Summary: In order to teach his team the importance of having a strategic advantage, Kakashi decides that they should learn how to play Go. Naruto x Hikaru no Go crossover
Note: Let's pretend that Sasuke never went to Orochimaru.
This is un-betaed!
A GAME OF GO
I. The Plan
It was a fine sunny morning in the village of Konoha, home to the ninjas bearing the "Will of Fire." This large shinobi community was surrounded by a near-endless grove of trees, and is thus aptly named the village hidden in the leaves. It was during this fine sunny morning that Kakashi had an epiphany. And not just any epiphany, that is to say.
Leaning back in the shade of a tree overlooking a flat patch of ground littered with fallen leaves and blades of grass, Kakashi watched his three team members spar with each other. Naruto, in all his loud, orange glory, was cursing at his smirking dark-haired teammate for being a cheater and catching him off-guard. Sasuke replied snidely that Naruto was a loser and would never be able to defeat him.
"Why, you -"
Sakura butted in with a sharp "Sasuke's right, Naruto. You should have guarded your back better."
"Why are you taking his side?" whined Naruto from the ground where he had fallen. "I guarded myself just fine!"
"If you had been fine, I shouldn't have gotten a blow on you from that point," pointed out Sasuke. Naruto fumed.
He shot up indignantly and yelled, "I want a rematch, you cheating bastard!"
"You'll just lose again," said Sasuke. "It'll be a thousand years before you can hit me."
"That's not entirely true, Sasuke," said Sakura. "Remember that one time when Naruto got you in the stomach?"
"He got lucky," the dark-haired boy grumbled.
"But I hit you, didn't I? If I could do it then, I can do it now," said Naruto, getting into a fighting stance. He charged towards his rival with a noisy battle cry.
Sasuke snorted and ducked under the incoming blow, sticking his leg out for a prompt low sweep that resulted in Naruto tripping backwards. The boy recovered himself and jabbed at Sasuke's midsection as the other was standing back up. Sasuke leaned to the side to avoid the blow. He attempted to uppercut Naruto in the jaw, but Naruto hopped backwards and crossed his fingers in a familiar seal.
"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"
Three replicas of the boy appeared and together they charged in for the second round of assault. Sakura stepped in, armed with kunai, and took out two of the clones. Sasuke performed a roundhouse kick on the other clone, and avoided an attack by the real Naruto. Naruto tumbled to the ground in surprise when Sasuke got him with a well-placed kick in the stomach.
"You jerk -" he began as he jumped to his feet.
Kakashi noticed something important as his students sparred. He frowned to himself when he realized he should have seen the problem sooner.
"Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura," he called, halting the sparring session.
"What's up, Kakashi-sensei?" asked Naruto as he brushed off the dirt from his jumpsuit.
He stepped forward to address the trio. "I have noticed that none of you seem to use any sort of decent strategy while fighting," he said calmly. "Not even you, Sasuke."
The boys looked indignant. "I do too use strategy -" Naruto started to protest against his teacher's accusation.
"No, you don't. You fight based on instinct, and that will not always work. Why do you think Sasuke keeps knocking you down? You don't think with your head, Naruto," explained Kakashi. He turned to the dark-haired boy as Naruto sulked. "Sasuke, while your individual training has honed your taijutsu skills well, you fight based on your opponent's reactions. You don't give much thought on traps or other maneuvers that could help you take down your enemies faster." Leaving Sasuke to brood over this thought, he switched his attention to Sakura. "You need to be more upfront, Sakura. Most of the time it seems you like to stand back and allow Naruto and Sasuke to fight. The times you do step in, it's always to help Sasuke. Remember, teamwork is important." Sakura frowned.
Kakashi sighed. "You guys need better strategies overall. Pure instinct is good in only some situations," he chided them. Naruto had the grace to look sheepish.
"How do you propose that we learn to incorporate better strategies?" inquired Sasuke.
Kakashi's eye adopted a mysterious twinkle that made his three students instantly suspicious. They collaboratively took a step back.
"Why, I think it's time - for you to learn about a lovely little game called Go."
II. The Instructors
The man was mental, the trio of junior ninjas decided. Absolutely insane. "Think of it as a special mission to hone your skills," he told them cheerfully. Naruto took to it with much enthusiasm - until he realized that he would be required to do a lot of complex and strategic thinking in order to win (Sasuke still snickered at his teammate's expression of horror).
It was quite a new experience for novices like them. They had boarded a train that took them out of the Elemental Nations and to a city called Tokyo. On the way, they attracted many odd stares from their choice of clothing and public appearances: "Is that girl's hair natural?" "Teens these days! Although that man with them isn't much better…" "I wondered what happened to the guy's eye?" "Gosh, that boy is really cute…" Yeah, you get the point.
By the time they finally arrived at Japan's Go Institute, Kakashi's eye was twitching quite noticeably. His three students wisely decided against making comments to further upset him.
They entered the large building with Kakashi in the lead. The three looked curiously around the lobby while Kakashi went off to talk to the receptionist. It was a very spacious room, though the fish tank against the wall looked rather out of place. It was tastefully decorated, if a bit plain for such a renowned building.
The trio of ninjas heard voices coming from the hallway ahead of them. Since Kakashi hadn't come back to them yet, they decided to do a bit of "polite eavesdropping." They pretended to study the odd little fish tank as the voices grew louder.
"I'm telling you, Shindou! I saw Touya staring at you just now!"
"For the last time, Waya, he wasn't staring at me! He was looking at the game!"
"No, he wasn't! He was definitely staring at you, Shindou. Definitely."
"Prove it!"
"Ask him, he'll blush like an idiot when he realizes he got caught - by me!"
"Fine, I will! I'll show you for sure he wasn't staring at me!"
"Yeah, yeah, in your dreams, Shindou. He was definitely staring."
"Nah, he was probably spacing out."
"You're contradicting yourself, you know."
"Well, I, uh - whatever! He wasn't staring."
"Yeah, he was."
The owners of the arguing voices turned the corner from the hallway into the lobby, still sending heated expressions at each other. One of them was clearly sulking.
At that point Kakashi joined them again. "It's rude to listen to other people's conversations," he said, though the amused smile he wore beneath his mask told them otherwise.
"We can't help that they're so loud," protested the blond boy.
"Naruto, you do know that one of them will be helping to teach you guys how to play the game, right?"
"What? No way!" said Naruto, staring at the arguing pair's direction as they disappeared through the front doors. "Which one?"
"Shindou Hikaru. He's the one with the bleached bangs."
"That guy? He doesn't look that strong…"
"Actually he's one of the strongest players of the new Go generation," commented Kakashi airily. "I would recommend that you don't insult your future teachers, Naruto." The boy grumbled and crossed his arms across his chest, which was taken as "Naruto sulking." "Now come along, they'll meet us tomorrow."
"Why not now?" asked Sakura.
"They need time to get prepared, Sakura. I believe your teachers need rest after the games they played today."
"Who else will be teaching us this game?" inquired Sasuke. That bleach-banged boy didn't look like a typical board game dork, but his lithe frame also meant he did regular exercise. Perhaps he was one of those "athletes" they had heard about? If so, how had he become a go player?
"Touya Akira, the strongest Japanese player of the new generation, and Isumi Shinichiro, a professional that passed the pro exam with no losses. They -"
"Hey, that's the guy they were talking about just now," said Naruto. "That Touya guy was apparently staring at that Shindou guy, err…"
"…Well. You'll see them tomorrow. Now let's get going."
Kakashi ushered his three students out of the building and toward the nearest hotel. While the four of them were adapted to sleeping outside, he had no doubt it would look extremely odd to the modern passerby if they saw the four of them sleeping in trees in the park. Or a tent that was randomly set up in a place that guaranteed them a protective cover. They already attracted suspicious looks with their choices in attire (Kakashi had told his pupils to conceal their weapons). Perhaps before they went to the hotel they needed to find a place to cast genjutsu upon themselves to make themselves look normal to the passersby.
III. The Students
The four ninjas rose bright and early (yes, even Naruto did). Last night it was decided that although they would keep their hair styles and color, they would change their clothes to attract less conspicuous attention. Kakashi also performed a genjutsu that would conceal Naruto's whisker marks until they were finished with their special mission. Sakura's hair color, although it would look odd at first, would probably be dismissed by teachers as soon as they started in on explaining and playing the game.
They would be meeting the teachers in the hotel they had checked in to. Kakashi had phoned the Go Association to give them their hotel name and room number so the teachers could find them at the appointed time.
Kakashi sat his three students down on the couch. "Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura," he said with a serious face. "Remember that this is a game that will test your mental capabilities. Do not react with weapons. You will not be treated kindly and most likely we will be kicked out. I want you three to be able to come up with decent strategies that you can incorporate into your fighting style. Especially you, Naruto, don't get frustrated. Go takes time and patience to learn properly."
"Yes, sensei," they chimed together.
Three hours later came a sharp knocking upon the door. "I'll get it!" said Naruto, jumping up and rushing to the door. He opened it with gusto to admit their three teachers. "You're finally here! My name's Uzumaki Naruto. Pleased to meet you!"
The three teachers seemed taken aback by the surprisingly enthusiastic greeting, but the one with blond bangs grinned at Naruto. "Hey. My name is Shindou Hikaru, and I'll be one of your teachers today," he said.
They stepped in and Naruto shut the door behind them, bounding over to his teammates seated on the couch. He sat down quickly, although the occupants of the room could see that he still seemed excited to get things rolling. Kakashi stood up for the introductions.
"Welcome to the room," he said. "My name is Hatake Kakashi, and I am the teacher and temporary guardian for these three kids."
"Pleased to meet you, Hatake-san," the boy with the page-boy haircut replied softly. "My name is Touya Akira."
"Ah, I've heard of you. The top player of Japan's New Wave, they say," commented Kakashi cheerfully. Touya turned a light-shade of pink at the compliment.
"Thank you, Hatake-san."
Shindou protested loudly, "Hey, he's not the top player! We both are!"
"And you are?"
"Shindou Hikaru, at your service. And Touya's rival!"
"Shindou, that was unnecessary."
"Hey, you can't deny that I've beaten you in half of our unofficial games."
"Well, I've beaten you in all of our official games."
"Yeah, yeah, I'll beat you someday."
"Hey now, we're here to teach, not squabble," cut in Isumi. The two quieted down, Touya seemingly embarrassed that he was caught acting so childishly. "As for me, my name is Isumi Shinichiro. It's nice to meet you. Now, can we know the names of our students?"
"I'm Uzumaki Naruto!" shouted Naruto, pumping his fist into the air. "The future Hokage!"
"Hokage?" Three blank stares met him.
"Just a nickname for the leader of a club they're in," said Kakashi hastily, while sending his student a warning glance. Naruto looked sheepish about his outburst and sank into the couch cushions with a resigned look. Sasuke gave him a condescending glare that clearly said "you dweeb." He seethed silently at the stuck-up prick.
The three teachers glanced at each other suspiciously, but decided to let it go because it wasn't important.
"Next?"
Sakura stood up. "My name is Haruno Sakura," she said. "And before you ask, this is my natural hair color."
Touya nodded in acknowledgement. "Thank you for informing us, Haruno-san," he replied.
Sakura blushed a little and murmured, "You can call me Sakura. Haruno-san makes me feel old."
"Sakura-san, then. It's a pleasure to meet you. Next?"
Sasuke stuck his hands in his pockets and stood up lazily, muttering, "Uchiha Sasuke." He quickly sat back down, not wanting to be in the spotlight for much longer.
"Great, now we know all your names. So it will go like this," said Isumi. "I will be teaching Sakura-san. Shindou will be teaching Uzumaki-san. Touya will be teaching Uchiha-san. Is that okay with you?"
"That is fine with us," said Kakashi.
"You are welcome to watch us, Hatake-san," said Touya.
"Very well."
The three students set up the go sets they had purchased earlier before their teachers arrived. The teachers individually coached their students on how to set up and how the game was played. Sasuke and Sakura easily picked up the basic concepts, but Naruto had a harder time understanding.
"So the kaka-whatsit does this?"
"Kakari," corrected Shindou as patiently as he could. "You use it to approach an opponent's single stone in the corner. On the other hand, you could use shimari to enclose your corner, and reduce your opponent's chances of taking it over. Like this." He moved a few go stones to demonstrate how kakari and shimari worked.
"It's confusing," moaned Naruto, scratching his head from all the go terms being crammed into his head.
Shindou grinned. "It takes time to get used to it," he said. "Your teammates seem to be doing well, though. Not going to let them be better than you, right?"
Naruto clenched his fists. "Of course not!" he yelled, startling the other occupants of the room. "I'll learn this so fast Sasuke-teme will be kissing my feet!"
Sakura giggled when Sasuke made a disgusted sound. "As if I'd let you," he retorted at the laughing blonde.
"Oh yeah? Take this, bastard -" And he also violently chucked the goke at his smirking dark-haired teammate, but Shindou caught him before he could.
"Don't you dare throw that container," hissed Shindou. "You will be disrespecting the game, and us go professionals here by making that into a weapon. Now sit down and pay attention to what I'm telling you." Sasuke and Sakura stared when they realized Naruto had been cowed. That was … impossible. But then again, they didn't want to find out what would have happened if Naruto hadn't listened.
Shindou sat down with a huff, glancing off to the side to gauge the reactions of his fellow teachers. They were both staring at him with surprised looks on their faces.
"What?" he snapped crossly.
"I didn't know you could be so intimidating," said Touya slowly.
"I didn't know you cared so much about the goke," joked Isumi.
Shindou smiled, embarrassed. He turned to Kakashi, who's barely visible lips had curved into an amused half-smile. "I apologize for my outburst, Hatake-san. Your student needs better control over his temper."
"No, no, it's alright," chuckled Kakashi. "You're one of the only ones I know who has been able to scare him into silence."
"R-really?" Shindou was gob smacked.
Kakashi smiled, closing his eyes. "Really."
For the rest of the day Naruto sulked at being put down so harshly, but he remained an attentive listener. By the afternoon, the three teachers were playing shidou-go with the three students. Of course they lost, but it was an enlightening experience.
IV. Return to Konoha
Six months passed in a blur, and finally the four ninjas had to return home. With their weekly go lessons with the teachers (the days varied depending on their schedules), they were able to improve in the strategic department. They needed more work before they could think up strategies that were on par with Konoha's local genius, Shikamaru, but Kakashi admitted that they finally had some balance in their mental capabilities rather than relying on pure instinct and on-the-fly plans that didn't always work.
As they said their farewells, Naruto promised one day that he'd come back to see them. Maybe he'd bring along more of his friends next time, he said. Shindou grinned and replied that he looked forward to trashing Naruto's ass on the goban again. Naruto huffed indignantly and declared that he would win someday.
"Yeah right, maybe in a thousand years," retorted Shindou. A soft smile appeared on his face, puzzling everyone but himself; there was probably a deeper meaning in what he said, but he was the only one who could understand it.
"A thousand years," echoed Naruto. "You just wait, Hikaru! I'll come back, and I'll whoop your ass!"
Shindou was startled when the loud-mouthed blonde called him by his first name, but he flashed a wide grin back.
"Like you could ever beat me!"
"Yeah I could! Just watch me!"
"Sure, I'll be waiting!"
"By the way, I think Touya stared at you a lot during our lessons!"
"Not you too!" Shindou groaned and covered his face with his hands. "Waya already teases me enough about it as it is."
Touya turned beet-red and stammered, "I-I-I did not!"
Naruto laughed boisterously at them and waved enthusiastically as he and his team walked to the station. "Bye, guys! See you next time!"
He waved until he could no longer see them.
"Let's go home," he said to his team. "We've got some ninja ass to kick."
The End - おわり
WHAT IS THIS. I don't know what I just wrote. A crossover between Naruto and Hikaru no Go that somehow worked? I mean, I know they play shogi in Konoha, but I know next to nothing about shogi and I'm a bit more knowledgeable about go since I've watched Hikaru no Go. So, um, review?
MangaFreak15