Chapter Text
Twelve years had passed since the night the Nine-Tailed Fox attacked the Hidden Leaf Village. Twelve years since Naruto Uzumaki was born and made a jinchuriki. Twelve years since the boy was made an orphan. The day a baby is born should be a time for joy and celebration, but Naruto’s was nothing of the sort. That night was a time of fear. The twelve years since passed in relative peace, but the people who survived that night didn’t forget, and most of them knew the fox was sealed inside the small blond boy.
For Naruto, his life had been an absolute disaster almost from the start. He was always alone. Some people probably think that sounds like paradise, but Naruto hated it. He had never wanted anything in his life more than just to be seen, to be acknowledged. Unfortunately, most of the people in the village looked at him and saw either a hopeless loser or the monster within him.
Eventually, Naruto started pulling pranks. He knew it was lame, but, to his surprise, it actually worked. Whenever he caused enough trouble, his sensei and some other ninja would chase him all over the place. It wasn’t exactly the kind of acknowledgement he wanted, but at least they weren’t ignoring him for once!
In a strange way, his habit of pranking served as training for both him and his pursuers. By the time he failed the Academy’s graduation exam for the third time, he could move faster than the eye could follow. What was stopping him from graduating? He couldn’t get the stupid clone jutsu to work. Every time he failed, it was because of that.
As he sat in the swing outside the Academy, Naruto felt more alone than ever. He watched as one student after another was picked up by their parents or siblings. No one was coming for him, of course. No one ever had or ever would.
Suddenly, a figure appeared beside Naruto. “He’s only hard on you because he cares, you know?” the person said.
Naruto turned and looked at the person who had addressed him. It was Mizuki, one of the two Chunin instructors who had recently given him the final test. Naruto didn’t know the young man well, but he had caught Mizuki giving him nasty looks a time or three.
“I just really wanted to graduate this time!” Naruto complained. “I don’t really like the idea of being in a class of kids younger than me.”
Mizuki smirked briefly before getting control of his face and giving the boy a smile. “I guess I have to tell you then…” he said, letting his voice trail off.
Naruto was curious. Now, it bears stating that, despite what everyone assumed, Naruto was not stupid. He was so dense when it came to social cues that he had no idea one of his classmates had a huge crush on him. He was also a bit naïve and had a tendency to trust too much, but he wasn’t stupid.
As such, he instinctively distrusted Mizuki. All the same, he still wanted to know what the man was going to tell him. Therefore, he asked, “Tell me about what?”
Mizuki's smile widened into a predatory grin. Naruto suppressed a shudder. “There’s a make-up test,” he told the blond. Naruto immediately knew he was lying, but he kept quiet. Mizuki proceeded to explain that the Hokage kept a certain scroll hidden in a niche in his office. If Naruto could get in, get the scroll, take it to a cabin in the woods, and learn a jutsu from it, he would pass.
Naruto grinned enthusiastically and agreed to take the totally-not-fake test. To Mizuki’s surprise, he didn’t immediately run off. “I need to think for a minute,” he said by way of explanation. “I’ll get it and see you at the cabin, right?”
Mizuki considered saying something, but he decided it was pointless. He shrugged and walked away. Naruto stayed where he was. He really did need to think.
A few minutes after Mizuki left, a small girl with dark blue hair and wearing a baggy cream jacket walked out of the Academy building. She had been helping one of the teachers move some paperwork after class. When she saw Naruto sitting on the swing, she blushed and almost hid. This was Hinata Hyuga, the very classmate who had a crush on the blond knucklehead.
Hinata had spent more time than she cared to admit watching Naruto since meeting him the first day they both started the Academy. He had saved her from some bullies that day. Ever since then, she had come to admire his smile and his vast spirit. She knew him rather well, she liked to think.
When Hinata realized Naruto was jittering on the swing and seemed to be thinking about something that was obviously upsetting him, she worked up her courage and approached him. “N…Naruto?” she said quietly.
Under normal circumstances, Naruto likely would have never even heard the girl’s tiny voice. Just then, however, he was focused on Mizuki’s offer and was being unusually still and quiet, so he did.
He jumped and looked around frantically for a moment. Eventually, his eyes fell on the small girl. “Oh, Hinata, it’s you,” he said as he let out a relieved breath.
Hinata blushed. She wasn’t sure before that Naruto even knew who she was. “Yes,” she managed to say. Naruto was just looking at her curiously. She took a breath. “It looked like something was bothering you, so I came over to see what was wrong.”
Naruto thought about his interactions with Hinata. There weren’t many, and they tended to consist of him standing up for the shy girl in one way or another, but he had noticed one thing. Hinata was never mean. He decided to take a chance and trust her. “I’m just trying to figure out what to do about something Mizuki told me,” he told her.
Hinata listened as Naruto explained how he had failed the test and what Mizuki had told him. Hinata was just as suspicious as Naruto was, if not more so, but she was also curious. She couldn’t even begin to understand why Mizuki would make up something like this. “Well, what were you thinking of doing?” she asked when Naruto fell silent.
Naruto blew out a frustrated breath. “I don’t really know,” he said. “I mean, obviously Mizuki is up to something. If there was a secret test like this, surely Iruka-sensei would have told me about it before now, right?” Hinata nodded agreement. “I don’t know what he’s up to, but I feel like it’s my responsibility to stop him. It’s not like anyone would believe me, though. Ugh, what am I supposed to do?” he lamented.
Hinata thought about what he had said. “Well, what if you lure him into a trap?” she asked after a brief silence.
Naruto looked at her in wonder. “You mean like prank him?” he asked. Hinata nodded. “Y’know, Hinata, I would never have thought you would suggest that. You’re pretty cool, y’know!”
Hinata blushed and giggled slightly. She had always liked it when his speech quirk came out. It only happened when he got excited.
Naruto grinned and rubbed the back of his neck. His cheeks were dusted pink. “What kind of trap did you have in mind?” he asked her.
“Well, Mizuki is assuming you’ll keep this to yourself and that you’ll be on your own, right?” she asked. Naruto shrugged and nodded. Hinata smiled. “Well, what if you weren’t?”
Naruto considered that. “You mean get the scroll and go out there, but I would have someone with me?” he asked. Hinata nodded. Naruto groaned. “It’s me, though. Who would ever agree to help me?”
Hinata growled slightly at that. She knew Naruto wasn’t exactly treated nicely by their classmates, but the thought that none of them would help a comrade annoyed her. “Well, I would, for one,” she declared forcefully. “I don’t know how much good I would be in a fight, but I would never leave you to face something like this alone.”
Naruto looked at the girl, surprised. “You…wouldn’t?” he finally asked. Hinata shook her head. “Okay, in that case, this might just work. Do you think you could get anyone else to help us?”
Hinata thought for a moment. Most of the girls in their class were obsessed with a different classmate named Sasuke, so she doubted any of them would care to help Naruto. Sasuke himself was a broody kid who didn’t seem to care about anyone else, so he was probably a waste of time as well. Hinata wasn’t really friends with any of the boys in class, but she did know a few of them. Turning to look at her crush again, she told him, “I’m not sure, honestly. I can’t just leave you alone without at least trying, though.”
Naruto gave her a grateful smile. “Okay, tell you what, I’m going to go get the scroll and head to the cabin Mizuki told me about. Anyone who agrees to help, bring them along and meet me there in…say an hour?”
Hinata blushed slightly, but she nodded. “Sure, Naruto,” she said softly.
Naruto nodded. “All right, see you soon then,” he said and ran off down the road.
xxxxxx
An hour later, Hinata and the one classmate who had agreed to help were running through the woods toward the cabin. The place was surprisingly easy to find, given that neither of them had ever known it was there. Hinata wondered how Mizuki did, but she didn’t say anything.
“I can smell Naruto,” the boy running with her said suddenly. He shot her a feral grin. “We’ll be there soon.”
Hinata nodded. “Thank you, Kiba,” she said back. The boy was Kiba Inuzuka. She had been a little bit annoyed when the other boys told her they wouldn’t help for one reason or another, but when she found Kiba, he surprised her by agreeing immediately.
“Hey, I could never abandon a comrade in need,” he responded. Before either of them could say anything, the trees stopped, and they found themselves in a clearing. Sure enough, there was a small cabin there, and Naruto was sitting in front of it with a huge scroll open in front of him.
Naruto looked up when he heard someone arrive. “Hey, Hinata, hey, Kiba,” he greeted them.
“Hey, yourself,” Kiba replied. “Now that I’m here, what’s going on?”
While Hinata explained the situation as best she could, Naruto was repeatedly trying to get the first jutsu in the scroll to work. In an ironic twist, it was a more advanced version of the very jutsu he had failed at the exam. This one was called Shadow Clone Jutsu.
Just as Hinata finished speaking, Naruto let out an excited whoop. “I did it!” he declared. Hinata and Kiba turned to look, and they saw four Narutos standing there.
Kiba approached and stared at them. He reached out and clapped one of them on the shoulder. “Yeah, I thought you were the real one,” he said with a grin.
“Um, Kiba, I’m the real one,” a different Naruto spoke up. The one Kiba had touched and two others burst into smoke, leaving only the one who had spoken. “See?”
Kiba stared in shock. “But…it was real! I touched it!” he objected.
Naruto chuckled. “It was a Shadow Clone, not a regular clone,” he explained. “I learned it from the scroll.”
Kiba and Hinata both dashed over to read about the jutsu. Naruto smirked as he watched them. Suddenly, Hinata spoke up. “What’s this seal for, Naruto?” she asked.
Naruto approached and looked at where she was pointing. A small diamond shape was drawn in the bottom corner of the scroll. “That’s a seal?” he asked. He hadn’t even noticed it.
Hinata nodded. “It’s a containment seal,” she explained. “Once you seal something in there, you can access it by swiping some blood on it.”
Naruto chuckled. “Wouldn’t it be cool if my mom or dad sealed something in there for me?” he asked somewhat wistfully.
Hinata giggled. “You could always find out,” she said.
Naruto grinned. “You know what, you’re right, y’know!” he said. He bit his thumb and swiped his blood across the seal.
Everyone jumped when a small cloud of smoke erupted from the seal. When it cleared, there was a small scroll sitting there. “Okay, that’s weird,” Kiba commented.
Naruto pocketed the scroll. “I’ll see what that is later,” he said as a loud noise rang out from the woods. “Someone’s coming! Hide!”
Kiba and Hinata used the Body Flicker to quickly hide in a nearby tree. Seconds later, their main sensei at the Academy, Iruka Umino, appeared behind Naruto. “So, this is where you’ve been,” he said as he leaned down over Naruto.
“Oh, hey, Iruka-sensei!” Naruto said cheerfully. “You found me so fast, I only had time to learn one jutsu!”
Iruka stared at Naruto, taking in how tired and bedraggled he looked. Sighing, he asked, “What in the hell were you thinking, Naruto?! You stole the Hokage’s scroll!”
Naruto grinned even wider. “Yeah, I know, it was for the make-up test! Mizuki-sensei told me about it!”
Iruka looked shell-shocked when the boy’s words registered. He looked around as a slight whistling sound was heard. He pushed Naruto hard and stood in front of him as a number of kunai and shuriken hit him.
Naruto stared in horror as Mizuki revealed himself. “I wasn’t expecting you to find him so quickly, Iruka,” he said, his voice dripping with contempt.
Naruto didn’t know exactly what was going on, but he knew Iruka needed help. He couldn’t do anything yet, though, so he waited.
Mizuki smirked. “Why would you even pretend to protect that freak?” he asked. “Iruka, join me, we can kill him and keep the scroll. He was going to use it against the village like the beast he is!”
“What are you talking about, Mizuki-sensei?” Naruto asked. He didn’t really think of the man as that anymore, but he didn’t want Mizuki to know that yet.
“No, Mizuki!” Iruka interjected. Naruto looked at the young man in confusion. “You can’t tell him! It’s forbidden!”
Mizuki grinned. “Iruka would do anything to stop me right now, Naruto. He doesn’t want you to know the Nine-Tailed Fox who killed Iruka’s parents is inside you! You are the fox now!” he said. Naruto turned to Iruka. The look on his face confirmed that Mizuki wasn’t lying. Mizuki added, “Iruka, I know you hate him for killing your parents. Now come on, kill the little monster and let’s go!”
“Fang Over Fang!” a voice rang out from nearby. Kiba, spinning so fast he was like a tornado, barreled into Mizuki at high speed a split second later. He stopped moving a moment later and looked back at Mizuki only to find a split log laying on the ground. “Ugh! A substitution!”
Hinata appeared a second later in front of Naruto. The veins around her eyes bulged, indicating her Byakugan, the Kekkei Genkai of her clan, was active. She pointed in a specific direction. “He’s that way, three trees back,” she told Kiba. He nodded and dashed off in that direction. Turning to Iruka, she asked, “Is what Mizuki said true?”
Iruka sighed deeply. Turning to Naruto, he answered gently, “It’s partly true. The fox is sealed inside you. He’s completely wrong about you being the fox, though. You’re my precious student, Naruto Uzumaki of the Hidden Leaf!”
Naruto processed that a moment. Mizuki came flying out of the trees a second later. When he stopped, he pushed himself back to his feet. Snarling, he said, “I guess I have to kill all four of you, then!” He pulled a huge shuriken off his back and threw it at Naruto.
Iruka moved to get in the way, but Naruto pulled him down atop himself with inches to spare as the shuriken flew over both of them. Sliding from beneath Iruka, Naruto stood and glared at Mizuki. “If you ever lay a hand on my sensei, I’ll kill you!” he growled.
Mizuki smirked. “Let’s see you try! Show me what you can do, you monster!”
Hinata took a step forward to defend Naruto, but the blond stopped her with a hand. “Don’t worry, Hinata, I got this.” He formed a hand sign. “Multi Shadow Clone Jutsu!” As he spoke, an absolutely massive number of clones appeared. Mizuki stared in terror at them. Naruto pointed at the silver-haired man. “Sic ‘em,” he said, and the clones charged.
The “fight”, if it could even be called that, was over in seconds. Mizuki lay on the ground, twitching, and Naruto was grinning.
Iruka approached the boy. “Close your eyes, Naruto,” he said. Naruto looked confused, but he did so. He felt something being tied around his head. When he opened his eyes, Iruka was grinning at him, his headband no longer on his head. “Congratulations! You graduate!”
Naruto grinned widely before throwing himself at Iruka and hugging him. For just a moment, he forgot about the scroll, the Hokage, the fox, and everything else that was bothering him. For just that one moment, life was good.