Dealing With A Pawn

Hey everyone! So i wanted to let you all know that i made a typing error two chapters ago. I put '72 teams' accidentally, which sucks cause i reread that chapter like four times but eh. Dyslexia total fucked me over on that one. Anyways i fixed the error and changed it to '72 people' which is what i meant to put. So if you all do see some typing errors that i miss ( which will probably be a lot since i suck at writing and reading)please dont be afraid to let me know and ill go back and fix them.

Anyways, i hope you all enjoy this chapter!

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Hiruzen stood on an elevated stone platform that over looked a large concrete room that had a large stone statue of a man holding up a hand sign against the far wall. To his left was an even higher walkway for the genin and jonin senseis to watch the up and coming preliminary matches.

Hiruzen flicked his eyes to his left and saw anko standing there with her arms crossed over her chest, a bored look etched upon her face. To his right was hayate gekko, the soon to be referee for these preliminaries.

The thirds aged eyes looked out over the five genin teams that were standing before him. Each and everyone of them had bruises and scuff marks all over their bodies and some of them still looked exhausted. There wouldve been two more teams present had he not ordered for them to be arrested the moment they entered the tower.

He had ordered the arrest of the three sound genin along with kabutos team. He was truly amazed with narutos rinnegan abilities. Who wouldve thought that naruto would get snippets of orochimarus memories after he had sent the mans soul to hell? But he was sad to find out that orochimaru had managed to turn a whole squad of his genin into spies.

Hiruzen sighed. Speaking of traitors, it reminded him of a certain 'operation' that was taking place right now..

He shook the thought from his mind before giving the assembled genin a smile." For those of you who dont know, my names hiruzen sarutobi and i am the third hokage. I wanted to congratulate you all for making it this far into the exams." He gave the genin a few moments to cheer among themselves before he, with a bright smile, crushed there happiness." Now id like to welcome you all to the preliminary matches that are about to take place.." 

• hokages tower- same time•

Mizuki was practically giddy with glee as he silently made his way up the stairs towards the empty office of the hokage. He had heard from a few chunnin that, thanks to the chunnin exams, the hokage had given the towers staff the day off in order to relax until the third exams. He also heard from one of his anbu 'buddies' that the hokage- foolishly- gave the anbu squad that usually guarded the tower the day off as well. The anbu thought it was strange to get a day off but mizuki didnt care. He wasnt about to let this opportunity slip through his traitorous fingers.

He exited the stairwell and came into the waiting room that was just outside of the hokages office. Now usually this room would be occupied by a secretary and a few hopeful clients but today it was empty. Mizuki silently crept towards the hokages office door and slowly opened said door, he almost squealed when the door turned out to be unlocked!

With a shaky breath the chunnin crept into the empty office and let a smile break out on his face as he saw his prize sitting neatly rolled up against the corner of the room. The forbidden scroll of seals seemed to be calling out his name, begging for him to pick it up and just run with it.

He made his way over to the ridiculously large scroll and picked it up. He set it on the hokages desk and slowly unrolled it until he came across the first technique written within it. The shadow clone jutsu. His grin grew bigger.

Said grin turned into a frightened look as the hokages office door was thrown open. His head snapped towards the door, thinking that he had just been caught red handed but he quickly calmed down when he saw who it was.

Naruto uzumaki, his and irukas old academy student. The boy was grumbling to himself as he entered the room with a few papers stacked in his hands. The boy froze when he saw mizuki.

"O-oh." Naruto eye smiled at him." Hello mizuki-sensei!" The blond greeted cheerfully as he walked further into the room.

"A-ah! Naruto!" Mizuki chuckled." How are you buddy?" He asked with a realistic smile on his face.' If i play my cards right i can totally get out of this scott free..' he told himself.

"Good, the old man just wanted me to finish up this mission report." The blond waved the papers in his hands." Though id much rather be watching the preliminary matches." He grumbled.

Mizuki just chuckled at the boy.

"So." The blond began." Whatcha doing there?" He wondered as he came up to the desk.

"Oh!" Mizuki looked down at the forbidden scroll in his hands before giving the boy a small smile." I talked to hokage-sama earlier today about seeing if i could finally learn the shadow clone. He said i could look at the jutsu while hes watching over the preliminaries." He lied through his teeth.

Naruto hummed approvingly." Thats awesome!" The boy set the papers on the hokages desk." You should be happy, the old man is very picky about who gets to even get a glimpse inside of that old thing." The blond joked.

Mizuki laughed a bit and nodded." Anyways, what have you been up to lately? And howd the second exam go anyways?" The chunin asked.

"Ugh." The boy groaned." The second exam was freaking hectic." He sighed." Did you know that orochimaru infiltrated the exams?"

Mizuki gained a look of shock on his face." What?" He was really surprised. No news regarding orochimaru had been heard by anyone. It seems the hokage was keeping it under wraps." What happened?" He asked, genuinely curious. His 'master' didnt say anything to him about breaking into the exams.

"Well anko-chan and i went after him. We found him trying to put a curse mark on sasuke uchiha." Naruto explained.

"Well sasuke-kun is very talented for his age." Mizuki replied." I wouldnt put it past orochimaru to try and steal the boy from konoha." He added.

"Yeah, but anko and i dealt with him."

"Dealt.. with him?"

"Yup."

"What do you mean? Did he escape."

"Nah." Naruto chuckled with an eye smile." I ripped his soul out of his body before sending it to hell." The room fell silent as mizukis eyes widened.

"S-So.. orochimarus dead?.." the chunin asked softly.

"Yup!" Naruto replied." But the weird thing is that when i ripped his soul out, i saw pieces of his memories.." mizukis hands tightened around the scroll.

"Whatd you see?" Mizuki asked, his voice had an edge to it.

"Well we found out that kabuto and his fellow genin squad mates were all spies for the snake." Naruto began, then the boys eyes hardened." You know, dont you think its kinda odd?"

"What do you mean?" Mizuki asked curiously." Whats odd?" He asked.

"Oh just that the hokage left his entire tower unguarded. The place where he keeps village secrets and powerful jutsus.. unguarded.. just like that." Naruto let out a slow chuckle." Except for us being here that is. You.. a chunin holding the forbidden scroll in his hands and me.. one of the top jonin in the village.."

Mizukis eyes narrowed as it suddenly dawned on him. Naruto seeing orochimarus memories. The hokage leaving this place unguarded, only for him to 'run' into naruto.' It was a fucking trap this whole time!'

In the blink of an eye mizuki had a kunai in his hand before swinging it towards narutos throat, only for the kunai to be blocked by a black rod.

"My my mizuki-sensei.." naruto chuckled out as he added pressure to his rod which made mizuki slide back a few feet." Killing all those konoha shinobi.. becoming a pawn for orochimaru." He clicked his tongue." Bad boy."

Mizuki growled." Fuck you demon!" He yelled back. His eyes widened when narutos rod sliced through his kunai. He then blinked and suddenly found himself paralyzed with the black rod sticking out of his right thigh." W-what?" Mizuki asked in shock.

"Did you honestly think that you could fight me head on?" Naruto let out a laugh as he stood in front of the paralyzed man." I mean, im pretty humble when it comes to my power but even i knew that you had no chance against me." The boy taunted.

Mizuki didnt reply. He stood there motionless as he felt his rage steadily grow. He had been defeated so quickly! And by the demon brat no less! He hated it!

"Well the old man said that i could do with you whatever i wanted." Naruto told him, getting his full attention." At first i was just gonna kill you and be done with it, but then i thought to myself 'what fun would that be?' So im gonna break your mind before throwing you in prison." Naruto told the traitor.

Mizuki chuckled at that." You break my mind? Dont make me laugh!" Mizuki laughed anyways." Do your worst demon!" He dared.

"Ma ma." Naruto waved him off." Enough with the 'demon' thing will ya." He stated." But im gonna let you meet my best friend okay?"

Mizuki looked down at the boy with a blank face, not that he could make any type of face that is." Best friend?" He asked.

"Yup!" Naruto reached up and tapped mizuki on the forehead.

Mizuki blink and when he opened his eyes he found himself standing in a sewer. He looked down and frowned at the shin high water. He looked around the run down, chipped away room he was in.

"Where the hell am i?!?" He yelled out and his question echoed throughout the room.

"Youre in my mind." Mizuki spun around and saw naruto standing in front of a wall of darkness.

Mizuki looked enraged." You!" He began to march towards the eye smiling boy. He made it about five feet away from the boy when he quickly came to a stop as a large orange, furry, human like hand slammed into the ground next to him, shaking him to his very core. 

He slowly looked above the boy and his breath got caught in his throat when he made eye contact with two large, blood red slitted eyes.

"What do we have here?" Came the deep booming voice as kurama moved his head into the light. The giant fox stared down at mizuki with a large grin on his face, showing off his very large and very sharp fangs.

"K-k-kyu-kyubi.." mizuki stuttered out in pure fear. His entire body was frozen and shaking as he stared up at the strongest tailed beast.

"Well!" Naruto began as he jumped upwards and landed on kuramas snout." I decided id bring you a snack, since you've been such a good friend to me ya know!" Naruto explained happily.

"S-s-sn-snack?!?" Mizuki cried out in horror.

Kurama laughed, his laugh was deep and dark." I thank you for this meal naruto!" He said as his reached down towards mizuki.

"N-no!" The chunin cried out as he fell in his ass. He quickly turned tail and ran as fast as he could away from the large furry hand that was about to snatch him up." P-please! Mercy!" He cried out, frightened tears streaming down his cheeks.

"YOU CANT RUN FROM ME YOU HAIRLESS APE!!" Kurama roared out as his large hand wrapped around mizuki. He brought the man up to his face.

"Please!" Mizuki cried out as he stared at naruto. He tried to wiggle free from the giant hand that held him captive." Please naruto! Show mercy!" He bawled like a baby.

Naruto stared at him with hard eyes." Did you show mercy to the injured leaf ninja you killed?" The blond asked in a cold tone, silencing mizuki." You willingly killed shinobi that wouldve been perfectly fine had you gotten them back to the village! But instead you killed them!" Naruto roared out, rage was etched onto his masked face." Any last words mizuki? Before the nine tailed fox devours your very mind?" His voice was cold and calm once again.

Mizuki was to frightened to reply.

Naruto clicked his tongue." Fine. May inari-sama bless this meal that youre about to have kurama."

"Amen." Kurama chuckled out before he opened his mouth and threw mizuki into the deep dark depths of his throat. Naruto heard the screams from mizuki before kurama snapped his jaw shut, silencing the man forever." Thanks brat! I love me some terrified human." Naruto chuckled and jumped off his snout." What? Why are you laughing?" He asked with furrowed brows.

"Youre such a dork kurama." Naruto laughed out.

"Hey! Im serious!" Kurama looked offended." Its a delicacy alright?" He grinned when naruto waved him off before vanishing from his mind.

•hokages office•

Naruto opened his eyes and looked at the drooling, mind dead form of mizuki. The man was still very much alive but, like naruto said, his mind had been devoured by kurama.

He let out a sigh before walking towards the chunin and ripping out the chakra rod before he let said rod vanish. He watched as mizukis body fell limply to the floor. He then made three shadow clones." Take him to ibiki. Im going to watch the preliminary matches."

"Sure boss!" The clones gave him a salute before he vanished in a swirl of leaves.

• the tower•

Naruto appeared on the catwalk overlooking the 'arena' that the genin would be fighting in." Where were you naruto?" Kakashi asked as he cane up to the blond side." I was beginning to think youd miss the fights." He added as he turned a page in his book.

"Sorry." Naruto replied." I was dealing with one of the snakes pawns." Kakashi hummed.

"I see-"

"Naruto! Youre here!" Naruto looked to his left to see hinata and sakura running towards him, the other genin squads were just now making there way up to the catwalk in order to wait for their matches.

He caught hinata in a hug as she barreled into him." Hey hime-chan, sakura-chan." He eye smiled.

"I was worried you wouldnt show up naruto-kun." Hinata stated as she hugged naruto a bit tighter.

Naruto chuckled and ran his fingers through her hair." Me missing your match? Never." He stated as they broke their hug. He then looked at sakura." How are you and sasuke holding up since the forest?" He asked.

"Better." Sakura nodded." Sasuke-kun is still a bit freaked out knowing that one of the sannin almost kidnapped him though." Naruto and kakashi snorted at that.

"Well im glad you two are alright." He stated with a nod.

"You!" Naruto looked over to see kurotsuchi and her genin team walk up to them. It was maki, the 'livelier' one of the twins that had spoke up." Youre that stupid konoha guy that flew us here on a bird!"

Kurotsuchi smacked the genin in the back of the head, making maki face plant into the ground." Dont be so disrespectful maki!" She scolded the girl with a tick mark on her forehead.

"Mou.." maki pouted into the floor.

Naruto chuckled in amusement." Whats up guys? Im glad to see you made it through the forest." He stated.

Asano frowned as he got a faraway look in his eyes." There were such big lions and tigers and bares.."

"Oh my." Naruto replied.

"You should burn that forest down.." murai stated in a bland tone.

"NARUTO-KUN!" Naruto jumped at the loud booming voice that originated from behind him. He along with sakura and hinata spun around, only to see a grinning gai standing there with his genin behind him.

"For the love of all inari-sama gifted us with! Dont scare me like that gai!" Naruto shouted out, a tick mark on his head.

"NONSENSE! How else will i keep your flames of youth alert?" The green spandex wearing man shouted up with a thumbs up.

Naruto sweat dropped." Sure, anyways. Whatd you want?" He asked curiously.

"To introduce you to my team of course!" Gai replied as he held and arm out towards his genin." You already know neji. The girl here is tenten and this is rock lee! His flames of YOUTH BURN BRIGHTER THAN THE SUN!" Gai shouted the last part loudly, a proud look on his face as he stared at lee who was giving him the 'nice guy' pose.

Naruto stared at rock lee with a dead look in his ringed eyes. The boy looked exactly like gai, just younger," they multiplied.." he whispered out in horror.

"Naruto-san, hinata-sama." Neji gave the two a small bow.

"Sup neji."

"Hello big brother neji." Hinata greeted with a soft bow and a smile on her face. She was super grateful to naruto for beating nejis hate for the main branch out of him at a young age. It gave her, her 'older brother' back and it aloud neji to mend his relationship with the main branch, it also helped neji to know that she planned to take the caged bird seal away once she was the leader of the clan.  

"Sup short stuff." Tenten greeted naruto with a nod.

Narutos eyes narrowed." Sup.. panda.."

"What did you call me?!?" Tenten roared out.

"Hmm. Did you say something tenten?"

"Dont pull a kakashi on me you freaking brat!" The weapons mistress growled out.

"Im so proud.." kakashi whispered out as he continued to read.

"So you are the ever youthful naruto-san that gai sensei has told me about!" Rock lee shouted out as he appeared in front of naruto, shaking the blonds hand rapidly.

"U-uh sure yeah." Was naruto slightly shocked reply. This boy was fast for a genin! Granted naruto could see the boys movements perfectly clear but damn. Lee was easily high chunin speed! Even with those leg weights on!

"Its starting." Kakashi called out, getting everyones attention.

They all walked over to the railing and looked down at the improvised arena. Hayate was standing between sasuke and kiba.

"Are both fighters r-" hayate let out a few coughs."- ready?" He finished his question.

Both boys narrowed their eyes at one another before nodding once.

"Alright. The first round of the preliminaries begins.. now!"

• anbu holding cells•

Kabuto stared blankly at the hallway filled with dead anbu members that he had just finished murdering. He idly wiped the blood from his hands with his old konoha headband before throwing it over his shoulder.

He began to step over the dead bodies as he made his way out of the underground jail." So orochimarus dead then huh.." he let out a small chuckle." No matter. This could work to my advantage-"

Kabuto fell silent as a swirling vortex opened up behind him. He turned around and watched as a orange masked figure appeared out of thin air. The mans arms were completely covered in white bandages and his hands were covered by black gloves. He also wore a black cloak that had red clouds decorating it.

"Hello kabuto-san.." came the deep male voice of the unknown akatsuki member.

Kabuto pushed his glasses up on the ridge of his nose." Hello there strange-san. Who might you be?" He questioned with a small nonchalant smirk on his face.

The masked man tilted his head a bit." My names madara uchiha. And i have an offer for you.."

"Hmm..Is that so?.."

• cliff hanger•

So i know since i killed orochimaru off and stopped the sand-sound invasion, yall are prolly wondering what the hells gonna happen during the final exam then right? Well ladies and gents! Dont worry cause theres still gonna be some shit hitting the fan!

So stick around and see what happens on the next episode of the foxs gift and i hoped you all enjoyed this chapter. Until next time guys!

* insert some theme song or something here*