"Naruto Hatake?"
Naruto's eyes lit up. It's been years, but Naruto's heart still warmed every time his last name was called. Also, he was really excited about the final exam.
He stood, and smiled at the calls of encouragement from his various friends. He waved at them and followed after Iruka who greeted him warmly.
Naruto smiled back up at him and entered the testing room, his nerves spiking as Iruka closed the door to sit beside Mizuki, who eyed him critically. Naruto felt his heart beat erratically, thumping loudly as he raised his hands and flew through the symbols. That was the easiest part, the hand signs. He had gone over them thousands of times, and Naruto muttered "c-clone jutsu," under his shaky breath. He screwed his eyes shut, then peeked one open. Glancing beside him were two identical Naruto's all looking nervously. A sigh escaped past his lips in relief, giddy overtaking the anxiety. All those hours learning chakra control with his family were really paying off, it seemed.
But Naruto struggled to keep it together, and finally, Iruka gestured for him to dispel them. Naruto did so happily, rocking on the balls of his feet. He noticed, faltering ever so slightly, Mizuki sent him an irritated glance as Iruka scribbled something on his clipboard with a ghost of a frown.
"Congratulations, Naruto Hatake." Iruka's voice broke ever so slightly when saying his last name, for some reason, and continued. "You've finally become a shinobi!" His smile was genuine, but still strained. Mizuki muttered under his breath and handed the blonde boy his hitai-ate.
Naruto beamed and accepted it, bowing and thanking his sensei profusely. Iruka's gaze softened at the young boy and allowed him to leave. Naruto shouted one last thank you before rushing out the door, grinning brightly. Outside, Kakashi was leaning against the wall, his hands in his pockets, listening to TenTen ramble about something random.
A warm feeling flooded Naruto's chest as he gripped the headband tightly. His dad, and his sister. He had a family, one that cared for him through the laughter and the tears. He skipped up to them, displaying the hitai-ate proudly. "I did it!"
TenTen matched his grin excitedly. "Of course you did, ya' dork! I'm so proud of you!" She reached over and ruffled his hair affectionately. Kakashi caught them all in a hug, sniffling.
"D-Dad? Are you crying?"
Kakashi sniffled. "N-No." Despite this, tears welled up in his visible eye. "I'm just so happy and proud of my two little genin."
TenTen flushed, but berated him happily for squeezing so tightly. Kakashi laughed and released them, only for Naruto to tackle him into another hug. He buried his head in Kakashi's shoulders and inhaled his dad's comforting scent, as Kakashi soothingly patted his head.
Naruto stepped away, sniffling a bit.
"Don't tell me you're crying too, Naru!" TenTen yelped.
"N-No!" He rushed to wipe it away with his red sleeve. "I-I'm just...there's dust in my eye." TenTen rolled her eyes fondly, rushing into another ramble about a sighting of Tsunade somewhere near Sunagakure. Naruto smiled, then noticed someone out of the corner of his eye gesturing to him.
Mizuki-sensei?
Naruto excused himself from the group and headed toward him. He honestly didn't know much about Mizuki, other than the fact that he was supposedly Iruka's childhood best friend and that he had a weird feeling associated with him. Tentatively, Naruto approached his sensei. "Mizuki-sensei?"
The irritated man nodded gruffly. "Naruto," He looked down and made eye contact, sending an involuntary shiver down Naruto's back. "I have a special mission for you. There's a test available to some graduating shinobi, to prove their worth." He scanned the area around them and continued to whisper. "Senseis may only select one student a year that they find is up to the challenge. If you complete it, it'll put you in a high standing with the Hokage, and you'll have a better chance of graduating to chunin faster."
Naruto narrowed his eyes, intrigued.
Mizuki smiled, as if trying to cement his words, but was far too creepy. "Don't tell anyone about it, since it's centered around espionage and being discreet. So," Naruto seemed to be on board. "Are you in?"
Naruto mulled over his sensei's words. After half a minute with Mizuki getting more and more impatient, Naruto nodded.
"Perfect." Mizuki grinned wickedly. He bent down and whispered the instructions into his ear, then sent him back to his family. "Don't tell anyone, remember? No one. In the future, S-Rank missions you'll take will require secrecy, and this is to be modeled as one."
Naruto nodded, determined, and returned to his dad and sister.
"What was that about?" Kakashi asked as Naruto tugged them home.
Naruto shrugged and slipped his hand into his dad's. "Nothing much, just Mizuki-sensei telling me about my test and how he was impressed." The lie rolled off his tongue easily, surprising Naruto. He pushed down the guilty feeling that rose up, knowing he hadn't lied to hurt them.
TenTen smiled. "Cool! Glad he can see true talent. He always came off as creepy."
Naruto returned the smile, Mizuki's words lingering in his mind.
::
Stealing the scroll was fairly easy, he mused.
There may have been a second where the Hokage saw him, but Naruto had used the Kawimiri no Jutsu to replace himself with a leaf from outside, and the Hokage was none the wiser.
It was actually a bit concerning, the low-level security defenses in place. Naruto shrugged it off and made a note to let the Hokage know later when he passed. He landed softly in the spot Mizuki was supposed to meet him, and grew bored quickly.
His eyes trailed to the scroll beside him. Didn't Mizuki say it had a bunch of techniques and jutsu? Naruto bit his lip, then hurriedly opened the scroll. He caught sight of a certain one. "Shadow clone jutsu..." He muttered, his hands forming into the correct seals. Naruto looked up.
"Holy shit!"
::
Kakashi was in a frenzy.
Naruto had never snuck out before, nor expressed a want to do so. He could walk out the door and go nearly anywhere, almost any time he wanted. All he had to do was ask.
But when Kakashi opened Naruto's door softly after he hadn't answered him on what he wanted for dinner, his bed was empty and the window was wrenched open, wind flowing in and billowing the curtains.
Where could he have gone? Was he kidnapped? What if he was hurt?
The Hatake, completely calm, most definitely composed, burst into the Hokage's office to find Hiruzen speaking to Iruka Umino with a concerned look on his face. Umino suddenly coughed and looked to the side, before clearing his throat and gazing at the Hatake with a questioning look.
"Hm? Kakashi, at this hour, and a scroll is mis--"
"Naruto is missing!" Kakashi blurted. He didn't even apologize for bursting in, or interrupting their leader. Right now, all he cared about was his son. He began pacing around the room, gesturing wildly with his hands. "I hadn't seen much of him after we went home from graduation, a-and now he's gone! There's no sign of him, his window was left open and TenTen hasn't seen him either!"
Iruka quickly hopped onto the distress train with Kakashi, while Hiruzen quietly mulled over the Hatake's words. His eyes widened when he remembered a flash of blonde in the night.
"Iruka." The chunin snapped to attention, turning back to the Hokage. "Naruto stole the scroll."
Iruka paled, and they seemed to communicate something through nothing but their eyes. Finally, they turned to poor Kakashi, who looked terribly confused and lost.
"....What?" He whispered hoarsely.
::
After mastering the "Multi Shadow Clone Jutsu," startled by his doppelganger, Naruto quickly scanned the other techniques in "The Scroll of Sealing."
Oddly enough, before each technique was a slight warning that the could potentially harm the user or others. Unfortunately, Naruto didn't even notice as he read the "Eight Trigrams Sealing Style" with a furrowed brow. It looked familiar... Naruto dismissed the feeling and scanned the information written about it.
Just as he finished up reading the writing about a technique called "The Reaper Death Seal," the leaves ruffled and the foliage shook, parting to reveal a distressed Iruka. Naruto didn't really pick up on that, and brightened.
"Iruka-sensei! Hello." He rolled up the scroll again. "I didn't know you were the one who was going to confirm the mission completed."
"Mission?" Iruka asked, sounding tired.
The young Hatake cocked his head to the side, matching Iruka's confusion. "Yeah. Mizuki-sensei told me about the test I could take to prove my skills. The espionage one! He told me where to get the scroll, and where to meet him at the end.." He trailed off, noticing Iruka's angry gaze.
"Mizuki-sensei?" Iruka echoed.
Naruto frowned, still confused. "Y-Yeah? Oh, was I not supposed to say anything? Did I fail the test, shit, I-I'm sorry--"
"Yes, Naruto, you failed." A bored voice drawled, approaching quickly. Iruka grit his teeth and moved to protect the boy, Naruto's eyes widening at the gesture. A barrage of senbon flew towards Naruto, hitting Iruka instead. Iruka staggered back as Mizuki revealed himself, his voice sinister and bitter. "I see you've found our little hideaway..."
Iruka's eyes widened. "So that's the way it is.." He muttered, clutching his bleeding torso. "I should have known." At an alarming rate, red bloomed onto his vest, darkened by blood.
Mizuki smirked, kneeling on one of the many branches that swayed overhead. He straightened his back and outstretched one hand. "Naruto." He spoke sharply, calling the boy to attention. "Give me the scroll, now."
The blonde was confused, eyes darting from Iruka to Mizuki his mind reeling. "Wh-What?" He stammered. "You..you attacked Iruka-sensei!"
Iruka's chest heaved in exertion, blood slowly dripping from the corners of his mouth. Despite his terrible state, he slid out a kunai and pointed it at Mizuki, pushing himself off of the wall. "Naruto! Don't let him get the scroll!" He commanded, looking furiously at his traitorous best friend."It contains forbidden jutsu that can put this village in grave danger." Determined, he eyed Mizuki's every move.
Naruto's mind stalled at his sensei's words. '...Forbidden?' He raised two of his scuffed and calloused hands, staring at the palms. Did he really just memorize three forbidden technuiques? Even worse, he mastered one of them.
Iruka's voice was hard and bitter, unlike the usual peppy teacher. It turned accusatory at the placid blunette. "Mizuki used you to get the scroll for himself, for his own power!" His shoulders shook, though he never wavered in his efforts to protect the boy.
Naruto's back straightened, his mind running a mile a minute as he processed Iruka's words. It made some semblance of sense. Mizuki was shady, and he really seemed like the type to do such a thing, Iruka's best friend or not.
The smirking man turned to the blonde. "Naruto Hatake.." He purred, sounding amused when he said 'Hatake.' "Iruka's just trying to scare you becuase he doesnt want you to have the scroll." Mizuki coaxed, his voice smoothing over into something friendlier and soothing.
Naruto gritted his teeth and stared back defiantly. "Shut up!" He snapped, his volume rising. "You're lying, shitbag!" Iruka-sensei would never. He encouraged Naruto in class, and was kind when others weren't. The brunette seemed grateful that Naruto still held faith for the Umino.
Mizuki only seemed to grow more amused. He chuckled. "Oh, I'll tell you who's really lying."
Naruto, unsure but curious, held Mizuki's gaze as Iruka shouted protests that fell on deaf ears.
The blunette crouched down, his enourmous shuriken peeking over the pads of his vest. "They've been lying to you your whole life." He hissed. "Since the decree, twelve years ago."
An odd feeling of familiarity tugged at Naruto from the back of his head, but he ignored it and eyed Mizuki and his arrogant smile. "What decree?"
"Everyone knows, except you." Mizuki smirked, eyes crazed and resentful. "Iruka's trying to hide it from you even now. in fact," His eyes glittered with malicious intent. "I'm certain your own adoptive father hasn't had the guts to tell you. They'll do anything to shut me up!"
Horrified, Iruka noticed the curious glint in Naruto's eyes. "Don't tell him!" He shouted desperately. "It's forbidden!"
Ignoring him as if he was a pesky insect, Mizuki's smirk widened and he seemed delighted. "The decree is no one can tell you that the Nine Tailed Fox is sealed inside you!" Grinning, he stared down at the boy who hadn't moved.
Naruto met the gaze with an almost bored look. "That's it?"
"Wh-What?" Mizuki faltered, having not expected such a bored reaction. "Don't you get it, stupid child? A demon is in you! You are a demon!"
"I believe the correct term for it is jinchuriki." Naruto corrected. "Yeah, I already knew. Since I was like, four."
Both Academy teachers spluttered. Iruka, with wide eyes, croaked out, "How?" He had tried so damn hard to keep Naruto from not knowing, to protect him from the labels of 'demon' and 'monster.'
Naruto quirked an eyebrow, as if it was obvious. "I like to read." He shrugged. "Foreign books at the public library aren't screened that well, and other countries don't really keep it a secret. Did you know Yagura Karatachi, jinchuriki of the three tailed, is the fourth Mizukage? They can't exactly hide that fact."
Iruka was frozen, his jaw dropping as he gaped at the indiferent boy. Mizuki seemed to do the same.
"What?"
::
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I may have had to look up on youtube the scene in english dub since I couldn't remember what happens that well, but I wanted to get this chap out quickly since I haven't updated in almost a month
that's all for now, I bid thee good day you lovely people 💖💖