Rise of The Phoenix Sage

CHAPTER 33: Graduation Exam..! - Part 3

(That Evening... Ichiraku Ramen...)

After the entire gang had passed, they planned for a celebration and gathered at the Ichiraku Ramen. The Duckbutt haired kid decided to not come and Sakura also decided to not come saying that she wanted to spend her time with her Sasuke-kun. Teuchi and Ayame were busy making the orders for the fresh Genins.

"Well now that we're all Genins... I don't think we will have any free time to spend as a gang like this..." Kiba was the one who pointed out.

"huh...?" was Naruto's intelligent reply.

"Kiba's right... Now we'll be divided into teams and will be given a Jounin sensei for each team and we won't have enough free time to spend like this once we start going on missions." Shino said while adjusting his sunglasses.

"I don't wanna sound like I'm sad, but that's what I'm thinking too..." Surprisingly it was Ino who said that in a discouraged voice. She was always the mouthpiece of the entire gang and to hear her in that state of voice was a first for everyone.

"Yeah... It will be drag now that we're Genins... I miss my cloud watching and our time together as a gang." Guess who said this.

"Well... We can still gather at Ichiraku Ramen or my family Barbeque restaurant whenever we have time on the weekends..." Choji suggested munching some potato chips.

"Also, we can hang out in my clan's garden too and enjoy some tea and snacks..." Hinata said. She came a long way and stopped stuttering a while ago when she became friends with the gang.

Naruto just processed what they were saying and was silent for a few moments. He only broke his silence when Eevee nudged him with her tail and said, "We all were only friends till yesterday but from today onwards we are friends, comrades and shinobi of the Leaf village too. So, let's do our duty and enjoy our spare time as a gang whenever we have time."

"Your orders are here...!" Came the shout of Teuchi which broke the sadness of the kids and made them excited. And the evening went on with these kids enjoying their time before getting ready to join the real world.

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(That Night... On The Way To The Senju Clan House...)

The fresh Genin gang had made a promise that they will meet at least once per month if possible as a gang and left for their own homes. Currently Naruto was walking towards his home looking at the sky with his hands behind his head and Eevee was walking alongside him.

"Eevee... I feel that something is going on, but I don't know what..."

Eevee just tilted her head not knowing what the blond was saying. Suddenly a blast took place in the deserted Uchiha Clan District. Each and every shinobi who was available in the village rushed to that location as tension among the populace was still there due to the Uchiha massacre. Naruto was about to storm towards that place too, but then he sensed something else.

"Eevee get someone of higher authority level and then find me..." with that he blurred out of there.

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(The Woods That Lead To The Border of The Leaf Village....)

Mizuki was running fast with the stolen forbidden scroll on his back. His Plan B worked smoothly. All he had to do was to create a blast in a deserted but heavy panic creating area and while everyone was busy investigating it, he could steal the scroll and escape the village. Since he created a blast in the Uchiha Clan District, the Hokage himself went there to investigate and hence no one was there to protect the scroll.

"What a bunch of idiots... And now no one can sto..." He had to stop mid-sentence to avoid the hail of shuriken coming his way from the right side.

When he turned around he saw Iruka standing there with a Kunai ready to attack him.

"Mizuki what are you doing...?"

"Can't you see Iruka, I'm betraying the village..." He then took a pause to laugh like maniac and dragged his right palm from his forehead to chin and continued, "But before that I have to kill you..." and then he summoned a giant shuriken and threw that at Iruka.

Iruka moved away by jumping up but Mizuki used the string attached to the shuriken and changed its trajectory towards Iruka. Iruka was in mid air and could not avoid it, he was ready to take the hit and closed his eyes...

But the hit never came, instead he heard a loud bang and metal getting destroyed. Soon he touched the ground and opened his eyes and found the silhouette of someone in the dust created by the crater right before him. The color of the hair was the first thing Iruka noticed when the dust started dissipating slowly.

"Naruto..?" Iruka said in surprise.

"Ahhhh. The demon himself..." Mizuki said.

"Now I understand about all the maliciousness that I have been sensing all these years from you..." Naruto said as a statement.

"The Nine Tails brat... Do you wanna know something...?" Mizuki said, but Naruto didn't react as he already knew about The Nine Tails with in him.

"What would that be...?" Naruto asked.

"No matter how good you pretend to be, everyone in the village knows that you are the reincarnation of the Nine Tails."

That sentence made Naruto falter. "Huh...?"

"Yes... There will come a time when the influence of The Nine Tails will be too much to handle and you'll eventually become the beast that is inside you. To put it simply, you're a time bomb and sooner or later it will blow up. Once that happens, you would not differentiate between enemies, family and friends. You will kill everyone in your path and you will enjoy it, just like the beast you are..."

"No way...!" Naruto shouted in despair.

(With In The Darkness of The Eight Trigrams Seal...)

The huge eye of The Nine Tailed Fox opened as soon as it sensed that the mental defenses and will power of its host are getting weaker. The nine tailed fox wanted revenge for the humiliation he suffered by the hands of this kid and used its hatred filled chakra through the gaps between the cage bars and started fueling imagination of the blond kid's mind.

(in The Real World...)

Imaginary flashes of what would happen to his mom, his sister and his friends kept on playing in Naruto's mind if he ever lost control. Without even realizing it, Naruto started hyperventilating fueled by all the imaginations that his mind was portraying in detail and fell.

Mizuki saw his opportunity and took out another shuriken and coated it with the strongest poison he has and threw it at the blond boy.

"Naruto...!" Iruka shouted.

Naruto slowly opened his eyes when he felt some warm liquid falling on his face. The blonde boy saw that his sensei took the shuriken on his back that was aimed at him.

"Aghhhh..." Mizuki shouted in frustration missing the chance to kill the demon brat.

"Iru... Iruka sensei... Why...?" Naruto asked in shock.

"Because we're the same... When I lost my parents, no one seemed to care. They didn't have time for me. They just forgot I was there. My grades dropped, and I became a class clown. I just wanted them to see me and to know my name. My school work wasn't good enough to get their attention. So, I did crazy things and then I had to pay for it. Just like how you do your pranks. It was hard." Iruka took a small pause to take huge breath and continued saying, "I know how you feel Naruto. You think that everyone will look at you like the beast which is inside you, but it's not true."

Iruka was interrupted by the loud laugh coming from Mizuki and after completing his laugh he said, "Don't make me laugh... Iruka you always hated him... You were orphaned because the Nine Tails Fox killed your parents..."

His Parents died because of me...? Iruka sensei hates me...? Thought Naruto and blurred out of there with tears in his eyes.