Haruto, with a black ninja headband worn proudly on his left bicep, smiled as he walked behind his family, just watching them interact as they walked towards an Akimichi owned restaurant to celebrate his, Haruki's, and Haruna's success at graduating.
Haruki was bragging about how awesome he did in the exams to Genki and Tatsumi, who had stars in their eyes as they looked at him, until Haruna came up and told them that Haruki was the deal last before backing away.
This caused Haruki to gain an invisible raincloud over his head as he looked down while Genki started laughing, Tatsumi tried to cheer him up, and Daichi too chuckled at his state.
Haruna, Saya, and Mitsuki were giggling at Haruki before they started to whisper to one another about something Haruto couldn't hear and glanced at him from time to time before looking away with blushes on their face, which confused Haruto even more.
Minato and Kushina were behind them, smiling at seeing the looks on their faces and at the sounds of laughter, as they were having a conversation with Naruko about something.
Haruto continued to smile as he turned his head up a little, thinking about the exams.
After easily beating Mizuki with no mercy, Haruto was told by Iruka that he passed the Taijutsu Exam with flying colors, admitting to the red haired preteen that he barely saw him move, and told that class to wait for the next portion of the exam as he took Mizuki to the infirmary.
Iruka came back after a while and told the class that the last exam was the Ninjutsu Exam, where they have to perform the 3 required jutsus to pass: Substitution, Transformation, and Clone Jutsu.
Some of the civilian students failed, but the rest of the civilians barely passed while the children of clans pretty much passed with flying colors.
Iruka then went on to explain to the passing class that they will learn about team assignments next week and to get their ID picture taken before the week ends.
Haruto was brought out of his thoughts when he saw a hand waving in his face.
He blinked owlishly before he followed the arm up to an amused, but slightly worried Naruko.
Naruko put her hands on her hips as she looked at Haruto.
"Haruto, are you alright? I've been trying to get your attention for the last 5 minutes."
Haruto shook his head and gave Naruko a small reassuring smile.
"I'm alright, Naru-nee. I just spaced out, thinking about the exams."
Naruko smiled back and chuckled a little bit, ruffling Haruto's head with her left hand.
"Well, alright, but you shouldn't be thinking about that since you already passed."
Haruto chuckled along with her and nodded his head.
"I guess that's true."
Naruko nodded, feeling satisfied that she got Haruto out from his head, and motioned behind her with her right thumb.
"We should probably catch up with the others. I told mom and dad that they could head inside while I try to get you out of your funk."
Haruto was about to agree, but then he noticed something on the top of a building a couple distance away.
No one knew why, but it seemed that Haruto's dragon-like eyes were able to see things clearly from a long distance, both at night and in the morning, where in the night it seemed to glow an ethereal blue color.
Anyways, Haruto concentrated on the object and was able to see an outline of a person with a big object, which Haruto immediately identified as a scroll, on their back.
The person turned their head left and right, as if they were making sure no one was able to see them, before they left towards the direction of the west gate of the Village.
This all occurred within two seconds and Haruto narrowed his eyes slightly, wondering who the person was and why they had such a big scroll on his back.
Deciding to investigate this even further, Haruto gave Naruko an apologetic smile.
"Sorry Naruko. I forget something back at the Academy. Tell father and mother that I went to go back and get it. I'll be back in a bit."
Naruko stared at him suspiciously, but eventually let up and gave him a small smile.
"Okay, but be careful. It's dark out so be sure to watch where you step."
Haruto nodded and Naruko turned around walking towards the entrance of the restaurant.
Haruto dropped his smile and narrowed his eyes, looking towards the direction the person left.
"So they left that way, huh? "
Haruto's form disappeared from sight, not even leaving a sign that he was ever there.
If he looked back, he would've seen that Naruko turned around and was staring at his previous position with a frown on her face.
Even though Naruko knew that Haruto was lying, she trusted him to not do anything stupid and knew that he could take care of himself better than Haruki and Haruna.
"Whatever you're doing Haruto, I hope you don't get involved in something dangerous."
Haruto, due to him using his full speed, easily caught up with the person and was quietly following them like a true shinobi.
What he noted was that the person was moving at Chunin Speeds, making Haruto come to the conclusion that the person was at least a Chunin level shinobi.
When the person stopped, Haruto stopped on a nearby branch and was able to see more of their features and wasn't even surprised that the person running was Mizuki and the scroll on his back was the Forbidden Scroll of Seals.
Mizuki took the scroll from his back and stared down at it greedily, chuckling evilly.
"After I give this to Orochimaru-sama, I'll gain even more power and be unstoppable!"
Haruto's eyes narrowed even more and he grew a scowl, staring at Mizuki in disgust.
"I'm not even surprised that he's a traitor, but still, how could a person abandon their home and betray their friends just for power?"
Here, a boy with a duck ass hairstyle sneezed and glared around him, feeling the urge to attack anyone in sight.
Haruto put his right hand on Yubashiri and got ready to push off the branch to attack Mizuki.
"I can't let him give that to Orochimaru. If he gained that scroll, who knows what kind of things he can do? "
Before he could strike, he was forced to stop at the sound of another person appearing.
"Mizuki! How could you do this?!"
Haruto cursed at the bad timing and stared worriedly at Iruka.
"Why is Iruka-sensei here? Even though he's a chunin, I can tell that he'll have a hard time fighting Mizuki, considering he was his friend, which will only lead to his death knowing Mizuki's true nature."
Mizuki chuckled darkly and put the scroll on his back again before turning around to face Iruka.
"I'm surprised you were able to find me, Iruka, but it doesn't matter because I can easily kill you. As for your question, I can do this because I'm sick and tired of not being recognized for my greatness! That blond bastard of a Hokage didn't even give me a promotion when I rightfully deserved it! I have the strength, the speed, and everything else needed to be a Jonin and yet he still believes that I'm not ready to be a Jonin!"
Haruto scoffed quietly from his hiding spot.
"Well, maybe it's because of your crappy attitude and your violent tendencies. "
Mizuki shook his head before he smirked evilly.
"It won't matter anymore because I'll leave this stupid village and gain even more power from Orochimaru-sama then I'll show that blond bastard what he lost!"
Iruka scowled and grit his teeth in anger before he yelled back,
"I'm sure that Hokage-sama has his reasons for not promoting you, but I'm sure if you wait a little longer, you'll get the promotion you want! Just stop this nonsense and return the Scroll of Seals! I promise I won't tell anyone that any of this happened."
Mizuki lost his smirk and scowled at Iruka.
"I'm tired of waiting, Iruka! Also, like I said, I don't care about that promotion anymore! Now, all I want is power, which Orochimaru-sama will provide after I give him this scroll."
Iruka frowned and shook his head as he took out a kunai with his left hand from his ninja pouch on the top of his left back pocket.
"I'm sorry, Mizuki, but since you chose not to cooperate, I must stop you! I won't let you take that scroll to Orochimaru!"
Mizuki chuckled, shaking his head side to side.
"Iruka, you fool. I was going to let you go, but now, I think I'm just going to kill you and I'll do it with this small sample of power from Orochimaru-sama!"
Iruka and Haruto both had the same thoughts.
"WHAT?!"
Mizuki took out a small test tube like container with red liquid from within his left breast pocket on his flak jacket and uncorked it, drinking the fluids.
He then threw the container on the floor and his body started to change as he yelled.
His body grew so big that his shirt and flak jacket couldn't handle it and ripped to shreds, causing the Scroll of Seals to fall on the floor along with a fuma shuriken. His body also started to gain tiger-like stripes and his hands and feet gained claws.
Mizuki flexed his claws, admiring them before he looked up at the shocked Iruka with a dark smirk.
"As you can see, this is the type of power I can gain from Orochimaru-sama! Now," Mizuki bent down a little to pick up the fuma shuriken that fell when his shirt ripped and threw it at the still shocked Iruka, "DIE!"
Haruto, finally done watching and not wanting his sensei to die, pushed off the branch he was on to give him even more speed and stopped directly in front of Iruka.
He ignored the wide eyed look from Mizuki and watched as the fuma shuriken came closer.
A click sound was heard as Haruto had his hand on Yubashiri , which was slowly being unsheathed.
When the fuma shuriken, which was moving slow to Haruto's eyes, was close enough, Haruto's narrowed eyes seemed to shine for a second and fully unsheathed his sword and cut the fuma shuriken into several pieces before re-sheathing his sword.
This all happened within 1 second and in the eyes of Mizuki and Iruka, all they saw was the fuma shuriken stop in front of Haruto before falling in front of him in a millions pieces.
Iruka was finally able to come out of his shock and could only say,
"H-Haruto?"
Haruto turned to Iruka and gave him a small smile.
"Are you alright, Iruka-sensei?"
Iruka managed to nod slowly and Haruto nodded with his skill still in place.
"That's good, but I think you should let me handle this."
Iruka was really worried and was about to deny Haruto, but then remembered what happened during the Exams.
Iruka reluctantly nodded and said,
"Alright Haruto, but be careful."
Haruto nodded and turned back to Mizuki, who also broke out of his shock, and lost his smile. Haruto, instead, had a stoic appearance, but with narrowed eyes glaring daggers at Mizuki.
"Your fight is with me now, traitor."
Minato was having a great time with his family, just eating, talking, and laughing like a regular family, but wondered why Haruto was taking so long.
He wasn't worried, though, because he knew how mature Haruto was and that he could take care of himself.
Minato tensed when he felt the presence of an ANBU appear and turned to the direction of the presence, seeing a masked man, whose mask was in the form of a boar, standing there.
"What happened, Boar?"
Boar knelt down to the ground with his right hand on the ground.
"Hokage-sama! It was reported that the Scroll of Seals has gone missing."
Minato stood up from his seat along with Kushina and Naruko with startled looks while the preteens and kids looked confused.
"What?!"
After making sure that Boar was telling the truth, Minato ordered him to get as many people to search around and outside the village while Kushina tried to distract the curious preteens and children.
Naruko remembered that Haruto seemed to be in a rush and widened her eyes.
"Haruto, could he have…? "
Mizuki snarled before smirking at Haruto.
"While I wasn't expecting for you to be here, I'm glad that you are. Now I can get revenge for what you did to me!"
Mizuki lunged at Haruto at Jonin speeds with his right hand out, ready to stab him with his claws.
Haruto had his own plans and easily blocked Mizuki with one arm, using Yubashiri as he stared into Mizuki's rage filled eyes with a bored look.
He then pushed him back using 25 percent of his strength, causing Mizuki to roll on the ground for a while until he stopped himself using his claws as he stood on all fours.
Haruto stabbed Yubashiri into the ground and untied his ninja headband from his left bicep before tying it to his forehead.
"I think I'll get a little serious since you are trying to kill me after all,"
He then unsheathed Wado Ichimonji and Sandai Kitetsu, where he put Wado Ichimonji in between his teeth, with the blade pointing to the right, and held Sandai Kitetsu with his right hand and took Yubashiri out of the ground with his left hand, "and I'll show you how superior my Santoryu I've been developing is compared to your borrowed power."
Mizuki growled at Haruto before he started to rush at Haruto again.
"YOUR DEAD, BRAT! "
Mizuki, once he was close enough, brought down his right arm towards Haruto, but Haruto just dodged easily by jumping back. He growled at missing, but continued his onslaught as he followed up with a straight kick with his left leg.
Haruto blocked the approaching leg with his swords by crossing them and didn't budge an inch from his position, which really shows how strong Haruto really is.
Haruto pushed Mizuki's leg away, causing said man to stumble back, which Haruto took advantage of and rushed Mizuki at high Jonin speeds.
He, once in front of Mizuki, brought down Yubashiri and Sandai Kitetsu diagonally down Mizuki's chest before slashing Mizuki directly in the middle of his chest horizontally with Wado Ichimonji as he ran passed Mizuki from the left and stopped immediately behind the man.
"Santoryu: Oni Giri."
Mizuki's chest suddenly exploded in a shower of blood and Mizuki yelled out in pain, but surprisingly, was still conscious as he was barely standing on his right knee.
Iruka, who was watching from the sidelines, could only stare in amazement at what he witnessed.
From his perspective, he saw Haruto cross the swords in his hands before he disappeared and was behind Mizuki, whose chest exploded in a shower of blood not even a second after Haruto appeared behind him.
Haruto turned around and stared down at Mizuki, who turned his head to glare at Haruto, with bored eyes.
"Is that it? If it is, then you must be really stupid for joining Orochimaru."
Mizuki grit his teeth in anger and pain before yelling in anger,
"How dare you, you brat?! I will make you pay!"
Haruto just continued to stare at Mizuki with bored eyes.
"With the pace you're going at, I highly doubt it."
Mizuki snapped and roared before charging at Haruto with even faster speeds, surprising Haruto a bit, and slashed at Haruto with his left hand, which Haruto responded by blocking with Sandai Kitetsu, then with his right hand, but only ended up with the same result.
Despite not being able to get a hit on Haruto, Mizuki continued relentlessly, determined to murder Haruto.
Haruto easily kept up with Mizuki, blocking his claws with his swords and striking with said swords, and he knew that eventually, Mizuki would start to feel the pain of his cuts and that's when he would strike.
Mizuki was still striking furiously, but then winced when he felt an unbearable pain pulse from his chest, causing Haruto to strike yet again.
Placing Yubashiri and Sandai Kitetsu parallel to the floor over his right shoulder, Haruto swung Yubashiri in his left hand before he followed up with Sandai Kitetsu in his right hand and ended with Wado Ichimonji in his mouth.
"Santoryu: Hyaku Hachi Pound Ho!"
This caused three air compressed projectiles to launch from his swings as they headed for Mizuki who could only stare in fear.
The projectiles hit Mizuki in the chest, where the first one made a shallow cut, the second one pushed him back, and the last one made him fall on his back, unconscious.
Iruka stared at Haruto in awe and shock as he sheathed his swords and untied his headband, which he tied again but back on his left bicep.
Haruto picked up the Scroll of Seals from Mizuki's previous position and turned to Iruka with a smirk on his face.
"I guess we should bring this in along with the traitor. Right, Iruka-sensei?"
Iruka could only nod.