him over. "Thank you so much, Iruka-sensei!" He shouted to his laughing sensei.
"That hurts," Iruka wined. He was still hurt because of his battle with Mizuki. He was going to tell the boy that the hard part of being a ninja had just begun, but he decided to tell it to the boy at the ramen place. He looked over to his side and saw the crippled body of Mizuki lying.
'To think that Naruto has become so strong. The amount of chakra needed for that move is enormous. A normal person shouldn't be able to have that much chakra, especially a young one. Maybe the Kyuubi has something to do with it. I'll go ask the hokage about it later. I still can't believe that Mizuki has been lying to me all that time. He told me that he had met with Orochimaru. What would that guy do here? I am sure that he can give us a lot of information. The Anbu must be coming here soon; they must have felt the chakra spike right now. Right now I am going to enjoy the rest of the night with Naruto. Looks like there is a lot of trouble brewing. I hope that you are ready for it, Naruto.' Iruka thought while he was walking away with Naruto.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
A dark figure was standing on the branch of a high tree. He was looking down as Iruka and Naruto were walking away. He jumped down and walked to the location where Naruto had performed the jutsu just now. He placed his hand on the ground and whispered something. His hand started glowing then.
"Interesting. He has come a long way. There might still be some hope left." The mysterious man said as the glowing stopped.
"I'd better report this…they are going to be very pleased when they hear this." He stood up and jumped into the trees again.
"Until next time we meet, Uzumaki Naruto."
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Whew. This chapter became longer than I thought. I was aiming for around 4000 words, but now it is around 10.000. I actually liked the way this chapter turned out. I tried to stick to the manga as much as possible, I just added some stuff.
I added the Naruto-Sakura parts, because I really believe that Sakura didn't hate Naruto. She never called him a monster and only calls him names or hits him when he is just annoying or when Sasuke is around. I think that she deep down thought the boy was pretty nice back then, she just thought that he was annoying, but let's be honest. He was annoying back then ;)
She wants to be popular just like Ino, because she was always bullied before and she followed Ino like a madman after she had helped her. She had become so insecure about herself because she was bullied and just wanted to be acknowledged by someone and she chose Sasuke. She became attracted by the handsome mysterious type just like the rest of the girls at her age and didn't even look at the inside. You will find that out in my next chapter.
She still likes Sasuke here in my story, but this will be a NaruSaku story. I dislike SasuSaku and I don't believe that it will ever happen. I will try to point out why in my story too. I want to show in this story how Sakura changes from the stupid lovesick girl to the smart strong woman.
As for the mystery man at the end of the chapter. Do you think you know who it is or not? This is one of the important aspects of my story. It is one of those parts that I added, but that are important later on.
Which other pairings would you like in the story? I know it is not that time yet, but it would make things easier if I knew where I should be headed.
Please tell me what you think. Reviews mean the world to me. I am open for suggestions and critique. I want to know if I am doing a good job on this. I don't have a beta reader or a good spelling checker, so there might be grammar mistakes. Please don't flame me for that. Please focus on my story:)
I hope that the next chapter will be up quicker next time. Until next time!