It was a still, quiet night in Konohagakure no sato. One of those nights where people would generally just stay in bed at home and simply try to sleep. In a ninja village however, things are rarely what they seem to be. This night, most of the village's available ninja were out searching. Meanwhile, the subject of their search was sitting alone in a clearing in the forest surrounding the village. He was wearing a hideous orange jumpsuit and was reading from a large scroll sprawled out on the ground before him, his blond hair swaying softly in the wind rustling through the trees around him. Eyes as blue as the ocean were swiftly scanning over the text written on the scroll, trying to memorise everything they read. So concentrated was the boy on the text that he didn't notice the person closing up on him.
"Uzumaki Naruto!"
The boy, now identified as Naruto, instantly perked up at the voice.
'Ah, well… back to the charade.' he thought with a sigh.
"Oh, Iruka-sensei. I didn't think you'd find me so quickly. I've only managed to master one jutsu so far." he said, a sheepish grin on his face as he looked up at his sensei. Umino Iruka was a Chuunin of normal build, his brown hair put in a short ponytail. He had no distinguishing features apart from a large scar across his nose. He was wearing the normal Chuunin attire, which consisted of a flak vest, navy-blue pants that were bandaged at the ends to prevent them from making unnecessary sound, a navy-blue long-sleeved shirt and a pair of blue ninja sandals. He was wearing his hitai-ate across his forehead.
"Hey, Iruka-sensei! If I show you this jutsu I mastered from the scroll you will have to graduate me right? Right?"
Iruka fell silent at this, his face changing from anger to one of confusion.
"Wha-what do you mean? Who said that?" He asked the boy.
"Mizuki-sensei did. He told me about this scroll, this place, the secret way of graduating, everything! He said-"
That was all the boy got to say before Iruka managed to put the pieces together and figure out what was going on. Suddenly the sound of kunai slicing through the air reached him and he quickly knocked Naruto out of the way of the deadly projectiles. Iruka himself succeeded in avoiding most of the barrage, but one kunai managed to pierce his thigh. When he looked over at Naruto he could've sworn that the blonde was smirking before his face schooled itself into one of confusion. He slowly looked the same way the boy was looking and saw that his suspicions were true. There, standing on a tree branch, was his long-time friend, Mizuki, two fuuma shuriken strapped to his back, the strands of silver that was his hair sticking out from his bandanna swaying softly in the wind. His face had an unpleasant smirk plastered on it.
"Naruto. Give me the scroll of seals!" he suddenly shouted, his voice bearing a slight tint of madness.
"Naruto," Iruka shouted to the boy, "don't give the scroll to him even if you die. That scroll is dangerous, Mizuki tried to use you to get hold of it!"
Naruto, who had been silent all this time, opened his mouth to speak, but was interrupted by Mizuki.
"Naruto, Iruka is afraid of you having that scroll. He's afraid of what you may be able to do with it." he yelled.
"Mizuki, stop this! Naruto, don't listen to him, he only wants the scroll for himself!" Iruka answered while pulling the kunai out of his thigh.
Meanwhile, Naruto had been planning his next course of action.
'Iruka-sensei showing up complicates things… I don't want to show what I can do to anyone, but this leaves me with no choice. I really don't want Iruka-sensei to be hurt. This means I'll have to stop my act as well though… Oh well, I guess I'll just have to ask him not to tell anyone and hope for the best. Now for-' that was all he managed to think before Mizuki said something that made his world freeze.
"Naruto, do you want to know why everyone, even Iruka, hate you?"
"Wh-what?! No, Mizuki! That's forbi-" started Iruka before Mizuki interrupted him.
"Twelve years ago a law was made in this village. A law that no one was to tell you about."
The twelve-year old instantly perked up at this.
"Wh-what law? Tell me!" he shouted.
"N-no. Stop it Mizuki!" Iruka screamed in a desperate try to stop the inevitable.
"The law stated that no one would be allowed to tell you that you are the Kyuubi no Youko, the demon that killed thousands of people, Iruka's parents among them, and almost destroyed our village twelve years ago!" Mizuki yelled, madness now overtaking each word leaving his mouth.
That made Naruto freeze up completely. Suddenly everything made perfect sense. The glares, the cold words, the beatings, why no one wanted to play with him when he was little, everything.
'A-am I really a demon? Was it really me that did all of that twelve years ago?'
He was so shocked and wrapped up in his thoughts that he didn't notice the fuuma shuriken closing in on him until he was lying on the ground with Iruka on top of him, the shuriken stuck in the Chuunin's back. It was the blood splashing on his face that snapped Naruto out of his daze.
Meanwhile, Iruka was almost overwhelmed by guilt, oblivious to the pain in his back. The pained expression on Naruto's face was all too clear to him, and the fact that he was once among the persons who caused that pain wrecked his heart. Then came something that made his blood freeze. Acceptance spread across the young boy's face.
'He accepts that he is a demon? What has the village done to him to cause such a reaction?!'
Unknown to himself, tears had begun to flow down Iruka's cheeks. They splashed down on Naruto's face and mingled with the blood stained on it, sliding slowly over the whisker marks on the boy's cheeks.
"W-why?" was all the twelve-year old managed to choke out.
"Because we are the same…" came Iruka's answer, his voice filled with guilt.
"After my parents died, there was no one to comfort me, congratulate me or recognise my existence. So I started to act stupid and clumsy to make people laugh and see me at all. But all the time I was so lonely." by now the tears flowing down Iruka's cheeks came even faster.
"Yeah. You must've been lonely too. That pain… The pain of loneliness, that must be the most horrible pain in the world…" Iruka's voice was now little more than a hoarse whisper, but it was so filled with emotion that every word drilled its way straight into Naruto's heart.
"I'm sorry Naruto. If I had been a better person you wouldn't have had to feel this way…"
Before Iruka could say anything else, Mizuki started to laugh.
"Iruka, stop fooling yourself!" he yelled after a while, his laughter finally ebbing out.
"Naruto, Iruka didn't mean anything he said. He has always hated you for killing his parents! He's just trying to get the scroll back from you."
The boy in question had no idea what to believe. He had seen the truth in Iruka's eyes, but no one could like a demon, right? With no coherent thought running through his head, Naruto did what his instincts were screaming at him to do, he ran. He had no idea where or for how long he ran, but he ended up sitting with his back against a tree trying to comprehend what just happened.
Everything had gone according to plan, he had managed to find the scroll of seals without any problems at all --Mizuki really knew too much-- and he had found the designated clearing way ahead of time. He had managed to master one of the jutsu described in the scroll but decided to avoid the others, as they seemed to be too dangerous to the user for him to be comfortable in using them, there was a reason behind calling the scroll 'forbidden' after all. He had planned on luring Mizuki into a trap and expose him as no one would've believed him if he had told them what the Chuunin was planning. Then Iruka showed up and everything went down the drain.
Before the twelve-year old could reflect more he could start to hear two voices talking to each other. Afraid that he might be found, Naruto tried to stay as silent as he could and he decided that it was best to determine who the persons were, so he sneaked closer to listen in. What he heard was Iruka and Mizuki 'discussing' something.
At first he couldn't hear exactly what they were saying, but when he got close enough it was clear that it was him they were talking about.
"Naruto and I are the same," came Mizuki's voice, "if you use the skills in that scroll, you can do whatever you want. There's no way that that Demon Fox wouldn't try to use that kind of power."
"Yeah…" came Iruka's answer.
'So it's true then. Even Iruka-sensei thinks that I'm a demon. No one will ever acknowledge me for who I am.' the blonde thought after hearing that. Before he could do anything else however, Iruka continued speaking.
"If he was the Kyuubi. But Naruto is different. He works hard and tries his best, but because of something he had no choice over no one acknowledge him. He has already experienced more pain than most will during an entire lifetime, but he has always come out on top. He isn't, nor has he ever been the Demon Fox. He is Konohagakure's Uzumaki Naruto, and one of my most excellent students!"
At this Naruto started to cry. Partly because he finally found someone who acknowledged him as a person, and partly because he was feeling guilty that he had been lying to Iruka for so long. He was so overcome with emotion that he almost missed Mizuki's yell and said Chuunin's charge toward the wounded and panting Iruka. But just when the silver-haired traitor was about to throw his last fuuma shuriken at his fellow Chuunin it was kicked out of his hand by Naruto. Iruka, who had closed his eyes in preparation for his death opened them when he didn't feel cold steel pierce his body. What he saw shocked him greatly. There, right in front of him, stood Naruto, his head lowered and the scroll of seals lying on the ground beside him. Mizuki, who had just recovered from the shock of the blond boy appearing from nowhere and disarming him with just one swift blow, started to yell something incoherent, an insane glint in his eyes. Naruto raised his head and glared at the crazed traitor, his eyes twin chips of ice.
"Touch one hair on Iruka-sensei and I'll kill you." his voice was calm, but colder than a midwinter night. The monotony in his tone made it clear that it was a statement, not a threat.
"Then try it demon! I'll kill you now and rid the world of your taint!" Mizuki yelled, not even a hint of sanity left in his voice.
Meanwhile, Naruto was slowly raising his hands up in a seal. Iruka's eyes widened when he recognised it.
"Tajuu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Naruto practically yelled out, and as soon as the words left his mouth almost two hundred perfect clones of him appeared in the clearing they were standing in. They started to crack their knuckles and began speaking in unison.
"You have attacked both a citizen and a Chuunin of Konoha with the intent to kill. That classes you as a traitor and gives me the right to kill you without repercussions. However, I believe I have something more fitting for someone like you."
As the clones said this they started to move toward a paralysed Mizuki. Two of them grabbed him while the rest stood guard, covering any potential escape routes. Meanwhile, the real Naruto stood near Iruka. He turned around and smiled at his sensei before putting his hands in a seal. Suddenly emerald green chakra started to pour out of him and swirl around him, making it look like he was surrounded by a green flame. Iruka was shocked by this, as he had never seen chakra like the one Naruto was expelling in waves. Suddenly said blonde started to go through hand seals almost as if his hands had lives of their own.
'What is he doing? I have never seen that combination of seals before. And that chakra… It's not demonic, but it's still not the one I've seen him use all the time in class.'
Then Naruto opened his eyes. What Iruka saw then shocked him more than anything else this entire night. The blonde's eyes were glowing and each iris had eight green triangles in two different sizes within them, each triangle pointing toward the pupil. Then the boy said the name of the jutsu he was performing.
"Tokiton: Kanshiki no Hitomukashi!" he said, and at the same time the chakra swirling around him disappeared. Naruto then raised his left hand, and Iruka thought that he could see a distortion in the air around said hand. Green tendrils of chakra flared out every now and then as the boy turned around to face Mizuki. He began to walk slowly toward the Chuunin, who by now was shivering uncontrollably. He then started to explain just what was going on.
"This is a jutsu of my own creation that only I can use. It allows me to control the lapse of time in and around a person, thus allowing me to age that person until only dust remain. I wasn't planning on showing this to anyone, but I think you deserve it."
All of this was said in a cold monotony that would've made Uchiha Itachi proud. By now the blonde had reached the traitorous Chuunin and proceeded to place the palm of his outstretched hand on said Chuunin's forehead --the traitor's bandanna having been removed by one of the clones-- causing the silver haired man to scream in agony as his body began to age faster and faster. Just when Iruka thought that Naruto was actually going to kill his former friend with this strange new jutsu said boy removed his hand from the traitor's now severely wrinkled forehead and let the energy surging through his hand subside while dispelling his clones. He turned around and walked back to his shocked sensei to check him for injuries, a small smile starting to spread across his face. Iruka quickly realised that this was probably the first real smile that he had seen on his favourite student. This caused all the guilt to return with a vengeance, but he forced it back for the time being, as he had a student to take care of. Unable to fully comprehend what had happened, the academy teacher did the only thing that came to mind.
"Naruto, come over here please." he called, as said blonde had walked over to the scroll of seals and checked it for eventual damage. The aforementioned academy student perked up at his voice and did as he asked, the scroll securely fastened on his back.
"Close your eyes." the Chuunin then commanded. Naruto complied, all the while wondering what this was about. He could feel the goggles he always wore over his forehead be removed and replaced by soft cloth. Realisation hit him at the same time that his sensei told him it was ok to open his eyes.
"Congratulations, you graduate." the academy teacher said, a soft smile playing on his lips. Unwillingly, the now graduated academy student felt tears trickle down his cheeks. He looked up at his sensei and returned the smile before enveloping him in a bone-crushing hug.
Unknown to both of them, another person had been watching the events, and was equally shocked at what the blonde had done.
"How come he never told me anything about this?" he wondered aloud to himself while leaning back in his chair, finally taking his eyes off of the crystal sphere in front of him.
"Tora!"
An ANBU stepped out of the shadows after the call of his title and addressed the man who had called for him.
"What is it Hokage-sama?" he asked in a respectful tone.
"Please tell the Jounin to call off the search, and send an ANBU team to training ground 37. You will find the traitor there, though he won't look the same way you think he will." the Hokage answered.
"What do you mean?"
"Let's just say that he's given a new meaning to the phrase 'ageing overnight'" the elderly Hokage said with a chuckle.
The ANBU just shrugged and prepared to leave when the Hokage spoke up again.
"Could you bring Umino Iruka and Uzumaki Naruto to my office as well by the way?"
This was a rather strange request according to the ANBU, but it was orders and he would follow them to the letter.
"Yes, Hokage-sama." he said with a bow. He then disappeared in a puff of smoke.
With that the Hokage began to prepare his pipe with a sigh.
'This is going to be a long night.' he thought with yet another sigh, he felt like he was going to do that quite a lot in the near future.
Jutsu list:
"Tajuu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu"("Mass Shadow Replication Technique"): Creates a large amount of solid clones, each one capable of doing everything that the original can do. They will burst after one good hit, after which the exess chakra will be returned to the original along with everything the clone remembers.
"Tokiton: Kanshiki no Hitomukashi"("Time Release: Judgement of the Ages"): Jutsu unique to Naruto. Requires contact with the target's skin as well as a large amount of chakra. Slowly ages the target until it's nothing more than a withered husk. The process is completely reversed if it is interrupted before it's complete, though the user can choose to end it prematurely without reversing the effects and thus keeping the target's body at the age it's at when the jutsu was stopped.
This has been an idea that I've had for quite some time now and I've finally taken my time to post it.
I know that some things are a bit strange, but things will be explained in the next chapter.
As it is my first fanfic I would really like to get some constructive critisism so that I can improve in areas that are lacking. So if you see any misplaced words, incorrect grammar or things like that feel free to tell me.