The sealed kunai

Chapter 13: Too Good For Your Own Good

Sitting in the middle of a heavily wooded area of the Forest of Death, Naruto sat in lotus position with his eyes shut simply thinking and calming himself with the sounds of the woodland area.

It had been right around a week and Naruto had been wondering how he could find out anything about any Minato that was in Konoha without tipping off Jiraiya or Tsunade since apparently it was all one big secret. He figured Jiraiya would eventually tell him, he would just procrastinate endlessly beforehand and that could take months to years. He needed information now, and since he was damn sure that Kakashi was on the take in this little secret against him he wasn't going to him, and he still couldn't find Danzo damn it, not that he was still looking, he had quit trying months ago.

It was obvious that this Minato guy was pretty influential in his day, but Naruto was never taught anything that wasn't truly relevant to challenges he would actually face while he was in Root so that didn't help much. And after his sealing his time in the academy was spent with many teachers refraining from helping or really teaching him so eventually he started cutting classes and not paying attention to Iruka-sen...sei...

Iruka-sensei! That was it! He wasn't old enough to really know anything on the scale of this cover-up and he wasn't close to anyone that was trying to keep it buried, he had enough of the general knowledge in Konoha that he could answer his questions, and he was damnably easy to find at this time of the day. He would either be in class, or if school was out he would be assigning missions at HQ... When did that man find time to train?

Shrugging these thoughts aside Naruto broke from his meditation in the Forest of Death and began to make his way to the Academy to find his old schoolteacher.

XxX

Inside one of the classrooms of the Academy a chunin with a scar across his face turned from the blackboard to face his room full of young students, "Now who can tell me the order of ranking in Konoha's ninja system?"

Near the back Udon's hand shot up as he started to answer with a sniffle, "Iruka-sensei it goes genin, chunin, jounin, kage."

Iruka nodded, "Very good, but what about Anbu?"

A little dark haired girl with the tell-tale eyes of a Hyuuga raised her hand to answer next, "Anbu are drafted from any ranking depending on their skill level and amount of potential although their identities are kept secret for the most part. A ninja of any ranking can be Anbu, but they are usually drafted from the level of chunin and up."

Iruka smiled gently at the girl, "Good answer Hanabi. Now next we-." He was interrupted by the abrupt sliding noise indicating the opening of the lower door and a mop of spiky blonde hair poked through the doorway, "Naruto?"

Naruto's eyes scanned the room momentarily before settling on Iruka. Giving the man an old-school foxy grin just because he could, Naruto stepped into class with no further adeu. He looked at the kids in the class and noticed near the back that Moegi and Udon were trying to shake Konohamaru awake to tell him he was there. Getting back to the matter at hand he focused on Iruka, "Iruka-sensei can you help me out really quickly? You don't even have to leave, it's just a question."

Iruka sighed, "You crashed my class Naruto. What do you have to say for yourself?"

Shrugging, he simply stated, "I've done stuff way worse that just 'crash your class' Iruka-sensei. Or have you forgotten? Maybe I can give some aspiring delinquents some base ideas..."

"Boss!"

Naruto simply waved at Konohamaru with a massive grin on his face, "Hey Konohamaru!" He turned back to Iruka and whispered to him, "I think he'll do just fine with a little inspiration don't you?"