Chapter 3: Almost a Perfect Day

A short time after his talk with Mizuki, Naruto was walking up to Ichiraku Ramen Bar. To his surprise Hinata was standing outside. She looked a little lost or uncertain of something. When Naruto walked up she didn't turn away from him but smiled. It was hard to get use to people being happy to see him.

"H….hello Naruto," she said and still managed not turn away from his look.

"I'm glad you could make it. I don't know about you but I'm starving. So let go in and eat."

"Ok."

They both entered and were greeted warmly. The next few hours were spent eating, over eating, and laughing. After a while even Hinata relaxed enough to seem to be having a good time as well. There was one point where it looked as if she was about to die when it was suggested that she was Narutos girlfriend. It was a good evening.

When the party had come to an end both Naruto and Hinata walked out into the night air. They both just stood there in the ever increasing awkward silence. It was only the intrusive voice of the Fox that saved the moment. "Naruto, walk her home."

"Hu?" Naruto questioned.

"A gentleman escorts a lady home at the end of the evening. Your not going to let her walk home alone at night, are you?"

"How do you know so much about this stuff?"

"It's not important right now. Just do it."

"Hey Hinata, it's getting late so why don't I walk you home."

She looked at him for a moment and smiled. "Thank you Naruto."

For a little while they walked in silence. The night air was warm. The summer was coming and nights were always warm. The stars were all clearly visible in the sky. It was quite a sight.

"The sky is pretty tonight," Naruto said out of the blue.

"Yes, it is," Hinata replied without stuttering. She was really starting to feel more at ease around Naruto.

"There is a really great spot on top of the Hokage faces. It looks as if you can see the entire universe. I have spent a lot of time staring at the night sky from there."

"Do you spend a lot of time out at night?"

"Yeah. I don't know why but I always seem to have this urge to be out and about at night. I just don't feel comfortable sleeping inside. I have fallen asleep looking at the stars many a night."

The Fox knew exactly why Naruto spent so much time out at night. It had to do with her. While living inside Naruto as he grew up she was affected by him. By exposing her to human life and feelings she was altered. But it goes both ways. Naruto, at least subconsciously, was taking on her more animalistic mannerisms. His desire to sleep under the stars being one of them. The older he gets the more these urges will be part of him and the more difficult they will be to control.

After a short walk they finally arrived in front of the Hyuga compound. A lone guard stood outside but said nothing as they two walked up.

"Thank you for inviting me to dinner tonight Naruto," Hinata said once more without any stuttering.

"No problem Hinata. It was fun. I guess it's time to get some rest. Big day tomorrow. Hey who knows, maybe we will get assigned to the same team. I think I'd like that."

"R….Really?"

"Sure. That way I would be with at least one person I know I can stand being around. Well see ya later."

With his final words spoken he took off into the night. Hinata stood watching him fade into the dark. Her pulse was racing. She still could not believe the day she had. The boy she had been watching from the shadows for years finally took notice of her. He even said that he would like to be on the same team as her. It was the best day of her life and not even her father could bring her down from her current high.

Despite what Naruto had said he was not on his way home to sleep. Even though he had been up for nearly two days he was not that tired. He still had plans for the rest of the night.

"So you're going to do it," the Fox didn't ask but assumed.

"Yeah," was all Naruto said in response. Nothing more needed to be spoken between the two. All that either one of them focused on was success.

Success is what they ended up with. Less then two hours later Naruto was at the shack in the wood with the Scroll of Sealing. Stealing it and getting out proved to be much easier then he thought. Naruto was early so he had time to kill.

"That was easy," he thought at the Fox.

"Maybe too easy, "she came back at him. He could tell from the tone she was concerned about it.

"Yeah well, who knows? Maybe I am just that good and they were right in picking me. But right now I'm more interested in this scroll. There are some really advanced Justus in here."

"Might as well learn what you can while we have it. What's the first one on there?"

"Lest see, Shadow Clone Jutsu. Hmmm, this looks like it could be fun."

Over the next few hours Naruto studied the jutsu. He did his best to understand it and practiced, and practiced, and practiced. By the end he was exhausted. It took nearly three hours but he had done it.

"Man that was a lot harder then it looked," he said out loud.

"It's a very advanced technique," the Fox said with pride in her voice. "It only took you three hours to master. You should be very proud."

Naruto did not have time to bask in her praises. It was then that he sensed another person in the trees above. Looking up Naruto saw who expected to be there. "You're late Mizuki-sensei."

"Sorry," he said sounding as if really didn't mean it. "I didn't expect you to be able to do it. I checked a little while ago and the scroll was still there. I thought that maybe you had chickened out."

"Not a chance. I used a replacement jutsu to make it look like the scroll was still there. That way I would be long gone before anyone noticed that it was gone."

"Impressive. Now give me the scroll."

"I would much rather hold on to it. There are some really powerful techniques in here."

"I know there are. That's why I had you steal it for me. Now give me the scroll you demon bastard!"

"What did you just say?!?" Naruto was becoming angry. Demon. He had called him a demon. The insults of villagers came flooding to his mind. "Why would you call me that?"

"Well that is what you are. The demon child of Konoha. Despised by all, an embarrassment to us all. Your whole life has been a lie!"

"A…lie?"

"That's right. You know the story of how the Nine-Tailed Fox demon attacked the village 12 years ago. What you don't know is that demon is you! The Fourth, the fool that he was, sealed the beast inside of your body. That's why everyone hates you. Everyone knew but you. They look at you and see nothing but death and destruction. So many hate you and blame you for the death of loved ones."

"So you had me steal the scroll hoping that I would get caught. Then there would be no excuse for getting rid of me once and for all. You set me up. But you just didn't count on me getting away with it."

"You catch on quick demon. Your right I was counting on you getting caught, but this is so much better. I can take care of you once and for and take the scroll for myself. But don't worry. At least now you can die knowing the truth about yourself."

Mizuki started to reach for a giant shuriken strapped to his back. It was then that Naruto disappeared from in front of him. Only to suddenly reappear mere inches in front of him grabbing the arm reaching for the weapon. When Naruto looked Mizuki in the eye he was terrified to see the childs blue eyes were now wild red animal eyes. Laughter erupted from Naruto that chilled Mizuki to the core.

"I already new all that," Naruto said in deep almost inhuman voice. All the while still staring him in the eye with a wide smile. He pulled back his other arm balled his hand into a fist and punch Mizuki in the gut with such force it sent him flying 50 feet.

Mizuki slowly recovered. He coughed several time spitting up blood as he did. He stood up on shaky legs and looked back at Naruto. No longer seeming to care about him Naruto turned around and walked back to where he had placed the scroll on the ground. Mizuki thought he had let his guard down and took this moment to strike. He once more reached for the shuriken on his back.

"NOW YOU DIE MONSTER!"

He let fly the shuriken from his hand it raced quickly cutting down the distance between it and Naruto. For his part Naruto did not seem to care. He knew the deadly weapon was mere seconds from cutting him in half but made no move to get out of the way.

Mizuki smiled and congratulated himself on victory.

At the last split second Naruto reached out with one arm and garbed the weapon. He brought it around to the front of his body all the while keepings its rotation going. In fact he sped it up making it spin faster. Whipping his body around to face Mizuki he threw the weapon back at him ever faster then it had been originally tossed.

"You first," Naruto said in an icy voice.

The fight was over.

Mizuki didn't know what had just happened. Naruto moved faster then he could see. One second he was sure his attack was going to connect, the next his own weapon was flying back at him faster then he could have imagined. There was no time. Before he could even move he was cut in half. The weapon was not even slowed down and continued on cutting down a few dozen trees as well. The last thing he saw in this world was Naruto standing there defiantly. His body was glowing red and Mizuki could have sworn he saw nine red chakra tails whipping about.

Naruto left the body for the forest to consume. He picked up the scroll and jumped through the trees back to the village. The Foxes power slowly faded from his body and the physical transformation reverted as well.

"I need to get this back," Naruto said out loud. "If someone else sees that its gone I could be in real trouble."

"What will you do then son?" the Fox asked trying to calm down from the fight. The smell of blood got her excited but she needed to remain calm or Naruto would start to feel her bloodlust and he may lose control of himself.

"Go home. I'm really, really tired and want some sleep before tomorrow. To think, this was almost a perfect day."

Naruto raced through the trees. Little did he know that he was still being watched. Someone else knew that he had taken the scroll. Sitting in his office the Third watch Naruto as he made his was back to the village. He had been watching Naruto through a special glass orb that allowed his to see far away things. He had not been able to see Naruto at the Graduation so he decided to check in on him to see how he was doing. He had seen the entire situation with Mizuki.

"Mizuki had a big mouth," the Third thought to himself. He took a pull on his pipe and blew the smoke out slowly. "I knew that Naruto was aware the he had the demon inside of him but I could never have guessed he had access to so much of its power. The question now is how will he use it? He did just kill Mizuki but that what we would have done had we caught him. Naruto just saved us some time."

The Third took another pull from his pipe and sat back in his chair. Letting it out slowly while he thought the situation over. "I guess I'll just make sure Naruto has the proper training and supervision." He smiled to himself just then. "I have the perfect person in mind."

Across the village just then Kakashi sneezed. He was up late reading one of his favorite books when he suddenly had to sneeze. "Why do I have this sinking feeling that my life just got more complicated?"