Okay look: Chapter four is a bust... The plan was to cover the next five years of Naruto's life quickly whilst setting out his emotional turmoil as he is thrust into a new form of hell, where he is pretty much alone. I will keep trying at it but I'm moving on, if I complete it I'll sort out the chapters best I can.
Chapter Five: The Bright Light of Dawn
"Naruto! What the fuck are you doing! Why would you steal that!" Iruka shouted upon finding the young blonde he'd failed six hours ago. "This is one of the worst crimes in you could have committed! If anyone else had found you, you'd be dead by now!"
"What? No! What!? But Mizuki-sensei said it was a retest! He said everyone already knew... So I shouldn't... Oh kami! No! What have I done!" Naruto began to panic, instantly understanding the severity of his crime, tears began to fill his eyes he looked to Iruka hoping to see something other than the sternness he usually saw, he needed to see something he could trust in, especially after Mizuki's betrayal, so when he saw softness in the instructor's eyes he grew wary. "I promise I'd never do this sort of thing unless if I'd thought it wasn't a test, honest. I'm not the demon everyone claims I am."
"Oh but you are Naruto. You just don't know about it. Its the same reason why everyone attacks you, why your dead family hated you, it's even the reason why Iruka refused to pass you. Because you are a demon." Mizuki called as he revealed himself, sitting leisurely on a branch high above the two. "They all hate you Naruto. For what you did to them they'll always hate you. You remember the history lessons? The reason why we have four hokages on the mountain but the third is in power?"
"What's the Kyuubi no Kitsune got to do with me?"
"Everything and its simple really, Baka. You are the Kyuubi. " Mizuki laughed at the dumbfounded look upon Naruto's face. "That's right Naruto, you have as much Konoha blood on your hands as the entire opposing forces in the third great ninja war. But not me, no I don't hate you, I see great potential, come with me, bring the scroll with you, we can go to a great man, a man who can make you stronger than everyone in this village, you can have revenge. How does that sound? Making every one of those villagers who hurt you suffer in the knowledge that they caused the pain you could rain down upon them!"
"Take your shitty offer and blow it out your ass Teme. I have a promise to keep. I ain't gonna do that by letting them get to me and I especially ain't gonna do it by leaving here. I'll make them see me, not the demon, and to start I'll make sure you see justice." Getting into a haphazard fighting stance Naruto prepared to launch himself at Mizuki when he was held back by Iruka.
"No. Naruto, this isn't your fight, no matter how much it looks like it. This is mine, he may have revealed the truth about you, but he definitely lied about me. I never hated you kid, nor could I ever. Believe that, if nothing else." Jumping to the branch Mizuki relaxed on easily from his standing start Iruka whipped out three kunai sending them straight at the traitor. Two of the kunia were slightly ahead of the last and spaced enough to catch Mizuki's shoulders and lodge them against the tree, while the third would have caught him straight in the chest had he not substituted himself with a log. Appearing above the senior instructor he delivered an ax kick to the man's head sending him crashing back to the forest floor. Slightly dazed he barely managed to catch the fist that then flew out at him.
"Naruto get away from here, quickly, and stay hidden from everyone, i'll find you, then we'll sort this out." Iruka grunted before entering a blindingly quick brawl with Mizuki. The pair were throwing and blocking various attacks, constantly trying to gain the upper hand.
While they clashed Naruto turned and ran, but with no intention of hiding, to the next clearing he could find. Iruka had tried to protect him, Iruka - the guy who seemed to have a hard on for making Naruto feel like shit - had claimed to never hate him and fought for his sake. As he set up his plan Naruto began to realise just why Iruka had seemed worse than the rest, he didn't hate the fox instead he was disappointed in the boy. Digging a hole in the ground he took two stones, both of which he transformed into replicas of the forbidden scroll of sealing before burying one with the real scroll on top, also transformed to look like a rock, and placing the second fake against a tree.
Iruka had done well so far in holding his own against Mizuki but he knew he was in trouble, Mizuki wasn't just your average small-fry looking to make it big, he had some talent and knew how to use it to beat Iruka's jack-of-all-trades style. The chunin was out of breath when Naruto reappeared shouting;
"Don't worry Iruka-sensei, I gots your back. Believe it!" Clearly the boy hadn't been paying attention before charging in. If he had he would have realized Mizuki was right behind him and was holding the last of his oversized shuriken he'd had strapped to his back in his hand taking aim. Grunting through the screams of his muscles, that hadn't seen such strenuous use in far too long, he dived at the boy, pushing him down before the shuriken could hit him. He then yelled out in pain as the shuriken lodged itself in his own back instead.
"Heh. Useless as usual Umino. Couldn't even let the kid die without you. Well best be off gotta get that scroll out the country quickly." Came Mizuki's mocking voice not bothering to check the bodies as he transformed himself to look like Iruka. If he had he would have noticed that Iruka was alone.
"Crazy Naruto. Just don't die. I'll come get you just as soon as I can."
Mizuki wasn't surprised when he found Naruto sitting in the next clearing looking bored with the scroll next to him.
'Dumb shit didn't even think to hide himself' Mikuki thought to himself before calling out in Iruka's voice;
"Hey Naruto, Mizuki's gone. I dealt with him no bother, guy could barely take a punch. Let's head back ehh?" As he said this he approached the boy who still sat in the middle of the clearing looking off into the distance as though he was trying to figure out a riddle. About twenty feet from the boy Mizuki's foot got caught in a small pit that hadn't been there when he began his approach. At this Naruto was brought from his reverie to focus on Iruka.
"I've got a few things to say Iruka-sensei," Naruto said emphasising the name of the man in front of him, "First of all thanks for believing in me, secondly sorry for not listening to your instructions." Slowly getting up from his rock Naruto drew a kunai from his pouch before continuing; "Thirdly that's the first time ever I managed to get you with one of my pranks, of any scale, and finally Mizuki-Teme. This is for you. Nobody hurts my precious people and gets away with it and by Kami you had better Believe It!" His voice rising to a roar as he launched himself at the man snarling and began hitting the man wildly, making him drop his henge. If Mizuki had been any lesser opponent this tactic would have thrown him off guard, instead he took it in stride and casually held of the boy's brawler fighting methods.
Quickly growing tired of all the effort he had had to go through just to get his hands on the prize that was just about in his grasp Mizuki knocked the boy down easily. Straddling the boy now he pulled out a kunai, placing it at his neck he leant down and whispered in the boy's ear:
"They should give me an award for the service I'm about to do them. Too bad they're so weak or I wouldn't want to leave. Well, brat, any last words?"
"Sure I do Mizuki-Teme. Go to hell. Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" He said as hundreds of clones appeared around them. Looking up in a confusion of the rapid growth the boy had shown in just a few hours Mizuki was caught unable to defend himself as the Clones launched themselves at the traitor, viciously ripping into him. By the time Iruka had healed himself and arrived Mizuki was barely more than a lump in the ground.
Nearly two hours later both Iruka and Naruto stood before the Hokage back in his office with the scroll being returned to it's hiding place by anbu guards who were also in charge of increasing the security surrounding the scroll.
"So what you are telling me is that a man we'd trusted enough to put in a leadership role of our up and coming classes of genin attempted to betray the village? In order to do that he utilized Naruto's naivety, dislike of most adults and surprising stealth skills in order to steal what is meant to be one of our most highly guarded scrolls. He then revealed an S class secret that was meant to be never told to the younger generations, in doing so overplaying his hand and allowing Naruto, who he had written off as useless, to take the man down by using a forbidden jutsu?" The old man asked tiredly. He examined the two faces in front of him, the younger one showed a hint of pride underneath overall fear as he replied in the affirmative while the elder merely held his face straight. "Well then... Naruto. You understand that you committed a grave offence today? Stealing that scroll should have a penalty of spending a long time with Ibiki, let alone learning one of the forbidden jutsu from within it. However, you do gain some leniency in that you were being tricked and that you brought the true criminal to justice as such you shall be cleared of most charges. The problem then remains that since you failed the exam today, you aren't a ninja and as such I cannot free you of all charges, which knowing the council's opinion of you will almost definitely end with you spending your days in chains." Seeing the boy's fall from the joy he himself had risen it to nearly made the old hokage's heart rip in two, while the chunin beside him merely steeled himself at the prospect before voicing an idea.
"Sir, it came to my attention that today during Naruto's exam he had been given a question paper that had a genjutsu on it to make the questions appear to him as being the correct ones while to others it appeared as different questions. Upon rechecking his results he managed to score sufficiently to pass and today he has clearly displayed to me a capability of substituting himself using a jutsu, transforming both himself and other objects and even producing multiple clones that not only copied him perfectly but were used effectively in combat, as such I would like to put forward that my previous decision not to pass the boy be revised so that he may." As Iruka spoke he slowly broke into a grin as he noticed Naruto slowly being dragged out of the depression of the jail time he would likely face to full on ecstasy as that prospect was sent flying from all thought, his smile seeming to outshine the strip lights that lined the ceiling and the moon that shone in through the windows. Smiling at the easy way of sidestepping all difficulties that faced the old man's favourite orphan Hiruzen nodded his head as he pulled out a headband from his desk that hadn't been used in nearly thirteen years and slid it towards the boy.
"Very well Iruka. If you believe the boy has earned the position of genin of the leaf then I shall allow it. Naruto you are hereby cleared of all charges."
"Yatta! I get to be a ninja! Thank you so much Iruka-sensei and Ojii-san, you guys are the best!" Naruto cried as he snatched up the leaf headband and started attaching it to his head while also trying to hug the two men.
"Now Naruto there are some important matters I need to talk to you about, namely the S-class secret you learned tonight." Saurtobi sighed, "I had at least a hundred different ways I wanted you to learn about your status, this was in none of them. I had planned to tell you once you became a gennin, believe me."
Naruto looked up at the old man, eyes filled with pain and betrayal and longing for the possibility that he wasn't the monster people claimed he was. " So it's true then. I'm a monster. I killed all those people. The villagers were right, maybe I should just..." Before he could continue Hiruzen was by the boy's side holding him in a bear hug, tears streaming from his eyes at the pain the boy was feeling, at the knowledge that for all intents and purposes he had failed the boy.
"Shush now Naruto. No. Don't you ever think like that, you hear me? You are not the Kyuubi, you understand? You are not a killer. You are a prisoner of circumstance, okay? The beast may be inside you but that doesn't mean you are it. You should be considered a hero for holding the Kyuubi inside you, you shouldn't be treated like you are by the village. Remember though, the people who really like you won't ever see the Kyuubi, because that's not you, understand?" He waited for the boy to nod from inside the tear filled hug before continuing, "You are a prison and a jailer to one of the most dangerous beings in the world and people fear you for that. People will refuse to see you, but that doesn't mean you should give up, talk to them, learn about them and they will learn about you. You can be strong, you can be what you want, just never let yourself believe that you are what the villagers see yourself as. You Naruto Uzumaki are capable of being one of the brightest and best your generation will produce. Be strong Naruto, or else you won't be able to live out your dream"
Smiling weakly at the old man Naruto felt relieved to hear such positive things after the awful thoughts Mizuki's word had brought up in him.
"So I can't tell me team about this?"
"Hmm... I wouldn't just yet personally, you don't know how they might react, but I don't see why you shouldn't be able to tell people."
"I'm not sure that's the kind of secret that should be kept, who knows what kind of danger or could lead to. Reaction be damned if they don't like it they can go stuff themselves. It will just be one more person I have to prove myself too." Naruto said slamming his fist into his open palm before frowning again. "Actually now that I think about it will I get on a team since I didn't graduate with the others?"
The change in conversation caused the old man to laugh saying; "Don't worry by the oddest coincidence the number of passing students was only twenty six so we were missing a cell-member as it was."
Happy at the news Naruto thanked the old man once more before running off saying something about needing to eat.
So there you have it folks... A chapter after about a month and it's not the total garbage that chapter four is looking like for me... He he