"Don't worry, it's just border patrol. Hardly anything ever happens here. You're a damn liar Iruka." Naruto murmured to himself angrily while running from the pursuing gang of ninjas. Naruto was wondering if all of this happened simply because he decided to try and graduate early.
When Naruto graduated early, he had a problem. None of the other graduates had been able to actually pass the real test. He himself had passed, but that was because he had inherited the ideals of his spirits. Teamwork was the key to success when fighting someone who was more powerful than yourself. Naruto had tried to work with the group he had been assigned, but they wouldn't listen.
Naruto continuously tried to get their help, but he was brushed off every time simply because of his age. Of course, their supposed to be sensei had told them that teamwork was something that Konoha emphasized and because of that he wouldn't be passing them. However, since Naruto himself had tried to get his team to work together he would be made an official genin. The other two were to be entered into the genin retraining program.
Unfortunately, none of the active teams actually needed another genin to fill the ranks so that left Naruto alone without a team. As such, he was paired with any available chunin that needed a partner for their missions and there wasn't anyone else available. This lead to Naruto being bounced between many of the active chunin.
This had the unintended side effect of Naruto getting to meet many of the active chunin in Konoha. Many of them were old enough to remember the Kyūbi, as such they were apprehensive about teaming up with him. However, they soon realized how ignorant they had been. Naruto was just like any other 10 year old child. Except that he was a trained ninja.
Naruto's natural charisma and magnetic personality allowed him to quickly change the minds of many of the ninjas. With so much support, Naruto was given a solo mission by himself. Well, as much as solo missions can be when it's border patrol.
When Naruto reached the border station he had been expecting to meet other chunin, but he hadn't been expecting Iruka or Mizuki. Apparently when the ninja academy is closed the chunin instructors do missions. However, if Naruto was surprised to see them, they were absolutely shocked to see him. After all, only a year and Naruto was already being given solo missions?
As they caught up, Iruka showed Naruto everything that would be expected of him while on border patrol. It was simple stuff, patrol the border between the Land of Fire and the neighboring countries, file a report on anything strange, and at the station check papers and make sure that people aren't bringing in any illegal substances.
The first week had gone by quickly and without any sort of trouble. However, in hindsight it was the second week when things had started going bad. Mizuki had been disappearing during the day and when Naruto asked about it, the older ninjas just said he needed to go relieve stress. Naruto didn't really understand, but when he asked what it meant they told him he'd understand when he was older. Seeing as he wasn't getting a straight answer, Naruto just left it alone, but he had a strange feeling about what was going on. Later on Naruto would wished that he had paid attention to that feeling.
Naruto had been lucky that he was on patrol when the station had been blown up. However, he heard the explosion and went to investigate. There he found that Iruka was already going over the remains of the station. However, as they looked through the remains they realized something.
Mizuki's body was missing. Splitting up, they tried to track down where Mizuki may have been. Unfortunately, Naruto found him first. Well, just in time to see Mizuki get his throat slashed open by three unknown ninjas. As Naruto observed, he saw that the leader was gesturing to his teammates. However, Naruto wasn't able to do much except run when he noticed that they were gesturing to him.
Leaping from branch to branch, Naruto knew that by himself he wouldn't be able to do anything against ninja of their caliber. Good thing for Naruto was that he was rarely ever alone. Jumping and turning in midair, Naruto thrust his arms forward. From the small metal chains on his wrists, burst forth a multitude of giant chains that quickly wrapped themselves around the ninjas. As they dropped to the ground, Naruto slammed them to the floor.
Detaching the chains from the ones on his wrist, the chains on the ninjas quickly began to be covered in black markings. As the markings spread, they also began to transfer themselves over onto the other ninjas. They quickly fell unconscious after that.
Grabbing them and attaching them to the trees, Naruto wanted to go track the leader. However, the leader had a good lead on him. As such, he touched the tree he was on with his wooden gauntlet. Sensing through the tree, Naruto was able to quickly locate the other people near him. It looked like Iruka had managed to track down the leader and was trying to take him down, but wasn't fairing too well.
'Iruka only needs one good opening and he can end this.' Keeping track of the fight, Naruto knew he had to make his move subtle. Seeing them jump back from each other, Naruto knew he found his chance. Quickly he made a root move underneath the enemy ninja, making him trip and fall back. Iruka immediately capitalized on this. Dashing forward, Iruka brought his kunai down and stabbed the enemy's throat.
Making sure that Iruka had everything handled. Naruto went back to his captives. Taking rope out of his pouch, he dispelled the chains around his captives and tied them up. Of course, he first stripped them of anything that may be of use for them to escape. With that, he lifted them onto his back and carried them back to the remains of the border station.
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"Unfortunately, Mizuki was a traitor." Iruka's voice remained even as he and Naruto discussed what happened. After Iruka returned to the border station, he met up with Naruto and then he asked him to retrieve Mizuki's body.
While Naruto had been retrieving Mizuki's body, Iruka interrogated the prisoners. From there he found out about Mizuki being the cause of the destruction of the border station. He had apparently stolen important information from Konoha. How that wasn't discovered until now, would have to be investigated.
"It's unfortunate that all of the hawks were killed in the explosion. This means that you'll have to run all the way back to Konoha as quickly as possible. Take as few brakes as possible. Spy groups usually don't come with more than a single squad, so that means that the odds of you actually finding another enemy ninja are low, but still be on guard." Nodding towards Iruka, Naruto took off as quickly as he could.
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"How are you holding up?" Naruto asked his spirits.
"It's strange. We've stayed like this for weeks, but I don't feel uncomfortable at all." Mito replied from her position on Naruto's wrists.
"It's the same for us as well. Except that Tobi can't really say anything because the blade isn't activated." Hashirama told Naruto. They had been worried about how they would be affected by the oversoul since they would have to do it for such an extended period of time. Luckily, there didn't seem to be anything wrong.
"That's good. How's Ember doing?" Ember was the name of the oni that formed from the souls of the Uchiha clan.
From everything that Naruto learned about oni's they tended to be filled with negative emotions and because of that they only tried to cause more destruction to increase their power. Ember was actually the exact opposite. He was timid and respectful. Plus it didn't help that he had big round eyes and he was small. It actually made him look cute.
However, because he was an oni Naruto couldn't just let him walk around freely. So, he devised a plan. He would have Ember follow him around on missions. It was only recently that Naruto was able to successfully create an oversoul with him. Currently, Ember was a small war fan that Naruto was keeping inside his jacket.
"He seems to be alright, but with him sleeping so much it's hard to be certain." Hashirama explained while trying to control how his eyes were oriented on the gauntlets.
"I couldn't really do anything about it at the station, but once we're back in the village I can check to see if the book has anything to say about it." Naruto had been so absorbed in training that he hadn't really looked at his book in months. Because of that, he had forgotten to take the book with him. As such, when Ember began to sleep for the majority of the mission he was kicking himself for not bringing it.
"I'm gonna focus everything I have on increasing my speed, so keep an eye out alright?" Hearing an affirmative, Naruto began to move as quickly as he possibly could. The downside was that Naruto experienced tunnel vision. He wasn't accustomed to moving at such speeds. To remedy that, he had his spirits keep an eye out for him.
As the tree's began to blur around him, Naruto began to wonder why no one had found out that Mizuki had stolen valuable information from Konoha. Though for some reason, he felt that at least one person had. Overall, he didn't like the fact that he felt used.
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"Hmm, so Mizuki betrayed the village by giving enemy ninjas important information. It was suspected that Mizuki was a traitor, but it wasn't expected that he would destroy the border station." As the Hokage explained, Naruto could feel his pulse quicken. Mizuki had been suspected of being a traitor, but wasn't apprehended or at least kept under more intense surveillance. Instead, he had been allowed to leave the village, and because of that several ninjas lost their lives.
"Lord Hokage, may I speak freely?" Looking at the Hokage directly in his eyes, Naruto could tell that he had been expected to ask that question. Seeing a nod, Naruto took a deep breath.
"If Mizuki had been suspected of being a traitor why was he not apprehended or at least kept under intense surveillance." Seeing the old man breathe deeply from his pipe, Naruto knew that what was said next would deeply affect the rest of his ninja career.
"Mizuki had not been apprehended because it was deemed more beneficial to see who Mizuki was working with than to stop him. Unfortunately, that was a miscalculation. We had not expected him to destroy the border station. One of the chunin stationed there had orders to keep an eye on Mizuki. Except that this chunin had a record of forgetting his orders. I'm guessing that he forgot about the orders I issued to him and because of that, five other chunin are dead.
Overall, it was a culmination of bad choices that led to this tragedy. One that will not be allowed to be repeated in the future." Hearing what led up to the tragedy, Naruto couldn't find anyway to fault the old man. Mizuki was allowed to go because it seemed like a good idea to see who he was working with. It made sense to see which one of their enemies was trying to find information on them.
"I understand, old man. I just wish that it didn't have to happen. Those six guys there won't be able to come back home like I will."
Giving Naruto a sad smile, Hiruzen replied, "I wish it hadn't happened either Naruto, but these sorts of things happen no matter what we may wish for. However, some good may have come from this." Seeing Naruto's questioning look, Hiruzen chuckled.
"Genin Uzumaki." Straightening his back and standing at attention, Naruto focused directly on the Hokage.
"This usually isn't done, but in light of your performance over the past year and with the recommendation of your fellow ninjas, I, Hiruzen Sarutobi, Third Hokage, hereby promote you to chunin." Seeing the slack jawed look he was receiving, Hiruzen started to chuckle.
"Well Naruto? Do you want this vest or not?" Seeing Naruto grab the vest and then walk out was enough to have Hiruzen chuckling every once in a while for the rest of the day.
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Nope the story isn't dead. I just forgot it existed. Here's a small update in case some of you were still here.
I'll add more stuff once I actually have an idea of where I want this to go.