Looping, oh the fun! (Naruto)

Ch2 The Act

Sarutobi wasn't as good as the the Forth Hokage when it came to seals, but he knew enough to create seals that can protect his house and alert him when there're intruders. Therefore, it was unquestionably shocking when he returned home one night to find the Forbidden Scroll stolen.

Immediately, he thought about alerting his ANBU to gather all the jounin and chunin to perform a search, but a foreign presence in the room tingled his senses. He quickly threw a kunai at the spot. As the kunai landed in the wall, a figure stumbled out of the shadow with a yelp.

Blond hair, black shirt and pants, and an expression of fear and panic, which was quite unusual to see on the normally hyperactive blond's face.

"Naruto? What are you doing in my house, with that scroll?" Sarutobi demanded. He couldn't let down his guard yet because it's possible that Naruto was just an imposer.

"J-jiji..." Naruto stuttered, cerulean eyes looking downcast, tears on the verge of falling. His hands were quivering as he loosened his grip on the scroll. "I-I'm sorry, I know I p-probably shouldn't do this b-but...I'm sorry...I didn't mean to, b-but I re-ally wanna graduate...and he t-told me to wait b-but he wasn't there and I d-didn't know what to d-do so I came b-back b-but then you came and I don't wanna get in trouble but-"

"Naruto! It's alright! Calm down." Sarutobi placed a soothing hand on the boy's trembling form. "I can't understand if you start rambling."

"I-I'm sorry, jiji." Naruto wiped his sleeve across his eyes. "I-I didn't mean to. I'm sorry. I know something's wrong, b-but I just can't help it."

"Naruto, why don't you start from the beginning?"

"W-well..." Naruto fidgeted, eyes darting around the room. It was clear that he was debating whether to tell the truth. "I...I...I stopped by Mizuki-sensei after class today...and...asked him if he can tell me some ways I can practice my katra control. B-because Iruka-sensei told me that I failed bunshin no jutsu because my katra control is horrible...so I thought maybe Mizuki-sensei can help me with it. I-I don't wanna fail the exam again because of the jutsu, so I aught to pass it this time. And Mizuki-sensei told me that..."

Sarutobi waited patiently, but Naruto didn't go on, so he urged, "what did he tell you, Naruto? Don't worry, you can tell jiji anything."

Naruto sniffed. "He told me that...the reason why I can never do the bunshin...is that..." he took an intake of breath and closed his eyes. "I have the Kyuubi sealed inside of me!"

Sarutobi stilled. Did that man really-

"And because the demon is made of tons of katra, my katra coil is very big, and it is very hard to control. But the bunshin jutsu need very good katra control, so I will never be able to do it. T-then he told me there is a way to pass the exam. He said that I don't necessarily need to do the bunshin jutsu to pass, just any jutsu that creates a clone works."

Sarutobi was so engaged in Naruto's confession that he didn't notice how although Naruto couldn't pronounce "chakra" correctly, he had said the harder word "necessarily" correctly.

"And he said that there's a big scroll in your house that contained a bunshin jutsu that can help me pass the test, because I can do it easily with my big katra coil. I just need to borrow the scroll and bring it to the clearing we agreed on, then he'd help me learn the jutsu, then I can return it when I'm done. I brought the scroll there, and waited, but Mizuki-sensei didn't show up, so I tried learning the jutsu myself, and I did it in about 10 attempts. But Mizuki-sensei still didn't come, so I learned some other jutsu in there... Then I came across some really...really nasty ones, and I thought that maybe I'm not supposed to touch this scroll-"