I do not own Naruto.

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Quick Recap:

Mizuki begins teaching at the Academy, and Naruto discovers the truth about the Kyuubi. He considers it a blessing, not a curse, and ends up meeting him. The Kyuubi doesn't give a god damn what Naruto does, because he knows he won't get free.

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Naruto walked into the classroom with a sort of confidence. He seemed to be the same person that had entered the Academy six short years ago. But he had changed. His true self was far calmer, far more collected. His thoughts were organized to the point where his brain seemed to be a machine. Every action he made had a purpose, and used exactly the amount of energy that was needed. His control over his emotions was perfect. His lies were perfect, his acting impeccable.

All of those were things that tended to be found only in experienced jounin. Of course, nobody could tell, because appearing as someone you weren't was another skill of his that was mastered. Not that he was one to learn a skill and not perfect it.

But those things, traits that he had gained by living six years doing nothing but lying, were not the only thing that he had gained.

He had mastered over three hundred ninja techniques. He could perform them at the drop of a hat, giving no hint towards what would happen. Frying beams of intense electricity, pillars of earth, and massive windstorms. All were within his reach. And that was saying nothing of his general mastery over both fire and water. He could create and control both like no other ninja.

His body was not perfect, there was room for improvement. He could be much stronger than he was, although his speed was higher than many jounins.

He had his own Taijutsu style, one that he had created through much hard work. It capitalized on breakneck speeds that he was able to achieve through use of a modified Body Flicker, one that he could keep active for hours on end. It was far from perfect, though, and wouldn't do him much good against someone like his friend Rock Lee, who dedicated their lives towards Taijutsu. It was still immensely powerful though, and as his natural speed increased, so did his Body Flicker speed, and by extension his strength in his special style.

He was terribly proficient at Genjutsu, able to make someone live out anything he could imagine, and he could imagine pretty much anything. Particularly powerful ones, ones that involved many, many things at once, he still needed to use hand-seals for; however, those were only ones that made the target see, feel, hear, smell, and taste something, as well as inflict unimaginable levels of pain—all while forcing them into paralysis.

He had become a Fuuinjutsu master in only two years. He seemed to take to the art like a fish takes to water. Two years was actually incredible. Namikaze Minato had taken seven years, and that was training under the greatest seal-master of the time, Jiraiya. Already, Naruto could do things with it that were unheard of before; a single explosive note could level a building, a wall would vaporize in an instant, and the chakra of another could be absorbed. One of his most useful inventions was only a day old—resistance seals. They collected air around the body and condensed it, so that movement was incredibly difficult. He had even made it so that they would slowly increase the resistance, day after day. By the end of the year, his strength and speed would be through the roof.

In the last month, he had stolen a simple katana from a high-class merchant, and was beginning to learn Kenjutsu. It was difficult to do it without an instructor, but using scrolls that he found in the library Naruto's training was coming along swimmingly. Soon he'd be able to create his own style, one that would capitalize on his ability to seamlessly integrate Ninjutsu and Genjutsu with other actions. That was his plan for the future, a style of Kenjutsu that would put him far and above others on the battlefield, with or without his use of what he considered his greatest techniques.

Those techniques would remain forever nameless to him, despite their incredible power. With the swipe of his hand, he was capable of propelling a razor-thin blade composed of chakra forward at incredible speeds. It was difficult to dodge, to say the least, and impossible to see.

He had a wickedly spinning ball of wild energy, one that was actually quite flashy, but unrivaled in raw destructive power. He had once destroyed a fifty-foot thick tree with it; beside that, a human body would be nothing.

And then there was his most powerful of the three. A chakra bullet shot forth from any point on his body, capable of piercing anything that he had ever tested it against. That fifty foot tree that he had destroyed with his deadly ball? He could go straight through four of those. What's more, it could be set a target, so that it couldn't miss. Truly the ultimate technique—silent and deadly, impossible to miss with.

On their own, all of these things were formidable abilities. Together, though, he was stronger than most ninja, at least at the skill level of a powerful ANBU captain. And to think, he was only twelve.

But that was in the back of his mind as he took his seat. He had a test to take.

It was a simple affair. Starting with one hundred multiple-choice questions, it was followed by a Taijutsu practical. Then, one had to detect an illusion and break it. Finally, they had to demonstrate mastery over a random technique from the Academy Three—this year, the Clone.

The thing was entirely too easy, and, as expected, everybody passed. Even Naruto, to some people's surprise. Mind you, he had gotten the worst possible grade to still pass, but he had passed nonetheless. In celebration, he, Shikamaru, Choji, and Kiba were going out for barbeque that night.

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"Thanks for having me out here guys. I know that your parents didn't want you to, and I really appreciate it." Naruto knew he was speaking the truth; even experienced ninjas weren't confident enough in the sealing abilities of the Fourth to allow their children near him.

"It's no problem, Naruto. You're our friend, screw whatever our parents say," said Choji. Of course Choji would say that; he was almost fanatical in his loyalty to his friends—just like Naruto.

"Yeah, he's right. It doesn't make any sense, and we can't think of many bad things about you." Of course, Shikamaru would always think things through on his own.

"Yeah Naruto, we're like a pack. We stick together." Kiba, of course. His canine nature even flowed through to his speech.

"Well, thanks again guys. I have to get going."

A chorus of goodbyes saw him off, headed not towards his house, but towards one of his favorite training areas.

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Naruto jumped expertly from rooftop to rooftop, spanning great distances in only moments. In minutes he had crossed town and reached Training Ground 1, so named because of its close proximity to the village gates. It was excellent training to try and practice strong abilities while not alerting the guards.

He had been practicing A-class Lightning and Earth techniques when he saw a familiar face leap into the clearing.

Mizuki. The weak bastard who taught his class, purposely sabotaging his efforts because of his foolish hatred of the Kyuubi.

Strapped to his back was a massive scroll with ornate rollers. Immediately he recognized it as the Forbidden Scroll. Naruto wasn't one to pass up on an opportunity and quickly made good on this wonderful chance.

Mizuki hadn't noticed him yet, so Naruto Body Flickered behind him, and with a quick application of chakra to the base of his neck, he was knocked out.

Immediately, Naruto went into action. With frightening speed he pulled out several slips of paper from a pouch on his belt, slapping them onto the trees around the clearing. A blue barrier shimmered around the clearing once, then faded. Suddenly, Naruto could no longer hear what was going on outside the clearing, or sense any chakra outside of it.

Then, he closed his eyes as he focussed on bringing an environmental illusion into being. In an instant, anyone outside the clearing looking in would see nothing inside but dirt and grass. Even if they passed through, they would see nothing out of the ordinary.

Then, Naruto checked the scroll for any possible booby traps. Satisfied, he opened it up. Unsealing a blank scroll, a brush, and ink from his arm, he set out copying it.

Despite its size, it contained only as many as thirty techniques, the most powerful and damaging of all the forbidden techniques. In only an hour, Naruto had copied them all down.

Resealing the copy into his arm, he laid the original by Mizuki, and set out taking down his protections. The Illusion came last, and in a minute he was out of there. A minute later, and he was back home.

Unsealing and unrolling the copy, he looked down at it, beginning to read the first technique listed. It seemed quite useful, and as he read more and more about it, his eyes widened. With this, he could become the most powerful ninja in the world. With this, he could become unstoppable.

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In case you could not tell, I skipped a good three years or so between this chapter and the last. Most things of consequence that need detailed explaining have already occurred. Naruto has met the Kyuubi, and has begun to learn many powerful ninja arts. For others, like Kenjutsu and Fuuinjutsu, I felt that it was unnecessary to outline the training involved.

Also, I feel it's rather obvious what the technique at the beginning of the scroll is.