Naruto's Loss

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

Jimo knew the Nine-Tails was causing trouble inside Naruto's body, of course, but there wasn't much he could do about it right now.

The Clone Technique and Shadow Clone Technique might have similar names, but they were fundamentally different. One required precise chakra control; the other just needed a large enough supply.

Anyway, Mizuki and Iruka would be teaching Naruto soon enough.

Naruto said goodbye to Jimo halfheartedly and headed home, leaving Jimo alone on the playground.

The Ninja Academy library held quite a few C-rank jutsu for students to study.

Jimo checked out three scrolls: Wind Style: Great Breakthrough, Fire Release: Fireball Jutsu, and Water Release: Water Shockwave.

He had already unlocked the Kamehameha—Imitation Version, but Little Goku had only copied the technique, and his Ki control still wasn't good enough. It might be fine for blasting rocks, but as for its power... it probably couldn't kill anyone.

Although the system hadn't told him what kind of chakra he had, Jimo had a feeling he could use all three of these techniques.

The next day, just as expected, Naruto failed the exam. Jimo, meanwhile, earned the first Forehead Protector with the highest score in the whole school.

On the way home, Jimo deliberately avoided walking with Naruto. He knew that clever fellow Mizuki was going to goad Naruto into stealing the Sealed Scroll.

That night, a yellow-haired figure with spiky hair darted out of the Hokage Building, a huge scroll strapped to his back.

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

Mizuki shouted in a hurry.

A figure followed Naruto from a distance behind him. It was Jimo.

He wanted to see the jutsu in the Sealed Scroll, too.

When they reached the woods outside the village, Naruto's curiosity got the better of him, and he opened the scroll. The first technique he saw was the Shadow Clone Technique.

Jimo crept up behind him and memorized how to perform it.

What he hadn't expected was that Naruto would spend the entire night studying that one jutsu, much to his frustration.

"Just how obsessed are you with the Clone Technique...?"

The darkest hour came just before dawn. Naruto went to the place where he and Mizuki had agreed to meet.

Naruto eagerly asked Mizuki to give him his graduation results, and Mizuki finally showed his true colors.

Mizuki explained why everyone had always hated Naruto. He also revealed that the fox demon inside Naruto was responsible for killing Iruka's parents—in other words, that 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 last second, a figure stepped in front of him. Jimo thought this scene absolutely deserved a place among the top ten iconic moments in Naruto, and marked the beginning of Naruto's path as a ninja.

The shuriken pierced Iruka's back, and blood splattered across Naruto's face.

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

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

Mizuki looked at Iruka as if he were a dead dog.

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

"Compared to me and Naruto, you're the idiot," Mizuki said arrogantly. "That scroll contains all kinds of powerful jutsu... Once you've learned them, you can do whatever you want! Do you really think the fox demon brat would ignore that kind of power?"

"Maybe... the fox demon would want to use that power... but Naruto is different! He's an excellent student I believe in!"

Iruka struggled to get to his feet.

"He works hard and stays focused; he's just a little clumsy, so it's hard for others to accept him... But he knows the pain in people's hearts... He isn't that hateful fox demon... He's Uzumaki Naruto of the Hidden Leaf Village!"

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

Then a thousand Shadow Clones beat Mizuki to a pulp.

Just as Jimo knew he would, Iruka gave Naruto his Forehead Protector.

Only then did Jimo jump down from the tree.

"Nice work, Naruto. You sure made a lot of noise tonight."

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

By the time they reached the village gate and the two gate guards took over, there wasn't a patch of uninjured skin left on Mizuki's face.

"Hey, hey... Is this kid really the same age as Naruto? The way he treats prisoners is even rougher than those freaks in the Torture and Interrogation Division..."

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

Izumo Kamizuki wasn't surprised. He'd seen Jimo crack a load-bearing wall in the Hokage Building with one punch.

A few days later, the newly graduated students were assigned to teams.

Jimo had been so focused on training with the Shadow Clone Technique that he missed Naruto and Sasuke's legendary kiss, which he found deeply regrettable.

Since Jimo had earned good grades and was one of the few people who liked hanging out with Naruto, the Third Hokage made a special exception and assigned him to Naruto and Sasuke's team.

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

While they waited for their team leader to arrive, Naruto spent every day with Jimo. Jimo also discovered a problem: Naruto really wasn't suited to jutsu that required a lot of hand seals.

He spent an entire afternoon trying and failing to teach Naruto Wind Style: Great Breakthrough.

"Maybe I should leave this kind of troublesome stuff to the Pervy Sage..."

Jimo muttered under his breath.

But Jimo's speed with hand seals caught Sasuke's attention. Sasuke had noticed it when Jimo demonstrated the jutsu to Naruto just moments ago: Jimo formed hand seals incredibly fast, and his chakra was far more refined than Sasuke's.

Even though Sasuke was called a genius, he didn't think he could make the Fireball Jutsu as powerful as Jimo's.

Sakura, meanwhile, kept glancing between Jimo and Sasuke, deep in thought.

She was curious how Jimo had mastered these three jutsu so well in such a short time, especially when he'd enrolled much later than the three of them. It was only natural that he was stronger than Naruto; any graduate from their class could control jutsu better than Naruto.

But Jimo's understanding of chakra had earned him a score even higher than Sasuke, who had always ranked first in the school.

"Hey, our team leader starts tomorrow. We've got some free time for once, so why don't Team 7 go out for a meal? My treat at Ichiraku Ramen!"

He'd made quite a bit of money off Mizuki, and he'd even taken Naruto to the casino in secret.

He had to hand it to Naruto and Lady Tsunade: their luck at gambling was complete opposites. Just having Naruto wait outside while Jimo went in had earned Jimo a fortune.

With Naruto egging her on, Sakura agreed to the suggestion. Majority rules, so Jimo and Naruto hauled Uchiha Sasuke to the Ichiraku Ramen shop.