The Fox's Disciple

Chapter 3: The Scroll

Naruto sat sideways on the old wooden swing attached to the oak tree outside the Academy, watching as parents congratulated their kids, giving them hugs or loving pats on the head. Naruto felt alienated once more. Even if he did graduate, there would be no one to hug him and tell him how proud they were of him. No one to take him out for a congratulatory dinner. No one to love him. Silent tears trickled down his tanned cheeks and pattered onto his pants. He wiped away the evidence of the momentary weakness.

Shinobi don’t show weakness, he reminded himself.

“Naruto?” it was Mizuki.

“What do you need, Mizuki-sensei?” Naruto asked, his voice rough.

“Come with me for a second,” the white-haired man gestured for Naruto to come. He complied, albeit slowly. They stopped on a green tiled roof of a house and sat down. Mizuki looked up at the sky, an aloof smile stretched across the man’s face.

“Beautiful day isn’t it? I love gloomy days,” he said.

“Not to be disrespectful Mizuki-sensei, but if you only called me to discuss the weather, then I will be taking my leave,” Naruto muttered, getting to his feet.

“No, no, I brought you here to talk about something much more important. I was just trying to break the ice,” Mizuki stopped him. Sighing, Naruto perched beside Mizuki.

“I noticed that you didn’t graduate,” Mizuki noted.

“I don’t really want to talk about that,” Naruto whispered.

“I called you out here because I have a way for you to graduate without passing the exam,” Mizuki said. Naruto looked up at Mizuki, hope glittering in his eyes.

“Really?” Naruto shouted. Mizuki laughed and nodded.

“Here’s what you have to do. There is a scroll in the Hokage Tower, in a room at the end of the top floor hallway. Get that scroll and bring it to the old wooden shack in the forest. You know, it right? Good, so wait for me there and if you have the scroll, I will graduate you,” Mizuki explained.

“It’s that easy?” Naruto questioned, suspicious.

“Of course not. The room that holds the scroll will be guarded, to test your stealth ability,” Mizuki told him. Naruto was silent for a minute, then held his hand out to Mizuki.

“I’ll do it.” Mizuki shook Naruto’s hand.

“Good. Get the scroll at eight tonight, then get it to the shack by nine. Good luck, Naruto!” Mizuki shouted, before jumping from the roof and disappearing down the street below.

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It was eight o’clock at night and a lone silhouette could be seen jumping from rooftop to rooftop. Cold wind brushed against Naruto’s face as he leaped through the city, his mind abuzz with excitement. I’m going to graduate! I’m going to get that scroll and take it to Mizuki-sensei, and no one can stop me!  Naruto suppressed the urge to giggle with crazy happiness. He could see the tall, winding Hokage Tower in the distance and picked up speed. He arrived at the spiral stairs that wound around the tower, leading up to top floor. He swung over the railing and silently crept up the stairs, his senses on high alert. He came to the oak door that blocked his passage into the hallway and slowly pushed it open, wincing as it creaked. He slunk into the hallway and inched forward, hidden amongst the shadows. The doorway leading to the scroll was in his sights and another surge of excitement shot through him. There were two Jounin guards standing beside the door watching the hallway with careful eyes. Well, now what? Naruto crouched in the shadows and began to think of a plan. He turned around and began to glide back from where he came from. He tiptoed down the stairs and down to the first floor where the receptionist stayed. He shoved a hand into his pants pocket and found what he was looking for: homemade smoke bombs. He slipped into the lobby and hid behind a waiting room couch. In one smooth motion, a smoke bomb flew from his hand onto the floor, exploding into a gray cloud of smoke. The receptionist started yelling, making a bunch of girlish shrieks. Under the cover of the smoke, Naruto sprinted back to the stairwell and lept over the railing. He hung on the metal handrails and waited. The two Jounin from before came thundering down the stairs, kunai in hand. Once they were in the loby, Naruto jumped back onto the stairs and ran up to the hallway door. The scroll room was now unguarded and seemed to beckon to Naruto. He threw the door open and was met with a dark, mysterious room. He couldn’t see anything and cautiously walked inside. He tripped on something and an alarm sounded.

Oh, crap! A trip wire! How could I be so stupid! He began to feel around for the scroll and his hand landed on a smooth, cylindrical item. He latched onto the scroll and darted from the room, pulling the three foot tall parchment with him. He could hear footsteps on the stairs and began to look for an escape. There! A window! He pushed the glass open and balanced the scroll on his back, then dived out the window and out into the night.

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Ichiro Nakamura had been a Jounin for two years and five months, so when he found that the smoke bomb in the lobby was a distraction to get to the Forbidden Scroll, to say that he felt stupid would be a major understatement. He rushed up the stairs after the alarm sounded and barreled through the hallway door. He saw something out of the corner of his eye and turned just in time to see a flash of bright orange leap from a four story window. The only person in Konoha he knew that wore orange, was the prankster king himself, Naruto Uzumaki.