"A random idea that sprouted from my head, I started reading some Naruto fanfictions and my mind just went
"What if Naruto and Kurama knew and helped each other since Naruto was a little kid? Would anything even change in the end or would things be different? How would they be different?"
Enjoy the ride!
Edit 1: I decided to go back and Bold and Italic thoughts when Kurama is speaking. Looking back, I realized it was pretty confusing for people when it went through and I didn't mean to confuse people about that. Thanks for sticking with me for this long guys! Kurama's thoughts will be basically the same as AN with bold and Italic.
The rule is Bold=Kurama and no-bold=Naruto if you ever get confused. I think the only reason I didn't Bold and Italic to begin with is I was concerned since I always do that for Author Notes and I didn't want that to be treated as an Author note.
"A little fact thing for these edits based on the original concepts of the chapter, (think of these as concept art, just with words :P) Honoke was originally based on the landlord from Naruto the Dawn of the Gamer's landlord, so if you read that, you can see similarities between the first lines from Honoke here and there. It wasn't until about...halfway through the chapter that I went and fleshed him out a bit more. I figured that was pretty interesting!
Well, fanfic was being REALLY mean today. If you're wondering about earlier with all the format nonsense, that was on fanfic. I was going through the document to fix some typos and bring the earlier chapters inline with some information that was brought up later on (Mostly talking about the whole Uchiha Massacre and how I didn't find where I wanted that until after about chapter 5ish, but mentioned it happening earlier on accident.) but even though it was all fine when I saved it and continued working on chapter 12…it did THAT when I uploaded it and I only found out when a friend asked to read it and saw all the formatting nonsense.
Cue panicking and going about editing through all of this again and getting you this. Sorry about all that happening, but I'll remember to say "Fuck off fanfic, I'll write on google docs and copy paste on over." next time.
With all that said, here's the chapter!
Chapter 1: The wild and unpredictable Ninja: Naruto Uzumaki appears!
A sigh resonated from a young householder, who looked about the age of a 6 or 7 year old, as he looked at his empty apartment. "I totally forgot food again..." He groaned out of embarrassment, hunger, and sadness. His wild blonde hair didn't match his middling mood at the moment before he yelled "Ah forget it! I'll just head back to the store and grab some more Ramen cups! That'll cheer me up!" He grinned, his earlier mood forgotten already. He had a pair of goggles on his face in wake of a headband and hummed a little off-note tune, "Gonna get me some Ramen~ Gonna get me some food!" He sang somewhat loudly as he flopped to the bed.
"Ahh, THIS IS THE LIFE! I can't believe the Old Man got me this place! It was a hassle yesterday, but well worth it for the chance to not have to deal with others!" the boy said aloud loudly to no one in particular. This boy's name was Naruto Uzumaki. He was only 6, turning 7 tomorrow, and the leader of the village, known as the Hokage to most while Naruto calls him Old Man, decided to give him an early birthday present. Naruto had no current worries until his door slammed open.
"SHUT UP IN THERE! YOU'RE TOO LOUD!" An older man, his landlord, yelled at the young boy. Instead of backing down, the boy looked towards the landlord in confusion. "YES YOU YOU LITTLE BRAT! YOU'RE TOO LOUD!" The landlord repeated, finger accusingly pointing towards Naruto, who grew angry.
"YOU'RE BEING LOUDER THAN ME, WHAT DO YOU MEAN!?" Naruto retaliated.
"YOU'RE THE GUEST HERE! YOU HAVE TO BE MINDFUL OF OTHERS, YOU STUPID BRAT!" The landlord spat back.
"WHAT DID YOU CALL ME!?" Naruto yelled even louder until a new voice entered the conversation
"God will you SHUT UP already!? You two are yelling too loudly!" The voice proclaimed as Naruto looked around, face now rooted in confusion again. The landlord groaned, finding the anger not worth it, as he tried a different approach.
"Look, Kid, you're not the only one living in this place. Sure, you own this area thanks to Lord Hokage, but you have to be mindful of your neighbors as well, okay? Sorry if we got off on the wrong foot, my name is Honoke Meni and I'm in charge of making sure this whole place is up to snuff and all my apartment owners are getting along and following the rules! I see you forgot to buy groceries huh? Ramen cups aren't good for you, so tell you what, I'll go with you and help you pick out some groceries to make some healthy meals, and then we'll go out and I can show you around a bit more?" Honoke introduced himself as Naruto went through his sentences again.
"Ramen is totally healthy! I can live off of that instead of going with-" Naruto almost finished his sentence before a growl rumbled through his mind.
"Don't you dare finish that sentence, say yes, you stubborn brat." The voice in his head demanded as Naruto gulped, seeing Honoke twitch in looked like suppressed rage from the comment.
"Ramen is not healthy for you, it's great in moderation, but you cannot live with JUST ramen without falling behind in physical strength. You DO want to be a shinobi do you not!?" Honoke said back, trying his hardest not to yell as Naruto's head fell again. emHe has a point... Naruto thought to himself, before hearing a scoff in response in his head.
"He does, if you want to get stronger and be worthy of my presence, you need to keep a healthy food habit. I don't even know why I would want to help such a stubborn brat like you, but if you can prove worthy, I can make you strong enough to become better than that old man of yours." The voice claimed, Naruto looked in shock before nodding out of determination. Honoke just looked in confusion at the young boy before shrugging it off.
"You know it! I'm going to become the greatest Hokage you've ever seen! Let's go get those groceries, Landlord-san!" Naruto exclaimed with a grin fresh on his face as he gave Honoke a thumbs up, to which Honoke deadpanned.
"What happened to 'Ramen is totally healthy, I can live off of that instead of going with me?' huh?" Honoke asked as Naruto started to sweat from how well Honoke had him figured out.
"U-Uh, I decided that I needed the help! I really don't know how my body works and if I messed it up I would do terribly at the academy and might not pass! I want to be able to graduate top of the class and impress all of them! Then they'll all look up to me instead of always ignoring me or hating me for no reason! They'll have to pay attention!" Naruto said, eyes sparkling with the dream that he had. It was enough to get a few chuckles out of Honoke who shook his head.
"Kids nowadays… Okay, tell you what; since it's getting dark right now, you can eat over at my place tonight and I'll help you shop in the morning. Then I'll give you an extended tour around town and teach you what little I know about being a shinobi." Honoke said with a smirk rushing to his face. Any second now... He thought as Naruto erupted in joy.
"YES YES YESS! thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou! Do you really mean it!?" Naruto practically begged Honoke, as Honoke's smirk widened.
"I do, but you have to eat all of the supper, or none of that happens! We'll go through this once every two weeks from then on, if you fail, I won't do any of that for those two weeks and if you pass, I'll train you as much as I can. Though I must wa-" Honoke tried to add on as Naruto nodded enthusiastically before rushing out his open door towards Honoke's place, at least...he thought he was as Naruto soon came back in confusion.
"Where's your place again?" He asked as Honoke could no longer contain his laughter, this kid was too much for him, and that stubborn bullheadedness was enough to lift the spirits of anyone. No wonder the Hokage sent him to watch over this little guy.
"Come on, just know that since I'm only a citizen, I don't know much, but I can teach you basic self defense citizen-wise and some shinobi history. It'll provide you a better start than from no base at all, don't you think?" Honoke asked the energetic lad before lightly bopping him aside the head.
"Hey! What was that for!?" Naruto whined as Honoke rolled his eyes./p
"You were being too loud, people are sleeping," Honoke's smile slowly turned into a smirk as Naruto pouted. He turned the key and opened the door to his house, "I know it's not much, but make yourself at home. I'll make some tea while you wait." Honoke said as Naruto wandered the apartment space.
Furniture was here and there, and the place looked much more lived in than Naruto's home, having a lamp, chairs, and much more stock in the kitchen. Naruto sniffed as he smelt the food that Honoke started cooking. He looped back around towards the kitchen as Honoke smiled, "I'm making a homemade roast for myself, figuring I'll just have leftovers for some other day, I can easily cook enough for the both of us, but the sides are vegetables with a side of potatoes," Naruto made a disgusted face at this while Honoke nervously laughed, "Either way, we made a deal and you have to honor it, and it's much better than starving right?" Honoke continued as if he never seen the face, even though he had and was chuckling a bit from the expressiveness of the boy standing behind him, "It'll be a while before it gets done, feel free to look at the shelves for any books you would want to read in the meantime while I make this." Honoke suggested as Naruto nodded and walked off.
He didn't really want to since they weren't his, but Honoke offered and he really didn't want to stand awkwardly behind him like that. He looked around on the shelves before something stood out to his eyes, it looked older than the other books as it had a worn out grayish backing to it, it was also quite hefty for poor old Naruto, as well as being placed on a much higher shelf. Naruto looked around before seeing the chair and grabbing it, making sure that Honoke didn't hear it as it scraped across the room for it to be placed by the shelf.
Honoke was curious from the noise and came around from the corner to see Naruto stand on it to read the book. He deadpanned and walked over, waiting for Naruto to notice him. After a few seconds of Naruto still struggling, he coughed pointedly, scaring Naruto into knocking the book off as well as himself off balance. Honoke quickly caught both of them before putting them down. He sighed while Naruto looked completely awestruck.
"Woah, that was so cool! How did you do that!" Naruto asked as Honoke waved him off.
"Maybe some other time, are you okay?" Honoke asked as Naruto nodded before walking over to the book. "You have a keen eye, this here is my...uh...yearbook, yeah let's go with that, of my high school year." He said as Naruto narrowed his eyes at him.
"Landlord-san, even I could tell you're lying, what really is it?" Naruto asked as Honoke sighed.
"It's...well it was from my father, when he was a shinobi." Naruto's eyes glinted as Honoke explained reluctantly, it wasn't like he was lying, it was from his father, just wasn't for the reason that Naruto thought it was.
"Really!?" Naruto exclaimed as Honoke nervously shook his head./p
"Yeah." He smiled, "And he retired to take care of me, so he managed to teach me a bit about the shinobi way of life, but not enough that I feel really confident about it, I'll try teaching you all I can okay? Now...supper time!" He grinned as the oven beeped immediately after he said that. Naruto was practically glowing in awe.
"No way..." Naruto said, stupefied in awe at the act before snapping out of it. While he mentally puked at the sight of the broccoli and other veggies, he sucked it in and nearly started eating before Honoke stopped him. "What's the big idea!?" Naruto asked before Honoke shook his head.
"We must offer respect to those that brought us our food first. For the farmers who planted the plants and raised the pig that became our roast, and to the shinobi that risk their lives each and every day with the intent on keeping us safe from harm's way. Thank you for this gift you have given us tonight." Honoke said as he and Naruto bowed their heads. An eye opened from the two of them, a smile forming on their faces. "Let's dig in!" They both said in union as they bit into their meal.
Silence befell the two of them as they stood still, staring at each other.
Both spit out the roast at the same time.
"T-Take out?" Honoke suggested, struggling to clean his mouth of the disgusting taste.
"Please! I'm dying over here! What the heck are your cooking skills anyways!?" Naruto demanded, coughing from how burnt the roast was. In fact, it was so burnt that it was nearly inedible.
Honoke looked almost downright offended, "You're one to talk! I bet you can't even crack an egg, let alone cook a meal!" He said as snickers came from the two of them, it eventually went into full on laughter for a while between the two before Honoke managed to calm down.
"Okay, let's go, I know a good restaurant we can go to that's open at this time of night, just stay close to me okay?" Honoke said as Naruto nodded. Honoke grabbed the two plates and put them outside a door before walking down the stairs. Naruto almost asked before Honoke shushed him and pointed back towards the door. An old lady smiled as she grabbed the two plates and brought them inside.
"How does she even survive off of your cooking?" Naruto asked fearfully, and for once, Honoke had no answer.
"I'm still trying to figure out that one myself..." He admitted. Shuddering, the two quietly slipped off towards town.
They had been wandering around town a bit, with Honoke having Naruto learn the basics of stealth as they went to their destination. To put it simply...he was bad, very bad at it in fact. Honoke sighed as he walked back and bopped Naruto's head.
"Fix your body position, you're exposed as you are, know how your body fits around the objects and use the advantage of it being night to better make use of the shadows. On top of that, keep your eyes looking all around you, don't focus on anything lest you get caught unexpectedly." Honoke instructed, helping Naruto better fit behind the food cart, Naruto nodded all along, soaking in the knowledge. "Now if you ever go on one of your prank runs, you might be able to not get caught for a while longer." Honoke said as Naruto's eyes glinted. Honoke glared, "If you prank me, there will be consequences, don't even think of it, buddy." Naruto nodded with a grin on his face.
They kept going through town, but no matter how many times Honoke instructed Naruto on his stealth, Naruto still remained unaware of his surroundings. He was getting better at hiding his shape, but that could only help so much before you get attacked from behind. Honoke sighed in annoyance before writing it off, let the Academy deal with that. He tapped Naruto from behind, once again shocking him.
"Landlord-san! Why do you keep doing that!?" Naruto whined in a loud whisper. Honoke deadpanned, whispering back.
"What did we talk about? Be aware of your surroundings and maybe I won't be able to do that." Naruto hung his head in defeat. "We're here by the way." Naruto's head shot back up with eyes befitting excitement. Honoke snickered as he pointed to the restaurant. "This is Yakiniku Q, one of the most popular BBQ places in Konoha, and one of my favorite places to eat to get great meat!" Honoke bragged about the place, looking oddly sad at the same time, he quickly shook it off when he looked back at Naruto. "Let's go in!" The two nodded as they sneaked around and entered the front of the restaurant.
The sun was already completely down, and yet the restaurant still looked jam packed with all types of people, Honoke was searching for someone before he found him near the back while Naruto took in the sight and smell of the place. Honoke took Naruto's hand and led him to the robust man sitting in the back, markings lining his face. Before they sat down Honoke looked to Naruto.
"Now Naruto, unless you want to permanently get kicked out of here and stuff, do NOT call this guy fat or anything resembling that word. He's very sensitive to that, and people like him are as well, so please, don't. Call him robust if you have to, or just think of all of that so-called 'fat' as muscle, but whatever you do, don't call him fat." Honoke warned Naruto, who looked towards the man again and nodded. Honoke sighed as he saw Choza looking at him with a raised eyebrow and amusement on his face. Honoke was slightly terrified as he could tell Choza heard him, loud and clear, but was thankful he didn't catch his ire. Oh thank god, that was a close one. He thought to himself, before leading Naruto to the table.
"These seats taken?" Honoke asked Choza, who motioned them to sit down with a smile. "Thanks, so what's on the order tonight Choza?" Honoke grinned at Choza's rolled eyes.
"You got the money to pay?" Choza asked as Honoke grabbed his wallet and showed some bills.
"Depends on the little lad's appetite; though, it can't be as bad as yours, now can it?" Honoke jabbed again.
"Least he would have the ability to eat some real cooking." Choza jabbed back, laughing as soon as Naruto was nodding rapidly to that one. Honoke was crestfallen.
"I really need to learn how to cook..." Honoke fake-pouted with a smile.
"Ah come on now, maybe after 30 years, you'll finally be able to crack an egg!" Choza said, hearing the snickers out of Naruto at this. "Ah well, all jokes and jabs aside, it's good to see you here man. Almost thought you would try eating a cooked meal of yours!" Choza laughed heartily at Honoke's hung head, knowing that he hit it on the head.
"Did he have you try it too, young one?" Choza asked Naruto who nodded, much to Choza's amusement. Before Honoke could get any more depressed at his terrible cooking skills, the waitress went over to Choza.
"Lord Akimichi, what do you wish to eat today?" She asked Choza to which Naruto became confused.
"Lord Akimichi?" He repeated out of confusion.
"Ah, sorry for him, they're my guests tonight. Bring them a menu if you would, and I'll have one of everything." Choza apologized when he saw the near offended look the waitress gave Naruto. "They call me Lord Akimichi because my name is Choza Akimichi, the 15th head of the Akimichi clan. Nice to meet you." Choza introduced himself.
"My name is Naruto Uzumaki. One day, I'll be the Hokage, believe it!" Naruto introduced himself to the hearty laughter of Choza.
"I'll believe it when I see it, keep working hard, and you might well become the next Hokage one day!" Choza said to the grin of Naruto.
The two commenced in some small talk, just talking about the day and everything for a while before he had asked Naruto when his birthday was.
"My birthday's tomorrow!" Naruto said with a wide happy grin to the surprise of Choza and Honoke.
"Then how about you celebrate at my place tomorrow?" Choza offered to the young boy, who looked up in excitement.
"Really!?" He nearly jumped up in joy when Choza nodded. "YAHOO!" He yelled in excitement to the playful bonk of Honoke.
"Easy there, other people are eating here too, gotta be mindful of that. I'll lead him to the compound tomorrow then, Choza, thank you for that." Honoke smiled as Choza laughed once more. Then their food arrived and they ate after cooking it, Naruto having tried to challenge Choza to an eating race and losing spectacularly to the cheerful laughter of Choza and Honoke. Soon they were all full and content with it.
That is until they brought the bills. One bill was to Choza with the charges of his meal which he easily paid for. The other was to Naruto and Honoke to which Honoke sighed as he paid for it. "Well, I underestimated his appetite. Oh well, I barely had enough for it." Honoke shrugged, still happy that he was able to eat with his friend.
"Don't forget tomorrow! I'll have Choji come and pick you up at 10, okay? Now go get some rest!" Choza smiled as Naruto struggled to stay awake. Honoke looked surprised, before putting Naruto on his back.
"Go to sleep, Naruto; I'll get you home." He smiled as Naruto went to sleep and said goodbye to Choza.
The Next Morning
"Huh...?" Naruto groaned as he got up to knock on the door. Yawning, he opened the door to getting knocked on the face. "Ow..." He groaned as he looked back to the open door to see a smaller Choza looking person, the markings were swirls instead of the curved lines that Choza had, and you could only see the beginning of the gut swell that the Akimichi clan was known for.
"Sorry! I didn't mean to do that!" The young kid apologized as Naruto got back up from the floor. "Are you okay!?" The kid panicked as Naruto nodded.
"Yeah, I'm alright! Nothing can keep Naruto Uzumaki down that long, believe it!" Naruto grinned as the kid smiled.
"My name is Choji Akimichi, happy birthday! I came to get you and Honoke so we can go to the birthday party!" Choji introduced, mostly excited since they were laying a feast, along with Cake. Naruto grinned and hugged Choji for a bit before stepping back once more.
"Thanks, my name is Naruto Uzumaki and I'm going to become the next Hokage, believe it!" Naruto introduced himself to the laughter of Choji. "What's the big idea!?" Naruto said, more than a little insulted at that.
"You, being Hokage? I'll believe it when I see it," Choji said, nearly mirroring the words of Choza, to which Naruto relaxed a bit towards. "You have a long way to go before you can even dare try to say you'll be Hokage!" Choji added.
Honoke finally got up and walked towards the two children. "Come on, we got quite a bit of ground to cover to get to the Akimichi compound don't we?" Honoke told them as he broke up the growing argument between them before Naruto made a mistake he would not recover from. They went towards the Academy during town, Naruto being the only one unable to ignore the hated glares that came his way. Someone knocked into him purposefully, causing the poor boy to fall down.
"WHAT WAS THAT FOR!?" Naruto demanded as the man scoffed.
"Like I need a reason for you." He spat out as Naruto growled in retaliation.
"Stupid humans...can't they see that you're nothing like me? Can't even look past the appearance before hating someone." The voice inside sounded spiteful at this and Naruto himself couldn't tell why. Naruto looked towards the man.
"I'm just like you. We're both human beings, we're both doing our best to serve this village, so why am I so different from you in your eyes!?" Naruto asked, surprised by the words that came out of his mouth, but agreeing to them all the same. The man grit his teeth out of anger.
"You're nothing like me!" He spat towards Naruto, putting his fist back as if he was going to punch the kid when Iruka came by to stop him. The man growled a bit before Honuke also walked towards them, both glaring at him to try something, "Hmph, never say you're like me again you hear me!?" The man decided against it before walking away in anger. Iruka and Honoke sighed in relief as Iruka looked towards Naruto, kneeling down to his level.
"Are you okay, Naruto? I saw what happened while I got ready for the new Academy year to start and couldn't let it happen to you." Iruka asked as Naruto nodded solemnly. Honoke stepped up and looked towards Iruka with a smile.
"Hey Naruto, don't forget we're heading towards your birthday party. Invite Iruka along, why don't you?" Honoke asked with a smile.
"You know Iruka-sensei?" Naruto asked in confusion, scaring both Iruka and Honoke. He wasn't supposed to know that! They thought in a panic before Honoke coughed.
"Y-Yeah, I met him when my father brought him over once to introduce us. We were good friends when he went to the Academy and stuff." Honoke said as Naruto grinned.
"Okay then, come on Iruka-sensei let's go to the birthday party!" Naruto said, energy back to full. Both Iruka and Honoke mentally sighed in relief. The three-made-four walked towards the Akimichi compound with smiles on their faces, with the exception of Naruto who bore a grin on his face. Choji ran off ahead with Naruto not too far behind him as they raced towards the compound.
"So, how have you been Iruka? Been a while, hasn't it?" Honoke asked as they watched the two kids playing around. Naruto seemed to be getting angry with Choji's attitude, but they could tell neither were really meaning it and they were just enjoying the other's company right now.
"Yeah, it really has...sorry to hear about Kishu though...if only I was there to help..." Iruka said, guilty over that as Honoke patted him on the back and shook his head.
"There wasn't anything we could have done about that. It was her choice to become a citizen after..." Honoke sighed, unable to bring himself to talk about it. Iruka didn't push but agreed with him. It wasn't much, but the two sat on a tree nearby before Naruto got impatient and went to look for them. The two smiled and revealed themselves, startling Naruto.
The birthday party was going really well for the most part, seeing as Choji and Choza both welcomed Naruto with wide arms as friends, Iruka and Honoke also had fun too at the party, noticing that Kakashi was nearby watching the two smiled towards him, seeing him nod his head and giving an eye smile back in reply. Neither of them mentioned his presence, but they knew Choza also was aware of his presence nearby. Sadly, all great things always had to end, as what seemed to be a group of citizens started approaching the compound with faces twisted in scornful rage. The leader, what seemed to be an older man with no arm, glared at Naruto.
"There he is!" He shouted to his comrades as Naruto looked in confusion and fear, even Kuruma was thinking of getting involved if it wasn't for Iruka and Honoke stepping in to block the entrance. Choza walked forward as he terrified Naruto with the pure blood-lust radiating from him, even Choji was scared and took him and backed up.
"W-What's happening?" Naruto stuttered out in fear.
"I-I think it's better if we don't know." Choji answered back in equal amounts of fear. Soon a pitchfork collided with a kunai as Choza walked past Iruka and Honoke, glaring out at the villagers.
"What is the meaning of this!?" He demanded as fear struck into the hearts of the villagers. "First you walk in towards MY property and then you decide to attack my friends in MY home!? I hope you have an explanation or else I will sign your death warrant!" Choza continued on as the leader walked up.
"Sir, you're holding that damn-" He tried to explain before being flung across the road from a single punch from Choza. It didn't look like he was getting up anytime soon.
"Any other bright ideas? I'll let you off if you leave this very instant and don't come back. Five," He started counting down as the members scattered, when he got to three, everyone was gone. He sighed as he looked towards Kakashi, "Can you-" He asked as Kakashi jumped down, grabbed the unconscious man, and went to get the Hokage about this. Choza sighed as he looked towards the now scared party goers as well as Iruka and Honoke.
He first addressed Iruka and Honoke, who both visibly sighed in relief when the villagers left, "Thank you for helping out, if you two weren't here, who knows what might have happened?" He said with his hands on their shoulders, smiling at the two of them before addressing the others, "It's all okay now! Now, WHO'S READY FOR CAKE!" He shouted to the cheers of everyone. The heavy atmosphere soon went away, not forgotten, as Choza brought out a giant cake with the number 7 on top of it. He placed it in front of Naruto as they now sat down at a huge dining room table outside. Naruto gasped at the cake that reached as tall as Choza. "Make a wish Naruto." Choza said with a smile, watching Naruto struggle to reach towards the top to blow the candles. Taking mercy on the poor boy, Choza lifted him up to them.
"I wish to become Hokage, and make everyone my friend!" Naruto said with a grin as Kakashi and the current Hokage, Lord Third, walked.
"Really now?" The third smiled at Naruto and the group. He was happy to see Naruto having a great birthday instead of being alone, and as soon as he saw Iruka and Honoke, he could see how it happened. Choza and Honoke had been great friends ever since Iruka's Academy days under Choza's tutelage, so it made no surprise to see Choza hosting the party. Iruka most likely wouldn't have asked, so the Third knew it was due to Honoke.
"Yeah, Old Man! I'll be the next Hokage and have everyone become friends with each other and stop the fighting and wars!" Naruto expanded on his wish as he blew out the candles. Well meaning laughter spread across as Choza put Naruto down. After cutting the cake, Choza gifted a huge piece (about the size of a standard cake at that!) to Naruto.
"Well you can't do that on an empty stomach, now can you!? LET'S EAT! HAPPY BIRTHDAY, NARUTO!" Choza yelled along with most of the party goers, with the exception of Kakashi, the Third, Honoke and Iruka, who simply said it normally with a smile.
From there on, the party went great, and soon the day was nearing an end, the Third had already left to...Handle the villagers was what he had said, though Naruto had some feeling that it wasn't going to be as nice as he had put it. Iruka had to put some finishing touches on lesson plans and the like and had said the Academy classes would start sometime in the next few months; although, he'll try to spend more time with Naruto. After that, Naruto had to say goodbye to Choji and Choza who had him promise to meet up again in two weeks, to which Naruto grinned as he noticed it lining up with his meets with Honoke, who looked crestfallen at how quickly he was found out, though he still carried a smile. Soon enough, the two walked from each other to their own houses.
"Hey, Naruto, make sure you're up by ten and we'll start on some Taijutsu practice, you gotta be up really early for the full training, but at least by ten for an hour of training. If not, you don't get training!" Honoke said as Naruto nodded. He handed him an alarm clock, having it set since it was on its battery power, as well as a plug to charge it, "This way you can't say you didn't know the time." Honoke winked as Naruto smiled.
"I'll be up by eight then!" Naruto said as Honoke nodded before they went to their houses. Naruto set the alarm, turned it on, and plugged it in before going to sleep, happy over how the day had gone.
"WAKE UP!" The alarm blared to life as a very angry voice yelled at the sleeping Naruto, causing him to panic as he turned the alarm off. 8:10 the alarm said as Naruto looked around for who yelled at him, but couldn't find anyone. Shrugging, he instead sighed as he got dressed, excited and at the same time terrified for what training Honoke would put him through. A yawn escaped him as he knocked on Honoke's door, it opening to reveal a grinning Honoke.
"You're late," He said simply, having heard the alarm going off, he didn't mind as he himself could attest to the pain of waking to an alarm clock. Naruto sighed as Honoke led him towards a public training field. A sign nearby read "Training Field 2" as Naruto could see some teams honing their skills. Honoke led him away from that towards a small area with a simple training dummy, "I got permission to use this area to train you, but we can't disturb the other team or we will be kicked out." Honoke explained to a nodding Naruto.
"Now I'm going to slowly show you the moves and have you try to do the same thing. Don't be annoyed or anything if you don't get it right away, it takes time." Honoke explained as Naruto nodded again. He took a deep breath before quickly doing a five hit combo on the dummy, being nearly invisible in the while from how fast he did it. He then slowed it down to be visible to see that he had punched twice with his right arm before kicking the head and twirling to hit with his left hand and finishing it off by using his right elbow. He then looked to Naruto who looked in both awe and confusion about what happened.
"Woah." Naruto gasped out when Honoke smiled.
"This is part of my style, I'm more just curious on if it suits you or not before training you up to that stage. It's called the Meni Fast plate style, a unique style that my father helped me create. Using the speed I have, I use my chakra to increase my speed and pull off precision hits on an enemy. It's akin to the Hyuga's Gentle Fist style, but a bit different since I don't have the Byakugan to spot the Chakra points of people." Honoke explained as Naruto looked even more confused.
"What's Chakra?" He asked to the laughter of Kuruma. "Excuse me if I don't know it! No need to laugh!" He yelled towards Kuruma.
"You know I'm right here, inside your consciousness. Now you just look like even more of a fool!" Kuruma laughed some more as Naruto groaned.
"Great so the voice is in my head..." He said as Honoke just stared at him.
"Cha-Chakra is...hmm...Iruka can explain that better than me honestly, but it's energy that flows throughout your body along a network. Now you can draw upon this energy to use Jutsu. It can be replenished with sleeping and eating like any other type of energy you use. Using Hand signs, we direct the chakra along our network to certain places to create the effects we wish to use, such as using Clones and shooting fire, stuff like that." Honoke explained, coughing in embarrassment as he just brushed off Naruto's weird comments to himself, not wishing to know why he did it. Naruto made a Hm sound as he thought about it.
"So I take it that you're a part of my Chakra?" Naruto thought towards the mystery voice inside him. It seemed to shrug.
"You could say that, but not necessarily. My name is Kuruma, if you want, I can try to help you access your Chakra, but you have to take it from there." Kuruma answered back with a shrug, wanting to see what would happen if he gave Naruto a push. Naruto nodded.
"Yosh! Okay, Kuruma, let's do this!" He said to the shock of Honoke. He looked pumped and energetic but then stared at Honoke in confusion. "Now what?" He said to the exasperation of both Honoke and Kuruma.
"Let's try something simple, this is called the Henge or Transformation jutsu, which is used to transform you into someone or something else in order to gather information on targets." Honoke said as he showed Naruto and directed him through each sign, carefully explaining what each one did as he did so before yelling "Henge Jutsu!" A cloud of smoke surrounded him as Honoke transformed into a perfect likeness to Naruto himself! "Pretty cool huh!?" He said with Naruto's signature grin.
"Woah, you became me! Wow, I look so cool!" Naruto said, dashing around and looking at the henge from all sorts of sides before Honoke changed back.
"Now you try!" Honoke said as Naruto nodded, quickly going through each sign.
"Henge Jutsu!" He yelled as the smoke surrounded him before seeing him transform into Honoke...ish. It was like seeing Honoke shrunk to Naruto's size, along with some of Naruto's characteristics bleeding through the disguise. "How did I do?" He grinned as Honoke henged into a mirror. "AGH!?" Naruto looked in confusion, not expecting to see a child-like Honoke reflected before both released their respective henges.
"Don't be that sad, that's a lot better than what I did when I first used it." Honoke smiled and put his hand on the shoulder of the crestfallen Naruto.
"Really?" Naruto asked as Honoke nodded.
"Yeah I was trying to come up with a special disguise for it, to peep into the girls room, and well..." Honoke nervously chuckled as he coughed a bit. "W-want to see it?" He asked as Naruto nodded. Honoke sighed. "Henge jutsu!" He said after repeating the signs. The smoke faded to show a girl-like Honoke with great big breasts, yet still having Honoke's beard and blackish hair. Where a ponytail once stood split into two great ponytails. Naruto screamed both out of shock and terror at the henge in front of him.
The training team came in and also screamed at the sight before Honoke released the henge.
"What the heck was that!?" Naruto nearly yelled again before Honoke sighed.
"Needless to say, it didn't go as planned. How about you try it?" Honoke asked as Naruto frantically shook his head. "You could try using it to prank people. If you get it right, men will mostly always fall for it, it's great for pranking people." Honoke added as Naruto gained a glint in his eyes. Kuruma was both annoyed and disturbed from the sight of Honoke's...Girl Henge. He gulped as Naruto pictured in his mind what he wanted to do.
"Henge Jutsu!" He said after showing the proper signs slowly. The smoke went up once more before it started swirling around Naruto. Honoke was interested as he watched in suspense. "Hi~" The smoke soon went to cover the legs and the ends of the big breasts that Naruto now bore. Honoke couldn't resist as Naruto said hi and his nose bled greatly as he fell back.
Yup, indeed, Naruto's Sexy Henge Jutsu was born. Naruto looked in confusion as Kuruma sighed, "Oh boy...Well he wasn't lying when he said men everywhere would fall for it..." Kuruma reasoned a bit as Naruto grinned. "I guess it's too much for you huh~" He said again, still in his henge.
"Too...sexy..." Honoke said, nose bleeding once more as he passed out. Naruto released the jutsu with a grin.
"Sexy, huh? No idea what that means, but that's what I'll call it, Sexy Henge Jutsu!" Naruto said to no one in particular as he went to leave, before seeing the training team passed out from nosebleeds. He looked in confusion before grabbing Honoke and heading towards the Academy. He had to tell the Old Man about this!
The academy seemed to loom over the kid, with the Konoha symbol proudly shown at the front. And within its walls also hosted the Hokage's Office, which consisted of a desk stacked with paperwork, and that is where we find ourselves now. Naruto grinned as he burst into the office, "Old man! Landlord-san taught me something really cool and passed out from how cool it was when I did it!" Naruto said as the Third mentally cried happily.
FINALLY SOMETHING TO DISTRACT ME FROM PAPERWORK! THANK YOU NARUTO! Wait...what's that about Honoke passing out? The Hokage looked in confusion as Naruto's words sank in, his eyes gravitating towards the unconscious Honoke, who still had traces of blood coming from his nose. Hiruzen started looking worried as he looked back at Naruto, "Why did he pass out?" He asked slowly out of concern, only to see Naruto's grin growing.
Oh Kami, what pain have I unleashed upon myself just now? He thought as his gut screamed that something was about to go horribly wrong. Naruto's hands were slowly weaving through hand signs before he shouted.
"SEXY HENGE JUTSU!" Naruto yelled as the Hokage face-palmed. emWhat has he been teaching the kid!? He thought out of exasperation until he saw Naruto. "So~ What do you think?" Naruto air-kissed as the blood gushed out his nose, sending him backwards. Naruto grinned as he removed the henge. "Heh, this really works! Even the Old Man can't beat it!" Naruto said proudly as the Third wiped his nose and pleaded for Naruto not to talk about it. "Maybe~" Naruto teased as the Hokage coughed and called security. "H-Hey! Old Man! What's that for!?" Naruto asked as Kakashi came in with a bored expression on his face. In reality, Kakashi was laughing his butt off, but couldn't show it out of respect for the two men that fell victim to Naruto's technique.
"Hey Naruto, what's this new technique of yours?" Kakashi asked as the Third begged him not to show it. Naruto's grin grew.
"Oh it's nothing..." Naruto said with a glint towards the Hokage. Kakashi chuckled a bit as well before deciding to spare the Third Hokage from further embarrassment.
"Okay then, well seeing as Honoke is down for the count, I think I can help out a bit for the rest of the day. Still impressive how you came up with the jutsu after his terrible execution of it. I bet you can improve upon it as well to make it even more powerful, but that's for another day." Kakashi stated calmly as Naruto looked at him with bright curious eyes before looking crestfallen for some reason.
"Sorry I did that to them, the Old Man still has important paperwork to do and Honoke was supposed to teach me Taijutsu and start teaching me some shinobi history..." Naruto seemed oddly remorseful of his actions as Kakashi sighed.
"It's fine, it taught them not to underestimate you now didn't it?" Kakashi seemed to smile as he ruffled Naruto's hair. "I'll help out with the training for today as Honoke and the Hokage recover from your jutsu." Kakashi said as Naruto's mood immediately improved. "But know that I'm going to push you hard and far with this, don't let me down." Kakashi warned as Naruto nodded.
And so began the most exhausting day of his life, Kakashi did not lie when he said he would push the kid and pushed him into doing tons of physical exercise. Kakashi also began teaching him the beginning of Chakra control, which he sucked at as the leaf kept moving away from his forehead, much to Naruto's annoyance. Kakashi said to keep practicing until he got it down and soon after, the day ended.
This routine kept itself up for the next few months, of just practice, training, and spending more and more time with Honoke and Kakashi when he actually showed up for the training. He still teased the Hokage here and there and actually found out about his crystal orb when the Hokage didn't hear him sneak in one day. Before they knew it, a month went on by. Naruto's taijutsu was getting to a really good level, enough to compete with most genin while he was able to control the leaf a bit, especially with Naruto's massive chakra pool. It wasn't perfect, but it was better than Kakashi expected since many struggled with the exercise. He started learning a bit about Shinobi history, but it was clear that Naruto didn't like this as much as time went on. He was a very active child, so Kakashi could practically hear the boredom that radiated off of Naruto as he listened to Honoke talk about Shinobi history. He decided to change it up after about a week of no progress.
"Hmm, how about instead of just hearing about the Shinobi history, we...play it out?" Kakashi asked, to the confusion of Naruto. Kakashi sighed, "We reenact the history lesson of the day and think about what the person would have done in the situation given their personality and characteristics." Kakashi explained as Naruto looked actually interested, much to the surprise of Honoke as they nodded, "Okay, so we were talking about the battle of Hashirama and Madara, two friends with opposing views. Madara only cared for power and tended to use vicious means to get it while Hashirama was more like you. He cared for his friends and wanted to create an era of peace between people, he was a leader and the first Hokage of the Village Hidden in the Leaves. So when they went to the Valley of the End, their ideals, goals, and methods finally came to a head. Hashirama wanted Madara to stop his plans to conquer and destroy the world, while Madara wanted to get Hashirama out of the way. The two decided to fight with neither able to get ahead." Kakashi explained the lesson as Naruto instinctively connected to Hashirama's character. Before he knew it, his mouth opened.
"Madara! It doesn't have to be this way! Just head back, all will be forgiven as long as you quit this obsession of yours!" Naruto said, the words coming effortlessly. Kakashi looked shocked as he played along, not sure how to feel about the confusion found on Naruto's face.
"Heh, I'm sorry to disappoint you, Hashirama, but I already hold the power needed to reshape this world. No more hate and misery will taint this world again." Kakashi said as Naruto seemed to not think that's what Madara had said for some reason unknown to himself.
"That's not true! Your idea of a world will destroy love and happiness as well as hate and misery, it's not real! How can you even call that a world worth living in!? MADARA!" Naruto yelled, his hands reaching towards his kunai for a reason that escaped him. Thankfully, Kakashi only had given him a training kunai, but the threat still stood clear. Honoke looked concerned, while Kakashi just looked surprised.
"Hmph, if that's how it'll be...then come at me, Hashirama, let's finish this once and for all!" Kakashi wasn't even talking at this point in Naruto's eyes, as Naruto's surroundings faded around him. He was on top of the twin peaks that would eventually become the Madara and Hashirama statues as Hashirama himself, facing the younger Madara. He dashed towards Madara with his kunai out as he was blocked by Madara's own kunai.
"It doesn't have to be like this! You can still come back!" Hashirama and Naruto said in unison. Madara scoffed in disbelief.
"Come back to being scorned, hated for my eyes? Thanks, but I'll pass." Madara said, but some part of Naruto still said that was wrong. The words changed, "There's no way I can return at this point. I haven't reached my goal, and I will never return to that place." Madara said instead. Hashirama leaned back with gritted teeth.
"Then I'll make you see reason, Madara! I'll bring you back if it's the last thing I do!" Hashirama said, flashing through signs that Naruto himself copied. "WOOD RELEASE: WOOD DRAGON JUTSU!" A giant wood dragon came out and went towards Madara, who quickly dodged, only to get blasted away from the explosion it caused. A hand landed on Naruto's shoulder as the scene faded away back to Honoke's apartment. Naruto blinked in confusion. "What happened to Madara? I-I was just fighting him..." Naruto asked, mostly confused himself as Kakashi sighed.
"Did you just see the battle between Hashirama and Madara?" Kakashi asked out of exasperated confusion as Naruto nodded. He repeated the signs that had summoned the wood dragon and yelled the jutsu name again to nothing happening. "I assume that was the technique he had started the fight with?" Kakashi asked this time. Naruto nodded again as Honoke and Kakashi looked at each other. "It was weird...it was like I was Hashirama. When you were talking, it felt like I could hear the words that Madara actually said...it was...weird." Naruto admitted in confusion.
"Let's try this again some other time, we don't know what would happen if you got attacked by Madara when you go into this state. You came at me with kunai as if in a trance. You might hurt someone if it happens, but I think it's only limited to Hashirama, since you two have very similar goals and characteristics. Maybe you just relate heavily to him?" Honoke said, as Naruto hesitated before shaking his head.
"Agh whatever it is I can't let it hurt me! I'm Naruto Uzumaki! My dream is to be the next Hokage and make everyone become friends with everyone and end the fighting and nothing is going to change that fact! Not now or later!" Naruto put his thumb on his heart. "And I swear on that!" He grinned as Honoke sighed in relief.
Kakashi ruffled Naruto's hair, "Yup, now get some rest, it's been a long day. It's already nearly time for you to go to bed." He said as Naruto smiled.
"Okay, see you later, Landlord-san! Kakashi-san!" Naruto waved goodbye as he went to his apartment. As soon as they heard Naruto's apartment door open and close, both of them visibly relaxed.
"What the...did he actually..." Honoke was still trying to come to terms with what Naruto had said as Kakashi leaned back, mask off as he sighed.
"I don't even know, but if there's one thing I know about Naruto, he's going to surprise people. I managed to capture the signs that he used and I'm thinking of taking it to Tenzo to see if Naruto was right, if he was...then I don't even know at that point..." Kakashi admitted aloud, afraid of a wooden dragon actually coming out if Tenzo performed the jutsu. He hoped that Naruto was wrong or else there would be dozens of questions. "This is an S ranked confidentiality conversation at this point probably, we can't let someone find out about that at any costs." Kakashi stated to the nodding of Honoke.
"Most definitely, my lips are sealed. Hopefully it's just a crazy imagination, but I doubt it would be that simple honestly..." Honoke sighed as he said it. Kakashi had to agree as he put his mask back up.
"Well, I better get going. I need to test this and hope that it's just the crazy ramblings of imagination. Tenzo had been unable to recreate Hashirama's Wood Dragon Jutsu as he didn't know how to do it, so if Naruto's right on this..." Kakashi sighed out of exasperation, "This will be one crazy week for us all..." Kakashi finished out of frustration as he shunshin'ed out of the area towards the Academy. Honoke looked towards Naruto's apartment in worry, hoping that he was wrong for his own sake.
The night passed in tension as Naruto finally fell asleep, having only heard mumbling and being unable to understand it. Kurama on the other hand, understood the words and looked towards Naruto in curiosity, "Apparently, I was right to help you out here...who knows what would have happened had I not stopped you back there that one day..." Kurama wondered aloud as Naruto found himself in front of a giant fox, with thin wooden gates separating the two.
"Where am I?" Naruto asked out of confusion.
"Ehh, I'm that voice you kept hearing." Kurama shrugged. Naruto looked a bit confused, but it soon turned to awe.
"You look awesome!" Naruto said as Kurama smirked a bit from the praise, "I mean you're a giant fox and it looks awesome...Kurama right?" Naruto sheepishly laughed as Kurama nodded. "Let's be friends!" Naruto suddenly said with a grin as Kurama shrugged.
"Sure, but I'm only going to help a bit, no sense of helping too much and destroying your body from chakra overload." Kurama casually said, enjoying the fear that went over Naruto's face.
"Wait...what now?" Naruto said quickly, unable to hide the fear in his voice.
"Relax, relax, I'm not going to do that. I'm actually pretty curious about helping you, but right now you're nowhere near strong enough to remove this seal and the like, so I can only help you a tiny bit. I'm not going to do anything to put you in danger or anything you know." Kurama laughed from Naruto's fidgeting.
"O-Okay." He said as Kurama turned around a bit.
"Now get some rest, I don't like your alarm clock blaring while you sleep still." Kurama seemed to glare a bit as Naruto sheepishly laughed again. Kurama let the words sink in as Naruto's eyes widened, looking very much like a deer in the headlights of a car.
"Oh, Kami, you were the one who yelled 'Wake Up' all those times, were you?" Naruto realized as Kurama grinned viciously. Naruto gulped as he slowly walked away. Kurama rolled his eyes at Naruto's childishness.
"Relax for crying out loud. I'm not going to hurt you or anything. We're friends, right?" Kurama asked as Naruto nodded, holding his fist out. Kurama looked at it in confusion, having not seen him do this before.
"It's called a fist bump apparently, I saw Choji and Shikamaru do it before to show that they're friends, so I wanna try it!" Naruto said as Kurama brought up his paw and pushed Naruto's fist with it. A smile went to both of their faces as Naruto faded from the area, falling asleep in happiness. Kurama was content, but was still going to yell at him if he didn't wake up to his alarm. Kurama didn't know why he was so nice to this human, but he scoffed at his thoughts. Who cares at this point, he was interesting and still finding new ways to surprise him. His ego still inflated a bit from being called awesome, Kurama fell asleep with a smile on his face.
The night came and went, with both Naruto and Kuruma having sweet dreams until an alarm blared once more to signal it being eight o'clock, Naruto smacked the snooze button a bit harder than he meant to, but still sleepily. Kurama nearly yelled before he yawned and got up. "Well I'll be..." Kurama grinned as Naruto shrugged.
"Yeah, yeah, Kurama, I'm actually getting up for once...I know."
Naruto dismissed the words as Kurama snickered a bit.
"Wonder how long this will last, will the world be destroyed? Will the moon turn out to be an ancient goddess hell-bent on making all the Chakra in the world hers?" Kurama asked mockingly as Naruto couldn't help but laugh.
"Yeah right!" Naruto laughed out as he made his way to the mirror, both him and Kurama looked and blinked, "Did I always have these markings on my face? My eyes look a bit different too...?" Naruto looked confused as Kurama shrugged, both noting that Naruto's body did that too, "Wait, how did you do that? Are you able to control my body now?" Naruto asked out of confusion.
"How am I supposed to know? This is news to me too." Kurama replied, equally confused as Naruto in this mess.
"Well, whatever the case, let's just be careful on that, we still got training to do. Right, Kurama?" Naruto asked to receive a nod from Kurama.
"I guess I just get to train alongside you now, how troublesome, as a certain Nara would say." Kurama snickered out, both feeling a bit uneasy seeing the expression and action mirrored on Naruto's face in the mirror.
"Yeah, meeting Shikamaru was an experience wasn't it?" Naruto snickered himself, before noting the time, "Oh no! We're running behind!" He nearly yelled as he hurried along with his shower and getting clothes and ready, before heading to meet Kakashi and Honoke in Training Field 7. (Apparently, the people of Training Field 2 no longer wanted Naruto around, so Kakashi offered the training Field that was reserved for himself. At least that's the official version, it turns out that the people of Training Field 2 wanted to see the Sexy Henge Jutsu more for some...purposes that Kakashi, Honoke, and Kurama didn't want Naruto to know, so they moved to Training Field 7 in private.)
"You're late." Honoke smirked as Naruto tried sneaking into the field, "Also if you wanted to sneak, go around the back and enter through the trees, it might have made you late, but you could claim that you were there the whole time and I just didn't notice. Then again, you would need the Tree-Walking Jutsu mastered before you can do that now don't you?" Honoke's smirk stayed while Naruto gave an annoyed pout.
"Not my fault the tree decides to make me slip off." He pouted as Honoke chuckled. "So where's Kakashi-sensei?"
"You call him by his name and sensei yet I'm still Landlord-san?" Honoke pouted as Naruto rolled his eyes.
"Okay Honoke..." Naruto dragged it out, seeing the hopeful look on Honoke's face. He smirked. "san." Both of them burst out laughing from the clear baiting Naruto was pulling.
"Still better than Landlord-san I guess!" Honoke laughed out./p
"So what if I call you Landlord-sensei?" Naruto couldn't resist as Honoke bonked him.
"Nah, use Honoke-sensei or Honoke-san." Honoke said as Naruto rolled his eyes.
"Hai, Hai." Naruto dismissed as the two laughed again. The laughter slowly faded out as Naruto looked somewhat annoyed with a side of worry, "But seriously, where's Kakashi-sensei? Usually he's here by now." Naruto asked as Honoke sighed.
"He's probably not showing up today, he had an important mission come up last night and told me to just have you keep practicing the Meni Fist Plate Style and your Tree-walking skill. He figures if you have your Chakra control up..." Honoke lied effortlessly as Naruto sighed and finished the sentence.
"Then I can learn the jutsu during my time in the Academy, correct?" Naruto asked in what appeared to be pure practice and sarcasm rolling off his tongue,Honoke nodded with a smile.
"Yup. So let's get to work." With one final nod from Naruto, the two went a bit further in where they saw another kid around Naruto's age struggling and failing the Tree-walking challenge. His black hair seemed to spike up in random directions but the symbol on his back was unique. Naruto looked in confusion, having never seen the symbol before other than when they were heading towards the Akimichi restaurant.
"Hey! What are you doing here!?" Naruto yelled carelessly, the boy seemed to ignore him as the tree launched him off again. Naruto growled in annoyance, but Kurama simply watched the two. Good entertainment didn't come cheap and he was interested in what would happen. Naruto tried to run up to the kid, who went for a punch. Naruto ducked and swept him instead. The boy tried getting back up, but had a kunai placed right above his neck, "Now talk, what are you doing here?" Naruto demanded, but the boy simply hmph'd.
"Why should I tell you, you're annoying." The boy answered as he tried to grab the kunai, to which Naruto moved it down south with a menacing grin on his face. The boy's eyes grew in terror, "O-Okay, I was just watching you practice that tree-walking thing and wanted to try it!" He said, not wanting Naruto to press down where he was. Naruto smirked victoriously.
"See, was that so hard?" Naruto asked sarcastically before jumping back. "My name is Naruto Uzumaki, what's your name?" He extended a hand out to the boy as the boy instead swatted it away and got up himself, annoying Naruto in the process.
"Hmph, nothing you need to know." The boy tried as Naruto had a glint appear in his eyes. He grabbed the kunai menacingly.
"Really now...?" Naruto asked, becoming angry at the arrogance that the boy was portraying.
"Really now, I seem to remember a certain little YOU that was just as arrogant. Maybe you're mad at him for being like how you used to be?" Kurama wasted no time with the jab as Naruto groaned a bit.
"I mean you're not wrong, but he's acting like he's better than everyone else! I never did that!" Naruto countered as Kurama rolled his eyes in disbelief.
"Yeah right mister, 'I'M GOING TO BE THE NEXT HOKAGE, BELIEVE IT!' Isn't that acting better, just via words and not actions?" Kurama struck back as Naruto didn't have a response that time,"It's fine in the end, just don't get hypocritical on me.
Frankly, this kid's getting on my nerves too." Kurama admitted with a shrug.
"O-Okay, jeez! No need to threaten it twice, you stuck up prick!" The boy said as Naruto's eyes twitched a bit, having never moved the kunai from where he jumped back. The boy didn't notice nor care, "It's Sasuke Uchiha, and I frankly don't care if you stay or go, just leave me alone already!" Sasuke seemed to pout as he continued the exercises. Naruto growled a bit in annoyance.
"Hey, how about you learn some manners!? I'm going to be the next Hokage, believe it! What's with the constant dismissal of my presence, huh!?" Naruto finally had enough of the attitude that Sasuke was portraying. Kurama's eye twitched as he was annoyed after just telling him to not get hypocritical.
"You, the Hokage!? Yeah, right, that'll never happen." Sasuke dismissed as Naruto went to punch him. Sasuke leaned against the punch and quickly flipped Naruto over, surprising Naruto in the process.
Honoke watched as the two went at it with each other with a chuckle and a smirk. Rivals tended to help progress by a lot, and seeing that both were around equal footing, even though the two never admitted it, was perfect motivation to push them both forward. He couldn't help being worried by Sasuke's name though... The Uchiha huh? Guess that's the younger brother of Itachi... oh boy that's going to be interesting to watch. Honoke sighed as he watched the two bicker and help each other improve. Honoke had heard about the unrest in the Uchiha clan and the talks of revolution, even the Third Hokage was worried about a civil war breaking out, but if Naruto could befriend and get Sasuke off that path, it would be for the best. Honoke decided to just stay back and watch, waiting for Kakashi to get done with the test.
Hours passed by as the two challenged each other to insane task after task to prove their worth. Eventually, they set their sites to a race to the top of the tree, and both were making good progress now based on the rivalry. Before Naruto could barely break halfway, and now he was nearly 75% of the way there, with Sasuke not so far behind him. Kakashi walked on by with Tenzo behind him. Honoke groaned a bit at the sight.
"Oh, Kami. It's S rank now isn't it?" Honoke whispered pitifully as Kakashi nodded with the same resentment towards it, "Hey Naruto, Sasuke! Take a break for a bit, we got guests!" Honoke shouted as the two ignored the order, instead continuing their race to the top of the tree.
"No way! I'm going to beat him and show him that I'm stronger!" Naruto shouted back to the annoyance of Honoke.
"If you don't get here now, no visits to Uncle Choza!" Honoke said as Naruto grabbed Sasuke and jumped off the tree.
"H-Hey what's the big idea!" Sasuke yelled as he tried escaping Naruto's grip. Kurama smirked and added a bit more strength to it. He had grown to appreciate the food Choza always put out and he wasn't going to let this stuck-up brat ruin that.
"Yes, Honoke-sensei?" Naruto acted super obedient to the point that Honoke couldn't resist laughing a bit from the sight. Choza's food worked wonders at creating a threat against Naruto. Thankfully, Naruto didn't eat it all the time so he didn't have to get as bad as the Akimichi, and he still ate ramen most of the time, just not all the time anymore. Naruto seemed a lot healthier as a result of this, and didn't look so malnourished. He had even grown a few inches as a result; however, he had the start of the Akimichi gut as well, much to their equal annoyance.
Naruto's eyes wandered a bit before meeting Tenzo's in confusion, "Hi?" Naruto asked out of confusion, much to Sasuke's snickers. Naruto...accidentally pushed him to the ground., which started another fight as a result. Honoke bopped both of their heads before it got too bad.
"Yamato here is a user of Wood Release and wanted to...test something that you had said before Naruto." Kakashi cautiously explained, not wanting Sasuke to be a part of this discussion. Sadly, the boy refused to leave, and instead looked at Yamato/Tenzo as if they were challenges to be overcome. Yamato took no mind to this and instead looked at Naruto, "Now Naruto, do you remember the signs?" Naruto shook his head to Kakashi's question. "Well I had, and told Yamato here about them, let's see the result." Kakashi smirked a bit, unseen by Naruto or the others.
Yamato used the proper hand signs a bit slowly as he yelled, "Wood Release: Wood Dragon Jutsu!" A wooden dragon, smaller than Hashirama's, came out as Naruto looked in awe.
"I told you I saw it happen!" Naruto looked downright proud, even though both Honoke and Kakashi looked downcast, "Why are you guys so sad, did you not believe me?" Naruto asked as the two shook their heads with identical sighs.
"It's not that, it's more we didn't want you to be right. Since now that puts a heavy burden on you to help Yamato out as well as keeping this a secret from others. It puts a huge target on your back that we can't let others find out about, lest you get hunted by the world." Honoke explained, Naruto looked afraid now and could understand what they meant.
"W-Well, maybe it was a fluke!?" Naruto seemed downright scared at this point, having learned about the power scales that ninjas could eventually get to. He was just seven for crying out loud!
"Sadly, no one would believe that you just so happen to find one of the long-lost techniques of Hashirama on a fluke, it's too unbelievable." Kakashi countered as Naruto sighed in defeat.
"Then I have to get stronger, and get the strength to protect myself and Kurama!" Naruto said with a grin, not noticing the flinches from Kakashi, Honoke, and Tenzo. Sasuke looked a bit confused at the three, but they quickly hid the expression.
Who's Kurama? The only thing this kid has in him is a stupid amount of stubborn guts, probably just some imaginary friend or something knowing this idiot. Sasuke thought to himself with rolled eyes. He was not a fan of his so-called 'Rival', at most, he was a nuisance he could do without.
The day ended soon after that for the most part, as Sasuke tried to split from the group, to which Naruto ran over to his new friend, "How about I walk you home? No one should be out by themselves!" Naruto said with a grin, to which Sasuke ignored him. He tried again before Sasuke slapped his hand away, "Hey, what's the big idea!? I'm just trying to be nice!" Naruto yelled.
"What are you talking about!? You threatened my life twice in a row! Why would I ever want to be friends with you!?" Sasuke screamed back, he turned and ran away, unaware that Naruto had tears coming out of his eyes.
Naruto vaguely noticed the tears and the touch to his shoulder. "Don't worry, Naruto, he'll come around, he's just not used to the idea of friends yet. Although, he did have a point given you threatened his balls twice back there…" Honoke tried to reassure him, knowing how painful that was. Naruto numbly nodded, wiping his tears before following along.
The night went by slowly, as Naruto kept thinking about what he could have done better. Even Kurama was silent, trying to find out why the kid felt familiar to him. He vaguely remembered the Uchiha clan, but his memories have been spotty since his time with Kushina. He sighed as a result, knowing that Naruto needed some help...he just didn't feel like he could be the one to give it out.
The door creaked open, but surprisingly enough, it wasn't Naruto's. "NARUTO! WAKE UP!" Kurama yelled, something was wrong about this! Naruto jolted awake from his friend's words as he rushed outside due to Kurama's yell, seeing Honoke's door open. He rushed towards the door in fear and looked towards the room. Honoke sat at his desk, facing the door for future apartment owners. Naruto screamed his name before he noticed the red that surrounded Honoke's body. As well as the fact that Honoke wasn't moving at all.
"HONOKE!" Naruto screamed to the heavens, having many of the neighbors waking up from the noise, Kakashi himself also came over and upon seeing Honoke, instructed everyone to head back to their rooms, closed the room off, and stared at Naruto.
"Naruto!" Kakashi swiftly said to the crying kid, Naruto was unresponsive, "Naruto, we'll get to the bottom of this, I swear it, but you have to calm down!" He tried again to no avail. Naruto's eyes shifted a bit. What were once pure blue eyes with a shade of crimson shifted to have a swirl of the colors, with neither color able to see on top. Violet eyes stared at Kakashi.
"Who did this to him!? WHY!? He was an honest man, WHY WAS HE MURDERED!?" Kurama and Naruto yelled at Kakashi, but all Kakashi did was swiftly knock Naruto out in response.
"I don't know...but we'll get to the bottom of this." Kakashi said to the unconscious kid, happy no one was around to see their tears. "I promise you...we'll solve this." He continued on, mostly to himself.
And that's the chapter folks! Honestly, Honoke was a blast to write as it was nice to give Naruto a nice father figure for once.
I think of it as, if Kurama didn't stop Naruto's sentence, canon would have happened for the most part, since Honoke would have been pissed and not wanting to help. He was going to call him an old fart that didn't know what he was doing. Also, honestly, I was surprised with how Honoke came out. I expected him to be 50 years old, and was left with someone around Iruka's age, it was hilarious.
Also Honoke was gonna die early on in the end, I kinda figured to do that from the start since it would cause a good motivation for Naruto during his Academy years, but he was originally going to die 3 days before the Academy started so it's either bump down the age needed for the Academy by a year, or have it have a "Pre-Academy" level or something, which I bet would be how I'll go about it. Hinata would be in the next chapter helping Naruto and Kurama go through the "Whodunit" battle of finding Honoke's killer (Who I bet you already can see based on the Naruto plot!)
Also the whole Hashirama bit was more a jab at how odd it is with Naruto being his...reincarnation, so I put that as a little jab (as well as the actual jab being towards that whole moon plot, Naruto got weird man.) but don't worry, it's more just flashbacks towards Hashirama stuff if Hashirama memories are mentioned, nothing more or less. As you saw, Naruto himself can't use Wood Release or anything, so don't worry bout him being broken. On top of that, as you saw, he actually beat Sasuke in a sense. I more chalk it up to him having more experience than Sasuke right now and that Sasuke underestimated Naruto at first, since you saw he promptly beat him back. Instead of Sasuke being much stronger, this time they're more on equal footing. It's also after this moment that the Omake with Sakura would come in, as she would have helped him with his anger after he ran off from Naruto.
This is Char signing out! See you next time!