The Awakened Soul (Naruto SI)

[Lillie Jones]

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[Qiun]

MC sounds bit lame.
He should talk to people more

 

[Welydora]

MC sounds bit lame.
He should talk to people more

Click to shrink...

Got it, I'll keep that in mind

 

[Welydora]

Evening. Sarutobi Hiruzen was, as usual, sitting in his office, sifting through papers and smoking his pipe.

Gazing at the report on the general affairs of the "P‑Puzzles" company, he could only sigh and set it aside. After that, he took out a scroll and wrote a decree saying he was no longer to be notified about that particular venture.

Koharu‑chan did a good job, he couldn't help but note.

And indeed, thanks to that woman, his ward had managed to acquire considerable resources without much harm to himself or those around him.

Hiruzen was too modest to admit his own significant role in this: answering Naruto's many questions regarding politics and the country's internal affairs, and helping him put together certain strategies.

The only thing is those "legal methods"... Here, the old man could only shake his head.

As Hokage, he was supposedly in charge of maintaining order in the country… or at least in his own Village. Hiruzen barely managed the second part, and even that was a stretch. How it had come to the point where he was almost abetting Naruto's shady business on the Land of Fire's territory was harder to justify. No—that was a lie. Sarutobi understood perfectly well that he was sometimes too soft. That was why he'd gone along with it. He just couldn't seem to do anything about it.

It had all started with that harmless suggestion that Naruto needed to be more responsible and start getting used to living on his own. It seemed like standard practice for someone his age, something taken for granted. And of course, no one would just dump a kid in an empty house without first teaching him how to do laundry, cook, and clean. But apparently, even if he hadn't shown it, his ward had taken those words way too seriously.

As a result of that seriousness, he went on a proper bender in the capital and rented himself a mansion. Why he'd done the latter was also beyond Sarutobi. By his standards, a house with walls was already good enough. Hiruzen's own parents had lived comfortably in tents. An apartment like Naruto's, he would have happily given to the Daimyo's children—and the Daimyo himself on top of that. Why not? The walls were straight with quality finishing, no pests, the floors didn't creak, there was hot water and gas. Everything was perfectly fine. But because of the view of some damned pipes, Naruto had flat‑out refused to live there…

In any case, it didn't matter anymore. A lot of time had passed since then. And, to the old man's regret, Naruto was the least of his, so to speak, "problems." Alas, Hiruzen was the Hokage, and a lot was happening in the village he ruled.

Shortly after classes started at the Academy, a Mist spy—Kohinata Mukai—was exposed in Konoha. Before that, Hiruzen had considered him a loyal shinobi, even if he was an irresponsible drunk at times. He was also a Hyuga bastard, and a fairly strong and well‑known Konoha ninja, though, again, there were times when he was assigned a mission but couldn't go because he was too drunk to walk.

Danzo uncovered this connection between the Leaf shinobi and the Mist and had him killed by two Uchiha—Itachi and Shisui.

Hiruzen disliked his "rival's" methods. He tried to see the best in people, especially those he had worked with for a long time, and those who had long (if not always) fulfilled their duties and cared about Konoha. And only some nagging feeling on the edge of his mind stopped Sarutobi from expressing this disapproval with more than just words.

After this incident, the ANBU ranks were joined by the youngest member in their history. Uchiha Itachi, it seemed, was not inferior in potential to his relative, Shisui.

What also bothered Hiruzen were Danzo's encroachments on the Uchiha clan, even if they seemed to benefit the village.

The Uchiha had been pushed out to live on the outskirts of the village, suspected of controlling the Nine‑Tails. The bijuu had definitely been controlled by an Uchiha, but whether he was actually loyal to the clan was unknown. Danzo was one of those who advocated openly distrusting the clan. Over time, that turned into worse and worse treatment.

Lamenting his own passivity, Hiruzen could only regret this. Over the years, it had eventually led to the discovery of a brewing Uchiha coup.

Sarutobi tried to resolve the matter peacefully, but with little success.

Danzo had managed to persuade Itachi to spy for them—the elders and the Hokage—on clan affairs. Hiruzen wanted to use this for a smoother resolution of the conflict, but the other elders were not so peace‑loving, while Danzo expressed contempt for his actions, saying that a ruler shouldn't be a doormat who lets everyone do as they please, and that such audacity (a planned coup) had to be answered in kind.

Then a solution, it seemed, presented itself. Not the best one… but a solution nonetheless. Uchiha Shisui revealed to the Hokage and the council that his Mangekyo Sharingan could profoundly alter a person's priorities. He also revealed his plan—with his eyes, it would be possible to rewrite the mind of the Uchiha clan head so that he himself would believe the coup was a bad idea and do everything he could to obstruct it from within the clan.

Hiruzen, as always, disliked this partial, yet still very real, murder of a personality. But that sacrifice was acceptable to save hundreds, perhaps thousands, of lives that could be extinguished if the coup happened.

So Hiruzen agreed to the plan and ordered Shisui to act. This, judging by his reactions, did not please Danzo. It was as if he wanted an escalation of the conflict, one that could deal a monstrous blow to the Leaf.

Just recently, Shisui's body had been found in the river, and Hiruzen couldn't help but feel a surge of dark emotions.

Perhaps—just perhaps, Hiruzen thought—someone had taken too much upon himself. Perhaps he didn't understand that his actions could lead Konoha—thousands of people, and possibly far more—to their deaths. After all, after a revolution, the Village would be weakened, which could lead to another war.

But without hard evidence, he couldn't pass judgment. There was a chance that Shisui had failed in his plan and been killed by his own… but the old man's intuition told him otherwise.

For now, all Sarutobi could do was continue his policy of reconciliation, so things wouldn't come to the worst.

Lost in thought, Hiruzen didn't notice that night had fallen.

"!"

"A‑A‑A‑A‑A‑A‑A‑A!!!!!"

A wave of very powerful, vicious chakra, as sudden as a bout of diarrhea, nearly launched the old man out of his chair. A heart‑rending scream echoed across all of Konoha.

"N‑Naruto?!" Sarutobi couldn't believe his own senses, unerringly recognizing the chakra as he stepped up to the window.

"You old bastard! I'll wrap your guts around a fucking flag until you howl like a jackal, you bitch!" came the voice of Hiruzen's ward from outside the window.

Boom—a muffled explosion sounded, shaking even the Hokage's residence slightly.

"You think your shitty clone is gonna fool me? I'll shove your airheaded ass into a meat grinder and churn you into paste! Then I'll feed you to a pack of mangy dogs just like you!"

"!!"

An even stronger wave of chakra washed over the Village, making the windows of the Hokage's residence tremble.

"I'll find you, you bitch! I'll shove you in a furnace, then flush your ashes down the shitter! You're fucking dead, Koharu‑u!"

Watching the blond figure rapidly disappear into the distance, the Hokage simply closed his eyes.

So that's what she meant back then, when she said she'd take Naruto's training to a new level, Sarutobi thought, nodding to himself as he sat back down in his chair. Well then, old friend. That was your decision, and you can deal with it yourself.

After that, the old man, as if he hadn't seen or heard a thing, simply went back to sorting through the remaining papers.

Interlude. Utatane Koharu. A little earlier

Late evening wrapped Konoha in a soft blanket of silence. In the modest room of a certain "old hag," a single lamp burned. Its uneven light snatched the elder's focused face from the gloom, along with the glint of thin senbon needles she was methodically arranging on a low table.

She inspected each senbon carefully, checking its balance and sharpness, then gently dabbed its tip in a viscous, almost black liquid from a small ceramic vial.

Lately, her thoughts often revolved around a single figure—Uzumaki Naruto.

The boy. A bundle of contradictions. Insolence bordering on outright impudence and a mind as sharp as a kunai's edge. Self‑confidence and an astonishing, almost frightening capacity for learning. Hiruzen, her old friend and eternal opponent in matters of education and policy, saw in him some sort of messianic destiny, a reflection of his parents' Will of Fire. Koharu, however, long used to looking at the world without rose‑colored glasses, saw above all… potential. Vast, unrefined, like a diamond found in the mud. Potential that could become either Konoha's greatest asset or its ruin if not cut and polished correctly. She preferred to think of him as a tool. Perhaps the most perfect tool that had ever fallen into her hands. But a tool needs a master's hand so it serves its purpose instead of maiming everything around it.

That was her goal and her motive. As an elder and someone whom Tobirama‑sensei himself had entrusted with protecting Konoha, she couldn't ignore Hiruzen's offer to become the jinchuriki's mentor. That would have been irresponsible, weak, and dangerous for the Leaf's future. If she hadn't agreed, Uzumaki could have ended up in other, possibly much worse, hands.

His recent escapade with the puzzles had stirred a complex mix of emotions in Koharu. On one hand, the blatant disregard for the rules, the use of proxies, the manipulations—all of that couldn't help but earn her disapproval as an elder and guardian of order. On the other… she couldn't help but appreciate the brilliant application of the very principles she had taught him. Market analysis, identifying needs (even artificially created ones), exploiting weaknesses (greed, gambling), scaling up with shadow clones, calculated risk and a timely exit with maximum profit. It was an almost perfect sabotage operation, just transplanted into the peacetime economy. The brat had not only absorbed her lessons on tactics and strategy—he'd creatively reworked them and applied them in a completely unexpected field. That spoke of a flexible mind, of an ability to think outside the box. Qualities invaluable for a shinobi of her profile. Hiruzen, of course, lamented the "questionable methods," but Koharu saw in it further proof that her lessons hadn't gone to waste.

However, success in intellectual games and even in controlled spars didn't guarantee survival in the real world. In a world where the enemy wouldn't follow rules, where an attack could come from any direction, at any moment. Naruto was physically strong, his chakra control was growing at an astonishing rate, his mind was sharp. But he lacked… animal instinct. Instincts honed to a shine, reflexes that outpaced thought. He knew what analysis and calculation were. But sometimes there's simply no time for that.

Hiruzen worried about his "soul," his "humanity." Koharu understood that concern. She herself wouldn't have wanted to see a soulless killing machine at her side, no matter what other shinobi thought of her preferences. But she also knew that excessive softness, indecisiveness, the inability to act hard and fast in a critical situation—that was a straight road to the shinobi cemetery. Survival first, philosophy later. That was her principle.

That was precisely why she had decided on this… lesson. Senbon coated in a specially prepared compound. Not lethal, no. Koharu wasn't reckless. But it would cause enough pain to knock all the fake calm out of the boy, all his confidence in controlling the situation. Pain is an excellent teacher—the fastest and the most straightforward. It would force his body to remember that danger can come from where you least expect it. That you can't relax for a single second. That the world is not a safe training ground.

Koharu imagined his reaction. Rage, of course. Possibly a stream of prime curses, which he was famous for in moments of irritation. An attempt to catch up, to take revenge. All of that was predictable. And even useful. Rage could be channeled, turned into fuel for growth. The important thing was not to let it drown him, but to teach him to control that fire.

Koharu's clone was ready. The escape route was planned. There was, of course, a risk. Hiruzen could find out and be extremely displeased. But in such serious matters, Utatane was used to acting out of necessity, not out of fear of someone else's opinion, even if that opinion was the Hokage's. She bore the responsibility for making sure this "tool" was not only powerful, but also reliable. And if, for that, she had to use slightly… unorthodox methods, she was ready.

Tomorrow, Uzumaki Naruto would receive a very important lesson. One that might, one day, save his life. And if he broke from such a "trifle"… well, then Hiruzen had been wrong about his potential. Better to find that out now.

Koharu finished with the last senbon. There was no malice in her eyes, no sadism. Only cold calculation and firm conviction in the rightness of her actions. She didn't enjoy other people's pain.

She was just doing her job.

Sharpening her tool.


Stalking from a great distance, Koharu's Shadow Clone pursued its target. Uzumaki had a monstrous sensory ability at close range and an extremely good one at medium range, but that didn't mean he was omniscient. Far from it; everyone has weaknesses, there's always a way in.

Sitting on one of the high‑rises, Koharu finally waited for Naruto to stop moving. He'd gone into some hole‑in‑the‑wall place with tables under an awning. Only the lower half of his body was visible.

Good enough view.

She took out a senbon, then began to form Wind Release chakra around it.

A fleeting moment of concentration—and the projectile shot forward at immense speed, burying itself halfway into his right buttock.

"!"

"A‑A‑A‑A‑A‑A‑A‑A!!!!!"

The mission was almost complete. Now all that was left was to wait for a good moment to disperse, after which the original, currently outside Konoha, would send a letter to the Hokage saying that Utatane was going to visit a certain secret place (without, of course, specifying where in the letter), so she would be absent from the Village of the Leaf for about a week.

For now, she could direct Uzumaki's anger where it needed to go—that is, at Koharu. And maybe, just a tiny bit, mess with him: tell him exactly what kind of poison it was and lecture him that he needed to be more careful.

Uzumaki Naruto's POV

Ugh… fuck, that bony bitch… I was mentally cursing Koharu, limping in the direction of my house while at the same time trying, with a hand on my ass and the help of chakra, to draw out the poison. Feels like Amaterasu, that local goddess from the fairy tales, spat right on my ass…

Thanks to the adrenaline dump, I'd stopped feeling the pain almost as soon as it hit, and right after her words about the pain‑inducing poison, I lunged at Koharu. Real shame it was just a clone, which popped the moment my fist was supposed to knock that cold snake's head off.

Alas, even after that—after I swept the whole damn village with my sensory perception—I still couldn't find her chakra. The Leaf was too crowded to pick out her signature at long range, so I spent about five minutes darting around the Village until the pain reminded me it was still there.

The old hag had apparently accounted for everything and, after altering her signature, was hiding somewhere, so I wouldn't be able to find her even if I really tried.

But whatever. The world's round and Konoha's not that big. If not today, we'll bump into each other in a month…

During my search for the granny, chunin and jonin kept rolling up on me, asking if everything was okay. I barely remember how I, probably not very politely, told them yeah, I couldn't be better, and asked them not to get in the way of me looking for one very bad person.

Right now, using my top‑tier chakra shape‑manipulation skills and, on sheer willpower, forcing a freshly invented medical ninjutsu technique through my whole body, I was making a second technique pull the poison—which had already spread through my bloodstream—back to the entry point, while the first finally extracted it from my body.

Should've learned Suiton… I whined inwardly, not very familiar with Water Release jutsu—same as, honestly, with other elemental jutsu. With Water, it would've been easier to flush this crap out of my system.

With similar thoughts, after walking another two hundred meters, I finally managed to completely get rid of the poison. After that, I headed home normally, along the rooftops.

So what was I thinking about back at that cafe? About the Uchiha. They were on everyone's lips right now because of the death of their genius.

Shisui had seemed like such a good guy, even if he was an asshole sometimes. Shame about him.

This whole mess that the average villager doesn't even see—but it's there. The coup. In theory, I could stick my nose into it, change something.

A bit late for that now, of course. It would've been better to interfere while Shisui was still alive. There would've been more options.

The question was: did I even need this?

I turned over the dubious "pros" in my head—like, say, strengthening Konoha in the long run thanks to a clan with strong genes; maybe, though that was doubtful, the Uchiha's loyalty; and, most importantly, a sane Sasuke, who might grow into a seriously powerful shinobi and help me in a clash with the Otsutsuki… Did I mention these prospects were dubious? Every single bullet point on that list was.

The downsides that would follow me helping resolve the coup were… putting myself on the map and making an enemy out of Danzo—if I remembered right, he was the one who really wanted to shorten all the Uchiha by a head. And then it got even worse: putting myself on the radar of Obito, that masked bastard who fought the old man who used to own this body, killed my mother, a bunch of other people, and almost me along with them. And the old man, by the way, had been far from the weakest Kage. On top of that, there was Black Zetsu lurking somewhere out there, that black goo from hentai cartoons that was supposedly crazy smart and a crazy good manipulator. With all that, getting involved in this coup business looked like a perverted way of committing suicide.

About "putting myself on the map." By that I meant showing that I could be a threat. My chakra flares around the village and my jumps across the rooftops didn't really show much of that threat. Having a shit‑ton of chakra doesn't mean I can actually use it. Shunshin doesn't prove much either. And I hadn't thrown around any techniques even of B‑rank, so there probably wasn't much to worry about yet.

Back to the Uchiha. Even if I completely turned my brain off and decided to barge into this mess, how was I supposed to resolve the coup so that the Uchiha stayed alive—and everyone else in the Village too?

I could try to find irrefutable proof that the Uchiha were being manipulated by a third party (Obito), and that this manipulator was behind the Nine‑Tails' attack and all the tension. Assuming that kind of proof even existed. That'd require insane espionage skills, serious analytical chops, and probably help from people I trusted completely—like ANBU personally loyal to me (which, conveniently, I did not have). I'd need to find Obito's tracks, his motives, his connection to past events…

Maybe some people in Konoha thought I was too full of myself. I didn't see it that way. Sure, I was hot shit, but in an operation like that there was, what, a ninety‑nine percent chance I'd screw up somewhere and get myself killed. And even if everything somehow worked out, Obito would most likely find out about my little investigation and try to take me out. Meanwhile, the evidence itself might be considered unconvincing. Meaning I'd just be putting myself under very serious risk without getting anything good out of it.

Another option—though not exactly less insane than the previous one—was to reveal my whole "transmigrator" deal to the Uchiha head. Genjutsu isn't just about illusions. It's also about suggestion, hypnosis, forcing someone to spill what they subjectively think is the truth. So I could stroll up to Fugaku and ask him to use his Sharingan to make me tell him everything I knew about Obito. Then hand that information over to Konoha's leadership under a Yamanaka technique (or the other way around, the order didn't matter much).

That could shift the focus of anger and distrust from the Uchiha to a common enemy. But again, it was all iffy. Starting with the fact that I considered the Uchiha not quite right in the head, and if I came at them with a request like that, they'd either kill me or pack me up and send me off to a psych ward. An Uzumaki jinchuriki is a rarity these days, after all, and just being a weirdo isn't reason enough to kill one.

I could also be some kind of middleman between the Uchiha and the Village's interests, to drag them both to some compromise. Say, more rights for the Uchiha, more respect, lifting of suspicion; for the Village—guarantees of loyalty, a promise to drop the coup idea. Speaking very roughly. But for that I'd need a reputation, power, and some insane diplomatic skills. And the Hokage was probably already doing that, or would start once he learned about the coup; given his character, he almost definitely would. And if even the old man couldn't pull it off, what business did I have sticking my nose in?

The last option was also as dubious as it sounded: kill Danzo and Fugaku, as the main escalators of the conflict, and scatter evidence pointing to some third, unknown party. And then, whatever happens, happens. That might kill the conflict and unite both sides to take on this mysterious threat—or, on the contrary, speed the coup up. And that was without even getting into how to kill two strong, high‑ranking shinobi in the Village at once. Honestly, that part wasn't even the biggest problem. The real problem was doing it in a way that neither side would suspect the other—and that no suspicion would fall on me either. That was the part that was a real pain.

Summing it all up, it was better for me not to climb into this coup shit at all. Sure, I felt bad for the people—but I felt worse for myself.

By the time I reached my little mansion, I'd finally decided the Uchiha's fate.

As for Sasuke… if I ever actually needed him, I'd grit my teeth and pay for a psychiatrist. Luckily, I had a contact.

For now, again, it was time to focus on my own business. Fuinjutsu, medical ninjutsu, brush up on some elemental jutsu. And I still needed to set up a Terrible Vengeance for Koharu.

So I dove into my own stuff.

And so the days started rolling by again.

The old hag only came back a week later. But when I mirrored her and stuck a senbon with a custom poison of my own into her, she just said it was unoriginal and that I could do better, then dispersed. Clone, obviously.

After that, every few days she'd show up again—only to get ambushed by me. Koharu had been right, I could do better, and I really had to come up with more and more twisted tactics. Shame that every time she sent a clone, while she herself seemed to have moved out of Konoha altogether. Worse yet, those same clones started coming after me on their own, each time with a different poison, making me go through the same very painful sensations several more times.

For a week I couldn't sleep. Even moving my bedroom into a windowless corridor didn't stop her. She'd sneak into my house—since she couldn't hit me from long range—and still manage to stick those damn needles into my poor, sleeping body.

Only after a month did I fully adapt. My soul‑sphere vision helped a lot with that, or so I thought. It felt like my brain was now using it—along with my other senses, to a lesser degree—to monitor danger around me even better, around the clock. By the end of that period, after I'd noticed those abilities in myself, I even risked sleeping next to the windows again. And you can imagine my surprise when I managed—on the second try, but still—to catch Koharu's senbon in my hand, and only then wake up.

After that incident, the elder's attacks started to taper off. They'd just lost their point, since every attempt ended with yet another dispersed clone.

Over time, I even developed a sort of grudging gratitude toward the old woman for hammering those very useful reflexes into me.

Then, another month later, when I was no longer half‑dead and pissed off all the time, she came to make peace. For her, constantly sending out clones just to have me pop them was a hassle. And on top of that, she was an elder—she had duties in the village and all that. Back then, Koharu also explained her motive: that I needed to develop proper shinobi reflexes, for my own safety for the rest of my life.

I agreed not to hunt her anymore, and she, judging by her behavior, only fully believed it another couple of months later.

Our delightful relationship—where we tried to stick the nastiest possible poison into each other—continued in our spars. In off‑hours, though, it stayed one‑sided: only from me, to really lock those reflexes in.

Time started flying by again, business as usual.

Koharu, as I figured, was starting to let her guard down…

And that was exactly what I'd been waiting for…

Revenge is a dish best served cold.

In ten months, she'd regret ever being born…

---

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[Lillie Jones]

impressive
Thanks for the chapter
Continue on
Cheers!

 

[Welydora]

About a year—that's how long the preparations for Revenge took overall. I didn't feel like going the crude route: grab Koharu with overwhelming force, drag her down into my basement, pump her full of a poison like the one they used on me, and enjoy her suffering. That would've been boring. And it's not like we were enemies in the full sense. We weren't actually trying to kill each other or torment one another just out of spite. It was just a game… but that didn't mean you shouldn't take it seriously. So… my actual plan was similar to the one I described above, but the nuances were very different.

Most likely, she expected me to hurt her physically. She carefully checked everywhere she stayed or moved through for any trace of poison and was ready for ambushes. How do I know? I'll get to that later. As for her motives, they definitely weren't baseless—after all, I'd tried to set up ambushes for her clones more than once before I finally calmed down and started thinking about a slightly different way to get to her.

Elder Koharu has a certain reputation, and a big part of it rests on her stealth and how she uses it. It's not just Root that does espionage; some of the Hokage's ANBU do it too, plus a kind of personal—but not entirely—ANBU under Utatane's direct command. You could say Konoha has at least three spy services, which isn't that surprising for what is literally a village of spies. Okay, "service" is a bit loud, considering each one probably doesn't have that many people in it. A few squads here, a few more there—that's what I figure from the patterns and facts I've picked up in this world, and that's most likely how it is.

Destroying that reputation would hurt. A lot. On the scale of the whole village, it could lead to major, irreversible consequences. So I wasn't planning to go big. But on a smaller, more personal scale? Oh, absolutely.

Wanting to ruin the old hag on her own turf, I methodically and carefully sent shadow clones to shadow Koharu. Their chakra signatures were altered and muted, and they were filthy—smeared in a special clay with minerals mixed in so that even a Hyūga wouldn't be able to recognize them if it came to that. For months, from as far away as possible, they learned the routes of Koharu, her subordinates, and her subordinates' subordinates. They used the skills she herself had taught me, plus everything I knew about that old mare—her habits, what she paid the most attention to—and also tried out some new tricks to reduce the chance of detection even further. The shadow clones were as careful as possible; there was no point in rushing. So only after several months of prep did the spying start to bear its first fruit.

That's why I knew exactly what Koharu was expecting from me and what she was up to.

I used a lot of fuin. A lot. Placed in key spots, they picked up sound vibrations and recorded, for later analysis, Koharu's orders to her subordinates and the orders given by the top people among those subordinates. Without using chakra—so as not to trip any sensors—tunnels were dug under the meeting and rest areas of shinobi under Utatane's command, as well as under the elder's own house and workplaces.

A few more months gave me even more. On top of the fact the clones kept finding more and more ways to get intel, they documented everything about Koharu's own plans, secret ANBU operations, every mission they managed to learn about, and weaknesses in various security systems—things she was supposed to keep under wraps or keep under control. Over the months, all of that was compiled into several scrolls, which I then memorized and kept only in my head—to minimize the risk of anything leaking and to avoid putting Konoha in danger.

When day X finally came, I created a clone with more than half my chakra and handed it a copy of the encrypted scroll of kompromat, sealed in one of my special bracers with a storage seal that could be triggered to self-destruct its contents.

I myself headed toward the Hokage Residence. I needed to hang around there, as a safe spot, and keep my main clone under control so it wouldn't dispel because of some unforeseen crap. Or, on the contrary, so it would dispel—but only after making damn sure it destroyed whatever was in that storage bracer.

That same shadow clone's POV

The streets of Konoha were warm, but not too hot. A pleasant breeze brushed against my skin, and the birdsong seemed especially nice today.

Practically dancing along to the little tune that had started playing in my head, I walked toward Koharu's workplace.

Entering the strictly furnished building, I moonwalked straight up to the door the elder was behind.

Sliding the door open without a sound, I immediately met Koharu's narrow eyes, absolutely overflowing with suspicion.

Her subordinates had definitely reported my arrival, and of course they hadn't forgotten to mention what mood I was in.

Besides her, there was an ANBU on duty in the corner, and a few more outside the room.

When I came in and sat at the small table across from the old hag, she asked in a "friendly" tone:

"What the hell are you doing here, you insolent brat?"

"You know, today is just one hell of a good day."

Judging by how her face wrinkled up even more, she disagreed.

"Ahem," I coughed, then lazily waved a hand to tell the ANBU on duty to leave. "Don't bother us."

He only listened when the old woman repeated the gesture.

Koharu's face got even darker, with a layer of seriousness on top.

"Don't waste my time. I have a ton of work to do, unlike some people," she said, starting to lose her temper.

In response to her attempt to rush me, I just burst out laughing, loud and long, which pissed her off even more.

Right when it looked like she was about to blow and probably chuck something heavy at me, I stopped dead.

My hand went to the bracer. A pulse of chakra, and a thick book appeared, landing on the table with a loud thump at my gesture.

For a moment, the old hag glanced at the new object, then shifted her gaze to my face, which had gone dark and serious under the shadow that had fallen over it.

"The hour of reckoning has struck. Read."

Dialing the tension down a notch, Koharu reached for the book, opened it, and started checking the sections.

Her eyes immediately landed on a list of codenamed missions she herself was in charge of, sorted by date.

"This…" She stared at me in shock. "You were never supposed to have this information."

Without saying anything else, her gaze jumped to the section listing eleven weaknesses found in the ANBU structure: how information is passed inside the organization and her personal screwups in organizing all the mission processes.

"I'm not in a hurry. Take your time," I said as the elder raised her head, and she immediately dove back into reading.

Over the next ten minutes, her expression cycled from stunned, to frowning, to upset, and finally to pure despair.

"Maybe this isn't all your classified info. Some of your safety measures, I admit, are very good," I began. "Even after a long time, I couldn't get around some of them. And there's probably stuff I couldn't even find a trace of, right?"

The old woman tore her eyes away from the book and stared at me, her lips pressed into a line.

"But even what is here? It's not 'a little'. No. It's a fuckton."

"What do you want?" Koharu asked dryly, and immediately clarified, "For this information to stay right here."

Yeah, of course she figured out I wanted to leak this data. Most likely, only to trusted people—some important jōnin, the other elder, Mitokado Homura, and a hundred percent the Hokage. That would be a brutal blow to her reputation. All those weaknesses in her structure—she was the one who should've foreseen them, prevented them. She's the expert in this field, after all.

Maybe they'd strip her of her authority. Maybe not. Either way, Koharu wouldn't be able to look the people she'd worked with for decades in the eye. Her whole path as a shinobi would be disgraced.

Honestly, it still wasn't the absolute worst. Bad, sure. But Koharu is sharp and pretty inventive. She'd probably already imagined an even worse outcome for herself than anything I could've come up with.

"I'll warn you right away: I'm a shadow clone. The original has all this information stored in his head," I said first, cutting off any bright ideas she might have. Like grabbing me to try and convince me this stuff should only go to her and never, ever be told to anyone else. In response, I just heard a snort.

"And he's most likely hanging around the Hokage Residence," Koharu said, keeping a surprisingly straight face. "So that, if anything happens, he can hand me over immediately and without any trouble."

My smug grin only confirmed her guess.

"And I also know you took every precaution to make sure this"—she lifted the book—"doesn't end up where it shouldn't. We've studied each other well, Uzumaki."

"Exactly. But you know, I'm not without a sense of gratitude. Love for my fellow man. Understanding. We've been through a lot together," I finally started getting to the point. "So I'm offering you two options. First: I tell all this to the Hokage, and only him. You lose all authority only in his eyes…"

"…in the eyes of a man I'll be forced to see very often," Koharu noted reasonably.

"Yeeah…" I drawled, even more pleased.

If the info stayed between just the three of us, things would play out exactly the way she'd just said. Hiruzen would be very unlikely to fire her. She did her job, if not perfectly, then well enough. But for her it'd still turn into an eternal, almost daily shame.

"Second option." From my second bracer I unsealed an hourglass and a syringe filled with dark liquid. Koharu's eyes flashed in recognition. A shadow fell over my face again, making my grin look even nastier. "One thousand five hundred and eleven seconds. I counted every single goddamn second of agony in that month. You're going to inject this yourself and endure it, fully conscious, until the sand runs out. Otherwise, we'll stretch this out into as many sessions as it takes."

I unloaded the items onto the table.

Koharu hesitated, but still reached for the poison.

"Hear that sound, Uzumaki? That's the First Hokage rolling in his grave over all your 'love' and 'understanding'," she said, then, in one sharp motion, drove the needle into herself.

Immediately, clenching her jaw, Koharu toppled back and curled up on the floor. Veins bulged across her forehead from the pain.

Slowly flipping the hourglass, I settled in comfortably to wait.

Soon the old hag's mouth opened and she started breathing hard—ragged, but deep.

It wasn't exactly a pleasant sight. But it did bring a solid dose of satisfaction.

And so, to the sound of Koharu's harsh breathing, her allotted seconds dragged by.

She'd positioned herself so she could see the hourglass. And when the last grains of sand fell, she simply blacked out.

"Hm. Respectable," I admitted, standing up. "Let's see what we've got here…"

I bent over her body to check her condition.

Alive. Teeth cracked to hell from the strain. I couldn't see it myself, but I knew for a fact her central nervous system was fucking… shocked by that kind of stress and only held the body conscious thanks to sheer iron will.

Forming a few hand seals, I started spewing a stream of water from my mouth. The liquid didn't fall—it gathered into an amorphous mass in my hands.

Over the past year, I'd managed to pick up Wind and Water Release—not at a very high level, especially if you compared me to Hiruzen, but still.

"This won't hurt either…" From my leg, a web of fuin started spreading out around Koharu, helping me treat her.

Once I'd built up enough water, I wrapped Koharu's whole body in it. The water seeped into her and began drawing the poison out.

A few minutes later, the same old hag was still lying there soaked, and in my left hand was a ball of water with all the poison inside.

Walking over to the side of the room, I dug out the only bit of luxury in this otherwise ascetic place—a small teapot and a few cups. I poured the poisoned water into the teapot.

"A souvenir," I said, setting the teapot on the table, then left the room.

I had other things to do. I always do.

On that note, Revenge could be considered complete.

I took the book. I'll hand it back when she wakes up. And after something like this, Koharu won't be waking up for a couple of days.

For now, I'll go tell the ANBU to haul her off to the hospital.

Some time later. Utatane Koharu

The Konoha elder came to on a hospital bed in her home village. She recognized the white room right away.

Her whole body ached with that nasty, all-over pain. Recent memories slammed into her skull along with the headache.

"The pain will pass soon… My reputation, though, would've been lost forever," Utatane reminded herself, justifying her decision.

For a few minutes, her face twisted as she remembered a certain blond-haired boy. The "old woman" felt real irritation and humiliation at having been "taught a lesson" like that by a literal child.

"Well… that was seriously done," she couldn't help but admit. The feelings were quickly smothered by pragmatism.

Now the image of the infuriating, way-too-brazen-for-his-size brat—whom Koharu had already respected a little for his effort in realizing his potential and his quick grasp of her teachings—jumped up a solid few points.

"And I suppose I won't be planning any revenge of my own…" Utatane decided sensibly. She understood she wasn't getting any younger, while the sometimes-to-the-point-of-pain irritating Uzumaki, on the contrary, was getting stronger every year. She wasn't afraid, but she understood perfectly well that that was it. She wouldn't keep up. This… insubordinate youth had surpassed her. At least in most professional aspects.

Koharu also wasn't worried he'd pull something as stupid as leaving that book lying on her desk for some subordinate to read. If he had made such a dumb mistake, she would've pulled together every scrap of power she had, found him, and with a whole crowd taught him a lesson even harsher than anything she'd done before. As it was, Utatane knew Uzumaki would keep his word.

When the woman was discharged, she would, of course, get that little book. Then, with all the diligence she had, she'd go over everything: ANBU, her subordinates, the whole organization. She'd do everything she could to close all the weaknesses Uzumaki had found, and she'd try to find new ones. All that would happen a bit later, after her "suddenly initiated inspections." She'd shut down the most critical gaps immediately, but the little stuff could wait.

No need to rush that part. The vulnerabilities Uzumaki had been able to identify were due to a number of solid reasons. They didn't mean that if enemy spies came here, they'd just as easily find everything he did. Her student, first of all, had skills that very, very few spies possess; second, he knew Konoha's shinobi and her personally very well; third, he had huge freedom of movement through the village and, accordingly, better conditions for deeper reconnaissance; and fourth, he had even more options thanks to his unique abilities—like a ridiculous amount of chakra and those shadow clones of his, which, in such large numbers and on a constant basis, probably only the blond could make.

Koharu's workload had definitely gone up, and her problems hadn't shrunk. The Uchiha… a headache. But you could live with that too.

Uzumaki Naruto's POV

When the old hag recovered, I handed her the honestly earned little book, got a thank-you for the tea, and went back to my usual rhythm of life.

Hiruzen grumbled something along the lines of why, after I get involved, an elder had to be dragged to the hospital with nervous shock. I blamed it on our personal relationship and asked him not to interfere and let me sort it out myself. Later, when Koharu had fully recovered, she asked Hiruzen to do exactly what I'd asked for too. The old man respected our personal boundaries and didn't bring it up again.

Koharu, by the way, seemed to really appreciate how carefully I'd looked after her little book. After that, she started treating me with a lot more respect.

Still, in the grand scheme of things, not that much changed.

Training went on.

Life flowed along at its own pace. Month after month.

Just like in the story I knew, the Uchiha massacre happened. It didn't stir much in me. I was focused on my own stuff, especially medicine.

Only occasionally, to blow off some steam and change the scenery, I'd drop by the Academy.

On one of those "visits," I got the chance to show off my basic grasp of psychology.

---

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[Lillie Jones]

impressive
Thanks for the chapter
Continue on
Cheers!

 

[Princekor]

I fuck with the story and deep dives in si-narus thoughts. Reminds of the old fanfics. Despite understanding why he didn't get involved with the uchia massacre. It's feels less pragmatic and more like callous fear. Keep up the great work.

 

[Welydora]

On a typical day, I was sitting through yet another lesson at the Academy. Gendai, in his usual, measured manner, was lecturing us on chakra theory—very superficially and in broad strokes, so the kids could get it. The actual lesson wasn't much use to me.

More than a year had passed since I'd enrolled in the Ninja Academy. I was almost eight, and it was early October.

Not much had happened at the Academy during that time, though the personalities of certain characters had definitely revealed themselves.

In the back of the classroom, at the last desks, sat two girls, one with pink hair and the other blonde. Sakura and Ino, obviously.

Exchanging looks that could practically throw off lightning, they kept shooting what they considered loving gazes at the black‑haired kid sitting in front of them—Sasuke.

At the very beginning of our studies, Sakura had been very modest, followed etiquette, and hid her emotions. Ino, on the other hand, was pretty loud‑mouthed, bold, and sometimes a bit too expressive with her feelings. Somehow these two opposites attracted and became friends.

I found out from Hinata that, sometime when I wasn't around, a bunch of little shits, copying each other, started teasing the pink‑haired girl. The blonde stood up for her, and that's what they bonded over. Ino even gave Sakura a red ribbon, which she now ties into a bow on her head. It turned into a very cute little story of friendship and Sakura slowly growing more confident.

That lasted until the recent incident with the Uchiha clan. After the failed coup and the wiping out of almost all the red‑eyes, it just so happened that both girls, as they saw it, fell in love with Sasuke. Now they were rivals and, of course, Great Enemies.

The black‑haired kid himself didn't return their feelings and persevered in his indifference. It wasn't just those two clinging to him, either—almost every girl in the class did. But the Uchiha, again, held the line, doing his best to pretend he saw nothing, that their little fits of passion didn't annoy him or stir anything else up, and kept a stone‑cold face. With very mixed success, but it was enough for my female classmates to buy it… and get even more fired up.

Besides pretending to be a chunk of rock, Sasuke was also killing it in class and was the top student. I don't know how that's supposed to help him get revenge on his big bro, the one who butchered their whole family. But I guess he's got some kind of plan and he's sticking to it.

Another one of my classmates was a kid with a permanently bored expression—Shikamaru. It seemed to me he'd already figured life out. How else do you explain why, instead of listening to hour‑long lectures that you could understand in ten minutes of reading, if not less, he just slept through class? And he went further: outside of class time he also didn't bother loading his limitless brain with useless knowledge, so he couldn't answer the questions Gendai sometimes threw at him. Because of that, despite being from the Nara clan—supposedly tacticians and big‑time brainiacs—Shikamaru trailed somewhere near the bottom of the class rankings.

The next student whose character showed itself pretty clearly was Choji. You know, the one with underwear on his head—though he calls it a headband. A kind‑looking, friendly boy; we'd talked about good food a few times. He's friends with Shikamaru. There was this one incident, though, when some not‑very‑tactful kid called Choji a fatass. I was already in the classroom then and was about to say something. But there was no point. The young Akimichi, like he'd just stuffed himself full of berserker pills, immediately lunged at the offender, yelling that he wasn't fat, just big‑boned.

Kids usually don't really get morality or the consequences of their actions. Choji didn't hold back at all—he flattened the kid like a torpedo and started choking him. I had to break them up, since the teacher was off screwing around somewhere.

The next pair was a little duo made up of Kiba Inuzuka and Shino Aburame. Two opposites again. The first is pretty hot‑headed and doesn't watch his mouth. He doesn't drag his dog around with him yet, unlike in the story I know. Guess Akamaru hasn't been born yet. The second is quiet and almost never talks. His clan techniques are based on interacting with insects that the Aburame carry inside their bodies. The kid seems to enjoy watching them at break, when the little critters amusingly crawl out of the holes in his skin and skitter across his desk. Oh, and yeah, those two aren't friends at all; they more like low‑key dislike each other. But Shino argues with Kiba more than with anyone else and, accordingly, talks to him the most. So there's some kind of connection between them.

Hinata, for her part, showed her shy nature pretty clearly when we met. We kind of talked, but not much. And that was over the whole time I'd been at the Academy. Though, based on my memories, this girl wasn't supposed to be able to string even a few words into a sentence. Turned out that wasn't quite true—her shyness wasn't that all‑consuming. Around me, that trait dulls a bit more. When we sit together, she actually seems more comfortable. And that's… pretty cute and at the same time kind of sad. I get these half‑paternal, half‑big‑brother feelings toward this girl.

I tried a few times to pull her into conversations with our other classmates, to help her build connections and develop some social skills. It only sort of worked with Ino. But Ino's a chatterbox anyway, so I doubted that was mostly my achievement.

There were other kids in the class, but I interacted with them even less than with the ones mentioned above. Unlike the clan kids, those ones tried to keep their distance from me. To be fair, you could see some caution toward me even in people like Ino or Kiba, just to a lesser degree. Choji and Shikamaru, though, didn't give a shit about the general mood. And neither did Hinata.

Anyway, back to the clanless kids. There was another thing about them—a revolving door. They changed pretty often. After a year, half of them had either transferred to another class for whatever reason or dropped out entirely. And, as I found out, this would repeat every year. That's the usual trend at the Academy: there's a core of clan kids who stick it out till the end of the course, while the rest get tossed around.

For different reasons—lots of them get expelled for failing grades. The Academy, if you don't judge it by my standards, is actually pretty prestigious and keeps the bar high, especially compared to some random school. In my opinion it's not on some other level, they don't teach anything particularly hard here, but yeah, the standard's decent. So if you don't keep up and don't have relatives who can slip some cash to cover for their dumbass kid, you can definitely get kicked out.

Another reason for dropping out, usually voluntary, is the high tuition and a lack of talent. With enough effort, you can get a solid education here. But some parents, when they see their kid isn't a genius—in fact, more like the opposite—sensibly decide to send their offspring to some other place where they'll pick up practical skills in a different, more realistic field. Training as a ninja eats a pretty hefty sum of money and a ton of time. If you're not an orphan, the Village isn't going to fund you.

There are other ways to get expelled, but talking about them is boring. And besides those, there are probably a few I don't even know about.

Back to why the clanless kids kept their distance from me. From what I overheard a couple of times, their parents told them to. A couple of times they even said it right in front of me, so, not missing the chance, I'd point at those parents, then spin that same finger at my temple, clearly showing what I thought of them.

Though, to be fair, thanks to the way I introduced myself on the first day, a lot of kids already had plenty of reasons of their own to avoid me. I mean, I'm obviously a psycho. Who else would show up like that? And for some reason my note from the psychiatrist didn't convince them otherwise.

The lesson was drawing to a close, and I shifted my attention to our homeroom teacher. He taught us most of our subjects.

Gendai was a calm and slightly slow guy. Only our first meeting didn't go well—he'd been nervous about something back then. But over time he calmed down.

Our relationship was basically at the level of him thinking, "Ah, fuck it, whatever," about me, and me thinking, "No, dude, you're gonna take my bribe and pass me for the year," about him. Because of my schedule—and the simple fact that, for the most part, the Academy wasn't really necessary for me—I skipped a lot. At first that pissed Gendai off. Some students, like Kiba, Choji, and Shikamaru, even started taking cues from me and skipping classes too, which pissed sensei off even more. But while he could do something about those three, with me—he couldn't.

He tried to find me outside of class, but it didn't work out very often. They wouldn't let him into the hospital's research labs, telling him he was screwing around with bullshit and should stop distracting the esteemed Uzumaki‑san from his important work. They really didn't let him onto the training grounds either, where I did my sparring. Once he managed to corner me when I was with Koharu, but he got chewed out by the elder, who told him that if he kept distracting me from important work, he'd get a stick across the spine. The man decided not to test how sturdy his back was and didn't go near the elder again.

There were also times when Gendai caught me at home or somewhere else when I was alone. That's when he'd start digging into why I was apparently pissing on attendance and all that. In response he got an honest answer: I didn't need the Academy because I already knew a lot. So the teacher ran a little test with questions from the last year's curriculum, which, to his surprise, my humble self answered. But he didn't calm down and started asking questions that weren't from the Academy's program, and got the answer that those weren't in the syllabus. That answer just blew his mind, because apparently not all the teachers even know the curriculum, and here a student does.

Next he decided to check my combat ability, so we went to a training ground. A shinobi's supposed to know how to fight, after all. But it was over in less than a second. One "Sha‑a‑a‑a!" from me, and Gendai was down. That ended our conversation for the day, and the man left me alone for a while.

But soon he started showing up again and pestering me about attendance. This time he remembered my obligations as a student, that I really was required to attend classes. I had nothing to say to that, since my guardian must've signed a contract with clauses like that for me. From that moment I started actively offering Gendai a bribe so that he would:

a) finally leave me the hell alone, because he was distracting,

b) pass me for the year with good grades, since I like pretty numbers, even if not that much,

c) just pass me for the year in general, because I needed it for my further education.

But this "Bear"—going by the meaning of his name—dug his heels in like a rhinoceros. He didn't want to take my money. Normally I deal with bears quickly and harshly, but with this particular specimen I couldn't do that—it doesn't really fit the village philosophy. Anyway, Gendai resisted and resisted, but by the end of the year, and after a whole lot of persuading on my part—he took it. He got in trouble for it later and said he would definitely never take a bribe again. But that was a problem for future me.

In class, the guy doesn't bother me. Every time he asked me a question, I'd start to drone on, answering for several minutes when a ten‑second answer would have been enough. And he knew that I knew the material, so there was no real point in asking.

Aside from that first day at the Academy, I didn't really put on shows, which suited Gendai just fine.

Lost in thought, I didn't notice how the lesson ended. Finishing his lecture, Kumao habitually bolted from the classroom.

The break was short, so some people didn't even get up from their seats, just started chatting.

Most of the girls, of course, immediately swarmed Sasuke, while he, naturally, pretended to be a rock.

I almost felt bad for him. They've been like that pretty much nonstop for over two months now.

At that moment, at the desk next to me and Hinata, Shikamaru woke up and, stretching happily, noticed the crowd.

"No, I still don't get it. Why are they all over him like that?" he asked the air.

"That's a philosophical question," I replied casually. "But psychology can explain it too. I know my way around that field. I showed you my certificate, right?"

"Yeah. I think you were bragging about it in front of everyone," Choji, sitting next to Shikamaru and already rustling open a bag of chips, replied neutrally.

"Well then, I'm glad you asked." I turned to Sasuke. "Sasuke, you mind if I make a few assumptions about you?"

In response, the Uchiha just shot me a cold look.

"I'll take that as a yes. Ladies…?"

Sounds of girls hitting on "Sasuke‑kun"

"They don't give a damn," Shikamaru noted.

"Apparently… Hinata, wanna move closer? If you wanna listen to my brilliant thoughts too, I mean."

We moved over to Choji and Shika's desk.

"So," I began my long speech, "I have conducted a study. You do know that people who've got a paper from a psychiatrist are almost as professional as psychiatrists themselves, right?" A snort came from Shikamaru.

"And, to get closer to the point: Sasuke's popularity is built on a whole range of reasons. For better understanding, I'll be comparing him with another individual. Undoubtedly important, respected, and probably the best person in this world."

"You?" Choji asked calmly. After a bit of time talking to me, he'd started to get how my brain works.

"Exactly." I put on a serious face. "My research has identified four main pillars that hold up, so to speak, our classmate's attractiveness. First and most important: the effect of mystery and emotional tension. Our Sasuke creates, in those around him—especially the girls—what's called affective uncertainty. Simply put, you can't figure him the hell out. He's silent, stares into nowhere, zero emotion. And that, weirdly enough, creates cognitive tension. The brain tries to 'solve' him like a hard puzzle, and for every such effort it gets a microdose of dopamine—the pleasure hormone. Get it? It's like gambling: the less clear the outcome, the more you want to keep playing. Unpredictability is a drug for the brain."

I glanced over my audience. Hinata was paying attention, Choji kept a neutral look, focused on his food, and Shikamaru decided my words would go down better while lying on the desk with his eyes closed.

"My humble self, on the other hand, is understandable and accessible. I don't mind talking to anyone and saying what I think. My behavior is predictable. With me, there's no titillating tension, which means no dopamine roller coaster. That causes way less of that dopaminergic buzz. Especially in young people, who naturally go looking for sharper sensations."

"Your predictability is debatable," Choji remarked.

"Yeah, fair. But if you look at my overall behavior, you get roughly that picture."

"Hmph," Shikamaru grunted, unclear whether in agreement or not. He wasn't asleep yet.

"Second point." I tapped two fingers on the desk. "Might sound like the same thing, but not quite. A deficit of attention. Pure economics. What's scarce is expensive. Sasuke almost never hands out his attention. It's a rare resource. Every crumb of it is valued like a gold bar. My nature tends more toward openness. My attention isn't in short supply, so its value trends toward zero."

"That's not true… Naruto‑kun," Hinata objected quietly. "I value your attention."

"And I value that you value it," I said, smiling at her. She immediately turned away, blushing. "But I'm talking in general terms here. For each individual it applies to a different degree."

I paused for a bit and, making sure no one had any questions, continued:

"Point three: narrative drama. Sasuke has a story. Tragedy, revenge, a dark fate, a lost clan. It's a ready‑made plot for an illustrated scroll. The teenage psyche, which is already full of inner conflict, loves stories like that. It's easy to empathize with a suffering hero, to project your own crap onto him. I, in my current version, am stable and straightforward. I don't have that gripping drama going on. I'm not as interesting to 'dive into' emotionally. Technically speaking, that's narrative transportation—the more tragic the story, the easier it hooks you. And finally, the fourth and last point: gender archetypes. Sasuke fits the 'suffering antihero' archetype perfectly. Strong, silent, broken on the inside. Classic template for romantic fantasies—the kind you want to 'save' and 'warm up.' I, on the other hand, even if I were the most successful in the class, fall into the 'reliable friend' archetype. I can be respected, you can laugh with me, cry into my shoulder, but that rarely sparks romantic passion."

Finishing, I once again looked over my listeners. Hinata was just quietly glancing my way, Choji was staring at an empty bag of chips, deep in thought, and from Shikamaru's direction I could already hear soft snoring.

…

At some point Nara told me that my words sometimes make him sleepier than Gendai's lectures. He also guessed it was because my thoughts are complicated and I throw around too many "fancy" terms. I took that as a compliment. Though yeah, it's a reminder I should probably drone on less.

"Ahem. Put more simply, and outside of the 'research,' there are more reasons. Sasuke's just plain rich, from an ancient clan—that alone adds a bunch of points. I've got a good bloodline too, and probably even more money, but no one believes the second part. And he's also pretty good‑looking."

At that last word, not only Hinata and Choji gave me weird looks, but a few girls behind us as well, who, it turned out, had been half‑listening. And also… out of the corner of my eye I saw the Uchiha's eyes widen a little, and he edged his chair back, a bit farther away from me.

"What? No!" I bellowed immediately. "Looks are an objective metric! Nothing personal."

I whipped around sharply.

"You," I said, pointing at a girl who'd started throwing quick glances between me and Sasuke. "Forget whatever you just came up with. If I see yaoi of me and him anywhere"—I jabbed a thumb at the Uchiha—"you'll be so fucking sick of running around courts your head'll spin. Am I being clear?"

She nodded carefully.

"Excellent," I said—right as the bell rang.

That was the end of my little crash course in psychology for their still‑soft brains. Nodding to Choji and getting a nod in return, Hinata and I headed back to our usual seats.

---

If you enjoyed my work, feel free to check out my Patreon. There you can read up to 20 chapters ahead and get early access to any new stuff that I publish

 

[Lillie Jones]

thanks for the chapter
Continue on
Cheers!

 

[Finnish_man]

There will 100% be some bl of sasuke a naruto among the girls of the class now naruto has done a big oopsie

 

[Welydora]

"You're gonna take the bribe," I told Gendai, dead certain, sitting across from him at a table, just the two of us in a classroom.

"Nope," he said.

It wasn't a regular classroom. More like the kind of office where adults settled "little problems."

"You're taking the bribe."

End of the school year. I needed my attendance record fixed if I wanted to move up a grade.

"Nope."

"You're taking it."

"Nope."

"Hmph." I crossed my arms and leaned back. "So money's a no-go?"

"Correct," he finally varied his answer. "And I'm not taking anything else either. You're working off those absences on Academy grounds, student-san. Only then do I close the book. We've got twenty trees that need transplanting. Then transplanting back."

...

Silence hung between us.

"Right. See you on the next report card."

I stood up and left.

Poor Gendai had no idea who he was dealing with. The guy genuinely didn't know I was usually pretty good at picking locks—even the human kind.

A few days of tailing him and I had everything I needed. Sensei's weak spot.

A little more time to hire the right people.

Soon enough the make‑up period for academic delinquents rolled around.

"You'd be better off taking cash," I told him again, same seat as before.

"No. I'm not taking anything."

"Sure?"

"Positive."

"M'kay." I nodded, stood, and walked to the door under his puzzled stare. "You're closing my year right now, or everyone finds out."

I slid the door open. Two mature, gorgeous women in kimono stepped into view, slits in the fabric showing off some very serious cleavage.

"Time to face your vices, MILF‑lover."

The women walked in. I walked out.

"What the hell is this?!" came the panicked yelp behind me as Gendai shot up from his chair, face turning nuclear red.

One of the ladies slid the door shut, and I didn't see anything else. I quickly left the Academy.

I still had plenty of things to do. I was finally making some progress in medical ninjutsu, I was getting pretty good at fuinjutsu, and on top of Water and Wind I'd started grinding Fire release.

In the end they passed me, and nobody made me transplant a single damn tree. That was my Plan "W"—for "whore." My clones had found out Kumao was crazy about older women. And that day he just couldn't hold himself back. Or didn't find the strength to resist. Unnecessary details. The only thing that mattered was that, not through any fault of mine, people found out about his little "incident."

Hiruzen summoned me and spent ten full minutes chewing me out, going on about how bringing fallen women into the Academy, the alma mater of shinobi, was very uncultured. When he realized I wasn't feeling particularly repentant, he just asked me nicely not to do it again, and I agreed.

Gendai got fired. Rumor said he tried to pin it all on me. Too bad the one caught in that kind of indecent state on school property was him, not me. So the once‑respected sensei turned into just some pervert chunin nobody really liked.

Next year they brought in fresh meat… or rather, a guy named Umino Iruka.

Some grandpa, basically the senior teacher and sort of vice principal, stood in front of my group introducing an eighteen‑year‑old. Iruka had black hair tied back in a ponytail like Shikamaru's, and a horizontal scar running across the bridge of his nose.

"In connection with… unforeseen circumstances," the old man told us, "Gendai‑sensei will no longer be able to teach your class. However, the Academy administration has promptly found him a worthy replacement. Allow me to introduce your new homeroom teacher—Umino Iruka. Iruka‑sensei is a graduate of our Academy, a chunin of Konoha and, despite his youth, a very responsible and dedicated shinobi. He will help you master all the knowledge and skills you need to become the pride of our village. Please treat him kindly. Iruka‑sensei, the floor is yours."

Iruka then repeated pretty much the same spiel about himself. That he'd take our training seriously and all that.

Funny thing about Gendai. In the anime, Iruka was Naruto's teacher. Somehow, with my own actions, I'd fixed that bit of canon.

I figured canon as a whole would still go straight to hell sooner or later. Probably from the moment when, instead of just focusing on myself, it became more profitable for me to start meddling in big outside affairs. But that was future business.

Classes with him started. Iruka was energetic, often soft, but also often… hm, strict—if yelling his head off at kids skipping class counts as "strict." Except he never yelled at me and didn't even pay attention to my truancy. Though he did throw me questions in class from time to time. Apparently the Academy higher‑ups had changed their policy regarding me and whispered something about me to the new sensei. And when the year came to an end, that's exactly how it turned out. When I came to close the year, Iruka said everything was fine on my end and told me to head home and stop giving the entire Academy a headache.

Time flew: slow because of all the gradual progress in my own research, but fast if you measured it by Academy years.

I still talked to my peers in moderation. The girls started clinging to Sasuke less, so he could finally breathe a little easier.

Sometimes, besides the guys, I started exchanging words with Ino again, and sometimes with Sakura. Ino liked talking about plants, while Sakura liked talking about studying. Over time, taking her friend's example and seeing I wasn't some psycho, Sakura stopped avoiding me, which is why we started talking at all.

When Hinata and I were both already past nine (she's a couple of months younger than me), something really nasty happened to her—some bastard from the Land of Lightning tried to kidnap her.

Peace between the Hidden Leaf and Lightning had only just been established. A delegation from Cloud came to visit us—shinobi from the village in the Land of Lightning. And one of those, no doubt, assholes, decided to snatch the Hyuga heiress at night. Unfortunately for the visitor, Hinata's father quickly caught up to him and killed him on the spot.

For such audacity as killing their subordinate, that brazen mug A—the Raikage, the boss of Cloud—demanded they hand over Hinata's dad, or they'd just keep the war with Konoha going.

Unfortunately for the Hyuga clan, Hiruzen backed down and ordered the white‑eyed bunch to hand over their clan head.

As far as I know, they fudged things so it looked like it wasn't the clan head, but his twin brother, who'd killed A's subordinate, so they handed the brother over instead. Cloud swallowed that and left.

This world might look kinder than my previous one, but there's still nasty shit in it. Hiashi's brother was waiting for death in the Land of Lightning.

It hurt to look at Hinata after that incident. It hit her hard.

For a little over a week I started going to the Academy more often than usual, just to drag her out of that state. We'd also sometimes walk after classes, talking. In the end it gave Hinata strength, and she even got a little more combative, more confident, more energetic.

Interlude. Hyuga Hinata

The clan head's eldest daughter was soft, pensive and vulnerable. She'd inherited her gentle temperament from her mother.

Overall, the girl liked those traits, and she liked being so much like her mother. But her father—strict, firm and, it seemed, unshakable—saw only weakness in them.

Expectations for Hinata within the clan were sky‑high. Her father's training sessions were very harsh, and she almost never got praised for them. No wonder the girl grew up unsure of herself. No matter how hard she tried, no matter how she tore her muscles apart, it was always "not enough."

Over time Hinata only became more convinced of her own helplessness and kept losing heart. Even her cousin Neji didn't see her kindness as a good quality and almost despised her for her weakness.

She couldn't really blame her cousin. His life, like hers, was very hard. He was subjected to even harsher training, and the punishments for failure were many times more brutal.

The Caged Bird Seal. It's put on all members of the branch family to protect the eyes and to make sure the main family doesn't lose its power. All for "stability," according to ancient tradition.

Almost every time Neji did something wrong in training, or flat‑out refused to obey, punishment followed. Hinata's father, who often trained them together, would mercilessly activate the seal and look on without regret as his nephew writhed in pain.

Hinata hardly understood how cruel that was. She was still too young to really get it. But she pitied her cousin, tried to show him care—care he harshly rejected. Her father scared her. Maybe that fear was also part of what pushed Hinata away from developing strength in herself, whether strength of character or strength as a shinobi. But at the same time she admired her father. She wanted to become as strong and unshakable as he was… she just couldn't.

A very important, maybe even turning, day for Hinata was the day she entered the Academy. The appearance of that blond boy, Naruto‑kun, completely stunned her. Spitting on all the rules the clan had hammered into her, the girl couldn't shake one thought: "Wait, you're allowed to just do that?!" and only her upbringing kept her from standing there with her mouth hanging open at the sight.

That day, still under a huge impression, she was quietly walking home. Until three boys blocked her path, latched onto her and started calling her names. And then that same strange boy from the Academy showed up again. To Hinata's surprise, he stood up for her, fearlessly stepping up against three at once. And his move… that "Sh‑a‑a‑a!"… was weird, but the girl listened to his instructions with all the attention she had.

The way he used something so simple but so effective filled Hinata with admiration. And his belief that she'd held herself well—it… warmed her?

And then his words: "Your opinion matters too," hit like a kick in the gut from her cousin. Her opinion? For the first time the girl opened her eyes to the fact that in the clan they only told her what they wanted from her, but never asked what she wanted. Only her mother seemed interested in her and her interests. But the clan was always in first place, and she had to match its standards.

When Naruto‑kun offered to walk her home, she, surprisingly easily, managed to show some initiative. And even… oh, the embarrassment! Take the boy's hand!

The fact she didn't faint on the spot was the greatest act of willpower in her life!

The next day Naruto‑kun sat beside her. He was… rather—no, by her standards he was very energetic. So warm, so caring… A sun that broke through her sometimes cold and cruel world to flood it with warming light.

She wanted to reach for him, to hug him to warm herself… to give him some of her own warmth… But Hinata would probably never allow herself something like that. And he was also like a new reference point, a standard she finally liked. Pushing her forward. So alien, yet strangely fitting her world, she wanted to become like him. Just as strong, so that her father would stop looking at her so coldly.

Naruto‑kun showed her that you could be different. Confident, even cheeky. Say what you think. You could hit back. His world was completely different, and without even knowing it, he cracked open a door into that world for her.

Then came that horrible evening. Fear, the kidnapper's cold hands, despair… and rescue by her father. But after that the world only became colder. Neji pulled away completely; his silence hurt louder than any accusation. He clearly blamed her… the entire main family for what had happened to his father. The looks from the elders she had to see almost every day became heavy. The girl fell back into her quiet gray shell, feeling even weaker and more helpless.

And Naruto‑kun appeared again. He started coming to the Academy more often. He sat next to her, not asking for anything, but his presence was as tangible as the warmth of a campfire on a cold night. Her sun… He dragged her out on walks after class, talked about some strange and not always understandable things—about psychology, about tactics, about flowers, the only topic from all that where the girl really knew her stuff. He didn't try to pity her. He was just there, chasing away her fears with his confidence and strange sense of humor.

His care was nothing like the strict oversight of the clan. It was… warm. Alive. Sincere. And that warmth lit something new inside her. A spark. The desire to become stronger. Not just for the clan or for her father, but for herself. So she wouldn't be that weak girl who needed protecting anymore. So that one day she could stand beside… Naruto‑kun, instead of hiding behind his back.

The girl started training harder, remembering his words and that weird but effective determination of his. Every practiced strike, every drop of sweat was a step away from the old, frightened Hinata. The spirit inside her that had smoldered for so long began, little by little, to flare up.

She was still quiet, still shy. But now, deep in her Byakugan, there was a new light that had never been there before. A light which had been lit, with its rays, by Uzumaki Naruto.

Uzumaki Naruto's POV

Hinata's newfound fire… I'll be remembering that story of hers with pride for a long time.

Something really entertaining happened about a week after the incident with the Hyuga clan.

Apparently, as Hinata later told me, when we were out walking, one of the Hyuga elders noticed us. He shot our little duo a seriously nasty glare, then disappeared.

Could've been nothing. For all I knew the guy had just suddenly popped a hemorrhoid. But the story had a short sequel.

When Hinata got back, that same elder came up to her and pretty much demanded she stop talking to me.

He didn't even try to explain himself properly, and Hinata didn't listen anyway. Because she was suddenly overtaken by a kind of anger she'd never felt before. And then, channeling chakra into her body as much as she could out of sheer rage, she reproduced my "Sh‑a‑a‑a!" The elder didn't have time to react, and after that they even had to call a medical‑nin for him.

Whether the medic‑nin managed to put everything back together, history is silent. Hinata, worried, came to ask me if she'd gone too far or been too cruel. I assured her she'd done everything perfectly. We weren't strangers anymore, and if someone tried to forbid me from talking to her, I'd be really pissed too. I told her she'd definitely done great. And I gave her some advice to keep training, so that if someone came at her again with the same demands, she could hit even harder.

Hinata took my words to heart and probably even wrote them down somewhere.

I also later asked her what her father thought of me. She answered that he never mentioned me at all. She did mention that she talked with me, but Hiashi didn't care. Or he pretended not to care.

That was the end of the elder story. Life moved on at its usual pace.

At the Academy, some new fun got added: classes where kids beat each other's faces in, plus physical training.

In the first kind of class, obviously, I was holding back. A lot. Those were more like warm‑up lessons, just to get the muscles going before heading to the real training hall. I wasn't trying especially hard not to stand out, but I did give my peers a chance to show themselves.

To my surprise, Hinata didn't refuse to fight even against me. She was pretty stiff at first, but that went away over time.

What really shook my group was the "fall of the titan." Sasuke was a pretty talented kid. From old rumors I'd heard, he'd managed to learn a C‑rank jutsu—Great Fireball—in just a week, back when his clan was still alive. Impressive, sure, but compared to me that achievement was tiny. So in our spar, after I'd let him show off enough in my opinion, I stopped dragging the fight out, stopped holding back, and with one precise punch to the jaw sent him flying out of the ring. That's how Uchiha lost to me.

The kid just stared up at the sky for a full minute, not even trying to get up. I guess losing to me was too unexpected for him. I don't know what he thought of me before, but judging from my truancy and so‑so grades, his perception had to be telling him I was anything but a difficult opponent. And after that, massive dissonance kicked in.

What happened to Sasuke's fan club… that was something to see. First they froze, then they were running around Sasuke like a flock of hens with just one egg.

Again to my surprise, the fan club didn't try to mob me. But they did start feeling something weird when they saw me, especially when actually talking to me. It showed most in how Ino and Sakura pulled away from me for a while.

Anyway, those were details. The second class was physical training. That one was taught by a Mizuki. And to be fair, he taught it pretty well. As I later found out, he was also Iruka's childhood friend. At first, and for a while, they honestly stayed friends at the Academy, went places together or whatever—they didn't tell me the details.

But that sincerity didn't last very long.

As promised, Iruka took the job of teaching seriously and handled it great. In our group, as well as in other groups where Umino was teaching but not the main homeroom teacher, the average grades went up. The higher‑ups noticed, started giving Iruka bonuses, and in just a year of work he became Teacher of the Year.

That popularity of Iruka's became the apple of discord in his relationship with Mizuki—or at least, that's how it looked from my pretty sharp observations. Mizuki, on the contrary, started sticking to Umino even more, I figure to grab at least a piece of his glory that way.

My meta‑knowledge from another universe was still with me, and I remembered that Mizuki was something like the first cardboard villain. This is the real world. A real person like this, of course, has his own backstory. It got me interested in digging into that story a bit—and in preemptively removing a dangerous element.

Using my spy skills and clones again, I started watching him. And within the first few days, results started coming in…

---

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[Finnish_man]

Thank you for the chapter fun chap

 

[Lillie Jones]

Thanks for the chapter

 

[Welydora]

According to the intel from my clones, Mizuki came home one day, started writing reports, and then secretly slipped out past Konoha's perimeter through a little‑known hole in the barrier to bury that very report.

Of course, once Mizuki took off, the clone, not one to be lazy, dug it up and went through the academy teacher's writings.

Turned out he was updating some kind of dossier on talented students and leaking that info up the chain.

After reburying the report, the clone waited for the next person in the chain who was supposed to pick it up. Tracking him, the clone stumbled onto a small informant cell. Digging through their documents, he figured out they were Orochimaru's spies. Orochimaru had several informants inside the village at different trust levels, and Mizuki was the best of them. Not in strength, but in access: to info that really interested Orochimaru—kids who might be excellent talent for recruitment, or not‑so‑important but easy‑to‑snatch talent. Or, another option, someone with a genome worth studying.

As for this cell's level… well, from a shinobi's point of view, it was low. Judging by the movements of both the small‑fry couriers and the local handler, on average they were, at best, on the level of a non‑combat genin. The handler himself was about a combat‑capable genin, and a middling one at that. As for Mizuki, he was roughly on the same level as his handler, even if he wore a chunin vest.

Still, even that level was enough—the cell had been operating for over a year.

Watching all this, I smirked to myself, thinking that this whole "organization" would've been a nice first enemy for me if I'd slacked off on my development and, for some reason, kept growing at the same pace as my classmates in the Academy. But now… it was just laughable.

The clone dug deep into the cell's archives and uncovered the top layer of Mizuki's motivation—why he'd even gotten involved. It all turned out to be painfully mundane: the Great Orochimaru‑sama had promised him power and the glory that came with it. Another spy from the academy—a lower‑tier one who worked as a janitor—had been sniffing around for a long time, looking for an academy teacher he could recruit. This spy was observant and sharp, which is why, after Iruka's rise and Mizuki's reaction to it, he pretty accurately pegged Mizuki as good clay to mold into a future rogue. After that, the cell's handler did his part and successfully recruited the guy, spinning him all kinds of bullshit about how omnipotent Orochimaru was and how he handed out power to everyone.

The clone got all this from the handler's diary/report for Orochimaru, minus some emotional details I had to fill in later.

That left me with the question of how to act next. On one hand, I could practice capturing a weak shinobi—Mizuki—and interrogating him. On the other hand, if I started dealing with all this on my own, Hiruzen would smack me down for it.

Although, honestly, I was going to get smacked anyway. At the very least for sticking my nose into this whole mess. Even if I'd stayed an unknown factor and hadn't put myself or anyone else at risk. And over time, Hiruzen had been getting more tolerant of my antics. Since he still wasn't giving me missions above C‑rank, and for this surveillance‑and‑capture mission—which was moderately tricky but didn't require crazy strength—I'd probably get off lightly, I decided to show some initiative. Experience doesn't just lie around on the street—you have to grind it out. So that's what I started doing.

I rented a little basement out on the edge of Konoha, outside the walls, not far from Mizuki's usual route where he made his drops, and set up a few traps for him there.

I used a simple combo: a short‑acting paralytic fuin and kunai tipped with tranquilizer. The very same setup I'd used in the trap that snared the much more field‑savvy Fumaro.

I could've, no doubt, taken down this next parody of a chunin named Mizuki with brute force. But I just wanted to practice my trap placement against enemies who weren't pro‑level jonin, but this kind of level. I had the theory on how to act, and even some practice with invited, not‑so‑professional chunin. But again, I wanted to test it all in much more real conditions.

The result didn't take long. I had data on how Mizuki moved, his quirks, where he put his limbs, what spots he preferred to land on, all that. So I tweaked the standard trap layout a bit.

The chunin who walked out of Konoha… ran straight into the very first one.

It was evening, and this time I went out on the mission myself. Once I had his unconscious body in my hands, I gave Mizuki an extra dose of tranquilizer so he definitely wouldn't wake up early, and headed to my rented basement. Of course, not before making a clone so he could remove the other twenty‑nine traps and wipe all the traces.


We were in a well‑lit basement. The only things giving away that it was underground were the stone walls and the lack of windows.

"Rise and shine," I said, dumping a bucket of cold water right onto Mizuki's body, his hands tied behind the chair.

"M‑n‑n‑n…" A dull groan of pain escaped him. After spitting out the water, he stared at me with cloudy eyes. "Wh‑what's going on? Who are you?"

"Oh, you don't recognize me? Guess I'm gonna get rich," I said with a smile, then went on. "We know each other, little bird. Think."

He squinted.

"N‑Naruto? What is happening?!" the man blurted.

"An interrogation," I said, my face going serious. "You're sheltering enemies of Konoha. Leaking them information. I know a lot about you guys. But maybe not everything."

He listened to the first half of my words with a blank look. From the second half on, judging by his tiny reactions, he started to get the idea, but kept pretending not to understand.

"What? Why am I shirtless? No, Naruto, this is some kind of nonsense…" Mizuki's face turned friendly, while with my all‑around vision I saw him moving his hands behind his back. "How about you untie me, and we'll just— A‑a‑a‑a‑a!"

He'd tried to form the seals for a Substitution Jutsu, but when he finished, the chakra that moved only caused him pain and leaked out as a faint blue haze.

"The pain didn't tip you off?" I raised an eyebrow. "Y'see, I've got some knowledge of medical ninjutsu, let's say. I damaged the tenketsu in your arms and legs with needles. You won't be able to use ninjutsu for the next few weeks."

In response to my explanation, Mizuki, still wearing that clueless expression, kept up his one‑man show.

"Naruto, this is some misunderstanding. You've definitely mistaken me for someone. Maybe it was a ninja in my guise. Rogues can be very cunning…"

Smack.

I stood up, walked over, and slapped him across the cheek, shutting off the flow of lies.

"Cut the crap, little bird. Not that I expected to crack you right away." Walking behind my chair, I rolled out a small table with some kind of device on it, knobs, and two battery clips.

"You know why I call you 'little bird'?" I asked Mizuki as I rolled the table up to him and fear started to show on his face. "The sound when electricity runs through something—say, a person—sounds like birds singing. You, little bird, are going to sing one way or another. Got it?"

For a couple seconds, his gaze snapped back and forth between me and the device.

"Uzumaki! Stop this immediately! You'll be expelled from the Academy if you don't release me right now!"

"Hah, expelled. That's funny," I nodded. "Dude, even if I straight up killed you right in the Academy, it wouldn't cause any irreversible consequences for me."

"What the hell are you talking about?! Let me go, now!"

"You're a good actor," I admitted. "But the little details give you away. So does your chakra… I've got really good sensitivity. And I was trained to spot lies. Even though you're trying to hide it in your chakra signature, that's not enough against me."

Since he kept playing the innocent teacher, I stopped listening to his babbling.

"All right, you're already wet," I said, poking the still‑babbling man with a clip. "How did it go again… red one on the left nipple, black one on the right? Something like that. The human body's got such convenient little things. It's like it was made for this."

Walking up to the table, I looked over the device, then turned back to Mizuki.

"You don't happen to know how to turn this on?"

"Go to hell! This is your last warning! If you don't let me go—"

"Then blah‑blah‑blah," I cut him off, mocking him, "oh, it'll be so bad for me. Seriously, man, you're so persistent, and you've even got a bit of talent. Plus, your face is pretty decent. You should've gone into acting, you'd be shoveling in cash instead of… all this."

"You…" Mizuki was so pissed the capillaries in his eyes burst. After that he said a lot more, but I focused on what looked like a battery charger in front of me.

Fiddling with the various knobs and flipping switches, I couldn't get the damn contraption to turn on for about a minute. When I finally managed…

"A‑a‑a‑a‑a‑a‑a!!!" Mizuki started screaming as the smell of burning flesh instantly filled the air.

"What a stench…" I started toward the basement door to open it, then went back, changing my mind. If I opened it, I'd break the barrier and the sound would leak outside. "Executioners have it rough."

I shook my head.

"They have to smell all sorts of crap, and on top of that the screaming just blasts their ears."

Meanwhile, Mizuki kept screaming, his whole body jerking.

"But on the other hand, we've got the Yamanaka. Maybe their working conditions are nice. They can read memories straight from your head, after all," I nodded to myself.

"By the way, little bird, looks like I messed something up. There's no birdsong, just humming," I noted, listening to the sound.

"Okay, that's enough," I decided after about a minute had passed. Then I spent another half of that trying to shut this fucking charger off. "There, got it."

I looked at the now‑silent Mizuki.

Judging by how his face was twisted up and he was trying to catch his breath, it had hurt like hell.

"So, what do you have to tell me now?" I asked after settling comfortably back into my chair.

"You're a demon… The Hokage forbade us to talk about it… Said you were the gate that protects us from a terrible beast," Mizuki rasped, sometimes pausing to suck in air. "The Nine‑Tails destroyed the village nine years ago. Because of it… many died. The parents of your classmates… Iruka's parents… There was a rumor in the village that you're not the cage. No, you're the demon's reincarnation. And now I see clearly that it's true! It's true! You're the reincarnation of the Nine‑Tailed Demon Fox!!! Ha‑ha‑ha‑ha! You've seen how many of the kids avoid you! That's because they can feel it! Everyone feels it! You killed their parents. Hundreds of people died because of you! Hundreds of shinobi! It's all your fault! Ha‑ha‑ha‑ha‑ha!.."

"Interesting theory," I noted with a stone‑cold face, then got up and went back to the table. "Let's continue."

Mizuki's hysterical laughter cut off, replaced again by screams of agony.

After one more session of pain, Mizuki cracked.

Watching my methodical detachment, I could feel the tension in him keep building.

Over and over he tried to pressure me, to convince me he was innocent, to slip out of this clean. But every attempt just ran into my brick wall.

He tried, and tried, and tried again. But he couldn't get anywhere.

With every failure, I could feel his confidence getting kicked out from under him.

With my actions, I planted a seed of fear in him, and over time it sprouted into the constricting roots of terror.

No wonder Mizuki broke.

Soon he told me everything. Who else worked for Orochimaru—which turned up a couple more people that weren't mentioned anywhere in the documents. Who, in his opinion, might be working for Orochimaru or just doing criminal shit against Konoha. What pushed him into his current philosophy. Who he was connected to among the non‑spies.

I even played therapist for fun (yeah, without a license), so this little chunin whined to me about how bad his childhood had been. Basically, he got bullied, which made him grow up insecure, which turned into envy and a wish to become the best of the best. So, nothing out of the ordinary.

After writing all that up into a report, I put Mizuki to sleep again, left him there, and sent a clone to the Hokage's residence.

My message made Hiruzen react like he'd just gotten stung in the ass by a hornet. Right away—while telling my clone I'd acted prematurely and recklessly—he quickly organized an ANBU escort. They grabbed Mizuki from the basement, together with me, the original.

After that came cleanup ops—the whole lot of them were captured and interrogated.

What happened to the guilty ones after that, I don't know. What I do know is that Hiruzen chewed me out again over my carelessness. My argument that, during that mission with the bear a few years back, I'd had to be even more careful, was accepted—but grudgingly. He also said I'd done very well, first, by not killing Mizuki, whether by accident or on purpose; second, by not trying to carry out the purge on my own; and third, by ratting out that sensei directly to Hiruzen, and doing it so that no outsiders found out.

I explained it by saying I'd been pretty sane about the whole thing, I wasn't that cruel, and I had no solid reason to kill him. I justified the secrecy by the fact that I'd learned some of the cell's plans and its connection to Orochimaru and didn't want that snake to learn any more about me than necessary.

The Hokage nodded along to all that, then said that my actions, while not reckless, were, in fact, reckless. He thought for a bit, scratched his head, puffed on his pipe, and told me to just be more careful and, if anything, report to him faster instead of… all this.

I, in turn, pointed out that that meant I needed real shinobi experience. Since I'd managed to uncover a spy network and had already gone through years of training, I was ready for something more serious. To that, Hiruzen just started mumbling something barely coherent and nonsensical, then, after promising that once I finished the Academy I'd get everything I wanted, he bailed for some supposedly important business.

I was left with mixed feelings. I wasn't going to see missions above B‑rank, but I also hadn't really gotten smacked down. If anything, my trust limit got expanded, for quietly ratting Mizuki out to the right person. I also got some extra points for almost completely pulling all the data needed for a whole operation to wipe out a spy network.

Oh, and as a little bonus, even though this mission didn't officially get added to my file, they paid me at the upper edge of an A‑rank—one million ryo. The logic was that what I'd done was comparable to the work of a whole team of shinobi on a B‑rank mission, plus I'd prevented a potential S‑rank threat to the village. I still hadn't quite earned a solid, straight‑up S‑rank, unfortunately, so in essence the reward sat somewhere between the high end of A‑rank and the very bottom of S‑rank.

After that, the days just rolled on. I tried a few more times to convince Hiruzen that I was strong and ready for high‑rank missions. In the end he gave in—but not the way I expected.

"Ah, fuck it all," he said. "You want something dangerous? Fine, Naruto. I'm opening you access to all the secret techniques. But there are two buts! You only read them here, in the residence, and with me present. In the future you use everything carefully. And also, I'm asking you, don't set up any more of these dangerous missions for yourself. At least until you finish the Academy."

He handed me a downright royal deal.

This wasn't just a hookup, it was a goddamn jackpot. I was floored.

The words of agreement burst out of my mouth on their own.

After which… Hiruzen started laughing his ass off.

Of course I asked what the hell was so funny… and it turned out I'd been tricked.

The old man had already planned to give me access to those techniques anyway. No point letting them gather dust on a shelf; the potential of young shinobi has to be used. But now he wouldn't have to scratch his head over what my adventure‑seeking brain might come up with next.

That was my reminder that I still wasn't all‑powerful, and that it was actually pretty easy to lead me around by the nose… Okay, not that fucking easy. Not everyone's a Kage, and not everyone can just toss around offers like that… but you get the idea.

I fully intended to keep my word, so Hiruzen was right—there wouldn't be any trouble from me for a while. My schedule filled up again, since I had to learn and drill a lot of techniques. Some of them were really interesting and really hard… But those more than a thousand hours I spent mastering just a part of them… I don't regret them at all.

My daily life got even better and busier. And with that, time went leaping forward again.

---

If you enjoyed my work, feel free to check out my Patreon. There you can read up to 20 chapters ahead and get early access to any new stuff that I publish

 

[Lillie Jones]

Thanks for the chapter

 

[Kachellzz]

I don't like your Naruto as a person, but he's well written and consistent. He's the thing I like the least about the fic, he feels like an extroverted Root ninja.

That is countered by my enjoyment of your side characters. They have all been endearing, your version of Hiruzen and Koharu are fun. Hinata, the bodybuilder guy, the random medic nin who are eager about Naruto's potential. All very fun.

 

[Welydora]

Third Person POV

The greenery was bursting with life in the large field nestled in the middle of a dense forest.

On the training ground, far from the walls of the Leaf Village, there was only a single boy who looked to be around twelve. Sitting on a stone outcropping, he ran his fingers through unruly blond hair, his blue eyes gazing up at a sky of the same pure blue. He wore a simple black jumpsuit that didn't restrict his movements, and under his sleeves were two small bracers with fūin seals. Secured to his back was a scabbard with the hilt of a tanto sticking out. This was Naruto Uzumaki.

The world around him was alive, filled with rustling leaves and the occasional sound of animals from the woods. But the peaceful moment with nature didn't last long. The boy was distracted by two figures who appeared in a swirl of leaves.

The first was a medical-nin in a white uniform, wearing a pleased expression. The second was a tall, slightly hunched man with silver hair sticking out in all directions—now inexplicably damp—wearing a jōnin uniform and a mask that hid half his face, his shinobi headband pulled down over his left eye. His single visible eye looked lazy, even slightly irritated. This was Kakashi Hatake.

In response to their arrival, the boy stood up from the rock, walked closer, and remarked:

"Not late, Hatake-san. Guess the rumors about you were wrong."

"Yep," the man confirmed grumpily, glancing sideways at the medic.

"Yes, isn't it just wonderful how everything worked out?" the medical-nin chimed in cheerfully.

He had, in fact, kicked Kakashi out of the hot springs only a few minutes ago, where the silver-haired man had decided to relax in the middle of his mission. The mission, assigned by the Hokage, was simply to conduct a training spar with some kid.

"Everything's ready here. You know where to find me if I'm needed. Good luck to you both," the medic said with another wave and vanished into the forest with the Body Flicker.

"Well then." Kakashi pulled his favorite little orange book from his pouch—Icha Icha Violence, another volume in what some even called the Great Cycle, authored by Jiraiya. He then said lazily, "Hiruzen-sama asked me to put on something resembling a fight with you. Don't hold back. You can start whenever."

He waved his hand, basically telling the kid to go ahead and try something while a very important ninja was busy with his own business.

"Hmph." The boy was clearly pissed by such disregard. "If I don't hold back, ten medical-nin won't be able to put you back together. Put away that… literature… and at least try to look a little serious."

"Hm?" Kakashi's eye lifted from the page. "What's wrong with the book? I bet you haven't even read it. And those are big words for a little squirt like you. Now, stop distracting me."

And he buried his nose back in the book.

The boy's eye twitched. He looked up at the sky, then back to the man, and sighed.

"Your rival was definitely more pleasant to talk to. Unlike you, he'd actually heard of respect."

"You know Gai?" Kakashi was interested again, tearing his eye away from his book.

"Yeah. I heard from him that you two are supposedly equals as shinobi. I'll check that for myself. Considering the rumors you've been out of the game for a while, it's hard to believe. Getting rusty, are we?"

"You talk too much." The blond's jab made Kakashi's gaze turn annoyed again. "It's all people like you can do, when you're nothing but pathetic nobodies yourselves. Am I supposed to wait here all day?"

The boy snorted.

"No. This will be over in less than ten minutes," he answered, folding his arms in a closed stance, waiting. "Now pull up your headband and, if you can, activate your Mangekyō."

Kakashi was about to retort with something even snarkier when, for him, it was as if the world stood still.

An unseen chill emanated from the boy who'd been introduced to him as Naruto Uzumaki, making Kakashi's heart clench with a fear from his past. Immediately after, a monstrously powerful chakra erupted from the blond, making the air howl and take on a dark blue hue.

Acting on pure instinct, Hatake didn't even realize he had used the Body Flicker to tear across the distance, reappearing at the edge of the training ground. He then raised his headband, and the Mangekyō pattern swirled to life in his revealed eye to immediately trap the boy in a genjutsu.

It all took much less than a second.

"Kushina-sama…" was all Kakashi managed to choke out, stunned, staring at his opponent and breathing heavily. Immediately after, he covered his dōjutsu eye with his hand. Activating the Heavenly Eye had come with great strain and pain, so Hatake decided to use only the basic Sharingan from now on.

That chakra... that power... The man knew it well.

"M-n-gh…"

Uzumaki grimaced, and then another, even more powerful pulse of chakra erupted from him with a roar, causing deep cracks to spiderweb across the ground around him.

"Just a simple paralysis. And what did that woman ever do to you?"

Hatake didn't answer. He just sharply snatched out a smoke tag and threw it at his feet, bursting out of the smokescreen to the side.

Meanwhile, the boy focused a bit more chakra into his eyes, making them glow blue, then grasped the hilt of his tanto with his right hand.

"I've only been using this for two years. Let's see what I've achieved," he said, and upon unsheathing the blade, he immediately clashed with Kakashi's kunai as the man approached from the left.

Several sounds of metal striking metal rang out, ending with a powerful blow to Kakashi's stomach that sent him flying a dozen meters away.

"Weak," Uzumaki noted, before rushing after his opponent.

They closed the distance, and the two were now fighting with two kunai on the silver-haired man's side, and a tanto plus a kunai in the blond's hands.

Despite his Sharingan, Kakashi could barely keep up with the movements of his opponent, who turned out to be much faster than him. In the course of the clash, he couldn't land a single scratch, while he himself was already covered in cuts from his opponent, who even seemed almost careless about it.

Only ten seconds had passed when a powerful punch from the fist clutching the tanto smashed into Kakashi's chest, sending him flying once again.

"No, this won't do at all," came Uzumaki's indifferent voice.

When Kakashi landed, he was about to rush forward again, but a seal spreading across his flak jacket made him pause. When he looked up, he saw a Shadow Clone literally stepping right out of Uzumaki himself. The clone simply dropped to its knees, its back to the boy, and leaned forward slightly.

"You know, back in the day they let me study one difficult but very versatile technique."

Kakashi decided to see what would happen next, not moving from his spot.

"This is its simplest application, but I think it's pretty damn genius," Uzumaki went on, raising his tanto as the clone clapped its hands together, forming a hand seal.

Based on his opponent's actions, Hatake quickly figured out what kind of technique it might be and immediately tried to rip off his vest. But it turned out the spreading seal had latched itself firmly onto his body.

An instant later, with a loud whoosh, space warped, swapping the clone and Kakashi, even their exact poses.

And immediately, the tanto's blade whistled through his neck, the sound drowned out by the thrum of the immense chakra source.

The head fell, and a fountain of blood erupted from the body, soaking the ground in front of it.

The boy casually shoved the headless body down to the ground, then turned his head toward the bushes. They rustled.

Instantly, the "corpse" dispersed into smoke, revealing it was only a clone.

Uzumaki's Shadow Clone, which had been kneeling in the distance, simply and silently dissolved into a blue haze, disappearing.

"Seen enough? I noticed it was just your clone. Come out, Kakashi."

A technique based on the Substitution Jutsu... but also similar to the Hiraishin... The thought flashed through Hatake's mind as he stepped out from the thicket, his headband still raised and his Sharingan active.

He walked slowly, which let him see the blond release the kunai from his left hand, after which it began to glow with a golden light.

Instantly, the boy aimed his hand at the emerging jōnin, and from it, a thick chain—its links more than half a meter in diameter—shot out at incredible speed. Stretching out for nearly a hundred meters, it whipped around to follow the Kakashi who had already started fleeing to the side, smashing through trees with a deafening crash along the way, and finally tore the flimsy body apart, causing another of Hatake's Shadow Clones to disperse. After that, it simply pierced through several more trees and came to a stop, buried deep in the earth.

"I said, come out. No point in using another clone. I saw you leave through the genjutsu," Uzumaki said calmly. After he spoke, the hand from which the chain had emerged flared even brighter.

Just as quickly, the chain jerked sideways into motion again. Hundreds of trees in its path were obliterated, exploding into splinters, until, after sweeping across about a forty-degree arc, it finally stopped and vanished in a flash of light.

The boy kept staring toward the now-mangled forest. And not for nothing. Soon, a completely disheveled man burst from the thicket. With one long leap, he landed ten meters in front of the boy.

Kakashi, breathing heavily, took a step forward. A bead of sweat rolled down his temple.

"That's… impressive," was all he could say.

"Thanks for the compliment. In this spar, I want to hone my weakest side—close-quarters combat without any run-up," Uzumaki replied, and without giving Hatake a chance to respond, he charged into the clash.

This time, the fight was different. The real Kakashi was faster; his experience was palpable in every move. The steel of the tanto and kunai rang out again, and now the blond had to give it his all.

He was squeezing every last drop of strength from his small body. Thanks to his unprecedented control, his limbs were driven even more by channeled chakra than any other shinobi could manage. But it still wasn't enough. Kakashi was significantly larger, and his more developed body, with its much better-honed natural affinity, could simply generate higher output. Purely due to age, the silver-haired man had to exert far less effort to be superior—at least in terms of explosive speed, which was crucial in a fight like this.

Had Uzumaki fought differently, like his former teacher Shisui—building up speed from mid-range and using the Body Flicker—he would have held the advantage in speed. But this was a different kind of battle.

Kakashi, despite being stronger, still couldn't easily snatch a win. The kid was just incredibly technical—more so than Gai, and in that regard he even surpassed the silver-haired man with his Sharingan.

The scene unfolding between them seemed unreal to Kakashi. How many hundreds of battles must Uzumaki have gone through to reach this level?

The blond himself, time and again, saw his opponent making mistakes, small as they were. A slight delay in reaction, noticeable to the blond even despite his opponent's Sharingan; balance that was just a bit less than perfect; a hand set a little wrong here, a foot there; a barely perceptible stiffness in his movements.

The boy couldn't help but feel a steadily growing irritation toward his opponent, because that rustiness meant he couldn't give an even better fight.

"Hah," Uzumaki tossed out, parrying a kunai strike. "Even without the Gates, Gai would be a serious problem for you right now. You've really let yourself go, Hatake. Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! Next time I spar with him, I'll make sure to tell him you're losing."

Kakashi could barely suppress his surprise and irritation that his opponent, during an incredibly hard duel, was not only not out of breath but could also talk—and openly laugh at him.

For an elite jōnin, an S-rank ninja, it was deeply humiliating.

Anger flashed in his eyes. He sped up, but his movements became slightly more predictable. This was exactly what the blond had been waiting for. Evading another attack, he simply knocked the kunai from his opponent's hand with a sharp strike, after which both fighters simultaneously leaped back, opening the distance and forming hand seals.

"Fire Style: Great Dragon Fire Jutsu!" they shouted almost in unison.

Two enormous heads of fiery dragons roared as they rushed toward each other. A brilliant flash was momentarily blinding, and the shockwave from the explosion made the earth tremble. When the light subsided, a smoking, ten-meter crater gaped in the center of the clearing.

Kakashi was breathing heavily, peering into the smoke. And in that moment, he heard a whistle. Instinctively jerking to the side, he saw a kunai with characters on its hilt slam into the ground next to him.

"Ruthlessness for the Right to Love"

And then another. And another. A true rain of hundreds of identical kunai began to fall from the sky, peppering the entire battlefield.

"It can't be…" Kakashi whispered, recognizing his sensei's fighting style. "Hiraishin…"

"You would have run out of steam soon anyway. There's no point in this type of spar anymore," the boy's voice echoed from all around. "And I decided beating you through stamina would be way too cliché."

A flash. Uzumaki appeared at the kunai next to Kakashi, without any hand seals, and immediately drove a powerful kick into his stomach.

"Don't zone out. I know you can do better! And that was just a demonstration, like with the chains. Now, show me your ninjutsu…"


The place that was once a simple field in the middle of a forest now looked like something else entirely: craters, a few patches of scorched earth, earthen spikes and walls, and broken trees that had somehow flown here from the slightly mangled forest in the distance.

Only five high-level jutsu—that's how far Hatake had been able to go.

Kakashi, battered, covered in dirt and riddled with cuts, was breathing heavily, sitting with his back against a tree at the edge of the field. A tanto was embedded up to its hilt in the wood, a centimeter from his temple.

"Thanks for the spar, Kakashi," Uzumaki said, walking up to him with a light smirk.

A monster in a child's body.

"Look. One… two… three…" He poked a finger at the three most noticeable tears in his uniform—on his arm, leg, and torso—and added, "For someone in such bad shape, that's a very good result. Hope we meet again."

He pulled out the tanto, shook it off, and sheathed it on his back. Then, as if it were the most normal thing in the world, he gave Kakashi a friendly pat on his now-filthy silver hair and, pushing off the ground, disappeared with a leap somewhere deep in the forest.

Kakashi kept breathing heavily, staring into the emptiness in front of him, his eyes wide with shock. A few seconds later, the medical-nin appeared beside him.

"You and Uzumaki-san really went at it," the medic noted approvingly, before turning his attention to the jōnin's condition. "Alright, what have we here… No broken bones, excellent, excellent. We'll fix up the cuts and bruises. You'll be running around good as new in a day, Hatake-san."

But Kakashi no longer heard him. Only one thought hammered in his mind: Sensei... what kind of monster did you leave behind?

The Hokage had told him about the child, but the jōnin, already in a bad place, had been too crushed by the deaths of the last people close to him—Minato and Kushina. After that, life had been like a mirage. In the time leading up to today, it seemed Kakashi couldn't think about anything at all.

But now, after a shock like this, maybe that would change.

---

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[Lillie Jones]

Wow, Kakashi Hatake Sensei got a good deal wake up call from Naruto Uzumaki SI experiencing his monstrous talent for a brief sparring session with tattoos with Kakashi using his Kenai was GOATED!
Kakashi Hatake your really getting rusty , which I can't wait for Sasuke to be even more jealous with his destined rivial Naruto Uzumaki SI and their team seven c ranked missions getting started.
Continue on
Cheers!

 

[Welydora]

The silence in the classroom was almost palpable. Only the rustle of paper occasionally tore through it.

Pulling a deliberately stern face, Iruka handed out the last sheets with the graduation exam.

The air was crackling with tension; for most of the kids sitting here, this was one of the most important moments of their lives.

I just lazily took my sheet and skimmed through the questions. The history of Konoha, basic principles of ninjutsu, squad formation tactics, properties of explosive tags… Mm-hm. Like everything else in this dump of a school, it was elementary for me.

Sighing, I picked up my pen and started writing. My hand moved carelessly, putting answers down on paper, while my mind was completely free and, with mild boredom, started analyzing the situation around me.

My gaze snagged on Sasuke, now seated across the aisle.

They'd split us up so the tight-knit little groups that used to sit together wouldn't whisper and cheat off each other.

Anyway. He was frowning hard, eyes boring into some question, fingers nervously twirling his pen. Yeah… A year ago, he would've been sitting there with the look of a king who someone had taken a shit under the crown of, so he couldn't move or the headpiece would slip, the contents would spill out and start stinking. Radiating an aura of superiority and all that. And now… something had changed.

I snorted to myself, remembering that first spar, when this guy's world—where he was the perfect genius—started to crack. That loss rattled him hard. His fan club, of course, thinned out. There were noticeably fewer squeals and adoring sighs. But it seemed to do Sasuke some good. He got more focused, angrier, but that anger went not into stupid grudges, but into training sessions till he was drenched in sweat. He started looking down on everyone less; now, there was more often a sober assessment in his eyes, sizing people up. Just… still not enough. Maybe he'll actually amount to something… if he starts training properly, because so far I haven't really seen much progress. And, of course, if he doesn't break under his obsession with avenging his brother.

My gaze slid on, to Sakura. She was completely absorbed in the test too, biting her lip in concentration. Looked more confident than before.

I let out a satisfied little grunt.

Then I remembered how she'd caught me a few months ago while I was wandering around the Leaf. That move she pulled honestly shocked me. Sakura stepped over herself that day—over her pride and embarrassment, over her… obsession with one guy. There was a straight-up steel determination in her eyes when she asked, "Uzumaki-san… I don't want to be just… a burden anymore. I want to stand beside him, not hide behind his back… Please… point me in the right direction… where do I start if I want to stop being weak?"

Over the year, with every one of Sasuke's losses, it was like her fangirl fanaticism dimmed, leaving room for sober desperation and stubbornness. Sakura realized that just being in love wasn't enough to stand next to people like Sasuke… or me. She wanted to change herself.

That's worthy of respect.

That's how my little "Project: Sakura" started, as I sometimes call it with mixed feelings.

Basically, I'd gotten something like a student. My motivation, apart from the fact that it's just interesting to watch something grow under your commands, was—

You could say I was growing grass… no, that's not it. A plant… a tree. Sakura, yeah.

Back then, still aiming at some kind of ideal, I didn't just "help with training." Our relationship got a lot more complicated.

From time to time we'd meet at the training ground, where either I or a clone would run her through simple exercises so she wouldn't wreck her still-weak body, and give her advice on what to read. But my real help wasn't just that. At almost every meeting I methodically knocked some sense into her, talking about how baseless her feelings were. My words were softer and more vague, but if you strip it down, my thoughts boiled down to: for Sasuke she was, if he needed her at all, only useful as an incubator for reviving the clan. That Sakura had turned herself into a thing that would get used and then tossed once he got bored. And that all of that, actually, was not healthy at all. And even if everything magically worked out for her—I don't know, the stars lined up in a heart shape and she started dating Sasuke—in the end it would only lead to the girl suffering. Because, from what I've seen, an Uchiha and the concept of a healthy relationship just don't mix.

Cruel? Maybe.

But it's like surgery. Sometimes you have to cut off the infected part to save the whole. In her case—cut off that blind dependency to save her personality.

My lessons were yielding results, visible to both of us. Especially in terms of her growing stronger. Mentally, she still didn't completely believe me, but tiny seeds of doubt had already sprouted. And those were probably the only reasons she kept hanging around me, putting up with my "lectures." And that progress only made it more interesting for me—what would grow in the end.

My gaze lazily swept over the rest of the class.

A lot had changed over the years.

Ino and Sakura now competed more in grades and skills than for Sasuke's attention, though old habits sometimes kicked back in. They'd also somehow gotten closer again, if not like they were at the start of their friendship.

Shikamaru… I looked at his desk. That Nara didn't look like he'd ever change. Arms folded on the table, he was peacefully snoring away. Thank god. His laziness was a kind of constant in this world of chaos.

Choji next to him, as always, was quietly rustling a bag of chips, hiding behind a scroll. Reliable rear guard. Knows how to set priorities—food first, exam later.

Hinata…

My gaze softened for a split second.

She'd gotten braver. She'd started conversations herself more often and actually kept them going. After that incident with the elder, something in her broke—but in a good way. She clearly understood that she could and should hit back.

The rest of the classmates… still the same. With some, things were neutral, but a lot of them kept their distance. That thing that used to be close to fear—or rather, a kind of cold detachment from me—had eased up in their eyes. The rest, especially among the non-clan kids, had shuffled around a lot. I mean literally: some got expelled, some did other crap, and new kids got transferred in. Their looks were more cautious, with curiosity and confusion mixed in. For them, I had the reputation of some kind of puzzle. A weird, strong psycho with a certificate, who technically studied in their class but in reality was off wandering around most of the time.

That distant attitude from the non-clan side suited me. They're new every year anyway. Easier to keep my distance.

I put my pen down on the desk. Ten minutes. The test was done. I'd written just a bit more than what was needed to pass—no point stressing and writing more.

With my sphere-sight, I glanced at Hinata's paper. Attagirl, she's handling it.

Took a look at Sakura's sheet. Oh, I had no doubts about her either.

I raised my eyes and met Iruka's gaze.

I smiled, and he rolled his eyes and looked away.

After that I deliberately put my head down on my crossed arms and closed my eyes. Let the others sweat. I was going to catch a nap.


After crashing during the written part, I was dragged along with my classmates out to the Academy training ground. Why they even bothered hauling me out there wasn't exactly clear. But the air was fresher, which I liked. My classmates, full of nerves and anticipation, weren't in the mood to enjoy little things like that.

For them, this was the most important part—the demonstration of real skills. For me, it was just another formality. I felt like yawning and lying down somewhere.

First up was ninjutsu. One by one, we were called to the center of the field. Transformation Technique… Without much enthusiasm, I turned into an exact copy of Hiruzen, down to the wrinkles around his eyes and that faint fruity smell he sometimes carried. That got a surprised cough out of Iruka-sensei and a top score.

Next—the Illusionary Clone Technique. I watched as some of the non-clan kids huffed and puffed, creating pale, half-transparent copies that could barely stay on their feet.

When my turn came, I did it by the book—well, by the scroll, technically. I formed the seal and, putting in the bare minimum of chakra, created three perfect illusionary clones next to me. They were indistinguishable from me, without a single flaw.

"Excellent, Uzumaki-san! Full marks!" Iruka noted, scribbling something on his clipboard.

I nodded, dispelled the clones and went back to contemplating the weather. I only watched closely when it was the turn of people I knew well—or not so well—to see how they did. Every one of them passed.

And finally, taijutsu. The last spars. Iruka, just like I expected, left the most interesting for the end.

"Final match! Uzumaki Naruto! Uchiha Sasuke! To the center!"

A ripple of excited noise ran through the crowd of students. Judging by the reaction, this was what pretty much everyone had been waiting for. Our unspoken duel for the title of strongest in the class had been going on for more than a year. Well, "going on." The Uchiha had always—like, seriously, always—lost to me. So the picture never really changed.

But now, apparently, the brats around me were thinking something might be different.

Sasuke stepped into the circle, his face a stone mask. As always. But there was a grim resolve burning in his black eyes. For him, this wasn't just an exam. It was a chance to prove something to himself after a string of humiliating defeats in our rare but brutal training spars.

We stood facing each other.

"Begin!" Iruka commanded.

Sasuke launched himself forward. His speed was… not great. In my opinion, he was using his potential pretty damn poorly. But compared to the rest of our age group—impressive. Each of his strikes, basically, was sharp, polished and packed with aggression. He was showing off a perfect academy style, boosted by Uchiha talent.

A series of punches, a feint, a sudden kick…

I just moved. Calm, economical, almost lazy. I dodged, shifted, redirected his blows with light taps, using his own momentum so he'd keep swinging into thin air. Sasuke attacked, I defended. From the outside it probably looked like an even fight, but I saw every one of his mistakes, every gap in his guard he left in the heat of attacking.

He got angrier, his movements faster, but more and more desperate. And there it was—the moment. The Uchiha put everything into a powerful straight right, hoping to smash through my defense.

I made a short, almost invisible sidestep. His fist whistled past a centimeter from my ear. In that same instant, before he could recover his balance, I stepped in, right into his "dead zone." My hand didn't clench into a fist. Instead, with an open palm, I landed a short, whipping strike right under his floating ribs.

"Hhhk!" came out of Sasuke.

The sound was almost inaudible, but the effect was instant.

Sasuke's body froze. His eyes, until then burning with rage, went wide with shock and pain.

The air wheezed out of his lungs. He tried to inhale but couldn't—his paralyzed diaphragm just wouldn't cooperate.

The Uchiha folded in half, clutching his side, and dropped to one knee.

The fight was over.

A dead silence hung over the crowd of students. I calmly lowered my hand and looked at my fallen opponent with a neutral expression.

Quick and clean. Let the opponent show what he could do and finished it without lasting damage.

"The winner—Uzumaki Naruto!" Iruka finally announced, with a bit of a delay, still trying to wrap his head around what had just happened.


That same day, literally fifteen minutes after the spars ended, Iruka came back to our classroom and read out the list of students who passed, telling them to come forward right away to receive their headbands.

While Iruka was handling the ninjutsu checks and spars, the other teachers were grading our written tests and updating the records as the numbers came in. That way, graduation day was basically on a conveyor belt and got organized pretty efficiently—in a single day.

All the people I knew passed, along with nine others I barely talked to. Seven were sent to repeat the course.

The mood was strange. We moved to another classroom. The tension bled away once the ones who hadn't passed were gone.

"The top graduate, who showed the best combined results across all years of study, is… Uchiha Sasuke!"

Iruka handed Sasuke a brand-new forehead protector with the Konoha symbol. He took it silently and, yup, with that stone face, tied it around his head.

For the Uchiha, this announcement was an empty formality. In the eyes of the whole class, he'd lost. And Sasuke knew it.

A full-on fallen-hero drama was playing out right in front of me.

He threw a quick, complicated look my way, with old anger, stubborn rivalry and, unless I imagined it, a shadow of reluctant acknowledgment all mixed together.

I got my headband one of the next. I couldn't care less about rankings and combined subject scores. Why bother when they're going to hand it to you anyway? Perfect numbers are nice and all, but not when they cost serious effort.

I smirked a little as I took the protector, drawing yet another heavy sigh from Iruka. My strength couldn't be measured by the grades in his scroll. Umino, who'd marked me absent more times than he could count, didn't like that much. But we both knew I didn't really belong in this building, and that those grades were clearly not being given to someone unworthy of them. So he swallowed it and barely complained.

After we got the headbands, they took us up to the roof of the Hokage's Residence to take ID photos. I wasn't feeling particularly energetic today, but I scraped together enough effort to make the picture come out a bit better.

Then they cut us loose until the next day, when the team assignments were going to happen.

Later. One floor below. Hokage's Office

The old man—definitely old, if you asked most people—was, as usual, shuffling through papers at his desk.

A knock sounded, and the Hokage chuckled.

The guest he'd summoned was behind the door.

At his permission, Hatake Kakashi stepped into the office. In one piece, in a fresh, equally intact uniform.

"Long time no see, Kakashi. How've you been?"

The silver-haired man's shoulders twitched as he remembered something.

"I've been better," he replied, then added in a pained tone, "Is it that time again?"

"Yes, time to take on a new genin team," Hiruzen nodded calmly and set one of the folders in front of him. "But first. How did the spar with Naruto-kun go? I heard you ended up in the hospital."

"M-mm." Kakashi chewed his lip and averted his single visible eye. "I'd prefer not to run into him again."

"Really? You did figure out who his parents are? Or rather, remembered?"

"M-hm." Hatake looked even more uncomfortable. "I did… But I think he's better off living the way he has been. I'd only get in the way."

"That's too harsh on yourself. You blame yourself too much sometimes, Kakashi. It's not healthy and it does no good, neither for you nor for those still trying to drag you out of your depression."

Kakashi pulled another face, unable to say anything back.

Gai, Kurenai, Asuma, some of the ANBU he often worked with—he couldn't really call them friends.

Or rather, he barely admitted it to himself, but he didn't want to. Because the people he called friends or anything close to it had a habit of dying way too fast…

"But I can also see you've become a bit more alive," Hiruzen went on. "That spar definitely did you some good."

"Maybe," Kakashi admitted with a sigh, his shoulders slumping. "But please, don't set something like that up for me again, Hokage-sama."

"Hm." Sarutobi leaned back in his chair. "Alright, I won't set anything like that up again."

Then he tapped the folder with his fingertips, hinting for the jonin to look it over.

Stepping closer, Kakashi opened it. Inside, just as he'd thought, were the files of his future genin.

"Oh, an Uchiha," Hatake murmured, reading through the profile and nodding, impressed. "Good potential."

Right under the Uchiha's file was the file of some pink-haired kunoichi. Kakashi lifted it to read as well—but as soon as that sheet left the folder, his eye caught on the page beneath…

There was a file with a photo of a very memorable blond, who, striking some rocker pose with his hand under his chin, was staring into the camera with a grin and his tongue sticking out.

"N-no," Kakashi quickly shook his head.

"From now on, arranging those kinds of spars will be your job," Hiruzen said, his smile spreading. "This team isn't going to fail your test, heh."

"N-no!" The realization finally hit Kakashi fully.

"Just, you know, make sure you survive," Hiruzen added, and waved his hand, signaling the conversation was over.

Shinobi Academy. Uzumaki Naruto's POV

The next day, the atmosphere in the classroom was completely different. The emotional fever had been replaced by a trembling anticipation. Today decided our future lives as shinobi. Team assignments.

I sat in my usual seat next to Hinata and lazily watched the commotion.

Iruka-sensei stood in front of us with his clipboard, his face serious, but there were sparks in his eyes—he was clearly enjoying the moment.

"Alright, graduates, congratulations once again!" he began. "Today you stop being just students and become genin teams under the leadership of experienced jonin. I'll read out the team lineups. Listen carefully."

He started reading. Team Three… Team Five… I let the names go in one ear and out the other, running potential combinations in my head. Who would I be effective with? No, what a dumb thought… Obviously, with a tight-knit squad of elite jonin. But there aren't any of those here.

Given the options we had: Shikamaru is smart but lazy. Shino is reliable but secretive. Sasuke… Sasuke is a problem case, and in my opinion, sometimes just plain not right in the head.

"…Team Ten: Yamanaka Ino, Nara Shikamaru, Akimichi Choji!"

An indignant huff from Ino and a tired groan from Shikamaru sounded. Choji, predictably, just crunched his chips, unbothered. Classic. And their sensei is classic too—Sarutobi Asuma. Hiruzen's prodigal son came back, made peace with daddy and is now in the Leaf again.

"…Team Eight: Hyuga Hinata…"

I felt the girl next to me tense up. Me too.

Our eyes met for half a second.

There was hope in hers; something similar flickered in mine, along with curiosity.

But when Iruka went on, it became clear it wasn't meant to be.

"…Inuzuka Kiba, Aburame Shino!"

Hinata and I exchanged another look, this time with clear disappointment in her eyes, and I felt a faint pang of annoyance.

Real shame. It's comfortable being around her, and… sigh…

But at least she'll be with familiar faces. Kiba's loud, but overall not a bad guy. Shino's quiet and, again, reliable. Not a bad lineup for her—a tracker team.

"Your commander," Iruka continued, "will be the jonin-tracker, Yamashiro Aoba."

My eyebrows climbed up. Not Kurenai? Well, damn. Interesting… So my influence is already changing the layout of power and fates.

Probably should've seen that coming.

Though it's kind of depressing that this is reality and not some story in a book. If it were, maybe I could've dug up all the dirt. As it is, I don't know canon completely, I don't have all the facts, which makes building any kind of theory way harder—and pointless. A fleeting bout of curiosity isn't worth hours of clone labor.

"And lastly, Team Seven…" Iruka made a dramatic pause. "Uchiha Sasuke."

I saw Sasuke, who'd been sitting there with a stone face, tense up slightly. His back instantly straightened, and there was hope in his eyes—for strong teammates who wouldn't hold him back.

"…Uzumaki Naruto."

Sasuke's shoulders slumped. He slowly tipped his head back to stare at the ceiling with a look that screamed he was asking all the gods at once, "Why? What did I do wrong?"

"…and Haruno Sakura!"

Right then, Sakura's joyful, almost hysterical shriek tore through the classroom, followed by, "I'm on the same team as Sasuke-ku-u-un!"

Sasuke, hearing that, hunched over sharply, like the weight of the whole world had just been dumped on him. I could practically read his thoughts: "Guess my last five reincarnations were total sinners. And I'm the one stuck paying for all of them," the Uchiha was thinking.

A heavy sigh escaped me.

An emotionally unstable avenger and his fangirl, who's going through rehab under my supervision.

"Thanks, fate, if you even exist," flashed through my head, dripping sarcasm.

Well, at least it probably won't be boring.

I caught Iruka's eye, and he seemed to get everything without a word, just shook his head sympathetically. Lately we'd gotten pretty good at understanding each other. Shame we wouldn't be seeing each other much anymore.

As the teams started leaving with their new instructors, I walked over to the girl who'd basically become a good friend.

"Good luck, Hinata," I said and, before she could react, pulled her into a short but tight hug. She froze for a moment, then hesitantly hugged me back. "We'll definitely keep in touch and see each other. Practice my 'move.'"

I stepped back, gave her a wink, and after getting a similar, if more awkward, line from her, I went back to my new "team."

The rest of my ex-classmates were pretty quickly picked up by their instructors. We said some slightly sad goodbyes and split up.

In the end, only our trio was left in the room.

Sakura was trying to say something to Sasuke; he grimly ignored her, staring at the wall. I just sat on top of a desk and waited.

Five minutes passed. Ten.

Sakura started pacing nervously around the room. Sasuke sank into even darker silence. I was getting frankly bored.

Fifteen minutes.

That was it. My patience was gone.

I jumped off the desk.

"Naruto-kun, where are you going?" Sakura asked in surprise. "Our sensei could show up any minute!"

"Home," I tossed over my shoulder, heading for the door. "My time's worth more than his punctuality. Tell sensei I waited exactly fifteen minutes. And that he's going to have to pay for that…"

Without waiting for an answer, I slid the door open and walked out, leaving behind a stunned Sakura and, unless I was seeing things, a faintly smirking Sasuke, who apparently appreciated my attitude.


A note from your kind author-san.

I want to briefly explain for readers why events aren't lining up exactly with canon. It'd be hard and not really necessary to spell this out inside the story itself, but if there are canon super-nerds among you, this note is for you.

In the original story: Hinata was very soft and weak for an heiress. Her father, Hiashi, was disappointed in her. The turning point was a fight where Hinata lost to her younger sister, Hanabi. After that, Hiashi basically "handed" her over to Kurenai, seeing his daughter as feeble and seeing no future clan head in her.

In this story: Because of Naruto's constant influence (his support, his example of confidence, and his "lectures"), Hinata started to change. Slowly—but over the years, water wears down stone. She began training harder and gained more confidence, which you saw in the incident with the elder. That incident didn't just show it to you, it also showed it to Hiashi—he found out about it.

As a result, by the time a fight with Hanabi could have happened, Hinata had become much stronger. Hiashi, being a pragmatist, understood that the outcome was obvious—this time Hanabi would lose. So a showy "duel for the inheritance" wasn't even considered; it would've been pointless. On top of that, Hiashi could see his heiress changing, becoming more resilient, so he couldn't write her off as completely incapable of being a leader.

So Hiashi had no reason to "get rid of" Hinata by passing her off to Kurenai. Without that close bond between them that formed in canon, Kurenai never became Team 8's instructor. Instead, a jonin more suited to a sensor-type squad was assigned. The synergy's pretty clear: the Inuzuka's dog nose, the Aburame's chakra-tracking bugs, and Hinata's Byakugan, which already sees pretty far—and will only see farther, plus through obstacles, in the future.

 

[Finnish_man]

Thabk you foe the chapter

 

[Lillie Jones]

The more things change the more they stay the same, which fates a bitch for his Naruto Uzumaki SI and Team Seven even though Naruto Uzumaki SI improved more than his cannon counterpart self and training Sakura Haruno on the side with the Avenger Sasuke Uchina left in the dust as they preparation for Kakashi Hatake Sensei late bell test soon affected after his intensely sparring match up against Naruto Uzumaki eariler.
Yeah that was definitely the most metal thing Naruto Uzumaki SI ever did on the Hinata Hyuga job with the Clan politics for the betterment of Hinata and her sister.
Continue on
Cheers!

 

[Welydora]

Several hours later

After a good training session in the gym, I was in a big, bright room of the mansion with floor‑to‑ceiling windows and a large balcony. This room basically split the second floor into two wings, each with two bedrooms, and every bedroom had its own bathroom and walk‑in closet.

Sitting on a black leather couch in the middle of the room, I had a coffee table with apples in front of me. A nearly peeled apple was in my left hand, and the knife I was using to peel it was in my right.

It wasn't the first fruit I'd eaten, and I would've kept going if my mid‑range sensing hadn't picked up one cocky mug that, a moment later, showed up on my balcony in a whirl of leaves.

Hatake Kakashi—of course it was him—looked awkward, his face tense and nervous.

He shifted from foot to foot, then uncertainly set a big bag down in front of me… with the logo of my favorite pastry shop on it.

"Uh, hey, so…" He gave a little wave. "And, uh, forgive me. I'm late. A black cat crossed my path, and I had to walk around it in a circle… But then the same cat showed up again, can you believe it? And then I had to walk an old lady home, she'd gotten lost. And then this one thing happened, you won't believe it…"

Listening to him, my face made it very clear I thought he was talking crap and I didn't believe a word. At the same time I was deliberately eating my apple as slowly as possible.

When he got to his third excuse, I stopped him with a raised hand still holding the knife, and Kakashi froze.

"You seriously expect me to take this crap at face value?" My eyebrow went up as I set the apple and knife on the table and reached into the bag. "You think I'll forgive you being late just for this big chocolate cake?" I set the cake aside and dug in deeper. "You think I'll take this gorgeous cake with white icing and strawberries… as a bribe?" I put that one on the table too and reached in again. "Or do you figure I'll get all emotional and forget everything the second I see this caramel‑nut meringue cake?" I pulled out the last one and gave him a squint.

After a beat, Kakashi shrugged.

"Well, yeah."

"You're damn right," I told him in a completely serious tone, then relaxed fully and leaned back against the couch. "So how'd meeting our team go?"

"Fine."

Kakashi flinched at my mood shift. It was obvious he was uncomfortable being here—or rather, being in this position.

"Come on, unclench, it's fine," I said, trying to ease the mood, and patted the couch next to me.

He took the offer and sat down.

"Hm. The Hokage‑sama was right," he noted, watching me unwrap the chocolate cake.

"Oh, you talked to the old man about me?" I asked, interested, then sharply smacked Kakashi's hands when they reached for my cakes. "Hands off. Mine."

"M‑my… Yeah, we exchanged a few words." He put his hands on his own knees. "He mentioned you can be… vindictive. And now I see it."

"Vindictive? Really?" I asked, pulling a plate and some cutlery out of the seals on my wristbands. He shot me a look that clearly said, Dude, you seriously use expensive fūinjutsu bracelets just to carry that around?, but I ignored it and went on, "Maybe Koharu might've said something like that. And maybe Gendai. And Mizuki too. But other than that, I'm very kind."

Judging by the way Kakashi grimaced, he obviously didn't believe me.

"An avenger and a fangirl," he added a bit more detail. "But that's… workable. Can I ask you a favor?"

Munch, munch—I was already eating the cake. "Depends on the favor," I clarified.

"You know commanders give their genin a test first, right? And only then take them on as students."

I nodded.

"So. Could you personally not take part tomorrow? And, say, act as their tactician instead?"

"Hm‑m…" I tore myself away from the cake. "Two more."

"Two what?"

"You know." Another piece of cake went into my mouth.

"…Fine. I'll take care of it right now." He stood up and was already about to leave in a Shunshin, but…

"Hold up." I stopped him. I put the plate aside, and Chakra Threads burst from my hands and shot off deeper into the house. "Here. Clean up."

The threads pushed a broom and dustpan into Hatake's hands, and once he accepted them with a sigh, pointed at the leaves his Shunshin had blown all over the place, then dissolved into the air.

I went back to my sweets. Watching someone else work made the food taste even better.

The next day. Third person POV

One of the Hidden Leaf's many training grounds sat in the forest beside a running stream. It wasn't the same one where Naruto and Kakashi had sparred recently. In the middle of the field, three massive wooden posts were driven into the ground, and in the distance there was one of the stone memorials engraved with the names of Konoha civilians and shinobi killed in action.

Right now there were two people on the training ground: a black‑haired boy of about twelve in a blue shirt and white shorts. Lying back in the grass, he was staring sullenly into the greenery in front of him.

A short distance away sat a pink‑haired girl of the same age, in a red qipao‑style dress and tight dark‑green shorts. The really observant would notice her headband was on her belt, while the same red ribbon her old friend had given her was still on her long hair at the crown of her head. Now the bow was under her hair instead of on top of it, but that's not exactly vital detail…

You couldn't really call what was between them an idyll. In fact you couldn't call it that at all. The two teenagers were sitting apart from each other, looking tired and bored.

These were Sasuke and Sakura.

It probably would've stayed like that for quite a while, until a blond—Uzumaki Naruto—suddenly appeared in the clearing.

"Naruto!" Haruno jumped to her feet at once. "You're late!"

"Hi to you too." He greeted the girl, glanced up at the sun for a second, then nodded to the boy who had gotten up and come over. "Eleven‑thirty. I got here fifteen minutes early."

"But we were told to be here at five in the morning!"

"And I was told to be here in ten minutes." At the blond's words the girl's mouth fell open, and the black‑haired boy went thoughtful. "Looks like you got lied to," he confirmed.

"How could he…" The girl's eyes went glassy. "He's an elite jōnin… We haven't eaten anything since morning… And…"

She was cut off by a pat on the shoulder from the blond.

"Don't stress about it. And hey, Sasuke," he turned to the other boy, "stop glaring at the grass like it murdered your family. It didn't do anything to you."

"But how could he?" Sakura asked. "He's supposed to be a responsible shinobi."

Suppressing a chuckle, Naruto gave her an awkward smile.

"Well, it's good to believe in the best, but it's not always like that. Balance, Sakura—there are slackers among people too."

"M‑mm," was all that came out of her.

The black‑haired boy, after thinking about something, started staring at the blond with suspicion.

"No, you're wrong, Sasuke. I'm not in cahoots with that jōnin. Even if we did agree on a couple things…" Uchiha's stare got even more suspicious.

Sasuke usually didn't need words to get his opinion across very clearly. Naruto just rolled his eyes at it and pulled two white balls about fist‑sized from the seal on his bracers, handing them to his teammates.

"The test for genin before a jōnin takes you on as students. I knew about it, a lot of instructors do it. I also figured Kakashi might try to stick you in a bad spot with something like this. Bon appétit."

"Hm…" Sasuke made his first sound after taking the ball. "Did you two agree you'd poison them?"

Uchiha's suspicious eyes were about to narrow at Uzumaki, but then caught on Sakura, frozen in place. She'd already taken three quick bites and stopped on the fourth with her mouth still open.

Everything he thought about her flickered across Sasuke's face, while Naruto just rolled his eyes again.

"They're fast‑absorbing, high‑carb food pills. The point is to give you a quick hit of energy. Like I said, I planned ahead a bit."

"And…" the black‑haired boy pushed him to go on.

"We agreed I wouldn't participate in this test directly. Nothing more. I've crossed blades with Kakashi before, and I figure he wants to check your skills, not mine. And yeah, it benefits me if you're in shape and actually pass this test. Because as a teacher, that jōnin suits me."

"You sparred with Kakashi?" Sasuke clarified and, after giving the ball a pretty hostile look, finally took a bite. Sakura, who had been glancing between us, just kept eating.

"Yeah, I told you already. Pretty so‑so fight, honestly. Hatake was really slowing down sometimes."

Sasuke was about to ask something else, to get a better feel for who we might all end up working with, when the subject of the conversation himself cut in.

"He even showed up early," the blond nodded in surprise that, for once, someone wasn't late.

"U‑uh… Yo, how's it going?" the silver‑haired man said, not immediately getting his bearings. He had two pre‑packed bentō boxes tucked under one arm.

In response, two pairs of very pissed‑off eyes fixed on him.

Kakashi noticed they were already finishing off some kind of balls, and that knocked him off balance.

"Uh… I did say not to eat anything…"

…

…

He couldn't say he heard a single word. But their faces made the message perfectly clear: Screw you.

Kakashi waited in silence, expression blank, until they finished.

"R‑right… Anyway, Naruto probably already told you we agreed on a couple things. So…"

Setting the bentō on a handy stump nearby, he showed them two bells on strings.

"Your goal, you two, is to take these from me. If you can't, all three of you go back to the Academy. If you can, then two genin will stay on a team with me—whoever you decide to leave the bells with. The third still goes back to the Academy either way…" Kakashi was going to keep talking, but noticed a raised hand. "Yeah, Naruto?"

"He's lying," Uzumaki ratted the jōnin out without a shred of guilt.

"Are you sure?" Sakura asked, as she and Sasuke turned toward him.

"Y—" Naruto started to confirm, then caught Hatake's two‑finger gesture.

Following their teammate's gaze, the two not‑yet‑genin looked the same way, only to see Kakashi lifting his head with an annoyed expression, like he'd just been nodding to himself.

"No, I'm not sure. Rumor just said something a bit different," Uzumaki lied just as shamelessly, who'd be getting five more cakes today.

It's not like that lie was going to hurt his teammates. And with that clearly inflated price, he was also quietly getting some payback from "one‑eye" on their behalf.

"R‑right, well," Hatake showed off his eloquence. "Anyway, you two have to take the bells from me before noon. Or you don't get any food…" He nodded at the bentō, then shot a disgruntled look at Uzumaki. "Though I guess that doesn't matter to you anymore. Naruto, like we agreed, will be your tactician. He won't lay hands on me—no touching the bells, my face, my stomach or even my spine. Same goes for his feet."

The blond flashed an OK sign while his teammates glanced between him and their future teacher.

"So will all three of us pass, or just two?" Sakura asked.

Hatake just folded his arms, already having the bells hooked to his belt.

"That… you'll find out when the test is over. You can start. Oh, and yeah, don't hold back. Attack with intent to kill." Saying that last part with special seriousness, he then casually reached into his pouch, pulled out his favorite little orange book, and hid from the world behind it.

Sasuke didn't like that gesture; he took it as an insult and was already about to go at the jōnin who clearly thought too much of himself. But he was stopped by Uzumaki's hand on his shoulder.

"Too early. Fall back, I've got a few ideas."

After a short pause, the genin moved off to the edge of the training ground, something Kakashi watched with mild surprise.

It wasn't the first time in his memory that fresh shinobi graduates decided to put together at least some kind of plan first. Though… that had never ended well, but that was another story. What surprised him more was that the Uchiha actually backed off from what he wanted and listened to his teammate.

After that… Kakashi couldn't keep his eyes on the page. His gaze kept drifting toward the new team he'd been handed.

It was some kind of alien, unnatural sight… which only made it more fascinating.

Graduates who had just become genin… were… making a tactic? Like, for real?

Hatake watched with growing amazement as the two of them listened closely to the blond who had turned his back to the silver‑haired man—and they didn't even seem to be arguing? For more than a minute? And nobody had started yelling, jabbing a thumb at themselves, insisting they were the one who should be in charge?

He didn't really believe what he was seeing… And on top of that… the other two were even clarifying things, while Uzumaki calmly gave them more instructions!

No way. No fucking way. That can't be real.

Kakashi could more or less understand the blond's behavior. He was an exception, one of the craziest prodigies out there—Kakashi's ribs remembered that very well. But those two as well?! Did they actually amount to something too?

At that moment Kakashi raised his hand to get the trio's attention.

The real goal of this test was to check their ability to work as a team. And there were already enough signs they were capable of it.

"You guys…" Hatake cut himself off. "Carry on."

And waved for them not to get distracted.

No… now the jōnin was actually curious—very curious—how this would turn out.

He managed to get his eyes back on the book.

Kakashi was, of course, starting to have certain hopes for these three. But they were still just Academy graduates… Not the little monster Minato‑sensei had left behind, but ordinary genin. He'd read their files, which meant taking them too seriously would be… overkill.

Although…

Hatake looked up from the book again and glanced at the genin.

Uzumaki's file was full of crap too. As if he were just a regular genin. But…

No, nonsense. All three of them couldn't be like that.

Now properly calming himself down, the man went back to his book.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the field—

"Sasuke, your job is frontal pressure. You're our anvil. Use everything you've got: taijutsu, shuriken, wire, fireballs. Your goal isn't to beat him, it's to make him move and use Substitution. Make him believe you're the main threat," Uzumaki said methodically.

"Sakura, you're, like, our hammer. You're faster, more mobile… No, Sasuke, don't stare at me like that, I know what I'm talking about. Anyway, Sakura. Your job is to keep changing position, using the trees and, if you have to, the water. You'll be hitting from the flanks and from behind, but only on my command. Don't get pulled into a drawn‑out fight."

He looked at both of them, thinking for a moment.

Sakura really had made progress in a few areas thanks to Uzumaki's training. At the very least she'd learned to walk up vertical surfaces and on water, strengthen her body with chakra better, and even use the Body Flicker Technique—frankly, at a pretty mediocre level, but still—and a couple of weak (for her level, decent) genjutsu. Turned out Haruno had a serious knack for chakra control, so all that came to her relatively easily.

But in Academy spars those skills weren't as important as certain others. She lost to Sasuke in close‑quarters and short bursts of speed—same way Naruto lost to Kakashi there. On top of that, her fighting style was far from good. Because of all that she could easily seem weaker than Sasuke back in the Academy. Still, each of Naruto's teammates had their own advantages. If Sakura's were listed above, then Sasuke's were much stronger close combat—he was stronger and more technical. He threw and fought with kunai really well, was good with shuriken and with wire. And on top of that he had a decent amount of strong chakra he could turn into not‑many‑but‑effective fire techniques.

The girl looked energetic now—the pill she'd eaten was already kicking in, and her eyes were darting a little restlessly between the guys and their surroundings—but she was also a bit nervous because of how important what they were about to do was. Sasuke, having also topped up his energy, had no trouble brooding. He didn't like listening to anyone. But since this "someone" beat him down on a pretty regular basis, he had to admit it was worth listening.

Shaking off his thoughts, Uzumaki went on:

"I know what each of you can do on your own, but you don't know each other's strengths. You need to trust me and trust that your teammate will do their job. I'll coordinate you using a Mind Link Technique—the Hokage gave me the scroll. With permission from the Yamanaka clan, if anyone cares," he added, looking at Sakura, who seemed way too tense. "Sakura, drop the emotions. Don't think about not letting Sasuke down. Think about getting your job done."

Both of them felt something touch from inside their skulls. An invisible, very thin thread of chakra.

"Listen carefully," Naruto's voice sounded in their heads. "Kakashi might be a lazy ass, but he's careful. He's already prepped logs and other objects with his chakra for convenient Substitution Jutsu. One's in that hollow in the old oak. Second's under the roots of the willow by the stream. Third's disguised as that rock over there. Our job is to drive him through the sequence of substitutions we want. The plan has three stages and it's flexible…"

For several minutes Naruto shared his experience dealing with Kakashi's movements and behavior in general. He also explained the common plan and, for each of them, about a dozen possible ways it could branch out. Once he was sure they got it, he finished:

"That's it. My voice'll be in your heads. I believe in you, and I'm right here."

The three of them traded looks.

Sasuke's face was set in grim resolve; Sakura's showed about the same. Naruto was smirking, a bit encouraging.

A heartbeat later, Sakura shot off into the trees.

Seeing Kakashi react to that movement, the blond grinned, dragged his thumb across his throat and pointed at the jōnin, then also vanished into the forest, leaving Kakashi one‑on‑one with Sasuke.

Stage One: Predictable Threat.

Things started fast and sharp.

Sasuke went in with an aggressive attack. First shuriken, then closing the distance with strikes, trying to tie his opponent up with wire.

Without lifting his eye from the book, Kakashi easily knocked aside every flying projectile and slipped past every attack, as if he were playing with a kitten.

His eye wasn't even really on the Uchiha. He was expecting something from the side, some kind of trick. Uzumaki wouldn't make a gesture like that for nothing, right? Or… was it just a distraction?

The jōnin kept scanning the area and at one point, to an experienced shinobi's eye, left himself very nicely open to an attack from the black‑haired boy.

Right then a voice rang in Uchiha's head: "Sasuke, break off to seven o'clock! Mid‑range! Great Fireball Technique! Aim right at him!"

The black‑haired boy immediately broke off, leaping in the direction Naruto gave, and quickly formed the seals.

A huge fireball, crackling and sucking in the air, roared toward the jōnin.

Now that was more serious.

Kakashi showed he hadn't actually been completely distracted and, still without looking up from his book, simply vanished with a soft clap, leaving a log in his place.

The clearing shook when the fireball hit. A patch several meters across went up at once, like someone had poured gasoline there and lit it. The log was definitely going to burn…

Kakashi himself appeared on a branch of the old oak—exactly where Naruto had said he would.

"Not bad, Sasuke‑kun," he commented lazily, but loud enough for everyone to hear, turning a page. "But it's not reaching me."

Apparently Uzumaki's throat‑slitting gesture had been a distraction for this. To make Kakashi focus more on his surroundings and neglect the Uchiha.

Kakashi waited for the next move. Usually after a display like that, genin either ran out of steam or started attacking without thinking.

Given the Uchiha's strength, it would probably be the second.

Stage Two: Mobile Threat.

"Sakura, your position is the tree right above him. He's not paying attention, your Chakra Concealment will be enough. Wait. Now!" came the command in the pink‑haired girl's head.

She was already in position, holding her breath. Her hiding skills, polished under Naruto's guidance, had let her sneak up unnoticed.

Her chakra‑strengthened legs tensed.

On command she dropped silently.

Kakashi, still expecting something more from the Uchiha, noticed her only at the last second.

A shadow flashed from above.

Her speed and stealth surprised him, but an elite jōnin's reactions were more than enough to get clear.

Another pop of a Substitution, and he was already by the stream next to the willow. Open ground.

"Not bad," he drawled, noting out of the corner of his eye how the girl landed softly and immediately melted back into the leaves.

Kakashi still didn't feel a real threat—more like mild surprise that these kids were definitely better than average, but… still kids.

Stage Three: Perfect Trap.

"Sasuke, distract him with fire from the stream side! Sakura, come in from the flank and hit him with genjutsu! Drive him toward the rocks!"

Sasuke, almost at the right position already, sent out a spread of Phoenix Flower Jutsu. The fireballs streaked toward Kakashi. At the same time, Sakura slipped in from the side and, forming a simple seal, cast her weak but distracting genjutsu—an illusion of shuriken flying at him from the opposite direction.

Kakashi clicked his tongue. Two threats from different directions. Dealing with both was more hassle than it was worth. Easier to use his last prepared Substitution.

He formed the seal again.

He appeared beside a pile of rocks, bracing for the next attack. Right where Haruno was waiting close by.

"Sakura, now!"

A shower of real kunai flew at Kakashi—easier to dodge than to knock aside. The man tried to do just that…

But his foot caught on something thin and almost invisible.

Wire.

He tried to step out of it to keep his balance, but…

The briefest hitch was enough.

The girl, whose weapons were only cover to let her close in, lunged forward, using her best Shunshin.

Time seemed to slow.

Kakashi, losing his balance, saw her coming and tried to move, but his body was busy trying not to fall.

Sakura was already flying in.

At that moment Naruto's threatening gesture flashed through Kakashi's mind and, on reflex, the man covered his vital spots, hoping to either block the blow or catch her outright. He was still a strong jōnin; his strength should've been enough.

But instead of a strike, the girl's hand darted to his belt and tore off the two small, jingling bells.

The only sound was the soft thump of the book falling from his hands into the grass.

Kakashi finally straightened and stared in surprise at Sakura, who was braced on her knees, gulping air… all so she could triumphantly lift the bells in her hand and—

"Yeeees!" she shrieked with joy, throwing her arm up. "Now I get to be with Sasuke‑kun!!!"

Sasuke came out of the bushes right as she yelled, immediately shooting her an irritated look. But when he noticed what she was holding, he blinked, then gave a short, understanding nod.

Naruto dropped lightly from a nearby tree.

"Plan complete. Time: one minute twelve seconds. Not bad for a first run."

Kakashi slowly lowered his gaze to his book, picked it up, and slid it into his pouch. He looked at Naruto, then at the ecstatic Sakura, then at the brooding Sasuke.

Hatake's eye showed genuine shock…

"Professionally laid wire. That wasn't here before…" he muttered.

"We weren't planning to kill you," the blond shrugged, then spread his arms with satisfaction. "It's called misdirection."

Naruto smirked even wider.

Shisui would probably have called Sakura's Shunshin "barely acceptable" at best—if he weren't in his grave—but even that level of execution had been enough. Kakashi, sure, hadn't been going all out, but even so… for brand‑new genin, this was more than impressive.

"You passed… all three of you."

"Hmph," Sasuke grunted.

"Yeeees!" Obvious who that was, yelling again.

"Great," Uzumaki nodded. "In honor of that, I suggest…" He turned to Hatake. "Kakashi‑san, you kept my teammates starving for almost seven hours. Don't you think you should at least pay for our celebration?"

Hatake's eye popped a little at the blond.

"Yeah, that's right! That was really mean, Kakashi‑sensei!" Sakura jumped in before he could object.

"But I…" the silver‑haired man started, tilting his head toward the stump with the two bentō.

"I agree," Sasuke added. "You're our senior now. It'd be the responsible thing to do."

The jōnin looked this trio over, tossing an especially sour glance at the blond. This team… had suddenly turned into some kind of financial black hole.

"…Fine," he agreed with a sigh.

"Perfect," Uzumaki said, earning a look from Kakashi like he was the most brazen pickpocket in existence, who'd just walked up, stuck his hand in the man's pocket, and grabbed as much money as he wanted.

After that they agreed on a time for the evening and went their separate ways… At the very least, Kakashi had to head to the Akimichi clan and reserve a table.

And the blond had a couple of things to take care of himself.

---

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[Priyansh]

Kakashi feels like too much of a push over in this chapter. I get that you are trying to show that he is rattled with guilt and scared of Naruto but he is Kakashi. The guy was in Anbu, has been through a war, lost both of his friends, lost his sensei and lost his father. He would definitely be rattled by Naruto but he is the type of guy to adjust to that real fast. You are treating him like he has turned into this coward who would do anything to save his skin. Aside from that great chapter! Thank you.

 

[Lillie Jones]

Thanks for the chapter
Continue on
Cheers!

 

[Welydora]

Uzumaki Naruto's POV

I liked that test, I thought as I lazily hopped between Konoha's trees. At the very least, I scored a free meal this morning, and I'm gonna be eating for free again tonight.

But that was an evening problem. I'd handed my bento to my teammates—the rice balls wouldn't have lasted them long anyway. And, honestly, they weren't as hopeless as they'd seemed at first.

Right now I was heading toward another training ground, where Hinata's team was supposed to be taking a similar test. I was curious what kind of jonin they had. And whether I could help my old acquaintances and squeeze their sensei for some cash too.

I showed up right on time. Half‑assedly hiding myself in the thick foliage and suppressing my chakra to a bare minimum, I saw Team 8 standing in the middle of a clearing in front of a jonin I didn't recognize. They looked tired, but not exhausted. The test was clearly wrapping up.

I studied their faces. From left to right, from where I was: Hinata in a cream‑colored jacket with fur along the bottom and a hood; Shino in a gray jacket with a high collar and his usual black glasses; and Kiba, also in a gray jacket, but with fur on the hood, which was up. Most importantly, on Inuzuka's head there was a small white mutt with long brown‑tipped ears just sprawled out. Aside from the dog, everyone was dressed in standard shinobi gear.

"…and that is precisely why," their jonin was saying in a calm, even voice, "you failed the main objective, but passed the test."

He was a black‑haired man who looked to be around thirty, but he was pretty short—about a meter and a half, taller only than the dog among us. He wore standard Konoha shinobi clothes.

I pricked up my ears.

"I gave you a simple objective, on the surface: find and give me this scroll," he said, showing them a small scroll he'd just pulled from behind his back. "But besides this one, there was another identical scroll here. I didn't hide it, didn't use any techniques, didn't set any traps. I just left it in plain sight, on that stump over there. You, however, split up and spent three hours combing the forest. Kiba, you used your nose to find me and take the scroll. Shino, your kikaichū searched for my chakra. Hinata, I assume you were scanning the area with your Byakugan to find me. You were all looking for an enemy, not the objective."

He paused, sweeping his gaze over them.

…Guess every genin team has its own weird habits.

"A shinobi's objective isn't always a fight. Sometimes it's more important to complete the mission with minimal cost by showing some observation and brains. You acted according to a standard combat template. But," his voice warmed, "after some time, when you realized you couldn't find me, you didn't start arguing. You regrouped, exchanged information and worked out a single search strategy, splitting the area into sectors. You started acting like a team. And that was the real goal of this test. Compared to mutual understanding, skills are much easier to build up. Sometimes so much so that genin become hopeless… But you showed that you have a foundation, which means you can become real ninja. Congratulations, you passed."

A test not about pushing back against brute force, but about attention and thinking outside the box. Yeah, just what sensors need. The second half of his speech seemed a bit over the top to me, but whatever.

At that moment Kiba, who'd been listening closely, suddenly twitched his nose and snapped his head in my direction.

"Naruto?" he asked the empty space, surprised.

Next to him, Hinata, hearing my name, instantly activated her Byakugan without any hand seals. The veins around her eyes bulged and in a heartbeat she found me in the leaves.

Well, no point hiding anymore. With a light sigh, I kicked off from the branch and a moment later landed beside them.

"Hey," I waved at them and then, putting on an awkward face, scratched the back of my head. "Sorry for eavesdropping. Didn't mean to butt in. But seriously—congrats on passing."

I hadn't used any scent‑masking powder and had just slapped together some quick camouflage. No surprise they found me.

"Naruto‑kun!" Hinata blushed a little, deactivating her dōjutsu.

"I knew it was you, ha‑ha! You can't fool my nose!" Kiba declared proudly, and little Akamaru on his head barked in agreement. Shino just gave me a silent nod in greeting.

"Uzumaki Naruto," the jonin instructor stepped forward, looking me over with curiosity. I felt his chakra shift into a sensory mode to get a better read on me. But apparently, not feeling anything bad, he simply introduced himself: "I'm Yamashiro Aoba. Former vice‑captain of Ro in ANBU."

"Oh, so you know Kakashi," I noted. I'd seen in some papers that Hatake had been captain of that team.

"Kakashi‑taichō," he corrected me, with a hint of respect in his voice. "Yes, we served together. I heard from some acquaintances that he had an… interesting spar. Thank you."

"For what?" I raised an eyebrow.

"He hasn't been that… alive in a long time. Looks like you shook him up pretty well. Please, keep an eye on my senpai. Sometimes he gets too lost in his own head," Aoba asked.

Alive, huh?.. It's not like that's exactly how he seemed to me. But I guess I hadn't seen enough of Hatake to compare him to the past.

"No problem," I nodded. "And yeah, if you ever feel like working out, swing by the training ground. I can keep you company."

Aoba smirked.

"I'll pass. I'm a sensor, not a fighter. Taijutsu's not my field."

"Sensors can be good fighters too," I pointed out. "But if you don't want to, I won't force you."

I turned to his team.

"By the way, our sensei is treating us to dinner to celebrate."

The three genin looked at their instructor with silent hope. Aoba hesitated for a second, looked at their pleading faces, then at me, and sighed.

"Well, I guess we've earned a little celebration too. My treat."

"Woof!" Akamaru yapped happily, and Kiba threw a triumphant fist in the air. I just smiled in satisfaction, catching Hinata's grateful look.

Managed to take another jonin for a ride financially.

After that, I invited Hinata, with a couple of quick hand gestures so she wouldn't get embarrassed in front of the others, to celebrate separately sometime—and got her agreement. We said our goodbyes and their team headed off one way while I went the other.


The evening at the Akimichi clan's barbecue place turned out… pricey. For Kakashi, of course. He sat there with the face of a martyr while Sasuke, Sakura and I methodically shoveled down meat by the kilo.

As the one who ate the most, I was completely satisfied. Pigging out on someone else's dime after a successful operation—what could be better?

Team Seven was officially formed. And in a couple of days, according to Kakashi, our first D‑rank mission was waiting for us. Well, we'd see what that was like.


Our first mission as Team Seven turned out to be a real piece of crap. Maybe the height of humiliation, specially designed to break any ambitious shinobi's spirit.

"Help with cleaning a large merchant warehouse." The title already stank, even if it sounded harmless. In reality, it meant diving into a den of century‑old dust, rotting crates and rats the size of small cats, brazen from never getting punished.

Felt like a certain gray‑haired geezer had picked out the absolute worst thing he could for us.

Sasuke, wearing the expression of an aristocrat forced to muck out stables, silently hauled heavy crates from one end of the warehouse to the other. His face was unreadable, but I saw his eyebrows twitch every time another cloud of dust settled on his dark hair.

Sakura, to my pleasant surprise, didn't whine. This time she took on the role of organizer, trying to systematize the chaos—deciding what to toss and what to put on the shelves. And of course, she was doing that work herself at the same time.

Meanwhile, our valiant sensei, Hatake Kakashi, had found the cleanest corner, sat down on an upturned crate, pulled out his little orange book and dove into reading, occasionally giving out "valuable" instructions: "Sasuke‑kun, don't drop that so hard, it might be fragile. Sakura‑chan, that corner needs a more thorough wipe‑down."

I watched this little show while working for exactly five minutes. Five minutes during which Kakashi didn't move an inch.

Apparently the rats weren't the only ones who'd gotten too bold around here, I thought. The sensei gets his cut of the mission pay. And I was going to make sure he earned every last ryō of it.

I walked up to him without a word. Just stood next to him and stared. Piercing. Judging. Without blinking.

At first, he tried to ignore me, pretending to be completely absorbed in the plot.

Soon his one visible eye started to twitch. He turned a page. Then another, a little too fast.

Finally, he snapped. With the most tragic sigh he could muster, Kakashi shut the book with a loud clap, stuffed it back into his pouch and got to his feet.

"Alright, alright, I get it," he muttered, grabbing a nearby mop with the air of a great martyr. "No respect for veterans."

He just kept grumbling.

Only by almost nightfall was the mission finished. The four of us, tired and covered in a layer of grime, were walking along a path in the evening park toward our homes.

Sasuke and Sakura were silent, digesting their first official "combat" experience. I was thinking how boring and, more importantly, useless this mission had been. Next time I was definitely sending a clone.

But for now, I had other plans.

I stopped.

"Mission complete," I said, turning to Kakashi. "Now for training. What's on the program?"

"Program?" Kakashi's eye curved in a lazy smile. "Today's program is rest. You're all dismissed."

With that, he was about to vanish in a Body Flicker. But at that exact moment a kunai with a Flying Raijin formula wrapped around it slammed into the ground right in front of his foot.

"You're not going anywhere, 'sensei'," I said, already standing in front of him. "We wasted a lot of time today. But I can see you're not tired at all," I went on, not letting him get a word in. "And we're genin, full of energy. The earlier we start training, the faster we'll get stronger. Let's give today at least some meaning."

Kakashi realized that caving again would be a bad idea—otherwise they might make him work his ass off next time too. His tone got firmer.

"No. I've decided there won't be any training today. Besides, your teammates are tired." He nodded toward Sasuke and Sakura, who were watching our argument in surprise.

"Fine," I agreed, way too easily from his point of view. "They don't have to train if they don't want to. But training your genin is a jonin's duty. You're obligated to train me."

"I'm in charge here, Naruto," Kakashi tried to lean on authority. "And I said no. As a genin, you follow your commander's orders."

I went silent for a second. I knew something cold and nasty flashed in my eyes. Then I just snorted.

"I see. So you're not going to give me what I'm owed willingly. In that case…"

I took a short breath.

"I'll take it by force."

Without giving him even a fraction of a second to prepare, I lunged forward. My chakra‑boosted body blurred with speed. The goal wasn't to maim Hatake. Just… call it convincing him.

Kakashi threw up a block on reflex, his Sharingan already spinning, reading my movements. He caught on fast that I wasn't kidding. And he was forced to actually fight, just so he wouldn't get his ass kicked in front of his own students.

Sasuke and Sakura froze off to the side, watching in complete shock as their teammate, a fresh Academy graduate, attacked a jonin without a hint of hesitation… in close quarters… And even after several seconds still wasn't planted face‑first into the ground. No, it actually looked like the two of us were fighting on equal terms.

After a bit, we drifted deeper into the park.

A short exchange of blows, I grab him by the vest.

A flash—and we appear at a training ground far outside Konoha.

At the same time. Hokage Residence. Sarutobi Hiruzen's POV

The well‑lit, all‑too‑familiar office.

The Third Hokage stared into his crystal ball with a stoic expression. In it, his ward, Naruto, was methodically beating the crap out of an elite jonin… Not that that had been rare lately. But this time Hatake, apparently, wasn't exactly thrilled about taking hits to everything Uzumaki could reach.

With a sigh, the old man just shook his head, dispelled the Telescope Technique and set the ball aside.

This wasn't the worst thing Uzumaki had done. Besides, once he found out what mission Kakashi had picked, Hiruzen could even understand the kid. Though, technically, the latter was already an adult shinobi…

Eh… how time flies…

Back to Naruto. Sarutobi remembered the Mizuki incident. Hiruzen hadn't immediately found out that the chunin had been tortured, even if… in that way. But the report about it had almost driven him into a white‑hot rage… He hadn't expected that from Naruto… though he probably should have.

But Hiruzen had promised to look after him. And that care included spiritual guidance, too. Torture… wasn't something the old man wanted to be teaching Naruto. What if the boy later went on to do something much worse? How would he be able to look his parents in the eyes in the Pure Land?

At the time, all wound up before his next meeting with his ward, the Hokage had decided to try a certain device people had recommended to him more than once. For calming down—nerves never helped anyone.

And so, after heating the right side and doing bubble‑bubble‑bubble‑bubble‑bubble for a couple of minutes, the old man realized that actually, everything was fine. Why stress? Naruto hadn't killed anyone—in a way, he'd even interrogated him gently. He'd shown mercy. Not every criminal ends up with the Yamanaka; that privilege costs good money. More often, they had to pay a particular specialist from Ibiki's Torture and Interrogation unit and find everything out the old‑fashioned way. Hiruzen didn't approve of that, but in essence, Mizuki could have ended up much worse. Right now he was just sitting in prison, his nipples probably healed by now.

Naruto, on the other hand… He was a medic, and unfortunately he'd had to do things that could mess with your head even more.

Sarutobi was slowly admitting that because of how close they were, he'd started to coddle Naruto too much. That was why the old man had gone for that little, let's say, trick with access to secret techniques. Hiruzen had wanted to protect the child for just a few more years from the darkness outside the Leaf's walls. And it had worked.

But now he was a shinobi… A shinobi who could stand up for himself. Careful enough not to stick his nose where he'd get killed. And Hiruzen shouldn't get in his way on the path to whatever he was aiming for.

Another sigh echoed in the office.

The old man glanced over the finished paperwork and drummed his fingers on the desk.

When Sarutobi raised his eyes, they caught on Tobirama's portrait. The image of their last mission with the Second, which had ended in the latter's death… and in a forced retreat for Hiruzen's team and Danzo's team, immediately flashed through his mind. Their commander had held the enemy back while they'd had no choice but to run.

Slowly, his thoughts shifted to Danzo, and Sarutobi's expression darkened.

On the night of the Uchiha massacre, when the Hokage came for yet another round of negotiations, all he found were houses full of corpses and blood. The former Sharingan wielders had had their dōjutsu torn out… When ANBU carried out the investigation, Hiruzen compared it with earlier intel and came to an almost certain conclusion that Danzo was involved. They had been in the Uchiha district together that night, and the Third had chosen to take the risk and lean on the elder… And the bastard had had the nerve not only to admit it, but to start convincing Sarutobi that what he'd done—sending Itachi to wipe out his own clan—was all for Konoha's sake.

They had a brief but extremely unpleasant argument which ended with Shimura no longer being an elder, and Root being disbanded… at least, the part he'd officially disbanded for the Hokage's benefit. The old man suspected that Root hadn't been completely shut down, and that his long‑time, paranoid rival still had a few secret bases where some operatives remained. But in any case, Danzo's power had been chopped down hard, and his "take‑the‑initiative" crap that led to so many deaths posed much less of a threat to the Leaf. Which meant Hiruzen could afford to stop paying attention to it.

He believed that his long‑time… not friend, but good and trusted acquaintance, had realized his mistake and would change.

That night hadn't ended there. Later, while Hiruzen was dealing with the many consequences of the massacre, its perpetrator had shown up at his residence… Another lost shinobi in whom, despite everything, the Will of Fire hadn't gone out.

They talked on the roof of the residence, away from other shinobi's eyes.

Itachi really was sorry for what he'd done. But he was convinced that with that act he'd saved the most lives… Sarutobi thought otherwise, but what was done was done.

Their conversation once again confirmed Danzo's guilt: he was the one who had convinced Itachi a coup was inevitable and given him an ultimatum—either Itachi destroyed the Uchiha and could spare his brother… or every last Uchiha would be wiped out.

Unfortunately, in Hiruzen's opinion, this not‑very‑far‑sighted, overly sharp, but strong child had gone along with it and done everything by the script. Thinking he was doing good, he took a step into darkness…

Maybe that was exactly what had pushed Sarutobi to shelter Naruto even more. The boy was even younger, but—small problem here—if anything, even stronger than Itachi. If the blond ever went outside the village and listened to someone like Danzo, how many bodies would they have to dig out from under the rubble this time? So—better to train him and keep him away from shady types for a while. Until he started showing a lot more common sense than that same Itachi.

But back to the Uchiha. The first thing they'd discussed back then was the older brother's access to Sasuke. Hiruzen had promised, and of course kept his promise, that Konoha's barrier wouldn't be changed and Itachi would be able to visit his little brother. And that Sasuke would graduate from the Academy and become a Leaf shinobi.

Then the darker details had started…

It turned out that Itachi hadn't carried out the massacre alone, but with another Uchiha who called himself "Madara."

Back then both of them had agreed it was quite possible this "Madara" wasn't the same Madara who had once fought Hashirama. But given his power and the fact he had a Mangekyō Sharingan, they were almost sure he'd been behind the Kyūbi attack.

Itachi couldn't help but hate him. Basically, this "Madara" had led the clan to this coup, and had then personally taken part in the slaughter. But he was also too dangerous. He could do even more damage to the Leaf. That was why Itachi had agreed to his offer and joined a certain organization—Akatsuki.

Hiruzen had heard of that organization before, but it hadn't been very influential and operated mostly in the Land of Rain. Now though, with this apparently new shadow leader, "Madara," it had started transforming into something else entirely.

That transformation, as they figured, would take many years. But Itachi had become a spy inside that organization—a member who, when he got the chance, would erase the clan's last mistake: "Madara."

With those memories swirling, Hiruzen once again felt like smoking.

He focused his gaze on his own now‑wrinkled hands. And sighed.

Already not young at all… Sarutobi understood that the world kept moving forward. But his aging body was binding him more and more, not letting him act.

Soon enough, the old man felt, his end would come…

A successor. He'd thought about that for a long, very long time. He'd often even catch himself thinking he'd almost finished raising one… But that one was still too young.

Yagura's age hadn't stopped him from becoming the Kage of the Mist… Hiruzen's thoughts drifted. But that hadn't ended well either…

The old man remembered reading the report on the failed coup led by one of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist—Momochi Zabuza. Karatachi's policies had been very harsh, and the old man regretted that their neighbors hadn't managed to topple the tyrant. But he couldn't help them.

Sarutobi shook his head.

A successor… He went back to that thought. A more suitable candidate had, after all, recently started to come back…

Finally picking up his pipe, Hiruzen puffed out smoke and started thinking about the future.

---

If you enjoyed my work, feel free to check out my Patreon. There you can read up to 20 chapters ahead and get early access to any new stuff that I publish

 

[Lillie Jones]

Impressive
Ahh shucks Will Kakashi Hatake Sensei ever when Naruto Uzumaki SI wants something he's going to get it no matter, which Kakashi Hatake Sensei and Naruto Uzumaki SI experiencing an second open spst on the Konoha training grounds.
Looks like Kakashi Hatake is extending extra training for Sasuke Uchina and Sakura after all, but not how they pictured it with getting dead last Naruto Uzumaki showing Kakashi Hatake up again, HAHAHA!
Come on son of the White fang Copy ninja Kakashi Hatake Sensei that your not the much of a push over for energetic battle junkie Naruto Uzumaki SI.
Continue on
Cheers!

 

[Welydora]

Uzumaki Naruto's POV

Another sparring session turned out to be… not bad. Kakashi still didn't really satisfy me as a sparring partner, but it was better than nothing. And the white‑haired bastard was slowly getting back into shape, so it was becoming less boring.

Showing off Hiraishin to my curious teammates, who'd decided that watching me and Kakashi beat on each other was a good idea, also went over pretty well. I get it; it really is interesting. Just like I get why, the next time we met at the bridge before our mission, Sasuke's face was so dark it looked like he had diarrhea and constipation at the same time.

He'd known I was holding back back in the Academy when I sparred with him. But once he understood exactly what technique I was capable of using, the Uchiha realized the full depth of his own insignificance. At least, that's what his face said.

I didn't bother telling him he was only like that in comparison to me, and maybe a few especially gifted geniuses. Knowing Sasuke's character, he'd just take it as pity—which he wouldn't accept from anyone—and spiral even harder.

Sakura, on the other hand, in her open—or, as some call it, screechy‑and‑annoying—manner, asked, "How'd you do that?" and "Can I do that too?"

Seeing her initiative, I calmly reminded the kunoichi that she had some very strong points in the form of chakra control, but physically she didn't impress. And in theory, yeah, she could. Just not now, and not even in a couple of years. With an untrained body, she wouldn't be able to use the technique properly in close combat like I do.

She nodded with a "smart" look, promised she'd try harder, and lit up with even more determination. I even found it kind of cute. A lot of people found her particular way of asking questions annoying—and to a small extent, so did I. But with Sakura I also appreciated her diligence and how seriously she took training and study, which, in my opinion, outweighed her flaws.

After Haruno's little speech, Sasuke—who'd been staring at her with open contempt—just snorted and turned away, as if to show exactly what he thought of her "success."

At that, the girl, as if snapping out of it and interpreting the Uchiha's reaction in her own special way, started making excuses, insisting there was nothing between me and her. That Sasuke should see: look, she was getting stronger under my guidance. And it was all just for him.

It looked… honestly? Pathetic.

This kind of performance wasn't new; I'd seen it more than once. And, as always, Sasuke—who didn't give a shit—would turn away and just stare off into the distance like an idiot, while Sakura talked basically to herself.

This time, though, it didn't drag on like the first couple times. After about three minutes, realizing she was being ignored just like always, Sakura's shoulders slumped, she shut up, and her expression turned gloomy.

I watched all of it with mixed feelings, but a calm face. I wanted to snort, but that would've been overkill.

Naive little Konoha idiot… And in the future, one of the most brilliant minds in medicine, or in fuinjutsu, or genjutsu, or something else—Sakura really did have potential, and a lot of it she could actually realize. Over the time I'd spent working with her, I'd picked up another reason to bother training the girl. She could turn into a useful person in my hands, since her own willpower is pretty questionable. Maybe Haruno doesn't realize it yet, but she's already in my clutches. Mu‑ha‑ha‑ha‑ha! What a villain I am!

After that, life rolled along at a more relaxed pace.

Before that mission, by the way, I managed to go out with Hinata and celebrate us getting our rank.

Afterwards, Kakashi stopped taking such insane missions.

My team—now including my clone—was still working a fair amount; missions aren't always easy, even if you cherry‑pick them. As for Kakashi himself, he actually kind of tried to fulfill his obligations… but as a teacher he turned out to be, putting it mildly, pretty meh. Not counting me, but taking into account the average level of his other genin, he tried to explain something about genjutsu and completely failed to do it in a sane way.

The result of those "lessons" was Sasuke saying he'd keep training according to his own program, and that with his "sensei"—he stressed the word like some bloated king talking about the help—he'd just double‑check details when needed. Sakura, of course, followed the dream of her entire life, i.e. the Uchiha, and also "stuck to self‑study"…

Mm‑hmm. Self‑study. Right. Totally, absolutely without my involvement—which she somehow forgot to mention. Still, at least sometimes, when Sasuke's around, she tries not to bring it up. No need to say what a circus I see in all of this.

In general, over time I started to feel like my psychological mentoring of Sakura was producing way more dubious results than the physical training. She was seriously stuck on the Uchiha, and she was getting over it painfully slowly.

Maybe the very fact that the Uchiha was right there was the problem. Maybe she needed a shake‑up.

The first… could be removed. Same with arranging the second. But that, in my opinion, would be a bit too cruel. One way or another, I'd grown attached to this girl; we've known each other for quite a while. My wish for her to have a better life already clashed with some of the stuff I'd told her early on. You know, the things that led to the conclusion she'd at best end up as an Uchiha incubator, but never get the love she imagined. And I'm still sure I was right about that. But at least there are some results with her. She's growing—she is. Which means measures like breaking her personality and other nasty crap aren't necessary. Let the girl get over it slower, but with less pain. I'm not a monster, whatever some people may think.

And so, time rushed on. I kept working on my fighting style, studying some techniques. But lately I'd been focusing more and more on that body‑enhancement project of mine. Everything was going great until I ran into a dead end. I should probably dig into that in more detail.

The latest dead end was the most fundamental and the most annoying. I had gone through every scroll and book available, including a good number of forbidden high‑rank techniques that helped deepen my understanding of manipulating living matter. I'd spent almost half the fortune I'd earned on puzzles on building the most advanced bioengineering lab in the world. My basement had long since stopped being just a basement; it had turned into a whole underground complex of several sterile rooms stuffed with insanely expensive equipment, ordered through a shell company from all over the world. Hybrids of tech and fuinjutsu: insanely complex scanning seals I'd designed myself, working in tandem with microscopes, centrifuges, and bioreactors, sometimes built to my blueprints, sometimes not.

Hundreds of different specialists had worked with me personally at one time or another, putting the essence of their experience into the project to make it even better—sometimes hired by me, sometimes on their own initiative. And if you count the people who assembled all that gear for me…

A whole empire was working for me!

Well… okay, I'm exaggerating. But the amount of people involved to get to the current result really was huge. Thankfully, organizing all of it wasn't that hard for Shadow Clones.

But that still wasn't enough—my chakra control had reached insane heights. I could perform most jutsu without hand seals—spit fire or other elements just because I felt like it. Use Shadow Clones that didn't pop out in a cloud of smoke but came straight out of my body—no problem, that was a simple tweak. Use S‑rank techniques other shinobi couldn't even dream of pulling off. The same Hiraishin, which I now used casually on my own, could only be replicated by three people—and even then it was a crippled version, with all sorts of crutches, and only if all three focused on the technique at the same time.

My control… was anomalous. So high it was scary. Only my affinity really held me back. I could pull off original jutsu with ridiculous mastery, could create insanely complex sealing arrays. But my physical reinforcement still wasn't that far beyond jonin who were only about twice my age. It's probably because of that unstable affinity that I wasn't the strongest shinobi in the world… Yet. For now it's just something that might happen someday, and I need to live in the present.

And here, one step away from the culmination of where my abilities had led me, I should probably mention what underlies that control. Thanks to a few experiments, I finally had at least an approximate answer.

When I started, for good reasons, measuring my own brain activity, I uncovered some very curious information. In the void, my soul—or rather, I, as the conscious part of that soul—could somehow think. Before, that was just a theory, but now, after several months of tests, I'm more than ninety percent sure my brain and soul work in tandem.

Originally I'd assumed the soul had taken over most of the mental workload, while the brain was mostly just a transmitter for what needed to be sent to the body. Commands to move, for example. That fit nicely with the fact that even before I was born I could think. But no: the brain of this body, at least a bit over a year ago when I started this testing, was developing very well, fully.

Soul and brain working together—two minds as one. I think that's the key to why my control and overall computational ability grew so much faster and further than other people's usually do. And that's not even counting the insane control potential I already had, which I've of course been realizing and keep pushing forward at a slow but steady pace. Because there are two intellects, I think my progress in control didn't slow down as much as it should have. In other words, my progress is faster because my soul woke up.

The soul is a very interesting direction. Thanks to it, my special vision still works, but it doesn't let me see through chakra. People's insides, for example. Luckily, for that I have insanely powerful fuin‑analyzers that project a shit‑ton of information in different spectra directly into my brain. That's how, thanks to them, I was able to really figure out the brain—and a lot more. The soul needs to be studied; I'm itching to learn everything about it. Maybe it hides a much higher potential than I think. But for now there's no material… Along with most of the chakra and the chakra pathway system, after the body dies the soul goes to the Pure Land… Or maybe the soul doesn't go to the Pure Land, only the chakra network does… I don't know. The point is, I had to focus on what I could study. Namely, on corpses, which are pretty crappy research material. And my control played no small role in that.

That same precision control, boosted by an auxiliary fuin‑analyzer, let me look deeper than anyone ever had. Not the Hyūga, not, I suspect, even Mangekyō users. I studied every system of the human body, every cell, even dug into the structure of the genome and found tools capable of influencing it.

A lot of things in the body are interconnected. And thanks to numerous experiments I managed, roughly speaking, to learn about a thousand "words" from a "dictionary" of property sets which, when projected, let me order the body to start this or that change. In the end, it got to the point where I could almost fully program how the body would change, and even, in a sense, the chakra pathway system. I even managed to study and force myself to reproduce—though clumsily and very inefficiently—the segments of the chakra system responsible for chakra‑development potential. Basically, make the dendritic vessels of chakra expansion even wider, deeper, farther. Compute, again crudely, some vectors of development for them. Most of my time still didn't go into that, though. Those parts of the chakra system are still too complex for me, and all these years my mind's been processing what it can.

My goal wasn't just power‑up, but a total, all‑round improvement of the body. A jump of millions of years in evolution, creating something far more perfect than a human. With this project I'd create the "foundation" for dealing with future threats and for survival itself.

My options and abilities were so great that guys like Tobirama or Orochimaru could only—yeah, the phrase is overused—cough up blood. And when you look at what I was working with, the end result stops being all that surprising.

And then, when all the theory was ready, when nearly all the formulas were calculated, I hit a wall again. I was once more missing the most important thing—living material for experiments. Studying corpses had given me everything it could. But dead tissue, while it reacts, doesn't adapt the same way. Even if you temporarily turn it "alive" using a certain not‑very‑ethical forbidden technique. Without tests on a living body that can regenerate and respond, all my calculations were just barely‑supported theory.

I trusted my math, but overkill safety wasn't just desirable, it was necessary. But where was I supposed to get this "living material"? Kidnap Konoha citizens? Out of the question. That would go directly against my rule of not touching people who don't touch me. And it's not even rational—having a population is what drives progress and gives me resources.

The project had stalled because of "stupid" ethics. I remembered Mizuki with annoyance. His crimes—finding kids and helping kidnap them—made him a perfect candidate. But he was who‑knows‑where now, most likely rotting in some prison, and I hadn't even bothered to find out which. His partners had also vanished, cleaned up by ANBU. To my joy or misfortune, no one else in Konoha wanted to sell me like a piece of meat to some shady international criminal like Orochimaru. Which meant they hadn't lost what little pity I could still feel for them.

It's not like I was just sitting around waiting. No, I was still pulling a lot of useful data out of corpses. But over time, there were simply fewer and fewer of them.

So only a few days separated the local criminal element—whom I'd chosen as the best target for a deal with my conscience—from something close to genocide. But it just so happened that things lined up in a way where I didn't even have to go looking for that "criminal element":

"Meet at the bridge in an hour," Kakashi tossed out lazily, gathering us after another boring but not too difficult mission. "We've got a new assignment."

Sasuke and Sakura, already used to the D‑rank grind, didn't show much enthusiasm. My clone just nodded.

An hour later, we were on the bridge. Next to us stood our client: an older, short guy in glasses with a towel on his head, who reeked of sake. He was trying to tell us something, but for me‑clone, watching the water flowing under the bridge was more interesting. Only later did I half‑listen to what Hatake was droning on about.

"Team Seven," Kakashi began formally. "Our first C‑rank mission. Escorting bridge builder Tazuna‑san to the Land of Waves. Then defending the bridge construction until it's completed."

Sakura and Sasuke perked right up. C‑rank! That meant leaving the village, a chance to fight a real enemy instead of weeds and rats.

Me, at first I just felt a stab of boredom. Escort some old man? A drunk one at that. But then… the word "old man"… "bridge builder"… something clicked deep in my memory.

"Escort an old man? An old man… An old man?!!"

And then it hit me.

Land of Waves… Gato… mercenaries… Demon Zabuza and… his femboy Haku…

My eyes, which had been lazily watching the river, flared for a moment with a wild researcher's fire, then went cold, icy.

When I turned to my team and met the old man's eyes, he shuddered.

Here it was, the push to the next step. This wasn't just a mission, but also… a source of "living material." Bandits. Nukenin. People who would come to threaten the life of my client, my teammates… and me. On top of that, perfect test subjects: they're from a small, isolated country, and no one's going to seriously investigate their disappearance.

Perfect…

I gave Kakashi a calm nod, accepting the mission. But inside, a plan was already forming. That dead end in my research… I might be breaking through it soon. Mu‑ha‑ha‑ha‑ha!

Around noon. Original Uzumaki Naruto's POV

We were standing at Konoha's gate. This time, after getting information from the clone that made me wary, I'd come in person.

Tazuna was loudly going on about how important his bridge was, Sakura and Sasuke were listening with serious faces, and Kakashi was pretending to listen too. I was looking at the road stretching off into the distance, beyond the village. I'm sure a predatory, anticipatory smile flashed across my face—one no one likely noticed. Except maybe Kakashi, if he hadn't been so into his book.

"Well then," I thought, feeling a rush of excitement spread through my veins. "Since such a chance fell into my lap, time to push science forward."

Snapping fully back to reality, I turned to Tazuna.

"Hey, old man."

"I'm not an old man!" he blurted out right away.

"Yeah, yeah," I went on, my expression showing exactly how little I gave a damn about his correction. "I don't feel like dragging myself all the way to your shitty country. So turn your back to me and get ready for transport."

"Huh?" Tazuna didn't get it.

"Naruto," Kakashi rolled his visible eye in weary resignation. "You can't talk to a client like that. It reflects badly on the village's reputation."

"Yeah, you brat! For your information, I—"

The geezer was going to keep ranting, but my tanto at his throat shut him up.

"Watch your mouth, you worthless piece of trash."

My mind dipped for a second into the memories the clone had brought back. He hadn't listened that closely, focused on his own thoughts. But when this old man had first shown up, he'd immediately started bitching about how in "his" ninja team there was only one real ninja. Why he had to go with, as he called us, "brats," and why there was even a girl among us. Straight‑up ageism and sexism. That alone was enough reason not to feel any respect for him—he was clearly not respecting us. On top of that, he reeked of booze like one of the worst of that already disgusting tribe of drunks, and he was dressed like some totally shameless bum. And even that wasn't all!

My meta‑knowledge also says that this parody of an educated man, thanks to his shortsightedness and, again, ignorance of some basic things in this world, is leading us straight toward a criminal cartel that definitely has chakra‑users in its ranks. That alone is enough reason to bump the mission up to at least B‑rank. Meanwhile he ordered it as a C‑rank mission. Which means he's leading a team that isn't meant for this shit—and even himself—straight into mortal danger.

"Is everything okay here?" a gate guard came over, eyeing my blade.

I slid the tanto back into its sheath.

"Just a dumb client. Don't mind him."

He stared at me for a second, then nodded and walked off.

I remember this guy. In, I think, seven of our spars I beat the crap out of him. He was a pretty decent partner. I figure he's got his own opinion of me, and that's what kept him from saying something like, "Don't ever let me see that again," or otherwise escalating it.

Just in case, Tazuna followed both my instructions, sweating as he turned his back to me.

Immediately, fuin characters crawled out from my leg, ran along the ground, and climbed up onto the bridge builder.

"You're nasty today, Naruto," Sakura noted, having been watching the Hiraishin mark spread with a strange look.

"That's just how I am. You guys get over here too."

"You can handle four?" Kakashi raised an eyebrow.

"I can handle more. Relax, your head's staying on your shoulders this time."

Grimacing and rubbing his neck, Hatake turned his back to me.

"Why this formation specifically?" Sakura asked, also doing as she was told.

Sasuke, meanwhile, took his place as well.

"So you don't puke on me."

"…Huh?" was all the bridge builder managed to ask before we vanished in a white flash.

An instant later, we were standing at the gate of some town. It was fairly close to the Land of Waves.

"…" Sasuke swayed, then straightened.

Sakura reacted the same way, while Kakashi didn't seem affected by the technique at all.

The old man, though, immediately greeted our arrival with the sound of a rainbow eruption. The stream blasted straight ahead, so nobody got splashed.

While we were in town, I sent a Shadow Clone into the Land of Waves to plant a Hiraishin mark. And less than an hour later, we were already there.

Our first C‑rank mission had entered its active phase.

---

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[Lillie Jones]

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[sergey54321060]

I mean, he could have done that as soon as he hit the wall, no? Just send a few clones to other countries, leave some hiraishin marks and farm as many bandits and nukenin as you need. I suppose he could do it in Fire country as well, but the chances of being found out would increase and if that happens Hiruzen would immediately try to murk him out of Orochi PTSD. Then again, he did build a lab in his own basement like a dumbass instead of hiding it somewhere accesible only with hiraishin