Summary: Naruto's only two weeks away from becoming Hokage, assuming everything goes smoothly. There's just one problem; Naruto's always been a magnet for trouble. And it seems he's passed that trait down to his team.
A/N
Translations are at the bottom if you see a word you don't know! Enjoy :D
"Sensei? What are we doing?" asked Hanabi.
Naruto glanced back at his little Chunin team. They were all 14, and had all made Chunin as rookies. Hanabi, the girl, was Hinata's little sister. She was an extremely talented Jyuken user, even for a Hyuuga. She was also the heir to the Hyuuga clan.
"Gathering intelligence." Naruto said with a grin.
"So...spying." Ken said. Ken was an Inuzuka; Kiba's cousin. He looked almost exactly like Kiba, tall, with short brown spiky hair. He had tanned skin, and the two fang marks on his cheeks that marked him as an Inuzuka. Just a year ago Ken's dog, Chamaru, had been able to sit on Ken's head. Now Chamaru weighed over 80 pounds, and was taller than Hanabi when he stood.
"Exactly." Naruto confirmed over his shoulder.
"Who we spying on, Sensei?" Ryuu asked. Ryuu was an orphan, like Naruto, who'd grown up alone. His name literally meant 'Dragon'.
"Shhhh. You'll see." Naruto had a grin fixated in place. "Come on. Stay close and be quiet."
With that, Naruto jumped on top of the nearest roof, his team following. They quietly crept across the roof, following Naruto closely. Naruto stopped three-fourths of the way across the roof, and knelt down. He got on all fours and crawled the rest of the way, stopping with his head right at the edge of the roof.
Peering over, the team could see Suigetsu and Karin down below. Karin had one leg behind the other, tapping her toes on the ground nervously. Suigetsu was fidgeting, his hands in his pockets, and his sword swung over his back.
Naruto tried not to snigger as he saw the light blush on their cheeks. They appeared to be about to go separate ways, as Suigetsu gave a small awkward wave. Karin suddenly jumped forward, throwing her arms around Suigetsu's neck and kissing him.
Karin stayed in that position, shocked, as Suigetsu literally turned into water. He crashed down around her feet, soaking her shoes and socks.
"BHAHAHAHAHA!" Naruto's loud voice filled the air as he laughed hysterically.
Karin's face turned completely red as she looked up to see Naruto rolling around on the roof, laughing. Suigetsu retook human shape next to her feet on the ground, his face completely red.
Naruto caught a glimpse of Karin's face, stood up, and started backing up, still laughing.
Naruto's team scrambled behind him, backing away quickly. Suigetsu and Karin both jumped up to the roof, looking livid.
Naruto and his team were backing up, and Naruto was holding up his hands in the universal Whoa Nelly gesture.
The chunin were trying to hold in their laughter, but failing. In their defense, Naruto's laughter was really contagious.
Karin held up her fist. "Na-ru-to. I'm going to kill you!"
Naruto gasped for air around his laughter. "He...he...soaked your socks!" Naruto burst out into even more laughter, causing the chunin behind him to lose control and laugh too.
Karin jumped forward into a dash, a murderous look on her face. There was a yellow flash as Naruto disappeared.
The chunin watched as Karin continued raging forward.
Chamaru whined.
"Oh crap." Ryuu said.
"RUN!" Hanabi yelled.
The three chunin, plus the ninken, turned and ran for their lives.
xxxx
Naruto opened the door to the bar, eager to find a familiar face. The truth is, Naruto is almost as bad a gossip as Ino, especially when it comes to his friends.
"Sweet! Hey Shika, hey Chouji!" Naruto called, walking over to sit on the stool next to Shikamaru.
This bar had become the favorite for the members of the Konoha 12. If they needed a drink after a day of hard work, this is usually where they gathered.
"Yo Naruto." Shikamaru answered. Chouji waved a hand, busy stuffing his face.
"You'll never believe what I just saw." Naruto said chuckling.
The sound of the door opening distracted him. Looking over he saw Hinata entering.
"Hey Hinata! Over here!" Naruto said, patting the stool next to him.
Shikamaru looked over Naruto's shoulder. Hinata was walking over to them, blushing slightly. Shikamaru was also a little surprised to see that the back of Naruto's neck was red, too.
He leaned over to Chouji. "How long do you think it'll be before he actually asks her out?" He whispered.
"She might have to ask him out." Chouji whispered back, laughing slightly. Shikamaru grinned, till he saw Naruto looking at them.
"You know I can hear you, right?" He asked, disgruntled.
"Yeah, yeah, whatever." Shikamaru said, taking a sip of his beer.
"Well, anyway, like I was saying-"
The door opened again, distracting Naruto.
"Hey! Teme! You interrupted my story!" Naruto shouted.
"Don't start at me already, dobe, I haven't even had my beer yet." Sasuke responded, exasperated.
"Yeah, yeah, whatever. Just sit down already, this will definitely interest you." Hinata managed not to squeak as Sasuke sat next to her. She was still a little scared of him, but at least Naruto was here.
"So anyway," Naruto continued, "I was returning from a mission with my team when I sensed Suigetsu and Karin's chakra nearby. I could also tell that they were both nervous, so I decided to take a peek."
"Your ability to sense emotions has become way too good since you combined chakras with the Kyuubi." Shikamaru said, disgruntled.
"Shhhh." Chouji said, wanting to hear the rest of the story.
"So I told my team we were gathering intelligence-" Shikamaru snorted. "-And jumped up on the roof over where they were. I got up there right in time to see Karin jump forward and kiss Water Boy!"
"About time." The other four chorused.
"Get this though. Water boy was so startled that he literally turned into water. I mean, I've heard the phrase about turning into a puddle after being kissed. But I've never seen it actually happen before!" Naruto exclaimed, laughing.
Sasuke snorted, taking a swig of the beer the bartender had just dropped in front of him.
"So of course I busted out laughing. Then Karin and Suigetsu jump up on the roof, pissed as hell."
Hinata giggled.
"Karin threatened to kill me, and started rushing towards me. So I flashed away, and hid nearby to watch. I'm not sure what was funnier; the look on my student's faces when they saw that I'd abandoned them, or the look on their faces when they realized Karin was still charging like an angry rhino."
They busted out laughing, even Sasuke grinned. Messing with your young students was a favorite pass-time for all sensei.
"What'd they do?" Chouji asked, once he'd stopped laughing.
Naruto snorted. "The only thing you can do in that situation; cuss and run like hell!"
Hinata paused in her laughter, remembering that Hanabi was one of Naruto's students.
"Naruto-kun." Hinata said reprovingly, "Are you telling me that you left my sister alone with an angry Karin?"
"Errr no, no Hinata-chan." Naruto said, paling and backing away a little and waving his hands. "I made sure they got away safely before I left."
"Good."
Shikamaru mimed a whipping motion behind Naruto's back, where Hinata could see. She blushed and turned back to the bar.
A short while later
"Hey Hinata, can I ask you for a favor?" Naruto asked.
"S-Sure Naruto-kun."
"Can you teach my team about genjutsu tommorow?"
"Isn't that your job, dobe?" Sasuke asked.
"Well, yeah...but I don't really know much about genjutsu. I never paid attention at the academy...and never really learned much about it afterwards."
Technically that wasn't true. He had forced Jiraiya to give him a lesson on genjutsu immediately after his first encounter with Itachi.
"Besides, Hinata's smart and she was the student of Kurenai-sensei herself!" Naruto finished.
"Then why don't you just ask Kurenai, dobe?" Sasuke asked.
Shikamaru face-palmed. Sasuke was more clueless than Naruto sometimes.
"No it's okay, I'll teach them Naruto-kun." Hinata said. "As long as you take my genin in return."
"Sure thing! Thanks Hinata!" Naruto said, blushing slightly. "So I'll bring my team to your training area tommorow?"
Hinata nodded. "What time?"
"I dunno...eight?" Naruto asked.
"Okay." Hinata nodded. That was when practice normally started anyway.
The door slammed open. Karin stalked inside, her face flushing red when she saw Naruto. "I've been looking for you!"
Naruto grinned, scratching the back of his neck. "Hey cuz!"
"DON'T HEY CUZ ME YOU BLONDE MAGGOT!"
"I'll see you guys later." Naruto said, scrambling to his feet. Karin stomped forward, stopping with a sound of frustration as Naruto disappeared in a flash of yellow.
"Argh!" Karin looked at the four jonin at the bar. "What are you smiling at?"
"Nothing." They chorused immediately, wiping the smiles off their faces.
"Hmph." Karin turned around and stomped back out, slamming the door again on her way out.
xxxx
"Errr, so you guys have only been genin for a month or so, right?" Naruto asked.
The three kids nodded, staring in awe at him. The legendary Uzamaki Naruto, the savior of the village, hero of the Fourth Shinobi World War, and the future Rokudaime Hokage.
"Hmmm...okay. If I'm going to teach you guys I need to know what you can do." Naruto jumped back a little. "I want you three to come at me with the intent to kill."
"You want us to try to kill you, sensei?" The first boy asked.
"Yeah. Start now." Naruto said.
"What if we hurt you, though?" The second boy asked.
"If you can manage to hurt me then I deserve to get hurt. Now come on." Naruto said impatiently.
xxxx
"Well...let's see. Your taijutsu and ninjutsu are both acceptable for now. But your stamina is seriously lacking."
The genin's faces fell just a little bit.
"No worries though, I know just how to deal with that." Naruto said with glee.
"I'll be right back." He disappeared in a yellow flash, appearing where Hinata was teaching his team.
"Hey, Hinata!"
"Eep!" The chunin tried not to laugh at the sound Hinata made as Naruto appeared beside her.
"I'm taking your genin to train with Lee. Which means we'll probably be doing laps around the village if you need me."
"O-okay Naruto-kun." Hinata said, recovering from her surprise. "Just try to return them alive."
The chunin laughed. "I think I'm still sore from our first lesson with Lee!" Ryuu said with glee.
"No kidding." Laughed Ken.
"Thank god someone else is getting tortured for once." Hanabi smirked.
Naruto grinned in anticipation. He waved his hand, and disappeared in a yellow flash of chakra.
Hinata returned back to the young chunin. "Okay like I was saying..."
xxxx
The sounds of a tree being struck repeatedly echoed throughout the forest.
"Lee!" Naruto called.
The sounds stopped. Lee ran out of the clearing to meet them. "Naruto-kun! Who might these youthful young sprouts be?"
"I'm not a tree." The first boy said.
"They're Hinata's new genin team." Naruto responded.
"OH! Hinata-chan's students. They must be very youthful indeed."
The genin looked confused.
"Oh yes." Naruto grinned wickedly. "In fact, they are so youthful that they challenged us to laps around the village."
"Wait..what?" The second boy asked.
"YOSH!" Lee cried. "Most youthful indeed! The first one to drop out treats the rest of us to ramen! I should warn you, Naruto-kun and myself can eat a lot of ramen."
"A Lot of ramen." Naruto echoed.
The three genin looked terrified.
xxxx
He may be the savior of the village. He might be the next Hokage. But he's also clinically, unavoidably insane.
By now the young genin's legs had stopped burning. The sore, burning feeling had been replaced by rocks. As if their muscles had shriveled up and died in their legs, compressing into dense deposits of minerals.
Just keep moving, just keep moving.
The genin concentrated on putting one foot in front of the other, determined not to lose all their savings over something so stupid as training.
"Sensei! Naruto-sensei!" Naruto looked up quickly, towards the sound of the voice. Ken was dashing through the woods, looking panicked.
Naruto felt his heart go cold. With a single dash he was in front of Ken. "Ken, look at me. What is it? What happened?"
"I'm sorry sensei it just happened so fast I don't know I didn't see-"
Naruto shook his shoulders. "Slow down, slow down it's going to be alright. Just tell me what happened." He said calmly.
"We split up into pairs to practice, I was with Hinata-sensei, and Ryuu and Hanabi were practicing a little ways away. One minute everything was fine. Then I looked up again, and Ryuu was lying on the ground, knocked unconscious."
"Sensei, they took Hanabi!"
xxxx
Translations: Jyuken : Gentle-Fist, a form of martial arts
Rokudaime : Sixth
Ninken: Ninja-dog
Kyuubi: Nine-tailed demon fox contained within Naruto
A/N I used my writer's license and decided that in 3 years Naruto will probably be so fast that he'll be able to flash around really quickly without actually using Hirashin. Especially since he's already that fast in the manga when he uses the Kyuubi's chakra.
Please please review, and I hope you liked it!