Author's note – Kishimoto Masashi owns Naruto while Guyver is written by Yoshiki Takaya.
I make no claim to either, I am merely playing in their sandboxes.
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Chapter Three
Enrollment
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Naruto grinned as he looked up at the entrance archway of the Academy and through it, the shape of the Hokage Tower behind the place of learning. Under Inu's patient tutelage, Naruto had managed to learn how to read and write well enough that he had passed the entry exams with ease. In addition, the files in his base were no longer a mystery to him and he had (finally) read through the files that the unknown person had accumulated on him several times. He was aware not only about who his parents were, but also about the fact that he was the holder of the Kyuubi no Kitsune, hence his incredibly high chakra reserves.
And now he was going to learn to be a proper ninja without having to rely purely on his (admittedly awesome) magical armour.
Ignoring the glares and the mutters, Naruto strode up to the front door where a teacher was waiting.
"Uzumaki Naruto?" The teacher asked with a sneer and Naruto nodded slowly. "Through there, turn left and the end classroom. Go."
Naruto walked through the door, giving the teacher a suspicious glance as he did so. Turning left, he took several steps, then paused as a noise echoed behind him. Turning round, he watched as a group of excited children a couple of years older than him went the other way. After a thoughtful pause, he followed them to the classroom.
"Is this the new recruit class?" He asked and the teacher nodded without looking up from the form that he was filling in.
"It is. Take a seat, I'll call the register soon."
Naruto scurried to the back row and sat down in the furthest corner. Unslinging his satchel, he pulled out a notebook and a pen, placing them on the desk before him. As the classroom filled up, Naruto glanced round, then his attention was caught by the sensei at the front rose, a clipboard in his hand.
"Class, I am going to call out the list of names. If you do not answer, you will not be accepted as a recruit for this season and will have to try again in six months."
Naruto's breath hitched as realization dawned. If he had followed the instructions of the teacher outside, he would have missed the roll-call and been forced to wait for the next intake.
"…Uzumaki Naruto."
"Here, sensei." Naruto called, watching carefully and he saw the teacher's eyes tighten slightly before he ticked off his name. The teacher paused, then called out the next name and Naruto leaned back, frowning.
He would have to keep a close watch on his senseis, make sure that what they taught him was the same as what they taught everyone else.
Heh. At least it would be good training as a ninja.
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The final bell sounded and Naruto sighed as he put down the half-filled buckets and turned to glare at the door. If all the days were like his first one, he'd be spending at least half of each day standing outside the door.
Kami alone knew what he'd miss.
Naruto frowned. He'd have to check the files again, try to find exactly what he'd need, but for that, he'd need to spend more time in his base.
But how to stop people noticing that he was no longer around?
Naruto sighed. It was time to hit the jutsu library.
His thoughts paused as his stomach rumbled.
Alright. New plan.
Get some ramen, then check for jutsu he could use.
His decision made, Naruto set off for Ichiraku's, then he paused. Dashing back to the classroom, he opened the door and paused at the sight of the pile of torn paper on his desk.
"Damn." He whispered.
He'd have to remember to take his notes with him next time.
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"…and how was the jinchuriki's day?" The shadowed figure asked. "Did you delay its entry as planned?"
"No, sir, he made it to the classroom." The teacher answered. "However, plan B proved usable and he spent almost half the day stood outside the classroom, unable to hear what was going on."
"Excellent." The shadowy figure said, the smirk evident in his voice. "A weak jinchuuriki is a controllable one, a weapon that will be used for Konoha, and not one that will turn against us."
"Yes sir. Should I seek to expell him?"
The figure sat in thought for a long moment, then shook his head.
"No. As long as it thinks it is making progress in becoming a ninja, we can predict its actions and control them as needed. Don't force it out more than twice a week, maybe three times on occasion. Keep it for when you are about to cover important lessons, such as chakra manipulation and hand-signs. All we really need from the jinchuuriki is its ability to tap into the kyuubi's chakra, like all the other jinchuuriki out there, except ours has more tails available. Nothing else about it matters, save its loyalty to Konoha."
The teacher bowed and backed out of the room. For a long moment, the room was silent, then a hidden door opened, allowing two new figures to enter.
"How goes the project?"
"It is going quite well." The original figure replied. "Despite Hiruzen's decisions, we should get full control over the jinchuuriki by the time it becomes a ninja."
"Excellent."
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Naruto glanced round as he left the Academy at the end of his fifth day. Although he had only been put in the corridor twice more, he had missed some very important early lessons, but fortunately, he had access to the older iterations of Academy texts stored in the base (and it was almost scary how much the newer books had been pared down from them). Even without the missed (and almost vital) lessons, Naruto was still racing ahead of his fellow trainees thanks to the books.
Making certain that he wasn't being observed, Naruto nipped down an alley and dove into an open manhole, triggering his armour on the way down. Reaching the bottom of the shaft, Naruto flew along the tunnel, laughing at the sheer joy that flying brought him. Vanishing down the tunnel, he completely missed the confused Inuzuka ninja and ninken landed at the bottom of the shaft, looking round.
"Any idea which way he went?"
The dog whined, shaking his head and the ninja frowned.
"How the hell could he just vanish like that? No scent at all? Not even that noodle thing he eats?"
The dog shook his head again and the ninja cursed.
"Kuso! How the hell are we supposed to follow the brat to find out who's teaching him when he can shake us that easily?"
A whine was his only answer.
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"Clones. Clones, clones clones…" Naruto mused as he ruffled through the scrolls in the racking. "Why the hell didn't whover put all these things here sort them out properly. Dammit, I'm going to have to work out a system and… aha! Mizu bunshin… let's see."
Naruto unrolled the scroll and read through it eagerly. "Uses a tiger seal… only a tenth of the strength, short range? Meh, I can try, but…wait, what's this note? Shadow clones? Sounds interesting…"
Leaping to his feet, Naruto rolled the scroll up and slotted it back into the racking before turning his attention to the other scrolls.
"Shadow clone, shadow clone… who the hell came up with this damned filing system? Aha! Here it is!"
Pulling the scroll out of the racking, Naruto dashed across to the large angled table and unrolled the scroll before scowling and rolling it back up.
"Damn thing was upside-down." He grumbled as he turned the scroll round and then unrolled it once more.
"All right. Let's see, only one hand-sign but… layering? What the hell is tha… doing handsigns without doing them? Huh? Chakra requirements… hah! Those with lesser levels of chakra will need to split their chakra evenly, but those of Kage level and above simply need to expel enough chakra to form the required number of clones… Hmmm, I know I saw a chakra-measuring device downstairs… let's see just how much chakra I have!"
Pausing only to secure the ends of the scroll so that it wouldn't roll up, Naruto sprinted out of the library.
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Hiruzen glanced over the reports and hid a smirk.
The teachers at the Academy knew better than to try and mis-mark work, especially since he had assigned some of his ANBU to do random checks after he became aware that some of the-then teachers were pursuing clan-feuds by sabotaging the children of their rivals. Now, all marking was done by those who knew that trying to change the marks or doing it wrong would lead to… consequences.
Morino Ibiki's reputation was incredibly useful at times.
The end-of-month tests showed that Naruto was the top-ranking student (admittedly only by a couple of points) and Hiruzen made a mental note to give Inu a bonus for his work in teaching Naruto how to read.
Another report caught his attention and he nodded as it confirmed what he had suspected. One of his ANBU on regular patrol had caught a glimpse of Hiro and Naruto standing together in a clearing, but by the time he had managed to circle round for a closer look, both had vanished.
Hiro and Naruto. That proved it.
Hiro was helping Naruto train.
If he could find Hiro, he would give him the Uzumaki scrolls for Naruto.
After all, only an Uzumaki operating on their own free will could open the scrolls.
The seal-masters of Uzushiogakure had done good work.
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Naruto collapsed onto his bed. After several weeks of hard work, he had finally managed to learn how to create a Kage Bunshin and done so multiple times, but had discovered in the process that for some reason, his armour ability didn't copy unless he was creating the clone with his armour active and if he did, his Hiro clone couldn't turn back into Naruto or even use Henge without destabilizing itself for some reason. In addition, his Hiro clones used ten times as much chakra as his normal clones and yet seemed to lack the flight, vibrating blade and cutting-light abilities that he had, making them good only as a distraction or sparring opponents since they could take several strong hits before dispersing.
On the other hand, when the clones had dispelled, he had gained their new memories just as the scroll had claimed, opening up several distinct possibilities for the future.
Rolling over, Naruto pulled his sheet up and snuggled down, closing his eyes and relaxing.
Tomorrow was another day and his plans could wait until then.
Naruto smiled as he fell into the realm of dreams.
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"…and how is the jinchuriki progressing?" The shadowed figure asked. "Is its progress being held back as planned?"
"No, sir." The Teacher winced. "Someone else is teaching him, we believe it to be the one known as Hiro."
"That fits in with other reports that I have collected." The figure in the shadows allowed. "Where is the Jinchuuriki in class terms?"
"Currently on course to become the Rookie of the year, despite all that we can do, sir." The Teacher reluctantly admitted. "He seems to have been studying the pre-war syllabus."
"Those books were destroyed." The figure growled. "Hiro would not have had access to those books… someone else must be aiding the Jinchuuriki. One of Konoha's ninja. One who was trained before the War and kept the books instead of returning them. One who sees the Jinchuuriki as a ninja-to-be and not as the weapon that it must become."
"There's more, sir." The Teacher gulped. "He dropped a comment about sealing scrolls and kunai… I think he knows about the Fox."
The silence that radiated from the shadowed figure wasn't the silence of contemplation but was the silence of barely-restrained fury.
"Hiro…" The figure growled. "He must have been the one to tell him… this could be useful."
"Sir?"
"Yes…" The shadowed ninja gloated. "Hiro has broken the Third's Law, he has spoken about the Fox to one who did not know. Yes, I can use this. When my agents finally locate Hiro, I can use the threat of execution for his actions to force him to obey me. The armour will be useful, especially if we can duplicate it."
"Should I take any action, sir?"
"No." The figure declared firmly. "Maintain your current actions, but do not go further than that. But keep an eye out for Uzumaki Hiro, I doubt that he would fail to observe the progress of the Jinchuuriki."
"As you command, sir." The Teacher bowed before backing out of the room.