Branches scratched at Naruto's jacket as he ran deeper into Konoha's woods, not stopping until the alarms faded into distant echoes. Only when his lungs began to burn did he finally slow down.
He dropped onto the grass in a small clearing, moonlight filtering through the leaves. "Okay..." he muttered, sliding the massive scroll off his back. "Special test time." The scroll hit the ground with a heavy thud.
Naruto stared at it for a moment. "...Man, this thing's huge." He broke the seal clumsily and began unrolling it. The parchment stretched farther than he expected, inked with dense formulas and tight handwriting.
His eyes widened. "Whoa..." The first technique listed near the top made him blink twice. Summoning Technique: Impure World Reincarnation. Naruto tilted his head. "...Impure World... what?" He read the description slowly, lips moving as he tried to keep up. The technique could summon the dead. Bind their souls. Use them as warriors.
Naruto's face twisted. "What the heck?!" He recoiled from the scroll like it might bite him. "Who makes something like this? That's creepy!" he whispered, glancing around the dark forest as if ghosts might suddenly appear.
For a second, he imagined calling someone back from the grave. His grin faded. "...Yeah, no. Next." He rolled the scroll further. Flying Thunder God Technique. Naruto leaned forward again. "Flying... Thunder... God?"
Now that sounded cool. He read faster this time, excitement building. Instant teleportation. Movement faster than sight. Transporting himself—or anyone else—between marked seals.
His jaw dropped. "No way..." He pictured himself flashing across the battlefield in bursts of light. Enemies staring in shock. Him appearing behind them with a dramatic pose. "That's awesome!"
Then his eyes scanned the requirements. Advanced space-time ninjutsu. Master-level sealing proficiency. Precise formula inscriptions. Chakra control beyond standard jonin level.
Naruto's shoulders sagged. "...Oh." He squinted at the seal formulas printed along the side. "What seal?" He leaned closer, frowning as he traced the complex characters with his finger. "Ohhh... so you gotta make the seal first."
He knew basic sealing. Storage scrolls. Exploding tags. Simple containment formulas. He'd seen them around. Messed with a few old ones once or twice. But this? This was different. He scratched the back of his head. "I should learn sealing properly someday..."
His eyes drifted over the page again. "...Why are all the cool jutsu so hard?!"He flopped backward dramatically, staring at the moon through the trees.For a moment, doubt crept in.Then he rolled back up, stubborn fire returning instantly. "Third one's the charm!"
He unrolled the scroll further. Multi Shadow Clone Technique. Naruto froze. "...Clone?" His eye twitched. "Seriously? Out of all the super-awesome forbidden jutsu... it's another clone one?" He puffed out his cheeks in irritation.
"What's even the point of making one if it can't do anything?" He glanced at the heading again. Shadow Clone. He vaguely remembered the difference between physical clones and the useless illusionary ones he kept failing at. He skimmed the description.
The technique divided chakra evenly among the clones created. Each clone acted independently. Upon dispelling— Naruto skimmed past a paragraph too quickly. —memories and experience returned to the original. He blinked. "Wait... physical clones?"
His disappointment evaporated. "They're real?" He read more carefully now. The clones could fight. Move. Take hits. Train. His grin slowly spread. "Hold on..." If he made one clone, it would get half his chakra. If he made two— He started counting on his fingers. "...No way." His eyes sparkled. He didn't fully grasp the danger warning written below—the part about massive chakra drain. The strain. The risk to ordinary shinobi.
He just saw the number of clones listed in the examples. A hundred. More. His heart pounded. "That's it," he whispered. "If I can't make one normal clone... I'll just make a ton of these!" He leapt to his feet, dragging the scroll closer.
"Alright, alright... focus." He began memorizing the hand seals, repeating them under his breath. He didn't understand the full mechanics. He didn't remember—or maybe didn't notice—why it was forbidden. He just knew one thing. If this worked— Tomorrow, no one would call him the dead last again.
The Hokage Tower was louder than it had been in years. Doors opened and closed in sharp rhythm. ANBU moved across rooftops like shadows breaking formation. Chunin spread through the streets in coordinated waves, calling out positions, scanning alleys, tracking footprints that were already fading.
Then everything slowed. A line of shinobi stopped mid-stride and dropped to one knee as a familiar presence stepped out onto the balcony. The Third Hokage stood there, robes stirring gently in the wind.
Hiruzen Sarutobi looked older in moments like this—not weak, never that—but burdened. His gaze swept over the gathered ninja below. "Bring me both Naruto and the scroll," he said calmly.
No anger. No shouting. "Unharmed." A pause. "I will personally speak with the boy." The shinobi exchanged brief glances. "And no one," Hiruzen added, his voice sharpening just enough, "is to disobey my order."
"Yes, Lord Third!" They vanished.Hiruzen remained standing for a moment longer, eyes drifting toward the forest beyond the village walls. "…Naruto," he murmured quietly. Deep within Konoha's forest, the night air felt heavy.
Naruto stood in a small clearing, chest rising and falling rapidly. Sweat clung to his forehead. Dirt streaked his cheeks. His hands trembled slightly from overexertion. And yet— He was grinning. "I did it…" he panted. "I finally did it!"
Around him, dozens of identical Narutos flickered out of existence one by one in small bursts of smoke, leaving him alone again in the clearing. He wobbled on his feet.
"Okay… maybe that was a lot…" A rustling sound came from the bushes behind him. Naruto's head snapped up. "Who's there?!" he barked, raising his fists instinctively. The bushes burst apart.
"NARUTOOOOOO!" "Iruka-sensei?!" Naruto's face lit up instantly. "I found you!" "I found you?!" Iruka Umino shouted, eyes blazing. "I'm the one who found you, you idiot!"
Naruto blinked, then grinned wider. " what is the difference!" Iruka marched forward, furious. "Do you have any idea what you've done?! Stealing the Scroll of Seals from the Hokage Tower—" Naruto waved him off, barely listening.
"Doesn't matter!" he said excitedly. "I mastered a jutsu from it! A super strong one! So that means I pass now, right? I can graduate like everyone else!" Iruka opened his mouth to yell again— And stopped. His eyes narrowed.
Naruto's clothes were torn in several places. Dirt covered his sleeves. His fingers were scraped raw. There were faint chakra burn marks on his palms. "He'd been training all this time." Iruka's anger wavered, confusion replacing it. "…Naruto," he said slowly. "Who told you that you would pass if you stole the scroll?"
Naruto tilted his head. "Mizuki-sensei, obviously," he replied without hesitation. "He said it was a secret test for special students." The forest went very still. Iruka's expression changed not anger nor confusion but of fear. "…What did you say?" Iruka asked quietly.
Naruto blinked. "Mizuki-sensei told me about it. He said if I learned a jutsu from the scroll in one night, everyone would—" A sharp whistle cut through the air. Iruka moved instantly. "Get Down, Naruto!" Steel flashed in the moonlight. Several shuriken and kunai tore through the clearing, embedding themselves in the tree trunk where Naruto had been standing a heartbeat earlier.
Iruka grabbed Naruto and threw both of them to the ground, rolling behind a thick tree as metal clanged against bark. Naruto's eyes widened. "What the—?!" Iruka shielded him with his own body, scanning the treeline. Footsteps approached slowly from the darkness.
A figure stepped into the moonlight."…Good job, Naruto," came a familiar voice. The smile was the same but the eyes were different more colder than ever. "Thanks for stealing the scroll for me."
Moonlight filtered through the trees. Mizuki stepped fully into the clearing, two massive shuriken strapped to his back. He smiled faintly, but there was nothing warm about that smile. "Naruto, why don't you hand over the scroll?" Naruto blinked, still half-hidden behind Iruka.
"Mizuki-sensei? Why the hell would you throw those shuriken and kunai at us?!" Iruka's jaw clenched. "Mizuki... so it was you." Mizuki didn't deny it. He didn't even look ashamed. Instead, he looked amused. "Come on, Iruka. We both know that you hate that demon brat more than anyone in this world."
Naruto frowned. "Hate me?" he asked, looking at Iruka with confusion in his eyes. Iruka stepped in front of Naruto as if to shield him. "Don't listen to him, Naruto." Mizuki sighed dramatically. "You're really going to protect him? Even after knowing what he is?"
Naruto had heard words like that countless times before. And there it was again. What am I? he wondered, unsure if he even knew himself. Mizuki's voice sharpened.
"Twelve years ago, on the day the Nine-Tailed Fox attacked the village and nearly destroyed it to ashes, the Fourth Hokage defeated the beast—or so you were told. Yes, the Fourth Hokage did defeat the Nine-Tails, but he couldn't kill it. It was a living mass of chakra. So he did the second-best thing he could—he sealed it away. Not in some giant pot or cave, but in an infant boy born on that very day. And do you know who that boy is, Naruto?"
At that moment, Naruto stood frozen in shock. All the hatred, fear, and isolation began to make sense. "Stop!" Iruka shouted after realizing what he was trying to do but it was too late. "That's you Naruto, you are the Nine-Tailed Fox!"
The words echoed through the forest. Naruto stood frozen as everything began to make sense. The store owners refusing him. The parents pulling their children away. His hands began to shake. "...I'm...?" Mizuki's grin widened cruelly.
"The demon fox was sealed inside a newborn child. That child was you. You've been tricked your whole life. You even killed Iruka's parents—that's why he hates you, Naruto." Iruka's fists trembled in rage. "You bastard..." Naruto staggered back a step.
No... that didn't make sense. He was Naruto... right? But deep in his heart, he knew Mizuki was telling the truth. He just couldn't accept it. Mizuki reached behind his back and pulled free the giant shuriken.
"Now that you know, there's no reason to keep you alive. Give me the scroll, Naruto. It's your only value." Naruto didn't move. His breathing grew uneven. The giant shuriken spun through the air. Naruto didn't move from the spot. Thud!
Naruto felt himself being pushed to the ground instead of being stabbed. As he looked up. Iruka was standing in front of him. The blade slammed into his back with a sickening thud. "IRUKA-SENSEI!"
Iruka collapsed to one knee, blood staining his flak jacket. Naruto stared, horror flooding his face. "Why...?" he whispered. Iruka coughed but tried to look at Naruto. Naruto couldn't bear to look at him and began to run deep into the forest.Mizuki prepared another attack, but Iruka, despite his injury, jumped at him. "I won't let you harm him, Mizuki!" They began to fight, but the fight didn't last long as Iruka was already injured.
The scene shifted to Naruto leaping across the forest with the Scroll of Seals strapped to his back. He heard his name being called and looked down to see Iruka, out of breath. "Naruto! Don't listen to Mizuki! He's just saying that to mess with your mind!"
Suddenly, Naruto attacked Iruka, and they both fell through the trees and hit the ground. "How did you know I wasn't Iruka, huh, brat?" With a poof of smoke, "Iruka" revealed himself to be Mizuki. "That's because—" another poof revealed the real Iruka—"I am the real Iruka!" As they were talking a short distance away, Naruto was leaning against a tree, listening to them.
Mizuki scoffed. "You're protecting the thing that killed your parents." Naruto's head snapped up. Iruka's eyes hardened. "My parents were killed by the Nine-Tails. That's true." Naruto's heart dropped. Even Iruka thinks I'm a monster. "But Naruto is not the Nine-Tails." His voice didn't waver. "He's one of Konoha's shinobi."
Naruto's eyes widened. "He tries harder than anyone. He's loud, annoying, and reckless... but he works harder than anyone I've ever seen." Naruto's vision blurred. "He's not a demon," Iruka said firmly. "He's Uzumaki Naruto of the Hidden Leaf." Something shifted inside Naruto. The loneliness and anger didn't disappear, but something else burned—a will to protect someone precious.
Mizuki laughed. "Iruka, I knew you were pathetic, but to think you were this much of a loser." He leapt into the trees to attack again with the giant shuriken. Then a sudden kick to Mizuki's face rocked him, sending him a few feet away from Iruka. And there Naruto stood at the center, eyes bloodshot. "You even laid your hand on my sensei. I will kill you," he declared.
Iruka looked up and saw a Naruto he had never seen before—serious and focused. Mizuki began to laugh. "What can you do, brat? Even if hundreds of you come at me, I can kill them all."
Naruto lifted his head and grinned at Mizuki. "You're about to see. "He made the ram hand sign and shouted "Multi Shadow Clone Jutsu!" The forest exploded in smoke.When it cleared—A literal army of Naruto filled the clearing, standing on branches, crouching on the ground, hanging from trees.
Mizuki's confidence shattered. "That's impossible—!" Every Naruto cracked their knuckles at the same time. "Get him!" What followed wasn't a ninja battle but a street fight—punches, kicks, flying tackles, and shouts of "Take that!" and "That's for Iruka-sensei!"
Mizuki disappeared under a wave of orange. Moments later, the clones dispersed in smoke, leaving Mizuki unconscious in a crater of dirt and a broken mess. Naruto stood there, panting. "Huh? I just made a lot. I figured if one clone is useless, then a hundred aren't!"
Iruka almost laughed despite the pain. Naruto rushed to him. "You're bleeding! Hold on, I'll—" Then a thought struck Iruka. "Hey, Naruto... close your eyes for a second."
Naruto obeyed instantly. With his eyes closed, he felt something being wrapped around his forehead. When Naruto opened his eyes, he saw Iruka—but his own forehead protector was missing. "Naruto... you pass."
Naruto touched his own head to find a forehead protector resting there. Iruka smiled. For the first time in his life, Naruto didn't feel alone in the forest.