Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ To Measure My Capacity ❯ Chapter 7 ( Chapter 7 )

Chapter 7

 

As the door to the Hokage's office shut silently behind him, Naruto let out a sigh. His return to Konoha didn't go as he thought it would, not that he really expected much. He thought the Hokage would, at least, be relieved that Naruto was back and safe. He did not think the Hokage would be so suspicious of him.

'I guess it makes sense,' Naruto thought to himself as he turned and made his way down the corridor. `I've been away for 6 years, and left with an S-ranked missing nin. He's the Hokage of Konoha, he should be suspicious of any ninja that has been away from the village for any length of time, especially one that left with Uchiha Itachi.'

 

`I think you got off easy.'

 

`Oh?' Naruto questioned Kyuubi while making his way away from the Hokage's office.

 

`Yes. You should have been subjected to tests to see if the seal was secure. It's quite dangerous for him to let you in the village. For all he knows, I'm controlling you.'

 

`I suppose he trusts Ero-sennin. Can't say I do.'

 

As Naruto rounded a corner he was roughly pushed into the wall.

 

“Wha-“ Naruto started, before being cut off.

”Out of my way, kid.” A ninja dressed in the usual chuunin outfit said as he muscled his way past Naruto. As he took off down the corridor Naruto saw he had a large scroll and even larger bladed stars strapped to his back.

 

“Hey, watch it!” Naruto called out to the ninja as he dashed around another corner and out of sight.

 

`Man' Naruto thought, `someone needs to teach that guy some manners'

 

`And you're going to be the one to do that, I suppose?' Kyuubi questioned in a bored voice.

 

`Yep' Naruto thought back as he started after the rude ninja. Turning the corner the escapee had rounded, Naruto saw him running down a long corridor towards large wooden double doors. Barely slowing his stride the ninja threw out his hands and effectively broke the hinges as he collided through the swing doors.

 

`He sure is in a hurry' Naruto thought as he passed through the now broken doors into an empty reception area.

”Hey you!” Naruto called out as the ninja exited the building.

 

`He really is in a hurry to get somewhere, isn't he?' Naruto questioned as he plunged into the chilly twilight air.

 

`Mmm,' Kyuubi agreed nonchalantly and yawning.

 

`Damnit' thought Naruto as he started to pursue his rude prey through the now rather empty streets `I can't catch up to him easily with these new weights on. Stupid Ero-sennin, always picks the most inconvenient days to add more weight. The best I can do is to keep up with him.'

 

The ninja suddenly took a sharp turn down a dark alley, in what Naruto thought to be a dismal attempt to through his pursuer off his trail.

 

“Wait!” Naruto called out as he turned into the alley. While dark, it was easy to make out the ninja's shoulder length white hair in the gloom of the alley.

”What's with this kid?” The ninja muttered under his breath as he glanced over his shoulder.

 

“Wait up please!” Naruto shouted as the ninja sailed into the air, over a high brick wall at the end of the alley and out of sight. `I don't think he's going to stop'.

 

`What?' Kyuubi grunted, clearly not paying attention. `You know, it's probably not the best idea to chase one of Konoha's ninja like this'.

 

`He could have really hurt someone running around like that' Naruto argued as he too sailed over the high wall and into another seedy alley.

 

Kyuubi snorted. `Like you care about other people'

 

`Hey, I care about others!' Naruto defended, now chasing the ninja along the rooftops of Konoha's outer houses.

 

Kyuubi laughed, the malicious noise filling Naruto's head. `You care about others?! You care about what other people think of you. Youcare to a point. Youcare long enough to get people's `respect'. It's ironic. Youwant to be Hokage to gain the respect of people you don't even care about.'

 

`That isn't true!' Naruto shouted back at Kyuubi.

'Hmm, no, it probably isn't' Kyuubi replied, thoughtfully. `Yes, it's true you want to become Hokage to gain people's respect. However, it's your motives, my dear Naruto-kun, that are what need to be questioned. Why do you want their respect? I think you'll find the answer to that question to be much less glorified and righteous than one would initially think.'

 

Naruto was on auto-follow now. The rude ninja had now entered the forest surrounding Konoha, but Naruto's interest in the pursuit had become void.

 

`Oh well, that's enough advice for now' Said Kyuubi cheerily.

'Advice?' Naruto replied slowly, jumping from branch to branch automatically.

 

`Of course. I'll always be here to give you sisterly advice, Naruto-kun. You must remember my wisdom far exceeds any petty mortal's.'

 

`Brag much?' thought Naruto, staring blankly at the scrolled back of the retreating ninja.

 

`Pfft. Nap time. Later.'

 

With that, Naruto felt Kyuubi's presence vanish.

.

Looking skyward and finding only rushing leaves, Naruto asked himself slowly “My… motives?”

 

 

The Hokage's door burst open.

 

“Hokage-sama!” a young ninja exclaimed, holding the door open dramatically.

 

“Ahh! Iruka, I have the team list for all the new graduates.” The Hokage said, pushing a pile of papers on his desk forward towards Iruka. “I'm pleased to say I managed to create evenly balanced teams, despite the uneven numbers.”

“Hokage-sama, someone has stolen the forbidden Scroll of Seals!” Iruka shouted.

 

The Hokage stood slowly, his eyebrows raised slightly. “Oh? Who was it that was guarding it tonight?”

“Mizuki was, Hokage-sama.” Iruka replied. “However, both he and the scroll are missing.”

 

“I see.” The Hokage said simply. He walked over to a crystal ball-like object and began channeling some of his chakra into it. How this fascinating orb worked no one knew, but the Hokage thought of it as one of his greatest treasures. With it, he could look into various places without any… danger, as such.

 

It did not take long for the crystal ball's eye to find what the Hokage was searching for. As Iruka came over to see what the Hokage was doing, the ball started to focus in on a shadowy figure being pursued by a streak of white.

 

“Interesting…” The Hokage stated.

Iruka gasped. “Mizuki… how could he. We should dispatch all available chuunin and jounin, Hokage-sama.”

The shadow suddenly stopped and seemingly confronted the streak of white.

”No,” the Hokage said thoughtfully, breathing out a cloud of smoke. “Let us see where this leads.”

**************************************************** ********************

 

Naruto was quickly dispelled from his dazed state when his prey suddenly turned to confront him.

 

“I don't know how they found out so quickly,” the ninja shouted, a crazed look in his eye, “but sending a little brat like you after me is an insult!”

 

“What are yo-” was all Naruto managed before diving to the side and out of the way of the kunai that was sent sailing at him.

 

`Well, this sure escalated quickly' Naruto thought as he dodged another kunai, landing on the underside of a large branch, his long hair flowing downward in a yellow curtain.

 

“So,” the chuunin sneered, the crazed look in his eye heightening, “the little boy thinks he has some skill.” Taking one of the large bladed stars off his back, he shouted “But you're nothing to me!”

Naruto raised an eyebrow, still hanging upside down. `This guy's got some kind of problem. It's like he wants to kill me or something'.

 

With a cry, the chuunin sent his weapon flying towards Naruto. `Oh, please' Naruto thought, stopping the flow of chakra to his feet and dropping lightly to the branch below, easily avoiding the large projectile which whistled overhead. Straightening slightly, Naruto crossed his arms and stared placidly at the chuunin.

 

The chuunin just grinned back.

 

Suddenly, a faint whistling noise intruded upon Naruto's senses. `What the…' Naruto thought as the noise's direction became apparent. `Behind me?!'

Naruto turned just in time to catch the object with his stomach.

 

“Haha!” The ninja exclaimed excitedly as Naruto's impaled body soared through the air, the force of the weapon easily knocking it from its original spot. “Kids these days, they think they're so tough!”

The body landed in front of the chuunin with a sickening thud.

“So,” the ninja said, crouching down so he could properly ridicule his opponent, “got anything to say, brat?”

 

Naruto grinned slightly, blood trickling down the side of his mouth. “Yeah,” he chuckled, which just enticed a coughing fit in which blood splattered to the ground, “I really should thank Ero-sennin for telling me about that Kawarimi trick.”

 

“Oh? It didn't seem to help much. You still got hit.”

The ninja stood up, withdrew a kunai and started spinning it around his finger. “Any last words, brat?”

Naruto smiled weakly. “A couple.”

“Oh, do go on!” The chuunin raved. “The suspense is killing me!”

“Bunshin Daibakuha”

 

The chuunin's eyes widened as the clone exploded. “What?!”

 

A great boom resounded through the forest as the chuunin was flung into a large tree trunk with such force a large crack appeared and ran its way all the way up the trunk.

 

Naruto emerged from the shadows and surveyed the scene. `Reasonable sized crater? Check. Defeated opponent? Check. Hmm, I think I put too much chakra into the clone for such a friendly battle. It shouldn't have had that much power.'

'No,' Kyuubi yawned, `it's just that your chakra is becoming more potent.'

 

`Damnit, why are you awake?' Naruto questioned, annoyed.

 

`That explosion would wake anyone up.' Kyuubi muttered. `Anyway, our chakra mixing continuously as it has been doing has caused your chakra to become more potent. I'm too tired to explain the details, but you'll have to be more careful with your jutsu from now on.'

 

`Strange' Naruto thought, now carrying the unconscious chuunin back towards Konoha. `I hadn't noticed any difference.'

 

`No, you wouldn't have. Since the change is so gradual, you've been making unconscious changes to your chakra use to compensate. The reason it was obvious with that jutsu was because you haven't used it in at least 2 years. I didn't even know you could do it. That Kawarimi trick with the Kagebunshin was absolute brilliance, by the way.' Kyuubi praised `I doubt anyway would ever expect a trick like that.'

 

`Yes, well, it's meant to be impossible - according to Ero-sennin.' Naruto couldn't help but feel a sense of pride as he said this. `I'll be sure not to use it much'.

 

`Good thinking. The enemy can't counter your tricks if they don't know them' Kyuubi responded sagely.

 

`Indeed' replied Naruto, once again lost in his thoughts - pondering what Kyuubi had said earlier.

 

`Why do I want to become Hokage?' Naruto asked himself privately.

 

 

“Well,” the Hokage started, straightening up and shifting his gaze from his orb to Iruka, “it would seem our problem is solved.”

 

“How-? Who-? Why-? What…- What the hell just happened?!” Iruka exclaimed, throwing his hands up in the air in exasperation.

 

“It would seem our good friend has done everything for us,” the Hokage said as he stood. Making his way over to the desk, he picked up the papers he had pushed towards Iruka earlier.

”Here you go, Iruka. The teams for this year's graduates, nicely completed by yours truly.” The Hokage sat down at his desk. “Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a mountain of paperwork to do and I'd like to be in bed by midnight.”

 

“But-“ Iruka started, but the Hokage raised a hand to silence him.

“Please, Iruka. I must get this done.”

Iruka sighed. “Very well.” He turned, opened the door and paused.

 

“Goodnight, Iruka.”

Iruka's shoulders slumped. “Goodnight, Hokage-sama,” he said as the door closed behind him.

 

Sighing, Iruka looked at papers in his hands for the first time. His eyes widened at what he read.

”Uzumaki… Naruto?!”

 

 

An hour later, a loud knock broken the Hokage from his spell of signature writing.

”Oi, old man, open the door!”

 

The Hokage rose slowly, stretching slightly to free a few joints, and opened the door.

 

White and yellow with black and green slung over its shoulder strode into the room.

“So yeah,” Naruto started, “I was in the forest training and this ninja totally jump-“

“It's okay, Naruto.” The Hokage reassured. “I saw what happened. I have to say I'm quite impressed.” The Hokage offered Naruto a seat, once he had put his luggage down.

 

“Mizuki is not a high ranking chuunin, by any means, and his state of mind didn't help any.” The Hokage started, taking a seat opposite Naruto. “However, the way you handled the situation… well, I must say there are few people who would have done as well as you did.”

 

Naruto nodded. The Hokage continued.

“Really, the forethought you displayed in that fight is well beyond that of a genin. Creating a clone, out of sight and without hand seals as the fight started - few chuunin would think of doing that. Keeping the bunshin alive long enough to channel enough chakra into it for that attack - which is not an easy feat - rather than jumping him from behind as many would have done. Your attitude - watching and waiting calmly when under attack, to establish what was going - everything you did was a perfect example of how a ninja should act and what a ninja should do.”

 

Naruto nodded his head again. He knew that his attitude was what made him strong. Itachi had used many tools and taken a long time sculpting it, after all.

 

“Knowing only some of your abilities and knowing how you fight, I can quite confidently say that you have all the qualities to become a great ninja, Naruto. However, being a great ninja will not make you Hokage. You need to have something else; something special. Only time will tell us if you have that special something.”

 

Naruto nodded once again. He knew he had what it took to be a great ninja; however, in light of recent events he was not sure he had this `special something'.

 

“Well then Naruto,” the Hokage said, standing “I must thank you for the service you have done the village. Mizuki had, in fact, stolen a valuable scroll and was obviously intent on leaving the village - no matter the cost. I don't exactly know why you were following him, but I'm glade you were.”

 

“He was rude to me; I wanted him to apologize.” Naruto said, shrugging.

 

“Ahh,” the Hokage chuckled, “I must remember not insult you, then.”

 

The Hokage opened the door and lead Naruto out. “Well, goodnight Naruto. You'll be meeting your team tomorrow, and I hope they're not rude to you; for their sake.”

 

“'Night, old man.” Naruto said over his shoulder as he once again entered the chilly night air, confused but satisfied with the day's events and where they left him in the grand scheme of things.