A/N: This is the second installment in the Unity series. If you haven't read Prologue, I recommend that you check it out, otherwise this might not make sense. (It's four chapters and 10,000 words. It won't take long.)
Chapter 1 – Naruto did WHAT?
It had been 4 years since everything had changed. 4 years since the Uchiha clan had disappeared overnight, leaving a single survivor. 4 years since Yugito discovered the spirit living in her head.
The wind whipped at her hair, turning it into a tail of dusty blonde filaments as she leaped through the trees. So much has happened since that day, she thought quietly as Konohagakure came into view. The Hidden Leaf looked peaceful as usual.
After the massacre, the village had been in an uproar. The entire Uchiha compound was quickly cordoned as the ANBU and Sensory Division swept the area for survivors, though none but Sasuke remained. People demanded answers. Why had the Hokage let this happen? Will we be safe in our own homes? Who did this?
Academy attendance had dropped to an all-time low. Parents forbade their children from leaving their houses, worried that they might be caught and slaughtered like the Uchiha. Dozens of terrified families had left the village; they didn't feel secure in Konoha anymore. Not to mention the children murdered by Itachi.
The Hokage's office had been drowned in paperwork. There were letters of complaint to be answered, death certificates to write, registries to reorder, and the wills of an entire clan to be read. Most of the wills were simple – inheritances and whatnot– but there was one that even Hiruzen might have raised his eyebrows at: the final clause of Uchiha Fugaku's will.
If no living relatives are present to act as Uchiha Sasuke and Uchiha Itachi's guardians, guardianship shall be transferred immediately to Hyūga Hiashi and Hyūga Hitomi. Furthermore, the two parties have agreed that Uchiha Sasuke will be betrothed to Hyūga Hinata. The two are to be wed when both Uchiha Sasuke and Hyūga Hinata attain the legal age of marriage, thus ensuring peace between Uchiha and Hyūga clans and affirming that the Uchiha bloodline continues.
Signed in the year of Our Lord -,
Uchiha Fugaku & Uchiha Mikoto
It was no secret, especially when Sasuke suddenly moved to the Hyūga compound. And when he was seen with Hinata, the two of them red-faced and embarrassed, people figured out the latter part quickly enough. Many schoolgirls' hearts were broken that day.
As for Yugito's own life…
Hiruzen had agreed to let her remain in the village, if she didn't divulge any of the information regarding the Massacre and her Bijū. Through Inoichi, he'd spoken to Matatabi and forged a pact with the beast, demanding that it would never harm any of the people of Hi no Kuni. Matatabi was a peaceable creature, unlike the rest of the Bijū, or her "brethren". She had agreed to abide by the Hokage's contract. And she'd started training Yugito in the ways of a Bijū partner, or jinchūriki as humans called them. She'd also found out the reason she'd been allowed to stay with Naruto: He had a Bijū as well, the Nine-Tailed Kurama.
That came with another slew of problems in the form of Yugito's Katon. Since she'd discovered Matatabi, her fire jutsu had changed. Instead of being bright orange and gold, Yugito's flames were a sharp electric blue. Records had to be falsified, and files had to be edited, but in the end, the public understood that the odd-looking fire was the result of "an unknown first-generation kekkei genkai". Naruto was none the wiser to all of this; Yugito told him the explanation concocted by the Sandaime.
And finally, she'd been scouted by the ANBU. It wasn't unpredictable; children who performed exceptionally in the Academy were selected to train as ANBU. Supposedly, the boy she'd seen on the night of the Massacre – Itachi – had been chosen in that way. Yugito's grades were fairly…higher than her classmates'. It had nothing to do with the fact that an ancient force of nature was sharing space in her head and knew a lot of history.
Still, she'd tried to decline the offer, first politely, then forcefully as the Black Ops began showing up on her doorstep. Yugito had no desire to become an ANBU; she knew that their missions were long and arduous, requiring many hours spent away from home. She worried that Naruto would get in some fix while she was away. Unfortunately, the Hokage had appeared in front of their apartment and practically ordered Yugito to accept the recruiters' offer. He'd seemed suspiciously persistent, and Yugito had eventually caved.
Thankfully, she was an apprentice for the first year; she hadn't been required to leave the village. Due to the Uchiha Massacre, Konoha had lost its Military Police Force. Therefore, the ANBU acted as the village police. During the first year, Yugito escorted diplomats, guarded the Hokage's office, and patrolled the village outskirts at night: simple activities that didn't end in guaranteed combat.
But the next year, she became a full-fledged ANBU. Now she was required to participate in more dangerous missions such as hunting vicious nukenin and spying deep in enemy territory. The missions became longer and longer; the enemies became more and more dangerous; and Yugito found herself spending less and less time with Naruto, though she'd gained guardianship over him in the last year. The last mission – investigating Otogakure, a minor shinobi village that had begun to militarize alarmingly fast – had been a month long, and she was eager to return home.
"ANBU Squad 37, reporting in!" barked the purple-haired woman, removing her mask and bowing to the Hokage.
Hiruzen took a long drag on his pipe, blowing out a puff of jasmine-scented smoke. A sigh left his lips, and he dug through the tall stack of mission requests by his desk. "Squad 37… sent to infiltrate Oto no Kuni…Mangūsu, Tanuki, Hyō. Begin the report."
"Hai, Hokage-sama!" the squad leader, Yugaō, said. Yugito shifted on the balls of her feet. I can't wait to get out of here! Her body ached with the suppressed fatigue of a long journey and her eyelids were drooping from consecutive nights without sleep. Not to mention the headache that throbbed behind her forehead, pulsing painfully with every beat of her heart.
Even as she thought this, another wave of pain forced its way through her head, tearing and scraping at her skull. Her tenant, the Nibi Matatabi, hissed fiercely. "I cannot wait until you're old enough to take aspirin. This is very…painful."
Urusai! Yugito replied playfully. You're a Bijū, I'm sure you can handle it.
Meanwhile, Yugaō was discussing the mission results with the Hokage. "…yes," she said. "There is a new leader in Otogakure. They call him the Oto no Hebi." She passed a photograph to Hiruzen. "He's very secretive and he seldom leaves his mansion, which is heavily guarded. This is an image of him that we were able to obtain, thanks to Tanuki-san."
Hiruzen set his pipe on the desk, scrutinizing the blurry image of a pale-skinned man with long black hair. "This appearance," he muttered. Through the slits of her "Panther" mask, Yugito saw his eyes widen slightly. "Oto no Hebi…it couldn't be…him?"
"Sarutobi-sama knows this man?" Matatabi lashed her fiery blue tails. "How interesting." The Nibi winced as Yugito's headache sharpened. "Kami-sama in heaven. How can I help you if you don't take care of yourself?" She sighed in frustration, sending a pulse of healing chakra through Yugito's skull. The headache dulled a bit, allowing Yugito to focus on the Hokage's next words.
"You are dismissed. Except for Hyō-san," the Sandaime ordered. As the other two ANBUs' forms flickered away, Hiruzen turned to Yugito. "Ni'i-san. Please, have a seat." He gestured towards the two worn wooden chairs by his desk. "We need to talk about your brother."
"Hai, Hokage-sama." Yugito sat down on a chair, crossing her legs and removing her porcelain mask. "Is Naruto all right? Don't tell me he's been bullied again!" Naruto had always been ostracized by the village children. Many had grown up hearing the tale of the Kyūbi and had imitated their parents in the shunning of Naruto. The last time Yugito had returned to Konoha, she'd found Naruto with a black eye and two missing teeth (thankfully baby teeth).
Hiruzen let out a heavy sigh, picking up his pipe. "I cannot control the hearts of people. Fortunately, Naruto is all right, but there was a slight…mishap…during his Genin exam."
"Did he pass?" Yugito asked nervously. "I'm sure he passed this time; he studied so hard…" Yugito trailed off, noticing the look on the Hokage's face.
Hiruzen didn't answer; he took a few puffs at his pipe, thumbing through a stack of clean white pages. Removing one from the bottom, he handed it to the young ANBU. "I suppose it's best if you see for yourself…Yugito-san. This is his report card and his written test."
Yugito stared in shock at the column of numbers at the far left of the page. The numbers were unbelievably low. None of Mizuki's scores were greater than seventy, with the highest grade – Naruto's thrown weapon proficiency – being a 67. Meanwhile, Iruka had been a bit more gracious, giving Naruto passing grades in most subjects. But the kanji scrawled in the margins worried her. Single sickly Bunshin, still struggles with chakra control… Her heart sank at the final grade that glared malevolently from the bottom of the paper.
75.
You had to get at least an 80 to graduate from the Academy.
"Naruto failed?" she whispered, echoed mentally by Matatabi.
"Not quite," Hiruzen replied. He tapped a smeared note beside Naruto's final grade, written in a shaky version of Iruka's usually precise script. "There is an alternative way to become genin." His face grew grim. "An archaic law from the time of Hashirama-dono. When the law was passed, the shinobi world had been thrown into turmoil and Shodaime-dono needed soldiers desperately. He couldn't wait for the ritual formalities of genin exams, and this law was the result. If a student demonstrated mastery of an S-rank jutsu, they would be immediately promoted to genin.
"Unfortunately, it seems I failed to notice that we had a traitor in the Academy. Mizuki took advantage of the old law. Most likely, he'd been waiting for years to find a child who was struggling, a desperate child who would stop at nothing to become a ninja. He'd harshly grade the student's exam, and approach them afterwards to tell them about the law. The student would ask him what they could do…and Mizuki would tell them to steal the Forbidden Scroll. He'd then tell them that he'd bring the scroll back to its place, but instead he'd leave the village in possession of a repository of highly dangerous techniques."
"So, you're telling me that Mizuki told Naruto-kun to steal the Forbidden Scroll and Naruto-kun did it?" Yugito groaned, her ears flattening against the sides of her head. She couldn't believe what she was hearing – Mizuki had been one of her favorite teachers!
Her ears pricked as she heard the light tap of feet touching down on the polished wooden floor. "That bastard Mizuki told Naruto it'd be a prank." Iruka scowled, his normally calm face twisted into an expression of disgust. He obviously had lost all respect for his former colleague. "I'm glad I was able to find him in time. But that bastard tried to turn Naruto against me by telling him about his true nature."
It's about time, Matatabi purred. I don't agree with your Hokage about keeping the boy in the dark. He should have known long ago. Her claws curled inwards.
"Yes." Hiruzen sighed heavily. "Naruto now knows who he is, for better or for worse. But he chose the right side in the end." He cracked a small smile. "He beat Mizuki using the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu, one of the techniques in the Forbidden Scroll…"
"…And I saw it fit for him to become a genin," Iruka finished. "He demonstrated courage, loyalty to the village, and an impressive resolve."
Hiruzen cleared his throat. "Hrm. Iruka?"
"Oh, right!" Iruka yelped. "I almost forgot why I was here. Ahem. I'm pleased to report that several genin teams passed their secondary examinations. The Ino-Shika-Cho under Asuma-san, Yūhi-sensei's Squad Eight, and believe it or not, Hatake's team."
"He passed someone?" Yugito was genuinely surprised. Hatake Kakashi was infamous for failing every genin squad who'd been assigned him. He'd sent home many disappointed genin over the years.
Iruka nodded enthusiastically. "Naruto's team, in fact."
"That's good." Relief washed over Yugito's face. "I'm going to go home now, if that's all. I need to talk to Naruto-kun; if I know him, he'll have plenty to tell me."
"Actually, you are being assigned another mission." the Hokage said slowly. "Yugito, I hereby give you the duty of shadowing Hatake Kakashi's genin team. Make sure that Naruto stays safe. He hasn't been in any battles yet….but if he is in danger, the Kyūbi may take control. You're the only one who can stop him then."
-=-oOo-=-
First chapter's here! And within a week of the Prologue ending! I'm so excited to start the next bit of our Unity saga. Please drop a review if you liked it; they always brighten my day! ~Miss Citronella