A Touch of Death

By: I.K.A. Valian

Chapter Two: He's a Ninja Now

Summary

Uzumaki Naruto was blessed three times the day he was born. His father blessed him with the power of human sacrifice. His mother blessed him with her love. The Shinigami blessed him with a shard of his own soul.

A Soul Blade.

Last Time

Naruto bombed the Genin test at the academy for a third time. Heavily disappointed and discouraged, Naruto began to despair until sly-faced Mizuki cheered him up. The ninja-sensei told Naruto about a Secret Test that he could take for the chance to become a Badass Genin. Naruto, excited by the prospect of increasing his badassitude, raced off to become a Genin, but the Secret Test was in fact a Secret Trap.

Naruto stole the Forbidden Scroll of Seals, a collection of techniques so dangerous that the most awesome Hokage ever, Senju Hashirama, sealed them up faster than his pimp mobile picked up enemy kunoichi. According to Mizuki, Naruto had to learn one jutsu (all of which are inherently too badass for a normal genin to learn) from the scroll in order to 'pass' the test. Inside the scroll of epic win, however, Naruto found a seal with his name on it. Inside the seal was a sword that had seen better days; it was a piece of junk.

After mastering the first jutsu he could find like a boss, his other teacher, Umino Iruka, found Naruto. Mizuki confronted the two, revealing he used Naruto and completed his betrayal by revealing to Naruto he was the Demon Fox that had nearly destroyed the Leaf twelve years prior. The deranged man somehow thought trying to kill a kid he believed was the fox itself was an actually possible thing to do. Then Mizuki learned that Uzumaki Naruto is a badass boss Hokage in training… and he can cut people's hands off with his new BAMF Soul Blade. However, the timely intervention of the ANBU saved Iruka's life and stopped Mizuki from doing any more damage.

Now, Naruto must face the music. The head honcho has called him for an audience. The Sandaime Hokage awaits…

Naruto awoke with a start. He quickly realized that he wasn't in the hospital or his home. In fact, he easily identified the comfy couch along the wall inside of the Hokage's office. "What am I doing here?"

"A reasonable question, Naruto." Naruto froze when he heard those words. Not that the words were shocking, but the person speaking was rather like a grandfather figure to him. A grandfather figure he'd just hours before left unconscious on the floor. Naruto looked to his right and saw the Hokage standing in the doorway. "However, I should think your first question would be: How much trouble am I in now?"

"W-wait!" Naruto shouted, getting to his feet. "Old Man! I can explain! It was all Mizuki-teme's fault! I swear! He said I could graduatebystealingthe-"

"Naruto, Naruto," the Hokage said, laying a hand down on the boy's shoulder. "Calm down. I know why you stole the Forbidden Scroll of Seals. I know all about what happened in the forest and what was said while you were there."

"You know?" Naruto squeaked, going as white as a sheet. Then as memories from the confrontation with Mizuki filtered back into his mind, Naruto's expression dropped and he shifted his gaze to the floor. "You knew."

"Yes, Naruto," the Hokage said. He tilted the boy's head back to look into his eyes. "I have always known. And not once did I ever think of you as a demon. You are Uzumaki Naruto. The demon, is the demon. He is a prisoner, you are his jailor. It's not possible for you two to be the same being."

"I…" Tears started to gather in his eyes. Naruto blinked and quickly rubbed the tears away on his sleeve. When he was sure his eyes would stay dry and his emotions were back in check, Naruto looked back up at the old man. "Are you sure… Mizuki-teme said-"

"I'm aware of what Mizuki said," the Hokage said. "And he was wrong about you being the fox itself. I think of you as a hero. You keep the village safe every single day with every single breath you take. As long as you are alive, the fox can never get out and can never hurt anyone ever again."

"Y-yeah!" Naruto hesitantly nodded. Then, with strengthened resolve, he nodded. "Yeah, that's right! I am a hero! No stupid fox is gonna hurt anyone while I'm around! Dattebayo!"

The Hokage grinned. "I'm glad you feel that way. Come, I have something for you." The Hokage moved away toward his desk. As he sat down in his chair, he said, "Well actually, it's something Iruka wanted to give to you, but he's recovering from his wounds in the hospital right now." Having said that, the Hokage pulled open a drawer and picked up a blue bundle. With a small toss, the bundle was thrust into Naruto's hands.

Naruto fumbled with the blue cloth until he got a good grip on it. He unwrapped the cloth to find that it was a forehead protector. Unlike the new ones that the other kids had gotten, this one was scuffed, not as shiny, scratched up, and had several gashes in the metal. Obviously, this thing had seen some use.

"H-hey!" Naruto shouted. "Why's this thing so dinged up… Oh wait! This means…. I'm a Ninja! I graduated! Yes! Yes! Yes, yes, yes! Thank you!" Naruto launched himself at the Hokage and hugged him as tight as he could. "Thank you!" Naruto shouted. Then he let go of the Hokage and started bouncing up and down and all around the old man's office. Every time he reached the peak of one of his bounces, he would shriek, "Thank you! Thank you!"

The Hokage laughed as he watched Naruto. After a few moments, the old man sat down in his chair and motioned for Naruto to put the forehead protector on. Naruto carefully pulled off his goggles. Then he reached up with the forehead protector in his hands and tied it securely in the place where once only his goggles had resided. Once complete, the Hokage grinned at the boy, who grinned right back.

Naruto grinned because he'd finally achieved one of his dreams. The only thing left was to become Hokage. Now that he'd gotten this far, it seemed like the hard part was over. He didn't think anyone else had to go through so much just to graduate.

The Hokage grinned because he was both happy for Naruto and because he knew that the boy's parents would be proud of how he'd handled himself up to this point. Saving Iruka and defeating Mizuki was just the icing on the cake, really. Internally, the Hokage tried to imagine how much harder Naruto's path would become now. But after a quick glance down that road, he shoved those future visions aside. There was no sense thinking about such horrible things during such a happy moment.

"Hmm," the Hokage hummed as he turned Naruto back and forth, as if inspecting him. "I suppose, you'll do," he said with a chuckle.

"Hey!" Naruto shouted, throwing his hands up and backing off. He pouted, clearly fake insulted, and crossed his arms in front of him. "You can't treat me like that, I'm going to be Hokage. You should treat the future Hokage with more respect. Dattebayo!"

"Oh, well excuse me, Lord Hokage," the Hokage said with mock deference. He bowed low as if the old man were nothing but a lowly street beggar. "Please forgive me, oh high and mighty one!"

"Well…" Naruto exaggeratedly rolled his eyes as if he were being put upon. "I suppose I could… you know, cause you're old and stuff."

The Hokage laughed and ruffled Naruto's hair.

Naruto took a peek around the corner of the door. Hospitals creeped the boy out, mostly because of the fact that it smelled horrible, but also because of how the doctors and nurses never really liked him. That dislike, however, wouldn't stop him from visiting his favorite person.

Iruka didn't take long to notice Naruto peeking around the door frame. "Naruto," Iruka called out from his bed. His wounds still hurt, like all jutsu healed wounds did, but he wasn't incapacitated. He was only in the hospital as a formality, mostly. He'd probably be released tomorrow, with heavy bandages and a prescription to 'take it easy'. Most shinobi knew the drill by time they made Chunin.

Naruto gasped lightly. He'd been found out. Swallowing his apprehension, Naruto walked calmly into the room as if he'd just arrived. "Iruka-sensei! H-how are you feeling?"

"I feel fine, Naruto," Iruka said. He grinned at the boy who'd saved his life, and in turn, whose life he had saved. "Thanks to you. How do you like being a Ninja?"

Naruto grinned. "It's totally awesome! I'm going to be Hokage in no time!"

"Naruto," Iruka said, his voice taking on the tone he used in class. "Your journey is just beginning now. You can't go goofing off all the time anymore. You've got to take your job seriously."

Naruto rolled his eyes and scowled. "I know that," he spat. "Come on, Iruka-sensei! Stop treating me like a kid! I saved your life, remember!"

"Gah…" Iruka shook his head. "Naruto…"

Naruto watched Iruka watch him back. As the seconds of silence stretched out, the irritated scowl on the boy's face dropped off as he became concerned. Why was his teacher staring at him like that.

"Wh-what?" Naruto asked. "Is there something on my face?"

Iruka smiled softly and shook his head. "No. You really have grown up. But you're still only twelve. I guess I can't help treating you like a little brother."

"Hey!" Naruto shouted, his scowl back in full force. "I'm not short! And so what if I'm twelve. I'm a ninja now!"

"Yeah yeah," Iruka said with a roll of his eyes. "I can't leave here for a while, so we can't go to celebrate your graduation at Ichiraku's till tomorrow. Think you can wait that long?"

"Oh yeah!" Naruto shouted with a fist pump. "I can wait for Free Ramen!" Iruka winced, imagining his wallet's soul ascending to heaven with little wings and a halo above it. "Hey, speaking of which," Naruto continued, "I'm starving. I think I'm going to go get me some Ramen right now. See ya later, Iruka-sensei."

Before Naruto could escape the room, Iruka called out. "Naruto, take good care of that forehead protector," he said. "It was my father's."

Naruto spun around and gave Iruka a thumbs-up with one hand while holding onto the band of metal strapped to his forehead. "You got it, Iruka-sensei!" Spinning on his heel, Naruto charged off with a shout of "Ramen!"

Iruka snorted and slumped back into the bed.

There was a knock at the door.

"Come," the Hokage called out.

The door opened to admit two people. One was a blond haired ANBU wearing an owl mask. The other was a laid back, silver haired Jounin with his face stuck inside the pages of a little orange book, known more fondly as Hatake Kakashi.

"Please close the door," the Hokage said. Once that was done and the two ninja had taken their position in front of the Hokage's desk, the old man gave a slight sigh. "I'm sure you've heard about the scroll incident."

"Yes, Hokage-sama," Owl said.

"I may have heard a thing or two..." Kakashi said as he tilted his head to the side. "Something about Mizuki getting an academy student to sneak into your residence and knocking you out so he could steal the Forbidden Scroll. I was curious how that could happen..."

The old man coughed into his fist, "Yes, well, I was caught by surprise. But that's not why I brought two here. What do you two know about the Soul Sword?"

"I'm afraid I've only heard rumors, Hokage-sama," Owl said. "A sword said to be bonded to the soul of a person. Or a sword that is formed from someone's soul. It's supposedly capable of becoming as powerful as a shinobi is, despite being a sword. In accordance with that, the Seven Swords made famous by the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist are said to be Soul Swords. That's all I know."

"I've heard similar rumors," Kakashi said. "Though I know that the Seven Swords are not Soul Swords. Supposedly, the Raijin wielded by the Second Hokage was a Soul Sword. There was also some sword, I believe, called the Dragon Sword..." Kakashi fell silent as a look of concentration came over his features, limited as they were. "Oh," his face brightened up as the answer he was looking for came to him. "That's right. The White Fang was a soul blade too. Until it broke during the Third War, at any rate."

Owl was looking at Kakashi. It was hard to tell with the porcelain face mask, but from the man's body language, he appeared to be in awe. Hatake Kakashi, son of Konoha's White Fang (disgraced), known as the Copy-Cat Ninja, former member and renown captain of ANBU, was a wielder of such a rare blade? The man had more mysteries around him than an island was surrounded by water.

"Mn," the Hokage hummed in agreement. "The reason I bring this subject up is because there was another Soul Sword created twelve years ago, during the Nine-tails incident. Specifically, the Jinchuriki of the Nine-tails Uzumaki Naruto was given one when the Fourth gave up his soul to the Shinigami in order to seal away the Biju. When we found the boy, we didn't realize the significance of the sword and had left it on the battlefield. When it later showed up in the same crib as Naruto. No matter who took it away or how far it was taken, the sword somehow moved itself next to the boy."

"Forgive me for interupting, Hokage-sama," Kakashi said, "but I'm a bit familiar with Naruto and I've never seen a sword by or near Naruto, Soul Sword or not."

"Yes," the Hokage said, "that's because the elders and I agreed that it would be a bad idea for a sword of all things to be kept near the infant. Once we figured out what we were dealing with, I had Jiraiya create the most powerful space-time seal he could create that put the sword into a kind of suspended animation. Anything less powerful wouldn't have been capable of holding the sword back. Believe me, we tried. The seal was on the Scroll of Seals... which young Naruto opened yesterday evening. The first thing the boy did was unleash the sword."

"Is there any danger?" Owl asked.

"No," the Hokage said. "Naruto himself didn't even realize the significance of the blade. However, he did use it to cut straight through Mizuki's Shuriken and hand in one swing. No one until Naruto has ever been capable of doing more than withdrawing the blade an inch from the sheath, and as such, no one knew what the blade was capable of, besides standard kenjutsu. Based off of the evidence, it's probable that the sword is either wind or lightning natured, or perhaps both. After the ANBU caught up with them, they stopped the bleeding of all parties and revived Iruka-kun. When they brought Naruto up here, to my office, he had the sword clutched in his hand. When Naruto woke up, he didn't even realize that the sword had attached itself over his shoulder. I believe it would be pointless to reseal the sword again, in light of how it helped to defend Naruto. This brings me to why I asked for the two of you here. Kakashi, you're slated to be the boy's Jounin Sensei. I would like you to take extra care in dealing with Naruto and that sword. Give him the basics of Kenjutsu so he doesn't accidentally do something he'll come to regret, like cutting his fingers off."

"I have no problem with that, should he and his team pass my test," Kakashi said.

"Owl," the Hokage said, causing the ANBU to straighten slightly. "I'm assigning you to watch Naruto and the sword. Study what it does and how it works, however, do not let him know you're watching. I expect a report on what you've observed by the beginning of the Chunin Exams."

"Of course, Hokage-sama," Owl said.

"Very good," the Hokage said. "Dismissed."

While sitting at Ichiraku's Ramen Bar, Naruto held the dinged up forehead protector in his hands almost reverently. He carefully polished its surface with his sleeve until it was reflecting his face off of it as clear as day. Teuchi, the old man who cooked and served the ramen, grinned at his favorite customer, despite the boy not eating at the moment. He'd already served the kid eleven bowls, bought and paid for, so a little time to work on cleaning his forehead protector wasn't out of the question.

"Naruto." The boy looked up in askance at the teenage girl working next to Teuchi, his daughter, Ayame. She was staring down forehead protector that Naruto held like it was a sacred object. "Why did they give you such an old beat up forehead protector when you graduated? I thought all graduates got new ones."

Naruto shook his head and grinned as he held up the metal plate. "This one is special! It was given to me by Iruka-sensei! He said it was his dad's, so I'm going to take extra special care of it."

"Oh, I see," Ayame said. "That was really nice of him."

"Hehe," Naruto chuckled. "I know. But he said he thinks of me as his little brother. So I guess this is like inheriting something from a parent I didn't know. That makes it even more awesome!"

"Oh wow…" Ayame looked away for a moment as a sad look overcame her features. When she looked back at Naruto, she frowned. "Naruto… where did that sword come from?"

"Huh?" Naruto looked over his shoulder, where Ayame was pointing, and found the hilt of that 'Soul Blade'. His eyes widened when he realized that he hadn't even known it was there. "That's… that sword. Where did it come from? It wasn't there before!"

"Naruto," Ayame said. Her brow was creased with worry. "You shouldn't be playing with sword before you know how to use one!"

"Ayame-chan, leave the poor boy alone," Teuchi said. "So he has a sword. He hasn't cut anything off, so I'd say he know what he's doing." The old man turned to Naruto with a mischievous grin and wiggled his eyebrows. "Right, Naruto?"

"Err…" Naruto noticed the look Teuchi was giving him and then quickly joined in the situation by nodded, his expression serious. He did his best impression of the Uchiha-Bastard, minus the scowl, and nodded. "Yeah, of course. I'm just that awesome."

"Oh, you two…" Ayame steamed. Finally she threw her hands up into the air, and let out a soft, frustrated grunt. "Honestly, it's like all men are fascinated with sharp, pointy objects that can slice their hands off." Quickly rounding on Naruto, Ayame leveled her soup ladle at him and said, "Naruto! You be careful with that sword! Do you hear me? I don't want to worry about someone I think of as a little brother!"

Naruto's eyes were wide, but not from fear. He swallowed back the lump forming in his throat and nodded. He put on the best happy grin he could and quickly found that there was already one on his face. When had that happened? "Of course, big sis," Naruto said, if only to emphasis his acceptance of her concern as well as the addition to people thinking of him that closely. "You don't have to worry about a thing!"

The edges of her lips were tugging up, but Ayame let off a frustrated growl and spun around. She quickly disappeared into the back room of the restaurant. Teuchi quickly leaned forward over the bar.

"Between you and me, I think she can do more with that ladle than most people can do with a sword," the old man said. "I get scared just imagining it." Naruto shuddered as he nodded in agreement. Ayame did happen to make a ladle look life threatening.

The next day...

"Are you sure you want it like this?"

"Yeah, yeah, just take the picture."

The photographer sighed. "If you say so. Say cheese."

Flash!

The Hokage sat behind a desk in the Academy, going through registration papers for the new Genin that had just graduated. He enjoyed talking to each of the children and getting to know them a little when they handed in their papers. Seated next to him was one of his administration chunin assistants who was processing all the other paperwork that was involved with adding ninjas to the roster of Konoha. On the other side of the desk was the present cause for his exasperation.

"Naruto," the Hokage said as he looked back and forth between the devilish image of a Naruto with war paint of some… wacky variety attached to the registration form and the boy seated before him. There were squiggly red lines of paint overtop a white base covering the boy's face, which appeared to be grimacing in constipation, which to his eye made Naruto appear like a very bad Kabuki actor with very bad make-up. The old man wanted to say something else, but once again, Naruto had him at a loss for words. This was just ridiculous.

"It's awesome isn't it?" the boy asked. He leaned back in his chair with the airs of a cat that'd caught the mouse and its canary brother and was completely satisfied with a job well done. "It took me forever to get the war paint right."

With a grunt, the Hokage put the paper down on the desk and slid it toward Naruto. "Take it again," he said, picking up the next sheet.

Naruto, by now leaning back in the chair so that the front two legs were off the ground, shouted with surprise and leaned forward again. "Wh-but it took me three hours to get that down!" the boy protested. The Hokage glanced at Naruto and the boy fell silent.

"This picture is going to go into Konoha's Ninja Registration Book," the Hokage said. "You can't have a picture this ridiculous in such a serious document. You need to take your position more seriously. And where's your forehead protector?"

"I don't understand this stuff," Naruto complained. He crossed his arms over his chest and looked off to the side of the room. The Hokage rolled his eyes again.

"And the head plate?" the old man asked.

"Oh yeah," Naruto said, "I'm saving that for tomorrow's ceremony. I don't want it to get scratched any more than it already is." Naruto's attention was drawn to the door when it made a soft creak, as if someone were trying to open it quietly and the door had rebelled by being extremely loud and in need of oil. Seeing as stealth was now no longer applicable, the door burst open and small kid wearing a long scarf leaped into the room.

Pointing dramatically at the Hokage, the kid's scarf flaring in the air behind him, the kid screamed, "I got you now, Old Man! Fight me!" The kid took one step forward and then continued forward to smash his face into the floor.

'This kid's an idiot,' Naruto thought. He noticed the Hokage pulling his hat down a little bit further while he tried to surpass whatever emotions were moving around underneath his aged visage.

"Who tripped me!" the kid shouted. He jumped back to his feet and showed the world his little red nose. "Who set such a devious trap!"

"Honorable Grandson!" came a shout from down the hallway.

The so called 'honorable grandson' turned and immediately set his sights onto Naruto. Naruto remained still as he arched one of his eyebrows. The boy pointed dramatically at Naruto just as a man appeared in the doorway.

"It was you who tripped me with your devious trap!" the kid shouted.

Naruto felt a well of anger fill his gut as the man who entered behind the little kid said, "There was no trap, Honorable Grandson." Naruto glanced at the man. Despite the dark sunglasses the man wore, he could still see the ice cold glare being directed at him. His good mood thoroughly destroyed, Naruto stood up and started to leave.

"Hey!" the kid shouted and got in front of Naruto. Naruto, being in no mood for this crap, grabbed the kid by the front of his shirt and lifted him until they were nose to nose. "I know you did something!"

"I didn't do shit," Naruto growled. "You tripped on your own damn scarf!"

"Liar!" the kid shouted.

"What do you think you are doing?!" shouted Sunglasses. "Put down the Hokage's Grandson this instant!" Naruto glanced at the man shouting at him before he turned back to the little kid. There, he found a knowing smug look that pretty much said, 'yeah, know your place, worm.'

Naruto put the kid down, and then literally put the kid down by planting his fist into the kid's head. The younger boy was given a personal introduction to the floor by the blow. At the same time, Naruto shouted, "You think I give a damn who you are?!"

His ire sated, for the moment, Naruto stalked out of the room past the gaping glasses man and the stoic Hokage.

Naruto calmly walked down the road with his hands behind his head and the fingers of his left hand subconsciously playing over the hilt of his sword. It was a nice and sunny day out. The air wasn't too hot, actually the air was cool and there was a nice breeze. Combined with the sun, it was perfect. Were it not for the annoying pitter patter of obnoxiously obvious feet following him, Naruto would probably be grinning right now.

Naruto stopped and turned around. He easily spotted the two chubby fingered hands holding up a sheet of camouflage paper with a wooden fence motif. Standing out was the fact that this part of the fence was turned horizontal, conflicting with the vertical fence boards all around it.

"Alright, you idiot!" Naruto shouted. "Why the hell are you following me? And you should drop that disguise, it's not fooling anyone!"

The sheet of horizontal fencing slowly lowered to reveal the smug look on that stupid kid. "Hehe, you saw right through my disguise," the kid said. "The rumors about you are true."

"You're cramping my style, kid," Naruto said with a shooing motion. "Beat it."

"Hey!" the kid said, running forward to stand in front of Naruto. "Hey, if I let you be my Boss, will you teach me the Sexy Jutsu you used to beat my Grandpa?! Please?! Boss!"

"Boss?" Naruto said softly, as if sounding out the word to see how it felt.

"Yeah!" the kid shouted. "You're my boss now! So teach me the Sexy Jutsu!"

"Hmm…" Naruto tilted his head to the side as he considered the kid before him. "I guess I could teach you… but you gotta do everything I tell you to."

"Right, Boss!" the kid said, standing straight and saluting. "Ready and waiting!"

Naruto grinned. Maybe having a kid to boss around for today wouldn't be so bad. He turned and motioned for the little kid to follow.

"Kyaaaa!"

"Perverts!"

"They're running away! Get them!"

Naruto and Konohamaru shot out of the bathhouse like two bats out of hell. They made a quick escape into the forest and disappeared before any of the now pissed off kunoichi could catch them.

"Alright," Naruto said. "Now you just gotta take what you saw in the bathhouse and transform into an original girl."

"Like this?" Konohamaru asked. He put his hands together into a concentration seal. "Transform!"

"No, no!" Naruto shouted at the obese woman with fat lips and eyebrows so thick that they appeared ready to crawl off her face. "More slender! More beautiful!" Konohamaru transformed back and nodded. "Do it again!" Naruto commanded.

"Yes boss! Transform!"

Naruto sat on a log as he and his young charge shared a drink during a break in their work. Naruto glanced over at the kid and a question popped into his head. "Hey." When he saw that he had the kid's attention, he asked, "Why are you going after your grandpa so much?"

A great sigh escaped the kid. "Grandpa named me Konohamaru after the village." Konohamaru lifted his head and sighed again. "But no one calls me that. Everyone calls me Honored Grandson or the Grandson of the Third. I'm sick of it! I want people to see me for who I really am! That's why I want to defeat my Grandpa, so I can become Hokage and then everyone will respect me for who I am."

Naruto's eyebrows rose as he listened to the story. It sounded familiar and it should. It was practically his story. Sure, Konohamaru didn't have a giant demon fox sealed into his bellybutton, but the kid was only recognized for who he was related to. Still… something about this rubbed him the wrong way.

"Idiot!" Naruto said, deciding to go with his gut.

"Huh?" Konohamaru turned to Naruto, shock evident on his face.

"Who would acknowledge a punk like you?" Naruto asked. "The Hokage name isn't something that so easy to get. People you care about die when you're the Hokage." The memory of looking down at Iruka lying in a puddle of his own blood flashed through Naruto's mind. Naruto grimaced and pushed the image out of his mind. "And there's nothing you can do about it either because you have to worry about protecting the whole village. You have to be stronger than everyone else to make sure no one dies."

"Sh-shut up!" Konohamaru shouted. "What do you know?! I'm going to be Hokage! I swear it!"

"Heh, if you want to be Hokage so much then there's something you're going to have to do first," Naruto said. He then gave Konohamaru a wide eyed grin as he said, "You're going to have to beat me!"

"I finally found you!" Both boys looked up to see the glasses wearing man glaring down at them. Naruto, in particular, noticed the icy glare since it was directed at him. "Honored Grandson, come! We must go! You've spent too much time in the presence of this ruffian!"

"No way, Ebisu!" Konohamaru shouted. "I'm going to defeat Grandpa and become Hokage right now! Don't get in my way!"

Ebisu just laughed haughtily. "A Hokage must be well versed in all aspects of being a ninja. He must master over a thousand jutsu and-huh?"

"Transform!"

An eruption of chakra vapor covered Konohamaru. When it cleared, revealed was a buxom, teenage brunette with a heart shaped face, an hourglass figure, and a pouty expression that could drive any red-blooded man wild. Ebisu choked and then began to sputter.

"Wh-wh-what kind of vulgar skill is that!" Ebisu screeched in a high pitched voice. He pointed a shaking finger at the pouting nude brunette.

Konohamaru transformed back. With an upset frown, he asked, "Why didn't it work?"

"I am a gentleman!" Ebisu shouted in an even higher pitched voice. "Such a super low class skill would never work against someone of my abilities!" Ebisu quickly reached out and snatched Konohamaru's scarf and began to drag him away. "Young master, come away with me! If you hang out with the likes of him you'll turn into an idiot! He's already warped your mind and you've only been with him for a single hour!"

"No!" Konohamaru shouted, resisting Ebisu's pull by trying to go the opposite way.

"Just do what I say!" Ebisu shouted as he pulled and began to drag Konohamaru away. "I am an elite Jounin tutor! I'm your quickest shortcut to becoming Hokage! Come, let us go home!"

Naruto had watched the whole scene take place with a growing sense of disgust and anger. First this guy charges in and starts talking trash about his technique. Then this guy starts talking about how only he can make Konohamaru Hokage worthy. Just who in the hell did that guy think he was?

"Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

Ebisu stopped pulling on Konohamaru when he noticed he was surrounded by copies of the blond menace. Slowly, he released Konohamaru and prepared for a fight, as pitiful as it would be. Besides, Konohamaru was obviously wowed by the sight of so many copies of Naruto, the boy wasn't going anywhere anytime soon.

"Wow!" Konohamaru shouted with wide eyed enthusiasm. "That's totally awesome!"

"I won't be defeated as easily as Mizuki was," Ebisu said. "I'm an elite Jounin and a couple of clones won't be able to scratch me."

"Oh yeah?!" several of the clones shouted.

"Well, if you think you can, come at me," Ebisu said, lowering himself into a slight crouch, prepared for a fight.

"Alright!" the clones all shouted as they put their hands into a concentration hand-seal. Ebisu prepared to replace himself with a log. "Transform!"

Every one of the clones was surrounded by huge clouds of chakra vapor. That vapor was quickly blown away by a sudden breeze, revealing a host of drop dead gorgeous blonds. Each of them was as perfect a version of the female form as there could possibly be. Pouty lips making kissing motions at him, big bountiful breasts, soft and supple skin, hips that were just the right size, a toned belly, legs that just kept on going, and all things considered, all the right curves in all the right places. The army of naked blond girls swarmed Ebisu, who was frozen in place with a look of incredulity on his face and a quickly rising blush. That didn't last long when the girls started draping themselves on top of the man, rubbing their bodies against his, cooing in his ear, running their fingers through his hair. It only took milliseconds for the pressure to build up and launch the man up into the air and across the clearing with a double nostril blood geyser.

The Hokage ran a hand over his face to cover the incredulous look and his bloody nose. He looked away from the spying globe for a moment to write down on a sheet of paper everything he'd seen about the technique. "Combining Shadow Clones and his Sexy Jutsu," the old man muttered. "He'd definitely kill even me with a technique like that. This is an A-rank kinjutsu now."

Naruto chuckled as he inspected the passed out Ebisu and the puddle of nose blood underneath him. "How'd you like my Harem Jutsu?" Naruto asked. "Low class my ass. Stinking closet-pervert."

"Damnit!" Naruto looked over at Konohamaru who had his fists clenched and was stomping his foot on the ground. "Damn! Damn! Damn! I couldn't even defeat my teacher! I really want a name that people will respect!"

Naruto smacked Konohamaru upside the head. "It's not that easy, you idiot." Konohamaru eyed Naruto warily. "This is Hokage we're talking about. If you want to get the position, you better prepare yourself."

"Prepare?" Konohamaru asked. "Prepare for what?"

"There ain't gonna be any short cuts," Naruto said with a grin. He turned and walked away from the stunned kid.

"Hey!" Konohamaru shouted after several moments. Naruto stopped and looked back over his shoulder. "Stop talking like you're important. I'm not letting you be my boss anymore. From now on, we're rivals!"

Naruto grinned and gave Konohamaru a thumbs-up. "I can't play with you anymore, cause tomorrow I'm getting my ninja team. But hey, I look forward to the day I fight you for the name Hokage, Konohamaru!"

Konohamaru stared for a moment, stunned that Naruto had used his name. Then he grinned and Naruto grinned right back. Not far away, an old man smiled as he watched this scene through a crystal ball.

Naruto sat in class, chuckling to himself with a huge grin on his face. Today would be the day. The day that he finally got his team and took his first step toward becoming a ninja.

A/N: Here is chapter 2 of A Touch of Death. I don't believe I ever specified, but the inspiration for the sword thing was, obviously, Bleach, but I didn't want to go straight up crossover, so I came up with a more original concept for it. Don't expect a sword that can transform or for any genin to go around shouting "Bankai!" for ultimate justice!

Hope you enjoyed. Please, drop a review and let me know what you think. I enjoy constructive criticism!

~I.K.A. Valian