The start of a new story!

Under the pale moonlight, a monstrous figure looms over the village hidden in the leaves. A gigantic Nine-Tailed Fox leaves a path of destruction in its wake, crushing mountains and sending tidal waves on to the shore. The ninja rose up to defend their village.

"Hold the attack and wait for the Fourth Hokage!"

"It's getting closer, don't let it near the village!"

The ninja did everything in their power to halt the fox's advances but none were successful, that is until one ninja appeared and faced the Nine-Tails in one on one combat. He sacrificed his life to capture the beast and seal it away into the body of a human. This Ninja was known as the Fourth Hokage.

(Naruto op 1 fades in as the title appears)

__________

In the Village Hidden in the leaves, we observe a young blond boy no older than eleven or twelve running along the rooftops with an orange paint bucket in his hand as he evaded the angry visages of the village's ninjas.

"Naruto, come back here! when I get my hands on you!" one ninja cried out.

"You crossed the line this time you little freak!" another followed.

"Hahahahahah, You're just mad that you don't have the guts to do what I do!" Naruto laughed out. Naruto ran by an inconspicuous wooden fence, still trying to evade the capture of the irate ninjas. Both parties crossed by it, not giving it a second glance. A second after the ninjas passed by the fence, it revealed itself to be a ruse as Naruto lowered the false wall covering and looked on in amusement and laughter, leaving the ninjas non the wiser.

"Hah! chunin my ass!" Naruto said as he looked to the backs of the ninja running off.

"Oh yeah, Naruto!" called out said chunin from behind him. Naruto jumped up in surprise and turned around to face him.

"Oh, uh, Iruka-Sensei, what are you doing here? you come around here often!?" Naruto said to him in a guilty tone as he scratched the back of his head in nervousness.

"No, what are you doing here, Naruto! you were supposed to be in class, not vandalizing the faces of our great village's leaders!"

Naruto turned his face to his right in an attempt to ignore his teacher. Iruka sighed in exasperation as he dragged Naruto to the Hokage's office. They arrive and meet with the Third Hokage. They see him sitting on a comfortable chair, smoking his pipe.

"Hello, Iruka. Can you please leave I must speak with Naruto alone." Iruka nods and exits the room. he gestures for Naruto to sit and he does so.

"Naruto why have you defaced the mountain?" The Third Hokage said. Naruto plain ignores him and The Third sighs. "Naruto, you must understand. Those who were Hokage protected those who were closest to them, and the people who are closest to them are the entire village. I know you yourself want to someday become Hokage, you must not disrespect the Hokage and their sacrifices." At this Naruto practically exploded with anger.

"Shut up you stupid old man, What do you know!?" Naruto shouted, "Are you saying becoming Hokage is some stupid competition of popularity!? That's retarded, The strongest should be the Hokage!" After saying his piece he whirled around and left, not giving the living legend any time to speak. The Third sighed at Naruto's stubbornness as he had said the same before. He wished The Fourth were still alive so he could just go back to reading the latest Icha Icha book and enjoy retirement. With sadness, he sat back down in his main office chair and got back to work.

Later in the day, Naruto could be seen up in the Hokage Mountain. He was forced by Iruka to clean off all the paint that he has used to vandalize it in the first place.

"This sucks," Naruto said under his breath.

"You're not going home until you finish cleaning up every drop of paint," Iruka said with a stern face.

"So what, it's not like there's anyone at home waiting for me!" Naruto said back with a little anger. Iruka's stern demeanor softened a bit at the remark.

"Hey Naruto, how about I take you for some ramen after this, huh," Iruka said, "Y'know the good stuff." Naruto positively beamed at this turn of events.

"Now that's some serious motivation!" Naruto said as he got back to work with vigor.

Later into the evening, we observe Iruka and naruto walking through the streets headed for the Ichiraku ramen stand. As they walk through the streets many passers-by are glaring at Naruto with hatred and whispered not so quietly.

"looks, it's the kid with the Nine-tails."

"My brother is dead because of him."

"Stay away from that demon, son. He's the one who took your mother."

Naruto tried his best to ignore many of the horrible comments he received but it was pretty hard. Naruto just wanted to run away from it all back to his apartment. As he was about to do just that, Iruka stopped him.

"Wait, hold on, I'm here to keep a promise." Naruto calms down and continues on his way to the ramen stand. There they both settle down and enjoy their meal. The peaceful silence was interrupted when Iruka asks a question.

"Hey Naruto, why did you deface the Hokage mountain?"

"Well... I think if I become Hokage that people will acknowledge and won't shun me anymore," Naruto responded in a low voice.

"Naruto, the Hokage got to where they were because people acknowledged them, not the other way around."

"That still doesn't make any sense, it should be about who is stronger!"

"How does insulting the past Hokage with paint, make you stronger than them?" Iruka questioned. At this, Naruto quieted down and continued eating his Ramen.

"I-it made sense at the time," Naruto muttered. Iruka just Laughs.

'In reality, Naruto is just a misguided kid. He's trying to figure out how to fit in. Although without parents it's pretty hard.' Iruka's smile turned into a frown as he thought back on his own past. After they had their dinner, the duo parted ways and headed back to their homes.

__________

"We will now start the final exam," Iruka announced to the genin hopefuls, "The final will be held on the clone technique."

'Dammit, that's my worst technique! I'll never pass!' Naruto thought in a panic. Naruto snapped from his daze and made his way to the test area to face the music. He enters and begins to perform the Jutsu. The wind picks up as a few wisps of chakra are faintly seen and the floor cracks under the weight of his chakra

"Clone Jutsu!"

A puff of smoke goes off next to Naruto. After it dissipates it reveals a clone of naruto laying belly down on the floor with its tongue out. It's a little... pathetic. Iruka has one of those looks on his face.

"You FAIL!" Iruka shouts at Naruto.

"Iruka," Mizuki interjects, "He did produce a clone and his other test results were somewhat decent so he has been studying recently, I think we should cut him a break."

"I'm sorry but the other students created at least three effective clones if he can't even do one proper clone then no matter how good he did on the other tests he is not fit for ninja life yet, he has to at least repeat a year."

"B-but-," Naruto tries to say.

"I'm sorry Naruto but Ninja life isn't all fairy tales and rainbows, mastering all the basic academic skills are required if you are to advance, no exceptions," Iruka says with a softer tone, "Besides, again, you can always try again next year."

The class watches as Naruto leaves the academy doors without a headband.

"Well, he passed on everything else, it was probably just a misstep. It's better that he failed though, I wouldn't want to see him get killed," A raven-haired youth wearing a high collared blue shirt with a fan symbol on its back said.

"Oh, you're so smart Sasuke-Kun! He probably would have passed if he was raised by more responsible parents. You need guidance to get anywhere in life," said a girl, whose hair was akin to cherry blossoms. At this comment, Sasuke's face contorts in rage as he leaves, brushing past Sakura on the way out who looks non the wiser to her crush's contempt.

After the academy day ends, Naruto sulks at the swingset. He feels betrayed. He looks on in sadness at the other academy students being congratulated by their parents and having fun with friends. He didn't get it he always tried so hard, he studied as much as he could and sought help consistently yet it always ended in failure. There's a noise beside Naruto, and he looks over. There is Mizuki. Mizuki shoots him a gentle smile as they leave to talk.

They both appear on a ledge overlooking the village.

"Iruka Sensei is tough. But, he's not against you," Mizuki says.

"Then why?"

"He wants you to be strong, and that'll never happen if he goes easy on you," Mizuki says," He's like you, you know. No parents. No family."

"But... This time I really wanted to graduate," Naruto responded, "I trained and studied as much as I could but it never seems to work out," Naruto continued, "Actually it's kinda fishy now that I th-" Narutos soft muttering was interrupted by Mizuki.

"Do you want to pass Naruto?"

"Yes! More than anything!" he responded.

"Well, I and a collection of other teachers also want you to pass. Here take this key and go to this location and follow all of these instructions to the letter. You must learn at least one technique from the scroll and after you do, meet me on the outskirts of the village near that river on the map at sunset," Mizuki said as Naruto looks over the instructions and map, "If you accomplish this task, you can graduate." Naruto's smile is glowing as he speeds off. Mizuki's smile grows sinister as he looks at the back of Naruto running away.

__________

"Iruka!" Mizuki screamed as he pounded on Iruka's door. Iruka opens the door and steps out a bit confused.

"What? What is it?"

"You need to come to Lord Hokage's right away. It's Naruto. He stole the Sacred Scroll."

"You mean the Scroll of Sealing? No!" Iruka said shocked. They both rushed to the Hokage's tower at full speed.

In a clearing a little ways away from the village, Naruto sits trying to learn as much from the scroll as he could. Most of the techniques were too hard to understand and learn or were plain impossible for him to accomplish such as the True Several Thousand hands sage technique or the Flying Thunder God technique that he read about. He was able to learn the theory for the Strength of a Hundred Seal and learn the hand seals for something called Impure World Reincarnation but could not perform it no matter how hard he tried. He gave up learning all the really crazy shit and stuck with the first technique written in the scroll called the Multi Shadow Clone Technique. He stuck to learning it and was able to accomplish it.

After diligently practicing the technique Naruto sat down on the ground for a breather as he was pretty tired. Naruto is in front of the small hut next to a river, sitting on the ground panting. Iruka walks up to him, and Naruto looks up.

"This charade ends, Naruto!" Iruka says angrily.

"Got me already? Not bad. You're quick, Sensei. I only had time to truly learn one technique." Iruka stands up straight, confused, and looks around.

'He's been out here practicing. I can tell how hard he's been working.'

"Listen, Iruka Sensei! I'm going to show you this amazing Jutsu and you're going to let me graduate and everything will be okay. That's the way it works, right? Anyone who learns Jutsu from this scroll passes," Naruto says excitedly.

"Where'd you get that idea? This stunt that you pulled could get you arrested or worse executed!"

"WHAT! Are you sure? Mizuki sensei was the one who put me up to it," Naruto says as he turns to show the scroll on his back, " He told me where to find the scroll... And this place..." Naruto stops, noticing Iruka's shocked face.

'Huh? Mizuki?' Iruka thought to himself, confused. Iruka senses an incoming attack and looks over his shoulder at incoming Kunai.

"look out!"

He pushes Naruto out of the way and deflects all the incoming kunai with his own, drawn from a kunai holster. He looks up in the tree to see the sinister smile of his childhood friend, Mizuki.

"I see you've found our little hideaway," Mizuki says with a smirk.

"Why are you doing this, Mizuki!? We've known each other since we were kids! Why would you betray the village!" Iruka yelled at him.

"I have no friends," Mizuki said, "Nothing will stand in the way of my path to power!"

"Oh yeah? And what about Tsubaki? What will she think once she finds out her fiance is a traitor!" Iruka shouted at him, "Were all the years of friendship, loyalty, and love that you had in the village all fake! Was any of it real!?" Mizuki flinched and faltered in his conviction as his love for his fiance was real and still going strong.

"I'll find a way," Mizuki says, still determined to go on the path of darkness, He couldn't stop now even if he wanted to, Orochimaru always punishes those who do not obey. He'll somehow bring Tsubaki with him.

"So that's the way it is, huh? I should've known," Iruka says as he unseals a sword from a scroll in his vest and gets ready to fight.

"Naruto! Don't let Mizuki get the scroll! It contains forbidden Jutsu, which could put the village in grave danger. Mizuki used you to get the scroll for himself. For his own power." Iruka calls back to his student.

"Mizuki-Sensei I don't understand! You were always so kind to me, you always gave me advice, bought me food, and helped me with my traini-" Suddenly Naruto's mind clicked and connected all the pieces. He was being sabotaged.

"Y-you, B-but, I-I," Naruto tried to compute. He couldn't understand why his sensei would target him specifically.

"You don't get it do you Naruto? The truth is I hate you with all my heart," Mizuki says sinisterly.

"W-what?" Naruto stutters.

"Everyone does, it's no secret."

"But why? Why does everyone hate me!?" Naruto's world was crumbling to dust all around him. The kind and helpful sensei he had known all his life was an act.

"The reason everyone hates you is that you have the Nine-Tails within you." Naruto stood paralyzed in shock, "The Fox spirit that killed Iruka's parents and destroyed our village has taken over your body. You are the Nine-Tailed Fox."

"Stop it!" Iruka yelled in vain.

"They've all been sneaking around, hiding things from you your whole life. Didn't you think it was strange how they treated you? Like trash. Like they hated you for just being alive." During this time Iruka thinks back to his conversation with the Third Hokage a while back over Naruto's treatment and behavior.

'Iruka. Naruto never had a Mother or Father to care for him. He's shut out of everything and doesn't know why. Most people won't even look at him. How would you feel if everywhere you went, people turned their backs on you and hated you? That's why he gets in trouble. So people would notice him. It may not show, but he's always thinking about the family he doesn't have. He's hurting inside.'

Back to reality, Mizuki prepares to throw many kunai and shuriken to kill Naruto.

"Die, Naruto!" Mizuki says as he throws many kunai and shuriken at a speed and pace that the normal human eye couldn't hope to follow.

"Naruto! Get down!" Iruka yells. Naruto does, covering his head with his hands. Then, Naruto looks up. Iruka is above him, many shuriken and kunai littering his body like a morbid porcupine. Iruka coughs a little, in pain. Naruto, with drops of blood on his cheek, looks up at Iruka shocked. So does Mizuki.

"W-Why?"

"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. I became the class clown. I just wanted them to see me... and know my name. My school wasn't good enough to get attention, so I did crazy things, and then I had to pay for it. It was hard. I know that's how you feel, Naruto. You feel lonely and it hurts inside. And I could've been there for you more. I let you down. I'm sorry. No one should have to suffer that much. No one should be alone like that," As Naruto hears his story his lips tremble.

"Don't make me laugh! Iruka always hated you. He was orphaned because the Nine-Tailed Fox killed his parents. And that beast is now inside you. He'd say anything to get the scroll from you," Mizuki says with a laugh. Naruto gets up and runs away.

"Naruto!" Iruka says as he reaches out for his student.

"You know once he makes up his mind, nothing can change it. He's going to use the scroll to take revenge on the village. You saw that look in his eye, didn't you? Those are the eyes of a beast."

"No. Naruto... Isn't like that!" Iruka says as he pulls a few shurikens and kunai from his body and tosses them back to Mizuki. Iruka pulls out his sword and charges at Mizuki. Mizuki barely blocks the strike with a kunai and struggles with the surprising strength of Iruka. Mizuki is pushed away but lands on a tree. Iruka goes through a few hand seals and blows out a massive fireball at Mizuki.

Seeing the massive fireball Mizuki erects a large earth wall, successfully blocking the attack. Iruka seized this opportunity to bandage up his wounds as much as he could and eat a specialized healing pill. Mizuki jumped over the wall after the fireball dissipated and summoned a few earth clones to try and overwhelm Iruka. Iruka uses his sword to decapitate one of the clones and kicks another one away.

Mizuki replaced himself with an earth clone and burrowed underground, behind Iruka. He surfaced a few meters away and summoned a large shuriken and threw it to Iruka's back attempting to bisect him. The strike lands and for a fleeting moment, Mizuki is elated. He quickly changes his mindset when Iruka turns into a puddle of water.

'Water clone.' Mizuki looks around his area, keeping his guard up and anticipating any attacks. As he looks around he begins to talk. Naruto could be seen behind one of the trees, listening and partly watching.

"You're a fool, Iruka," Mizuki said, "Why are you protecting that freak? He's the one who wiped out your family."

"I don't care what you say, 'cause you're not getting your hands on that scroll."

"As if you could stop me. Don't you get it? Naruto is just like me," Mizuki said.

"How's that?"

"He wants the scroll for his own power and his own vengeance. That's how beasts are. He'll pour all his rage into the scroll and destroy everything," Mizuki said.

"You're right..." Naruto gasped, shocked, then hugs the scroll.

'So it's true. Iruka Sensei never believed in me. He thinks I'm some beast. Some kind of freak!'

"That is how beasts are." Naruto's eyes widen and Iruka jumps at Mizuki from behind and throws his sword. Mizuki dodges the attack and it lands next to him.

'Explosive tag!' Mizuki thought in alarm as he jumped away as the explosion ranged out. Iruka appears before Mizuki and throws a few jabs to his face. Mizuki blocked the attacks and both throw a few kicks before clashing kunai, getting into a deadlock.

"But that's not who Naruto is." Naruto's eyes are still wide, "He's nothing like that. Naruto's one of a kind. Works hard. Puts his whole heart into it. Sure he messes up sometimes, and everyone jumps on him... But his suffering only makes him stronger. That's what separates him from being a beast. So you're wrong. He's nothing like the Nine-Tailed Fox. He's Naruto Uzumaki, of the village hidden in the leaves." Naruto could be seen bawling his eyes out as snot flows from his nose. Mizuki breaks the deadlock and both jump away from each other.

While Iruka's efforts have been valiant, his wounds from the beginning of the confrontation take their toll, causing him to collapse and slowly bleed out. Mizuki Reaches around to his last Shuriken on his back.

"Hmph! You really believe that dribble?" He pulls the Shuriken off his back "Iruka, I was going to offer you to join me as you could be useful to Orochimaru-Sama's plans"

"But I changed my mind." Mizuki spins the Shuriken."You're finished!" Mizuki runs at Iruka, intending to finish him off.

"So this is it...?' Iruka thought to himself. Naruto suddenly jumps in between them, and Knees Mizuki in the stomach, sending him flying backward. Iruka's eyes widen. Naruto skids to a stop, standing the scroll up beside him.

'Naruto?' Mizuki looks back at Naruto and stands up straight.

"Hmmph, Not bad for a little punk, maybe Orochimaru-Sama will have an interest in you?

"If you ever lay a hand on my Sensei... I'll kill you!" Said Naruto Menacingly as his eyes turn red with slits in them and his features turn more animalistic.

"Such big words. I can completely destroy you with a single move! I can take any genin, any time and any place no matter how tired!"

"Yeah well, how about 30 genins!" Naruto said angrily.

"Let's see you try! Show me what you can do, Nine-Tailed Fox!" Iruka watches, shocked, mouth slightly opened.

"Shadow clone technique!" There's a poof sound, and Iruka's eyes widen. Surrounding them are Naruto clones. In the trees and on the ground, all high genin level about to pounce on an exhausted and injured chunin.

'Naruto... Those aren't just Illusions.' Iruka sits up, smiling 'They're solid clones! He's mastered an extremely advanced Jutsu!' Mizuki looks around confused and overwhelmed. All of the clones are calling out "over here" and 'come on".

"Huh?" Mizuki stumbles back a bit "What is this?"

"If you're not coming!" said one Naruto clone.

"Then we're gonna come after you!" said another. Mizuki looks around, then screams. He tries to put up an effort but it's no use, 30 Nine Tails enhanced high genins is too much for even a talented chunin like Mizuki. You could hear sounds of fighting all throughout the night as Naruto beat Mizuki into submission. As Naruto beat Mizuki, he could hear the words of the Third Hokage echo in his mind.

'Those who were Hokage protected those who were closest to them.'

Mizuki lay there beaten on the ground, with Naruto standing above him, rubbing his head and laughing. The scroll on the ground next to him.

"Sorry. I kinda got carried away." Naruto drops his hand and Looks at Iruka "You okay, Iruka Sensei?" Iruka lets out a breath.

"Yeah... The healing pill I took kicked in when you started fighting Mizuki"

'He's amazing. He wants to surpass all the Hokage... And I'm starting to believe he might do it.' He lets out another breath.

"Naruto. Come here for a minute. I've got something I want to give you." Naruto Complied as he kept his eyes closed for close to a minute.

"Okay. You can open your eyes now." Naruto opens his eyes. Iruka's standing there, smiling, holding in his hands Naruto's goggles. Iruka's missing his headband. The sun shine's brighter, revealing them both standing.

"Congratulations. You graduate." Naruto's standing there, shocked. On his head, is Iruka's Leaf headband. "And to celebrate, I have a surprise. We're going out for Ramen tonight," he said. Naruto's lips are trembling. He's Quiet.

"Huh?" said Iruka in confusion at Naruto being so silent.

"Iruka Sensei!" Naruto jumps at him, hugging him, and Iruka falls back down.

"Ah! That hurts!" Said Iruka as he laughed. Naruto laughs, and Iruka is patting his back. They start playing around as they walk back to the village, with Mizuki in tow being dragged behind them as he is tied up in rope.

'Naruto. This is only the beginning. The road gets tougher now that you're a Ninja. But if I told you that, I guess it would ruin the moment. So I'll tell you later. Over 500 bowls of Ramen.'

(Naruto Ending 1 "Wind" plays)

__________

Unbeknownst to the duo, a small figure resided up in the sky. He was appeared to be a four-year-old child. He had spiky black hair and wore the classic Saiyan Armor and a Saiyan tail waved behind him in the wind.

"Good, the first revision has been successful," Said the mysterious figure.

Who is this mysterious figure? Why is he here? What did he mean by revision? What does this mean for my other story? We will find out next time on Naruto Ball Z(lol jk)