Anywho, bear with me as this story unfolds. God knows which direction it'll take this time.
DISCLAIMER: I don't own Naruto or anything regarding it, ...just a few episodes on my computer.
It was getting late, and the usually quiet village of Konoha was still quiet, but there were several upper-level ninja searching the rooftops, trying to find a certain blonde-haired boy. They searched high, low, and in every room and house possible, but found no one. /This is bad/ Iruka thought. /Naruto couldn't have gotten that far. But ...why did he take the scroll/ He lept from tree to tree, searching. /Hell, how'd he know about it? The Scroll of Seals was a well-kept secret/
When the shinobi had gathered in front of the Hokage's office, the tension was almost visible. It seemed that Naruto, the village troublemaker, had somehow stolen the Scroll of Seals, and had made off with it. This wouldn't have been so bad if it had been anyone else, but him...
Iruka's mind was still on that fateful day 12 years ago, when the monster fox, the Kyuubi, had nearly destroyed everything. How the Fourth had sacrificed his life with a forbidden juutsu to seal it away. He snapped back to reality, however, when the thought crossed his mind of what the beast would do if Naruto somehow managed to free it. Suddenly, the young sensei remembered a place he'd found the blonde hiding on a number of occasions. In an instant, he was on his way.
Mizuki, however, was already on his way there, with his 2 large shurikens strapped to his back. After all, that's where he told Naruto to go. /It won't be long, now. That brat has done so much, I almost feel bad about taking it all away./ His grin was clear in the moonlight as he rushed off into the nearby woods.
xxxxXxxxx
Uzumaki Naruto was not called a troublemaker for nothing. He was the village idiot. He lived to make a fool of himself. If he didn't, ...well, he just would think about that right now. Running for your life is something he had a hard time doing when he was thinking too much. He was holding the village's most prized possesion, after all. Chances were slim that he'd get out of this in one piece, if caught.
As he jumped around in the trees, he heard a noise behind him. Quickly, he jumped down and hid himself in the bushes. Nervously, Naruto peered through the leaves and spotted Iruka-sensei, who landed right on the spot the blonde had just been standing on. He watched as his teacher searched, turning his head slowly from side to side. Apparently the night was too dark for his eyes, because the elder man jumped back into the trees and kept going.
Naruto stayed where he had hidden himself, slightly confused. Every fiber of his being had screamed 'Go to Iruka-sensei! Show yourself! You can trust him!' But his body didn't even twitch. Nothing would respond. As if instinct had sensed the immenent danger and had taken over. But ...that had never happened before.
Why now?
xxxxXxxxx
Okay, this was really strange. Mizuki was standing in Naruto's favorite hangout which was a lesser-known section of the forest, with a storage hut sitting in the middle of it. In fact, he had caught the young boy here on a number of occasions, usually accompanied by...
"Mizuki-sensei! What are you doing here?"
...Iruka. He looked over at his friend, slapping an unknowing look on his face. "Looks like you had the same idea as me. But he's not here, either."
The scar-nosed ninja seemed worried. "Do you think he knew that we'd find him here?"
"Who knows with that boy?"
Frustrated, they did a thourough search of the area, including the storage hut, but found nothing. The two set out again, together this time, but Mizuki's once smug and grinning face was gone, replaced by a look of fear and uncertainty. God only knew what would happen next.
xxxxXxxxx
Naruto, however, was having the time of his life. He couldn't read it fast enough. "Let's see... Kage Bunshin... Crap! Clones are my worst technique!" He sat back, momentarily miffed. He wiped his sweat from his forehead, then removed his goggles. He sat back up and kept reading.
And so the night wore on. The various Jounins that were searching for the blonde were getting tired, and were allowed to take a rest. They only agreed to it when the Hokage himself assured them that Naruto had no intention of taking the scroll outside the city. The boy, on the other hand, was busy training himself. By now, he had 'mastered' the Kage Bunshin and had moved on to the other techniques. When he got tired, he simply laid down on the grass and took a nap. Hours upon hours went by and the young blonde was never interupted. He was even able to get to his secret stash of food under the storage hut's floorboards, just in case he ever had to make an extended stay out here.
xxxxXxxxx
As the sun broke the horizon, the shinobi were reassembled. Even though there was a crisis, the Hokage had no intention of letting the rest of the village know. They hated Naruto enough as it was. Instead, he ordered 3 Jounins the keep a search going at all times, and the rest to go about their daily lives.
Naruto was exhausted, but happy. The blonde had just pulled his first and only 'all-nighter.' There was only one more line to read, and then he would be done. Thinking back, he remembered that Mizuki-sensei had told him about this scroll, and that if he could show even one juutsu to Iruka-sensei, that he would graduate. After that near encounter last night, Naruto began to think that his road to becoming the Fifth Hokage might become a lot shorter with the more juutsu's he learned. So why stop? Why not make that road as short as possible, and just learn all of them?
Okay, back to reality. He kept reading. /...Wait, that doesn't make any sense. The last few lines aren't a juutsu at all. Just some funky words./ Just as he finished that thought, and reading the last line, something began to happen. The writing in the scroll began to glow, then the entire thing lit up! Naruto dropped it and jumped back. It began eminating a bizzare, bluish-green light. The young blonde was almost hypnotized, and began walking closer. Time slowed. A subtle warmth surrounded his body. Closer.
An intense beam of light shot from the opened scroll and into Naruto's eyes, causing a severe pain, followed by darkness.
xxxxXxxxx
Well, the good news was that Naruto wasn't blinded, but he did have one killer headache. In fact, he had no idea why he was suddenly in his own room. The last thing he remembered was that big scroll glowing like the sun. Speaking of which, ...he looked around and realized that A) The scroll was nowhere to be found, and B) Iruka-sensei was sitting in the room with him, asleep.
/Well, that explains how I got back here./
Naruto was in his bed, so he turned to get up, groaning and clutching his head in the process. Apparently, Iruka was either a light sleeper, or was already awake, because he was up and on the blonde's case in an instant.
"Hey, Naruto! What the hell's wrong with you? Where were you last..."
"Could you keep it down a little bit, Iruka-sensei? My head's killin' me." Naruto groaned.
"I'M gonna kill you in a minute!" For a guy who just woke up, this man was very pissed. "Do you know how much of a panic you caused last night?"
Despite the pain in his head, Naruto's face brightened. "Oh, hey! Iruka-sensei! I learned some awesome techniques! Ya wanna see them?"
The elder man was stunned. /He was training all night? And no one noticed/
Without warning, Naruto made a seal with his hands and screamed "Mienai no Juutsu!" A cloud of smoke appeared, then dissapeared just as quickly. Naruto was gone.
"Big deal. You can hide yourself. Everyone at the academy can." Iruka did not sound impressed.
"But how WELL can they hide themselves?" came a voice from RIGHT BESIDE HIS FREAKIN' EAR. Naruto?
"How did, ...wait, where are you?"
"Right here, Iruka-sensei!" There was no one else in the room.
"But where the hell are you?"
"HeeHee. You can't see me, but I'm right in front of you!" And to prove it, he flicked the taller man in his nose, sending a bolt of suprise through him. Iruka had just been bitten by thin air. Naruto WAS right in front of him, but somehow, ...he had made himself invisible.
"Naruto, that's incredible! Now, ...come back where I can see you."
The blonde reappeared in the same cloud of smoke the enshrouded him before. "I can't hold it for too long, 'cause it sucks too much chakra." He was grinning from ear to ear. Glee and confidence sharing a face that wasn't big enough for both. "Wait 'til you see what else I can do! You'll have to graduate me when I show you this!"
"Wait," Iruka stopped him just before he did something else. "What gave you that idea?"
"Mizuki-sensei told me last night that if I showed you one of the skills from the scroll, you'd graduate me for sure." Naruto said, defensively.
...Mizuki-sensei?
Well, how was that? Seems like a better story approach then the last one, though probably not much room for humor. We'll see what happens. BTW, Mienai no Juutsu was something I made up that just seemed like it would have been in that scroll. I'll be making up more as he goes through them. While I won't ASK for suggestions, I'm sure they'll come anyway.
Please read and review! I need imput! Should I keep going or trash it? JUST SAY SOMETHING!