Chapter 3 – Not So Secret Secrets
"Ugh... My head..." Naruto groggily opened his eyes to the sound of dripping water and the rustling of foliage. "Where the hell am I?"
'Outside.' The deep rumbling voice that Naruto now knew to be the Kyuubi no Kitsune responded.
"Wha?!" Naruto jumped suddenly, not expecting an answer to his rhetorical question, and promptly crashed down to the ground in a shower of leaves, Hinata's jacket landing over his head.
"Huh? What's this?" Naruto held up the article of clothing in front of him to get a better look.
'You ask far too many questions you already know the answers to, boy.'
"This is Hinta-chan's jacket... but why do I have it?" Naruto scratched the back of his head in confusion as he looked at the tan coat in his hand. "Right... That. Guess I should go return it to her..."
'Remember what you must do today...'
"Ya... Ya... You gave me the list... I know..."
'Do not forget how they treat you. It may not be as simple as you seem to think.'
"Right..." Naruto unconsciously looked down at his feet.
'And will you stop talking to yourself already? You do not need to speak in order to communicate with me.'
"Really? How?" Naruto tilted his head oddly as he pondered how exactly one could talk without speaking.
'Just think about talking to me and I'll hear it. Now with that said, let me know when you have everything ready, preferably without making everyone else around you think that you're insane.'
'Yeah... yeah... I get it, talking to thin air makes me look odd. Anything else?'
'No. That was it. Just get your hands on those things we talked about as soon as possible. I'm not getting any stronger in here...'
'Right.'
"Well better go return this before I forget..." Naruto looked down at the jacket in his hands and began making his way towards the Hyuuga compound.
Naruto watched the pair of guards standing on either side of the main gate of the Hyuuga compound wearily. He couldn't just walk up and ask to be let in, he knew how the Hyuuga felt about him, and they'd never agree to just let him waltz through the front door. Thankfully, neither of the guards seemed to be particularly attentive, and Naruto was able to sneak around to the side of the complex and over the wall thanks to the help from a very conveniently placed tree. Why a clan so focused on security allowed such an easy method of entry into their compound was beyond him, but he pushed his thoughts from his mind as a new challenge presented itself... He had absolutely no idea where Hinata's room was.
After a few minutes of searching around, Naruto finally came across the largest building of the complex. It was set at the back of the compound, and was shaped like a large hollow square that had a section cut out of it to allow entry into the open courtyard in the middle. As he approached the first of the sliding paper doors of the building, he noticed that there were name tags next to them. It only took him a few more minutes of looking around before he finally found the one that corresponded to the owner of the jacket in his hands.
"Hinata?" He took a deep breath and knocked on the frame of the door. Naruto had to knock three more times before he finally heard movement, and after a few more moments, it finally slid open revealing a very tired looking Hinata. She obviously had not been expecting a visit this early in the morning as she was only wearing an over-sized white t-shirt and a pair of baggy gray pants. What caught Naruto's attention, however, was the black and white bathrobe she had thrown on over top of her clothes, or more precisely, the panda-shaped hood of said bathrobe.
Hinata yawned groggily as she tried to rub the sleepiness from her eyes. It was much too early for even her father to be asking for her. As her vision finally cleared, she got a good look at the person who had woken her up at five in the morning. Naruto was just standing their blushing with that silly smirk of his playing across her face. It took several seconds for it to finally dawn on Hinata exactly why he was looking at her like that.
"Eep!" Hinata blushed furiously before slamming the sliding door closed.
"Eh? Hinata?"
Hinata slid down the frame of the door, taking deep calming breaths as she desperately tried to remain conscious and force her blush back down. It took several moments before she felt confident enough to move, and another five before she managed to dress and open the door again.
"Umm... S-Sorry about that, N-Naruto-kun." Hinata whispered in a small voice as she tried to hide her quickly returning blush.
"Eh... It's okay, Hinata-chan. I just wanted to return your jacket." Naruto held out the aforementioned article of clothing. "Sorry it's so wet..."
Hinata's gaze drifted from her sopping wet coat and up to Naruto's face. She hadn't noticed initially due to her earlier embarrassment, but the boy was absolutely drenched.
"You're s-soaked..."
"Heh... I kind of slept outside last night by accident." Naruto laughed, but Hinata could immediately tell that it was hollow, and how could it not be after what he had just gone through?
"N-Naruto-kun... Please, c-come in." Hinata managed to squeak out with only some minor stuttering. Hinata could see him working desperately to maintain the fake smile he always wore, and that worried her. He had worn it for so long now that Hinata couldn't even tell when he was using it anymore, but now... now it was as plain and obvious as that orange jumpsuit of his. Clearly, yesterday affected him far more than he was willing to let on.
"That's okay, Hinata-chan. I kind of had to sneak in here anyway. I wouldn't want to get you in trouble or anything like that."
"In." Hinata opened the door completely and pointed inside. She had no idea where all of this confidence was coming from, but she would not just let him sit out there and catch a cold.
"A-Alright, Hinata-chan." Naruto slipped his sandals off and stepped a few feet into the room. It was almost as big as his entire apartment, but it seemed even bigger thanks to the minimal décor. Low shelves lined the wall the door was on, as well as the wall across from him, above which was an expertly mounted kimono that seemed oddly familiar. To his right was a second western-style door that presumably lead to a bathroom, next to which was another set of shelves with a small fishbowl on top. On the floor to his left was a rather hastily made futon that was positioned under a row of windows that took up most of the left wall.
"You have a really nice room, Hinata-chan." Naruto finally commented, still standing in the same spot as a rapidly growing puddle of water grew beneath his feet.
"Your clothes are d-drenched. M-My bathroom is just through there. T-There's a bathrobe you can ch-change into while I get your clothes dried." Hinata pointed to the other door in the room before turning away and blushing furiously.
A few minutes later, Naruto was back in her room in the same panda bathrobe Hinata had been wearing earlier. "Umm... Thank you, Hinata..."
"It's n-not a p-problem, N-Naruto-kun." Hinata tried desperately to stifle a giggle at his appearance, but she failed miserably. If she hadn't known better, she would have thought that he had just gotten out of the shower. "You... You look c-cute." Naruto just grumbled as she hurried out of the room towards the clothes dryer.
While he waited for Hinata to return, Naruto slowly mulled about her room. His eyes drifted back towards the kimono on the wall. He couldn't place it, but he knew that he had seen it somewhere before. As he continued to wander around the room, he eventually came to a shelf nestled in the far corner. It was filled with all sorts of random things that just didn't fit in with the rest of the room's contents. There was a pair of restaurant chopsticks, a battered and abused copy of Legend of the Gutsy Ninja that was far beyond readable, a nicked and slightly bent kunai, and a pair of goggles that looked very much like the pair that he used to wear when he was younger. He was about to move on when something in the far back caught his attention. Unable to resist, Naruto decided to satisfy his curiosity and pulled the object out. It was covered in a thick lair of dust, but even so, Naruto recognized it immediately. It was a mask, and not just any mask, it was her mask.
"... Naruto-kun?" Hinata stopped short at the entrance of her room when she saw him in her corner. It was where she kept everything that reminded her of Naruto... like his first kunai, the goggles he used to wear, and his copy of Legend of the Gutsy Ninja that she had salvaged from the trash when his apartment had caught fire when they were little.
"... It was you..." Naruto turned around slowly, tears in his eyes, as he showed her the mask.
"... I... I... N-Naruto-kun. I-I wanted to tell you, but I..." Hinata's apology was cut short as Naruto launched across the room and engulfed her in a hug.
"Thank you. Thank you so much for that night, Hinata-chan."
"Umm... Umm... You-You're q-quite welcome, N-Naruto-kun." Hinata could feel the blush burning on her cheeks and she was starting to get dizzy, "... H-Here's your c-clothes."
"Oh! Thanks... I'll... I'll just get changed then." Naruto took the bundle of clothes from the beat red girl and returned to the bathroom to dress.
"You were the one leaving all of those gifts, right?" Naruto asked as he walked back into the room a few moments later.
Hinata nodded, unable to trust her voice at the moment.
"Thank you. They... They were the only thing that kept me going back then."
"You're w-welcome." Hinata whispered. She was going to to comment on how it was the least she could do, but before she could, the sound of soft footsteps came from just outside her door.
"I... I better go." Naruto blushed. "You don't mind if I use your window do you?" Hinata could only shake her head as he grabbed his sandals from where he had left them by the door and vanished out into the morning sun. No sooner had he left, the door to Hinata's room opened and her father walked in.
"Ah, you're up already. Good. It's time for your morning training."
Naruto watched, deep in thought, as a chunin entered the ninja supply store across the street. He couldn't just walk into the building as it was one of the stores that only supplied chunin ninja and above, and as such, a simple academy student would be turned away at the door. With his luck, not only would he get turned away, but it was rather likely that he'd get stabbed for his efforts as well. Unfortunately, it was also the only store in the village that sold the specially prepared sealing scrolls that he needed.
Just as he was about to give up and return to his apartment to think, Naruto spotted his Academy teacher, Umino Iruka, walking down the street and something he had said earlier that week popped into his head.
'The strength and believability of a henge is entirely dependent on the focus of the user and the amount of chakra used.'
Naruto had proved to be extremely bad at simple ninjutsu in the past, but hopefully if he put as little chakra into the technique as possible and focused as hard as he could, he might just be able to pull it off.
Naruto slipped into the nearby ally and double checked to make sure no one was watching. He took a deep breath and formed a ram sign.
"Henge no Jutsu." Naruto walked over to a small puddle on the ground and checked his reflection. Staring back at him was a teenager roughly a foot taller than himself, and instead of a head of shockingly blond hair, he had a mop of exceedingly dull brown. Naruto's orange jumpsuit was replaced by an exact copy of the standard chunin uniform. His whisker scars had vanished, and his smoldering sapphire eyes were replaced with pools of muddy brown. It was almost startling how detailed the henge was, and if he couldn't tell it was him, surely no one else could, right?
The newly disguised Naruto exited the ally and walked up to the store before taking a deep breath and entering. It took only a moment of searching before he found what he was looking for: A massive foot thick sealing scroll that came up to his elbows and five smaller scrolls, all of which were a deep crimson red with thick black bands on either side. He also grabbed a large bottle of ink, a brush, and a black leather sash to hold the larger scroll. It took a few minutes for Naruto to get everything to the counter and pay for it all, and even at the normal prices, it cost him almost all of his meager savings.
Thirty minutes later, Naruto had everything spread out on the floor of his small living room.
'Alright. I have everything ready.'
'Good. Good. You know what to do next...' Naruto nodded at the disembodied voice of the Kyuubi in his head and begun forming hand signs.
"Kinjutsu: Kitsunetsuki." There was a brief flash of red light as Naruto completed the final seal.
'Alright. Do it.' Naruto's voice echoed in his own mind, but it was deeper than normal. It was more primal... more savage. If he had looked in the mirror, he would have seen that his whisker scars had darkened and his eyes had shifted from their usual cold blue to a deep red, and that his pupils had become narrow and slitted.
'Very well. Let us get started.' The Kyuubi's voice rumbled as Naruto began painting the same exceedingly complex seal on the five smaller scrolls in a sort of trance. An hour later all five seals were complete, and Naruto used kunai to affix one onto each wall of the room as well as the ceiling.
'I will need your direct help for this next part.' The Kyuubi's voice resounded in Naruto's mind.
'Got it.' Naruto responded mentally as he unrolled the massive scroll in the middle of the floor.
"Fuujutsu: Kitsune Keiyaku no Sakusei" Both Naruto and the Kyuubi spoke as he finished making hand seals and slammed his palms onto the blank scroll. The second his hands touched the paper, a massive burst of crimson chakra exploded outward. As the wave of energy reached the edges of the room, the five smaller seals activated and redirected the chakra back towards the scroll. Within seconds the air surrounding the scroll was swirling with an unimaginable amount of demonic chakra.
'I have contributed the chakra and the knowledge. You must be the one to focus it.' The Kyuubi's voice echoed in his mind, but it sounded far weaker than he usually did.
Naruto merely nodded as he closed his eyes and focused. A tower of sapphire blue chakra rocketed outwards from the boy as he willed it to contain the torrent of crimson chakra spiraling around him. Naruto's chakra began to swirl in the opposite direction from the demonic energy, forcing it down towards the scroll, and after twenty minutes of intense focus, the chakra dissipated as the five smaller scrolls fell to the ground burnt to ashes. The larger scroll, however, was undamaged, and covered almost completely with complex seals burnt into the paper.
'It is done. The foxes have accepted. As the founder of the contract, you and your family will be able to summon them with only a sacrifice of chakra. All others who they deem worthy will be forced to contribute a blood sacrifice. Only one thing remains to do... You must sign the contract yourself.'
Naruto looked back down at the scroll. The faintly glowing seals had vanished, leaving pristine white paper separated into thousands of sections by crimson lines. Naruto unfurled the scroll completely and looked at the the first spot of the contract.
'How do I sign it?' Naruto asked, idly noting that at least his mental voice had returned to normal.
'Focus your chakra into your finger and use that to sign your full name. When you're done place your palm under it and focus chakra through your hand.'
'That's it?'
'That is it. Now, if you don't mind, I am quite tired. You will likely not be able to contact me for several days.'
Naruto followed the instructions, and drew his name on the paper, his finger burning the characters into the pristine white surface. As he placed his hand under the kanji for 'Namikaze Naruto' he felt his chakra flare, and his palm print scorched itself onto the paper. As Naruto took his hand off of the scroll, he suddenly felt dizzy, his vision blurred, and he fell backwards unconscious.
It was several hours before Naruto regained consciousness, and another hour after that before he had the strength to open his eyes. He tried to sit up, but a pressure on his chest prevented him from moving.
"Ah! I'm glad to see that you are awake at last, Naruto-sama." A small voice spoke from in front of him. It almost sounded as if it was mocking him.
"Ugh... Who's talking... I can't see anything." Naruto mumbled as he felt the pressure leave his chest and he was finally able to sit up. Sitting in front of him on top of the newly made summoning contract was a small black fox roughly the size of a large house cat.
"My name is Genkuro." The fox gave him a toothy smirk and bowed his head, his tail swishing behind him. "I was sent to aid you as your personal summon. You should be able to summon me just by calling my name and flaring your chakra a little." Genkuro bowed his head again as he stood and walked around Naruto.
"Though I must say, your choice in clothing leaves quite a bit to be desired. Did you really have to pick an outfit that stands out so much? If you are to summon foxes, Naruto-sama, then you must begin to think like them. We are sly, crafty, and quick, not loud, obnoxious, and brash."
Naruto looked down at his hands, the fox had his outward personality pinned after just looking at him once. "I... I'm not really that loud, or obnoxious... It's just... It helps me hide the pain. If everyone sees me smiling and being an idiot they don't ask questions and leave me alone. When I was little... the villagers always attacked me and I would cry and run away, and then they would just get worse. Seeing me upset only seemed to egg them on, so I stopped showing them. After awhile, all they ever saw was smiles and laughter, and eventually they gave up trying to break me. Now they just despise me from the shadows and make my life harder whenever they can."
Genkuro watched the boy who was to be the first fox summoner in a thousand years as he poured his heart and soul out to him, and then he understood why the boy had been chosen. All he wanted was to be acknowledged, to be loved, and it had been denied to him. He had a desperate need to prove himself, and he had the mind and talent to do it. He also displayed most of the qualities that the fox clan praised above all others amongst their own. He was cunning, loyal, and a devious prankster. Perhaps, just perhaps, this boy was more than what he initially seemed.
"Naruto-sama... I believe I understand. Please forgive me." Genkuro lowered his head onto his front paws and adverted his gaze.
"No... You're right... I don't act like a ninja. I guess it's time I started." Naruto looked down at the little black fox and smiled his first real smile in years. This tiny creature understood what he had gone through and didn't fault him for his actions. For the first time in his life, Naruto had someone he could talk to and not feel like he was just placing his burdens on the shoulders of others.
Naruto tried to stand up, but he barely got to his feet before swaying and almost falling back down.
"Naruto-sama... You should rest. Almost all of your chakra was expended in order to create the contract. Please rest. I will watch over you." Genkuro hoped onto Naruto's kitchen table and pointed towards his bedroom with his tail.
"Uzumaki Naruto? Uzumaki Naruto? Naruto! If you're here you better answer me!" Umino Iruka looked over his classroom one more time to confirm that the boy was indeed absent for the third day in a row. 'Damn it, Naruto! You better not be out pranking again!'
Iruka put his thoughts out of his mind until the end of class when he decided he should probably send someone to make sure the boy was alright.
"Hinata, could you please wait a moment?" Iruka asked the shy girl just as she passed the teacher's desk at the end of the day.
"O-Of course, Umino-sensei. What is it I can do for you?" Hinata bowed formally.
Iruka smiled at the girl. She was certainly respectful, he'd give her that. "I'd like you to check up on Uzumaki Naruto for me. He hasn't been to class in three days and I'm beginning to think something is wrong. Also, someone has to deliver all of the study work he's missed." Iruka smirked as he handed the stack of papers to the blushing girl.
"Naruto-sama! Naruto-sama! Wake up!" Naruto grumbled unintelligently for a moment before trying to roll over, only to be prevented by a weight on his chest.
"Naruto-sama you must wake up! Someone is coming and I cannot stop them without revealing myself."
"I'm up... I'm up..." Naruto yawned as he sat up and opened his eyes only to find himself face to face with Genkuro, his slitted amber eyes showing a small bit of worry behind their usual devious glint.
"How long was I out?"
"You were asleep for approximately fifty-seven hours and forty-six minutes, Naruto-sama."
"How long?!"
"Just under two and a half days, but we have more urgent matters to attend to. Someone is approaching your residence."
"And what's wrong with that?"
"Aside from the fact that it's three o'clock in the afternoon and you're not dressed?" Genkuro flashed him a quick smirk before quickly becoming serious again. "Your living room is an absolute mess. There are several burn marks that were caused by the contract creation, and then there is the contract itself, which is still lying open in the middle of the room. I'm sure that it would be an interesting conversation starter, but I do not think it would be wise to reveal that the fox contract is once more in the land of humans just now, and especially not in the middle of Konoha."
"Right... What do you suggest I do about it then?"
"You? You get dressed. I can move the scroll and hide the burn marks with genjutsu."
"Alright..." Naruto slid out of bed as the fox jumped to the floor and scampered out of the room. Just as Naruto finished getting his pants on, Genkuro had returned carrying the summoning contract with his tail. If Naruto had more time, he would have been amazed at how the cat sized fox was able to carry a scroll that was easily five times his size and ten times his weight. By the time Naruto pulled a shirt on, Genkuro had already placed the scroll on his bed and left the room.
Naruto yawned again and padded slowly into his living room and was shocked to find that it looked just as it always had. He gave the small fox that was sitting on his coffee table a curious glance before a soft knock at his door drew his attention.
"I shall remain out of sight unless I am needed, Naruto-sama." Genkuro bowed before hopping off of the table and vanishing just as he touched the ground.
Naruto yawned again as he slowly crossed the room and opened the door, only to find a beet red Hinata standing on the other side. "Hinata-chan?"
"Good afternoon, N-Naruto-kun. Umino-sensei sent me to ch-check up on you because you've m-missed so much class lately."
"Oh... Might as well come in then..." Naruto yawned as he stepped aside to let the girl in before closing the door behind her. As Hinata looked around the living room, Naruto flopped down on his couch and leaned his head back, just barely stifling another yawn.
"N-Naruto-kun... Are you alright?" Hinata asked as she pushed her index fingers together nervously.
"I'm... I'm fine, Hinata-chan. Just tired. You can tell Iruka-sensei that I'll be in class tomorrow."
"He also asked m-me to bring you your homework." Hinata showed him the stack of papers.
"Oh... Figures he'd do something like that... Just toss them on my kitchen counter..." Naruto yawned and closed his eyes tiredly.
Hinata nodded at the boy as she set the stack of papers down on the counter. Just as she was about to turn back into the living room, a piece of paper on Naruto's kitchen table caught her attention. Curious, Hinata picked it up, but she was unable to suppress her gasp as she read it.
"Everything alright, Hinata-chan?" Naruto asked as he leaned his head to the side to look at the girl.
"N-No... Not one b-bit. Naruto-kun... H-How long have you been paying this much for your apartment?" She waved the piece of paper in her hand at him.
"Eh? Since I was about eight I think... Why?"
"You're paying far too much for it, that's why! Most of the high-end apartments the jounin rent are cheaper than this!"
"Doesn't surprise me honestly..."
"What?! How can you be so calm about this? They're price gouging you! It isn't right!" Hinata shouted a little louder than she had intended to.
"Ya, well, what is or isn't right doesn't matter much when it comes to me, Hinata, only what they believe about me."
"And what, exactly, do they believe about you that would make someone do this, Naruto-kun?" Hinata was fuming now. She hadn't meant to direct her anger at him; it just kind of happened.
"I... Umm... Look, I-I want to tell you, but... Just promise you'll let me explain, OK?"
"I-I... Of course, N-Naruto-kun." Hinata stuttered, the fear and worry in his voice stopping her tirade cold.
"I guess I should start from the beginning... You know when my birthday is, right?" Naruto waited for her to nod before continuing. "You also know how old I am, and what happened on the same day twelve years ago..."
"Oh Kami... No... Th-That isn't p-possible... The Yodaime k-killed the Kyuubi..."
"No, Hinata, he didn't... He wasn't strong enough, so he did the only thing he could do. He sealed it inside of me."
"I...I... Oh Kami..." Hinata rushed across the room and threw herself around the blond, the apartment bill fluttering to the ground forgotten. She had always known people hated him for something he had no control over, but this? What could she possibly do to make something like this better? Was there even anything she could do?
"Shh... It's alright. I'm used to it now. It doesn't really bother me anymore, so please... don't let it worry you either." Naruto awkwardly stroked the girl's back. He could hear her sniffling and tried his best to calm her down, but he wasn't quite sure what else to do.
"W-Why?"
"Why what, Hinata-chan?"
"Why do th-they have to treat you like they do?" Hinata sniffled again as she desperately tried to regain her composure. The way she was acting was against everything her father had ever tried to teach her, but she couldn't help but feel a small amount of the same pain Naruto must feel every day of his life.
"I don't know... Maybe they see me as a way to get revenge against the Kyuubi... Maybe they're scared and just lashing out... I just don't know, and it doesn't really matter to me anymore. All I know is that most of the people in the village absolutely despise me, and the few that don't are just the ones who don't know. " Naruto hugged Hinata tightly for a moment before continuing. "I... I would have told you earlier, but... I was afraid."
"A-Afraid of what, Naruto-kun?" Hinata finally regained some of her composure and got off of the blond, opting to sit on the couch seat next to him.
"I was afraid of losing my first real friend..."
"I-I'll always be your f-friend, Naruto-kun."
"Thanks, Hinata-chan." Naruto smiled at the girl next to him before yawning loudly. "Sorry... I guess I'm still really tired..."
"Th-That's alright, Naruto-kun. I-I'll just leave you to your rest." Hinata smiled back at him before making her way to his door and out into the village.
"You know, Naruto-sama, I think I like her." Genkuro's laughter echoed from the kitchen table the second the door clicked closed.
"Nice of you to join us today, Naruto." Iruka sighed as he watched the blond enter the room and waited for his usual stupid comeback, but it never came. Instead, the boy just silently walked up the steps towards the back of the classroom and sat down next to Hinata. Iruka raised an eyebrow at his choice of seating and tried to figure out exactly what was going on. Naruto had at least attempted to sit next to Sakura every single day since he had started teaching the boy last year, but today he didn't even so much as look at the girl. Clearly, something had happened between the two.
"Alright class, as you all know, the genin exams are tomorrow, so we'll be spending today going through a quick crash course to refresh all of your memories before the test. Now if you'd kindly turn to page 137 we'll begin."
Four hours of grueling textbook study later, the class finally broke for lunch. As Naruto made his way outside, he noticed Sakura standing in the doorway to the building. She, along with a half dozen other girls, were watching Sasuke as he idly practiced his kunai throwing on the large oak tree that was in the academy's front yard. None of the girls bothered moving out of the way for him, so Naruto was forced to shove his way past them in order to get outside.
"Excuse me, Haruno-san." Naruto deadpanned as he forced his way past the pink-haired girl and headed for the rope swing that he usually sat on during lunch.
Sakura watched the unusually quite boy walk off towards the rope swing. He had changed so much seemingly overnight. She idly wondered if it was because of her harsh words that caused him to become so sullen. Sakura almost felt bad for him... almost. Maybe if he hadn't been such a pain in the ass she would have felt differently, but he was a pain in the ass, so it didn't really matter. Regardless of her reasoning, she couldn't help but follow his path with her eyes as he crossed the courtyard towards the tree. Sasuke, however, didn't notice, or just didn't care, that the boy was about to cross his line of sight, and let another kunai fly towards the tree. Sakura started to shout out a warning to the idiot so he wouldn't get himself killed, but before she could even get the first words out of her mouth, she was stopped cold when Naruto simply drew a kunai of his own and deflected Sasuke's into the ground without even breaking his stride.
Sasuke stared at the blond sitting on the rickety old swing and then down at the kunai sticking out of the grass curiously. Just when did he get so damn good? First he managed to get inside of his guard last week, and now this? The boy was clearly stronger than he let on, but why? What purpose could he have to hide such strength, and just where did he get it in the first place? Sasuke was unable to dwell on his thoughts for long, however, as the bell signaling the end of lunch rang and forced all of them back inside for another four hours of study.
Iruka sighed as he watched Naruto enter the empty classroom. This was not going to be a pleasant experience. Even if the boy seemed to have improved, it was still Naruto, and Naruto had failed this exam four times already. This was his last chance, and Iruka was not looking forward to crushing the boy's dreams, especially when it seemed that he was already downtrodden.
"Are you sure you're ready for this Naruto?" The boy just nodded quietly in response.
"Alright. First, please use henge to transform into a copy of me."
Naruto nodded and stared at Iruka for a moment before closing his eyes and focusing. Naruto was surprised to find that his chakra was just below the surface, already swirling around and ready to be used. He was even more shocked to note that he seemed to have a substantially greater control over it that he had last week. Without the Kyuubi's chakra distorting his own, Naruto was easily able to draw the required amount of energy and mold it into the technique without issue. "Henge no Jutsu!"
Iruka blinked a few times to make sure his eyes weren't playing tricks on him. Staring back at him was an exact copy of himself, right down to the mole behind his left ear. The boy actually did it?
"I...I... Very well done, Naruto!" Iruka felt his worries leave him, perhaps he would not have to be the one to crush the boy's spirits. At least not today, anyway.
"Alright, how about showing me the kawarimi?" Iruka prompted while pointing towards a desk across the classroom.
"Kawarimi no Jutsu!" Naruto pulled his chakra around him and, with a quiet pop and a poof of smoke, switched places with the desk Iruka had indicated.
Iruka watched as the blond flawlessly switched places with the desk. This was the same Naruto that couldn't even throw a shuriken straight? Maybe this was another one of his pranks or something. People didn't improve like this overnight... At least not unless they already were that good and had just been hiding it, but why would the boy have been hiding his skills?
"Excellent. Now I just need you to create two bunshin." Bunshin. The bane of Naruto's existence. The boy had never been able to so much as make any functioning bunshin, let alone two.
"Bunshin no Jutsu!" Naruto took a deep breath as he completed the hand seals, and began to feel his chakra flow outwards and into the technique. Fearful of overloading the technique again, Naruto instinctively clamped down on his chakra almost as soon as he felt it. Unfortunately, this had the same effect that his usual over-use of chakra did, and left him with a single sickly clone laying face first on the ground next to him.
"I... Please wait, Iruka-sensei! I can do this. I know I can do this. Give me one more chance, please?" Naruto begged the man as soon as he saw the state his clone was in. He hated feeling so desperate like this, but he needed to pass. If not to further his dreams then he had to pass to prove to himself that he wasn't the failure everyone told him he was.
"Alright, Naruto. One more try." Iruka sighed. He wanted the boy to pass, he really did, but he couldn't pass him as a teacher if he could not prove that he was ready.
"Bunshin no Jutsu!" This time when Naruto felt the tug on his chakra, he let go like he had been instructed to do. Before he had always had to hold back, but without the interference of the Kyuubi everything else seemed to function like it should, so maybe this would too. Naruto smiled as he looked to either side of him, finding a pair of perfect clones. For the first time in his life, Naruto was able to prove everyone wrong about him. He would become a ninja.
"Well, Naruto, I think you've finally shown that you've earned this. Congratulations." Iruka smiled at the boy as he handed him his hitai-ate.
Naruto sighed as he looked across the empty classroom at his new teammates. Why did it have to be them of all people? He could have gotten Kiba's spot on Hinata's team, but no, he was stuck with the two people who hated his guts more than everyone else in the village combined. Sakura was sitting next to Sasuke on the other side of the room, completely ignoring him, as per usual, in favor of fawning over every little thing Sasuke did, while Sasuke, on the other hand, kept sending him withering glares every time the blond looked over. No one was happy about the precarious balance of personalities that already threatened to tear Team 7 apart, but on top of that their sensei was late. Three and a half hours late to be exact.
Just as the tension was about to cause the three rookie genin to explode, the soft creaking of the classroom door finally signaled the arrival of their sensei.
"Yo. You guys Team 7?" The scarecrow-like man asked, and when the three genin nodded he continued. "Great. Let's all meet up on the roof, shall we?" And before any of them could even so much as ask him his name he was gone. Naruto just shrugged and followed, leaving his two teammates to stare at the door dumbstruck.
"Right. Well, let's get to know each other a little better then. Let's start with you blondy." The silver haired man pointed at Naruto.
"Eh? What do you want me to say?"
"You know... You're name, likes, dislikes, dreams. That kind of thing."
"Right... My name's Uzumaki Naruto. I like... well, now that I think of it, there really isn't a whole lot of things I like, except ramen of course." Naruto suppressed the urge to shout as he spoke. His mask was long gone now, no sense in trying to keep up the act. "I dislike people who don't treat me like a person." Naruto stole a quick glance at his teammates before staring out over the village and grimacing. "My dreams... well..." He almost shouted out his usual line about wanting to become the Hokage, but that was really more of a pipe dream now that he thought about it. "... My dream is to never go back on my nindo."
Kakashi eyed the blond boy curiously. He was both alike and completely different from how the Sandaime had described him. He was not nearly as loud or obnoxious as he had been made out to be, but his ambitiousness was there just the same. Only it seemed to be hidden just under the surface rather than at the forefront of his personality like had been told it should have been. He didn't yell it at the top of his lungs, but he could see the desire to become Hokage burning in his eyes. Just like it had burned in Minato-sensei's eyes, but there was something else in those eyes that he also recognized all too well. Pain. Far more pain than any child should ever have to endure. His intentions fit the description of him to a T, but his mannerisms were way off mark. It was almost as if the boy was trying to be someone he wasn't, or perhaps he had always been someone he wasn't and this was the first time anyone was seeing the real Naruto.
Kakashi was pulled from his thoughts, however, when he heard the Uchiha boy begin talking. "My name is Uchiha Sasuke. There are lots of things that I dislike, and I don't really like anything, and... I can't really call it a dream, but I have an ambition. The resurrection of my clan... and to kill a certain man." Just as he thought, the boy had developed some sort of serious revenge driven complex, and if he didn't get over it, he would certainly become a danger. Both to himself, and the village. Sadly, Kakashi had been forbidden from failing the team on the grounds that the Uchiha heir required training, and since Kakashi was the only one with a sharingan left in the village the boy got dropped on his lap.
"Alright. You're up pinky."
"My name is Haruno Sakura. I like...Well... Um... I like..." Sakura giggled and looked at Sasuke. "I dislike loud blond idiots." At this Sakura glared at Naruto coldly. "My dream is to..." Just as Sakura was about to finish, a woman with long purple hair wearing a cat mask landed next to Kakashi.
"Senpai... I'm afraid I have some rather serious news..." The woman in the mask addressed Kakashi as if the three of them weren't even there.
"What is it, Yuugao-chan? If you can't tell, I'm a tad bit busy at the moment." Kakashi nodded at the three genin behind the ANBU.
Yuugao didn't even turn around before continuing with her report. "Hokage-sama has been assassinated."
"Excuse me?" Kakashi raised an eyebrow at the woman in front of him. Outside he had only shown minor surprise, but inside his mind was working overtime. The Hokage was dead? Could this be some sort of prank? No. Yuugao never really kidded around much, especially not while on duty, so this was real, but how could the Hokage have been murdered while in the middle of the village?
"It was Mizuki... He used some excuse about Uzumaki to get a private audience with the Hokage, and then he just up and blew himself up." For the first time the woman looked over her shoulder and noticed the three children sitting on the bench. "Perhaps we should continue this someplace else..."
"No use now that you've already told them most of it... You said he just blew himself up?"
"He just... I don't know exactly how... Mitarashi said it was something that that snake bastard was working on... Something about converting all of a person's chakra to energy all at once... It's not a pretty sight... The entire office was still in flames when I left. Kakashi-senpai, they're ordering all the chunin and above to the tower." Yuugao looked back over her shoulder again at the now terrified looking children.
"Well I guess we better get going then." Kakashi looked at his three new students for a second before continuing. "You three better go home. This doesn't look good."
The funeral was held the next day. The entire ninja population of the village stood on top of the tower in front of the Hokage Monument. The Third's old teammates talked about how brave and successful he had been. How prosperous the village had been under his lead. How tragic his death was, and how sorely he would be missed.
Hinata watched Naruto carefully from the corner of her eye as she stood next to her father. He was the picture of shinobi perfection, dressed in the same simple black clothing as the rest of them. Naruto was standing tall and staring straight ahead, his head bowed reverently. On the outside he appeared calm... in control... but she new better. After years of watching the boy, she had learned to understand him to some degree. Hinata knew that inside Naruto was a mess. The man he had looked up to as a father was dead. His only family was dead. The only person who had seen him as Naruto the boy rather than Naruto the monster, and he was dead. Hinata just hoped that he would let it out at some point. Naruto had gone through enough already this week, he did not need to add anything more to it.
Naruto stood at the front of the group as he watched people take turns laying flowers in front of the picture of the Hokage. He was really gone. The man who had saved him from his own depression. The man who had given him a reason to keep going. The man who had given him a reason to stay. He was gone, and he wasn't going to be coming back. All of the pain that he had felt over the years had been dulled by the knowledge that the Hokage had believed in him. That he had seen something in him that wasn't the monster, but now... now he was gone... and there wasn't anyone left to keep the pain away.
The service ended, and shinobi began to filter back to their homes as a light rain began to fall. It was a spring shower, just heavy enough to darken the skies and wet the ground, but not heavy enough to send people running for shelter. It was as if the sky itself was weeping, and it was then that Naruto realized he didn't feel like going home. He needed to talk to someone, and there was only one person he could talk to.
Hinata frowned slightly as she watched Naruto leave the tower. He was headed in the opposite direction from his apartment. She quickly glanced at her father to ensure that he was busy before quietly sneaking off to follow the blond.
Naruto looked down at the simple grave marker and sighed. "What do I do, Jiji? Where do I go? How do I keep on living knowing that there's no one out the for me?" Naruto balled his fists as he stared down at the rain soaked stone. "You just had to get yourself blown up! You just had to leave me all alone!"
"Y-You are not alone, N-Naruto-kun." Hinata's soft voice drifted over the soft sound of the rain.
Naruto spun around to stare at the girl who had interrupted his grieving. Tears were falling freely from his cold blue eyes. It was like looking into the center of an ocean storm. His eyes were full of torment... suffering... and unimaginable pain.
"The pain will disappear in time, Naruto-kun. Just like these tears in the rain." Hinata took a hesitant step forward and wiped away the tears that were still falling from his eyes. She didn't even notice that her stutter was gone. All that mattered at the moment was that she do something... anything... to help him deal with his loss. Kami knew no one else would.
"I... I lost my mother when I was young. She was killed protecting me from a kidnapper. I know how you're feeling. I know it hurts, but please, please believe me when I say it will go away with time." Hinata slid closer to the boy and drew him into a hug. Naruto latched onto the girl as if she were a life preserver thrown to a drowning man.
Naruto didn't know how long he stayed like that, clutching onto Hinata for dear life. She was the only one there, but she was there.
'Boy. You cannot stay here.'
'Not now... Please, just leave me alone.'
'You do not have the luxury of time. The only reason you're still alive is because that man bent rules and called in favors to keep you protected. With him gone the attacks will start up again. With him gone, you'll stand no chance of survival here.'
'So what do you suggest I do then?'
'Leave. Have you not forgotten our agreement. You cannot accomplish our goals if you're being hunted every moment of your life. Without the Hokage, the person that has been pulling all of the strings will have the advantage. You MUST leave.'
"I... I can't stay here." Naruto reluctantly loosened his grip on the girl and backed away from the safety of her arms.
"Wh-What? Where would you go?" Hinata studied the boy's face carefully. Behind the grief there was something else... fear.
"Hinata... When I was little... People tried to kill me because of..." Naruto's voice trailed off, unable to finish his sentence.
"The Kyuubi?" Hinata whispered as Naruto nodded slowly.
"The civilians stopped eventually, but the ninja didn't... They kept trying. The only thing that stopped them was the Third." Naruto looked down at his feet as he continued explaining why he had to go.
"I... I'm coming with you." It was a simple statement of fact. She didn't offer to come with him. She didn't ask to be brought along. She simply stated that she was going.
Naruto looked at the soaking wet girl in front of him and nodded, a small glimmer of happiness that the Third had given him so long ago returning to his stormy sapphire eyes.
A/N:
I know, I know, I'm a bastard. I didn't want Sarutobi to die either, but well... not everyone can have a heroic death, and Sarutobi's sudden and quick passing is required. The story simply would not work if Sarutobi died heroically in battle like he does in canon. I'm sorry ;_;
On a more cheerful note, I hope you enjoyed the second scene in this chapter. I got to thinking that if Naruto wears that stupid cap to bed, what might some of the other genin wear, and well... that scene is the end result. (For the record, Sakura sleeps with a Sasuke plushie XD)
Also, I hope you guys like Genkuro since he's going to be the main source of comic relief for the story. To clarify on his size a bit, Genkuro is just a tiny bit smaller than an average fox. The reference to a house cat was there to help add to the sense that he isn't really a combat summon, but more of an aid; a Shizune to Naruto's Tsunade if you will.
Anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. It's far longer than I had intended it to be, and I still didn't get to cover everything that I had hoped too, but it was getting far too large, and this was the first logical place I had to stop the chapter. I'm sorry I left you all at a cliffhanger, and you didn't get to see any of the fallout, but it was either that or have to deal with a 10k+ chapter, which is a bit more than I like to post at any one time (It's already over 7k). With that said, you MAY be seeing another chapter of Butterfly up before Warriors of Fate since I seem to be on a streak here and have hit a rather nasty wall with WoF.
Techniques:
Henge no Jutsu – Transformation Technique
Kinjutsu: Kitsunetsuki – Forbidden Technique: Fox Possession
Fuujutsu: Kitsune Keiyaku no Sakusei – Sealing Technique: Fox Contract Creation
Kawarimi no Jutsu – Replacement Technique
Bunshin no Jutsu – Clone Technique
Other Terms:
Yodaime – The Fourth. It's a reference to the Fourth Hokage, Namikaze Minato.
Hitai-ate – Forehead protector
Nindo – Ninja way. Think of it as a philosophy to live your life by.
Sandaime – The Third. A reference to Sarutobi Hiruzen, the Third Hokage.
Jiji – Naruto's nickname for the Third Hokage