Above is Naruto (14) in his pranking gear.

Ohayo, minna! Enjoy! :)

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

The lights around the Hokage Tower were dim, so nobody saw me perched silently on the nearby rooftops.

Thanks bastard-Mizuki! I might be seen as stupid, but nobody is stupid enough to believe that 'retrieving' something clearly labeled forbidden is not illegal.

I flattened myself against the roof as an ANBU made his rounds again. I had ditched the orange I was wearing for the sake of the "mission", taking off the jacket to use my dark blue shirt to an advantage. The orange pants had come off too, revealing black shorts with a stripe going around one leg the same color as my eyes.

But if this so called 'forbidden scroll' has powerful jutsu that I can learn, then I'm all too happy to use my stupidity to the fullest. I'll read and learn as much as I can, then beat that traitor Mizuki into oblivion!

I grinned excitedly as the ANBU met the end of his route and shunshined away into another section of the village with a swirl of leaves.

As soon as the last leaf touched the ground, I pushed off, shooting off the roof and towards the tower. I was upon it in seconds, but instead of slowing down to enter, I sped up. I poured on more speed, and ran straight up the tower.

Yep. Right up the wall.

Forget chakra training! Pure speed is AMAZING!!!!

I ran straight up the tower, at some points spiraling around the wall to keep up speed. I quickly made it to the top and thief vaulted through the window. (Oh, the irony of that name..)

I rolled as soon as I hit the floor of the office. I had waited for the perfect time, the ANBU officers stationed in this office swapped out with new ones every 10 hours, which (today) was now, 8:00PM. This trade always took two minutes exactly, because the ANBU always debated on who should go or not, (because it was seriously boring watching someone doing paperwork) leaving the Hokage fully unguarded.

120....

I quickly stood, eyeing the room around me. There...I spotted a scratch on the otherwise blemish free wall.

"Naruto?" I jumped.

DAMMIT, SO CLOSE...YET SO FAR...

Although it seems that I have forgotten a minor detail... The Hokage sat patiently at his desk, pausing in his paperwork.

"What are you doing?" he asked tiredly.

I took a deep breath to calm my startled nerves. "Hey old man. Totally forgot about you there for a minute..." I muttered, checking my internal timer.

97....

"Yes, but what are you doing here? Why did you come in the window?" He locked onto my eyes.

I sighed, frowning deeply. I need to move... "Look old man, I need something that you have in this vault." I pointed at the scratch on the wall.

"You need something from.....who told you about the vault?" Hiruzen looked genuinely surprised.

Yeah, just assume someone told me about it. Not like I could figure it out on my own.

I growled in irritation. "Not enough time, open it."

Hiruzen Sarutobi's mouth flattened into a hard line. "Naruto... I'm going to have to ask you to leave. Now."

I huffed. "And I'm going to have to ask you again...."

72...

"Henge!"

I transformed into a tall, slender female version of myself, completely naked and blushing. Two long blonde pigtails swung from either side of my head and covered my cleavage, along with an arm. I bent down low with a finger to my lips, wisps of smoke from the technique lingering around my nether regions. I looked up at him shyly through my long lashes and pouted.

"Open the vault for me...... pleeeeeease, Hokage-sama?" I whined, even my voice had turned feminine.

The Hokage paled and shivered violently, then was propelled backwards by the sheer amount of force of his nose gushing blood.

I released the Henge and dodged a splat of blood headed straight for me. The blood instead hit the wall right behind me, where the vault was. The wall glowed and shimmered away, revealing an open door.

43...

Exploit any and all weaknesses.

I spared a glance at the man on the floor behind me, who had passed out from deadly perverted-ism. I had used the same trick on Iruka yesterday, and it worked the same. Who knows, maybe all of the most powerful ninjas in the world are perverts.

Not going to be me, I thought, shaking my head, face finally settling on a neutral expression. I entered the vault and (how conveniently) the scroll that I wanted was leaned against the door frame.

I picked up the large scroll and attached it to my back using the little chakra control I know.

25...

Turning on my heel I broke into a dead sprint. I exited the vault and ran past the Hokage's desk, past the incoherently muttering pervert, and launched myself back out the window.

Despite how exhilarating freefalling from a who-knows-how-tall building should be, I was blocking it all out and focusing on getting away. I tilted my body at an angle to guide me back to my rooftop perch.

10....

I landed with a lot of force, bending my knees to absorb the shock.

9...

I continued running, leaping across the rooftops with intense concentration.

8...

I was halfway across Konoha, jumping over entire streets to get to the next rooftop, and the next...

7...

I slid down the side of a building and ran through an alleyway. The forest was so close...

6...

I made sure nobody was looking before I dashed into the forest at full speed, dodging trees and pulling the directions to my mind...

5....

Almost there....the ANBU won't know where to look...

4...

I can see the spot now, a broken down building that has a small clearing..

3...

I slid to a stop in the middle of the clearing, and released the chakra and pulled the scroll from my back.

2...

I pushed down all of my chakra, which was hard to do because of it's size. The ANBU won't be looking for villager size chakra, they'll be looking for the familiar feeling of my immense supply of chakra.

1.

I shook my head as felt the chakra flare, meaning something was wrong, and all ninjas Chuunin and above were needed.

So called 'elite', and still can't catch a prankster, even when he goes rogue.

_NARUTO_

I immediately sit down and examine the scroll.

It indeed has the kanji for 'forbidden' painted largely on the side in black ink. The scroll seemed to be really old, as it's paper was hard and more tanned.

I felt around the scroll for the opening. I felt the uplift of the edge right on the kanji, and hooking my fingers under it, I unfurled the scroll.

The first thing I saw pissed me off: Kage Bunshin/ Tajuu Kage Bunshin.

Is it typical or lucky that this shit is the first on the list? I inwardly shook my head.

I rolled my eyes and read more about this bunshin.

Shadow Clone Jutsu/ Multi Shadow Clone Justu:

A clone that can be made with immense amounts of chakra, but unlike normal clones, are completely physical and cast shadows.

Place hands in tiger seal and use desired amount of chakra for different outcomes.

I raised my eyebrows at that. Definitely lucky.

Completely physical.... Most people would just take that as 'solid'... But 'completely' physical... Does that include the mind? Can't have physical without mental.

I shrugged and continued reading.

Fire Whips....
Water Prison..
Earth Devil...
Lightning Senbon...

Ugh, is this all they've got?

I groaned and shook my head. "Is this seriously it? Not even worth stealing anymore..." I trailed off.

Next was a list of seals.

First on the list was...

It's...this is...that's MY seal!

I stared at the circular seal, which could easily be mistaken for a flower, when it was indeed an eye. There was the familiar black circle incasing the darkly shaded eye, which was slitted just like how mine used to be.

Silencing Seal

Similar to the Hyuuga's Caged Bird Seal, this makes the intended person unable to continue a certain action, and stops any thoughts lingering about the action. This effect makes the wearer entirely forget about said action, memories and all.

This seal can only be placed with good intentions, and only someone with a greater chakra amount than the sealer can unseal it. To undo the seal, simply channel chakra into a hand laid over the sealing area and release as you would dispell a Genjutsu.

I smiled. Channeling almost all of my chakra into my right hand, I placed it on the left side of my neck.

"Kai!"

I waited....

Nothing.

"Aw... What happened?" Damn it, my chakra is easily twice as large as the old man's! Why didn't it work?!

I removed my hand and glared down at the written seal. My eyes widened.

Why didn't it work? I thought. That's it...

It's not the unsealing that's the problem, it's the seal itself! It says it's supposed to stop certain actions and all thoughts of doing it! It didn't stop any thoughts of mine, and it stopped me from doing everything I wanted! It's completely backwards!

"That's it!" I smiled. It's completely backwards! The seal on me must be painted on backwards!

The seal on my neck and the seal on the scroll are completely different seals because the one on my neck is flipped backwards!

Since the unsealing didn't work... that means that my seal is unknown and I... I can't unseal it...

"Naruto!"

I jumped. There above me stood Iruka-sensei, angry and out of breath.

Wha-? I didn't even feel him coming...

"Naruto, w-what are you doing?! Did you really-" his eyes widened as he saw the large scroll in my hands, which I hastily pulled closed.

I grinned bashfully. "Heh... Iruka-sensei, you found me! Now you have to pass me! I only had time to learn one jutsu though." I laughed and rubbed my neck.

I sound like such a fucking idiot, making it sound like it's a dumb game....damn it, I was so wrapped up in my seal, I forgot to look for my other one!

"Naruto, do you know what you've done?!" Iruka asked, voice urgent.

Obviously.

"Of course! I borrowed this scroll here so I can pass my test Mizuki-sensei gave me, which you never decided to give to me!" I yelled at him. Despite how stupid the outside of me is, I was glad for making that little tipoff.

Iruka blinked in realization. "Mizuki...."

I felt Mizuki shunshin a few feet in front of us. Iruka and I turned to him as he chuckled darkly.

"Well, Iruka. Looks like you made it here before me. You always did have a knack for locating the demon." he laughed.

Iruka glared at him as I stared dumbly.

"Mizuki-sensei, what's going on?" I asked, stepping backwards.

"Give me the scroll, boy." he sneered. Iruka ran in front of me. "Run, Naruto. Don't give him the scroll.... no matter what."

I didn't move.

Kami damn it, just run and let Iruka handle it!

"But...M-Mizuki-sensei? What's wrong?" I stuttered. I guess it was just the shock of hearing someone openly calling me a demon after so long.

"Its okay...I'll just have to kill you both. I'll be hailed as a hero for finally killing the demon brat, and anyone who associates with it." he smiled, drawing some giant windmill blade from his back.

"Mizuki..." Iruka warned.

Mizuki sneered at him and locked eyes with me.

"Do you want to know, boy, why everyone hates you so much? Why they treat you like they do, avoid you like the plague?" he taunted.

He had me trapped there, mind and body.

All those beatings for all those years and I never knew, I just accepted the hostile feelings, and eventually returned them without much thought to the matter. That is, until they did something where I now had nothing left but time to think about it, and I thought deeply but still came up with nothing. Nothing that can account for the torture, the isolation, and the neglect that I received from the villagers for my entire life.

I wonder about it every day, and every night before I sleep. Every time I just gave up before starting again, every time hitting a dead end and just chalking it up to everyone in the village being terrible people with blackened souls and making everyone who isn't myself an enemy. Enemies who I smile for and hold my head up for and raise my voice for, but not because I'm waiting for them to strike, but because they disabled me so that all I can do is give them what I have: smiles too large to really be genuine, words so loud that some may finally read underneath everything I say, and actions so rash that some may finally look past them to see what they mean.

If he knew....

Mizuki smirked at my lost expression and at Iruka, who was frozen.

"That night, when the Kyuubi attacked...it killed hundreds of people. Villagers, shinobi, even the Yondaime Hokage!" Mizuki glared at me.

The mysterious Fourth Hokage that looks suspiciously like me....So much like me that it can't be a coincidence...

"Only the people in Konoha who were old enough to remember that night, only they know the truth! The Yondaime didn't kill the demon Fox! He couldn't!"

I was entirely rooted to the ground where I stood, captured in the traitor's words.

He...he didn't kill Kyuubi? ...but..then that means...my second seal...?

Mizuki's eyes glinted as he smiled insanely. "He couldn't kill it, so he sealed it into a child....he sealed it inside you! YOU are the KYUUBI NO KITSUNE!"

I flinched and hung my head, glaring down at my feet, Iruka's voice muting out. I'm such an idiot.... He's..

....He's.....that BASTARD!  He just... HOW DARE HE ACCUSE ME OF BEING KYUUBI, JUST AFTER SAYING HIMSELF THAT THE BEAST IS SEALED??!! I'LL SHRED HIM TO RIBBONS!!!!

I glared so hard at the grass between my feet, I wouldn't be surprised if it caught on fire.

I started shaking in anger, although I bet Mizuki-traitor thought it was from fear. I was about to try and force my body with every sense of will I had, to go and mutilate Mizuki, but a shadow blurred in front of me followed by the sound of metal piercing flesh.

I looked up in time to see Iruka knocking into me, both of us falling to the ground. Over his shoulder I could make out the tip of Mizuki's windmill blade.

Did he just...take a hit for me? Nobody has ever...

Iruka smiled down on me once again, blood trickling down the corner of his mouth. "Don't you ever listen to scum like him, Naruto. Everything he says is trash, because he's a liar. You do have a beast sealed inside of you, but that does not make you one. You.... are NOT a monster, Naruto." He smiled at me. I can feel him trembling in pain, but he still seemed happy.

This is the nicest anyone has ever been to me....what is this? Why can't you hate me, Iruka?

"Protecting the Kyuubi brat, Iruka? Such a shame to throw away your life for a worthless cause..." I heard Mizuki growl, his presence growing closer.

Iruka's smile slipped off his face and his eyes held a spark of anger that didn't quite reach his expression. His smoldering glare locked onto me.

"You are not worthless..." he snarled. "Remember your dream, Naruto?" he asked, glancing to the side that Mizuki was coming at us from.

My dream? To violently backhand the Hokage by my own free will?

I gasped aloud as his eyes locked onto mine, as if he knew what I really wanted, and not just the hyped up outbursts the defective seal made me say.

"If you want it......then run."

Iruka reached up and yanked the blade out of his back with a grunt, rolling to the side as I leapt up and into the trees.

_NARUTO_

Dammit, Iruka! Keep me going on like this and you'll have me thinking that you know the real me...

I kept all my chakra pushed down as I leaped from tree to tree, once again leaving just enough to attach the scroll. Putting some distance between myself and the fight behind me, I had to be the most confused child in the universe right about now.

What does this guy see in me? I don't understand...I might not be a monster, but I used to be. And that was my choice....I wanted to be like that. I...I still do...

I exhaled sharply as I landed on a thick tree branch, and crouched down on all fours.

If it wasn't for this stupid seal, I could have taken the scroll and escaped this hell hole....and Iruka always has to stop me.

I heard the leaves rustle above me, causing me to stiffen, tightening my grip on the rough bark.

Damn...he just had to bring the fight to me...

"...considering that I'm Iruka." I heard from above me. I quickly hopped back against the trunk and slid down the side silently, one hand straying to the scroll on my back. Two dark figures jumped down from above me and I sucked in my breath, hoping to remain unnoticed.

Only hearing muffled speech a few feet behind me, I peeked around the tree I was pressed against. Iruka was slumped against a clump of trees a few feet away, and Mizuki was quickly closing in, drawing a second windmill blade from his back.

I narrowed my eyes at the motion. I released my hold on the chakra holding the scroll and set the scroll down beside the tree.

Dammit Iruka! You and your idiotic caring making me care...you sure are making it hard for me to want to murder everyone!

In a flash I had pulled out a kunai. Mirroring Mizuki's movements, I threw the kunai as he threw the blade at Iruka. My kunai intercepted his blade, going directly through the loop of the handle and pinning it to a nearby tree.

In a blur I appeared between the two ninjas. My eyes glared into Mizuki's ugly face as Iruka silently watched from behind me.

Mizuki chuckled darkly. "What's this? Come to die like a good little demon? Heheh..."

"Keep your hands to yourself you traitorous bastard! NO ONE touches Iruka-sensei." I snarled.

Mizuki sneered at me. "So that's how it is then?" Iruka groaned behind me, and I turned my head to look at him.

"Naru....Naruto, n-no..." He gasped, his head bruised and blood steadily streaming from his mouth. I looked at him out of the corner of my eye and flashed him a wide grin.

"Aw, trust me sensei! I told you that I learned a cool new jutsu from that scroll! What better time to prove myself as a ninja than to beat down this traitorous asswipe for hurting you......and besides..." I grinned.

"I've got to teach him.....do not mess with my sensei."

I turned back to Mizuki, my hands blurring upward into the tiger hand seal. "Shadow clone jutsu!"

Two plumes of smoke curled upward in front of me, and I could see two perfect copies of me, alive and breathing, copying my stance. A small detail I did notice was that each of them had a slight difference: one had a yellow stripe going around his pants leg instead of the blue that should have been there, the other had a dark purple stripe.

Mizuki laughed and gestured to the three of us- me?- them and I?- Yeah whatever...

He smiled smugly and shook his head. "What only two? Is that all that you could manage? Ha!" he laughed loudly.

The clones in front of me twitched.

"I'm gonna kill him..." Yellow growled.

"Tch...what an asswipe..." Purple huffed. I shook my head.

No argument there bud.

"Do you really think you could beat me with just two Kage Bunshin?"

All as one, the three of us grin ferally. (Maybe a little insanely, in Yellow's case.) "Kind of did, yeah." we said.

In the next second, the two bunshins dispersed themselves and over 1000 bunshins quickly replaced them, filling the surrounding area and trees with angry copies of me. I didn't see any differences in any of them or any color variations....perfect clones.

"Mizuki..." I smiled. "You should have learned to be more loyal..." My bunshins all made sounds of agreement as Mizuki stood frozen in their midst.

"This many clones...how...?" I heard Iruka mutter.

"Do you want to know why?" I asked Mizuki. He didn't make a sound, still frozen.

"Because I absolutely HATE TRAITORS!" we all roared. Each and every one of us pulled a kunai, and wave after wave of bunshins began attacking Mizuki.

I stayed where I was to guard Iruka, a kunai in each hand. Every time a bunshin landed a hit on Mizuki it forcefully dispersed, bruising Mizuki more and sending me flashes of close ups of him getting slashed, sliced, punched, kicked, slapped...? Ok...

It seems like I've already figured out the hidden advantage to this jutsu...memory transfer from the clones?

After a while the short jumbled images I received started showing a crumpled mess of unresponsive limbs. The clones kept on attacking the unconscious Mizuki though. 

I frowned and stepped forward. "Okay, okay. I think we've beat him enough." I announced, and the remaining bunshins slowly stopped and turned to look at me.

Their blank stares were starting to irritate me. "Don't look at me like that! Sorry kids, but your toy is broken! Jeez..." I snapped.

One of the nearby ones let out a sigh. "Ah, this is such a drag....I'm out. Guys, come on." he rolled his eyes and they all went up into plumes of smoke.

When the smoke cleared, the first two clones were the only ones there. Purple stood on one side of Mizuki's body, and Yellow on the other.

Purple sharply kicked Mizuki upside his head with a bored expression. "Oh no, aw jeez, I'm sooooooo sorry..."  he yawned. Yellow stood to the side pouting.

"Aw...I wanted to kill this one...." he crossed his arms with a huff.

"Yeah, well maybe he'll try and escape the T&I department. You'll have your chance then, I guess." I said.

They both shrugged and grabbed one of Mizuki's arms each and dragged him over to me. I turned around to where Iruka slumped against the trees.

He leaned heavily against the rough bark, smiling up at me through the layers of blood on his face. He looked at me proudly through tired eyes. "Great....wonderful job, Naruto. You are definitely.....a worthy shinobi." he said, standing himself up.

"Come here, Naruto...and close your eyes." he smiled. I obediently stepped closer, eyes shut tight.

After a couple seconds of darkness, I felt the coolness of metal against my forehead, and my spiky hair was pushed back.

I opened my eyes, bringing my hand to my head in amazement. I could feel it against my head, the cloth tied around my hair and the engraving in the metal head protector.

I looked up at Iruka with wide eyes and he smiled warmly. His hitai-ate was missing and I was pretty sure that it was tied around my head.

"Congratulations, Naruto! You pass."

I....I passed? Damn it, this idiot really does care for me...

I yelled in delight, and tackled the poor injured man in a hug.

"Thank you Iruka-sensei! Thank you, thank you, thank you! I can't believe it! I'm a real ninja! Yes! Thank you so much!" I all but yelled into his ear. He patted my hair softly.

"Your welcome, Naruto..." Iruka chuckled weakly, then collapsed in my arms.

As his eyes closed, my excited face melted into one of indifference. The overrated happiness drained from my crystal blue eyes, leaving them a sharp cold blue. The blank look was one worthy of the ROOT ANBU members, and it was the only expression I wanted when not being watched.

The reason that is so is because when I am around people -the villagers and the shinobi- all I can do is laugh unwillingly, and smile fakely, and generally be loud and obnoxious without any say at all. When there were no villagers, when I am alone....I have no emotions. I am unable to act as I want, so when there is nobody around to act for....I do not speak. I do not smile. When I am alone, I am at peace. When I am alone, what is the point of trying to smile if even if it actually works...its completely fake?

I blinked my eyes, tightening my grip on the unconscious Chuunin. I silently hoisted him back up and leaned him against the trees.

"Well that was a touching scene..." Purple scoffed.

"Tch...disgusting you mean. Horrifying to watch..." Yellow shuddered.

Almost alone, anyway. What the hell is with these two damn bunshin? Why won't you go away, dammit! I thought, turning to them.

"Oh...that was almost hurtful for a second." Purple scoffed.

"Uh, You do know we can hear you, right? And can you please quit calling us colors?" Yellow rolled his eyes.

Well damn. Learn something new every day. My eyes lazed over the two unusual clones.

"'Damn' is our favorite word isn't it?" Purple asked.

"Definitely." Yellow nodded.

Damn right. It gives me the chance to say whatever the hell I want, and people can't take offence to it because I don't ever imply being directly rude to them. Its simply facts: you guys are two damn bunshin. Iruka is a damn caring idiot. Old man Hokage is a damn perverted liar. See? Facts.

"Besides all that anyway...we need to talk to you." Yellow stated seriously.

Oh wow, the insane Yellow striped clone wants to talk serious, what a day. I was thinking on calling you Bee, but I don't see that sticking anytime soon.

"Yeah, cause I'd rather you not." Yellow sneered.

"And what the hell do we need names for? We're just two damn clones." Purple raised his eyebrows, pushing his hands into the pockets of his shorts.

We all know that you two damn clones are not regular clones. Therefore you need names to acknowledge your significance from any other clones.

"Aw, we're special. How sweet." Purple yawned.

"Any idiot can figure out that we're not regular, you've proven that! What's so special about us I don't see." Yellow huffed.

My fists curled and uncurled seemingly absentmindedly.

Well for starters, you clones haven't dispersed yet. Some alterations are there too, Yellow's bangs are longer and Purple's hair is brighter. Purple moves quieter and Yellow moves faster. I'm taller than you both but Yellow is a bit shorter than us, and both of you seem to have not noticed the stripes on your shorts.I listed.

They both glanced down and Yellow smacked his hand against his face in exasperation.

"And hence the color nicknames." Purple said.

Presicely. And there seems to be some personality problems from my perspective... Yellow seems a bit.....

"Insane?" Purple supplied. Yellow grinned.

I was gonna go with unstable but, eh. Insane works fine too. Purple, you're kind of laid back.... Lazy? Uh, Nara -ish?

"Relaxed, you mean."

Yeah, yeah. Sure. Point is, you two damn bunshin are total opposites and I've found names for you!

Yellow sweatdropped, and Purple sighed.

Unstable over there is Yang, and the lazy bum is Yin.

"Dark and Light. Hm." Purple mused. I mean... Yin.

"I like it! Evil and Not-so-Evil! Perfect!" Yang cheered.

Don't get all happy about it, little boy. We've still got problems. And by we, I mean you two.

"Who the hell are you talking to? I'm not little!" Yang growled, raising his fist.

Well I am taller than you both.

"But we're the same age..." Yin cut in.

You guys are like twenty minutes old.

"Gr! The clone thing doesn't count in this situation!" Yang hissed.

"Actually, it does." Yin shrugged.

"WHO'S SIDE ARE YOU ON?!?!" Yang raged.

"WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE YELLING AT YOU DAMN MIDGET?!?!" Yin blazed back.

"WHY YOU-"

Both clones yelped in pain as I brought down a fist onto each of their heads.

Shut....up...

"Itai..." they both whimpered.

See what I mean? Earlier the clones beating Mizuki dispelled every time they hit him. They can barely withstand hitting something, yet you can withstand direct hits. It doesn't add up! And along with the fact that you two seem not to have the Silencing seal on you like I do, like you should.........hey, wait a second! My seal!

Both clones looked up from their pain. "Huh?"

My seal! I hit you!

"Yeah. We can tell that you hit us." Yin snapped.

No, I mean that I can hit you! So far the seal has been fine, not working against you because you two are bunshin. But...I wanted to stop you from arguing! I was able to hit you! Did...did the unsealing actually work?!

"Oh. Oh you mean that. Definitely not." Yin shook his head.

"I told you we needed a talk, did you think I didn't mean serious when I said it, genius?" Yang said. "I don't know about you, but I'm sure at least something snapped back there with Mizuki-traitor."

"You know, for an undiscovered prodigy/genius, you sure are pretty stupid." Yin observed.

Ah, shut up. I hadn't realized it until now but....tonight has been different. Ever since Iruka took that hit for me, I've been doing things...I hit you guys... I actually spoke to Mizuki...

"I ABSOLUTELY HATE TRAITORS!"

I guarded Iruka... And I stopped Mizuki from killing him...

"Keep your hands to yourself you traitorous bastard! NO ONE touches Iruka- sensei."

What?.... How did he do this?

"Yeah.... This ain't just some Chuunin, huh?"

"It said you need more chakra than the Hokage to get rid of that seal, and it seems that he does...but it isn't gone yet. He just cracked it." Yin glanced down to the unconscious teacher.

It...it cracked?

"Yeah!" Yang said, leaning close to my still form, my eyes following his movements. "You know how it usually looks like an eye? Now the part of the eye that would be blue has this shattered glass look, like somebody hit it really hard....Funny..I don't see a bruise..." He leaned away.

That's because nobody hit me.

"Well I guess you could say the shock of Iruka caring about you did hit you... Like a ton of bricks." Yin snickered.

Oh, ha ha. Okay, so the seal has cracked. What does it mean? Can I be myself now? Why aren't my movements completely controlled? I can't speak when I want, can I?

"Don't know, no. Don't know, and I guess we'll have to find out." Yang listed.

"But what we do know..." Yin said.

Is that the seal is wearing down.

"And that Iruka has somehow unsealed your actions, no matter how little control you have. There is no way you are leaving the village until we figure out exactly how he did it." Yang narrowed his eyes at the ninja who was slowly bleeding out.

Well then, for starters.... Yang, you go to his house. See if you can find anything unusual about this guy. Yin, you go break into the shinobi library and read up on his history. I want to know everything from failed missions, as to why he's a teacher, and even if his triple great grandfather's family broke off from a clan.

Yin and Yang glanced at each other before turning to me giving loud complaints.

"Why the hell do I have to go to the library?!"

"I don't want to go to his house, this guy's probably got diseases all over his house!"

I don't give a damn even if he has a sex slave in his house!

"See! That's one of the probabilities that makes me want to go there even more! Not the damn library! Let's switch..." Yin whined. We both stared at him, me with a blank look, and Yang shook his head in disappointment.

"What? There had to be a pervert between the three of us, you knew it was coming!" He defended, crossing his arms in a huff.

Never mind all that, there's a reason I picked those tasks for you guy's. Yang, you're the fastest, so you can get in and out of his house before anyone can come to investigate. Yin, you're practically silent, and I know you can break in without getting noticed. While you two investigate this guy, I can turn in these two in to the Hokage and he can cover up everything and take me out of the records.....mostly.

"That's...not...bad, actually..." Yin pouted.

Then what are you still doing here then, damn it? Stay out of sight, don't get caught.

"Yeah, yeah..." Yang muttered, then disappeared.

Yin lingered for a second longer, saying, "We're not supposed to stay like this so after this is done, you shouldn't see us anymore."

You're making it sound like an affair.

Yin looked at me weirdly before continuing. "No, seriously. We're not gonna show up the next few times around."

Oh and to think I wasted two perfectly good names on you. Bye then.

Yin raised his hand in a two fingered salute, and dashed away in a burst of speed.

My eyes finally settled into a half-lidded state as I surveyed my surroundings a final time: Mizuki unconscious and bleeding at my feet, and Iruka passed out and bleeding by my side.

I bent down in front of Iruka, leaning forward on my toes to get a closer look at him. There...

I knew there was something wrong with you...

There....under the open Chuunin vest and slashed open long sleeved undershirt...

Neatly painted on his collarbone in dark sealing ink was the seal.

My seal.

What have you done to get the same punishment I have? What have you done Iruka?

I bent down and silently picked up Iruka, and started my walk out of the forest, dragging Mizuki behind me.

Now I'm definitely staying in this damn village...there's no way in hell that I am leaving this guy alone...now I am really going to slap the Hokage. Doubly so for this guy. I can imagine how miserable he must be...

The Hokage must be more stupid than I thought. To paint the same seal twice....

And not notice that he's done both backwards.