Two and a half more years passed in the blink of an eye. Naruto's chakra control finally improved to an acceptable level. Neji had graduated and become a genin. He was expected to participate in the chunin exams soon. Hinata had become more confident, and her fighting style became more varied thanks to Mikoto. Mikoto's chakra reserves had been growing rapidly. Having gained an additional chakra core specifically for tailed beast chakra meant that she could allocate one pool of chakra to protecting her body while she absorbed enough for the other. She kept her normal chakra to the level of being just below a jonin, but the tailed beast chakra she held was set to rival Kurama's soon. This is partly due to wanting to avoid suspicion of being a jinchuriki, but also because she much preferred tailed beast chakra to regular chakra. As for why nobody could detect the extra chakra, it was obviously because Mikoto willed it to be so. Everyone had been training incredibly hard for their graduation, and it was finally here.

 

"Today's the day, are you two ready?" Mikoto asked her friends.

 

"Yes!" Hinata clenched her fist.

 

"Ugh… I think I ate something bad last night. I'll- I'll do my best." Naruto was a little green.

 

"Take it easy Naruto. Even if you're sick today, I'm sure there's a way to retake the test. We all know that you can perform the clone jutsu." Mikoto gave Naruto a quick pat on the shoulder, causing him to turn a little more green. "Oops. Let's just sit you down as quick as possible so you can rest before our test."

 

Hinata and Mikoto supported Naruto into the classroom and sat him at his seat. Hinata gave Naruto a look with her Byakugan to see if anything else was wrong but it must've only been a bad meal or nerves as she couldn't see anything. Mikoto simply rested, probing with a bit of tailed beast chakra to check his condition. It really had been a bad meal.

 

I can't imagine how my other half feels right now. His living conditions must be horrible.

 

I feel sorry for both of them. If I weren't in a clan I would've taken him in but there's no clan who would knowingly accept a jinchuriki into their midst. What a shame. At least he'll be joining a team and finally have his own source of income soon. I still can't believe the orphanage kicked him out all those years ago, though.

 

Humans have always been disgusting. You're one of the only good ones I've met.

 

While Kurama and Mikoto were discussing, the duo of instructors entered the room and explained the rules of the exam. The only requirement was to successfully create a clone using the clone jutsu. While Iruka was talking, Mizuki scanned the class and grinned upon seeing Naruto's complexion.

 

"For this test, we will be following the same order as your mid-education assessment." Mizuki added on to Iruka's instructions, garnering a look from him.

 

"Mizuki, didn't we agree that we would go based on volunteers?"

 

"It doesn't matter. A shinobi should always be prepared for the unexpected! First up, Naruto Uzumaki!" Upon seeing Hinata and Mikoto, who were about to speak, he tacked on an additional rule, "By the way, if somebody wants to break the order in which the exam is given, they will immediately fail."

 

This caused Hinata to back down, but Mikoto still wasn't easily convinced. Just as she was about to stand, Naruto stopped her.

 

"It's fine. I can do this." He gave his friends a weak smile and walked to the front of the class, each step sluggish and wobbly.

 

He got up to the front and put his hands together, forming a seal. With a puff of smoke, what appeared next to Naruto was… a puddle of vomit? Naruto quickly passed out on the floor, prompting Hinata and Mikoto to appear by his side. Iruka saw Naruto's condition and looked pained. Mizuki walked to the trio.

 

"Naruto failed. I'll carry him to the infirmary. Iruka will continue the test. Hinata is next."

 

Mizuki picked Naruto up and carried him away with Hinata and Mikoto's glares burning a hole in the back of his head. Iruka looked concerned but continued regardless. As expected, Hinata, Mikoto, and the rest of the class passed. The day ended and the two girls went to see Naruto in the infirmary. They found him lying in a bed, still slightly pale, and grinning to himself. When he saw them his face brightened up.

 

"Guys! Good job on graduating! I know I didn't, but Mizuki-sensei told me that there was a special test I could take to make sure I graduate. I just need to steal a scroll that has some interesting jutsu on it and learn one of them! I'll be going tonight, but I can't take anyone with me." He frowned. "Sorry I can't hang out later, I need to prepare. Don't worry, though! I'll be fine and I'll graduate for sure!" Naruto smiled again and gave them a peace sign.

 

The vague contents of the new test concerned Hinata and Mikoto, but they just let it slide for the time being. The three chatted for a bit and Naruto eventually left, feeling refreshed and ready to complete his mission. Mikoto and Hinata trailed him, cloaked by Mikoto's tailed beast chakra that had been altered to erase their presences.

 

They saw Naruto quickly prepare some materials for sneaking and stealing. The sun hadn't set and Naruto was already prepared, so he decided to return to his home. Although the two followed him, they decided to not invade his privacy, letting him invite them to his home whenever he felt comfortable. However, they were still appalled by the state the entire section of the village they were in. It was practically a slum! The two were concerned for his safety and spoke about what they could do to help Naruto once he graduated.

 

The sun finally dropped below the horizon; it was nighttime. Naruto snuck out of his apartment and made his way towards the Hokage's Residence. It was the location that Mizuki gave to him when asking him to steal the scroll. Hinata and Mikoto followed closely behind him and made sure nobody was aware of his presence. Mikoto noticed that, for some reason, that jonin that normally followed Naruto around were no longer present. She couldn't say for sure why this was, but she decided to ignore it and make sure Naruto did what he was supposed to do.

 

Naruto easily snuck into the building and made his way through the winding halls. There weren't any guards along the route at all. Rather than sneaking, Naruto could have run through the hallway at full speed and still have gone unnoticed. Eventually he found himself at a large door that was ajar. He checked his map one more time and walked in. Sitting on the floor was the scroll he was looking for. Seeing it, he quickly grabbed it and began to flee from the building. He fled to the forest where the meeting point was supposed to be. He was supposed to meet Mizuki at midnight, he had two hours to learn a jutsu from the scroll. As he scanned it, Mikoto and Hinata snuck up behind him, peeking over his shoulders.

 

"Mikoto, these are forbidden jutsu!" Hinata shouted, feeling no worry thanks to Mikoto's chakra cloak.

 

"Are they? I'd like to get a closer look at this scroll myself sometime. Well, I say that, but I've already remembered everything Naruto has seen. If he doesn't check everything I'll be disappointed."

 

"Mikoto!"

 

"It's fine, it's fine. Let's just see what he learns. This could be a good experience for him, and we should protect him. Besides, I don't really have a use for forbidden jutsu. If necessary I can just create my own."

"…Okay." Hinata nodded.

 

Naruto looked through the entire scroll, backwards and forwards. After ten minutes of intense head scratching and searching, he decided on the Multiple Shadow Clone Jutsu.

 

"Haha, well, I'm not surprised he settled on the easiest one. It fits him perfectly, too. Only someone with massive chakra reserves could possibly use it. Let's see how he does." Mikoto seemed amused at Naruto's choice. Out of all the jutsu in the scroll, his choice was probably the only one that wouldn't get him into serious trouble.

 

Naruto continually practiced and eventually it became midnight. Naruto was able to summon a few clones that had physical form. He was satisfied. Suddenly, a man burst through the trees.

 

"Naruto! What on Earth are you doing?" Iruka was shouting, barely able to catch his breath.

 

"Oh! Iruka-sensei! I just learned a really awesome jutsu. Let me show you." Naruto slowly took a stance.

 

"Wait, Naruto. Why did you even steal this scroll?"

"Mizuki-sensei told me that I could still graduate as long as I learned a jutsu from this scroll. I thought you knew."

 

"Mizuki did… Wait- get down!" Iruka tackled Naruto and pushed him out of the way. Naruto barely escaped getting hit while Iruka became covered in cuts.

 

"What's happening, Iruka-sensei?" Naruto paled at seeing his bleeding teacher.

 

"Mizuki tricked you. I knew you were feeling ill. You could have just retested tomorrow. Mizuki just wanted to get his hands on that scroll and he wanted to blame you."

 

"Ever observant, aren't you, Iruka?" Mizuki revealed himself from behind the cover of a nearby tree.

 

"Run, Naruto! Don't let him get that scroll!" As Naruto readied himself to escape, a voice interrupted him.

 

"Naruto, don't you want to know why everyone hates you?" Mizuki had a cold grin on his face.

 

"Don't you dare, Mizuki!"

 

"…What do you mean?" Naruto asked, glaring at Mizuki.

 

"Oh, you really didn't know? Well of course you wouldn't. After all, everyone was forbidden from telling you… telling you that you're a demon! You're the same demon fox that assaulted the village twelve years ago! Did you know, that demon fox is the one that killed Iruka's parents? You think you're human? Don't make me laugh! You're nothing more than a demon that lives in human skin! How dare you live among us, pretending you're like us. Everyone in the village hates you. Everyone wishes you were dead. Iruka hates you, the village hates you, those Hyuga children hate you. I'm sure an imbecile like you wouldn't notice, but they're only toying with you. They'll abandon you once you get bored. The village would be better off without you." Mizuki's words became more intense the longer he spoke. He was practically spitting every single time his mouth opened. His eyes held a tinge of insanity. The smile on Mizuki's face spoke of the joy he received from speaking these words. Yet, Naruto couldn't see any of this. His eyes were blinded by tears. He stood on the spot, crying.

 

"You don't know if my friends will abandon me! I'll show you!" Naruto began gathering chakra, unaware of Mizuki's approaching shuriken attack. Before Naruto could do anything, he was tackled by Iruka. Once his eyes cleared, what he saw was Iruka's figure hovering over him, profusely bleeding. A drop of blood from Iruka's face landed on his cheek.

 

"Iruka-sensei… why? Don't you hate me"

 

"I don't. I know that every time I looked at you I had trouble hiding my emotions, but it's only because I was reminded of the day my parents died. It just hurt so much. I'm sorry, Naruto. If I had shown more care, we wouldn't be in this situation." Before Naruto could reply, Iruka whispered to him, "Run. I'll hold him off."

 

Naruto set his face and quickly sprinted away.

 

"Can't you see, Iruka? Even now, Naruto won't change." Mizuki sneered.

 

"He's more capable of changing than you are."

"I'm sure that's what you might wish for, isn't it? Too bad, I'm going to kill him and take the scroll for myself. I'd kill you, but I have much better things to do." Mizuki ran away without giving Iruka the chance to recover.

 

"Wait!"

 

Mizuki dashed through the forest, searching for any traces of Naruto. He transformed into Iruka and eventually saw a small yellow blur flitting through the trees.

 

"Naruto! I managed to get away from Mizuki! Give me the scroll, quickly!" Mizuki urged.

 

Naruto stopped on the tree and gave Mizuki a bright smile.

 

"Thank goodness, please come and take it. I thought we were going to die."

 

Mizuki approached. As he got close to Naruto, he felt something hard impact his stomach. It was Naruto's fist. Naruto punched him so hard that he thought his internal organs would explode. His transformation came undone as he fell to the forest floor.

 

"Drop to your knees, scum." Before Mizuki could open his eyes, the figure in front of him disappeared.

 

"Mizuki! Stay away from Naruto!" Iruka approached him, trying to seal off any chance of escape.

 

"Don't even try to stop me, I can see you're bleeding out. It's taking all you have to keep yourself standing. You're ending your life just to save the demon that killed your parents? Pathetic."

 

"So what? I'll protect that boy."

"Why? He's just like me. The demon fox would undoubtedly use the scroll to gain power. Just the same as me."

"Yeah, the demon fox would," Iruka nodded, "but Naruto isn't the demon fox. He never was. He didn't choose to have the fox sealed inside of him. He's one of my students that I look forward to watching, even past his graduation. Naruto Uzumaki is a boy that will make a fine shinobi!"

 

"…Remember how I said I had more important things to do than kill you? I changed my mind. You're going to die now!" Mizuki reeled his arm back, readying his shuriken. Just as he was about to attack, a yellow blur crashed into his stomach. "Ugh, you'll regret that!"

 

"You'll regret touching Iruka-sensei, you jerk!" Naruto made a seal with his hands. "Multiple Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

 

A massive cloud of smoke surrounded the three that were present. As it cleared, hundreds of clones of Naruto appeared, filling the surrounding area. Mizuki tried to retreat, only to find more clones at his back. At Naruto's command they all dogpiled Mizuki, leaving him no room to retreat. They beat him black and blue, but Mizuki somehow managed to disappear to somewhere unknown. After seeing that he was gone, Naruto went to Iruka.

 

"Iruka-sensei…

 

"I won't die just yet! Come here and close your eyes, I have something for you."

Naruto did as he was asked, and when he opened his eyes, he saw that Iruka's headband was missing. Reaching for his forehead, his fingers recoiled at the cold feel of metal. He extended his fingers once more and traced the engraved pattern over multiple times. Once he confirmed that it really was a headband, he tackled Iruka, tears in his eyes.

 

"Thank you!"

 

"Haha, you're welcome, kid. Congrats on becoming a genin. Also- get off of me I'm gonna break!" Naruto quickly backed away.

 

"Oops, my bad."

"It's fine. Do you wanna go get some ramen?"

 

"Of course I do!" The two slowly exited the forest, expecting Mizuki to be found soon.

 

As if waiting for them to leave, Hinata and Mikoto appeared from thin air. Mikoto addressed Hinata.

 

"Go wait for Naruto at the edge of the forest and help those two out. Iruka-sensei's really injured and Naruto is pretty worn out. Also, call him a dumbass for even thinking that we might abandon him!"

 

"What are you going to do?"

 

"I've got a mouse to catch." As if playing around, Mikoto used the transformation jutsu to give herself cat ears and a tail.

 

"Well, as long as you'll be okay." Hinata quickly ran away while covering her face.

 

"I will be, also, when you see Hiashi, tell him I'll be talking to the Hokage."

"Got it. See you soon." Hinata disappeared from the spot, quickly running through the trees.

 

"Now then, aren't you glad I hid you, Mizuki?"

From the other end of the tree where Naruto and Iruka were, Mizuki appeared, barely able to move.

 

"What do you want, brat?"

 

"That's rather rude of you. Well though, you don't need to know what I want. I'm just going to make a gift out of you. I hope the Hokage enjoys it."

"Hah! He won't be able to get anything out of me and neither will you. Do your worst." Mizuki laughed at the girl in front of him.

 

"Since you asked, don't blame me for the consequences." A bolt of black chakra flew from her fingertip and entered Mizuki's eyes. His eyes completely disappeared and looked as though they were replaced by endless voids. His body went limp. "Of course, that isn't even my worst, but it might as well be for you. Now, let's see if you enjoy the next thousand years. In the meantime, I need to speak with the Hokage," Mikoto said to no one in particular.

 

Thousand years?

 

I manipulated my chakra to accelerate the perception of time. In the span of an hour, he'll experience a thousand years of torment.

 

Once again: you're terrifying.

 

Thanks.

 

In his office, the Third Hokage had already dismissed everyone and was sitting, leisurely smoking his pipe. Just as he finished taking a puff, Mikoto arose from the shadows with a body in tow.

 

"Hokage-sama, we need to have a talk."