A Family Of Foxes & Snakes: Rewind!

That wasn't even the biggest thing that he learned tonight. When Iruka and Mizuki arrived and were fighting each other, Mizuki decided to tell Naruto and secret about himself. That secret was that he was the container of the Kyūbi no Yōko (Nine-Tailed Demon Fox). He told him that he was murderer and a cause of suffering for Konoha, including Iruka. Naruto couldn't take it and ran.

As he sat there, he was suddenly alert when he heard a body hit the ground. He looked out from his hiding spot to see a wounded Iruka. Landing across from him, was a wounded Mizuki. The traitorous shinobi glared at Iruka.

"I can't believe that you've lasted this long against me." Mizuki growled.

"It goes to show you that strength isn't everything. I would give up if I was you." Iruka said.

"Why should I? I'm going to kill you and then I'm going to kill the demon." Mizuki stated.

"I will never allow you to harm Naruto!" Iruka shouted.

"How can you protect that thing? The Kyūbi killed your parents!" Mizuki spat.

"Yes, the Kyūbi killed my parents," Iruka said. Naruto felt his heart shatter after he said that. "However, Naruto is not the Kyūbi. He is a proud member of Konohagakure and he will grow to be one of the strongest shinobi there is. He is my precious student and I will protect him with my life." That statement made a few tears fall from Naruto's eyes. He was just so happy to hear that Iruka thought of him as one of his precious people. Mizuki looked at Iruka with disgust.

"You're pathetic. I'm just going to finish this now." Mizuki said. He charged at Iruka, spinning his shuriken like a buzz saw. Iruka readied himself when his leg gave out on him. Mizuki laughed when he saw this and was on him. That's when a blur appeared and launched Mizuki back a few feet, his shuriken sent flying across the forest. Iruka looked up and saw that the person who saved him was Naruto.

"Naruto, what are you doing? You need to get out of here!" Iruka shouted. Mizuki groaned and rubbed his nose. He looked forward and glared hard at Naruto.

"You damn brat, I'll gut you open." Mizuki said.

"The only one who is going to be gutting things open is me. You're going to pay for hurting my sensei and for trying to get me in trouble Mizuki-teme (bastard)." Naruto stated.

"Just try it Kyūbi! You don't have anything that can hurt me!" Mizuki shouted.

"Take this, Kage Bunshin no Jutsu! (Shadow Clone Technique)" Naruto shouted. There was a large blast of smoke that appeared. When it cleared, Iruka and Mizuki were in awe. Surrounding the area were over a hundred copies of Naruto. Each of them had a menacing grin on their face and cracking their knuckles.

'I can't believe what I'm seeing. He learned how to do solid clones in the span of two hours? What's even more amazing is that he doesn't look winded.' Iruka thought with amazement. Mizuki was just too shocked to say anything.

"So, you've got nothing to say? Alright then, I'll do all the talking with my FISTS!" the clones said and descended of Mizuki. Mizuki could do nothing but scream into the night. After a few minutes, Mizuki laid on the ground in a heap with welts and bruises on his face. The clones were gone and Naruto was rubbed the back of his head. Iruka just looked at his one-time student with amazement. That's when three people appeared. Naruto froze in fright at the glare he was getting from one of the people. "H-Hey Anko-oneesan, w-when did you get back?"

"You… are the stupidest person I have ever," Anko stopped her rant long enough to see Iruka on the ground, bleeding. "Oh my god, Iruka!" She sped by Naruto, smacking him to the ground and was at Iruka's side in an instant. Everyone, including Iruka, was shocked as Anko held him and check him over. Everyone just wondered what the heck was going on.

X-X-X

Naruto and Anko stood before the Hokage. He had a stern looked on his face as he stared at Naruto. The blond avoided looking at the man he thought of as a grandfather. He was just so ashamed of his actions and decisions.

"Normally, I would have dismissed you from the ninja ranks Naruto. However, you were set up by an authority figure. If you can't trust your authority figures, then who do you trust? Still, you should have read the situation a little better than you did. You could have caused untold problems should the scroll have fell into enemy hands." Hiruzen said.

"I'm sorry Hokage-sama. It will not happen again." Naruto said humbly.

"We will see. Now, about the Kyūbi," Hiruzen said, getting Anko's and Naruto's attention. They looked to see that his expression had softened. "I am sorry that you found out this way. I was meaning to tell you about your burden at a later time."

"Do you know why I was used for the sealing?" Naruto asked.

"Yes I do but for now, you will have to wait. You have to realize Naruto, that there are a lot of things that are tied into you being the container of the Kyūbi no Yōko. Right now, you are still too young to learn about it." Hiruzen explained.

"Okay, I guess I will wait a bit longer." Naruto said with a pout. Hiruzen smiled at him.