The Path of a Shinobi (Reader x various)

The Scroll

A few hours had gone since I last saw Naruto.

I walked out of the training grounds and from afar I spotted Naruto who appeared to be talking to someone although I couldn't see who it was. I sneakingly jumped onto a building and saw it was one of the instructors from earlier, Mizuki.

I quietly hid and how I wish I could have arrived sooner, because their conversation soon ended. I didn't get anything out of it.

The only thing I could do for now was observe Naruto.

~Timeskip~

Nightfall came and I secretly followed Naruto, but found it odd that he was heading towards the Hokage Tower.

'What are you up to?'

I waited at a nearby tree and watched him come out from the building after a few minutes with something in his arms.

He fled in the direction of the forest and I followed after him.

Eventually Naruto came to a stop and plopped himself down at one of the many trees surrounding us. As I inches closer, I could see that he had a large scroll which he opened up and skimmed at.

"Ugh! Not another Clone Jutsu!" He cried out and pulled at his hair. He stood up and copied a hand sign from the scroll. He attempted the jutsu a couple of times which weren't all that successful but I could see the improvement. I stepped out and called out his name which startled him, but had a huge smile on his face when he saw it was me.

"(Y/n) guess what, I'll be able to become a ninja with you," he exclaimed and I peeked over at what he was learning.

"Multi Shadow Clone Jutsu. If you really wanted to learn the clone jutsu, you could've asked me for help instead of taking this scroll," I told him.

"Yeah but-"

"It's all over."

We both were startled and turned around as Iruka Sensei approached us.

"Haha you caught me already. You're quick Sensei, I only had time to master one jutsu." Naruto rubbed the back of his neck and I watched as Iruka Sensei cautiously looked at Naruto.

"Listen Iruka Sensei, I'm gonna show you this amazing jutsu and then you're going to let me graduate and then everything will be okay. That's the way it works right, anyone who learns a jutsu from this scroll passes," rambled Naruto.

Iruka Sensei raised a brow at him and asked, "Where did you hear that?"

"Mizuki Sensei told me about it. He told me where to find the scroll and this place," responded Naruto.

Suddenly we heard the sound of kunais being thrown and I jumped away, but Iruka Sensei pushed Naruto to the ground to avoid the incoming kunais although two of them embedded themself into our Sensei's leg.

Mizuki was trying to persuade Naruto to hand over the scroll to him, but Iruka Sensei interfered, "He's lying! He's using you to get the scroll for himself, for his own power!"

"I'll tell you who's really lying. They've been lying to you your whole life Naruto! Ever since the decree twelve years ago. Everyone knows except you two," shouted Mizuki.

"What decree?" Asked Naruto.

"The decree is that no one can tell you that you have the Nine Tailed Fox sealed inside you. The fox spirit that killed Iruka's parents and destroyed our village has taken over your body. You are the Nine Tailed Fox!"

My eyes widened at the sudden revelation, but realization hit me and it all started to make sense now.

Naruto never knew.

~Flashback~

"I don't know why people hate me," sniffled an eight year old Naruto who wiped away his tears.

"Do you have an idea as to what it could be?" I asked him.

He shook his head and it made me ask the one thing that I that it would be. I've had my suspicions, but I couldn't be sure.

"Do you...happen to have something inside of you? Like a beast, maybe? Are you like me?" It was no secret that I knew what I had inside of me. I've known ever since I was a child and regardless of what I was, Naruto still accepted me.

"No I don't think so... but I hate how people look at me with those eyes. Why do they look at me like that?! I'm not a nuisance or some kind of pest, I'm a person too!"

~End of flashback~

"Die Naruto."

My memory of that incident soon came to an abrupt halt as I saw Mizuki throw a giant shuriken towards Naruto but Iruka Sensei was planning to intervene.

Before the giant shuriken could strike him, I ran as fast as I could right behind them and I felt the giant shuriken impale my back.

I ended up coughing up some blood which alerted the two that I had protected to turn around and their eyes went wide once they saw me.

"(Y-Y/n)!" Stammered our Naruto and he immediately got up and caught me in his arms before I collapsed on my knees.

"H-How do I..." trailed off Naruto as he observed the shuriken and then looked at me, unsure of what to do. "I'll just..." he slowly pulled out the shuriken from behind my back which caused me to wince and grunt in pain.

"I'm sorry!" Apologized Naruto for what he had done, but I dismissed it with a wave of my hand.

While Mizuki kept trying to feed Naruto more lies, I felt someone carry me bridal style and saw it was Naruto as he took me away from Mizuki and Iruka Sensei.

While carrying me deeper into the forest he eventually stopped and placed me down behind a tree.

"Are you okay (Y/n)? Does your wound still hurt?" He asked with worry written all over his face and unzipped his orange jacket as he placed it on my back to stop some of the bleeding.

"I'll be fine. I know basic medical ninjutsu so I can heal it right now." I placed my hand behind me and did the best I could to heal the wound.

From a distance, Naruto and I heard that Mizuki and Iruka Sensei had caught up and were nearby. We peeled over the tree and watched as the two were facing one another.

"Why would you want to protect those freaks! Naruto is just like me. He'll use the scroll for his own vengeance and with (Y/n)'s help, they'll destroy everything. They're beasts."

I didn't believe a word that came out of his filthy mouth because I knew Naruto wasn't like that.

We heard as Iruka Sensei gave a speech about Naruto and the differences between us and tailed beasts that were inside of us.

Naruto sniffled beside me and from the corner of my eye, I could see him shedding tears feeling moved the words that were spoken by Iruka Sensei.

"I was going to save you for later but I changed my mind. You're finished!" Yelled Mizuki and that's when I stopped my medical ninjitsu and Naruto and I made our entrance by simultaneously kicking Mizuki away.

"Never lay a hand on our Sensei or-"

"-We'll kill you." I coldly finished Naruto's sentence with a serious gaze.

"Shadow clone jutsu!" An abundance of clones appeared around the forest and decided to join in as we pummeled Mizuki.

It was an easy win for us and we had tied him up using some wire that was given to us by Iruka Sensei.

"Hehe sorry if we got carried away," sheepishly responded Naruto. Behind us, Mizuki was lying on the ground with blood dripping from his mouth,

"Bur more importantly, are you okay Sensei?"

Iruka Sensei nodded in confirmation and called Naruto over. I saw Iruka Sensei give his headband to Naruto to congratulate him on becoming a ninja.

Naruto excitingly tackled him and I smiled at the scene before me, content with Naruto's accomplishment.

'You'll become a great ninja, Naruto.'