What if Naruto was the smartest of his generation

The kunai sailed through the air with a metallic whistle before clattering against the wooden target postmissing the bullseye by at least three feet. Laughter erupted across the Academy training yard, sharp and merciless in the golden afternoon light.

"Naruto Uzumaki!" Iruka-sensei's voice cracked like a whip, silencing the chorus of snickers. "That's the fifth kunai in a row! Are you even trying?"

Naruto scratched the back of his sun-bright hair, his grin so wide it forced his eyes into mischievous slits. The whisker marks on his cheeks stretched with the expression, making him look even more foxy than usual.

"Sorry, Iruka-sensei!" he bellowed, loud enough to make a few classmates cover their ears. "I guess I put too much awesome power into it, believe it!"

The laughter redoubled. From the shade of a nearby tree, Sasuke Uchiha crossed his arms with a dismissive "hn," onyx eyes radiating contempt. Sakura and Ino huddled together, whispering vicious critiques behind cupped hands.

"What a loser," someone muttered, the words slicing through the yard.

Iruka pinched the bridge of his nose, the scar across it crinkling with frustration. "Just try again, Naruto. And this time, focus ."

Naruto bounded forward, snatching another kunai from the pouch with theatrical enthusiasm. His fingers closed around the handle, and in that microscopic moment, something shifted behind his eyesa flash of calculation so swift it was gone before anyone could notice.

Three millimeters left of center grip. Blade-heavy. Wind from the east at six knots. Compensate with 0.25-second delay on release.

With deliberate awkwardness, he flung the kunai. It cartwheeled chaotically through the air before burying itself in the dirt, a full meter from the target.

"Hopeless," someone spat.

Naruto's face crumpled in practiced disappointment, but behind the façade, his mind worked with clinical precision. The jeers washed over him like rain off a well-oiled cloak. Another flawless performance of incompetence.

"Class dismissed," Iruka called out eventually, not bothering to hide his disappointment. "Naruto, stay behind."

As the training yard emptied, Naruto collapsed onto a worn wooden bench, kicking at the dirt with dramatic petulance. When the last student disappeared around the corner, Iruka dropped onto the bench beside him, wood creaking under their combined weight.

"Naruto," he began, his voice softening from teacher to something more paternal, "at this rate, you won't pass the graduation exam. Don't you want to become a ninja?"

"Of course I do!" Naruto exploded off the bench, arms thrust skyward with such force his orange jacket rode up, revealing the black mesh underneath. "I'm gonna be Hokage someday! Then everyone will stop disrespecting me and start treating me like I'm somebody important!"

The passion in his voice wasn't entirely fabricateda fact that occasionally disturbed Naruto's precisely ordered mind.

Iruka's eyes clouded with something between pity and affection. "Then you need to take your training seriously."

Naruto nodded vigorously, rattling off empty promises about practicing harder. All while mentally reviewing the night's upcoming mission parameters with a thoroughness that would have shocked his instructor senseless.

"Go on, then," Iruka finally sighed, the afternoon shadows stretching long across the yard. "And please, try to stay out of trouble."

Naruto's grin flashed like a kunai in the sun. "You got it, Iruka-sensei!"

The village streets shimmered with late afternoon heat as Naruto walked home, his orange jumpsuit a beacon that could be spotted from rooftops three districts away. The whispers followed him like loyal hounds:

"There he goes"

"demon child"

"troublemaker"

"that boy."

The words prickled against his skin, familiar as his own heartbeat. Naruto absorbed it all with practiced indifference, blue eyes scanning rooftops and alleyways by instinct, mapping escape routes and identifying the ANBU patrol patterns with mechanical precision.

Three operatives today. Cat on the eastern perimeter. Bear watching the market. Hawk monitoring administrative sectors. None watching me. Good.

His ramshackle apartment came into viewpeeling paint and cracked windows, the perfect reflection of what everyone expected from the village pariah. Naruto fumbled theatrically with his keys, dropping them once for good measure in case anyone was watching, before slipping inside and throwing the deadbolt with a decisive click.

The transformation was instantaneous.

His slouch vanished. The foxy grin evaporated. Bright blue eyes hardened into chips of glacial ice as he moved through his cluttered home with preternatural silence, footfalls making not even the whisper of sound on the worn floorboards.

Naruto pressed his palm against an ordinary-looking section of wall. A pulse of chakra, precise as a surgeon's scalpel, and a hidden compartment slid open with a well-oiled hiss, revealing a scroll sealed with the mark of the Hokage.

He unrolled it with efficient movements, scanning the contents before incinerating it with a fire jutsu so controlled that not even ash remaineda technique supposedly far beyond a genin candidate.

The memory surfaced unbidden as he prepared his equipment.

Seven Years Earlier

Six-year-old Naruto sat cross-legged on the thick carpet of the Hokage's office, tears cutting clean tracks through the dirt smudged on his face. Beyond the wide windows, Konoha sprawled in twilight splendor, oblivious to the small tragedy unfolding in its highest tower.

"They hate me," he whispered, voice scraping raw against his throat. "No matter what I do, they hate me."

Hiruzen Sarutobi's weathered face creased with ancient sorrow. The God of Shinobi looked suddenly mortal in the fading light, his ceremonial robes hanging heavy on stooped shoulders.

"The village fears what it doesn't understand, Naruto."

"But why me?" Tiny fists clenched in his lap. "What did I do wrong?"

The Hokage's pipe sat cold and forgotten in his gnarled hand. "Nothing. You've done nothing wrong."

Silence stretched between them, heavy with unspoken truths.

"I've been watching you, Naruto," the Hokage finally said, his voice dropping to a near-whisper. "You're not what you appear to be, are you?"

Naruto's head snapped up, blue eyes suddenly sharp, calculatingso different from his usual boisterous demeanor that it momentarily startled even the God of Shinobi.

"I don't know what you mean, Old Man." The childish nickname hung incongruously against the adult wariness in his gaze.

Sarutobi smiled sadly. "The academy instructors report a clumsy, inattentive child who can barely hold a kunai correctly. Yet somehow, the ANBU patrolling the village borders occasionally glimpse a small boy practicing perfect shuriken jutsu in the forest at dawn."

Naruto's expression remained carefully neutral, but his tiny fists tightened until the knuckles blanched white.

"Your IQ test results were mysteriously misplaced last year," the Hokage continued mildly, as if discussing the weather. "Convenient, as the proctor seemed quite shocked when grading them."

The office fell so silent that the distant sounds of street vendors closing their stalls drifted through the open window.

"Why hide your abilities, Naruto?"

The boy's eyes darted toward the door before returning to the Hokage's face. When he spoke, his voice carried none of the childish whine that villagers associated with him.

"People already hate me," he said flatly. "If they feared me too "

Hiruzen nodded slowly, understanding clicking into place. "So you play the fool."

"It's safer that way. For everyone." A six-year-old child should not have been capable of such cold pragmatism.

The Hokage studied him for a long moment. "What if I offered you another option? A way to use your gifts while maintaining your public persona?"

Naruto's expression grew wary, but undeniably interested.

"The village needs its shadows, Naruto." Hiruzen reached into his desk drawer, withdrawing a small wooden box inlaid with mother-of-pearl. "Those who work unseen, unacknowledged." His gnarled fingers lifted the lid. "Those with talents that might frighten ordinary people."

He placed the box on the desk between them. Inside, nestled on black velvet, lay a white porcelain mask painted with red and black markings resembling a fox.

"ANBU," Naruto whispered, recognizing the elite assassination corps mask.

"A special division," Hiruzen corrected. "Answerable only to me."

"Why would you trust me with this? I'm just a kid. And I'm " Naruto trailed off, unable to name what he was, what was sealed inside him.

"Because, Naruto," the Hokage said gently, "sometimes the best place to hide a demon is behind the face of an angel."

The memory dissolved as Naruto secured the last of his equipment. Night had swallowed Konoha whole, darkness draping the village in velvet shadows that felt more like home than daylight ever had.

He formed a sequence of hand signs with fluid grace, and a perfect shadow clone materialized beside himnot the malformed failures he produced at the Academy.

"You know what to do," Naruto told his doppelgänger. "Sleep visibly. Snore. If anyone checks, you're having ramen dreams."

The clone grinned with a perfect imitation of his daytime exuberance and flopped onto the bed with theatrical gusto, pulling the blankets up and beginning a series of soft snores that occasionally muttered "believe it" and "Hokage."

Satisfied, Naruto moved to the window, fingertips brushing the glass as he checked the street below. Three more shadow clones materialized silently beside him, each transforming into nondescript villagers before dispersing in different directionsmobile surveillance to alert him of any approaching threats.

His movements were liquid shadow as he navigated the darkened rooftops, chakra signature suppressed to near invisibility. The Hokage Tower rose before him, its windows mostly darkened except for the top floor where the Third often worked late into the night.

Instead of approaching the main entrance, Naruto slipped through a hidden passage in the mountain face behind the towera route known only to ANBU captains and the Hokage himself.

The passage opened into a sparsely furnished chamber deep within the mountain, lit by a single lamp that cast long shadows across stone walls. Three figures waited there: two ANBU operatives in masks and the Third Hokage himself, pipe smoke wreathing his aged face.

Naruto reached into his pouch, withdrawing the porcelain fox maskmore intricately decorated than a standard ANBU mask, with crimson streaks like blood splatter across its surface. He slid it over his face, and with it, the last vestiges of the prankster vanished into the ether.

"Killer Fox," the Hokage acknowledged, his voice grave. "Report."

"Phase one surveillance complete," Naruto replied, his voice deeper, controlledunrecognizable as the loudmouth Academy student. "Border patrols have been mapped, guard rotations documented. The target changes protection details every forty-eight hours, but there's a three-minute vulnerability during shift changes."

He unfurled a detailed map across the stone table, fingers tracing routes marked in precise ink.

"The compound has seven entry points, but only two viable for infiltration. I've identified the eastern approach as optimalwater drainage system leads directly beneath the main house. Security seals are present but basic Iwa-type configurations. Nothing I can't bypass."

The masked ANBU to the Hokage's rightEagleshifted slightly. "Intel suggests the target possesses a scroll containing forbidden Earth Release techniques stolen from Konoha during the last war. Confirmation?"

"Confirmed," Naruto answered, producing a small notebook filled with coded observations. "Kept in an underground vault. Chakra-locked, but the combination sequence is predictable. Based on his daughter's birthday."

"You've been thorough, as always," the Hokage said, smoke dancing between his words as he studied the notes. "The mission is approved. Retrieve the scroll, eliminate the target. No witnesses, no evidence of Konoha involvement."

Narutono, Killer Foxbowed slightly. "Understood, Lord Hokage."

The other ANBUHawkspoke up, voice muffled behind his mask. "Intelligence reports suggest increased activity from Iwa. The Tsuchikage may have sent bodyguards."

"The Demolition Corps?" Naruto asked, already calculating counter-strategies for Iwa's elite combat unit.

"Possible. Exercise extreme caution. Your reputation precedes you, and they'll be prepared for trouble."

A cold smile formed behind the fox mask. "Good. Then they'll be looking for an army, not a shadow."

The border between Fire Country and Earth Country stretched through forests so dense that moonlight barely penetrated the canopy. Naruto moved through the trees like a ghost, chakra perfectly controlled, presence erased so thoroughly that even the wildlife remained undisturbed by his passage.

Twenty kilometers from the border, he paused, sensing movement ahead. Three chakra signaturesjonin-levelmoving in standard Iwa patrol formation.

Killer Fox melted into the shadows of a massive oak, becoming one with the darkness as the patrol passed below, oblivious to death watching them from above.

Once clear, he continued his journey, crossing the border in a location precisely calculated to fall between sensor ranges. The terrain gradually shifted from forest to rocky plains, forcing him to adjust his approach. What would have taken a standard shinobi team days to traverse, he conquered in hours.

Dawn approached as he reached the outskirts of his destinationa fortified compound nestled in a valley, surrounded by stone walls and guard towers. From his vantage point on a distant cliff, Naruto observed through a specialized scope, counting guards, noting patrol patterns.

Fourteen visible guards. Likely another eight inside. Two sensor-types, identifiable by their stationary positions and periodic chakra pulses.

He withdrew a small notebook, jotting observations in a cipher of his own creation, then traced a route through the compound's blind spots. The approach would require perfect timing and absolute control.

Naruto closed his eyes, entering a meditative state where his heartbeat slowed to barely perceptible. When he opened them again, the analytical shinobi was gone, replaced by something colder, more predatory.

Killer Fox descended into the valley like a wraith.

The first guard died without a sounda senbon through the carotid artery, precisely placed to sever nerve connections before the brain could register pain. Naruto caught the body before it fell, lowering it silently into the shadows.

He moved through the compound like water through cracks, exploiting every blind spot, every moment of inattention. Three more guards eliminated, each death silent, each body concealed.

The drainage system was exactly where his intelligence indicateda narrow concrete tunnel barely large enough for a man to navigate. Perfect for a child-sized ANBU with fox-like agility.

Naruto slipped into the fetid water, suppressing his disgust as he followed the tunnel's path beneath the compound. Chakra infused into his lungs allowed him to hold his breath for extended periods as he navigated underwater sections.

Security seals glowed faintly along the tunnel walls as he approached the main housestandard Iwa barriers designed to detect foreign chakra signatures. Amateur work to someone trained by the Third Hokage himself.

Naruto formed a rapid sequence of hand signs, manipulating his chakra frequency to mimic the Earth Country resonance embedded in the seals. The barriers flickered briefly before accepting him as authorized, permitting passage without alarm.

Emerging from a maintenance access point inside the compound's main building, Naruto oriented himself quickly. The vault would be below, accessible through the master's study if his intelligence was correct.

Footsteps approacheda night guard making rounds. Naruto flattened himself against the ceiling, chakra adhering him to the surface as the guard passed directly beneath, utterly unaware of the predator above.

The study door was lockedboth mechanically and with a chakra seal. Naruto examined it briefly before producing two specialized tools from his equipment pouch. The mechanical lock yielded in seconds; the chakra seal took longer, requiring precise manipulation to trick the matrix into accepting his signature.

Inside, the study was opulentshelves lined with scrolls and books, a massive desk dominating the center of the room. Naruto moved immediately to the eastern wall, where a landscape painting concealed the vault entrance.

As he reached for the painting, instinct made him freeze. Something was wrong. The air felt disturbed.

He dropped flat as a volley of kunai sliced through the space where he'd stood, embedding themselves in the opposite wall with dull thuds.

"I wondered when Konoha would send someone," a gravelly voice spoke from the shadows.

A figure emergedtall, muscular, with the distinctive stone-gray uniform of Iwa's Demolition Corps. Not just any memberthe jagged scar across his face marked him as Kitsuchi, son of the Tsuchikage himself.

"They said the Leaf had a new operative," Kitsuchi continued, circling slowly. "A ghost they call the Killer Fox. I expected someone bigger."

Naruto remained silent, fox mask betraying nothing as he calculated odds and options. Kitsuchi was A-rank in the bingo book, known for devastating Earth Release techniques that could reshape battlefields. Direct confrontation would be suicide.

"Nothing to say?" The Iwa-nin chuckled. "That's fine. Your head will speak for you when I deliver it to the Tsuchikage."

His hands blurred through signs. "Earth Release: Stone Bullet Technique!"

The floor beneath Naruto erupted as projectiles of hardened stone shot upward with lethal velocity. Naruto twisted in midair, body contorting impossibly as he dodged each bullet by millimeters, his movements fluid as water.

Landing in a crouch, he finally spoke, voice disguised by the mask's integrated modulator. "You're in my way."

Kitsuchi's eyes widened briefly at the inhuman display of agility before narrowing again. "And you're in our country, little fox."

More hand signsfaster this time. "Earth Release: Golem Fist!"

The stone floor rippled as a massive fist formed, launching toward Naruto with crushing force. Instead of dodging, Naruto met it head-on, his small hand striking the stone construction with precisely channeled chakra.

The golem fist shattered, fragments exploding outward as Naruto's counter-force technique nullified the jutsu completely.

For the first time, uncertainty flickered across Kitsuchi's face. "What are you?"

Naruto didn't answer. Instead, he vanished, moving with such speed that Kitsuchi's eyes couldn't track him. The Iwa-nin spun defensively, kunai raisedtoo late.

Naruto reappeared behind him, a lightning-fast strike targeting precise pressure points along Kitsuchi's spine. The big man staggered, momentarily paralyzed as his nervous system misfired.

"The scroll," Naruto demanded, voice cold. "Where is it?"

Kitsuchi laughed through gritted teeth. "You think I'd tell you? Konoha dog."

"No," Naruto replied. "I think you already did."

His hand shot forward, fingertips glowing with chakra as they pressed against Kitsuchi's temple. The genjutsu activated instantlysubtle, undetectable, designed not to control but to extract.

Images flashed through Naruto's mind: the vault, its location, the sequence of hand signs needed to open it. All plucked from Kitsuchi's subconscious before the man even realized what was happening.

Naruto released him, stepping back as Kitsuchi collapsed to his knees, blood trickling from his noseneural feedback from the forced extraction.

"You're not just after the scroll," Kitsuchi gasped, understanding dawning. "You're here for Tanaka."

"The Earth Daimyo's chief advisor has made too many decisions contrary to Fire Country's interests," Naruto confirmed, moving toward the now-revealed vault location. "The scroll is just a bonus."

Kitsuchi struggled to stand, fighting through the paralysis. "You won't succeed. The compound is crawling with guards."

"Was," Naruto corrected, as he formed the sequence of hand signs extracted from Kitsuchi's mind.

The hidden vault door slid open, revealing a small chamber containing multiple scrolls and documents. Naruto identified his target immediatelya large scroll bearing the seal of Konoha, stolen decades ago during the war.

"Tanaka is already dead," he added conversationally as he secured the scroll. "Poisoned at dinner. He'll never wake up."

Horror spread across Kitsuchi's face. "You've been here all along "

"Three days," Naruto confirmed. "Watching. Waiting. Your security never detected me because they were looking for infiltration, not realizing I was already inside."

He turned to face the struggling Iwa-nin, head tilted slightly. "Normally, I'd kill you now. But you fought well, and your intelligence might prove useful."

From his pouch, Naruto withdrew a specialized tagblack paper inscribed with complex sealing formulas.

"This won't hurt," he lied, slapping the tag against Kitsuchi's forehead.

The sealing jutsu activated instantly, tendrils of chakra binding Kitsuchi's memories of the encounter, replacing them with fabricated events that would send Iwa's forces searching in the wrong direction for weeks.

As the man slumped unconscious to the floor, Naruto secured the stolen scroll and moved swiftly to the window. Dawn was approachinghe needed to be across the border before the body was discovered and alarms raised.

Predawn light painted the Hokage Monument in gentle amber hues as Naruto slipped back into Konoha, exhaustion weighing his limbs after the three-day mission. No one had seen him leave; no one would see him return.

The Hokage waited alone in the secret chamber, looking older than when Naruto had departed.

"Mission accomplished, Lord Hokage," Naruto reported, placing the recovered scroll on the table between them. "Target eliminated. No witnesses. No evidence."

Hiruzen nodded gravely. "And Kitsuchi of the Demolition Corps?"

"Alive, memory sealed. He'll lead any investigation away from Konoha involvement."

"Excellent work, as always." The Hokage studied him with penetrating eyes. "You should rest. You have Academy classes in three hours."

Naruto's shoulders slumped slightly at the reminder of his double life. "Yes, sir."

As he turned to leave, Hiruzen called after him. "Naruto "

He paused, fox mask still in place.

"Be careful tomorrow. Iruka is planning a surprise pop quiz on transformation jutsu. It wouldn't do for the dead-last to suddenly excel."

A rare genuine smile formed behind the mask. "I'll be sure to transform my head into my feet, then. Iruka-sensei loves when I do that."

The Hokage chuckled softly. "Go home, Fox. Get some sleep."

Naruto nodded, slipping through the hidden passage and back into the predawn village. Fatigue pulled at himthree days without proper rest, maintaining constant chakra suppression while executing a high-rank assassination would exhaust even seasoned jonin.

But there would be no rest for him, not yet. The village was stirring, early risers beginning their days. The mask of the fool needed to be in place.

Reaching his apartment, he slipped through the window to find his shadow clone still snoring convincingly in bed. With a hand sign, he dismissed it, absorbing its experiencesnothing significant, just a night of undisturbed sleep.

Naruto created three fresh clones, each perfect replicas down to the chakra signature.

"You," he pointed to the first, "breakfast routine. Instant ramen, spilled milk, the usual chaos."

The clone nodded, immediately adopting the hyperactive demeanor expected of Naruto Uzumaki.

"You," to the second, "morning training in the forest. Make it loud, make it clumsy. Be seen."

The second clone grinned foolishly, scratching its head in perfect mimicry of Naruto's public persona.

"And you," to the third, "rest. Dispel if there's trouble."

As the clones moved to their assigned tasks, Naruto finally allowed his exhaustion to show. He stumbled to the hidden compartment in his wall, securing his ANBU gear and mask before collapsing onto a concealed pallet in the false space.

Behind the walls of his apartment, invisible to the world, the feared ANBU captain known as Killer Fox finally closed his eyes, surrendering to sleep while his shadow clones maintained the illusion of the village idiot.

Tomorrow, Naruto Uzumaki would fail another Academy test spectacularly.

But tonight, he had completed an A-rank mission flawlessly, eliminated a threat to Konoha, and recovered stolen secretsall without anyone suspecting that the demon brat they scorned moved among them as both their greatest shame and their unseen protector.

The masks we wear, Naruto thought as consciousness faded, are often the only things keeping us alive.

Behind him, the first rays of sunrise painted Konoha in gold, illuminating the face of the Fourth Hokage carved into the mountainwatching over the son no one knew was his.

Morning shattered through the grimy window of Naruto's apartment, fracturing into kaleidoscope patterns across the rumpled bedsheets. The graduation exam loomed todaya day seven years in careful, meticulous planning. Naruto sat cross-legged on his sagging mattress, eyelids closed, breath measured in perfect rhythm, a moment of centered calm before the day's performance began.

Around him, three shadow clones orchestrated their assigned tasks with perfect coordination. One scrubbed furiously at an orange jumpsuit, tongue poking out in concentration as it attacked a stubborn ramen stain. Another practiced looking hopelessly confused in the bathroom mirror, cycling through expressions of bewilderment, frustration, and despair. The third arranged kunai and shuriken with deliberate sloppiness, occasionally dropping one with a theatrical wince.

"Today's the day," Naruto murmured, opening eyes that flashed with winter-sky intelligence for one unguarded moment. "Graduation. Finally."

"Boss! Got the stain out!" The clone with the jumpsuit held it up triumphantly, presenting the garish orange fabric like a battle flag.

Naruto nodded, discarding his meditative pose as he bounced to his feet with manufactured enthusiasm that would fool even the most observant witness. "Awesome! I'm gonna be a ninja today, believe it!"

His reflection caught his eye in the cracked mirror on his walla mirror he'd intentionally broken years ago to maintain the appearance of carelessness. The mask of the fool slid into place with practiced precision: wide grin stretching whisker marks, eyes squinted into mischievous slits, shoulders hunched forward slightly in preemptive defense against mockery. A perfect disguise, refined through years of careful calibration.

Today's performance needed to be flawless. Too many eyes would be watching, too much at stake.

The Academy hummed with electric anticipation, the air practically vibrating with excitement and anxiety in equal measure. Students clustered in nervous groups, practicing basic jutsus and comparing notes with frantic energy. Parents hovered at the fringes of the courtyard, pride and expectation radiating from anxious smiles.

Naruto burst through the Academy doors like a hurricane, his entrance precisely calibrated for maximum disruption. "Sorry I'm late!" he bellowed, voice carrying to every corner of the classroom. "Had to help an old lady cross the street, believe it!"

The lie was absurd enough to provoke exactly the reaction he wanted.

"Yeah right, like anyone would accept help from you," Kiba snorted, Akamaru yipping in agreement from atop his head.

Shikamaru didn't even bother lifting his head from his folded arms. "More like you overslept. Troublesome "

Sakura's green eyes rolled dramatically toward the ceiling. "Just sit down and stop making a scene, Naruto! Some of us are trying to concentrate!"

Iruka sighed from the front of the room, clipboard clutched in white-knuckled fingers. "Thank you for joining us, Naruto. Please take your seat so we can begin."

Naruto scrambled toward his desk with deliberate clumsiness, tripping over nothing and colliding with Sasuke's chair along the way. The collision was perfectly calibratedhard enough to seem accidental, gentle enough to avoid actual provocation. The Uchiha's obsidian eyes narrowed in contempt, exactly the reaction Naruto had anticipated to maintain their carefully choreographed rivalry.

"As you know," Iruka began, voice cutting through the nervous chatter like a well-honed kunai, "today you will perform three basic jutsu to qualify for genin status. The transformation jutsu, the substitution jutsu, and finally, the clone jutsu."

Naruto fidgeted in his seat, projecting visible anxiety at the mention of the clone jutsuhis supposed Achilles' heel. In reality, he could create perfect clones in dreamless sleep, had formed armies of them during ANBU missions, had once maintained twenty-seven distinct shadow clones for a three-week deep-cover operation in Kirigakure without breaking a sweat.

The charade had to continue. For now.

"Naruto Uzumaki!"

His name echoed through the examination room with fateful finality. Naruto entered the chamber where Iruka and Mizuki waited behind a long table, headbands arranged in neat rows before them like soldiers awaiting deployment.

"Transformation jutsu first," Iruka instructed, pen poised over his evaluation sheet.

Naruto formed the hand signs with deliberate awkwardness, fingers fumbling slightly on the transition between boar and dog. He channeled precisely thirty percent more chakra than necessaryenough to create a transformation that was recognizable but imperfect. The resulting likeness of the Third Hokage stood before them, the nose slightly too long, the robes minutely askew.

Iruka made a note, his expression neutral. "Adequate. Now substitution."

This time, Naruto performed marginally better, switching places with a chair across the room with only the slightest hesitation. Upon completion, he deliberately stumbled, arms pinwheeling comically as he regained his balance.

"And finally," Iruka said, expression carefully controlled, "the clone jutsu."

Naruto swallowed audibly, eyes darting around the room with manufactured nervousness. Inside, he calculated precisely how much chakra to overload into the technique for maximum failure effect.

"Clone Jutsu!" he shouted, hands forming the seals with deliberate awkwardness. The last seal he purposely twisted his fingers just two millimeters out of proper alignmentenough to disrupt the chakra flow without appearing intentional.

A puff of smoke erupted beside him. When it cleared, a single pitiful clone lay face-down on the floor, its coloring washed out like clothes left too long in the sun, its form distorted like a drawing left in the rain.

Mizuki's lips twitched in barely suppressed satisfaction.

Interesting, Naruto thought behind his mask of devastation. He's pleased I failed. File that away for later investigation.

"I'm sorry, Naruto," Iruka said, genuine regret carving lines around his eyes. "You fail."

"But Iruka-sensei," Mizuki interjected, his voice smooth as silk over stone, "this is his third try. We could pass him on the basis of his other jutsu "

Naruto's mind accelerated to combat speed, analyzing Mizuki's unexpected intervention. The sugary tone pitched to perfect sympathy. The calculated kindness. The predatory gleam lurking beneath the surface concern. The slight shift in posture that screamed deception to his trained eye.

A trap, Naruto realized instantly. But for what purpose?

Iruka shook his head firmly. "No, Mizuki. Everyone else created at least three functioning clones. Naruto couldn't create even one. I can't pass him."

Naruto's face crumpled in rehearsed devastation, eyes wide and hurt like a kicked puppy's. "Please, Iruka-sensei! I practiced so hard!"

"I'm sorry, Naruto," Iruka replied, voice heavy with genuine regret. "Maybe next year."

The ancient wooden swing creaked softly, rust-flecked chains protesting as Naruto pushed himself back and forth with the toe of his sandal. From this vantage point beneath the sprawling oak tree, he had perfect sightlines to the graduation ceremony unfolding in the Academy courtyard. Parents embraced their children, new headbands catching the afternoon sunlight with metallic winks of promise.

No one approached him. No one even glanced his way. Perfect isolationexactly as planned.

His enhanced hearing picked up whispered conversations from across the yard, sorting through them with clinical detachment:

"that's him, the one who failed"

"good thing too, can you imagine if they'd let him become a ninja"

"demon child"

"my mother said to stay away from him"

Naruto absorbed it all with practiced indifference, even as his senses detected a presence approaching from behindfootsteps too deliberate to be casual, breathing pattern betraying the rehearsal of prepared speech.

"Naruto?"

Right on cue. Mizuki.

Naruto turned, manufacturing hope in his eyes as he looked up at his instructor. "Mizuki-sensei?"

"I know how disappointed you must be," Mizuki said, voice dripping with sympathy sweet as poisoned honey.

"I really wanted to graduate this time," Naruto mumbled, playing his part with Oscar-worthy commitment.

Mizuki settled onto the adjacent swing, the ropes groaning under his weight. "You know, Iruka is tough, but he wants what's best for you. He's an orphan too."

Naruto nodded, projecting childish understanding while his mind dissected Mizuki's every word, every micro-expression. The slight tension around the eyesanxiety. The too-even breathing patternrehearsed speech. The way his fingers tapped a nervous rhythm against his thighimpatience or anticipation.

He's setting me up for something. Luring me in. But what's his endgame?

"Actually," Mizuki continued, leaning in conspiratorially, voice dropping to a whisper that sent alarm bells clanging through Naruto's mind, "there is another way to pass."

Here we go. Naruto widened his eyes to saucer proportions. "Really? How?"

"It's a special, secret test," Mizuki whispered, breath hot against Naruto's ear. "For exceptional cases. If you can sneak into the Hokage's tower, borrow a certain scroll, and learn one jutsu from it before morning, Iruka will have to pass you."

The plan crystallized in Naruto's mind instantly. The Scroll of Sealing. Forbidden jutsu. Treason. The stratagem was so transparent he almost laughed at the crude manipulation. Instead, he let his face light up with desperate hope, like a dying man offered water in the desert.

"You'd do that for me, Mizuki-sensei? Tell me about a secret test?"

Mizuki smiled, a flash of teeth that never reached his eyes. "Of course, Naruto. I believe in you."

No, you believe I'm an idiot, Naruto thought. A perfect patsy for whatever game you're playing.

"The scroll is in the Hokage's private library," Mizuki continued, oblivious to Naruto's internal analysis. "It's large, with the character for 'forbidden' on the outside. Meet me in the forest clearing east of the village at midnight, and I'll help you pass your test."

Naruto bounced to his feet with manufactured excitement, nearly knocking over the swing in his enthusiasm. "I won't let you down, Mizuki-sensei! I'll learn everything in that scroll, believe it!"

As he raced away, Naruto's mind raced even faster, three steps ahead and calculating contingencies. Mizuki was clearly plotting treasonno chunin instructor would ask a student to steal the Scroll of Sealing otherwise. The question was whether Mizuki was working alone or as part of a larger conspiracy.

Either way, this unexpected development presented an opportunity. A chance to advance his cover as the village idiot while simultaneously uncovering a potential threat to Konoha.

Killer Fox would investigate Mizuki tonight.

The "break-in" at the Hokage Tower was embarrassingly simple to stage. Naruto deliberately tripped three separate alarm seals, created enough noise to wake the dead, and even knocked over a potted plant for good measure, sending ceramic shards and soil exploding across the polished floor.

The Third Hokage, predictably, caught him red-handed in the scroll room.

"Naruto! What do you think you're doing?" The old man's voice cracked with authority that could make jonin tremble.

Naruto scratched the back of his head sheepishly, channeling every ounce of his hyperactive persona. "Ah! Old Man! I was just, uh looking for the bathroom?"

Hiruzen's eyes narrowed, but Naruto caught the nearly imperceptible nodthe subtle movement that confirmed the Hokage had instantly grasped that Naruto was playing a role.

"Explain yourself, young man." The words were stern, but the underlying tone transmitted understanding.

Naruto bounced on his heels excitedly, voice pitched to carry should anyone be listening at the door. "Mizuki-sensei told me about this secret graduation test! If I can learn a jutsu from this scroll, I'll become a genin!"

The Hokage's expression remained appropriately stern, but Naruto detected the slight widening of his eyessurprise, followed by rapid calculation as the implications registered.

"I see," Hiruzen said carefully. He made a subtle hand sign at his sideANBU code: Play along. Report later.

Naruto replied with the barest flick of his fingers: Understood. Tracking traitor.

The Hokage harrumphed loudly, maintaining his cover as the exasperated leader. "And you believed this nonsense?"

"It's not nonsense if it helps me become a ninja!" Naruto protested with convincing indignation.

Hiruzen sighed with theatrical weariness. "Get out of here before I change my mind about punishing you."

"You're the best, Old Man!" Naruto grabbed the massive scroll and dashed for the window, the forest his obvious destination.

"AND USE THE DOOR!" Hiruzen bellowed after him, the perfect picture of a leader at his wit's end with a troublesome child.

As Naruto raced across the rooftops with the scroll secured to his back, he allowed himself a small, genuine smile. Sometimes, the best way to play the fool was to let others believe they were manipulating you.

Mizuki would learn that lesson tonight. Painfully.

The forest clearing bathed in silver moonlight provided perfect cover for Naruto's supposed "training." He'd deliberately left an obvious trail leading herebroken branches, footprints pressed too deeply into soft earth, even a discarded ramen cup propped conspicuously against a tree trunk.

Now, with the massive scroll unfurled before him like an ancient tapestry, he pretended to struggle through its contents while actually scanning for useful intelligence. Most of the jutsu were familiar to himhe'd had access to similar forbidden techniques during his ANBU training.

Then his eyes fell on an entry that made even his jaded heart skip a beat.

Multi Shadow Clone Jutsu.

Not the standard clone technique that every genin learned, but a forbidden A-rank version that created solid, autonomous duplicates by splitting the user's chakra evenly among them. A technique that required massive chakra reservesreserves that Naruto possessed in abundance thanks to his furry tenant.

More importantly, a technique that would explain how the dead-last academy student could suddenly produce functioning clones. The perfect cover for abilities he already possessed.

"This is perfect," he murmured, memorizing the hand signs he already knew by heart.

Naruto sensed Iruka's approach long before the chunin landed in the clearingthe distinctive chakra signature moving with urgency through the forest canopy. He continued his act, pretending to be absorbed in "practice" until Iruka's shadow fell across him.

"FOUND YOU!" Iruka bellowed, voice thunderous with equal parts anger and relief.

Naruto jumped in feigned surprise, arms pinwheeling comically. "Iruka-sensei! You found me already? I only had time to learn one technique!"

Iruka's face contorted in confusion, brow furrowing deeply. "Learn a ? Naruto, what are you talking about?"

"The secret graduation test!" Naruto explained breathlessly, eyes wide with calculated innocence. "Mizuki-sensei told me if I could learn a jutsu from this scroll, you'd let me graduate!"

Understanding dawned on Iruka's face, followed instantly by alarm that transformed his features. "Mizuki told you tha"

The whistling sound of kunai cutting through air reached them a split second before Iruka shoved Naruto aside, taking the brunt of the attack himself. Knives thudded into the chunin's flesh with sickening impacts, pinning him to the small shack behind them.

"I'm impressed you found our little hideaway, Iruka," Mizuki's voice called from the trees above, honey turned to venom.

Naruto scrambled backward in apparent fear, clutching the scroll protectively against his chest. Inside, he was mapping trajectory angles, calculating Mizuki's position, and assessing Iruka's injuriesserious but non-fatal, the kunai placed to incapacitate rather than kill.

Mizuki perched on a branch above them, two massive shuriken strapped to his back, his face twisted in a sneer that transformed his handsome features into something ugly and feral. "Naruto, give me the scroll."

"Don't do it, Naruto!" Iruka gasped through his pain, blood darkening his green flak jacket. "Mizuki used you to steal it. It's filled with dangerous forbidden jutsu!"

Naruto glanced between them with manufactured confusion. "What's going on?"

Mizuki laughed, the sound cold and brittle as winter ice. "I'll tell you what's going on. I'll tell you the truth Iruka and the entire village has been keeping from you all these years."

"Mizuki, no!" Iruka shouted, desperation cracking his voice. "It's forbidden!"

So that's his angle, Naruto realized, pieces clicking into place. He wants to destabilize me by revealing the Nine-Tails, hoping I'll lose control and either flee with the scroll or become too paralyzed to stop him from taking it.

It might have workedif Naruto hadn't known about his status as a jinchūriki since he was six years old.

"What truth?" Naruto asked, injecting a perfect mixture of fear and desperation into his voice, eyes wide with manufactured vulnerability.

"Don't listen to him, Naruto!" Iruka pleaded, struggling against the kunai pinning him like a butterfly to a collector's board.

"Twelve years ago, the Nine-Tailed Fox attacked our village," Mizuki continued, voice dripping with cruel pleasure. "You've been told the Fourth Hokage killed it, but that was a lie. It couldn't be killedonly sealed away."

Naruto widened his eyes in horror, even as his mind catalogued every detail of Mizuki's stance, every weakness in his posture, every opening in his guard. He calculated fourteen different ways to kill the traitor instantly, discarding each as too revealing of his true abilities.

"It was sealed inside a newborn baby," Mizuki said, voice dropping to a venomous whisper that nonetheless carried in the still night air. "That baby was YOU, Naruto! YOU are the Nine-Tailed Fox demon!"

Naruto staggered backward as if physically struck, the scroll clutched to his chest like a shield. "No that can't be "

"Haven't you wondered why everyone hates you? Why they look at you with those cold eyes?" Mizuki's laugh scraped like broken glass. "Even Iruka hates you! Your parents died in the attackthe attack YOU caused!"

"That's not true, Naruto!" Iruka shouted, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth. "You're not the fox!"

Mizuki unstrapped one of his massive shuriken, spinning it menacingly until it became a blur of deadly metal. "Die, demon!" The weapon whirled through the air toward Naruto's frozen form.

Time seemed to slow. Naruto could have dodged easilycould have caught the shuriken and returned it with deadly accuracycould have killed Mizuki five different ways before the weapon completed its arc.

Instead, he played his part, remaining frozen in apparent shock.

At the last possible moment, Iruka tore free from the kunai pinning him and threw himself between Naruto and the incoming shuriken. The weapon buried itself in Iruka's back with a sickening thud and the crunch of metal meeting bone.

"Why?" Naruto whispered, genuine emotion breaking through his careful facade as he stared up at his bleeding teacher.

Iruka coughed, blood spattering onto Naruto's upturned face like crimson freckles. "Because we're the same. When my parents died, no one acknowledged me. I became the class clown to get attention. It was so painful "

Tears welled in Iruka's eyes, and to Naruto's surprise, he felt answering moisture in his own.

"You must have been in so much pain too, Naruto. I'm sorry I didn't do more for you." Iruka's voice dropped to a ragged whisper, each word costing him precious energy. "But you're not the fox. You're Naruto Uzumaki of Konoha!"

For a brief, disorienting moment, Naruto's carefully constructed walls cracked. Not the facade of the foolthat remained intactbut the deeper walls around his heart. The ones that kept him isolated, kept him focused solely on the mission.

Mizuki's bitter laugh shattered the moment. "How touching. Iruka always was soft. I'll deal with both of you, then take the scroll to Lord Orochimaru!"

Orochimaru. The name registered in Naruto's intelligence database immediately. S-rank missing-nin. Former Sannin. Countless crimes against Konoha. This was no longer a simple case of treasonthis was high-level espionage connected to one of Konoha's most dangerous enemies.

Enough playing around.

"Don't touch Iruka-sensei," Naruto growled, rising to his feet. Killer Fox's cold precision infused his stance even as he maintained his cover. "I'll kill you if you do."

Mizuki stared for a moment before erupting in laughter that echoed through the clearing. "Kill me? You? The dead-last who can't even make a single clone? I'll finish you in one blow!"

Naruto's hands formed the cross-shaped seal he'd "just learned" from the scroll. "Try it, trash. I'll return it a thousand times over!"

"Show me what you can do, Nine-Tails!" Mizuki charged, drawing his second massive shuriken.

"MULTI SHADOW CLONE JUTSU!"

The clearing exploded in smoke that billowed outward like a detonation, clearing to reveal hundreds of identical Narutos surrounding Mizuki in every direction. The clones perched on branches, stood on the ground, hung from treesa sea of orange and blond as far as the eye could see.

Mizuki froze, weapon half-drawn, terror washing across his face as he spun in circles. "Wh-what? How did you"

"What's wrong?" the Narutos asked in unison, the chorus of voices creating an otherworldly echo. "I thought you were going to finish me in one blow?"

"This this is impossible!" Mizuki backed away, only to bump into more clones.

"You hurt Iruka-sensei," the clones growled in perfect synchronization. "Now we're gonna hurt you."

What followed was calculated chaos. Naruto could have ended Mizuki instantly with an ANBU assassination technique. Instead, he orchestrated a beatdown that looked like the work of an angry, untrained child with sudden access to overwhelming power. Unrefined. Emotional. Devastating.

When it was over, Mizuki lay unconscious and thoroughly broken at the center of the clearing, while the shadow clones dispelled in successive poofs of smoke, leaving only the original Naruto standing beside Iruka.

"I think I overdid it," Naruto said sheepishly, scratching the back of his head with exaggerated embarrassment.

Iruka stared at him in genuine amazement. "Naruto how did you ?"

"I just followed the instructions in the scroll!" Naruto lied smoothly, spinning fabrication with practiced ease. "It was actually pretty easy once I got the hang of it."

A perfect explanation for his new abilities. The foundation was laid.

Iruka smiled through his pain, blood still seeping from multiple wounds. "Come here, Naruto. I have something for you."

Naruto approached cautiously. "What is it?"

"Close your eyes."

Naruto complied, sensing Iruka shifting, removing something. The familiar pressure of a headband being tied around his forehead, metal plate cool against his skin.

"Congratulations, graduate," Iruka said warmly. "Let's celebrate with ramen after we report this."

Naruto opened his eyes to see Iruka's bare forehead, realizing the chunin had given him his own headband. Something tightened in his chestan unfamiliar emotion he couldn't immediately catalog. For the first time in years, the tears that welled in Naruto's eyes weren't manufactured for his cover. They were genuine, and the realization disturbed him deeply.

"Thank you, Iruka-sensei," he managed, voice thick with emotion as he threw his arms around the injured man in an impulsive hug.

Dawn painted the Hokage Tower in golden light as Naruto finished his debriefing. Two ANBU had taken the unconscious Mizuki for interrogation, while Iruka had been escorted to the hospital, the medics assuring Naruto that his teacher would make a full recovery.

"So Orochimaru is making moves," the Third Hokage mused, puffing contemplatively on his pipe, smoke rings rising toward the ceiling like ghostly halos. "This is troubling."

"Mizuki mentioned 'Lord Orochimaru' specifically," Naruto confirmed, his ANBU persona fully in place now that they were alone. "The phrasing suggests direct contact, not just sympathizing with a missing-nin."

"Indeed." Hiruzen studied him thoughtfully, weathered fingers tapping against his pipe stem. "You handled the situation well, maintaining your cover while exposing a traitor. Though I notice you chose to reveal your ability with shadow clones."

Naruto nodded curtly. "A calculated risk. The Multi Shadow Clone Jutsu provides a perfect explanation for abilities I'll need to display moving forward. As it's a forbidden technique that requires massive chakra reserves, it's believable that I could master it quickly given my special circumstances."

"Clever." The Hokage tapped ash from his pipe. "And now that you're officially a genin, we need to discuss team placements."

"I assume you've already decided."

Hiruzen smiled slightly, eyes twinkling with secrets. "Team Seven. With Sasuke Uchiha and Sakura Haruno, under Kakashi Hatake."

Naruto's eyebrows rose slightly. "Kakashi? 'Hound'?"

"The same."

"Will that be a problem? He may recognize my techniques if I'm forced to reveal them."

The Hokage shook his head. "Kakashi has been briefed on your special status. He won't expose you, though I doubt he'll make things easy for you either."

"And my teammates?"

"Strategically chosen. The last Uchiha and our top kunoichi prospect, alongside the supposed dead-last. A balanced team on paper, while giving you access to two individuals who will be significant to Konoha's future."

Naruto absorbed this, mind already analyzing possible scenarios. "And my ANBU duties?"

"Will continue, though perhaps with adjusted scheduling. Killer Fox is too valuable an asset to retire, especially with Orochimaru making moves."

The Hokage slid a sealed scroll across his desk. "Your next mission. A simple intelligence gathering operation. Should be compatible with your early genin assignments."

Naruto tucked the scroll into his jacket. "Understood, Lord Hokage."

"One more thing, Naruto." Hiruzen's voice softened slightly. "Your interaction with Iruka tonight it seemed genuine."

Naruto stiffened, shoulders squaring almost imperceptibly. "A necessary part of my cover."

"Of course." The Hokage's knowing smile suggested he didn't believe that for a second. "Dismissed."

Sunrise transformed Konoha from shadow to light, the village awakening beneath a canvas of crimson and gold. Naruto walked alone through gradually stirring streets, the weight of his new headband unfamiliar yet satisfying against his foreheada symbol of his first official identity in the village.

Genin. A starting point for most, but for Naruto, simply another cover layered atop the others he maintained.

The village looked different somehow. Shopkeepers were beginning to open their stores, nodding politely as he passed without the usual glares. Word traveled fast in a shinobi villagethe defeat of a traitor and graduation to genin status already shifting public perception.

Naruto reached the Hokage Monument, leaping easily to the top where he could overlook the entire village. The scroll containing his next ANBU mission felt heavy in his pocket. Two lives, perfectly separated yet intricately connected.

"Genin Naruto Uzumaki," he tested the title aloud, letting the morning breeze carry his words away. "Future Hokage by day. ANBU Captain Killer Fox by night."

He settled into a cross-legged position, watching as the village came alive beneath him. For a brief moment, he allowed himself to feel something like contentmentor as close to it as someone like him could experience.

The moment passed quickly. Opening the mission scroll with practiced ease, he committed its contents to memory before incinerating it with a minor fire jutsu.

Intelligence gathering in the Land of Tea. Suspected Sound Village infiltration. Priority: high.

Naruto's mind shifted into operational planning mode, calculating timelines against his new genin responsibilities. Team assignments wouldn't be announced for three days. Plenty of time for a quick ANBU mission if he departed tonight.

As he rose to prepare, the metal of his headband caught the morning light, sending a flash of brilliance across the stone faces of past Hokages. For a fleeting instant, Naruto wondered how Iruka would feel knowing his prized student would be assassinating foreign operatives before their first team meeting.

The thought disturbed him more than it should have.

Shaking it off, Naruto adjusted his headband and leaped from the monument, orange jumpsuit bright against the morning skythe perfect disguise for the shadow that moved unseen beneath.

Dawn exploded across Konoha's rooftops in a riot of gold and crimson, painting the village in fire-bright hues. Naruto bounded across the tiled landscape, his footfalls precisely measured despite the deliberately haphazard rhythm he injected into his gait. The metal of his newly-acquired headband caught the morning light, throwing prismatic flashes against nearby walls.

Behind the mask of exuberance, his mind catalogued everything. The ANBU patrol routes had shiftedstandard protocol on team assignment day. Hawk now monitored the Academy approaches while Rat had taken the eastern quadrant. Security always tightened when fresh genin teams were announced, a precaution against foreign intelligence gathering.

Naruto had spent the pre-dawn hours reviewing intelligence files on his future teammates and instructor, memorizing psychological profiles, combat ratings, and biographical details with ruthless efficiency.

The Academy classroom hit him with a wall of sound as he burst through the doors, his entrance timed for maximum disruption. Conversations sputtered into silence. Heads whipped around, eyes widening at the sight of his headband. The reactions rippled across the room like a stone thrown into still watersurprise, confusion, disbelief.

"What are you doing here, Naruto?" Shikamaru drawled from his slouched position, dark eyes narrowing beneath heavy lids. "This meeting is only for those who passed."

The morning light streaming through the windows caught the gleam of metal at Naruto's forehead as he jabbed a thumb against his headband, the gesture theatrical enough to draw every eye. "See this? I graduated too! Iruka-sensei passed me after a special test!"

Half-truths sold better than outright liesthe air exploded with questions, exactly as calculated. Naruto deflected them with practiced ease, grinning and scratching the back of his head while his attention locked covertly on Sasuke Uchiha.

The last surviving Uchiha sat in characteristic silence by the window, shoulders rigid beneath his high-collared blue shirt. Sunlight caught in his raven-black hair, creating a halo effect that only emphasized the darkness of his expression. The intelligence files had been thoroughtraumatized, gifted, dangerous. A flight risk if Naruto had ever profiled one.

As Naruto navigated the crowded aisle between desks, he employed a flawless stumble that sent him sprawling across Sasuke's desk, their faces suddenly inches apart. The "accident" allowed him to note Sasuke's reaction time (exceptional), pupil dilation (minimalimpressive emotional control), and breath pattern (slightly acceleratedthe cool façade wasn't perfect).

"Get off me, loser," Sasuke growled, the words vibrating through the minimal space between them. He shoved Naruto backward, the calculated force behind the push revealing more about his physical conditioning than any report could convey.

Chaos erupted as Sasuke's fan club exploded in righteous fury. Sakura's voice cut through the din like a kunai through silk. "Naruto, you idiot! Don't contaminate Sasuke-kun!"

The resulting uproar provided perfect cover for Naruto's clinical assessment. Sakura Harunoacademically brilliant but physically underdeveloped. Emotional vulnerability where Sasuke was concerned. Chakra control exceptional, combat experience nearly non-existent. A blank canvas with potential that would require significant molding.

"Settle down, everyone!" Iruka's commanding voice sliced through the cacophony, the room falling into immediate silence. The chunin's eyes softened almost imperceptibly when they landed on Naruto, triggering an unexpected flicker of warmth in the boy's chest that he quickly suppressed.

As Iruka began announcing team assignments, Naruto allowed his thoughts to drift to his future jōnin instructor. Kakashi Hatake. Copy Ninja. Former ANBU Captain codenamed "Hound." The man's list of accomplishments stretched longer than most jōnin twice his age, his psychological profile reading like a case study in functional trauma response.

"Team Seven," Iruka announced, the words snapping Naruto back to full alertness. "Sasuke Uchiha, Sakura Haruno"

Sakura's victorious shriek pierced the air like a signal flare, causing several students to wince visibly. Her emerald eyes blazed with triumph as she shot a smug look toward Ino.

"and Naruto Uzumaki."

Naruto launched into a perfectly calibrated tantrum, complete with table-pounding and vociferous protests about being paired with Sasuke. "Why does an exceptional shinobi like me have to be with that loser?!"

Iruka's explanation about balancing teamsstrongest with weakestprovided the ideal cover for Naruto's internal cataloguing of his teammates' physical tells. Sakura's excitement manifested in a slight flush creeping up her neck. Sasuke's irritation revealed itself only in the microscopic tightening around his eyes.

"Your jōnin instructors will arrive after lunch," Iruka finished, dismissing the class with a wave. "Good luck on your shinobi journeys."

Three hours later, Team Seven sat alone in the deserted classroom. Motes of dust danced in slanting afternoon sunlight that stretched across empty desks. Every other team had departed with their instructors long ago, leaving behind nothing but fading footsteps and the lingering scent of excited anticipation.

"He's late!" Sakura fumed, pacing between desks with staccato steps. The hollow echo of her sandals against wood punctuated each irritated breath.

Sasuke brooded by the window, his silhouette stark against the bright rectangle of sky, shoulders tensed beneath his shirt. To the untrained eye, he appeared unaffected by the wait, but Naruto noted the barely perceptible tap of his finger against his thighimpatience leaking through the stoic facade.

Meanwhile, Naruto had positioned himself near the door, staging an elaborate prank involving an eraser wedged in the doorframechildish bait that served multiple purposes. It would reinforce his reputation as the class prankster while simultaneously providing valuable data on their instructor's reflexes and temperament.

"A jōnin won't fall for something so stupid," Sakura scoffed, even as her eyes betrayed her hope that it would work.

"It'll teach him to be late!" Naruto proclaimed, bouncing on his heels while covertly analyzing the hallway's acoustic signature for approaching footsteps.

Three two one

The door slid open with a soft whisper of wood against track, and the eraser dropped with a soft puff of chalk dust onto silver hair that seemed to defy gravity. Kakashi Hatake stood frozen in the doorway, single visible eye blinking slowly while chalk particles drifted down like miniature snowflakes.

"My first impression of you all " he drawled, voice as lazy as his posture, "is that I hate you."

Sakura stammered apologies while Sasuke's scowl deepened to geological proportions. Naruto pointed and laughed uproariously, the sound bouncing off the classroom walls while his trained eye caught everything the average genin would miss: the deliberate slouch hiding combat-ready posture, the calculated delay before opening the door (Kakashi had sensed the trap but walked into it anyway), and the microsecond assessment his supposed-jōnin instructor had made of each of them.

"Roof. Five minutes." Kakashi disappeared in a theatrical swirl of leaves that spiraled upward before settling to the floor like abandoned confetti.

As they climbed the stairs to the Academy roof, Naruto mentally replayed what he knew about Kakashi's ANBU career. The man had been legendary even by Black Ops standardsruthlessly efficient, psychologically complex, and fiercely loyal to Konoha despite his personal tragedies. He'd retired from ANBU shortly before Naruto had joined, but stories of the fearsome "Hound" still circulated in whispers during late-night missions.

He'll test us tomorrow, Naruto predicted, mind calculating probabilities. Standard bell exercise, if the pattern holds. Designed to fail us unless we demonstrate the teamwork he values above all else.

Konoha's rooftops sprawled beneath them as they emerged onto the sun-baked concrete of the Academy roof. Heat shimmered in waves, creating mirages against the distant Hokage Monument. Kakashi lounged against the railing, his posture a masterclass in affected carelessness, orange book held casually before his masked face.

"Let's introduce ourselves, shall we?" Kakashi suggested, his visible eye curved in what might have been a smile. "Likes, dislikes, dreams for the futurethat sort of thing."

"Why don't you go first, sensei?" Sakura suggested, tucking a strand of pink hair behind her ear.

"Me? I'm Kakashi Hatake." The jōnin's voice remained monotone, revealing nothing. "Things I like and things I hate I don't feel like telling you that. My dreams for the future never really thought about it. As for my hobbies I have lots of hobbies."

Masterful deflection, Naruto noted with professional appreciation. Reveals nothing while appearing to participate. Classic intelligence operative technique.

Sakura's introduction came nextall Sasuke-focused with little substance. Then Sasuke himself, dark and vengeful, his declaration to kill "a certain someone" causing Naruto to mentally flag another concern for his mission file. The hatred in Sasuke's voice when he spoke of his brother was nearly tangible, a living thing with teeth and claws that had hollowed him from the inside out.

"And finally, the blonde," Kakashi pointed lazily.

"I'm Naruto Uzumaki!" he announced, volume calibrated to maximum, watching a nearby pigeon take startled flight. "I like instant ramen and the ramen at Ichiraku's that Iruka-sensei treats me to! I hate the three minutes it takes to cook instant ramen! My hobby is comparing different types of ramen! And my dream "

Here Naruto paused, allowing genuine intensity to surface briefly, like a shark's fin breaking water before submerging again.

" is to become the greatest Hokage this village has ever seen! Then everyone will stop disrespecting me and treat me like I'm somebody important!"

Kakashi's eye curved in what appeared to be an indulgent smile, but Naruto detected the slight narrowing that indicated deeper assessment. The jōnin wasn't fooled by his actnot completelybut neither did he seem to suspect the full truth.

"Tomorrow we'll have our first mission," Kakashi announced, his casual tone belying the weight of his words.

"What kind of mission?" Sakura asked eagerly, leaning forward with academically-conditioned enthusiasm.

"Survival training."

"But sensei, we already did survival training at the Academy!" Confusion furrowed her broad forehead.

"This isn't like your previous training." Kakashi's eye curved into that same deceptive smile, the one that revealed nothing while promising pain. "Of the twenty-seven graduates, only nine will be chosen as genin. The rest will be sent back to the Academy. This test has a 66% failure rate."

The shock that rippled through the team hit like a physical wavegenuine on his teammates' parts, manufactured on Naruto's. He'd known the system since he was eight.

Kakashi chuckled at their expressions, the sound utterly devoid of warmth. "Meet at Training Ground Three, 5 AM. Oh, and don't eat breakfast, or you'll throw up." With that cheerful warning, he vanished in another swirl of leaves, the small vortex dancing across the rooftop before dispersing.

"This is seriously messed up," Sakura muttered, genuine worry etched across her face like cracks in porcelain.

Sasuke merely grunted, rising to leave without a word to either teammate. His silhouette cut a sharp edge against the afternoon sky as he walked away, isolation wrapped around him like a second skin.

They have no concept of teamwork, Naruto realized with a frown. This will complicate things.

The next morning arrived draped in pearl-gray mist that clung to the grass like ghostly fingers. Naruto arrived at Training Ground Three precisely on time, having eaten a full, nutritionally optimized breakfast despite Kakashi's warning. He'd spent the pre-dawn hours setting surveillance tags throughout the training groundnothing that Kakashi wouldn't detect if he was looking, but sufficient to track movement patterns during the test.

Sakura and Sasuke waited under a large oak tree, both looking sleep-deprived and hollow-cheeked with hunger. Sakura's usually vibrant hair hung limp around her pale face, while Sasuke's posture was fractionally less perfect than usuala tell that would be invisible to anyone but a trained operative.

Naruto briefly considered dropping his façade to suggest they eat something, but discarded the thought immediately. Better to maintain his cover and find another way to guide them toward cooperation.

"Good morniiiing!" he shouted with false cheer, the sound shattering the morning stillness. Birds startled from nearby trees in a flurry of indignant wings as he bounded toward them, orange jumpsuit a neon beacon against the muted landscape.

Sakura winced at the volume, pressing fingers to her temples. "Do you have to be so loud this early?"

Three hours later, the sun had climbed higher, burning away the morning mist and replacing it with oppressive heat that shimmered above the training ground. Team Seven remained waiting, Sakura now sitting with her back against the tree, Sasuke still standing but with marginally less rigid posture.

The snap of a twig announced Kakashi's arrival before he sauntered into view, his casual stride a deliberate provocation. "Good morning!" he offered, as if his tardiness was perfectly reasonable.

"YOU'RE LATE!" Naruto and Sakura shouted in unison, their voices startling a rabbit from nearby bushes.

Kakashi ignored the accusation, producing two small bells from his pocket. The metal caught the sunlight, sending bright flashes across the clearing as they dangled from red strings. "Your task is simpleget these bells from me before noon. Whoever doesn't get a bell fails and returns to the Academy."

Classic division tactic, Naruto thought with professional appreciation. Creating artificial scarcity to prevent teamwork. Elegant in its simplicity.

"But sensei, there are only two bells," Sakura pointed out, sharp mind immediately grasping the mathematical inequality.

"That means one of you will definitely fail," Kakashi confirmed cheerfully, eye crinkling with what appeared to be genuine amusement. "You can use any weaponsattack as if you mean to kill me. Begin when I say"

Naruto launched himself forward, kunai flashing in the sunlighta deliberate, telegraphed attack designed to appear impulsive. As expected, Kakashi vanished from sight and reappeared behind him, twisting his arm while holding the kunai to the back of Naruto's neck. The movement was so fluid it appeared nearly effortless, but Naruto detected the precise application of pressure, the textbook execution of the holdmarkers of elite training.

"I didn't say 'start' yet," Kakashi chided, breath warm against Naruto's ear. "But at least you came at me with killing intent. Perhaps I'm starting to like you guys after all. Now begin!"

Sasuke and Sakura disappeared into the trees with commendable speed, leaves rustling briefly before settling into silence. Naruto, playing his role, remained standing in the open clearing, squinting against the sun like a complete novice.

"You know, compared to the others, you're a bit strange," Kakashi observed, orange book already open in his hand despite the supposed combat situation.

"The only strange thing here is your haircut!" Naruto shouted, the childish insult echoing across the training ground as he charged forward with deliberate clumsiness.

What followed was a masterclass in feigned incompetence. While appearing to launch wild, uncoordinated attacks, Naruto was actually mapping Kakashi's defensive patterns, reaction times, and habitual counters. Every "accidental" stumble brought him into contact with the ground where he placed tiny, chakra-infused tracking seals. Each failed attack revealed something useful about the jōnin's fighting style.

When Kakashi finally caught him with the humiliating "Thousand Years of Death" technique, Naruto allowed himself to be launched into the nearby river. The water closed over his head in a rush of bubbles and muffled sound, cool darkness enveloping him. Underwater, hidden from view, he created a shadow clone to continue the charade while the real Naruto slipped into the forest to track his teammates.

He found Sakura first, trembling under a bush, her breathing rapid and shallow. Her eyes were dilated with fear, skin clammy with sweatclassic symptoms of someone recently trapped in a genjutsu. Kakashi had evidently shown her an illusion of an injured or dying Sasuke, targeting her emotional vulnerability with surgical precision. The psychological warfare was effective but unnecessarily cruelKakashi was testing not just their skills but their emotional fortitude.

Sasuke had fared better, actually managing to touch a bell before being trapped neck-deep in the ground by an Earth Style jutsu. Naruto observed from the canopy as Sakura discovered him and promptly fainted, missing a perfect opportunity to dig her crush out and form an alliance.

Pathetic, Naruto thought, then immediately felt a twinge of something unfamiliar. Guilt? These weren't just mission parametersthese were actual children his age, thrown into a test designed to break them psychologically. Kids who hadn't been trained since age six to compartmentalize emotions and prioritize the mission.

The realization was uncomfortable. Naruto dropped from the tree, landing beside Sasuke's buried form with intentional noise to announce his presence.

"Need a hand, teme?" he asked with a deliberately irritating grin that stretched his whisker marks.

"Get lost, dobe," Sasuke growled, the earth around his neck crumbling slightly with the force of his anger.

"Is that any way to talk to someone who could dig you out?" Naruto crouched, examining the compacted earth. "Kakashi-sensei really got you good."

"I touched one of the bells," Sasuke said defensively, pride leaking through his composed exterior. "You probably didn't even get close."

"Nope," Naruto admitted cheerfully, starting to dig around Sasuke's trapped form. "But I did figure out what this test is really about."

Sasuke's eyes narrowed suspiciously, dark irises almost disappearing. "What are you talking about?"

"Think about ithas a three-person genin team ever existed in Konoha's history? It's always three genin, one jōnin. So why would he suddenly decide to send one of us back?"

As he spoke, Naruto continued digging, his movements deliberately sloppy but surprisingly effective. The earth gave way beneath his fingers, crumbling like dark brown sugar. Sasuke remained silent, but Naruto could practically see the gears turning behind those obsidian eyes.

"He's pitting us against each other," Naruto continued, voice lowered conspiratorially. "Making us compete when we should be cooperating."

"That's actually not completely stupid," Sasuke admitted reluctantly as Naruto finally freed him from the earth. He brushed dirt from his white shorts, pride warring with gratitude on his features.

"Let's wake up Sakura and make a plan," Naruto suggested, moving toward the unconscious girl, whose pink hair spread across the forest floor like spilled paint.

A sharp ring cut through the airthe alarm signaling the end of the test. Opportunity lost.

"You all fail," Kakashi announced, slouched against the memorial stone as they gathered in the clearing. The declaration fell like a guillotine blade, severing whatever fragile connections might have begun forming.

Naruto found himself tied to a wooden postpunishment for his earlier attempt to steal lunch while Kakashi wasn't looking. Another calculated move, positioning himself as the team troublemaker while planting seeds of cooperation. Rough rope bit into his arms, the discomfort minor compared to restraints he'd endured during ANBU training.

"None of you understand what it means to be a ninja," Kakashi continued, disappointment evident in his voice. The shift from lazy indifference to genuine emotion was jarring. "None of you understood the purpose of this exercise."

"Teamwork," Sasuke muttered, eyes widening slightly as the realization solidified like ice crystals forming in water.

"Precisely. Too little, too late." Kakashi's eye hardened, the mask concealing most of his expression but unable to hide the intensity radiating from him. "In the ninja world, those who break the rules are scum, but those who abandon their friends are worse than scum."

The words hit with surprising force. Naruto had heard similar sentiments in ANBU, but always with the unspoken caveat that the mission came first. Kakashi seemed to be suggesting something differentsomething almost heretical to Black Ops doctrine.

"I'll give you one more chance after lunch," Kakashi decided, the sudden mercy unexpected. "But it'll be even harder to get the bells. Eat now to build up strength. But" his voice turned menacing, killing intent leaking out like poison gas, "don't give any to Naruto. That's his punishment for trying to cheat. Anyone who feeds him automatically fails."

With that warning, Kakashi vanished in a swirl of leavesthough Naruto instantly detected him hiding nearby, monitoring their actions from behind a tree fifty meters to the east.

Sakura and Sasuke unwrapped their lunches, the smell of rice and fish torturing Naruto's intentionally empty stomach. The hunger was realhe'd calculated that an empty stomach would make his performance here more convincing.

"This is fine!" he proclaimed, squirming against his bonds with theatrical desperation. "I can go without eating for days! Weeks, believe it!"

His stomach betrayed him with a growl that seemed to echo across the training ground, loud as a summoning jutsu in the sudden silence.

Sasuke paused, staring at his food, then suddenly thrust his bento toward Naruto, the movement so unexpected that Naruto almost dropped his act in genuine surprise.

"Here."

"Sasuke-kun!" Sakura gasped, clutching her own lunch protectively. "You heard what Kakashi-sensei said!"

"Kakashi's gone," Sasuke replied, coal-dark eyes scanning the tree line. "We need him at full strength if we're going to work together to get those bells. It's that simple."

Naruto blinked, genuinely surprised. The gesture was unexpectedly human from the typically cold Uchiha.

Sakura glanced nervously around the clearing before offering her lunch as well, the capitulation so swift it suggested she'd been looking for permission to show compassion. "Here, I'm on a diet anyway. But hurry up, before sensei comes back!"

"But " Naruto wiggled his tied hands helplessly. "I can't move my arms!"

Sakura's face flushed crimson as she realized she would have to feed him. With visible reluctance, she lifted her chopsticks to his mouth. "This is a one-time thing, got it? And if you tell anyone I fed you, you're dead!"

Just as Naruto accepted the food, an enormous explosion of smoke engulfed the clearing, the concussive force sending birds scattering from nearby trees. Kakashi burst forth from the smoke cloud, his eye wild with fury, chakra flaring around him like azure flames.

"YOU THREE!" he roared, the killing intent so thick it felt like breathing underwater.

Sasuke tensed for battle while Sakura shrieked in terror, dropping her chopsticks. Naruto maintained his wide-eyed, fearful expression while noting the controlled nature of Kakashi's killing intentprecisely calibrated to terrify but not traumatize.

"You disobeyed my direct order," Kakashi growled, looming over them like a thundercloud. "What do you have to say for yourselves?"

Sasuke moved protectively in front of Sakura, kunai appearing in his hand with practiced speed. "We're a team. We stick together."

"That's right!" Sakura found her courage, fists clenched at her sides. "The three of us are one!"

"The three of you are one, huh?" Kakashi's voice dropped dangerously low, the air around them charging with tension like the moment before lightning strikes. Then, suddenly, his eye curved into that misleading smile. "You pass!"

"Huh?" Naruto and Sakura chorused in genuine confusion.

"You. Pass." Kakashi repeated, his demeanor shifting completely, the transformation from rage to approval so swift it was almost comical. "Everyone else did exactly what I told themthey were all focused on themselves. But you three put the team ahead of the rules. As I said, in the ninja world, those who break the rules are scum, but those who abandon their friends are worse than scum."

Naruto stared at the jōnin, something uncomfortable squirming in his chest. Kakashi's philosophy ran counter to everything his ANBU training had instilled. The mission above all else. Emotional detachment. Perfect adherence to protocol.

Yet here was one of Konoha's elite jōnin, a former ANBU captain himself, espousing values that directly contradicted those principles.

"Team Seven begins its first official mission tomorrow!" Kakashi announced cheerfully, the previous menace evaporated like morning mist. "Meet at the bridge at 7 AM. Don't be late!"

With that ironic parting shot, he vanished, leaving Sasuke and Sakura to untie Naruto from the post.

Two weeks of D-rank missions had tested Naruto's patience more thoroughly than any S-rank ANBU operation. Painting fences. Weeding gardens. Walking dogs that seemed determined to drag their handlers through every thornbush in Konoha. Chasing the Fire Daimyo's wife's demonic cat for the fourth time, the beast somehow managing to inflict scratches through ANBU-grade protective gloves.

He maintained his cover flawlesslycomplaining loudly about boring missions, challenging Sasuke at every turn, fawning over Sakura, and generally being the team's hyperactive knucklehead. All while conducting nightly intelligence operations that his teammates knew nothing about.

Today found Team Seven in the Hokage's office, receiving yet another D-rank assignment. Sunlight streamed through large windows, illuminating dancing dust motes and the resigned expressions of the mission desk staff who had already witnessed Naruto's complaints a dozen times before.

Naruto decided it was time to push for something more substantialboth to advance his genin cover story and to potentially gather intelligence outside the village.

"No way!" he shouted, crossing his arms in exaggerated defiance. "I'm not chasing that stupid cat again! Give us a real mission, Old Man!"

Iruka, seated beside the Hokage, immediately launched into a lecture about mission rankings and the importance of building experience. His voice rose and fell with practiced cadence, clearly having delivered this speech to countless genin teams before them. Naruto tuned it out, instead watching the Hokage's reactionthe barely perceptible nod that told him the Third had anticipated this outburst.

"Very well," Hiruzen said eventually, cutting off Iruka's tirade with a raised hand. "If you're so determined, I'll give you a C-rank mission. You'll be bodyguards on a journey."

"Really? Who? Who? A princess? A feudal lord?" Naruto bounced with manufactured excitement, disturbing a stack of mission scrolls that teetered precariously at the desk's edge.

"Don't be so impatient," the Hokage chuckled, smoke curling from his pipe in lazy spirals. "I'll bring him in now. Send in our visitor!"

The door slid open with a soft scrape, revealing an elderly man clutching a bottle of sake. The sharp scent of alcohol cut through the room's paper-and-ink smell. His weathered face flushed with intoxication, gray beard stained with droplets of his drink.

"What the hell? They're all a bunch of brats!" he slurred, gesturing with his bottle and sloshing liquid onto the wooden floor. "Especially the shortest one with the stupid face."

Naruto launched into a predictable tantrum, lunging forward only to be restrained by Kakashi's iron grip on his collar. "Let me at him! I'll demolish him!"

All while his trained eye catalogued their client with ruthless precision. Tazuna, bridge builder from the Land of Waves. Claimed to need protection from ordinary bandits during his journey home. But Naruto immediately recognized the nervous tics, the slight tremor in his hands, the way his eyes darted around the roomclassic signs of deception.

He's lying about something, Naruto concluded, mind already calculating contingencies. This isn't a simple C-rank.

"We leave tomorrow morning," Kakashi announced as Tazuna finished explaining his bridge project. "Pack for a two-week mission, everyone."

The journey began uneventfully the next day, Konoha's massive gates receding behind them as they took to the forest road. Naruto maintained his cover as the overexcited genin experiencing his first time outside the village. His exclamations about trees and wildlife provided perfect cover to survey their surroundings continuously.

"So, Tazuna-san," Kakashi asked conversationally as they walked, "your country is the Land of Waves, right?"

"Yeah, what about it?" The builder's defensive tone set Naruto's senses on high alert.

As Kakashi explained to Sakura about the Five Great Nations and their hidden villages, Naruto scanned the path ahead. When they passed a small puddle on the roaddespite no rain having fallen for weekshe immediately registered the threat. Chakra signatures. Two of them. Chunin-level at minimum.

Kakashi had noticed too, his seemingly casual posture shifting subtly. Naruto carefully maintained his oblivious façade, while positioning himself for optimal response once the attack came.

The ambush, when it came, was well-executed but predictable. Two ninja erupted from the puddle, their chain weapon quickly ensnaring Kakashi and apparently tearing him to shreds in a spray of crimson.

"One down," one of the attackers growled through his rebreather mask.

"Kakashi-sensei!" Sakura screamed in genuine horror, her face draining of color.

Naruto allowed himself to freeze in apparent shockan Academy student's natural response to sudden violencewhile his trained eye identified the attackers instantly. The Demon Brothers, missing-nin from Kirigakure. B-rank threats known for poison techniques and synchronized attacks.

Sasuke reacted immediately and impressively, disabling their chain weapon and landing solid kicks on both attackers. His movements were fluid, efficientexactly what Naruto would expect from the Academy's top graduate. But as one broke free and charged toward Tazuna, Naruto maintained his frozen act, calculating angles and vectors while appearing terrified.

Only when the attacking ninja was inches from him did Naruto "snap out" of his shock, placing himself awkwardly between Tazuna and danger in a move that appeared brave but amateurish. Before contact, Kakashi reappeared, effortlessly subduing both attackers with clinical precision, the substitution jutsu having saved him from the initial attack.

"Naruto, sorry I didn't help you right away," Kakashi said casually, his visible eye assessing. "I didn't think you'd freeze like that. Got you injured."

Naruto glanced down at his hand where a poisoned claw had scratched hima calculated risk he'd taken to maintain his cover. The shallow wound already burned as the toxin entered his system, the sensation familiar from previous poisoning resistance training.

"By the way, Tazuna-san," Kakashi turned to their client, killing intent leaking subtly, "we need to talk."

As Kakashi interrogated Tazuna about the true nature of the missionmissing-nin targeting him, the poverty of Wave Country, the tyranny of shipping magnate GatoNaruto made a show of stabbing his wound to drain the poison. Blood splattered onto the dirt path, dark against the pale dust.

"I swear on this pain in my hand," he declared dramatically, kunai still embedded in his flesh, "I will protect the old man! A real ninja never gives up!"

"That's very impressive, Naruto," Kakashi drawled, "but if you lose any more blood, you're going to die."

The ensuing panic was entirely manufactured, Naruto flailing while Kakashi bandaged his wound. Behind his theatrical display, his mind raced through strategic calculations. Gato. The shipping magnate had appeared in several ANBU intelligence briefingssuspected ties to criminal organizations throughout the Five Nations, rumored connections to black market weapons trafficking. If Gato was involved, this mission had far greater strategic significance than a simple bridge-building project.

When the team voted to continue despite the elevated risk, Naruto made sure to respond with childish enthusiasm while privately calculating contingency plans for every scenario he could envision.

Their boat journey to Wave Country occurred under cover of thick fog, perfect concealment from Gato's patrols but also ideal conditions for ambush. Naruto sat at the bow, apparently admiring the massive, half-constructed bridge while actually scanning for threats and evaluating defensive positions.

The mist transformed the world into a realm of gray shadows and whispers. Sound carried oddly over wateramplified yet distorted. The boatman's paddle barely disturbed the surface, moving them forward in near silence.

"That's quite a bridge," Naruto whispered, keeping his voice appropriately hushed while his eyes mapped the structure's supporting columns, calculating defensive positions and potential ambush points.

Tazuna grunted in acknowledgment. "It's our country's hope. Once completed, Gato's shipping monopoly will end."

When they finally reached land, disembarking onto a weathered wooden dock that creaked beneath their weight, the tension was palpable. Kakashi walked point, his visible eye scanning their surroundings continuously. Naruto deliberately dropped to the rear guard position, allowing him to watch everyone's backsincluding his own team's.

They moved through dense forest, fog still clinging to the undergrowth like spectral fingers. Birds fell silent as they passed, creating unnatural pockets of silence that made Naruto's combat instincts fire warning signals throughout his body.

"Get down!" Kakashi suddenly shouted.

Everyone dropped as an enormous sword whirled through the air where their heads had been moments before, spinning like a massive propeller before embedding itself in a tree trunk with a deep thunk that reverberated through the forest. A figure appeared standing on the sword's handletall, muscular, face half-covered in bandages, torso bare despite the cool mist.

Naruto recognized him instantly from the Bingo Book. Zabuza Momochi. A-rank missing-nin from Kirigakure. Former member of the Seven Swordsmen. Called the "Demon of the Hidden Mist" for his participation in Kiri's bloody graduation ritual.

This was no chunin-level threat. This was a jonin assassin capable of killing everyone present.

"Well, well," Zabuza's deep voice cut through the mist like his blade through flesh, "if it isn't Kakashi of the Sharingan."

Sharingan? Naruto feigned confusion while absorbing this confirmation of intel he'd previously only suspected. Kakashi's covered eye contained a transplanted Sharinganthe Uchiha bloodline limit that Sasuke had yet to awaken.

"Manji formation," Kakashi ordered sharply, hand moving to his headband. "Protect Tazuna. Stay out of this fight."

As Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura moved to surround their client, Kakashi lifted his headband, revealing the crimson Sharingan eye beneath. The red iris gleamed in the misty light, three tomoe swirling like black teardrops in blood.

The atmosphere grew heavy with killing intent as the two jonin prepared to battle, chakra pressure thickening the air until it felt difficult to breathe. Sakura trembled visibly while Sasuke's breathing quickened, both reacting to the suffocating sensation of two elite killers preparing to unleash destruction.

"Enough talk," Zabuza growled, muscles tensing beneath scarred skin. "I need to kill the old man."

The missing-nin vanished, reappearing standing on the nearby water's surface, hands forming seals with blurring speed. "Ninja Art: Hidden Mist Jutsu."

Thick fog rolled in like a living thing, consuming everything in its path. Visibility dropped to near zero, and the killing intent radiating from Zabuza intensified until it became almost physically crushing. The mist itself seemed to carry whispers, disorienting and unnerving.

Naruto observed his teammates' reactions with interest. Sasuke trembled, kunai raised uncertainlythe pressure of Zabuza's presence pushing him toward panic. Sakura maintained her position but looked terrified, eyes wide as dinner plates, clearly out of her depth. This was jonin-level combat, beyond anything Academy training had prepared them for.

Zabuza's voice seemed to come from everywhere at once, saturating the mist like poison. "Eight choices liver, lungs, spine, clavicle vein, neck vein, brain, kidneys, heart which one should I go after?"

Naruto could track Zabuza's position precisely through the misthis ANBU sensory training allowing him to detect the subtle disturbances in chakra flowbut maintained his façade of frightened uncertainty. His hand shook as he gripped his kunai, though the trembling was entirely manufactured.

Suddenly Zabuza appeared in the middle of their formation, sword already swinging toward Tazuna in a silver arc of death. Kakashi intercepted with blinding speed, driving a kunai into Zabuza's midsectiononly for the assassin to dissolve into water.

Water Clone, Naruto noted as another Zabuza appeared behind Kakashi, slicing him in halfonly for Kakashi to also dissolve into water.

Copy Ninja indeed, Naruto thought approvingly. He copied the Water Clone jutsu in this mist, despite limited visibility.

The real battle erupted in earnest thena blur of movement, clashing steel, and devastating water jutsu that forced Team Seven to continually reposition around Tazuna. Throughout it all, Naruto maintained his role as the least skilled team member, contributing just enough to appear earnest while carefully avoiding displaying any capability beyond genin level.

When Kakashi was eventually trapped in Zabuza's Water Prison Jutsu, genuine concern flickered through Naruto's mind. The mission parameters were shifting rapidly. If Kakashi was captured, the logical ANBU response would be to abandon the civilian and prioritize team survival.

But they weren't ANBU. They were genin with a jonin instructor, and abandoning Kakashi was not an option if they wanted to maintain their cover.

"Run!" Kakashi ordered from within his liquid prison, voice distorted by the water. "The water clone can't go far from his real body. Take Tazuna and run!"

Logical tactical assessment, Naruto noted. But he didn't miss the way Sasuke's posture shiftedthe Uchiha wasn't planning to retreat.

"We're not leaving you," Sasuke declared, echoing Naruto's thoughts. "That became impossible the moment you were caught."

An unexpected wave of something washed through Naruto at those words. Pride? Respect? Whatever it was, it was dangerously close to emotional attachment.

"Naruto!" Sasuke called suddenly, breaking him from his thoughts. "I have a plan!"

And just like that, Naruto found himself genuinely surprised for the first time in years. Sasuke Uchiha, the lone wolf avenger, was initiating teamwork. More surprisingly still, his plan was tactically soundusing Naruto's shadow clones as a diversion while Sasuke launched a disguised weapon to force Zabuza to release Kakashi.

Naruto played along perfectly, creating a swarm of clones that dogpiled Zabuza's water clone, only to be dispersed with a swing of the massive sword. But the distraction workedSasuke's transformed windmill shuriken forced Zabuza to release Kakashi to avoid being struck.

The tide turned rapidly after that. Freed from the water prison, Kakashi unleashed the full power of his Sharingan, copying Zabuza's jutsu in real-time and eventually leaving the missing-nin wounded and vulnerable against a tree.

Before Kakashi could deliver the finishing blow, senbon needles flashed through the air, striking Zabuza's neck with surgical precision. A masked figure appeared on a nearby brancha hunter-nin from Kirigakure, claiming to have been tracking Zabuza for weeks.

Naruto instantly recognized the deception. The placement of the senbondesigned to induce a death-like state rather than kill. The hunter-nin's youth and timing. The lack of on-site disposal procedure. Every instinct screamed that this was an accomplice, not a hunter.

But a genin would have no way of knowing this. So Naruto launched into an indignant tirade about their hard work being stolen by a newcomer, only stopping when Kakashi collapsed from chakra exhaustion.

As they carried their unconscious sensei to Tazuna's house, Naruto's mind worked feverishly. Tonight, he would need to send a coded message to Konoha. This mission had escalated beyond a simple protection detailit now involved A-rank missing-nin, potential intelligence on Gato's criminal network, and possible insights into Kirigakure's internal conflicts.

Moonlight filtered through the window of the small guest room where Team Seven had been given lodging in Tazuna's house. Silver beams painted ghost-patterns across the tatami floor, illuminating Kakashi's unconscious form on a futon in the corner. His breathing was steady but shallow, chakra exhaustion having claimed him completely.

Sasuke and Sakura slept nearby, their own exhaustion having overcome their usual wariness. Sasuke's breathing was carefully measured even in sleep, while Sakura occasionally muttered something that sounded suspiciously like the Uchiha's name.

Naruto waited until their breathing patterns indicated deep sleep before silently creating a shadow clone to maintain his position. The real Naruto slipped out the window with ghostly silence, making his way to the densely forested area behind the house. Night creatures fell silent as he passed, instinctively sensing a predator among them.

Once certain he was alone, Naruto bit his thumb, drawing blood before flashing through hand signs with practiced precision.

"Summoning Jutsu," he whispered, pressing his palm to the ground.

A tiny puff of smoke dissipated to reveal a small fox with russet fur and intelligent amber eyes. Unlike the toads that he'd eventually pretend to contract with through Jiraiya, this summon was exclusive to his ANBU identitya specialized messenger bred for stealth and speed.

"Killer Fox," the summon acknowledged with a dip of its head, voice as smooth as silk against stone. "It's been some time."

"Kaito," Naruto greeted the fox. "I need a message delivered to the Hokage. Priority two, encryption protocol delta."

The fox's ears perked up, moonlight gleaming on the white tips. "Proceed."

Naruto quietly detailed everythingZabuza's apparent death, the fake hunter-nin, Gato's operations, and the strategic importance of the bridge project. He concluded with a request for any available intelligence on Gato's wider network and potential connections to other criminal organizations.

"Return to the rendezvous point three nights from now for any response," Naruto finished. "Avoid detection at all coststhis mission is being conducted under deep cover."

Kaito committed the message to memory, amber eyes unblinking. "Understood. Any additional orders?"

Naruto hesitated, then added, "Include a personal note to the Hokage. Request permission to intervene more directly if civilian casualties appear imminent. Current parameters may be too restrictive for the situation."

The fox's head tilted curiously, ears flicking forward. "That's unusual for you."

"The situation is unusual," Naruto replied curtly, the moonlight casting sharp shadows across his suddenly solemn features.

Without further comment, Kaito darted into the underbrush, disappearing like a shadow into the night. Naruto stood motionless for several moments, monitoring for any sign his activities had been detected.

Finding none, he made his way silently back to the house, slipping through the window and dismissing his clone before settling into his futon. As he lay there, eyes closed but mind alert, Naruto found himself troubled by an unfamiliar sensation.

His request to potentially reveal more of his true abilities was tactically unsound. It risked his cover identity. It prioritized immediate civilian safety over long-term mission parameters.

It was, in ANBU terms, an emotional decision rather than a strategic one.

Am I compromised? he wondered, the thought as unsettling as it was foreign. Years of training had taught him to compartmentalize, to separate Naruto Uzumaki from Killer Fox with surgical precision.

Yet something about this teamabout Kakashi's philosophy, Sasuke's unexpected teamwork, even Sakura's frightened determination to stand her groundhad created hairline fractures in those carefully constructed walls.

Outside, the mist swirled around Tazuna's house, thick and concealing. Inside, Naruto Uzumaki closed his eyes and tried to ignore the equally dense fog that seemed to be obscuring the once-clear boundaries of his dual existence.

Morning mist clung to the trees surrounding the small clearing, pearling on leaves and transforming spider webs into intricate crystal lattices. Kakashi leaned against a gnarled oak, his posture deceptively casual as he observed his three genin.

"Again," he ordered, voice carrying easily through the hushed forest.

Sweat plastered Sakura's pink hair to her forehead as she staggered toward the nearest tree, kunai clutched in her trembling hand. Determination hardened her jade eyes as she focused her chakra, placed one foot against the bark, and pushed upward. Three steps up, her concentration wavered, and she marked the trunk with a slash before gravity reclaimed her.

"Damn it!" she hissed, landing in a crouch, chest heaving. The morning light caught the frustration blazing in her eyes as she glared at the tree as though it had personally offended her.

Sasuke fared better, making it nearly two-thirds up his designated tree before his control slipped. His frustrated grunt echoed through the clearing as he marked his progress with perhaps more force than necessary, bark splintering under his kunai. He twisted in mid-air, landing with cat-like grace that couldn't completely hide his irritation.

"Not bad," Kakashi mused, flipping a page in his ever-present orange book, the paper's crisp whisper cutting through the morning stillness. "For beginners."

Naruto, meanwhile, performed exactly as expected of the team's supposed weak linkwhich meant spectacularly poorly. He charged his tree with manufactured enthusiasm, face contorted in exaggerated concentration. Three steps up, his feet suddenly blasted away from the trunk as he deliberately overloaded his chakra. The force catapulted him backward, sending him cartwheeling through the air before he crashed into the ground, limbs splayed like a broken starfish.

"Ow, ow, OW!" he wailed, rolling dramatically in the dirt, raising small dust clouds that sparkled in the shafts of morning light. He clutched his head, face scrunched in theatrical pain. "Stupid tree!"

"The tree isn't the problem, Naruto," Kakashi drawled without looking up from his book. "Your chakra control is."

Inwardly, Naruto smirked. If Kakashi only knew he could run up and down these trees blindfolded while maintaining six separate henge transformations and monitoring a three-kilometer radius for threats. But that knowledge remained locked behind the walls of his compartmentalized mind, so Naruto the genin scrambled to his feet with a determined pout.

"I'll get it this time, believe it!" he shouted, voice cracking with forced enthusiasm that echoed across the clearing.

As he prepared for another deliberately failed attempt, Naruto's trained eye cataloged his teammates' progress. Sakura's excellent chakra control manifested in her precise chakra expenditure, but her shallow reserves left her quickly winded, cheeks flushed with effort. Sasuke's raw power surged visibly at his feettoo much force, not enough finessehis growing frustration at being outperformed by the kunoichi evident in the tightening of his jaw. Kakashi's ongoing recovery from the Zabuza fight revealed itself in subtle tellsthe barely perceptible favoring of his left leg, the microscopically slower page-turning, the occasional distant look that suggested pain being stoically ignored.

His analysis was interrupted by Sakura's triumphant shout from the top of her tree.

"I did it!" she called down, legs dangling from a high branch as she beamed with pride, sunlight catching in her hair like a halo. "First try!"

"Well done, Sakura," Kakashi praised, eye crinkling in what might have been a smile beneath his mask. "It seems the female member of our squad has the best chakra control."

Naruto immediately launched into his well-rehearsed roleloudly complimenting Sakura while casting jealous glances at Sasuke. "Wow, Sakura-chan! That's amazing! You're so smart and talented!"

Sasuke merely narrowed his eyes until they were obsidian slits, renewed determination etched in the tight line of his jaw. His fingers flexed and tightened around his kunai, knuckles whitening with resolve.

As the training continued, Naruto deliberately made incremental progressjust enough to be believable, but never enough to outshine Sasuke. The calculated mediocrity was a familiar dance, one he'd perfected over years of Academy training.

Hours later, as twilight painted the sky in watercolor hues of indigo and amber, Kakashi finally called an end to the session. Sasuke had made it three-quarters up his tree, sweat dripping from his chin as he glared at the bark as though trying to intimidate it into submission. Naruto had barely reached halfway, his jumpsuit smeared with dirt and grass stains from numerous "falls." Sakuradespite having mastered the technique earlyhad collapsed from chakra exhaustion after repeated climbs, her breathing shallow as she sat propped against a tree trunk.

"You've all made progress," Kakashi noted, tucking his book away with fluid grace. "Continue tomorrow. For now, let's return to Tazuna's house. His daughter mentioned something about fish stew for dinner."

As they walked back through the forest, Naruto fell into step beside Sasuke, who was brooding even more intensely than usual, the lengthening shadows seeming to gather around him like a cloak.

"Hey," Naruto whispered, scratching his head in feigned awkwardness. "What's Sakura's secret? You know, for the tree thing?"

Sasuke shot him a sidelong glance, hesitated, then muttered, "Focus. Not too much chakra, not too little. Like a steady stream rather than a flood."

The advice was basicacademy-levelbut what interested Naruto wasn't the content but the fact that Sasuke had offered it at all. The Uchiha's psychological profile had suggested a pathological inability to cooperate. Yet here was evidence that, under certain conditions, he could overcome that tendency.

File that away for later analysis.

Dinner at Tazuna's house was a subdued affair, the oppressive atmosphere of Gato's tyranny seeping through the walls like the ever-present mist. The small dining room resonated with the quiet clink of chopsticks against bowls, conversation sparse and guarded. Tsunami, Tazuna's daughter, served the meal with quiet efficiency, her movements graceful despite the worry lines etched around her eyes. Her son Inari glowered from the end of the table, eyes hostile beneath the brim of his striped hat, small fingers clutching his bowl with unnecessary force.

"The bridge is coming along well," Tazuna reported between mouthfuls of stew, the savory aroma of fish and herbs filling the cramped space. "Another week, maybe two, and we'll have established a connection to the mainland that Gato can't control."

"If you live that long," Inari muttered darkly, the words cutting through the ambient sounds of eating like a blade.

"Inari!" Tsunami admonished, wooden spoon clattering against the counter where she stood.

"What? It's true!" The boy's voice rose, trembling with emotion that seemed too vast for his small frame. "They're all going to die! No one can stand up to Gato and live!"

"That's what we're here for, kid," Naruto responded, adopting his most confident grin, teeth flashing in the lantern light. "We're ninja! We don't back down!"

"You don't get it!" Inari slammed his small fists on the table, bowls jumping and sloshing broth onto the worn wooden surface. "Coming here with your stupid headbands and fancy jutsu acting like heroes! There's no such thing as heroes!"

With that, the boy pushed away from the table and stormed out, his footsteps thundering up the stairs, followed by the sharp crack of a door slamming shut that seemed to echo through the house like a gunshot.

"I apologize for my grandson," Tsunami said softly, cloth in hand as she wiped up the spilled stew. "Since his father died "

As she related the tragic story of KaizaInari's stepfather who had tried to stand against Gato only to be publicly executedNaruto maintained his appearance of sympathetic attention while his mind worked on multiple levels. The tactical implications of a population cowed into submission. The psychological leverage Gato wielded. The potential intelligence value of mapping the full extent of the shipping magnate's operations.

When dinner concluded, Naruto volunteered for first watch, positioning himself on the roof with a deliberately casual posture that nonetheless afforded him optimal sightlines to all approaches. The tiles were still warm from the day's sun, contrasting with the cool mist that rolled in from the sea, carrying the tang of salt and seaweed. Below, he sensed Kakashi's chakra signature shifting as the jōnin settled into a light sleeprecoverable alertness rather than true rest.

Three hours later, when the household had fallen silent and even Kakashi's breathing had deepened, Naruto created a perfect shadow clone to maintain his position. The real Naruto slipped away into the night, a silent whisper across the wooden shingles, his footfalls less substantial than the mist itself.

Once clear of the house, he ducked into a dense copse of trees, withdrawing a small storage scroll from a hidden pocket. A pulse of chakra later, his ANBU gear materializedmask, armor, and weapons meticulously maintained despite their frequent concealment.

The fox mask settled over his features with familiar weight, the sensation of donning it akin to stepping through a doorway between worlds. Naruto Uzumaki faded, and Killer Fox emergedposture perfect, movements calculated, eyes cold behind painted porcelain.

The night embraced him as he moved toward Gato's compound on the island's northern shore. Intelligence gathered earlier had indicated it as the shipping magnate's base of operationsa sprawling collection of warehouses and a fortified mansion overlooking the harbor, lights glowing dimly through the mist like predatory eyes.

Killer Fox approached the compound with veteran caution, using the mist-shrouded trees for cover while extending his chakra sense outward. Twenty-four guards patrolled the perimetercivilians with basic weapons training rather than shinobi. Their footsteps crunched rhythmically on gravel paths, breath fogging in the cold night air, unaware of death's proximity.

He slipped past the outer guards like a ghost, scaling the warehouse wall with chakra-enhanced fingers that found purchase on the slick surface. Flattening himself against the roof, he peered through a skylight, the glass cool against his mask. Below, workers unloaded crates labeled with the distinctive markings of Lightning Country weapons manufacturers. Men handled them with the reverent care that suggested high explosives or precision equipment, their movements creating a dance of shadows in the dim lantern light.

Other crates contained what appeared to be medicinal herbs, though the workers handled them with suspicious care, suggesting pharmaceutical compounds with less than legal applications.

Moving from warehouse to warehouse, Killer Fox compiled a comprehensive picture of Gato's operation. Smuggling routes. Guard rotations. Shipment schedules. All committed to memory with perfect recall, details slotting into place like puzzle pieces forming a map of criminality.

The mansion presented a greater challengemore guards, better training, and what felt like rudimentary sensor arrays. Nothing comparable to a proper shinobi detection system, but enough to catch an ordinary intruder.

Killer Fox was no ordinary intruder.

He approached from above, using a nearby tree to launch himself onto the roof in a trajectory calculated to avoid the sight lines of all guards. Landing silently, he made his way to a partially open window on the top floor, slipping inside with practiced ease.

The opulent corridor spoke of Gato's wealthimported carpets muffling his footsteps as he moved toward voices emanating from behind heavy double doors. Channeling chakra to his ears, he enhanced his hearing to capture the conversation within.

" don't care what it costs," came a nasal voice that matched Gato's description. "I want that bridge builder dead before the week is out."

"Zabuza failed," responded a deeper voice, graveled with age or hard living. "The Copy Ninja protects him."

"Then kill them all!" Gato's voice rose with irritation, followed by the sharp sound of somethingpossibly a glassbeing slammed onto a desktop. "What am I paying you for?"

"Zabuza is recovering," came a third voice, softer, almost gentle. "The senbon wounds were precisely placed to simulate death while allowing rapid healing. He will be combat-ready in six days."

The fake hunter-nin, Killer Fox noted. Confirmation of their alliance.

"Six days?" Gato snarled, the words nearly lost beneath what sounded like pacing footsteps. "The bridge could be halfway complete by then!"

"Perhaps a more direct approach in the meantime?" suggested the deeper voice. "Target the workers. Few will continue a project where their colleagues disappear or die in accidents."

Killer Fox's fingers tightened imperceptibly on the kunai hidden in his sleeve. Civilian casualties. Exactly the scenario he'd anticipated in his message to the Hokage.

"Yes, yes," Gato's voice held cruel satisfaction. "Zori, Warajitake a team tomorrow night. Make an example of a few workers. Something memorable."

"With pleasure, boss."

As the meeting concluded, Killer Fox retreated the way he'd come, processing the intelligence gathered. Zabuza's recovery timeline. Planned attacks on civilians. Names of key lieutenants. All vital information, both for Team Seven's mission and for Konoha's broader strategic interests.

But one piece of information troubled him more than it should havethe planned targeting of innocent bridge workers. In pure ANBU calculus, civilian casualties were regrettable but sometimes unavoidable collateral damage. The mission parameters should take precedence.

Yet something about Kakashi's philosophyabout protecting those who couldn't protect themselveshad lodged in his mind like a splinter, impossible to ignore.

As he slipped away from the compound, a plan formed. One that would serve both his ANBU objectives and his genin team's mission, while potentially sparing innocent lives.

The memory surfaced unbidden as he moved through the foresthis first true ANBU mission, six years ago.

He had been so small then, even for his age. The custom-sized armor had still hung slightly loose on his frame, the fox mask comically large on his tiny face. But the Hokage had believed in him, and at six years old, Naruto had been desperate to prove that faith justified.

The mission had seemed simple: intelligence gathering in a small border town where rumors suggested Earth Country shinobi were violating treaty boundaries. Observe only. No engagement.

For three days, he'd executed flawlessly, gathering evidence of Iwa-nin movements, cataloging their patterns, and preparing his report. His size had been an advantageno one suspected a child of being anything other than what he appeared to be.

Until the fourth day, when he'd overheard the Iwa team planning to eliminate a Fire Country diplomat who'd stumbled upon their presence. The woman had been staying at the same inn as Naruto, a civilian with no combat training, utterly unprepared for assassination.

The ANBU protocol was clear: maintain cover, report, await instructions. Direct intervention risked exposing his presence and potentially triggering an international incident.

But as the young Naruto had watched the Iwa-nin preparing their ambush, something had overridden his training. He'd slipped into the diplomat's room minutes before the attack, leaving a warning note and a kunai marked with the Leaf symbol.

When the Iwa team struck, they found not a sleeping diplomat but an ANBU-in-training who had anticipated their every move.

What followed was burned into Naruto's memory in vivid detailthe shock on the Iwa captain's face as a six-year-old child countered his earth jutsu with perfect timing. The panicked scramble as his team realized they faced not a frightened civilian but a prepared opponent. The moment when Naruto, backed into a corner, had been forced to make his first killa precise strike that caught the Iwa-nin entirely by surprise.

Blood had sprayed across his mask in a crimson arc, droplets forming a pattern eerily reminiscent of the painted designs. When reinforcements from Konoha finally arrived, they found a child standing amidst three incapacitated enemy shinobi and one dead captain, the fox mask spattered with blood that had dried into something like additional markings.

"Killer Fox," the ANBU commander had whispered, both impressed and disturbed. The name had stuck, spreading through whispered reports until it became legendthe smallest ANBU, whose fox mask bore the blood of his enemies, who killed with a child's hands but a veteran's precision.

Later, the Hokage had both commended his skill and gently chastised his deviation from protocol. But something in the old man's eyes had suggested pride rather than disappointment. The diplomat had survived. The border incident had been contained. The mission, despite its unexpected turn, was classified a success.

Six years later, Naruto found himself again balancing mission parameters against immediate threats to civilians. The difference was that now, he had the experience to find solutions that satisfied both imperatives.

Dawn painted the eastern sky in shades of lavender and gold as Killer Fox returned to Tazuna's house, slipping through the window to find his shadow clone exactly where he'd left it. With a hand sign, he dismissed the clone, absorbing its memoriesnothing significant had occurred during his absence.

A quick transformation restored his appearance to that of the orange-clad genin, just as Sakura stirred in her futon nearby. Naruto affected a yawn and stretched noisily, as if just awakening.

"Morning already?" he groaned, voice deliberately scratchy with pretended sleep.

"Some of us are trying to sleep," Sasuke muttered from his own bedding, one arm thrown across his eyes to block the intrusive dawn light that streamed through the thin curtains.

Kakashi's eye crinkled with what might have been amusement or suspicionit was always difficult to tell with the jōnin. "Since you're so energetic this morning, Naruto, why don't you accompany Tazuna to the bridge today? Sasuke and Sakura can continue tree-climbing practice."

"By myself?" Naruto squawked with manufactured surprise, eyes widening comically. "But what if Zabuza"

"Zabuza is recovering from his injuries," Kakashi interrupted smoothly, sitting up with careful movements that betrayed lingering fatigue. "We have a few days before he'll be combat-ready again."

He knows, Naruto realized. He's pieced together the hunter-nin's deception.

"Besides," Kakashi continued, adjusting his mask with practiced fingers, "this will give you a chance to observe the bridge construction. You might learn something."

The assignment was perfectexactly what Naruto needed to establish his network of shadow clones throughout the area in preparation for the inevitable confrontation. But he couldn't appear too eager.

"Fine," he huffed, crossing his arms petulantly. "But you better teach me an awesome jutsu later to make up for it!"

Kakashi merely eye-smiled in response, the expression revealing nothing of his true thoughts.

The bridge swarmed with activity, workers calling to each other as massive support beams were maneuvered into place with pulleys and ropes. The cacophony of constructionhammers striking metal, saws biting through wood, shouted instructionsfilled the air along with the tang of sweat and sea salt. The structure stretched impressively toward the mainland, perhaps two-thirds complete, a monument to hope rising from the misty waters.

Naruto stood at the edge of the construction, affecting an expression of bored guardian while his trained eye assessed defensive positions, potential ambush points, and evacuation routes. Tazuna moved among his workers, examining joints and offering gruff encouragement despite the fear visible in every face.

"Not many showed up today," the bridge builder confided when he returned to Naruto's side, wiping sweat from his brow with a grimy handkerchief. "They're scared. Can't blame them."

"They should believe in themselves more," Naruto replied, injecting childish simplicity into his voice while scanning the mist-shrouded shoreline for threats.

Tazuna snorted, the sound harsh and humorless. "Belief doesn't stop Gato's thugs."

"Then I'll stop them!" Naruto declared with a fist pump that sent his orange sleeve sliding down his arm. "That's why we're here!"

The old man's weathered face softened slightly, the deep lines around his eyes crinkling. "You're an odd kid. Loud and annoying one minute, surprisingly decent the next."

When Tazuna returned to his supervision, Naruto created his first shadow clonedisguising the hand sign as an adjustment to his headbandand transformed it into a small bird that fluttered away from the bridge. Throughout the day, he would create dozens more, establishing a surveillance network that covered the entire island.

Each clone transformed into something inconspicuousbirds, stray cats, even insectspositioned at strategic intervals to monitor movement and provide early warning of any approach. By midday, Naruto had eyes everywhere, from the forest surrounding Tazuna's house to the docks where Gato's men patrolled, their weapons gleaming dully in the filtered sunlight.

When evening fell and they returned to the house, Naruto had compiled a comprehensive tactical map of the entire island in his mind. Every pathway, every guard post, every potential battleground had been noted and analyzed, the information filed away with military precision.

Dinner that night was tense, with Inari once again glaring sullenly at the ninja who dared to challenge his view of heroism. The boy's eyes, dark pools of pain beneath the brim of his hat, tracked every movement as though waiting for evidence of weakness or fear.

When the boy stormed off afterward, Naruto followed, finding him perched on a dock, legs dangling over the water as tears streamed down his face. The ocean stretched before them, black and vast in the gathering darkness, scattered stars reflecting on its surface like fallen diamonds.

The conversation that followed was perhaps the most genuine Naruto had allowed himself in yearsspeaking of his own isolation, his determination to prove himself, his refusal to cry or give up. Parts of it were his genin cover story, but other parts other parts emerged from somewhere deeper, from the wounded child beneath the ANBU training.

"When I decided on my ninja way, I decided I would never run away and never go back on my word," Naruto said, the moonlight silvering his features. "That's my nindomy ninja way."

Later, alone in the forest, he would wonder why he'd revealed even that much truth to the boy. But in the moment, something about Inari's pain had resonated with a part of himself he usually kept carefully locked away.

The following morning, Naruto deliberately overslept while the others departed for the bridge, leaving him alone in the house with Tsunami and Inari. The timing was calculatedhis shadow clone network had detected movement from Gato's compound, two swordsmen heading toward Tazuna's house, their faces hard with the anticipation of violence.

When the crash of the front door being kicked in echoed through the building, Naruto feigned startled awakening while actually moving into position. Downstairs, he heard Tsunami's frightened gasp and the rough voices of Gato's thugsZori and Waraji, the lieutenants he'd heard mentioned in the meeting.

"You're coming with us, lady," one growled, the distinctive scrape of a sword being partially drawn punctuating his words. "Boss wants a little insurance against your father's cooperation."

Naruto allowed the kidnapping to proceed just long enough for Inari to summon his couragethe boy charging forward with a kitchen knife after a moment of paralyzing fear, his small face contorted with desperate determination.

"Get away from my mom!" the child screamed, voice cracking with emotion.

Only then did Naruto intervene, using a substitution technique to swap the civilians with cushions just as the swordsmen's blades descended in lethal arcs. The cushions exploded in clouds of stuffing, white fluff swirling in the morning light that streamed through the broken door.

What followed was a carefully calibrated display of genin-level abilitieseffective enough to neutralize the threats but clumsy enough to maintain his cover. Both thugs were left unconscious, tied up with rope from the boat dock, their weapons confiscated and broken.

"That was amazing!" Inari gasped, eyes wide with admiration, face flushed with adrenaline.

"You were pretty amazing yourself," Naruto replied with a genuine smile, ruffling the boy's hair. "Running in like that took real courage."

After ensuring Tsunami and Inari were safe, Naruto raced toward the bridge, ostensibly to warn his team. In reality, one of his transformed shadow clones had already detected the confrontation beginning thereZabuza and his masked accomplice facing off against Kakashi, Sasuke, and Sakura.

As he sprinted through the forest, feet barely touching the ground, Naruto created a dozen shadow clones, sending them ahead while he himself took a detour. If his calculations were correct, tonight was when Gato would make his move against the bridge workers. With Team Seven occupied by Zabuza, the workers would be defenseless.

Unless someone intervened.

In a secluded clearing, Naruto activated another storage scroll, once again transforming from genin to ANBU. Killer Fox raced through the trees, circling wide to approach Gato's compound from the rear while his genin shadow clone continued toward the bridge.

The compound was lightly guardedGato having dispatched most of his forces to support the attack on the bridge or to terrorize the town. Perfect. The few remaining sentries were easily avoided, their attention focused outward rather than within.

Killer Fox infiltrated with liquid grace, moving from shadow to shadow until he reached the mansion's upper level. There, he found what he soughta small office where Gato was barking orders into a radio communication device, his diminutive stature belying his vicious nature.

"I don't care what it takes," the shipping magnate snarled, his voice high and reedy with stress. "Kill the bridge builder, kill the ninja, kill the workers! I want that bridge project ended today!"

Silently, Killer Fox drew a specialized kunaione designed for assassination rather than combat, its blade chemically treated to prevent blood clotting. The metal gleamed dully in the filtered light, promising silent death.

"And once Zabuza has served his purpose," Gato continued, unaware of the shadow that had materialized behind him, "we'll eliminate him too. No sense paying for services already rendered."

"Unfortunately," Killer Fox spoke, his voice distorted by the mask's built-in modulator, the sound unnaturally deep and cold, "your business model has been deemed unsustainable."

Gato whirled, eyes widening behind small, round sunglasses that slid down his nose with the sudden movement. "Who"

The kunai flashed once, opening the man's throat with surgical precision. Blood fountained in a crimson arc as Gato clutched futilely at his neck, recognition and terror flooding his eyes in his final moments. He made a wet, gurgling sound as he collapsed, expensive suit soaking through with scarlet that spread across the polished floor like spilled wine.

Without pause, Killer Fox moved through the compound like a wraith, eliminating key lieutenants one by one. Not all of Gato's menthat would be suspicious and unnecessarybut enough to throw the organization into chaos. Each death was staged differently: one appeared to be settling a personal score, another looked like a robbery gone wrong, a third suggested betrayal from within the ranks.

By the time he finished, the foundation of Gato's criminal empire had been systematically dismantled, with enough confusion sown that the remaining underlings would waste precious time fighting among themselves rather than targeting civilians.

Mission accomplished, Killer Fox vanished into the forest, racing to join his genin counterpart at the bridge before anyone could connect the assassination to the orange-clad boy who fought alongside Team Seven.

The forest parted before him as he ran, mist curling around his ankles like ghostly serpents. Ahead, he sensed his shadow clone engaged in combatthe ice mirror dome that the masked ninja had created trapping both Sasuke and his genin self.

Killer Fox slowed, finding another secluded spot to revert to his genin persona. The transition felt stranger than usual, as if the boundaries between his identities had grown somehow more permeable. Shaking off the unsettling sensation, Naruto continued toward the bridge, now visibly approaching the battlefield as his authentic genin self.

The scene that greeted him was chaoticKakashi and Zabuza locked in lethal combat, mist swirling around them as their chakra signatures flared and clashed like summer lightning. Sakura stood guard over Tazuna, kunai gripped with white-knuckled determination, her pink hair stark against the colorless mist. And at the far end of the bridge, a dome of ice mirrors shimmered with deadly beauty, senbon needles flying within like silver sleet.

Naruto burst onto the bridge with calculated recklessness, his orange jumpsuit a splash of color in the monochrome landscape. "A hero always arrives at the last minute!" he shouted, voice carrying over the clash of battle while his eyes assessed the tactical situation with clinical precision.

Kakashi was holding his own against Zabuza, the clash of kunai against massive sword sending metallic echoes across the water below. But the real danger was the ice userHaku, if he remembered correctly from the intelligence he'd gathered.

Naruto rushed toward the ice dome, using a simple transformation to slip inside undetected while creating the impression he'd charged in blindly. Inside, he found Sasuke already wounded, dozens of senbon protruding from his body as he struggled to track Haku's movements between mirrors. Blood dripped from puncture wounds, staining the concrete beneath him in a growing constellation of crimson dots.

"Naruto, you idiot!" Sasuke gasped, genuine shock coloring his voice. "Now we're both trapped!"

"Don't worry," Naruto grinned, falling into his role with practiced ease. "I'll figure something out!"

What followed was a delicate balancing actfighting effectively enough to survive while gathering information on Haku's abilities. The ice user was formidable, moving between mirrors at speeds that would challenge many jōnin. But more interesting was the hesitation in his attacksthe senbon placed to incapacitate rather than kill, suggesting reluctance despite his deadly potential.

"Why do you fight for someone like Zabuza?" Naruto asked during a brief lull, genuinely curious as he plucked a senbon from his thigh with a wince.

Haku's masked face turned toward him, the porcelain gleaming with reflected ice-light. "Because he gave me purpose. A person is at their strongest when protecting someone precious to them. Do you have someone precious you wish to protect?"

The question landed with unexpected weight, like a stone dropped into still water. Six months ago, Naruto would have answered automaticallyhe served the Hokage, protected Konoha. But now, unbidden images rose in his mind: Iruka's proud smile as he offered his headband; Kakashi's lazy demeanor concealing fierce protectiveness; Sasuke's grudging acknowledgment; Sakura's growing confidence; even the way Tsunami had thanked him for saving her son.

The distraction cost hima senbon piercing his thigh with sharp, precise pain that jolted him back to the present. Naruto staggered, playing up the injury while using the movement to conceal his extraction of the needle.

Beside him, Sasuke moved with increasing speed, his reflexes sharpening with each exchange. Then, during one particularly intense barrage, Naruto caught a glimpse of the Uchiha's eyesno longer coal-black but crimson, with a single tomoe spinning in each iris.

The Sharingan. Finally awakened.

With his bloodline limit activated, Sasuke began tracking Haku's movements more effectively, even intercepting several senbon meant for Naruto. The gesture was surprisingtactical, certainly, but also protective.

Again, that uncomfortable warmth spread through Naruto's chest, as alien as it was unwelcome.

The battle reached its crescendo when Haku, pressed by Sasuke's improving defense, launched a final desperate attack aimed directly at Naruto. In that moment, something extraordinary happenedSasuke moved without hesitation, placing himself between Naruto and the incoming senbon.

As the Uchiha collapsed into his arms, pierced by dozens of needles like a macabre pincushion, Naruto felt something crack inside hima fissure in the walls he'd built between his identities.

"Why?" he whispered, genuinely shaken as he cradled his fallen teammate.

"How should I know," Sasuke coughed, blood speckling his lips like crimson freckles. "My body just moved on its own fool."

For the first time in years, Naruto felt raw emotion surge past his careful controlhot, volcanic rage mixed with something deeper and more painful. Chakra exploded around him, red and malevolent, as the Nine-Tails' power responded to his emotional state.

Haku's ice mirrors cracked under the pressure as Naruto surrendered to instinct, attacking with feral savagery that owed nothing to his ANBU training and everything to the wounded child within him. The masked ninja was quickly overwhelmed, his final mirror shattering as Naruto's chakra-enhanced fist connected with his mask.

As the porcelain cracked and fell away, revealing Haku's gentle face, Naruto frozerecognizing the kind stranger he'd met gathering herbs in the forest days earlier. The dissonance between the deadly hunter-nin and the soft-spoken boy was jarring, like finding a venomous snake in a child's toy box.

"Why don't you finish it?" Haku asked softly, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth. "I have failed Zabuza. I am no longer of use."

Naruto's fist trembled, suspended in midair. "That's not that's not how it works. Being useful isn't what gives your life value!"

"For someone like me, it is all I have."

Before Naruto could respond, Haku's expression changed, alarm flashing across his features. "I'm sorry, but I'm still needed." His hands formed seals with desperate speed, and he vanished in a swirl of wind and ice crystals that sparkled briefly before melting away.

Across the bridge, Naruto sensed the shift in battleKakashi preparing his Lightning Blade as Zabuza was restrained by nin-dogs. Haku's ultimate sacrifice, placing himself between his master and certain death.

But something unexpected happened thena slow applause from the far end of the bridge, where a small army of mercenaries had gathered. Their weapons gleamed dully in the mist, a forest of steel promising violence. At their center stood a diminutive figure Naruto recognized instantly.

Impossible. I killed Gato myself less than an hour ago.

Yet there the shipping magnate stoodor rather, someone wearing a transformation designed to look like him. A body double, perhaps, or a lieutenant stepping into the power vacuum Killer Fox had created.

The fake Gato's speech was predictablebetraying Zabuza, revealing his intention to kill everyone on the bridge, gloating about his control over Wave Country. What wasn't predictable was Zabuza's responsea moment of genuine emotion as he acknowledged Haku's devotion, followed by a berserker charge through the mercenary ranks despite his grievous injuries.

"Let me borrow your kunai, kid," the bandaged ninja had snarled at Naruto, eyes burning with a fire that had nothing to do with jutsu.

As the Demon of the Mist carved a bloody path toward the false Gato, Naruto found himself wondering who had assumed the shipping magnate's identity. A power play from within the organization? A pre-arranged contingency?

The answer became apparent when the transformation dropped as Zabuza's blade pierced the impostor's chestrevealing not another criminal but a ninja wearing a Kirigakure headband with a slash through it. Another missing-nin, perhaps part of Zabuza's network, sacrificing himself to maintain the illusion of Gato's continued existence long enough to draw out the mercenary force.

The revelation sent the mercenary army into confusionsome breaking ranks, others pressing forward with renewed aggression. The situation teetered on the edge of chaos until an arrow struck the bridge at their feet with a sharp crack.

Behind Team Seven, the entire village had arrived, led by Inari and armed with whatever weapons they could findpitchforks, fishing spears, ancient swords pulled from family shrines. Their eyes burned with the same fire that had driven Zabuza's final charge.

"If you come any further onto our island," Inari shouted, his voice carrying surprisingly far for such a small body, "the citizens of this country will stop you with everything we have!"

The show of unified resistance, combined with the confusion over leadership, broke the mercenaries' resolve. They scattered, fleeing back toward the boats that had brought them, their retreat a chaotic jumble of shoves and curses.

As the mist cleared, Naruto stood amidst the aftermath, watching as Zabuza asked to be laid beside Haku in his final moments. The tenderness with which the feared Demon of the Mist spoke to his fallen companion stirred something profound in Narutoa question about connections, about precious people, about what it truly meant to be strong.

Snow began to fallrare for this region, a final gift perhaps from Haku's ice-natured chakra. Naruto lifted his face to the gentle flakes, feeling them melt against his skin like cold tears.

"He was like me," he whispered, soft enough that only Kakashi, standing nearby, could hear.

"How so?" the jōnin asked, his visible eye watching Naruto with unsettling intensity.

"A tool." Naruto's voice carried a weight beyond his apparent years. "But he found someone who saw him as more than that."

Kakashi's hand settled on his shoulder, surprisingly gentle. "You're not a tool, Naruto. None of you are."

The words penetrated deeper than the jōnin could know, settling into the growing cracks between Naruto's compartmentalized selves.

Later, as they buried Zabuza and Haku on a cliff overlooking the ocean, Naruto made a silent promise to the fallen missing-ninthat he would remember their lesson about precious people, about true strength born from protecting others rather than merely completing missions.

The bridge would be completed within weeks. Wave Country would regain its independence. Team Seven would return to Konoha, mission successful. All objectives accomplished.

Yet as Naruto stood at the graveside, his shadow clones simultaneously dismantling their surveillance network throughout the island, he couldn't escape the feeling that something fundamental had shifted within himthat the careful walls between Naruto Uzumaki and Killer Fox had begun to crumble.

And somewhere deep inside, behind the ANBU discipline and the genin façade, a small, lonely boy wasn't entirely certain whether that collapse should be feared or welcomed.