Hey-o! Finally was able to upload the next chapter. Anyway, still suggested language and action.

Chapter Three: Tricked

Menma watched as the Hokage and three Anbu walked into the room. He watched as they looked around. After a minute or so, the Anbu gave up. "It's not here, Hokage-sama."

The Hokage sighed and looked at two of the Anbu with a bear and turtle mask. "You are to assemble any capable Jonin and Chunin to the top of my tower."

"Yes Hokage-sama." The two Anbu said before running off in a blur.

Hiruzen turned to the last Anbu only to see a masked man step out of the shadows in the corner of the room. "Menma."

Menma grinned under his mask as he stared at the two high-level shinobi. He didn't want to show himself but the old man needed to know who was behind this. Before he could say anything the Anbu charged at him in a slower speed with a kunai out. He raised his arm to strike at Menma.

Menma grabbed onto the man's arm and took the kunai forcefully. He bent the man's arm awkwardly and threw him back to where the Hokage was. Hiruzen got into a fighting stance once the Anbu landed near him.

"Is it you that wanted the Forbidden Scroll?" Hiruzen asked.

Menma rolled his eyes though it couldn't be seen. "If I wanted something stolen it would be in my possession right now and I wouldn't need an Academy student to get it."

Hiruzen relaxed a little. "Then why are you here?"

"To get you back your scroll. I know who made the Academy student get it."

"Who?" Hiruzen asked urgently as the Anbu slowly got up.

"Mizuki. I suspect he wanted the scroll so he could sell each jutsu separately to other nations." Menma spoke with indifference, not really caring on what happened to the scroll. "Take care of that man while I find the scroll."

Menma ran from rooftop to rooftop until he was high enough to look over the village. Specifically, the Hokage Monument. He looked around and into the forest. "The forest is the most likely since the village is in havoc from this news."

Menma ran towards the forest in a burst of speed and acrobatics.

XXX The Forest XXX

Takemi bent down in exhaustion, breathing heavily. She had been trying to learn at least one jutsu from within the hiding spot that Mizuki told her about. She wanted to pass so bad, to prove to her crush that she was good.

She was just a girl from a civilian family that was born with chakra. She had long brown hair that reached her waist, and deep green eyes. She wore a thin, black blouse with capris jeans and black shinobi sandals.

All Takemi wanted was to be noticed, to get a smile from him. Oh, how she loved his dazzling smile, it was too contagious to not smile back. His spiky, blonde hair, ocean blue eyes, and cute whisker marks. Yes, she had a crush on Naruto Uzumaki. She had heard of how he was a demon but she couldn't believe that someone so nice could be a demon.

Takemi looked up when the sighting of black boots appeared in front of her line of sight. She saw a man of her height with black hair and the rest hidden behind a Kitsune mask. She bent back in fright, thinking this man was to hurt her for the scroll, but was confused when he held out his hand instead.

"Hello." Menma said with a smile behind his mask. "My name's Menma."

Takemi hesitated but took the man's hand to stand up. "Takemi Ryuka. Why are you here?"

Menma lifted Takemi into his arms after she held the scroll to her stomach. "I'm here to bring you back. You were tricked by Mizuki. He wanted the scroll just to sell Konoha's secrets to the world. He most likely would have killed you just to keep it a secret."

"B-but…why?" Takemi started but was thrown onto the ground to the left of Menma. She looked to see him struck by multiple kunai.

Menma grunted as he held onto a kunai in his left arm with his right. He pulled it out and let it fall to the ground. He looked up to see the Chunin traitor standing on a tree branch with a scowl. "Mizuki."

"Menma." Mizuki gritted out before seeing Takemi. "Takemi, give me the scroll quick!"

"W-what? Why did you hurt him, Mizuki-sensei?" Takemi asked in confusion as she looked back and forth from Menma to Mizuki.

"Menma is a bad guy! He must want the scroll for himself!" Mizuki yelled. "Trust me. Do you remember the talk of civilians and ninja mysteriously killed?" Takemi nodded at his question. "Menma killed them! He killed innocent villagers; men, women, children, even infants, it didn't matter to him! He's a cold-hearted killer, Takemi!"

Takemi looked at Menma in shock. "Y-you?"

Menma scowled as he pulled out the last kunai, having pulled them out while Mizuki made his convincing speech. What he says may be true, but he never killed an infant or child. The child would be beaten up, though. "Yes, I have. All but the infant and child part. But understand that it was to protect a child. A child unable to protect himself." Takemi gripped onto the scroll in confusion. "It was Naruto Uzumaki. He was being hurt for nothing that he could control. For what he had inside of him."

Mizuki scowled and took a fuuma shuriken and spun it in his hand. He then threw it at Menma. "Shut the hell up with your lies!"

Menma kicked the fuuma and redirected it into the sky. "I can feel that you have some sort of affection to him." He told Takemi who looked at him in shock.

"H-how can you tell?" She stuttered.

"I can feel emotions." Menma chuckled. "I can feel negative emotions, such as coming from Mizuki, since he is hating me for telling you all of this. And positive emotions, such as love from you when I mentioned Naruto's name." Takemi blushed. "But know this, Takemi-san. Naruto has been hurt too much in his short life, mentally and physically.

"Tell him you like him and he will return it; all he wants is to be accepted. He would love you back. But if you hurt him, I will be the last thing you see."

Mizuki growled when he realized that Takemi was beginning to trust Menma. "Takemi, don't trust him. Don't you see that that's how he killed the villagers? He would trick them into believing him and kill them. He wants the scroll! Remember what I told you; people will do anything to get Konoha's secrets, even lie to you. Trust me, your sensei."

Takemi racked her brain on who to believe. She wanted to trust both, but they were telling two different stories. She gritted her teeth in agitation and ran off in confusion and anger.

"Dammit," Menma grunted and fell to a knee. He lost a lot of blood in the time that the kunai were in him.

Mizuki chuckled darkly as he jumped off of the tree branch. "It was easy to make her believe me, you know that? To jump the gun and steal a scroll filled with Konoha's secrets, to think that she could actually learn a jutsu from in that? She is just a stupid kid."

Menma heard the sound of a spinning fuuma and looked to see Mizuki launch one of his large shuriken. He grabbed it by the hole and spun around, only to come around and launch it right back at the man. He would hit dead center of Mizuki's chest with precise accuracy. He fell to the ground with a dull thud, blood squirting out into the air where the hole was and out of the wound. As he lay, blood formed around him and stained the grass crimson.

Menma stood up and walked over to the nearly-dead man with a staggering walk. He may be able to heal quickly but even blood can't regenerate so fast, at least not for someone like him. "She is not stupid. She believed you, and that's not a crime of stupidity. It shows that she cares, that she wouldn't believe in someone so close as you to trick her. That's the start of greatness to me. Trust is powerful. She has an interesting life ahead of her.

"Mizuki, everyone has a destiny, good and bad, that is laid ahead of them. Mine is to lead and protect this world until peace is brought by Naruto. He is descent of Uzumaki who is also the descent of the Senju. But he can also even bring death and destruction to the world.

"Takemi's is to get strong and to help Naruto change this world. Maybe even bring a family into the world, no one could tell. But she could also be like you, to do something crazy and get herself killed. It is all a matter of chance and choice."

"What is mine? Riches? Fame? Women? Nothing! There is no destiny! It is a word made by the weak and timid! The world just is! It is what it is, got it!" Mizuki yelled as his body started to shake violently, staring at the Kitsune mask that loomed over him.

"No, yours was laid in front from the beginning you started planning on this. You chose the bad path. Now, the end is your death when you could have helped the next generation into bringing peace. Goodbye, Mizuki."

Menma moved to slash across Mizuki's neck with chakra blades only that the man rolled out of the way. The Chunin then ran at him with a kunai in hand. He stabbed Menma but his hand was grabbed before getting to do so.

Menma twisted Mizuki's hand and tossed him away. He then went through hand signs. "Katon: Great Fireball Jutsu!"

Menma exhaled a large fireball and sent it in Mizuki's direction. Mizuki was able to get out of the way so he wasn't burn to a crisp and threw his fuuma shuriken. Menma sighed before catching the weapon.

"You won't learn." Menma said before grinning under his mask and going through one-handed signs. "Kumenju!"

Nine clouds of smoke suddenly appeared around Menma. When it disappeared, nine different beasts as tall as Mizuki stood around. They all had the mask of the animal they were and their skin as black as the night sky. There was a hawk, an ape, a lion, a tiger, a boa constrictor, a wolf, a vulture, a dragon, and a nine-tailed fox.

Mizuki stood back at the sight of the nine-tails although miniature. "What are they?"

"My pets." Menma said simply before all of the animals charged at Mizuki. He watched as they tore the Chunin apart, pieces of clothing and insides flew through the air. He turned briskly and jumped into the trees. He ran through it and felt the sadness originating from the Hokage Monument.

Once he reached the spot that Takemi was, he was standing on the head of the second Hokage. He walked up and sat down next to the girl. "Hey. You alright?"

The girl silently cried. "I thought that if I learned something in here I could pass and possibly gain the courage to ask Naruto out."

Menma awkwardly patted the girl on the back. "Tell him. Anyway, if you bring the scroll to Hiruzen and ask his forgiveness he'll be lenient. He's a good man."

Takemi nodded and wiped her tears. "Do you think that I have a chance? With him?"

"You have a better chance than not asking." Menma told her. "Come on, we don't want to keep Hiruzen waiting."

Takemi nodded and was surprised when Menma held her in his arms. She blushed as he carried her to the Hokage Monument. 'He smells nice. Like...strawberries.'

They reached the top of the Hokage Tower after a while. A group of Jonin and Chunin were gathered around in front of the Hokage until he arrived. They were blaming Naruto for this but the Hokage was simply waiting.

All of the ninja turned to see Menma and Takemi. They all had wide eyes once they saw the masked man. It was as if a huge nametag was saying 'Hi, I'm Menma'. They even started to whisper his name in shock and fear. Menma was a name feared by Chunin and some Jonin, but also used as a way to get to that kind of power. In thought anyway. To kill a Jonin and Anbu with little to no trouble, even at a young-like age.

Takemi walked passed all of the ninja and up to the Hokage. She bowed and held out the Forbidden Scroll. "I-I'm sorry for stealing the scroll, Hokage-sama! I promise it won't happen again!"

Hiruzen smiled and took the scroll, glancing at Menma. "It is alright, child, it wasn't your fault."

Hiruzen walked towards Menma with Takemi, and five newly-arrived Anbu behind him. He stopped when he was in front of Menma and looked down. "I didn't know that the legendary Menma was just a mere kid."

"And I didn't know that the legendary God of Shinobi was such an old man." Menma shot back, but more in a playful manner since he felt no malice behind the old Hokage's voice.

Hiruzen started laughing out loud. It shocked and even scared the shinobi gathered around. "I'll take that as a compliment. Now, is Menma your real name or is there more?"

Menma shook his head. "No, sir. Just Menma for now. But what you could do for me for bringing back the scroll is to safely leave without anyone stopping me and to let the young lady there pass."

Hiruzen was hesitant about letting him leave; this boy had killed or injured Anbu. He wanted to know who this was but nodded nonetheless. "You may leave safely, and I'll let her pass onto Genin."

Menma bowed slightly before turning around. Before even reaching the edge, the sound of an object cutting through air reached his ears. He turned and glanced at the kunai before grabbing it and tossing it back at the Jonin that threw it only inches before his feet.

Everyone paused and let Menma walk without any more interruptions.

"Did he just stop a Jonin's kunai?" Someone whispered to a shinobi next to him.

"How can he do that?" Another asked. "I thought those were just rumors!"

The Jonin blinked a few times in shock and confusion. 'What the hell? I thought I got him by surprise.'

Menma jumped onto the rail and nodded to everyone before hopping across the houses.

He made it back to the house easily and slipped out of the clothes. He took a hot shower to clear off all of the remaining blood and sweat. He changed into his night clothes and slipped into the bed. He closed his eyes and easily fell asleep.

With a last thought, Menma wondered about the Yang part that Kyuubi told him about. The fox was missing the Yang part, the positive, and told of how Minato had taken it into the afterlife.

'I wonder how we'll get that part of the chakra back.'

R&R