Naruto – Legacy of the Yondaime Hokage
Chapter 12 – The Sandaime's grandson, Sarutobi Konohamaru
Disclaimer – I don't own Naruto. Naruto is the property Masashi Kishimoto. This is just a story using his characters and I'm not looking to make any money out of this.
"Demon/Inner Sakura" talking/thinking
"Flashbacks"
"Normal"
Warnings – Strong (though not invincibly strong), smart Naruto, Major OOC and possible Lemons (unsure at this point)
It was a beautiful day in Konohagakure no Sato with the birds twittering and the sun shining down on the village, bathing its buildings in it golden splendour. There was not a single cloud in the sky and a soft breeze blew in the air, causing the branches on the trees to sway gently to and fro. The breeze also helped cool the air down somewhat from the sun's scorching heat.
However, none of that really mattered to one, Uzumaki Naruto, who had officially graduated from the Ninja Academy two days ago after helping subdue Mizuki and demonstrating an advanced bunshinjutsu that would have even jonins struggling to accomplish. Iruka had passed him anyway despite the fact that it was not an official graduation test since Mizuki had sabotaged Naruto's graduation test and he displayed an advanced variation of the jutsu Mizuki had caused him to mess up on. Anyway, Naruto was sitting on the roof of the Hokage's main building where his office was situated as he was getting his picture taken for his official Ninja ID.
Unfortunately, the photographer just shot him a puzzled look like he was crazy as Naruto was sitting on the chair with a look that no one would expect one to have for an ID photo.
"Listen kid, are you really positive that you want me to take your picture looking like that?" he asked Naruto with a hint of annoyance in his voice, "I mean, you look absolutely stupid."
"Just take the damn picture," Naruto said in a demanding tone, "Come on, come, we both know that we don't have all day."
The photographer, an old balding man wearing glasses just groaned in frustration.
"Okay kid, if that's how you want it fine," he said as he got behind the camera and pulled the cover at the end over his head, "You'll be back to redo it, you'll see and don't blame me for it. Okay, say cheese."
The camera then clicked and took Naruto's picture and Naruto himself had a rather humorously angry expression on his face with the skin of his face pure white and red paint decorating his face; much like the face-paints of a kabuki performer and he had his hand held out in front of him showing red swirls on his palm and fingers.
Later, Naruto was sitting in a room in the Ninja Academy in front of Hiruzen and a man he did not know; the man in charge of putting together the Ninja IDs. Hiruzen just groaned as he looked over Naruto's photograph that had been placed on his Ninja ID profile, clearly not impressed with his shenanigans.
"Well, at first, I didn't know what I was going to do," Naruto explained in a rather dismissive tone, "It took me like three hours to come up with that, but finally, I got it; Kabuki performer on a bad day. It's not something anyone else would do."
"Take it again," Hiruzen replied in a somewhat demanding tone.
"What?" Naruto said in disbelief, "No way."
"Naruto, I'm afraid that we can't accept this photo."
Naruto just growled in frustration and he and Hiruzen suddenly engaged in a staring contest to see who would move first.
"Yeah, well screw you jiji, I ain't doin' it again," he said as he formed a hand seal, "Henge!"
He then burst into a cloud of smoke that revealed his older female version of himself in the nude like before and giving him a rather seductive stare.
"Pretty please Hokage-sama," the female Naruto said in a girl's voice.
Looking at the female Naruto and noticing "her" lack of clothes caused him to stiffen as he tried to resist the urge to give in to his perverted nature, but unfortunately blood gushed out of his nose, causing him to fall backwards while still in his chair and he landed on the floor with his mouth open wide and his bottom lip twitched.
Outside the room, a small child snuck up to the door as he listened to the conversation inside the room through a gap in the door.
"I really wish you wouldn't do that accursed Oiroke no Jutsu in my presence," Hiruzen, who had fully recovered and was back in his seat, wiping the blood from his nose with a tissue, "I'm getting too old for that sort of thing. Are you trying to kill me? Anyway, where's your hitai-ate, as a ninja of the village, you're supposed to be wearing it."
Naruto just chuckled as he scratched the back of his head.
"Well, I really don't want to damage it before the orientation ceremony tomorrow and besides, I may have to hand it back if I fail the real test to see whether or not I become a ninja," Naruto said simply with a wave of his head.
"Hold on a second, just how did you know about the real test?" Hiruzen said in astonishment, unable to believe that Naruto knew that much.
The Graduation Exam at the academy was meant to see just how many people had the potential to become ninja. After that, the graduates were split into teams of three and were assigned a jonin sensei who would administer a test to see whether or not they were ready to become ninja. The pass and fail rate varied from year to year depending on how many students actually graduated. With twenty-seven students this year, Hiruzen figured that only a third of them would pass the real test and go on to become true ninja.
Of course, it was a system that not everyone was happy with. Those that failed normally ended up going back to the academy and many of those who failed felt rather cheated and either quit or in some cases, leave the village altogether and train on their own, but since they were not officially ninja, they couldn't be labelled as nuke-nin. Hiruzen remembered the village dealing with that in the past when jonins were targeted by former students seeking revenge for being "cheated" out of their graduation.
It wasn't always like that though. The Ninja Academy training used to be a lot tougher and harsher, but many of the students… mainly those with civilian parents complained about it and some of them happened to be the sons and daughters of members of the Civilian Council and they complained to the Hokage and Hiruzen remembered how they made his life hellish until he bowed to pressure and lessened the intensity of the academy training just to shut them up. However, at first, they didn't have the real test; it was just graduate and you were a ninja, but many of the newly graduated genin ended up dying or being severely traumatised on their first major missions and then Hiruzen realised that many of them weren't ready for ninja life and came up with the real test as a means to see who were truly ready to become full-fledged shinobi and who needed more training and in many cases, the majority of graduates only saw being ninja as being just a game where they fought bad guys and that was that.
"Well, Kakashi-niisan trained me since that incident six years ago," Naruto explained, bringing Hiruzen back to reality, "You assigned him a genin three-man team every year and I watched him perform that bell test with them, though none of his team members passed. He actually has a tree in his back yard that he marks with a kunai each time he fails a team."
Hiruzen nodded, knowing that each team Kakashi had been assigned all failed. It was up to the jonin senseis themselves how to test the students and what standards to set for them. Kakashi unfortunately had higher standards than most and all the teams he had been assigned to in the past failed to meet those standards and usually ended up fighting amongst themselves so much so that Kakashi had on more than one occasion recommended that they be dropped from the program permanently.
Hiruzen was amazed that Naruto had been observing him over the years; not that graduates weren't meant to know about the real test. Some of the graduates whose parents were ninja told them about it. However, it did present a problem.
"Note to self, don't assign Naruto with Kakashi," Hiruzen thought with a nod.
After all, he didn't want Naruto's team having an unfair advantage as since Naruto had witnessed Kakashi administer those tests in the past and knew what his standards were, he could easily tell his teammates and their knowledge of this beforehand may lead to an inaccurate assessment; meaning Kakashi may end up passing them when they weren't really ready to be ninja at all and only passed because of the knowledge they had acquired beforehand.
Hiruzen then cleared his throat.
"Yes, well anyway, back on topic, you want your hitai-ate looking spotless," he said serious, "And yet, your photo; which is supposed to identify you makes you look like a complete and utter fool. It's for ninja missions and training, which is the key to your future and I can honestly say that by looking at this monstrosity that if I had never met you before, I wouldn't know that it's you."
"Well that's the whole point," Naruto said dismissively, "I think it makes it look cool and as for all that complicated crap; I really don't give a rat's ass. Until I'm a full-fledged ninja, I do things one way; my way."
Hiruzen sighed as he shook his head.
However, before he could reply to Naruto's rebellious statement, the door opened, diverting his attention as a boy no older than eight-years-old came running in wielding a single shuriken.
"Prepare to die old man!" the boy said as he ran across the room, "I'm going to kill you and become the Godaime Hokage."
"Great, my bothersome grandson," Hiruzen thought as he felt a headache coming on, "If it's not one thing, it's another."
However, the boy stood on the dark greenish blue scarf he had on round his neck and stumbled to the ground as a man appeared at the door with a look of pure worry on his face as it looked like he had been running.
"Oh my, omago-sama, are you alright?" the man said in an equally worried tone.
"Ouch, something tripped me," the boy said with his hands pushed against his head.
"That's quite impossible omago-sama since, as you can see, the floor is completely flat and so there's nothing for you to trip on," the man at the door explained, but the boy ignored him as he looked around looking for anything that could have possibly caused him to fall.
"Who's this idiot?" Naruto thought as he studied the boy.
The boy had dark brown eyes with a tuff of brown hair sticking out of the top of the helmet he was wearing; a light greyish brown helmet with a yellow circle above his left eye and a dark orange circle at the right side with a mean looking face drawn in it. Aside from that and the scarf that trailed to the floor from his neck; the one he had tripped on, he wore a yellow t-shirt with the village insignia displayed in red at the front, grey trousers and blue sandals. Naruto also noticed that he had a tooth missing near the left side of his mouth.
He then noticed Naruto, who was still sitting in the chair, looking at him with a rather dumbfounded look on his face.
"It was you, wasn't it?" the boy said, pointing a finger of accusation at Naruto, "You tripped me."
The man at the door gasped as soon as he noticed Naruto.
"It's that lowlife vermin," he thought as he shot Naruto a look of pure disgusted contempt, "The Kyuubi's human form. Of course, he's an evil plotter of the worst kind."
The man was dressed in the usual ninja uniform minus the green vest and had his hitai-ate worn like a bandana and he also had a pair of rounded sunglasses over his eyes.
Naruto glared at the eight-year-old, infuriated that he had thought that he had accused him when it was plainly obvious that he had tripped over his own scarf.
"How dare you, you tripped on your own scarf stupid!" he growled as he grabbed the boy and hoisted him into the air and got ready to punch him.
The man at the door screamed in panic.
"Unhand him you disgusting vermin!" he shouted demandingly at Naruto as he freaked, "You can't hurt him! He's the honourable grandson of the honourable Sandaime Hokage!"
Naruto then looked over at him to see him gesturing towards the Sandaime.
"And just what are you supposed to be?" he asked the man in an unimpressed tone as he studied his clothes, "Some sort of blind nutcase or something?"
The man glared furiously at Naruto as Naruto turned back to the boy he was holding who had a rather arrogant smirk on his face; the same kind of smirk he had seen on Sasuke's face many times in the past whenever he boasted about his clan.
"Ha, that stopped him, just like all the rest," he thought, though he was a bit troubled at this, "He won't dare lay a finger on me now that he knows that the Sandaime's my grandfather."
"What's the matter?" he boasted, causing Naruto to glare at him, "You're not so tough, are ya? Too afraid to hit me because my grandfather's the Sandaime?2
"Like I give a shit!" Naruto lashed out as he punched the boy over the head, causing the man, who had come into the room to freak out again, "I'd give the Fire Daimyo himself the same treatment if he were here."
"Wow, there's something different about this guy," the boy thought as Naruto released him and then he fell to the floor.
Later, the boy, Konohamaru, who was Hiruzen's grandson was standing before the man that had followed him, Ebisu, who Hiruzen had assigned as Konohamaru's personal trainer as he gave him a lecture. Needless to say, Konohamaru just folded his arms, not really paying attention as he found Ebisu's lectures boring.
"Now see here omago-sama," Ebisu said in a sternly strict tone, "As the honourable grandson of Sandaime-sama here, you can't let yourself be drawn into fights by disgusting lowlife like that Naruto character, the disease of our village. You mustn't indulge him by stooping to his level. I'm your elite ninja trainer and I am never wrong. I'm far above everyone else so you must heed my every word. You want to be the next Hokage, don't you? Well I can teach you the best shortcuts you need to get there and make it to the top, but you must always stick close to me, right omago-sama?"
During his lecture, Ebisu had gotten so wrapped up in his own lecture that he had turned away from Konohamaru and Konohamaru had just followed Naruto out the door, not really caring much for his "sensei's" lecture as he believed that Ebisu just liked hearing himself speak. When Ebisu turned back to face him, he was gone.
"Omago-sama?" he said with a hint of worry in his voice before groaning in frustration, "Now where did he run of to now?"
"I believe he followed Naruto," Hiruzen, who was still in the room said with his elbows resting on the table and his hands clasped in front of him.
"Followed… Naruto…?" Ebisu said as the colour almost immediately drained from his face before he screamed once again as he freaked out, "Oh no, that's a disaster waiting to happen!"
He then rushed out the room and down the corridor in a mad panic.
"OMAGO-SAMA!" he shouted loudly in his fright, "FEAR NOT, FOR I, EBISU WILL SAVE YOU FROM THAT HEATHAN IN HUMAN CLOTHING!"
Hiruzen just sighed, shaking his head.
"Why on Earth did I assign such a twit as Konohamaru's trainer and how did he grow up to be like that?" he thought as he felt another headache coming on, "He's quite determined, I'll give him that much. That was his twentieth sneak-attack today and if he ends up befriending Naruto, he's bound to get a whole lot worse, though I doubt Naruto would teach him anything really bad, would he?"
He couldn't help but feel a sense of dread wash over him as he pictured possible scenarios in which his grandson could possibly incorporate in future thanks to hanging out with Naruto. He felt as if the room temperature had just dropped to near-freezing as he just pictured his grandson using Naruto's Oiroke no Jutsu on him.
"Maybe Naruto would be a bad influence on him," he thought with dread, "Oh well, it could be worse. At least he's not with that perverted former student of mine, Jiraiya otherwise he'd be countless times worse."
Meanwhile, Konohamaru was following Naruto, who was currently walking down the streets on his way home after he had grudgingly agreed to redo his Ninja ID photo as compensation for hitting the Sandaime's grandson; though he only agreed to it to shut that idiot of a trainer of his to shut up and calm down. Needless to say, he was not in a good mood and he knew that he was being followed. Konohamaru was not really all that stealthy. When Naruto turned round, Konohamaru covered himself with a cloak; performing the Kakuremino no Jutsu to blend in with the ground. Unfortunately, he only crouched instead of lying on the ground and his feet were still visible. Naruto just ignored it and continued to walk on, quickening his pace and Konohamaru followed suit, also quickening his pace.
Naruto let out a groan, clearly frustrated that the annoying kid's persistence.
"You might as well just stop there, I know you're there," he said as he came to a complete stop and Konohamaru used the cloak and pressed his back against the fence.
This time, the pattern of the fence was wrong; the lines separating the planks of wood were horizontal instead of vertical and his fingers were still visible at the top where he held up the cloak. Naruto just gave an unimpressed groan.
"That's so damn obvious, you'd have to be completely clueless about life itself to miss it," he said when Konohamaru did not move, "You skills in the Kakuremino no Jutsu are pathetic and that's an E-rank jutsu that even a toddler could perform in their sleep if they were taught correctly."
Konohamaru then laughed, though his laughter was muffled by the cloak and then he pulled it down and smiled at Naruto.
"Great, you saw through me disguise," he said, looking at Naruto in admiration, "The rumours about you are true, you're good."
"Rumours?" Naruto asked curiously, wondering just what sort of rumours the boy was talking about.
"Okay, here's how it's gonna go," Konohamaru said in a somewhat demanding tone, ignoring Naruto as he pointed a finger at him, "You're gonna be my trainer and I'm gonna be your apprentice."
"Sorry kid, I'm not qualified to be a trainer," Naruto said, shaking his head, "Only chunin level ninja and above can qualify and even though I graduated from the academy, I'm not even an official genin yet, unless I pass the real test that my assigned jonin instructor gives me, so I can't help you. Besides, don't you have that annoying blind guy to train you?"
"What, him?" Konohamaru scoffed dismissively with a hint of frustration in his voice, "He just likes hearing the sound of his own voice. I need a new trainer and you're it. You must teach me that Oiroke no Jutsu you used on Hokage-jiisan."
Naruto just looked at him as his tone became more demanding and his voice became louder with his fists moving up and down in front of him. He looked pretty much like a spoiled brat throwing a temper tantrum.
"Please taicho?" Konohamaru asked as he clasped his hands in front of him and looked up at Naruto with puppy-dog like eyes.
"Huh, taicho?" Naruto said, looking confused.
"Yeah, you're the taicho; taicho, taicho, TAICHO!"
Naruto groaned in frustration, knowing that this annoying brat wasn't going to leave him alone until he agreed.
"Very well, you win," he said, slapping his forehead as he wondered just what on Earth he had gotten himself into.
Meanwhile, Ebisu stood above the Yondaime's head of the Hokage Monument with his hand above his eyes as he looked around the village down below trying to think of where Naruto could have gone with Konohamaru. Like most of the villagers, Ebisu held Naruto in contempt for harbouring the Kyuubi no Yoko inside him. However, his hatred was not due to losing a loved one at the paws of the Kyuubi. He just hated Naruto because the rest of the villagers did and because of Naruto's reputation as the village's number one prankster; a title once held by a girl who as he saw it, coincidentally had the surname, Uzumaki; a foreigner from Uzu no Kuni known as Uzumaki Kushina.
Of course, Ebisu was too into his own hatred to make the connection, though he had come to view the name, Uzumaki as a curse on the village and it didn't help matters that Naruto contained the Kyuubi inside him.
"Where did that evil monstrosity go off to?" he thought in seething fury, "And what's he done with omago-sama? What dastardly evil scheme is he concocting in that evil brain of his? I am a jonin; an elite ninja. I am a trainer of future Hokage; therefore I am above all the other trainers. Anyway who even thinks of doing anything with any of my students will be crushed."
He then jumped back up to the observation platform above the monument and left with every intention of killing Naruto when he found him.
Meanwhile, in a clearing in a forest, Konohamaru had just displayed his attempt at the Oiroke no Jutsu. Unfortunately, the "woman" he transformed into was rather fat with big lips, beady little eyes and "her" face looked so swallow, one would have easily mistakenly believed that someone had repeated slammed "her" face with a battering ram. Naruto was thankfully that "she" was wearing underwear. He shuddered to think of what would happen if "she" had been naked. It definitely would have been pretty off-putting.
"I'd probably have nightmares for the rest of my life," he thought with a cringe.
"No, no, no!" he said aloud, "Make her taller and skinnier!"
The fat "woman" burst into smoke as Konohamaru cancelled the henge and he gave Naruto a nod.
"Right taicho, got it," he said as he formed the familiar hand seal, "Henge!"
This time, the female version of Konohamaru was taller and skinnier; about seven-feet tall with a body of a stickman drawing.
"No, too tall and too skinny!" Naruto said in alarm, "That's even worse; try again."
"Boy this kid's chakra control is pathetic," he thought, shaking his head, "Maybe even more so than mine was when I first started attending the academy and it took me forever to perfect the Henge no Jutsu and even my first henge wasn't that bad. If it wasn't for Kakashi-niisan, I wonder if I would have graduated at all… yeah, probably by sheer dumb luck."
He remembered Kakashi's lecture on chakra control and how even experienced ninja could run into difficulty with it. He remembered how Kakashi said that chakra control was essential in performing jutsu and how one needed to utilise the right amount of chakra to perform a jutsu properly. Those who didn't know about this and performed jutsu effectively were simply just guessing the amount needed and hoping that it would come out right and were only able to perform the just properly because they had become accustomed to the amount of chakra they used to pull it off. Using too little chakra meant that the jutsu would not work at all or it would work, only it would be weaker; like a Katon jutsu would probably only shot out a small flame and using too much chakra could cause the jutsu to backfire, causing the user serious harm or in Konohamaru's case, the jutsu was nothing more than a joke. Naruto knew that Konohamaru was putting too much chakra into his henge.
He had similar problems with the Bunshin no Jutsu. In the beginning he could only create one bunshin and it looked absolutely pathetic; like a rejected crash dummy thrown in the trash or like a sickly dead zombie and even with Kakashi's chakra control exercises, it had taken him more than a year to perform the jutsu properly and create more than one perfect bunshin, though, even now he knew he still had trouble with it. To perform the Bunshin no Jutsu properly, Naruto had to really concentrate hard and even the slightest disturbance or loss of concentration could cause him to mess up. That was why it had been so easy Mizuki to use that chakra disruption jutsu to sabotage his test and ensure that he failed. To properly control his chakra to use the Bunshin no Jutsu, Naruto had to really concentrate, though Kakashi was training him to ensure that controlling his chakra while performing the Bunshin no Jutsu would become second nature.
Meanwhile, Sakura, Ino, Hinata, Shikamaru, Choji, Shino and Kiba all gathered as the three girls decided to tell Choji and Kiba about Naruto and the Kyuubi, since they were the only two left in the dark.
"So what is it that you wanted to talk about?" Kiba, who now had a small white puppy sitting atop his head asked curiously, "And just where's Naruto?"
"I don't know where Naruto-kun went to," Hinata said with a sigh as she shook her head, "But he left the Ninja Academy in a really bad mood. I don't know what it was, but I think it may have had something to do with his photo."
Kiba just laughed.
"Yeah, he looked like a kabuki performer on a bad day, I wish I thought of that one," he said, still laughing.
"Anyway, what is it that you all wanted to talk about?" Choji said, deciding to change the subject before they got too far off track."
"R-right," Sakura said, sighing with nervousness evident in her voice, "You know that Mizuki-sensei turned traitor and used Naruto as a means of getting a top-secret scroll, don't you?"
The four boys all nodded, though Shikamaru and Shino wondered if Mizuki had mentioned the Kyuubi to Naruto and that's what the three girls had wanted to talk about.
"Uh huh, Naruto somehow managed to perform an advanced variation of the Bunshin no Jutsu that would have even experienced ninja struggling and beat him up," Choji said, feeling a bit envious that Naruto managed to pull of an incredibly advanced jutsu that was difficult for even jonin to perform.
"I heard about that," Shikamaru said with a sigh, "However, Mizuki was found dead in the forest with a kunai lodged in his throat and he was wearing an Iwa hitai-ate."
"Really?" Sakura asked as she and the other two girls looked at him in confusion, "That's weird, when we left him; he was alive and he was definitely wearing a Konoha hitai-ate. That much, I'm certain."
"Troublesome," Shikamaru muttered under his breath before giving them a serious look, "So you're positive, then?"
"Yeah," Ino said, agreeing with Sakura, "He was definitely alive when we left him and his hitai-ate definitely belonged to Konoha, though he did mention that his father was an Iwa spy that was killed by the Yondaime and Sakura's tou-san."
"And he also mentioned on how he was going to give the scroll to Iwa to gain revenge on the village for praising the deaths of his parents," Hinata put in, "As well as selling me off to Kumo to gain something extra since Kumo's been after the Byakugan for a long time."
"Well, we can safely conclude that Mizuki was not acting alone," Shino said after summing everything up, "However, whoever he was working with must have betrayed him and killed him after you all left."
The three girls nodded, realising that that was a valid point.
"And whoever it was either may have been from Iwa or was looking to stitch Iwa up for the whole incident as relations between our two villages have been rather frosty since the end of the Third Great Shinobi War," Shikamaru went on, continuing where Shino left off, "And given what you said Mizuki said about his father, Iwa would be an ideal scapegoat."
The three girls nodded, though the possibility of Iwa's involvement was rather troubling. The three girls now knew without a shadow of a doubt that Naruto was the son of the Yondaime; the one Iwa blamed for their defeat. It wasn't hard for them to guess that Naruto's heritage was kept a secret to protect him from his father's enemies. However, Naruto looked a lot like his father and anyone who was anyone would easily make the connection if they weren't too caught up in their own hatred and grief over the loss of their loved ones at the paws of the demon locked inside him. If Iwa was involved with Mizuki, then it was possible that they knew about Naruto and given his appearance, unlike the people of Konoha, they'd easily make the connection and that they'd no doubt target him in order to take their revenge for what his father did, or they may try to recruit him into their ranks as a means of getting back at Konoha and laughing at the Yondaime from beyond the grave as if to say "You son's on our side now". It was indeed troubling, but Iwa could possibly know about Naruto's heritage and that posed problems.
"Anyway, Mizuki also mentioned…" Hinata started to say.
"Hold that thought," a new voice came, interrupting Hinata, causing the group to turn their heads.
Iruka, who had bandages wrapped round his neck and the back of his face from the injuries he sustain during his encounter with Mizuki landed on the ground not far from their location and took a minute to compose himself.
"Iruka-sensei, what are you doing here?" Hinata asked curiously with a hint of fear in her voice; fear that he was going to kill her in order to silence her since she knew about the Kyuubi.
"Sorry Hinata, but I must ask you to hold that thought," Iruka said in a seriously professional tone, "Hokage-sama sent me to find all of you."
This caused everyone on look on in curiosity.
"I know what you were going to say Hinata, but Hokage-sama wants to tell you all himself," Iruka went on, ignoring the curious looks on everyone's face, "He sent me to bring you all to him. It concerns Naruto and since he's managed to befriend you, Hokage-sama feels that you should all know the truth."
"The truth?" Kiba asked before realising that he meant the reason why Naruto was so hated, "So I guess Mizuki blabbed, huh?"
Iruka nodded.
"Come on, let's go," he said simply.
Back in the forest clearing, Naruto and Konohamaru were taking a break as they sat on a log drinking soda they had acquired from a nearby soda machine (who in their right mind puts a soda machine in the middle of a forest?) However, Naruto was curious about Konohamaru as he remembered his attempted "assassination" of the Sandaime and his declaration that he would become the Godaime Hokage and he also noted how, despite his smug look when Ebisu shouted out that he was the Sandaime's grandson that his eyes held a look of someone who was rather troubled.
"Hey, you mind telling me what your problem with jiji is?" he asked curiously, noticing that Konohamaru became rather troubled.
After a few moments of silence, Konohamaru sighed and Naruto noticed how he'd rather not talk about it, but Konohamaru had decided to indulge him anyway.
"My name is Konohamaru, Sarutobi Konohamaru," he said as he clenched his fists in anger, "Jii-san gave me that name; named me after the village because he said that it would be easy for everyone to remember and that it would bring me good luck, but no one ever calls me that. They all call me omago-sama despite the fact that everyone knows my true name and I hate it, I just hate it. It's just omago-sama, omago-sama. No one sees me for who I am; just who I'm related to and I'm really fed up with it. That's why I've got to become Hokage. I've just got to then everyone will have no choice but to acknowledge me as Konohamaru the person and not omago-sama."
Naruto listened to him intently as Konohamaru pictured himself standing looking down at the ground feeling upset as a giant menacing figure of the Sandaime was glaring down at him as if mocking him; as if to say, "You'll never escape my shadow, so deal with it".
Naruto had to say that they were indeed similar, yet different at the same time; like at opposite ends of the same spectrum. No one saw Naruto for who he was either. All they saw him as was the Kyuubi in human form and because of that, his life had been a living hell. Konohamaru on the other hand was treated like royalty because of who he was related to and not because of anything; he himself did. In a way they were similar; both wanting the village to acknowledge them for the people they were and not for what they saw them as. As stupid as Naruto acted, he was quite intelligent, though it was probably due to having befriending some of the children along with his time with Kakashi. He recognised Konohamaru's problem and also knew that opinions did not change overnight. He was a ninja, but he knew that the villagers' opinion would not change; in fact, they'd probably only grow to hate him even more as they felt that he had no right being a ninja and would fear him even more since he was now in a position that he could deal with them and possibly get away with it.
"No way," Naruto said dismissively, "Who'd look up to a squirt like you if you did become Hokage?"
"Huh?" Konohamaru said with a mixture of surprise and anger.
"You're such an idiot," Naruto went on, ignoring Konohamaru's comment, "You can't just become Hokage at the wave of a magic wand. The Hokage title is something that you'll have to earn; it's not something that can be handed to you just because you want it. If you really want to become Hokage that badly…"
"Well… what?" Konohamaru demanded as he glared at Naruto, ready to attack him for talking down to him.
"You'll have to defeat me first because I also want to become Hokage," Naruto replied with a confident, somewhat smug grin on his face causing Konohamaru to look at him in surprised astonishment.
Meanwhile, Hiruzen was standing on a balcony of the Hokage Mansion that the Hokage Monument overlooked as he stared up at Minato's face, wondering just what would become of his successor's son now that he was a ninja… well assuming he passed the real test.
"Hokage-sama," Iruka's voice came as he landed on the balcony along with Naruto's friends, "I brought them all as you instructed. So, did Naruto resubmit his ID photo?"
Hiruzen remained silent as he continued to look up at Minato's face. Sakura also looked up at Minato's face and gave a rather audible sneer of disgust, still furious at the Yondaime for his lack of arrangements concerning Naruto.
"You know, after the Mizuki incident I was treated him to ramen at Ichiraku's," Iruka went on with a smile, ignoring the fact that Hiruzen had not answered his question, "He seems determined to win over the approval of the villagers. He believes that by becoming a ninja, he can do that, though he knows that the villagers now probably only hate him even more."
"Yes, I have to agree with you there," Hiruzen said with a sigh as he turned to face the group, shaking his head, "People don't change that easily and some are so stubborn and determined to hang onto their hatred that they may not change at all."
"Excuse me Hokage-sama, but Iruka-sensei said that you wanted to reveal to us why Naruto's hated so much," Choji said as he took a step forward.
"Yes, that is correct," Hiruzen replied with a nod, "Mizuki told Naruto and it devastated him, though thanks to Iruka and the three girls here, he was able to overcome his grief and defeat Mizuki."
"So why is Naruto so hated?" Kiba asked curiously.
Hiruzen's face became seriously stone-hard as he gave the group a stern look.
"I will tell you, but you all must promise me that you won't speak of this to anyone else, is that understood?" he said with a look in his eyes that told them that he only expected one answer, causing them all to nod nervously.
Hiruzen's face then softened somewhat, though there was still a hint of strict sternness in his eyes.
"As you know, twelve years ago, the Kyuubi no Yoko attacked the village, though; to this day, it's unknown as to why it attacked," Hiruzen started to explain, "You were probably told that both my successor and predecessor, the Yondaime Hokage battled the beast, defeating it at the cost of his own life."
Everyone, including Iruka nodded.
"Well, unfortunately, the Kyuubi, as a beast made up of pure chakra could not be killed by any mortal man, so the Yondaime had to find another way to defeat the beast," Hiruzen went on, "And so, he instead sealed the Kyuubi inside a human body and he chose a newborn baby with its umbilical cord freshly cut for this."
"And that baby… it was Naruto?" Kiba asked in stunned shock.
"His own son," Sakura commented bitterly, "He condemned his own son from the moment he was born."
Everyone turned to look at Sakura and Hiruzen's eyes widened in shock.
"I see that you're more resourceful and observant than I first thought Haruno-san; just like your father," he said before his face became serious, "Yes; Naruto was not only the Yondaime's chosen sacrifice; but also his son as he found himself unable to sacrifice the life of a random child if he wasn't prepared to sacrifice his own child. His best friend, Haruno Takeshi begged him to reconsider and volunteered you, Sakura as the Kyuubi's container, but the Yondaime refused."
Sakura's eyes widened at this.
"W-w-what, t-t-tou-an wanted me to carry that burden?" she asked in disbelief as she wondered just how different things would be if it had indeed have been her and not Naruto as the Kyuubi's Jinchuriki.
Hiruzen nodded.
"The Yondaime said, it would have labelled him a hypocrite if he had went along with you as its container," he went on, "Anyway, by containing the beast inside his body, Naruto is a hero to the village as he keeps it at bay; that was the Yondaime's last wish."
"A hero…?" Iruka asked in shock, clearly unaware of this.
"Yes," Hiruzen said with a sigh, "It was the Yondaime's wish that his son would be revered as a hero as he grew up. Unfortunately, as you know; that's not how most of the villagers saw it. Of course, not everyone knows this; just those who fought the beast twelve years ago and the villagers who were there. I decreed that no one was allowed to discuss this… even those who were caught whispering about it were executed. I hoped that since the children of today knew nothing of the Kyuubi and its connection to Naruto, then he would at least find some acceptance."
"Except the adults found ways round it," Sakura commented furiously, "Mizuki said that some parents murdered their children because they wouldn't shut up about it and six years ago when I first befriended Naruto, kaa-chan threatened to kill me if I persisted in looking into it."
"Yes, that is unfortunate," Hiruzen said with a sigh, "Unfortunately, I could not prove anything, so I had no choice but to let them away with it. Anyway the adults' treatment of Naruto was so contemptuous; so hostile that the children sensed their fear and hatred and soon they turned against him as well."
"Not us," Kiba said sternly, "Well, maybe at first, but two years after he befriended those three girls, we started to see him as a person. So what if he has a big-ass oversized bag of fleas inside him? It's not like he's the fox itself. He's too nice and carefree to be a demon."
"That's right, Naruto helped the academy out in dealing with one of its worse bullies; not to mention he refused to kill those he defended himself and others against," Choji put in.
"He's no demon," Shikamaru stated simply, "Demons don't cry."
Ino nodded as she recalled her mother interrupting their first meeting and how Shiori was absolutely livid that her daughter was standing up for him and how, as Ino believed it; was thinking for herself and not obeying her parents like the mindless drone that Shiori believed all children should be… at least that was how Ino envisioned that evil witch of a woman that she had the unfortunate pleasure of calling her mother. At least her father was more understanding and caring.
"I realise that," Hiruzen went on, "You've all sown Naruto kindness and proven to him that there are those who can accept him. However, most of the village don't see him as a human being. Do you all know what the ancients said about such things, do you?"
"No sir, what?" Iruka said, feeling somewhat depressed, knowing that Naruto still had a long way to go before he can be accepted by most of the villagers.
"They say that when people reject a person's very right to exist and then look at that person; their eyes become cold; colder than an ice storm in the coldest winter."
"But I still can't believe that the Yondaime didn't make more arrangement to ensure Naruto-kun's safety," Sakura said, her voice evidently bitter, "He wanted Naruto to be seen as a hero; did he honestly expect that the villagers would agree with that? I guess it's human nature. Sometimes it feels like people don't give a damn who does what; they just feel good just so long as someone is punished and they don't care who it is or whether or not they're guilty or innocent. Just so long as it's someone; facts can go to Hell and about Yondaime-sama's wife, what happened to her?"
Hiruzen groaned, knowing that Sakura now had a bitter hatred of the Yondaime for what happened to his son and he had to admit that Minato did seen to lack foresight for what would happen to Naruto. However, what he didn't tell the group… for their own safety was that he believed that the Civilian Council had manipulated the information that Minato passed on for their own benefit. He didn't tell the group that there were those that wanted Naruto dead for other reasons and were just using Kyuubi as an excuse. It was for their own protection as he knew that the Civilian Council would see them as a threat if they discovered that they knew the truth. Heck, even them knowing about the Yondaime being Naruto's father would put them in danger. The Civilian Council were so determined to seize power for themselves, which Hiruzen believed would lead to them oppressing the entire village just to hang onto their power since he knew they'd eventually become paranoid over losing it.
"I still can't believe that tou-san wanted me to be the Kyuubi's Jinchuriki," Sakura fumed furiously, "But I suppose it would have meant that Naruto-kun would have had a happier life."
"Gee, the Yondaime's son and we didn't know," Kiba said as he remembered seeing pictures of the Yondaime and remembered how much Naruto resembled him, "I can't believe we missed that."
"Yeah, how troublesome," Shikamaru put in.
"I wonder if kaa-chan knows about Naruto-kun's heritage," Sakura said aloud in wonder, "If she does, I hope she realises that she's disrespecting the wishes of her husband's best friend."
"Naruto-san's going to need all the support he can get," Shino commented simply, "And we'll be there to give it to him."
Later, back in the forest clearing, both Naruto and Konohamaru were alerted by the sound of feet landing on a tree branch behind them, causing them both to turn and look up to see Ebisu looking down on them.
"I found you," he said to Konohamaru and then noticed Naruto and shot him a contemptuous ice-cold glare.
"The Kyuubi…!" he thought furiously.
Naruto just groaned furiously as he returned Ebisu's glare.
"It's that same ice-cold glare again," he thought, feeling rather upset and agitated, "It always seems that no matter what, they all look at me like that."
Ebisu jumped off the tree and decided to deal with Konohamaru before dealing with Naruto.
"Omago-sama, it's time to go home, back to the village," he said as he started to walk towards Konohamaru, "You really mustn't hang out with this lowlife ruffian; he's not even subhuman; he's even lower than dirt."
"Why don't you come and say that to my face you blind bozo!" Naruto thought as he glared dangerously at the sunglasses-wearing idiot, sending a wave of killing intent his way.
Ebisu suddenly stopped and shuddered as he felt the wave of killer intent hit him as he felt rather threatened by it, but he just regained his composure and shrugged it off while shoot Naruto a boastful glare as if to say, "You can't touch me".
"Get lost!" Konohamaru shouted furiously at him, "I'm training so I can become the next Hokage, so don't get in my way."
"Omago-sama, you must realise that a Hokage is more than just another ninja, he must not honour, wisdom and he must be skilled in over a thousand jutsu," Ebisu went on, not in the least bit put off by his student's rant, "I doubt you even know how to perform even one jutsu."
Konohamaru groaned and then formed a hand seal.
"Henge!" he shouted.
He then burst into smoke and transformed into an older long-haired female version of himself; totally in the nude with smoke covering "her" more intimate areas.
"Hi there, like what you see?" the female Konohamaru asked in a girl's voice with a seductive tone.
Ebisu screamed in pure shock and disbelief as his mouth hung open, though it was clear he was fighting the urge to give in to his perverted side; something that Naruto was aware of and it caused his face to light him in a devious grin.
"I know what'll bring this guy down," he thought with a snigger.
The female Konohamaru then burst into smoke, revealing the real Konohamaru, who looked at Ebisu in surprise and disappointment.
"Hey, what gives, I thought that was supposed to defeat him," he said, clearly not too pleased with Ebisu's reaction.
"W-W-WHAT SORT OF DISGUSTING DISPLAY IS THAT!" he shouted at the top of his voice as his hands were out in front of him and his fingers bent and twitched before he regained his composure.
"Oh I'm sorry Konohamaru," Naruto said in a mockingly apologetic tone, "But it seems that this guy isn't really into girls. I think he likes to get in bed with other men."
"WWWWHHHHAAAATTTT!" Ebisu screamed in pure outrage at what Naruto was implying.
"That's so freakin' gross," Konohamaru said with a cringe as he believed he turned a shade of green just thinking about the implications of Naruto's statement.
"I'M NOT GAY!" Ebisu screamed, still outraged before taking a few deep breaths and calmed down, "You're sadly mistaken heathen boy. Such obscene vulgarity cannot influence me. I'm far above all that."
He then grabbed Konohamaru scarf and started pulling at it in order to drag Konohamaru away, but Konohamaru tried walking in the opposite direction and started throwing his fists out in front of him.
"Omago-sama, this thing is turning you into a mini-heathen," Ebisu said as he tried to pull, but Konohamaru resisted with equal force, "Only by following my instructions and my tutelage will you find the quickest shortcut to becoming Hokage. You can't let this piece of garbage influence you."
"Beat it four-eyes!" Konohamaru shouted as he still struggled against his so-called tutor, "Just leave me alone!"
"Tajuu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Naruto's voice came, causing Ebisu and Konohamaru to stop as the entire area seemed to fill with smoke.
Naruto had obviously had had enough of this so-called sensei's interference and seeing how unhappy Konohamaru was; decided to do something about it. When the smoke cleared, the whole area was filled with Naruto's kage bunshins.
"Ha!" Ebisu said smugly as he walked to a clear spot among the kage bunshins, "You think you can intimidate my with that overrated jutsu."
"Wow, this is so cool," Konohamaru said as his face burst into excitement and he started moving his arms up and down in front of him excitedly as he mentally cheered Naruto on.
"I'm not in the least bit impressed," Ebisu went on dismissive as he dropped into a fighting stance, "So you can perform a kinjutsu without feeling the effects of its weaknesses, ha! Big deal, I know why that is. So then, come on then and I'll show you how a true ninja, a jonin defeats a stain in this world's existence. You'll find that I'm a totally different game from that insect, Mizuki. He's a peon compared to me."
"Man, does this guy like hearing himself speak or what?" Naruto thought as he brought his hands together and formed a hand seal.
"Henge!" he shouted as his kage bunshins all formed the same hand seal.
"HENGE!" they all shouted in unison and Naruto and the kage bunshins all burst into smoke, leaving Ebisu stunned at what they were planning.
However, when the smoke cleared, in their place was the older nude female version of Naruto; all of them assuming the same form.
Ebisu's bottom jaw dropped down to the ground as he looked on in shock, unable to resist the urge to ignore them and if that wasn't enough, all the female Narutos rushed him and grabbed him and touched and groped him all over while saying seductive comments to him. Try as he might, he just couldn't resist and blood suddenly gushed out of his nose and he involuntarily took a huge leap backwards. Unfortunately, he landed crotch-first with his legs on either side of a log, causing the kage bunshins, the real Naruto and Konohamaru to wince as they witnessed the impact.
"Ooh, that's gotta hurt," Konohamaru said quietly as he couldn't help but almost feel a small pang of sympathy for his so-called trainer.
However, Ebisu was so overwhelmed be the image of the female Narutos having their way with him that Naruto wouldn't be surprised if he wasn't aware of the pain between his legs… yet.
"Gotcha with my Haremu no Jutsu," Naruto said as he cancelled the henge with his arms crossed in front of him, striking a pose as the kage bunshins all burst into smoke, disappearing as they were no longer needed.
In his office, Hiruzen saw the whole thing in his crystal ball and it only caused him to groan in annoyance as his expression became one of revulsion.
"Great, he's combined kage bunshins with his own invention, the Oiroke no Jutsu," he said as he shook his head in disgust, "What a vulgar display to show my grandson."
"And he'd probably get me with it to," he added in his thoughts as he remembered how easily he had given into his perverted side the last two times, as well as so many numerous times in the past.
He then looked up at the entrance of the office to see Haruno Fuhei standing just inside the room looking at the crystal ball with an expression of absolute shock as the colour was completely drained from her face.
"J-j-j-just like…" she stuttered, unable to string her words together as she remembered an incident not long after she had graduated from the academy.
Twenty-three years ago
Thirteen-year-old Kakuyoku Fuhei was rather excited. Namikaze Minato, the best student in class had wanted to talk to her. It was after their graduation and though they were not on the same three-man team, Fuhei was rather content with that. At least that troublemaker from Uzu no Kuni, Uzumaki Kushina wasn't on "her" Minato's team and she was content knowing that and to make matters better, Minato's jonin sensei was Jiraiya of the Densetsu no Sannin. It had been something of a victory for her. Neither she nor that prankster she-demon where on Minato's team and that made everything else more bearable.
"I wonder what Minato-kun wants to talk to me about," Fuhei thought rather excitedly, completely ignoring the fact that it had been Kushina that had told her that Minato had sent her to look for her.
She had been suspicious at first, but as soon as Kushina had mentioned Minato's name, all her suspicions went down the drain as all she could think about was Minato and formulated possibly scenarios in her head that involved them both going out on a date and eventually getting married as in her mind, Minato would chose her and her alone. It was her dream come true as far as she was concerned and nothing could possibly ruin it.
Skipping along the corridor of the Ninja Academy happily, she reached the room that Kushina had said Minato was waiting in.
"Minato-kun!" she said excitedly as she opened to door and walked in and was surprised to find that the room was empty. However, before she could contemplate this, she noticed a bucket hanging over her head and before she could react, the bucket tilted and poured its contents down on the unsuspecting girl; a type of green liquid that had started to eat away at her clothes.
"W-w-w-what?" she said as she looked in horrified shock as her clothes started to vanish; like someone was pulling at a loose threat and was causing the whole thing to unravel.
She suddenly heard the familiar laughter of a certain girl who she knew was responsible.
"I gotcha good," the voice of said girl said as she continued to laugh as Fuhei spun round to glare at her.
Present
Fuhei remembered seeing the finger of the girl pointing at her as she laughed. That had been the most hurtful and humiliating experience she had ever experienced in her entire life. She remembered that she had been too afraid to go outdoors for a whole month as she had been made a laughing stock. She had felt so exposed and violated back then and the pain was unbearable and to top it off, the culprit never apologised and outright avoided her afterwards. It had taken her a good few months before she had recovered from that incident completely, but seeing Naruto and his vulgar display through the Sandaime's crystal ball had brought those memories she had struggled to so much bury in the deepest reaches of her mind so many years ago coming to the surface. In fact; his graffiti of the Hokage Monument a few days ago had brought those memories to the surface and now she found herself experiencing the same sort of pain she had experienced back then… of how her clothes had been eaten away by that special acid that dissolved her clothes and left her in her birthday suit. It had been embarrassing and humiliating and to have the culprit laugh at her like it was all a joke was what she found most hurtful.
"T-t-they're the same," she thought as she clenched her eyes shut and shook her head before turning on her heal and walking out the door.
"I-I-I-I'm s-s-sorry Hokage-s-s-sama, b-b-b-but I h-h-h-have to c-come back later," she stuttered, on the verge of tears, "I-I-I r-r-r-really n-n-need to be a-a-alone."
Hiruzen sighed as Fuhei stormed out the office and closed the door with an almighty slam. He had called Fuhei to his office to clear up the matter of her threatening her daughter six years ago after Sakura announced that she had threatened to kill her when she persisted in finding out the truth about Naruto. He remembered Sakura mentioning it during their meeting in which he revealed the truth to Naruto's friends.
"Naruto, you may have the appearance of your father, but you have the same troublesome unpredictable personality as your mother," he said with a sigh as he used his crystal ball to observe Fuhei who was running out of the building with tears in her eyes, "Unfortunately, I fear that you've hurt Haruno-san a lot more than you've realised with your graffiti a few days earlier and now again, though this time it was unintentional. However, I doubt she'll see it that way."
Back in the forest clearing, Konohamaru looked on in amazement after witnessing Naruto defeat his so-called trainer and then upon realising his own failure, he started to throw a temper tantrum.
"Damn it, I failed to defeat him again, just like all those other times!" he screamed as he started jumping up and down furiously, "All I want is for people to acknowledge me for who I am and not my grandfather. Why? Why can't I get it? I want it right now, right now"
"Wow, wow there squirt," Naruto said, holding his hands up in front of him as he tried to calm the eight-year-old down, "You think you can just get something just because you want it. Get real, you can't just get something just because you want it and expect it to be handed to you. In life, no one gets everything they want. The Hokage is the most respected shinobi in the village. As for me, I was the most hated person in the village. My life was one bad situation after another and I admit, I was tempted to just give up. However, I then started making friends; even an adult and even then; even though he believed in me and treated me like I was a human being, he was very hard to win over. So are you ready to make a commitment?"
"A commitment?" Konohamaru said in confusion.
"Yeah; everybody… and I do mean everybody has the utmost respect for the title of Hokage-sama."
Konohamaru just stared at him in confusion and opened his mouth to speak.
"So, you get it yet, squirt?" Naruto said as he turned his head back to face him with a carefree grin, "There are no shortcuts to becoming Hokage. You really have to work hard and train. If you want to become Hokage, you'll have to earn it."
Konohamaru's eyes widened in shock as he remembered Naruto's earlier declaration.
"You'll have to defeat me first because I also want to become Hokage," he remembered Naruto saying and then he reached an epiphany and then glared at Naruto.
"Just who do you think you are trying to lecture me?" he said in a demanding tone, surprising Naruto, though he did not feel in the least bit insulted, "I'm not longer going to be your apprentice; from now on, consider me your archrival."
He then laughed at Naruto and Naruto smiled back.
"Well, it's gonna be difficult for you since I already have a head start on you," Naruto said boastfully, though there was a hint of friendliness mixed in, letting Konohamaru know that Naruto wasn't talking down to him, "I'm always gonna be one step closer to my destiny, but hey… maybe someday, we can fight to see which one of us gets to become Hokage and I don't intend to lose to a shrimp like you. I'll be looking forward to it… Konohamaru."
"Huh?" Konohamaru wondered in amazement, surprised that Naruto had addressed him by his name and not omago-sama or those other insulting names.
Back in the Hokage's office, Hiruzen watched the scene through his crystal ball with a smile on his face.
"It's going to be a long and difficult path for you if you really want to become a true shinobi," he thought seriously, though the smile never left his face, "I see great challenges and tribulations ahead for you Naruto. If both you and my grandson both want to become Hokage, it may not be as easy you think, but I know that you'll find a way to reach it and I'm impressed that you've managed to keep your vow on how you would never kill anyone. Unfortunately, now that you're a shinobi, you may have no choice but to break that vow and the question is Naruto, can you really bring yourself to do it?"
Glossary
Kabuki – Traditional highly stylised classical Japanese dance-drama
Nuke-nin – Missing Ninja
Haremu no Jutsu – Harem Technique (Oiroke no Jutsu with kage bunshins)
Taicho – Captain (can also be used as a suffix)
Omago-sama – Honourable grandson (Omago means royal grandson and we all know what the sama suffix means; the utmost respect for someone who is higher in rank)
Jii-san – Grandfather (the san suffix is used as a sign of respect)
Author's note – Another chapter done and before I get started I just want to say that last chapter, I got a bit mixed up. It's not this week I leave for Calais, it's next week, I leave on the Tuesday and come back on the Thursday just as I mentioned, last chapter, just that it's next week, so sorry about that. I got mixed up with the dates. Next chapter will be team selection and I have to admit that I'm a bit stuck as to what I want. Do I do Naruto with the canon team 7 to really test Sasuke's patience or do I do something else entirely? I have a few ideas buzzing about my head concerning that. By the way, I forgot to mention, last chapter when Inner Sakura cheered Naruto on while he was beating up Mizuki, did anyone know which movie I got her dialogue in her cheering from? Anyway, as you can see, I had a mixture of canon scenes from both the anime and manga and original scenes (One original scene with elements added to Iruka's meeting with the Sandaime when he explained to the "rookie 9" about Naruto and Kyuubi). As for Fuhei near the end, I just wanted to include her more, as that incident twenty-three years ago will be part of the main reasons behind her hatred of Naruto and can anyone guess who I based her delusional mind on during that flashback… it's so obvious. Anyway, the latest manga's not out yet, but if the spoilers are right, then Naruto's become rather stupid as his third option involves both him and Sasuke… I won't say anymore as I don't want to spoil it. Anyway, on a side note, if I discover mistakes on previous chapters, I go back and sort as many of them out as I can or if I discovered a word I missed, I go and put it up in the end-of-chapter Glossary I put at the end of each chapter for know Japanese words and also, in future, if I don't update for a long time and the fic's still up on the site, then fear not; I haven't abandoned the fic. You'll know if I abandon a fic as I will take it down off the site unless it's finished. However, I don't plan on doing that with this fic anytime soon.