I knew that Naruto had something inside him that messed with his chakra control but not in my wildest dreams did I think it was the demon fox that attacked Konoha over a decade ago. I suppose it made sense to a degree as Naruto was very close in age to the day the monster had laid the village low. But it was clear to me that Mizuki was spewing bullshit however when he was saying that Naruto himself WAS the demon fox. If anything I’d say it was more like he was the prison holding the monster more than anything which also explained why it messed with his chakra control.-
The monster must hate Naruto with a passion like no other and wanted nothing more than to see him suffer.
“Do you really think Kenzo would be friends with you if he truly knew that you are the reason his parents died!?” Mizuki said taking sick pleasure out of watching Naruto question everything in despair.
“I think I have heard more than enough out of you.” I said as I walked out of the shadows.
I wasn’t mad at the man, no I was SEETHING in rage. I was annoyed that he wanted to set up Naruto before he went traitor but after listening to him I had skipped mad entirely. Naruto was easily one of the nicest people I knew, bar none, and my best friend to boot. The mere implication I would think less of him due to something so obviously beyond his control rubbed me in all the wrong ways.
“Kenzo!? Damn it I refuse to be caught!” Mizuki exclaimed in shock and anger at the sight of me.
Immediately dark marks began to cover his body and his form began to balloon and his chakra grow. The final result was his body taking on traits of a tiger and his strength soaring.
“Behold the power Lord Orochimaru has given me! Not even a genius like you can stop me now!” Mizuki roared and charged me with clawed hands outstretched.
I watched coldly and didn’t react until he got near me and simply shot out my palm to his chest. Compared to my sensei or even Shizune his new speed was sorely lacking and I doubted he could match me for strength either.
“BOOM!”
All of his momentum was killed on contact with my open palm and instead he was launched backwards at high speeds crashing through no less than four trees before finally stopping. I flickered over to him and was surprised to see that he was still breathing after a hit like that since I was certain i felt his ribs break.
“It’s over Mizuki, you can’t win.” I said coldly before disabling his limbs and knocking him out which caused whatever he did to transform to end.
I checked his vitals to make sure he would survive and scoffed at what I found. That short burst of speed and power came at the cost of a serious amount of his life force. Regardless of what was done to him from now on he wouldn’t live more than two years. Whatever Orochimaru gave him basically condemned him to death the moment he chose to use it.
‘What a fool.’ I thought in disdain before dragging his body back to Naruto.
The blond refused to look at me and I sighed and simply wrapped my arms around him.
“I heard all of what he said but he’s wrong you know? You are Naruto Uzumaki, a brat that causes pranks and is the nicest guy I know and that’s all I have ever known you as, this changes nothing.” I said softly and he just cried while holding me tightly.
We just sat there for a few moments as I let him get it all out of his system before I made a motion with my hand to the Anbu to take Mizuki. They showed up for no more than an instant to grab the guy and vanish like they weren’t there to begin with. After that I got Naruto back to his house and and into bed as he was exhausted mentally at this point.-
The Hokage was waiting for me in his office and motioned for me to take a seat when I eventually arrived.
“How is he?” he asked softly.
“He isn’t hurt physically but mentally, well that’s another matter. I did what I could to reassure him that everything was going to be fine but that news wasn’t an easy thing to shrug off even for someone like him.” I said honestly.
He sighed “I suppose it was bound to happen eventually but I had hoped to break the news more gently. Owl and Fox have already debriefed me on what happened and I can’t apologize enough for forcing you to have to deceive to Naruto like that.” he said with a sincere tone.
“It was necessary to keep Mizuki from getting suspicious and fleeing outright. That sin belongs to me alone.” I said firmly.
He looked slightly older in this moment “I understand, now I need your report on this matter as well so that we can put this unpleasant business behind us.” he said calmly.
“Well I doubt I need to explain the brief moment of combat to you as the other two no doubt have covered it in detail. The only thing I suppose that may need to be added is that you may as well execute Mizuki rather than throw him into the prison. Whatever Orochimaru gave him to have that boost of power came at the cost of the vast majority of his lifeforce, he won’t live longer than two years and that’s with round the clock care. The ironic part is the idiot actually thought what he was given was a gift.” I said with a shake of my head.
“I will have another iryonin look into this for the records but I trust your judgement since I know how skilled you are in medical arts from Tsunade. I’ll place this matter under your file as a B rank mission and the subsequent points will be placed in your account. You are dismissed.” he said and I left without a word.
I headed back to my home but didn’t get any sleep as my head was simply too noisy this night. The next day Naruto acted like nothing happened but I could tell he was still bothered by the previous nights events. The teams were assigned and I was surprised to see that he was on a team with Sasuke and Sakura that was led by Hatake Kakashi.
Sasuke being under the man I could understand as he was the only non-Uchiha to have mastered the sharingan dojutsu. But, and I was trying to be fair here, the man was a mess. He was lethargic and seemed to suck as a teacher. His test for the squad was basically just a teamwork exorcise that they passed easily enough but after that I hadn’t seen him teach them anything even a week after being in charge of the team. No body training, jutsu handing out , nothing at all and it was getting hard to sit back and not take matters into my own hands.