"Talking"
"Thinking."
-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-
"Since you missed it Naruto, everyone here has to review the transformation jutsu." Iruka said as he pointed at a tied up Naruto. The prankster had gone off and caused mischief because now everyone got in trouble. Everyone groaned except for Sasuke and the main character of this story. Why? Well, Sasuke could literally care less and Madara thought of it as extra training so he shrugged.
One by one the students got in line to preform the jutsu, their job was to transform into Iruka. And of course, Sakura went first. "Okay Sakura here!" She did the jutsu and transformed into Iruka. "Great job Sakura." Iruka looked at her and nodded. "Thank you sensei!" She was beaming with pride, she turned to Sasuke and said, "Did you see that Sasuke-kun!"
She really wanted a compliment from Sasuke. She has gotten multiple compliments from Madara but she wanted one from Sasuke this time. Sasuke only rolled his eyes at her. Madara saw how Sakura turned a bit sad and stepped in on this one-sided conversation. "I think you did an amazing job Sakura-chan! I'm sure my brother thinks the same way, right, Sasuke?" Madara gave her a reassuring smile but glared at Sasuke as he said the last part. Sakura nodded at Madara with a smile deciding that he was in a way correct and she walked back to her seat.
Iruka finished grading Sakura's transformation and called the next person who just so happened to be Sasuke. Sasuke quietly walked to the front and transformed without even doing the hand signs. He transformed into an almost exact copy of Iruka. Iruka looked at Sasuke who was transformed as him and said, "Good job." While Iruka was grading Sasuke's transformation Sasuke de-transformed. You could sense the pride radiating off his body.
"Otouto that was so cool! You were awesome!" You could see Sasuke's pride decreased a bit and his eyebrow twitch. Why? Madara called him Otouto, if you don't know what Otouto means let me tell you, it mean's little brother. Yes, Sasuke is unfortunately the younger twin... by 5 minutes. Sucks to suck I guess. Sasuke went back to his seat and soon it was Madara's turn. Madara decided to transform but with a few noticeable mistakes to make Sasuke seem like the better brother.
"Oh... great transformation, though I do suggest you work on it. There's just a few mistakes that's all." Iruka was a bit suspicious.. Madara always made himself seem like the weaker brother but was he actually like that..? "Alrighty!" Madara de-transformed and while Iruka was grading the transformation, Ino was the first to compliment him. "Don't listen to Iruka-Sensei, you were amazing, you both were identical!" Madara smiled at her, she may be a fangirl but he knew that she meant her words. "Thank you Ino-chan, good luck on your transformation."
Before waiting for a response from Ino, Madara went to sit down next to Sasuke. One by one the students did the transformation and soon enough class was over.
As Sasuke and Madara were walking home Madara looked behind them and saw Sakura stalking them. I'm joking.... Or am I? No, I'm not joking she was stalking them but this was normal, everyday some fangirl would follow them, it was funny seeing how they would react when they lost them. Today it was Sakura, not that it mattered, Madara was not focused on that, Madara was more focused on the two figures that he saw that were on the Hokage's head. It was small but noticeable.
Madara got close to Sasuke and whispered, "Psst, Otouto." Sasuke looked at Madara and whispered back, "What?" Madara pointed to the faces, "I'm gonna head to the Hokage faces, also, by the way, Sakura-Chan is-" Sasuke sighed, "Yeah, I know. Be home by 8:30 if you can." Madara smiled, "Okie-dokie." "Never say that again, I cringed." "Oh." Born to say Okie-dokie forced to say Aight fam. 😞
And with that our main protagonist of this story went towards the Hokage monument. As he was getting closer, the small figures started to be more noticeable, it was Iruka and Naruto. Madara saw how Naruto was cleaning the mess he made and thought that he would help. Why? He doesn't know he just felt like it. As he was getting closer to Iruka and Naruto he overheard them talking.
"You're not going home till you've cleaned off every single drop of paint." Oh dear.. every drop? That could take hours! "So what? It's not like there's anyone at home waiting for me!" Madara felt guilty, he always knew that Sasuke would be at home waiting for him if he ever decided to do something before going home. Before Iruka could reply Madara interrupted him.
"Hey... Do you mind if I help?" Iruka gave Madara a small smile, "Sorry Madara but this is Naruto's fault so he has to take responsibility." Well Madara wasn't going to take that. He was going to help Naruto! "I insist Sensei, please let me help Naruto" At the thought of some help Naruto vigorously nodded "Yeah! Iruka-sensei! Let Madara help!" Iruka glared at Naruto and shook his head. "No Naruto this is your punishment for painting on the faces." Madara clapped his hands together. "Please. Sensei if I help Naruto we can finish this faster." Iruka sighed, he wasn't going to win against this kid. "You know what, fine. Madara you can help Naruto." Yes! Being persistent pays off! "Thanks Sensei"
After half an hour of cleaning off paint, Iruka proposed a deal. "Say, Naruto, Madara" Without looking up Madara did the classic Uchiha "Hn." Naruto stopped scrubbing the paint off and looked at Iruka. "What do you want now Iruka-sensei?" Iruka smirked, "I was just thinking, maybe after both of you clean this up maybe we go get some ramen? You know, the good stuff" Naruto's eyes lit up at the thought of some Ramen. "HUH! NOW THAT'S SOME SERIOUS MOTIVATION! WE'LL HAVE THIS CLEAN IN NO TIME!" Madara also seemed like he gained some motivation because he began scrubbing viciously.
And just like that. Madara and Naruto we're rushing to finish. Around 5 pm they had finally finished cleaning off every single drop of paint. As they were walking to Ichiraku Ramen, Naruto was talking about his favorite flavors of ramen with Madara and Iruka. Once they got there and started eating their ramen Iruka asked Naruto a question. "Naruto" Naruto was busy eating his ramen so when he turned to face Iruka he had a face full of Ramen. "Hm?"
"Why would you do that to the Hokage faces? I mean you know who they are don't you?" This got Madara's attention. "Why did he paint on the Hokage faces? Shouldn't they be treated with respect and honor? Doing that is basically saying that all the hard work they did as Hokage is meaningless." Naruto gave a muffled response, "Of course I do!" Naruto quickly finished his ramen to continue his answer. "Everybody knows, they were the greatest Shinobi of their time right, the best of the best, undefeated Ninja Champs... And the fourth Hokage is the one who saved the village from the Nine tailed fox, he was the most amazing!"
"Yeah, they were amazing but that doesn't explain why you would do that Naruto, what you did was something that could have been taken horribly and this isn't the first time. Thank god your only punishment was to clean the monument, and I helped so I suppose it was quicker." Iruka looked at Naruto dumbfounded. "Then why would you-" Naruto immediately interrupted him. "Because I'm going to be greater than any of them. Me, Naruto! The Next Hokage, A ninja legend! Then everyone will have to stop disrespecting me and look up to me! Dattebayo!"
"I see, thank god it's just his regular I want to be hokage speach. Wait. What does he mean by "everyone will have to stop disrespecting me"? I'll have to look into it later..." Naruto looked at Iruka with a sheepish look. "Uhh by the way, I kinda wanna ask a little favor Sensei..." Iruka raised and eyebrow and asked. "Do you want another bowl?" Naruto shook his head. "No... I wanna try on your headband, c'mon please" Naruto puts his hands in a praying formation and closes his eyes expecting Iruka to say yes.
"Uh... Oh this? No way, you can only wear the leaf headband when you finally graduate from the academy and become a ninja, you've got to pass the test tomorrow." Madara nods his head in agreement. "Agh so uncool!" Naruto huffed in annoyance and Iruka laughed. "Hey, is that why you took off your goggles?" Having been found out Naruto tries to change the subject "Uhhhh.. I want another bowl!"
The afternoon was filled with laughter and joy though Madaras mind was off. Soon enough it was time to go home, they said their goodbyes and they left. Madara got home around 6:30 pm, he saw Sasuke sitting on the couch reading like the old man he is. Madara decided to talk to Sasuke about the topic that was bothering him.
"Hey Sasuke..." Sasuke looked up from his book and looked at Madara. "What's up Madara?"
Madara looked a tiny bit uneasy "I need to talk to you about something that has been on my mind." Sasuke looked at him curiously. "What is it?" Madara took a seat. "So I went to eat with Naruto and Iruka-sensei after cleaning the hokage faces." "You helped clean the mess Naruto made? Why?" Madara sighed."I honestly don't know but that's not the point. While we were eating ramen Naruto said something thats been messing with my head." Sasuke raised an eyebrow, he was interested now. "What has the dobe said this time?"
"So Iruka-sensei asked Naruto why did he paint on the hokage faces and Naruto responds with the usual I'm going to be the next hokage-" Sasuke shrugged. "And? What's so strange about that? It's the same old words." Madara sighed in disappointment, of course his brother cut him off. "That's not the point! While he was giving his mini hokage speech he said and I quote "everyone will have to stop disrespecting me." Do you think Naruto gets treated like, super badly?" Sasuke shook his head. "I doubt he gets treated badly. I mean all he does is pull pranks, I don't think little pranks will get him that much hate."
"Okay, I know, but what if he's actually going through something?" "What do you mean?" Madara was honestly hoping that Sasuke would understand what he meant. "Like what if he gets weird stares? What if they treat him differently then others?" Sasuke nodded. "That could be a possibility but it's best to ask him the situation instead of assuming things." Madara sighed. "Okay then... I'll ask him after graduation."
"You do you. By the way I left your food in the table, I'm going to take a shower." "Okay." As the night came our little protagonist found out what he was going to say and ask to Naruto, content with what he was going to say he fell asleep. As morning came Madara woke up and got ready, as did Sasuke, they went to school and waited for the test to graduate.
As they were waiting Kiba came and sat next to Madara and started a conversation while waiting for Iruka to come into the classroom. "Hey Charasuke, are you confident that you're gonna pass?" Madara nodded and confidently stated. "I'm pretty confident that I will, what about you?" Kiba smirked. "I'm One-Hundred precent sure that I'll pass! I'm not trying to brag but I have amazing grades." Madara chuckled. "I'm sure you do Kiba, but still, good luck!" Kiba smiled at that, Madara was truly a good friend to him. "Good luck to you too Charasuke!"
After a few minutes of waiting Iruka finally came. "Alright class quiet down. We will now start the final exam, when your name is called proceed to the testing room. The final test will be on the clone jutsu." Madara nodded to what Iruka said. "Hn, I'm pretty confident I can pass. That's an easy jutsu."
One by one students got called, soon enough it was Madara's turn. "Okay Madara all you have to do is create three clones that are in good condition." "Yes Iruka-sensei" Madara quickly made the hand signs for the clone jutsu and three good conditioned clones were made. "Good Job Madara! You pass!" Madara beamed with joy. "Thank you Iruka-sensei!" Mizuki who was also there showed the headbands. "Come take your headband Madara." "Of course Mizuki-sensei"
Soon enough everyone was celebrating their graduation. Except for 3 people, the Uchiha twins and Naruto. Sasuke thought that celebrating something he knew he was gonna pass was meaningless, Madara was trying to pass the fan girls so he could reach Naruto, and Naruto was disappointed that he didn't pass. Soon enough Madara got past all the fan girls, found Sasuke and told him he was gonna be home a bit late, and made his way to Naruto.
"Hey Naruto..."
"What do you want? Are you here to tell me how much of a loser I am for not passing the test?" Madara was taken back, why would someone call him a loser for not passing a test? At a time like that people should be encouraging him not bringing him down more.
"What no! I was actually because I wanted to ask you some questions-" "-Sorry to interrupt you Madara, but may I please take Naruto for a quick minute?" Uhm. Excuse me? You want to what? When I'm here?? "I'm sorry Mizuki-sensei but these questions are rather important, you don't mind if I tag along though, right?"
"What?" "Damn this kid. Of course I mind." "I mean, No! I don't mind at all!" Madara smiled. "Great!" Once Mizuki took them to sit down in a place looking at the sunset, Mizuki turned to Naruto and started talking before Madara could ask his questions.
"Iruka-sensei is tough but he's not against you" "Then why, why only me?" "He wants you to be strong with all his heart but that will never happen if he goes easy on you, he's like you ya know, no parents, no family"
"Wow, I guess I just learned something.. wait a minute.. I have no parents.. wait, no I still have a family. Shucks."
"But this time I really wanted to graduate.."
"Then I guess I'll have to tell you"
"Huh?"
"Oh? Well this is getting.. interesting.."
"It's a secret but I'm gonna let you guys in on it" "What's the secret Sensei?" Madara was interested now. "Glad you asked Madara, the secret is that there is a way to become a ninja without having to take the graduation exam."
"What is it? What is it?"
"If you go to the hokage house look for a room with a bunch of scrolls get the scroll with a seal on it. If you learn one jutsu from it and you show it to Iruka you can pass!"
"For some reason, I feel like that's a trap.." "Can I still learn a Jutsu from there even though I already graduated?"
"Of course you can Madara." "If I get that Uchiha to Lord Orochimaru he'll surely be pleased with me.."
"Hm.. well? What are we waiting for? Let's go get that scroll, Naruto."
"Hell yeah!"
Around four am Madara had left his house leaving Sasuke sleeping. He decided to grab a scroll which had paper and pencil sealed in it, just in case. He made it towards the spot Mizuki told them to go. Once he got there he saw that Naruto was already working on a jutsu.
"Sup Naruto" Madara walked into the secluded area in the forest where Naruto was at. Upon hearing Madara's voice Naruto looks up and waves. "Oh hey Madara!" Madara smiles at him and says. "You can call me Charasuke if you want to, I mean we are friends right?" Naruto looked surprised. "O-oh really! We're friends!?" Madara laughed. "Duh, I mean you asked me to be friends years ago! What Jutsu you working on?" Naruto smiled at the fact that they were friends and happily answered Madara's question. "It's called The shadow clone Jutsu!"
"Nice!" Madara took a look at the Jutsus in the scroll and he found one that he thought was interesting. The Flying Raijin also known as the Flying Thunder God Technique. Developed by the Second Hokage. Madara wanted to learn it but he knew he wouldn't be able to master it in a short amount of. He was so glad he brought his trusty scroll. Using his Sharingan he decided to copy anything he thought was also interesting from the scroll.
While he copied he decided to ask Naruto the questions that were bothering him. "Is it okay if I ask you some questions while you train?"
"Yeah, it's alright."
"Great! Okay, number one, when we were eating ramen with Sensei the other day you said "everyone will have to stop disrespecting me," is something going on?" Naruto tensed. He didn't think Madara was going to ask a question like that. Maybe a question of like What's your favorite color or whatever. Ugh, he knew he should've been more careful with his wording. "H-huh? What do you mean? Everything is fine. Honest!" Madara sighed, he knew it wasn't going to be that easy. "I can tell it's not, something has been going on, don't act like it doesn't exist, Sensei and others may not have noticed it but I saw the way those ladies were talking about you, I saw the look in your eyes, a part of them looked like they were used to the treatment." Naruto tried to laugh it off. "You're delusional Madara. Nothing is wrong."
"Alright, I'll let that go for now, if you ever change your mind I'm always here to listen."
"Okay..."
"Uhm question two, why do you prank people, I've seen the attention you've received it's always negative... Why do you continue to do it?"
"You know.. I- I'm not really liking these questions...."
"I'm sorry, If you're uncomfortable then I'll stop."
"Thank you. I'll answer your questions soon. Don't worry."
After a couple of hours later, Naruto had mastered the clone jutsu and Madara had finished copying what he wanted to copy. Madara decided to take a seat under a tree so he could rest a bit. The only way you could see him was if you were where Naruto was. Not even 5 minutes later Iruka comes in the scene, and decides to call Naruto out.
"It's all over Naruto." Iruka said as he stood on the tree branch. "Got us already not bad, you're quick sensei, I only had time to learn one jutsu! Listen Iruka-sensei, I'm gonna show you this amazing jutsu and you're gonna let me graduate and everything will be okay! That's the ways it works right? Anyone who learns a jutsu from this scroll passes!"
"Huh? Where did you get that idea? Also, what do you mean by us?"
"Mizuki-sensei told us about it dattebayo! He told us were to find the scroll and this place..."
"In other words Mizuki tried to set us up as bad people so that we could get in trouble."
"Madara, what are you doing here? Wait... WHAT!?"
All of a sudden Iruka pushes Naruto and a bunch of kunai are thrown directly at him. Iruka gets hit by a kunai in his thigh the others barely missing him.
"I see you found our little hideaway..." "Though I didn't think Madara would actually figure my intentions.. no.. he doesn't know everything.. I still have control. Wait.. where even is that kid?"
"So that's the way it is huh, I should have known." Iruka was pissed. Mizuki turns his head to Naruto and says, "Naruto quickly give me the scroll now!" Naruto was confused so he asked the obvious question. "Wait a minute what's going on here?" "Naruto don't let Mizuki get the scroll! It contains forbidden jutsu that can put this village in grave danger, Mizuki used you to get the scroll for himself, his own power!" Well, yeah, I kinda figured that out by now.. but thanks for spelling it out for the rest of us Iruka, I appreciate it. "Naruto. Iruka is just trying to scare you because he doesn't want you to have the scroll." Pfft, yeah right. You're a lying little snake.. no wonder you worship one.
"That literally makes no sense??"
"Huh?"
"Stop lying Mizuki!"
"Yeah Mizuki stop lying. Don't you know that liars get set on fire? I'll definitely set you in fire. No one will ever find your body.."
"Don't let him trick you Naruto!"
"Oh I'll show you who's really lying"
"No! Mizuki!"
"They've been lying to you your whole life Naruto, since the decree twelve years ago"
"Decree twelve years ago.... that's about how long the nine tailed fox attacked the village.. that's also how old I am.. huh."
"What decree?"
"Everyone know's it except you"
"I don't know it, and I'm pretty sure my brother doesn't know it either.. maybe Itachi knows. I'll send him a letter about it.. it's been a while since I've last spoken to him.."
"Iruka is trying to hide it from you even now he'd do anything to shut me up"
"What is this decree? Why does everyone else know about it?"
"Don't tell him it's forbidden!"
"The decree is that no one can tell you that the nine tails is inside of you!"
"Naruto has the nine tails in him? Can he use its power or does he need to train to use it?"
"The fox spirit that killed Iruka's parents and destroyed our village has taken over your body"
"That makes no sense. If the nine tails is in control of Naruto's body then we would all be dead by now"
"You are the nine tailed fox"
"STOP IT!"
"They've all been sneaking around hiding things from you your whole life, didn't you think it was strange how they treated you, like dirt, like they hated you for just being alive!"
"That answers question one and it makes a lot of sense.. but doesn't that mean that he was a sacrifice?? What kind of parent sacrifices their kid to be the nine tails host?"
"NO! NO NO NO NO!"
"Naruto! Don't believe him!"
"That's why you will never be accepted in this village! Even your beloved Sensei hates your guts!"
"Well that's not true, Iruka cares for him a lot. It's like Iruka treats Naruto like his own son, also I don't hate him he's my friend, Sasuke doesn't hate him either, he just considers him a rival or he has a crush on him because I swear to god, this man speaks about him a lot."
Mizuki twirls a giant Shuriken and throws it at Naruto saying, "DIE NARUTO!" Naruto is startled and starts to frantically get back away from the incoming Shuriken, in the heat of the moment Madara runs out from his hiding spot to protect Naruto but Iruka beats it to him while yelling, "NARUTO GET DOWN!" Naruto gets down and Iruka is pierced with the Shuriken. Everyone just stares in shock, Madara has stopped running and sees what has happened. The only words that Naruto is able to get out is, "W-why?"
"Because we're the same, when I lost my parents no one seemed to care, they didn't have time for me, they just forgot I was there, my grades dropped, and I became the class clown, I just wanted them to see me and to know my name. My school work wasn't good enough to get their attention so I did crazy things and then I had to pay for it, it was hard. I know that's how you feel Naruto, you feel lonely and it hurts inside and I could have been there for you more, I let you down, I'm sorry, no one should have to suffer that much, no one should be alone like that."
While Iruka was speaking Madara decided that he was going to take matters into his own hands. He hadn't really used his chakra that day so using his Sharigan he began to work. Taking out a special kunai given to him by Itachi he began to work on doing the Flying Raijin technique. He knew it was a gamble because there could be a chance that it blew up or he blew up.
"Don't make me laugh, Iruka always hated you, he was orphaned because the nine tailed fox killed his parents and that beast is inside you, he's say anything to get that scroll from you." Naruto heard this and ran, he ran as fast as he could to get away from those three. As soon as Madara saw Naruto run, he threw the kunai in Naruto's direction and prayed for the best. It flew right past Naruto's cheek and got lodged into a tree. He did the signal and he teleported to where the kunai was! Was he a god..? Ughh, no time for that. He had to get to Naruto.
"Naruto wait up!"
"No way! You hate me! You just lied when you said that we were friends!"
"No I didn't! Why would I lie about that! Also if I hated you I wouldn't have asked about your well-being!"
"Shut up! You hate me! Mizuki said it himself!"
"How hard is it for you to get it in your thick skull!? I don't hate you, You're my friend! Are you really gonna believe someone who set you up over your friend?!"
"I-"
"Hold that thought, let's hide here, I'm pretty sure that Mizuki will be after you, well, probably that scroll"
Soon enough the heard talking it was Iruka and Mizuki. Mizuki was trying to manipulate Iruka to get him on his side that once him or Iruka got the scroll they could take it and leave the village, but Iruka stood strong denying it. Soon enough Naruto was in tears and Madara was getting him to calm down. Once Mizuki said that he was gonna finish off Iruka, Naruto stepped out and kicked Mizuki in the face, Madara quickly ran towards Iruka to help him.
"Not bad for a little punk"
"If you ever lay a hand on my sensei I'll kill you!"
"Ha! Like if you could do anything, I could destroy you with a single move!"
"Take your best shot fool, I'll return it one-thousand time fold!"
"Ha! Show me what you got nine tailed fox!"
"SHADOW CLONE JUTSU!"
"Naruto... you're not supposed to yell out your jutsu..."
Naruto did the hand sign and a bunch of Naruto's poofed into existence. They began to taunt Mizuki and without any warning they charged at him. Mizuki was clearly outnumbered and so even though he was a chunnin he still lost.
"Hehe, sorry I kinda got carried away" Naruto said with a sheepish smile. "Kinda?! I can't even tell if this is Mizuki!!" Madara was flabbergasted. Mizuki's face was all swollen up with a bunch of bruises. "You okay Iruka-sensei?" "Y-yeah, I got some help from Madara but I'll be fine, come here for a minute will ya." "Okay!" Naruto runs up to Iruka. "Good. Now that you're here, I need you to close your eyes Naruto." "Wha-!? Why?!" "Just do it please" Naruto sighed and reluctantly said, "..fine." Naruto closes his eyes, Iruka proceeds to take off Naruto's goggles and his own headband. While doing this Madara slowly moves away to let them have their moment. He walks over to Mizuki and he places a Raijin seal on the back of his neck. He was going to personally deal with him later.
"Sensei, how much longer till I can open my eyes?" Madara walks back to the two of them. "I'm surprised he hasn't figured it out yet, he's gonna become a ninja" Iruka smiles. "Okay, you can open your eyes now." Once Naruto opens his eyes Iruka states, "Congratulations Naruto, you graduate! You're officially a genin. And to celebrate I have a surprise for you! We're going out to ramen tonight!"
Upon hearing this Naruto tackles Iruka and Madara smiles at the sight. "Iruka-sensei, have you ever thought about adopting Naruto? I think you'd be a good father to him. I mean, you already act like it so why not make it official, ya know?"
𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝘃𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗼 𝗱𝗼𝗲𝘀 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗯𝗲𝗹𝗼𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗼 𝗺𝗲.
𝗡𝗮𝗿𝘂𝘁𝗼 𝗱𝗼𝗲𝘀 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗯𝗲𝗹𝗼𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗼 𝗺𝗲. 𝗜𝘁 𝗯𝗲𝗹𝗼𝗻𝗴𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗠𝗮𝘀𝗮𝘀𝗵𝗶 𝗞𝗶𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗺𝗼𝘁𝗼. 𝗜 𝗼𝗻𝗹𝘆 𝗼𝘄𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆