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Chapter no.5 Back in Konoha
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Naruto blinked and suddenly found himself back in the forest.
His mind was a blur, everything that had just happened feeling distant, like a dream slipping through his fingers. The Northern Undead Asylum, Oscar… was it real? It all felt so hazy. He shook his head, trying to make sense of it.
"Naruto!"
Naruto looked up, only to see Iruka storming toward him, his hands gripping the boy's shoulders tightly. His eyes bore into Naruto's with an intensity that made his stomach twist. It was rare to see Iruka-sensei like this. The young Uzumaki would've flinched under that stare if he wasn't still trying to process whether everything around him was real.
"Do you know what you've done?"
"What?" Naruto barely had time to respond before a barrage of shuriken whistled through the air toward them.
Naruto shoved Iruka out of the way, and even he was surprised by the force. Iruka landed hard, spinning to face the source of the attack.
"Well, well," came a voice from the shadows. Mizuki stepped out, a twisted grin on his face. "I didn't expect that. I'm impressed you found this place, Iruka."
"Mizuki!"
"Naruto, give me the scroll."
"Don't!" Iruka's voice cracked with urgency as he positioned himself protectively in front of Naruto. "Naruto, never give him that scroll. It's dangerous. Mizuki used you to get it for himself!"
"Naruto," Mizuki interjected smoothly, "Iruka's just afraid of you having that scroll."
"Huh?" Naruto blinked. Iruka-sensei wouldn't be afraid of him, would he?
"Don't do it!" Iruka shouted, pulling out a kunai. "That scroll holds jutsu collected by past Hokage, techniques too dangerous to use! Mizuki's lying! He used you!"
Naruto's mind reeled as he looked between them.
"There's no point in delaying this," Mizuki said darkly. "Naruto, do you know why the whole village hates you?"
The whole village… He always wondered why. He'd always felt their stares, their whispers. But no one ever told him why.
"No, Mizuki, stop!"
"Roughly twelve years ago," Mizuki began, "you know about the Kyuubi no Kitsune, right? The monster that attacked Konoha?"
Naruto nodded slowly.
"Well, the Yondaime Hokage couldn't kill the Kyuubi, so he sealed it away… into the body of a baby. And that baby was you."
Everything clicked in an instant, Why the villagers glared at him, why parents pulled their children away from him, why he was always treated like some kind of monster. All the whispers, the dirty looks. He thought it was because he was a troublemaker, because he didn't fit in, but this? He wasn't just disliked. He was hated because he was the Kyuubi. He was the monster.
"That's why everyone despises you, Naruto," Mizuki sneered. "You're the dreaded Kyuubi no Kitsune."
It felt like the world was collapsing around him.
"How dare you," Iruka's voice snapped through the suffocating silence, filled with more anger than Naruto had ever heard from him before.
Mizuki grinned as he drew a giant shuriken from his back, his intentions clear. "And now, I'll kill you and become a hero to the village."
"Don't listen to him, Naruto!" Iruka yelled. "He's lying. He's the traitor here."
"Why protect him, Iruka? He's the one who killed your family."
Naruto froze again, the weight of Mizuki's words pressing down on him like a mountain. He… killed Iruka-sensei's family? No… it wasn't him. It was the Kyuubi. But he was the Kyuubi, wasn't he?
He was a demon… just like the asylum demon.
"I'm not letting an idiot like you get that scroll!"
"You're the idiot, Iruka," Mizuki sneered. "Naruto is a monster, just like me."
"Anyone with that scroll can do whatever they want. The Kyuubi would abuse its power," Mizuki goaded.
"You're right," Iruka said suddenly, and Naruto's heart sank.
But then Iruka's voice changed, his tone stronger, more certain. "But Naruto is different. He's one of my best students. He works harder than anyone. He's not the Kyuubi. He's Uzumaki Naruto of Konohagakure."
Naruto looked up, stunned.
Mizuki's face twisted with rage. "Then die!" he screamed, hurling the giant shuriken with deadly force.
Suddenly, the familiar feeling of Focality washed over Naruto, sharpening everything. It was like time slowed, and he could see the path of the fuma shuriken flying toward him. More importantly, he saw Iruka-sensei moving to jump in, using his body as a shield to save him.
Naruto didn't need any more proof. That was all he needed to know Iruka was on his side, that Mizuki had betrayed them.
Without thinking, Naruto's hand shot out, grabbing Iruka mid-jump. He twisted his hips, jerking his arm forward as he felt the surge of pyromancy flame building inside him. It flowed to his hands like a rush of heat, and suddenly, a fireball erupted, blasting through the air and destroying the fuma shuriken in one fiery explosion.
"So, the demon child got his hands on a Fire Style jutsu, huh?" Mizuki sneered while moving his hands through a series of hand signs. "Let me show you how a real firestyle is done."
He blew into the ring formed by his thumb and pointer finger, and a massive fireball roared toward them, the heat radiating from it in waves.
Iruka prepped his Earth Style, already ready to raise a defensive wall, but his jaw dropped as he saw it.
Naruto's fireball blasted right through Mizuki's like it wasn't even there.
The explosion was huge, a burst of flames and smoke that lit up the entire clearing. For a moment, the boy couldn't see anything. But then, in a blur, Mizuki appeared behind him in a flash, using the Body Flicker Technique.
His kunai was cold against Naruto's neck.
"Got you now," Mizuki growled, thinking he had already won.
With a swift motion, an axe flashed out from the inventory, catching the white-haired chunin off guard.
Mizuki screamed in pain, clutching the stump where his hand used to be. His face twisted in agony, and without thinking, Naruto grabbed him by the mouth, his palm pressing against Mizuki's face.
"Fireball."
Naruto felt the fire erupt from his palm, engulfing Mizuki's head. The flames roared for a moment, and then… boom... then silence.
Iruka had closed his eyes, turning away.
When everything was still, Naruto looked down at what was left of Mizuki's headless body.
[ You have killed hostile Enemy — Mizuki ]
[ Dropped Items ]
[ - Fuma Shuriken ×2 ]
[ - Incomplete Cursed Seal ]
[ - 200 Soul ]
Naruto didn't know what to feel. The blood was still clinging to his skin, drying in patches on his hands, his clothes, everywhere. But inside… inside, he felt nothing. Not anger, not regret, not even relief. Just… emptiness.
Nothing at all.
Killing Mizuki didn't feel real. It was just like killing a hollow. Just another fight, just another enemy. But it wasn't, was it? Mizuki wasn't a hollow. He was… human. His mind raced, but there was no room for emotions.
Everything was happening too fast.
His thoughts were scattered, and one thing kept echoing in his head.
Oscar.
He had to go back. He had to save his teacher… his friend. But how? How did he get here in the first place? There was no clear answer, no path in front of him. Just blood and confusion.
Hollows, Oscar, that world… how do I get back?
Where was he supposed to go from here?