The Lost Naruto

After school, Naruto dragged Jimo to the training ground and drilled all morning, but he still couldn't use the Clone Technique perfectly.

Jimo, of course, knew it was the Nine-Tails messing things up inside his body, but he had no way to fix it right now.

The Clone Technique and the Shadow Clone Technique might sound similar, but at the end of the day, they weren't the same thing. One required precise chakra control, the other just needed a big enough supply to brute-force it.

Anyway, that turncoat Mizuki and Iruka would be the ones to teach Naruto his lesson.

Naruto listlessly said goodbye to Jimo and headed back, leaving Jimo alone on the training ground.

The Ninja Academy library stored quite a few C-rank techniques for students to study.

Jimo grabbed three scrolls: Wind Release: Great Breakthrough, Fire Release: Fireball Jutsu, and Water Release: Water Wave.

Even though he'd already unlocked the Kamehameha: Imitation Version, it was still just a copy of what young Goku had imitated—his use of ki was still rough. It might be fine for blasting rocks, but as for killing power... it probably couldn't kill a person.

The system hadn't said what his chakra nature was, but Jimo had a feeling he could use all three of these elemental techniques.

The next day, sure enough, Naruto failed the exam. And Jimo got his first ninja headband with the top score in the whole school.

On the way home from school, Jimo deliberately didn't walk with Naruto. He knew that big brain Mizuki was going to trick Naruto into stealing the Sealed Scroll.

That night, a yellow spiky-haired kid shot out of the Hokage building, a huge scroll strapped to his back.

"Naruto, get back here! Go report to the Third Hokage!"

Mizuki shouted hastily.

A figure followed at a distance behind Naruto—it was Jimo.

He wanted to take a look at the techniques in the Sealed Scroll too.

When they reached the forest outside the village, Naruto's curiosity drove him to open the scroll. The first technique that caught his eye was the Shadow Clone Technique.

Jimo quietly came up behind him and memorized the method for using it.

But what he didn't expect was that Naruto would spend the whole night staring at just that one technique. It was pretty frustrating.

"How obsessed are you with the Clone Technique..."

Right before dawn was always the darkest. Naruto went to the meeting spot he'd agreed on with Mizuki.

When Naruto excitedly asked Mizuki to give him his graduation results, Mizuki's true face finally showed.

Mizuki explained why everyone had always hated Naruto, and also revealed that the demon fox inside Naruto was the one who had killed Iruka's parents—in other words, Naruto had killed Iruka's parents.

Naruto was too shocked to speak, but Mizuki had already thrown a shuriken.

The giant shuriken flew toward Naruto. At the critical moment, a figure blocked in front of him. Jimo thought this scene definitely deserved to be one of the top ten iconic moments of Naruto, and it was also the starting point that set Naruto on the path of a ninja.

Iruka's back was pierced by the shuriken, blood splattering onto Naruto's face.

After a chase, Iruka leaned against a tree, looking weakly at Mizuki.

"Wasn't it the demon fox brat who killed your parents? Why... why would you risk your life to protect the one who murdered your family?"

Mizuki looked at Iruka like he was a dead dog.

"The one who killed my parents was the demon fox... it has nothing to do with Naruto... How could I let you get your hands on something so dangerous?"

"Compared to me and Naruto, you're the real idiot~" Mizuki said arrogantly. "That scroll has all kinds of powerful techniques recorded in it... once you learn them, you can do whatever you want, right? Do you really think the demon fox brat would ignore that power?"

"True... the demon fox might want to use that power... but Naruto is different! He's an excellent student I acknowledge!"

Iruka struggled to stand up.

"That guy works hard and focuses, he's just a little inflexible, so it's hard for others to recognize him... But he knows the pain in people's hearts... He's not that damn demon fox... He's Uzumaki Naruto of Konoha!"

Just as Mizuki was about to finish Iruka off, Naruto burst out from behind a tree and caught him off guard.

Then, a thousand shadow clones beat Mizuki to a pulp.

Just like Jimo knew would happen, Iruka gave Naruto his headband.

Only then did Jimo jump down from the tree.

"Not bad, Naruto. You really made some noise tonight."

Jimo used a kunai and rope from Iruka's pack to cut two branches and made a simple stretcher. The two of them carried Iruka back to Konoha, one at the front and one at the back. As for Mizuki, Jimo tied him up with rope, dislocated his limbs, and dragged him the whole way.

By the time they reached Konoha's gate and the two gatekeepers took over, there wasn't a single patch of good skin left on his face.

"Hey hey... is this kid really the same age as Naruto? The way he treats prisoners is even more brutal than those freaks in the interrogation unit..."

Kotetsu Hagane stared at Mizuki, covered in blood, for a long time.

Beside him, Izumo Kamizuki wasn't surprised at all—he'd personally seen Jimo punch a crack into the load-bearing wall of the Hokage building.

A few days later, the graduating students started getting assigned to teams.

Because he was too focused on training with the Shadow Clone Technique, Jimo missed Naruto and Sasuke's century-class kiss, which he deeply regretted.

Since Jimo had good grades and was one of the few people who liked hanging out with Naruto, the Third Hokage specially approved inserting him into Naruto and Sasuke's class.

"It's just one more person. Kakashi can handle it," the Third Hokage said.

During the days waiting for their squad leader to show up, Naruto hung out with Jimo every day. Jimo did notice the problem—Naruto really wasn't suited for techniques that required many hand seals.

He spent an entire afternoon and still couldn't teach Naruto Wind Release: Great Breakthrough.

"Better leave troublesome stuff like this to the pervy sage to teach..."

Jimo muttered under his breath.

But the speed of Jimo's hand seals caught Sasuke's attention. He'd noticed it earlier when Jimo demonstrated the jutsu to Naruto—Jimo's seal speed was extremely fast, and his chakra refinement far surpassed his own.

Even though he was called a genius, he didn't think he could pull off a Fireball Jutsu with the same power as Jimo's.

Sakura, meanwhile, kept glancing between Jimo and Sasuke, her mind racing.

She was dying to know how Jimo had gotten so proficient with those three jutsu in such a short time, especially since he'd enrolled way later than the three of them. It was no surprise he was stronger than Naruto—after all, any random graduate from the ninja academy had better chakra control than Naruto.

But this guy's understanding of chakra had even scored higher than Sasuke's, who'd always been top of the school.

"Ah, tomorrow's the day the squad leader arrives. Since we've got such rare free time, how about the Seventh Team goes out for a meal? Ichiraku Ramen, my treat!"

He'd skimmed a decent chunk of cash off Mizuki earlier and even snuck Naruto off to a casino.

Gotta say, Naruto and Lady Tsunade's gambling luck were polar opposites. Just having Naruto wait outside while he played had filled his pockets to the brim.

With Naruto egging her on, Sakura agreed to the proposal. Majority rules, so Second Pillar was dragged by Jimo and Naruto to Ichiraku Ramen.