Immortal Phoenix
Author: The Phoenix is Immortal
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto nor am I making any profit from this work.
Chapter 14: The Third Time
So, Naruto's eleventh birthday was coming up…and I was…what was the human term? Right, broke. I did not have any money left.
So, I decided that before I talked to wrinkly human, I should walk around the village and see if there was anything that I could do. The only problem was…I knew nothing about human jobs and occupations.
But I could still try.
So one day, after Naruto and I were finished with the academy for the day, I went out without him. I had offered to stay at the apartment if he wanted some company, but he said he would be training on that Clone Jutsu.
So, I was just walking around the village. But…I could not find anything, so I would have to go and talk to the wrinkly human.
So, I took my phoenix form when I was out of view of the humans on the street and then I flew through wrinkly human's window. He was just sitting on his desk doing the paperwork. Every time I saw him, he was doing paperwork. I felt bad for him. If I was him, I would burn it all.
"Akarui-san, what are you doing here?"
"I need some money, so is there anything I can do for it? I spent it all on Naruto's presents."
"Well, no, not if you're a bird."
"Oh…" Should I tell him about my human form? What would he think? I was not quite sure what his reaction would be. Best for him not to know for now.
He sighed. "Well, I can help you. Since I am already providing money for Naruto, I could provide some for you also. But, I will stop providing it when Naruto graduates and is able to make money on his own through missions."
"Really? Thank you, wrinkly human!" Yes, do not get on the bad side of a phoenix. Smart human. I would remember the favors.
He sighed again. "And please stop calling me that."
"Of course, I can do that, wrinkly human." I just wanted to bother him. He just sighed again. He must be getting old. Poor human.
Money problem solved! At least until Naruto graduated. I would figure that our later. I honestly did not want to work…for these humans. Seems…a bit…insulting to me, I guessed. Not that humans were that bad…but I still had my pride.
So, with that solved, I flew back to Naruto's apartment. I guessed that my money would get sent to me, just like Naruto's.
His birthday came again. He was now eleven. The money had come too. So I bought him a nice present.
Also, his progress on the chakra control exercise of climbing the wall had been quite amazing. He could now do it without a problem. He had actually completed it the day after I gave the exercise to him, so it had been a while ago that he finished it.
I gave him some other exercises. He learned those also. When I tried one of them…I just fell into the water. I hate water…Never doing that again. I do not mind some water, but falling completely into water is different.
I decided not to do that particular exercise. Besides, I was not doing it to train, just to learn how. So it was not training to me.
Naruto only had a year to go before the next genin exam. I hoped that he would do well. He should be able to pass….if not for that Clone Jutsu. Which I could still not solve the problem with.
The year passed quickly for me. I had bought a calligraphy set and with the money I got, and I practiced my handwriting in my human form. It was…terrible. I could not manipulate the stupid brush at all. So all my writing looked…really bad. And so…I burned them. The papers, not the brush. I could not even read it…it looked more like a really bad drawing. Hands are useful…but strange and hard to use.
But by the time Naruto was going to take the test again (he was now twelve), I actually got to the point where my writing in human form was legible. Mostly. My writing in my real form was still much better.
I had also bought him a nice set of weapons and scrolls for his birthday, to show my hopes that he would pass.
Anyway, so before the test, Naruto practiced a while. Then he decided to play another prank. He did not tell me about it. I think he was worried that I would stop him.
It was obvious that he was going to play a prank though. He had bought paint. Paint. We did not need paint, so it was obviously for one of his pranks. He still wanted some attention, it seemed.
This would be interesting. I had nothing against his pranks, but sometimes it went overboard. I believe that it was going to be one of those times.
It was indeed one of those times. He painted the faces on the mountain overlooking Konohagakure. Painted them. I mean, they were important right? Wrinkly human's face was up there…and wrinkly human was important, being a Hokage and all.
So the adult humans were yelling at him to stop. Being the strange human that he was, Naruto just responded by saying he was incredible to be able to paint the mountains. At this point, I was just flying next to Naruto. I had been trying to stop him. But then I decided that it did not matter. I did not really care for faces on mountains. Besides, it was a little amusing to see the humans yell up at Naruto. And it was not every day that Naruto was hanging in the air.
Then Iruka human came. Oh…that human had a loud voice. He yelled at Naruto to get down.
Eventually, they got Naruto down. Then Iruka human tied him up. It was not the first time, but hopefully it would be the last, what with the test coming up again and all.
Then he told the class to do the Henge Jutsu. Naruto was good at this one. The thing was…he liked to transform into a human female that lacked all the clothes. This always had the most amusing effect on human males. I did not understand why exactly it had the strange effect, but it was amusing.
Naruto's classmates were mad at Naruto, but he ignored them. I think he got the "ignore certain humans" from me…I hoped he did not. He could not go around ignoring humans all the time.
So Iruka human told him to transform into him (the him being Iruka human).
I knew Naruto would not. He would do the Sexy Jutsu…
True to my prediction, that is what he did. After that came the amusing reaction from Iruka human. Iruka human flew backwards about ten feet, with blood spurting out of his…nose. It was really strange, but amusing anyhow. But….why do humans do that, anyway? Strange humans.
Iruka, once he recovered (it took a while), then yelled at Naruto.
I told Naruto not to worry, after all he had transformed. Just not into Iruka human.
Afterwards, Naruto had to clean the mountains. Iruka human was supervising. I was trying to help, but whenever I tried to pick up the cloth with my talons, it ripped. I gave up. I settled for just picking at Naruto's hair.
His head was actually quite comfortable, even if his hair did seem spiky. Iruka human did not spare me a glance. He was used to me by now.
Iruka human told Naruto he could not leave until everything was back to normal. Naruto said he did not care.
I jumped back onto his shoulder. "We can go and eat some ramen later." At this, Naruto just nodded. He must be upset. Iruka human did not hear me, of course.
Then I believe that Iruka human felt bad, because then he told Naruto he would take him out to ramen later. That was what I wanted to do. Would I be able to go?
At least Iruka human did not dislike Naruto. He was a little harsh, but he did not hate Naruto.
Naruto said "yes", and then he said something that surprised me. "Can I bring Akarui?" He remembered me. That was nice of him.
"Akarui?" Right, Iruka human did not know who I was.
"Yeah! Akarui! He's my friend!" I chirped and jumped onto Iruka human's shoulder. It was not nearly as comfortable as Naruto's. What with the vest and all.
"That's Akarui!" I jumped up and down on Iruka human's shoulder. And immediately regretted it. Those vests were hard.
"Oh, so that's the bird's name?" I was annoyed…I was not just a bird!
"Yeah! It is!" As Naruto said that, I jumped back onto Naruto's shoulder. Much more comfortable. And I had nothing against the orange jumpsuit. Orange was a nice, bright color. Not as nice as gold, scarlet, and silver, but nice anyway. And it was comfortable.
So after this, Iruka human did as he promised and took Naruto out to ramen. I, as usual, just took some of the noodles. Ramen was strange, but it was not that bad.
I was not listening to Iruka human and Naruto's conversation until I heard the words "fox demon" come from Naruto. The Kyuubi, something I still have not been able to figure out. I had not felt the Kyuubi's presence in the almost five years I had been here. Where was he? By now…I was a little worried. Not for the Kyuubi, but I was worried about what happened to it. The same thing could happen to me.
Because I was thinking about that, I did not hear the rest of Iruka human and Naruto's conversation. But some more human contact was good for Naruto. I was not human, and he did not have much human friends…
Tomorrow would be Naruto's graduation exam to become a genin. This would be his third time taking it. I hoped that it would be his last.
Today was Naruto's exam. I resolved to accompany him like I usually did. Naruto rushed to the academy.
The only thing was…when Naruto got to the academy, Iruka human announced that the graduation test would be…the Clone Jutsu. I still had not been able to figure that out! I could not, even though I had read many books on chakra. Naruto…could not do the Clone Jutsu. It was always the Clone Jutsu! Why was that?
Ask him about any other jutsu…he would do fine then. But they had to ask for the Clone Jutsu…
Naruto, with me on his shoulder, went into the next room. When he performed it…it failed. The other human, Mizuki human told Iruka human they should still pass him. But Iruka human refused…
Naruto had failed.
Naruto went to the swing in front of the academy. I was trying to make him feel better, but my efforts at picking at his hair did not seem to help. I did not know what to say at all to Naruto.
The parents of the other children congratulated them…Naruto had no congratulations. The parents were saying that it was a good thing that Naruto had not passed.
How dare they judge…who were they to judge whether it was a good thing or a bad thing for Naruto to pass or not? They had no right to judge. They did not know Naruto, so why should they judge? Humans. Of course.
I really wanted to go over there and set their hair on fire, but I saw wrinkly human in the crowd.
Naruto soon left the swing. I saw the Mizuki human follow. Mizuki human than approached Naruto and began to speak to him. I listened. He was trying to explain the Iruka human.
Then he told Naruto…that he would pass the graduation exam if he took a certain scroll from wrinkly human's house. What? Stealing from a Hokage's house…to pass an exam? That was…unheard of. I certainly had never heard of that.
But who was I to take away Naruto's hope? If there was a chance that Naruto could pass, he should take it.
That night, Naruto took the scroll from wrinkly human by using that Sexy Jutsu of his. Naruto then ran to the forest. I was with him, of course. He started to read the scroll.
"Naruto, it starts with something called Shadow Clone Jutsu. If you could learn it, you would pass the test, right?"
"That's right! I'll learn it. Believe it!" Naruto began practicing. He would get it soon.
After a while Iruka human came. He had chased after Naruto because Naruto had stolen the scroll. Naruto told him that since he learned "it" he would be able to graduate. But before Naruto could show him, Mizuki human came…and attacked.
Mizuki human…wanted the scroll! He had been using Naruto. How dare the human! Iruka human told him not to give Mizuki human the scroll…but then Mizuki human began to tell the tale of the fox demon of twelve years ago.
"The rule is that nobody is allowed to talk about is the fact that you are the Kyuubi!"
Author's note: Ok, so this was mostly canonical. It will go farther from the story line later. So now Akarui learns about the Kyuubi! What is going to happen? And I did not give Akarui a job because it would not fit into the story too well…
So, thanks to all my reviewers! Much, much, thanks! Really! I got over 50 reviews! It does not sound like a lot…but it's a lot to me!