Icarus Chapter 2 – Return of the King
Hello one and all, Iskander Mandoraekon here with a new chapter for my Icarus story, in this chapter our beloved Naruko will be returning to Konoha to give an old man and several dozen of his flunkies a heart attack. I will mostly just be doing her academy days or graduation exam in this chapter, so don't get your hopes up too high ya hear. I have an interesting surprise later in for my more loyal readers that ya'll might like.
Also before we begin, I was wondering how many of you would like for me to make an Illyasviel for the story, like say having Naruko find a clone of Illya in the Princess Koyuki arc when they are invading Doto's private labs that was made from the ancient research notes of the Einzbern family that Doto and Orochimaru found. Be sure to put your answer into your review since I only put polls up for stories actually on my page.
That's all for now, have fun reading!
I do not own the Fate/Stay Night or Naruto
Vivian's Lake; Seven Years later
Vivian smiled as she watched as her apprentice of the last seven years tossed anything that could be useful to her later into her backpack and scrolls that the water faerie had gotten for her via theft from the Hidden Valley village several miles from their location. Naruko had all but mastered the teachings Vivian had given her with the sword and on how to manipulate her two elements of water and air freely, she just had to advance more on her own and mature more before she could hope to master the arts completely.
The young girl had come far in the limited teaching on seals that the Kyuubi had managed to remember, showing how adept her bloodline was for the creation of the runes that Vivian still couldn't make heads or tails of and the grumpy Bijuu found himself impressed with her strength of will and tenacity for not giving into finding an easy way to complete her tasks.
The plan was for Vivian to dump Naruko five miles away from Konoha in the forest with clothes similar to the ones she had taken her in, only with a significant change to blue instead of the eye-searing orange that the Sandaime Hokage had gifted the girl with.
Naruko then placed her gifts from Vivian in the bag and picked it up onto her back, before nodding to the woman that had taken her in. "I'm ready."
The Lady of the Lake gave her a nod with a smile on her face before placing her hand on the eleven year old's shoulder and the two females disappeared in a flurry of water before reappearing in the forest a few miles outside the walls of Konoha.
"Be careful Naru-chan," Vivian said as she pulled the sheathed Excalibur from her personal pocket dimension and knelt down to the girl's height, hugging the eleven year old's petite body to her own. "Remember to always remain strong no matter the challenge."
"Yes, Okaa-chan," the young girl said as she hugged the water faerie back, saddened that she wouldn't have the Lady of the Lake with her during the trials to come now that she was returning to the village of her birth before taking the golden sword Vivian was handing her. "Don't worry about me; I still have Mr. Grumpy Plushy and Excalibur to help me."
The heir to the Pendragon name then smirked as she heard a growl from the wandering Kurama inside her mindscape informing her that he had heard that remark. She had learned his true name five years into her training as the demon fox found himself impressed by the girl that was willing to look past his gruff exterior.
Personally the pre-teen really wasn't looking forward to returning to the Village Hidden in the Leaves, even if she could now handle herself when one of the bigoted idiots tried anything against her and she was fully ready to exploit the Uzumaki clan knowledge upon her return to secure her place as the heiress of a major, founding clan.
"Don't worry my little maelstrom; I will visit you during the winter," Vivian said with a kiss to the girl's forehead. "You won't be too alone."
Naruko then all but squeezed the life out of the faerie that had adopted her, once again surprising the Lady of the Lake with the strength she had acquired despite her only being eleven. The Uzumaki clan heiress and inheritor of Arturia's will took one last look at the water faerie and with a final goodbye, Naruko left the safety of the faery's embrace and began walking around the forest until she was spotted by a returning squad of Anbu, the Hidden Village's Black Ops unit.
The leader of the squad wore a dog mask that his gravity defying, silver hair peeked out over and from the gasp of shock that came from his lips at the sight of the whiskers on her cheeks and golden hair; he was very surprised to see her and he called out to her. From the sound of his voice, he sounded hopeful and, when she answered back with faux confusion, extremely happy that she was alive.
He quickly grabbed hold of her jacket's shoulder and proceeded to run at his top speed back to the village with the golden haired girl in his grasp in order to inform the Hokage that she had been found after so long and leaving his squad stumped as to what their leader was doing, many of them having only been in the later years of the Academy when she disappeared.
When they got into the Hokage's Tower after evading countless roof hopping shinobi and civilians that barely got out of their way when they were forced to go by the street, Naruko remained quiet and stoic while her old Jiji, Hiruzen, proceeded to hug the living hell out of whiskered girl with tears running down the sides of his wrinkled face; the old man constantly asking her where she had been for so long.
Naruko then proceeded to tell the old man and the Anbu that brought her there about how she had gotten lost during the rare snow storm all those years ago and somehow wandered out of the village until she was found nearly frozen to death by a nice woman that took her in and raised her as a daughter.
When the old Kage had asked for the name of her savior, Naruko merely stated that her name was Vivian, saying that she didn't want for a civilian or Kyuubi hating shinobi to find her new mother through her last name with the intent of harming the water fae.
The sad look on Hiruzen's face about her not trusting the civilians or shinobi of Konoha was only dwarfed by first a look of understanding after having experienced plenty of times of breaking up parties thrown by the civilians about her disappearance and the look of utter shock when hearing that his foster granddaughter knew about the Kyuubi and was apparently on good terms with the kitsune-shaped mass of malevolent chakra.
After being questioned thoroughly by Hiruzen and a man with long platinum blond hair that was tied in a ponytail that had been called in to check for any evil intent from the Kyuubi through his clan's mind walking jutsu, which they were shocked not to find with the fox merely sleeping in a clearing in the forest that the girl's mindscape had become; the girl was given a full squad of Anbu protection around the clock with a brown haired man in a Tiger mask leading the squad until the old man could get her fully settled into the village again, this time with a fully functioning apartment rather than the orphanage that had kicked her out that fateful night all those years ago.
Entire Week Later
The return of the golden haired girl to Konoha was not met with much, if any, fanfare, not that she had expected any after Vivian had investigated the village for a few days while she was still with her to only find hostility towards the girl in question from the villagers. Aside from a beyond relieved Hiruzen Sarutobi being startled about her knowing about her heritage from the Uzumaki clan and promptly giving her access to some of her mother's scrolls, stating that she would get the rest when she was a genin and placing her in the clan charter as Uzumaki heiress…
She would only become the clan head when she became a chunin or Tokubetsu Jounin…
Whichever came first…
And right now they were at the Konoha Shinobi Academy to integrate the recently found girl into the class for her age group.
"… Do I have to go in?" The young girl asked with a small whine in her voice as she stared into the classroom unimpressed at how much showing off most of the female population was doing for the emo looking black haired boy with the back of his hair styled in the shape of a duck's ass that the Sandaime had told her was named Sasuke Uchiha or the boasting that many of the male students were performing in attempts to seem cool like the previously mentioned duckass haired brooder.
They were standing outside of the classroom that was assigned to a chunin named Iruka Umino in the Academy with Hiruzen wearing the official Hokage robes as per usual while Naruko was wearing her golden blonde hair in the same style as her idol Arturia in a braid that Vivian had taught her to make and she was wearing a black hat that pushed down the annoying ahoge she shared with her predecessor. Covering her torso was a dark blue jacket that had golden lines along the sleeves, outlining the pockets and zipper and on her lower body, a pair of black shorts graced her hips down to the middle of her thighs and there were bandages that were poking out of her black steel toed boots going up to just below her knees.
"Yes, Naru-chan," the elderly man said with an amused chuckle at his recently returned surrogate granddaughter's reluctance to join with the class before her. "This is to be your new class."
"… Are you sure there isn't another way for me to become a kunoichi?" Naruko asked with a quiet hope growing in her eyes, casting a hesitant glance at the man as she remembered showing him her sword skills that Hiruzen admitted had been in great form. "Can't I become someone's apprentice? Maybe Neko-san would be willing."
Hiruzen Sarutobi could only chuckle at the girl's reluctance to join a bunch of children while resisting to remind her that she is still just a child as well, despite being nearly an adult in shinobi terms should she pass the exam next year, and to be honest the Sandaime couldn't blame her, because inside the room was a bunch of brats that believed the dark life of the ninja to be full of flashy jutsu and heroics. None of the children waiting in the class knowing a thing about the world outside the high walls of the village.
Wordlessly with a gentle, yet mischievous, smile on his face, Hiruzen pushed her into the classroom before disappearing via a burning leaf Shunshin before the blonde could turn around.
Growling in annoyance about troublesome, manipulative, old men under her breath, Naruko turned to face forward, only to go silent and observe the faces of the curious children and the scar-faced Chunin that sat at the front of the room alongside a white haired chunin.
"You are Uzumaki Naruko, the new student, correct?" The scarred chunin asked as he looked at the note on the clipboard his tanned hand was holding that mentioned that he would be getting a new student today and he received a silent nod from the blonde as she recomposed herself from the push given to her by the conniving old man and looked at the man, who was a little unsettled by the mature look in her cold blue eyes, having only seen such eyes in Itachi Uchiha while the genius was in the Academy and the veteran shinobi that had experienced the real life of the job.
"Hello, I am Umino Iruka, but while you're in this class for the next year, please call me Iruka-sensei," the man said as he gave her a smile upon dismissing the look in her eyes as he introduced himself before he pointed to his assistant. "This is my teaching assistant Tachibana Mizuki. Now, if you'll please go have a seat, we'll get started with the quiz today."
Naruko merely stayed silent as she nodded to the scar faced man before she turned her blue gaze towards her new classmates, searching for a spot that would place her in a comfortable position that wouldn't attract too many curious children before she had a chance to escape, the heir of Arturia still not used to large crowds due to her isolation by Vivian's lake with only the water faerie and the grumpy Biju in her gut as company.
Spotting two girls her age in the back row, one having brown hair that was tied up in buns that made her look like a panda while the other was a green haired girl with orange eyes that gave off a familiar feeling to the Uzumaki. Composing herself and moving towards them, the golden haired Jinchuuriki gave a polite smile. "Hello, my name is Uzumaki Naruko."
"Hiya!" The green haired girl said with excitement in her voice at the prospect of making a new friend as she bounced up and down in her seat while shaking the blonde's hand in excitement. "I'm Fuu; it's nice to meet you!"
The other girl sighed as she bopped the olive skinned girl on the head, "Calm down Fuu-chan," she said before turning back to the newcomer and shaking her hand. "Hello, I am Tenten Higurashi; it's nice to meet you."
Tenten had brown hair that as Naruko had noted earlier were in twin buns on top of her head with short fringe-bangs framing her face and now that she was close enough the Excalibur wielder could see the girl's steel grey eyes. The girl's outfit consisted of a pink sleeveless qipao-style blouse with red sleeve trimmings and yellow fastening buttons and dark green pants that ended in a pair of shinobi trainee sandals.
Turning to Fuu, she was a petite, olive-skinned kunoichi who was wearing an orange clip in her short, spiky mint green hair that matched her eye color, which was also orange. Her outfit mostly consisted of a short, sleeveless white midriff shirt with fishnet armor underneath, long white armlets, and fishnet shorts with a short white apron skirt over it.
"Uzumaki Naruko!" Iruka called out, his voice interrupting Naruko's assessment of her new classmates. Turning to look down at the front row, Naruko found the chunin smiling at her and motioning for her to come back down as a brown haired boy with red fang marks on his cheeks and a puppy on his head returned to his seat. "Alright, we'll be doing the ninjutsu portion of the practice quiz for today, so if you wouldn't mind, could you please perform a Bunshin and the Henge jutsu, please?"
"… Water style: Kage Bunshin no Jutsu," Naruko muttered quietly to herself while performing only a single hand seal before two exact copies of her rose to existence from the water bottles at her side, the three blondes simply standing in place in the same pose as the original.
Naruko immediately savored the shock to appear on the faces of the chunin and the students in the room at the sight of an eleven year old performing an elemental jutsu and she then made another hand sign, transforming into the Hokage while the ones beside her took the forms of Tenten and Fuu.
"Wow, that was amazing," Iruka said with an impressed look on his face mirrored by many in the room along with Tenten and Fuu at her use of their forms by someone they had just met, while a certain Uchiha's gaze was locked onto the transformed water clones, wondering what he could do to steal the jutsu for himself to use against his brother.
"Now, I need you to show that you know how to detect and break out of a genjutsu," Iruka stated before his assistant Mizuki stood up and went through a couple of rough hand seals before the girl felt the sensation of a genjutsu wash over her body. From what she could tell, it was one of the basic ones that Kurama had taught her that would place a layer over the world around her.
Instantly to Iruka's happiness of having a student that knew what they were doing, that didn't come from a clan, the illusion was shattered by the girl simply flaring her chakra, knowing that only a very small select few in the class could even do that. "Well done. You can go sit back down now, Naruko-chan."
Nodding to the instructor, the Uzumaki walked back to her spot beside Tenten and decided to look around the room to evaluate everybody. She was honestly confused how somebody could fail that test from watching a few of the girls that were fawning over the Uchiha boy earlier do just that, especially since children should already have big enough chakra reserves to pull off the Bunshin. Cocking a golden eyebrow, she caught notice of several of the girls in the room that were giving her glares due to the fact that the Uchiha was looking at her for more than a minute now.
The holy sword wielding Uzumaki simply snorted inwardly at the anger of what she figured out to be fangirls, an existence that every serious kunoichi wanted to stamp out, while dismissing the sole surviving Uchiha as nothing more than a mentally disturbed adolescent. There was nothing special about him that she had found in his file when reading about her classmates, his thieving Kekkei Genkai was pathetic since it stole the hard work of another individual and his 'great' clan failed to interest her in the slightest, besides the only part of his mother being the former teammate of her mother and the boy's older brother having massacred the rest of their family in a single night.
After glancing over the rest of the students the classroom had to offer, Naruko found herself focusing back on the front of the class as the last student completed the quiz with a sick looking Bunshin that made him look like he was going to keel over and die.
It was only a couple minutes after that when they were led outside to the Academy's training ground that was set up to the side of the large building, giving a good view of the Hokage Mountain and the street, the blonde getting many curious looks from the passing civilians that decided to watch the class of future shinobi.
Forced to stand now that they were outside, Naruko leaned against a tree next to a boy with pineapple shaped hair and a chubby boy alongside Fuu, who was chatting happily with a stoic boy in a hooded jacket and Tenten so they could watch the ninja wannabes fight and waited for her name to be called for the Taijutsu portion of the quizzes.
The Excalibur wielder only found herself annoyed later as she noticed that only the members of the shinobi clans had any form of training among the class, making Kurama shake his head at his container's thoughts reminding himself to remind her that they were just children when they were alone.
"Uchiha Sasuke, Uzumaki Naruko!" Iruka called out as the pineapple haired boy from earlier that she learned was named Shikamaru from Fuu's shouts of encouragement returned to the tree after his rather short match ended with him kicking an arrogant civilian boy in the junk. "You're up!"
Sighing, the blonde pushed her way to the front of the crowd and stepped into the chalk drawn circle. When her-to-be opponent stepped in, Naruko gave a wince at the volume of the screams coming from the fangirls of the boy.
"I hate fangirls…" Naruko snarled under her breath before facing her opponent, she waited for the Uchiha to enter his taijutsu stance before slipping into the one taught to her by Kurama that he informed her that her birth mother used, drawing many upraised eyebrows from the observing shinobi that were old enough to remember the Red-Hot Blooded Habanero and the way that she fought.
Across from her, an arrogant smirk formed on Sasuke's face as he locked gazes with Naruko, the boy fully believing that he had already won in this match due to the 'superiority' of the Uchiha.
"Begin!" Iruka called out with a swipe of his hand between the soon-to-be combatants.
Sasuke barely blinked before he found his opponent in front of him with her right foot smashing into the left side of his ribs before the Uchiha was sent tumbling a few feet when Naruko's left fist caught his cheek.
"Ah!" Sasuke cried out in pain briefly, stumbling around before he locked a glare onto the form of the class' newcomer, his fangirls and many of the kids in class staring in disbelief at their best student already being beaten around by the new girl, many having expected the Uchiha to win like he usually did.
Glaring daggers at his blonde haired opponent alongside many of his fangirls that were enraged at somebody daring to hurt their 'Sasuke-kun' and cheering for Naruko's death, the Uchiha balled his hands up into fists once more and charged in for an attack, not willing to let her capitalize any further than she already had.
Without warning, Naruko took a single step forward and sent a front kick from her left foot into her fellow eleven year old's stomach once he was within range, doubling him over, only to retract her leg and bring her other knee up, smashing it into the 'last' Uchiha's face. As such, Sasuke was knocked right back up straight and Naruko performed a flying spin leap that ended with her knee catching him in the side of the face again, and throwing the boy back towards the outer edge of the chalk circle.
Shifting back into her beginning stance as soon as she landed in order to wait for him to come at her again, Naruko snorted in contempt at the glare full of hatred Sasuke was giving her and just stared duly at him as if he wasn't worth her time. It was only a few seconds later when Sasuke came at her again with the full intent of beating her down into the dirt. "You're going to pay for that!"
"Why don't you show me, rather than threaten me like a barking puppy," Naruko said with a smirk on her face at the purpling of her opponent's face at her taunts.
The Uchiha then attempted to kick Naruko in the head with a roundhouse showing that he was surprisingly swift despite the earlier beating, resulting in the girl barely managing to dodge out of the way before she batted it aside with a knife hand. Instantly to counter any movement she might make with his pseudo-interceptor stance that he was still learning from his clan archives that wasn't complete due to his lack of a Sharingan, he sent a powerful jab that caught Naruko on the shoulder despite aiming for her jaw and he managed to knock the new girl back a bit, an arrogant smirk coming onto his face as he foolishly decided that all of the earlier attacks from her were just a fluke.
However, Naruko didn't let him go any further when he moved forward to strike her with a kick when she stumbled back and immediately stepped into Sasuke's guard before grabbing the Uchiha by the collar of his shirt and chucking him over her shoulder in a full-body throw.
Just as he was about to get back up, Naruko gave a shout and decked Sasuke in the face, flooring the Uchiha and knocking him out in an instant while also breaking his nose, which in turn sent a waterfall of blood down his face.
As the victor was declared and marked down on the clipboard by Iruka, the man's assistant Mizuki came running into the circle to check on the downed eleven year old Uchiha.
"Iruka! I'm going to take Sasuke to the nurse to make sure he's okay!" Mizuki exclaimed after cursing at the amount of blood coming from the boy's nasal passage before shunshining out of the area with Sasuke's unconscious body.
Snorting at the unconscious boy's form and the teacher's urgency from knowing that the bleeding would stop shortly as it had often done when she sparred with clones while training under Vivian's watchful eye, Naruko turned away from the circle and walked back to where she had been earlier, only to have a hand from a brown haired girl grab her arm and another to slap her across the face.
"How dare you hurt Sasuke-kun like that, you bitch!" The girl that slapped her raged as a lot of the female population of the class rounded on the newcomer for the defeat of their 'true love'.
"Yeah! Who do you think you are?!" The voices of a platinum blonde girl and a pink haired girl demanded at the same time before glaring at each other.
"I am Uzumaki Naruko," Naruko growled before she whipped the brunette's hand off of her arm and glared at the ones assaulting her for the defeat of the Uchiha. "And I will not tolerate any unprovoked attacks on my person, is that understood?"
Seeing most of the girls flinch back at the cold blue eyes of the girl that they were trying to intimidate filled Naruko with some mirth.
"That was so cool!" Fuu declared in a dramatic fashion in a hyper state when Naruko returned to the tree after dealing with the brunette and fellow fangirls for the defeat of their year's Rookie, many of the students that had been by the tree actually looking at her with surprise on their faces. "That was so awesome, how did you defeat him so easily!? Please I have to know!?"
"It was easy," Naruko said as she blushed a little at having the attention of the group on her and looked at Tenten in a pleading tone to help with calming down the hyperactive mint green haired girl, something that only got a smirk from the older girl. "He underestimated me and didn't take the fight seriously until I started beating him."
For the rest of the fights and most of the Academy day, the girl found herself being interrogated by several of the clan heirs and some of the non-clan children that didn't fawn over the Uchiha, the blonde finding Fuu to be a great conversation starter who came up with the most bizarre ideas. She quickly found herself being introduced to Kiba Inuzuka, Shikamaru Nara, Choji Akimichi and Shino Aburame, the heirs of several of the clans inside Konoha; all of whom were impressed with how she had dealt with the Uchiha since they first believed that she would be another fangirl.
A year later; Early Morning
Naruko was quickly running across the roofs of Konoha towards the civilian apartment district in order to meet up with Tenten and Fuu before the former had to go out on a mission with her team. The heiress of Arturia's mantle was wearing a blue and gold long sleeved jacket that was similar to the one she had worn when she first entered the Academy and she had a pair of black fingerless gloves gracing her hands along with a pair of black biker shorts on the lower half of her body. There was a dark green scarf that was wrapped around her neck that she had gotten a year ago from Hiruzen for her birthday and she wore a pair of black leather steel-toed boots that came up to just below her knees. Lastly, she was wearing a black kunai holder as well with each attached to a thigh by bandages.
It has been a long year since the day that she had entered the Academy to become a kunoichi and she had been training diligently. Learning more about the art of Kenjutsu had quickly led her to become friends with Tenten due to the girl's love of all things sharp and pointy and training, despite Tenten being a year older than her and graduating a few months after meeting each other, and the golden haired Uzumaki found good friends in the hyperactive Fuu and the clan heirs of the Nara, Akimichi and Inuzuka, all of them deciding to work more to become the best shinobi that they could, despite a lot complaints of it being too troublesome from Shikamaru and the only thing really motivating Choji being the idea of trying new foods and getting Ino's constant nagging off his back.
The academy was extremely boring for her as Naruko would find out during her year there since she found that she already knew most of the material beforehand thanks to being taught a lot of it by Kurama and taking peeks at Tenten's previous year notes along with Fuu since the bun haired girl was a year ahead of them.
So far out of the entire Academy, the only instructor she found that she liked was Iruka Umino, because despite being strict towards the students in his teachings, he was much fairer to the students and didn't like the idea of playing favorites despite clearly having a favorite student, unlike all of the other teachers who chose to give more praise to the Uchiha as a way of sucking up to the future clan leader, though she personally didn't think he'd get that far if he couldn't get his arrogant head out of the bottomless cavern that made up his ass.
However in Iruka's case so far, the Uzumaki had become his favorite student with Sasuke as the second place holder in the class and despite her having a cold appearance except towards the friends she had made, Iruka always made time to get to know the enigma that had shown up in his class out of the blue and snatched the number one spot from Sasuke in a single week.
… They liked to go to the Ichiraku Ramen stand sometimes after Iruka offered to treat her the first time… Quickly learning that she was a bottomless vortex that would drain his wallet dry if given the chance…
Something the stall owner would comment on about reminding him of a certain redhead and her husband…
In terms of her magical training that she was working on via the scrolls Vivian had given her, Naruko could now completely use Reinforcement much to the pain of her sparring partners when they fought in taijutsu tests and she had begun to perfect her Invisible Air, often times using it to augment her fighting style by making people think she had missed on a strike only to feel the wind strike them in their face or using it to enhance her speed.
The more she didn't talk about her ability to use mana burst, the more she felt better about herself…
Her sword skills had risen up from what they were before returning to the village due to attracting the attention of a certain Neko mask wearing Anbu that specialized in Kenjutsu and who would sometimes spar with her when off-duty and Naruko was sometimes able to rope Tenten and her genin squad into training with her when the Anbu could not, something that greatly pleased the bun haired girl's strange spandex wearing sensei, because he would often times start going off about the 'Flames of Youth' of the new generation and initiate some strange man-hug with his student Rock Lee…
She was still having Kurama suppress those memories, though they still sometimes slipped through much to the traumatized fox's horror… She swore the older man's eyebrows were alive from the way they wiggled…
Something that everyone agreed on without her knowing…
When she finally reached Tenten and Fuu's house, she was quickly invited in by Tenten's foster father, Musashi Higurashi, a retired Jounin that was noted to be one of the best users of the sword alongside the seven swordsmen of the Hidden Mist until he lost his leg to an explosive tag before settling down to open his dream weapon shop and forge, who gave her a kind smile and she quickly ran up to Fuu and Tenten's shared room. "Hey Tenten-chan, Fuu-chan; you guys in?"
"Yeah, come in," Tenten's voice said through the wooden door. "I'm just filling up my scrolls for the mission today, so watch your step."
Naruko proceeded to push open the door and deftly weaved her way around the piles of sharp and pointy objects littering the older girl's floor with a grace that many of her female classmates would find enviable, aka Ino Yamanaka and Sakura Haruno and the rest of the Uchiha's idiotic fan club, before she made it to the older girl's bed and looked about the room.
As usual it mostly had weapons littered all over the place, though today it was a lot more from the older girl obviously going through her weapons and Fuu's bed as usual was a complete mess, somehow looking like a cocoon that her inner Bijuu specialized with.
Yes, Fuu was a Jinchuuriki like Naruko, something that the mint haired girl explained to Naruko after accidentally stumbling upon her exhausted body leaking Bijuu chakra after a session of training with the Hokage's Anbu captain, Yamato, who Naruko later found out had the legendary Mokuton Kekkei Genkai.
To say the olive skinned girl was happy that Naruko accepted her and her burden without a look of disgust or condemnation was an understatement that turned to giddy understanding when Naruko had started unleashing the Kyuubi's chakra, with his permission of course, getting the mint haired girl to happily glomp the Jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi upon finding out that she wasn't alone in the village and Fuu had proceeded to call her Onee-chan anytime she could, having said that Naruko was basically her older sister now.
On the walls of the room were posters of Fuu's favorite actress Yukie Fujikaze, who played the famous character Princess Gale and the katana of Tenten's birth mother rested on a ceremonial stand that held it in the air above her writing desk where the bun-haired girl's attempts at learning Fuinjutsu could be seen almost covering the entire surface in a messy array.
"So where's Fuu-chan?" Naruko asked as her gaze came back to rest on Tenten, whose hair was currently down from her usual buns.
"Hm?" Tenten hummed before she looked up from her current weapon scroll to look at her younger friend, the brunette's steel grey eyes surrounded by dark circles, showing she hadn't gotten much sleep the night before, probably from another nightmare of believing that Lee and Gai had finally convinced her to wear spandex and grow the caterpillar brows. "She's downstairs, it's her turn to cook breakfast this morning, so Tou-san can get the shop ready."
"So what mission are you going on today?" Naruko asked as she leaned back against the wall of the weapon lover's bed while waiting for said girl to finish up on her last scroll.
"Gai-sensei managed to get us another C-rank," the brunette said as she placed a warhammer with a short red handle covered in ancient seals inside the scroll. "We're supposed to be protecting some asshole merchant and his son from bandits while we travel to the Land of Hot Spring's capital."
Ah, Naruko remembered Fuu telling her yesterday when they were walking home about how Tenten had been complaining about a rude client and his pervert son that actually had the gall to slap the weapon user's ass and the brunette couldn't do anything about it since they were the clients.
"Thankfully, Gai-sensei and Lee-kun said that they would do most of the close protection so I didn't have to deal with it," Tenten said before she grinned at her blonde friend and elbowed her in the side, "So how does it feel to know that you'll be becoming a genin today?"
"Meh," was Naruko's only answer as she stood up from the bed to head downstairs as Tenten placed her final five kunai into her scroll. "I already know I am going to pass, I just hope that I don't get stuck with the idiot Uchiha and/or one of his useless fangirls."
Tenten's smirk widened at the sound of her friend's disdain for the race known as the fangirl, the weak civilian girls always pinning after the duckass haired Uchiha heir constantly annoyed any and all kunoichi that took their careers seriously and often times made Naruko want to beat the shit out of every single one of them in order to make them shape up or get out of the program.
When they reached the kitchen downstairs to find their missing friend at the stove, Fuu sent her usual happy smile to the blonde as she cooked the two girls and herself breakfast, having been given lessons by Ayame after being introduced to the ramen stand waitress by Naruko, who had in turn found out about the glorious ramen that completely addicted her on the first try from the diary she had been given that had belonged to her mother before her death.
Naruko ate her meal in relative silence, preferring to read her books in order to be ready for the genin test the class would be taking today at the Academy, a test that she hoped would weed out the more un-useful candidates like the fangirls or the idiot grandstanders. The only reason she was even reading the books despite being top of the class was because of that test, and she was determined to stay at the top of the class even in graduation, something that annoyed the emo Uchiha greatly.
Sasuke had been less than pleased with Naruko showing up out of the blue and taking the top position in class from him with her grades and the beat down she usually delivered to him whenever they were paired up in the taijutsu tests.
"What's the plan for today Naruko-Oneechan?"
"According to what the old man told me, it should be the usual Bunshin, Henge and Kawarimi trio for the Ninjutsu portion and then a taijutsu test where we have to survive for five minutes against a chunin instructor after we beat a member of the class. Then the weapons test is the same as the usual class, just hit the targets with your kunai and shuriken and get a high enough score," Naruko said as she stirred the tea she had been given by the cheerful Nanabi Jinchuuriki. "Frankly I don't see either of us having a hard time during the test and I'm hoping to knock the Uchiha brat down another peg if I get paired with him in the taijutsu test, though I highly doubt it since the council does want him to pass because of the pink eye affliction they call a Kekkei Genkai."
Fuu giggled at Naruko's opinion of what the Sharingan was before taking a seat at the table with a happy smile on her face as usual.
When Naruko finished her meal, she thanked Fuu who immediately blushed happily before finishing her own food and grabbing her bag.
The last thing before they left the house of the passionate weapon users was to bid their bun-haired friend and her father farewell before beginning their run to the Academy for their final day of the academic swamp of knowledge.
"Ah hello Naruko-chan," Choji Akimichi said cheerfully with a wave from where he sat next to the out cold Shikamaru while munching on his family's signature chips. "What's the plan today?"
"Avoid the fan club and try to make sure the dumbass fails so that we aren't stuck with him as genin," Naruko said as she and Fuu took a seat next to the pleasantly plump boy with a smile gracing her face. "I'd rather not deal with an emo Uchiha as a teammate."
"Ditto," was the answer from Fuu, Choji and the surprisingly awake Shikamaru, oh, wait no, he fell asleep again.
The idea of having the vengeful and arrogant Uchiha on any one of their teams was enough to make even Naruko swear in annoyance, something Vivian would have made her scrub her mouth for if she had been around to hear it. Personally at times, Naruko wished that Itachi had killed his brother instead of their mother during the massacre of the Uchiha clan, and then she wouldn't have to deal with his angst and drama of 'I must be the best and everyone is inferior to the Uchiha!' and could have learned about her own mother from the Uchiha Matriarch.
Sadly they had been stuck with the emo prick that just wouldn't end his life like a proper suicidal fool…
As class proceeded to start after everyone had filed into the room with the most rabid of Sasuke's fangirls, Sakura and Ino, thundering in for the seat next to Sasuke, Naruko watched with her eye-lids half closed over her sapphire blue eyes as the ninja-wannabes filed into the room Iruka had marked off as the testing area and either came out with their shiny new forehead protectors on a place of their body or with tears in their eyes showing their failure.
Shikamaru had his wrapped around his left bicep, while Choji wore his like a pair of underwear on his head when they came out upon being called. Naruko patiently waited for her turn and as usual upon walking into the next room, produced six Kage Bunshin and the mandated henge and switch with Iruka.
As usual while Iruka congratulated the blonde and passed her the black headband for the Rookie position which she tied around her neck since it was much more vulnerable than the forehead, Mizuki glared at Naruko for once again defeating his expectations and the seal that he had attached to her upon entering being overpowered, and Naruko could see the cogs in the man's head come up with a half-cocked plan to dispose of her.
When Naruko walked out of the room, she found her space invaded by a happy Fuu who had her own headband tied around her right bicep similar to Shikamaru's, said boy walking down towards them with Choji and Kiba at his tail. The mint haired Jinchuuriki hyperactively congratulating her 'Onee-chan' for passing the test and hoping that they would be on the same team together.
"So, are you ready for the party?" Fuu asked with a smile as she hinted at the party they would be having with their friends at Ichiraku's Ramen, getting a nod and a grin from the Uzumaki before they began to head out when Iruka finished grading the last student, who failed, and the Nara, Akimichi and Inuzuka heirs informed their proud parents of the party they would be going to.
Mizuki apparently had the audacity to corner Naruko at the party being thrown at Ichiraku Ramen that night and the stupidity to tell the smartest student in his class that there was an extra exam to steal an extremely important scroll from the Hokage's Office, as if she would believe him about there being a test to reach chunin rank so shortly after becoming a genin when they hadn't even had the final genin exam that was supposed to be held by the sensei that their teams would have.
However instead of letting him get away and possibly ruin another student's career with this pathetic attempt at sabotaging his village, the blonde Jinchuuriki only nodded and told the idiotic chunin that she would do so.
That is the reason she was currently in the Hokage's office talking to her adoptive Jiji instead of enjoying the mouthwatering aroma and taste of the shrimp ramen she had been dining upon before the upstart came to her…
He is so going to die for this…
"Ah, Naruko-chan what can I do for you?" Hiruzen asked with a calm, yet happy smile at the sight of his foster granddaughter and the hitai-ite around her neck signifying that she had passed, before his smile left his face as he took note of her grim look. "What is wrong?"
His face became rather serious as Naruko proceeded to fill him in on the mission that Mizuki had given to her for taking the most important scroll in the village, the scowl on the monkey user's face prominent as he contained the growl of anger that wanted to come up at the traitor's plan to ruin a student's life for his personal gain.
"Damn," the Sarutobi Kage said as he stood up and looked over to the shadows in the southwest corner of his office. "Neko-chan, please gather your squad and take them to the meeting point that Mizuki told Naruko to meet him at."
"Yes, Hokage-sama."
Naruko barely moved at the blur of the cat themed Anbu that disappeared out the window before looking back at the village leader.
"We are going to follow through with this little farce Naru-chan," Hiruzen continued with a stern air around, whilst motioning to the cabinet that the scroll rested in. "While you are waiting for the trash to show up for us to capture, you may copy down a jutsu as a reward for exposing him."
"Thank you, Jiji."
With that she turned and left the office after the aged Kage handed over the large scroll and ran off to the forest where the meeting place would be held, the old man waiting for a good twenty minutes after her departure before sending out the alarm to the village.
Training Ground 1, Cabin
With a sigh, Naruko dropped the Forbidden Scroll to the ground before unraveling it fully and summoning four clones to begin copying it onto another scroll to the last detail for the next half hour.
While the clones did that, the girl decided to keep her strength up and took the time to practice her sword katas, waiting for when the white haired menace would show up.
Iruka was the first to show up five minutes before the Mizuki's promised time, and the Anbu had already informed her that Mizuki was making a scene about how the Uzumaki had stolen the scroll.
The beating for wasting Naruko's ramen was going to be the least of that white haired bastard's worries…
"I always knew that you were an idiot, Mizuki-san," Naruko said when the pale haired Chunin arrived with the attempt to kill her and Iruka that was batted away by her invisible sword. "But I didn't think you could fall much farther, before tonight that is. Is really making such a fuss in the middle of the village about someone stealing the Forbidden Scroll the best you could do? That was worst thing you could have done… Other than keep me from my ramen that is…"
Iruka sweat dropped at her last words…
"What are you talking about?" The white haired bastard sneered as he grabbed for one of the large shuriken on his back, only to find his wrist caught by somebody. "What th-?"
His words ended when a gloved hand slammed into his face and sent him tumbling down to the ground below the tree he had been in. Growling and swearing as he got back up, Mizuki turned to find the edges of the clearing filled with the masked faces.
"Real ninja keep quiet and allow the panic of such an event to set in after hearing their leader's words before acting to throw everybody off," the sword bearing ninja-knight said as she stalked closer to the downed Mizuki as he stared in horror at the Anbu surrounding them. "A real shinobi would have defiantly known better than to choose a person that is high-ranked in a clan, such as the Uzumaki, rather they would have chosen a civilian, especially if it weren't a student that had passed. It's really too bad for you that I knew you to be a traitor when you had the gall to come up with such a stupid assignment, a student only becomes a true genin when their squad sensei's decide that they pass."
The responding chuckle around the clearing from the Anbu surrounding them that made the instructor try to run away in fear.
There was no remorse and no hesitation from the personal protectors of the Hokage as they descended on the traitor and proceeded to beat him into the ground, before hogtying him and dragging the academy teacher away to be interrogated by Ibiki and Anko.
As far as the official report went when brought up to the council later that week, the Hokage had been alerted that Mizuki had given Uzumaki heiress a 'mission' since she was the Rookie of the Year, despite the instructor's clear and biased efforts to give that position to Sasuke, and the man had been revealed to be a traitor that tried to take the scroll to get into Orochimaru of the Sannin's good graces.
The fact over four clan heirs and two other of the girl's classmates happened to be in the stand while Mizuki had been there, solidified the report.
Naruko had taken the time to learn the Clone Explosion jutsu from the scroll for her reward as the told to by the Hokage, and the Anbu proceeded to capture the man when he confessed for his crimes.
Two Weeks Later; Day of the Team Sorting's
Naruko sighed walked slowly towards the Academy taking her time as she started reading over the folder that the Hokage had given her when she had been told about the possible teachers for the graduating genin. After a short time, the newly minted kunoichi arrived outside the Academy while walking past the crowds of kids that were showing off their new headbands to each other, each boasting how they'd be saving princess' and countries.
After a short time of sitting once she arrived in the classroom, all of the graduating genin filed into the small room. Her small group of friends coming to sit next to her; the blonde idly noticing a blush on the happy Fuu's face while she talked about a new bug type she found with Shino, Naruko chuckling at the crush the beetle Jinchuuriki had on the bug using Aburame.
Everyone groaned as they started hearing scuffling in the hall which quickly became apparent as the two biggest idiots of this generation to make kunoichi look bad came storming in, both trying to force their way through the doorway in order to claim the seat next to the ever aloof emo known as Sasuke Uchiha.
Finally after listening to the nonstop banshee scream of the pink howler monkey masquerading as a human girl and Ino Yamanaka's yelling, Iruka walked into the room and using the teachers' unique illusion called the Big Head no Jutsu, he roared at the two to shut up and sit down.
Once that they were cowed with the rest of the class and the Uchiha mortified by the fact they sat down next to him, the older ninja gave a gentle smile to his rambunctious class. "Congratulations to all of you who have graduated into becoming our newest generation of shinobi; if you will remain quiet, we will proceed with the team placements. Team One shall be composed of…"
And as he went on, listing the names of the people that would make up the teams, Naruko waited calmly with her friends for their teams to be called, each and every one of them desperately hoping for some of the more reliable members of their classmates to be put on their teams.
"… Team Seven will consist of Uzumaki Naruko, Haruno Sakura and Uchiha Sasuke," Iruka said before being interrupted by a loud thud of a head meeting the wood of the desks, a small, rueful smile coming onto his face at the sight of his rather annoyed blonde student.
"Ha take that Ino pig!" Sakura exclaimed, ignoring the fact that her new female teammate was trying to murder her with her glare alone, the pinkette happy that she was 'upstaging' her eternal rival. "Sasuke-kun is on my team!"
"With Kakashi Hatake as your squad sensei…" Iruka continued once Naruko's head stopped banging on her desk and Sakura managed to get the message that her enthusiasm wasn't wanted by anyone at the current time.
Naruko had never once gotten along with the Uchiha after the first day she had joined the academy and beaten him into the dirt, and the blonde outright hated the Haruno girl for her strident voice and fangirl idiocy.
Sighing while ignoring the pitying looks from her friends, Naruko pulled out a book on Fuinjutsu that Tenten would kill for, knowing that Kakashi wouldn't arrive for at least three hours if his bio from the folder she had read was any indication… now she knew why the Hokage had the edge dog-eared…
When Kakashi would finally arrive, it would be to find an extremely bored Naruko reading from her book with an enraged Haruno trying to kill her through the barrier jutsu for the silencing seal on her back to stop her voice from coming out and an unusually interested Uchiha trying to find out what she had used on their pink teammate.
Before he could even say something to get their attention, the silver haired dog enthusiast felt a burst of wind cut his cheek before leaving a hole in the door next to his head.
Slightly turning his head, he took note of the hole from the attack that had cut him and discreetly replaced his mask, turning back to scan the room for his mysterious attacker, the man finds himself looking at the blonde of the team who was looking at him in disinterest with the pencil she had been using to write down notes pointed slightly in his direction, while the other two had apparently not taken note of his entrance just yet.
The girl's worth had defiantly gone up a page in his personal book… and her new teammates had dropped like a stone…
"That's your only warning," Naruko said as she lowered her barrier jutsu, making Sakura tumble as she started walking down the stairs to the front and her new teammates became shocked to see their new teacher before them. "If you don't have a good excuse for your lateness, then don't bother speaking."
Kakashi just gave a deadpan look to the girl that reminded the man of a mix of his old sensei, before sighing and he began walking out the door, "Meet me on the rooftop, you have five minutes."
Naruko shook her head before she walked over to the window and began traveling up the wall to the roof, leaving Sakura and Sasuke gaping before they took off running up the stairs.
Kakashi stared at Naruko from where he stood at the entrance to the roof, listening to the other two of his new students huffing and puffing as they rushed up the spiraling staircase of the Academy, the young blonde simply reading her book after somehow beating him to the roof.
"Is it really that interesting?" The Jounin asked, while taking a seat, smirking as he heard the gasps of breath from the still far off Uchiha and his harlot. The important buildings of a Hidden Village were designed so that infiltrators and spies couldn't simply go up two stairs in a row, no, they wound all around the building and from what he remembered the graduation classroom was at the bottom.
They'd have to take the same route as Naruko to end up on the roof quickly.
"It's more of just a refresher," Naruko said as her blue eyes looked over the edge of the book at the man that was to be her new teacher. "I just decided to review the seals that I'd learned and I found a new book in my mother's stash."
As she delved into the pros and cons of the Fuinjutsu she was studying, with Kakashi being rather interested, the two nearly missed Sasuke and Sakura finally arriving, the pinkette at least ten feet behind the 'prodigy'.
"How did you walk up that wall Uzumaki!?" Sasuke demanded upon laying eyes on the blonde clan heir.
"It's called tree-walking," Naruko said nonchalantly as she returned her attention to her book much to Kakashi's amusement. "It is a chakra-control exercise that we would have learned earlier had the civilians decided to not interfere with the Academy during the cleanup after Itachi Uchiha's leap into insanity."
Sasuke looked like he wanted to attack her at the sound of his brother's name and Sakura was about to screech at the blonde of the team, so Kakashi quickly cut off any insuring arguments in order to get the show on the road so he could go grab some dango before returning to the memorial stone to talk to Obito's spirit.
So far, out of the three genin he had been given this year, Naruko was the only one to interest him.
Sasuke and Sakura quickly sat down on the bench, as far away from the Uzumaki of the team as physically possible, making Kakashi wince almost imperceptibly. Just how was he supposed to teach teamwork to a team so fractured at its conception…?
If he even bothered to pass them that is…
Only Naruko was looking to be a promising student, while the others were making his opinion of the Academy's teachings rather low…
"Now," Kakashi said to grab their attention, inwardly glad that it worked when three sets of eyes turn towards him, Naruko finally putting down her book. "Why don't the three of you introduce yourselves?"
"Um, could you give us an example sensei?" Sakura asked, getting a pained grunt from Naruko as if the girl's idiocy physically hurt her by being in its presence.
"Oh you know; what you like, your dislikes and what little dreams you possess," Kakashi sighed as he contemplated pulling out his Icha-Icha Paradise, but abstained, not knowing if Naruko was anything like her mother in regards to the perverted book.
"You can go first," Naruko said in a bored tone, her fingers twitching slightly as if wanting to bring her own book out like Kakashi had contemplated. "You'd better give the dimwits an example or they will never get it."
There was an audible growl from the two as the Uchiha and Haruno glared at the blonde.
"I guess so," the silver haired man said with a hidden smirk when the glare turned to him for 'agreeing' with the Uzumaki, he was beginning to like her. "I am Kakashi Hatake. My likes are a few years above what your age level allows and I don't feel like telling you anything about my dislikes. My dreams are much, much too mature for younglings like yourselves."
"You like pornography," Naruko said, getting him to cock his only visible eyebrow in her direction at the rather accurate statement. "You dislike the idea of people bugging you for no reason, and your dream is to star in a movie about the Icha-Icha Paradise books that are written by the Toad Sannin Jiraiya."
Kakashi blinked, not letting anything show on his face at the rather accurate words from his new student that shouldn't know a thing about him yet.
That was far more accurate than any of his comrades had gotten when he had to team up with them for missions.
"You're turn pinky," Kakashi said before pointing at a disgusted Sakura.
"Ah, um," the pinkette stuttered as she came out of her glare to find herself the center of attention. "My name is Sakura Haruno. I like *giggle*. I hate Naruko and Ino-pig, and my dream is *giggle*."
Kakashi could tell that Sasuke was rather disturbed by the perverted giggle that came from Sakura, while Naruko took it in stride while ignoring the other two. "Your turn, Duckbutt."
"Sasuke Uchiha, I like tomatoes. I dislike Uzumaki-san and all the fangirls, my dream is to kill a certain man and restore my clan to the glory it deserves," Sasuke said with a minor glare towards their new teacher for the comment on his hair.
"And you?" Kakashi asked as he turned to look at Naruko, who had given into the impulse and pulled out her book again during the introductions. "What should we know about you?"
"My name is Uzumaki Naruko," Naruko said as she put her book on her knee and looked at the Jounin. "I like Fuinjutsu and learning how to fight with my sword, I also have an addiction to ramen. I do not like people who don't understand that the shinobi world is not full of fairy tales and pleasant things, and fan girls who give kunoichi a bad name. My dream is to one day become the Hokage of the Hidden Leaf and fully take on the title of heir of the Uzumaki clan."
"Well then," Kakashi said as he figured that was all she had to say, better to start on the intimidation factor for the test tomorrow. "I want the three of you at training ground seven tomorrow at seven am, don't be late or you will fail. Also don't eat breakfast or you'll puke from what I have planned."
Naruko sighed as their new sensei stood up and vanished in a shunshin of leaves and smoke, and began walking over to the edge of the building. "I will see the two of you tomorrow, please do not bother me until then, Uchiha, Haruno."
AAAAANNNNNNDDDD… It's a cut! We'll wrap up this chapter here since it was getting a bit too long, in the next chapter we will be beginning the glorified bell test and maybe scanning a few missions for what is interesting and all of that.
Choose who you want the Sennin Goroshi performed on in your reviews. Just remember, it might take a while for the next chapter to come out if I choose to continue this idea.
Until next time, Iskander Mandoraekon signing out, Ja Ne.