Naruto 1. Meeting Naruto, Graduation, Conspiracy!

**Yo!! **

**Here it is! The first installment of my new fanfic, which a revisal of my original fanfic for Naruto which was originally called Naru HIME.**

**As you can see I have changed very little of the original content, except of course it is from a male point of view, and a few changes to make it more realistic, namely Tessai Naru Chan's 'Kage' level family servant/ANBU. A little bit over the top don't you think.**

**I am also changing the Ninja partners from oufans to a Guardian partner. Kind of lame I know but it allows me to bring in all kinds of cool creatures from different animes and games, daemon anyone? Or maybe a fiend? Oh well it sounds much cooler than oufan**

**So read and enjoy. And please review!! I don't give a damn if all you have to say is "#$ you!! Go away loser!!!" (Flamer!!) or "This is good! Keep going!" I need all the help I can get, more ideas don't hurt either!**

**So read and enjoy!!**

"Naruto speaking"

"_Naruto thinking"_

"**Kyubi speaking"**

"_**Kyubi thinking"**_

_Jutsu's being shouted"_

Fear, anger, confusion, helplessness and panic. This was all the young blond haired hanyou with fox ears could feel as he ran from a danger he could not yet see, but could hear, while running with his tail waving wildly behind him. This unknown danger he could instinctively feel pursuing and gaining on him through the forests of Konoha, hungering for his blood. He just kept running, not daring to look back. His vision shifts and the young hanyou is now stumbling and tripping down the side of Death Gorge.

Death Gorge is the location where the great Kyubi had been defeated and the body left behind afterwards had exploded in a great explosion, powerful enough to leave an enormous crater nearly four kilometers wide and a kilometer deep and the body had completely vanished without so much as a hair left behind. A forest had grown there in the past few years, making it almost seem like an enclosed forest, uncut off from the rest of the world, as a seemly untouched paradise. The villagers had made a memorial on the lip of the crater in honor of the Yondaime who had defeated the great beast. But nobody goes there to pay their respects, as the villagers unfortunately believe it to a cursed place.

There is said to be a tall spire in the middle of the crater, how it had survived the explosion nobody could scarcely imagine how. The young hanyou was still running from the danger that was closing in, forcing him to run in the only direction he could. Towards the spire.

His vision suddenly shifted again and he was now leaning, panting against the base of the spire in front of what seemed to be a strange draconic seal. It had a strange sword embedded in it. There were also what seemed to be eyes on the seal, six of them.

This strange seal had mysteriously appeared 12 years ago barely a day after the Kyubi had apparently died. Many had come to take a look at the strange site, at least those who could and dared to go down. Some even tried to pull the blade out to see what would happen but no one could even budge the archaic blade a millimeter.

The young hanyou felt his gaze inexorably drawn to the seal despite the danger approaching him and when he laid eyes on the seal, he was drawn into a deep trance, ignoring all else but the seal. He could feel a great power behind the seal, and at the same time, he could feel a just as great but more wonderful feeling of power, welling up inside him, it burned like a great fire but warmed and flooded his soul with light. He could hear a great heart beat pounding in his ears, he could feel his own heart, pounding in rhythmic harmony with the bigger one. The visage of a great white fiery dragon suddenly appeared before his eyes and bowed before him, crooning in a comforting tone (It sounded like whale song), as if promising it would forever serve and protect him. The young man reached out to touch the great head. When suddenly the unknown danger drew in close, reared its head and lunged towards him, claws slashing, and jaws snapping. The young man screamed.

"AAAGGGGHHHHHH!!!!"

Naruto shot up from his bed, gasping for air. Naruto's sweat soaked muscular body trembled in agitation from the strange dream, his fox tail was subconsciously wrapped around his waist and was all messy and matted. Naruto fell back onto his bed panting as if he had run to Suna and back nonstop. Naruto willed his body to calm down, and slowly but surely, his body eventually stopped trembling and his panting slowed down.

Naruto brought his arm up to cover his eyes before quietly muttering "That bloody dream again, I've been having it every night for the past week, the stress must be getting to me, it is the finals tomorrow……… _hey Kyu Chan… do you know what going on?_" Naruto asked his resident vixen mother/sister figure in his head, looking at his stomach at where the seal would be.

In the seal, Kyu, otherwise known as the Kyubi no Kitsune looked up sleepily from her conjured up bed in Naruto's mindscape and sleepily replied "**I don't know Kit, but it isn't an ordinary dream, it is just too realistic to be otherwise, and that feeling of power you told me about, a hidden part of your soul is responding to the dream so it might all be connected"**

Naruto just sighed in aggravation "Yeah well, what ever it is, this dream is driving me crazy" Naruto's eyes suddenly became a myriad of emotion and he held his hands to his chest as if to retain a feeling "Though I must admit, this power that I felt rising up in my chest, it feels… amazing; comforting but also very familiar, and it also feels powerful"

Kyubi smiled softly to herself "**Whatever you say Kit, now I believe that you have somewhere to be right now? It is getting late"**

Naruto looked confused for a few seconds before looking over at the old clock on his bedside table and had to stifle a panicked shout "Oh crap! I have to get to the academy!"

The young hanyou leaped out of bed in a frenzy to get ready and all Kyu could do was laugh at the young man as he worked himself into a higher state pf panic, quickly taking a shower in his dingy bathroom, rushing to get dressed while at the same time trying to eat a bowl of Ramen.

When Naruto started rushing out the door Kyu couldn't help commenting "**Remember to groom your tail!" **causing Naruto to yelp "Hai!" before grabbing a brush for his tail from his dressing table. It took him a few minutes but he was finally ready and was about to leave and lock up to the Ninja Academy when he suddenly spied herself in his old full length mirror and couldn't help pausing to have a look at himself.

A black vest with orange zipper and trimmings adorned his torso, along with a pair of black cargo pants which had a plethora of pockets strewn about, useful for a Shinobi. There were also black bandages tied around his ankles

He wore a pair of black elbow length, fingerless gloves on his hands coupled with a pair of metal wrist guards for more protection and on his feet he was wearing not the standard ninja sandals but a pair of black combat boots.

Naruto's eye glimmered with satisfaction; these clothes had been a gift from Kyubi to celebrate his entering the Ninja academy. Kyubi said that it would be able to protect his body better than any other armor there was, apparently the entire outfit was made of a special breed of Fire Rat fur that felt and breathed like silk, but was twice as strong as the original breed of fire rat and the boots were made of a special type of metal with a name he couldn't pronounce. It actually quite comfortable and it was never to warm or cold during any season of the year. They were charmed to grow or shrink to match the size of the owner; which was just as well as he had had this outfit since he was seven, the outfit allowed his body to move freely allowing him concentrate in a battle

Naruto was actually quite well off for a twelve year old. A 150 centimeters tall, a highly developed muscular structure, highly toned and very strong without being all that bulky and his body was also very flexible. So much so that the only ones who could match him were the upper level Kunoichi's as it was well known that females are more flexible than most men. Fox like crystal blue eyes gazed out kindly and confidently from his face which was a rather boyish but defined and strong face but lacking the usual baby fat and then bright blond hair adorned his head which was seemingly untamable adding to his boyish features.

"The perks of being a Jinchuriki I guess" Naruto said with a shrug, before turning to the door and walking over, when he suddenly remembering another, very important thing he had to do before leaving. Naruto sighed regretfully but did a series of hand seals and dully intoned "Kitsune Henge No Jutsu" causing a cloud of smoke to pop around him which slowly dispersed revealing that his tail and ears had disappeared and canine like teeth shortened leaving his looking like an ordinary human.

Naruto sighed regretfully before complaining "_I hate it how I have to hide myself from the villagers like this, even if it is for both our sakes, it feels like I'm missing a big part of myself when I don't have my tail or ears, not to mention that my abilities are severely limited to that of a normal human!"_

"**I know Kit, but until that day comes, where you don't have to hide them, it is for your and their own protection, now let's get going, you're late enough as it is"**

"Hai" Naruto sung before leaping off to the Academy, making sure stop long enough to lock his door securely.

The next day Naruto could be seen running through the village on the way to the Academy for the finals. This would have looked like quite a peaceful scene, a child running through town on his way to school, if it wasn't for all the stares that were directed at him. Over the years Naruto has learnt the subtle science of looks. There were the brief subtle looks of villagers who watched him with closely guarded amusement and small friendly smiles on their faces but there were also small signs of sadness and regret. These people were the ones who were able to see beyond the Kyubi to the lonely child underneath that was suffering but, unable to speak out to defend him or make friends with him because of the other villagers, at least a third of the village was like this. Then there were the villagers that stared at him coldly but without anger or hatred these were the villagers that didn't hate the container itself, but were unable to get over the fact that the Kyubi was in him and were probably barely restraining themselves from wishing harm on the container, this made up another third of the village and then there were the villagers that just stared at him with barely concealed hatred , these were the villagers who thought that he was the Kyubi itself and wished him harm. This accounted for the rest of the villagers.

Naruto had been receiving these stares for his entire life, so he just ignored it and bore it determinately, knowing that someday, his patience and hard work would pay off and he would finally be able to achieve his dream of becoming the Hokage and their friend and of being accepted into the village not as the village pariah but as an equal, as a Ninja of Konoha.

Naruto finally arrived at his usual classroom and took a quick look around and saw that like usual he was one of the last too show up, but like most days he had shown up on time. He could see all his friends spread out through the class room doing what it was they usually did. He could see Sasuke who like usual was sitting in his usual window seat doing the whole 'I am a bastard' Gendo Ikari pose with his hands in front of his face.

Shikamaru Nara and Chouji Akimichi were sitting together doing what they usually did. Shikamaru was dozing on his desk and Chouji was eating a very large bag of chips patiently waiting for class. Naruto's best friend and unofficial adopted sister Hinata Hyuga was sitting at a desk shyly looking fairly lonely but to shy and unsure to do anything, Naruto sighed and made a mental note too cheer her up later. His somewhat friend Kiba Inuzuka and his friend Akamaru the Nin-dog were sitting and playing quietly together. Due to the fact that he was a Kitsune hanyou, he was able to understand other animals quite easily so he got on very well with Akamaru who was quite happy to make friends with the strange smelling boy who like his owner was able to understand him when he barked.

Shino Aburame was sitting impassively like he usually did and barely spoke. Naruto was one of the few with whom he spoke with at least semi regularly so when Shino saw Naruto come in he took the time to slowly nod at him in acknowledgement to which Naruto replied with a lazy salute. Naruto was also one of the few, that due to his enhanced vision was able to determine different emotions and expressions from the seemingly emotionless boy. The fact that he was literally a walking hive of insects didn't bother him in the least so he was one of the few to be able to call himself one of Shino's friends.

He then saw Sakura Haruno and Ino Yamanaka who like usual were arguing over who was going sit next to Sasuke who was just ignoring them like he usually did. Naruto just sighed aggravatingly but amused.

Kyubi spoke up "**They'll get it eventually Naruto, they have great potential, especially Sakura, I have never seen such a natural at Chakra control and she is very brainy quite well suited for med-nin don't you think, I'm not so worried for Ino as she has always struck me as much stronger and less fangirlish than the others and not to mention more independent, I personally think she would do very well in torture and interrogation"**

Naruto had to grin at that, he could quite easily picture Ino in a room full of painful looking tools and a sadistic grin, but he frowned at Sakura again.

"_I only hope that it happens before they get hurt, there's something about Sasuke has always made me on edge, its faint but ever since that fateful night when his clan was slaughtered…I don't know, I hope those two wise up soon or something will happen that will scar them for life"_

Kyubi shook her head **"Oh don't be so melodramatic Naruto now lets leave this dark conversation and go say hi to Hinata-Chan" **before dropping off into a short nap.

Naruto cast one last worried and disappointed glance at Sakura but agreed and walked over to sit next to Hinata while saying hello to other ninja hopefuls that had managed to make it to the end of the year.

Unbeknownst to Naruto, Sakura had seen Naruto's worried glance and it startled her a little allowing Ino to snatch the seat from her nose promoting a dismayed yell from Sakura who unwillingly went to find another seat as close to Sasuke as possible, but that worried and disappointed glance from Naruto seemed to linger unwilling to fade. She was only trying to get Sasuke-Kun's attention right, so why did she feel so upset and down from that glance, why did she suddenly desire to see approval in his eyes. That pair pf strong, confident, kind, gentle eyes. Sakura shook her head and willed herself to think about Sasuke-Kun, that her goal! So while Sakura continued on with her life, unbeknownst to her, a seed had wormed down deep inside her heart, never to be lost

Naruto sat down and Hinata notably perked up noticeably when he sat down and said "Good morning Naruto-Kun" Naruto just grinned.

Naruto suddenly heard talking from outside and looked up just in time to see Iruka-sensei and Mizuki enter through the door. Naruto gave Iruka a wave and a grin, who looked up to Naruto waving and gave a small wave back before shouting at the class to sit down and starting the role call. Naruto and Iruka got on quite well, almost like a brotherly relationship; Iruka had in fact just treated Naruto to Ramen last night. When he was younger Naruto had idolized the young man, something that he never did. Because unlike most of the other teachers in the academy he had been so kind to him and helped him to catch up in his studies from years of being held back by other teachers. He eventually became very good friends with Iruka which of course later down the line, became more of a protective older brother, younger brother relationship, which Naruto was quite happy to keep that way. It was one of his few bonds that bound him to his precious people. Of course while in public he called him Iruka-sensei but in private he called him Iruka-niisan

Iruka finally stopped taking the roll call and began speaking "Ok class, it is time for the graduation exams, myself and Mizuki-sensei will be waiting through that door to grade your performance, and the jutsu we will be examining is…" Iruka took a look at the file and couldn't help but wince and take a furtive look at Naruto who was eagerly sitting forward on his seat nearly falling off, waiting to hear their topic.

"Clone No Jutsu!"

Naruto's face twisted in shock and horror and he was mentally screaming in his head "_What!!! Clone No Jutsu!! That's my worst skill!" _Causing Kyubi to wake up from her little fox nap and speak out incoherently "**Huh… What? What's going on?"**

Iruka and Mizuki turned to go to the next classroom but Iruka couldn't help but turn back to look at Naruto who at the moment was banging his head on the desk hard enough to knock an ordinary person out for a couple hours, He could see Hinata trying to stop him to no avail. Iruka just sighed and entered the classroom for the exam, he had a bad feeling about this.

At the same time Kyubi was waking up enough to finally notice what Naruto was doing and barked out sharply "**Naruto Kazama stop that at once before you hurt yourself!"**

Which made Naruto jerk up and sit still and Hinata to also jerk in surprise, and if his tail had been exposed all the fur would have standing up straight.

Kyubi nodded once and spoke again "**Now tell me, just what happened?"**

Naruto began to slowly tell Kyubi what had happened, the talking was almost therapeutic and Naruto was able to calm down enough so that Kyubi was able to get the gist of it.

"**The word crap sums this up nicely"** Kyubi drawled sarcastically and Naruto was barely able to stifle a chuckle.

"**Well this is just about what I expected to happen" **and all Naruto could do was nod his head in agreement.

"_This is the third year in a row that this has happened, I mean, it is well known that Clone No Jutsu is my worst skill, so what better way to prevent me graduating and becoming more powerful? Make the Clone No Jutsu the test"_

Kyubi nodded "**Indeed, I can smell the council all over this, especially Danzo"**

Naruto just sighed "_What are we going to do Kyu-chan, this is my last chance to graduate, one more fail and I'm booted out of the program"_

Kyubi could only sigh "**I don't know Kit, but all we can do at the moment is to just try our best, you never know we might get lucky this time, if not, well...we will just have to work something out, but don't worry, if it doesn't, you will always have me"**

Naruto just sagged in his seat and simply nodded, not willing to talk at the moment and Kyubi, detecting his present mood sank back into the depths of his mind to wait for Naruto to be called. Hinata, seeing that Naruto had somewhat calmed down, tentatively reach out to touch his shoulder as if to say are you alright and Naruto looked up with a smile and simply said "Thank you Hinata-Chan, I'll be alright" and looked back down. Hinata, sensing that he didn't want to talk, lowered her hands and put them in her lap with a worried sigh.

Naruto was sitting quietly when he suddenly heard his name called from the other classroom and he took a deep breath to calm himself down, stood up straight, head held up proudly and walked through the doorway.

When he entered he saw that Iruka and Mizuki were sitting behind a desk on which the coveted Konoha head bands were proudly gleaming. Naruto swallowed nervously but proceeded to walk over and stand in front of the two examiners.

Iruka looked up from his writing pad and slowly looked Naruto over, looking for signs of nervousness, which if he had any it was well hidden. Iruka gave a small smile hoping to bolster Naruto's confidence, but all he got was a weak grin in response causing Iruka to silently sigh before assuming a more professional stance.

"Naruto Uzumaki, show me the Clone No Jutsu" he commanded, before mouthing 'good luck' knowing that Naruto would see it.

Naruto just nodded before assuming a stance designed to help focus chakra with his hands in the rat seal. Chakra began welling up in his body, flooding his body with untamed and barely controllable power, Naruto's expression became more intense as he tried to control the flood of chakra, enough to do the jutsu with out blowing it. Kyubi was also monitering carefully, and periodically telling Naruto to lessen his chakra.

"**Less chakra Kit….. a little bit less chakra…. Focus!" **Kyubi intoned while also trying to suppress her own chakra from interfering.

Naruto continued concentrating to where he felt it would work and with a silent prayer in his heart intoned "Clone No Jutsu!" while doing the appropriate seals causing a puff of smoke to appear with a pop.

Naruto hesitantly looked over to see what happened with an abated breath and Kyubi was also holding his breath in anticipation, but when they saw the result they both released it with a breath of disappointment.

He had managed to create three bunshin but they look absolutely terrible and useless. Two were mangled looking corpses, and one was a violent shade of green and it frantically ran to the toilet that was just outside where a horrible sounding retching could soon be heard. Three pops were soon heard when the technique finally dispelled.

Naruto looked up to see Iruka's reaction and it didn't look good. Iruka had an unhappy looking expression with a twitch of irritation above his eye and Mizuki was looking very amused at Naruto in a not so pleasant way.

"You Fail" Iruka dully intoned, hurt and sadness apparent in his voice and Naruto couldn't help but wince and held back some tears that threatened to fall.

Mizuki suddenly looked up "Well, he is a highly gifted athlete and his taijutsu is very good and he did technically do the Bunshin No Jutsu so maybe we could let his pass? He did try so hard you know?"

Both Naruto and Kyubi had to narrow their eyes at that, what was he up too? Mizuki had never shown any inclination of helping him before so why now? Not to mention that both Naruto and Kyubi didn't think that Mizuki had that type of personality. Though Naruto secretly allowed himself to feel some hope

Iruka sadly shook his head in a negative "I wish I could but those bunshin were useless and so I can't let him pass"

Naruto just couldn't help himself, tears appeared in his eyes and he turned and fled out the open window into the yard ignoring both Iruka's and Kyubi's cries and in another place altogether, an old man who had been watching through a certain crystal ball sighed in regret and softly murmured "Naruto"

Had any of them been paying attention they would have noticed that Mizuki's expression changed from one of amusement, to one of cruel and malicious satisfaction.

Later Naruto could be seen slowly swinging on a tree swing that he used often, whenever he was feeling especially depressed. He was watching all the other kids be with their parents who had come to congratulate them on graduating, he watched them be all happy and gleefully accept praise from their proud parents, he watched as a couple of the villagers looked at him and whispered to themselves unknowing that he could hear them perfectly.

"Hey! That kid…" one woman spoke.

"Yeah… He's 'that' kid… I heard that he was the only one to not graduate" another spoke

"Well that's fine… we can't have him becoming a shinobi, because he's the…" the other spoke

"Oi! We can't speak of that!" the other interrupted.

Naruto sagged a little bit more, feeling his loneliness all the more acutely, when he saw Hinata slowly walking over, twiddling with her fingers shyly as she did when she was nervous "Ano… Naruto-Kun?"

Naruto looked up at Hinata "Hey Hinata-Chan" he said in a weak attempt of cheerfulness. Kyubi sighed anxiously and just watched quietly hoping that Hinata could break Naruto out of his slump, she had a habit of doing that.

Hinata stopped a few feet away and looked down before asking "Naruto… Ano… are you okay?"

Naruto took on a pensive expression and leaned forward "Am I ok? I'm not sure Hinata"

Naruto's answer caused Hinata to start becoming upset which Naruto noticed and quickly began trying cheer her up all the while waving his hands wildly "It doesn't mean that I not going to be okay, I'll be fine, I wont give up right!, you remember don't you? I never give up! So cheer up Hinata, I'll be fine!"

Naruto's antics caused Hinata to start giggling shyly and Naruto stopped waving and spoke more calmly "Don't worry Hinata, I'll be alright, I'll think of something, I always do"

Hinata nodded but perked up when she heard her father calling and turned to Naruto and clasped Naruto's hand in both hands "Promise me Naruto? Ok, That you will be okay?" Naruto nodded an affirmative with a thumb's up in the 'good guy pose' causing Hinata to giggle again before running to her father with a wave of goodbye and Naruto waved back.

Naruto continued waving until Hinata turned around the corner before stopping and looked down at the hand Hinata had clasped. Naruto stayed like that for almost a minute before his demeanor started changing. Naruto's expression firmed up in determination, and he clenched his hand into a fist, reaffirming his promise to never give up, and he murmured to herself "Thank you…. Hinata-chan"

Kyubi sighed in relief and also murmured to herself "**Good girl Hinata"**

Naruto was suddenly startled when he heard a thump beside him and he turned to see who it was only to see the last person he wanted to. Mizuki, Naruto looked in askance at the other ninja who correctly interpreted his question and said "Hey Naruto, can I talk with you a little bit?"

Naruto silently asked why on the inside but on the outside he just nodded and got up to follow the ninja to someplace quiet.

Kyubi watched silently, trusting Naruto to make the right choices but she continued observing Mizuki trying to find a reason for what he was doing when she heard Naruto speaking to her.

"_Hey Kyu-chan?" _Naruto spoke and Kyubi turned her attention to her somewhat son.

"**Yes Kit?" Kyubi replied.**

Naruto frowned while watching Mizuki's back "_What do you think is going on?"_

Kyubi frowned "**I don't know Kit, go along with it for now, but be careful, and be ready to run away if necessary, you can't take him on"**

"_I can if I really needed to, if I release the henge_..." Naruto shot back.

Kyubi growled "**That is last option only Kit and you know that, so just be careful okay?**"

Naruto just nodded knowing that Kyubi would understand and continued following Mizuki.

They finally stopped at a balcony where Mizuki motioned to sit down and Naruto complied. Mizuki looked pensive for a moment before speaking.

"He wasn't picking on you, you know" he began and Naruto just nodded not trusting himself to speak.

"I think he just wants you to be genuinely strong, Naruto-Kun" Mizuki spoke before being interrupted by Naruto.

"NARUTO! Just Naruto please Mizuki-sensei" Naruto bit out and Mizuki just shrugged.

Mizuki continued speaking "I know that you wanted to graduate but Iruka was just doing his job as a responsible teacher, not to mention he was always looking out for you"

"Yeah I know, but I couldn't help it, I really wanted to graduate and it had to be that bloody Clone technique!" Mizuki chuckled and the two sat there in a tense silence.

Mizuki suddenly sighed catching Naruto's attention "I guess I have no choice then but to let you in on an little secret"

Naruto narrowed his eyes '_Secret?' _and Kyubi also murmured "**Secret?"**

Naruto could later be seen watching Mizuki jumping off after having escorted him home.

Naruto was also about to jump off when he felt a familiar presence appear in the alley behind him causing him to smile, Naruto leant against the wall casually and muttered "Haven't seen you round recently, eh, Tessai?"

In the alley a man appeared in the corner of his eye. He was quite plain looking actually, long brown hair tied off in a ponytail, wearing featureless clothes that didn't make him stand out, wearing plain wire rimed glasses, he looked just like everybody else and everybody ignored him. Everybody, completely and totally, you could almost assume it was a genjutsu, a very subtle genjutsu. Tessai didn't look like much but underneath was a different story altogether. Tessai had in fact been the Yondaime's personal Anbu, used from deep cover spying to a bodyguard. Tessai was a man who could find anything, anywhere, with none the wiser, and he was on par with the top jounins in one on one battle.

Of course one else knew of this, except for Naruto, Kyubi and the Sandaime that was. He said that he had once served his father and his family, and that now he was serving him. Naruto didn't completely understand why such a man would serve him, when he asked once Tessai had only replied that he was repaying a debt that could never be repaid and seeing as his father the Yondaime was dead, Tessai served his son instead. Tessai always said he had never once regretted his choice to loyally serve the Kazama family as he quite enjoyed doing it.

Back in the alley Tessai smiled and replied "Indeed, Naruto-sama" Naruto grimaced but ignored it knowing that he could never get him to stop calling him Naruto-sama.

Tessai just smiled knowing all too well how much he hated it.

Naruto leaned his head back against the cool wall "I presume you heard everything?" and Tessai frowned but replied "I did"

"Is it true?" Naruto just had to ask.

"No it isn't, there is no such test" Tessai replied turning into a professional attitude.

Naruto frowned "What do you think?"

Tessai didn't bother mincing words "I think he is trying to steal the Scroll of Seals for himself and frame you for stealing it, and if possible, to kill you and be proclaimed a hero"

Naruto just smirked "Well that's nothing unusual, what do you know about Mizuki?"

Tessai frowned unhappily "Not much I'm afraid, I found the usual folders you would find with any ninja and he is nothing special at all, except for a high degree of skill in taijutsu, but that's a given, knowing that he is the upper level taijutsu instructor in the academy. But I did find a report stating that he is under suspicion for murder, though now that I think of it, there was a report last night stating that a imprisoned rouge Guardian went missing, I think that Mizuki might have taken it"

Naruto frowned "Mmmm, maybe, and the Scroll of Seals?"

"It is a scroll of forbidden jutsu that the Shodaime wrote and sealed himself saying that they are too dangerous for ordinary ninja" Tessai replied and Naruto frowned.

"A scroll of forbidden jutsu that the Shodaime wrote, I can see why Mizuki would want it" Naruto pondered quietly, any techniques that the Shodaime deemed too dangerous must be powerful indeed.

Naruto thought for a little bit but frowned and motioned to Tessai who came closer to hear better.

"Come with me, I need to speak to Kyubi, so I need you to keep watch okay?" Tessai nodded and followed Naruto into his house who then lay on his bed before closing his eyes.

When next he opened them he was welcomed with the sight of a comfortable looking lounge room and he saw Kyubi in human form lying in a comfortable looking lounge staring pensively at the fire in the fireplace. Kyubi's human form was actually very beautiful. She was about 5 feet 9 tall with a body that looked like a movie star's, silky skin, a scandalously sexy and very feminine body, and luxuriously long, healthy fire red hair.She was dressed in a Japanese style kimono that was red with various flowers on it and bound with a sky blue obi which only served to accent her sex appeal and natural beauty. She, like Naruto had fox ears, elongated canine teeth and nine red fox tails that flowed and lay around her. Kyubi's eyes were also elongated and they were a very attractive ruby red.

Kyubi turned to up look at Naruto with warm welcoming eyes and gave a warm smile to which Naruto couldn't help smiling back. Kyubi beckoned him over, which Naruto accepted with a grin and didn't resist when Kyubi wrapped him up in a motherly hug and placed him in her lap. If it had been anybody else, he would probably be so embarrassed he would have never consented to sitting together like this, but Kyubi was practically his mother in all but blood, though even that was a close thing due to having been changed into a Kitsune hanyou by her chakra and blood essence

They sat together for a few minutes savoring the peace and quiet they hadn't been able to get all day but eventually Naruto decided to bring up why he had come.

"I'm just so confused, what should I do? Mizuki wants the Shodaime's for himself, and probably get me killed as well, If I was some naïve, ignorant baka I might have gone for it in hopes that he was right and that I might graduate, but I am not some ignorant baka thanks to you teaching me so I just don't know what to do" Naruto spoke with a dejected voice and Kyubi frowned.

"**Now don't give me that Naruto, weren't you saying that you were not going to give up no matter what only an hour or so ago?" **Kyubi spoke in a pleasant voice that Naruto liked to think that his real mother had possessed.

"Yeah I guess" Naruto agreed in a growing voice of confidence.

Kyubi just smiled "**Well whatever you decide you know that I will follow you where ever you go, okay**" and Naruto smiled brightly.

Naruto thought about the situation a little to himself before looking up at Kyubi with resolution in his face and Kyubi grinned "**Well? Are we going Kit?**"

Naruto nodded "I thought about it and it came down to just two things, 'What I could do' and 'What I should do' I may not be ninja by name, but at heart I am a ninja of Konoha, and it is my duty to stop Mizuki's treasonous actions and… and…I cant let him get away with the Shodaime's scroll!"

Kyubi nodded before asking "**What about the missing Guardian?**" and Naruto hesitated before grinning mischievously.

"Well then we will just have to read the Shodaime's scroll to see if there is anything useful" Naruto said with a wide grin and Kyubi just shook her head.

"**Honestly I would mistake you for a Kitsune if it weren't for the fact I know you are only a half Kitsune"** she said wryly and Naruto chuckled before closing his eyes once more.

Once again he found himself on his bed feeling quite refreshed, a peculiar side affect of seeing Kyubi in person.

"**It must just be my irresistible charisma and boundless energy that does that"** Kyubi joked and Naruto chuckled slightly before turning and seeing that Tessai was sitting at his table eating a bowl of ramen.

Naruto looked at the clock and noted that it was about five in the evening, he had been 'sleeping' for about two hours. Naruto felt something and looked downwards and noted that he was under his bed covers, his shoes had been taken off, as well as the jacket and his gloves and wrist guards.

Tessai heard motion behind him and turned around to see Naruto looking at his current state of dress. Tessai quickly scarfed down the rest of his ramen and stood up and bowed and Naruto looked at him in askance to which Tessai replied "Naruto-sama I apologize for any inconvenience but you didn't look too comfortable so I took the liberty of 'putting you to bed' so to speak" and bowed lower saying "I apologize"

Naruto looked at him a little reproachfully before sighing and saying "Thank you Tessai, I should have done it in the first place so please stop bowing to me, okay"

Tessai stood up and bowed his head "Thank you Naruto-sama" and Naruto waved him away saying "Yeah yeah, whatever, just stop calling me Naruto-sama!"

Tessai bowed and said "Hai, Naruto-sama" and Naruto just slapped his head in exasperation.

Tessai suddenly turned serious "I presume you talked to Kyubi-sama, so what have you decided to do" he asked ready to aid his in whichever way he could.

Naruto's expression turned into one of determination "I'm going to stop Mizuki, I can't let him continue these treasonous acts or let him even touch the Shodaime's scroll" Naruto's face suddenly turned grim "however, the only way to get Mizuki to reveal himself and get evidence of his betrayal is to spring the trap"

Tessai balked and spoke "But it is dangerous and there is that Guardian to consider"

Naruto nodded "Yes it is dangerous but I have to do this, if I am to ever grow in strength as a ninja" Naruto suddenly grinned "Besides Mizuki isn't expecting me to know about him, and there is also a scroll of techniques to consider, I might get so curious about what is in it, that I might open it and find a technique that could help, if he does have the missing oufan all I have to do is prevent him from releasing it from the crystal he is carrying it in"

Tessai thought about it, its certainly possible, whenever a ninja is taking his or his oufan partner on a mission, the oufans themselves are carried in a special accessory that maintains them in a deep sleep like state and ready for battle at anytime. Kind of like a poke-ball on that cartoon show Pokemon. So when ever they are needed to combat ninja or other Guardians which were quite common in a battle, they can just be brought out in a moments notice.

Naruto got redressed and got ready to set out. Kunai, shruiken, a few smoke bombs, flash grenades and exploding tags and he was ready.

Naruto turned to Tessai "I'm going to go see Old Man Hokage, if I am going to pull this off I will need his help, see if you can't keep Mizuki distracted while I'm meeting with him"

Tessai saluted and said "Hai, and good luck Naruto-Sama" before using a shunshin prompting another exasperated groan form Naruto.

Naruto looked around the large clearing in the forest that Mizuki had suggested, there was a small hut that looked like nobody had occupied in years and Naruto couldn't help whistling, this was a good location for a personal training area. Large clearing, small cottage where one could eat lunch, rest a little bit, or study technique scrolls. If he survived this Naruto didn't think that anybody would mind his using it to train in.

Naruto checked his chrono piece and saw he had time yet before Mizuki said he would show up, sitting down against the hut, Naruto opened the scroll and moaned at the title of the first technique.

"Ugh… Shadow Clone no jutsu… Why did it have to start with my worst skill?" Naruto groaned and was about to go to the next one when Kyubi suddenly stopped him.

"**Hold on Kit, I know of this technique, I think that it would suit you perfectly, so please read some more"** Kyubi said eagerly wanting to know more, and Naruto politely obliged read further into scroll about the technique and before long even Naruto's face was beaming.

"This really is perfect for me! It is much simpler for me to use and very much more effective and useful, not to mention that I will probably be the only one to use it to its full potential!" Naruto spoke excitedly.

Kyubi nodded in agreement "**Right, and from what I understand of this technique, instead of having to supply an appropriate amount of chakra, which with you is very difficult, all you would be doing is splitting your chakra evenly among the clones which would be much easier than trying to use just enough chakra to do the Clone technique, this really is a perfect technique for you, most people under jounin would collapse just trying to make and maintain five kage bunshin, but I think you could literally make hundreds even without my power!"**

Naruto couldn't help himself and nearly cheered out in excitement before managing to stop in favor of learning to do the Shadow Clone Technique.

Iruka lay on his bed contemplating his life, and about how similar Naruto's life was to his own, and about his current relationship with the young boy, he had just gotten back from a talk with the Sandaime, who had talked to him about how Naruto had grown up without his parents much like he had.

He, like everybody else had once been very resentful of the Kyubi container, and he had vowed to never forgive him, when he had gotten word that he was to be the containers teacher during his third round at the academy, he had promised himself that he would act like a professional and teach the bare minimum and not help him at all, this way he could keep his reputation as a fair teacher and not help the container grow strong.

His resolution to do that completely and utterly died when he first laid eyes on the nine year old Jinchuriki. He was quite the energetic little thing, but if looked closer, he looked pretty ragged and banged up, his clothes were dirty and old as if he was constantly running, his body was covered in old bruises and sores and he had no life in his eyes, and he looked pretty lonely and sad, as he sat quietly watching the other children play with each other. But what surprised him most was that he could not see any sign of the monster that the villagers had described, he was not feral looking and there was no hate or resentment in his eyes, just a look of deep desire and longing for companionship and comfort.

He had done some investigating and what he found horrified him, how could anyone do this to a child? Container regardless! Multiple cases of severe abuse, a police record that to him seemed to be impossible to associate with the young boy, there were even a few records indicating he had nearly been severely crippled but was narrowly saved by the ANBU, he was quite well behaved and didn't seem the type to steal, whatever the circumstances. His years in the academy had not been kind to him at all. He had started at least three years before his age group signifying that he had great potential with possibly an ulterior motive on the Sandaime's part. At first he seemed to be doing quite well, achieving a great deal in class, but then his grades started to slip and he became the dead last in the academy. He found that it was because the teachers were asking him to do things that they wouldn't ask of any other child, like asking him questions that chuunins would have difficulty answering thus a child his age couldn't possibly have answered them, ignoring him whenever he asked questions, forcing him outside during important lectures on pretence of misbehaving, giving him exams that were beyond his capabilities. The teachers did all this and thus he became known as dead last and his potential languished having been held back in first year. Naruto had also been subjected to heavy bullying, and being ignored by his fellow students except by a select few. Iruka noted that the teachers had done nothing to discourage such behavior.

Iruka had sworn then to help Naruto as much as possible. Over the next three years, he had started assisting him with his work and Naruto had eagerly accepted Iruka's instruction, and he had progressed tremendously in a very short period, showing that he had been anything but stupid or dead last, though strangely he never seemed to gain a step up in the ranking ladder so to speak. Now Naruto didn't know this, but he had been very aware of Naruto's idolism of him, and he had found it very endearing if not a little embarrassing, he had even indulged his idolism a couple times, taking him out to Ichiraku's to eat a bowl of ramen together which he could tell he had enjoyed a lot. He had been thankful really when he grew out of this phase and it had developed into their current relationship as brothers.

Iruka smiled, he had come long way from that shy young boy that he had once been.

Iruka was suddenly interrupted by a knock his door which he got up to answer and found Mizuki standing impatiently on his door step.

"What is it Mizuki?" Iruka said looking at Mizuki in concern.

"We've got trouble Iruka, we've been summoned by the hokage, Naruto has stolen the Scroll of Seals" Mizuki said quickly.

"What!!!" Iruka exclaimed looking dumbfounded at the other ninja.

"I don't know the details myself, all I know is that we have to report to the hokage and that it has something to do with Naruto and the Scroll of seals" Mizuki explained quickly.

Iruka was shocked. Naruto? Steal the Scroll of Seals? Why would he do that? Naruto isn't the type to do something so very foolish like this, something wasn't right! Iruka ran back inside and soon came back out in full ninja gear, he nodded at Mizuki and they jumped off towards the hokage tower, Iruka clenched his fist, "_I'm coming Naruto! You aren't the type to do this! I know your not!"_

Sarutobi the Sandaime Hokage was having quite an interesting night. He had been sitting in his office trying to shrink the pile of paperwork (_Papers from the ninth level of hell)_ on his desk when Naruto had shown up. Sandaime had listened as Naruto had quickly explained the situation and what he and Kyubi planned to do. Sandaime had quickly examined Naruto's plan and had agreed that Naruto should proceed and he would take care of the rest. But when he had asked Naruto what he was going to do to avoid Mizuki's suspicion, Naruto had just grinned and to Sandaime's utmost surprise had formed a couple hand signs and murmured "Sexy no jutsu!" and he had puffed into smoke which slowly disappeared to reveal a beautiful and surreal vision of a scandalously beautiful and downright sexy twenty year blonde woman. The thing was she was wearing nothing but her birthday suit and with just enough smoke to conceal certain areas of her anatomy. It was just too much for the Sandaime to handle and his nose had exploded in a fountain of blood, resulting in him fainting from blood loss.

Sarutobi was still turning bright red from just memory of the jutsu and his nose threatened to explode again but he forced it down and kneaded his brow in embarrassment. "_What a terrifying jutsu, it should be written down in the forbidden scroll as a kinjutsu, if only to prevent all the male ninja from keeling over dead from forced blood loss"._

Sarutobi looked over the assembled ninja who had come in response to the summons and he nodded to himself _"Good, it's all going according to plan" _Sarutobi was yanked from his musings when one of his ninjas spoke up.

"Hokage-sama, that boy has gone to far this time! He can't get away with this!" One ninja yelled out.

"That Scroll is dangerous! And it was forbidden by the Shodaime! If it is taken out of the village…" Another spoke out.

"It cannot leave this village Sandaime-sama! We must find the boy as soon as possible!" said another ninja and Sarutobi nodded in agreement.

"Find Naruto as soon as possible, along with the scroll, and bring them to me, but do not harm him! Understood!" Sarutobi ordered "Now go!" he ordered again and the gathering of ninja all vanished in search of the wayward Jinchuriki.

Sarutobi turned back to his office to look at his crystal ball to watch Naruto, or at least keep an eye on him. Sarutobi watched Naruto train in the clearing while waiting for Mizuki and rose an eyebrow at what Naruto was training in but decided to trust in Naruto's and Kyubi's judgment.

"Okay Naruto, I've done my part, the rest is up to you, I pray you are up to it".

A few minutes later Naruto could be seen leaning on his knees panting slightly with the scroll on his back, totally exhausted, but extremely satisfied.

Naruto suddenly fell back onto his ass in a sitting position still panting heavily but with a big smile. _"Well Kyu-chan I did it!"_ he said to Kyubi, who had been watching and quietly encouraging Naruto to keep going.

"**Yes you did Kit. You mastered the Kage Bunshin, you're becoming stronger every day, it took you less time than I thought it would take for you to master it, I am very proud Naruto, very proud indeed"** Naruto beamed and he could feel Kyubi giving his a mental version of a hug.

Naruto suddenly heard a faint snap behind his and he jumped up and whirled around with a Kunai in hand only to find a pissed off looking Iruka standing behind his.

"Nnnaaaarrrruuuuuttttttoooooo…. Just what on earth is going on?" Iruka asked in a foreboding voice signifying that he was very angry, but willing to listen.

Naruto shivered from the barely suppressed anger in Iruka's voice, but noticed Iruka was about to say more, so Naruto quickly raced up and put his hand over Iruka's mouth to silence him.

"I know your angry Ni-san, but let me explain!" Naruto yammered out quickly in hopes of sparing himself a long and tedious lecture, knowing that Mizuki was going to be there soon.

Iruka shoved his hand away and said "You have thirty seconds to explain your actions and it had better be good or so help me…" Naruto understood what he wasn't saying and quickly rushed to explain, Mizuki probably wasn't far away and he would need Iruka's help to capture him.

Naruto quickly explained how he had been feeling after his failure to pass for the third time, he explained how Hinata had pulled him out of his funk and helped regain his determination to succeed. He then explained how Mizuki had come up to him with an offer to tell him about another way to pass the genin exam. About how he had told him about the scroll and that in order to pass he had to steal the scroll from under the hokage's nose and give it to Mizuki in this clearing.

Naruto had then explained about his suspicions of the obviously treacherous Shinobi and he then told him the reasons that he had decided to got through with it, he told Iruka about the plan he had cooked up with the Sandaime.

Iruka couldn't believe his ears. It was all Mizuki's fault! But why would he do it? He is a Shinobi of Konoha! Isn't he?

Both ninja suddenly heard a sound of kunai and shruiken being thrown, but only Iruka was quick enough to react. Naruto suddenly found himself flying backwards after having been pushed away by Iruka who then took the full assault head on, a few of the shruiken an kunai lodged themselves in various places on his body but none were immediately life threatening but the rest of them pinned him to the wall of the hut unable to move at all.

Naruto got up slowly, looking at Iruka in horror but heaved a sigh of relief when he saw that Iruka would be alright for the time being. Naruto then quickly turned around and spotted where the attack had come from. Naruto's eyes narrowed when he saw Mizuki crouched in the tree above them, casually twirling a large Windmill Shruiken on his hand.

"Good work Naruto… Now… Give me the Scroll and you will have passed this test" Mizuki ordered with a fake grin on his face. Naruto's face twisted in a peculiar expression of distaste and anger.

Iruka spoke out then pain clearly showing in his voice "Don't give him the scroll Naruto, he is a traitor to Konoha! He only wants it for himself!"

Naruto nodded in agreement and shouted out "I am a Shinobi of Konoha! And I will not give this scroll to a traitor like you Mizuki-teme!"

Mizuki's face twisted in an expression of anger and he looked like he was about to blow when he suddenly gained a glint in his eye and he gained a crazed smirk on his face.

He bent down to look at Naruto "Haven't you ever wondered Naruto? About why the village hates you?"

Naruto quirked an eyebrow, he could see where this was going but decided to play along and replied "Yeah, so what about it?" barely keeping amusement from showing in his voice.

Mizuki's grin widened in anticipation, knowing that what he was about to reveal would hurt the boy, allowing him to snatch the scroll, and he so loved causing pain.

Iruka also knew where this was going but unlike Mizuki didn't want Naruto to get hurt and shouted out "Mizuki! Don't do it! It is forbidden!"

Naruto turned to look at Iruka quickly but turned back to Mizuki unwilling to let him out of his sight.

Mizuki just ignored Iruka's plea and continued on "There was a law created 12 years ago, a law that nobody was to tell you."

Naruto could barely hold in his contempt but managed to choke out in what seemed to be a pained voice "What law, what was this law about?"

Iruka yelled out again "Stop it, Mizuki! He has already been hurt far too much! Please don't do this!"

Naruto looked at Iruka again, this time in shock, and he was unable to prevent a smile of gratitude and joy from lightening up his face or preventing a few tears from flowing down his face "_He does care!"_ Naruto cheered to himself and his heart suddenly became much lighter, the pain of loneliness that had haunted him for his whole life had started to lift from Iruka's words alone and Kyubi just smiled. It had been a long time since Naruto had lowered his mask and shown such a beautiful smile.

Iruka noticed Naruto looking at him and turned to look at him and saw the young boy he considered his younger brother looking at him with the most beautiful smile of gratitude and joy that he had ever seen. He couldn't help the slight blush and smiled bashfully back at him to which Naruto responded with an even bigger smile which made Iruka blush even more and look away.

Naruto grinned at Iruka's bashful expression and turned to look back at Mizuki with a confident smirk and hefted a kunai in his hand, determination flaring in his heart until Kyubi became sure that it would catch alight.

Mizuki just looked at them in distaste, hate and revulsion apparent on his face. How is it that Iruka could care so much about the damn boy? He is that bloody demon Kyubi in human form after all!!! He glared at Naruto such hate and anger that Naruto felt a weak killing intent which he just shrugged off, as if to move some stray hairs from his face and merely put his kunai in a ready position. Killing intent is a valuable weapon in any ninja's arsenal as it could cause the enemy to freeze up allowing said ninja to kill his opponent. Being the Kyubi's container Naruto had been exposed to various levels of killing intent through out his life and therefore was immune to killing intent, practicing shrugging it off with the strongest demon in history sure helped as well.

Naruto looked up at Mizuki with a cocky smirk and said in a bored voice "You call that intent? I've had far, far worse than that, BBBaaaakkkkkaaaaa" he drawled, voice dripping with derision before asking in a more serious voice "This law you were speaking of? What is it?"

Mizuki's eye twitched at Naruto's disrespectful tone and the fact that his intent was totally ineffective but ignored it in favor of telling Naruto a bit more.

"Well as you know this law was instated twelve years ago by the Sandaime and that nobody was to tell you this law or anybody of your generation really"

Naruto just raised an eyebrow and spoke "And what is it Mizuki-teme"

Mizuki grinned insanely "This law is…. That nobody is to speak about the fact that you…." and Mizuki pointed at Naruto "Are the demon fox!! You are the Kyubi no Kitsune that killed Iruka's parents and destroyed the village, you have been lied to your entire life! How does that make you feel Demon?"

**So that was it, and the next chapter is also going to be a revisal. So please review and tell what you think. I am unsure of how I have introduced Sakura so tell me what you think so that I may do better next time.**


	2. Taijutsu, Pursuit, Awakening!

I do not own Naruto, Mai HiME or any of the other animes that I will be using in later chapters.

I'm sorry about the massive delay and I hope that you will enjoy this latest chapter

I am not going to explain who's speech is who's. Bold this, Italic that, if you can't understand what is going on then you are all a bunch of baka's.

**Taijutsu, pursuit, Awakening!**

Of all the things that Iruka and Mizuki were expecting, indifference was not it. Shouts of denial, anger, confusion or maybe for him to just collapse and start crying. But they were completely shocked, when instead Naruto just yawned.

Iruka just gaped at Naruto as if he had just admitted to being a mad psychopathic serial killer/rapist and asked himself just what the hell was going on. Mizuki was just plain confused. _This isn't what was supposed to happen!_

Naruto looked up at Mizuki with a smirk "Is that it? Tell me something new, Baka!"

Iruka and Mizuki looked on in shock as Naruto continued to speak "I've known about the Kyuubi being sealed inside me since I was four years old, and I have even been able to communicate with her" causing the two men too widen their eyes.

"You've talked to the Kyuubi?" Iruka spluttered before the other part of Naruto's speech reached his mind "Wait a minute! The Kyuubi is a female? Who told you about the Kyuubi?"

Naruto looked at Iruka with a smile "That's right, the 'All powerful and terrible' Kyuubi is a female, and the Kyuubi that you know is not who she really is, she is actually quite gentle, kind, kind of sappy, if a little protective. She is no different than from you or I other than her species, and as to who told me, well Kyuubi herself of course"

Iruka just stared at Naruto in confused apprehension. The Kyuubi is a female? She is gentle and kind? She's like us? Iruka just sighed and hung his head, muttering something about Sake.

Naruto looked up at Mizuki who seemed angrier than before, his expression twisted with malice and scorn, Naruto frowned when he felt another, stronger wave of killing intent. Seemed that Mizuki was getting angrier and probably more desperate, meaning that it was time to even the odds Naruto thought grimly.

"Your right about one thing though" Naruto said placing his hands into a tora seal and looked up at Mizuki in determination who just glared back. "I'm no longer a full blooded human!"

Mizuki's eyes seemed to pop out of his head and Iruka's head snapped up _"Not human? What does he mean?"_

Naruto started gathering chakra causing Mizuki to feel apprehensive "But I am not a demon either!" Naruto said while making a series of seals and with a deep breath to calm himself down, yelled "Kitsune suppression no jutsu… KAI!"

Naruto's body was suddenly enshrouded in a cloud of dense smoke and Iruka squinted through the smoke, eager yet worried to see what had happened, while Mizuki was gritting his teeth in an attempt to suppress his fear, and as the smoke cleared Naruto was finally unveiled. Two sets of eyes widened when they beheld Naruto's true form.

Naruto no longer looked like the image of a young boy that he presented to the public. He now sported what looked like red fox ears on top of his head, along with a single red tail with a white tip. His eyes were still crystal blue but looked like foxes eyes, his nails were longer and sharper looking and his canine teeth were now elongated, his hair was slightly longer and very spiky, his body was fuller as well and looked far stronger, lithe and trim. His muscles were heavily defined (Think Gohan against Cell from Dragon ball Z), and he had also gained a few inches.

Naruto smiled a foxy smile after seeing Iruka's gob smacked expression and gave him a thumbs up, then looked up at Mizuki and said softly "I'm a hanyou, half human, half demon, I'm part of neither, detested by both species"

Naruto then assumed an unusual stance that Mizuki or Iruka didn't recognize. His left leg was pointed forwards, right leg bent at the knee pointed outwards absorbing most his weight, his shoulders where parallel with his feet and his arms were at his sides with his hands near his sternum and his face turned serious, eyes focused on Mizuki.

"I'll tell you once Mizuki. Surrender, or face the consequences". No doubt at all could be seen on Naruto's face and Iruka couldn't help a shiver running up his spine. He had never seen this side of the usually cheerful Naruto.

Naruto watched Mizuki's expression as it went through a whole range of emotions, confusion, fear, anger, hate, alarm, a host of other emotions he couldn't identify and finally nervousness. Naruto silently observed this kaleidoscope of emotion and wondered how Mizuki was going to respond.

It seemed as though Mizuki hate for him was greater than his fear because he shouted "You wont stop me demon! You will be the one to die! And I know just the way to insure your death"

Mizuki then began spinning the Fuuma Shruiken (Sorry if I got the name wrong before). Naruto just smirked and took another stance, expecting Mizuki to chuck it at him. Mizuki grinned cruelly when he noticed Naruto's new stance and he began swiveling his arm to throw the by now very fast fuuma shruiken.

Then to Naruto's horror Mizuki suddenly shifted his aim and threw the shruiken at Iruka who was still pinned to the wall while shouting "Through your loved ones!"

Iruka would later scold Naruto for doing it. But Naruto reacted instinctively and jumped in front of the shruiken, power levels rising, kunai poised in an effort to protect the closest person to a brother he had.

Kyuubi was just about to tell Naruto to not be stupid and get out of the way. When she suddenly felt a mysterious power in a section of Naruto's soul respond to the extreme emotions he was expressing. "**What?" **was all she could say before she was suddenly overwhelmed with waves of pure, hot, fiery power.

Back outside, time had seemed to slow down to a stop for Naruto. He could see the large fuuma shruiken slowly whirling towards him, screaming like a banshee to his highly acute fox ears, He could see Mizuki grinning and laughing crazily, triumph glowing manically in his eyes, he could hear Iruka shouting at him to get out of the way, his cries steadily getting more desperate as the shruiken approached.

Naruto could feel his emotions going wild. He could feel fear, desperation, love, anger, apprehension and an overwhelming desire and determination to protect his brother. It was then that Naruto suddenly felt a strange, powerful, yet familiar energy flaring inside him reaching for him. Naruto reacting out of pure instinct, held out his hands. As if he could block the deadly weapon with his bare palms, in the back of his mind he could hear Kyuubi crying out in shock, he felt the strange power flare to even greater heights and to his surprise, along with that of Iruka and Mizuki, a wreath of fire briefly flashed around him upon which fuuma shruiken bounced off and crashed into the ground a few feet away. All Iruka and Mizuki could do in their shock was gape at what had happened.

'_What the hell was that!!"_ was both their thoughts.

Naruto was silently staring at his hands in shock and amazement. As if he had never seen them before. Naruto flexed his hands while silently asking himself what had happened. He lifted his eyes and stifled a gasp when he saw three, hauntingly familiar flaming tomoes floating in circle in front of him. '_What is this? Why is this so familiar? Why does it feel like I have gained something that had been missing?'_ he pondered when he heard the sound of another fuuma shruiken spinning and looked up to see Mizuki still up in the tree, spinning his second shruiken until it seemed as though it was a buzz saw.

"I don't know what that was" Mizuki spat out in anger "But you can be sure it wont happen again you freak" and with that, threw the shruiken as hard as he could. This time at Naruto who was still standing in front of Iruka. Naruto felt a flash of indignation at being called a freak. He again instinctively drew on the burning power flowing in his veins and again on instinct, raised his arm palm first and willed it to block. And again the fire colored barrier coalesced to enclose him safely within its depths and the fuuma shruiken was safely deflected.

Mizuki's anger soared at seeing his shruiken deflected again. He has been planning this moment for years and he not about to let his plans be destroyed by some wretched bastard of a Shinobi. This is not what was supposed to happen! He was supposed to be either dead, or cowering before me like the cowardly bastard he is! He is not meant to be DEFYING ME!

"I'VE HAD ENOUGH!!" Mizuki shouted and Naruto swore as he felt Mizuki's power levels raise substantially. Mizuki grabbed a kunai out of his holster and jumped into the air, diving at Naruto kunai poised in front of him. Naruto just smirked grimly, this is what he did best, and the clearing rang with crash of two kunai colliding. Naruto's knees just about buckled and he barely managed the strength to thrust Mizuki back and jump away. Any other genin would have been defeated from that attack alone. But due to the fact that Naruto was a hanyou, with demonic heritage received from Kyuubi he was strong enough to drive Mizuki back despite his inexperience and smaller size.

Naruto stood up from his crouch with a focused yet fierce expression and murmured "My turn!" and keeping his serious expression started running at high speed. Mizuki's eye's narrowed in shock at Naruto's speed. It appeared to be purely physical! Mizuki swung at Naruto's head, but missed when Naruto ducked low to the ground. Naruto rose and twisted in mid air swinging at Mizuki's chest with a fast, high powered, round house left kick. Mizuki leaned back away this kick, blocked two straight jabs aimed at his chest, but was caught in the jaw by a follow up right kick. Mizuki was sent flying through the air from its power, but managed to turn his momentum into a back flip and landed expertly in a crouch. Mizuki looked up just time to see Naruto quickly crouch to the ground and with a ripple of his body, seemed to launch his body like a missile across the ground. Naruto crossed the distance between them in an instant and Mizuki was forced to duck a powerful right hook and rose back up with a high powered punch which Naruto blocked expertly and back flipped to land in a defensive stance facing Mizuki and smirked. Mizuki just growled angrily in response and Naruto and Mizuki ran back at each other to engage in another bout of high level taijutsu.

Iruka watched both impressed and worried. Naruto was using a level of taijutsu that was about mid chuunin to low Jounin. Pressure points, arm locks, throws, even using Mizuki's strength against him! It seemed that Naruto had kept more than just his true form secret if one went by the current events. Mizuki was having a difficult time keeping up with the fast, strong, flexible and highly inventive hanyou Shinobi. Iruka frowned with worry. Fighting with taijutsu was all well and good, but there was more than just taijutsu to the ninja arts.

Naruto growled and launched a swift jab at Mizuki's upper shoulder aiming for a certain nerve cluster in an effort to paralyze his arm and gain an advantage over the determined man. Only to have Mizuki catch his hand in his own and while not letting go of his hand ,jabbed at his face which Naruto caught with his other hand. Naruto gritted his teeth and braced himself before pushing forward in an attempt to topple him over. But it seemed Mizuki had the same idea and began pushing back. Neither of them was able to overpower the other, it seemed it was a complete stalemate.

Mizuki gritted his teeth in frustration as he continued to push against his foe and he couldn't help but bite out "How is it you are so strong for your age, you bastard!"

Naruto felt a flash of irritation at the bastard comment but replied "That would be because hanyou's mature a lot faster than humans due to necessity of survival. So I am already the equivalent of a eighteen year human. Of course, because of my demonic side, my muscles are much stronger then a humans"

This pushing against each other began get old. It seemed they both agreed because they both let go and jumped away at the same time.

Mizuki began doing hand seals and Iruka gasped when he ended in a tora seal.

"**Katon: Grand Fireball no Jutsu!"** shouted Mizuki and shot a massive fireball out at Naruto who just stood still and allowed it to engulf him without a noise.

Mizuki and Iruka stared intently at the fireball as it dissipated knowing that a simple technique such as that wasn't going to do Naruto in. Iruka suddenly heard a soft pop and was shocked when a stump covered in exploding notes appeared in Naruto's place. The notes detonated. Creating a large explosion of which Mizuki was barely able to escape. Iruka himself was peppered with dirt clods and various other bits of debris from the explosion.

Iruka looked at the crater in the ground with wonder. '_Naruto didn't even try to escape, instead he substituted himself with that tagged stump. While it didn't really manage to harm Mizuki, what it did manage to do was disorientate Mizuki enough so that Naruto could disappear. There are very few Ninja who could have managed to keep track of Naruto through all that and Mizuki is not one of them.'_

Mizuki started looking around for any sign of his adversary, but couldn't detect a thing. He suddenly felt a slight disturbance behind him and swiveled around just in time to deflect an onslaught of shruiken. When his instincts suddenly shouted out and he again swung around in time to block an incoming kunai being wielded by Naruto. Mizuki thrust Naruto away and jumped high a far away from his hanyou opponent.

Naruto landed in a crouch as did Mizuki and they both glared at each other, Mizuki stood up and spoke "I tire of this demon, you are an impressive taijutsu user and your use of Kawarimi was exemplary and I acknowledge that. But you and I both know that there is more to fighting than taijutsu" he said with a maniacal sneer of anticipation. Naruto's face twitched in annoyance knowing he was right.

"_What can I do Kyu-chan? He's not called a chuunin for nothing and I don't know that many jutsu's"_

"**Calm down Kit, I doubt he knows any really powerful jutsu's and don't forget that you know Kage Bunshin, and I doubt that he would be able to do anything if you used it"**

"_I don't know, Kyu-chan I've only known it for a couple hours and I don't know if I can use it in a battle situation yet, though I suppose I can try"_ Naruto mused deciding whether or not he should it but it was Mizuki who clinched it.

"Time for you to die demon, and then after you are dead I'll kill your precious Ni'san and take the scroll!" Mizuki shouted and pulled out a kunai.

Naruto glared at Mizuki menacingly and turned to face him head on "If you dare touch Iruka Ni-san again…. I'll kill you" he spoke slowly enunciating each word with a deep growl. Mizuki couldn't help feeling a sliver of uneasiness but got over it and laughed maliciously with blood thirsty sneer.

"You wont stop me demon" he taunted and Naruto just scoffed at him and raised his hands into the ever familiar cross seal.

"Just you try it trash! I'll return it a thousand fold!" Naruto proclaimed angrily and with such certainty that Mizuki felt another sliver of uneasiness, but he pushed it down again. What could this boy do to him, he isn't even a genin!

Mizuki shout defiantly "Just you try it demon! Show me what you got!"

Iruka suddenly felt a massive spike of chakra coming from Naruto and he started wondering what was about to happen.

"KAGE BUNSHIN NO JUTSU!!" Naruto shouted and the clearing in front of the dilapidated hut was suddenly flooded with clones. They were everywhere, standing in the clearing, hanging on trees, even lounging around on the hut.

Both Iruka and Mizuki's eyes bulged. They both knew what this technique was! But as Iruka's heart flooded with pride, Mizuki's was flooded with fear. He started whirling around madly looking for an escape until he became dizzy and fell on the ground.

Naruto watched the fallen Shinobi with contempt and a little pity as he was overwhelmed with terror and fell over his own feet "_Keh, what a coward, how he ever became a chuunin is beyond me" I might as well put him out of his misery"_

Mizuki was just about ready to give up and let himself be taken in, when he suddenly remembered something he had in his possession. Something which would be able to save him despite the boys unexpected power. Naruto suddenly noticed that Mizuki had stopped trembling, and watched as he stood back up straight while reaching a hand into his chuunin jacket. Naruto suddenly had a bad feeling and he was just about to order his clones to attack when Mizuki just jumped straight high into the air startling Naruto who looked up to see what he was doing. Naruto eyes widened in horror as he watched Mizuki pull out a dark purple crystal and smear it with his blood.

Iruka's heart dropped when he also saw the blood smeared crystal in Mizuki's hand and he gasped "A fiend crystal, when did he get one?"

The crystal started glowing a violent red and Mizuki looked at Naruto who despite the blood pumping in his ears and the low voice Mizuki spoke in. Naruto heard what Mizuki said perfectly.

"I told you demon. You will die tonight!" Mizuki said and threw the glowing crystal at the ground amongst the mass of clones and the clearing was instantly filled with great clouds of smoke. Sounds of a struggle were heard and Naruto felt over half his clones had suddenly been dispersed. He was nearly overwhelmed by sudden images, memories he could say, coming from the clones denoting a large, shady, beast like shape that had appeared next to them and quickly destroyed them.

Naruto nearly staggered from the onslaught but managed to hold himself upright. He quickly recovered and ran over to wear Iruka was and started prying him off the wall knowing that he would only get in the way as he was now.

Iruka started when Naruto appeared next to him and started prying him off the wall and couldn't help asking "What are you going to do Naruto? Now that this fiend has appeared we no longer stand a chance!"

"What are you talking about? We're not dead yet!" Naruto startling Iruka who allowed Naruto to loop an arm around him shoulders and they jumped off through the forest.

Mizuki had by now landed back on the ground and he ran and jumped on the back of his stolen fiend. He then noticed that both Naruto and Iruka had disappeared, and he grinned wickedly.

"So they want a chase do they, I guess I can oblige them" before shouting at the fiend "Find them!" Fiend instantly jumped off quickly at great speed, which was surprising considering its size and it wasn't long before they were close behind the tree wayward duo, and quickly closing.

* * *

Naruto looked behind him and saw the large fiend quickly catching up, despite the fact they were jumping through the close growing trees of Konaha forest. Naruto cursed, not knowing what to do. Naruto then thought of something.

"Iruka get on my back! I can't go faster if I am dragging you along beside me!" Naruto shouted shocking Iruka who yelled back "What! Won't that just slow us down! You couldn't be nearly strong enough!"

Naruto grinned "I'm a hanyou of Biju descent remember Iruka. I am many times faster, and stronger than a human. Even with out using chakra to enhance my movements. So carrying you won't be a problem" Naruto said in a reassuring tone.

Iruka still wasn't convinced "I don't know Naruto I'm a lot heavier than I look"

Naruto just growled in annoyance "Trust me Iruka Ni-san I can do it" Iruka was about to protest again but Naruto looked him in the eye and said softly "Trust me Ni-san"

Iruka was caught at the trust me and just nodded and when they were in mid jump he moved and latched onto Naruto's back who with out missing a beat grabbed his legs securely and wrapped him tail around Iruka's waist to further secure him.

Now that Iruka was on him back Naruto could really rip loose and Iruka nearly fell off when they quickly picked up speed. He was astonished by how much faster they were going and that was with him on him back. Though now that he thought about it, it wasn't very surprising he was so fast. For most of his life Naruto has been running and hiding from the villagers, and there were rumors that he had evaded jounin level ninja multiple times, so he had to either be very fast, or good at hiding, or a combination of both.

Mizuki gritted his teeth when he saw that he was no longer getting closer and quickly ordered the fiend to go faster.

Naruto looked back and saw that the fiend was still closing in though at a slower rate than before. He gritted his teeth and pumped more chakra to his legs to run even faster.

Iruka looked back himself and his eyes widened at how much closer the fiend was but didn't say anything knowing that Naruto no doubt aware of it.

Iruka's lips pursed in thought and wondered out loud "Just how is it that Mizuki has an fiend in the first place?" He was startled when Naruto replied.

Naruto said "Do you know about the missing fiend at the stables?" and Iruka shook his head in a negative and Naruto continued speaking "A class B fiend inexplicitly went missing from the stables a couple nights ago and nobody has clue what happened. I think that this is the missing fiend. I think Mizuki stole it so that he could have an fiend with him when he left Konoha with the scroll" Iruka nodded in agreement but silently wondered where Naruto got such information. A missing fiend is serious business, not something a beginner Shinobi should know about.

Naruto in the mean time was having a small bout of deja'vu. This was just like his dream. Kyuubi was having to constantly remind Naruto to focus and to keep himself calm and centered. Though she herself was also concerned, this was indeed very similar to the dream. Kyuubi had a sinking feeling that they were going to discover the unknown ending to Naruto's dream.

They continued running for about five more minutes and Naruto was starting to pant heavily. He may be a hanyou, but he was still young, and running as fast as you can with a full grown man on your back can tire one out. Naruto then suddenly recognized the section of forest they were in, he had been there many times, he had practically lived in it at some point as nobody ever came to this particular section of forest much less go beyond it like he had. The infamous border forest of Death Gorge.

Naruto started when he felt a pulsing wave wash through him. Resonating with something within him. It was beckoning him, pulling him, telling him to come to it. Normally Naruto would have avoided such a pull, as something like that was to be avoided. But this was different somehow. Naruto debated with himself but turned towards the pulse. Naruto noted that they were now on a direct course for Death Gorge and he grinned. The valley was his personal sanctuary. He had always gone there to heal and for safety at various points in his life. He knew it like the back of his hand.

Kyuubi also felt that this was different "**Kit this pull that you are feeling, go with it, I think that it is related with that strange power you seemingly possess"** and Naruto just nodded in agreement. He concentrated on his running knowing that Kyuubi would direct him.

"Ni-san we are approaching Death Gorge!" Naruto shouted over him shoulder at Iruka who only nodded, being one of the few who knew exactly what the valley was for the poor beleaguered hanyou.

The pair burst out of the tree line with the fiend running close behind them and saw the quickly approaching cliff edge. Naruto continued running and just as they were about to go over Naruto shouted "HOLD ON NI-SAN!" and jumped at the edge with an excited yell from Naruto tail flying behind him and a panicked yell from Iruka. They soared down at a quick pace towards the steep incline of the cliff edge and landed heavily. Naruto's knees nearly buckled but they continued down the steep incline.

Meanwhile back on the cliff edge, Mizuki and the fiend skidded to a stop before the cliff edge. Mizuki couldn't help gaping at the young hanyou who was literally surfing down the incline of the valley like a professional surfer riding the wave, except without the board. He just could not believe the audacity of what the boy had just pulled and couldn't help but feel a twinge of begrudging respect for the hanyou brat.

"Got big brass ones don't he, bloody brat" Mizuki muttered wondering if he would ever possess the balls to do something similar if he were in the same situation a he was.

Mizuki pointed at the hanyou boy who by then was entering the jungle like forest at the base of the Valley. Mizuki shouted "Get him!" at the Fiend which jumped over the edge and started crawling down at a slightly slower pace but still at a fair clip.

* * *

Naruto and Iruka were now running through the dense forest of Death Gorge and Iruka was looking around in amazement, it was positively beautiful!

"Naruto this place is amazing!" Iruka exclaimed and Naruto flashed a grin.

"Now you know why I come here all the time, and if you think it is amazing now you should see it in the day time" he said with a grin and before taking on a grim visage "but enough gawking, we're not out of this yet!" he said with an unhappy tone and Iruka just nodded.

Iruka jerked when he suddenly realized something and asked "Why are we in Death Gorge in the first place? I mean, there's no help for us here"

Naruto suddenly looked pensive and said "I'm not sure, but something is calling me to the center of the valley, something I think can help us"

Iruka looked down at Naruto worriedly "Is this something related to those abilities you displayed back at the hut?"

Naruto nodded "I think so yes" Iruka just nodded in return and the two continued on.

* * *

A few minutes later they finally reached the middle of the valley and saw that the rumors of a spire being there were true. Naruto felt the pull coming from the spire and ran towards it but when he reached it the pull abruptly vanished. Naruto stumbled and skidded to a stop with the sudden loss of contact and just stared dumbly panting heavily at where the pull was supposed to come from.

Noticing that they were not about to go anywhere Iruka motioned towards the spire beside them. Naruto strode over to the towering spire and leant down to allow Iruka to get off and lean against the wall.

Just as he let him down Naruto felt a crippling wave of exhaustion flow over him and he fell to his hands and knees panting for all he was worth.

Iruka jolted at Naruto's sudden collapse and attempted to move over to him but a wave of pain from his wounds prevented any movement. Despite his exhaustion Naruto noticed Iruka's plight and waved him off.

"It's… alright… Ni-san… don't… worry… yourself" Naruto spoke between pants. Naruto paused to gain his breath before starting again "All that running around just caught up with me, but I'll be alright after a few minutes rest" he reassured him. Naruto knew though that he would need a bit longer than a few minutes. He felt absolutely awful. His lungs were on fire, he was soaked in sweat as was his clothes. His arms and legs were trembling like he had Parkinson's disease and they ached like hell. Naruto slowly reached down to his leg pouch and pulled out a bottle of water and started guzzling it like a camel that had gone with out drinking for a year.

Naruto could feel Kyuubi at work. Curing as much exhaustion as she could before Mizuki arrived "**I'm doing my best Kit, but you have certainly out done yourself this time"** Kyuubi said shaking her head in both worry and amusement

Naruto just grinned and said "_I have haven't I Kyu-chan"_

Naruto's breathing finally eased out as he laid on the cold hard ground. Said ground was to him very relieving on his hot and sweaty body. Naruto's ears perked up when he heard a big object quickly approaching through the dense forest. Although he was very reluctant to do so Naruto slowly got up to his feet and settled into a defensive pose. He knew that he would need to conserve his strength for the coming battle.

Mizuki and the fiend burst out of the trees and skidded to a stop just a few meters away.

The fiend stood nearly fifteen meters tall and it stood upon four scaly reverse jointed legs with three toed hooves. It had a body like a snake, and a long tail with a scorpion stinger on the end, it's upper torso stood upright like a humans, and it had six scorpion like arms with claws on the ends, it had eyes like a flies, all bulbous and multifaceted and finally its mouth was like a spiders with those two mandibles. It was a bluely green color and all up, it was an ugly son of a bitch, but no one could doubt that it was definitely strong.

Mizuki looked down at the exhausted looking hanyou before him and grinned cruelly, knowing that it wouldn't be long now. He will be free of Konoha, he will have his fiend and he will have his scroll of forbidden techniques. He noted the boy was still carrying it on his back. Life was good.

Naruto looked up at the monstrosity that was Mizuki's fiend apprehensively. He was still very exhausted from trying to escape and there was still the matter of what drew him to this secluded valley far away from any hope of rescue. Naruto glanced back at Iruka and his face grew grim and serious. Iruka's injuries were serious and though he would deny it, a liability. Naruto began to feel the stirrings of panic and fear but with a shake of his head Naruto calmly shunted them aside, it wouldn't help him at all. Naruto then thought back to before, when he had deflected the fuuma Shruiken. He had felt something, something familiar, but he couldn't grasp it! Something was still holding it back! Naruto resolved to break this unseen barrier, our survival could depend on it, he could feel it in his gut.

Mizuki shouted "This is it Naruto Uzumaki, you've doomed yourself by coming here, there is no hope for a rescue." Mizuki shook his head in mock pity "You were doing so well to, but all the better for me" he said with twisted grin and Naruto grimaced with distaste.

A simple order of _**"Kill!!!" **_was all it took before Naruto found that he no longer had time to contemplate Mizuki distastefulness in favor of desperately ducking and leaping aside when Mizuki's fiend was upon him, with a slash of it's sharp claws, followed by a stomp with it left front hoof. Naruto retaliated with a volley of kunai at its eyes which was batted away. The fiend then apparently decided to abandon all patience it possessed because it bum-rushed him with a crushing series of blows which caught Naruto completely by surprise.

Iruka watched horrified as Naruto was beaten into a bloody mess and then cried out when Naruto was then thrown into the cliff side beside him. Iruka looked on in dismay and worry as Naruto painfully pulled himself out of the hole he had created and again cursed Mizuki for betraying them in the first place.

Naruto painfully stood up and once again thanked Kyubi for the clothes and his hanyou nature. Naruto looked up only to see a large hoof and a flash of extreme pain as he was thrown into the ground again, this time creating a long trench in the ground from the blow by the large yet fast beast.

Naruto could feel fire in his bones and his vision nearly went black as he painfully rolled over, and watched resentfully on his back as the fiend almost seemed to swagger over to him confident in it's victory. Time almost seemed to slow down as the fiend raised it claw to kill him.

'_Is this the end?'_ Naruto half listened to Kyuubi's desperate pleas for him as he watched his approaching death. He felt his heart glow as he felt Kyuubi express her love for him.

'_Do I want it to end?'_ Naruto watched as the instrument of his death started to swing down and he thought of his life. He barely remembered his early years before turning four. Only that they were pretty much his personal hell. He definitely remembered how he felt when Kyuubi revealed herself. Shear resentment bordering on hate, it was all her fault! It was all her fault that he had to live the way he did! He remembered being angry when all Kyuubi said was that she was sorry, and he remembered the loneliness, knowing what he did made him feel all the more isolated. However he was unable to carry his grudge for long as Kyuubi just continued saying sorry, continued to look after him as she had always done since his birth. He later noticed that Kyuubi was nothing at all what the tales portrayed her. He eventually managed to forgive her and resolved to get to know her better and from then on his life started to change. Kyuubi was there for everything. She was there when he was kicked out onto the streets. She was there to comfort him when his hanyou status was discovered and she was there when ever he was hurt with comfort and healing of his body. She began training him in every taijutsu style she knew as well as a whole lot of other stuff, except jutsu, saying that she had not yet been in this world long enough to learn, what ever that meant. His relationship with her grew to a point that he could no longer imagine life without Kyuubi and she herself had stated that she was content living within him. That she could no longer contemplate a life on the outside. She was his dearest friend, his sister, his mother, his Nakama. She was all that and more. She was his partner. Naruto could only compare their relationship to a Shinigami and his Zanpakto, remembering the tales Kyuubi had told him when he was young.

'_Do I?'_ The claw came closer, Naruto witnessed flashes of his brother Iruka, of his adopted little sister Hinata, of Old Man Hokage, and of all the other people in his life.

Naruto watched as the claw came within inches of his face.

'NO! This will not end here!' Naruto screamed in his soul and that final barrier shattered.

On the outside Iruka looked away not wanting to witness his students death only to feel the world exploding with power. Iruka whipped around to behold a scene of such extremes that it took all he had not to piss himself.

Mizuki had a big smile on his face as he saw the demons impending death and just he was about to die Mizuki was blown away by a big shockwave from the boy and his jaw dropped when he saw that his fiend had also been thrown away.

Both Iruka and Mizuki could feel the sheer power being displayed but they felt that it wasn't chakra they were feeling but something else. But where as one wasn't afraid at all knowing somehow he was safe, the other was terrified. Where was this power coming from? It isn't chakra! It isn't the Kyuubi's power! They watched as a pillar of fire stabbed into the heavens.

The pillar then suddenly lost cohesiveness, and although it was still stabbing into the heavens it was no longer a solid pillar, it was more like a helix slowly rotating into the sky, and they could see Naruto floating in the air a couple meters above the ground, slowly twirling around in the same direction as the helix.

* * *

Naruto slowly recovered from having his mind blown away by the powers awakening and he found himself floating above the ground. Naruto felt power condensing around his wrists and ankles and watched in awe and anticipation as four fiery golden rings with three inset glowing jewels materialized from his power. Apparently these rings were the manifestation of his new found powers.

As he watched the rings spin around he felt a name arising in his mind unbidden from the depths of his soul and Naruto uttered the name as he felt the rings resonate in time with him.

"HiME Element: Inferno Spirals!" Naruto said and the rings flared brightly in response.

By now Mizuki was terrified and he had had enough of the boys constant defiance against all odds. He pointed at both Iruka and Naruto and screamed "KILL THEM!!"

Naruto heard Mizuki's scream and quickly turned around only to see the fiend rushing at him limbs slashing, eyes alight with bloodlust.

Naruto narrowed his eyes in rage and resolve and shouted "I WONT LET YOU!!" and rose his hands towards the slashing and roaring fiend. The spirals lit up with power and to his surprise a lash of dense looking fire spurted as if from his hands and whipped out at the fiend, driving it back as if it was pushed back by an enormous hand giving it some painful looking burns. Naruto was aware of the lash continuing with the arc of his arms and cutting deeply into the rock face behind him. Great boulders came crashing down to the ground nearly landing on Iruka causing him yelp and Naruto heaved a great sigh of relief when he saw him unharmed.

Naruto then looked at him hands in astonishment, he did that? And Naruto couldn't help uttering a marveled "Cool!" though it was lacking quite a bit of control, though only time could fix that. Naruto stopped marveling his elements and looked at Mizuki with narrowed eyes. Control could wait for later.

Naruto focused on the spirals and willed himself to move upwards and found it was actually quite simple. He experimented with flying for a couple seconds and found that it was very easy and that he was able to fly in any direction possible and at which ever speed he choose. Naruto looked at the fiend and dived at it, tail flowing behind him, nimbly dodging all the blows as it struck out at him. Naruto continued flying around making the beast angry. When his danger sense tingled and he ducked quickly and saw that Mizuki had thrown a Kunai at him. Desperation was clear on his visage and Naruto dodged again when Mizuki threw another barrage of kunai. It was almost too late before Naruto noticed the activated explosion tags burning on them, and he barely managed to raise his forearms and block the explosion with his barrier. He saw that this time there were three tomoes spinning in a circle in front of him. As if to show that the barrier was working.

Naruto looked down at Mizuki in worry wondering silently what he would do now. His worst fears were confirmed when Mizuki shouted at the fiend "Ignore him! Kill Iruka instead!"

The fiend instantly jumped over Naruto and went after Iruka. Naruto turned around quickly and flew as fast as he could to get to Iruka before the fast fiend could.

Iruka could do nothing as the fiend loomed up before him and stabbed at him with one of its great claws. He let out a small shout of shock while tensing and looking away instinctively. He heard a whoosh and a crash of something heavy against a barrier of some sort. He looked up and saw Naruto in front of him, holding off the great beast with his barrier. Naruto chuckled and said "I told you, I wont let you!" then the fiend started to hit him in a barrage of heavy blows.

Naruto gritted his teeth as the beast struck down at him again and again and again in rapid succession like a battering ram. He felt the impact against his arms each time and he felt himself slowly being pushed back against the rock face. Naruto was very thankful that his barrier held true despite the relentless assault, otherwise he and Iruka would be nothing but a red pulpy smear on the ground. He felt his back slam against the rocky wall and braced himself against it to weather out the attack, he could hear Mizuki laughing crazily, shouting that he has them now and Naruto ground his teeth angrily.

The barrage kept on coming and Naruto continued holding the barrier. But despite the barrier being seemingly invulnerable, he felt his energy slowly slipping away. He continued getting weaker and weaker, and he started getting very worried. Naruto felt tears welling up in him eyes, and blinked them away and cried desperately in his mind '_I can't hold him off forever! Someone help me!"_

Naruto started when something pulsed behind him and the fiend was suddenly flying through the air again. It crashed to the ground a fair ways away after a wave of energy emerged from the rock face behind him and pushed it away, where it landed very nearly on top of Mizuki and Mizuki himself was blown away, temporarily stunned

Naruto just stared at the sight stupefied '_What was that' _he wondered and Kyuubi also stared at what had happened but couldn't help but feel relieved, it was starting to get dangerous back there.

Iruka was also gaping at the unbelievable sight that he had just witnessed but he was also relieved that the fiend was no longer assaulting them. Iruka suddenly saw a greenish light pulse in the corner of his eyes that was coming from the rock face behind Naruto.

Iruka called out "Naruto! Behind you!" while pointing behind him.

Naruto just blinked and murmured "What, Behind me?" It was then that Naruto felt the pulsing behind him, and he swiveled around and gasped.

There were some sort of markings on the rock face, and they were glowing a steady green. He reached out to touch them and at the contact, his heart stopped for a moment and he felt something like an electric shock. Then it started, the markings started to pulse in a regular beat sending wave after wave of energy thumping through his body. In him mind, he felt the echo of a colossal heartbeat matching the rhythm of him racing heart.

Time seemed to slow to a crawl, and he fell into what felt like a trance and a visage of something he couldn't quite discern suddenly appeared before him eyes and bowed before him, crooning in a comforting tone. Naruto suddenly heard a voice in him head.

"_**You have finally come Master"**_ a wise ancient yet child like voice reverberated through his head and Naruto started and shouted out in surprise "Who are you?'

The child like voice replied "_**I am your Child partner Master. I have been waiting for some time to join you Master, I have been watching you, waiting for you, and I was so angry at the villagers and at myself for unable to help you, I was meant to guard you, but it was only because your elements finally awakened that you were guided to me, but if you release me, I can finally protect you like I'm meant to!"**_

Naruto shook his head a little at being called Master by this creature, the voice was filled with longing and eagerness and Naruto felt his heart soften at the anguish and guilt at his treatment, and he felt his heart warm at the beings desire to protect him, and despite himself, he couldn't help but begin smiling. He suddenly realized something and spoke up.

"Wait a minute, my Child partner? And what is your name?" Naruto asked, feeling an unknown anticipation that he couldn't explain.

The being smiled (at least he thought it was a smile) and said "_**My name is Kagutsuchi"**_ and Naruto felt his soul flare in response and he felt it reverberate deeply within his psyche. He knew somehow that he would never forget that name no matter what and he replied "and the bit about you being my Child?"

Kagutsuchi nodded solemnly and said seriously "_**That birth mark you possess, the red comet like one on you chest" **_and Naruto placed a hand over said birth mark_** "That sigil proclaims you to be a HiME wielder, and every HiME has a chosen guardian called a Child who is bound to them along with their element. I am your Child chosen to fight for you and protect you. The Inferno Spirals which you possess are your elements**_"

Naruto just nodded but paused feeling that something was being left out and said "There's more to this, isn't there."

Kagutsuchi rumbled in agreement "_**If you choose to fight alongside with me you have to be prepared to put that which is most precious to you on the line. Meaning that if I die, that which is most precious to you will disappear along with me, never to return**_"

Naruto narrowed him eyes, him most precious possession? He was about to ask another question when him senses started screaming danger and he whirled around and saw a roaring fiend running at him, bloodlust and ki froze him body and he let out a startled shout.

* * *

As Mizuki rose back into consciousness he stifled a groan of pain as he grabbed his head at the onset of a blazing headache, then as he remembered what happened, a rush of anger flooded through him, dispelling any fear he may have had.

"That bastard will pay!!!" Mizuki roared and as soon as the fiend got up he shouted "KILL THEM NOW, NO MATER WHAT IT TAKES, KILL THEM!!!" anger and hate twisted his voice so much it sounded like he was a demon, and the malicious feelings from Mizuki only goaded the fiend on and it became even more blood thirsty than before

* * *

Naruto watched in ki induced fear as the fiend raced to kill him when he heard Kagutsuchi's cry "_**Master! Release me and I can help you!"**_

Naruto snapped out of his terrified stupor and reacting on instinct bent over backwards dodging the fiends blow causing it to over shoot him and loosing balance trying to twist around to kill him and Naruto capitalized by flying down and slashing the ham string muscle of the beast causing it to fall down.

Kagutsuchi cried "_**Grab the sword"**_

Naruto flew over to the sword, and settled above it and grabbed it, the sword started glowing and fire spurted out from the base.

The Fiend got up, Mizuki screaming to kill the demonl.

"_**Pull it out and cry out…"**_

The Fiend turned to him.

Naruto started pulling and the sword glowed even brighter, and it came free in a rush of flames.

The fiend started charging again.

Naruto roared to the heavens "KAGUTSUCHI!!!!" and flew off as the sword fell to the ground and stabbed the earth and began glowing even brighter.

A red pulse of power from the earth welled up. And another and another. Suddenly, with a great roar, fire burst forth from the ground, surrounding Naruto in a raging inferno but he did not burn.

The fiend was forced back by the sudden wall of fire that had emerged when Naruto pulled out the sword and shouted out the name.

Mizuki looked on in horror and terror at the sea of fire that had emerged from the ground, first it was those rings and now the brat was summoning a creature from hell!

Iruka looked on in consternation, awe and just a little bit of apprehension. He had been worried that they would not survive this night, but this moment might just be the turn of the tide. He had faith in that Naruto knew what he was doing, he made a promise to trust him, and so he would. But a sea of fire emerging from the ground? One couldn't help but be slightly cynical.

Naruto looked on as the fires continued to burn fiercely, he was wondering what his Child would look like, he had seen many different fiends in the stable, many of them fearsome looking and some that were beautiful, some that were down right ugly, but he instinctively knew that Kagutsuchi would be something unique.

The fires slowly shrunk down but still continued to burn fiercely when suddenly Naruto saw something and gasped as a great white Majestic dragon emerged from the flames. Its head had a sword of some sort stuck in its great jaws, it had six eyes green, with red cat like pupils, three on each side of its head just above the lips, It had four projections on the sides of its head two on top and two below its jaw and they each a green jewel set in them. Then it had another projection on its fore head again with a green jewel inset.

It had a long neck flexible neck with two rows of spines on either side of its backbone going down its length and more went along its back and long tail all the way to the tip. On the underside of its neck it had a mane of hair and it had thin black tattoos along the sides.

Its torso was bio-mechanical looking with red armor like shoulders and then yellow jewels further down on the front. Two great mechanical vents where in the middle and then at the base of the tail there were two spinning devices, which Naruto later found were energy generators.

Then Naruto's eyes beheld the great wings of fire on its back. They were attached to the shoulders and Naruto saw that when spread they would be almost fifty meters wide, there were also two long strands on the bottom of the wings which he could only liken to kite tail, they could be deadly for an enemy on the ground. Then finally two great big muscled arms protruded from under the wings so as to not be in the way. There were also two great hands adored with some mean looking claws.

He then saw that all up he was about 70 meters long from head to the tip of his tail and ten meters wide not including the wings

All in all, Kagutsuchi was one deadly looking creature, highly intimidating to its enemies, Majestic and courage inspiring to its allies. It also exerted one hell of a presence.

Kyuubi looked at the creature in awe, although it looked bio-mechanical she knew what the creature resembled quite closely, she never thought to see one, as they were legends even to the Biju, Kyuubi uttered a name in astonished awe which Naruto heard and nodded in agreement. A Phoenix Dragon. An appropriate name.

Kagutsuchi suddenly moved his head to look at Naruto and moved towards him. Naruto couldn't help moving away a bit in momentary fear, then Kagutsuchi crooned in reassuring tones towards him and Naruto felt himself calming down and a warm feeling crept through his heart.

"Kagutsuchi" he uttered fondly, moving and petting him on the snout and Kagutsuchi gently nuzzled him, making him chuckled, he knew then that he would not regret Kagutsuchi's presence in his life and a feeling emerged that he had only ever felt in Kyuubi's presence in his mind, peace, contentment and security. It actually felt quite nice to be the one who was being protected instead of the other way round.

Naruto's danger senses suddenly blared and he turned around to see the fiend jumping through the air and he barely had enough time to raise him barrier and due to the fiends weight, Naruto was driven into the ground. The pressure was enormous and he felt something in his chest break and he suddenly coughed up some blood, he grimaced at the familiar taste, he had tasted it many times. He continued to keep the barrier up but was about to loose it when suddenly he heard an angered draconic roar and he watched as Kagutsuchi swiveled around with a speed that belied his size and whipped out with his tail to batter the fiend away. Naruto dazedly noticed that Kagutsuchi didn't have any rear legs instead preferring to just float in the air while moving or curling up on the ground like a snake.

'_I wonder if he can grow some?'_ Naruto mentally slapped himself for such a random thought in the middle of battle, though he did make a note of it before turning his attention back outside.

Kagutsuchi gave one flap of his fiery wings and rose up into the air and gave a defiant roar. Naruto rose into a crouch favoring his right side while clutching his left rib cage, probably two broken ribs, they'll healed overnight but they still hurt terribly. He limped over to Iruka to make sure he was protected.

Kagutsuchi opened his jaws to reveal some pretty impressive teeth and great gouts of steam. All of a sudden Kagutsuchi started sucking various bits of debris with some sort of device, Naruto could only assume that he was preparing for some sort big attack. Kagutsuchi continued gathering material when suddenly his chest expanded and a red light could be seen going along his neck to his mouth.

Mizuki was watching in terror as Kagutsuchi charged up his attack. He knew deep down, that he has lost, as his fiend was out for the count, and Naruto along with the beast was too powerful for him to overcome.

Naruto watched as the red light approached Kagutsuchi's mouth and felt a sudden foreboding. Kagutsuchi reared back his head and then when the light reached his mouth he thrust it forward and breathed out, and the biggest and most darn powerful fireball Naruto and Iruka had ever seen launched out of his mouth and screamed at great velocity at the downed fiend and by proxy, Mizuki.

Naruto screamed "Get down!" and rose a barrier to protect himself and Iruka.

Mizuki didn't have time to scream when the fire ball hit the fiend, as both were instantly vaporized and then fire ball exploded.

Naruto watched in growing horror as the wall of destruction approached him and Iruka and instinctively closed his eyes. He was about to scream when he felt a great presence above him and he felt himself and Iruka being scooped up. Naruto slowly opened his eyes and saw that they were being carried but Kagutsuchi!

Naruto cried out "Thank you Kagutsuchi! You saved us!" and Kagutsuchi looked at him and crooned and clicked softly, projections twitching gently in time and Naruto grinned and then he looked down at the explosion they were circling. He gave a whistle, very impressed with the size of it. He suddenly noticed Iruka coming out of shock beside him and he turned to him.

"Iruka-Nisan, you alright?" he said to Iruka who took a few moments to focus and rubbed a sore spot on his head that made him wince and turned to Naruto with a sheepish expression.

"Yeah somehow, although I wasn't much help back there…" Iruka trailed off as he suddenly noticed that he was currently being carried by the dragon he saw earlier, a dragon that was _flying_ a thousand feet in the air!

Iruka stifled a panicked shout and slowly looked over Kagutsuchi's paw, at the ground below him. He couldn't help giving a low whistle as he looked over at the amazing view below and he heard Naruto casually sidle up beside him and gasp in awe.

Iruka felt sunlight hit his eyelids, and suddenly realized that they had been fighting through out the night. Naruto looked up when he felt the sunlight and gave an amazed gasp as him face broke into a beautiful smile when he saw the most amazing sunrise that he had ever seen and he couldn't help thinking that the sun was welcoming him into the next part of his life, for because of the sudden emergence of his HiME powers, life was looking much brighter for the young hanyou. Iruka looked at the sunrise for a few minutes before looking at Naruto as he sat arms spread wide enjoying the brisk wind blowing through his hair and ruffling his tail.

Iruka suddenly remembered something "Naruto come here for a moment" motioning Naruto over, who looked at him curiously and scooted over to sit in front of him.

Iruka said "Close your eyes" and Naruto looked at him questionably but complied. He felt something wrap around him forehead and get tied at the back and then Iruka said "Okay you can open them now"

Naruto opened him eyes and didn't notice any difference at first then he noticed that Iruka was no longer wearing his headband and him hand flew up were he felt a metal plate with the Konoha symbol on it. He looked at Iruka in astonishment who grinned proudly.

"Congratulations on passing, Naruto-kun" Iruka beamed proudly, only to be bowled over by enthusiastic hanyou.

Inside him Kyuubi smiled gently and murmured softly "**Congratulations Kit, you made it, you really deserve this more than anyone, I am very proud of you**"

* * *

Watching through a crystal ball, the Sandaime Hokage smiled at the happy looking hanyou.

"You definitely deserve it Naruto, I have a feeling that you are going to become the most powerful Shinobi in Konoha History, not to mention most powerful Hokage"

Sarutobi got up and went to tell the jounins that it was alright now and that the search was to be called off, the scroll was safe, Naruto was innocent of any crime, and that the real culprit had been dealt with. It's going to be a good day today!


End file.
