12 years ago, on October 10th, a Tailed Beast known as the Nine Tails appeared out of thin air and attacked the Village Hidden in The Leaves. Its strength was beyond imagination, and its mere presence struck fear into many.
The immeasurable power it wielded tore down massive mountains with the swing of its tails, its roar caused tsunamis that rearranged entire landscapes. The damage this beast caused to the village was devastating, tearing everything down in its path left and right, killing many Ninjas and a small number of civilians that were unlucky to cross its path of destruction.
And yet even for this beast, its attacks were arbitrary, its attention span made it easy to distract; as though it had no thought whatsoever. This was a rare chance where a Nation actually had a fighting chance against monstrous demons like these.
Despite this, the destruction was high, leaving not just physical scars, but emotional as well. Those that got to survive the horrible night were left in turmoil, one way or another. However, one leader of the village known as the Fourth Hokage put a stop to the Tailed Beast. But the price was too high in doing so, as the Hokage sacrificed his very life to stop the Nine Tails for good, using a forbidden technique to seal away half its soul inside an infant.
This is the story of that infant.
"NARUTO! YOU GET BACK HERE! WHEN I GET MY HANDS ON YOU I'M GONNA—"
"WHY DID YOU DO THAT?!"
Naruto was being chased by a pair of Chunin level Shinobi. The blonde haired boy looked at them with a smug grin plastered on his face, sprinting as quickly as he could. "Sorry, what was that?!" Naruto mocked them as he put his left hand next to his ear, while holding a bucket of painting on his other hand, pretending that he didn't hear what they just said. "I can't hear you over the sound of my own success!" he exclaimed.
More yelling, and those two weren't the only Ninjas that were going after him, there were more. He already had a plan forming in his head as to how to lose them.
He leaped over to a small building, and quickly jumped to another rooftop next to where it stood. The Ninjas followed closely after, but Naruto was already ahead as he kept zip zapping to one place after the other.
"Lord Hokage!" a pair of Shinobi entered inside the office of the current Hokage that ruled over the village, interrupting him from whatever work he was doing.
"What is it now?" Hiruzen asked in annoyance. "This better not be trivial. Is this about Naruto again?"
"It is Naruto again!" The other Chunin answered. "He got to the Hokage monuments and painted graffiti on their faces all over again!"
Hiruzen sighed as he pinched his nose. "Of course he did…" He wondered to himself just how long will the boy keep repeating pranks like these. "Just do what you can to put a stop to this."
"Yes, sir!" Both Ninjas answered the same before leaving the office.
Hiruzen sighed before going back to what he was doing before. But in less than half a minute, somebody else came to his office. "What is it this—" When looking up and seeing who it was, he became silent.
"He's going at it again?" A charming chuckle escaped the lips of a woman who stood in front of the old man. The woman had long, bright-red hair and large, black pupilless eyes. She wore an elaborate, high-collared kimono with the Uzushiogakure symbol on the back of the obi which was tied around her waist. Her hair was arranged in buns with hair pins in them and three clips in the front. She also wore a dark shade of red lipstick and had a rhombus marking reminiscent of the Strength of a Hundred Seal on her forehead. She also wore tags with kanji written on them in her hair decals. Her figure and face made her look like a woman in her 40s, with noticeably large K cup sized breasts. "The boy is clearly getting impatient."
"It's only until a few more days until the Academy Graduation and then he can finally be put under a team. He's already waited for 2 years, what's a few more days going to do to him?" Hiruzen asked more so himself with a heavy sigh.
"Well that sounds like your problem. Send a Jounin next time." Mito rolled her eyes before turning her back and leaving the office. "So you take care of it." She bid him nonchalantly.
Naruto dived whilst in mid air, with the Ninjas still hot on his trail. Knowing how much this would piss them off, Naruto threw the bucket of paint onto the Shinobis, making them raise their arms to have as little painting as possible. Their uniforms got sprayed by it regardless.
"NARUTOOOO!" One of the Shinobis screamed in outrage. Naruto used this opportunity to hide within the environment.
He jumps over a wooden fence, using it to hide himself as he pressed his back against the plank walls. Having done these types of pranks for years, it was as natural as breathing to him. It seems to have worked because the Shinobis were starting to sound frustrated.
"Where did he go?!"
"He couldn't have gone far! Keep looking!" the other Shinobi exclaimed before they went back to search for him.
The blonde boy waited for a couple seconds before jumping over the fence. He plastered a grin on his face as the so called "Ninjas" missed their target by a mile. "That's about 3 of them I fooled, not bad." Naruto said as he ran, turning his head to watch out his back. In the next few seconds he fell down on the ground when he bumped into something. "What the—" he rubbed his head and looked up to see what he bumped into. In doing so, he gulped when he saw it was Iruka. "H-Hey, Iruka-Sensei…" Naruto began to laugh in nervousness. "H-How's it going…"
"Oh you know, nothing much…" Iruka is a man of average height and build. He has brown hair that he keeps in a ponytail, dark eyes and a scar that runs across the bridge of his nose. He wears the standard Leaf Village Shinobi outfit complete with blue forehead protector, sandals, and flak jacket. His sleeves are also rolled up about half on his forearm. "I was just going on about my day, until all of a sudden, I heard that a certain troublemaker was painting the Hokage monuments, and I wondered just who that could be…" he spoke in a sarcastic tone, all the while his eyebrow was twitching. "AND THEN I FOUND YOU! YOU'RE GOING TO CLEAN ALL THAT PAINT!"
"Ah damn it…!" Naruto complained as he laid down on the ground.
"Well what did you expect?!" Iruka put his fists on his hips. "You're the one who did this! So clearly you're the one who's going to clean them! You already did that before!" The man grabbed Naruto by his foot and began to drag him.
Naruto stayed quiet as he cleaned away the painting he made. He made a note not to make too many in case he got caught again. The boy hadn't made much of a fuss since he got here, but there was no way he could get out. Not with Iruka watching him like a hawk, who sat on the Second Hokage's forehead.
"I just don't get it… why do you keep repeating this stuff over and over?" Iruka asked as he watched the boy clean the paintings. The only reason why he was able to catch the boy out of most Chunins was because he had gotten so used to Naruto's habits, and knew him the longest. "I know you can do better than this. If you just kept practicing instead of goofing off, you would have made it to the Chunin Exams by now."
Naruto at that moment stopped, and gave his former sensei a small sigh. Because of the work, he wore a black t-shirt, and the sleeves of his dirty jacket were tied together on his waist. "Without a team?! Iruka-Sensei, you know it's impossible for me to get there without one… Not to mention, I doubt I'd get a team…"
"What are you even talking about? Of course you're getting a team."
"It's been 2 years by now." He complained as he squished the towel inside the bucket of water, getting it wet enough before he started cleaning it. "And all I've done since then is just train and go on D rank missions. It becomes the same every day, so it gets boring after a while."
Iruka hasn't said anything. A moment passed by, as though he were contemplating his words. "I guess I can understand why you'd get bored, but you can't just stir up the whole village to go after you." Iruka replied.
"Hey, it's one way to exercise." Naruto made a cheeky smile as he made a smartass remark. "Helps me stay on my toes. Haven't seen anyone do something like that."
"And I haven't seen anyone blabbering their mouths while they're in punishment." Iruka grew a tick mark on his forehead at the reply. "And you're getting slower for that matter." Naruto didn't show it, but he became surprised at the realization that their talk was slowing him down. "Though…" He sees Iruka changing his stern look to a thoughtful one. "If you do manage to get this done in time before sundown, how's about you and I go take some Ramen together?"
Like a lightbulb switch, Naruto gleamed at the older man with child-like wonder. Yep, that hit motivation like no other. "You got it!" Naruto exclaimed as he began to clean the painting faster and faster. "I'll finish all this in no time!"
It took a while, but he finally managed to clean away all the vandalism he caused. As of now both Naruto and Iruka were at Ichiraku's, both eating their own pair of ramen. The former ate a ridiculous load of bowls that would be too much for most people, even Ninjas to eat.
"Say, Naruto…" Iruka started a conversation with the boy again. ''I can understand your boredom, but could you please stop messing with the Hokage monuments? You know who the Hokage are, don't you?"
"Well for the most part, yeah…" Naruto answered after he finished drinking the soup of the Miso ramen. "Leaders of our village, strongest Ninjas to ever live in their time, heck, the 4th Hokage was the one who saved this city from the Nine Tailed Fox, didn't he?"
"Well, you got most of that right… but why exactly vandalize their faces? Don't you know the amount of time, effort, money, and resources were spent by the people making those?" Iruka was asking him to stop. That much he can tell. "And it can't simply be out of boredom, can it?"
The boy shrugged. "Well, no." Naruto answered, putting his elbow against the table as he pressed the palm of his hand against his cheek. "It's just…" He contemplated whether or not say what had him pull that off.
From what he understood the faces of each Hokage was a way for the villagers to show their gratitude for their service, or something like that. Even then, he had no malice in giving a small makeup. But if he told Iruka-Sensei what was bothering him… well he'd rather not bother the man.
Naruto thought of switching the topic. "Actually, come to think of it, you told me something about me getting a team soon?"
"Oh, that's right!" Iruka made a grin. He simply hoped he hadn't noticed the change. "In 2 days you get to be put under a 3 Man squad and a new Sensei. To think it's already been 2 years since you graduated from the Academy." he looked at the Leaf Village headband on Naruto's forehead.
"Why did I even have to wait that long…?" Naruto sighed as he circled his index finger onto the table. "I never heard of an Academy student having to wait for this long to put in a team after they graduated. Couldn't I have been placed alone?"
"I'm afraid that's not how it works. Because the numbers between students and senseis were unbalanced, you and the others who weren't picked by the senseis had to be put on hold. It's not exactly common, but it has happened on some occasions. As for the squad you'll be in, I'm as clueless as you are." Iruka scratched the back of his head. "But I'm sure you'll get along with them."
"Well... I hope we do." Naruto looked over at his former sensei. "Soooo any chance I can get another bowl of ramen?"
Iruka gained a sweatdrop at the back of his head. He seemed hesitant before he sighed. "Ok fine, but this will be the last one for tonight."
"Thank you!" Naruto quickly bowed his head gratefully while pressing his hands together, before turning back to look at the Ramen shop owner. "Another bowl, please!"
"Oh right, and just one last thing, since I nearly forgot to tell you this…" Naruto looked over to his sensei once more. But the look on Iruka's face got more serious. "I don't know if you heard of this or not, but recently there's been a report of enemy Shinobis having been sighted in the North side Hills. You know where that is, don't you?"
"Yeah…" Naruto nodded his head while making a small gulp. Hearing of enemy Shinobi entering your homeland wasn't exactly a pretty thought. That was a place he was quite familiar with, it was where he used to play often, and it was one of the training areas for himself.
"But that was no more than 4 days ago, and they haven't been sighted anywhere else since then. So if in any case you plan on going there, don't explore too deeply." Iruka warned him. "We increased the patrol unit since then, so stay cautious if you go there."
"Alright, I got that noted, ya know…" Naruto picked up his chopsticks and began to eat the last bowl of ramen for tonight whilst making a somewhat goofy grin, as though he didn't take what Iruka said seriously. But he made sure to keep the info at the back of his head.
Naruto bent down to pick up another trash can that was laid on the grass and put it inside the bag that he carried with him. "Not much left…" he murmured to himself as he went to pick up a tin can. He had been doing this assignment for about a week now, that being to pick up any trash that had been left around the North District of Konoha. Ironically, he had been sent out to clean the mess right on the glade after Iruka-Sensei warned him not to go. Thankfully he wasn't anywhere too deep in the forest.
In general this was lame, boring even. But he needed the money. That was the thing after graduating the Academy, you became an adult of your own right.
Kind of.
Nobody could pay for his bills anymore. He needed to do that by himself now. He frequently participated in the D ranks, which wasn't anything dangerous to begin with, and the more he did, the more money he got to pay for the rent at least.
"Should be just about done…" The type of bag he carried on this was medium sized, nothing too big but nothing small either, and the bag was tied to him by carrying the sash over his shoulder.
All of a sudden, he felt something off about the area. It was the type of feeling you get on instinct to tell you something wasn't right, as though you were being watched. Every hair stood on his body, that was the best way Naruto could describe this. The blond haired boy turned around to see if there was anybody here, but he saw nothing. "Uhm… hello?! Anybody there?!" He called out, being unsure if this was a good or bad idea.
He heard nothing, and so the boy turned around, going about what he was doing before. Yet he still couldn't help but feel that something was wrong. If it was a Shinobi then couldn't they have come out already? Or maybe that was just his imagination playing tricks. He hoped it was.
Unbeknownst to the brat, there indeed was somebody who hid in the trees, a Shinobi who wore the same uniform and vest like many others within the village, the difference being he held a couple of enormous shurikens strapped onto his back thanks to a rope.
His physical appearance distinguished him from others as he had gray hair and appeared to be in his early 20's, his name was Mizuki. He watched as Naruto walked away from the open field of grass. 'So that brat is here as well… isn't that just great.' The man thought to himself as he rolled his eyes. 'He shouldn't cause much of a problem if I just stay away and focus on finding where they hid that bloody kunai.' he thought before he disappeared from sight like a blur.
It seemed that the bad feeling was gone now. His instincts were what led him further away into the forest, getting closer to where he was warned not to go. Yet he felt as though he needed to. It was darker now than before, but not because the sun was going down, that was because this was a deeper part of the forest.
He couldn't find any more trash on his way here, and the bag was practically full, so Naruto decided to call it a day. However, before turning around and going back he heard his stomach growl. "Aw man…" he grumbled as he put his hand on his hungry stomach. He's barely got to eat anything this morning to satisfy his appetite, as being a Shinobi required to eat plenty of food to stay in fit physical condition, but not so much to become overweight. This applied to Genin like him as well, but not as demanding as with Chunin and Jounin. "Wait…" he looked above and noticed a bird nest without any birds covering it.
He could use that for breakfast. Good thing there were branches he could use for leverage. He heard that Shinobis can climb on trees and other surfaces without using their hands thanks to Chakra, but the Academy never taught him nor his classmates how to do that stuff.
Thankfully there were other methods he could use. Naruto leaped on the first tree branch, gripping it with his hands before pushing his body forward to build momentum before letting go of the branch, flipping higher in the air before grabbing the one where the nest was. "There we go…" Naruto murmured as he used the branch like a rope. When he was next to the nest, he climbed upwards as he proceeded to grab it with his hand. Before he could fully do so, he noticed there was a kunai within the nest. "What the…?"
Naruto grabbed the kunai with his hand, letting the tree branch go as he grabbed the branch beneath him and swung his body onwards before letting it go and hit the ground with his feet. He furrowed his eyebrows as he looked at the shape of the kunai. 'This isn't any kunai I've ever seen before.' he thought to himself as the shape of it looked rather odd. 'And what's with this paper?' He noticed there was a small piece of paper wrapped around the handle. He began to unwrap it from the kunai, unfolding it to see what was in it. In doing so, he widened his eyes.
There were several Kunoichi that hid close by where the young boy was, hiding from the Leaf Shinobi that were pursuing them, keeping a low profile while trying to find the kunai that their fallen comrade hid before her defeat. They couldn't find the bloody thing anywhere, despite searching it for days. Never would they have guessed it would have been this far back.
"Talk about dumb luck…" One of the female Ninjas hissed under her breath. The young woman wore a gray mask to cover her head. "Who would've thought that kid would have found it. And worst of all, he's reading it!"
"But what do we do?" The second of the group asked. She wore a black mask instead that only showed her grey eyes. "Do we kill him and take the kunai?"
"I don't recommend that." the last of the Kunoichi answered as she too kept an eye on the blue eyed boy. "We don't know if those Hidden Leaf Shinobi are close by or not. And if they have a tracking unit, they'll for sure smell the blood of his corpse."
"So what can we do?" The first member asked again as she saw Naruto beginning to run away, putting the kunai at the back of his pouch. "Shit, he's seen what's inside it!"
All the enemy Kunoichi took a leap forward without making noise. "Our friend is the one who gave tons of information on that paper. It doesn't exactly have all the information on the village, but there's good stuff that can be used. Once we take this back, this will give us a tremendous advantage."
The third member widened her eyes, now having an idea as to how to take the kunai. "Wait a minute… what if we take him hostage?" she suggested.
The other two perked at this idea. "That doesn't sound bad. Take a child and that'll make the Leaf Shinobi hesitant." the second member said.
"Alright, let's move it."
On his way back, Naruto widened his eyes when he saw several Kunoichis standing in front of him with their swords pointed at him. "What the—" Naruto stopped running altogether, putting the kunai and the paper in his pocket.
"Let's not make a big ruckus here… kindly give us that paper, and we'll pretend this never happened." The middle of the Kunoichi group stepped forward, making up a lie as she raised her arm.
"None of you really look all that friendly..." Naruto exclaimed as he took a step back. "And you don't look like Leaf Shinobi either… so my answer is: I found it so I get to keep it!"
"Very amusing, now hand it over." The Kunoichi spoke in a more demanding tone. "That thing is very important, so if you could give it, we won't bother you anymore."
"I said no! I have my own mission to do here! And all you're doing is getting in the way!" Naruto pointed a finger at them. 'No way am I giving this away when it has the information on the village… and these have to be the enemies that Iruka-Sensei warned me about.' What rotten luck to find them here.
"Have it your way." The Kunoichi looked at her two companions, nodding her head as a sign to capture the boy.
Naruto gulped before he turned around and started to run away as fast as possible. "AHHHHHHH!" he screamed at the top of his lungs, wanting to make as much noise as possible for anybody to hear and rescue him. He can't take on these Ninjas by himself.
Iruka opened the door to the teacher's meeting room, seeing other teachers who taught in the Academy simply doing their work as they usually did whenever he came by to this place. Today was the Graduation exam for the other students to graduate and get their Leaf Headbands and become Genin, the rookie Ninjas. He knew he was supposed to be the proctor, but he's supposed to have someone else by his side as well, just so there would be more than one witness to either pass or fail the students.
"Iruka?" An auburn haired Chunnin Kunoichi glanced at him with a small look of confusion. "What are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to supervise your students for graduation?"
"I know, but I'm supposed to have someone else with me. Have any of you seen Mizuki at all? I asked him to help me at the Graduation yesterday, but I haven't seen him at all since then, and he's late on top of that." Iruka replied, showing a hint of concern in his tone.
"I'm afraid we haven't." One of the other teachers replied to him. "Have you checked up with him?"
"I have, I went to his house to see if he was there, but nothing came up. I even asked his girlfriend if he was out on some mission, but she told me that wasn't the case either." Iruka shook his head in response.
"That… is odd. Has he by any chance taken a last minute mission? If it's because of that, maybe he just wasn't able to?" One of the other teachers commented, thinking of a possibility that would make sense for someone like Mizuki not to show up.
"I already asked Lord Third about this, and he told me he hadn't sent Mizuki on any missions at all lately. And he already knows about the Graduation Exam, so there's no way he would have sent him on a day like this." Iruka shook his head, disapproving the idea. "I can't just leave…"
"Graduation exams last for about an hour or so, correct?" The Kunoichi of the Academy asked, to which Iruka nodded his head. "There might be a solution… we could postpone our own class and help the graduation while you search for Mizuki."
Iruka gasped at this. "You would do that?!" He wasn't sure what to say. This wasn't something you would expect when something this out of the blue is happening. "Thank you so much!" he bowed his head in gratitude. With that said, Iruka ran out of the room in search of Mizuki.
Back in The Hills, Naruto ran as fast as he possibly could, leaping from one tree branch after the other with the Kunoichi hot on his trail. "YOU'RE NOT GETTING ME THAT EASILY, YA KNOW?! YA HEAR ME?!" Naruto screamed again, hoping there would be someone to save him. The more noise, the better. Only problem was it made it easy for the enemies to find him.
"What the hell?! How can a Genin run that fast?!" One of the Kunoichi exclaimed in annoyance, having been chasing Naruto for more than 5 minutes.
"If he keeps shouting like an idiot, reinforcement will be on their way." The other Kunocihi expressed annoyance.
"They already might be. So let's shut this brat up!" the last of the Kunoichi picked up several shurikens from her pouch.
"Hey, let's not get crazy." The first of the Kunoichi gave a stern look to her teammate. "Remember, we're taking him as a hostage."
"I know! I'll just give a wound or two, nothing serious!" With that said, the Kunoichi threw her shurikens at the inexperienced boy, but instead they missed as the boy leaped out of the way. They gasp in shock.
Naruto uses his stealth to get away as he turns to a direction they didn't expect him to. Now they couldn't see him anywhere, as they kept turning their heads. "He couldn't have gone far! Split up!" The Kunoichi in the middle ordered before her teammates split up to different sides.
It turns out that Naruto was running to the Eastern direction where the Kunoichis were. The boy considered ditching his orange jacket, as it was far too bright to blend in with it. In doing so it would take a while for him to find it again, besides, there was a nearby hiding spot he could use until other Shinobis arrived. He turned to his right as he continued to sprint before jumping off a 20 meter cliff, landing on his feet first before running towards a small cave.
A jump from that size would have caused serious injuries, if not outright death, for normal civilians at least. For him this stuff meant very little to him, though it may cause some injuries to other Genins. The blond haired boy took several breaths as he rested. He didn't hear any of the Kunoichi nearby, but it wasn't exactly safe to come out either, not as long as he had the paper with him. So now he had to play the waiting game.
It's been about 15 minutes since Naruto got inside the cave, but to him it felt like a whole hour had gone by. He sighed as he kept throwing a rock in the air and catching it with his hand. He wondered just how long he would resort to staying in this cave. This wasn't some silly prank, this was serious, and for all he knew his life was on the line.
He then heard someone coming by. This made Naruto's body tense as he carefully tried to observe who it was. When he saw the outfit of a Leaf Shinobi, he immediately sprinted out of the cave. "Hey!" Naruto yelled out, waving his hand to make himself known to the Shinobi.
The Shinobi in question turned out to be Mizuki, who widened his eyes as he saw Naruto exit the cave. Naruto himself was surprised to see who it was, as it was one of those teachers who showed up during his graduation exam 2 years ago. "Hey, I remember you!" Naruto exclaimed with a smile as he pointed his finger at the Chunin.
"Oh, it's you Naruto…" His former teacher said, as Naruto got right in front of him. "What are you doing here?"
"I was out on a mission, and then these Kunoichi from another village showed up from outta nowhere and started attacking me. They wanted this paper that I picked up, and it seems to hold some information on the Leaf Village." Naruto explained.
Mizuki grew a smile. What a relief. Now he was safe for sure. "Really? Do you mind if I take that paper with me?" The Shinobi asked as he put his hands on his hips.
"Sure thing." Naruto answered without hesitation, as he dug through his pocket before picking out the paper and giving it to Mizuki. "But uh, since you're here, do you mind if you could get me out of here? I don't know how close those Ninjas are." he told him. It was better to have an experienced adult watching over you than stupidly take a risk of bumping into those ladies randomly. On his level he wouldn't be able to beat them 3 on 1.
"Sure thing…" Mizuki unbuttoned one of his vest pouches before he put the paper inside, buttoning it in doing so. "Just follow my lead." the Chunin jumped across a tree branch, and continued to leap further ahead, with Naruto following him immediately. Despite the fact he didn't know how to use his Chakra for stuff like this, which was a better and safer method to use, Naruto's experience with pranks and outrunning Shinobi allowed him to perform his own method of travelling.
Minutes passed by relatively quickly, with the two companions saying nothing to one another. So far everything seemed to be going smoothly, he could tell that they were going on the right path. If they kept going at this pace then they should be able to exit The Hills in no time at all.
As minutes passed by, Naruto became increasingly confused when Mizuki was leading him to the West side.
"Uh, hey…!" Naruto couldn't remember what his name was, having only seen him a couple times during his time in the Academy. He turned to the left as well. "Where are we going?! The exit isn't far from here!"
"Oh, uh… don't worry! There's a shortcut here that'll get you out of here even faster!" Mizuki replied, not bothering to turn his head to look at the boy.
Naruto became completely confused by this response. He knew this place like the back of his head, this path wasn't going to lead them anywhere. He'd have thought that maybe they didn't know this place as well as he did, considering he's never seen any Shinobi out in these places. But that made no sense. These were professional Ninjas, they're supposed to know their way around here.
If anything this was a much longer, and more unnecessary way of getting out of here. "What shortcut exactly…?" Naruto was skeptical about this. Unless there was some secret passage he hadn't been aware of after all this time, he didn't trust what was being said to him. Anxiety crept up.
"Wait…!" Mizuki put his right hand upfront, making them stop leaping all-together, with Naruto needing to find a bit of balance so that he doesn't fall off. "One of them is here…"
Naruto's body tensed when he heard those words. "Where is she?" he asked, digging through his pouch as he picked up a kunai before buttoning his pouch in a second.
"Not very far…" Mizuki gave him a vague answer, as the man slowly dug through his pouch, with the weapons in his disposal clinkering together. "In fact, if I can concentrate just a little harder…" he picked up several shurikens as his weapons. But then something seemed very off, something that Naruto didn't like. There was killer intent radiating from Mizuki. And not the silent kind, it was practically leaking. "I'd say the enemy is… RIGHT BEHIND ME!" Mizuki screamed as he gave Naruto a bloodshot look as he threw his shurikens directly at the boy.
"What the—?!" Naruto was completely shocked by this. Due to his previous growing tension, he immediately reacted by swinging his kunai, deflecting most of the shuriken aimed at him, with one being able to cut through his right sleeve and cut through a few layers of flesh. "Gagh—!" Naruto yelped as blood spurred out of his arm, right before he saw Mizuki leap straight towards him, kicking him in the stomach which made Naruto fall down and hit the ground.
Naruto grunted from the pain he felt as he rolled over the ground, looking up to see Mizuki coming at him again, this time throwing a pair of kunai straight for his head. Adrenaline kicked in, and Naruto rolled over to dodge the first kunai while swiping his own kunai to deflect the second one that came at him. The boy then made a backflip with his other arm to split distance and gather his train of thoughts as Mizuki landed on the ground.
"What the hell is wrong with you?!" Naruto exclaimed as he pushed through the pain, glaring at the Chunin who's facial expression changed to that of a sadistic smirk. This didn't make sense, why would he be attacked like that? "Why would you just do that when those Kunoichi are after us?!"
"You mean after you?" Naruto then became confused. "Frankly, I don't know where my teammates are at the moment. I haven't seen them in days, nor do I even know what they're up to." So what Mizuki said about finding them was just a lie, nor did he know about their current attempt to take Naruto as a hostage.
"Teammates…?" Naruto began to widen his eyes when he realized the definition of the word. "Hold on a minute… are you saying that you've allied yourself with those women?"
"Why wouldn't I, when I finally have a chance to get out of this village?! I'd finally do something that's actually worth it to attain power, rather than spend another second sharing the same space as you!" Mizuki pointed an accusing finger at Naruto, and the boy widened when he saw the man's body shaking with rage while keeping up his smirk. "Even if I had to sell out my village to do so!"
Naruto was dumbfounded. The fear that grasped him turned into something else as a small growl escaped his throat. His grip on the kunai tightened. He gave him a look of disgust. Anger was seeping through him. "I don't know what your problem is with me, but why would you turn your back on your own homeland? Don't you have anybody in this place you're close to? Aren't you friends with Iruka-Sensei?"
"Bah! And what does that matter?! I'll do what it takes to survive in this world! If getting stronger means deserting my village, then by all means I'm more than willing to do that! It's not like the village is any better by letting you walk around!" Mizuki replied back, and if one noticed closely he only seemed to be getting angrier.
"What…?" Now Naruto became more confused. "What did I even do to you? What does any of this have to do with me? If this is about the dumb pranks I did back in school then you're really stupid. And petty for that matter."
"Because you're the one responsible for the destruction of the village 12 years ago!" Mizuki exclaimed in fury. Naruto widened his eyes in surprise. "All those deaths you caused, all the destruction… I don't even care if you do have the beast locked away inside you! To me, YOU ARE THE NINE TAILED FOX!"
Naruto took those words in, and kept repeating itself in his head. He widened his eyes as far as they possibly could. "What did you say…?" he breathlessly said.
"It's insanity when you're told that you should be allowed to even walk around, when you're just nothing but a ticking time bomb, waiting to go off!" Mizuki's face twisted into deranged anger. "All these years, everybody, except you, knew about this! You can't even control it! And the Hokage is meaning to tell us that with all that power, no discipline, no control, should be allowed to do as he pleases?! Just look at you, your wound is already healed!" Mizuki then took out one of the large shurikens that was strapped onto his back. "If that's the case, then I'm getting the hell outta here right after killing you!"
Mizuki threw the enormous shuriken straight at Naruto, who, while still in shock, dodged the attack by throwing himself on the ground, rolling over before picking up multiple shuriken from his pouch and throwing them towards Mizuki. The Chunin moved sideways to avoid all the weapons, right before he charged straight at Naruto, moving like a blur to others.
'I'm the Nine Tails…?' Naruto thought to himself, feeling his heart racing as he prepared for battle against a higher class Shinobi, one who has superior combat experience and abilities. 'That can't be...!'
This didn't make sense. Was it just another lie? This one felt far more twisted and demented.
Mizuki and Naruto clashed with their kunais. Naruto swung his diagonally downwards to cut through Mizuki's leg, but the older man managed to react in time as he blocked it with his own kunai. Mizuki then spun his body as he proceeded to elbow Naruto in the face. The boy grunted from the blow given to him, and went for a counter-attack by spinning his body in mid air and kicked Mizuki in the face. Mizuki then responded by kicking Naruto on his chin, sending him backwards as the boy hit his back on the ground.
Naruto got up as he sprung back on his feet, charging forward before leaping straight at Mizuki to horizontally slash the right side of his torso in an attempt to destroy the paper. But the Chunin reacted in time by flipping in the air, which left Naruto exposed as the man grabbed his second enormous shuriken and proceeded to stab Naruto's back. "Gaaaah!" Naruto yelled out in pain as he felt the cold, sharp object pierce through his back, with the blood trickling immediately after, as some of it landed on the ground. "Ahhhh!" He couldn't bear the pain as he laid down on the ground, curling his left hand into a fist as he clenched them tightly.
"Hurts, doesn't it?" Mizuki rhetorically asked as he pulled the large weapon out of Naruto's back, making blood trickle from its edge.
Naruto struggled to get up, as the blood on his back spread by faster, dirtying his jacket. Naruto tried to give Mizuki a glare. "Don't worry, I'm not going to kill you, though to be more precise, I can't kill you. Heard there were grave consequences that fall upon those who harm the ones holding Tailed Beasts within them." Mizuki then raised his weapon, giving a sadistic smirk. "Though that doesn't mean I can't give a little payback for what you've done to this village 12 years ago…!"
Before Naruto could process what happened next, Mizuki got kicked by the face, and the force of it was strong enough to send him flying back through a tree, making the tree collapse by the raw strength accomplished to perform a feat like that. Naruto began to look up to see his savior, and was taken aback when he saw a gorgeous woman standing next to him.
The woman in question is a fair-skinned woman of slender build. She has long black untamed hair reaching her upper back, and very unique eyes that are red in colour, with an additional ring in them. She wears make-up consisting of red lipstick and purple eyeshadow. She wore the standard Shinobi vest, the difference being there weren't any sleeves, and underneath the vest she wore crimson red mesh armor. She also wore the standard Leaf Shinobi headband on her forehead.
"I just barely made it in time." The lady told herself as she looked at Naruto. "Don't worry, I'm here to save you. I'll be with you in just a minute…" Naruto didn't say anything, instead he just nodded his head without question.
"What… in the world…" Mizuki groaned in tremendous pain, struggling to get up. He looked over his head to see just who put such a blow against him. When seeing who it was, the man went pale. "Impossible… how did you—"
"Did you somehow not hear him make all that commotion earlier? With how loud he was screaming, only a deaf person couldn't hear him. And by the looks of it, I must have been the closest." The tall woman replied, giving a cold look to Mizuki. "I didn't think that another member of our enemies would have turned out to be one of our own allies…"
"Yeah, well, things don't always work out the way you plan them, right?" Mizuki replied as he supported himself by using the fallen tree. But it was clear that he was too injured to fight, as he could barely stand.
"You're right, some things don't go the way you want them to." She began to weave hand signs. "But for traitors like you, that shouldn't be hard to fix." When she finished her hand signs, Mizuki stopped moving completely, as though he were paralyzed. His pupils dilated before he passed out on the ground. "That should put you down for a half a day…"
Naruto stayed silent the whole time, as he felt the hostility coming from this woman despite her calm nature. So much so he forgot his back stopped hurting. The dashing heroine crouched down right next to Naruto, and the boy turned his head to look at her. "Don't worry, I only put him in an illusion. He's not dead." Kurenai comforted him, and all the hostility she had before had completely disappeared.
"You look really pretty…" Naruto blurted out without thinking, causing the grown woman to be taken aback by the unexpected words. ''And scary…" He couldn't help himself. She gave him a quizzical look on the last comment.
It was then that a pair of Ninjas showed up behind Kurenai. But their outfits consist of black clothing, grey flak jacket, metal arm guards and gloves, ninja shoes with spikes for travelling into mountainous regions, three ninja pouches on their back-waist and a signature spiral tattoo on their shoulder. They each wore a mask to hide their faces, the pattern resembling that of animals. They each carried a sword strapped onto their back. These were the ANBU Black Ops.
"All clear?" One of the ANBU asked for confirmation, studying the area around.
"Everything is fine. The boy is injured, but nothing life threatening." Kurenai simply answered. "I caught a traitor as well." she pointed to the unconscious Mizuki.
"A traitor…?!" The second member of the ANBU division sounded surprised to hear about this. "But why would one of our own decide to team up with those of the Hidden Waterfall Village?"
"Wait… are you guys by any chance looking for that paper?" Naruto asked as he began to get up, something that nearly surprised all 3 experienced Ninjas. However, they seemed rather confused on what he meant by paper. "It's uh… the thing that was tied with this kunai I found." He pulled out the oddly shaped kunai from his pocket, presenting the weapon to the Ninjas. "But I gave it to Mizuki before he attacked me. It's at the left side of his vest, down the middle."
One of the ANBU nodded his head as he went to go over Mizuki's body, pulling out the pouch from the middle before attaining the paper. When he checked to see what it was, he widened his eyes in shock. "No way!" he ushered the experienced Ninjas to check this out. Naruto managed to fully get up. When the Ninjas checked to see what it was, they were in utter shock.
"I don't believe it…" The adult woman put her hand over her mouth, eyes widening to their limit when she saw what it was.
"I'm giving this to Lord Hokage right away." the first ANBU member told his companions. He looked at the other member. "You—"
"Wait!" The ANBU members turned around in annoyance to see Naruto walking towards them. "I wanna know something… is it true that you guys know as well that I'm the Nine Tails?"
They all looked at him like a bomb went off. They looked back at each other, and then at Naruto again. They looked even more shocked than what they did with the paper. "How do you know about that…?" one of the ANBU members asked him in a serious tone.
"Mizuki told me." Naruto pointed his index finger at the unconscious Chunin. "Told me all about how I caused the destruction of the village 12 years ago, and how much he hates my guts."
"This sleazy piece of...!" the other ANBU member cursed under his breath, glaring daggers at the unconscious Shinobi. "Of all the callous things he could have done…!"
"He'll be executed for telling the boy about this, and selling out his own village. The Hokage will not be pleased in the slightest. I'll take this back, and you get this bastard to a cell." The ANBU member told his companion before looking back at the woman. "The Hidden Waterfall members have been captured as well, you take this boy to a hospital."
"Understood." She nodded her head before seeing the ANBU members flicker away. She then looked back at Naruto, who just stood there and gave a neutral look. "Come on, let's get you healed before that wound gets you any worse."
"Why didn't I know about this?" Naruto asked right away, stopping the Ninja from walking closer to him. "And how come I have the Nine Tails? How does everyone else know about this?"
Kurenai sighed as she approached Naruto. "Since you already know about this... I guess it wouldn't hurt to tell you more. I'll start by saying that… you're a Jinchuriki." she told him, which made Naruto look confused by what that meant. "To put this in simple terms, you are a host who keeps a Tailed Beast sealed inside them. In your case, you hold the Nine Tails within you, the one that the Fourth Hokage sealed away prior to his death."
"But… why me?" Naruto put his hands on his chest. "Why me out of literally everybody else?" He subconsciously raised frustration in his tone. The young boy truly didn't understand any of this. All the lies, the acting, the dishonesty thrown at him…
Kurenai got right in front of Naruto, and put both of her hands on his shoulders. "I am so sorry…" she crouched down on his level. "But I honestly do not know why. I was slightly older than you when the incident of the Nine Tails happened, and many lives were lost that day, including my father's."
Naruto clenched his fists, as images popped into his head on what that day could have been like, images of Nine Tails causing heavy damage, along with taking lives without any regard. And for him to have that beast inside him… it all made him sick to his stomach.
"So is that why…" It was starting to make sense. Why so many people had those fake smiles and kindness shown to him over the years, including the orphanage he lived at till he graduated. Naruto held his stomach as though he were in physical pain.
The pretty lady became greatly concerned right away. "What's wrong?!"
"It's…" Naruto got to his knees, and Kurenai immediately came by his side as she gave a look of worry. "Do… Do you hate me? Do they all hate me because of that?" His voice was shaking, his emotions were displayed clear as day as he felt a small quiver of a tear in his right eye.
The tall woman widened her eyes from such a question. She gave him a motherly look. "Come here." Kurenai sat down on the ground, and pulled her arm around Naruto, pulling him closer to her. "Don't ever say that… just know that Jounins like me don't hate you at all. Can't say the same for all the Chunins, and civilians alike. Children around your age and younger don't know about you having the Nine Tails, nor are they allowed to."
Naruto hadn't said anything, instead he let Kurenai give him a… half hug, if that's how he could describe it. "You are not the beast that attacked the village over a decade ago, you're a Shinobi of the Hifden Leaf Village, just like everybody else… well, excluding traitors and all that." Kurenai continued to comfort him. "You stood up to someone who was superior to you for your homeland, that alone tells me that you're nothing like the fox."
Naruto hitched his breath when she told him that. She was right, he was merely trying to stop someone from killing him, not only that but betray this village. He began to get up, as the injury on his back didn't hurt anymore. "You're right... I guess I just need to keep being me." he said as he looked down at the endowed woman. "Thanks, uh…"
"It's Kurenai Yuhi." She gave him her name, as she got up as well. "Though… are you feeling alright? Do you still need to be taken to a hospital?"
"I feel fine, really." Naruto turned his back, and Kurenai saw there wasn't any blood left, excluding his jacket being covered by it. "Though, thanks for saving me back there!"
"But I can't just leave you to walk out on your own. I'll escort you." Kurenai then grabbed Naruto in bridal style so that he wouldn't protest, and before he could blink, they were already jumping from one tree branch to another.
Naruto thought about telling her to let him go, so that he can get back on his own… yet the feeling of her chest pressing against him told him otherwise. 'I wanted to get off… but this doesn't feel so bad.' Naruto thought with a grin on his face, now staying completely still.
"This is…!" Hiruzen couldn't believe his eyes when he held the paper in his hands. This paper detailed a map of the village's patrol network, in other words it was a part of their defense system. ''The map of the village's patrol network!" the old Hokage looked back at the ANBU that bowed in his position. "So this is what they were after!"
"That's right." The ANBU nodded his head in confirmation. "That boy, Naruto, was the one who found this, preventing the enemy from getting their hands on it. Ironically, it's what allowed us to capture them much more quickly."
"He did…? Who would have thought that sending him on that mission would have involved him in something as dangerous as this…" The boy's income was definitely getting raised. "Either way, I'll have the patrol unit reexamine the central pattern right away. You did excellent work."
"Sir…" Hiruzen gave the ANBU a quizzical look. "About Naruto… that decree that you put… he knows about it now." the old Hokage immediately changed his expression to a look of shock. "He knows that he's the Nine Tails Jinchuriki. The traitor, Mizuki, told him all about it. I sent my colleague to be executed by Ibiki, after he gains intel on him."
"And… how is Naruto handling it?" Hiruzen asked.
"I… don't know. He wasn't particularly angry, per say, but he wanted answers right away." The ANBU answered.
"I see… you may leave now."
The ANBU did as he was told, as his body flickered away into nothingness. At that moment, Mito came by as she swung the door open before closing it. "What happened?" she asked in a serious tone, as though she were concerned about something. "I felt the ANBU here."
"The patrol was successful in retrieving this map." Hiruzen turned the small map around to show the woman just what the enemy was going after.
"That's the…!" Mito couldn't believe what she was seeing. "How could they steal this?!"
"That's what's getting me uneasy." Hiruzen clasped his fingers as he put both his elbows on his desk. "This is a part of our defense system, by stealing this, you may as well declare war."
"But in what way could a small village like the Hidden Waterfall use this piece of information?" Mito put her hands on the desk, bending her back forward to look at the map. "It can't be to declare war, if our villages fought then the Hidden Waterfall would fall apart in no time. This doesn't add up, even if it was a surprise attack it wouldn't have any effect."
"Given their small numbers, it's likely that they're in an alliance with another village…maybe more." Hiruzen hummed as he put his index finger and thumb under his chin. "But in any event, we should be glad that Naruto had indirectly saved this village."
"Naruto…?" Mito changed her expression to that of worry. ''How did he get involved in this? What happened?"
"Ironically, the assignment he was given a week ago made him be involved with the enemies that tried to take this information. And he fought admirably against one of our traitors who gave them this info." Hiruzen briefly explained the blond boy's involvement. "But along with that… because of Mizuki's big mouth, he told Naruto that he is the Nine Tails Jinchuriki…"
"Oh, he did?" Mito quivered her eyebrows as she crossed her arms, seemingly not worried anymore. ''When is he coming here?"
Hiruzen became confused by this. "What are you—"
"Don't act like you don't know. If he knows that most adults know what he is, then clearly the person he'll come to for questions is the one who made that law to begin with. Although… are you sure that's all he was told? He wasn't told anything else?"
"Nothing as far I know."
"Good for him, at least for now." Mito made a small sigh of relief. "Though… if you say he's been involved with the enemies… then maybe this is a good time to give him something more advanced."
"What do you mean?" Hiruzen was confused by what Mito was saying.
"I don't know the full details until Naruto comes here and gives his report, but the only useful Ninjutsu techniques he knows are from the Academy. The Clone Jutsu in itself isn't that useful in combat to begin with, and he can barely make 2 of them while the Transformation Jutsu is almost a parlor trick." Mito answered. "He needs something more advanced to defend himself better."
"That's why Kakashi will be assigned as his sensei. He'll teach him well." Hiruzen replied.
"Right... I'm sure he will." Mito nodded her head. "Make sure to summon a meeting to inform all our members about what happened today."
"But of course. I can't possibly ignore the potential threat of war breaking loose when I see one."
"So is that all that happened?" Mito asked, and Hiruzen nodded his head. "Well if that's the case, I better get back now. I am a busy woman." she said, right before she walked out of the office and closed the door.
And that… is a wrap for the first chapter. Hello everyone, I am back again, new story for you readers to read. This time a Naruto story… or an AU in this case.
Around several months ago I decided to rewatch the entire Naruto series from scratch, even going as far as watching the filler arcs… though not all of them. Some honestly weren't worth sticking through. So about halfway through the series, I got an idea to make an AU version of the series, some changes being small and some utterly drastic. So let's talk about the ones that happened in this chapter…
You probably noticed a bit of a personality change in Naruto, and I did this for a couple of reasons. I'm not exactly the biggest fan when it comes to his Canon personality, and while I could sort of get that from the start… I don't exactly like that this is what continues on and on. And sure, he does get character development, there is no denying that… but then it feels regressed right after, even though there's so much potential to go with this. And also… I'm more so getting to explore Naruto's talent.
Now what do I mean by this? Ok, you know how Naruto in the narrative is supposed to be portrayed as someone who doesn't have talent but works very hard? Yeah so, I call that complete bullshit. Like, even in Part 1 this kid literally stole the Scroll of Sealing (though in the Manga he used Sexy Jutsu to trick Hiruzen to get it in his own home which... I don't know what to say to that), he managed to utilize the Shadow Clone Jutsu, which is supposed to be an A ranked Jutsu that's massively difficult even for Jounin, and this kid does it one night. He's able to beat a Hyuga prodigy like Neji, was able to beat Gaara, and managed to learn the Rasengan which this thing is supposed to be extremely difficult to manage. In Part 2 he's able to apply a Nature Element in his Rasengan, which that shit is supposed to be impossible to add on to, even being labeled as a forbidden Jutsu after its first usage… oh and let's not forget he mastered Sage Mode, when Jiraiya couldn't do that. Don't even get me started on his Uzumaki heritage, who his parents are, and etc.
All that and you're telling me his personality is a dumbass kid who yells about being the Hokage? Like ffs during the end of his talk with Kushina, there's literally a brief flashback showing that he passed his exam with all the success marks, but fails anyway. Yeah, no, I'm not having any of that. Oh and speaking of his Uzumaki heritage, you probably noticed that he's not going by his last name… well that's because he doesn't have one in this, more specifically he doesn't know what his last name is. There's a very good reason why he doesn't have that, and I can't share that just yet.
And another change such as keeping Mito alive… if some don't remember who Mito is, to keep it brief she's basically Hashirama's wife that Obito and Madara mentioned during the War arc of the series. Though for those who remember, in Canon she died as an old woman when Kurama was transferred from her to Kushina as a child. However, my Co-Author and I weren't exactly convinced that she should age that much, especially since the Uzumaki and the Senju clan are distant blood relatives, and these fuckers live a long ass life. We're never given any timestamp on just how long it's been since the final battle of Hashirama and Madara happened. Like, literally when Obito was mistook as Madara, Tsunade thought the only way it could have been possible for ''Madara" to survive as long as he has is just tiny little pieces of the Hashirama Cells, just a little bit of it, to still make him sound and look young.
Now as for Naruto already graduating the Academy early, and still not being put in a team, allow me to explain: Naruto in the first chapter was already said that he failed the Academy Graduation 3 times in a row, while everybody else passed. So, the only way this would make sense without any retcons is that the Academy school lasts for 2 years for each school. Naruto would have had to sign up when he was 6, Academy lasts for 2 years, fails 3 times and then we get to the accurate age when he's 12. This would further support it as some flashbacks do show Naruto and the others as small children, still attending the exact same class under Iruka as their teacher… There's a problem that didn't make sense to me. How are they still attending the same class for years, and it's only until they're 12-13 that they graduate, when you have a prodigy like Sasuke still not graduating from the academy.
So in this version, Naruto graduated when he was with Rock Lee, Neji, and TenTen in his class. He didn't get placed under anyone's team that year because Naruto still had to be put under Kakashi, and why Kakashi still didn't join… that'll be explained a little later. As for the plot of this, I took the inspiration of doing this from Episodes 175 to 178 that focus on Naruto and Iruka's relationship, which I recommend you watch, mixing a little bit of Mizuki's part since he's the one who started it all.
Another thing to note, the villagers don't openly hate Naruto. Now this one was kinda dumb for me when I was rewatching, like why in the fuck would you actively trigger what's essentially a walking nuke? We've already seen what happened with Gaara, but at least they had the Kazekage to stop and try to control it. But with Naruto? It's even worse cause it's Kurama, and they have no-one powerful enough to stop the bloody thing.
So I believe that's about all I wanted to share for this chapter. The next one will focus on Konohamaru, but it will go by differently, just like with many chapters that will come. Until then, please make sure to give feedbacks and reviews, cause I will reply to each of the ones I can, and it helps to build this story to the best of my abilities.
This story is also available on AO3 as well