Co-Created by: Nwandu225 and oonyekaba
We do not own the rights to Naruto, all credit goes to Kishimoto.
A/N (Nwandu225): Here's the next chapter! Reviews and Comments are wanted and needed!
Chapter 3: The Reborn Uzumaki
As Naruto sat at the breakfast table, he couldn't help but wonder what the Kyubi had just pulled last night.
"They were just genjutsu… but how… they felt so real…" said Naruto, thinking out loud.
"YAWN… oh, mornin' gaki. Ready for another day of training?" asked the demon fox, with a wide grin.
"Kyubi… please stop the pleasantries." muttered Naruto.
The demon fox fell silent, knowing what was to come.
"Kyubi… what have you been doing to me? What were those dreams? What are you planning?" asked Naruto, his anger rising.
Still silence.
"Kyubi! I have to know!" yelled Naruto, almost at his breaking point.
"Genjutsus. I've been putting you in genjutsus while you sleep." answered the Kyubi.
"But why didn't you tell me? Did I not have a right to know?!" asked Naruto, incredulously.
"Exactly. You shouldn't know. When a genjutsu is casted, 100% of the time you WON'T know when it'll happen. Which is why I did it in your dreams. So you can prepare for when you're hit by a real one. Your dreams were the safest bet, and because of that you were able to learn the dispelling technique pretty well." explained the Kyubi.
"Dispelling technique?" asked Naruto, curious.
"Yes, when an enemy casts a genjutsu against you, they launch foreign chakra into your chakra coils, and if it takes root, they can use their control of your internal chakra system to mess with your nervous system, affecting your sight, touch, hearing, smell, and even taste. To break a genjutsu, a shinobi needs to concentrate all of their chakra to the core or their chakra network and release it in a burst to expel the invasive chakra. Thanks to my Sakura dream, your anger helped you to execute the technique." answered the Kyubi.
"So… none of that was real… you were only training me?" asked Naruto, while flashbacks of last night's dream played in his head.
"Yes, it's only training. But, I also wanted you to think about the realization that you had when Sakura confessed to you. Think about how you always pine for her, and yet she always rejects you, scorns you, hits you, and has that idiotic fangirl obsession over the Uchiha brat. Is she even worth it?" asked the Kyubi, with a grim expression.
The Uzumaki looked to be in deep thought, remembering all of his attempts to get onto the pink-haired girls good side, and seeing how foolish he was in his pursuit of her love.
"You're right, Sakura is not even worth it. I need to rid myself of my obsession over her and move on to what's more important, maybe down the line I'll find someone who actually respects me." said Naruto, saddened but understanding.
"That Hyuga girl already has a thing for you, and I have a better opinion of her than that pink-haired fangirl. But I'll let you figure out that conundrum later." thought the Kyubi.
Alright… what's on the agenda?" asked the Uzumaki.
The demon's face or… snout formed a maniacal grin and replied, "We… are going to up the ante. We're gonna start an even more grueling training regimen. Are you ready, gaki?"
The boy remained silent for a while, thinking over the beast's words, before meeting the gaze of the most powerful of bijuu with sheer determination etched in his expression.
"Let's get going." said Naruto, before initiating mental training once more.
(Week 10 of training (out of 12 or three months)…)
"HAJIME!" roared the Kyubi, signaling the beginning of the sparring match.
The young Uzumaki slowly circled around the edge of clearing, about 50 meters in diameter, as the wind whistled in the air. The grass rustled under his bare feet as he closed in on his opponent.
The normal Naruto would have already rushed his opponent, before having his face become intimate with the ground, but this was not the same Naruto. Along with becoming much more analytical and tactical in combat (because of the Kyubi beating some common sense into the boy), the blonde Uzumaki was several inches taller than he was before nearly three months prior, standing at the height or even taller than his male classmates. Lean, sinewy muscles were all that composed Naruto's well-built frame, thanks to the harsh training that the boy endured.
For the past two weeks, the Kyubi had Naruto spar with a special fighting partner to help his pupil gain experience in combat, and since then the painful beatings that Naruto had endured from the Kyubi's helper before he progressed enough in skill to beat them had filled the boy with nothing but fear.
For what better opponent would there be than yourself, one that contained all of your inner demons, and thanks to that this guy would not be an easy win.
"Alright gaki, it took a while but yesterday you finally defeated a level 3 training clone. This guy is a level 4, stronger than before, so you better be on your toes and avoid getting your ass whooped, you understand?!" barked the Kyubi.
"Yeah , yeah, I get it. I'll be careful." grumbled the Uzumaki, watching the clone very closely.
"Kyubi's right though, each level of clones is worse than the last and they can whoop ass if you're not careful. I don't want things to end up like level 3 did… uhh god…" thought Naruto.
Painful memories flashed as he remembered the brutal beating he received from the level 3, before he finally outdid it in battle.
Noticing that his opponent was shuddering, the fighting clone began its insults.
"Worried about last fight, eh? Don't worry, I'll beat you even harder than he did! Get ready, for a good old-fashioned ass kicking!" mocked the clone, while adopting an attacking stance.
"Hah! You think that hurt? Compared to what Kyubi does to me during training, that felt like a bunch of hugs. I'm not gonna lose to you, understand?!" countered Naruto, firing himself up.
The fighting clone sneered before charging the Uzumaki, and Naruto entered a defensive stance waiting for the exchange to begin.
Naruto's opponent began the fight with a series of jabs that the Uzumaki shifted his head to avoid, before following up with a right hook. However, Naruto got inside of the clone's strike and brought up an arm to block, before countering with a straight punch to the gut.
The clone sidestepped to avoid the blow and launched a sweeping kick to knock Naruto off his footing. Naruto was a step ahead however and jumped upwards to avoid the attack and counter with a vicious airborne hook-kick to the temple.
The clone ducked to dodge the airborne hook-kick, before performing a series of backflips to gain some distance, but Naruto pursued to press his advantage.
Naruto attempted a low side-kick to the shin to trip up his opponent, but the clone shuffled backwards a bit to avoid, before it proceeded to hastily deflect Naruto's back-fist strike with a palm, inside block Naruto's jabs to the face, and then duck under Naruto's right hook to the temple.
The clone landed a frontal side-kick to Naruto's abdomen, catching the blonde off-guard, and sending him flying backwards into the ground.
Naruto quickly rolled out of the way to avoid the axe-kick that the clone launched at him to end the fight, and countered with a backwards sweeping kick to knock the clone off its footing, but to no avail.
The Uzumaki used the momentum of his sweeping kick to follow up with a windmill kick to force the clone backwards and gain some distance, before jumping back up on his feet.
However, as soon as Naruto got back to his feet, the clone came in with a clothesline to the neck and slammed him back into the ground. The clone then followed up with a hard stomp to Naruto's chest, knocking the wind from him.
"Bad move kid." snickered the clone, with his foot planted on the Uzumaki's chest.
The clone grabbed the boy by the neck, before landing a vicious haymaker to Naruto's chin, sending him skidding across the field. Naruto regained control by digging his hands in the ground to stop his skidding and then re-entered his defensive stance, waiting for the clone's next move.
The clone pursued and came flying in with a side-kick, but Naruto countered by grabbing the clone's foot. The Uzumaki spun his opponent around to get him dizzy before pulling it close and slamming an elbow into its gut, sending it to the ground and knocking the wind out of it. Naruto grabbed both of the clone's ankles and spun it around once more to gain momentum, before proceeding to throw it into a nearby rock formation.
The clone quickly recovered and charged Naruto again, ducking under Naruto's prepared haymaker and tackled the Uzumaki to the ground. The clone hopped onto Naruto's chest and launched a vicious volley of jabs at the Uzumaki's face.
Naruto had just enough time to raise his arms to guard against the strikes, before using one of his legs to kick the clone in the back, sending its face right into Naruto's headbut. The clone flipped backwards painfully from the impact, landing on its head before flopping on its back.
Dazed, the clone was unable to stop Naruto from dropping onto him and throwing rapid jabs at its face, like the clone had done before to Naruto. The clone broke the attack however, by rolling over, knocking Naruto off of him and landing a painful upwards back-kick to Naruto's solar plexus, sending the boy flying backwards.
Naruto recovered by doing a one-handed cartwheel to land on his feet, but when the Uzumaki raised his head he saw dozens of shuriken flying at him. At first the projectiles seemed to have hit home, but the Naruto that it hit turned into a log, the result of a perfectly executed Kawarimi without hand-seals.
The sparring clone shocked at the turn of events, frantically looked for its prey but was blindsided the pain of several shuriken piercing its back. Naruto reappeared out of nowhere with incredible speed and launched a brutal roundhouse kick to the clone's abdomen, sending the clone flying into the ground once more.
Quickly, Naruto pulled out a kunai from his combat pouch and slit the clone's neck, finally ending the fight.
"Phew… ow…" groaned Naruto, feeling the pain of his injuries after the adrenaline of combat faded.
The Kyubi, who was spectating the fight, whistled in pride, thoroughly impressed with the match.
"Yes. A job well done, gaki. No hesitation in that kill, like a true shinobi. That's how you should be fighting. You could've ended the fight faster, though. I was starting to get bored." congratulated the demon fox.
Naruto, upon hearing that, stared at his 'sensei' with a slightly annoyed glare.
"Oh, I'm sorry Kyubi-sensei! I didn't mean to bore you while I tried to keep myself from being stomped into the floor like last time! Don't worry, next time I'll make sure to get my ass handed faster for your own entertainment!" said Naruto, with obvious sarcasm in his voice.
"Aw! Why, thanks kid! Nothing makes me happier than watching your ass get torn open by one of my creations! It makes me feel so proud!" boasted the Kyubi, with small tears growing in it's eyes.
"Shut up Kyubi-sensei!" growled Naruto.
"Did you just growl at me, AGAIN?!" snarled the fox, in a dangerous tone.
"Nope!" squeaked the Uzumaki, realizing his error of speech.
"Cause I'm pretty sure you just did, gaki…" growled the demon fox, while releasing a good amount of its killing intent.
The boy stood paralyzed with fear. As the fox's killer intent struck the boy's squeals rang through the sky.
"KYUBI-SENSEI YAMATE!" apologized Naruto.
"Alright kid, time to move on to ninjutsu training. Let's try to reduce the amount of clones that you make with the Bunshin." said the Kyubi.
"Hai!" said Naruto in approval, his knees wobbling in fear.
The past two months had been an excruciating period of time, as the Kyubi had amped up Naruto's training, but the results were worth it.
On the day of training that followed Naruto's dispelling of his first genjutsu, the Kyubi had immediately increased the difficulty of the Uzumaki's physical conditioning.
The aerobics workout where Naruto had to run 10 miles in an hour, was increased to 30 miles, and the boy had to run while a massive boulder was tied to his waist. The Kyubi every so often would launch projectiles at Naruto to make him run faster.
The arms workout recieved the same treatment, the weights that Naruto was lifting were tripled and the amount of reps was increased as well. Then for the pull-up exercises, Naruto had to do it one-handed, while his other arm was tied to his back.
For the core workout, the weights were increased substantially as well, and for the push-ups Naruto at first had to do them one-handed and then he had to do handstand push-ups, balancing the weights on his feet while pushing off of a pole that hovered over the bed of burning coals.
For the legs workout, the weights were obviously increased as well as the amounts, but now he had to complete the exercises while balancing off of tight-rope wires connected to different trees. The suicide exercises changed from him shuffling or jumping from point A to B on the ground to the trees.
For the flexibility workout the stretches were held for longer with more weights being supported, WHILE balancing above obstacles like for the legs workout.
For the acrobatics workouts, the Kyubi instead of launching his normal array of projectiles, was actually using MEDIEVAL SIEGE WEAPONS to launch wall-shattering projectiles at his pupil. Also, Naruto had to practice jumping out of holes, with their depths increasing every time he was able to get out in one leap.
One major area of improvement was Naruto's chakra control, he went from being unable to mold chakra properly to form a bunshin, to gaining the chakra control of a jonin, easily surpassing Sakura's skill.
For weeks 3 & 4, the Kyubi had Naruto work on the Leaf Concentration exercise to improve his chakra control. While at first the leaf would constantly blast off his forehead, Naruto was eventually able to master the technique, using his newfound chakra control to make the leaf calmly hover over his forehead and spin either clockwise or counterclockwise.
Then, the Kyubi had Naruto move on to the Tree Walking exercise and the Uzumaki realized how far the bar had raised. At first, Naruto had to get a running start up the tree and even still it took a week of him either flying off the tree from applying too much chakra under his sole and splitting the bark, or using too little and falling to the ground.
Using a kunai to mark his progress, after the fifth week of training Naruto was able to use his chakra to keep him glued to the tree long enough to run up it. But before the Uzumaki could celebrate, the Kyubi burst his bubble by saying, "Congratulations you have master tree running now its time to master tree walking."
Another week would pass, bringing the length of time that had passed since Naruto had started training to six weeks, before he gained the chakra control to slowly and calmly walk up a large tree and even walk upside down on the tree's branches. However, the Kyubi grew proud of his pupil, he was making great swathes of progress and had already transformed himself from the knucklehead dobe that he once was.
The next chakra control exercise that Naruto would learn from the Kyubi was the water walking technique. Thinking that the water walking training would be easy, the Uzumaki applied chakra to his soles like for tree walking and jumped onto the surface of the lake, thinking that he would stand. However, he crashed straight into the water much to his sensei's amusement. The Kyubi explained to the drenched Uzumaki that for the water walking exercise, the amount and shape of the chakra under his soles must constantly change to match the surface of the body of water's changes.
After another two weeks of crashing and falling into the water, Naruto finally mastered water walking to the point that he didn't even have to consciously think about it, and with the gained chakra control he could run, skate, and slide across the water without going under.
Thinking that he had finished all of the chakra control exercises that were stated in the chakra control exercise scroll that he bought, Naruto celebrated, but the boy should have learnt by now that the Kyubi doesn't teach only by the book. The Kyubi lead Naruto to a waterfall and told the boy that his final chakra control exercise was to walk up the massive natural feature.
At first Naruto looked at his sensei like he was crazy, but when he saw the serious (with a slightly amused grin) facial expression of the demon fox, Naruto sighed and got to it. The waterfall walking technique was a combination of the tree walking and water walking exercises, it incorporated the vertical path of the tree and the shifting surface of water, but it's difficulty was several times greater than either or.
The waterfall walking technique required a massive amount of chakra to keep his feet glued to the rushing water, but he also had to change its shape constantly because of the flowing water, and it proved to be a difficult challenge, leading to the Kyubi having to save Naruto dozens of times from falling to his death. But eventually, after two more long weeks of perseverance and dedication, the Uzumaki mastered waterfall running and then walking.
Another major point of improvement for Naruto was the reforming of his abysmal taijutsu skills. The Kyubi wasted no time reforming Naruto's Fist of the Drunken Sailor fighting style and started with the absolute basics.
The third and fourth weeks of training included Naruto mastering all of the different types of punches, hand-strikes, elbow-strikes, kicks, knee-strikes, grappling maneuvers, and blocking techniques in the beginner through advanced Academy taijutsu scrolls. Hours upon hours were spent practicing the same move over and over again to burn it into Naruto's mental and muscle memory.
The rock-filled punching bags and the trees were used to help Naruto build up a resistance to pain when hitting hard objects or well put-up guards. The Kyubi threw rubber balls at Naruto to help him practice dodging and or blocking attacks.
Then the next month was spent using the different moves and techniques that Naruto memorized and forming them into effective combos, forms, and katas. At first, Naruto practiced the forms depicted in the Academy taijutsu scrolls, but eventually the Kyubi tasked the boy with creating his own.
However, the biju quickly realized that the best way to get better in hand-to-hand combat is by sparring. So using his youki chakra and the infinite imaginative abilities of the mindscape, the demon fox created a sparring clone that looked like exactly like Naruto, except for its black and red eyes.
The demon fox arranged the sparring clones into levels from 1-9, signifying their difficulty to beat, the higher the level, the more chakra it received from the biju making it faster, stronger, and smarter.
The next two weeks were spent to have Naruto get used to real-time combat, and at first even though Naruto had memorized dozens of forms and maneuvers, he didn't know how to properly use them in a fight, and therefore got the snot beaten out of him by a level 1 clone.
After a few days however, Naruto quickly became accustomed to timing his attacks and blocks, turning the tables on the level 1 clone and defeating it in a fierce fight. Since then, the Uzumaki worked on improving his timing and reading his opponents moves against the higher level sparring clones.
The biggest point of improvement for Naruto however was his improved ability with ninjutsu. The Kyubi had Naruto wait to start ninjutsu training until the last month, so that he could work on his chakra control. Once Naruto mastered water walking however, the Kyubi began the Uzumaki's training in earnest.
For the first two days, the Kyubi had Naruto work on memorizing all of the different hand-seals that represented animals, and improving his speed in forming them. Soon Naruto was able to make 20 hand-seals in less than 5 seconds, and the biju let the boy go to work on mastering the Academy ninjutsu.
The first one that Naruto was put to work on was the Kawarimi (Substitution) jutsu, because the demon fox believed that it was the most useful and practical jutsu for combat out of all three. The Kawarimi allowed the user to switch places with a nearby object if threatened with a danger inescapable through normal means.
Thanks to Naruto's newfound mastery of chakra control, his first attempt at substituting with an object was successful, the Uzumaki was able to switch places with a log that the Kyubi placed two meters behind him. The Kyubi, pleased with his pupil's progress, had him practice substituting with objects farther away and in a shorter time.
After five days, Naruto mastered the Kawarimi to the extent that he could substitute with any object half a kilometer away (500 meters) and without hand-seals, thanks to his increased comfortability with the molding of chakra for a substitution.
The next Academy jutsu that the Kyubi had Naruto practice was the Henge (Transformation) jutsu. This jutsu while not as combat effective as the Kawarimi in the Kyubi's opinion, its tactical possibilities for intelligence gathering and confusing an enemy by disguising one's self makes it a useful technique.
Naruto already had experience with the Henge because of his Sexy jutsu, so the Kyubi had the boy work on impersonating a common civilian, council-member, bandit, chunin ninja, samurai, and the Hokage as they would be the people he would most likely need to impersonate to escape an unfavorable position.
Another two days were spent on improving the speed at which the jutsu was utilized and the accuracy and detail of the impersonations, even replicating voices. Thanks to the constant practice, Naruto was able to perform the Henge without hand-seals, due to his increased familiarity with molding chakra for a transformation.
The final Academy jutsu that the Kyubi had Naruto practice was the boy's mortal enemy during his failures in the Genin exams, the Bunshin jutsu. The problem with the technique was that the jutsu made an intangible clone that doesn't have a shadow or causes physical effects, practically an opaque astral projection which requires a miniscule amount of chakra.
For someone like Naruto, who at this point has as much chakra as a Kage at maximum power in their prime, the amount of chakra required to perform the technique is way too little for Naruto to be able to proportion. Naruto can't overpower the technique with chakra without creating way too many clones, unlike the Kawarimi which would allow him to substitute over longer distances and the Henge which would allow the transformation to last longer and have more detail.
Thankfully, with Naruto's new and vastly improved chakra control, the Uzumaki was able to make healthy clones, the problem was that he made 3000 clones, when a normal Academy student would have made 3 from the same proportion of their chakra. The Kyubi face-palmed hard when he saw the amount of work that his pupil would have to do to reduce that number significantly. For Naruto, trying to make 3 basic clones was like trying to fill a toothpaste cap with water through a thin straw from a 10 gallon jug, practically impossible unless you have impeccable chakra control, one that surpasses a Kage's.
Naruto persevered however and along with persistent practice with the Bunshin jutsu for nearly two weeks and mastery of the waterfall walking exercise, Naruto reduced the amount of clones that he made from 3000 to 600, an amazing feat but still far away from the goal of the maximum of ten clones for the Genin exam.
Another skill that Naruto worked on over the past two months was bukijutsu (shuriken and kunai techniques), and the boy came a long way in improving his aim, the distance he could launch projectiles, his trap making skills, and his close combat with kunai. Naruto started his bukijutsu practice on the third month of his training to build up his physical strength and dexterity from his physical conditioning workouts and chakra control from his success in the water-walking exercise.
For the first three days, Naruto worked on his aim, the Kyubi constantly making him focus, practice on throwing the correct way, and to extend his consciousness around him to notice subtle changes in the wind that would alter his projectiles' mark. However, thanks to the focusing skills he gained during the workouts that required balancing and or dodging, he took to shuriken and kunai launching like bread to butter, easily hitting the bulls-eye on the targets from ten meters away.
The Kyubi, satisfied with the boy's skill in focusing, had Naruto spend the next two days working on the distance that he could throw shuriken and kunai. Once again, thanks to the massive increases in strength, speed, and dexterity, gained from his physical conditioning, Naruto was able to hit the bulls-eyes on targets, starting at 200 meters and up a kilometer after three days of bukijutsu training.
After finishing shuriken and kunai throwing, Naruto spent the next two days working on preparing traps for enemy shinobi. Actually, Naruto was a genius in this regard because of his pranking history which led to him easily being able to think of ideas and put them into action like making ditches and holes, while covering them with foliage to hide their presence. Priming shuriken and kunai to fly at a pinpointed location if a wire was tripped, and have a slingshot full of projectiles ready to launch once triggered by the trap-maker throwing a kunai to cut the restricting wire.
Thoroughly impressed by Naruto's quick progress with bukijutsu, the Kyubi had Naruto work on one last thing, close-range kunai combat. For the next week Naruto practiced how to hold the kunai in combat, backhand style for attacking and forehand style for defense and how to properly perform slashes, stabs, thrusts, parries, and guards.
The final part of Naruto's basic training with the Kyubi was detecting and dispelling genjutsu. After the Uzumaki dispelled the Sakura dream, the Kyubi amped up the genjutsu training, first having the boy practice focusing chakra in his core and releasing it in a burst, while shouting "Kai!" to repel foreign chakra.
Naruto spent a good two weeks working on the dispelling technique until the boy could easily do it at will, even in the heat of combat. Next, the Kyubi subjected Naruto to hundreds of different genjutsu, some having sensory effects to distract you during combat or some that showed you terrible scenes and memories to mess with your emotions.
The Uzumaki spent a month working on being to withstand the effects of genjutsu techniques and how to detect them by sensing small shifts in the flow of his internal chakra network. While the training had excellent results thanks to Naruto's well-trained awareness and preparedness for genjutsu along with the Kyubi's immunity to the art, making the Uzumaki the last person you'd want to try a genjutsu on, it also had a negative psychological effect on the boy.
The nightmare genjutsus that the Kyubi subjected him to were often graphic displays of violence, blood, and killing, desensitizing the Uzumaki to even the most gruesome of deaths, and sometimes the genjutsus replayed the darkest of Naruto's memories from when he was mistreated, humiliated, or attacked by the Konoha villagers.
This caused Naruto to become very stoic, cold, and a little bloodthirsty (unless he was around the Kyubi), a stark change from his noisy and outgoing personality barely three months prior. Also, the boy grew an almost loathing opinion of the villagers of Konoha. Even though Naruto still wanted to become Hokage to change the situation for future jinchuriki, the Uzumaki began to despise the entire population of Konoha, save for a handful, more and more.
All in all however, the Kyubi's training was a complete success.
Uzumaki Naruto was reborn, and the whole world would soon be taken by storm.
"Bunshin no Jutsu!" yelled Naruto, forming a single hand-seal and trying to proportion as little chakra as possible.
The entire clearing was engulfed in a massive amount of smoke as hundreds of clones came into existence. Naruto had gotten his amount of clones down from 600 to 450 with this attempt, while a whole lot better, he still had a lot of work to do.
"Ok… down to 450, gaki. You're getting better but you still gotta work on it. Give it some time." said the Kyubi.
"Damn it! This jutsu is just plain ridiculous, why do I have so much goddamn chakra?! It makes being an Academy student so friggin' annoying!" growled Naruto, in annoyance.
"Hey, don't worry about it. You're insane chakra levels are gonna come in handy when learning advanced ninjutsu." said the Kyubi, trying to allay his pupil's concerns.
"Yeah, I guess." said Naruto, his annoyance receding.
"Anyway… congratulations, gaki! You're almost finished with Basic Boot Camp!" congratulated the biju.
"Aw, thanks Kyu… wait… BASIC BOOT CAMP?! ALMOST?!" yelled the Uzumaki, thoroughly confused.
"Wait… you honestly didn't think I was done with you yet, and that THIS was the hardest training you'd do? Do you not remember who you're talking to?!" asked the Kyubi.
Naruto looked at the demon fox, praying for the joking grin, but was met only by a serious frown.
"Before we prepare for Camp Kyubi's Hell number two, you gotta get some reading in. You may be much stronger, but you're still ignorant of the world. So, kid, we're going to the library!" said the demon fox with an amused grin, before it slowly began tearing down the mindscape.
"Aww please no, Kyubi! You can't be serious! Boot Camp is still going?! AND YOU WANT TO TAKE ME TO THE LIBRARY!? Haven't you tortured me enough?! Have mercy!" whined Naruto.
The Uzumaki was practically groveling at the great beast's feet, begging for some sort of compassion from the fox.
"No, no I haven't. And mercy? What is this thing called 'mercy' that you speak of? I don't know the meaning of the word! And neither will you when i'm ACTUALLY finished with you!" replied the fox.
The Uzumaki frantically thought of a way out of going to the library before a lightbulb went off in his head.
"Wait, Kyubi-sensei! I just remembered that I haven't seen the Hokage in three months. I'm supposed to go to him every month to receive my allowance and give a monthly report of my activities." said Naruto, hoping the Kyubi would fall for his excuse.
"God damn it…" exhaled the Kyubi.
"Ok, we'll go to the old man. BUT, you will get the money, give the report, THEN go to the library! And I'm doubling your reading time now because of that little scheme you tried to play on me. Like, come on! Did you honestly believe you could make a plan like that without me knowing? You really underestimate me, kid." said the demon fox, bearing a wide grin.
"God damn it…" thought the Uzumaki, tears going down his eyes.
The blonde-haired boy trudged to his closet to dress up for his appointment with the Hokage, but as the Uzumaki tried to slip on his combat jacket, he realized that there was a problem.
"Oh no…" thought Naruto, as he tried to force his clothes on.
"What?" asked the Kyubi.
"My clothes… don't fit me anymore." said Naruto in shock.
A few moments of silence passed, before the Kyubi burst out in laughter.
"HAHAHAHAHA! Who knew that the shrimp would actually grow for once? HAHAHA…" laughed the Kyubi, causing the Uzumaki to redden in anger.
"Screw you, Kyubi! Now what am I supposed to do?" asked the annoyed eleven year old.
"Well… I guess we can head over to Higurashi's Weapons and replace your gear with some in a bigger size." said the Kyubi, thoughtfully.
"Ugh… more work!" groaned Naruto, before he slipped on some civilian clothes and packed his ninja gear inside of a paper bag.
Before the civilian clothes were oversized for him, but now with his new height of 5ft even, his clothes actually were perfect for him. Sighing, the Uzumaki headed out of his apartment and took in the view of Konoha for the first time in months, before heading to the Weapon's shop.
After a few minutes of running through the village, the blonde-haired boy stood infront of the shop door, remembering the horrors he faced the last time he came. He prayed something would keep him from using anymore of the little money he had left.
He opened the door and entered back into the house of horrors.
Mr. Higurashi heard the doorbell and upon seeing the blond-haired Uzumaki, he instantly appeared in front of Naruto as if he were royalty.
"Oh, hey! If it isn't my favorite customer?! How may I help you today? Care for some more equipment? It's top of the line!" said Mr. Higurashi, a huge grin on his face.
"Nope! No more equipment! I'm only here to see if i can trade in these clothes for a bigger size." said Naruto.
"Please tell me i can trade these in for a bigger size…" prayed the Uzumaki, fingers crossed tightly behind his back.
"Before you serve him, sir, I would like to commend you for that excellent execution of 'highway robbery' that you used a few months ago. I have never seen it as beautifully utilized as you did. It was truly an inspiring work of art, and you have my eternal respect." said the Kyubi, mentally.
"Kyubi… SHUT UP!" thought Naruto, angrily.
"Aw, I was hoping to do business with you again today, kiddo. But yes, I can trade these clothes in for you. Give me one moment." said the shopkeeper, before disappearing behind the counter, in search of the clothes Naruto requested.
"Phew… safety." whispered Naruto, wiping the sweat from his face.
"Aw man, I wanted him to scam you again…" said the disappointed biju.
"Kyubi… SHUT UP!" thought Naruto.
After receiving and putting on the new gear from the Weapon's store, the duo quickly made their way to the Hokage's office in the center of town, drawing looks of surprise and disgust from everyone they passed. As Naruto stood before the door of the Hokage's office, he made sure to look at himself in the mirror to make sure he was presentable, took a breath, then walked into the room.
The minute the Uzumaki walked into the room, the old man almost choked on his tea.
He looked straight at the boy, rubbed his eyes, then looked again.
He slapped himself, rubbed his eyes, then looked again.
He picked up his glasses, rubbed them, then looked again..
"Na… Naruto?" the elderly man asked, completely dumbfounded.
"Um… hello, Hokage-sama. How are you today? I wanted to ask for my monthly allowance since I've missed it for a while… would it be okay if I got now?" asked Naruto.
"What the hell is this? Naruto NEVER calls me Hokage-sama? And what's with those clothes?! WHERE'S THE ORANGE JUMPSUIT?! There haven't been any calls about pranks either in the past two and a half months. It's either that this boy is planning something, or this is not Naruto!" thought the Hokage.
"Hmm… before I give you your allowance... 'NARUTO', I need you to answer me three questions." said the Hokage.
"Ok... shoot." said Naruto.
"Name 4 different types of Ramen!" said the Hokage.
"Shio (salt), Shoyu (soy sauce), Miso (soybean), and Tonkotsu, which is technically not a flavor since it contains either soy sauce or salt. It's made from boiling ground up chicken bones in water for 12-15 hours till all the collagen is dissolved into a stock of gelatin." answered Naruto, casually.
"Name 3 different types of office pranks." said the Hokage.
"There's scare tactics, mind games, and the office gremlin, an example is when I put your pens in a thing of gelatin." answered Naruto, with the same casual tone.
"THAT WAS YOU?! WHY I OUGHTA... you know what… whatever… last question. If you're truly Naruto, you'll know everything that has to do with Hokage's and their battles. So, name me the place that the First Hokage, Hashirama Senju, and Madara Uchiha in their land-altering fight to the death." said the Hokage, thinking he had won.
"The Valley of End, near the border of the Fire Country." said Naruto, in another casual tone.
The Hokage looks the boy over again, satisfied, then walks over to a drawer.
"So, Naruto, what's with the change in getup today? Is this some sort of prank?" asked the aged Hokage.
"No… no more pranks. I've gotten to old for that." replied Naruto.
The old man almost tripped on himself when he heard this.
"Too old for pranks? Who is this kid?!" thought the Third Hokage.
"Anyway, I was wondering where you were. You missed 3 months allowance. Just take it all." said the Third.
"Thanks, Hokage-sama. See you next month." said Naruto.
As the boy walked away, the Hokage couldn't help but wonder what the hell he just saw.
"Hokage-sama? Too old for pranks?! GROWTH?! What the hell happened over the past 2 and half months?!" thought the Third Hokage, before he sat down at his desk and went back to his tea.
"Alright, gaki, that went well. Time to go to the LIBRARY!" said the demon with a happy tone.
"You may be happy, but I'm not at all! How am I supposed to even get by the librarian? She hates my life more than any other person here!" whined Naruto.
"UH my God! Would you like some CHEESE with that whine?! How about you Henge? I don't think the librarian is a shinobi, is she?" asked the demon, exasperated with the boys constant attempts to escape the library.
"She isn't but she's still got a killer chop…" grumbled the Uzumaki, defeated once again.
"Alrighty, then. Get a move on." ordered the Kyubi.
As Naruto got closer to the library, he transformed into a young civilian girl with brown-hair and glasses. He walks in wearing shorts and a tank top. The librarian barely even notices him pass.
"So, what am I reading today?" asked Naruto.
"Some books on the entire history of Konoha, from its founding to present day, some chakra theory and application books, a book on the climates and landscapes of the elemental nations, a book on all the different animals and trees in nature, books on famous clans and kekkei genkai, a book on elemental chakra natures and their strengths and weaknesses, and the Bingo Book." listed the Kyubi.
"Sounds like a lot of work. What's the Bingo Book?" asked Naruto.
"I should slap you… The Bingo Book is a bunch of entries about the greatest criminals and their feats in the Ninja world, old and new. You need to memorize this so you know who you're fighting and what they're known techniques may be. Pretty much a book telling you how easily these guys could whoop your ass." said the biju, flatly.
"Oh crap! I should know that!" said Naruto, realizing the strategic and tactical importance of the Bingo book.
"Yes, you should. Now get cracking before you have to burn some midnight candles." said the Kyubi, before sitting himself down in his comfortable mindscape and preparing for a nap.
Naruto would probably be here for a while.
(Two weeks later…)
Two weeks soon passed and the young Uzumaki now stood before the gates of the Konoha Ninja Academy at the start of a brand new school-year. At the sight of the place, memories flooded back to the boy, passed failures, insults, rage.
"Alright, gaki. You're here. You're back. You've spent three months working your ass off practically non-stop. I'm pretty damn sure you've surpassed every student here because of my flawless training. No more being a dobe. No more being the dead-last. No more friggin' class clown! So if you mess this up, I'll mess YOU up, understand?" threatened the Kyubi.
The boy watched as other student walked passed him, entering their classrooms.
"No more time for playing. I refuse to fail again. I've worked way too hard for this. Like the Kyubi said, I survived Boot Camp. I trained in ways no normal human could take themselves. This is what I've been waiting for." thought the Uzumaki.
"No more Mr. Nice Guy. Lets do this, Kyubi." said Naruto, brimming with confidence.
"Hehehe… lets." chuckled the biju.
And with that, Naruto pushed open the doors to his classroom to begin his final year at the Academy.