Part IV-Magic and Lies

Four years after Marluxia's rebirth…

The blonde boy began to hum lightly as he walked into the bathroom. He dipped his fingers in the colourless gel, and then began to slick his hair back in front of the mirror, giving his hair a porcupine like appearance. He quickly washed his hands, dipped his finger in a purple substance, which he trailed under his eyes in an upside-down cone shape. The merchant who sold it claimed that it enhanced vision, far better than any contact lenses or spectacles.

After he'd examined himself in the mirror the boy slung his black coat over his shoulders, then zipped it up, and pulled on his ebony gloves. He'd found a tailor, and using a small Illu spell, had managed to convince the shop-keeper he was over twenty and required a black coat. It resembled Marluxia's down to the finest detail, and even included, as he described it, the 'awesome hood'.

Standing in the centre of the living room, he looked down at his gloved hands, and grinned. He suddenly shot both his arms out to his side, giving him a T styled stance. Flames appeared in his palms, which began to spiral, folding out into two identical circular blades. He grinned. "I've still got it!"

"Are you done showing off?"

At the sound of the voice Naruto jumped in fright only to see Marluxia floating behind him looking cross.

"You finally get the hang of a simple Illu spell and you're going to be late on your gradation day." He muttered. "In the Organization, they'd send Dusks after you if you were late by even the seconds."

Naruto sighed. "Come on… I spent ages practicing that spell! I don't really have a knack for illusions you know!"

"Oh, I do know…"

"Oi… Is that an insult?"

Marluxia landed softly on the apartment floor. "I'd hurry if I were you. Those who are late get disqualified, remember."

"Crap!" muttered Naruto. He quickly grabbed a piece of toast lying on the table and leapt out the window, landing roughly on the ground causing some passers-by to scream at the sudden arrival hooded boy. He then began to run towards the academy.

Marluxia sighed. Slowly he raised his arm, summoning a black void. He narrowed his eyes. This world was further than the Corridors of Darkness stretched, so how could he summon one so easily?

This however did not stop him from walking into it.

XXX

Naruto lunged at the wooden door, knocking it down with all his force. He and the wooden make-shift board landed heavily on the classroom floor. He grinned. "Safe!!"

Iruka, the teacher of Naruto's class, winced slightly. Behind him, the assistant teacher, Mizuki, smirked. "Congratulations for making it on time Naruto. But I'm afraid the broken door will go on your record."

Naruto began to laugh nervously as he got to his feet. "Sorry Iruka-sensei. I just LOVE sleeping…"

Some members of the class began to laugh, mostly at his expense.

"Fine… Just get to your seat Naruto."

The blonde continued to laugh sheepishly, a nervous grin still on his face. He began to walk down the rows, fitting into place beside a raven haired boy of equal age.

"Yo, Sasuke," said Naruto, waving and grinning goofily.

Sasuke looked back at him, and smirked. "Great entrance as usual, Naruto."

As the boy's began to talk, two girls sitting exactly three rows behind began to seethe.

Naruto suddenly began to laugh and took his seat, obviously having made a joke to himself.

"Why is that Naruto-baka so close to Sasuke-kun?!" groaned a cherry-haired girl.

The platinum blonde who sat beside her nodded in agreement, "Sasuke-kun is sooo cool! And Naruto's a dope! I don't get it, why do they always hang out together?!"

The two continued their little tirade until Iruka stood up, and looked down at a clip-board. "Okay guys, today's the Ninja Academy Graduation test. Three portions exist in the test; physical, mental and practical. First will be the written test, then a sparring and accuracy test, and finally a test on the standard Academy Jutsu. Each of these counts for a third of your grade."

All the students groaned. Naruto slumped on the desk, tears streaming from his eyes. "I hate written tests… Kami-sama hates me…"

Sasuke smirked. "Shut up, dobe."

Naruto muttered an insult under his breath before gaping, horrified, at the test in front of him.

"By throwing three eighty gram kunai at a target twenty meters away at the trajectory of 51 degrees, how long will it take for the kunai to hit the target…?" Naruto paused, slumping onto the desk. "I am so dead."

XXX

The written tests were quickly collected after forty minutes had passed. Naruto had managed to complete a grand total of five out of thirty questions.

Luckily, what Naruto lacked in brain, he made up for pure destructive prowess.

Five training dummies lay in wait outside, their short meaningless lives soon to end in flames. Literally.

Of course, hitting the dummies was easy. But getting a solid blow was hard. The dummies wore protective vests to prevent any damage to the breast area, and wore helmets to protect the forehead. This made scoring a lot harder. Of course, using certain types of Jutsu to increase the power of the weapons was allowed.

This was where Naruto came into the equation. When it was his turn, he began to flex his arms, and held both hands out. When Iruka handed him the five kunai, instructing him to 'Deal a critical blow on at least one dummy to earn a high score'

Naruto grinned at this. He stood at the side of the course, and began to run. As he passed each dummy and hurled the kunai, he muttered 'Fire' under his breath. At this, the kunai caught alight, instantly igniting the dummies on contact.

He scored 10/10.

Following this part of the test was the skill test, which involved utilising the henge and kawarimi technique in front of the whole class, and then performing the bushin technique in private. As Marluxia had trained Naruto, the blonde had never managed to control his chakra, and thus relied on Magic, impulse, and a lot of fire to win his fights. This was where the Illu spell came in. By casting a simple spell with the illusion element, he could create a few copies of himself easily.

The class had all lined up, ready to perform the three basic Jutsu. Sasuke, being the person that Naruto knew, was first. He stood in front of Iruka, and then preformed a single hand-seal. "Henge."

At once in a poof of smoke, Sasuke's features warped. He suddenly had turned into a living copy of Mizuki-sensei.

Iruka nodded, obviously impressed, and then began to write some comments on the clipboard.

The line moved along slowly, and again, Naruto went last. He grinned slightly at Iruka, and then preformed a wake handseal. (Magic does not require handseals, mainly the users focus and imagination) "Henge." He then muttered under his breath. "Illu…"

He was also surrounded in smoke, which blew away to reveal a perfect copy of Iruka himself. The real Iruka blinked, and smiled. "Wow Naruto. I'm impressed! You usually have a lot of trouble with chakra control."

Naruto laughed nervously. Marluxia would probably be smug for years to come due to this. The only reason he'd learnt Illu now was because he'd begged to be taught it. He knew seven magic's out of the thirteen; Fire, Aero, Bloom, Quake, Stop, Lune and now Illu. Out of these seven, he knew four level two spells, and two level 3 spells.

"Right, now just do the replacement…"

Naruto bit his tongue. This was the bit he'd been dreading. He might have managed to pull it off, but of course he would need to be oh-so very smart. Again, this would require magic.

For this particular incident he would be required to use two of the 13 elements, and one unofficial spell; Hastega.

Narrowing his eyes he looked towards the desk, and focused on a clip board lying there.

"Illu… Hastega…" faster than the eye could see, Naruto was surrounded by a short illusion, which made it seem that the clipboard had switched places with Naruto. In actual fact, Naruto had conjured the illusion of this, then, with inhuman speed brought on by the haste spell, used a quick aero to send the clipboard over to the spot he originally occupied.

This was flawed. Greatly. But no one seemed to notice.

Naruto grinned at Sasuke as he walked smugly towards him. "Jealous?"

"Like hell…" muttered Sasuke without looking at him, instead looking out of the window.

"Oi! Don't ignore me when I'm gloating!" yelled Naruto.

Iruka let out a sigh. Though exact opposites, Naruto and Sasuke seemed to be the best of friends, even if they didn't seem like it.

"Right… Now for the bushin test. I'm going to call you all in by order of name, so please remain here until I or Mizuki come and collect you." He then nodded at Shino Aburame, who adjusted his deep sunglasses, then stood up and followed him out the room.

Naruto let out a deep sigh, and then leaned back in his seat, closing his eyes lazily. "If it were my choice, I'd just sleep all day. When do ninja get vacations?"

Sasuke cast an onyx black eye in his direction. "We don't."

Naruto's eyes snapped open, he sat ridged. "N-no v-vacation?!" he slumped on his desk, eyes wide, whimpering like a beaten puppy.

Shino came back quickly, and the next student was called out. This process continued, the students returning, some waving the headbands joyfully, others sulking without saying anything. Sasuke went out just before Naruto, and then came back quickly with a headband, now wrapped around his forehead. He glanced at Naruto. "Don't fail, dobe."

Naruto laughed. "I don't plan to!" he then walked smugly out, meeting Iruka in the corridor.

"Oh, Naruto! You're up next."

The blonde grinned. "I know! And I'm gonna become a ninja today!"

Iruka smiled, caringly at the young boy. Such an energetic, fun loving boy couldn't possibly… He shook the thought out of his head. Naruto was Naruto. That was all there was to it.

Mizuki smiled at Naruto as he entered the room. His mask worked perfectly, even Iruka believed that he genuinely cared for the boy. Of course, he could never care for a demon. The boy was simply a stepping stone for his goals.

Naruto stood in the middle of the small room, and then glanced towards Iruka and Mizuki.

"In your on time Naruto."

The boy grinned. "Illu…"

Slowly, like a mist rising from the ground, four Naruto clones appeared around him, all standing parallel to the original. When Naruto moved, they moved in the exact same motion, like puppets attached to a string.

Iruka nodded, impressed. "Well done Naruto."

Mizuki narrowed his eyes. He wrote something quickly on the clipboard, then showed it too Iruka. The scarred man raised an eyebrow. "Naruto. Why didn't you perform any handsigns for that technique?"

The boy blinked. "Um… Well, I am very talented-"

Iruka closed his eyes. "This can't be seen as the standard academy Jutsu. Naruto, I'm afraid you fail."

The boy's jaw dropped. "Y-you… You are joking, right?!"

Iruka shook his head. "The test states you need to perform the academy bushin Jutsu. You have constructed a perfectly acceptable technique, but the fact remains, you haven't preformed the academy jutsu."

Naruto blinked, opened and closed his jaw like a fish, then grit his teeth. "Very well… Will that be all, sensei…?"

Iruka frowned sadly. "I am sorry Naruto."

Before he could say another word, Naruto vanished in a circle of flames.

XXX

Naruto threw the small rubber ball again, breaking another dish lined up on the mantle. As it bounced back, he caught it. He was sitting against the wall, curled up like a hedgehog, a gloomy aura surrounding him.

At that moment, a Corridor of Darkness appeared in the kitchen, revealing Marluxia, looking rather flustered.

He then spotted Naruto, who was still surrounded by a cloud of gloom. "I may hate myself for asking; but are you alright?"

Naruto looked at him, his eyes watery. "I f-f-f…"

"You failed?"

Tears burst from Naruto's eyes like a fountain. "I hate stupid tiny rules! I did the thing right but I did it wrong!"

"That makes no sense, idiot."

Before Naruto could reply, there was a knock at his door. The blonde let out a sigh, then opened the entrance. Mizuki stood there, smiling slightly. "Naruto, may I come in?"

The boy raised an eyebrow. "Uh… Sure, I guess…"

He stepped aside, letting the silver haired teacher walk in. He glanced around the apartment, a look of distaste flashing on his face, only for a second. The unseen Marluxia saw this.

"So what do you want, sensei?" muttered Naruto, as he walked over to the fried, taking out a can of cola.

Mizuki smiled. "To be honest, I thought Iruka was being quite harsh. You did do a proper clone technique, so you really should have passed." His eyes flashed. "I do know a way you can pass the exam without the worries of a simple bushin." He smiled slyly. "Do you know of the Hidden Hokage scroll?"

Naruto cocked his head. "Never heard of it."

Mizuki grinned. "There's a secret extra credit test. If you can steal the scroll without getting caught, and learn a Jutsu from the scroll before someone catches you, you pass. No questions asked."

Naruto narrowed his eyes, but allowed a smile to come to his face.

'Recon rule No. 1: Look underneath the Underneath.'

"That's great Mizuki-sensei! I don't suppose you could help me with this?"

Mizuki laughed. "I really shouldn't even be telling you this Naruto. But as you are my favourite student, I'd be glad to help."

'Recon Rule No. 4: In order to gain, something of equivalent value must be lost. This is definite.'

"If you go out to the woods, you'll find a clearing surrounded by Maple trees. If you study the scroll there, I'm sure you'll get some inspiration!"

Naruto nodded, one of his eyes flickering towards Marluxia, who had both his arms folded.

'Recon Rule No. 7: Trust is a lie.'

XXX

Getting into the Hokage's tower was easier than expected. Naruto simply had to scale the wall, and slip in through the open window. The scroll had been described by Mizuki as, to quote, 'Big and golden'. Being in the Hokage's office, the man who ruled over and protected the greatest ninja village of the five, that seriously narrowed things down (Sarcasm implied…)

But sure enough, Marluxia pointed out the large cylinder leaning against the Hokage's desk.

"Bingo." Muttered Naruto, as he picked it up, then strapped it to his waist with a leather belt.

"Remind me, oh-so-clever one…" Marluxia said, dryly. "Why are we partaking in this obvious trap? Did I teach you that badly, are you using that thing you call a brain? If so, I'd advise against it."

"Was that an insult?"

"No, I'm saying this is a stroke of genius. You deserve a medal."

Naruto grunted and stepped onto the window frame. At that moment the door opened, and an old man walked in. Halting abruptly at the sight of Naruto, he let out a small gasp. "N-Naruto? W-why do you have the forbidden scroll?"

Naruto sighed clapping his hands together in an apologetic position. "Forgive me later!" he then vanished in a circle of flames.

Marluxia, unseen, sighed, and then stared at the gaping third Hokage. He too then vanished in a circle of petals

A few miles off, Naruto landed in the forest, directly in the Maple-clearing. Flexing his muscles and sitting on the ground cross-legged, he spread opened the scroll and examined its contents.

Marluxia appeared beside him, hovering in the air a few feet above. "Are you going to tell me what's on your microscopic mind?"

"Do you always have to insult me?" snapped Naruto. "I'm taking your advice. If you want to cook a frog, by instantly boiling a pot, it will jump out. But if you slowly cook it, gradually increasing the heat…"

"… The frog will boil, I know. But what has that got to do with it?"

Naruto grinned, his eyes not moving from the scroll. "If I exposed Mizuki for a fake, no one would believe me. But if I have proof..." he suddenly tapped the scroll, a grin fully forming on his face. "Aoichishio." (Blue-Blood)

Marluxia landed beside him, examining the description and pictorial demonstration of the technique. "Considering you do not use chakra, this technique is rather advanced."

"I suppose so… But," He stood up, flexing his fingers, then performing a single handseal. "It fits with me."

XXX

Iruka silently moved through the forest. Naruto wouldn't do this. Not Naruto. Not the goofy little troublemaker who blew things up when he was mad. He would never steal a scroll deemed forbidden… On purpose at least.

Iruka suddenly heard a rustling, before landing in a clearing. Naruto was sitting there, cross-legged, the scroll opened wide in front of him, his eyes closed, and hands in a single seal.

"Naruto…?"

The boy opened one eye, glancing at his teacher. "Hey, Iruka-sensei!"

"T-that…? Naruto, why do you have the forbidden scroll?!"

Naruto got to his feet beating the dust of his black coat. "Mizuki-sensei told me I'd get an instant pass if I stole the scroll and learned a Jutsu before getting caught." He winked.

Iruka opened his jaw, but then closed it slightly, letting it hang. "M-Mizuki told you that?"

Marluxia began to float on his back, as if in an invisible hammock. "Someone is heading this way. Fast."

"…Naruto. Mizuki lied to you. You won't get pass by stealing property of the Hokage, that will earn you an exile!"

That caught Naruto by surprise. "E-exile?!"

"Don't listen to him Naruto!" Mizuki had appeared in the trees, two large shuriken strapped to his back. "Iruka has a grudge against you. I wouldn't put it past him to have any excuse to attack you."

Iruka spun round, glaring at the grey haired man, before glancing back at Naruto.

Naruto's eyes were wide, real surprise on his face.

"N-Naruto, I…"

"Iruka's always hated you Naruto! Give me the scroll now!"

Iruka returned his glare towards Mizuki. "Shut up! You don't know a thing about Naruto!"

Mizuki chuckled. "I know him as well as everyone else. Everyone hates Naruto. Especially you. So many hate him." He laughed. "Naruto, you don't know why people hate you do they? Why they shun you? Why they don't let you near them? Why they attack you? Do you want to know?!"

"No Mizuki! It's forbidden!!!"

Marluxia summoned Graceful Dahlia, and then rested it on his shoulders, his eyes fixed on Mizuki.

"Naruto, twelve years ago when the Kyuubi no Kitsune attacked, the Yondaime killed the demon, right? That is a lie." He pointed at Naruto, a smug smile on his face. "He sealed it inside a newborn baby. That baby…"

"Mizuki, no!!! Don't!" Iruka pleaded, hopelessly.

"… Was you Naruto Uzumaki! YOU ARE THE KYUUBI NO KITSUNE."

Writers block = Bad mood

Bad mood = Thoughts of Oblivion

Thoughts of Oblivion = Emo-mode

Emo-Mode = Ice cream!!

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