Naruto Beyond the Horizon

Beyond the Horizon

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Disclaimer: I own nothing from the Naruto franchise as well as anything from the Alien vs. Predator Universe, though I have to say this. I love the predators. E.T. has nothing on them.

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Legend: Speech "Yo"

Thoughts 'Yo'

Summon/Demon/Inner **"Yo"**

Writing _'Yo'_

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Chapter 1: Chance Meetings, Hidden Observations

One can say many a things about Naruto Uzumaki. From the older civilian populace you would hear words like 'Demon' 'Abomination' 'Mistake that should've been fixed the day he was born'. From the civilian's children thoughts and stories of his pranks and misdeeds grew into tales of epic proportions. The ninjas on the other hand just referred to him as a prankster and all round troublemaker, but one thing all sides of Konoha agreed to was he did the most unexpected things, something that would earn him the title as 'Most Surprising Ninja'. But that is for discussion later as we come across the blonde before his ninja career even began.

Here we find the main character of story, not in the middle of a prank, not in the middle of adventure, not even in the middle of supper. No, we find him laying on his back gazing at the nights, thoughts running rampant about how today's series of events played out and the oncoming Genin exam. This would be his third time taking it and so far his hopes of passing were still slim. Even with the extra years of training he still couldn't complete one of necessary three techniques needed to pass.

Normally he wasn't one to dwell on such thoughts, seemingly to go with the flow but the sky above seemed to make him want to think about things. Still he couldn't help staring out into the night sky, countless stars twinkling in the mass of black, even seeing the wisps of what Iruka called the milky way. Even Naruto wasn't immune to the beauty of it all. Still staring he noticed a streak of light, a shooting star. Something deep in his subconscious clicked, a memory of something he heard when he was younger, something about a wish coming true when you say a shooting star. Childish as it seemed, he couldn't help voicing his wish to the wind.

"Maybe, just maybe Iruka will let me slide tomorrow if I can't do the clone jutsu… I can do the other two perfectly. I mean it's going to be my third year…"

Letting his voice fall into silence, the boy dragged himself to his feet, before heading to bed. He needed to have a good night's rest if he wanted to be on the top of his game after all. Stopping only to spare the night one more glance before he dropped onto the fire escape and entering his apartment.

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Twenty miles northeast of Konoha…

Several deer paused their search for a place to bed as they craned their necks upwards. Above a streak of fire passed, lighting the night in bright light, but as soon as the streak passed the sounds of impact broke the silence of the forest. Immediately the deer broke into a run, their search ending as branches fell in the distance, sounds of water boiling as it hissed and spit. Deeper in the woods, a small pond was slowly returning to its normal state, the large ripples that lapped at the shore becoming smaller in size before becoming completely still.

Not soon after a group of Anbu rushed to the scene, having been a few miles from the incident when it happened. The scene they arrived upon leaving them stumped. A small section of trees had their tops knocked off. Something that wasn't exactly out of the norm for Fire country, its geographical location brought many a strange weather phenomena. Micro bursts and downdrafts were quite common, especially around this time of the year.

The group's leader, a large man donning a bear mask, was truly puzzled. In his career he had come across many scenes of micro bursts on his patrols, but none of them were similar to what laid before him. The aftermath of a micro burst was usually trees flattened completely to the ground, usually in a circular pattern. But these trees weren't; only their tops were snapped off, all of them going in a single direction, leading towards a small pond. One that he frequently fished at when he wasn't on the clock he thought offhandedly. Something about this whole thing was off…

"Tiger!" he called out as he brushed his hand against a fallen oak branch.

Instantly a figure wearing a tiger mask was standing before him. The smaller saluted before he turned to look at what held his captain's attention.

"Sir?"

Bear looked up at his subordinate, wiping a bit of sap onto his pant leg.

"What are your thoughts on what happened here?"

"Sir?"

He worded his question a little bit differently. "What do you think happened here?"

The smaller man stood silent for a moment as he sorted out what he was going to say in his mind.

"Well sir, I first thought it might have been a downdraft but the pattern in destruction doesn't match anything I have seen before. Next thing I thought of was possibility of foul play, a misfiring jutsu or something but according to our reports no one but us was supposed to be in this sector, even the possibility of an unknown ninja or ninjas being here doesn't make sense. Something of this scale would have left a sign of chakra being expended but everything in the area is at normal levels. Could it have been a result of that streak of light we saw earlier, that shooting star?"

"Meteor"

"Sir?"

Bear stood, stretching his back as he did. "It's called a meteor when it enters the atmosphere. If a meteor makes it to the ground it's called a meteorite."

"Permission to ask a question sir?"

"Shoot"

"How exactly do you know this sir?"

Even though his mask his expression, It couldn't hide the bit of humor in Bear's voice.

"Everyone has their hobbies Tiger."

The younger man nodded, everyone had their secrets, hobbies and other things. Even he had his own little secret, one he would never admit freely. After all he would probably be the joke of his unit if they knew he collected porcelain tiger figurines.

"Do you think that shooting…?" Bear glanced at him, "Sorry meteor, could it have done this?"

"From what I have read it's quite possible but I don't see an impact crater. It may have exploded or burned up before it hit the surface."

"What if it landed the in the pond sir?"

"Tiger, a meteorite the size of your head would leave a crater larger than the pond, even after striking the water."

"So what happened then sir?"

"Going to assume it burned up before it made landfall, maybe send out the science and research team to see if there's any remnants or something else left behind. Might find something of use to us."

"So are we going to return to base sir?"

Bear just nodded as he looked over the scene once more. There wasn't much more he could do, there was no sign of a jutsu at work or anything of the sort. It would be up to the S.A.R. teams to go over this with a fine tooth comb, maybe they could find what made the place seem off that neither his men nor himself; could. Tiger raised his arm and waved it in a circle, the signal for the team to gather. Once they were gathered, Tiger relayed the situation and what they were going to do. With a round of nods the group vanished. Had they waited a minute longer they would have noticed the normally still water of the pond began to ripple as something moved beneath the surface.

Water began to bulge upwards as something large lifted itself up, droplets falling from its form. Lightning arched and danced across its flickering form. Instantly everything in the forest fell silent as something arrived that held a wrongness, felt unnatural to any and all living things.

Slowly the being, this unnatural creature lumbered to shore, stopping as both its feet felt dry land. Pulling itself to it full height, one that had to be at least a head and half larger than an average man, it paused. Reaching over with one hand the thing tapped something on its wrist, the sound of the device's beeps breaking over the crackles. Immediately the crackling stopped as the figure became visible to normal eye. It was obvious that it wasn't man. Its figure was something not known to this world…

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Naruto tossed and turned in his sleep. Memories of his past failures kept replaying in his head, plaguing his mind with unease. Sitting up, he rubbed the last remnants of sleep from his eyes, cursing at the emptiness of his apartment as he turned and placed his feet on the floor. Whatever drowsiness evaporated as soon as his feet hit the linoleum. Yelping in surprise at the sudden coldness, the blonde drew his legs up to his chest, resting his chin on his knees he turned to the clock that rested on his nightstand. Cursing once more when he saw the digital display flashing that it was a little past four in the morning.

"Well there goes the idea of going back to sleep."

Not waiting for an answer from the empty apartment, he dropped his legs over the edge of the mattress, mind prepared for the cool sensation of the floor as he pulled himself up so he was standing before he made his way towards his fridge. He was wide wake now so he might as well make a decent breakfast and with a few hours left before he had to be at the academy. Might as well get in some practice.

Humming a simple tune he pulled a jug of milk from the icebox and box of cereal that from the top of the fridge before heading over to his cupboard in search of a clean bowl. Soon he was sitting at his table, happily digging into a bowl of his favorite chocolate cereal. Maybe this was going to be a good day after all.

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The creature grunted as it leapt to another branch, odd clicks breaking the monotony of the forest as it moved through the trees. It was about to make another leap when the sound of something snapping erupted from below its perch. Flattening itself against the trunk as it glanced down. Releasing the tension it held when it noticed it was only a deer with its fawn, obviously getting up to search for something to forage. Body shaking with what could only be mirth the creature slid down the trunk till it was sitting with its legs dangling slightly.

Head turning it glanced all around before tapping a few commands into the device that was bound to its wrist. After a few moments a three dimensional display came out of the device, a chart of some kind with words in a language consisting of dashes. Peering at the display for a few moments longer it tapped in another command, causing the display to fall into itself before it reached up towards its head. Grasping at what appeared to be tubes, it unhooked them from its mask one at a time, vapor and gasses escaping as each junction was separated. With one last hiss, it slowly pulled the metal away from its face. Slowly revealing inch by inch of dark, mottled skin and what could only be described as quills.

As the mask was pulled away more of its features became known. Soon a mottled skin crowned into what seemed to be spurs, tendrils of something akin to cables with strange rings at measured distances came out of the beings skull, just under where the spurs exited. Its forehead had a pattern that seemed to be in place on the wings of a jungle butterfly than a part of something's face. Finally hazel and brown eyes revealed themselves, it blinked as pupil grew to acclimate to the environment. Resting its mask on its lap the creature clicked a mandible as it scented the air. It clicked a few more times before replacing its mask.

Reconnecting the hoses and grasping its mask to make sure it held tight, it turned to the east, noting the sky was beginning to get lighter. Dawn was coming. Climbing back to its feet it faced northeast staring at the orange glow in the distance that seemed out of place in this great forest. A glow like that could mean only one thing, there was a large settlement ahead. In interesting development, one that bared further investigation.

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Naruto panted as he repeated the hand signs, two puffs of smoke appearing beside him. The smoke clearing to reveal a pair of Narutos; well sick versions of himself. Heaving an aspirated sigh as he released the technique, returning the clones to nothingness. He couldn't get it. He was positive that he used the right amount of chakra that last time. But the results were still the same, dead looking copies. He even went as far as experimenting with the amount of chakra he channeled as he formed the seals.

Too much and he had deader looking clones, if that was possible. Too little and they didn't form up right, ending up hazy and blurred around the edges. There had to be a trick to this, if Kiba managed to do this. He sure as hell could. Wiping a bit of perspiration from his brow he glanced at his trust clock radio before cursing.

It was ten minutes before eight, meaning he had ten minutes before he had to be at the academy. The academy that was on the opposite side of the village…

"Shit I'm going to be late!"

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The creature had arrived at the village walls as the people inside began to stir. Hitting a button on the inside its mask with a mandible, switching the vision mode to thermal it glanced at the structure that laid ahead. It noted several heat signatures that walked along the top of the walls. But from this distance it was just blotches of red and yellow. Chirping it hit another button, increasing the magnification a few times.

That was much better, the blotches were becoming focused, but it still couldn't tell what species the things that patrolled the walls were. They were moving too much… wait there was one coming out of the gate, stopping to show something to another. Chirping it switched modes and increased magnification a more. It could see its skeletal structure…

What the blazes?! Those things were humans, but how could that be? This was supposed to be non-colonized planet, possibly uninhabited due to the strange radiation the systems star radiated for what its people assumed millennia. Even the humans that interacted with its species had no idea about this system, much less this planet. So how was this possible?

Switching modes it glanced at the structure that surrounded the mass of dwellings. The wall was made from the same materials as the tree it stood on. That meant they weren't advanced. Switching modes once again it peered deeper in the village, the metal of the power cables contrasting greatly against the wood of the structures. Even the large buildings were made from wood instead of the metal that other human colonies made their dwellings from.

This was going to need more thorough observations, it needed to get closer…

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"Naruto Uzumaki?" Iruka called out as he looked up from his clipboard.

"Here" a tired voice called from the back.

"Ino Yamanaka?"

"Here Sensei."

Iruka nodded before returning to his desk. Mizuki looked at the scarred man before returning to his paperwork. Hopefully for the both of them this day would go nice and smooth and without a hitch.

Naruto on the other hand didn't share his teachers' enthusiasm. He had barely made it in time. Arriving just before the Sasuke duo did. Even forgoing his seat next to the brooding boy in hopes of sitting next the girl he crushed on terribly. Instead he chose to sit in the back of the room, next to the sunglass wearing Shino.

Grunting a greeting that the bespectacled boy returned before flopping into the seat. Laying his head on his forearms as he waited for roll call. Only looking up when the screeching of Sakura and Ino interrupted the quiet. Once those two settled in trapping the Uchiha between him he went back his previous opinion, not even lifting his head when Iruka called his name.

All he could do was wait for the rest of the class to file out as the exam begun. Then hope for the best when it was his time for the Jutsu portion.

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The creature couldn't help but feel humbled as it continued its observations of the humans. While some aspects of them seemed to show advancement, like the electrical lighting and devices, something else showed up to show how far away they were from the rest of their race. The latest thing being the cart that was pulled by beasts. It couldn't help chuckling at how simple they lived.

Its race had long surpassed the need of aid from beasts of burden for over ten thousand years, their species in other systems advanced past that stage for at least a thousand in other systems. So how could it explain what it was seeing? We're these not humans as it thought. Maybe a whole nother species that evolved into something similar. A type of convergent evolution. It couldn't be a colony that fell into the old ways.

The systems star just ceased in its radiation within the past cycle but records show it emitting it long before humans gained the ability to travel to other worlds. Pausing its thoughts, it turned to look at a pair of humans on the wall converse. Even their language was strange. Sounding nothing like what other humans spoke. English it remembered if its memory served it. But these things spoke in rapid complicated tones. Even with its excellent mimicking ability, the creature would be hard pressed to pass as one of theirs.

But thoughts on the differences could wait. Exhaustion was beginning to make itself known as the creature's limbs grew heavier as time passed. It would retreat for now, going deeper into the forest before returning at nightfall. Then it would enter the village under the cover of darkness to further explore. But it needed rest now. The humans weren't going to go anywhere and it had plenty of time. Looking into the village once more, it turned and leapt deeper into the forest.

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Naruto gasped as he leapt from branch to branch. All the while trying to figure out how all of this could have gone possibly wrong. First he fails his damn exam, for the third damn time. The Mizuki approached him, saying something about a makeup exam. All he had to do was steal a scroll from the Hokage tower. Then everything went downhill. He did everything that Mizuki asked of him. Going into the Hokage tower, knocking the old man out with a jutsu of his creation, even the memory caused him to chuckle as he pictured Sarutobi's face at seeing his skills at work. Even took the huge ass scroll outside the village and learned a technique from it. All the requirements that Mizuki said was need to pass the makeup exam.

But come on! Now he was running from Mizuki, a scroll that had to weigh almost the same as himself strapped to his back, which had the habit of either smacking him in the head, or nearly tripping him when it slammed into the back of his knees. Almost causing him to miss a branch and plummet to unforgiving ground below. And right before all that Iruka had to show, causing Mizuki to go into a spiel about him having some huge ass fox demon crammed into his gut. That was impossible, he should know. His stomach only had the capacity to hold around fifteen bowls of ramen normally, twenty if he pushed it. So how the hell was a demon fox a quarter size of the village supposed to fit in there?

Ignoring the strange pondering of his mind at work as well as the nice stitch that was developing in his side as he made another leap… into what he could only describe as a brick wall. An invisible brick wall that it may be, but it hurt still the same. Next thing he noticed was that he was looking up at the ground, meaning he was falling. But why wasn't the ground getting closer?

Looking down or maybe up? He found himself hanging in the air, not by his pant leg. Just hanging in the air, mid air, as in a good yard from the tree, in complete nothingness. Then he felt it, a sensation he was quite familiar with. Something had him by the ankle. But what, looking towards his foot all he could see was his pant leg held tight against his leg with nothing visible there to hold him. This was something that bared thought. So getting into the typical, or as he thought was typical thinking pose, you know the one. Hand grasping the chin, eyes looking up in thought, usually accompanied a 'hmm' or two. This of course resulted in one thing, with the pose requiring the need to look up which in reality was down for him, he realized just how far off the ground he was and what the odds of a head first fall from this height would do to his lil body. He had to react to this with some tact, like a man…

Meaning he squealed like a little girl before scrambling up whatever was holding him from plummeting to his death. What? You saying you wouldn't do the same? You try looking at the ground that was thirty yards below. The only thing separating you from good ole dirt was a few branches that would break you before breaking your fall. So it's safe to say Naruto did what any rational person would do when faced with a situation such as this, but enough of this, now back with our hero.

Naruto seemingly climbed the very air, ignoring the strange beep when his left foot struck something. Or the fact he wasn't climbing the air anymore since air normally wasn't quite as large… or grey… or wore fishnet with an assortment of strange metal armor in odd places. No he was more worried that he wasn't falling to his death now, to point he didn't really care where his hands were at the moment.

Though the strange intake of breath sort of clued him that something just wasn't quite right. Because as far as knew he was the only thing in the tree, on this very branch that would need that much air. But… that didn't make sense, he only had two orifices that could suck in air, and neither of those were a foot and half above his head, not unless his body spontaneously grew another one in the last ten seconds. So it wasn't him…

Naruto didn't want to look, he saw the movies, read the books. Something bad always happened when people looked up after hearing strange noise. But his body moved on its own. Neck craning so he found himself looking into a strange mask, obviously made from a type of metal if its dull sheen was any clue, along with the strangest type of eye holes he had ever seen. Instantly he went into embarrassed and surprised mode. His right hand tried to go his head so he could rub the back of his head, but it was caught in something.

Glancing at his hand, he noticed it was caught in something that resembled the thick nets fisherman used to dredge the lake bottoms with. That was no problem he could pull it out with left hand… oh hell, where was his other hand? Looking up into this… he didn't have a damn clue whatever this thing was' face. Finding that it hadn't moved in the slightest. Chuckling to ease the tension, he looked at his left arm, following it to where his hand should be only to find it somehow shoved under this things breastplate… okay that may be a problem.

He somehow managed to get his hand stuck between the things chest and its armor. Tugging his arm a little he tried to get it unstuck but it was of no use. Tugging a bit more, he got it to move an inch or two, but something hard was dragging against palm, something that felt like a pebble or a wart that didn't quite harden yet. Pulling his hand more, he didn't notice the thing hitched slightly at his movements. Maybe if he squeezed his hand while he pulled it would become free?

He squeezed once… twice… finally a third time, all the while his mind focusing on freeing his hand. He squeezed once more then something in the back of his mind clicked. Wherever his hand was, was a bit softer than the rest of its body, not really squishy, more of comparison between a tense muscle and one at rest. But what was that nub that his palm dragged against? Looking back to the things face he noticed the thing twitched, wait it wasn't twitching, it was shaking.

Then, at that very moment all the teachings of health courses that Iruka made the class take rushed to the front of his mind. What parts of the body were called, where the organs were located, the differences between men and wome… Oh Shit!

He really didn't want to look up now. The thing was trembling, hissing and clicking under its mask. Realization and horror had dawned on him and at the moment Mizuki wasn't the worst thing in the forest at the moment.

"Do you think we can talk this out?" He asked, hope evident in his voice along with a good bit of fear.

The creature didn't answer, it just stared down at him before grabbing his left arm with its huge hand. One that seemed to be covered with scales or bumps along with black claws at the end of each digit. Claws Naruto was sure were going to be in him by night's end. But the thing didn't harm him, instead it gently freed his left hand from its confinement before working on untangling his right. Once that was done, Naruto expected to feel the branch beneath his feet, not being hefted so he was what he assumed to be eye level with it.

"I'm sorry?" Naruto apologized/asked as he stared into the eyes of the mask.

All he got for an answer was a sense of impending doom and feminine rage. Before he felt himself begin to spin as the creature wound up for a throw…

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The creature huffed angrily as the screaming from the young human male grew farther and farther away. Never in her life had she ever been treated… handled like that male did just now. If he had been one of her kind his head would have been mounted in her trophy room, his hide tacked to the wall, but then to go so far as to apologize… that was beyond incomprehensible. She may not have understood its words but body language crossed all barriers, both language and species. So she was well within her rights when she hurled him, even though he was still young.

Clicking angrily, she fastened he breastplate to the point that it was almost hard to breathe before re-cloaking. She was sent here to explore and observe, not getting felt up by the damn locals. She still had a task that needed doing and by damn she was still going to do it…

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Mizuki leapt through the trees, long expecting to have caught up to Naruto by now. But he had to give the brat this, those stories that spread among the ninja ranks held some truth to them. To elude him for this long even with the help of Iruka was surprising. He wasn't a Chunnin for nothing now. Then his ears picked up a strange sound, a sound that seemed to be growing closer by the second. A sound that sounded like Naruto screaming?

Mizuki stopped his leap, bringing a hand to his ear to amplify the sound that was coming closer and closer. He didn't have two seconds before Naruto burst through the canopy on a direct course with himself. It was thanks to his training that neither he nor the boy fell out of the tree. Focusing chakra to his feet, he used the surface of the branch to slow his backwards movement. But Naruto wasn't exactly light given his size, or the fact he was carrying a scroll that weighed around eighty pounds, combined weight of the two close to one hundred eighty, and the velocity the boy was thrown at. So it was no surprise that even with the aid of chakra that Mizuki was knocked back twenty feet, leaving a trail of stripped bark as well as melted rubber before his back rested against the trunk.

"Naruto?"

"Mizuki-sensei?"

"What happened to you Naruto?" It wasn't everyday that blondes flew through the forest at speeds normally reserved for bolts fired from a crossbow.

Sitting the boy down Mizuki looked down at the blonde with wide eyes. All that happened before between the two was momentarily forgotten.

"I think I just felt up a forest spirit Sensei."

"Excuse me?

"I just got to second base with a forest spirit."

"You can't be serious, forest spirits don't exist Naruto."

"Then you tell me how one moment there was nothing them the next there is?"

Mizuki pondered the blondes question for a moment before answering.

"Okay, maybe there is, but how did you know it was female?"

"It had breasts, I felt a nipple!"

"Male things can have nipples, you and I both have them."

"But it was softer than the rest of it!" Naruto hand began to grip at nothing as the memory surfaced.

Mizuki on the other hand smiled lightly as he recognized the boy's gestures, it was a proud moment for any teacher when a student took their first step towards adulthood, even if said teacher was a conniving treacherous bastard like himself. But even so he had to do the right thing at the moment. He had to grip Naruto's shoulder and give it a gentle squeeze.

"Okay, I believe you. After all you seemed to have been hurled by said thing and that is a typical reaction of a female, no matter the species."

"It having breasts wasn't enough of a clue?"

"Naruto as you grow older things will turn out than you expected so I will give you this piece of advice: Breasts don't always mean it's a woman."

"But don't all women have breasts?"

"Naruto that is true and at times it's not. Like that one year when Iruka and I headed to wave country for spring break and Iruka drank a bit too much."

"Iruka drinks?"

"Ah yes, lets return to the village and I'll tell you the tale as go. So let me begin, It was our first month as newly minted Chunnins, and as normal for those who just completed the exam, we got a month off to acclimate and celebrate. Which is standard for times of peace."

Naruto just nodded as walked behind Mizuki as they prepared to leap back to the village but something told him that this situation was just off.

"Um Mizuki-Sensei?"

"Hmm?" The silver hair manned asked as he turned to face his student.

"Weren't you chasing me earlier along with something about a Kyuubi or whatnot?"

"Oh that's right, the whole stealing of the forbidden scroll thing."

"So why are we all buddy buddies when we should be like…? I don't know… opponents?"

"You have a point Naruto."

Both stood in silence as they pondered the situation before turning to each other once more.

"So…" Naruto murmured as he got the T.P. (1.)

"So…" Mizuki said he too got into the T.P.

"Freebie!"

"Wha…" Mizuki didn't get a chance to finish what he was going to say before Naruto's fist found a new home in Mizuki's crotch. There was nothing to say after that, just loss of breath and the pain, the unbelievable pain.

Instantly Naruto was blurring through the branches, laughing at the result of his quick thinking. Leaving Mizuki there, crumpled on that branch, cursing his own stupidity…

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The now known as female creature hissed angrily as the previously thrown blonde got within range of her scanners. Pulling a hand to its chest, it made sure that its breastplate was properly fastened. It **would** not have a repeat of the earlier incident. Yet the blonde seemed to unconsciously leap on a branch that sat below her before leaping away. Heaving a sigh that another incident was narrowly avoided, it turned to follow before two more humans burst through the branches.

Pausing, it watched as the two passed, both yelling at each other. Obviously those two weren't friends, and the long haired one was radiating ill intent. Somehow it knew that it was focused on the young human. This would bear watching, even if it wasn't for observational purposes. Either way it would probably be humorous in the end. Maybe she would feel a bit better after seeing the youngling get knocked around. Nodding to itself with her decision on the proper course of action, it leapt in the direction that boy ran.

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Naruto sat in a branch high above the two teachers. He didn't know what to say when he saw a copy of himself with the scroll burst out from the underbrush before it was tackled by Mizuki. With the chakra that held the illusion disrupted, revealing the doppelganger to be Iruka. Naruto was surprised at how hell the man could move after taking the injury he did earlier. He knew he wouldn't be bounding through the trees after taking a windmill shuriken to the back.

Still, it was going to watch at how this played out. He wasn't quite sure how to take Iruka. If somehow he held the fox in himself, then it was probably true that it killed Iruka's parents, and that couldn't possibly be good for his wellbeing. So it was safer to sit back and wait…

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The creature stopped as it caught sight of the blonde in tree a distance away. It couldn't understand why the child didn't help the wounded adult below. It was obvious that the one with a strange hair style was injured. It had a cut that narrowly missed severing its spine. The long haired one didn't seem to facing the wounded one in honorable combat and even her kind came to each other's aid in a situation like this. So what was the child waiting for?

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Naruto couldn't help but tear up as he listened to Iruka's proclamation. The scarred man didn't hate him, even going so far to say that he cared for him. Maybe Iruka wasn't such a bad guy after all. But Mizuki got Iruka good earlier and was now advancing on him. And his teacher didn't look to hot right now. If he didn't hurry, Mizuki would finish him off. He had to do something!

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The creature raised a hidden brow as it watched the child make a strange gesture with its hands. Then it almost fell out of its tree as the clearing and all the trees filled with heat signatures. Help couldn't have arrived that fast. Not without it noticing. Something was strange about those figures as well. All of them held the shape of the boy.

Switching modes, it looked to the mass of beings before being dumbfounded. They were real; each had a skeletal structure, organs, even a circulatory system. How was that possible, they were even identical to the fondler.

"What the hell?"

Turning her head slowly, she was more than a bit surprised to find herself face to face with a blonde double.

"What the hell?" The clone repeated as it reached out to touch the hazy thing in front of it.

She crouched with baited breath as the boys fingers got closer and closer to touching her mask. But before it even made contact, she moved. One grabbing onto the clones clothes while the other wrapped around his face; effectively silencing him. She couldn't let herself be discovered, not now. The others seem like they were about to do something. She would silence, preferably knocking the thing unconscious, but if worst came to worst she kill it. Hopefully the latter wouldn't needed to be done.

But before it could do anything, a large group of voices spoke as one.

"**Leave Iruka-Sensei Alone!"**

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Iruka could only watch in silence as Naruto laid one hell of a beat down on Mizuki. He didn't know how the boy learned shadow clones, much less how many he could produce without killing himself. But he could only watch in shocked as awe as a pair of clones worked the hell out of Mizuki's crotch. Even if the man was a traitor, Iruka wouldn't wish that fate on any man, enemy or not.

But as soon as it started it ended. Leaving behind a tired yet grinning blonde, and an unconscious Mizuki. That latter oddly gurgling at strange intervals.

"You okay Sensei?"

Iruka couldn't believe his ears. Naruto was asking if he was okay? The boy shouldn't even be speaking, much less speaking after expending that much chakra.

"You're still alive right? I mean I'd be pissed if there wasn't a witness to my awesomeness just now."

"Yeah, yeah, I'm alive Naruto. Get over here and help me up. We need to bind Mizuki so the ANBU can pick him for interrogation."

Naruto quickly scrambled to his fallen teacher, bending down so the older man could drape an arm across his shoulder. But before he could, Iruka raised his hand, gesturing him to stop.

"I need you to close your eyes Naruto; I have a surprise for you."

"You're not going to hit me are you?"

"No, now close em!"

Naruto complied as Iruka reached up to remove his headband. Even though Naruto had did a very bad thing stealing the forbidden scrolls. He made up for it by revealing and then detaining a traitor to the village. It was more than enough to earn the rank of Genin. He was positive the Hokage would agree. So holding his headband in one hand, he removed the goggles Naruto had on his head. Replacing them with his headband.

"Open your eyes Naruto."

"What did you just do Iruka-Sensei?"

"Look at my hand Naruto."

Naruto complied as he saw his goggles in Iruka's hand, but he could still feel a bit of weight on his forehead. Reaching up, he brushed his fingers against cool metal; tracing lines that he knew had to be an engraving of a leaf.

"Does this mean what I think it does?" The boy asked.

Iruka only smiled and nodded, before finding himself crushed in a hug.

"Easy there Naruto, I'm still wounded remember."

Naruto released his hold before rubbing his head sheepishly.

"Sorry"

"Just try to be careful next time."

Both fell into a silence after that. Neither sure what to do next. The logical thing would be to return the scroll to the tower, but Mizuki needed to tied up and watched till the ANBU arrived. Coming to a decision he called the boy over.

"Naruto, how much do you know about knots?"…

-----

The observer watched as the two humans tied the unconscious one with thin wire before two of the copies assisted the wounded one to stand. It was more than a bit surprised that the child let the one live. Her people would have killed him for his dishonor, but they let him live. Maybe they had something other in store for the unconscious one?

"MMMPH!"

Turning from the scene below, the creature looked at its captive that was glaring at it before returning to the scene below. The two were leaving with the aid of others while a few hung back to watch the captive. The males seemed to be saying something but it still couldn't understand its language. Maybe in time it would, but it was a useless endeavor at this moment.

Turning back to its captive, who really started to struggle in its grip, it shifted its hold so the clone could breath. But before it could finish, the clone shifted, causing a claw to drag across its face, making a minute cut before the clone burst in a cloud of smoke.

-----

"You okay Naruto?"

The boy in question stopped walking when it felt a tingle in the back of his mind and a sharp pain on his cheek. Did something just bite him? Pushing the strange feeling aside, the boy jogged to quickly join Iruka and his clones.

"I think I got bit by a mosquito."

"Oh, don't scratch it. You'll just make it worse."

"Okay Sensei!"

-----

The thing just stared at the emptiness that moments ago held a body. It didn't make any sense. The boy she was holding wasn't real? Some sort of illusion. That wasn't possible; she felt its form, held its weight. Even saw its skull and felt its breath on her hands. What the hell was it? Were the others the same thing and if so how did the child do it?

Glancing from the forms below to the few that were leaving the scene, she made a decision. The child would need to be observed further and his strange techniques needed to be recorded. Checking quickly to make sure she was cloaked, she made her way to follow the child to its home. After that point, she didn't know…

-----

Naruto heaved a sigh as Iruka and himself left the tower. When they arrived he dismissed his clones, letting Iruka rest in one of the chairs in the Hokage's office before taking one for himself. Then he told the old man why he stole the scroll, what Mizuki told him and what happened to the traitorous teacher. All the while the old man smiled and nodded, stopping to light his pipe twice.

Then after congratulations on his first mission as a ninja, an A-rank at that, the old man got serious. Yelling at him and asking if why he wasn't notified right at the beginning. Why Naruto didn't realize that he was being led to a trap. But after seeing the boy was truly remorseful for his actions, the Hokage let up. Giving a Naruto a warning to be more aware of what he was being asked, 'to look underneath the underneath' if you will.

Then with a promise of payment he dismissed the two, but not before asking Iruka where Mizuki was located so the ANBU could detain him, and to tell the teacher that team placements was going to be postponed by a week. Leading us to the point where we find Iruka and Naruto now.

Standing just outside the doorway, one preparing to head home and get a well deserved nights rest; the other getting ready to head to hospital to get patched up. Iruka was the first of the two to speak.

"All I'm going to say that even after the stunt you pulled tonight, I'm still proud you." He patted the boy on his shoulder. "Though I need to know where you learned how to tie knots Naruto? None of those were any that we went over in class."

Flashing a smile, Naruto answered his question. "Saw them in a book Sensei."

"What kind of book?" Iruka was a bit of a prude, but he wasn't ignorant. He knew what kind of bindings those were…

"It was called Icha something; it's what gave me the idea for the sexy jutsu. Why?"

Iruka blushed and paled at the same time as understanding finally dawned on him.

"Nothing, nothing. Just forget about it for now. Now do you need me to walk you home?"

"Nah teach I'll be fine. You sure you don't need help getting to the hospital?"

"I'll be fine Naruto. Just hurry home, you have a week before team assignments so why don't you train in the meantime. Get some more practice with the shadow clones."

"Meh, I have a week, no missions yet no responsibilities, hell… I don't even know who my teammates are."

"Just stay out of trouble. All I'm asking is for a week of peace. I don't need to hear stories about one of you pranks when I return to the academy."

"Yeah, yeah, I'll be good for the week, but no promises after its up."

"That's more than I could hope for."

Naruto brought his hand to his mouth as he yawned.

"Falling asleep on my feet. Gonna head home, take care Sensei."

"Night Naruto, just remember what I told you."

"I'll be good."

As they parted Naruto stopped as something came up.

"Hey Iruka-sensei!"

"What Naruto?"

"Mizuki told me to ask you about spring break in wave."

Iruka just stood there puzzled, having no idea what the blond could be talking about… before a rather embarrassing memory made itself known.

"How do you know about that?!"

Naruto didn't answer as he started running, laughing all the way. Even Iruka chuckled at his own expense as he turned back. Neither of them noticed how the air on the building across from them seemed to shimmer…

-----

A/N: Had an idea for this story bouncing around my head for a few days and finally decided to put it to paper. Wrote a bit more than I had planned to for a starting chapter but oh well. This is obviously an AvP crossover for those who haven't gotten it yet. So might as well going to go into a few ground rules. One, there isn't going to be an interspecies romance. It's just not possible and too weird for even me. Two, I don't know if there will be Xenomorphs running amok, they will be mentioned at some point yes, but running around loose? Doubt it. Three, I'm taking submissions for omakes. Rules for them are simple, it can be humorous, and it can be weird. Just as long as it within reason and fits with the story. So if you have an idea, please pm me. I'll tack em to the end of my chapters.

As always, please read and review, and don't do anything I wouldn't do. Unless your being paid well. Till later kids.


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Naruto, Adventure, Humor