Sorry for the late update, I've been fairly busy with exams and revision. The next chapter will probably be late as well since I have my last exam next week and then some celebrating to do. Please don't forget about me :'(. Anyway enjoy.

Chapter 4: Taking out a traitor

(Hokage's office)

Hiruzen Sarutobi could once again be found in his office behind a mountain of paperwork … exactly like any other day. He was just about to finish his sixth stack of the day when he heard a knock on the door. 'Hmmm, that must be the academy coming to give their report on the graduation exam. Naruto-kun, I really hope you were able to pass this time.' thought Hiruzen. "Enter" he commanded.

The door opened and in walked a wildly grinning Umino Iruka, Naruto's sensei this year. Hiruzen noticed the grin and couldn't help but wonder 'did you make it Naruto?'. "Ahh, Iruka-kun, I'm guessing you're here about the graduation exams." stated Hiruzen while pointing towards one of the seats in front of his desk.

"Right you are Hokage-sama." replied Iruka while sitting down in one of the chairs.

"So what are the results then?" asked the intrigued Hokage.

"We had 9 pass the exam. They are: Akimichi Choji, Nara Shikamaru, Haruno Sakura, Hyuuga Hinata, Aburame Shino, Yamanaka Ino, Inuzuka Kiba, Uchiha Sasuke …"

"…"

"…"

"… Well? Who's the ninth person?" asked Hiruzen in a hurried voice, the tension obviously getting to him.

Iruka gave a small chuckle at the old Hokage's actions. "The last of my students to pass the graduation exam this year is … Uzumaki Naruto!". The aged Hokage nearly jumped out of his seat in joy, "He finally made it, Naruto I'm so proud of you." said Hiruzen to nobody in particular.

"Oh, you're about to be even prouder when you hear about the 'Rookie of the Year'." stated Iruka.

"Oh really, how did young Sasuke do then?" asked Hiruzen.

"Well Hokage-sama, Uchiha Sasuke graduated with a total of 139, the same as Hyuuga Hinata. But they aren't the 'Rookie of the Year'. No that person graduated with a perfect score of 150, something that hasn't happened since Uchiha Itachi." explained Iruka.

"Then do tell who this hidden genius is." playfully ordered Hiruzen.

"It was Naruto Hokage-sama." Iruka said, not able to contain his smile.

"…"

"…"

"Are you sure?" asked Hiruzen. "If you're pulling my leg you better be ready to run Iruka-kun." stated the old Hokage.

Iruka quickly stood up in panic and waved his arms in front of him, "I can assure you Hokage-sama that this is no attempt to deceive you. Naruto was like a completely different person today …

(Meanwhile at the Hokage monument)

After receiving his Hitai-ate from Iruka, Naruto quickly congratulated some of his former classmates, the only four he could consider as friends, his only friends in 12 years. After congratulating a loud-mouthed Inuzuka, a lazy Nara, a 'big-boned' Akimichi and a shy Hyuuga he left to visit his favourite spot in Konoha, the head of the fourth Hokage on the Hokage monument. The place had always seemed to comfort him when he was younger for some reason, probably because it was out of reach from all the civilians.

He had been meditating there for about half an hour when he felt a familiar and unwelcome presence approaching. He knew exactly who it was, but decided to keep it a secret so that Mizuki would underestimate his true abilities.

Mizuki who had been stealthily making his way towards the demon container was itching to get his payback for how the boy embarrassed him earlier. Not only would his plan allow him to manipulate Naruto, become stronger but also to rid the world of the demon spawn. After walking down the cliff side and reaching the head of the Yondaime, he made his presence known to Naruto. "I finally found you Naruto, I've been looking for you ever since you left the academy." said Mizuki.

"Oh, Mizuki-sensei. Why have you been searching for me" asked Naruto, portraying a confused expression which countered his analysing thought prosess.

"Well, you left before anyone could tell you. Every 'Rookie of the Year' gets the chance to take a test to become Chuunin instead of Genin." lied Mizuki. His plan was simple really; he'd get Naruto to steal the 'Scroll of Seals', when Naruto came to give him the scroll, he would ambush him and then use the scroll to become one of the strongest ninja alive.

"Wow really, what do I have to do" asked Naruto in his fake hyperactive tone.

"Well you need to sneak into the Hokage's resident and retrieve a scroll known as the 'Scroll of Seals', it's a very large scroll, about you height actually ( Naruto is using his henge). After you've retrieved the scroll you need to deliver it to me in the clearing about 100 meters into the forest behind us. This will test your stealth, retrieval and placement finding skills." explained the relieved looking Mizuki.

Naruto figured this was a trap set up by Mizuki. He knew the significance of the 'Scroll of Seals', he learnt about it in a book he found about Konoha's military might. He knew if he took the scroll, it would be seen as a capital offence. But this could be the only chance he could get to learn jutsus from the scroll before he became Hokage. This would be a decision that would either greatly help his career, kill him or risk Mizuki going after the scroll in a more directive way. "Alright Mizuki-sensei, when do we meet?" asked Naruto.

"Well its 5 now, so meet me at 9. That leaves you with 4 hours to retrieve the scroll." said Mizuki with a barely noticeable smirk on his face.

(Hokage's office)

After explaining Naruto's actions during the graduation exam, Iruka leant back into his chair to wait for the Hokage's response.

Said Hokage was in deep thought, not only had Naruto obviously hidden his true talents from everyone including a C-ranked jutsu, he also had the ability to use some hiden which belonged to the Inuzuka clan, which he used against an Inuzuka. This was, as Nara Shikaku would say, 'troublesome'. "I will have to talk to him later about all of this; I can't believe he was able to keep that kind of talent away from us for so long" said Hiruzen as he stood up to look at the village he protected as its ruler.

"I agree Hokage-sama, but, when you do talk to him would it be possible for me to be here? Naruto and I share a similar past in some ways, though my troubles are nothing compared to his, but we are similar. I believe it would help him open up more." asked/said Iruka, he then quickly realised the mistake in his choice of words. "I'm sorry Hokage-sama; I didn't mean to imply that he doesn't trust you enough or anything. I just thought that my presence and help would make him even more at ease than he already is in your company. Not that I'm implying that you are losing any respect from people due to you allowing a child to see you as a grandfather figure…" Iruka quickly tried to explain, but his explanation seemed to make everything worse.

Hiruzen just raised his hand to silence the nervous Chuunin and gave a small chuckle. "There's no need to explain Iruka-kun. I know you had no ill-meaning in the words you said, and I didn't take any offence to them anyway." Hiruzen offered a comforting smile to the Chuunin schoolteacher as he took his seat once again. "I agree Iruka-kun, you being here will help Naruto to open up, so I will allow it. Now on to other business, let's discuss the Genin squads. I know that tradition tells us to put the 'Rookie of the Year', 'Top Kunoichi' and 'Dead-last' together in one squad to balance the power, but I would like to change it this year. If we followed the tradition, it would be Naruto, Hinata and Choji, but I have special plans for Choji. I believe that he, Shikamaru and Ino could become as strong if not stronger Ino-Shika-Cho formation as their fathers." explained Hiruzen.

Iruka nodded along with Hiruzen, seeing the logic in his words. "Ok then, if they are one squad, what about the other two teams. It will be very hard to balance out the teams now. Sasuke and Hinata are at the same level, they are very talented in many aspects; Sasuke needs a little more work on his Taijutsu and Hinata on her Ninjutsu. Sakura has great intelligence but is slightly lacking in the physical aspect. Kiba is like the total opposite to Sakura, he reminds me of what we thought Naruto was only stronger, he lacks in intelligence and emotional control but is very good at Taijutsu, but, tends to rely on his clan techniques. Shino also relies on his clan techniques, but is better rounded than Kiba; he's average or above in all aspects and like most members in his clan, uses logic to answer questions. Naruto is a total mystery to us, we thought he was almost a lost cause, yet he graduates on his third try with a perfect score and uses C-rank ninjutsu and two D-rank Inuzuka clan hiden." Iruka said, voicing his concerns.

"I see, well this is my opinion on the matter-" Hiruzen was interrupted by a knock on the door. "Hmm, I wasn't expecting anyone, enter!" he commanded the last part so the person outside would hear him. The door opened and in walked the familiar figure of Uzumaki Naruto. He closed the door and walked further into the room and stopped when he reached the middle. "Ah Naruto-kun, we were just talking about you actually and we also need to talk to you about your performances today, don't worry you're not in any trouble we just want to ge-"once again Hiruzen was interrupted by Naruto.

"I'm sorry about this jiji …"

(Three hours later)

It had been three hours since Naruto retrieved the 'Scroll of Seals' for Mizuki. For the past three hours Naruto had been going through the scroll, copying the description of each jutsu and skill as he went along. Over the years he had almost perfected the art of copying jutsu description due to practising fuinjutsu, but also copying some ruined jutsu scrolls he found in the trash that would produce an unwelcome smell or attract unwelcome guests. He had used the first three hours to go through the giant scroll and pick out the jutsu he found most useful and copy them down, there was no point in copying jutsu he didn't find useful for him like the Sen'eijashu (Hidden shadow snake hands) which summoned snakes out of the user's sleeves. The thought of which wasn't very compelling to Naruto.

After sorting out around twenty jutsu he decided to try to use one of the jutsu. First up was the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Shadow clone jutsu), it was a B-ranked Kinjutsu (forbidden jutsu) that used a lot of chakra which made the jutsu dangerous to people without the proper chakra reserve, even lethal. The jutsu created physical clones like the Iwa no Bunshin which dispels with one significant hit. The amazing part of this jutsu was that anything the clone learned during it's time would be transferred to the user when dispelled.

It was a risky move to try to learn this jutsu because Naruto didn't know whether his chakra reserves were large enough to pull off the jutsu, but if it was possible, the possibilities seemed endless.

After half an hour of trial and error, Naruto was finally able to make a Kage Bunshin, much to his delight. He then set on to try the Shuriken Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Shuriken shadow clone jutsu) which he found surprisingly easy after being able to create a Kage Bunshin. That technique only took quarter an hour to complete, which left Naruto with fifteen minutes to learn one more technique before Mizuki arrived. Naruto decided to learn Bunshin Daibakuha (Clone great explosion) which meant overloading a Kage Bunshin to cause it to explode. This jutsu was also fairly easy due to his high chakra reserves, overloading the clone was quite simple. He finished the jutsu just before Mizuki arrived at the clearing.

Mizuki was wearing his full Chuunin armour and a giant Shuriken secured on his back. He was on a branch in one of the trees on the edge of the clearing. "Good work Naruto, you did well." said Mizuki, making his presence known.

Naruto turned around quickly and startled, even though he knew Mizuki was already there, he wanted to keep Mizuki underestimating him. "Oh hey Mizuki-sensei, I didn't see you there. I got the scroll, so do I pass?" Naruto asked, still portraying his fake personality.

"Oh yes Naruto you did well, but unfortunately for you, you won't become Chuunin." stated Mizuki.

"What why, I did everything you asked me, why can't I become Chuunin?" whined the young Uzumaki.

"Simple, because you're a demon." Naruto slightly flinched at the word demon. "Do you know why the villagers hate you Naruto? It's because you killed their loved ones twelve years ago. You came here, you killed countless people, you killed our Hokage and yet you're allowed to live here. You are a demon Naruto; the fourth sealed away your personality and died in the prosess. You are a true demon KYUUBI!". Naruto couldn't believe what he was hearing; he was the strongest demon to have ever lived. He had killed countless innocent people. That is why everybody hated him, they had a right to. He slumped to his knees, head facing the ground.

Mizuki smirked at the seen in front of him, it was almost too easy. He took off his shuriken and tossed it towards Naruto. He was doing the world a favour by killing the demon. He would be seen as a hero by many. The shuriken flew through the air towards the distracted child. When the shuriken was only inches away from Naruto's neck, a loud 'clang' was heard and the shuriken ended up piercing a tree. Mizuki quickly looked to see who the intruder was, but there was no one in sight. Then the small sobs he heard from Naruto slowly turned into a menacing chuckle. Naruto slowly lifted his head, a devilish smirk on his mouth.

After a quick staring competition with his opponent, Naruto jumped up, drew a kunai and flung it towards Mizuki, which was easily deflected. "Is that the best you can do brat, take THIS!" Mizuki flung the kunai back towards Naruto quickly followed by a hand full of shuriken. Naruto evaded the projectiles. Mizuki was about to charge the young blonde again when he heard insane chirping from behind him. He slowly turned around to see Hatake Kakashi standing there, Sharingan blazing and a lightning covered fist. Mizuki turned to run but was blocked by another Kakashi. He then noticed he was surrounded by an army of the masked shinobi. He stood there in a panic, he couldn't move, he was to afraid. He was about to turn again when his entire world fell into darkness.

Naruto stood up from his kneeling position he was in before the 'fight' started. As soon as he lifted his head he had caught Mizuki in a Genjutsu. Mizuki was now slumped on the floor, with Iruka standing over him. He heard a rustle in the bushes and found Sarutobi Hiruzen walking towards him, "Well done Naruto-kun, you successfully completed the task given to you, which is a B-ranked mission. Congratulations." said Hiruzen.

When Naruto went to see the Hokage before, he told him everything about Mizuki. In exchange for the information Hiruzen agreed to leave him alone with the scroll for the time. It was a risky move, but it paid off. "Told you I would didn't I." said Naruto

Thanks for reading, sorry again for the late update. R&R