Six Years Later - 4

Early evening came, adding to the darkness of the cloudy sky.

"It's all over..." The three boys looked up to see none other than Umino Iruka glowering at them, who seemed disappointed at discovering Naruto along with his fellow juvenile delinquents.

Naruto leapt to his feet, closing the scroll and grinned at Iruka as he stepped in front of Haku and Gaara. Naruto was well aware that even though Haku and Gaara were known to be his closest friends, their records weren't nearly as tarnished as Naruto's yet.

Simply put, Haku was a polite, well-behaved boy and Gaara's hobby was sleeping rather than using his free time to vandalize the Hokage monument and such. So Iruka gave props to the three for being good friends in spite of their diversity.

Of course, he wouldn't put it past either Gaara or Haku to be enticed when Naruto managed to get his hands on a Forbidden Scroll. Iruka noted that Haku, genius though he was, wouldn't pass up the opportunity to learn a few jounin-level jutsu, and Gaara, well...

In his first years at the Academy, he had received complaints that strange, threatening messages were being spelled out in sand across the desks of some students who, coincidentally, Gaara and Naruto weren't particularly fond of.

Yet he never could prove Gaara was the one responsible for that, or any other unexplainable phenomena for that matter; like the chairs that were often found snapped in half: the pieces scattered around the classroom in the morning (due to some unseen fits of rage), or the missing window panes (the glass was discovered shattered in piles outside the Yamanaka flower shop), or that freak accident when the roof went missing last year.

In other words, Gaara had a clean slate as well.

Naruto on the other hand, drew attention to himself through pranks just for the sake of getting attention. And although he had plenty of intervention from his friends, who often made sure he avoided catastrophic consequences, Iruka could tell that the blonde boy had some help from time to time spreading graffiti on the Ninja Academy's walls.

So here were all three of them: caught red-handed.

It was disappointing and slightly expected all at once for the young chunin teacher. Iruka knew they had always been outcasts at their time in the Academy. Haku was placed on a high pedestal for being so brilliant, while Naruto was ostracized for being himself, and Gaara was shunned for simply being...'outlandish' as Jiraiya had once put it.

Still, they'd have to learn eventually that they had to stand above the abuse, and not resort to such childish pranks.

Naruto chuckled at his teacher's serious face, "You found us already, sensei? We only learned a few jutsu so far..."

It was then Iruka understood. All of them, sweaty and tired, they had been working hard, that much was clear. Gaara gave a reserved glance to Iruka, sensing that something was not right; but Haku was just as chipper as Naruto.

"Iruka-sensei," Haku spoke up tiredly, "We'll show you the techniques we've learned and then we can pass the exam as genin. Anyone who learns at least one jutsu from this scroll passes, yes?"

"What?" The chunin was baffled, "Who told you that?"

Haku looked taken aback, and Gaara frowned, knowing it was all too good to be true.

Naruto however was still hopeful, "Mizuki-sensei told me! He told me where to find the scroll and this place..."

A look of horror and realization came over Iruka's face as Naruto trailed off, looking just as lost as Haku and Gaara. The only thing they all noted was the swift sound of kunai coursing through the air.

Gaara's sand shield surrounded him as the knives rained down, while Iruka knocked Haku and Naruto out of the way of the deadly hail. Iruka was forced against the wall of the cabin nearby; a few of the kunai had met their mark. Hastily, he removed the knives that had been deeply imbedded above his right knee.

From the tree tops, a recognizable voice called out, "It seems you've found our hideaway, Iruka-sensei..."

"Mizuki!" Iruka snarled, ignoring the dumbfounded looks on Naruto, Gaara and Haku's faces, "So you're the one after the scroll?"

Mizuki sneered down at him, "I see you've caught on. I wasn't expecting so many to turn out, but no matter..."

"What are you talking about?" Naruto barked, "What do we have to do with the scroll?"

"Get out of here! All three of you!" Iruka ordered, "Go! Take the scroll with you!"

Mizuki grinned as the three young trainees stood without a clue about what was going on.

"Well it's obvious isn't it Naruto-kun?" The silver haired traitor went on, "You were perfect for fetching the scroll for me. It doesn't seem like something you wouldn't do, so why don't you save yourself the trouble and hand it over to me now?"

"No." Gaara spat and then turned to his companions, "Don't play his game. We out number him four to one. He's a coward for using Naruto just to get the scroll."

"Get out of here! He's a chunin and he has us right where he wants us!" Iruka was glad that Gaara also didn't trust Mizuki, but upset they weren't trying to escape, "Don't let him get that scroll!"

Mizuki glared at Iruka, "Doubting their abilities again, Iruka-sensei? Typical. Why would they bother listening to the one who failed them? You see...they're stronger than they know..."

"That's enough Mizuki!"

Naruto's grip on the scroll tightened. He was going to make sure that he didn't hand it over, although he wasn't sure who to trust.

Mizuki scowled down at Haku, Gaara and Naruto, "Ha! You still don't know, do you? What monsters you all are?"

Haku had heard this before, and he readied the senbon Tenten had given him, "What are you playing at...?"

"Didn't you ever stop to think, Naruto-kun? Why everyone hates you?" Mizuki smirked at the boy as he continued, "Many years ago the Fourth Hokage sealed the vicious beast that attacked our village, The Nine-Tailed Fox, into a young child..."

Gaara and Haku looked towards Naruto, wondering what the traitor's words could mean.

"That's enough Mizuki!" Iruka bellowed, throwing his own kunai back at him. Mizuki easily dodged them and landed nimbly back on his tree branch.

"And that baby, Naruto-kun...it was you!" He spat, "You are the Kyuubi!"

Naruto's blue eyes were wide in shock, but in a way, it made sense to him. People always had avoided him and hated him...Now he knew the reason why. So did Haku and Gaara. What did they think of him now?

Haku and Gaara only stared at Naruto, at a loss for words.

"And you!" Mizuki suddenly rounded on Gaara, "You're from Sunagakure! You're not even worthy to be a shinobi of the Leaf Village! I can't say why the Hokage would want to keep a disgusting monster like the One Tailed Tanuki around!"

Gaara was floored. True, he was already aware of his situation, but he certainly didn't want anyone to know about it. The red haired boy shot a look of loathing at Mizuki, wanting to let his sand crush him into tiny bits.

"Shut your mouth, Mizuki!" Iruka shouted, not believing that Mizuki had disobeyed a direct order from the Hokage to never tell the youngsters of their painful pasts; the pasts they kept hidden from each other.

While Naruto and Gaara shook with righteous fury, as two jinchuriki exposed, Haku knew that he wouldn't be spared.

"And you, perfect little Haku-kun of the Water Country...you're a real mystery," Mizuki looked smug, "No one would suspect a genius like you to be a murderer, now would they?"

There was a silence. Haku knew that what he had tried to hide from his friends for so many years was about to be publicized.

"It's been kept confidential of course, but it's hard not to notice on your record that you're held accountable for the murder of your own parents-!"

"Shut up!" Haku threw the senbon needles he had prepared, which caught Mizuki off guard. Three of which connected painfully with the traitor's shoulder and forearm.

'But how–?' Mizuki couldn't believe it, 'This kid can't aim for his life...when did he–?'

More senbon rained into the tree tops. Haku was inconsolable and charged ahead after Mizuki, completely forgetting that he was a chunin instructor.

"Haku!" Gaara followed after him, his sand awaiting his any whim.

Naruto, however, stood rooted to the spot clinging to the Forbidden Scroll.

"Naruto! Listen to me, you have to take the scroll and get out of here!" Iruka tried one last time talking sense into him, "I have to make sure that those two don't get killed!"

At first it seemed as if Naruto hadn't heard him at all. But Iruka watched with relief as Naruto nodded slowly, and then rushed away with the scroll through the forest canopy. Iruka then proceeded to follow after his other two students, cursing their foolishness for being drawn into a trap.