A familiar rage burned through Naruto's veins. It threatened to consume him as hints of confusion, hesitation, and fear pushed against his already brittle psyche. His hands left bone chilled, with a sharp ache in his head, two sets of memories clashed violently within his mind.
One belonging to a lonely child who had spent his life chasing acknowledgement in a village that despised him, the other belonging to a grown man who watched an entire world crumble beneath the weight of its own cruelty.
He felt them both.
Naruto's teeth ground together, the sound sharp and almost feral in the quiet forest clearing. His blue eyes, once bright with childish naivete, now held a depth far too old for his small body. He looked down at the man who had ignited that simmering fury within him.
Mizuki stood below, grinning.
The chunin's smile stretched wide across his face, sharp and predatory, like a hyena savoring the scent of blood. Moonlight filtered through the trees, casting pale streaks across his features, making the expression somewhat serpentine.
"Naruto," Mizuki drawled, voice dripping with mock concern. "Did you ever wonder why the village hated you so much?"
Naruto dared not reply as his eyes narrowed in suspicion.
Of course, he had wondered. For years, the question had haunted him but now he knew with the surge of memories he had already learned the truth: the Nine-Tailed Fox sealed inside him, the demon that had ravaged The Hidden Leaf. The burden he carried had never been his own, yet he had been forced to bear the consequences all the same.
But now?
Now he possessed knowledge beyond this world. Knowledge of events yet to unfold. Knowledge of betrayal, war, and death.
So he forced his expression of confusion, tilting his head slightly as though the words puzzled him.
Mizuki's grin widened.
Below them, Iruka staggered to his feet, blood seeping from the corner of his mouth and staining his chin. His normally composed features were twisted with desperation.
"MIZUKI, DON'T! IT'S FORBIDDEN!" Iruka shouted, voice hoarse but filled with urgency.
The cry echoed through the trees, almost pitiful in its desperation.
Naruto watched silently, with in his mind, memories flickered, episodes watched late at night in a different world, scenes he had once dismissed as fiction. Filler arcs. Canon. Details most would forget.
But he remembered, and those memories told him something important.
Mizuki lived in canon, possibly to return somewhat stronger, and that thought alone was unacceptable.
Because Mizuki would later would fully align himself with Orochimaru, one of the Sannin. A monster whose ambitions would one day threaten the entire village. Naruto's village.
His home.
Even if Konoha had never loved him, it was still his, and he would not allow threats to fester if he could remove them now.
Mizuki stepped forward slowly, eyes locked on Naruto like a hunter savoring the moment before a kill.
"It's been recorded throughout history," Mizuki began theatrically, "that Tailed Beasts cannot be killed. So our great Fourth Hokage had only one option: to create a vessel. A container. A living prison to house the beast that threatened to destroy this village."
Iruka's chakra flared.
With a burst of speed, he lunged forward, gripping a kunai tightly despite his injuries. Tears streamed down his face as he shouted, "Mizuki, stop! Naruto, don't listen to him!"
Mizuki reacted almost instantly, pivoted, driving his knee into Iruka's chest with brutal force. The impact knocked the wind from Iruka's lungs and sent him collapsing to one knee, gasping for breath. Mizuki grabbed a fistful of Iruka's flak jacket and shoved him back.
Iruka coughed violently, but even then, he reached out, gripping Mizuki's vest with trembling fingers.
"P-please…" Iruka rasped. "You were my best… friend… please don't…"
Naruto frowned slightly as he watched. He didn't know if it was due to his change of perspective, but this seemed slightly wrong. It almost seemed that the canon events that had happened originally were diverting
As Mizuki and Iruka remained locked in their tense exchange, Naruto quietly shifted the large scroll onto his back and hopped down from the tree branch without a sound. His years of training to potentially become a shinobi, combined with the composure of a mature adult, enabled him to land safely.
He landed softly behind thick foliage, concealed in shadow.
Good.
They were distracted.
Butterflies stirred uneasily in his stomach at the thought forming in his mind. Mizuki was a potential threat, and that gave him only one option in this case. Taking a life wasn't something he had ever done, not truly. Not even in his other life.
But he would gradually change that, especially with a potential war on the horizon.
"Oh, dear Iruka," Mizuki said mockingly, voice dripping with disdain. "Did you really believe I was ever your friend? Someone as weak as you?" He leaned closer, eyes cold. "Remember who killed your parents… and still you try to save the boy?"
Iruka's grip tightened weakly.
"You… you're right," he admitted hoarsely. "I hated Naruto… I hated the Nine-Tails for taking my parents…"
He forced himself upright despite the pain wracking his body.
"But I changed," Iruka continued, voice strengthening. "There was never a demon there. Only a child… carrying a burden far too heavy for him. I saw a boy who kept trying, no matter how much the world rejected him. I see my student. The one you're trying to corrupt."
Silence fell.
For a moment, Mizuki said nothing.
Then his expression twisted into something ugly.
Without warning, he slammed his foot into Iruka's stomach. The impact folded Iruka over and sent him crashing to the ground. He coughed violently, blood splattering the dirt as consciousness threatened to slip away.
"I didn't expect that, Iruka," Mizuki said coldly. "Touching speech, really. But I'm a busy man, and I don't have time for sentimental nonsense."
He turned slightly, and alarm bells rang inside his brain, and in that instant, instinct took over.
Mizuki twisted sideways just as a kunai sliced through the air where his throat had been. The blade cut across his cheek instead, drawing a thin line of blood. He hissed, stumbling back as crimson trickled down his face.
His eyes darted across the clearing, to which he finally noticed that Naruto was gone.
Mizuki slowly straightened, wiping the blood from his cheek with two fingers before examining it. His grin returned, sharper than before.
"I guess I'm hunting fox tonight."
Silence answered him.
The forest felt suddenly oppressive, with sounds of every rustle of leaves, every shifting shadow making Mizuki tense as he reached into his pouch and drew several shuriken, spinning them idly between his fingers as he scanned the trees.
"You can't hide forever," he called lightly. "Come out, Naruto. Don't you want to know the truth?"
A whisper of movement behind him.
Mizuki spun too slow.
A clone burst from the undergrowth, kunai slashing downward. Mizuki parried instantly, steel clashing against steel as sparks flew. He kicked the clone hard in the abdomen, dispelling it in a puff of smoke.
His eyes widen, A clone?
That shouldn't have been possible, the boy was a failure in that department, and to suddenly produce a possible solid clone was unheard of... the hairs on his arms stood up as another came from the left.
Then the right.
Three, four, six shadow clones surged from every direction. Their movements were coordinated, relentless. Mizuki snarled, hurling shuriken in rapid succession. Two clones vanished. Another ducked low, sweeping his leg.
Mizuki leapt back, weaving hand signs as he allowed his chakra to build within his palm.
"Wind Release: Gale Palm!"
A violent gust exploded outward, shredding foliage and dispersing several clones instantly. Leaves and dirt spiraled through the air as the clearing erupted into chaos.
And then Naruto emerged from above, looking down with narrow eyes with barely contained killing intent that made Mizuki growl.
He dropped from the canopy, kunai angled downward toward Mizuki's spine. Mizuki sensed him at the last second, twisting violently. The blade pierced his shoulder instead, driving deep enough to draw a wet, choking grunt from his throat.
Blood sprayed.
His body felt feverish, with the thumping of his heart reminding him that he was still alive.
Naruto landed lightly and ripped the kunai free in one smooth motion, spinning back out of reach as Mizuki staggered. Crimson poured from the wound, soaking into his flak jacket and dripping onto the dirt below.
Mizuki's grin faltered.
"…You little…" he hissed, clutching his shoulder.
Naruto said nothing as a took a calm breath, his chakra levels were fluttering in odd patterns, which he could only believe was the Ninetails chakra taking delight in the blood he shed.
Both locked eyes as silence blanketed the area.
Mizuki lunged, drawing a massive shuriken from his back and hurling it with brutal force. Naruto sidestepped, but the spinning blade clipped his arm, slicing fabric and skin. Pain flared, but adrenaline proved useful as he didn't react.
Nor did he slow.
Two clones intercepted Mizuki's follow-up attack, sacrificing themselves to block incoming projectiles. Smoke burst around them, obscuring vision.
Naruto moved through it like a ghost.
He reappeared at Mizuki's blind spot and drove a kick into the injured shoulder.
The sound that followed was sickening.
A wet crack echoed as Mizuki's already-damaged shoulder joint partially dislocated under the force. He screamed a raw, animalistic sound and collapsed to one knee.
Naruto didn't falter as he stepped forward and drove a kunai into Mizuki's thigh, the steel sank deep.
Blood erupted.
Mizuki howled, hands clawing at Naruto's wrist, but Naruto twisted the blade before yanking it free. The motion tore muscle, sending another spray of crimson across the grass.
For a moment, the clearing fell silent except for Mizuki's ragged breathing.
Naruto stood over him with his heart pounding, his brow trickled with sweat, with a sense of nausea overcame him at the sight of blood.
Mizuki glared up at him through pain and hatred, teeth stained red. "You think… this changes anything?" he spat. "You're still a monster. Always will be and I'll be the one to put you down."
Naruto tilted his head slightly.
"Maybe," he said quietly.
Then he drove the kunai down.
It plunged into Mizuki's other shoulder, pinning him to the ground with a wet, crunching sound. Mizuki screamed again, body convulsing as blood pooled beneath him.
Naruto leaned closer, voice low and calm.
"I'll gladly be a monster if it means I live."
Mizuki's struggles weakened rapidly as blood loss took its toll. His breathing became shallow, uneven. Consciousness flickered in and out.
Naruto straightened slowly.
He could kill him.
End it completely.
Prevent future threats before they ever formed.
Behind him, he heard movement.
"N...naru..to" Iruka's weak voice murmured.
Naruto glanced back. Iruka had managed to sit up, watching with wide, stunned eyes.
There was no fear in them, only pride and a nod of understanding.
He turned back toward the downed form of Mizuki.
"Live," he muttered coldly. "But you won't threaten this village again."
With deliberate precision, he drove one final strike into Mizuki's elbow joint, shattering it beyond easy repair. Mizuki's scream tore through the forest before finally fading into unconsciousness.
Silence returned.
With blood wiped from his kunai onto the grass, Naruto watched Iruka as the man, though stumbling, made his way towards the boy.
Closing his eyes, Naruto suddenly felt a warm embrace. Slowly opening his eyes, Naruto felt Iruka press his head against the man's chest and felt Iruka's hand move to his head.
"It's alright..." Iruka murmured. Naruto let relief flood him, and tears began to fall as he clutched Iruka.
"I'm sorry, Iruka-sensei..."