According to the intel from my clones, Mizuki came home one day, started writing reports, and then secretly slipped out past Konoha's perimeter through a little‑known hole in the barrier to bury that very report.
Of course, once Mizuki took off, the clone, not one to be lazy, dug it up and went through the academy teacher's writings.
Turned out he was updating some kind of dossier on talented students and leaking that info up the chain.
After reburying the report, the clone waited for the next person in the chain who was supposed to pick it up. Tracking him, the clone stumbled onto a small informant cell. Digging through their documents, he figured out they were Orochimaru's spies. Orochimaru had several informants inside the village at different trust levels, and Mizuki was the best of them. Not in strength, but in access: to info that really interested Orochimaru—kids who might be excellent talent for recruitment, or not‑so‑important but easy‑to‑snatch talent. Or, another option, someone with a genome worth studying.
As for this cell's level… well, from a shinobi's point of view, it was low. Judging by the movements of both the small‑fry couriers and the local handler, on average they were, at best, on the level of a non‑combat genin. The handler himself was about a combat‑capable genin, and a middling one at that. As for Mizuki, he was roughly on the same level as his handler, even if he wore a chunin vest.
Still, even that level was enough—the cell had been operating for over a year.
Watching all this, I smirked to myself, thinking that this whole "organization" would've been a nice first enemy for me if I'd slacked off on my development and, for some reason, kept growing at the same pace as my classmates in the Academy. But now… it was just laughable.
The clone dug deep into the cell's archives and uncovered the top layer of Mizuki's motivation—why he'd even gotten involved. It all turned out to be painfully mundane: the Great Orochimaru‑sama had promised him power and the glory that came with it. Another spy from the academy—a lower‑tier one who worked as a janitor—had been sniffing around for a long time, looking for an academy teacher he could recruit. This spy was observant and sharp, which is why, after Iruka's rise and Mizuki's reaction to it, he pretty accurately pegged Mizuki as good clay to mold into a future rogue. After that, the cell's handler did his part and successfully recruited the guy, spinning him all kinds of bullshit about how omnipotent Orochimaru was and how he handed out power to everyone.
The clone got all this from the handler's diary/report for Orochimaru, minus some emotional details I had to fill in later.
That left me with the question of how to act next. On one hand, I could practice capturing a weak shinobi—Mizuki—and interrogating him. On the other hand, if I started dealing with all this on my own, Hiruzen would smack me down for it.
Although, honestly, I was going to get smacked anyway. At the very least for sticking my nose into this whole mess. Even if I'd stayed an unknown factor and hadn't put myself or anyone else at risk. And over time, Hiruzen had been getting more tolerant of my antics. Since he still wasn't giving me missions above C‑rank, and for this surveillance‑and‑capture mission—which was moderately tricky but didn't require crazy strength—I'd probably get off lightly, I decided to show some initiative. Experience doesn't just lie around on the street—you have to grind it out. So that's what I started doing.
I rented a little basement out on the edge of Konoha, outside the walls, not far from Mizuki's usual route where he made his drops, and set up a few traps for him there.
I used a simple combo: a short‑acting paralytic fuin and kunai tipped with tranquilizer. The very same setup I'd used in the trap that snared the much more field‑savvy Fumaro.
I could've, no doubt, taken down this next parody of a chunin named Mizuki with brute force. But I just wanted to practice my trap placement against enemies who weren't pro‑level jonin, but this kind of level. I had the theory on how to act, and even some practice with invited, not‑so‑professional chunin. But again, I wanted to test it all in much more real conditions.
The result didn't take long. I had data on how Mizuki moved, his quirks, where he put his limbs, what spots he preferred to land on, all that. So I tweaked the standard trap layout a bit.
The chunin who walked out of Konoha… ran straight into the very first one.
It was evening, and this time I went out on the mission myself. Once I had his unconscious body in my hands, I gave Mizuki an extra dose of tranquilizer so he definitely wouldn't wake up early, and headed to my rented basement. Of course, not before making a clone so he could remove the other twenty‑nine traps and wipe all the traces.
We were in a well‑lit basement. The only things giving away that it was underground were the stone walls and the lack of windows.
"Rise and shine," I said, dumping a bucket of cold water right onto Mizuki's body, his hands tied behind the chair.
"M‑n‑n‑n…" A dull groan of pain escaped him. After spitting out the water, he stared at me with cloudy eyes. "Wh‑what's going on? Who are you?"
"Oh, you don't recognize me? Guess I'm gonna get rich," I said with a smile, then went on. "We know each other, little bird. Think."
He squinted.
"N‑Naruto? What is happening?!" the man blurted.
"An interrogation," I said, my face going serious. "You're sheltering enemies of Konoha. Leaking them information. I know a lot about you guys. But maybe not everything."
He listened to the first half of my words with a blank look. From the second half on, judging by his tiny reactions, he started to get the idea, but kept pretending not to understand.
"What? Why am I shirtless? No, Naruto, this is some kind of nonsense…" Mizuki's face turned friendly, while with my all‑around vision I saw him moving his hands behind his back. "How about you untie me, and we'll just— A‑a‑a‑a‑a!"
He'd tried to form the seals for a Substitution Jutsu, but when he finished, the chakra that moved only caused him pain and leaked out as a faint blue haze.
"The pain didn't tip you off?" I raised an eyebrow. "Y'see, I've got some knowledge of medical ninjutsu, let's say. I damaged the tenketsu in your arms and legs with needles. You won't be able to use ninjutsu for the next few weeks."
In response to my explanation, Mizuki, still wearing that clueless expression, kept up his one‑man show.
"Naruto, this is some misunderstanding. You've definitely mistaken me for someone. Maybe it was a ninja in my guise. Rogues can be very cunning…"
Smack.
I stood up, walked over, and slapped him across the cheek, shutting off the flow of lies.
"Cut the crap, little bird. Not that I expected to crack you right away." Walking behind my chair, I rolled out a small table with some kind of device on it, knobs, and two battery clips.
"You know why I call you 'little bird'?" I asked Mizuki as I rolled the table up to him and fear started to show on his face. "The sound when electricity runs through something—say, a person—sounds like birds singing. You, little bird, are going to sing one way or another. Got it?"
For a couple seconds, his gaze snapped back and forth between me and the device.
"Uzumaki! Stop this immediately! You'll be expelled from the Academy if you don't release me right now!"
"Hah, expelled. That's funny," I nodded. "Dude, even if I straight up killed you right in the Academy, it wouldn't cause any irreversible consequences for me."
"What the hell are you talking about?! Let me go, now!"
"You're a good actor," I admitted. "But the little details give you away. So does your chakra… I've got really good sensitivity. And I was trained to spot lies. Even though you're trying to hide it in your chakra signature, that's not enough against me."
Since he kept playing the innocent teacher, I stopped listening to his babbling.
"All right, you're already wet," I said, poking the still‑babbling man with a clip. "How did it go again… red one on the left nipple, black one on the right? Something like that. The human body's got such convenient little things. It's like it was made for this."
Walking up to the table, I looked over the device, then turned back to Mizuki.
"You don't happen to know how to turn this on?"
"Go to hell! This is your last warning! If you don't let me go—"
"Then blah‑blah‑blah," I cut him off, mocking him, "oh, it'll be so bad for me. Seriously, man, you're so persistent, and you've even got a bit of talent. Plus, your face is pretty decent. You should've gone into acting, you'd be shoveling in cash instead of… all this."
"You…" Mizuki was so pissed the capillaries in his eyes burst. After that he said a lot more, but I focused on what looked like a battery charger in front of me.
Fiddling with the various knobs and flipping switches, I couldn't get the damn contraption to turn on for about a minute. When I finally managed…
"A‑a‑a‑a‑a‑a‑a!!!" Mizuki started screaming as the smell of burning flesh instantly filled the air.
"What a stench…" I started toward the basement door to open it, then went back, changing my mind. If I opened it, I'd break the barrier and the sound would leak outside. "Executioners have it rough."
I shook my head.
"They have to smell all sorts of crap, and on top of that the screaming just blasts their ears."
Meanwhile, Mizuki kept screaming, his whole body jerking.
"But on the other hand, we've got the Yamanaka. Maybe their working conditions are nice. They can read memories straight from your head, after all," I nodded to myself.
"By the way, little bird, looks like I messed something up. There's no birdsong, just humming," I noted, listening to the sound.
"Okay, that's enough," I decided after about a minute had passed. Then I spent another half of that trying to shut this fucking charger off. "There, got it."
I looked at the now‑silent Mizuki.
Judging by how his face was twisted up and he was trying to catch his breath, it had hurt like hell.
"So, what do you have to tell me now?" I asked after settling comfortably back into my chair.
"You're a demon… The Hokage forbade us to talk about it… Said you were the gate that protects us from a terrible beast," Mizuki rasped, sometimes pausing to suck in air. "The Nine‑Tails destroyed the village nine years ago. Because of it… many died. The parents of your classmates… Iruka's parents… There was a rumor in the village that you're not the cage. No, you're the demon's reincarnation. And now I see clearly that it's true! It's true! You're the reincarnation of the Nine‑Tailed Demon Fox!!! Ha‑ha‑ha‑ha! You've seen how many of the kids avoid you! That's because they can feel it! Everyone feels it! You killed their parents. Hundreds of people died because of you! Hundreds of shinobi! It's all your fault! Ha‑ha‑ha‑ha‑ha!.."
"Interesting theory," I noted with a stone‑cold face, then got up and went back to the table. "Let's continue."
Mizuki's hysterical laughter cut off, replaced again by screams of agony.
After one more session of pain, Mizuki cracked.
Watching my methodical detachment, I could feel the tension in him keep building.
Over and over he tried to pressure me, to convince me he was innocent, to slip out of this clean. But every attempt just ran into my brick wall.
He tried, and tried, and tried again. But he couldn't get anywhere.
With every failure, I could feel his confidence getting kicked out from under him.
With my actions, I planted a seed of fear in him, and over time it sprouted into the constricting roots of terror.
No wonder Mizuki broke.
Soon he told me everything. Who else worked for Orochimaru—which turned up a couple more people that weren't mentioned anywhere in the documents. Who, in his opinion, might be working for Orochimaru or just doing criminal shit against Konoha. What pushed him into his current philosophy. Who he was connected to among the non‑spies.
I even played therapist for fun (yeah, without a license), so this little chunin whined to me about how bad his childhood had been. Basically, he got bullied, which made him grow up insecure, which turned into envy and a wish to become the best of the best. So, nothing out of the ordinary.
After writing all that up into a report, I put Mizuki to sleep again, left him there, and sent a clone to the Hokage's residence.
My message made Hiruzen react like he'd just gotten stung in the ass by a hornet. Right away—while telling my clone I'd acted prematurely and recklessly—he quickly organized an ANBU escort. They grabbed Mizuki from the basement, together with me, the original.
After that came cleanup ops—the whole lot of them were captured and interrogated.
What happened to the guilty ones after that, I don't know. What I do know is that Hiruzen chewed me out again over my carelessness. My argument that, during that mission with the bear a few years back, I'd had to be even more careful, was accepted—but grudgingly. He also said I'd done very well, first, by not killing Mizuki, whether by accident or on purpose; second, by not trying to carry out the purge on my own; and third, by ratting out that sensei directly to Hiruzen, and doing it so that no outsiders found out.
I explained it by saying I'd been pretty sane about the whole thing, I wasn't that cruel, and I had no solid reason to kill him. I justified the secrecy by the fact that I'd learned some of the cell's plans and its connection to Orochimaru and didn't want that snake to learn any more about me than necessary.
The Hokage nodded along to all that, then said that my actions, while not reckless, were, in fact, reckless. He thought for a bit, scratched his head, puffed on his pipe, and told me to just be more careful and, if anything, report to him faster instead of… all this.
I, in turn, pointed out that that meant I needed real shinobi experience. Since I'd managed to uncover a spy network and had already gone through years of training, I was ready for something more serious. To that, Hiruzen just started mumbling something barely coherent and nonsensical, then, after promising that once I finished the Academy I'd get everything I wanted, he bailed for some supposedly important business.
I was left with mixed feelings. I wasn't going to see missions above B‑rank, but I also hadn't really gotten smacked down. If anything, my trust limit got expanded, for quietly ratting Mizuki out to the right person. I also got some extra points for almost completely pulling all the data needed for a whole operation to wipe out a spy network.
Oh, and as a little bonus, even though this mission didn't officially get added to my file, they paid me at the upper edge of an A‑rank—one million ryo. The logic was that what I'd done was comparable to the work of a whole team of shinobi on a B‑rank mission, plus I'd prevented a potential S‑rank threat to the village. I still hadn't quite earned a solid, straight‑up S‑rank, unfortunately, so in essence the reward sat somewhere between the high end of A‑rank and the very bottom of S‑rank.
After that, the days just rolled on. I tried a few more times to convince Hiruzen that I was strong and ready for high‑rank missions. In the end he gave in—but not the way I expected.
"Ah, fuck it all," he said. "You want something dangerous? Fine, Naruto. I'm opening you access to all the secret techniques. But there are two buts! You only read them here, in the residence, and with me present. In the future you use everything carefully. And also, I'm asking you, don't set up any more of these dangerous missions for yourself. At least until you finish the Academy."
He handed me a downright royal deal.
This wasn't just a hookup, it was a goddamn jackpot. I was floored.
The words of agreement burst out of my mouth on their own.
After which… Hiruzen started laughing his ass off.
Of course I asked what the hell was so funny… and it turned out I'd been tricked.
The old man had already planned to give me access to those techniques anyway. No point letting them gather dust on a shelf; the potential of young shinobi has to be used. But now he wouldn't have to scratch his head over what my adventure‑seeking brain might come up with next.
That was my reminder that I still wasn't all‑powerful, and that it was actually pretty easy to lead me around by the nose… Okay, not that fucking easy. Not everyone's a Kage, and not everyone can just toss around offers like that… but you get the idea.
I fully intended to keep my word, so Hiruzen was right—there wouldn't be any trouble from me for a while. My schedule filled up again, since I had to learn and drill a lot of techniques. Some of them were really interesting and really hard… But those more than a thousand hours I spent mastering just a part of them… I don't regret them at all.
My daily life got even better and busier. And with that, time went leaping forward again.
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