Hope you all are staying safe, here is yet another chapter to help stave off the boredom. I know some people are around me are beginning to go stir crazy at this point so hang in there! I was going to wait until tomorrow to release the chapter but I'm up and I know people who read this are all over the world so I guess it won't really matter in the end. As always I hope you enjoy the chapter and the story as a whole and I will see you all down at the bottom!

...

It was finally time.

Four years of studying and hard training all lead up to this one moment that would mark her transition from some no-name civilian to a fully-fledged Kunoichi of Konoha. Truthfully she didn't care much for serving the village itself but the title would come with a variety of boons to her goals that could not be understated. Access to new research and facilities, more autonomy, the opportunity for more hands-on experience, greater financial flexibility, and general freedom all of which she craved. The only thing left to do was pass the graduation exam and she would be set.

The written portion had been a breeze and she'd finished it all in less than ten minutes and that was just to double-check her answers. As expected she'd gotten a perfect score which was matched only by Haruno which wasn't surprising given the girl's only strength was academics. Following that was the weapon throwing portion of the exam which she'd once again crushed without much effort, even going a bit further than necessary by sticking each of the vital areas as well as the targets which got her bonus points. Her score was followed by Sasuke who managed to hit nine out of the ten targets and Shino who nailed eight of them, everyone else hit seven or lower.

After that, it was the taijutsu portion of the test where they would each have to face off against Iruka and points would be given based on performance. They were sadly not allowed to use chakra in this fight so she was not able to show the full extent of her combat ability but even so she had done more than enough to receive nearly perfect marks and the extra points she'd earned in the throwing portion would balance out her score. As expected the heavy hitters had walked away with far better scores with Kiba and Sasuke tieing for second and Hinata actually managing to land third.

Finally, the last portion was the ninjutsu half of the exam. All they had to do was display a passable mastery of the basic "Academy three" jutsu, those being the clone, replacement, and transformation techniques.

"Alright, Natsumi please demonstrate your henge for me."

She nodded and with a single hand sign her body was enveloped in smoke before it quickly dispersed revealing a perfect replica of the scarred-chunin standing in her place, the details all an exact match even down to the brotherly smile he often sported.

Iruka nodded. "Very good, you've even got my stance and gait down though I suppose you've had a long time to learn it." He gave a short chuckle and allowed her to disperse the technique marking down her sheet with a check. "Alright, now show me you haven't been slacking on the replacement technique. Use the log next to me to switch back twice." He ordered and once more she nodded in understanding.

Pulling her chakra up she tethered it to the log and in another puff of smoke she was now seated next to Iruka and the wooden training log was now in the center of the examination room. Another tug of her chakra and she was back in the center of the room and the log was once again situated next to the chunin.

"Perfect, as expected." He noted that down and gave her the final test. "Please perform the bunshin technique, you need to make at least three clones for it to be considered a pass." He explained.

"Of course." She performed the necessary hand signs and with a breath, three perfect replicas of herself faded into existence, the quartet of blonds all looking upon their instructor patiently awaiting his deliberation of their quality.

"Very good, I see you've been keeping up with your control exercises." He nodded in approval and gave her the final tick mark. "Well I don't think it's going to surprise you to know that you've passed but would you like to display any other techniques for extra credit?" He asked and after a moment of deliberation, she nodded and turned to the training field that extended out of the testing chamber. Running through hand signs her cheeks puffed up like a chipmunk before she fired off her technique.

"Water Style: Rushing Rapids!" A single stream of pressurized water rushed forth her lips and out towards the training field like a landslide, the makeshift wave finding its mark and colliding into one of the nearby training dummies before swiftly uprooting the helpless posts and washing them away towards the line of trees on the outskirts of the field in a soaked pile. Feeling she had demonstrated enough she quickly cut the chakra to her lungs and allowed the stream to trickle out. It wasn't a very powerful jutsu by any means but it had its uses in certain situations especially if combined with other techniques.

"Tsk… still needs some work." She sighed but turned her head when Iruka began to clap.

"That was very well done Natsumi, I wasn't aware you'd taken an interest in elemental ninjutsu." He remarked, noting down that she seemed very well practiced with the technique despite her own self-criticism. "Is that the only one you know or would you like to demonstrate another?"

"I know a few more however I would like to keep those to myself for now." She politely declined his offer. There was no benefit to revealing all her tricks so soon and she had more than enough points to pass so there simply was no reason to prolong the inevitable. "We are ninja after all." She explained reminding him of the value secrets had in their trade.

"That's fair enough." He knew better than to pry into her personal projects and so he instead pulled out her reward. "You've passed with flying colors, I'm happy to present you with your hitai-ate, wear it with pride!" He handed her the forehead protector and she took it into her hands with a small smile.

"Thank you Sensei, I will." She was quick to unwrap the blue cloth but rather than tie it around her head like most would she instead tied it around her neck. It wasn't unheard of to do so but it wasn't common either.

"Interesting choice but it suits you." Iruka didn't seem all that surprised that she had forgone the usual style having gotten used to her tendency to buck tradition. "You are free to leave if you'd like but please remember that team assignments will be next week so make sure you don't forget." He warned and she nodded. It would do her no good to delay her ambitions after all.

She just couldn't help but wonder what kind of teacher she'd have?

…

The next three days went by without incident, for the most part, She had not stuck around long after receiving her headband only stopping to bid Shikamaru farewell before leaving and returning to her own devices. She spent most of that free time brushing up on her essential skills while also trying to narrow down who she could be partnered with for the foreseeable future. There were a few obvious candidates but she couldn't afford to discount any possibilities and so she set to work detailing the best ways to handle each option.

The most obvious choice would be that she ended up on a team with Sasuke much to her annoyance. The two were at the top of their class and there were rumors that the two top students would often be paired up on the same team and even Orochimaru's notes seemed to hint at that as well. She had no issue with Sasuke's skill, he was more than passable in his ability but his personality grated on her nerves and his inferiority complex would only create tension between them. If they were in fact put on a team then she would need to keep that in mind going forward.

The alternative choice was that she'd be paired with the deadlast of their year, which would either be Shikamaru or Kiba depending on their performance.

Kiba wasn't inherently a terrible choice. He had a talent for hand to hand combat and his senses would make for a great boon if they needed a tracker, however, he was also loud and somewhat impulsive when angered. The two of them were not close but there was a mutual respect of ability, for as lacking as he might have been intellectually she could see the value of good instincts and natural skill and in turn, he respected her for overcoming those qualities. He wasn't the ideal candidate she might have preferred but he wasn't awful by any means and his clan's belief in loyalty above all would ensure that she had at least one person she could rely upon without question. He would also be easy enough to sway if she proved herself to be above him, something she had been doing for years regardless.

The alternative for the deadlast position was Shikamaru and she would admit she would not be opposed to it if they were paired up together. He was intelligent and they already had a somewhat working rapport with one another so it would not be too much of a stretch to extend that relationship further. His natural laziness irked her but she'd proved that could be worked around with the proper… motivation and his clan's shadow skills were also of great interest to her and if they were paired it would be an ideal time to study them further. He could make for a strong tactician with the right training and attitude, though the odds of them being paired together was low if the village wished to recreate the next generation of the famed Ino-Shika-Cho formation.

Moving away from rumors she moved onto the other options.

Shino was at the top of her list of viable candidates if she had to choose someone for herself. Logical to a fault she would have little need to worry about him making rash or ill-advised decisions that might put her in unneeded danger. He was also fairly skilled even despite the handicaps placed upon them all by the Academy rules, his taijutsu while not the best was still strong enough and she did not doubt that he was more than a force to be reckoned with when he could access his clan techniques. He could work well as a front line fighter or as support which gave him bonus points for flexibility.

On the other end of the spectrum, however, were her least desirable choices in the form of the twin fangirls of their year.

Sakura was utterly useless outside of her mind and even that seemed only to work situationally. She appeared to have no resolve or even reason for being a kunoichi outside of just following her beloved Uchiha or getting into arguments with her rival. Her hand to hand combat skills were laughable on her best days, she had never once displayed any talent for ninjutsu, she had no skills unique to her, and she was rather weak-willed when caught alone. She might as well have just carried a talking log around it would be about as effective and at least that might distract an enemy for her.

The other worst-case scenario was that she ended up with Ino, now she would freely admit that Ino was still the better alternative than Sakura but it wasn't by much, if her fellow blond had not been born into a clan she would likely be around the same level as Haruno was. Ino was a little better at hand to hand combat thanks to her clan's training and she did have access to the Yamanaka's mind walking techniques which made her slightly more useful overall. However, her bossy personality was less than endearing most of the time and she would rather cut out her own tongue than take orders from her, coupled with her similar detrimental affection for the Uchiha she was not exactly at the top of her list for a teammate.

Hopefully, she was not unlucky enough to end up with either of them or kami forbid both. She would need to make a mental note to pray more often before team assignments were given.

Getting away from them her thoughts quickly turned to the only remaining female classmate she could be paired up with, one Hinata Hyuga. Hinata was not someone she had interacted much at all with given the girl was far too timid to approach her unless she had to but from what she had observed the girl had serious self-confidence issues which she could only guess stemmed from the needs of an overbearing household. Unlike Sakura and Ino, she did not believe that Hinata was actually as weak as she first seemed but rather perceived herself as weak and so was unconsciously sabotaging herself. Her taijutsu was solid but she held back and without the confidence to push opponents she often gave them time to push her back and ultimately win when they should have lost. If they were paired together that simply could not stand and she would have to interfere but she would not get ahead of herself.

Her final real option was Choji and overall she was neutral to the idea of being paired with him. The two had begun to speak in passing due to their connection with the Nara heir but she wouldn't call them friends by any means. He was a simple boy and was used to following instructions but his personality was not matched by his ability, he was a walking powerhouse designed to take blows or crush his opponents with no real in-between. If they were paired up she would still manage to find some use for him but he didn't seem to have much motivation which might grate on her nerves.

The rest were civilians and as far as she was concerned they were useless to her.

"Ugh, why are they all so weak?" She pinched the bridge of her nose in annoyance, she realized that it was unrealistic to expect all of her classmates to throw themselves into their training like she had but her lack of options was rather upsetting, no matter who she was paired with she would likely have to carry them to some extent. The fact that teams were paired up in groups of three only increased those odds.

It was like some kind of divine punishment.

"Natsumi! Natsumi are you home?!"

She was broken from her mental ranting by a call from beyond her door, the sound of hard knocks against her old wooden walls echoing throughout her apartment. A kunai reflexively found its way into her hand as she approached the door, she wasn't one to receive visitors let alone such desperate ones but the tone was familiar to her and the way they spoke her name implied some relation to her, very few would address her so casually and even fewer knew where she lived. Peering through the peephole of her door her eyes widened in surprise to see Iruka standing outside and she quickly tucked her kunai back into her sleeve before opening the door.

"Sensei? Is something wrong?" She asked, taking notice that he seemed on edge more so than she'd ever seen him before. "It's rather late for you to be here." She pointed out cautiously.

"I-I apologize for showing up unannounced but I speak with you urgently." His eyes were panicked. "I need to know if you have seen or even spoken with Hideo recently at all?" He asked and for a moment she was utterly lost on what he was asking until a certain name popped into her head and she was hit with recollection. She only knew one Hideo, he was one of her less talented classmates. Hideo Akiyama, a class clown with little going for him besides his admittedly impressive ability to weasel his way out of trouble with some half-decent acting and crocodile tears, the two of them had only spoken on what was at most three occasions and that was only after he'd tried to prank her unsuccessfully for a period of time. Other than that she could say they were certainly not close but that didn't explain why Iruka was looking for him or why it seemed the man was on the edge of having a heart attack?

"I have not, I believe the last I saw of him he was returning home after failing the graduation exam. Has something happened to him?" She asked and he seemed to deflate at her answer shrinking in on himself as he realized she'd be of little help to him.

"That's not my place to say, but thank you for your time and please enjoy the rest of your night." The anxious look in his eyes didn't abate and he was gone before she could press him further, already she could see him leaping past the rooftops and her eyes narrowed as she was suddenly made aware of how active the shinobi forces seemed to be. Once innocuous patrols were now larger than normal and their sweeps were far more thorough… like they were searching for something, or perhaps someone.

That couldn't be a coincidence.

"What are you hiding?..." She whispered.

She didn't like being left in the dark and so she waited until Iruka was almost a speck on the horizon before giving chase hiding within the shadows as she traced his route, one way or another she was going to find out what was going on, after all, it was her right as a kunoichi of the village to investigate suspicious behavior, even if it was on the part of a fellow shinobi.

…

Hideo knew he wasn't cut out to be a ninja.

He'd know that for years but could never bring himself to drop out of the program, he didn't have any fancy bloodlines, he wasn't a good fighter, and he had a lot more fears than he would have liked to admit. The only reason he'd wasted so many years trying to be something he wasn't was because his family had been so proud of him for sticking with it, by honoring his promise to be the first shinobi in their family. It was the only thing he had going for him and so he'd bit his tongue and powered through it for their sake with the hope his decent grades would be enough for Iruka to take pity on him but that had not been the case.

He'd failed and with that failure came disappointment from his family, not openly but he could see it in their eyes and it made him feel like garbage…

That's when he was approached by Mizuki, one of the assistant teachers who occasionally helped out Iruka during tests and survival exercises, he knew him and the man had always been polite so he didn't see any harm in hearing out what he had to say and it wasn't like he had much to lose at that point. He told of an alternative way to pass, a secret test that is given to those who showed some promise and if they could pass that they would not only become genin but would be listed for the fast track to chunin as well. It was a dream come true.

So like a good student with something to prove he'd followed Mizuki's instructions to the letter, sneaking into the Hokage Tower following the same route that Mizuki had gifted him and infiltrating the main office. Of course the entire time he couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong but then the feeling of failure took him and he shook them off, he needed to prove that he deserved a second chance and so he'd found the scroll Mizuki had instructed him to take and fled to the rendezvous point. Of course, the last part of his exam demanded he learn at least one technique from the scroll and so he'd picked the first one he came across, the "kage no bunshin jutsu". He was fairly decent at the standard clone technique already so a second one should have been easy enough, right?

He'd barely finished saying the name of the jutsu before his knees buckled and all the strength in his body left him in a single instant, a feeling of vertigo washed over him and stars of black erupted within his vision followed by a single puff of smoke that revealed the fruits of his effort before his vision. A single sickly clone that looked a half-step from death, groaned weakly before dispersing leaving a now unconscious Hideo laying in the grass...

This was the scene that Iruka stumbled into and his eyes widened in fear as he rushed to his student's side to check for his safety.

"Hideo!" He shouted and quickly checked for a pulse and to his relief he could still feel one, even if faintly. "Why would you steal the Forbidden Scroll, this is far beyond just some dumb prank you know?!" He would have lectured the boy until his ears fell off if he was conscious but he settled for giving a disapproving shake of the head towards his crumpled up body and carefully propped him up before reaching for the scroll as his side. Before he could even touch it though, two kunai sliced through the air and embedded themselves into the ground around him, one of which would have hit Hideo had Iruka not managed to push the boy away just in time but came at the cost of a nasty cut along his arm that left him wincing in pain.

"Hmph, you always did sacrifice too much for those brats Iruka. I wasn't even aiming at you and yet you still put yourself in harm's way."

The chunin turned to the source of the voice and betrayal flashed through his eyes as he witnessed his friend and fellow teacher sneering down at him from the branches above, malic dancing in those green eyes that were once so kind and gentle.

"Mizuki what is the meaning of this?!" Iruka shouted covering his arm to stem the bleeding as he stared down the opposing chunin, a man he had considered to be his friend. "Why are you attacking us?!" He demanded.

"You're an instructor Iruka, do some critical thinking for once." Mizuki scoffed as he pulled out a large shuriken off his back and spun the hunk of metal deftly around his hand. "It should be obvious, this village is stagnating, it's weak both in its power and ideals." He grew angry as he spoke his face scrunching in disgust. "All it does is preach friendship and comradery while those who are willing to sacrifice are left behind because they don't fit the image this pathetic village wants to project and I am done being held back by weaklings."

Iruka grew confused at his friend's words. "What are you talking about? The village's strength lies in those connections to one another that is what the Will of Fire teaches us!" How could Mizuki dismiss one of the founding philosophies of the village so easily?

"The Will of Fire is nothing more than an excuse to tie down our shinobi with ridiculous ideals of noble ninja, the Will of Fire is the same reason you are bleeding right now is it not? Protecting those too weak to protect themselves and getting hurt in the process." Mizuki shook his head. "It's a waste of breath that has no business holding us back."

Iruka frowned at that. "Even if you disagree with the philosophy this is going too far! Why did you have Hideo take the scroll? Why him?"

"Oh, you actually figured that out on your own." Mizuki's tone was sarcastic as if speaking to a child. "The reason was simple, I want power. More specifically the power that is owed to me! The power this village robbed me of by denying my promotion and sticking me with a bunch of snot-nosed runts who are just going to die within their first year anyway." He stopped spinning his shuriken in annoyance. "I have a new leader in mind, one that will no doubt reward me for delivering that scroll and if I happen to sneak a peek at it along the way… well, I don't see who that'll hurt." He gave a twisted grin. "Hideo was a decent enough pawn too, just skilled enough to pull this off, dumb enough to fall for it, and desperate enough not to think of the consequences all in the name of making his family proud. I was going to leave him alive just for giggles but you've pissed me off."

"You used him!" Iruka hissed. "He trusted you, we're supposed to guide them!"

"Deception is part of the trade. He should have paid more attention in class." He sneered. "Now you can either stand aside and I may just let you scamper on back to the village with only a few injuries or I can kill you now and take what I want of your corpse." Mizuki held his weapon up to show he was serious but Iruka would not allow one of the village's most prized treasures to fall into the rouge chunin's hands.

"I refuse!" He stood to his feet and readied a kunai in defiance, blood-stained fingers gripping the metal tightly as he stepped in front of his student and the scroll intent to protect them both. "You won't lay a finger on either of them so long as I'm here!"

Mizuki just smirked and leaped down from his perch.

"So be it, just don't say I didn't give you the chance to run."

…

"So Tojo-san is a traitor, I can't say that is very surprising." She mused watching the two chunin begin to circle one another with weapons drawn from the safety of the branches, her presence hidden as she masked her chakra and crouched within the dense foliage.

She couldn't help but snort to herself at the thought, the white-haired instructor had set warning bells off in her mind the moment Iruka had introduced him as their assistant teacher. He'd put on a facade of kindness but she could see loathing in his eyes whenever he had to watch over the more troublesome students. He had the look of a man who just wanted to wrap his fingers around their throats until their eyes popped out but had to hold himself back for obvious reasons. She also knew he wasn't a fan of her in particular either having caught him glaring at her out of the corner of her eye on multiple occasions before he managed to suppress his distaste. He'd never done much to stand out otherwise, she'd been content to just ignore his existence but it seemed there was more to the white-haired chunin than just being a disgruntled teacher. He was also a traitor at heart.

Needless to say, she expected nothing less out of him.

Still, she did have to commend him for his plan if nothing else. Had Iruka not managed to track Hideo down then Mizuki would likely have either knocked him out or killed him, leaving him to take the blame for the scroll being taken and having both his name and likely family name disgraced as well while he made off with the scroll. Of course, the plan relied heavily on convincing the target not to spill the beans or get caught but she doubted Mizuki had just chosen the first person he saw. His position gave him a more intimate knowledge of their personalities and backgrounds and Hideo likely had everything he needed and judging by the fact there weren't Anbu swarming their location it was likely the plan had almost gone off without a hitch.

She was impressed, if only marginally so.

The sound of clashing steel broke her from her thoughts and she was treated to a front-row seat to the fighting. Mizuki and Iruka clashed in the center of the clearing kunai grinding against shuriken as the two tried to cut one another down, Iruka had the advantage of mobility with his smaller weapon but it was clear Mizuki was the stronger of the two physically, likely because he'd been training for this moment and unlike Iruka didn't care much for peace. She listened as Iruka tried to reason with the man in between their attacks but Mizuki did not budge and if anything only seemed to grow more enraged with every word. It wasn't long before they abandoned their weapons in favor of swinging fists and it was there where the difference in skill quickly became apparent.

Sitting behind a desk all day practicing nothing more than the basics had dulled Iruka's skills and she watched as he was quickly picked apart by Mizuki's savagery, falling to the floor at the hands of a jaw rattling left hook, his kunai dropping to the ground by his side as he kissed the dirt. He tried to stand back up but Mizuki's foot crashed into his unprotected ribs sending him back to the ground moaning in pain.

"How tedious."

She leaped down to one of the lower branches and whipped out a small container filled with a clear liquid substance. She then pulled out a kunai of her own and coated the weapon before taking aim and launching the knife just as Mizuki was about to drive his oversized shuriken into Iruka's prone body, the steel blade cutting almost soundlessly through the air as it neared its targets unprotected back.

…

"Look at it this way Iruka," Mizuki smirked cruelly as he stood over his friend turned victim. "At least you get to see your parents again. Maybe they'll forgive you for being as worthless as you are-AHHHH!" Mizuki's words died in a scream of pain as steel ripped through flesh and a knife buried itself into his shoulder blade forcing him to drop his shuriken to the ground as the nerves in his arms flashed to life as if suddenly set ablaze.

"Gah! Who the hell?!" He grit his teeth as he turned to the trees and his pain-filled eyes lit up with rage. "You…" He practically growled the words aloud as he ripped the knife from his back and dropped it to the floor with a dull muted thud.

"Natsumi…" Iruka whispered having found enough strength to turn and see who had come to his rescue.

"Good evening, Tojo-san." Natsumi bowed in mock respect as she stared down the snarling dog in front of her. "Correct me if I am wrong but it appeared as if you were planning to murder Umino-sensei and possibly Akiyama-san as well, that would of course be considered treason so I hope you see why I had to intervene." She explained as if talking to a two-year-old and taking silent amusement in the way his eye began to twitch at her mockery.

"So the fox bitch is here too… this must be my lucky day, I can kill all of you at once!" He seemed rejuvenated by the opportunity to remove them and he quickly reached down to pick up his weapon again but just as his fingers grabbed hold of the giant star his body trembled and he dropped to his knees like a puppet with its strings cut, his jaw falling open in a silent scream of agony the veins in his arms bulged and throbbed violently beneath his skin. His eyes grew wide and involuntary tears forced their way out of now bloodshot orbs as he fell onto his side, chest heaving as he continued to twitch and writhe along the ground like some kind of animal.

"Ah, That looks rather painful... are you alright Tojo-san?" She asked with faux concern and his gaze darted to her and bits of spittle and flecks of blood slipped past his lips and onto the grass below while he fought to form words, the basic act of speaking now labored and unrefined.

"W-What did… what did you do?!" He nearly retched as another bout of pain rippled through him. "Y-You bitch! What did you do to me?!" He shouted to the heavens as liquid flame burned its way through his veins and the air around him seemed to swelter. The pain began to spread working its way down into his chest and his lungs began to ache as his vision blurred in and out of focus.

"Subject is still conscious and coherent, though breathing is labored and mobility has been hindered greatly. Needs more testing to form conclusive results…" She muttered to herself making mental notes before snapping back to the present and stepping forward towards the downed rogue. "To answer your question Tojo-san, what you are experiencing is nothing more than your muscles contracting, albeit against your will and with a bit of extra kick." She walked over to the felled ninja and crouched above his immobile body.

"Think of it as… suffering a full body cramp." She surmised not bothering to go into the specific details for someone who likely would not care and would either be dead or interrogated soon. "It won't kill you of course or at least it shouldn't kill you, it's hard to measure proper dosage on the fly after all so we'll give it a fifty-fifty chance of your heart seizing up." She shrugged callously frigid azure orbs observing the effects of her concoction with bemused detachment.

No matter if he lived or died she would get useful data regardless and as a traitor, no one would really care all that much what happened to him.

"Y-You monster!" He tried to spit at her but lacked the strength to do more than glare at her from his position on the floor

"Better a monster than a traitor." She mused, lightly kicking him in the head and chuckling as he roared out in pain once again. "Now then, if you've got nothing else of value to say I believe I will leave you here for the time being. Be sure to let me know if you feel your heart shutting down." She gave him a patronizing smile and stepped over his body, she would need to attend to Iruka and Hideo lest suspicions were raised about their lack of care. She was still technically a trained medic after all and it would seem off if they were to receive no medical attention.

"L-Look at you playing hero…" She paused in her stride as Mizuki began to speak again, his voice now raspy and hoarse from constant screaming. "You don't even know w-what you are yet you have the nerve to stand there like you're b-better than me!" He hissed his speech growing slurred and choppy as his face began to freeze up and she frowned in annoyance at his incessant talking. Had he spent less time cursing at the world he would not be in this position.

"It's not hard to do when you are lying on the floor like trash, you aren't even worth the effort of cutting up honestly." She clicked her teeth and knelt down beside Iruka, her hands aglow in a soft green hue as she began to heal his broken body. "As for what I am, I'm just a girl who defeated a chunin with a single kunai. I think that's more than enough for the moment." She taunted.

"K-Keep mocking m-me… at least I-I'm human." Unseen by her a look of bitterness flickered to life in his eyes. "You thought… y-you're nothing but an abomination, a pretender." He spat.

"Mizuki be quiet!" Iruka hissed trying to stand but to his surprise, Natsumi pushed him back down and shook her head.

"Let him speak." She ordered but did not look up from her task even as Mizuki let out a wheezing laugh. "Even a fool like him may have something worth knowing and you're injured so let me work." She chided.

"I-I bet you d-don't even know the secret everyone has been keeping from you? The truth of what you are?" He let out a cough as the pain in his chest grew stronger and his vision darker. "On the night of your birth, a beast of mindless destruction attacked our village… you know that already… you know that it slaughtered our people and defaced our home. That beast was the Nine-Tailed Fox-"

"Mizuki that is enough, it's forbidden for a reason!" Iruka interjected again but this time it was Mizuki who cut him off his crumpled body shaking with either pain or anguish or even perhaps a mixture of the two.

"S-Shut up Iruka, that monster said I could talk and so I will fucking s-speak!" He was holding on through sheer anger alone, he wanted to hurt her he needed to hurt her at least once! "The Nine-Tailed Fox that destroyed this village… the Forth could not kill it…" Mizuki smiled, well smiled as best he could. "No one could kill such a beast… instead, he sealed it away into a weaker form, one that could be killed… into a child."

Natsumi said nothing, if not for the subtle shift of her brow it would have appeared as though she wasn't even listening instead focusing her attention on fixing the swelling around Iruka's face.

"Y-You were that child, you are the Nine-Tailed Fox!" Mizuki's eyes began to roll into his head as the words slipped out of his mouth. "You are n-nothing more than a monster… one we should have killed when we h-had the chance..." and with his peace said he slipped into blissful unconsciousness, the rage that fueled him finally succumbing to numbing pain tearing him apart leaving an uncomfortable silence hanging over the clearing.

"Natsumi don't listen to a word he said, he's clearly gone mad you should not-"

"That's enough. You do not need to hide it Sensei, I already know about the Kyuubi." She let out a grunt as she pushed herself onto her feet and moved on to inspect Hideo, her palms already glowing in the soft greenish hue of the healing arts. "I've known about it for a couple of months now." She admitted, earning a look of shock from her former instructor.

"But how?"

"It was not a very well kept secret if you knew what to look for, especially not when you have a rather complicated containment seal painted across your stomach." She scoffed turning her nose at the idea that she couldn't figure such information out. "Names like fox-child and demon brat did only lend credence to the theory, truthfully it was only a matter of time before I put the pieces together." She raised a brow. "Gossip is surprisingly easy to get a hold of in a ninja village."

"I… I see." There was an air of defeat and guilt in his voice as he allowed the charade to fall away no longer seeing the need to keep the pretense of ignorance. "Still, you are not the fox, you know that right? You are your own person." He tried to reassure her and she spared him a look that spoke volumes of what she thought of that idea.

"I'm not stupid Sensei, of course I know I'm not the fox." She rolled her eyes at him as she finished her work on Hideo. A case chakra exhaustion and stress born fatigue, he would be out of it for a day or so but would be fine. "If I was the creature in question this village would no longer be standing, the ignorance of the villagers does not extend to me." She stated bluntly.

Before he could respond a team of masked ninja entered the clearing. Anbu.

"The Hokage wishes to speak with you immediately, we shall handle Umino-san, the boy, and the traitor." One of the masked ninja, a male wearing a bird-like mask spoke to her as he stepped forward carrying the Forbidden scroll under his arm. "Please come with me."

"Very well." She did not resist as she'd seen this coming from the moment she interfered. "I suppose we will have to speak another time Sensei, give Nakamura-sensei my regards." She bayed her farewells and allowed the masked shinobi to place a hand upon her shoulder. The world seemed to blur around her and a sense of vertigo overtook her before she blinked and found herself standing in front of the Hokage tower.

"That was… unpleasant." She fought the urge to vomit as her stomach began to settle from the rapid movement and she swore she heard a slight laugh from the bird-masked shinobi at her side before it was violently suppressed and the robotic stoicism returned with a vengeance.

"Lord Third is expecting you, do not waste time." He said curtly before seemingly flickering out of existence leaving her alone in the middle of the street.

"I didn't know Anbu could be so dramatic." She rolled her eyes but did as instructed and made her way inside the tower, there was no point in prolonging the inevitable and more importantly she had her own questions for the old man.

Questions that had been left unanswered for far too long.

AN. Chapter complete.

A little bit longer than usual but I oh well, I actually had to cut it just because I'm trying not to write super freaking long chapters with this fic. I prefer the shorter style but this had a lot of parts so it's just a necessary evil I suppose. Anyway, let's get onto the events of the chapter and some questions!

#1. Is this chapter a hint at who she will be teamed up with?

Not at all, I'm still going over all your reviews and reasonings but I did want to clarify how she viewed the rest of her class since I know some people weren't sure what her stance on everyone was so I included a brief rundown of her thoughts so you guys could get a vague idea of her thoughts in regards to the rest of the rookies. There are a lot of possible combinations so trying to think it through and make a good decision even. You are all, of course, free to continue leaving me your thoughts.

#2. The whole Mizuki incident?

So naturally, the normal incident wasn't going to work given Natsumi's personality and ranking so I did just have to replace "Naruto" with Hideo (who will not have a role in the story just needed him to be the sucker) Which in turn sends Iruka looking for anyone who may have seen him and in turn piquing Natsumi's curiosity about what has the village in a tizzy. This naturally leads her to the forest clearing and from there we get a lot of information.

For one I know Natsumi did not do anything other than throw one kunai, but that was very much intentional. Unlike my Naruto in a better path who is very much a brawler in your face kind of character, Natsumi is almost the complete opposite. She doesn't mind using sneak attacks, and if she can end a fight in a single move she will. She allowed Mizuki to fight Iruka both to observe and to create an opening because she was willing to wait for the perfect moment to strike, even if others had to be put in harm's way. That is not to say she would have allowed Iruka to die but she had little qualm with him being beaten.

Two, we discover that Natsumi knows about her burden. Now I was half debating having her not know but at the same time, it seemed unrealistic for her not to know or at least begin to guess at the truth once she began studying seals and I will have her explain that moment in the future. As it stands she knows of her burden and we'll see exactly how she feels about it in the coming conversation with the Third.

Three, one big point is the fact that Natsumi did not learn the shadow clone jutsu and this was done purely because if she learned it this early on no one around her stands a chance against her. She's proven that with the right luck and prep she can take down a more experienced chunin and she knows elemental techniques so I decided to hold off on her learning the shadow clone technique.

Lastly, Mizuki. I know some people may feel like he was just thrown in for the sake of it but I did try to give at least some rationale for him popping up by just lessening his role. Given that Natsumi only spent part of her time at the actual academy I think it's believable enough that she did not interact with Mizuki enough to consider him worth thinking about and so we don't really see him in her thoughts or recollections.

Anyway, as always I am so happy you all have shown such massive support for the fic and I look forward to writing the next chapter whenever I have time. Be safe and as always feel free to PM ideas or thoughts and I will try and answer them when I can!