Summary:

Graduation day is here. I am excited to write about how Naruto formed friendship with powerful people of Konoha. He became a genin at last.

Author's Note:

I am writing chapter 13 now and I am excited for who Kakashi and Naruto is going to meet. Keep reading to find out!

(Naruto's current age: 12); Yellow wave of wind*(Yellow Namikaze - Minato); maelstrom princess* (Whirlpool /Uzu princess – Kushina)

CHAPTER 2

Three years later….

Naruto Uzumaki was a twelve-year-old aspiring ninja. It was the day of graduation. It was his third and last attempt. He failed two other attempts on purpose. He did not want to graduate earlier for several reasons.

Recently, Naruto was in a dilemma. Mizuki was being nice to him. It could be because Iruka was watching, but he was like that for the past month. He had been acting as if he genuinely cared about the blonde boy. Naruto was great at deception himself. He saw right through his acting but played along. He was watching, to be honest, stalking Mizuki, his shady ninja academy sensei, for months now. He concluded that Mizuki was trying to pull something that involved him. Mizuki was checking security details on hokage tower for the past month planning to steal something. The day before the graduation test, he found out Mizuki was planning to betray Konoha. If Naruto's assumptions were right, Mizuki wanted to steal village secrets and frame him for that.

Should he expose his skills and catch Mizuki or hide his true self for his safety? Looking at the time on the clock, he decided to react according to Mizuki's actions and left his apartment.

Mizuki was extra civil today. But his true face was revealed when the graduation tests started. He thought he was being subtle, or Naruto was not smart enough to catch on, but he did not know true Naruto. Mizuki cast a genjutsu on his paper for written exam to fail him, gave him defected shurikens and kunais for the weapon accuracy test. He likewise sabotaged other tests too.

Naruto was thinking deeply before the tests started and decided on the course of action. There was an option to pass. He could pass today, and Mizuki would not have any chance to frame him. If by any chance Mizuki did try to frame him, it would raise questions. Why would Naruto mess up today if he managed to pass at his last attempt to become a shinobi but not earlier? If Naruto had wanted to betray Konoha, he would have done it after his past two failed attempts.

There was another option. Naruto could fail and if Mizuki pulled something today, he could catch him, expose him, and show his own skills separately to Hiruzen and become a shinobi and guilt trip him to obtain some favours.

Naruto also wanted to know, what the hokage would do if he failed to become a genin. Would he offer to train him by a personal trainer, put him into ANBU or give him to one of the elders to train him? After all Naruto was a hidden weapon of Konoha. If he did not become a ninja, it would be great loss of military power. So, the hokage would make him a ninja, one way or the other. At first though, the hokage would make sure to create a scene and act as if he was doing a great favour for Naruto to ensure his loyalty to him and Konoha by emotional manipulation. The joy!

Failing today sure, seemed to be an interesting option. And so, Naruto failed to do Bunshin (clone) jutsu and flunked the graduation exams. Mizuki approached him with the idea of stealing 'The Forbidden scroll' to make up for the failed test.

Naruto sensed the chakra of the hokage Hiruzen approaching him. Once he appeared, Naruto promptly performed the 'Sexy jutsu', a harmless, foolish one but, definitely would get the work done to knock out perverts. The hokage was not harmed so it was not a serious offence. After he explained his reasons, they could not blame him for attacking the hokage even if it was a play. He found the Forbidden Scroll and exited the tower.

Once he was in the forest, he opened the forbidden scroll. He was pleasantly shocked by the jutsu repertoire in the scroll. Those jutsus were all written by Nidaime hokage but what he most appreciated was his theory and detailed notes on chakra sealing and chakra manipulation. Naruto created a shadow clone, yes, he knew how to create Kage bunshin all along. He also knew how to perform elemental clones. He asked the clone to copy all those jutsus and return the scroll to the hokage and dispel once he regained his bearings.

Naruto knew how long it would take for the hokage to wake up from nosebleed as he was the victim of that particular prank more than Naruto would like. He rolled his eyes at his hokage jiji's perverseness. He replaced the scroll with shadow clone jutsu instead of the forbidden scroll and went to meet Mizuki at the meeting point. Just in case, if Mizuki has other trump cards and Naruto lose the scroll, the true forbidden scroll would still be safe.

He was simulating one of those copied jutsus in his mindscape when he heard the alarms go off. He concluded that the hokage woke up before his clones reached him to inform his plan and so the ANBU was sent. But to his surprise, it was Iruka who was approaching faster than ANBU.

"Naruto, what you are doing?", he asked Naruto aggressively.

Naruto feigning ignorance, "What is it Iruka sensei? I did as Mizuki sensei told", with his hands waving the scroll.

"Mizuki?", suddenly it clicked to the chunin sensei with the scar on his nose, Umino Iruka.

"I see you have found the scroll. Give it to me, Naruto", Mizuki said making an appearance.

"Naruto, don't give it to him. Run", shouted Iruka and turned to Mizuki angrily. "Mizuki, why are you doing this?"

Naruto did not run far and hid just few trees away. He was angry that Iruka interfered. He surpassed high chunin level long ago. He was at jonin level now. What he truly lacked was experience. He was compensating for that in the last two years. He could take down Mizuki by himself and could have gotten some brownie points with the hokage, but his plans were derailed. Naruto listened to the drama unfold with a scowl on his face.

"Come on Iruka, why do you think I am doing this? I want the scroll, of course. I have the use for it." Mizuki deadpanned.

In the fight that ensued, Iruka got hurt by the knife. Naruto witnessed everything hiding behind a tree. He knew the chunin hated at him first. But when he suddenly started being good to him, he thought it was because Hokage asked the chunin to do that so he can keep an eye on Naruto, or he took Inu's advice from three years earlier. Later he could feel that the chunin really started to like him. He bought him ramen at times. But he didn't think Iruka would be willing to take a knife for his sake. Although Iruka would do that for any of his students or a Konoha shinobi, it proved that the man did not see him as a monster. It was a little touching for Naruto, might be a lot.

Mizuki yelled angrily. "Iruka, why are you defending him? He is a monster."

Naruto decided to make his appearance at that point. He was bored with the drama. Mizuki turned to him.

"Naruto, leave", Iruka yelled desperately.

"Naruto? That monster doesn't deserve a name. What are you looking at? Yes. You are the monster. You are the nine-tailed demon fox that destroyed the village before twelve years. The hokage made it a S-class secret so you will not know why everyone hates you", announced Mizuki looking crazily at Naruto.

Naruto didn't reply and stood there with clenched fists.

"Mizuki, stop. Naruto, you are not a demon. Don't listen to him", Iruka shouted.

"What do you mean Iruka? He killed your parents remember", Mizuki tried reasoning with him.

"Naruto has a monster sealed within him. He isn't a monster. I know him. He is my student", Iruka replied with a firm tone.

"It is no use talking to you. I will kill both of you starting with you first", stated Mizuki approaching Iruka.

Naruto stood between Iruka and Mizuki like a steady wall and ignored the pleas of Iruka's asking him to leave. "I will kill you if you touch Iruka sensei", said Naruto forming a hand seal for shadow clones.

After his initial shock wore down at Iruka defending him, Naruto came with a plan to save Iruka without exposing much of his skills, knowing well the hokage would be watching via his crystal ball.

He formed thousand clones spending most of his chakra, another strategy, to prove his lousy chakra control. He pummelled Mizuki to the forest's floor.

Iruka was surprised and shocked. So was the hokage looking through his crystal ball. Iruka invited Naruto to come closer and asked him to close his eyes.

Naruto tensed but did it anyway. He did not like close proximity. He felt the hitaite being tied to his forehead. Well, that was one way to pass.

"Congratulations Naruto, you pass", Iruka told happily. Naruto nodded with a smile.

Soon after ANBU cleared Mizuki and Iruka was sent to the hospital, Naruto found himself walking to the hokage tower.

Naruto was planning his next course of actions, He was considering lot of scenarios, the questions he could ask the hokage and depending on the answer, how he should react and the team assignments and so on.

Naruto was good at thinking on his feet, he was told. It was just as much as an innate talent as training. He developed it using much effort by practising shogi to the point he knew the popular scenarios that could appear on the shogi board, thanks to his shadow clones capable of spending thousands of hours. He could be classified as an 8-dan player or A-class 'meijin' in shogi. Only the Nara clan head could go head-to-head with him. He also read books on strategic analysis and tactical planning, courtesy of one Shikamaru Nara and his father for the past few years. He also made a conscious effort to practise his skills by analysing the mission reports in the mission office and ANBU headquarters.

Naruto smirked when he remembered how he formed an unlikely friendship with two powerful people of Konoha. He pulled pranks on ANBU rookies and chunins who aspired to be jonins. It started at first by him pranking anyone he deemed unfortunate. During his mind stimulation training, he found out it was better to analyse real life situations to simulate those scenarios by his pranks. It was an experiment to study how different ranks of ninjas respond to same scenario. He also needed real mission reports to compensate for his lack of experience.

Naruto sneaked into jonin station to read some mission reports. He was quite sure, the jonin commander and the torture and interrogation (T&I) specialist found out someone was sneaking into the mission office and T&I headquarters after few weeks. Nothing was amiss, except an unwashed teacup in front of the chair opposite to the chairs of the commanding officers, left there deliberately.

At first, they were not sure who it was, but they waited to catch him red-handed. They took it as a personal insult as someone evaded their security in their personal office. It did not help that there was a message under the accursed teacup asking them to catch him without others help. But Naruto did not get caught by their traps and even wrote tips on how to make traps better.

He knew he was playing a dangerous game but even if he got caught and they sent him to the hokage, they would only know he was good at traps, and this was his recent prank as proved by his prankster personality. Before they took drastic decisions to personally wait for him in the office or inform the hokage, Naruto threw a bone to them thanks to the little notes they kept of him.

Once Naruto found jonin commander Nara Shikaku and newly promoted (after Yamanaka Inoich resigned recently) T&I head, Ibiki Morino kept scores on his pranks like 'Naruto: 2 Chunin/ANBU: 0 Verdict: Not promoted/Need training'. Naruto wanted to test out a theory, so he decided to add some notes to the scores like 'poor at chakra sensing, easy to rile up, no particular expertise'. After those notes, it was quite clear who was that gutsy ninja sneaking into dangerous places. They decided not to comment as long as he did not steal or spoil anything in their office.

Naruto even as far as to slip some information on a monthly merchant who was a potential spy. He also advised Shikaku and Ibiki to co-ordinate on that issue, as it was a civil issue as much as ninja issue, which lead to those two men bond over the shared break-ins, courtesy of one sneaky blonde. Shikaku and Ibiki decided not to involve Inoichi Yamanaka, friend of the former and the ex-leader of the later, as he was a horrible gossip like his daughter, before understanding Naruto. After assessing Naruto in their own way, without involving torture and mind walking, they decided he was not a danger, proved case in point, as his pranks were never harmful. If the itching powder or the orange point was replaced with poison or acid, imagine how many would die unknowingly. And that was not an oversight on the blonde's part if his notes were any indication. Naruto truly did not want to harm anyone.

After the merchant issue, Shikaku and Ibiki purposefully appeared in front of Naruto, on the market, but he did not acknowledge them. But his blue eyes did stay on them for few seconds and a slight nod of head towards the Yondaime was all the indication that he acknowledged them but did not want to expose his intellect. Those clever shinobis immediately understood why Naruto did not want to expose his intelligence with all the bullshit the council and the villagers threw at him, especially when he was being overcharged right in front of their eyes for sub quality products. Idiots.

They decided to keep quiet and protect him in a way they could as long as he did not betray Konoha. They owed it to his father that much and more. And Naruto already sneaked into many places and from what they could see from the nod towards the Yondaime, he already knew of his father, and he decided to live up to his father's name. So, if Naruto did not want to inform the hokage of his skills, who was close to him, then they would respect his decisions and cover him. Moreover, if Sandaime knew it, Danzo would, and it would not end well for the blonde. He was still a child who needed protection despite his genius, after all.

Soon Naruto, explicitly sent those two, messages in the form of tri-pronged kunai attached with a maelstrom seal, bearing a message. It would become his signature for years to come. 'To revive the Will of Fire, to eliminate the decayed Roots, to nurture the young leaves, to protect the great tree. No amount of darkness can drown the maelstrom (Uzu) prince and no amount of suppression can sway the yellow wave of wind*(Namikaze). The young eddy leafling of maelstrom princess* and the yellow lightning will thrive and bring forth a storm of light and whirlwind of rain to revive the wilted leaf in a maelstrom of Orange Storm. It was a promise from the little leafling to honour his family tree lost in the eddies of time'.

From then on, it was an unspoken agreement between those two jonins and Naruto. As for those poor shinobis were considered, if they could not evade pranks from an academy student, then those ninjas deserved to be pranked in their book. Naruto decided to use notes to ask certain questions and made some suggestions on mission reports which was intriguing at times, even for the elite jonins.

Their answers came in the form of recommendations to strategy, geography, and reference to old mission reports from sannin time and before. It made Naruto sneak into archives as well. His outlandish suggestions were well received, rewarded in the forms of techniques in chakra suppression, chakra masking, advanced trap making with weapons (blunted inside Konoha) and sometimes suggestions on how to develop his pranks when Naruto reconstructed those mission scenarios via pranks inside Konoha without affecting clan houses or civilians. If Hyugas bore the brunt more than once because of that, bleh, who cared.

Ibiki went as far as to ask Naruto to write a detailed report on tricky missions to see Naruto's viewpoint and how would have handled it. When Naruto returned the report, Naruto found himself with more assignments on different missions which meant Ibiki was impressed. If the report was sloppy to his standards, he would ask Naruto to redo the report with some notes marked on sections that needed consideration.

Most direct benefit though was brought out, after one smart alternate suggestion about efficiency of the actions on a jonin mission. Naruto pointed out if they had a better information sharing system, citing, last week reports. If the missions were swapped between two jonin senseis on their missions, the loss of one chunin and two genins could have been avoided. The mission rank was rightly assigned, but the skillset was not suitable. The jonin skillset was suitable for the mission but his subordinates were unsuitable. So, they could not fare well against their enemies. If they swapped the mission with another jonin, his team would not have come unscathed, but there would not be any loss of life.

Naruto also gave suggestions to classify the missions not just based on the rank but to further classify according to skillset under the mission rank. He pointed out a team could not be called special team, if all the team members, including the supporting members, were not at least equipped to come out of the situation alive. He advised the rotatory method of exchanging team members for special missions, as any ninja above genin rank should be able to collaborate with other teams without major issues.

As a reward, Naruto found himself on the receiving end of an invitation for a shogi match from Nara Shikamaru when they were playing hooky to academy, just the two of them on the top of the hokage mountain.

Shikaku did not ask his son to befriend Naruto. It was Shikamaru who talked about Naruto when others tried to frame Naruto when he was nine and asked why Naruto was mistreated. Shikaku advised him to observe Naruto and make opinions on his own. When Naruto saw Shikamaru defending him that fateful day to Iruka, he decided to befriend the Nara, but he knew not to explicitly reveal anything. He found out the Naras loved the puzzle, so he slightly showed his sharpness to Shikamaru, and he took the bait as expected. Slowly Shikamaru understood Naruto was deliberately holding back and asking Naruto indirectly did not give the answers he wanted. The blonde was surprisingly good at answering without giving away any information for a loudmouth.

Shikamaru brought the issue upon over a shogi match one day to his father and much to his surprise, his father asked him to play shogi with Naruto to gauge his skill. But he did advise that his son should invite Naruto alone, away from anyone to a secluded place, as Naruto did not want showcase anything explicitly. Nara Shikaku was happy to see his son taking his advice. On the top of Yondaime's head, Naruto wiped out Shikamaru on the shogi and Shikamaru was hooked. From the look on Shikamaru's face, he would not give up until he beat Naruto and it was not going to happen anytime soon. It was a good start of a lifelong camaraderie. That day, Shikaku could face Minato's face without guilt for first time in years.

Earlier Shikaku was wondering how he could help Naruto apart from few notes on mission office, now though, he only had to follow up with his son on the development and make appropriate suggestions. Soon his son would see what he saw in Naruto. He did not bring that issue earlier to his son because he did not want to force a friendship on Shikamaru to assuage his own guilt. It was good that Shikamaru genuinely liked Naruto. His son would definitely help Naruto, and if he got inspired to let go of his laziness and work hard, that was an added bonus. If Shikamaru came to know about S-class secret about Naruto, his son was smart enough to understand Naruto was just a jailor and not the kyuubi.

True to his thoughts, later, Shikamaru asked permission from Shikaku for Naruto and him to impersonate two Nara clansmen for practising taijutsu in the outer part of Nara clan forest that bordered Naka River. Well, it seemed his son found out why Naruto could not practise ninja skills openly with his own identity.

Ibiki went one step further. He invited Naruto to observe interrogation tapes and introduced him to the world of mental warfare. He taught Naruto how to live without giving away anything. Naruto was already good at acting and detecting lies, so soon Ibiki was teaching him more and Naruto even asked to undergo T&I interrogation slowly, so he could develop resistance.

Ibiki did not think it was not suitable for the child because he understood that Naruto was a survivor and well aware of his own burdens. Naruto did not have a childhood and if Ibiki had to rob the remaining innocence so Naruto could have an adulthood, he would apologise to Minato later. But from what Naruto informed him of evading the blank masked ninjas was harder compared to ANBU, he knew Minato would approve his methods. Ibiki would equip Naruto with necessary skills to evade Danzo's methods if he was ever found under the elder's thumb. And then Ibiki would personally carve out the elder's head physically and metaphorically if he had to, screw the Sandaime's friendship with Danzo, for regaining his protégé. He was sure Shikaku would help and Inu too, even if he did not have any direct contact with the blonde in years. All Ibiki wanted for Naruto was to survive in the meantime. So, he upped his training.

Ibiki went as far as to assign Naruto a fake identity to let him practice interrogation techniques on low level prisoners. Naruto asked him how to emulate KI and he was all too happy to teach him. Naruto broke down the prisoners faster than his low-level subordinates at young age. His performance was excellent to the point he soon became Ibiki's unofficial proud apprentice. Ibiki's only problem was that he could not brag his accomplishment about being an awesome sensei to anyone other than the lazy Nara, who mostly slept through his bragging sessions.

Recovering from his memory, Naruto reached the hokage tower and put on his bewildered face.

Hiruzen asked Naruto what happened as Naruto's clone informed him later, after the clone returned the scroll to the vault and dispelled. Naruto gave him run down of what happened. The hokage was assessing Naruto as he did not know the dead last of class could form a plan to dupe Mizuki.

"Naruto, if what you said is true, where did you get the scroll for shadow clones?". The hokage wanted to know who could pass a such a dangerous technique to Naruto. He knew only a handful of people who knew this technique would help Naruto if they wanted Naruto become a genin.

If only the hokage know just how many people were waiting for Naruto to become a ninja, so they could help him without breaking the rules as he was a civilian until he was a genin.

Naruto stopped his thoughts with an unexpected reply. "No one did. I wrote it. I saw a jonin performing this technique when I was hiding from a prank and memorised the hand seals. I thought that clone was more useful than normal clone. He was making clones to teach his students. I was afraid I would forget, so I wrote it down. I did not want to give away the forbidden scroll to Mizuki. If I could not handle him, he would get the forbidden scroll. I did not want it to happen. I sent a clone to inform you, but my clone was late, and you already blasted the alarms".

"Did you memorise the hand seals from the other jonin? No one gave you the scroll for shadow clone jutsu?". The hokage questioned opening the scroll and true to his words, it was Naruto's chicken scratch of a handwriting inside the scroll with no detailed descriptions and just hand seals.

"Naruto, if he you know this jutsu, why did not you use it today to pass?",

"I recently found this jutsu and has not mastered it. Mizuki screwed with my chakra control during the test, and I could not perform it". Naruto already made a clone when the drama was happening in the forest and made a scroll for shadow clones and thought about all the answers he could give.

Hiruzen did remember Naruto had poor chakra control and formed thousand clones earlier. "Then why did you come to hokage tower if you already decided to exchange the shadow clone scroll?", the old eyes penetrated the blonde boy for any sign of lies.

"Mizuki was trailing me to confirm whether I was following through. He thought I would not know. I was pulling pranks and chased by ninjas all year around. Hmph, I found that teme easily", Naruto said with a proud expression despite the hokage's scrutiny.

"Naruto, did you learn anything from the forbidden scroll?", Hiruzen asked full well knowing Naruto's prankster nature.

Naruto nodded sheepishly. "I did not have much time before you came. I only had time to learn one wind jutsu".

Before the hokage could reprimand him, Naruto stopped him with a question.

"That is not important jiji. Tell me is it true? Mizuki was not lying. It is everyone hates me. Isn't it?", Naruto asked with an uncharacteristic soft voice to his hokage.

Sarutobi Hiruzen sighed feeling his age. "It is true Naruto. I am sorry I could not tell you earlier. I wanted to tell after you became strong. I wanted you to have a normal childhood". Naruto rolled his eyes mentally at that.

Naruto decided to press on when the old man was feeling sympathy for him. "So, I am the monster?"

"No, you are not the monster, Naruto. Do not think that. You are a hero. The Yondaime, your hero, believed that you can keep the nine-tails at bay and sealed it within you. He wanted the villagers to treat you as a hero, but the villagers are blinded by their grief, and cannot see it. They need some more time".

"Yeah, joy! More time. Because twelve years is not a long time? Konoha was a ninja village. Ninjas die all the time. It is a joke they need more time. If the civilians do not want to be get caught in crossfire, they should not live in ninja village. They should go to Damiyo capital. Hypocrites", Kyubi (nine-tailed fox) answered sarcastically inside his seal.

Naruto and Kyubi came to a sort of arrangement after Naruto almost died. Kyuubi did not want Naruto to die as it had to reform again, and it would take some years. So, it was agreed that Naruto would share his senses and kyuubi would help Naruto evade the pursuers or keep watch, something like that.

"Yondaime believed in me?", Naruto questioned unbelievingly ignoring the Kyubi.

"He did", replied Hiruzen thinking it could cheer up the boy.

'I kicked the Yondaime for saying he believed in me when I met him', thought Naruto sarcastically but said nothing to hokage.

After explaining he was not in trouble, and it would be considered as solo B-rank mission, the hokage informed to submit his photo and ninja application for registration. Naruto knew if had not bring up the kyuubi issue at that time, the hokage would have reprimanded him for learning the wind jutsu from the forbidden scroll.

"Jiji, who are my parents? Why did they let the Yondaime seal the kyubi in me?", Naruto asked the hokage again. He had asked the same question many times before he was five but never got the answer he wanted. Now, he wanted to give his jiji another chance to come clean.

"Sorry Naruto. I don't know. I only know that they died in kyuubi attack", Hiruzen replied grimly.

Naruto scoffed mentally but he was sad knowing the hokage could not be trusted and the village denied his rights to even pay respects to his parent's grave. It would be okay if he had said he would tell Naruto at later point, but he outright denied knowing his parents. Naruto just proved that he could keep the Kyubi secret but the hokage did not trust him. Naruto understood that the hokage did not have any intention to inform him about his parents at any point. He was angry.

"Oh, I like to sleep now", Naruto said depressed.

"Ok Naruto. I will classify your sexy jutsu and harem jutsu as forbidden jutsus. They are dangerous", the hokage warned Naruto.

Naruto did not react. He was clenching fists looking at the floor. Mistaking Naruto's anger for sadness at not knowing his parents and nine-tailed fox (kyubi), Sarutobi nodded and bid goodbye to his surrogate grandson. Yeah, what a joke of a surrogate grandson he was!

Hiruzen felt guilty for lying to the blonde, but the village came first and there was also the matter of Naruto's safety. He looked dejected.

"I am sorry, Minato. I failed Naruto". The aged hokage asked for forgiveness to the boy's father for failing his son.

If Minato could speak, he would reply that no one failed his son as much his parents did as Minato was the one who condemned Naruto to the life of suffering, and he and Kushina were not even smart enough to choose responsible godparents to take care of their child.