A Little Kindness

Mizuki

   It was the day after graduation. And the newly graduated Genin were elated. As they each celebrated in their own way. While their parents, friends, and even some of their instructors also celebrated the end of the school year. It seemed like everyone in the entire Hidden Leaf Village was on cloud Nine. Well everyone except for one man.

   Mizuki was not in a pleasant mood, no not at all. This was made obvious by the fact the he was sitting deep in thought in his newly destroyed office. Not a single peice of furniture or file was left untouched or unturned in his frustration fueled rampage. Nearly six years of planning were completely wasted. Each and every detail, every twist and turn, every expected and unexpected scenario had been clearly and thoroughly thought through, to help optimize the highest success rate that could possibly be achieved. His plan was absolutely full proof. It shouldn't have been this hard to ensure that the Kyubi brat failed the academy. But yet it was, and somehow he failed. But how did he fail, where did he go wrong?

   He was prepared to do whatever it took to make Naruto fail the academy. He even went as far as to retire from his normal job as an active shinobi, to become a teacher. Just so he could watch over and nurture and teach the next generation of promising shinobi. Yeah right, what a bunch of snot-nosed, whiny brats they turned out to be. Half of them wouldn't last two days as a shinobi. And he turned down numerous promotions to Jonin, and even an Anbu position for that. Probably wasn't the best decision in retrospect. But Mizuki had always been a great shinobi. Ready and willing to do anything for the sake of completing a mission, even if it was a self imposed one. So suffer along through the years he would, cause he would end up winning in the long run.

   Of course things got off to a rough start as the class that would end up having his desired target in it would be given to someone else, just his luck. But no big deal, he would work around it. And after a couple short years of politicking and sabotaging. He got Naruto's first teacher fired, and in his place Mizuki got one of his best and closest friends Iruka. As much as he wanted that position, he knew he would have way more influence if he operated from the shadows pulling strings, rather than standing in the spotlight of everyone's view. Plus since Iruka and him were so close, he would be able to influence him easier. Like convincing him to give out the assignments, and letting him grade the papers. Yes Mizuki would take care of the grunt work so that Iruka could focus solely on, his greatest passion, teaching. But this grunt work allowed him to execute his plan perfectly.

   Yes with Iruka having complete and total trust in him, Mizuki was able to hinder and obstruct Naruto's learning to the highest extent. Whether it was assigning homework, that was more challenging than the others, or just giving him tests and quizzes that were nearly impossible for him to complete. But yet he did, somehow. Mizuki knew that the fox must have been helping him along, but what Mizuki couldn't figure out was why. Regardless of why, he was helping Naruto pass all of his Jonin level assignments and tests. Knowing that wasn't going to work anymore he switched up his tactics. Instead he started giving Naruto the wrong deadlines for his assignments. Intentionally giving him deadlines days, weeks, or even months after everyone else. He would even go so far as to place a couple of subtle, almost unnoticeable genjutsu on a few of the other instructors that would teach Naruto. Given the term unnoticeable was a rather large stretch, but it certainly appeared that way. It was just a basic Chunin level genjutsu. But the instructors that were supposedly Chunin level in rank couldn't even notice them, showing just how inadequate they were. "Not even worth the material those vests are made out of, pathetic." He would often think to himself. Somedays he honestly didn't know which was worse the whiny brats or the brainless excuse for educators he had the displeasure of putting up with. But back to the point, he put the majority of the other teachers under a genjutsu to help with his plan. But soon even that plan started to fail. Naruto somehow managed to find out the correct due dates for the assignments.

   Knowing that he was quickly running out of time and options, Mizuki decided that there was only one way to ensure that Naruto failed the graduation exam. And that was for him to become the instructor for the exam. And Kami did he try. He worked his ass off to try and get that position. Countless hours of overtime, always pitching in to help the other instructors, or office aids, or even the principal with whatever meaningless task he could help with. Sometimes even going so far as to work several days in row without a break or any sleep, just to prove how dedicated he was to this position, just to prove that he was worthy enough for the spot.
But despite his hard work, he didn't get the position, and as if fate loved to mess with him, Iruka, the man that he himself helped to get hired in as an instructor, got the role instead. Mizuki couldn't really blame Iruka for taking the position, because at the end of the day it was his own fault. If he had opted to become Naruto's new instructor, instead of trying to be a puppet master, them things might have turned out differently.

   In fact, as he thought more about it, a lot of unexpected things had happened that if they didn't, might have made his plan go off flawlessly. So many unknowns that it was impossible to try and predict every single one of them. How was he supposed to know that Iruka would get over his hatred of the nine tailed brat, and even go so far as to become a sort of father figure for the boy. How was he supposed to predict that the village that used to look at him with disdain and hatred, would suddenly stop just as suddenly as they started. And more unexpected was the friendship that had developed between Sasuke and Naruto. How was anyone supposed to consider that as a possible outcome, Mizuki didn't even think a Nara could think of that as an outcome to any of their hundreds of different plans. And it was here that all of Mizuki's thoughts came to a screeching halt.

   Almost everything made perfect sense now, every unknown variable, every obstacle, every change of course, and change of plan, was because of Sasuke. The reason that Naruto was able to solve and figure out Jonin level tests and assignments, wasn't because of the fox, it was because of Sasuke. Mizuki had taken it opun himself to discreetly test everyone in the class, to gauge their level. And two of them were able to answer the Jonin level problems, Sakura and Sasuke. Sasuke was easily smart enough to help Naruto through his assignments, and help him pass his tests. He wasn't sure how, but then again he wasn't paying much attention to the rest of the class, he was focusing on Naruto. As well as playing the role of the puppet master, for the rest of the school. And as for how Naruto was able to figure out the correct deadlines for his assignments, it was obvious that Sasuke had been telling him. It was all falling into place, now for the last piece. The graduation Exam, Mizuki knew now exactly how Iruka had been picked over him. It wasn't just some stroke of bad luck. It was a political pull from the last Uchiha. He had most likely used his power and status as the last of a great clan, to convince the council to let Iruka, someone who Naruto had befriended and someone that Sasuke knew wouldn't try to purposefully fail him, be the instructor for that exam.
The more he thought about it the more enraged Mizuki bacame. To think all of his careful planning, all of his hard work, all of his sacrifice, would all be undone by some snot nosed brat, that wasn't even a Genin yet. Mizuki now had a new goal, and a new plan. This one, unlike the other one, was quite simple in comparison.

Kill Sasuke Uchiha