So... yeah. Lots of people asked me to continue this, and my own plot bunnies sort of leapt at the chance. I have to the end of the Wave arc preeeetty much finished. (Still need to polish and round out the fights.)

And I may be guilty of putting up some loooong chapters\one-shots in my time, but even at my craziest I'm not going to post a 60K+ chapter of anything.

...

Yes, you heard (read) right: the reason it took so long to continue this is because it's STUPIDLY long. Don't even ask how. So the way this is going to work is that I've broken it down into more managable chapters and will post one of these per weekday. (That is: Mon-Fri.) Until the end of the Wave Arc, and then I'm going back to posting my Soul Eater fics on my usual Friday schedule. I do not yet know if I'll do the Chuunin Exams and\or beyond, but if I do, it'll most likely be in a more snap-shot like format as the first two chapters were.

From this point on, I have taken up my own challenge and am writing this as a sapling from the 'seed' and following my own rules. Seed is still there for anyone else who'd like to try it, this is my take. Naruto's Pairing(s, no poly, you'll have to read to find out) already decided. Reviews are greatly appreciated.

And off we go.

Ino took off her sandals slowly, unable to summon up the proper enthusiasm for having passed. "Tadaima." She muttered.

Makoto leaned around the corner with a huge smile, "Okaeri, Ino-chan." Her green eyes narrowed as she looked about, "...Where's Naruto?"

Ino winced and finally glanced up at her mother, the look in her eyes telling the story before she even shook her head.

Naruto had that feeling she always got about five minutes after one of her pranks had been discovered; she leaned back with a foxy grin and, sure enough: there stood Iruka-sensei, arms crossed and scowling down at her, "Eheh... Hi, Sensei."

"Naruto, explain yourself."

"I'm sorry! I didn't expect you to find me so fast, but don't worry, Sensei, I managed to learn one of the Jutsu so I pass, right?"

"Pass? Naruto, what are you talking about?"

"It's a special test, to graduate. All the student has to do is take this scroll and learn one of the Jutsu inside it, yeah? I was gonna surprise you and learn a bunch just to prove I could, but you found me too quick."

He shook his head, hands falling at his side, "Where did you get an idea like that?"

"Mizuki-sensei told me about it. He- s-sensei?" She jumped up in worry as Iruka's face lost all blood, "Iruka-sensei?"

"Naruto, listen to me, take the scroll back to the Hokage right now, report and tell him I agree."

Something wasn't quite right here. She tilted her head, "But I didn't even show it to you yet..."

"Naruto, now-" His head whipped to the side and before Naruto knew it, he struck out at her chest with Chuunin strength and speed, sending her flying back into the bushes. Naruto's eyes widened, unable to look away as the multitude of blurs that could only be kunai and shuriken buried themselves into her favorite teacher's body with sickening, fleshy, thuds.

"SENSEI!"

Naruto couldn't move, all she saw was Iruka falling back, all she heard was his pained groans- and a terrifying laugh. Naruto's heartbeat almost drowned out her hearing as she turned her head in the direction the assault had come from, the move taking a single second that stretched an eternity. "M-Mizuki-sensei?"

It didn't make sense. She must have fallen asleep while she was studying the Jutsu, and this was all part of one hellish nightmare. There was no other possible excuse for one of her favorite teachers to murder his best friend in front of her. This wasn't real. It couldn't be. It couldn't be! Naruto formed her shaking hands into a single Seal, "Kai." Nothing changed and she did it again, pulsing her chakra higher, "Kai!" She shook her head as the horror before her refused to change, "KAI!"

It stayed the same. It stayed the same. Mizuki still laughed, Iruka still lay on the ground, his blood still trickled from the wounds. Dear gods, Naruto could smell it, the copper tang in the air. It- it was real. Mizuki had stood up for her, helped her, and now, and now... Now he- he...

"What have you done? Why- WHY?!"

"N-Naruto..."

Her head whipped around so quick her neck creaked painfully, but she couldn't care. Her legs gave out on her and she crawled towards the voice, "Iruka-sensei. It'll-it'll be okay. You'll be okay, I promise. I'll get help."

"Naruto, run. Don't let Mizuki get the scroll."

"Naruto! Give me the scroll!" She flinched at the sound of Mizuki's voice, turning and grabbing the scroll, pulling it close to her as she watched him warily. He grinned evilly at her, and Naruto inched farther away. Mizuki held out his hand, "Give me the scroll, and I'll help Iruka."

"He's lying! Naruto, run!"

"I'm lying? That's rich. I'll tell you who's really lying to you."

Iruka tried to push himself up, wincing in pain, "Don't do it, Mizuki!"

Naruto's grip tightened on the scroll and she backed away, unsure which teacher to trust, "Wh-what are you talking about? Who's lying?"

The white-haired Chuunin smirked and leaned forward, "Why, the entire village has been lying to you for years, Naruto." He was using his friendly voice again, the same voice he used when he helped her work through a hard equation before class, "Everyone knows about it except you. Twelve years ago, the night of the Kyuubi no Yoko's attack, a decree was made. You see, the fox wasn't actually killed, it was sealed away. Sealed into the body of a newborn baby." Time slowed down around Naruto and she shook her head, "That baby... was you. The fox that slaughtered the villagers, the beast that killed mine and Iruka's parents, the thing responsible for all the deaths that day, is you. You are the Nine Tailed Fox!"

"No!" She couldn't be- she wasn't the fox! ...Was she? Her mother would never have risked that, risked her, "My parents wouldn't-"

"That's not even the worst of it."

She didn't want to know. Call her a coward, but Naruto just knew, she didn't want to hear whatever was about to come out of his mouth.

"You, Fox, killed your own parents. The Yamanaka clan only took you in out of pity for the poor little orphan demon."

Naruto's heart skipped a beat, a rushing sound filling her ears.

'Superfetation'. That was the answer she and Ino had been given when they'd asked why Ino was a month older than Naruto: Makoto's hormones had been acting up and she had gotten pregnant while already pregnant. Medical Jutsu had been used to help deliver Ino while leaving Naruto to fully develop. They'd bragged about it to their friends; Naruto remembered Shikamaru saying how incredibly rare it was: less than a dozen confirmed cases in the Land of Fire.

Lies. Why she couldn't get any of the clan Jutsu no matter how hard she tried. Why the other children -and half the adults- called her a demon-child. Why the elders looked at her like she'd killed their puppy. Because she had.

Naruto staggered. Oh, gods. It's all my fault. Her vision swam and she fell back, sliding down the trunk of the tree behind her and staring at Mizuki with wide eyes. She raised her shaking hands and stared at them like they belonged to someone else. Hinamoto Yamanaka, Takakura Yamanaka, Toriko Yamanaka. She knew the names of the dead for her clan- went to pay her respects to the shrine dedicated to them every October tenth on her birthday. And she'd been the one who'd killed them.

Her parents- her birth parents, she'd killed them, too. Iruka's parents, Mizuki's. She'd killed them all.

Her chest heaved for breath as the world narrowed down to her hands. Her shaking, blood-stained hands. She wanted to cry, she wanted to scream, howl that it hadn't been her, that it wasn't her fault. But the crushing pain in her chest said otherwise, the twisting knot in her stomach an accusation she couldn't ignore.

"Naruto. Naruto!"

She looked up to see Mizuki glaring at her- she could hardly blame him, she probably wouldn't feel too chipper around her parents' murder, either. Oh, wait, that's still me, isn't it? She wanted to laugh, the hysterical little bubble of laughter seemed caught in her throat. Mizuki reached back and unclasped one of the huge, dai shuriken he carried, bringing it forward, hate-filled eyes pinning her in place as surely as all the kunai and shuriken pinned Iruka, "Now... die!"

She couldn't move. She didn't think her legs would hold her, they were shaking so bad. She could do nothing but stare as death came for her.

Naruto jerked violently at the liquid squelch, eyes widening in horror at the sight before her. "K-Kaachan?"

Makoto Yamanaka, head bowed, braced her arms against the tree above Naruto's head, body shaking, "Are you unharmed, my Little Sea Storm?"

Naruto's chest tightened unbearably, a sharp breath sucked in through her teeth as she pushed herself to her knees and reached out, "Why? Why would you risk yourself for me? I'm not even your daughter. Why?!"

She stared up into watery green eyes that looked back at her. Looked at her with no fear, no condemnation, no hate. Just the pure, shining love that had always been there. "Bec-cause, you are my daughter. I h-held you, nursed you, s-sang to you every night. I laid you on my chest and wat-watched you fall asleep to my heartbeat. You're my beautiful baby girl, who n-never lets life get her down, and I couldn't... couldn't possibly be prouder of you, Naru-chan, even if you were Hokage."

Makoto fell to her knees with her eyes closed, clinging to the tree for support, "Kaachan!"

"Give me the scroll!"

Naruto looked between Iruka and her mother, both injured, both bleeding, both in need of help. Then she turned to Mizuki, her storm-colored eyes hard, and held up the scroll, "You want it? Come get it!"

She turned around and took off through the trees.

"Can you... can you move?"

"Sure thing. Just... give me a minute. I've got a... few soldier pills here somewhere."

"D-do you think... do you think she'll be okay?"

Makoto looked up and over at the injured Chuunin with a gleaming smile, "Are you kidding? 'Course she will, she is my daughter, after all."

"I know you're here, little girl. Come out and show yourself, if not, I may just have to go back and finish off those weaklings to draw you out."

Pure, burning hatred shot through Naruto's veins and she closed her eyes to breathe and control herself.

Naruto curled in on herself as she watched the sun setting, ignoring the presence behind her. It never left, even after twenty minutes of silence, and Naruto finally turned her head, "How can you still love me? I put that boy in the hospital. The other kids all called me 'demon-child'."

She felt warm arms wrap around her, "Naru-chan... You're going to make mistakes greater than this someday. If you become a ninja, you'll bear a heavy burden, and you will make mistakes, mistakes that will get people injured, killed. And when that day comes, as this day's come, I will still love you just as strongly as ever. I may sometimes be disappointed in your behavior or actions, but I will never stop loving you." She knelt in front of Naruto and leaned forward until their foreheads touched, "True love is unconditional. You're my baby, I'll always love you no matter what happens." She smiled, "It's a mom-thing."

Naruto took a deep breath and centered herself. Forgive me my actions and love me after this, Kaachan. Naruto stepped out into the clearing from behind the tree, frosted eyes on the white-haired Chuunin, "If you ever touch my loved ones, I'll kill you."

Mizuki watched in confusion as she began to glow, but he wasn't one to wait around, he unclipped his second dai shuriken and set it spinning in his grasp, running towards her with all the speed a Chuunin was capable of. Naruto wasn't even a Genin. He smirked as the blade tore through her.

His expression fell as she smiled for one instant- before disappearing in a puff of smoke. "Can't even hit an Academy student, 'sensei'?"

He spun around to see her on the opposite side of the clearing, still glowing. Mizuki frowned and tossed a few kunai at her, but even Academy students could dodge weapons they saw coming. Substitution, had to be, with a leaf or something.

He shook his head and ran for her again, skidding into a slide and twisting as she dodged to the side. The little demon was toying with him; slipping back just beyond arms' reach each time he lunged. She was taunting him, looking like she was dancing around the clearing, just beyond reach.

Furious, Mizuki shot forward, his oversized weapon lashing out, and pinned her to a tree by the neck. The blonde struggled fruitlessly against the dai shuriken digging into her throat, a crimson rill of blood rolling down her neck from a cut.

Mizuki smirked at her and picked up the scroll. He had no more use for her and turned away across the clearing. He halted at the sound of bell-chime laughter that seemed to echo from all sides at once. He turned around and stared wide-eyed at a smirking blonde holding his shuriken in one hand- and the scroll in the other. His gaze shot to the scroll in his grasp just in time to receive an uppercut to the jaw from the Shadow Clone coming out of its Transformation.

Mizuki rolled back to his feet, eyes burning hatred at the devious fox demon. Naruto whipped the shuriken- out into the forest, then she turned back to him and cocked a finger, "Now try it without your toys."

Mizuki growled, glaring at the blonde over the tall grass, and shunshined behind her, landing a vicious kick to the small of her back that should have been enough to break her spine- had she not dissolved into smoke like all the rest. Mizuki threw back his head and screamed, "SHOW YOURSELF!"

More lyrical laughter surrounded him from all sides, mocking him. He spun in place, trying to find her, spreading his senses as far as he could, swiping angrily at the over-tall grass obscuring his vision.

Mizuki froze in place, staring at the grass nearly as tall as he was. He'd entered a clearing, none of the foliage had been above his ankles when he'd first called the blonde out. The grass rustled behind him and he whipped around to see Naruto -or another clone- staring at him, as her hands flashed through Seal after Seal, "Hidden Art: Nature Restraints!"

Mizuki grunted as the wispy strands around him wrapped themselves tightly around his limbs. Five-foot tall blades of grass wrapped his legs from his ankles to his knees, more of the hardy plants twining themselves around his wrists. He jerked in their grip, hissing in pain as the wiry strands pulled tight and cut into his skin.

He refused to let himself panic and looked around for his shuriken, "This won't hold me long. Rope-Escape Jutsu is one of the first things we teach you Academy students!"

"I don't need it to hold you long, just long enough for me to do this." Before Mizuki could react, Naruto was right there in front of him. She flashed through four more Hand Seals and then touched his stomach and forehead at the same time, "Kino Secret Art: Eternal Chakra Drain!"

There was a flash of light behind his eyes and Mizuki screamed, all his chakra draining from his body like blood from a wound, his life energy seeping away. He could almost... almost see it, going... somewhere. But he lost it before he could tell, brutally ripped from his system. He fell to his knees, his legs giving out on him. The last thing he saw before his vision faded was a pair of storm blue eyes boring into his soul- and then everything went black.

Naruto sat back against the tree with a deep sigh, gaze fixed on the leafy canopy above. It gradually began lightening. She estimated it was just before dawn when Iruka and Kaachan found her. They helped bolster each other and knelt down in front of Mizuki.

Makoto gasped when she saw the white-haired Chuunin, "Holy shit." Her gaze shot to her daughter, "You Drain Sealed his chakra system. You permanently Drain Sealed his chakra system! Where in the world did you learn that technique?!"

Naruto waved a hand sleepily, "Old Kino Clan scrolls in the back of the storage room Tousan made me clean out the last time I pulled a prank on the Clan Elders."

Iruka looked between them, "Uh, care to fill me in?"

Makoto shook her head, "That's S-Class chakra manipulation- how did you do it?"

Naruto shrugged, "Tapped into his Third Eye and Chakra Center, created a Sink, and routed it into the closest Leyline."

Iruka fumbled as Makoto nearly dropped him, "Holy shit..."

Naruto grinned and rubbed the back of her head, "Control's not so hard when I can tap into the Leylines."

Iruka gave up, "So what was the Jutsu you learned from the scroll, Naruto?"

The blonde smiled at him, "The Shadow Clone Jutsu."

"Can you show me?"

"...I am showing you, sensei."

Makoto and Iruka both blinked, "What?"

The blonde's face was almost swallowed by her foxy grin as she pointed up. They followed where she pointed. There, in the branches of the tree above, lay Naruto, softly snoring away. Mako snorted and covered her mouth, her shoulders shaking in silent laughter, as Iruka shook his head with a smile.

"Naruto, I have a surprise for you. Close your eyes."

The clone did so, fidgeting in place, "Can I open them?"

Makoto answered, "Not yet."

A minute later, Iruka sat back, "Now you can."

Naruto blinked open her eyes to see Iruka without his hitai-ate. Kaachan smiled at her and tapped her own forehead. Naruto reached up and her fingers contacted cold metal. She pulled it off in a rush and stared disbelievingly at it. A hitai-ate -Iruka's hitai-ate- with her mother's deep green, nearly black bandana that she always wore around her neck and never took off ever.

Her teacher smiled at her, "Congratulations, Naruto: you graduate."

She looked between the headband -her headband- and back to Iruka's bare forehead, her mother's bare neck -a dark, jagged scar tossed into dappled light- and threw herself at the both of them.

The pair went down under her with matching pained groans as she laughed, "Thank you!"

Makoto laughed with her, "That's my little Kunoichi. My Little Sea Storm." Her gaze traveled up to the sleeping form of her daughter in the tree while her clone tried to strangle the both of them in grateful hugs, "Rage on."

xxx

It isn't that this Naruto COULDN'T use the Shadow Clone Jutsu to the same effect that canon-Naru did, but that, raised a different way and taught things besides what canon-Naru knew, she had a different mindset and different disposition, which led to different strategy and choices. Naruto wasn't certain of the new Jutsu she'd just learned minutes before, and her instinct was to use the techniques she's relied upon her whole life- just like canon-Naruto's instinct is to use the first two Jutsu he ever mastered.

And yes, the Chakra Draining Jutsu was inspired by Avatar: The Last Airbender~

XXX