Becoming A Ninja!
Before Harry knows it, the time to graduate from the Ninja Academy comes soon; it had only been a year ago when Harry was first sent into this curious world. Time surely works fast—
“Potts!” Naruto bumps into Harry’s shoulder with a wide and toothy grin. Despite his personality change in the Ninja Academy, Naruto is still a goofball and sometimes a menace. “Can you believe it? We’re going to become full-fledged shinobis!”
They walked to the Ninja Academy, passing small shops, villagers, and other sights. It was a bright and sunny day, as it always had been in Konoha. Harry had never seen a hint of rain or snow, and because of the sun, his skin didn’t look unhealthily pale anymore. Many things about Harry had changed. Due to having a healthily balanced diet (and not being actively starved), Harry was tall, and he didn’t look malnourished. Sometimes, Harry wonders if he hadn’t lived with the Dursleys, would he have looked like this when he was younger? Probably. Anyway, there’s no use in wondering about what-ifs situations that would never happen.
Harry smiles slightly as he puts his hands into his pockets, walking by Naruto’s side, “It is surprising to think about.” Harry responds and, in their line of sight, comes across the Academy.
There was an air of excitement, nervousness, and confidence surrounding the students because today was the day when they unlock a new journey in their life: becoming a shinobi. Harry has to admit that he is slightly excited as well, he’s completely confident in his skills that he’ll pass any exam thrown his way. And he’s sure Naruto will, too.
“We’re going to have to stop by the swordsmith, after this,” Harry tells Naruto as they head inside the building, in the hallways, it is loud with chatter between groups of friends and people, “I’ve made my order in for my katana last week, it should be done by now.”
“A katana, huh? I’m more of a kunai guy myself.” Naruto said with slight interest at the news of Harry getting himself a different weapon other than the regular kunai and shurikens. Naruto couldn’t see himself fighting with anything else but a kunai, he just felt an odd connection to them even though it was just an object.
“Yeah, I’m aware,” Harry responds with a snort, he’s got his arse kicked plenty of times by Naruto to know that Naurto is an expert at using a kunai. It makes Harry wonder where he developed such skills from. “Maybe you should get a custom kunai made for yourself, it’ll probably take a couple of days though.”
Naruto’s expression shifts into one of thinking, and then he shrugs his shoulders: “Eh, I’ll think about it.”
The two boys walked inside the classroom, which was already filled to the brim with students, but Iruka-sensi wasn’t here yet, meaning they were on time. They go to their usual spots, and just like everyone else, they spend the waiting period of class talking. It took only a few minutes for Iruka-sensei to arrive inside,
“Alright class, quiet down!” Iruka-sensei announced with a stern expression as he stood in front of the class with his hands on his hips. Iruka-sensei’s expression lightens into a soft smile, “Today is the day you all graduate and become full-fledged shinobis. As long as you pass the tests, then you won’t be seeing this classroom anymore.” Iruka-sensei said with a hint of sadness in his voice since this may be the last time he’ll ever see his students again. It’s a bittersweet feeling mixed with proudness that his students have come this far. The students straighten in their seats with anticipation.
“Now,” Iruka-sensei claps his hands together as his expression hardens back into teacher mode, “Let the exams commence!”
The tests were a slice of cake: Taijutsu, Genjustu, and Ninjutsu. The first test was on paper, filled with questions about how charka works, where it comes from, and how it’s used. It was a test of their knowledge. While the second test had been a fight against Iruka-sensei using taijutsu, that one had been a bit difficult, considering Iruka-sensei was an experienced shinobi, so he wouldn’t be easy to beat. But luckily, to complete the test, you didn’t have to defeat Iruka-sensei, you just had to last five minutes against him without losing. A few people had failed, either because they hadn’t practiced or because they didn’t have the skills needed to become a shinobi. That was a test of their hand-to-hand combat. The next test was considerably easy, all you had to do was recognize a genjutsu. However, that did get a pack of students who weren’t able to recognize what was a genjustu. A test to see past illusions. The last test was ninjutsu; it was simple: do the transformation and clone technique.
However, the way Naruto did the clone technique was a shock to Iruka-sensei.
“Clone jutsu!” A line of five other clones stands by Naruto’s side in a puff of white smoke. Iruka-sensei blinks, his mouth is open with surprise,
“H-how are you?” Iruka-sensei stammers, blinking his eyes multiple times as if he couldn’t believe what he was seeing.
He has so much charka that he’s unknowingly doing the shadow clone jutsu?!
“Huh?” Naruto scratches his hair with confusion, and he cocks his head to the side, then he realizes why Iruka-sensei’s so shocked, “Oh! I just have a lot of chakra.” Naruto said casually like it wasn’t that big of a deal.
Iruka-sensei shakes his head in disbelief. “Good job, Naruto. You may go back to your seat.” Naruto nods with a broad grin. He then gets rid of the clones he made. They disappear in a puff of white smoke. After that, Naruto heads back to his seat next to Harry. Harry and Naruto fist-bump, knowing they had passed the exam.
Once the exams were over, Iruka-sensei announced that every student had passed and every student had not. The students who didn’t pass would have to repeat the school year, while the students who did pass would now become full-fledged shinobi. Iruka-sensei gave the students who had passed their leaf headbands. Harry’s finger brushed over the shiny metal. It felt new like it was freshly made, and it probably was.
“Oh, so cool!” Naruto cheers as he gets rid of his green goggles and replaces them with the Konoha headband, his spiky hair gets in the way of actually seeing the headband, however. “How do I look?” He asks Harry, who simply pockets the headband, not yet putting it on.
Harry takes a look at Naruto, and he snorts with a grin, “Silly. I’m pretty sure you’re supposed to put the headband over your hair, not under it.” Harry responds as they head out of the academy, due to it being graduation day, school has ended early. Harry and Naruto walk past the families who were planning to celebrate their child’s success in graduating and becoming a shinobi of the village.
Naruto curses, and he fixes the way his headband looks, then he turns his attention back to Harry, “Better?” Naruto questions with a raised eyebrow. Harry replies with a nod and thumbs up.
“Why didn’t you put your headband on?”
Harry pursed his lips, and his eyebrows furrowed, “Didn’t feel like it.” He said casually, but his brain was running rapidly, thoughts consuming his head. At first, Harry didn’t question the way Konoha worked and their shinobis, but now that he is one, he can’t help but think how they’re only children, being sent to fight. In the wizarding world, you weren’t allowed to become an auror until you graduated from school and were at least 18. Yet, here you graduate at such a young age, learning to be a soldier and manipulated to think of being a shinobi is a great honor. Glorifying being a weapon for your nation.
This isn’t an honor, Harry thought as he pulled the headband out of his pocket and glared down at it, it’s a collar to show that they own us.
Harry stares out into the sky, his emerald green eyes are dark, as one thought echoes in his head:
He refuses to be owned.
Before they could go to the blacksmith, they had to get their pictures taken for their ID: security purposes.
“I think I smiled too widely,” Naruto comments as he observes his new ID with judging eyes, “Yeah, I definitely did.” Naruto grumbles as he pockets his ID. Harry bumps shoulders with Naruto a slight smile on his face.
“Really? Let me see.” Harry urges, elbowing Naruto to show him his ID card. Naruto huffs, shoving Harry back with a slight scowl.
“No way, four-eyes!”
“Four-eyes? Usually, your insults are more creative, Naruto. C’mon! Let me see!”
“No, go away!”
And, just like that, the two boys end up wrestling with each other outside of the Hokage residence. However, they pause when they hear the sound of someone sneaking outside of the Hokage residence. A purple-haired man, wearing the Konoha headband that covered the top half of his head, had the forbidden scroll in his arms. He had a malicious and cocky expression on his face as he jumped building-to-building, disappearing into the night.
Naruto and Harry glanced at each other:
“Stop him?” Naruto questioned
“Stop him.” Harry confirms, and they quickly follow after Mizuki before they can lose him.
It was due to pure luck that Mizuki had managed to be able to steal the forbidden scroll right under that old man’s nose. His original plan was to get that nine-tailed brat to steal it, but he had graduated from the Ninja Academy surprisingly, so Mizuki had to improvise due to his original plan failing before he could even put it into action. His master, Orochimaru, had given him the mission to steal the forbidden scroll for his experiments. Of course, Mizuki had obeyed his master, but he also had his own desires. To be the most powerful man in the entire world, and with this scroll, Mizuki will be able to accomplish his dream. He’d been quick enough that none of the Anbu were yet alerted, it would be foolish to escape through the front gates, so Mizuki was going to escape through the woods. No one was aware of the secret gates that were hidden by the endless trees, no one but Mizuki did because Orochimaru had informed him so.
Mizuki can feel success so close to grabbing—
The breeze flows past Mizuki’s face as his cheek is met with the harshness of Harry’s foot. His kick had appeared out of nowhere and sent Mizuki flying off the tree branch. The forbidden scroll falls from Mizuki’s hands as he crashes into one of the trees, creating a body-shaped hole. Harry catches the forbidden scroll as he glares at Mizuki, Naruto catches up to his side, standing next to him on the tree branch.
“You got him?”
“Yeah surprisingly, I thought he would’ve noticed two kids following after him,” Harry responds, as he hands the forbidden scroll to Naruto, “But it seems like he got overconfident.” Harry said with a soft scoff.
Naruto’s hands form the clone jutsu seal and he hands the scroll to his clones: “Take the scroll and give it back to the Hokage.” Naruto orders and the two clones respond with a nod of their head, they hop from tree to tree as they disappear into the dark of the night.
“Stupid brats!” Mizuki growls as he steps out of the body-shaped hole, he looks quite disheveled with a vicious scowl. He takes the large shuriken off his back and quickly throws it between Harry and Naruto. It breaks the tree branch they stood on, separating them, and the land on the grass. Mizuki glances between the two of them, a glint in his eye, his plan to steal the forbidden scroll had failed, but he had one more thing up his sleeve: one last trick.
Naruto lunged first, going immediately to the offensive while Harry worked as a support for Harry’s moves. Naruto starts off high, aiming a kick for Mizuki’s head. Mizuki's forearm blocks, his attention solely focused on Naruto, a rookie mistake because Harry comes in, kicking Mizuki in his side, and it breaks his defensive stance. Mizuki stumbles backward, the side of his torso stung from the harsh kick, but he doesn’t get the chance to recollect himself as the two boys lunge forward. They were in sync with each other like they knew what the other was thinking, and they didn’t even attempt to do a jutsu.
It pissed Mizuki off but he had one piece of information that would change the course of the battle: Naruto’s heritage.
“W–wait!” Mizuki cried out before Naruto’s punch could land on his face. Naruto stops midway, slight wind blows against Mizuki’s skin, showing just how powerful Naruto is. Naruto and Harry share a confused look, but overall, they stop fighting him. Idiots, Mizuki thought as he put on a facade of fake sympathy.
“Haven’t you ever wondered why the villagers have treated you with such hatred? Disgust?” Mizuki questions and he waits silently for Naruto’s response. Naruto’s expression hardens and he glares at Mizuki, then his fist clenched, preparing to punch Mizuki.
“No.”
Seeing the punch heading his way, Mizuki made a last-ditch effort, “T-the Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze, is your father!”
Now that made Naruto pause as he stared at Mizuki in shock, his eyes wide with disbelief, “What?”
Mizuki thanks the Sages that it worked and he wets his lips, sweating heavily with slight fear, this piece of information may release the nine-tailed fox, “The Fourth Hokage is your father, and you, boy, are a vessel for the nine-tailed fox, the beast that had killed millions and your parents is inside you!” Mizuki spat at Naruto and he smiled sharply, “The reason why the villagers hated you so much is simply because you’re a scapegoat for fox’s actions!”
Naruto's mouth is agape, and he looks to be in shock, so Mizuki slowly takes out a kunai to kill the distracted boy. Mizuki lunges forward, preparing to stab the boy in his heart but he forgot one more person: Harry.
FWOOOSH!
Fire struck Mizuki’s hand, spreading to the rest of his arm, and burning it to a crisp. Mizuki cries out in pain, dropping the kunai. Naruto snaps out of the state of shock he was in and his eyes sharpen, as he grabs the kunai off the ground, and he throws it forward. His precise throwing of the kunai hits Mizuki in the chest, and it breaks through the flak jacket, making Mizuki cough out blood as he slumps against the tree.
Harry hesitates but he walks forward and checks Mizuki’s pulse, “He's alive,” Harry tells Naruto and he turns his full attention towards him, “Are you alright?” Harry asks gently since a revelation like that can surely shake everything a person may know.
Naruto shakes his head, his eyes are watery with tears, and he stands there. Harry steps forward and hugs Naruto. It takes a few seconds for Naruto to respond, but once he does, the dam breaks, and the tears that were once in Naruto’s eyes are released into the coat of Harry’s shoulder. Harry doesn’t mind or care as he lets himself be the shoulder for Naruto to cry on.
I’ll protect you, Naruto, Harry promises as he glances at the moon, no matter what.
“Good job, you two,” The Third Hokage praises Naruto and Harry for getting the forbidden scroll and stopping Mizuki, “Sages know what would happen if that had fallen into the wrong hands.” The old man remarks, speaking to himself, then to the two boys. The Third Hokage suscepts that Mizuki may have been a spy for someone or something. It’s a good thing the Anbu now has them in their custody.
Naruto clenches his fists by his side and he glares at Sarutobi, all these years… He spent lying to him, letting him waste away in a small apartment by himself, he knew of his heritage, his parents, The Third Hokage knew everything. And he never told Naruto.
Harry’s comforting squeeze on his shoulder calms him and he exhales softly, “I know that I’m a jinchuriki and that my late father is Minato Namikaze, The Fourth Hokage,” Naruto said bluntly, and surprise is written all over Sarutobi’s face, then guilt, before Sarutobi can open his mouth, Naruto interrupts him, “I don’t care for your reasons or excuses, actually, I want the things I was supposed to inherit. All of it. You got that, old man?” Naruto spits with a glare and a harsh scowl.
Sarutobi blinks and sighs, nodding his head, he can tell that the relationship he once had with Naruto was broken, “Of course, Naruto.” Sarutobi said, Minato had left many things for Naruto to inherit once he was older, but Naruto now knows the truth and is even demanding to have those things now. Well, Sarutobi can only cave into his demands, it’s the least he can do.
Naruto’s tensed posture softens and he crosses his arms, “Good,” his voice doesn’t sound so harsh anymore, Naruto hesitates but he then asks quietly, “What was my mom’s name?”
Sarutobi observes Naruto then he finally answers:
“Kushina Uzumaki.”
Naruto glances around the Namikaze estate with awe and surprise. By his side, Harry whistles,
“Woah! It’s absolutely huge,” Harry exclaims as he drops their bags at their feet, “We have this whole thing to ourselves?”
“Sorry to say, but no.” A voice cuts in which immediately makes the two boys turn around to face an old man with a cane, he has spiky light blond hair, similar to Naruto’s but much longer, so long that it’s pulled back into a ponytail. He peers down at the two boys.
“Welcome, my dear boys, to the Namikaze estate,” He said with a light smile, ruffling their heads. “It’s wonderful to finally meet my nephews.”
“Uh… Who’re you?” Harry questions while Naruto is silent with complete disbelief. The old man blinks and then laughs heartily.
“Ah! Where are my manners? My name is Hayato Namikaze, and I am your uncle!”
Harry and Naruto share a glance as they’re forced into a hug by their “uncle”. The same thought is echoing through their head:
What?!