THE CHRONICLES OF NARUTO

Graduation and Mission to Wave Arcs

EPISODE 2: GRADUATION

Naruto ran as fast as he could, laughing his head off. Naruto had played the ultimate joke. He had just recently placed paint all over the Hokage monument as a prank. Currently he was being chased by many Jonin and Chūnin who were out for his blood, figuratively anyone, or at least he hoped so. Naruto saw up ahead with his Rinnegan and noticed his Academy teacher Iruka up ahead. Naruto screeched to a stop as Iruka glared down at him.

"What the hell did you think you were doing Naruto?" Shouted Iruka. "Painting the Hokage monument! Do you have no respect for Konoha's leadership? Damn it Naruto. Come with me right now were going to see the Hokage." Naruto just smiled as he noticed that despite his act of outrage Iruka was having a hard time not laughing. Naruto knew that Iruka had once been a notorious prankster and so he partly did pranks to make Iruka who was the only one besides Itachi and the Third Hokage to show him any kindness or even respect for that matter. The other reason was so he could get revenge on the villagers that Itachi had sacrificed himself for. One day he would become Hokage and change the village into a better place and he told this to everyone who'd listen and shout it at anyone who told him he couldn't do it.

Naruto had tried to befriend Saskue but Saskue had become cold on the night of the Uchiha Massacre as it had come to be called. Saskue had become obsessed with getting stronger and one day killing his brother. So Saskue trained day after day, night after lonely night. The fact that he didn't move out of the Uchiha compound despite the Third's request to do so showed just how obsessed he had become. The public ignored the darker aspects of Saskue's psyche though and practically worshipped the ground he walked on. It was sickening to Naruto that an Uchiha that wasn't Itachi was being worshipped. Naruto didn't know the full details of that night but he knew that Itachi had an ulterior motive than the motive he had given himself or the explanation Naruto suspected he gave Saskue if Saskue's hatred was any indication.

Naruto shook his head back and forth in a sign of misery. Naruto knew that Saskue would most likely never recover from whatever Itachi had been forced to do to him to sell Itachi's deception. One of Naruto's goals was to reunite the remaining members of the Uchiha clan and force them to reconcile. Maybe then the chain of hatred the Uchiha clan exemplified would finally be broken, or at least Naruto could dream for that to be true.

It was the day of the Genin graduation exam. Naruto was happy. He was done failing his exam on purpose, well mostly on purpose. He still couldn't do the Clone Jutsu to save his life. He had too much chakra to mold. Even if he could control his chakra well enough thanks to being able to see how much chakra he used with his Rinnegan. His Kage-class chakra levels had always surprised Itachi and his chakra levels continued to grow as he got older. Naruto smiled at this. Most people would think that it was because of the fox in his stomach that gave him his chakra levels but that wasn't completely true. Itachi had told him that the Third Hokage had told him that the seal on Naruto's stomach was slowly and constantly converting the Nine-Tails' chakra into Naruto's own. Add in his Rinnegan which required a constant chakra cost so he became used to the strain and training with it had raised his chakra level even further.

Naruto liked to believe that he could fight on the level of the five Kage's, but Naruto knew he would be defeated. He knew that lots of jutsu and chakra didn't make a Shinobi. Experience did. Itachi had taught him that. In fact he had drilled it into Naruto's head for years that experience and the will to win would always conquer sheer power. Itachi had said that this had been the Uchiha clan's weakness. Itachi had said they used the Sharingan as a crutch and not as the tool that in truth was what many Kekkei Genkai were. In a way Konoha's love for bloodlines weakened the village because its Shinobi relied on them too much. Their worship of Saskue was proof of that enough.

Naruto shook off these thoughts and returned to his dilemma on how he was going to make a working clone. It would be better if he could do the Shadow Clone Jutsu. It was a forbidden jutsu Itachi had said, because of the high chakra cost. Itachi had mentioned once that he thought Naruto would be exempt from this due to his enormous chakra levels. Add in his incredible stamina and healing factor that Naruto knew he got from the fox and Naruto would be a force to be reckoned with. The problem was that Naruto knew that the Shadow Clone Jutsu was written on the Forbidden Scroll and that was highly guarded by the Hokage and the ANBU. Itachi had said as much.

Naruto walked into the classroom and sat down solemnly as he dreaded what was coming next. Iruka and his fellow teacher Mizuki walked afterwards. Naruto didn't like Mizuki and Mizuki certainly didn't like him. Mizuki hated him because of the fox. That had been obvious. Naruto hated Mizuki because something about him just rubbed Naruto the wrong way.

"Hey dead last get out of my seat," shouted the loud and arrogant voice of Kiba Inuzuka. The kid was loud. Even louder than Naruto pretended to be and that was saying something. He was also very arrogant. He could give Saskue a run for his money in that department. Naruto didn't like him and looked forward to the day he could make Kiba look like a fool in front of the entire village. The Chūnin Exams could provide this opportunity. Granted it would only happen if his Jonin Sensei thought to enter him and his team which he knew would most likely consist of Saskue and their classmate Sakura Haruno. Itachi had explained to him once the dead last, the rookie of the year, and the top academy Kunoichi were usually put together to balance the teams out. Naruto smirked at this. This ideal was the basis for his acting like a fool. He was making sure he was on Saskue's team. Sakura was a fan-girl and worshipped Saskue like most of the idiot bimbo's that populated this year's graduating class. If she didn't shape up soon she would die, most likely on her first C-rank mission.

"HEY! Are you even listening?" Shouted Kiba angrily.

Naruto decided to mess with Kiba and imitated his current guardian. Naruto said lazily, "Sorry. Did you say something?"

Kiba was so surprised that Naruto didn't yell at him like he normally did when insulted. Kiba wasn't the only one surprised. Most of the class that had heard Naruto's response had expected Naruto, who they considered more of an idiot than even Kiba, to not make this into a shouting match. Instead he gave a calm, lazy response. Iruka who had heard this laughed to himself. Figures he would give not only a hint to his real personality but disguise the hint by imitating Kakashi. Kakashi, I think you've corrupted Naruto. I know you were assigned as his ANBU guardian after Itachi turned traitor but I didn't think you had all that much influence.

Iruka then walked in and shouted, "EVERYONE SHUT UP AND SIT DOWN!" Everyone was quick to obey. Iruka had two gifts when it came to his students. The first was putting all but the most dedicated to sleep with his lectures and the second was making his class be quite. Iruka smiled at the sudden silence as everyone even Kiba sat up ramrod straight in their desk. Everyone that is except Naruto who had seemingly fallen asleep. Iruka gained a tick mark on his forehead and walked straight up to Naruto's desk. Iruka grabbed one of Naruto's text books and dropped it on Naruto's head. Naruto woke up with a start pulling out a kunai and throwing it at Iruka. The class stared, not because of Naruto's reaction though that too caught them by surprise, but because when Iruka had dodged the kunai the kunai had hit the wall. That wasn't the surprising part though. The surprising part was that the kunai had gone clean through the wall and out into the academy training field.

He infused that kunai with Wind Chakra, thought Mizuki and Iruka. The students didn't realize just what Naruto had done only that it had been a miracle. Most of them just passed it off as a fluke but some of the smarter ones like Saskue or Shikamaru Nara knew that something else had gone on. No normal kunai would have gone through the wall like that. That was no accident. Naruto had done something to that kunai. Saskue seethed in anger. How could the dobe do something like that? Saskue had quite forgotten that Itachi and Naruto had once been close. Naruto's act of being the fool had succeeded in making people forget how close he and Itachi had been.

Mizuki was worried. No academy student, not even Saskue Uchiha and certainly not the dead last could manipulate elemental chakra. Nature manipulation was a Chūnin level skill. There had been exceptions in the past such as Kakashi Hatake or Itachi Uchiha who were genius' among other genius'. The question was how could the dead last do something even some Elite Chūnin such as himself had trouble doing. Did it have something to do with those strange eyes of his? No normal person had eyes like that. Mizuki would expect red eyes with slits for pupils like those of the Nine-Tailed Fox not purplish-grey eyes with a ripple like pattern surrounding the pupil and moving outward. Were they some of bloodline like the Sharingan or Byakugan, a Dōjutsu of some sort?

Mizuki didn't know the answer to his question but it didn't change his plans. Even if he had a Dōjutsu, the Nine-tails was still an idiot and wouldn't know how to use his bloodline, if it even was one. Mizuki watched with glee as one by one the students began their tests. When Mizuki passed out the written tests he could have sworn that he saw the Nine-tails brat glare at him when the brat saw his test. The brat's test was one that a Chūnin would have trouble on but the boy couldn't know that, the test was disguised by a Genjutsu to look like the Genin test.

Naruto growled at his so-called instructor's idiocy. It was obvious Naruto had a Dōjutsu, which was the weakness of the Rinnegan, it couldn't be deactivated, of some sort and the one thing all Dōjutsu had in common was that they could see chakra and therefore tell when a Genjutsu was in play. The Byakugan or even the Rinnegan couldn't see through Genjutsu that was the Sharingan's specialty, but it didn't matter Naruto could still see the chakra around the test paper. Naruto had had enough of this. Naruto raised his hand.

Mizuki noticed the hand and became worried. Before Iruka could say anything Mizuki said, "What do you need Uzumaki?"

Naruto tried to keep his emotions under control like Itachi and Kakashi had both taught him but he was still unable to keep his eye from twitching in anger. "My paper sir," began Naruto, "It has a Genjutsu on it."

Kiba couldn't keep his mouth shut at this point, "And how would you know dobe? Genjutsu is your worst subject."

Naruto couldn't help it; he couldn't afford to keep some of his abilities secret anymore. "My eyes, you idiot. They allow me to see chakra and therefore I can detect Genjutsu with ease."

"I'm an idiot? You're just a dobe; I don't believe you and lying about your test won't make it any easier. All you're doing is taking time away from the rest of us to finish are tests."

At that Naruto snapped. He ran through a sequence of hand seals and was about to call out a jutsu when Iruka grabbed his hands before he could complete the final hand seal. The class looked stunned. They had always seen Naruto as an idiot and their parents always told him that he was a good for nothing hooligan that would never amount to anything and here he was going through hand seals and based on the looks their teachers were giving Naruto, Naruto had been about to use a jutsu on Kiba. Saskue couldn't believe his eyes. He recognized that jutsu to be Fire Style: Phoenix Flower Jutsu. Saskue couldn't understand how the dobe could know a fire jutsu let alone be able to go through the hands seals even faster than he himself could. Something about the dobe seemed off and Saskue just realized that Naruto knew more than he let on.

"Everyone finish your tests. Naruto you and I will be talking after the test is done," Iruka said with a glare. Naruto looked down at his desk in shame. He had lost his temper and would have hurt Kiba, a fellow student and future leaf Shinobi, if Iruka hadn't stopped him. Itachi and Kakashi would be ashamed of him. Naruto just sucked up his complaints about the test and sat there looking at his Genjutsu'ed test. He couldn't believe that he lost his temper so quickly. Naruto sighed as he stared at his test.

Soon the timer for the test went off and Naruto realized he hadn't answered one question. He knew he would have gotten them wrong thanks to the Genjutsu. Naruto was bad at getting rid of Genjutsu or casting even though he could detect them with his Rinnegan. He just had too much chakra to ever be good at Genjutsu. Iruka and Mizuki gathered up the student's tests with Mizuki making sure that he was the one who picked up Naruto's test so that he could remove the Genjutsu without Iruka's knowledge.

After the written tests were picked up, Iruka announced that the next part of the exam was the weapons test. The students headed out back. Naruto knew that he couldn't hide his abilities anymore if he wanted to pass this exam and become a Genin. Naruto readied himself. As each student went by and threw kunai and shuriken at the targets Naruto was taking deep breaths as he watched. Saskue of course scored perfectly. Soon it was Naruto's turn. He took deep breaths as he walked up, ignoring the whispered taunts from his peers. Naruto noticed out of the corner of his eye that Saskue was watching him with a look of suspicion on his face. Naruto smirked to himself. He would give Saskue something to think about.

Naruto pulled out his special kunai and skuriken. Iruka noticed the pitch black metal of Naruto's weapons. "Naruto those aren't the standard academy issue, they aren't even standard Shinobi issue."

"That's because they are specially designed weapons that absorb chakra like normal chakra metals but these are set to a specific chakra frequency which allow me to send chakra to them even from a distance. The only price is that I had to have chakra receivers implanted in my arms so I could send chakra through them." After saying this Naruto pulled up his long, baggy sleeves and showed the class his pale arms which had black node-like objects implanted in them running from his should down to his forearm. There were six nodes in each arm. The class and teachers were stunned. They didn't understand why Naruto would do such a thing to his arms. The pain from having the nodes inserted would have been great so why would Naruto, the dobe, go through it when regular weapons worked just as well. What good would it be if he place chakra in the weapons from a distance.

As if he had read their minds Naruto began to explain, "Using these special weapons I can insert my chakra into the people they had become implanted in and disrupt that person's chakra by replacing it with my own. Completely paralyzing their bodies and giving me partial control of them. It's a special ability of my eyes which allow me to control and set my chakra at specific frequencies."

The class was stunned. The dobe had a bloodline. But how? Their parents always told them that Naruto was a clan-less child of a whore. The dobe had to be lying. "Stop lying, you don't have a bloodline," shouted Kiba.

"Is that what your parents told you?" asked Naruto. His tone sent a chill up everyone's backs. It didn't sound like the dobe. He was a happy go-lucky idiot who could never understand that he was being insulted.

What Naruto did next was very surprising. When he threw the weapons in his hand, they all landed dead center. He had thrown them two at a time but his aim could not be denied. Iruka smiled, "Well done Naruto, I can see you've been practicing."

Naruto smiled as well when he answered Iruka, "Thank you Iruka-Sensei. Your faith gave me the courage to stand against persecution." Iruka's smile became even more pronounced. The students were whispering amongst themselves. The Naruto in front of them just didn't match up with their parent's views or their own preconceptions and they were having trouble reconciling with the fact that they were wrong. Well that is, some of them were. Others still held onto their feelings such as Sakura Haruno, a pink haired girl from a civilian family who was also the smartest person in the class, and Kiba.

Sakura glared at Naruto thinking that the little twerp was just trying to act like Saskue and Kiba couldn't stand the fact that "the dobe" had done better than him and even a slightly bit better than Saskue in fact. Naruto just glared at his least favorite people in the world. Sakura was always hitting him over the head when he insulted Saskue or when she thought he was doing something to spite her precious Saskue. Kiba was an arrogant mutt who didn't know when to just roll over. He was constantly thinking he could challenge Saskue and the only thing he was better at Saskue in was Taijutsu and that was only because Inuzuka's had more muscle mass than Uchiha's like Saskue and so greater strength and speed. Saskue had way more finesse and better accuracy than the mutt. Naruto himself was faster than Kiba and had more finesse than Saskue. Therefore he was better at Taijutsu and Kenjutsu than they were.

After Ino Yamanaka, a blond girl from a clan specializing in techniques related to the mind and Sakura's rival in the hunt for Saskue's affections, finished Iruka announced the beginning of the Taijutsu test. Mizuki would be the examiner for the test. The students were told they had to stand up against Mizuki who would be using the academy-issue Taijutsu style. They were allowed to use whatever Taijutsu style they knew. Iruka would call the match after five minutes. The students would be tested on their speed and accuracy, on how proper their stance is, and how long they last against Mizuki.

The students who thought that their teacher wouldn't be a difficult challenge soon found out just how much they as Academy students stood against someone of Chūnin rank despite him just being a simple academy instructor. Most students didn't make it past three minutes despite Mizuki taking it easy on them. Saskue managed to get through all five by using his clan's Interceptor Fist style of Taijutsu even if it was obvious to anyone who had seen the style that he hadn't perfected it yet. Naruto growled to himself as he saw the fan girls cooing and giggling to themselves that "their Saskue" was so cool. Saskue had managed to keep up with Mizuki only because Mizuki was stuck with the academy styles of Taijutsu.

The academy only taught the basics of three fighting forms known as Strong Form, Medium Form, and Fast Form. All Taijutsu styles were derived from these three forms. They were the basis for creating one's own Taijutsu style though most ninja only practiced until they at least proficient in one of the forms. The Strong Form was the basis of the Strong Fist fighting style created by Might Guy. The form focused on sheer physical strength with Guy's derivation taking those concepts to incredible heights by adding speed into it. The Fast form was the basis of the Hyūga clan's Gentle Fist though they probably wouldn't admit it. The form focused on grace and proficiency rather than brute force like the Strong Form. People who trained in the fast form were taught to strike with swift strikes to disorient and/or disable the enemy. The final form, the Medium form, focused on a balanced combination of the other two academy taught forms. The interceptor fist fighting style, and the style's many sub-styles, of the Uchiha Clan was the best example of the perfection of this form. There were many other derivations of the academy taught forms besides the Interceptor Fist, Strong Fist, and Gentle Fist but those three were probably the most notable. Academy instructors like Mizuki usually only practiced the basics of the forms, much like the students they taught so that the students could decide whether they want to train in the form more after graduation or learn one of the non-academy taught forms or styles. So when one of the instructors met with one of the Taijutsu styles like the Interceptor Fist they were hard pressed to counter it though Mizuki's superior strength and experience allowed him to hold Saskue off even with the basics.

Naruto smirked when his name was finally called. Naruto had been working the last few months with Kakashi on perfecting a new Taijutsu style that Naruto had spent years developing after Itachi had trained him in all of the basics. Kakashi had taught him the basics of the more advanced forms so that Naruto could effectively increase his speed but have the precision and accuracy the Strong Form and its derivations sacrificed and the strength the Gentle Fist sacrificed, not that it needed it. Naruto still remembered the time when he ticked one of the Hyūga clansmen off and they hit him with one of their techniques. Naruto was a generalist to the highest degree. He knew that if he wanted to, with his Rinnegan and incredible chakra levels, that he would be a very powerful Ninjutsu specialist but he wanted to at least generalize in his Taijutsu skills so he had learned all three forms as well as the basics of the more advanced forms that Itachi and later Kakashi had helped teach him. Naruto liked to think he was proficient in all three forms and would definitely last five minutes against Mizuki if not outright defeating him.

Naruto shook himself from his thoughts as he focused on Mizuki. Naruto slipped into his favorite opening stance knowing that it would tick Saskue off. Saskue was definitely angry since he recognized Naruto's stance as the opening stance of one of his clan's style's sub-styles. Saskue growled to himself that the dobe had somehow gotten his hands on one of his clan's scrolls, most likely through theft.

Mizuki recognized the stance as well, having fought Uchiha before. Mizuki didn't understand how the demon brat knew the stance but he would definitely not allow himself to be shown up again. Mizuki slipped into a non-academy Taijutsu form. Naruto's face went into a state of shock. Mizuki was definitely not using an academy-level Taijutsu style.

Naruto shook his head to clear his mind only in time to counter one of Mizuki's blows. Naruto winced. The location that Mizuki had hit stung and was definitely bruised. Iruka was shocked that Mizuki would fight Naruto like this and was about to say something when he noticed the look on Naruto's face. Iruka smiled at the look and knew Mizuki would regret challenging Naruto. Iruka was one of the few after all who knew that Naruto hid his strength as well as the fact that he possessed the legendary Rinnegan which somehow suppressed any influence the demon fox. Iruka had thought at first that Naruto's quick healing and high chakra levels were signs of the fox but Naruto had assured him those members of the now extinct Uzumaki clan, that Naruto was the last known surviving member of, had a bloodline which gave the Uzumaki incredible stamina, chakra, and healing ability. The fox certainly would have enhanced this bloodline but since the fox had no effect on Naruto besides the three whisker-like marks on his cheeks Iruka didn't really care. Naruto also suspected that the Rinnegan was a second bloodline of the Uzumaki clan but he had never told anyone why he thought this. The only thing he had said was that since the Rinnegan was constantly active it increased his chakra levels even higher, giving him near-Kage level chakra levels, so that the strain on his chakra was negligible.

Iruka watched as Naruto changed his stance to a more defensive form to better counter Mizuki's strong form-based fighting style. Naruto ducked under one of Mizuki's sweeping blows that would have probably broken a bone or two and gave a chakra-enhanced elbow blow to Mizuki's chest. Mizuki fell to his knees holding his injured chest. He didn't understand how the demon brat, the dead last of his class, could have hurt him like that.

"Well done Naruto. You've been practicing a lot haven't you?" Iruka smiled at Naruto as he said this and Naruto gave a large, bright smile in return.

"That's right Iruka-Sensei. I have to train a lot if I want to be Hokage one day," Naruto said happily.

"Well you've passed with full marks in this test. You managed to get under Mizuki-Sensei's guard and deal him a strong blow," said Iruka. He was very happy. Mizuki was too arrogant at times and this would teach him that if the dead last could land a blow when no one else could then Mizuki needed to train more in his spare time.

The students were staring at Naruto in shock at what he and no one else had succeeded at doing. Not even Saskue had managed more than a glancing blow to Mizuki's stomach before being pushed away and Naruto had given Mizuki a full blow to the chest. Hinata Hyūga and Kiba had done good as well, managing to last the full five minutes but they hadn't even done as well since Kiba used a purely offensive style so was pretty much off balance when Mizuki dodged his strikes and Mizuki did his best to avoid Hinata's gentle fist fighting style so Hinata's match was pretty much a pure defensive fight so no damage was done to either side.

"Alright," called out Iruka as the Taijutsu test was finished with Ino lasting only two minutes before being knocked over, which was better than Sakura Haruno who had only lasted a single minute before falling over after Mizuki tripped her. The class quieted down and Iruka continued his speech, "It's time for the final test. You will be tested on the three academy jutsu, the Transformation Jutsu, the Substitution Jutsu, and the Clone Jutsu. Depending on how you do will decide whether you pass or fail the exam since this part of the test counts for 60% of your final exam score."

Leading up to Naruto's turn only five people passed the exam perfectly though most of the class except for a couple of people who barely failed but were allowed to pass because of them scoring so high in the Taijutsu portion and the fact that they were only a percent or two off from passing the Ninjutsu exam. The five who had perfect scores were of course Saskue as well as Sakura, Kiba, Hinata and surprisingly the laziest person Naruto had ever met and also probably the only student besides Choji Akimichi or Hinata Hyūga who had ever acknowledged him. Shikamaru Nara. The laziness wasn't a surprise, Shikamaru was a male born of the Nara Clan after all and they were the laziest people on the planet. The surprising part was that Shikamaru had the second to worst grades with Naruto having the worst. Naruto knew this confirmed his suspicions. Naruto had always suspected the Nara Clan heir was a genius, how could he not be with who his father was?

Soon it was at last Naruto's turn. This was it. This was what Naruto had trained for. Today he would become a Genin. Naruto stepped up and perfectly performed a Substitution and Transformation, but when it came time to do the Clone Jutsu Naruto became very nervous. It was his worst technique after all. He had too much chakra to perform such a weak jutsu. It had taken him forever just to learn Transformation and Substitution. Sweating, Naruto formed the proper hand seal and focused on using as little chakra as possible. There was a puff of smoke and Naruto and Iruka looked on nervously while Mizuki was sweating that his plan might not work.

When the smoke cleared Naruto gained a look of abject horror while Mizuki had to work to keep his face emotionless. There were three clones, one more than was required, and they looked perfect. Much better than the normal sickly clones he usually produced. Except these clones while looking just like Naruto had one minor problem. The clones had no arms.

Naruto trembled trying to suppress his emotions but when Iruka said, "I'm sorry Naruto, you fail." He had said it with such a tone of finality that Naruto's heart broke. Iruka continued, "You'll get it next year though." Iruka had said this in a soothing voice but Naruto and Iruka both knew that if a student failed three times they were cut from the training program and had their chakra sealed away.

Finally, Naruto ran from the room crying after Iruka rejected Mizuki's proposal to let him pass since he did so well on the other tests. Since he ran so quickly Naruto didn't hear Iruka yelling at the class to shut up when they started laughing and taunting him. Naruto ran out to the park and sat on the swings crying that he had let Iruka, Kakashi and the Hokage down, but most of all he had let down Itachi and him. They would be so disappointed in him. They had put so much effort into helping him learn and understand his powers.

Naruto looked up as he sensed someone's approach. It was Mizuki. Naruto was confused, why Mizuki would be here and not helping Iruka prepare for the graduation ceremony. "Hey Naruto," greeted Mizuki in a gentle voice. This put Naruto on guard. He didn't trust Mizuki. He didn't trust anyone if they weren't Iruka, the Hokage, Kakashi, Itachi, or him. Naruto waited for Mizuki to continue which he soon did after a slight pause, "Don't be upset kid. Don't take it personally; you know that if Iruka could he would bend the rules for you. You're his favorite student after all."

Naruto already knew this and he knew Mizuki knew it as well so why would Mizuki state it out loud like this? Naruto listened carefully as Mizuki took a deep breath for some reason as if he was preparing himself for something before saying, "Naruto there is another way for you to graduate," at this Naruto knew Mizuki was up to something, "there is a special scroll the Hokage holds onto for special cases like this." At this Mizuki took a look at Naruto and all he saw was a hopeful looking academy student with a dopey look never seeing that on the inside Naruto had figured out what Mizuki was up to. "If you take this scroll from the Hokage and learn a jutsu from it you can graduate by bypassing any requirements. Only the strongest academy students are allowed this. The ones who are too strong to be able to such weak jutsu that the Academy teaches."

"I'll do it," shouted Naruto gleefully. And it was no lie. Not only would Naruto stop a possible traitor but he would finally have access to the Forbidden Scroll of Sealing. He would learn the Shadow Clone Jutsu at long last. Something that Itachi had never gotten the chance to teach him and something that the Hokage had forbid Kakashi from teaching him. Naruto ran off and Mizuki started laughing like a mad man not knowing that Naruto heard him which confirmed Naruto's suspicions.

Later in the day Iruka was sitting at his desk drinking a cup of coffee while figuring out the best team placements so that the Hokage could sign off on the new teams when a frantic Chūnin barged in and ran up to Iruka out of breath. "What's going on?" Iruka demanded.

"It's Naruto Uzumaki. He's finally shown his true colors," Iruka scowled at the idiot Chūnin for this but the Chūnin didn't notice as he went on, "The brat as stolen the Forbidden Scroll, somehow avoiding the ANBU guards as well as the Hokage. He'll use it to destroy the Leaf Village. The Hokage wants every available ninja to find him and if necessary put an end to the brat before he can become a danger." Iruka knew the last part was a lie. It was merely what the idiot in front of him wanted him to believe. Iruka ran out the door to join the chase before the Chūnin could continue his rant about the so-called "Demon brat."

Meanwhile, Naruto was hard at work having set up shop in the woods. Naruto opened the scroll that he had taken from the Hokage's office with surprising ease. Naruto shook off the thoughts of it being a set up by the Hokage to catch Mizuki in the act. That would be too elaborate even for the aged Hokage. As Naruto predicted the first jutsu on the list was the Shadow Clone Jutsu and its derivation Clone Great Explosion. They were two of Itachi's favorite techniques and Naruto was finally learning them.

It was sunset by the time Naruto had finished learning and mastering the jutsu. Naruto would definitely use the Shadow Clone's ability to give them their memories as well as the ability his Rinnegan granted him when he used them which was the first step to learning and mastering the technique he had taught him.

Naruto then heard footsteps approaching. Naruto got holding the scroll in his arms and watched as Iruka appeared out of the bushes. "Hey Iruka-Sensei," Naruto called out happily.

"JUST WHAT DO YOU THINK YOUR DOING? STEALING THE FORBIDDEN SCROLL?" Iruka was furious and rightly so considering he didn't know the whole story.

"Huh? Stealing? I just took the scroll Mizuki-Sensei said would help me graduate if I learned a jutsu from." Naruto said all of this as innocently as possible while giving Iruka the puppy eyes even if the effect was partially ruined by the Rinnegan's ominous appearance. Iruka still fell for it though.

"Mizuki? What do you mean?" Iruka demanded a bit more calmly now.

"Like I said, Mizuki-Sensei said if I learned a jutsu from this particular scroll than I'd be allowed to graduate," answered Naruto.

Naruto then sensed something coming. Apparently Iruka did to since he tackled Naruto to the ground as a large Fuuma shuriken flew overhead and embedded itself into the tree behind them. Naruto and Iruka looked up and noticed Mizuki bearing down on them with a sinister grin on his face.

"Why, Mizuki-Sensei? Why would you trick me into stealing this scroll," asked Naruto furiously. Iruka looked like he wanted the answer as well.

"Why? Why? Why wouldn't I? This village has done nothing for me!" Mizuki screamed, "Me, an elite Chuunin stuck teaching a bunch of arrogant, self-righteous brats who are beneath me in every way! They think they stand a chance in the real world just because they can last five minutes against me in a spar where I go easy on them! They think their strong if they get good grades! That means nothing!" Mizuki spat. "I hate this village! It doesn't appreciate talent unless it comes from a clan or someone who has special abilities! They claim to be the strongest village out their but they cut out those who work harder than anyone else. What good are genius or clan techniques, if those ninja don't have the first clue what it means to be a commoner? The few civilian ninja who actually become Genin only become Genin because they were teamed up with clan ninja because the civilian ninja aren't as well trained as the clan ninja because of favoritism! Iruka there is a rare teacher kid. He treats all students equally despite their background. It's why he'll never be allowed to be a Jonin because he doesn't follow the corrupt council's ways! And you Naruto, you'll never be Hokage because you would never have been allowed past the rank of Genin even if you had graduated." Naruto had a horrified look on his face as he came to realize that Mizuki was right. The council would never allow him a promotion and the Hokage's hands were too tied by politics to interfere with the council. "I can see it on your face Naruto," Mizuki laughed, "You've come to the same realizations as I have. You're not as dumb as you led people to believe. I saw that when you were showing off in the exam. It's also why I chose you. Your too smart and would thirst for new techniques if offered to you on a silver platter. You would ignore your instincts if you could prove that you aren't worthless. Your thirst for acknowledgement has been your undoing," at this Mizuki's face shifted back from the furious look to the sinister one, "Haven't you ever wondered why the village hates you? Despises you? Treats you like you're not worth their time?"

"NO MIZUKI! IT'S FORBIDDEN TO SPEAK OF!" Iruka shouted with a look of panic on his face.

Mizuki just laughed and continued from where he had left off, "Thirteen years ago the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox attacked Konoha and many people lost their lives, including Iruka's family. The beast could not be stopped until the Fourth Hokage did what no else would or could. The history books say the Fourth killed the fox. That is a lie!"

"NO MIZUKI! STOP!" Iruka shouted.

"You cannot kill a demon. You can only do one thing. You can seal it away. So the Fourth made a contract with the Death God, Shinigami, and gave his life and soul to seal the demon away. But something like the Nine-Tails could only be sealed in a newborn child. A child whose chakra pathways are underdeveloped. That child was you, Naruto. You are the Nine-Tailed Fox reincarnated!" At this Mizuki laughed maniacally. Mizuki stopped when he heard something coming from in front of him.

Naruto was laughing. Laughing. "HAHAHAHA! You fool I've known for years about the fox. And the thing is nothing to me! Nothing! Me, who shares the transcendent bloodline of the legendary Sage of the Six Paths. That's right, I possess the legendary Rinnegan. The most revered of the three great eye techniques. The Hokage confirmed it to me. Itachi Uchiha told me of the fox and helped me learn my powers before he turned traitor! Now Mizuki for your crimes against Konoha, I sentence you to death for threatening the peace." With that Naruto pulled a black-bladed katana from under his robe and held out his hand, palm facing first, towards Mizuki and cried out, "Banshō Ten'in!" Mizuki gasped as he felt he suddenly felt himself being drawn towards Naruto by some mysterious force. Mizuki tried to grab his Fuuma Shuriken off his back but it was too late as he flew towards Naruto. The last thing he saw before he blacked out was Naruto pulling his katana back before thrusting it forward into the incoming Mizuki. Mizuki gasped as his blood spattered the ground when the katana pierced his chest and came out his back.

Iruka stared in shock as he witnessed Naruto effortlessly kill Mizuki, an elite Chuunin, with nothing but a hand gesture and a strangely designed katana. Iruka quickly got overt his shock and smiled. This proved Naruto wasn't the fox. He had killed, yes, but he had done it to preserve the peace. Iruka walked up to Naruto as he cleaned his blade off. "Naruto," said Iruka softly as he noticed Naruto's tears. Naruto looked up at Iruka.

"Iruka-Sensei, I'm sorry I listened to that bastard. I never should have taken the scroll."

"That's over with Naruto. I have something for you. Close your eyes." Naruto did and felt Iruka put something on him. "Okay, open up." Naruto opened his eyes and noticed Iruka wasn't wearing his headband and that's when he felt something foreign on his head. As Naruto realized what it was he began to cry as he jumped Iruka.

"Congratulations Naruto, you pass," Iruka said laughing as he hugged Naruto back.

A/N: I apologize for the late update. I've been very busy lately. Expect updates to be as slow as this one but never fear I will finish this story even if it means my untimely demise. Please review and don't forget criticism.

PS: I have made certain corrections to first chapter.