"That's it? Huh, I figured it's be more complicated than that." Naruto muttered to himself as he ducked under another branch in the forest just outside of Konoha.

That morning, he had given his best at his third, and final, try at the Gennin Exams. But alas, his best was not enough.

He had failed again, done in by the Clone Technique, for the third damn time. "And come on, when are we even gonna use the damn thing. Stupid pricks." As he was sitting on the swings after the exams, slightly bummed, Mizuki, one of the two teachers of his class, approached him with a rather interesting proposition. He had arranged another test the blond could use to become a Gennin. Too bad the young man had caught the malicious glint in his eyes, but he decided to proceed anyway and catch the silver-haired bastard red-handed. He sneaked into the Hokage Tower with surprising ease, suspecting Mizuki had a hand in it, lifted the Forbidden Scroll and ran.

He let out a small breath when he got to the cabin Mizuki had told him about. He leaned the scroll on one of the walls. "Now only to wait for Mizuki to show." He glanced at the scroll, then around, then at the scroll again. "But, I suppose no one would mind if I just peaked for a bit. Hehehe…" He unrolled the scroll and glanced at the first entry. "Another clone. Man, these things're gonna haunt me. Next. Boring. Boring. Useless. Stupid. Hm… Nah. Hello! What have we here?" It was a seal. A Chakra Overload seal, to be precise. But Naruto didn't know that, so he used the age old tactic… "Hm... I'm just gonna pump a shitload of chakra in it, see what happens."

Three poofs were heard. Naruto waved his hands in front of him, trying to clear the smoke from the sealing, and raised an eyebrow at the items.

The first thing was a rather curious contraption. Its base was made from a black ash-wood, fashioned in a somewhat L-shape. The rest was made out of a silvery metal. It fit perfectly in Naruto's hand.

The other two items that were unsealed were pieces of dark blue, almost black cloth, both with a strange oval. He raised an eyebrow as he touched the two pieces of fabric, one with each hand. A white light flashed and the leaves falling from a nearby tree stopped.

The two rags morphed into fingerless gauntlets. They were long, reaching just under Naruto's elbows, one for each hand. The ovals were at the back of the hand, one blazing red and the other a metallic green. He eyed them for a moment before shrugging and putting them on.

The moment he did he felt a surge in his head, followed by a slight headache. He smirked as he glanced at the left glove. "The Gauntlet of Fire." Then at the other. "The Gauntlet of Blades. And a gun. Fun!" He grinned, pointing the gun at a nearby tree, his eyes flashing white.

Kagura stood on one a limb of a tree, scanning the forest with her narrowed eyes. Not even ten minutes ago the Hokage had called all Chunnin and higher Ninja for a breach in security

Flashback

"We have had a slight… breach in security." The Hokage informed the gathered Ninja, blowing smoke rings from his pipe.

"Oh? How slight?" Kakashi raised his only visible eyebrow.

"The Forbidden Scroll got stolen." Most of the Chunnin gathered gasped and started talking among themselves.

"How is that slight?" One of the Chunnin asked with a bewildered look on his face.

"Because Naruto's the one who stole it.

"What?" The same Chunnin gasped. "We have to hurry. The de-" He was smacked on the back of the head by Kakashi, sending him to the floor.

"You'd better watch your tongue, hm?" He quipped, eye smiling. "Or you might just lose it." The Chunnin gulped and nodded quickly.

"Now, the reason this is a 'slight' security breach is that Naruto was convinced by someone. So you're gonna go now and find him, then bring him back, unharmed. Understand?" The Hokage asked, raising an eyebrow at a plume of smoke where one of his best Anbu, Wolf, stood a moment ago. "What the hell are you waiting for? Get going."

Flashback End

She was broken out of reminiscence by a white flash in the distance and a strange bang. She turned to the source and took off, jumping through the trees.

She landed on a branch near the clearing and watched as Naruto held an L-shaped weapon, the end of which was smoking, with a grin on his face, chuckling maniacally. She raised an eyebrow at the weapon but shrugged, seeing as how a silver-haired Chunnin entered the clearing, Naruto quickly putting the weapon away, grinning at the man. She could question him later.

Mizuki could swear that he heard someone chuckling, but waved it off in favor of his pray. The brat he talked into stealing the scroll was standing in front of it, waiting like a good little puppet. Perfect.

"Alright Naruto, you passed. Congratulations. Now hand over the scroll and I'll set it back up for the next examinee." He extended his hand, motioning for the scroll.

"So I pass?"

"Yeah. That's what I said, isn't it."

"Alright then, so where's my headband."

"Uh… You'll get one later. I kinda forgot." He smiled, rubbing the back of his head.

"Yeah, I don't think so. I think I'm gonna keep this and hand it over to the Hokage. How's that?"

"Well, if you do that, you'll fail."

"Maybe. If this was actually a test. You've intended to play me from the beginning."

"I have no idea what you're talking about." Mizuki had a few beads of sweat coming down his forehead.

"Sure you don't." Naruto deadpanned, rolling the scroll behind him with his foot and reaching to the back with his hand.

"Well, hand it over then."

"Nope, sorry."

"Fine brat, I'm done playing nice anyway." Mizuki's face turned from pleasant to sneering. "I'll just take it myself." He charged Naruto, cocking his fist back.

Naruto grinned, and brought out his gun from his back, cocking it and aiming at Mizuki's shoulder. He waited until the Chunnin was less than two feet in front of him, before he fired, the bullet flying strait and going through Mizuki's shoulder. The Chunnin gasped in pain, clutching his wound.

"A straight line? Really, what kind of Ninja are you. Heh, noob."

"Grr, I'll deal with you yet, Kyuubi Brat." Naruto raised an eyebrow at that.

"Really, that's the best you can come up with? That's… sad. Really, really sad."

"Shut up brat." He took a vial from one of his vest pockets and brought it to his lips. He chugged it down in one gulp, shivering from the taste.

Naruto watched with a raised eyebrow and a slightly grossed out look on his face as the Chunnin in front of him convulsed. Mizuki's skin began to seemingly bubble and stretch, his nails lengthened to claws and his teeth turned to fangs. His ears lengthened and he grew orange fur.

"Behold." He got up when the transformation finished, looking like a bipedal tiger. "The ultimate gift from Orochimaru-sama."

"Orochimaru? So that's who you were getting the scroll for."

"Yes! And now you will tremble in fear at my strength." Mizuki vanished from sight and reappeared by Naruto, punching him in the stomach and sending him back a few feet.

"Ugh. Damn." Naruto clutched his gut in pain before straightening up. He cocked his gun and fired at Mizuki, who was too fast and managed to dodge every bullet.

"Not even your contraption can save you now." Mizuki grinned before vanishing from view again. This time Naruto managed to figure out where the Chunnin would reappear and blocked the claws with his gun.

"The same trick again? I'm disappointed." Naruto grunted under the weight of Mizuki's arm. Gah, I could really use some help right about now. And as if his mind was read, several knives launched from under Mizuki. Naruto managed to disengage and jump away before the invisible chakra strings wrapped around the Chunnin's form.

"Ravaging Chakra Knives!" Naruto tilted his head slightly and saw a Wolf masked Anbu in an exotic getup on a tree branch nearby. "Hello Naruto." He couldn't see it, but he was sure she smiled at him.

"Hey Anbu-chan. Thanks for the save. How long have you been standing there?"

"You looked like you could take care of it." She shrugged, constricting the tiger hybrid. "Hello Mizuki. Nice look."

"Even you cannot stop me!" The Chunnin roared before he managed to break the chakra strings. "I will get that scroll to Orochimaru-sama. I am invincible now!"

"That vial bloated his ego, not just his body." Naruto muttered while Kagura coughed to hide her giggle. "Can you keep him occupied for a few seconds? I wanna try something."

"Why of course I can." She grinned under her mask, swaying her hips as she walked towards Mizuki, both the men's eyes glued to her form. Naruto shook his head and spread his hands, one in front of him and one slightly in back, palms toward the ground, and started concentrating. A few red sparks quickly shot out from his gloved hands.

"Why Mizuki, how strong you look." The Chunnin grinned lecherously before he managed to slip out of his trance.

"Stay back, woman. Your charms won't work on me." She grinned before bringing her hand up, making the knives that were on the ground fly towards the tiger.

"Oh I know." Mizuki cursed and shielded his eyes with his hands, allowing the knives to strike him and imbed in his skin. He roared in pain.

"These little pricks mean nothing to me. You've wasted your chance to-" He roared in pain again as the knives flashed from the lightning chakra Kagura sent through the strings.

"Now, move!" Naruto yelled. Kagura jumped away and turned to Naruto, raising an eyebrow in wonder at the sight.

Naruto's eyes were narrowed in concentration, his form slightly hunched forward, and two big balls of fire in his hands. He grinned and brought the hands together, facing the surprised Chunnin. The fire shot out, forming an arrowhead-like shape and flying with great speed at Mizuki, who was struggling to break the strings which were keeping him in place. Kagura added more chakra to the strings and watched as the fireball impacted the Chunnin, making him screech in pain. When the smoke cleared, Mizuki was lying on the ground, twitching as the transformation slowly receded.

Kagura was by Naruto's side in a moment, catching him before he fell on his face.

"Are you ok?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. First time I used the gauntlets. Takes a lot out of you."

"Very nicely done Naruto." The Hokage clapped as he entered the clearing the battle took place. His eyes landed on the scorched figure of Mizuki lying on the burned ground. He signaled two Anbu who appeared and took the traitor away, while Sarutobi himself took the scroll. "Come by my office tomorrow and we'll sort this mess out." Naruto nodded before falling unconscious. "Wolf, take him to his apartment, and then bring him to my office tomorrow." The Hokage grinned at the masked woman, whose hidden cheeks had an almost unnoticeable pink hue.