The price of knowledge

"Even his indignant scream was in the formula" Shaking his head, Kakashi continued "I really thought he had gotten desperate, and that loud scream just covered the sound of his hands coming up from the ground... by the time I heard the clink he had already exchanged places and positioned himself in a safe zone"

"..."

"That was amazing" With a sigh, Kakashi nodded towards Naruto "No big fights or complicated techniques, just simple cunning and intelligence... and that's exactly what a ninja should do"

"Don't continue I'm blushing" Waving his hand with a sheepish smile, Naruto continued "I simply took advantage of an important factor that I doubt will be repeated again for now"

"Which one?" With seriousness, Sasuke asked.

"You all underestimate me" Losing his smile instantly as he stares at the young man, Naruto continued "Kakashi-sensei never expected me to plan beyond a simple strike, just as it never crossed his mind that I, between the three of us, would be the one to make such a calculated surprise attack"

Nodding, Sasuke muttered "Even I wouldn't have thought so."

*Ding*

"Never underestimate your enemies, you never know what can happen" Shaking his head while yawning, Naruto walked towards Kakashi and threw the bells at him.

"That's right what you say, congratulations" With a cheerful tone while receiving the bells, Kakashi continued instantly "Now I will tell the results of the test. Everyone failed."

"W-what!?" With a pale face, Sakura stammered. 

"...!" Clenching his fists as his face becomes sullen, Sasuke lowered his gaze and fell silent.

"..." Rolling his eyes as his classmates instantly become elated, Naruto asked "Why did I fail too?"

"You two for failing to get the bell" Turning his gaze to Naruto, Kakashi continued "And you for not following the rules. I clearly said it's one bell per person, you took both."

"..."

"But don't worry, neither of you will have to go back to the academy" With a cheerful voice, Kakashi commented.

Instantly gaining a twinkle in her eyes, Sakura asked with a pleasant surprise "But all I did is faint. That's good?"

"..." With a small smug smile, Sasuke let out a small snort.

"Yeah, all three of you..." With amusement in his eyes and obviously enjoying the moment, Kakashi suddenly put on a serious face and shouted angrily "You should stop being ninjas"

"..."

"..."

"..."

"Are you idiots or what!?" Looking at the surprised and sullen faces, Kakashi continued "Don't they understand why they're all in a team!?"

"Teamwork"

"And if you knew that why didn't you do it?" frowning, Kakashi asked towards Naruto.

"The only plan I could come up with was to take everyone by surprise"

"And that meant the death of your teammates"

"Our enemy was overwhelmingly strong"

"And that gives you the right to sacrifice your own?"

"Isn't that what this village always does?"

"What?" With obvious annoyance in his gaze, Kakashi asked "When does that happen?"

"This village always sacrifices its own looking for an illusory peace, it's just a matter of looking at history" Shrugging, Naruto continued "When they tried to kidnap Hinata, her father saved her and killed the invader who even entered the Hyuga clan, and what happened?"

"..." Opening his eyes a little wider, Kakashi stared at Naruto in obvious surprise.

"The invading man turned out to be part of the people who came to negotiate peace with the cloud village, who came to celebrate a recent peace treaty" Narrowing his eyes at Kakashi, Naruto continued "What happened next? Konoha demanded explanations? Did the Hyuga family receive compensation? The cloud village apologized?"

"That was a case-"

"Don't interrupt me!" Feeling a growing anger as he finally manages to express his anger with someone, Naruto continued "Not only did the cloud village not apologize, but they even had the damn nerve to demand explanations from us!"

"..."

"And as if that wasn't enough, they demanded Hinata's father's damn head in order to continue the peace!" Clenching his fists tightly, Naruto continued "Now can you explain to me why instead of protecting what is right and helping our people, the Hokage demanded that the head be handed over in order to preserve that damned peace!?"

"..."

"By what right do you come to berate me for my decisions when this damned village clearly values that hypocritical peace more than its own people!?" Snorting with disdain, Naruto asked.

"..." Remaining silent for a few seconds, Kakashi turned his gaze towards the others and noticed the obvious surprise and confusion in their gaze, then shook his head and spoke towards Naruto "I know it was a difficult decision, but politics isn't simple and cases like that won't happen again."

"Heh" With an amused snort, Naruto continued "Does he think that's the only time it happened?"

"What are you talking about?"

Pointing towards Kakashi's arm, Naruto continued "We tend to wear the Uzumaki symbol so proudly, shouting to the four heavens that we respect them and hailing that they were our greatest allies."

"So it was."

"Then why the fuck didn't you help him when they attacked you!?" With fury, Naruto continued "The whole damn shinobi world united to slaughter them, and what did this village do!? Nothing!"

"Naruto, it was all very sudden, before we knew it everything had already happened!"

"I don't know if it's too naive or too stupid" Standing up while shaking his head with an incredulous smile, Naruto continued "Do you really think Konoha doesn't have spies in every nation?"

"..."

"Do you really think that directly transporting the entire shinobi world's army can go unnoticed?" 

"..."

"Do you really think moving an entire army is a matter of a single day?"

"..."

"You really think it was just arming up and going out?"

"..."

"Gathering the supplies, gathering the ships to go to the island, placing agreement between the 4 villages, getting permission from the Daimyo of those four nations, and much more" Shaking his head, Naruto smiled bitterly and continued "Please don't make me believe that crap about Konoha not knowing, because I really feel like you're insulting my intelligence."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"This really hurts me" Shaking his head as his eyes reddened, Naruto continued "Because almost all my life, I always wanted to be Hokage and constantly dreamed of being the protector of this village, but it turns out that the more I know and the more I think and analyze our history, the more I realize how rotten and hypocritical this place is"

"..."

"And don't think that's all, because I could go on talking all damn day" Turning his gaze to Sasuke, Naruto pointed at him and asked "Your clan was isolated on the outside before the tragedy happened, wasn't it?"

Shrinking his pupils to the max, Sasuke stood up and asked quickly with an absolutely dark face "What do you know?"

"Naruto!" Standing up while looking at Naruto angrily, Kakashi shouted "That's enough!"

"..." Turning his gaze towards Kakashi, Naruto was silent for a few seconds and let out a derisive snort, then turning around and putting his hands in his pockets "Screw it, I'm outta here."

"If you move one more foot forward, forget about being a ninja!"

"So be it, at least that'll keep the Hokage from giving my head away to some village to keep his foolish peace" Waving his hand dismissively, Naruto glanced sideways towards Kakashi continued "But please don't think this is personal against you or this team... I'm just so damn sick of the hypocrisy of this place that I couldn't take it anymore"

"Naruto-kun..." Clasping her hands together nervously as she looks at Kakashi with concern, Sakura continued "Kakashi-sensei, please don't be so hard on him... Naruto... he really worked hard to be a great ninja, we've all always known that"

"Alright" Shaking his head while speaking with a calm tone, Kakashi continued "You did well guys, let's end today's exam and we'll continue in the future"

"Yes, sensei..." 

"..." Without even giving another glance to Kakashi or Sakura, Sasuke just nodded and started to leave directly.

"*Sigh*"

***

-You screwed up big time-

"Damn, I know!" rubbing his hair in confusion, Naruto growled "I lost my damn control and screwed up!"

-I warned you, you're on the edge-

"And what else could I do?" letting out a frustrated groan as he plucks leaves from the branches beside him, Naruto continued "Even I don't understand what I feel and why I feel... this is so frustrating Kurama... not being able to control myself doesn't feel good at all"

-And there's a reason I recommended you not to train with my chakra-

"I'm such an idiot..."

-What will you do now?

"I don't know... I still can't escape and even if I did, I'd be easy prey out there... what worries me most is that I'll name the Uchiha clan... if Kakashi-sensei tells the old man and Danzo finds out... who knows what will happen"

-They can't do anything to you that will harm you-

"Says who?"

-You forget that you are the last Uzumaki in the village? Who would be my bearer if you weren't here?-

"Oh..."

-Even if they find another Uzumaki out there, it's almost impossible for their bloodline to be strong enough to resist me-

"That's good... I think"

-And if it all goes wrong... we'll have to take more extreme measures that may end up damaging your body, but at least you'll end up alive-

"What measure?"

-Filtering enough chakra to form my physical body based on yours-

"Oh, I understand" Remembering the time where he almost transformed into the 9-tailed fox according to his memories, Naruto nodded "But that would leave me very damaged."

-Maybe for a month or more, but it's certainly better than dying or being a prisoner-

"The village has seals to divide our chakras"

-I don't know what kind of seals they'll have, but they're generally only useful when our chakras and wills reject each other, something that as you'll understand, doesn't quite happen now-

"*Sigh*" With a bitter smile, Naruto sighed heavily and muttered "When did everything become so... complicated?"

-Knowledge always had its price-

With a heavy heart and a growing concern, Naruto just shook his head and jumped down from the tree, then dusted off his clothes and started walking home.

-They're watching you-

Freezing for a second, Naruto continued his pace and sighed heavily.

-It's Kakashi-

'If he came straight to follow me instead of informing the Hokage, it means he still hasn't decided what to do with me' Thinking seriously, Naruto continued 'But no matter how much I think about it, this is hopeless... I disrespected him, I disrespected the Hokage and even the village... fuck, he even warned me that if I left, I would never be a ninja again'

Ignoring the discomfort of knowing he was being followed, Naruto walked through the forest for about 15 more minutes and arrived at the side of the village, then changed his face and walked through the bustling streets to his home.

Entering his home, Naruto looked sideways and noticed the juice box next to the table, noticing instantly that it was in a totally different position than the one he left it in.

'In the memories this happened too... although instead of juice they drank the expired milk' Taking off his jacket, Naruto put his ninja equipment aside and lay down on the bed wearily.

"..."

-He is still outside and does not seem to have any intention of leaving-

'Maybe he already reported and was given the mission to keep an eye on me?' With a slight frown, Naruto thought in frustration 'If so, it will be a real problem to even train in Kurama's seal... the sharingan is no joke in that regard'

-You'd better sleep until tomorrow kid, take the opportunity to rest your body-

Knowing that there was nothing more he could do, Naruto sighed and settled down on the bed, then closed his eyes and began to slowly calm his breathing.

-Naruto-

"Yes?" mumbling inaudibly, Naruto asked.

-"Even though you made a gigantic mistake today, don't sink into self-loathing and use it as experience... don't make the same mistake twice.

"I know..." Remaining silent for a few seconds after answering, Naruto muttered "If it is necessary to wear a mask of hypocrisy until my freedom... so be it"