Above is Naruto (10).

Ohayo, minna! Enjoy!

When Our Tails Are Tied- Part 2: Life On The Inside- Section 1

I laughed wickedly as I ran from half a dozen of pissed Chuunins and ANBU.

It's kind of sad that half of those guys are one step down from being the strongest ninjas in the village, but can't catch a 10 year old prankster.

I might not be able to do what I want, but I will still make you all SUFFER! HA!

"Catch me if you can, HAHA!" I taunted on the outside, angering the frustrated ninjas even further. They now chased me with increased vigor, half of them letting anger control them. A few let their hands stray to their weapons in agitation, but they didn't pull any, simply sticking to chasing me.

One of the Chuunins threw some ninja wire ahead to trip me up, but I built up more speed and slid directly under it. Some of the ANBU tried to kind of teleport right in front of me, but I just leaped over them entirely, pushing the back of their heads roughly towards the ground.

I let out another laugh as one of the ANBU I'd pushed actually made contact with the ground. Face first...

Ha, beautiful! Must be a rookie!

I could imagine my other pursuers wince at the audible crack of the elegant porcelain mask. I inwardly shook my head at the rookie ANBU, but I continued anyway.

That is, until a familiar presence poofed into existence right in front of me, smoke and all. I reeled backwards in surprise as the cloud of smoke quickly disappeared, revealing another pissed Chuunin. This one however, was slightly different from the other pissed Chuunins, this one was my pissed Chuunin teacher.

"NARUTO!" Iruka glared down at me with narrowed eyes, the long scar slashed across his nose making it all the more menacing. I flinched, and laughed nervously.

"Haha, Iruka-sensei...what are you doing here?" I smiled and rubbed the back of my neck as most of the ANBU and Chuunins finally caught up. I could feel their glares on my back and the strong killer intent in the air.

Iruka's eyes nearly turned red as he grabbed me by the collar of my black shirt, lifting me off the ground. "WHY AREN'T YOU IN CLASS YOU IDIOT?!" he screeched.

"Um... Training?" I shrugged. "And just to be fair....why aren't you in class? You are the teacher..." I trailed off. Iruka shut his eyes in irritation, before raising his fist, all too prepared to punch the stupidity out of me.

"...I'll kill him! I'll tie him up and stick senbon needles into every inch of his skin, then rip off his legs and sharpen the bones into spikes and make him swallow them!"

Iruka froze mid-punch, and we both turned to see all six of the ninjas that were chasing me, five of them were holding one Anbu back: the rookie with the cracked mask. The other five ninjas had totally restrained him; two holding an arm each, one behind him with an arm locked around his neck, and two crouched down keeping his legs rooted to the ground.

"Get off of me! I'll kill him!" he growled, trying and failing to throw off the other ninjas.

Iruka growled and threw me roughly to the ground. I coughed and looked up just in time to see Iruka throw a killer uppercut right at the rookie Anbu. The familiar crack of porcelain rang out again as the other ninjas let go of him in shock.

The pieces of porcelain fell away to reveal an angry pale face and swirling red eyes, which had locked onto Iruka. Iruka shook his fist a with a grimace, keeping eye contact with the Anbu.

"I strongly suggest you keep your distance, Uchiha-san." Iruka glared. I looked between the two, and both looked about ready to murder each other.

The Uchiha Anbu glared at Iruka with his disturbing red eyes before disappearing in a swirl of leaves. The other ninjas sweatdropped and quickly followed.

Iruka gave a exasperated sigh, before turning back to me.

I was sure I had stars in my eyes, and for once my voice actually agreed with my mind. "That was amazing." I breathed.

Iruka looked at me with a fire burning in his eyes, and whacked me upside the head. My eyes watered in pain as he grabbed me by the back of my shirt and dragged me away.

"I teach you how to talk correctly, and what do you do with it? You go and start pissing off people that won't hesitate to gut you! What the hell, Naruto! You're less likely to get killed if I tape your arms and legs to Sakura!" Iruka started on the angry rant.

Please don't.

"Then you try and come up with an idiotic excuse like 'training'? You aren't training yourself by trying to get yourself killed!"

I never said that I was the one getting trained.

_NARUTO_

I sat sadly on the single swing that was located in the courtyard across from the school. I was 14 years old, and I failed the Genin exams again.

On the outside I was miserable, but I was raging on the inside.

THAT TWO FACED SENSEI! He knows I still can't do a bunshin, my chakra won't allow it without any control training! He does this EVERY TIME!

I stayed on the swing for about an hour, appearing downcast but still imagining as many ways and as many times that I can hurt Iruka without getting caught.

So far I had come up with two:

Catch him on his walk comimg from the bar with his friends and push him into the woman's hot springs. Indirect slaps, but still from me nonetheless. Total slaps estimated, 20-25.

Set trap over academy entrance set only to his chakra signature, 100 senbon and 50 shuriken?

I frowned even deeper as I felt someone approach me from behind, but my idiotic inability to show my true actions prevented me from reacting.

"Naruto."

I jumped and turned to see Mizuki, the assistant teacher to my class. He smiled sadly at me, his greasy hair swaying in the breeze as I did on the swing.

I looked up at him in slight surprise. "Huh? Oh, hey Mizuki-sensei..." I said hollowly.

I must have been a sight never before seen: an angelic looking boy, with blue eyes so sad I looked as if I had freshly fallen from heaven itself, but fully considered a demon and tortured and shunned, no, neglected entirely. On top of all that, I was dressed in orange, of all colors. An orange jacket and cargo pants, lined in navy blue were the only things that kept my body from freezing to death, even though it was suicidal for a ninja like me to wear it......which is the only reason why they sold it to me.

"Look, Naruto-kun. I'm sorry about Iruka. He...doesn't seem to understand why you try so hard." Mizuki rested a hand on my shoulder.

Shut up, you bastard! Don't think I didn't see you smirking when he failed me, then you tried make him pass me! What's your problem?!

"Yeah...I just don't get it! He tells me to study and to listen to him, and then I'll pass, then he goes and fails me! Again! Why would someone do that? What sense does that make?" I ranted on the outside.

Mizuki chuckled, to himself or at me- I don't know....

His grip tightened on my shoulder as I dragged the swing to a stop, his eyes closing in a smile.

What is it you want, bastard?

"Tell you what, Naruto. I'll give you another chance. Another exam." he said.

"Really?"

This creep wants something out of me, but what...?

He nodded happily. "Definitely. Teachers are allowed to give different exams to students who have other potentials if they choose to. I don't know why Iruka hasn't gave you one yet, with how much he says how great you will be." Mizuki shrugged.

I don't know what he wants, but he's trying to set me against Iruka....I'll just follow along then.

"Really?! Thank you Mizuki-sensei!" I launched myself onto him, locking him into a hug. I smirked inwardly as he tensed. Mizuki laughed awkwardly and peeled me off his waist.

I looked at him expectantly.

"Great! Now, your test is to be considered a mission. Your mission is to retrieve a scroll from the Hokage's office vault, and bring it to me at a secret location. If you can correctly perform a jutsu from the scroll, you pass. Here are the directions to the meeting location," he handed me a slip of paper.

"Memorize it, then destroy it. The scroll you are looking for is easy to tell from the rest, it's nearly as tall as you are and has the kanji for 'forbidden' stamped on it in bold. Also, it is very important that you get in and out with the scroll without being seen, okay?" Mizuki informed earnestly.

My eyes shone with happiness and determination. "HAI!" I confirmed, then disappeared in a burst of speed.

As I dashed away I could almost feel him smirk and shake his head, as I heard him muttering, "Stupid..."

Funny, I inwardly did the same to him.