-I do not own Naruto-
Heart of Fire Eyes of Steel
Chapter 5
Naruto loved ramen.
Everyone knew this to be sure, but contrary to popular belief it was not, as they thought his favourite thing.
His favourite thing was in fact, learning.
Anything he could get his hands on that looked interesting, he had even taken up origami for a few weeks because of how cool it looked. Even now, a long time after he had mastered the art, his more impressive pieces littered his furniture.
But this was different, this was new, and this time he was spoilt for choice.
*Flashback start*
Mizuki grinned at the desperate look in the demon brats eyes, and yet even though he would like nothing more than to watch him squirm, he had a job to do and what better way to do it without even dirtying his own hands.
"So Naruto, I take it you will try the alternate graduation method?"
Naruto nodded furiously his affirmative 'hook, line and sinker' thought Mizuki.
"Well I must warn you then, it is extremely difficult. To pass you must retrieve the forbidden scroll of sealing from the office of the Hokage, and then bring it back to me here.
Mizuki gestured to the forest clearing around them.
"You can go for the scroll at any time, but if you want to graduate with the rest of your friends, you will have to get it back to me before the day's end"
A strongly frantic look flashed onto the young boy's face, who curtly whipped his teacher a snappy salute before darting off in the direction of the Hokage tower.
Getting in had been easy, the guards were either half asleep at their posts, or extremely bored out of their brains keeping watch for potential enemies that were, pretty much not able to ever get this far into the village, almost imaginary soldiers to the mind of the soon to be thief.
'Y'know' thought Naruto while sneaking carefully thorough the rafters 'I'd have thought the old man would have the best ninja in the village guarding him...not these bunch of tardy half-arsed village idiots!' he momentarily shook his head.
'After all this is over, I'd best tell him about this' he grinned excited 'once I am a fully fledged ninja that is, perhaps he will even make me his bodyguard!'
Eventually, after many detours and distractions, Naruto had made it to the Hokages office.
'Okay then' Naruto took a deep breath 'now for the hard part'
To attempt to get into the room, Naruto had skirted around the rooftop of the Hokage tower and dropped onto a ledge leading right to a window, a perfect entrance point to slip in right next to the Hokage's desk.
'Just like that old guy in red does' he thought.
He crept slowly up to the window and peered inside.
He grinned 'Empty, the old man must be elsewhere'
"Looking for someone?" a voice from behind him said.
Naruto almost literally jumped out of his own skin and only just managed to keep himself steady on the narrow ledge.
His eyes whirled around, trying desperately to identify the person responsible for his discovery, only to lock eyes with...The Third.
"Snooping as usual I see?" said the Hokage in a light tone, clearly amused at the turn of events.
Naruto could feel the sweat on his brow 'I've failed haven't I?'
The Hokage had a ghost of a smile playing across his face.
"Now then" he began, his tone suddenly more serious "why don't you...step into my office, and you can tell me all about your being here hm?"
Naruto didn't miss the glint in the third Hokages eye and gulped as he felt the old man lay a hand on his shoulder leaving no room for argument.
'I'm in for it now' he gulped again, feeling the compulsion to run but his knees being like jelly as he slipped into the unlit office.
He had only been in the room for a few minutes when the Hokage had become frighteningly quiet.
Naruto had decided that the truth was the best way out of a bad situation, so he tried to appeal to the aging leader by both telling the truth, and playing on his good will, by Kami if there was any way to get out of this he would try his best.
He thought it was all going well...until he had mentioned Mizuki sensei.
'Was it something about him?' he wondered whitest wringing his hands in nervousness.
When the Hokages pipe had exhausted its contents, he placed it delicately upon his desk and exhaled, shrouding his desk in the familiar smelling brand that he had always smoked.
"Hmm" he uttered, steepling his hands before him with his elbows resting on the desk.
"Do you want to be a ninja that badly my boy?" he pushed the slip of paper bearing Naruto's explanation back to him.
Naruto nodded furiously and quickly scribed his reply, which was already quite evident with what was already written upon the parchment.
'Yes sir!' the note read 'more than anything!'
The Hokage took a moment to look at the boy, seeing in his eyes the same burning desire that was once held in his fathers.
'And yet' thought the old Hokage 'I hope you can forgive me for what might happen after this'
"Okay then my boy" he put on the best smile he could under the circumstance and moved to the corner of the room and removing a dusty old scroll from the top of a cupboard.
Naruto looked sceptical 'Seriously?' he thought 'this is the forbidden scroll of sealing?'
"It looks so ordinary doesn't it?" said the Hokage as he handed it over to the aspiring young ninja.
"It certainly doesn't look like much does it, and yet that is the whole point. No one would consider such a plain looking piece of parchment could be so important" The Third retrieved his pipe once more and turned back to the boy.
"Learn to look underneath the underneath, this is one of the first aspects of the shinobi career that you should learn, stealth and subterfuge is our namesake as ninja, so nothing is ever as it seems, remember that".
The Hokage lit his pipe and took a long drag before sighing out a river of smoke, the embers of the burning tobacco visible amidst the cloud.
'The Hokage is even giving me advice, I'm so damn lucky today!'.
"Run along now Naruto my boy, your sensei will not wait forever!"
'Yessir!' Naruto thought as he almost left the room without the scroll that he had stood on the floor.
The Hokage waited for his young friend to be out of earshot before turning towards the window that had remained open since his entrance.
"Come inside quickly, the situation has become most dire".
Before the Hokage had even finished his sentence, a long spiky white haired hermit with a red waistcoat slipped though the opening, his wooden clogs ringing out as he hit the hard floor.
"Jiraiya" said the Hokage, the toad sage nodding his affirmative.
"The list of things that could go wrong with this situation Sarutobi has gotten pretty extensive by this point"
Jiraiya paused and sighed before adopting a sour look.
"What am I, or you, going to do about this?"
"Well" Hiruzen began "I will inform my personal guard of the matter and they will shortly depart to retrieve both the boy and the scroll".
"And what of the false teacher?" inquired the sage.
The third blew more smoke into the thickening air and spoke quickly and in a heated tone.
"Orochimaru is showing his hand here, I am sure of this. We must act quickly and dispatch this spy as soon as possible" he turned to his student.
"Jiraiya, this is to be your task: Kill Mizuki and secure the scroll by the time my guards get there, Danzo must not know of this".
"Hm" Jiraiya screwed his eyes "You think he is involved in this as well?"
"I do" said the Hokage almost too quickly "Danzo is in charge of vetting out shinobi before they begin any major missions in the service of our village, and the fact that a man, the same man might I add that has been teaching our young aspirants for over ten years, what does that say of Danzo's thoroughness?".
"I get your point" admitted Jiraiya on his way to the window "I'll be off now, wouldn't want to keep my godson waiting".
"Indeed not" whispered Sarutobi "I just pray you are not too late..."
*Flashback End*
The scroll lay out in front of Naruto, and the complex text and explanations were, for the most part baffling the boy.
'C-cyclone limb tearing jutsu?' he read 'Why the hell would anyone want to learn a jutsu that tore their own arm off to kill one bad guy, that's stupid!'
Naruto had settled on a number of jutsu's to try and learn before Mizuki arrived, but the only one that he had managed to master was the shadow clone and shadow shuriken jutsu's.
Shadow clones he thought were easy to do, all he needed to do was pretty much the same thing as a normal clone jutsu, but with a different hand sign, the process was the same.
Shadow shuriken however has taken much longer, and even now it would take some practice to get it down fully.
Naruto found it much harder to concentrate on duplicating multiple small objects than on his singular larger self.
In fact he only managed it while they were in flight once.
Suddenly, he was snatched from his studies when the bushes to his right rustled, and out stepped Mizuki, his sudden appearance making Naruto jump out of his skin for the second time that night.
"Ah, there you are D-Naruto" 'almost let it slip out early again, now all I need to do is get the scroll from the little bastard'.
"You passed with flying colours it seems Naruto, now all you need to do is pass me the scroll and then I can give you your headband".
Naruto nodded a slight twinkle in his eye as he rolled up the scroll.
He was almost done when a foot connected with his chest, and drove the air from his lungs.
Sasuke and Hinata had been running around all of Konoha searching for their blonde haired companion for at least an hour before Hinata's Byakugan had managed to get in range of Naruto.
Unfortunately, it was not quite the heartfelt reunion that they had wished for, when they noticed their friend being knocked around by their academy teacher.
"Naru-"began Hinata, who was quickly dragged back into a bush by Sasuke.
"Don't be an idiot, we need to blindside him if we are going to stand a chance against Mizuki, he is a Chunin remember, let's not be rash".
The two looked back at the clearing, with the intention of biding their time when they noticed all the movement in the clearing had stopped.
"You really are an idiot aren't you?" shouted Mizuki into Naruto's face who was at present backed against a tree with tears in his eyes.
"You think there was actually a second chance?" Mizuki smirked "Even if there was, do you think I would waste it on your filthy homeless hide?"
Naruto just looked down, he didn't even give a confirmation to the traitorous teacher.
"You know, there are rules and regulations in place all about you, and you know...there was always one I've wanted to break"
Mizuki grinned again and dropped the scroll horizontally onto the floor while he placed his foot on it and leaning down to eye level with the boy.
"You know that great tale of how the fourth Hokage saved the village by killing the nine tailed demon fox at the cost of his own life? You know, the man you adore?"
Mizuki pointed his finger at Naruto "Well that story was, and has always been, a load of nonsense!" he poked Naruto hard in the chest repeatedly.
"You" he said simply "He used you to seal away the beast".
All in an instant, three pairs of eyes widened in shock as what was just said hit them like a ton of bricks.
"That means" started Hinata
"That he" continued Sasuke
"That's right you demon brat!" finished Mizuki "You are the same demon that took the lives of countless people over ten years ago, you are the same Kami damned monster that took everyone from me!"
And just like a page being flipped over in a book, Mizuki's already fragile temperament shattered as he went red in the face and slowly drew one of the two giant shuriken he had on his back.
"Rest assured demon, I'm going to enjoy this, and then I'll take this scroll to the senin Oorochimaru and get everything I deserve!"
Mizuki threw his first shuriken, Naruto barely managed to dodge out of the way, managing to shift himself and only getting his side cut by the shuriken rather receiving a fatal blow, the wound spraying a red mist onto the tree beside him.
"Naruto!" screamed both Hinata and Sasuke in unison as they ran out from their bush to protect their friend.
"Tch" Mizuki shook his head "You heard everything I said, and yet you still defend him?"
Mizuki drew his second shuriken and charged "Pathetic".
"Fire style: Fireball jutsu!" shouted Sasuke as he quickly ran through the necessary hand signs and blew fourth a huge torrent of fire.
"Hm, perhaps I underestimated you at least boy. Ninja art: Chakra nullification!" Mizuki slapped the side of the shuriken and swung it before him in a brutal arc, cutting the fireball in half and leaving Mizuki unharmed while one half of the fireball flew off to the side setting a tree ablaze, while the other was thrown back at Sasuke, catching him in the side of the face and clinging to his flesh and he dropped onto the floor howling and rolling the fire out.
"You shouldn't play with fire Uchiha, your clan massacring brother cannot help you now".
Sasuke growled while getting up onto his knees and clutching his burnt face "You be quiet about him!" he screamed.
Mizuki smirked "Not so good at hiding your emotions are you? I wonder what your parents would say at your progress of avenging them, they'd probably be rolling in their graves right now!"
Sasuke lost all control at this point and charged in at Mizuki blindly.
"I said shut your mouth!" Sasuke thrust a kunai at his teacher, who parried him effortlessly before slashing upwards with his weapon and opening up a grizzly looking wound on the Uchiha survivors back.
"Sasuke!" cried Hinata who rushed to his side from Naruto's and assumed a Jyuuken stance facing Mizuki.
"Why, why do you have to do this" she said quietly.
"Because you are in the way" uttered Mizuki as he closed on the small Hyuga heiress and in her confusion rushed forward and delivered a hard blow to her head, knocking her flat out.
Naruto, having witnessed both of his friends get taken down, was once again up against a tree unsure of what to do.
'Damn, damn, damn a-are they, did he oh no, no, no' his mind was a frantic mess.
He could hear his hard breathing, loud and laboured as he stared into the eyes of the man responsible.
"Any last words demon?" spoke Mizuki, the hysteria plain in his voice.
"Oh, wait" he cackled and swung his shuriken again, Sasuke's blood still blotched on the edge.
'Please!' thought Naruto desperately, his will all but broken 'Someone!'
He screwed his eyes shut, and waited for the deathblow.
The world darkened around Naruto, and Mizuki's mad laughter had stopped echoing around his skull.
'Silence...'
Naruto opened his eyes to find himself in a tunnel 'a sewer perhaps?' he looked at the ceiling 'but...how?'
He then turned to look down to the far end, along the left and right there was a number of doors that were bolted shut at the hinges and had no locks on them.
Right at the end however was a large double door with ornate handles and a low growling noise coming from inside.
Naruto took a deep breath 'Here goes nothing'.
He walked slowly up to the door, his footsteps announcing his arrival with a rhythmic splashing that marked his foot falls.
His bit his lip and push with both arms on the doors that came open as if they were very well tended without so much as a click.
He spied instantly the large cage at the back, covering an undeterminable section of the room.
"Ah, your here at last" called out a booming voice on the other side of the cage, a single enormous eye opening to fill a number of the cage rungs and to fix Naruto in its animalistic pupils.
Naruto's eyes widened as his scepticism was lifted from his mind like the wrappings of a present.
'He was...telling the truth...I really am a demon'
The darkness once again parted, this time to make way for a huge jaw full of bone white teeth.
"Don't you dare!" shouted the mouth "I am the demon here, to even consider yourself anything CLOSE to my power would be an insult!"
Naruto jumped, sweat beading on his brow.
He was terrified, but the demons comment, might have almost made him feel better if he wasn't facing something from his nightmares.
'Kami that thing is scary'
The demon tutted disappointingly "I am not a 'thing' either, learn some respect when speaking to those clearly your superior brat. I am the nine-tailed fox, you would do well to remember as much!"
Naruto gulped 'Yessir!'
"Tch good. Now then, about your current predicament"
It was then that the demon chose to sit up from its position lying inside its cage, the light shining upon its glossy orangey-red coat.
Naruto froze.
'This fox...is the same one that had been haunting me since...since I can remember!'
He looked towards his chest 'and now...'
"A conversation for another time perhaps" muttered the fox.
"Unless you want to die, I suggest you approach me quickly, I can get you out of your current situation regarding the wayward traitor of a teacher".
Naruto just nodded dumbly, being too scared and frankly too sensible to think that there was any other way out of this situation.
The fox placed its paw on the damp floor within the cage and beckoned Naruto in. "Touch my paw"
Naruto did so and immediately regretted it, he couldn't remove his hand and a slight tingling feeling had since started up his arm.
"Do not panic boy, this will be painful but such is the only way to gain the power I bestow upon you".
Pain started pulsing through his whole body strongest in his head as the demonic chakra from the fox flooded his system.
'What are you doing to me!?' screamed Naruto inside his mind.
"What must be done boy if you are to survive these trying times" the foxed paused "Now get out, you will thank me later".
There was a flash of white light that filled Naruto's eyes and his vision shifted once again.
Naruto felt like he had fallen from a balcony, everything ached, and he could barely move.
Cracking an eye open, all he could see were star bursts in his vision.
He managed to lift an arm to rub his eyes clear and tried again.
Something dripped on his face and he quickly wiped it off after jumping for the third time that evening.
He looked at his hand the substance was red and warm on his clammy hands 'Blood...'
Naruto slowly looked up only to be met by Mizuki's face twisted in horror.
Naruto scrambled out from under him 'What...happened?' he wondered.
He noticed that Mizuki was still clutching his shuriken that was now stuck into the side of the tree.
'Did I...do this?' Naruto began to fret as he tried to consider the possibilities and took another look at his old Sensei.
From this angle, Naruto noticed a small spike sticking out the back of Mizuki's head.
'What in the world?' thought Naruto who was still fazed from his ordeal with the fox and dizzy in the head.
He was broken from his stupor when he heard Sasuke yell and looked over to find him still sprawled against his own tree that he had managed to drag himself to with Hinata beginning to stir beside him.
'Guys!' he thought worriedly as he stumped dizzily to their side, worry plastered on his face.
Sasuke breathed heavily and he sat awkwardly as not to agitate his wound more and yet, sat with a smile on his face, his eyes screwed shut.
"W-what have you got to be smiling about?" said Hinata, beating Naruto to the punch.
Sasuke opened his eyes, slowly at first to reveal they had become red with a single mark around his pupil.
"Finally" sighed Sasuke.
"Sharingan" whispered Hinata.
Sasuke chuckled lightly but stopped and started coughing soon after realising his folly.
"Sasuke, you must stay still and not talk, u-unless you want to bleed out" ordered the suddenly stern heiress as she reached into her coat for the ointment that the three had come to find wondrous.
Naruto could not tear his vision from the blood that speckled Sasuke's shirt and felt a spasm of anger rip through him.
An aching pain filled his head once more as he thought of all the pain Mizuki had caused his friends.
Suddenly, there was a terrible sound that shot through the forest like a watermelon being hit with a hammer from where their sensei rested dead.
Hinata looked instantly white in the face and about ready to lose her lunch while Sasuke, who was looking in that direction to begin with, was gawking madly.
Naruto turned slowly and looked nonchalantly at the display of brutality before him.
Mizuki's head had been pulverised, barely any of it left to Identify.
'Oh' he thought 'It really was...'
And with that, the world began to spin as his head rushed to meet the earth.