Hiruzen Sarutobi: Sandaime Hokage, the esteemed God of Shinobi, ‘The Professor’, the Sensei of the Legendary Sannin... all these experiences, titles and skills meant neither jack nor shit when it came to the boy sitting in the chair before the man’s desk. To the boy he was just ‘Jiji’ and saw him as a grandfather figure. While it was nice to feel so close to the youth, that also meant the boy lacked a healthy dose of respect for the position, even if the blond kept claiming that one day he would take it from him! More than anything, the elder man needed that boy to show that respect right now, especially with how the clan heads had reacted to Naruto’s solution for freeing himself and the Hyuuga Heiress from the cell they were confined to as part of an experiment to check the Kyuubi Container’s Special Seven-Point Seal.
After all, even with the powers of the Kyuubi... one just doesn’t go using jutsu and powers that were, hands down, right out of Iwagakure’s Explosion Corps!! Immediately the Council and Clan heads became frantic at the possibility of Iwa Ninja secretly infiltrating Konoha to train its Jinchuuriki and turn him against the Hidden Leaf Village.
At having heard the boy’s explanation... the Sandaime honestly WISHED it were that simple. “So you had a talk with the Kyuubi?” the old man asked as he stood behind his desk, scrutinizing Naruto’s features and, wishing the boy was wrong about the story he kept telling... but Naruto was a terrible liar, and the old man could sense nothing ‘off’ from him.
The young blond mulled over that statement for a moment. “Well, an aspect really; least that’s what he called himself,” the boy answered honestly. “He said his name was Inari and that he was the positive aspect of the Nine-Tails...”
Shivering a bit as the boy again told him it was an ‘aspect’, Sarutobi continued. “And this aspect of the Kyuubi just gave you the power over not one, not two, not three but TEN kekkei genkai?” Honestly, he never thought such was possible. Usually when it came to bloodline abilities mixing, there would be a genetic clash that would have one suppress the other, eradicating it completely from the lineage. Not even children down the line could have the lost ability once one parent’s kekkei genkai had overwritten the other!
Again, Naruto nodded his head firmly. “Yep! And a free watch!” he said with excitement as he raised his left hand, showing off the ocular-obtrusive piece of orange apparel.
“...Naruto, you might not be old enough but I sure am. Please go to my cabinet and get me a bottle from the top shelf—I need to sit down in the meantime...” the Hokage said slowly as he plopped back down in his seat, considering what the boy had told him. It seemed impossible but... well, the Council always agreed on one thing: he was the Number One Unpredictable Student in the entirety of the Academy.
Nodding his head, the blonde Academy Student replied, “Sure, Jiji!” he bounded over to the cabinet, opening the door and climbing the shelves as if they were ladder steps before getting what he needed. Jumping off the piece of furniture, he closed the cabinet door before rushing back to his seat and placing the bottle down on the Hokage’s desk.
With the bottle in hand and more than a spoonful of medicine down his throat, Sarutobi stared at the youth, trying to be intimidating.
Once again, this was all lost on the youth, who seemed more interested in playing with his new watch.
Sighing, Hiruzen took another long drink short taste of the bottle, wishing that he could have interviewed the Hyuuga girl about what she might have witnessed.
Sadly—depending entirely on who you asked—the girl was somewhat catatonic from seeing Naruto level a specially-designed wall in their cell to facilitate their escape—which led through a bathroom that had been in use at the time. As of last mentioning, the girl was just smiling, muttering about how Naruto had rescued her and ‘awesome boomage’.
I’m relatively certain Hiashi will want that left out of any reports. Can’t have the ninja world suspect they might lure the young heiress away with promises of explosions... “Naruto?”
“...”
“NARUTO!”
“Huh!?” scrambled to an upright sitting boy, his watch displaying a new form that shifted the moment his attention was not on it—a yak head overlapping a saxophone—before he had slammed his hand on the device to change into the next bloodline.
Raising an eyebrow, Sarutobi inqured, “What are you doing?”
The boy blinked his eyes once, twice. “...Nothing!” he chirruped
To that, the Hokage showed his wisdom, age and grace... by snorting. “Naruto, I may have been born at night, but it wasn’t last night...” his right hand placing the bottle down on the table, the older man leaned forward in his seat. “Now tell me, Naruto... what is so important about that watch that you keep messing with it rather than further explaining about your new kekkei genkai...” he blinked his eyes once, twice. The older man looked back and forth as if looking for something.
“Is something wrong, Jiji?” the boy asked curiously, feeling the hair on the back of his neck start standing as he realized...
“Where IS that music coming from?” the older man asked, before tensing up as the double-doors that made up the entrance to his office were kicked in. Standing there were numerous ANBU, with his personal guard Rooster at the front. All of the garbed elite ninja were covered in various stains of muck and other—possibly literal—shit.
“THERE HE IS!” the Captain of the ANBU contingent shouted as he pointed a sword at the kid. “HE’S THE ONE WHO BLEW UP THE BATHROOMS!”
“DON’T LET HIM GET AWAY!” cried out a kunoichi in a rabbit mask.
“PAIN TO THE SEWAGE ‘SPLODER!” roared another ANBU ninja, toilet paper with brown lumps hanging from the right horn of his Deer mask.
Both the Hokage and the blond youth gawked at the unsightly state of the various members of Konoha’s special shadow elite before turning to one another. A nervous smile blossomed on the boys face. “Uh... sorry, Jiji... GOTTA GO!” he yelped before taking off, leaping onto the Hokage’s desk and rushing out the window—knocking over the man’s bottle as he did.
“NARUTO!!!” Sarutobi roared as the bottle broke to the floor, the man’s chair spinning in place rapidly with him in it as numerous ANBU rushed past him and out the window, leaving stains of various brown shades on the Hokage’s nice red and white ceremonial robes.
Needless to say, with a bite of his thumb and a few hand-seals, the Hokage was suddenly wielding a large and unsightly golden-capped red staff of Enma; taking off through the window to administer some ‘demerits’...
All while the saxaphone music played...
...And some kunoichi were shown to have chosen to wear variously colored lingerie with garter belts, also giving chase.
This didn’t include the others who joined in for odd reasons, such as Sarutobi’s former teammates/advisors, his former student Jiraiya after said kunoichi in lingerie, members of the Konoha Police Force—after it was filled from the Uchiha massacre, so many weren’t in the best of shape to begin with—and finally one ramen stand owner, complaining that the Hokage had yet to pay Naruto’s tab this month.
And through it all, only one thought came to Naruto’s mind, after trying to lose them all in a clothing store... before the owner started to chase them for... contaminating... the merchandise.
Where did I get this weird coat and hat... and why isn’t it in orange!? Red doesn’t look good!
“You know,” sighed Kurama, watching this all on something called a, “TV” inside what used to be his solitary cell. “Watching this, I can’t help but feel embarrassed that a village like this sealed me away in a brat like this.”
Toltiir shrugged—well, as much as a chaos deity in a feline form could—as he sipped on his mixed drink. “Yeah, karma, its bitch, huh?”
Huffing in agreement, the Nine-Tailed Bijuu reached a large paw out towards the small feline’s margarita.
*Whap*!
“OW!” the demon fox growled as it pulled back its hand. He then glared with rage at the elder chaos deity. “You hit me!”
Nodding his head, the small black feline agreed, “Yes. With a paper fan.”
“YOU HIT ME!” Kurama roared with growing hostility...
*Poof*!
...Before falling from a massive height and crashing down onto the couch as a small Vulpix Plushie. Turning its button eyes at the now larger feline, Kurama couldn’t help but curse, “I ever tell you how much I hate you?”
“Only all the time,” the feline replied before taking another sip through the large bright pink plastic swirly straw.
Trying to catch his breath, Naruto could only feel some gratitude that as soon as the music had ended, he had finally lost all of his pursuers.
Yes, all! Odd that no one in a ninja village could keep track of him, but he wasn’t going to complain about that.
However, he would complain about the fact that no matter where he ducked, turned, hid, or any attempt to ditch them, had wound up with him either gaining another chaser, or worse, end up in an embarrassing situation!
He could never view Ayame the same way... ever again.
“Okay,” Naruto spoke softly, looking at his watch. “Never gonna use that again unless someone is about to die,” he promised himself softly. The blond just wanted to get home and go to bed at this point, tired from running for his life. Hopefully no one had gotten into his apartment and rigged it with explosives... again.
But man, oh man! He couldn't wait to show this off at the Academy tomorrow. With the Kage Bushin he learned from that scroll, plus this little beauty, he was sure to pass this time with flying colors!! Heck, since extra Jutsu were listed as extra credit, maybe... oh Ninja-God! If he could bring up the Rinnegan and have every jutsu at his finger tips...
The boy cackled. Yes! With all the extra credit he’d receive from performing ALL the jutsus, he would usurp the teme! He would become the Rookie of the Year! And then all the attention would be on him! All for him! All for Naruto Uzumaki!!
So with a hop, skip, and a jump, the young blond boy made his way to his home, prepared to get a good night’s sleep. It was only a few more days until the Final Exam and he needed to get ready! He’d get over the hurdle this time and finally be one step closer to becoming Hokage! BELIEVE IT!
And now, he could sleep better, knowing that if they asked for a clone again—like they always seemed to do—he could just pull off his new Bunshin technique and combine it with his Toltrix to up his chances of getting a good bloodline...
*THUMP*!
“Ow!” Naruto groused, looking up... to see stars. He idly wondered if a random ninja had dropped... whatever hit him. Looking down, he saw...
...
“...A yellow rat with racing stripes?” he muttered, picking it up.
“Pika! Pika! Better not do that,” it spoke in a high, squeaky voice. “The Toltrix won’t work right even more than normal if you make your clones and have them make different selections. However, if you make a selection, change, and then use your variant of Kage Bunshin no Jutsu, you can have extra practice with each form without draining the battery even faster!”
Naruto merely blinked his eyes at that bit of information. “Um... okay,” he muttered, wondering what good extra practice would do.
Nodding his head, the mascot of a videogame franchise proclaimed, “This message will electrocute you in five seconds.”
The boy stared at the little yellow rat for a moment before the words finally penetrated his skull. “...Wait! WHAT!?!?”
“PIII-KAAAA-CHUUUUUU~UUUUUUUUUU!”
Many people noticed the large lightning bolt that shot into the sky; on-duty ANBU immediately rushing to the scene to see who would be practicing a lightning jutsu out in the middle of a civilian area rather than a proper training ground.
None were surprised to find it was young Uzumaki, obviously the victim of a jutsu backfire.
Twitching erratically, the boy couldn’t help but grumble as the ANBU descended upon him. “Stupid... yellow... rats...”
Chuunin Iruka Umino may have been considered a ‘washout’ by his peers for having decided to willingly follow the path of an Academy Teacher rather than continuing to actively work in the field, but the fact was, he was anything but! To become a teacher of the next generation had been a personal choice and was not an indicator of just how good his skill level was. Honestly, if the man had actually continued to push himself, he would’ve made Tokubetsu Jounin by now.
So instead of being ‘sub-par’ or having, ‘retired with age’ it was a Teacher with skills in his prime that looked after and taught THIS class of students, the next generation of loyal Konoha Shinobi. Aware, sharp, and genuinely interested in his students, he noticed a sharp contract in class dynamics, studying intently even under the visage of teaching them the lesson: the results of the ‘Kyuubi Trail’ that left an open path towards Konoha and how its uses were in effect both socially, politically, and financially.
Naruto seemed to have been more interested in some new watch more than anything else... and the Hyuuga Heiress, while still paying attention to the blond boy, was now not even trying to hide it: the awe in her pale eyes was akin to that of the last Uchiha’s fangirls. That would’ve been unnerving enough, but Iruka noticed once they got to another of their Kyuubi Lessons, Naruto became distracted for a new reason, looking almost guilty: did he know something?
Deciding he would ask the boy indirectly during their next meal—likely that night, as the final exams were coming up—he put it out of his mind and continued on with the history lesson.
If nothing else, he could at least harp on Naruto tonight to study harder, work on his control exercises—you’d think someone would have been assigned to help an Uzumaki on that, of all clans, and pay more attention in class! After all, it wouldn’t be the first blood feud caused by someone forgetting history... and repeating it by calling the wrong clan head ‘da ho’ of their village.
He just knew if anyone said such about Anko Mitarashi, blood would flow in the streets like a river... or maybe a trickle of a running faucet, considering how much the crazy woman liked to sip and suck on the red stuff.
However, before Iruka could think any worse about the Tokubetsu Jounin formerly apprenticed to the exiled Sannin, it was the man’s attention to detail that caught onto the fact that there was another presence about the room: chakra was flaring and he had no idea why that would—
An explosion rocked the building, students screaming and ducking under their desks as what looked like a trio of ANBU started to storm the building: their blank masks marking them as forgeries. “THERE!” the lead replied as he started throwing gas pellets into the room that release a thick, cloudy haze. “GO FOR THE HYUUGA HEIRESS!”
The young girl went stock-still in horror, memories of ‘that day’ coming to the surface. It... it was happening again. They were coming for her! For her eyes!! She wanted to scream, to run, to do something, ANYTHING! But she found herself frozen to the spot, her body refusing to listen to her brain’s impulses.
Needless to say, the blond’s attention was immediately drawn to the danger that was taking place. Hinata! They were after Hinata! The girl the fox said liked him!! He snarled as anger began to bubble up inside of him. No one was going to take one of his friends! Who cared if they were weird, they were FRIENDS! And she “like”-liked him! That meant more than anything in the world to him! Anything!!
...
......Okay, okay, it only matched ramen. But it was still pretty damn high!!
So with no one able to see in the thick smoke, Naruto immediately slammed his hand on his wrist.
“…Seriously?” asked Kurama, still in the form of a plushy, but now slightly larger as he was now a Ninetails PokéMon rather than a Vukpix.
“What?” asked Toltiir with a cat-like shrug. “We needed an action sequence!”
Shaking his head sadly, the Kyuubi-turned-stuffed-toy turned his attention back to the screen.
“RED EYES!” cried one of the assaulting men, as the room filled with clouds of smoke. The sounds of a short scuffle could be heard, as well as the shaking of the room as someone was put down... HARD.
Throwing a few shuriken through the windows to allow fresh air in, Iruka wondered what was going on. After all, this close to exams, the teachers didn’t usually schedule surprise assaults to scare the kids... unless it was someone’s birthday.
Was it someone’s birthday...?
Shaking his head, Iruka focused, knowing that tenure and a teacher’s union wouldn’t save his ass if it really was a kidnapping attempt!
Needless to say as the smoke began to fade out, Iruka caught sight of those ‘red eyes’ and gasped. “Sasuke...” the teacher gasped, recognizing the irises that were made up of a three tomoe pattern. “You... you unlocked your Sharingan?”
*Thump*!
“I DID!?” Sasuke cried out as he sat up underneath his desk, feeling for the first time in years what could possibly be described as ‘happiness’. He didn’t even care that he hit his head on the underside of the desk. The Sharingan was...
Was...
...
The class and Iruka just stared as the smoke cleared. Standing atop the trio of bodies, the attempted kidnappers, was a wielder of the Sharingan, one of the great Daidojutsu and one of Konoha’s most treasured bloodlines...
...Except they weren’t looking out from within the head of the class’ prodigy but rather the last in the class!
“...Troublesome...” Shikimaru surmised from underneath his desk, his pal Chouji sitting beside him, holding his bag of barbeque crisps protectively. Naruto was of a bloodline? And not only a bloodline but that of Konoha’s proud Uchiha Clan? Oh this was really going to shake things up...
Hinata just looked up from her spot on the floor, looking back and forth from the pile of attempted-kidnappers, to Naruto, back to the bodies, and up once more at the blond boy. His eyes... never in her wildest dreams would she had guessed those beautiful and expressive blue eyes housed that which had been of great rivalry to her household. “Nah-Naruto-kun?” the girl squeaked, barely believing what she saw.
Naruto just smirked. “Yeah, told you all I was totally awesome!”
He kind of left out the part where he tripped the first one and the others fell on top of him, before Naruto knocked them all out. Seriously, any idiot knew you didn’t use eye-holes that small on a mask in a smoke-filled area! The only reason the first idiot saw anything was because Naruto was checking to see if he had killed himself.
But if they hadn’t done themselves in, he would have totally beat them! Believe it!
After a few silent moments, a lone voice stated what they all thought.
“The idiot,” Sakura started. “...Is related... to Sasuke-kun!?!?” she cried out in horror.
The shrill scream of horror that sounded from all the fangirls—and Uchiha Heir—crying as one made poor Akamaru howl out in pain; even Kiba was placing his hands over his ears to try and drone out the shrill noise.
Crossing his arms over his chest, Shikimaru nodded his head firmly as he merely repeated, “Troublesome.” Darn it, things had actually settled into a nice and stable rut, and Naruto had to go and shake everything up again, just days before the final exam! Couldn’t these bastards just allow him to sleep in class for what was likely one of his last few chances to do so?
The rotund Akimichi Heir felt the grief his friend was going through and stuck a hand in his bag. He then pulled out a solitary barbeque-flavored potatoe chip, offering it to the Nara genius.
“...” shrugging, the lanky boy nodded his head and accepted, slowly munching on the starchy treat.
The Council Meeting may have been brought together on short notice this afternoon, but not a member, civilian nor ninja, would have missed it for anything once the rumor mill reached their ears about what happened at the Academy earlier in the day. “The Sharingan...” Koharu stated, the elder shuddering in disbelief at the thought. “The Uzumaki child... has the Sharingan...”
Danzou nodded his head to the woman’s words, frowning. He had merely sent a couple of minor ROOT affiliates to try and sort out what was going on between the Kyuubi Container and the Hyuuga Heiress. To find out that the boy was hiding such a secret atop of the fact he was Jinchuuriki was actually putting the old War Hawk at unease. Granted, it made the boy more of a commodity, but if there was one thing that could throw off the genjutsu and hypnotic prowess of a Sharingan... was ANOTHER Sharingan... ESPECIALLY one that was natural rather than a donor implant.
“Don’t forget the other thing,” stated one of the other Council members, hiding a smirk.
“Oh?” asked another. “What could be more serious than that which was just spoken?”
“Seems the child has developed a rather... peculiar jutsu,” stated one of the men on the end. “When that other teacher, Mitsune... Megami?”
Raising his head, Yamanaka Clan Head Inoichi corrected, “Mizuki.”
“Yeah, the whiny guy,” the Civilian member added, nodding his head. “When he showed up, he apparently startled the boy—not a good thing to do after the incident that had just occurred—and the boy shot an odd... let’s call it a jutsu, at the man.”
“Wish my wife would get hit like that,” mumbled one of the other members who was safely away from the other female members on the Council.
Tsume glared across the table at the Civilian Council member. “Excuse me?” she snarled in a voice that conveyed the man better choose his next words carefully, lest she just rush across the table and mangle him the way her Okami-nin Kuromaru might do to a small, delicious rabbit.
The man blustered a bit but stood by his statement. “Oh, come on! The man is now sporting a pair of Double-D’s! He’s stacked to greater extents that the majority of Konohagakure’s kunoichi population!”
Homura frowned, folding his hands together in thought. “Actually, I think possibly only Senju Tsunade might have considerably more in the way of bustiness than the Academy Teacher at this point...” he raised his head to look at his old teammate. “Tell me, Sarutobi, can you shed any light on the subject?”
Nodding his head, the Hokage replied, “As you know, the Ninja members of the Council had Naruto here for studies last night concerning the integrity of the seal that keeps up all safe from the Kyuubi. We even brought in Jiraiya, a seal specialist, for his professional oversight.” There were many nods in affirmative. “However... it would seem that something else came from our tampering in things we had no right to. The boy admitted to me that he discovered a bloodline last night, but I had no clue that it would have been the Sharingan...”
“So you think that breast move is an aspect of the Uchiha bloodline?” Chouza Akimichi inquired with a curious tone. “I thought only the Hyuuga bloodline granted considerable bustiness...”
Twitching a bit, Hiasha crossed his arms over his chest, grumbling, “You’re just jealous that another bloodline has the ability for male breasts, Akimichi...”
The portly man turned his head, narrowing his eyes at the Clan Head of the White Eyes Bloodline... before laughing heartily. “Even if it is a Fat Joke, who would’a thought a stick-up-his-ass HYUUGA would make it? Make any joke, period!?”
Sighing, the Hokage spoke up in a raised tone to get everyone’s attention. “Be that as it may, Naruto has now proven that he carries a bloodline most precious to Konoha: the Sharingan. With it nearly becoming extinct within in our village, this is a boon we shouldn’t be so quick to dismiss...” and if it finally got people treating the boy more along the lines of what he deserved, what his father had hoped for, so much the better!
“My question though,” Shikaku Nara spoke up finally. “Is how the heck does that boy have the Sharingan? From what I understand, he’s an Uzumaki. U~ZU~MA~KI,” he enunciated the name firmly to make his point. “They were known for many things, but NOT the Pinwheel Eye.”
Smirking a bit, the wily old man that led the village was quick to offer, “But what do we know about his father? What do we REALLY know?”
“Not much, thanks to you sealing the majority of his records,” Shikaku offered, before yawning. “You made it too troublesome to find out...”
Surprising many, the usually quiet Aburame Clan Head Shibi had two ryo to toss in on such matters. “And really, Hokage-sama, you could either confirm or deny what the ninja rumor mill is saying about his possible father, as we all know who the previous formerly singular Uzumaki was in the village, and I for one, find it difficult to comprehend mixing Uchiha hair with her hair, and getting blond.”
“Wait, what?’ asked one civilian member on the Council. “Why didn’t I hear about these rumors?”
To that, the Inuzuka Clan Head snorted. Shaking her head in disgust, she told the Civilian half of the Council, “We stopped telling you guys stuff when as a near whole, you felt it best to constantly try and piss off the one thing holding back the baddest Bijuu of them all!”
“We didn’t do anything of the sort!” one of the Civilian Members shot back.
Now it was Hiruzen that snorted in annoyance. “Oh, right. Which is why you saw fit to still try and beat and torture the poor child for something he had no control over...” he turned left and right to glare at his fellow Shinobi to show them they weren’t off the hook either. “And why all of you sought to keep him isolated from your children, denying him friends in his youth!”
“...If it helps, my boy and Chouza’s son are semi-friends with the kid...” the Nara Clan Leader spoke up honestly.
Frowning, Sarutobi firmly replied, “Mostly because you were too lazy to tell him otherwise, and Chouji defers to Shikimaru’s judgment.”
Shrugging, the head of the Deer Keepers neither confirmed nor denied that. “And let's not forget it seems that, despite what her father wants, a certain Clan Heiress has feelings for Naruto that possibly go beyond friendship...” he said with a meaningful tone. Usually it was too much trouble to poke fun at another clan's dismay... but in his opinion, this was worth the effort.
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(Posted Tue, 23 Apr 2013 20:33)
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