Holy shit, this took forever. I've been really busy lately. I had finals at school, then my birthday, and I lost a couple nights of sleep playing some new PS3 games. I finished this a lot later than I expected, so sorry for anyone who was waiting for me to update. I forgot to write an Author's Note last chapter, so if anyone was wondering; the song was Castaway by Green Day. Anyway, when you're done reading, please take the time to review. I appreciate it very much, and thank you to those that have reviewed.
I forgot to do a disclaimer before, so listen up. I'm only doing this once.
I do not own Naruto, the anime or the manga, or anything associated with it. The only things I own are the jutsu that I make up, or any OC's that I might create. If you spot an original jutsu in my story that someone else has already come up with, please let me know so that I can give them the proper credit.
Okay, now that that's done, on with the show!
Previous Chapter:
The stranger responded, "Before I do that, I think I should tell you a bit about who I am. The man then pulled back his hood, revealing his long red and blond hair, which was tied in a ponytail, and blood-red eyes with slit pupils. He then removed his coat and sword, revealing his toned muscles.
At this time, Sarutobi and Jiraiya were watching him warily. He then pulled down his facemask, revealing three dark whisker marks on each cheek. The Hokage and Jiraiya both looked like they had seen a ghost, which to them, it seemed like they were. The man then said "My name is Namikaze Naruto, former jinchurriki of the Kyuubi no Kitsune."
Chapter Three: Animal I Have BecomeSarutobi was the first to come out of his shock. "Why should we believe that you are who you say you are? As far as I know, Naruto died eight years ago."
The man who claimed to be Naruto replied, "When I was six years old, I came to your office one day escorted by two ANBU. They had just finished saving me from a potentially nasty beating. After they left, you gave me some extra money with my monthly check. I was excited, and said that I was going to buy a set of kunai, so that I could be a ninja. While you were initially hesitant, I eventually persuaded you to let me enroll in the Academy. Now tell me, how would anyone but me know of this? We were the only people in the room, and I know that you had privacy seals up. Who else but Naruto would know what went on that day?"
Sarutobi was surprised at the logical argument. He had to admit, it made sense. "Naruto? Is that really you?" He asked after several minutes of silence.
"Yes." Naruto said simply.
Sarutobi let his shoulders sag in relief. For eight long years, he had carried the guilt of Naruto's death on his shoulders. Now that he was finally free of that guilt, he felt a thousand times lighter. "Thank Kami." He whispered.
Jiraiya watched all this with a raised eyebrow. "Wait a minute, you're telling me that Naruto saved my life?" he then turned towards Naruto. "And how the hell are you alive, anyway? How do you know who your father was? And What The Hell do you mean by 'former jinchurriki'?"
Sarutobi looked towards Naruto. "Good questions. Please answer them, if you don't mind."
Naruto just shrugged and said, "Kyuubi."
Sarutobi narrowed his eyes. "What about it?"
Naruto made a hand seal, and his form seemed to waver for a moment, before revealing his true form. "This is what I meant by 'former jinchurriki'. This is how I survived. And this is who I am now."
Sarutobi and Jiraiya both went into battle stances. Before either of them could speak however, they found their limbs had become immobile. They both fell to the floor, unable to move.
Naruto then spoke, "Now then, before you do anything hasty, let me explain. I am going to release you, and you will let me explain how this happened. Nod if you agree."
They both nodded, and leaned towards them and pulled of the paralysis tags that he had his shadow clones place there when they weren't looking. After climbing back to their feet, they both looked suspiciously at naruto. "Explain." Sarutobi commanded.
So Naruto told them what had happened in his mindscape on the night he was attacked. He told them of his arrival in Makai, and his later departure. However, he left out what he actually did while in Makai, and while traveling the Elemental Countries. "So then I saved Jiraiya, and we came here." He finished.
Sarutobi and Jiraiya could not believe the things that they had heard. "So what happened to the previous Kyuubi? He is dead, I assume?" Sarutobi asked.
"No. While his power is now mine, his soul is still bound to my own. He is the one who has taught me to use my powers, and he is the one who told me of my family."
Sarutobi, though surprised, merely nodded and asked, "What do you intend to do now?"
Naruto answered, "I intend to join the shinobi ranks. And I would appreciate it if you would both agree to not speak of what you have learned here."
Sarutobi looked at naruto oddly. "You are aware that you will have to start at the bottom of our ranks, correct? Since you are not a registered citizen of Konoha as of now, you are required to work your way up in rank, as is village policy."
Naruto nodded and said, "I understand."
"Very well then. I will take care of the paper work later." Sarutobi said.
Naruto nodded and said, "Good. Now as for the matter of my inheritance."
Sarutobi responded, "Yes, of course." He then walked over to a portrait of the Yondaime, and lifted it up to reveal bare wall. He placed a hand on the wall, and channeled chakra into it. After a few seconds, a seal appeared. Sarutobi then bit his thumb, and wiped the blood across the seal. Out of the seal popped a large scroll. Sarutobi picked up this large scroll and handed it to Naruto.
"This scroll contains your inheritance, from both sides of your family. I suggest you go through it when you are alone." Sarutobi then opened a drawer on his desk, and retrieved a pair of keys, which he tossed to Naruto. "Those are the keys to the Namikaze Estate. You will find it behind the Hokage Monument. The seals on the property are designed to keep out anyone besides a Namikaze or Uzumaki, so the place will be a bit dusty."
After Naruto thanked him, Sarutobi continued, "You will have to report to the Konoha Academy tomorrow morning at 8:00 sharp. You will be in room 300."
Naruto said goodbye to him, and left via a flash of light.
After he left, Sarutobi collapsed in his chair. "Jiraiya," he said, "I have a feeling that things are going to get a lot more interesting around here."
Jiraiya snorted and replied, "Well, they sure won't be boring, that's for sure."
At the Namikaze EstateNaruto appeared in front of the gate to his new house and looked at the gate. It was a large iron thing, topped with spikes to make sure that no one would climb over. As Naruto walked closer, he could see that in the middle of the gate, there was a seal inscribed. He put his hand on it, and channeled his chakra into it. The seal started to glow, and the gate swung open. Naruto walked through the gate and closed it behind him.
His new house was a large three-story western style home. He walked up to the front door and unlocked it with the key he had gotten from the Hokage. He heard a click, signifying that the door was unlocked. He then opened it, and made his way inside.
The interior of the house was what you would expect from a typical upper class home. On the first floor, there was a living room, a kitchen, a den, a dining room and a bathroom, all decorated expensively. There was also a door that led down into what looked to be a basement, and a bathroom. Naruto made plans to investigate the basement later.
On the second floor, there were several bedrooms, each with their own small bathroom- nothing more than a toilet, sink, and shower, really-, a large master bathroom, a study, and the master bedroom.
On the third floor, there was a door that had Naruto's name written on it in bright, colorful letters. 'This would have been my room.' He thought sadly as he ran his fingers over the letters. He opened the door slowly and walked inside. On the inside, the room would have been perfect for any baby. There were toys scattered about, and colorful paintings on the wall. It was clear that his parents had been preparing for his arrival before their untimely deaths.
On a shelf, well out of the reach of a newborn child, there was a picture frame containing a photo of Naruto's parents. Kushina was pregnant in the photo, and Minato had his ear pressed against her belly. They were standing in what was to be Naruto's room. Naruto slid the photo out of its frame and looked on the back. There was a note that read, 'Dear Naruto, know that we will always be with you in your heart, and watching over you. Love Forever, Mom And Dad'
Naruto folded the picture and put it in a pocket in his vest as a tear slid down his face.
As Naruto was contemplating the life he could have had with his parents, Kitane spoke, 'I'm sorry.' Naruto sighed. 'I wish you would stop apologizing, Kitane. It wasn't your fault. You made a mistake. Besides, I forgave you years ago.'
'But it is my fault! You may have forgiven me, but I can never forgive myself. I should have known-''You couldn't have known.' Naruto interjected. 'It was set up too well. Please, just accept what happened, and move on.'
'I can't move on. Not until every one of those bastards is dead. Not until that snake bastard has drawn his last breath.'
Naruto exited the room silently, and went back downstairs. He entered the master bedroom, and looked around. The bed looked big enough for four people, and there were two large wardrobes, and a door that led to a nice looking bathroom. Other than that, naruto looked in one of the wardrobes, and found clothes that must have belonged to his father. 'I'll need to replace these with ones my size.' He thought to himself.
He then headed back down to the living room to sort through his inheritance. By the time he finished, it was well into the night, and he was quite impressed. Inside of the large scrolls were two other, slightly smaller scrolls. One was labeled 'Namikaze', the other, 'Uzumaki'. Naruto decided to open the Uzumaki scroll first. After wiping a little blood on it, it poofed open to reveal two very large scrolls, and one smaller one. Opening the smaller one first, and read its contents. It was a note from his mother explaining that since he was the heir of the Uzumaki clan, who were the leaders of Uzushiogakure no Sato, and Uzu no Kuni, he legally owned the islands that comprised Uzu no Kuni. It also explained what was in the other two large scrolls, which was the Uzumaki clan jutsu, including all their texts on fuinjutsu, which is what the clan specialized in, and the clan fortune in the other scroll, which was large enough to rival the wealth of the Gato Shipping Enterprises, one of the richest businesses in the world.
When he opened the Namikaze scroll, it opened to reveal three scrolls, including what he recognized as the Forbidden Scroll of Seals, from the Hokage's office. He was confused, until he spotted a note attached to the scroll. It read:
'Dear Naruto,
Before his death, Minato told me that he wanted this scroll to belong to you. Because the scroll is the property of whoever is Hokage at the time, there was no law against him giving it to a family member. Please, keep it safe. This scroll contains many of Konoha's valuable secrets. Inside you will find both of your father's jutsu, the Hiraishin, and the Rasengan. Use them well.'
-Sarutobi Hiruzen, Sandaime Hokage
Inside one of the other two scrolls, he found the Namikaze clan jutsu, including their world-famous kenjutsu and taijutsu techniques, as well as their equally feared space-time ninjutsu. In the other scroll, he found the Namikaze clan fortune, which was a little bigger than the Uzumaki, making Naruto one of the Wealthiest people in the Elemental Countries, if not the wealthiest. He found a note stating that both of his clan fortunes had been put into an account in the bank by Sarutobi, one that was only accessible by Naruto.
Since it was late, he decided to head to bed. On his way to the stairs, he spotted the basement door. He still didn't know what was down there. He shrugged and decided to check it out later. After he reached the master bedroom, he undressed and collapsed o the bed, falling into a deep sleep.
The Next day Naruto woke up sometime around seven, and decided that he didn't need to rush to the Academy. He showered, ate breakfast, and got dressed before putting up his illusion to hide his ears and tails. He left his eyes the way they were, though. After making sure he had everything with him, he walked to the Academy. By the time he got there, it was ten minutes to eight. He found room 300, and could hear the sounds of chatter from inside. He opened the door, and all sounds stopped. Naruto could feel about thirty different pairs of eyes on him as he walked to Iruka and Handed Him the scroll that the Hokage had given him. After Iruka read the scroll, he turned to the class and said, "Good morning, everyone. Before we begin today, we have a new student who was previously training outside the village. He has come here to become a Konoha ninja. Please introduce yourself to the class. Name, hobbies, goals, that kind of stuff." Naruto Nodded and said, "My name is Namikaze Naruto. My hobbies are training, and inventing jutsu. My goal is not for you to know. I left the village eight years ago for a training trip, and now I have returned." As Naruto finished, he was greeted by thirty pairs of wide eyes and dropped jaws. A cacophony of questions assaulted his ears. "You're related to the Yondaime!' "You invent jutsu in your spare time!""What's with that sword?"
"What's up with your eyes, man?"
Above them all however, was Iruka. He yelled for quiet, and those kids shut up fast. Once everybody was silent, he turned to Naruto and smiled, "It's good to see you Naruto. I always wondered what happened to you. Anyway, aside from the yelling, these people had some good questions. Care to enlighten us?"Naruto sighed and began, "Yes, I am related to the Yondaime. I'm his son. Yes, I do invent jutsu in my spare time; I have created several jutsu of various types. And the sword, well, it's just a sword, as far as you know." He then took a seat next to a dark haired young man who had an Uchiha crest on his blue shirt.
Iruka then spoke, "That's impressive, Naruto. Well, anyway, on to business. Today is the day of the genin exam. Mizuki will not be here, however, as he called in sick this morning. Now Naruto, since you just got here, you will have no shot at the Rookie of the Year title. Is this acceptable?"
Naruto thought about it, then said, "What if I were to challenge the current Rookie of the Year for his title? Surely that would be fair."
Iruka replied, "Well, that depends on if Sasuke wants to risk his title or not." The boy beside naruto just scoffed and said, "Bring it on." Iruka shrugged and motioned for the class to file outside. Once everyone was outside, Naruto and Sasuke walked over to a sparring ring with Iruka as the Referee. After Naruto set aside his sword, Iruka spoke, "Okay, this match will be taijutsu only, No weapons, no jutsu. Start in Three, Two, One, Fight!"
As soon as Iruka said fight, Sasuke charged toward Naruto, hoping to catch him off guard. He feinted a punch at Naruto's head, but at the last second, dropped down to sweep Naruto's legs out from under him. Naruto simply blocked Sasuke's leg sweep with his foot, and caught him by the wrist and swung him up over his head, and slammed him down into the ground hard enough to leave a small crater, knocking him out in the process.
The rest of the class just watched in stunned silence as the Rookie of the Year was defeated with one move. "Winner, Naruto!" declare Iruka. He then walked over to Sasuke and revived him with a vial of smelling salts. When Sasuke was informed that he had lost, he simply skulked back inside to brood. The rest of the class filed in after him.
When they were back inside, Iruka said, "Congratulations, Naruto. You are now the primary contender for Rookie of the Year. The only way you could lose the title is if Sasuke gets a drastically higher score than you on the exam. Speaking of which, we should begin that." He then passed out the written portion of the exam and said, "You have thirty minutes to complete this portion of the exam. You may begin."
It took Naruto only five minutes to finish the test, since the knowledge was so basic. After finishing, he put his head down and slept. Once the thirty minutes was up, everybody turned in their test and waited for Iruka's instructions. "Okay, Now that everybody has finished the written portion, we can begin with the jutsu portion. When your name is called, come to the front of the class and perform three bunshin, a henge, and a kawarimi, as well as a jutsu that you learned outside of the Academy. First up, Aburame Shino."
Shino performed the three Academy jutsu as required, and a kikai bunshin as well. After Shino was Akimichi Chouji. He also performed the three Academy jutsu, as well as one of his family's multi-size jutsu. After Chouji came Haruno Sakura, who performed the three Academy jutsu as well, but had not learned one outside of the Academy. After Her was Hyuuga Hinata, who did the Academy jutsu, and demonstrated some of her family's Jyuuken techniques.
Next came Inuzuka Kiba, who along with the Academy jutsu performed a clone technique in tandem with his Ninken, Akamaru. Next was Nara Shikamaru, who did the Academy jutsu and performed his Kagemane no jutsu on Iruka. After that, Uchiha Sasuke came up and did the three Academy jutsu, making ten bunshins, though he looked a little winded. He then led the class outside and performed a Goukakyu no jutsu on a nearby tree. After that it was Yamanaka Ino's turn. She performed the three jutsu perfectly, although she seemed a little tired afterwards. She then performed her clan's mind jutsu on Iruka, possessing his body before returning to her own.
Naruto's turn finally came up and he went to the front of the class. "Alright, Naruto. Please perform three bunshin. Naruto then, without using any hand seals, filled the room with clones. Iruka said in a shocked tone, "You made this many Bunshin without hand seals?"
Naruto replied, "Kage Bunshin, actually. There are a few thousand more outside." Iruka looked outside and sure enough, there were Naruto's as far as he could see. "These are all Kage Bunshin?" he asked weakly. "Every one of them." Naruto replied. "Okay, well then please perform a Kawarimi. Naruto then switched himself with Iruka, once again forgoing the use of hand seals. "Very good. And now, perform a Henge, please."
A poof of smoke obscured Naruto's form before clearing to reveal a perfect representation of the Sandaime Hokage. Iruka beamed and said, "Excellent. Now, do you have a jutsu to perform?" Naruto answered, "Yes, but we might want to step outside for this."
After they all left the classroom, Naruto walked to the front of the class and faced a tree several meters away from them. He held his hand out towards the tree, and turned back towards Iruka. " You should all step back to a safe distance." The class retreated to a distance of about a hundred feet and Naruto returned his attention to the tree. The class watched with bated breath. Suddenly, a humungous dragon of fire burst from Naruto's fingertips. It was at least twice as big as the average fire dragon. It spiraled from Naruto's fingertips up into the sky, where it soared upwards before heading back toward earth.
As it raced toward the ground at deadly speeds, Iruka stared on in horror. The blast from that would incinerate everything within three hundred feet! As he was about to shout to the class to get back, the dragon dissipated into nothing shortly before hitting the tree. Iruka breathed a sigh of relief, while the Uchiha was seething quietly.
Naruto turned back towards the class and asked, "I'm sorry if I frightened you. I don't mean to show off, honestly, but after seven years of difficult training, this sort of thing becomes second nature." The stunned Iruka gathered his wits enough to nod and say, "H-how did you do that? No genin should have enough chakra for that, let alone be able to do it without hand seals. You don't even look winded!" Naruto shrugged and replied, "You could call it a bloodline."
The rest of the class all entered the classroom, making a mental note to never piss off the flame-haired youth, while others were secretly hoping to be placed on his team. Sasuke was only thinking about Naruto's supposed Bloodline, and how he could become that strong. Iruka addressed the oddly silent class, "Well, then, everybody who passed, be here tomorrow morning at eight for team assignments." When he finished, the class began to file out the doorway, each of them grabbing a hitai-ate from a small table on their way out. When Iruka looked around hoping to find Naruto, he was already out of sight.
As naruto walked up the stairs to his living room, Kitane spoke, 'Don't you think you overdid it a little?'
Naruto chuckled and replied, 'Perhaps. But it was amusing. Besides, they still have no idea what I am truly capable of.'
'I wish you hadn't left me behind a tree when you fought the Uchiha. I wanted to see that.'
What Kitane was referring to, was the fact that his consciousness no longer resided inside Naruto. Several years earlier, naruto had devised a method to bind Kitane's consciousness to an object, in this case, his sword. While their souls were still connected, and they shared a telepathic link, Kitane's essence was now bound to the sword. It had started off as a regular katana, but after the binding, it was changed. It grew to become a Nodachi, and the blade changed as well. What was once regular steel, now looked as if someone had magically taken fire, and transformed it into metal. When you tilted the sword, it looked as if it were a moving flame, which led naruto to name it The Dancing Flame. The sword had also gained several special properties. It was impossibly sharp, and never seemed to dull. It seemed impossible to break, as well. After hitting it with his strongest doton jutsu, not even a scratch remained on the blade. Kitane was also able to control the movement of the sword, although Naruto preferred to use it by hand, and when people were cut by it, they suffered severe third degree burns on the area of the cut. The look of the blade was not just for show it seemed. All in all, it had transformed into an extremely deadly weapon. Kitane, being bound inside it, was able to see in a three-hundred-and-sixty degree view around the sword, similar to the Hyuuga's Byakugan, although he lacked the X-ray vision and telescopic abilities.
Snapping back to the present, Naruto noticed that it was well past midnight, and decided to turn in for the night.
Later that nightNaruto heard a knock on the door, snapping him from his sleep. He made his way downstairs, and opened the door, seeing a tiger-masked ANBU holding out a letter to him. When Naruto accepted the letter, the ANBU vanished. Naruto opened it and read its contents. It read:
'Naruto,
Meet me in my office ASAP. Wear your mask.
-Sarutobi'
Naruto gathered his gear, put on his facemask, and put his hood up to cover his hair. When he finished, he used his transportation technique and vanished in a flash of light.
Hokage's OfficeSarutobi was pacing back and forth in front of his desk, when Naruto appeared in a flash of light, as usual. If it weren't for his many years of experience, Naruto's unexpected arrivals would have given him a heart attack by now. Looking to the Hokage, naruto asked, "What's the situation?"
Sarutobi motioned him to follow and the two began walking. "Two hours ago, the Chunin Touji Mizuki was apprehended by ANBU while he was attempting to steal the Forbidden Scroll from the Hokage Tower. When the ANBU checked the scroll, they found it missing, as you know. Naturally, they came straight to me. I could have contained the problem, but somehow the council was able to get wind of this around the same time as me. For the last hour, I've had council members streaming into my office, asking all sorts of questions. I just recently managed to get them to leave by telling them I would be calling an official council meeting to address their concerns. After that, I contacted you. So we are going to go down to the council chamber, and defuse this panic."
By the time the Hokage finished explaining, they had reached the doors of the council chamber. They opened the door to be greeted by a cacophony of shouting voices. Almost everybody in the room was yelling at somebody else. The only people who managed to remain calm were Aburame Shibi, Hyuuga Hiashi, Nara Shikaku, and surprisingly, Sarutobi noted, Inuzuka Tsume.
When Sarutobi was noticed, he was immediately bombarded by questions. After enduring the endless tirade for several moments, his frustration mounted and he shouted, "Silence!" The volume of his shout was enough to not only be heard over the myriad voices, but to shut them all up as well.
After everybody had taken their seats once more, the Hokage addressed them, "As you all know, one of our Chunin, Touji Mizuki, was caught several hours ago attempting to steal the Forbidden Scroll of Seals from the Hokage Tower. However, he was caught before he ever got near the scroll. When the ANBU checked to make sure that the scroll was still there, they discovered that it was in fact, missing. I was immediately informed of this, and, apparently, so were several of you."
One of the civilian council members spoke up, "So then where is it! Who stole it! We need to catch this thief immediately!"
The Hokage nodded at the council member, and replied, "That is what I was getting to. I have come to inform you all that the scroll was not stolen, it was simply given to its rightful owner." This drew another round of shouts from those gathered there. One of the Hokage's Advisors, and former teammate, Homura, shouted, "Hokage-sama! That scroll is Village property! We must retrieve it at once! Whom was this scroll given to?"
Sarutobi answered, "Before my predecessor died, he stipulated in his will that he wanted the scroll to be left to a certain individual. Since the scroll is the rightful property of whoever is Hokage, he was well within his rights to leave it to whomever he wanted. Yesterday, that individual arrived in the village after being away for seven years. So, naturally, I handed over what is now that individual's rightful property."
Homura was growing impatient. "Hokage-sama, that scroll contains vital secrets of this village. If that scroll were to fall into the wrong hands, it would spell disaster for us. It must be returned to the village, Yondaime's will or not. Where is this person, anyway? We must get the scroll from him at once."
Sarutobi simply indicated behind him to the previously unnoticed Naruto. Of course, the Council had no idea who he was, and so he was rather rudely addressed by Homura, "You! What is your name?"
Naruto locked eyes with Homura for a scant second, but looking into those slitted red eyes for even a moment was enough to send a shiver down his spine. "You may address me as Namikaze-san, for now." Naruto replied coolly. This statement drew loud gasps from all those assembled, and a few shouts of "Liar!"
Sarutobi cleared his throat, gaining the Council's attention once more. "Yes, it is true. This man is indeed a relative of our beloved Yondaime."
The Hokage's other Advisor and former teammate, Koharu, huffed and said, "Well, relative of the Yondaime or not, that scroll is too valuable to be left in your hands. You will return it to us at once."
Naruto calmly replied, "No. My father left it to me, and with me it will stay."
Homura yelled out, "Liar! The Yondaime never had a child, and you must be at least eighteen. You are simply too old to possibly be his child."
"Actually, I'm only fourteen." Naruto responded. Homura, along with every other person there, blanched at that. If what he said was true, it meant that this person could be the Yondaime's son.
Sarutobi spoke up once more, "I can vouch for him. The Yondaime married in secret, and his wife gave birth to a healthy baby boy. I was there for the birth, and my student Tsunade personally delivered the baby. As for the scroll, it will stay with Namikaze-san. It is his property, left to him by his father. Now, on to another matter. Although Namikaze-san is only fourteen, I assure you, his skills are at least Jounin level. Though he is currently only a Genin rank, I move that we restore the Namikaze seat on this Council, and give the position to Namikaze-san. He should begin to rebuild his clan, don't you think?" Sarutobi threw out that last bit as incentive.
After a few minutes of mumbling the shinobi council decided to put it to a vote. The civilians had no say in this; as it was strictly a shinobi matter. The vote was unanimous in Favor of appointing Naruto to the position of Clan head of the Namikaze. Sarutobi beamed as Naruto took the empty seat between Hiashi and Tsume. Tsume shook his hand cheerfully and slapped him on the back, whereas Hiashi merely nodded his head in acknowledgement. "Well then," Sarutobi continued, "It seems that Namikaze Naruto is now officially a clan head." Naruto then pulled off his mask and hood, revealing a face that many in the room thought was gone forever.
The room once again erupted into a whirlwind of sound. Several of the civilian council looked as if they had soiled themselves, while the rest looked ready to go into cardiac arrest. The shinobi council was mostly amused, including Tsume, who was laughing her as off at the reactions of the civilians, however, looked absolutely furious. "Hokage-sama! How can you let that…that…thing enter our village, let alone join this Council! I refuse to let this happen!"
Sarutobi glared and responded, "It already happened, Homura. Naruto was voted unanimously to join this Council as a Clan head. That decision cannot be undone without my approval, which I most certainly will not give. And need I remind you, it was never up to you in the first place." Homura shut his mouth, seething silently.
Sarutobi addressed the Council again, "Now that that is settled, this Council is dismissed." People began file out of the chamber, each shocked of the events of that night. People would be talking about this all over the village by morning, Sarutobi realized. Oh, well. At least he got to have his fun.
The Academy: The next dayAs Iruka watched the new Genin file in the door, each sporting a shiny new hitai-ate, he couldn't help but feel a certain sense of pride. He thought about his own hitai-ate, once shiny and new, but now cowered in various scratches and dents, and thought of how it was a reminder of all the things he had experienced, all the people he had met, all the battles he had fought. In a few years, these new Genin would each mature into fine shinobi, and fine adults. He was proud that he had been the first to help them along that path.
His mind soon turned to other thoughts. News of the events in the council chamber had spread through the village like wildfire, and many could not believe the things they heard. No one could really imagine a Genin, let alone someone as disliked as Naruto, being unanimously voted in as a Clan head. Even more shocking for the villagers, was the news of just which clan Naruto was heard of. Many people were ashamed that they had treated their hero's son so badly, while others were skeptical, and a few were angry that the demon was still alive, Namikaze or not. The majority of people however, vowed to try their hardest to make it up to Naruto for their inexcusable behavior.
Iruka was proud that they would admit that they were wrong like that. It gave him renewed hope for the future of this village. As the last few people filed in, Naruto walked through the doorway. All eyes turned to him, including the jealous eyes of the Uchiha. He ignored their stares as he took a seat next to Shikamaru. The lazy Nara just looked at him, before muttering "Troublesome." and laying his head back down.
When everybody had settled, Iruka Spoke to the class, "Good morning everyone. As of today, you are all officially ninja. However, you are only Genin. Your journey is just beginning. The hard part starts now, everybody, so I wish you all luck." He then began to read off team listings. "…Team Seven, consisting of Haruno Sakura, Uchiha Sasuke, and Sai. Your Jounin Sensei is Hatake Kakashi. Team Eight, consisting of Aburame Shino, Hyuuga Hinata, and Inuzuka Kiba. Your Sensei will be Yuuhi Kurenai. Team Nine is still in circulation, so team Ten is Akimichi Chouji, Nara Shikamaru, and Yamanaka Ino. Your Sensei is Sarutobi Asuma."
Naruto realized that everybody had had their name called but him and asked, "Excuse me, but why did you not call my name?" Iruka looked at his clipboard and answered, "It seems that the Hokage has decided not to place you on a team. Instead, you will be apprenticed to…" Iruka paled as he read the name of Naruto's new sensei.
Earlier that Day: Hokage's OfficeSarutobi was focused on his paperwork as he heard someone enter his office. Looking up, he saw that it was Mitarashi Anko. "What did you want, you old geezer?" She asked in her usual fashion. Sarutobi smiled and said, "Good morning, Anko-chan. I have a new mission for you."
"I accept!" Anko yelled proudly. Sarutobi sweatdropped. "Don't you at least want to know what it is?" "Nope!" Anko responded. "Very well." Sarutobi said with a smile as he handed Anko a file. "Everything you need to know is in there."
Anko grabbed it excitedly, hoping for a super-dangerous S-rank, with a good pay. However, when she read the file, she dropped it and shouted, "You want me to do WHAT!"
Sarutobi chuckled and said, "Hopefully, that will teach you to accept missions without knowing what they are. Just be glad it wasn't a months worth of D-ranks."
"This is worse!" Anko yelled while glaring. "You want me to teach some snot-nosed brat? We'll be stuck on D-ranks for at least a month!"
"I assure you, Anko, Naruto is anything but a brat. You may have heard that he was voted in as a Clan head last night."
Anko looked up in surprise. "Him? The Kyuubi jinchurriki? Alright, tell me about this kid." she said, finally sitting back down.
Present: Academy
As Iruka was about to read the name of Naruto's Sensei, an object came crashing through the window. The object landed, revealing a woman wearing a tan coat, orange skirt, and not much else. Her purple hair was tied up in a ponytail. "Anko Mitarashi, here to collect my student!" she declared. "Which one of you midgets is Namikaze Naruto?"
Anko felt a tap on her shoulder, and turned around, coming face-to-chest with Naruto. He towered over Her by at least a foot. "Hi." He said.
Getting over her surprise at his freakish height, she yelled, "Alright! Follow me!" and dove right back out the window, with Naruto following. The rest of the class just sweatdropped at the strange display.
When Anko looked behind her to see if her student was following, she saw nothing. "Heh. Guess I must have been too fast for the kid."
"Is that so?"
Snapping her view back to in front of her, Anko saw Naruto casually hopping from branch to branch backwards while facing her. "Seems I was mistaken. Maybe Sarutobi was right about you." Naruto fell in beside Anko and the two of them continued hopping from tree to tree until they reached a large forest with a fence around it, covered in signs reading, 'Warning. Stay out.'
Anko turned to her student and cheerfully said, "This is our training ground, #44. Commonly referred to as the Forest of Death." They made their way into the forest a ways until they found a large clearing to stop in.
"This will be where we will meet everyday. Before we begin, I want to set a few things straight. First, the Hokage assures me that you are far above Genin level. Therefore, think of me more as your partner that Sensei. Second, We will not be wasting our time with pathetic D-ranked chores. Our first mission will be a C-rank, and after that all our missions will be B-rank or higher. Third, don't refer to me as 'Sensei'. If there's one thing I hate, it's formality. My name is Anko, and that is what you will call me. Do you have any problems with any of this?"
"No." Naruto replied.
"Good. Now I'm going to test you on the skills that you will need on our missions. I will be testing you in stealth, tracking, and combat. First, you will attempt to hide from me in the forest for one hour. Are you ready?"
Naruto nodded, and Anko closed her eyes and began to count to ten. When she opened her eyes, Naruto was nowhere to be seen, nor could she detect his chakra anywhere near. "The kid's good at hiding, I'll give him that." Anko muttered as she made her way into the forest.
Finally finished! Let me know what you think of putting Anko with Naruto. I know that's been done a lot, but I just felt it would go well. Plus, I didn't want to put Naruto on a team, and the only other people I had considered were Yamato, Hayate, and Yuugao.
Also, let me know if you think my chapters should be longer or shorter. Just so you know, I have a habit of randomly capitalizing things. I do my best to go back and catch any mistakes, but let me know if you find any randomly capitalized words.
Another thing. If anybody could direct me to a good English-to-Japanese translator, that would be great. The Song this time was Animal I Have Become by Three Days Grace. Well so long everybody, I'll see you soon.
Don't Fear the Reaper,
Kumo no Shinigami