The Flash Fire

Summary: Minato's Hirashine was just one big prank. His speed was actually a blood line. Naruto awakens it at an early age and becomes the Flash Fire, capable of giving people burns just by running his fingers across someone's skin as he passes them at speeds that make him seem to turn invisible even to the Sharingan.

Need To Know: Naruto prevents damaging his hands from friction burns by running chakra through them. By the time the Rookie 9 graduates, Naruto is already a Jounin, which is why he fails the Gennin exam. It makes no sense to put an actual Jounin on a Gennin team. Iruka already knows of Naruto's status since he sometimes has to miss days at the academy to go on missions. The excuse is usually that he is just skipping. The only reason why Naruto is not an official Jounin before he 'graduates' is that Sarutobi is trying to keep Naruto hidden from the Village Hidden in the Rock for as long as possible. Naruto's code name is Kitsune but as he starts accepting missions and actually taking credit for them he will begin being called the Flash Fire. Before graduation Naruto has only been sent on missions inside the Land of Fire. He does know the shadow clone jutsu since the Hokage felt that he should know it so that he has a clone jutsu, but he rarely uses it in a fight due to his speed, relying on it more for recon purposes. As for the tri kunai that Minato used, it is more of a beacon to tell Minato where he needs to go when he activates his bloodline.

1. Joining The Slipstream

Five Years After Kyubi Attack, October Tenth, Hidden Leaf Village

A festival was currently underway in the marketplace of the Village Hidden in the Leaves. Unfortunately, not everyone was currently enjoying it. Halfway across the city, a mob was currently chasing a blond five year old screaming out threats as the members of the mob began catching up to the child.

'Why are they doing this? What have I ever done to them?' the blond thought as he kept running.

As the crowd got closer, a shinobi threw a kunai at the blond barley missing the child as he stumbled on a piece of loose pavement.

'They're actually trying to kill me!' The blond thought with wide eyes. As he thought this, something unlocked inside of his body before he suddenly felt as he if he could go much faster than he currently was. Not caring where the feeling came from, the blond focused on it and shot away from the mean adults leaving a dust trail to their shock.

The blond ran for a while before coming upon the main gate of the village and stopped running and began panting ignoring the shocked looks of the guards at the gate from seeing someone so young running so fast.

As he was hunched over with his hands on his knees, the boy thought 'I don't know what just happened, but I'm glad it did.'

Right as he finished that thought, the blonde's eyes rolled upwards before he collapsed. As he fell, one of the guards rushed over and caught the boy.

Turning to his partner he said "I'm taking him to the Hokage." Getting a nod from the other, he put the blond on his back and began roof hopping to a tower in the distance.

Naruto's Mindscape

Naruto woke up to find himself in the middle of an intersection in a sewer. Looking around he thought 'Great, they still caught me and dumped my body in a sewer when they were done. Now how do I get out of here?'

That was when Naruto noticed a sound. It wasn't a dripping sound like what you would expect in places like a sewer, although there was that. No, it sounded more like a whooshing sound. If Naruto had to describe it, he would say it sounded like some kind of a giant breathing. Naruto looked down the hall that the breathing sound seemed to come from and shrugged.

"Might as well go check it out. I've got nothing better to do down here." Naruto said to himself before he began walking down the corridor. A short time later the hall opened into a huge room with bars at the end that formed a pair of truly massive doors.

As he entered and began walking towards the door, a voice called out stopping him in his tracks "So my jailer finally decides to come see me."

Naruto shivered as he heard the voice. Don't ask him how, but he felt like the voice would scare the crap out of anyone who heard it.

A large growling sound filled the chamber before the voice spoke again. "Child, come closer."

Naruto shook his head and said "No offense whoever you are, but I'm not quite sure I want to."

There was a loud roar before what could only be described as large claws appeared between the bars slamming on the ground about ten feet in front of the terrified blond who had fallen on his butt with a shout.

More growling sounded again as the claws withdrew before Naruto heard "Curse this seal! If it weren't for that damnable piece of paper I would devour you!"

Hearing that he was safe, although not sure how a piece of paper could hold something that had claws that big at bay, the blonde stood up and called out "Who are you?"

Dark chuckling was his answer before the blond saw a shape take form in the darkness. Naruto's eyes widened as he saw nine tails waving in the air. Falling back on his butt again he started chanting "I'm dead, I'm dead, I'm dead, I'm so dead."

The revealed fox roared again and said "Shut up you insect! You're not dead, so stop your useless blabbering!"

Naruto shook his head and said "I've got to be dead! The Fourth killed you!"

"Foolish mortal! No mere mortal could ever kill me! The only thing that pitiful human could do was seal me inside you pathetic brat! But mark my words, as soon as I can, I'm getting out of this rotten cage and on my way out I'll devour you!"

Naruto's face turned from a look of fear to a look of confusion. "What do you mean sealed you inside me?"

The fox began chuckling darkly and said "Tell me kit, have you ever wondered why everybody in that god forsaken village of yours hates you?"

Naruto nodded before the fox continued "That's because that mortal who you call the Fourth sealed me inside you. You aren't dead, this is your mind!"

The blonde's eyes widened s he tried to process what he was hearing. Then he got angry as everything sunk into his mind as he remembered all the beatings he had received in his short life as well as all of the names he had been called.

Standing back up he yelled "You mean to tell me you're the reason my life has been so bad? Why the hell did you even come here and attack us? Huh? Answer me!"

The Kyubi roared again. The roar was so loud it actually sent the blond flying for a few feet.

"Do not presume to command me you insect! I may be imprisoned here, but that does not make me your slave! And as for why I attacked your village, if you must know, I got bored so I went to have some fun! NOW GET OUT!"

A wave of red energy rushed out of the cage and slammed into the blond forcing him out of the room and out of his mind.

Hokage Tower: Hokage's Office

As Naruto came to, he heard two voices talking.

"I swear Lord Hokage, he had been going Jounin level speeds before he stopped. And then once he got to the gate he just fell over out like a light."

"I see. While I admit that it is hard to believe, why don't we ask Naruto what happened. He's seems to be waking up now."

Naruto opened his eyes to find himself in a familiar office on a couch. As he sat up, the man that Naruto had begun to see as a grandfather came up to the couch as the gate guard from before hung back.

Kneeling down in front of the blond, the Hokage gave his grandfatherly smile and said "You gave us a bit of a worry Naruto. How do you feel?"

Naruto groaned before saying "Besides the fact that my legs feel like I've been running for days, I feel fine Old Man."

Said old man nodded and said "Speaking of running Naruto, Kotetsu here said that you had ran to the gate at pretty fast speeds. Do you mind telling me what happened?"

Naruto shrugged and said "I don't know. One moment I'm running for my life from another mob, the next a kunai nearly hits me and I felt like I could run faster than anyone in the village. I just focused on that feeling and the next thing I know I'm at the gates trying to catch my breath."

Sarutobi raised an eyebrow and thought 'Did he unlock his bloodline? I thought that wasn't supposed to happen until he was sixteen. It must have been because of the kunai being thrown at him.'

The old man was brought out of his thoughts by a hesitant voice saying "Old Man?"

The Hokage looked at Naruto who was looking at him like he was trying to figure out if he should keep speaking.

"Yes Naruto? Was there something else you need to tell me?"

Naruto nodded slowly and said in an unsure voice "Well you see, after I got to the gate, I ended up passing out and woke up in some kind of a sewer. I ended up meeting the Kyubi." Naruto frowned as Sarutobi and Kotetsu's eyes widened before continuing "At least I think I did. That was one hell of a dream if I didn't. It said something about being sealed inside me and us being in my mind at the time."

Sarutobi sighed as he felt a headache as big as the Hokage Monument coming on. Rubbing the bridge of his nose, he said "Kotetsu, you are dismissed. I don't believe I have to tell you to keep what you have heard in this office to yourself. The last thing we need right now is anyone else learning that Naruto has talked to the Kyubi."

The guard nodded and walked out of the office closing the door on his way out.

Sarutobi then looked back at Naruto and said "Naruto, there's a lot we need to talk about. First off, I'm afraid that that wasn't a dream. Unfortunately nothing we could do could kill the Kyubi. It was a form of solid chakra. Therefore, the only thing the Fourth could do was seal it inside of you, giving his live in exchange." Naruto was wide eyed as Sarutobi continued "I was hoping that you wouldn't find out about that until you were older, but I guess there's nothing I can do about that now. Either way, we have something else that is possibly even more important to discuss. You remember that feeling of being able to run so fast that you talked about?"

Naruto nodded and Sarutobi took out his pipe and stuffed it with tobacco before using a small fire jutsu to ignite it and took a deep draw to steady himself before saying "That felling was your bloodline limit activating itself."

Naruto's eyes widened as Sarutobi continued saying "It wasn't supposed to activate until you were sixteen but it seems that your near death experience unlocked it early. I was going to tell you about your parents then, and to be completely honest with you, I still want to wait for a while before I do. But your father was adamant about me telling you when your bloodline activated."

Naruto frowned and said "Why did you want to wait? You told me that you couldn't find anything about them."

Sarutobi sighed again and said "Naruto, you have to understand that both of your parents had many enemies, and if any of them ever learned that you were their child, they would stop at nothing to harm you in order to get revenge. They might even kill you. So I'm going to have to ask you to tell absolutely no one what I'm about to tell you. Understand?"

Naruto looked down and nodded. Sarutobi nodded as well and said "The first thing I suppose I should tell you about is your bloodline. It doesn't actually have an official name, but your father called it the slipstream."

7 Years Later, Hidden Leaf Village Main Gate

Kotetsu and his partner Izumo were lounging inside the gate guard's booth with no one in sight when they heard a voice say "Do you guys ever stay awake you're whole shift? If I didn't know any better, I would say you two are being paid to sleep."

The two looked up and saw a twelve year old blonde in a regular shinobi outfit with a pack over his shoulder signing the check in sheet.

Kotetsu smirked and said "Ah, you're just jealous that you don't have as easy a job as we do Kitsune."

Said shinobi simply smirked and shook his head before saying "Whatever." before seeming to disappear like he was never there.

Izumo shook his head and said "No matter how many times I see him do that, it still weird's me out to see him just disappear like that."

Kotetsu merely chuckled with a "yeah" before placing his head back on the booth's counter and went back to sleep.

Naruto reappeared at the door of his apartment and pulled out a set of keys before finding the right one and placing it inside the door's lock.

As he turned the key he thought 'I'm so glad no one lives up here with me. No awkward questions to answer if I ever just appear in front of someone.'

Once the door was unlocked, Naruto walked in and closed the door before heading to his room and putting the pack into his closet after pulling a scroll out of one of the side pockets. Naruto then grabbed an orange jumpsuit and changed into it before hanging his previous outfit in the back of the closet. Untying his headband, he then opened a secret compartment and place it in before shutting it. Closing the closet door, Naruto walked back out of his apartment and locked the door before disappearing again.

Hokage Tower :Hokage's Office

Sarutobi was currently doing every kage's enemy. As he signed another form and reached for another from the large pile of paperwork on his desk he said "I take it your mission was a success."

Naruto nodded from where he was standing in front of the desk and said "Yes sir. No problems eliminating the bandits. Overall it was a smooth in and out operation. My report has the specifics on what was stolen and everything else."

As Naruto spoke he placed the scroll on the desk and Sarutobi nodded before lightly muttering about there being even more paperwork and that his successor must have used his bloodline limit to get done with it so easily.

Naruto smiled when he heard this and said "You know old man, I think I figured out on the way back how he actually did it so fast. And it wasn't his bloodline either."

Sarutobi's eyes widened and he said "Really? How?"

Naruto simply made a cross shape with his hands and after a moment Sarutobi's eyes widened further before he began banging his head on his desk saying "Stupid, stupid, stupid!"

The door to the office opened and Sarutobi's secretary poked her head in and said "Sir, is everything all right?"

Naruto turned around as Sarutobi raised his head that now had a red mark on his forehead and said "Yeah Mrs. Reinas, everything's all right. The Old Man just realized something that he should have figured out a long time ago."

Mrs. Reinas nodded not questioning how Naruto had got in without her noticing having stopped trying to catch said blond getting in past her years ago. Smiling she closed the door again and went back to her desk.

Hiruzen shook his head free of the cobwebs he had put into his mind and decided to get to other important matters.

"So you believe that Mizuki will finally take the bait this year?"

Naruto turned back around to look at his leader and nodded saying "He's getting pretty impatient but he seems willing to wait until after graduation. He probably feels that since it will be three times this year that I'll be desperate enough not to ask too many questions. Like they say third time's the charm. Tell you what though, if he doesn't go for it this time I say just send him to Ibiki regardless. I don't think I could take another year in there. I can't tell you how many times I wanted to wipe that smug smirk off of the Uchiha's face during our spars."

Sarutobi nodded and said "I know it's been hard for you Naruto. But look on the bright side. We do this right and you most likely won't have to deal with young Sasuke or any of your other classmates for a long time."

Naruto nodded again and said "Yeah. I'm going to miss Hinata though. She was the only one who was actually nice to me. Tell you one thing though, I'll be glad when I no longer have to act like I'm head over heels in love with Haruno. That girl hits as hard as Lady Tsunade. I swear the two are distantly related or something. Well, see you later Old Man."

As Naruto was turning to exit the office the normal way now that the important stuff was talked about, Sarutobi said "Actually Naruto, I have another mission that I think you might enjoy doing for me."

Naruto rose an eyebrow before catching the thrown scroll and unrolled it before smirking as he read what was written down. Looking back to his leader and nodding he tossed the scroll back and said "I'll get right on it. Take a look out your window at the monument in the morning when you hear the shouting start."

Sarutobi nodded and said "I'm looking forward to it."

The next morning Sarutobi heard "Hey guys! Look at this!" Turning around in his seat just in time to catch the Genjutsu that was over the Hokage Monument fall, the old man fell out of his seat in laughter as he saw what Naruto had done to get everyone's attention for his mission.

The Fourth's head had two fingers painted next to it in the victory sign as well as its tongue sticking out while the other Hokages were painted looking up as if they were shaking their heads in exasperation. Painted over the heads were the words "The Hidden Leaf's number one prankster strikes again."

On the monument, Naruto gave himself a pat on the back before he heard "Uzumaki!"

Naruto looked to the side and saw a team of four Anbu coming at him. He mock paled before grinning like a mad man and ran over to the edge of the monument before shooting off down the side with the Anbu right on his tail. What followed was one wacky chase as Naruto led not only the first team but five other Anbu teams on a merry chase through the city with said blond laughing the whole way.

It wasn't long before almost every single Anbu was trying to catch him. Three hours later, he dropped into an alley and grinned before disappearing and reappearing in the Hokage's office.

Smirking at the old man who looked over at him he said "How was that for testing Anbu patrols Old Man?"

Sarutobi smirked as well and said "I would say that was well done Naruto. Now I think you should go on to class. Don't you agree Iruka?"

Naruto hadn't noticed that Iruka was standing inside the office until he heard "Lord Hokage, you actually told him to do that?"

Naruto turned around to see his fellow shinobi of the leaf and said "Yeah, do you really think I would pull such a big prank if I didn't have the Old Man's go ahead? What do you take me for Iruka, an academy student? That reminds me." Naruto went over to the window and ran through a few hand signs. Five seconds later, one use seals on the monument that Naruto had placed down last night activated and the paint evaporated leaving the monument completely paint free.

Iruka shook his head at the undercover Jounin and thought 'I'm getting to old for this.'

As the two were leaving the Hokage's office, one of the Anbu chasing Naruto entered the office. Seeing the blond, the Anbu was about to grab him before the Hokage coughed and tossed the scroll that he had shown Naruto to him.

Reading the scroll, the Anbu slumped and Sarutobi said "I expect to see some improvements from this captain. We don't want an enemy shinobi being able to move around so easily."

The Anbu nodded before bowing and left room.

Iruka and Naruto followed him as they headed back to the academy. As they exited the tower, Iruka said "I still cannot believe the Hokage actually gave you a mission like that Naruto."

Naruto merely shrugged and said "Me either. But hey, I'm not complaining."

Iruka chuckled and said "I doubt you ever would. You do realize however that you won't be able to do any more pranks in a few days right?"

Naruto made a sad face and said "Don't remind me. I'm going to miss being able to let some steam out with pranks."

The rest of the trip to the academy was relatively quiet after that. As they entered the building, they made a quick stop to grab some rope from the supply storage room and Iruka tied Naruto in order to keep up pretenses.

Five minutes later, Naruto was sitting on the ground in front of his 'classmates' as Iruka 'lectured' him much to the students' entertainment.

Once he was done, he turned to the class and said "Now then, since Naruto decided that class was not important enough to actually attend, we're going to have a pop quiz on the henge jutsu."

There was a collective groan from the students while Naruto and Iruka mentally smirked at their discomfort. As Iruka untied Naruto and he joined the line, Shikamaru who was next to him looked at him and said "Uh, this is such a drag. Why do we have to have a quiz because you didn't come on time?"

Naruto rose an eyebrow but didn't say anything. The students meanwhile performed the jutsu all of them passed with only a few mistakes. When it came time for Naruto's turn he stepped up.

Iruka looked up from his clipboard where he was marking the scores and said "All right Naruto, your turn."

Naruto nodded and brought his hands up. He briefly considered pulling a prank on his fellow shinobi but decided that he should probably give Iruka a break now that he was getting close to the end of his undercover mission.

So shrugging to himself, he made the necessary hand signs before being covered in smoke. As it died down, a perfect copy of Iruka was standing in front of said teacher. Iruka nodded and put a mark down on his board as Naruto dropped his transformation and went back in line.

After the quiz was done, Iruka put his clipboard on his desk and said "All right class. Since the final exam is tomorrow, I'm giving you guys the rest of the day off so that you guys can prepare for it. If any of you want some last minute practice for your kunai and shuriken throwing, I'll be at the target range. Other than that, good luck to you all and I'll see you tomorrow."

Naruto stood up and followed Iruka out the door and the two headed towards the target range as the other students filed out, some heading to the range with the two shinobi and the others leaving the academy. Once they were at the target range, the students began picking up training kunai and shuriken and lined up for their chance at the targets.

Iruka was watching them from a safe distance supervising with Naruto standing next to him having been able to choose his gear first.

"So what do you think of their chances during the exams?" Iruka asked Naruto in a low voice so no one else could hear them.

Naruto studied the students for a moment before saying "None of them should really have any problems with the academy final exam as far as I can tell. As for the actual final exam, well that really depends on who gets which sensei, since they usually do different tests even if they are generally the same idea. Any idea on the team placements yet?"

Iruka shrugged and said "A few. The Third is hoping for a repeat of the Ino-Shika-Cho team's record with their children and Hinata, Shino, and Kiba would make a good tracking team. Everyone else will probably just be a grouping by grade and if I know they can work well together."

Naruto nodded and said "What about the Uchiha and the Haruno? It's obvious that they'll be together since they're the top two of the class, as sad as that is in her case, but who will you put with them?"

Iruka shrugged again and said "I'm not sure. Truth be told, if you weren't undercover and your grades were an actual representation of your skills, then you would have been placed with them due to the balancing rule."

Naruto made a face and said "Thank god they're not then. I don't think I could stand being on their team."

Iruka nodded and continued "The Hokage said that he would handle it though, so we'll have to see."

Naruto nodded before walking over to the line of students and took his turn making sure to miss every once in a while.

Scene Change: Ninja Academy Day Of Final Exam

Naruto currently had his head on his desk taking a nap as the students were taking their Ninjutsu tests. When his name was finally called, Naruto walked into the room where Iruka and Mizuki were.

As he saw Mizuki, he mentally sneered and thought 'If this guy doesn't take the bait, I'm still going to bust his ass to Ibiki. Genjutsu on my written, chakra strings diverting my kunai enough to barely hit targets and whatever he's going to try in here is more than enough to show he's a traitor in my book.'

Iruka was having similar thoughts about his ex-friend since he had seen the Genjutsu when Naruto had turned in his test. Shaking his head of those thoughts, he said "Okay Naruto, all you have to do is make three clones and you graduate."

Naruto nodded and faked a look of concentration before he made the necessary hand signs. Just as Naruto decided to overload the jutsu as much as possible, he felt a slight Genjutsu come over him disrupting it even more. Naruto mentally shrugged and let loose with the fire hose that was his chakra anyway.

A single poof of smoke appeared to his side before a clone that looked like it had been beaten by a horde of Sasuke's fan girls was on the ground with its right foot twitching.

Iruka rose an eyebrow at the sight having not only sensed the Genjutsu but also how much chakra Naruto put into it and thought 'How is that thing not a shadow clone? Naruto really let loose on that one. Oh well, time to get this show on the road.'

Sighing, he said "I'm sorry Naruto but you fail."

Naruto hung his head down as Mizuki tried to defend him never noticing the smirk on the blonde's face.

An hour later, Naruto was on the swing in front of the academy watching the students being congratulated by their parents. Feeling a pang in his heart at the sight he thought 'I wish mom and dad were here.'

He was brought out of his musings as he heard whispering directed towards him.

"He's the only one who didn't graduate."

"Yeah well good riddance! You know that he's the."

"Shh, we're not supposed to talk about that."

Naruto mentally rolled his eyes and thought 'Close minded fools.'

He then sensed Mizuki's presence and thought 'About damn time. Now lets see if he really took the bait or not.'

Scene Change: Forest Outside of the Village

Naruto appeared at the designated spot for the transfer with the forbidden scroll on his back. Looking at his watch, he saw that he had five minutes before it was show time. Deciding that he wanted an early warning on this one, Naruto crossed his hands and four poofs of smoke appeared.

As the smoke cleared revealing four copies of himself, he said "Spread out and hide. Dispel yourself if you catch sight of the target."

The clones nodded before giving salutes and took off into the forest.

Two minutes later he felt one of his clones dispelling telling him the traitor was almost at the meeting spot. Naruto dispelled the rest of the clones and sorted their memories before Mizuki landed in the clearing.

"Naruto, I see you have the scroll. Were you able to learn a jutsu from it?" Mizuki asked hoping to get Naruto in a sucker punch move.

Naruto shrugged and said "Didn't see much point since I can already use one of the jutsu in it. Here let me show you."

Mizuki's eyes went wide as Naruto crossed his hands and a twenty foot radius ring of Narutos surrounded the two. Naruto smirked as he tossed the Forbidden scroll to one of the clones and pulled out his headband.

As he tied it he said "Mizuki, as a Jounin of the Hidden Leaf Village I have been ordered to bring you in for questioning. Well you come quietly?"

Mizuki just stared for a moment before he began laughing an insane laugh and said "Hah, that's a laugh you demon brat. I have to admit that your Genjutsu may have surprised me, but there is no way a dead last demon brat like yourself could be a Gennin, let alone a Jounin!"

Naruto smirked and said "Two words: Under. Cover." And with that, he disappeared causing Mizuki to look around frantically before he felt a burning feeling on his back. Screaming out in pain Mizuki turned around trying to find the blond but wound up with another line of pain going down his back again.

If the traitor could see his back, he would have noticed his clothes burnt around two severe burns on his back that was in a cross shape.

Mizuki suddenly screamed in pain again as a burn appeared running down first his right arm and then his left. As he tried to figure out what was happening, a burn trail appeared along the backs of both his legs causing Mizuki to scream even louder. Finally, a burn ring appeared around his neck. Mizuki finally couldn't take any more and fainted from the pain.

Naruto reappeared with his hands in half ram signs held loosely by his sides with blue chakra surrounding the straight fingers in a thin shell.

Dropping the chakra technique, Naruto walked over to Mizuki, shook his head and said "What a pansy." before taking out a spool of ninja wire and began tying the traitor. Once he was done, he took the scroll back from his clone before dispelling the ring. Picking up Mizuki in a fireman's lift, Naruto began heading to the Hokage's tower where his leader and the head of the interrogation department were waiting for his packages.