disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.
Chapter Three: In the shadow of the fox
It was noon and the elderly Sandaime Hokage was enjoying a nice bit of quality time together with a cloth and his paintbrush. He found that, at his old age, he needed to stimulate his brain's activity by doing something creative for at least a few hours every day. The senile old coo-, err, respectably aged leader was blissfully writing the words 'honor' and 'duty' on a set of cloth's he'd been planning to give to his grandson, when a chuunin stormed in and started ranting hysterically about an unknown person desecrating the Hokage monument.
"Not even a few hours of me-time…" Sandaime thought to himself as he threw on the official robe and hat of his post. He followed the still hyperventilating messenger boy to the balcony beneath his office where a small crowd was gathered already trying to figure out what the person with the bucket of orange paint thought he could get away with. Said person turned his head and smiled broadly at the Hokage, before continuing his act of vandalism. The Hokage's eye twitched as the vandal skillfully wrote the symbol "ancient" on the face of the Third's sculpture. The plain looking brunette smirked at his work and threw both hands in the air spilling paint on himself.
"Only somebody as magnificent as me can do something like this. I'm invincible!"
The Hokage's eye twitched again and he turned to the academy teacher that appeared next to him.
"Uzumaki Naruto is missing from class." The teacher stated simply.
"Oh." Was the Hokage's reply as realization dawned on him.
"I wasn't aware that he could perform a Henge this skillfully Umino-san. It's quite a sharp contrast to your reports."
Iruka would sweat bullets by now if he was anything but a shinobi.
"The extent of his skill doesn't go any further than his display of pranks."
"Is that an insult Iruka-sensei?" a silky voice behind them replied to that.
Both Hokage's and Iruka's heads turned abruptly and they looked straight into the masked face of Uzumaki Naruto, whom returned it with a look of indifference. He pointed at the figure on the Hokage Monument who was still painting away with a blissful grin on his face.
"Correct me if I'm wrong but, do the brown-haired, black-eyed kid up there and I really look so much alike?"
Iruka silently swore. He came so close to catching him and yet he completely failed…again. The 'champion prankster' outwitted him…again. He looked at the vandal on the Hokage Monument again. At least he thought it was the champion prankster. Kami forbid if that was a copycat up there. Soon there'd be an invasion of Naruto-wannabees overrunning Konoha with annoying pranks and shit-eating grins. He'd have a nervous breakdown for sure.
"Hey he's running!" one of the spectators suddenly shouted. Everybody looked up and sure enough found the vandal sprinting up the steep face of the Fourth. Some of the shinobi present tried to pursue him, but found nothing but ninja smoke where they thought he had gone to. Iruka had a terrible feeling in the pit of his stomach and turned slowly to find the Naruto behind him gone.
"It seems there's no real way of telling if it was Naruto or not." The Hokage replied dryly.
"He still has to go back to the academy. There's no reason why I can't outrun him." Iruka muttered and he took off…only to get held back by the Hokage.
"Iruka…" Iruka gulped. If the Hokage didn't felt the need to use honorifics then this'd probably be a very, very serious talk.
"It seems to me you have hidden some of the boy's progress from me. That's quite a feat to hide something like that from me in my own village. That, however, is the only positive thing about this…situation."
Iruka gulped again. This was going to get really ugly.
---
When Iruka entered his classroom, it was as if time stood still. All the students were doing pretty much the same thing they were when he left. He glanced at Naruto's seat and found him asleep with his head on his desk, just like the Bunshin he left behind earlier. The Hokage was right. If Naruto was skillful enough to fool him, the entire class and a good number of shinobi then there was no reason why someone that good shouldn't be able to prove his worth to the village as a genin, even if he is that boy.
"Class! Pop-quiz today!" The entire class groaned.
"Take a look at the person sitting left of you, or if you're in the last seat in the row, the person in the first seat of the row." Everybody did so. Naruto even opened one eye sleepily to glance at Kiba and shut it immediately.
"I want all of you to come down here one by one and use the Henge no Jutsu to transform yourselves into the person you just had to look at. Starting from top row to bottom row from my left. Go!"
One by one the students formed a neat line to display their use of the Henge no Jutsu. When it was Naruto's turn, he created one Bunshin and had it transform into Akamaru as he transformed into Kiba. The Akamaru Bunshin ran around Naruto in a frenzy until it jumped into Naruto's jacket. Naruto proceeded to do a 'dumb-Kiba' expression complete with a puzzled look on his face. The class laughed but Iruka quickly shut them up.
"Naruto, when did I tell you to include anything besides the person left of you in your transformation?"
"You didn't." Naruto dead-panned.
"Then why did you include his dog in the transformation? You know he can't bring pets to school"
Naruto pretended to think about it knowing that would piss Iruka-sensei off even more, and finally answered, "I thought it would make the transformation more realistic sensei."
"Yeah well next time, don't think just do. Next!"
"Then how about this transformation?"
Iruka was about to yell at Naruto until he heard the words 'Oiroke no Jutsu'. His jaw fell to the floor and he was propelled backwards by a jet of blood surging from his nose. He yelled at Naruto only to find the boy turning his back on him. The class laughed again at the display.
Naruto walked back to his seat and sat down next to a seething Kiba trying to hide Akamaru from the eyes of his teacher.
'I'll get you for that you snitch!' Kiba hissed at Naruto who's only response to that was to shrug indifferently.
Class went on and Naruto slept through most of it, already having sat through the same classes twice. If Iruka didn't have something against him, he probably would've graduated years ago, or so he figured. At first he didn't realize, but the more time passed the more it seemed Iruka made the extra effort of degrading, insulting and holding back Naruto in every academic way possible. It seemed that this year, he'd have to do something drastic if he wanted to pass.
But as Naruto was making plans, Iruka was making some of his own.
"Hokage-sama was right, Naruto is a natural at combining techniques. He can perform both the Bunshin and the Henge no Jutsu without hand seals and create a Bunshin and a Henge in one go. Dammit I can't hold him back any more. Any longer and he'll either become homicidal or a manic depressive. Neither is good for the village in the long run. I might even have to apologize to the brat after all this."
As the bell rang, all the students got up and packed their stuff with lightning-speed, not wanting to wait another second for their mother's home-cooking. Naruto silently made his way out of the academy like he did everyday. When he saw Kiba approaching, he hid using a Henge and used Shunshin no Jutsu when he was out of sight. Kiba was left dumbfounded while Akamaru sniffed the ground in confusion.
Unknown to both of them, they were being watched closely by an ANBU with a wolf mask.
---
That night, Naruto ate dinner at Ichiraku as he was used to. He was having light conversation with the waitress Ayame as the bowls kept stacking up. He worked up quite the appetite training himself that night. When Naruto began to talk abnormally loud as he boasted about his prank earlier that day, the curtain parted and an emotionless Umino Iruka stepped into the bar.
"So it was you." He said in an emotionless voice.
Naruto froze and Ayame looked at the two in confusion before shrugging and went back to cooking more ramen.
"Iruka-sensei…"
Iruka sat down beside Naruto and ordered some ramen. He turned to glare at Naruto long and hard.
"Those eyes…" Naruto thought as he looked down in guilt.
"You haven't made my life easier you know." Iruka commented dryly.
"The Hokage chewed me out just for accusing you for that little stunt of yours." Naruto couldn't help but smile under his mask, but Iruka didn't notice.
"Why do you do that sort of thing anyway?"
For a moment it didn't seem like Naruto would answer. He played with his chopsticks for a while and tried not to look directly into Iruka's eyes.
"It's because I have to remind people once in a while that I still exist." The realization hit Iruka, that he knew exactly what Naruto was talking about.
"And also, I like it when people run around in panic trying to find the answers that are right under their noses. It's pretty innocent, but if I don't do a prank every now and then I'd die of boredom."
Iruka sighed heavily with his head in his hands.
"Naruto…you probably are really just an orphaned kid looking for some attention…"
"Why the Hokage Monument? Do you know what that means to this village?"
Naruto looked at Iruka with an intensity Iruka didn't know the boy had.
"Because some day I will be the Hokage that surpasses all of them, and when that happens, everyone will acknowledge me for who I am!"
"Yeah…" Iruka said staring into nothingness. On the inside he cursed his soft heart. The demon that killed his parents. The demon that wiped out half the village. Still, there was something in his gut telling him that Naruto wasn't even close to being anything resembling a demon.
"You know what…" Naruto looked at Iruka with interest. "Tomorrow could be your last graduation if you play your cards right. I'll pay the bill tonight, but you've got to promise to prove to me tomorrow that you have what it takes to become Hokage."
Naruto looked at him suspiciously not trusting the whole bit.
"Why would you do this for me?"
Iruka grimaced. He knew this wasn't going to be easy. Would he lie to the boy? The truth would probably be better.
"Hokage-sama wants you to and I am also curious of what you have learned under my tutelage all these years."
Naruto scoffed but couldn't suppress the grin under his mask, and stuck his hand out.
"Deal!" he said with enthusiasm.
They shook hands and as soon as they let go, Naruto bolted.
"HEEY!" Iruka yelled. The he turned around and turned gray as he saw 12 bowls stacked on top of each other. Dear Kami that kid had an appetite. Ayame smiled sweetly at him as she handed him the bill. Iruka could only grumble in response.
---
When Naruto woke up the next morning, he went through his usual routine. He undressed, showered, brushed his teeth, flossed, combed his wild hair (even though he only managed to break the comb), and gazed in the mirror.
Ever since he pestered Kakashi into showing him what exactly was behind his forehead protector, Naruto became interested in bloodline limits. Kakashi told him about the Uchiha clan's Sharingan, but when he asked the Jounin where he got his from, all he would say was that it was another story for another time.
But staring at his own unnatural blue eyes, he started to wonder if maybe it was some sort of latent bloodline or indication to where he was really from, because he'd only seen one other family in Konoha with blond hair and blue eyes, and they made it clear that he was not part of them. Maybe, if he had some way to awaken a powerful bloodline, wouldn't people accept and respect him like they did the Hyuuga and Uchiha clan? He never needed an approval for his existence before, so why did the thought of that sound so tempting?
His reflection taunted him with the sight of his whisker-marks, something that made him proud and unique and yet something he had to cover up to avoid incidents in his own village. Naruto scoffed. If it wasn't for Kakashi and the old man, he'd probably left a long time ago. But there was always the fact that this was his home, and if anything he was probably too stubborn to be chased out of the village his parents died in.
He trailed his whisker marks with a finger, knowing that they were the only scars on his body. Even the brutal abuse he suffered as a little child didn't leave him with anything but pain in his soul. They were there for a reason, but whatever that reason was the Hokage wouldn't let him in on it. The old fart probably thought it was for his protection. He put his facemask on in a solemn mood, when his mind started to form an idea. If he did possess anything like a doujutsu, he'd probably have to mold chakra in his eyes. He formed a half-ram seal and started collecting and molding the chakra behind his retina, only for nothing to happen. He sighed and tried it over again, when his eyes fell on the seal that formed on his stomach. He gasped in shock as he looked down on his belly to find an exotic seal which looked like it had been there all along. He never molded chakra or used any jutsu with his shirt off before, so for all he knew it could be quite possible that he's been carrying the seal all his life. Curiosity overcame him and he started molding chakra behind the seal, and used some impressive control of chakra to trace the seal with chakra on the tip of his finger. That's when all hell broke loose and darkness overcame him. He could feel himself getting pulled deep inside of him where a lingering and evil presence made itself known to him by cackling and growling at the same time, making a sound as smooth and subtle as an air horn in the ear. The last thing he remembered were two giant menacing looking crimson colored eyes that emanated a fierce amount of killing intent. Naruto was out cold and shaking in a matter of minutes.
He woke up disoriented and trembling badly. He was practically sweating bullets, but he hauled himself up to his feet none the less. His gaze flickered to the seal on his stomach once more, now more than ever convinced that there was something seriously wrong with him. Certain things were starting to make some vague sort of sense to him now. That was the moment he decided to study the workings of that seal and have a nice long talk with the Hokage. He glanced at his wall clock, completely baffled that he'd spent at least twenty minutes out cold. He and the Hokage would talk, after he'd passed that damn exam.
---
Naruto sat in class looking more downtrodden than usual. After waking up from his incident with the seal, he was sore all over and he found controlling his chakra to be nigh impossible. The whole class looked anxious as Iruka finally announced the order in which the tests would be taken. Time progressed slowly as one by one the students were being called into the next room. By the time Iruka got to Naruto's name, he was in so much pain that he slumped out of his seat and half-dragged his sorry ass to the front of the classroom. He dolefully strolled into the next room, where Mizuki and Iruka were sitting behind a desk with a whole array of headbands in front of them. Naruto grimaced under his mask.
"Now Naruto," Iruka started. "If you will, perform for us the Bunshin no Jutsu. We want you to make three identical copies of yourself."
No sooner had he said that or Naruto's hands rapidly formed a string of hand seals.
"BUNSHIN NO JUTSU!" he shouted and the area filled with smoke. As soon as the smoke let down, four identical Naruto's stood in front of the two teachers.
"Is this a joke Naruto?" Iruka asked seriously.
Naruto looked at him with a puzzled expression on his face.
"You can do better than that right? Two of your clones don't even look like you and the other looks like he's better off finding a hole to die in."
Naruto turned around and sure enough, two of his bunshin were too obese to be counted as human beings, and the other looked so famished and fragile like it was something straight out of a cheesy horror movie.
"It was a slight slip-up Mizuki sensei. It's hard to focus on every detail when you make multiple copies right? I did good for an academy student…I think. If you don't like it I can do it again."
Iruka sighed heavily. "You can't fool a child with that. It'd be irresponsible of me to put you on active duty, if you can't even do the Bunshin no Jutsu properly."
A sense of dread hang over Naruto as the atmosphere in the room subtly changed.
"You fail!"
And that was that. Naruto cursed and punched the ground.
"Iruka-sensei, Naruto did create the proper amount of clones. Even as an academy student, he's done better than somebody his age would." Mizuki said with a silky voice.
"Unacceptable." Iruka said. "Everybody got it right the first time, and those who didn't failed as well. I can't give you any second chances just because you lost concentration. On a real mission there'll be no time for correcting mistakes 'cause mistakes will cost you the life of your teammates and your own. I'm sorry Naruto but you're just going to have to try-"
But Naruto ran out of the classroom before Iruka could finish that sentence. When he came outside, he saw the large number of people gathered to congratulate their children. Not much got to Naruto these days, but seeing all the support they got and all the support he was currently lacking was a little bit too much for him and he sulked off in silence, shrugging off the disapproving glares he got along the way.
Whatever he did to that seal, it completely messed with his chakra control. It was even worse than when he first started using chakra. He should've asked Kakashi about it first. He shouldn't have played around with seals. Even Kakashi admitted once that he wasn't that knowledgeable when it came to seals, and here he thought he could just play around with it without consequence. He should've known better. Hell he was lucky to still be alive.
Mizuki followed him from a distance, smirked, and called him over with a serious look on his face.
---
A couple of hours and a perverted jutsu later, Naruto found himself sneaking across rooftops wondering what technique there could possibly be in the scroll that could make him pass. He ran across rooftops swiftly and managed to do so without making a sound. As he made his way to the clearing Mizuki told him about and opened the scroll, realization hit him like a ton of bricks. There was the first technique, the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu. A prankster's dream. Immediately he started practicing the technique without giving much thought to the rest of the scroll.
---
By the time Iruka showed up, Naruto was already looking beat-up from practicing. Naruto eyed Iruka warily as he held the scroll tighter.
"What do you plan on doing with that scroll Naruto?" Iruka asked icily.
Naruto's gaze that moment said more than words between the two passed. He obviously didn't trust Iruka, or the whole situation for that matter. Mizuki showing up out of the blue and just happening to know another way for him to pass seemed convenient, but was a too good offer to pass up at the time. Naruto decided to confide in Iruka…for the moment.
"Mizuki-sensei told me to learn a technique from this scroll and show it to you so I could graduate."
And something clicked inside Iruka's head. He pushed Naruto out of the way of incoming kunai and took the attack head-on. Mizuki was crouching on a branch in full battle outfit.
"Nice job in finding him…" he commented dryly. Iruka suddenly understood perfectly.
"Naruto give me the scroll." Mizuki ordered the boy who gave him an incredulous look.
"DON'T GIVE HIM THAT SCROLL NARUTO EVEN IF YOU DIE! IT HAS FORBIDDEN NINJUTSU IN IT! MIZUKI USED YOU TO GET HIS HANDS ON IT!"
Mizuki just stood on that branch smirking at the two of them.
"Naruto, you have no use for that thing so I'll tell you the truth…"
"NO DON'T!" Iruka yelled
"You know about the demon fox that attacked Konoha twelve years ago right? It wasn't killed but sealed. Ever since, there was a secret rule created that was meant never to be told to you."
Naruto didn't reply, but he knew enough that all of it somehow related to him.
"The rule was that you were never to be told that you are the demon fox Kyuubi that attacked our village twelve years ago."
"That's a lie!" Naruto hissed.
"Is it? What about the villagers' treatment? The truth is that you are the demon fox that killed your Iruka-sensei's parents and you were sealed up by the Fourth Hokage."
"STOP IT!" A hysterical Iruka yelled, but his words were lost on Naruto and Mizuki.
"Just think about it, the cold glares, the hurtful treatment, and the abuse…" Mizuki trailed off with a smirk plastered on his face. Naruto fingered his cheek and slowly touched his ribs where he got wounded after someone beat him senseless, only to wake up the next morning feeling no different than the day before. So that was the reason…he had to admit, as far as reasons go, it was a fairly good one.
"Iruka is the same you know! He actually hates you!" Mizuki yelled finally as he spun his large shuriken behind his back. Naruto, in his anger, started gathering chakra like crazy.
"Dammit!" He thought. "Dammit Dammit Dammit!"
Iruka started reminiscing about his talk with the Hokage after graduation ended that day. He remembered the Hokage telling him that Naruto wasn't the result of the Kyuubi being sealed, but rather the object that the demon had been sealed in. And try as he might, Iruka couldn't find a demonic bone in Naruto's body even with how much he wanted to disagree with the Hokage. All this time whenever he thought he saw the demon, it was nothing but the lonely boy Naruto really was. He felt ashamed and helpless now that they had no chance of escaping the wrath of the former teacher Mizuki. He opened his eyes in time to see Mizuki throw the shuriken in Naruto's direction, who was still oblivious to everything around him.
CRUNCH
Blood splattered all around Naruto, but when he dared to open his eyes all he saw was Iruka's tear-filled face looking down on him in guilt. Iruka had jumped in to take the hit, which was meant for him, even though he was the Kyuubi.
"Why?" Naruto stammered in shock.
"My…after my parents died there was nobody to compliment me or acknowledge me. I used to do stupid things and act like an idiot to get attention, since I couldn't get along well in school anyway. It was so painful…"
Iruka started crying as he thought back on his childhood.
"You must have been in a lot of pain too haven't you Naruto? I'm sorry for mistreating you…if I had seen you for what you are sooner then this wouldn't have happened…"
Naruto gazed at Iruka trying to look past his reasoning, but he couldn't find anything but guilt when reading his eyes. Then he looked at the smirking Mizuki and his mind started flooding with doubt, so he ran.
"Naruto!" Iruka yelled out to him but it was in vain.
"Hehehe…" Mizuki dropped down from his branch. "He won't be back. Naruto isn't the type to have a change of heart. He's going to use that scroll to get revenge on the village."
Mizuki smirked as Iruka struggled to stand up.
"You saw his eyes earlier. They're the eyes of a demon."
Iruka pulled the shuriken from his back and grunted as blood poured from the gaping wound.
"Naruto isn't like that!" He spat.
"Well it doesn't matter now anyways. Right now I'll get the scroll from him and kill him. After that, you're next..." Mizuki said and jumped up into the thick foliage of the forest.
Iruka cursed and took off too.
---
When Naruto ran he had some time to think about it. Mizuki was clearly a traitor to the village. Iruka-sensei had saved his life twice within the hour. He had to help Iruka-sensei defeat Mizuki somehow and get the scroll back to where it belonged. He was still a bit confused about him being the Kyuubi. It would explain a few little things like him never getting sick, but besides that he couldn't think of any way he was related to the demon. Maybe they made a mistake, which was unlikely. No matter how hard he racked his brain for answers, he couldn't come up with any explanation, so when he heard Iruka and Mizuki talking just behind the tree he was hiding behind, he decided to listen in. What he heard wasn't something he expected though.
"Hehe you'd even transform into what killed your parents to protect him?" Mizuki smirked triumphantly as if he'd won a prize.
"I won't hand over the scroll to an idiot like you!" Iruka yelled at the traitor while clutching a wound on his abdomen.
"You're the idiot. Naruto and I are the same."
"The same?"
"If you use the skills in that scroll, you can do whatever you want. There's no way that fox demon wouldn't try to use that power, unlike what you're assuming…"
"Yeah…"
"Damn I knew it…deep down Iruka-sensei really…doesn't accept me…" Naruto thought bitterly as he fought back tears.
"The demon fox would do that, but Naruto is different." Iruka said with a sigh, glad to he come to terms with his feelings, as his personal persecution of the Jinchuuriki never sat well with him.
"I've acknowledged him as my most excellent student. He may be distant and his pranks are sometimes downright psychotic, but he's a good kid and he already knows what it's like to feel true pain. I know he'd put the protection of this village above his own life. If he ever was the fox demon, he's not one anymore. He is a true shinobi of the hidden leaf village. He's Uzumaki Naruto."
Naruto felt his heart soar at Iruka's proclamation. Not one person in his life ever said something that nice about him and with such sincerity, even accepting him for being the carrier of the Kyuubi. Not even Kakashi mentioned it once, even though Naruto was now pretty sure he knew about it. Now he had one more person he'd give his life for to protect, and that person was getting ready to die to protect him. That would simply not do.
Mizuki could only chuckle in response.
"You are a softhearted bastard aren't you?" Mizuki uttered as he turned his cold, steely determined eyes on Iruka. "I think I'd rather kill you right now!"
Mizuki let out a fierce yell as he swung his large shuriken at Iruka.
"So this is it. I'm going to die." Iruka thought to himself quietly as he closed his eyes and waited for the deathblow…that never came. His bewildered expression was nothing compared to Mizuki's. Naruto stood in between them, holding the large shuriken that was meant for Iruka. Blue chakra flared as Naruto's gaze bore a hole in Mizuki's.
"Keep your filthy hands off Iruka-sensei!"
Mizuki cackled as he watched Naruto act like he could hurt him.
"Don't be stupid you little brat! I'd kill a punk like you in one shot!"
"Try it trash. I'll return the pain a thousand times over." Naruto said as he grinned and formed a seal.
"KAGE BUNSHIN NO JUTSU!" he yelled as the entire surrounding area flooded with clones. Once again, Mizuki had a bewildered look on his face which was soon replaced by a look of pure horror. Clones as far as the eye could see, all of them real judging by the way some of them kicked up dust and hung from trees.
"Now, let's get this thing started shall we?"
Mizuki gulped. Chuunin or no chuunin, after mass-genjutsu-ing the guards in the Hokage's Tower and chasing a kid and another teacher through that damn forest, he had nothing to defend him from the wrath of a thousand-plus homicidal brats. He whispered a silent 'be gentle' plea that never reached its destination. His ass would get royally beaten for the next 10 somewhat minutes.
---
"So…Kage Bunshin huh?" Iruka smiled at Naruto who clumsily bandaged his wounds. Naruto closed his eyes in mirth.
"Ne, it's pretty effective don't you think so Iruka-sensei?"
Iruka smiled warmly at the child before untying his forehead protector, despite Naruto's protests and warnings not to move around with those wounds.
"Close your eyes Naruto."
"What for?"
"I have a gift for you, just close them okay?"
"…okay…"
When Naruto opened them, he felt something warm on his forehead. He touched it and let out a surprised yelp when he felt Iruka's old forehead protector.
"Congratulations on graduating Naruto!"
"What? But…how…why?" A shocked Naruto asked him.
"Well since the Kage Bunshin is much more effective than the Bunshin no Jutsu I kinda figure-" Was all Iruka could explain before Naruto tackled him to the ground in gratitude.
In the Hokage Tower, Sandaime smiled at the image in his crystal ball. It seemed like Naruto had grown strong enough to be let loose on the world. The old man sat back in his chair and let out a long sigh. The council had grown displeased when they learned Naruto had been held back by Iruka, even though the Hokage had known for years. He figured he should stop attempting to get Naruto to associate more with the children his age. If the council got wind of his involvement, there'd be a lot of trouble. Still…the old man was confident that whatever power he had left could keep those fools silent at least until Naruto could become Hokage himself. Sandaime hadn't lost hope that someday people would see Naruto for the hero he is instead of a weapon or a demon. He just hoped Naruto would see the value of the lives a Hokage was supposed to protect, before the villagers would do something to mess that up.
"Did you see him?" Sandaime asked after tapping his earpiece.
"Yes I saw." a gruff voice answered on the other side. "He's certainly grown in an interesting way."
Sandaime chuckled. "So does that mean you're interested?"
The voice on the other end laughed before answering, "You could say that. Just trying to see if he's got anything of his old man in him."
"So I should transfer him?"
The voice on the other side was silent for a moment.
"No! I want him to enjoy the tutelage of his Jounin teacher for a while. I'll take him when he's ready."
"Good." Sandaime answered with a sigh of relief. "But what do you want with the Inuzuka?"
"Regretfully Sandaime-sama, that's between me and those boys."
"Alright, I won't question your methods Takemaru-kun, just give me the results."
"As you wish Hokage-sama. Over and out."
---
Late at night, very late at night, the time of night when even the most nocturnal of beings catch themselves getting tired from hunting and foraging, a tall figure hopped stealthily from rooftop to rooftop. It gave off the impression that it was perfectly comfortable with the surrounding darkness and ghastly wind blowing over the village. It had a goal to work towards. It had a target, and it knew that said target doesn't need the few hours of extra sleep normal human beings needed, as they had established that well beforehand.
It back flipped off a particular roof, turned in mid-air, and landed facing the door of an apartment without making a sound. There it knocked on the door twice, before pulling out a little orange book.
"You're late…" a voice spat.
"Yeah, you see I was on a dangerous mission pursued by an organization of evil super-ninjas-"
"Three days Kakashi-san."
Kakashi felt it would probably be safer if he didn't answer.
"You said you'd be there if I'd graduate."
Still no answer from the Jounin.
"You knew all along didn't you?"
At this Kakashi raised an eyebrow.
"Knew about what Naruto?"
"This morning, I found a seal on my stomach. Kinda strange because as far as I know its not what you would call normal. Then I started messing with it, see if I could get it to, oh I don't know, do tricks open a pan-dimensional gate to hell, anything, but did you know what that pesky little seal decided to do to me instead?"
Kakashi slowly shook his head, fearing any sudden movement would get his face chewed off. He was that uncomfortable.
"IT MADE ME FAIL GRADUATION! But that wasn't the bad part oh hell no! What the seal was really there for was to keep a LEGENDARY DEMON SEALED INSIDE OF ME FOR ALL ETERNITY! Oh and here's the real clincher. Turns out the guy that sealed the damn fox inside of me IS THE FRIGGIN- HMff hmmff!"
Kakashi clamped his hand over Naruto's mouth before he could further break a rule most Konoha shinobi dreaded breaking, and dragged him inside of the small apartment.
"WHAT THE HELL!" Naruto yelled at Kakashi once they were inside.
"Do you even know that what you almost did was-"
"Expressing repressed pain and anguish inflicted on me since probably the day I was born? Yeah? So?"
Kakashi gritted his teeth together. He was not thetype for the heartfelt conversation.
"Listen Naruto, the only reason I didn't tell you was because there was a rule against discussing all topics concerning that. Besides, it's not like you needed that knowledge hanging over you while you were still dealing with growing up in a hostile environment. It wouldn't have made the hatred gone away."
"Maybe not but at least I would've understood. It would've given me something to deal with. Do you know how frustrating it is not knowing why you're hated by virtually everyone?
"Yeah maybe you're right…" Kakashi admitted with a sigh. Suddenly his whole demeanor changed. His single eye curved up happily and he clapped his hands together.
"But that's not why I'm here!" He patted Naruto on the back. Hard..
"Congratulations on making genin gaki!"
"…I just passed about 7 hours ago…how would you know?"
Kakashi scratched the back of his head in confusion. It was only then that Naruto noticed Kakashi's disheveled clothing and numerous scratches and cuts he had on his outfit.
"…You weren't really pursued by an organization of evil super ninjas were you?"
Kakashi laughed sheepishly and waved it off.
"I might tell you some other time, but I at least want to hear what you meant by graduating just earlier this night."
Naruto nodded and proceeded to debrief the jounin on what happened when he was still on his mission.
"Alright…" the jounin said after much contemplation. "Now that you know, you should have a talk with the Hokage about it."
"Already have." Naruto deadpanned. "He just couldn't tell me anything about the Kyuubi, Yondaime, the reason I was chosen or anything about my parents. Old bastard wouldn't even tell me his favorite flavor of ramen."
Kakashi laughed at that and ruffled Naruto's head a bit which earned him a genuine smile from the boy.
"Anyway, I really only came to give you this for graduating." Kakashi said before pulling a wrapped object from the depths of his pouch. He handed it to the perplexed Naruto who took a long hard stare at the object. After he deduced it was a book, he felt a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. To his surprise it wasn't what he expected it would be. When he saw the cover his face was barely hanging his smile together. The title read 'The Hell Course; a compilation of insane and life-risking theoretic training programs'. Kakashi's single eye closed happily at the sight of his overjoyed little friend doing cartwheels and handstand all around the room.
"Well, I should get going." Kakashi remarked making Naruto pause in his celebration.
"Kakashi-san…I…I…" Naruto fumbled with his words and settled for enveloping the surprised jounin in a strong hug before pulling away in embarrassment.
"He reminds me of that mini-Gai…" Kakashi mused before snapping back to reality.
"Guess I'll be seeing ya." Kakashi said and gave Naruto the two-fingered-too-cool-for-school salute and leaping into the darkness that was Konohagakure no Sato.
A/N: A very...very late chapter 3. I'll just save everyone the trouble of trying to explain why I was this late. Anyway hope it's worth the trouble of reading. Also special thanks to plue-sama for beta-ing. Oh and to answer some questions...
Sir Grag: The Shunshin no Jutsu I'm referring to is the same as the D-rank jutsu most jounin and chuunin know and use. The jutsu you mean is the Hiraishin no Jutsu, which from what I understand is basically a self-summoning jutsu unlike Shunshin which is more or less just a concealed movement jutsu. If you take a good look at that first chapter of the Kakashi arch, you'll see that when he saves Kakashi he appears in a puff of smoke, and afterwards when he moves again it's just an instant movement type thingy since his bag was seen dropping to the floor after he stood behind that Iwa shinobi ready to kill him. /rant>
Carrot-Six: Originally they were supposed to become best friends, but that would've messed up the plans I had for Sasuke since him being an avenger is really important for a lot of future events. I'm surprised you noticed my OC though. I know, why give a character a name if you're not gonna use him right? After this chapter there'll probably be no doubt as to what his future role will be. I left a lot of things open since open (like Kakashi not looking out for Naruto suddenly) because it will be explained in later chapters. I suggest you keep tuned.(god that sounds cheesy doesn'it?).
Thanks for all the comments, I really appreciate them. If you have any more, or just flames, give 'em to me! For progress reports and stuff, refer to my LiveJournal at http/