"Wh…where am I?"
Those were the first words that came out of the young man's mouth. He was wandering around in a long, narrow corridor that seemed eerily familiar to him. As soon as he felt water between his toes, he knew exactly where he was.
"God dammit! Why the hell am I here?" Naruto yelled into the empty corridor.
He tried to recall what he did in order for him to be in his current situation, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't remember anything.
"Oh well, might as well get this over with." said Naruto as he walked aimlessly along hoping to find something.
"I wonder what that stupid fox wants now."
Naruto continued wandering down the halls until he came across a room with a big cage that had a paper in the center on the crease where the two doors of the gate meet with the kanji for 'seal' on it.
As soon as he arrived, he was greeted by a pair of glowing red eyes which seemed to stare him down with malevolent intent.
But Naruto just stared right back, not once flinching as the tension in the room increased tenfold.
"Why the hell did you call me here for, you stupid fox!" Naruto yelled at the great kitsune.
His only response was a pair of narrowing red eyes.
"Did you hear me at all? Or is your age finally catching up to you and making you deaf?" This statement caught the fox's attention.
"Foolish mortal. You should mind your tongue when your addressing me!" roared the great demon fox.
"As for why you are here, you should ask yourself that question."
Naruto was starting to get impatient.
"Listen, I don't have time for your stupid games. It's been a long time since I've needed you, and I'm not about to start asking you of all people for help."
The demon fox started laughing at this.
"You obviously have no clue do you? How did I get stuck with a stupid mortal as my container?
"Whatever, I don't have time for this!" Naruto said as he turned to leave.
He didn't go too far though, since Kyuubi quickly intervened.
"Ok kit, listen up, I'll make this clear enough for you to understand. What is the last thing you remember?"
Naruto thought long and hard about this.
"Well, the last thing I can remember is going to Sasuke's house with Sakura. Other than that, my mind is blank"
"Well," Kyuubi began, "You guys did in fact go to his house, but when you got there, he was dead."
After hearing this, Naruto's mind went into overdrive as he recalled everything that happened.
His mind flashed bits and pieces of him finding Sasuke dead on the floor with his throat slit and three cloud ninja standing over him then Sakura was coming up behind him asking what was wrong after that it was all black.
'Oh crap!' Naruto thought, 'I need to get out of here fast, Sakura might still need me.'
"You don't have to worry about her," Kyuubi said, already knowing what was going on in Naruto's mind.
"She made it out alive. As for you…let's just say you weren't as lucky. I made sure you spirit came here just before it happened. If you go back now, you will die."
Naruto quickly focused all his attention toward the fox.
"WHAT!? WHAT THE HELL DO YOU MEAN I'LL DIE!?"
"That's exactly what I mean. You don't have a body anymore. You blew yourself up to save your stupid friend, remember? I swear, you mortals don't think twice before trying to be a hero."
"So what now? Am I stuck here with you forever?" Naruto asked hoping that wasn't the result.
"Actually, no. we only have about three more minutes before we truly depart to the next world, and I for one am not ready to die just yet."
After hearing those words, Naruto couldn't help but let hope swell up inside him.
"So, do you have some sort of plan, right fox?" He said, excitement apparent in his voice.
Kyuubi smirked at this.
"My my my, It appears my stupid container is actually thinking for once."
All traces of hope suddenly left Naruto and were instead replaced with anger towards the Kyuubi.
"Well, we are on the clock, are you going to tell me your plan, or am I going to have to make you tell me."
Kyuubi snickered at this. "You got guts kit, I'll give you that. If we weren't pressed for time, I would show you why I am the most feared of all demons! Ok, pay attention kit, because I won't repeat myself. I know a way to keep us both alive, but there is a drawback. The only way I can do this is if I send your spirit to a time when you where younger."
Naruto opened his mouth to voice his opinion, but was quickly stopped by the Kyuubi.
"Don't interrupt me kit! We don't have any time, and I'm NOT giving you a choice on this matter! You WILL go to a time when you where younger because the simple fact is, If you die, I die!"
Naruto sulked, but otherwise nodded in agreement.
"Now, you may be wondering if you'll still have your current chakra level and strength once I send you back. Well, your going to have to find that one out on your own. You will still have your current knowledge, so you will have an advantage towards enemies and future events. Just think of it like this. You will get a second chance in life. Anything that you didn't want to happen, you will have the power to change. It's all up to you. I would tell you good luck on your journey, but frankly, I don't give a damn what you do. As long as you stay alive, I could really care less."
Naruto was shocked at this.
'A second chance, huh?' he thought.
'I'll be able to save people who where precious to me.'
"Alright Kyuubi," Naruto yelled out loud, filled with new found determination.
"I'm ready when you are."
"Not so fast kit, I must warn you. Any action you do differently could change the way things turn out in the future. So stay alert, and if you want things to stay the same, make sure you do the same thing to the best of your ability. Oh, and I'm not sure exactly when you will arrive, so make sure you ask or at least find out."
Kyuubi got up from his resting position and started gathering his chakra.
Naruto could literally feel the whole room tremble from all the power Kyuubi was gathering.
He hadn't felt such power in his entire life.
'This is it' Naruto thought.
'Old man, Zabuza, Haku, Asuma-sensei, Gai-sensei, Lee, Hinata,...Sasuke. I promise, I won't let you guys die this time. I'll put my life on the line just to protect you!'
Naruto then felt a huge power forming right on top of his head.
At first, Naruto didn't know what to make of it, but for some reason, he trusted the Kyuubi enough to keep him safe.
The red ball of light that formed just above him quickly changed into what appeared to be a huge circle that surrounded his body.
After a few minutes, Naruto could vaguely see a picture forming inside of the circle at his feet.
It resembled the old apartment Sarutobi rented for him.
As soon as he noticed this, he felt his body being sucked down threw the circle.
"Kyuubi, what the hell?! A little warning would of been nice!" Naruto yelled as he was being dragged down threw floor.
"Hold on kit, this is going to be one hell of a ride!"
"Hey Sasuke! I'm here."
Naruto yelled as he opened the door to his best friends home.
Sakura said she was going to be there in a few minutes and he knew that to be true as he could hear her opening the gates to the Uchiha compound.
"Sasuke?" Naruto yelled at the top of his lungs.
"Where are you Teme!"
Naruto stared at the three cloud ninja, just now seeing that they where their.
"What the fuck are you doing in Sasu..."
He stopped talking as he saw what was on the floor.
Sasuke body with his throat slit and blood flowing on the ground his eye empty looking at Naruto.
Showing he was already long gone.
"Sasuke?" Naruto asked his voice cracking.
Red was what he saw nothing else.
The only thing that came threw was a voice.
"Hey Naruto why are you just standing there."
Sakura's voice came threw his mind as all went black.
"SAKURA GET AWAY!" Naruto shouted.
He was covered with sweat and was panting hard.
'Damn, it was like I was there all over again' Naruto thought.
He sat up from his bed, stopped the alarm clock and look at his surroundings.
The first thing he noticed was that everything seemed out of place, but familiar at the same time.
There where a bunch of scrolls and empty ramen cups lying around the floor.
He also noticed that his walls seemed different today.
"Oh that's right." he said out loud.
'I guess that stupid fox's jutsu was successful.'
Naruto sighed and got up from his bed and headed towards the restroom to relieve himself.
'This is just great.' he thought , 'Kami only knows what day it is. I must figure this out as soon as possible.'
Once Naruto finished doing his business, he took a quick shower.
He had forgotten how awful his shower was.
He had to wait five minutes in order for the hot water to come out, and even then, it was just lukewarm.
As soon as he finished, he took a quick glance at himself in the mirror.
'hmm..' he thought, 'Well, I'm short now, so that pretty much gives me a rough idea at what age I'm at.'
Naruto looked around for clues around his apartment.
Lucky for him, he kept a calendar near his dresser to track the day of his graduation.
"So today is the day, huh? Might as well get ready."
He look at his dresser and found his old orange jumpsuit.
He laughed at this.
'Man, this used to be my favorite suit. Lot's of good memories I've had with this.' He put the suit on for now.
"Let's see, I still have…one hour to meet my 'new' team. Might as well see how my body works." Naruto's first test was to walk on the walls.
He managed to do that without a problem.
'Alright! Looks like my chakra control is still good. Ok, now let me see how much chakra I can regulate.'
Naruto tried to summon a low-level rasengan, and he did that flawless too.
'not bad, looks like I have more stamina now than I did back then. I got to make sure to keep a low profile.'
Naruto looked around the room for his scroll utensils.
He kept a set just in case he wanted to take notes on a specific jutsu.
Once he found it, he wrote a bunch of foreign letters on his right forearm.
'I have to thank Sai for helped me design custom seals someday.' he thought as he finished drawing the seal on his wrist.
The seal seamed to have two crescent moons mirroring each other where the arc was.
On the top of the arc, there is a small circle that isn't shaded.
Naruto made a rapid successions of hand seals and screamed out.
"Chakra suppressor!"
The foreign letters jumped up from his forearm and merged with the custom seal he created.
The small circle glowed blue for a second and the whole seal vanished from normal eyesight.
'There we go, I'll work on the other seals when I have time.'
Naruto checked the amount of Chaka he was giving out.
Even with most of his chakra suppressed, he estimated that he could produce a low kage level amount of chakra without breaking the seal.
He looked at his alarm clock. '5:30 am, I got thirty minutes to get there on time.
I'll make a quick stop at the store for some decent clothing.'
Naruto Packed his life savings in his holster and left his apartment.
It was still early in the morning, so there weren't that many people walking near the market.
Most of the stores where closed, but he was fortunate enough to find the weapon shop open.
After a quick henge, he went inside and bought a white wife beater, a black hod-die zip-up jacket that had a blue kangaroo pocket in the front and was outlined in blue with the right sleeve going all the way to his hand while the left stopped before his elbow, and he got black shorts like Sasuke's but it had red flames coming up from the bottom.
He put the clothes on and left the store after paying, dispelling the jutsu once he was out of harms way.
He carefully folded his old orange jumpsuit and put it under his arm.
Remembering before he left to make a quick stop at home to put it away.
But now, it was time to meet everybody again!
At the Academy
Naruto waited outside the door for a few minutes to gather his wits.
'Okay, calm down. They are still the same people, no need to be afraid.' Naruto thought, trying to reassure himself.
He took a few steps in and was greeted by a loud classroom filled with twelve year old kids.
'Wow!' he thought, 'Everybody looks so different now that I'm used to seeing them older.'
Naruto scanned the classroom and saw most of his fellow comrades.
At one end of the corner, there sat Shikamaru sleeping in his desk, with Choji next to him munching on a bag of potato chips.
At the other end of the room, near the back, he could see Shino speaking with a fly.
'Heh' Naruto thought. 'he's probably finding out witch team he's on before hand.' he chuckled lightly.
Naruto continued looking around, until his eyes focused on a girl with dark blue hair.
His heart skipped a beat for a second.
'It's her. It's really her!' Naruto thought.
'What should I do? Should I go over there and talk to her? Get her attention somehow. I don't even know if she knows I exist yet.'
While he was lost in his thoughts, said girl turned her head around and her lavender eyes met a pair of ocean blue.
She sat there, shocked that Naruto was staring at her.
'He's looking at me! Oh my god, what do I do?' Hinata could feel her cheeks beginning to heat up.
"O-Ohayo N-Naruto-kun." Hinata managed to let out.
Naruto was even more shocked that she already added the suffix to his name.
He stood there starring at her wondering what to do.
Hinata was beginning to worry.
"Ano, a-are you o-okay N-Naruto-kun?" she asked with a sincere tone to her voice.
Naruto quickly snapped out of it and gave a light hearted chuckle.
"Yeah, sorry about that. I Must have had dosed off there for a second. It's nice to see you Hinata-chan." Naruto said.
'More than you'll ever know' he added in thought.
Hinata blushed at the chan added to her name.
"Ano, n-n-not to be ru-ru-rude or anything, b-b-b-but what are you d-doing here N-N-Naruto-kun?" she asked poking her index fingers together in her nervousness.
Naruto stared at her for a few seconds with a confused look, until it finally dawned on him why she was asking that.
"Oh right. I managed to pass the academy exam with some extra credit that Iruka-sensei gave me!" he said while giving his trademark grin and scratching the back of his head.
Hinata looked up at his forehead and sure enough, he wore a leaf head protector proudly.
She smiled up at him. "That's great Naruto-kun! I'm glad t-that you m-managed to p-pass." Naruto gave Hinata a heartwarming smile.
"Arigato Hinata-chan, you don't know how good it makes me feel that someone cares about me."
Hinata's eyes widen and she looks down at her fingers with a mad blush.
'He called me Hinata-chan twice' she thought, unconsciously smiling.
"I-It's nothing Naruto-kun, I t-truly am glad that you m-made it."
Hinata was doing her best not to faint right then and there.
She wasn't used to so much attention from anyone, especially from the person she admires the most.
She didn't know how much longer she could stay focused.
Thankfully, someone decided to barge into their conversation.
"Hey Naruto, what are you doing in here! Don't you know that only people who passed the exam are allowed in the classroom?"
Naruto and Hinata turn around to face Kiba and his companion Akamaru.
Akamaru barked with agreement.
Naruto brought his hand up and adjusted his leaf head plate while he smiled at Kiba.
"Yup, that's exactly why I'm here Kiba. Nice to see you and Akamaru are in high spirits."
Kiba blinked for a second, then he smirked.
He thought that would of riled him up, but he was proven wrong this time.
"Ha, don't get too comfortable, being a real shinobi isn't just fun and games. Your going to have to take your missions seriously."
Naruto returned with his own smirk.
"You should know better than to underestimate people Kiba. Just make sure you don't slow your team down." Kiba snorted at the thought while Hinata giggled lightly.
"Well, I'm off to find me a seat, If I'm not with you guys, I wish you the best of luck." Naruto stated while slowly walking away.
"Save that for those who need it whiskers." Kiba yelled at him.
Naruto lifted up a hand to signal his leave.
"Already have, dog breath." Kiba smirked at this.
"That Naruto," he said, "I wouldn't mind being on his team, it would be full of laughs." Hinata smiled while she watched Naruto depart.
Naruto looked around for an empty seat, and the only ones he could find was the ones near Sasuke.
'Oh boy, this will be fun' Naruto thought sarcastically. Naruto walked toward an empty seat and looked at the sitting figure. "Sasuke" He said in acknowledgment.
"Hun." Is all he got for a reply.
Naruto couldn't help but smile.
'So it begins' he thought.
Naruto's train of thought was disrupted by a pair of screaming kunoichi near the door.
"Ha, take that Forehead girl, I won!" The girl with a long blond pony tail shouted.
"What are you talking about, my toe was inside the door before any part of your body was, Ino-pig!" the girl with pink bubblegum hair yelled back.
"Was not!"
"Was too!"
"Was not!"
"TOO!"
"NOT!"
"Grr!" both girls grinned their teeth while glaring at each other.
'Yep, I defiantly missed my youthful days.' Naruto's smile widened a little bit.
Naruto glanced up at Sakura who appeared to look straight at him.
"Ohayo Sakura-chan, how was your…" Naruto didn't even get to finish his sentence before he was shoved away.
"Naruto, move your ass, I'm sitting next to Sasuke-kun!"
"Hai hai, but you didn't have to be so rude." his words met death ears.
Sakura was staring at Sasuke with hearts in her eyes.
"Ohayo Sasuke-kun, how are you this morning?" Sasuke didn't even blink.
"Oi Sasuke-teme."
Sasuke glared at Naruto.
"What do you want dobe?" he asked bitterly.
"Sakura-chan asked you a question. It's rather rude for you to ignore her. You could of least give her some sort of acknowledgment."
Sakura looked at Naruto questionably. 'Did he try to get Sasuke's attention for me, or is he just trying to act tough.'
"I don't have time to worry about insignificant conversations. I have a lot of things on my mind that you wouldn't understand." Sasuke replied coolly.
Sakura's heart sank at hearing this.
"Sasuke, you are an asshole, you need to lighten up a little bit." Naruto said simply and turned his attention to the roof.
"Whatever dobe."
'Damn,' Naruto thought, 'It's going to be difficult changing Sasuke's outlook in life again.'
"S-Sasuke-kun?" Sakura asked with watery eyes.
Sasuke's looked at Sakura with impassive eyes.
"Do you really think our conversations are insignificant?" Sasuke softened his eyes a little while Naruto kept looking at the ceiling pretending he wasn't interested in the conversation.
Sasuke sighed. If it was something he hated seeing most of all, it was crying girls.
"No Sakura, I didn't mean it. I'm just having a bad day, could you just give me some space please?" Sakura smiled after hearing that.
"Okay Sasuke-kun. If you need some time alone, I won't bother you."
'Well what do you know.' Naruto thought, 'I guess it won't be so hard after all.'
A few more minutes passed when Iruka walked Into the classroom and got everyone's attention.
"Listen up class." He started.
"Today will be the turning points in your lives. All of you attending today have proven that you have what it takes to be a ninja. I am very proud with each and every one of you." Iruka looked up and smiled at Naruto before continuing.
"But don't let that get to your head, this is only the beginning. As you face new challenges, your skills will be tested and you must learn to adapt to any situation presented to you. As of right now, you are at the bottom of the ranks. Work your way up and prove that you got what it takes to be the best!"
Iruka's words had the desired affect.
Everyone's spirits where lifted and a wave of determination could be felt all across the classroom.
"Now, each and every one of you are going to be in a three man team. I will assign a jounin instructor for each team. When you hear your name, please come up and sit on the designated tables."
After a few teams where announced
"Team seven will consist of," Iruka said.
'Here we go.' thought Naruto.
"Uzumaki Naruto, Haruno Sakura…"
'Oh crap.' thought Sakura. 'Why do I have to be on that idiot's team.'
"…and Uchiha Sasuke."
"YATTA!" yelled Sakura with glee.
"Take that Ino-pig! One more for the good guys!"
'oh, so I didn't get to be on Naruto's team.' thought Hinata.
"Please find your designated table." Iruka said as team seven got up and looked for their seats.
Once seated Iruka continues with his list.
"Team Eight will consist of, Hyuuga Hinata," said girl looks up, "Aburame Shino, and Inuzuka Kiba. Please find your designated table." the said three found their table, right next to team seven. Hinata walked up hesitantly the seat next to Naruto.
"Ano, i-is it o-okay if I s-sit next to you?" Hinata asked.
Naruto looked at her, pulled back the chair, and waved her to sit, all while smiling.
"Sure Hinata-chan not a problem. It's nice to see you again!" Naruto beamed at her.
Hinata shyly answers back. "T-Thank you N-Naruto-kun. I hope we will keep in touch after the academy."
At this, Naruto remembered something. He leaned forward and whispered in Hinata's ear.
"Oi, Hinata-chan."
Hinata blushed when she felt his breath on her earlobe.
"I want to give you a present, but you got to keep it a secret, ok?"
"A present for me Naruto-kun?" she whispered back with shock written all over her eyes.
"Hai. It's a special seal I developed. It helps us keep each other in contact no mater how far apart we are."
At first, Hinata paled at hearing the word seal, but then quickly shook it off once she heard that she will be able to stay in contact with Naruto even if they where on different teams.
"O-Okay Naruto-kun, I accept your present." She whispered in his ear.
Naruto got goose bumps when he felt her get closer to his face, and he developed a small blush once he felt her warm breath on his ear.
'Calm down Naruto, keep your head out of the gutter.' Naruto thought.
"Okay Hinata-chan, place your hand on top of mine." He whispered.
Hinata's mind was going haywire now.
'He wants me to hold his hand! This must be one of my dreams, there's no way he would ask me that.' she thought.
Either way, Hinata was more than happy to comply.
Naruto felt her smooth skin instantly and grasped her hand.
Hinata was turning into a human cherry at this point.
"Ok Hinata-chan, don't move. This might sting a little, try not to think about it much."
Naruto drew what appeared to be an eye on top of her hand using a scroll brush.
He then snapped three of his fingers and pressed it on top of her hand with force.
Hinata whimpered a little bit while Naruto applied the seal, but other than that, she didn't complain much.
Naruto rubbed the top of her hand where her seal is and asked her if she was okay.
She looked up at Naruto dreamingly and sighed with contentment.
It was only then that Naruto realized he was still massaging her hand.
"Hehehe, sorry about that." He said while scratching his back.
Naruto got the brush and did the same process with his hand.
Once done, He started explaining to Hinata.
"Listen Hinata-chan, don't tell anybody about this seal. I don't want people to know that I can do this, so just keep it between us, okay?"
"Don't worry Naruto-kun, you have my word." she responded.
"Okay, let me tell you how this seal works. Look at your hand. Do you see anything?"
Hinata looked at her hand and noticed that the seal disappeared. She looked worried.
"Don't worry, it's suppose to do that. Nobody will know you have this seal except me. Ok listen carefully. With this seal, I can communicate with you whenever I want and vise versa. All you have to do is apply some chakra near the seal and ask for me by name. Once you do that, I can either respond to you or Ignore it, depending on the situation. I will not ignore you if you tell me it is an emergency, so don't be afraid to use it."
"Okay Naruto-kun, but how are we able to communicate?" she asked.
"Just like this."
Hinata gasped.
She heard Naruto's voice, but she didn't see him move his lips.
Naruto smirked.
"Surprised Hinata-chan? You can hear me loud and clear right?" she nodded her head.
"Good, all you have to do Is think what you want to say to me while applying chakra to the seal, it's that simple. Try it!"
Hinata closed her eyes and concentrated.
"Like this, Naruto-kun?" Hinata asked.
"That's it! You got it down Hinata-chan."
"This is so amazing Naruto-kun! You must be a genius to come up with something like this by yourself."
Naruto blushed and gave Hinata his trademark grin.
"and team ten will consist of, Nara Shikamaru, Yamanaka Ino, and Akimichi Choji. Please find your designated seats." Iruka finished.
"Oh great, I'm stuck with a lazy bum and a fata..mph!"
"Quiet down you troublesome woman, you do not want to upset Choji. That type of language is taboo around him." Shikamaru said.
"Now that that's out of the way," Iruka commented, "I would like to once again congratulate you on a job well done. Please be patient, your jounin Instructor should arrive shortly."
And so, the academy students did just that.
Jounin Instructors started to show up one by one to pick up their teams.
Everyone, except for a few, where anxious to meet their Jounin Instructors.
"Team Ten?" A tall, bearded jounin asked as he walked inside of the classroom.
Ino, Shikamaru, and Choji looked up and turn their attention to the man.
"Oh, there you are. As of right now, I will be your official sensei. My name is Sarutobi Asuma. Please follow me so we could get better acquainted."
"Whoa whoa, Sarutobi as in, THE Sarutobi?" Ino asked.
Asuma chuckled as he looked at his female student.
"Does it really matter what my last name is? I assure you that you are not getting any special treatment. I won't be easy on you though, so you guys better be prepared to keep up with my training regimen."
Naruto laughed lightly at this. "Oh I'm sure they are ready Asuma-sensei, especially that lazy bum over there." he nodded towards Shikamaru.
"Lazy huh?" Asuma said. "Don't worry, once I'm done with him, he will be one of the finest shinobi from Konoha."
'That he will.' Naruto thought.
"Gees Naruto, why do you have to be so troublesome? Now he's defiantly going to test my limits." Shikamaru said while narrowing his eyes at Naruto.
"Lighten up a little Shikamaru, you'll like his form of training, trust me." Naruto said as he patted Shikamaru's back. 'That Asuma is just as lazy as you are, Shikamaru'
"Ok, enough chit chat, we most be going. Let's go team ten." Asuma said. "Good luck guys!" Naruto said as team ten followed their sensei.
Asuma was nearly out of the door, but was surprised when a young female with red eyes appeared right in front of him.
"Well well, fancy seeing you here Asuma. Came to pick up your team?" The young girl asked.
"Actually, I came here to ask Iruka for some cigarettes, since I ran out." he said with a sarcastic tone of voice.
"Smartass. So who did you get for your team?" Kurenai asked while she moved inside of the classroom.
"Your looking at them." Asuma said.
Kurenai evaluated his students with a quick glance on each one.
"Are these the kids of those guys that you hang around at the bar?" she asked.
"Troblesome, even a total stranger knows that our parents are alcoholics." Shikamaru whined.
Ino hit the top of his head.
"Speak for yourself! My dad's NOT an alcoholic! Let that be the last time I catch you saying anything bad about my family again!" Ino yelled at Shikamaru. "And apologize to Choji! He might not mind as much, but I find it very disrespectful!"
Choji switch glances at both Shikamaru and Ino.
He finally settled his gaze at Ino and said, "Ino, it's alright. Me and Shikamaru have been friends for a long time. Don't take anything he says too personally, he usually just complains about everything."
"Looks like you have your work cut out for you Asuma" Kurenai snickered as she watch the display.
"This is going to be a long day." said Asuma.
"Lets go team, we have been set back long enough, it's time to see what you can do."
"Make sure you train them hard Asuma, they are going to need it if they want to stand a chance against my team." she said with an evil smirk.
"Yeah yeah, I'll see you later." He winked at her and left with his team.
"Men." she said lightheartedly. "Okay, which one of you groups is Team Eight?"
"That would be us." came a monotone voice. She looked at the boy with sunglasses and smiled towards her whole team. "Hello team, My name is Yuhi Kurenai and I have been assigned to be your sensei. Please follow me so that I can further evaluate your skills and find the best course of action for our team."
"Alright, let's go, Shino, Hinata, Akamaru." Kiba said, suddenly taking the role of the leader. They, all got up from their desk and walked towards their teacher.
"Excuse me, Kurenai-sama?" Naruto said out loud. Kurenai turned her head and looked at the blond boy. "Please, you don't have to treat me with that much respect." she snickered. "just call me Kurenai or Kurenai-sensei."
"Very well Kurenai-sensei. Sorry for interrupting you, but I was wondering if it would be possible if I could train with you guys on my spare time."
She scratched her temple and looked up while she thought about it. "Well, I don't see why not. If we are training and you don't have anything to do, your more than welcome…umm…"
"Naruto. The name is Uzumaki Naruto, and thank you." he said with a smile.
"My pleasure, come on team, let's go." Kurenai and her team left the building, leaving only team seven waiting.
Naruto stood up and looked at his team. 'Well, I guess it would be nice to give them a head start with their elemental training. I'll work on their taijustu once we officially become a team.'
"Oi Sasuke, Sakura-chan, I'm going to go outside for a couple of minutes to train, would you guys like to come with me?"
"But Naruto, we are supposed to be waiting for our Sensei. What if he shows up and we aren't here?" Sakura asked
"Don't worry, we won't go anywhere far, just outside the classroom, and if he comes in, he could see us through that window." Naruto pointed at the window to prove his point.
"So what do you say, are you in?" Naruto asked.
"Sure, I don't have a problem with it. Anything is better than just sitting here." Sasuke said.
"Well, If Sasuke is okay with it, I'll go too."
'That way, I can prove to him how strong I am! HELL YEAH!' Inner Sakura added in her thought as always.
"Okay. Lets go and see what you got." Naruto lead the team just outside of the classroom they were currently in.
There where three targets set up in front of them and they each got in front of the targets.
"Okay, first things first. What ninjustu do you guys have in your arsenal? You don't have to tell me everything, but I want to know at least your strongest attack." said Naruto as he looked at his teammates.
"Well, we all know all the basic jutsus that we learned here. Kawarimi, henge, and bushin no justu. I know a couple of fire techniques, but my strongest one is the Katon: Gōkakyu no Jutsu." Sasuke said with a hint of pride.
"Good good, I know a couple of techniques myself, but I usually favor the Kage Bushin no Jutsu. What about you Sakura-chan."
'Kage Bushin? Gōkakyu? Damn! All I know are the academy techniques! I can understand Sasuke being strong, but how the hell did Naruto learn the Kage Bushin?' Sakura thought as she stared at her teammates with a blank face.
"Well, all I really know are the academy techniques." Sakura said as she look down at the floor.
"Hey don't worry about it Sakura, everybody starts out like that. We will make sure you become stronger, I can promise you that" He said as he mimicked Lee's nice guy pose.
Sakura looked up with a smile and nodded with acknowledgment.
"Okay. Do you guys know your elemental affinity?" Naruto asked.
"…Our what?" Sasuke asked surprised Naruto knew something he didn't.
"Your Elemental affinity. Every body has at least one type of element that they are better suited for. Take me for instance, My affinity is wind. And since you are an Uchiha, yours is most likely fire, but it may be different. You never know unless you take the test."
"So how can we find out our affinity? Is the test hard?" Sakura asked.
Naruto looked at Sakura with a smile.
"I'm Glad you asked that Sakura-chan. I'll show you" Naruto reached into his holster and pulled out three pieces of paper.
"Here, hold this." He gave one peace of paper to each of his teammates.
"What's this for?" Sasuke asked eyeing the piece of paper.
"Why, that paper is what's going to tell you what type of affinity you favor. This paper will react to your chakra, and depending on your affinity, it will react a certain way. If you favor fire, the paper burns, if you favor water, it gets wet. If you favor wind, it splits in half, If you favor lightning, it scrunches up, and if you favor earth, it disintegrates. You follow?" Sasuke and Sakura nodded their heads.
"Ok let me demonstrate how to perform this test. Hold the paper between your index and middle finger and flow some chakra towards the paper. Like so" Naruto gathered chakra on his fingers and the paper split in half.
Sasuke and Sakura watched attentively and they were pleasantly surprised that Naruto wasn't just making stuff up.
"and that's all there is to it. Go ahead and try." Naruto said with a cheesy grin.
Sasuke looked at the piece of paper and put it between his index and middle fingers.
He gathered chakra on his fingers and the paper scrunched up.
"So, my affinity is lightning." Sasuke said with a smirk.
"Thanks dobe, now I know what type of jutsus to learn."
"Yeah, don't mention it. What are teammates for?" Sasuke couldn't help but smile at this.
He was beginning to like this team, but he sure as hell wasn't going to say that out loud.
Naruto could be just the guy to help him become strong enough to beat Danzō.
"Why don't you try it out Sakura? It should be interesting to know what type of affinity you have." Sasuke said as he looked at Sakura.
Sakura couldn't help but blush a little.
Sasuke was finally paying attention to her, and boy did she like it!
"H-Hai" she said a little to fast.
She put the paper between her index and middle finger and gathered chakra between her fingers.
At first the paper just stayed the same and she was wondering if she did it wrong.
"Naruto, nothing happened."
Naruto smirked at this.
"look closely Sakura-chan.."
Sakura gave him a confused look and turned her attention to the paper.
The paper started the crumble into little pieces and her fingers felt like they had dirt in them.
"Wow, that felt weird!" Sakura said.
"So I guess I favor earth techniques. It's going to be hard finding someone who could teach me these."
"Don't worry too much about it, just because you have an affinity to earth doesn't mean you can't learn other techniques. Plus, you never know what are new sensei might know." Naruto reassured Sakura.
Sakura beamed a little at this and asked, "What do we do now Naruto?"
Naruto thought for a few seconds, then he gave out a look that seamed like he got an epiphany.
"I got a couple of presents for you guys, but you must swear that you will not let anybody know about this. Trust me, it will be a great advantage if we are the only ones who know. So what do you say?"
"Sure, it's not like I like to give away my advantages. Are you going to show us some jutsus or what?" Sasuke asked.
"Well, yes, but that's not the advantage I was really thinking about. I plan to place a couple of seals on us. But it's up to you guys if you want it." Naruto said.
"As long as it doesn't have any bad side effects, I'm okay with it. What do you say Sakura?" Sasuke asked.
'YES, Sasuke-kun finally wants to know what I think! Hell yeah! Take that Ino-pig!'
"Sure, if it truly makes us advantageous, I'm all for it." said Sakura.
"Alright, let me just get you guys set up, might as well start with the gravity seal." Naruto took out his scroll utensils and started drawing gravity seals on their left hands.
He also drew one on his hand.
The seal looked like some sort of circle with a ring going around it vertically.
"Ok guys, I need you to draw a circle around the seal with some of your blood. I suggest you bite your thumb with your canine tooth." said Naruto as he did this himself.
'Shit, this is going to hurt.' thought Sakura as she raised her thumb and bit it to draw some blood.
Sasuke was having the same line of thought as he bit his thumb and drew the required circle around the seal.
"Ok, We are almost done with this seal, just wait a few minutes." Naruto said.
Once they where ready, Naruto snapped three of his fingers and slammed them on top of his left hand.
The blood was absorbed by the seal and the ring rotated once, disappearing once the rotation was done.
Once Naruto finished sealing Sasuke and Sakura's seal, he started explaining, "Okay, what I just put on your left hand is a gravity seal. The purpose of the seal is to increase your weight evenly around your body. This could be a great trump card if you increase the seals gravity exponentially. To change the amount of gravitational pull, draw a number on top of your left hand with blood while applying chakra. Your body weight will be multiplied according to the number you put on the seal. If you want to go back to your original weight, all you do is draw the number one on your hand. Got it."
"Um, I got a question." Sakura said. "Why did the seal disappear once you activated it?"
"Well, the seal didn't really disappear, it's just hidden from prying eyes. It is designed so that nobody will think you have it, thus, this is the reason it could be a trump card." Naruto answered.
"Where did you learn how to do this Naruto?" asked Sasuke.
He was getting very suspicious.
The Naruto he knew acted like a moron and never showed any promise with jutsus.
Now, he seems very knowledgeable.
"Does it really matter? Look, the reason I'm showing you this is because you are my teammates and I trust you guys. I didn't want everyone to know that I am actually a descent shinobi. People will underestimate me and that will be their downfall."
Sasuke smirked at his answer.
'Who would of thought that the dobe was actually thinking ahead. He even had me fooled.'
"I suggest you don't increase the weight right now. We will have plenty of time to train later. When you decide to activate it, start of at two. You will understand why once you do." he said smiling a bit.
"Now, I got one more seal to put on you guys. Lift up your right hand." Sakura and Sasuke complied.
He applied the same seal that he put on Hinata and activated them.
"Those are what I like to call tracking seals. It lets me know exactly where you guys are at, but that's not the best part. If you gather chakra on your right arm and concentrate, we could communicate via telepathy. Just think about the person you want to talk to and think out what you want to say as you apply chakra to the seal. Simple as that."
"Am I doing this right Naruto" asked Sakura as she talked via telepathy at Naruto.
"That's perfect Sakura-chan, try talking to Sasuke."
"Sasuke-kun, can you hear me?" she asked.
"Yeah, loud and clear. Leave it to Naruto to devise something as sneaky as this." Sakura laughed out loud at this.
"What's so funny?" asked Naruto. "Oh, nothing." Sakura said simply.
Naruto eyed Sakura and Sasuke for a bit, but decided to move along.
"So Sasuke," Naruto turned his head toward Sasuke.
"You said your strongest attack was the Goukakyuu no Jutsu?"
"Yeah, I learned it when I was younger. It took me a while, but it was worth it." Sasuke said.
"Ok, I'm going to teach you a stronger fire technique. Watch closely." Naruto turned around and faced his target.
He concentrated chakra on his lungs.
He did a hand seal that was a shock to Sasuke's system. Naruto took a deep breath and out came a flaming dragon out of his mouth.
To say Sasuke was shocked was an understatement.
He knew what that technique was.
It's a B rank jutsu that only a few Uchiha's where able to master.
The dragon continued flying along its coordinated path and destroyed the target.
"I'm guessing that by the look of your face that you know exactly what technique is."
Sasuke nodded his head dumbly.
"T-That's the Katon: Gōryūka no Jutsu, isn't it?" Sakura asked while she looked bug eyed at the target.
"……Teach me!" Sasuke demanded.
Naruto laughed out loud at the way Sasuke looked.
Sasuke narrowed his eyes at Naruto.
Once Naruto calmed down, he continued his lecture.
"Okay, first gather chakra at your lungs just like you would with the Gōkakyu. The hand seal is simple as it's only Tiger. Once you've done that, aim and blow. You can control the dragon's path as long as it's still active."
Sasuke turned around and looked at his target. He gathered chakra on his lungs, did the required hand seal and blew out a small dragon from his mouth. It moved off to the left and disappeared before it went even five feet.
"Try putting more chakra into your lungs." Naruto advised Sasuke.
Sasuke continued to practice while Naruto turned his head towards Sakura.
"While he's busy doing that, how about I'll show you something?" Naruto said while he lead Sakura a few meters away from Sasuke.
"Okay, am I going to learn an earth jutsu?" She asked with hopeful eyes.
"Nope, I'm going to show you something more useful."
Naruto pulled out a kunai and hissed with pain as he sliced his forearm.
"AAAAH!" Sakura shrieked.
"What the fuck Naruto! Are you crazy? Shit, that cut looks deep!" she said as she looked at the blood that was pouring out of his forearm.
" I'll go get some help!" Sakura was about to leave when Naruto grabbed her arm to stop her.
"Wait Sakura-chan, watch." Naruto lifter up his other hand and focused chakra on his palm.
His hand glowed green and gave out a low hum.
Naruto then placed it where he cut himself and the cut healed, leaving his forearm looking like new.
"This is a basic medical jutsu. You need near perfect chakra control in order to perform this technique. It shouldn't be a problem for you, since most Kunoichi have that trait. I want you to at least learn this technique. If you like it, maybe you can find someone to teach you more. This is the only medical technique I know."
"Ok Naruto, but what am I going to practice on?" Naruto sliced his forearm again.
Sakura shrieked and hit Naruto on his head.
"Stop doing that dumbass! I appreciate you teaching me this but I don't want to see you get hurt."
"Well, it's too late now, might as well practice before I die of blood loss Sakura." Sakura watched Naruto's arm and started panicking.
"Oh god, what do I do!?" she asked frantically.
Naruto chuckled. "First, calm down a bit, If your not calm, your going to hurt me more than help me."
Sakura started breathing in and out until she was under control. "Okay, what I need you to do is to gather chakra on your palm. Try to control the output and vibrate the chakra as you let some of it flow out of your palm.
Sakura focused on her hand, and sure enough, her hand was glowing green.
"Good, good. Now, all you have to do is place your palm above my cut and try to imagine healing my arm." He said.
"Ok, I'll give it a shot." Sakura waved her palm over Naruto's hand and she slowly saw that his hand was healing.
'This is so cool!' she thought.
'Wait till Ino hears about this! She will have to acknowledge that I'm better than her, and Sasuke-kun will be all mine!' She smiled triumphantly as she finished healing Naruto's arm.
"Ok, do you want to try it again?" Naruto asked.
"Well, I do, but I don't want you to keep hurting yourself. I'll rather practice when one of you guys get injured when practicing. Besides, I think I got the concept down." she said.
"Ok, let's go see how Sasuke is doing." Sakura nodded her head and followed Naruto.
"Oi, Sasuke!" Naruto yelled.
Sasuke stopped in the middle of his hand seal and turned towards Naruto.
"What do you want Naruto, I'm still practicing!" He yelled back.
Naruto got closer and looked at Sasuke's shattered target.
He eyed Sasuke for a bit and then asked, "So how are you handling the technique?"
"I've gotten the hang of it, but I'm having trouble controlling the direction of it's path. That and it wasn't as big as yours…yet." he smirked.
"Oh, you think you'll be able to match the size of my dragon?" Naruto asked with a hint of a challenge.
"Not only that, I'll make sure it's bigger than yours dobe." Sasuke said.
"One word of advice Sasuke. Learn to control the dragon first before you increase its size. Come on, let's go back inside. Our sensei should arrive anytime now, plus we should save some chakra in case he test us or something." Naruto said.
Sasuke agreed to this and they went inside the classroom to wait for their missing sensei.
It has been 30 minutes since team seven finished practicing outside of the Academy.
Their jounin instructor was still no where in sight and Naruto was getting impatient.
Naruto checked what his teammates were doing.
Sasuke was still practicing the path of the Katon: Gōryūka no Jutsu, by now, he practically had it moving to the point of it being a reflex as if it where a part of his body.
Sakura, however, was just admiring Sasuke practicing the jutsu.
'God Kakashi-sensei, how long are you going to take?' Naruto thought. He decided to check up with Hinata to see what she was doing.
"Oi, Hinata-chan? Are you with your team right now?" Naruto asked via telepathy.
Hinata was startled at the sudden voice in her head and blushed lightly when she figured out Naruto was talking to her.
"Konnichiwa Naruto-kun. Yes, I'm with my teammates. Kurenai-sensei is testing Kiba-kun and Akamaru right now. I'll be next once his turn is done."
"I see. Well, my teammates and I are still stuck at the academy. Our jounin instructor hasn't arrived yet and I wanted to check up on you." Naruto said.
Hinata felt her cheeks burn at the thought of Naruto thinking about her.
"Don't worry about me Naruto-kun, I'm fine. My teammates turned out to be nice so far, we really get along well. I hope your not having any problems with your team." She replied.
Naruto looked at his teammates.
Sasuke was currently trying to improve his timing on hitting the target, while Sakura was keeping track of his speed with a stop watch.
"How fast was it this time?" Sasuke eyed Sakura, hoping he at least tied his current record.
"One point three seconds. You where faster than the other time, good job!" Sakura said, smiling with approval.
Sasuke gave her a cocky smirk and continued with his exercise.
Sakura didn't even miss a beat.
"We seem to get a long better than I first expected, but it still is too early to tell. I can only hope this keeps up." Naruto replied Hinata.
"Gomen Naruto-kun, I got to cut our conversation short. Kiba just finished being evaluated. I have to go." Hinata said with a reluctant tone of voice.
"It's ok Hinata-chan, It was fun talking to you. Go show Kurenai-sensei what your made of!" Naruto said, trying to encourage her.
Hinata gave of a happy smile.
Then she answered.
"I will Naruto-kun. I'll give it my best." and with that, she cut off the conversation.
Naruto gave of a smile of his own.
'Good luck, Hinata-chan' he thought.
Team seven waited five more minutes until their sensei finally arrived.
"Konnichiwa! Are you three team seven?" the jounin instructor asked.
"YOUR LATE!" yelled Sakura while giving off an irritated vibe. The jounin instructor didn't even notice.
"Gomen. You see, I was walking down the street when a black cat crossed my path. I had to take a detour." The jounin instructor said coolly.
"THAT"S your excuse!?" Sakura yelled while giving off steam on the side of her ears.
"Your lucky Naruto gave us something to do, or else I would of strangle you by now."
"Oh really?" The jounin Instructor said looking directly at Naruto.
Naruto shurged his shoulders with indifference.
"I see, and what did you gave them to do?" He asked.
"You will find out sooner or later. It depends on how far you push us." was Naruto's simple reply.
"Is that's so? Alright, I like what I see so far. Why don't we all meet up at the roof and get started?"
"Sure thing" replied Sasuke, getting up from his chair. "The sooner we start, the better. Lead the way."
The Jounin smiled.
"Hai." was the simple response.
Team seven followed their sensei to the roof and they each sat down on the bench; their sensei sitting just across from them.
"Ok. I would like to start things of with introductions. In order for us to be a successful team, we must know each other like the back of our hands. I would like to hear each of you guys' dreams, likes, dislikes, and anything else you can think of."
"Um, sensei? Can you give us an example? We really don't know that much about you. Your almost a stranger." Asked Sakura.
"Me?" Asked the jounin instructor, clearly surprised.
"Well ok then, I'll start things off" He said with a closed eye witch can only be identified as a smile.
"My name is Hatake Kakashi. I'm the type of person who doesn't feel like talking about his likes and dislikes. My dreams for the future are none of your business... But anyway I have lots of hobbies."
Sakura bummed a little at this.
"So all we learned is your name." she said in a low voice.
"Okay, now you, whiskers. Tell us your name, likes, dislikes. Etc."
Naruto smiled and gave a mock bow.
"Hai. My name is Uzumaki Naruto. I like many things in life, particularly my friends and the other people I consider family. What I despise most of all in this world are people who hurt others for the sake of power "
Sasuke nodded as if agreeing with Naruto.
"o and people who can't look underneath the underneath. One of my goals in life is to protect those who are precious to me, that's why I want to become the best Hokage this village has ever seen." Naruto finished.
'I like this kid' Kakashi smiled, 'his mind on the right track, and with a little help, he might just make that dream come true.'
"Very good Naruto. Now your turn raven." Kakashi said as he eyed Sasuke.
"My name is Uchiha Sasuke. There are plenty of things I hate but I don't see that it matters, considering there is almost nothing I do like. It seems pointless to talk about "dreams"... That's just a word... But what I do have is determination.I plan to restore my clan. And there's someone i have sworn... To kill." Sasuke said with his hands covering his mouth.
His eyes seaming to get even darker as he talked.
"Sasuke-kun is so cool!" Sakura thought a blush appearing on her face.
"I'll make sure to help you Sasuke. This time Itachi will be alive and Danzō will die." Naruto thought eyes going down and looking at the floor.
"... I suspected as much..." Kakashi thought wondering what would happen to the last Uchiha in the future.
"And finally... The young lady." He said with a smile under his mask showing only with his one eye turning up.
"Hai. My name is Haruno Sakura. My favorite thing is… Well it's not a thing, it's a person. A boy... And that boy is..." she eyed Sasuke with a blush, then continued.
"My favorite hobby is…" she eyed Sasuke again and blushed a little bit more. "As for my dreams…" She eyed Sasuke and squealed with delight while kicking her legs. "I hate…"
She looked at Naruto, he seemed to be paying attention to everything that she has been saying.
'Do I really hate him?' She thought. '..No, he proved to me that he can be tolerable. Plus, he did show me that nifty medical technique.'
"…Well, I can't think of anything I hate or dislike right now sensei."
'Oh boy.' Kakashi thought.
'kids these days seem to enjoy love more than ninjutsu.'
"That's good Sakura."
"Ok now that we know a little bit about each other, we can start with our duties tomorrow." Kakashi said simply.
"Are we starting our first mission sensei?" Asked Sakura. Naruto laughed a little at this.
"What's so funny Naruto!?" Sakura asked him, furious that she was being laughed at.
"Oh nothing. I just remembered a joke that Kiba told me a while back." he lied.
Everyone seemed to buy his excuse.
"Well Sakura, I was thinking of doing something with the four of us…survival training."
Sakura got a little mad at this.
"Survival training? But Kakashi-sensei, we done enough of this type of training at the academy." she whined.
"This isn't any normal training Sakura. During this exercise, I will be your opponent. Your going to be tested on your abilities as a shinobi, in your case, a kunoichi. The real funny thing is…oh never mind, forget that part."
"What is it Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto played the part perfectly.
"Well, The thing is, out of the twenty seven people who graduated from the academy, only nine of you will pass and become Genin. Sucks to be you right now, doesn't it?" Kakashi laughed out loud.
Sakura paled and Sasuke sweated a little over the news, but Naruto took the news rather well.
"Aren't you worried about this test Naruto?" asked Kakashi.
"Not really, I'm pretty sure I can pass your test. It'll be a piece of cake!" Naruto said with his wide grin.
"Confident aren't we? If your ready, then show up at this current location at the required time, don't be late." Kakashi said as he handed his students a piece of paper. "One piece of advice. Don't eat breakfast, you will only throw up if you do."
"Ok Kakashi-sensei. We will meet you there tomorrow morning, right guys?" Naruto said.
"Of course we are, no stupid test is going to scare me away!" said Sakura with much needed confidence she was missing a little earlier.
Sasuke smirked and gave a grunt of approval.
'Looks like their teamwork is going good so far, lets see if it stays that way tomorrow.' Kakashi thought as he took his leave.
"Well, I'm off to enjoy the rest of my day. I'll meet you guys up tomorrow morning. Oh, don't activate the gravity seal until we are finished with our test, it will only mess us up if we do."
"Sure thing. I'll see you later baka." Sasuke said as he took his leave.
"Naruto, thank you for everything. I'll make sure I find a way to repay you, I promise." Sakura smiled at Naruto, who blushed his a little at the attention he got.
"No problem. I'll meet up with you tomorrow Sakura-chan!" he gave her a sincere smile.
Sakura turned around and yelled at the top of her lungs.
"Sasuke-kun! Wait for me!" She ran towards the fading figure.
The following morning
Sasuke and Sakura where waiting at the designated training field, there where no sign of Kakashi or Naruto.
Sakura was grinding her teeth.
"Where the hell are those two? They should have been here by now. It's been over an hour!" Sasuke was sitting near a tree, resting his head against it.
It appeared that he was sleeping.
Naruto's body was beginning to appear before the horizon, and once he got close enough, he greeted his teammates loudly.
"Ohayo Sakura-chan, Sasuke. How are you guys this morning!?" he said grinning.
"YOUR LATE! What the hell happen!? Did you forget that we had an important meeting!?" Sakura screamed at him, practically leaking a malicious vibe.
"Gomennasai Sakura-chan. I was just thinking of your beauty and I must of lost track of the time." He said without missing a beat.
Sakura blushed madly at this and hit him over the head.
"You pervert! Stop thinking of me that way!" She yelled at Naruto, who only seemed to snicker at the way she responded to his excuse.
"Gomen Gomen! I won't think of you like that anymore, I swear." Naruto said smirking evilly.
His facial expression only got Sakura's blush to increase a little more, but she resisted the urge to hit him once again and calmed down.
Naruto looked around for Sasuke, he found him sleeping against a tree.
"Oi, Sasuke!" Naruto yelled.
Sasuke slowly opened his eyes and looked for the source for his rude awakening.
"What is it, is Kakashi here?" He asked sleepily.
"Not yet, but I was wondering if you where hungry. I brought some breakfast for you and Sakura-chan." Naruto said as he waved a bento box to prove his point.
"Naruto, didn't you hear Kakashi-sensei's warning?" Sakura asked.
"Yes I did, but I just figured that if we are going to do this test, and only a moron goes into battle with no energy so I thought we might as well do this test while we are full of energy. We are going up against a Jounin after all." Naruto said.
"The dobe has a point. I want to be at my best when I go up against him." Sasuke said.
"Alright. If you guys think it's for the best, then I'll eat too." Sakura said
And so, team seven enjoyed a good breakfast and passed the time talking about their current situation.
Two (or more)hours later
Kakashi-sensei arrived after a few leaves appeared out of nowhere, courtesy of his Shunshin No Jutsu.
"Ohayo! How is my team doing this morning?" Kakashi said with what appeared to be a smile.
"YOUR LATE SENSEI!" Sakura screamed at the top of her lungs.
"Gomen, There was this little boy that was crying on the street on my way over here, and being a good shinobi of the leaf, I had to make sure he was okay."
Sakura gave Kakashi a critical eye, and accepted his excuse.
Naruto however, smirked at this while Sasuke gave his grunt of disapproval.
Kakashi took out an alarm clock and set it.
"Ok It's set for noon." He said simply.
"Your task is to take these bells away from me before the time runs out." Kakashi said as he pulled out two bells.
"Those who can't get a bell from me get no lunch. I'll not only tie you to one of these stumps," he said while pointing at three logs.
"but I'll also eat your lunch right in front of you."
'Thank god Naruto thought ahead and brought breakfast, this would of surely sucked ass without it.' Sakura thought.
As for Sasuke, he was having the same line of thought.
"You only need to get one bell. As you can see, there are only two bells, so one of you will definitely be tied to a stump, and the person who does fails, so at least one of you will go back to the academy."
All three of the students paled.
Of course, Naruto played the part flawlessly.
"You can use any weapons in your arsenal." Kakashi continued.
"You will not succeed unless you come at me intending to kill. We will start when I say so. Ready?" He ask.
Everybody tensed up. "You may begin!"
All three students jumped out of sight and hid somewhere in the forest.
"Sakura-chan, can you hear me?" Asked Naruto.
Sakura looked around for Naruto but couldn't find him.
"If your looking for me, don't bother, I'm using the tracking seal to talk to you, remember?"
Sakura soon remembered and channeled some chakra into her seal.
"Yeah yeah, I know. What is it?" she asked with an icy tone.
"I have a plan. I'm going to need your help on this. Your going to have to trust me. If your willing to help me, I'll get you a bell." Said Naruto.
"But if you and I get a bell, that means Sasuke-kun won't get one. I can't do that to him! I can find a way to get a bell myself." Sakura said
"Sakura-chan, don't worry about that. I'll make sure Sasuke passes too, but your going to have to trust me!" Naruto yelled at Sakura, trying to convince her.
Sakura sighed and relented.
"I hope you know what your doing baka. You got my attention, what's the plan." Naruto smirked and told Sakura and Sasuke his plan.
Meanwhile…
'Good, all three of them are hidden well. At least they have the basics down.' Kakashi thought.
"Oi Kakashi-sensei! I am your opponent! Fight me!" Yelled Naruto.
'Good, looks like he already started.' Thought Sasuke.
Kakashi just sweat dropped at his student's bluntness.
"You're a bit confident, aren't you?" Kakashi said.
"Lesson one: Taijutsu I'll teach you a thing or two about it." Kakashi pulled out an orange book out of his kunai holster and started reading it.
"What's wrong? Hurry and come at me." Kakashi said.
Naruto started laughing out loud.
Kakashi looked up from his book and stared at Naruto.
"You just made a big mistake sensei." Naruto said as he disappeared from his spot.
Kakashi's eye widened in shock.
"What the fu.." Kakashi couldn't even finish his sentence when he felt a sandal on his face.
Naruto smirked triumphantly, until Kakashi, turned into a log.
"Shit, Kawarimi no jutsu." Naruto said out loud.
'Damn he moves fast! I barely managed to pulled that one on time.' Kakashi thought as he eyed Naruto from a tree.
"What's the matter Kakashi-sensei. I thought you where going to show me a thing or two about taijutsu!" Naruto screamed out loud as if to be looking for him.
Naruto felt his sensei's chakra signature rushing towards him and dodged a punch aimed at his face.
Then he dodge a kick aimed for his stomach.
Kakashi kept launching attacks and Naruto dodged accordingly, while Kakashi did the same as Naruto launched his attacks.
'If he could dodge this many attacks, I might have to start getting serious.' Kakashi thought.
Just as he was about to try another tactic, Naruto showed an opening.
Kakashi smirked.
'Perfect!' he thought.
Kakashi disappeared from his view and appeared behind him.
"WHAT THE HELL?" Naruto yelled in surprise.
"A ninja isn't suppose to get caught from behind." Kakashi said as he placed his hands in the tiger seal.
'Oh shit, That teme's up to something! He isn't just running around.' Sasuke thought.
"Naruto! Get out of there! Your going to get killed!" Sakura yelled getting Naruto's attention.
"Too late! Hidden Leaf Ancient Taijustu Supreme Technique: A Thousand Years of Death!!" Screamed Kakashi.
As soon as his technique connected, Naruto disappeared in a puff of smoke.
"Kage-Bunshin!?" Kakashi yelled in surprise.
A pair of hands rose from the ground and got a hold of Kakashi's ankles.
"Shit!" Kakashi screamed.
'that's my cue.' thought Sakura.
Sakura jumped from her hiding place and ran towards Kakashi with a kunai at hand.
'Oh crap, I don't have enough time to escape.' He thought.
He was expecting for her to attack him, but she threw the kunai several feet away from his location.
A wire was cut and a barrage of kunai headed his way.
'…This won't end well.' Kakashi thought just before he was impaled by at least eight kunai.
While Kakashi hissed in pain, Sakura used it as a distraction and managed to grab a bell before being Punched a few feet away.
Kakashi managed to get free from Naruto's hold and jumped into the forest.
Naruto used this as a chance to check up on Sakura.
"Sakura-chan, are you okay?" Sakura started to laugh triumphantly as she picked herself up from the floor.
She looked at Naruto, wiped the blood off her face and showed him the bell.
"What do you think Naruto? Did I do okay?" She asked while she rubbed her swollen cheek.
"You did great Sakura-chan! Go ahead and rest. I'll carry out the rest of the plan." Sakura nodded and headed towards a tree to rest.
'Damn it! I underestimated them.' Kakashi thought as he pulled out the last kunai from his body.
'It seems like Naruto worked well with Sakura, but he still needs to learn to work together as a team. At least I don't have to worry about Sakura anymore.'
Kakashi scanned the area for chakra signatures and found out that Sasuke was his closest target.
'Might as well, test this one.'
Kakashi used a genjutsu around Sasuke.
At first, Sasuke started to feel funny, then he found out that he was in a totally different part of the forest.
'What the hell?' he thought.
"S-Sasuke." a weak voice said that sounded like Sakura.
Sasuke turned his head around and was shocked at what he saw.
Right in front of him, Sakura was laying there with a whole lot of kunai and shuriken embedded inside her body.
"H-Help me S-Sasuke. Please!" Sasuke looked at the scene and he thought something was off.
Then it clicked.
"Ok, cut the crap sensei. That's not Sakura."
The current genjutsu dispelled itself and there before him appeared Kakashi.
"Lesson two: Genjutsu. I see that you managed to detect mine. May I ask how you figured it out?" Kakashi asked.
Sasuke's lips turned into a smirk.
"Easy, Although you had her voice and facial expressions perfect, you failed to realize one thing. Sakura always calls me Sasuke-kun, never just Sasuke."
Kakashi smiled a bit.
"I see that you are perceptive. But can you get the bell before your friend does?"
"You can count on it!" Sasuke jump forward and started launching his series of attacks.
'Not bad, he's pretty fast for his age, and packs quite a punch.' Kakashi thought as he analyzed his student.
Sasuke jump back and did a series of hand seals.
Kakashi's eyes widen in surprised.
'No way! There's no way in hell he knows that technique at this age. He shouldn't have the amount of chakra required to use it!'
'Katon: Gōkakyu no Jutsu!' Sasuke thought.
Sasuke aimed the fireball at Kakashi and got a direct hit.
Once the fire cleared, there was no sign of the body.
'What the?' Sasuke thought.
He felt a pair of hands on his feet.
"Doton: Shinjū Zanshu no Jutsu!" screamed Kakashi.
"Lesson three: Ninjutsu. Well, you are already heads above the others in this area" Kakashi chuckled as he rubbed Sasuke's hair.
Sasuke smirked and looked up at Kakashi.
"A ninja isn't suppose to leave their guard down, isn't that right Kakashi-sensei?" Sasuke said.
Kakashi raised an eyebrow and felt a chakra signature rising behind him.
'No way!' Kakashi thought as he turned around.
'If that's Sasuke, then…' Kakashi looked at the Sasuke that was buried underground, only to find that he wasn't there anymore.
Kakashi felt a pair of hands reaching for his feet, but he jumped out of the way.
"That same trick won't work twice!" Kakashi yelled as he landed near a tree.
"Who ever said it would?" Kakashi's eyes widen with surprise as a kunai was placed over his throat.
"What are you doing Sakura, don't you already have a bell?"
"I know your surprised Kakashi-sensei, but just because I already passed doesn't mean that I won't help my other teammates pass." She answered.
Kakashi looked for a way to escape.
He could use kawarimi, but that will only leave him open for Sasuke's attack.
Plus, there was no telling where Naruto is.
"Hand over the bell sensei." Sakura asked.
He had no choice but to comply.
She tossed the bell towards Sasuke and just as he grabbed it, the bell rang.
"Whew, glad that's over. Everybody gather around!" Kakashi ordered.
As soon as they got together Kakashi started speaking.
"Congratulations on getting the bells. You are the first team that has ever managed to succeed in acquiring one, let alone both of them. Mind telling me how you managed to get them?"
"Well," Sakura began, "In order for us to get the first bell, Naruto had to devise a distraction while I prepared a kunai trap that was set up while you where having that taijutsu match. Once I found an opening, I pretended that I was going for you in order to further confuse you, giving me enough time to get a bell." Sakura said.
"The second bell," Sasuke started.
"Was also based on a distraction. While I was caught on the gengutsu, Naruto prepared for the deception. As soon as I finished my Gōkakyu no Jutsu, Naruto used a henge and kawarimi combination in order for him to trick you into using your technique on him."
"I was basically used for a distraction." Naruto continued.
"while Sasuke gathered chakra, Sakura was getting ready for the ambush while I made you think I was going to attack you. "
"That's very good team, but I have one question for you. How did you decide who got the bells?"
"Well, we figured that if we didn't work together, nobody would get the bells." Naruto said.
"So I decided to take the dive. It's better to have at least two people pass than none, right? Besides, It's not the first time I've failed an exam." He said with a cheesy grin.
Kakashi looked at his current team.
He couldn't help smile with pride.
"Congratulations Team, you all pass."
"Huh?" Naruto acted surprised.
Kakashi's smile widened and continued.
"You're the first team to actually put your differences aside and work together as a team to accomplish a goal. Sakura, you already had a bell, yet, you helped Naruto and Sasuke acquire the last one."
Kakashi turned his attention to a stone with names written on it.
"Look at this stone. All the names you see here are ninjas that have been recognized as heroes of the village."
Naruto saddened at the thought, he knew where this was going.
"But these are not normal heroes. These are heroes who died in the line of duty. My best friend's name is also in this stone."
The current team fell into a state of depression.
"Before he died, my friend once told me this. Those who break the rules are trash, but you know what? Those who don't care for their comrades are lower than trash! Based on what I've seen with your performance, I can happily say that you guys are ready to begin your Genin career."
Team seven looked up at their sensei with admiration in their eyes.
"Congratulations, as of tomorrow, Team seven will be on active duty!"
"YES! We did it guys! We are officially Genins now!" Naruto screamed with joy.
Sakura jumped happily on top of Sasuke and punched her hand in the air.
"Hell yeah! With our teamwork, nobody will be able to stop us!" She yelled.
Sasuke smirked at the thought of being unstoppable but quickly brought Sakura down and away from him.
"Make sure you guys get plenty of rest, out team will meet here at 0800 hours, dismissed."
The following morning, two members of team seven where waiting patiently at the bridge.
They had gotten there five minutes early and where still trying to fully shake off their sleepiness.
Sakura yawn lightly.
"Ohayo Sasuke-kun, How long have you been here?" She asked.
Sasuke turned his head slowly and addressed the question.
"I say about two minutes, tops. I hope They're not late like last time."
Sakura blushed a little remembering the incident with Naruto.
"They better not! I won't stand for irresponsible people." She said.
Naruto appeared right on time and greeted his teammates.
"Ohayo Sakura-chan, Sasuke. You guys ready for our first mission?" Naruto asked with a smile on his face.
"Sure, lets just see if your up for the challenge dobe." Sasuke replied.
Naruto laughed lightheartedly and stretched his muscles a bit.
"Have you guys activated your gravity seals yet?" He asked.
Both Sakura and Sasuke looked at each other to see if they had.
Neither of them showed any indication that they had.
"So I guess that's a no. You guys might as well activate them right now so that you can get used to it, I did it yesterday after our team meeting was over." Naruto said.
"Alright, you said to start off with twice as much gravity, right?" Asked Sakura.
Naruto nodded his head to confirm her inquiry.
"Alright, go ahead. Don't keep me waiting." said Naruto.
Sasuke was the first to move.
He quickly bit his thumb and drew the number two on his left hand.
Sakura did the same, following Sasuke's example.
They waited for a while and nothing happened.
Sasuke and Sakura looked up at Naruto for an explanation.
"You got to put some chakra on the seal once you write down the number. Everything should start working once you do." Naruto answered the implied question.
Sasuke and Sakura did just that and where amazed at what they saw.
The gravity seal appeared on their hand and absorbed the blood. T
he ring surrounding the circle rotated twice around it and locked in place, vanishing from their sight.
"Did it work, I don't really feel any different." Asked Sakura.
Naruto snickered a little bit at the comment.
"Is that so?" He asked. "Come over here then."
Sakura took her first step with her seal activated and quickly felt her foot being pushed down.
She stumbled a bit and landed on her knees.
"Whoa! This feels totally weird! I thought we where going to be heavier, but it just feels like someone is trying to push me to the floor." She said.
Naruto laughed a bit and looked at Sasuke.
"Well, what are you waiting for, try walking Sasuke."
Naruto had to give Sasuke some credit.
He didn't walk perfectly, but Sasuke sure did better than he did when he first developed the jutsu with Sai.
"As Sakura mentioned, your body will feel pretty much the same if you stand still, but you will feel a difference when you move around. The purpose of this seal is to increase our strength and speed. You don't even have to train much, Everyday movements will make your body stronger, although I recommend that we do train to get used to it." Naruto said.
Sakura was not enjoying this at all.
She was having trouble keeping her balance and kept falling to her knees.
Sasuke would help her up at times and would suffer the consequences when he did.
"Naruto! How long before we get used to this?!" Sasuke asked, clearly irritated.
"Give it some time Sasuke. You will get the hang of walking after a few hours, but It will take a couple of weeks before you'll be able to move like you used to." Naruto answered.
Sasuke grumbled some incoherent words under his breath.
While team seven was trying to get used to the gravity, Kakashi appeared near the bridge to greet his team.
"Ohayo! How is everyone doing today?" Kakashi greeted as he pulled out his orange book.
Sakura turned around to look at her sensei.
"Your Late again sensei! That's three times in a row! You better have a good excuse this time!" Sakura yelled.
"Oh but I do. I had to go register the three of you to be official Genin. I also had to pick up our mission for today." Kakashi replied honestly for once.
Sakura lightened up at hearing the word mission and asked, "So what type of mission did we get sensei?"
"I will give you the mission briefing once we arrive at the location, but first," Kakashi said with a twinkle in his eye, "We are going to do some light exercises."
Kakashi had both Sakura and Sasuke's full attention at hearing the word exercises.
"What are we going to do?" asked Sasuke.
Naruto was just laughing inwardly at his teammates misfortune.
"Well, just something we will be doing everyday to get our blood pumping in the mornings. I want you guys to run one lap around the border of Konoha and meet me back over here." Kakashi said simply.
Both Sasuke and Sakura paled at the thought.
'That's at least four miles, and with the gravity seal it's going to be a lot harder!' Sakura thought.
'If I can't do this, I'll never be strong enough to defeat…Him.' Sasuke thought.
'It won't be easy, with three times normal gravity, but I have more experience with it then they do.' Naruto thought.
To say they where having trouble was an understatement.
They had to stop five times to catch their breath.
Naruto seemed more beat than the others, but he was still smiling every step of the way.
'If this keeps up,' Naruto thought, 'we will defiantly be better prepared for the Chunin exams.'
Once they made it back at the bridge, Kakashi began talking.
"Good job! Now that you're here, I want you guys to do one hundred push ups, one hundred sit ups, and one hundred squats. After that we can start the mission."
'God damn it!' Sasuke yelled in his mind.
Sakura paled but decided that the sooner she finished, the sooner she could start the mission.
All three students where pretty much wiped out when they where done with their exercises.
"How do you guys feel?" Kakashi asked.
"Can't you tell by looking at us sensei?" replied Naruto as he wiped the sweat out of his face.
"Hai, well what do you say if we get the mission underway?" Kakashi asked his students.
Right now, they all seemed like they would rather lay down on the floor and rest, but since it was their first mission, they perked up quickly.
"I can't wait!" said Sakura with enthusiasm.
Kakashi let his team to a nearby park and stopped all of a sudden.
"What's the matter Kakashi-sensei?" Asked Sakura.
"We're here!" He said, as if they arrived to the world's greatest party.
"Are we going to meet the client here?" Sasuke asked.
"No no, our current mission is to clean up the sure every piece of trash is picked up from the floor." Stated Kakashi.
There was an eerie silence.
"THAT'S our mission!?" yelled Sakura.
"It's stupid, aren't we suppose to guard people, deliver important documents, track missing-nins and things of that sort?" Sasuke asked
"Hai, we do have some missions that are like those. Some are even more dangerous, but as of right now, you guys are the lowest rank of ninjas. You have to get some experience in your belt before we can get a decent mission." Kakashi said.
"…and you think the best way to gain experience is to pick up trash?" Sakura deadpanned.
"Come on guys, it isn't that bad." Naruto said.
Sasuke looked at his current task and sweat dropped.
"Not that bad!? Did you even look at all the trash that's here? It looks like a tornado recently passed through here!" Sasuke yelled with annoyance.
His rant went through deaf ears.
Naruto had already started picking up trash.
Sasuke sighed.
'This really sucks. I already did a hundred squats with the stupid seal activated, now I have to bend down and pick up all this shit!' he thought.
He and Sakura went to work.
By the time they where done, their whole bodies where sore to the point where it hurt to breathe.
"Good work team! Mission accomplished! We don't have anymore duties today, so you are all free for the rest of the day." Kakashi said and vanished after a twirl of leaves appeared before him.
"So, do you guys want to keep training?" Asked Naruto.
Sakura quickly shook her head.
"Are you crazy! I'm dead tired. I'm going home to get some beauty sleep. You can do whatever you want Naruto." she said as she headed towards her house.
"I would train with you, but she has a point. Anymore training and I'll damage my body more than I'll help it. I'll see you tomorrow dobe." Sasuke said as he headed towards his house.
Naruto thought for a moment and got an idea.
"Hinata-chan, It's Naruto. Are you busy right now?" Naruto asked.
"Hello Naruto-kun! My team and I are getting ready to practice, will you be joining us today?" She asked with a hopeful voice.
"I'll be over there in a couple of minutes. I'm pretty tired though, I might just sit back and watch." Naruto said.
"Oh, okay Naruto-kun. Do you know where we are practicing?" Hinata asked.
"Yeah, I saw your team earlier at training ground eight while I was running my lap around Konoha. I'm assuming that's where you train right?"
"That is correct Naruto-kun. I'll be waiting for your arrival." Hinata said as she finished her conversation with Naruto.
As soon as he finished the conversation, Naruto used the Shunshin No Jutsu to arrive there.
Kurenai was observing her team when all of a sudden, she felt a chakra signature that she couldn't place heading her way.
A few leaves gathered up next to her and Naruto appeared with a grin on his face.
"Konnichiwa Kurenai-sensei! I see that your evaluating your students right now." Naruto said as he looked at Shino go toe to toe against Kiba.
Hinata was currently watching the match with Akamaru on her lap.
She hasn't noticed Naruto's presence.
Kurenai looked at Naruto with shock.
"Naruto, Where did you learn that technique? Normal Genins shouldn't know that move yet."
"Well, I'm not a normal Genin now, am I?" He said while raising and lowering his eyebrows.
"Your full of surprises, I'll give you that. Did you come here to train with us?" Kurenai asked.
"Actually, I'm pretty beat right now, I just came to see what you guys where up to." Naruto said.
"You don't mind If I sit down and watch the match, do you?"
"Of course not, be my guest." Kurenai said.
Naruto bowed respectfully and then walked toward Hinata's spot.
"So who's winning?" Naruto asked as he said down next to Hinata.
The said girl turned her head around in shock and blushed when she felt Naruto's shoulder come in contact with hers.
"N-Naruto-kun? H-How did y-you get h-here so f-fast?" she asked timidly.
"Oh that's my little secret." He said with a wink. "
So, did you already have a match with one of those guys?"
"N-No actually, I'm supposed to go n-next. My o-opponent is Kurenai-sensei." Hinata said as she twirled her index fingers in front of her.
"Oh really?" Naruto said with a smirk on his face.
"Kurenai-sensei! Can I have a request?" Naruto yelled at Kurenai, who in turn walked towards Naruto and said.
"Did you want to practice after all?" She said.
"Yeah, I do, but only if I go against Hinata-chan." Naruto said.
Hinata's eyes widen with surprise.
"A-Ano, Naruto-kun, I don't t-think I'm strong enough to g-go up against you." She said.
"Don't worry about that Hinata, This is training after all. If you think your not strong enough yet, I'll make sure you get stronger!" Naruto said giving her a huge grin.
Hinata looked at Naruto, then she look towards Kurenai to see if she would agree.
"Alright, that's fine. You too could go ahead and start, those two over there need a break." Kurenai said.
Kurenai placed two fingers in her lips and blew out a whistle.
Kiba and Shino stopped their advances and lowered their guard.
They started heading towards the rest area and noticed that Naruto was walking up to them with Hinata.
"Well if it isn't my favorite blond in Konoha. What brings you here ?" Kiba said while rubbing his nose.
"I came here to test my abilities up against your team. I'm not at my full potential right now, so you'll have to wait another day for our match." Naruto said.
"Heh, even at your fullest, you won't be a match against me, but I'll hold you to that offer. I'll be watching your match closely." he said as he continued to his destination.
Shino looked at Naruto with an impassive stare, and Naruto raised an eyebrow.
"You might fool my partner, but I can feel more power coming from you than you let on. I'll be looking forward to testing my abilities against you." Shino said in a monotone voice.
Naruto smiled and scratched his head.
"He he, cant fool you huh? Alright, I'll hold you to that." Shino nodded and followed Kiba to the rest area.
Naruto turned his head toward Hinata.
"You ready to begin Hinata-chan?" He asked.
She bowed and said, "Hai Naruto-kun, I'll do my best."
Hinata dropped to her juken stance while Naruto looked impassively toward Hinata.
"Come at me whenever your ready Hinata-chan."
Hinata charged towards Naruto and tried a juken strike, but Naruto dodged it.
She tried another and he dodge it again.
This kept going for quite a while.
'Hinata has Naruto on the defensive, there's not much he can do is she keeps this up.' Kiba thought
"Come on Hinata, you can do better than this." Naruto taunted.
"H-Hai, Naruto-kun, I'll try harder!" She said, not going back on her word either.
Her speed increased and she packed more chakra into her palms, making it more difficult to dodge each attack.
Naruto was forced to Push away her arms at times, but he kept going with his defensive stance.
'Ok, time for me to start attacking.' Naruto thought.
Naruto dodged some of Hinata's attacks while he launched some of his own, causing her to jump back for some space.
Hinata was breathing pretty hard now.
'What else could I do? He's too fast for me to land a successful hit.' She thought.
While she was brainstorming on what to do, Naruto was standing still, giving her enough time to think.
Hinata took a deep breath and changed her stance.
Naruto eyes widened, 'Oh crap…'
"I'm sorry Naruto, but your in my field of divination." She said in a low voice.
"Hakke Sanjūni Shō!" She shouted as she dashed towards Naruto.
"Two strikes!" She said as she hit Naruto twice.
"Four strikes!" again, Naruto was hit.
"Eight strikes, Sixteen strikes, Thirty Two strikes!" She said, each strike aimed with precision at each one of Naruto's chakra points.
By the time she was done, Naruto laid down on the floor, twitching a little after being hit so many times.
"Holy Shit!" Kiba exclaimed.
"I've never seen Hinata attack anybody like that!" he commented at nobody in particular.
Shino dumbly nodded his head, silently agreeing with his partner.
"….N-Naruto-kun? Are you okay?" She asked while she got closer to Naruto's motionless body.
"N-Naruto-kun!?" She waited for a response.
Still nothing.
"Naruto-kun, say something!" She practically yelled.
She was definitely getting worried.
Naruto didn't even move a muscle.
She moved quickly towards Naruto and kneeled down in front of him.
"I'm sorry Naruto. I didn't mean to hurt you. Wake up. Please wake up!" She choked on her words as her body shook nervously.
Her eyes began to water and she started sobbing on his chest.
"Damn Hinata-chan, that fucking hurt…" Naruto said with a weak voice as he looked up at Hinata.
He gave her a smile when she turn her head and looked at him with a worried expression.
"Hey there, you don't look so good, are you ok?" He asked as placed his hand on her cheek and wiped away her tear with his thumb.
Hinata smiled and gave him a hug.
"Damn you Naruto-kun! Don't scare me like that! I thought I killed you!" She said as she sobbed on his shoulder.
Naruto wrapped one arm around her and patted her back to comfort her.
"Hey don't worry about it. I'm okay. It takes a lot more than that to get rid of me. Please don't cry. I hate it when you cry."
Hinata tightened her grip and sat there hugging him, trying to control her sobbing while he gave her sweet reassurances.
They stayed in that position for a couple of minutes until Hinata calmed down a little.
As soon as Kurenai saw that Hinata was calm, she decided to get their attention.
"Ahem." Kurenai coughed.
Naruto and Hinata looked up to see Kurenai's evil smirk and they both blushed.
"Well, I can't say that this practice session went smoothly, but it ended with a touchy moment, don't you think?" She said while chuckling at their current discomfort.
Hinata quickly pulled back and stood up.
"G-Gomennasai!" She said as she bowed to her sensei while blushing madly.
Kurenai laughed at the scene.
"It's alright Hinata. You did well today. Just try not to go too overboard next time, ok?" She smiled as she ruffled Hinata's hair.
"Naruto, do you think you need any medical treatment?" Kurenai asked as she analyzed the extent of Naruto's damage.
Naruto laid down again and looked up at the sky.
"No, I'll be fine. Just let my lie down here for a few minutes." He said.
Kurenai nodded.
"Ok, I think that's enough practice for today. We have a mission tomorrow and I expect you three to be at your best." She said as she addressed her team.
"We will meet here at the same time we met today. You are free to go." she said.
Shino and Kiba left towards their home.
"That means you too. I expect you to get some rest Hinata." Kurenai said.
"B-But Naruto-kun…" She said as she looked at the spot where Naruto was lying down.
Naruto raised his hand.
"I'll be alright Hinata-chan, go ahead and get some rest." he said out loud.
Hinata reluctantly left towards her home while Naruto laid there recovering for his last practice session.
"What a day." Naruto said out loud.
He got up from his current position and limped his way towards his apartment.
Flashback
Sakura paced worriedly back and fourth. She couldn't remember how long it has been since Sasuke had been brought to the council for trial.
"Calm down Sakura. Everything will be over with soon. Just sit down and try to keep your mind occupied on something else." Naruto said, trying to calm his anxious friend.
"How can I calm down while I know for a fact that his life's in danger! I just feel like I should be in there doing something, you know? I mean he could be put to death for all we know and we can't do anything..." Sakura said tears comeing down her face as she talked.
"Hey, don't worry. Tsunade baa-chan would never do that to him or us. Have a little bit more faith in her, If not then have faith in Sasuke. That he'll make it threw" Naruto said.
Sakura sighed and reluctantly sat down, rubbing her eyes with worry. "I don't know how much more of this I can take."
Naruto and Sakura where currently sitting down in the waiting room of the council office. They have been there for at least half a day. After a few more hours, Shizune came from one of the halls and addressed the two.
"Naruto, Sakura, you may see Sasuke now. Follow me." They didn't have to be told twice. Jumping up both of them followed her to the intended room.
Once they arrived, Tsunade walked out of the room and closed the door lightly.
"How is he, is he alright? Did everything turn out ok?" Sakura asked frantically.
"Calm down Sakura, the trial was a total success. He's waiting for you as we speak." Said Tsunade as she calmly filled out a few forms. "You can go in if you like."
As they walked in they saw Sasuke on the floor looking at them. The biggest grin on his face as they all broke into tears and laughter.
End Flashback
Naruto was rudely awaken to the sound of an annoying alarm clock.
He looked up from his current position and groaned lightly.
'Damn it, it's morning already?' he thought as he got up from his bed and stopped the annoying sound.
He yawned heavily and proceeded with his morning routine.
'I wonder what type of mission we'll have today.'
Once Naruto had everything he needed, he left his apartment and headed towards team seven's meeting place.
Meanwhile, at the bridge
"So I was thinking maybe later on when the mission is over, we could grab a bite to eat, what do you say?" Sakura said to Sasuke as she looked at the floor timidly waiting for his answer.
Sasuke continued looking at the river, seemingly ignoring Sakura's request.
Sakura sighed and placed her hands on the bridge's railing.
"You know, we really haven't been hanging around each other after missions. It could be fun if we see one another more often when we are not on duty. It feels like we are only together because we have to be." Sakura said as she sulked at the idea.
Sasuke signed and turned towards Sakura.
"Sakura, don't take this the wrong way, but with all the things we have been doing as a team, the only free time we have is when we head home to get some rest. We have been doing everything together, even when we don't have missions, we spend all of our time training."
Sakura didn't move from her spot.
Sasuke looked at Sakura and he could see that she was trying her best not to cry right now.
Sasuke mentally sighed and placed a hand on Sakura's shoulder.
"Sakura, if our schedule lightens up a bit, I'll take you somewhere to eat." he said.
"You mean it Sasuke-kun?" She asked hopefully.
"Hai." Sasuke replied with a smile.
Sakura jumped from her spot and hugged Sasuke fiercely.
"Oh thank you Sasuke-kun!"
"Don't get too excited." Said Sasuke.
"It's not that I like you or anything but I want to try and be your friend and see where that leads us. Also if things keep up the way they are, I doubt we will find any free time soon."
Sasuke did have a point.
Even if it hurt.
The past month have been pretty rough for team seven.
After their first mission, Kakashi made it a priority to make sure they get as much experience as Genins as possible.
On average, Team 7 took four missions a day.
Naruto's training wasn't helping their situation either.
And the fact of the matter was that Sasuke knew next to noting about her and she knew he would never like someone whom he didn't even know.
Back to the matter, Naruto insisted on teaching each of them a technique for their affinities.
For Sakura, he decided to teach her Doton: Doryūheki, a technique in witch The user spits out a stream of mud that quickly grows and solidifies into a strong, protective wall.
For Sasuke, he decided to give him a head start with the Chidori, Kakashi's original technique.
Naruto was currently approaching the bridge with his usual cheesy grin and greeted his teammates.
"Ohayo! Did you guys sleep well?" asked Naruto.
"I'm not even going to say anything anymore. You should know what time your suppose to get here." said Sakura.
"Gomen Sakura-chan, but I figured I could use the extra hour of sleep since Kakashi-sensei is always late anyways." he said wisely.
A swirl of leaves appeared before them and Kakashi appeared with a happy attitude.
"Ohayo!" he greeted with a cheery voice, eerily similar to Naruto's earlier greeting.
"Where you guys just talking about me?"
Sakura glared at her sensei and turned her head disapprovingly.
If Kakashi was fazed by it, he sure didn't show it.
"We need to report to the Hokage's office to accept a new mission today, So make sure you head over there ASAP. I'll be waiting." And just like that, Kakashi disappeared leaving a set of swirling leaves behind.
"I swear, one of these days, I'm going to kill him for leaving us behind!" Sakura said.
"I suggest we start moving. You never know if the next mission might be important." Naruto advised.
And so, team seven headed towards the Hokage's office.
Once they arrived, they found Kakashi reading his favorite book, giving off a perverted laugh.
Naruto coughed to get his attention, and leaded the way towards the office.
Once they arrived, Kakashi greeted the guards and let his team through.
"Oh, Ohayo team seven. What brings you here this morning?" Sarutobi asked.
"Ohayo Hokage-sama. We came here to request a mission." Kakashi said as he bowed down to show respect.
"I see, well, amongst the missions available, we have either cleaning the park, picking out weeds on the sidewalk, herding the Nara clan's deer…"
"Old Man, Is there anything we could do that's not a D rank mission?" Naruto interrupted.
Sarutobi was surprised with Naruto's politeness. Witch he could see even if others couldn't.
"Naruto! You shouldn't complain about your missions. Everybody starts off like this." Kakashi said.
"Sorry sensei, but I agree with Naruto. We have been doing nothing but D rank missions for the pass month, we should have more than enough experience to take on something better." Sakura said.
"I agree. I would like my abilities to be put to better use." Sasuke said.
"Are you sure you are prepared for such an endeavor?" Sarutobi asked the students.
"Hai!" they replied in unison.
Sarutobi took a puff of smoke from his pipe and breathed out heavily.
"Very well, I do have a C rank mission available." he said while looking for the certain mission report.
Once he found it, he continued briefing team seven.
"Your mission is to protect a bridge builder from the Country of Wave. You will keep this person safe until the bridge is finished, or he no longer seeks protection. I will introduce you to this man." Sarutobi said as he pressed a buzzer from his desk.
"Send him in."
An old man with glasses and a tan came walking in.
You can tell the man was recently drinking, if not by the smell, then by the bottle on his hand.
"Eh, what's this? I ask for protection and I get a bunch of kids? Aren't they a little young to be playing ninja?" said the old man.
Sasuke smirked.
"Aren't you a little too old to be drinking?" he countered.
The man glared at Sasuke.
"That kid has some spunk in him. I hope you three kids will be enough to protect me." he said.
"Don't worry about them. They may be young, but they are well suited for this type of mission." Kakashi said.
The man nodded his head in acceptance.
"I am the super expert bridge builder Tazuna, I expect you to protect me until my bridge is completed." the man said.
"Of course Tazuna-sama, we will be more than happy to comply." Sakura bowed showing respect.
"I like this kid, she knows her place." Tazuna said.
Sakura gave him an evil glare for that remark, 'Who the hell does he think he is?' She thought. 'He's lucky I didn't snap and kick his ass after hearing that!'
Kakashi addressed his team and proceeded with instructions.
"Team seven, meet at the west gate in thirty minutes. Pack everything you will need for a long trip. Until then, you are dismissed." Kakashi said as he took his leave.
Tazuna and team seven quickly followed.
Thirty minutes later, Naruto arrived at the west gate.
He was greeted by Tazuna and his team.
Once everybody double checked their equipment, they were off.
Sakura was very excited.
It was her first time out of the village's gates and she could hardly keep herself from jumping with glee.
"Alright! This mission is so cool! Not only do we get to protect someone, we get to go site seeing!"
"Calm yourself Sakura." Kakashi said.
"This isn't a vacation. Keep your guard up at all times. You never know what could happen."
"Yeah yeah, I know Kakashi-sensei. I'll keep my eyes sharp as I enjoy the scenery." she said.
"Kakashi-sensei, what's the best formation to help ensure Tazuna-san's safety?" Naruto asked seriously.
"Well, since this is just a C rank mission, I really didn't have that much planned, But if you feel more comfortable moving in a formation, you could be in the front." He replied.
"Sasuke, Sakura! Make sure you walk next to Tazuna to have him protected from the sides, I'll guard him from the rear."
"Hai, Kakashi." Sasuke and Sakura answered in unison. Sakura adding -sensei to the end of Kakashi.
"Leave it to sensei to think of the most perverted way to issue orders." Naruto remarked.
"Shut up Naruto, this was your idea." Kakashi said.
"So, Tazuna-sama," Sakura began, totally ignoring her team's banter.
"Are they any ninja's in Wave Country?"
"Ninjas? Ha-ha…That's funny." Tazuna said.
"Do you think I would come all the way over here to hire ninjas if we had some in Wave Country?"
Sakura narrowed her eyes.
"I was just curious, sorry if I didn't know that fact about a country I've never heard of."
"Gees, don't take it personal, I was just teasing." Tazuna said apologetic for his remark. "No, we don't have any ninjas, not any from our country anyway. You might find a few mercenary ninjas once in a while," he paused for a bit as if to shake off a memory, "but no, we don't have any official ninjas there."
Sasuke scoffed.
"If there are no ninjas there, why do you seek protection?" he asked.
"Sasuke, don't question the man's decision. If he feels safer with us there, then so be it. Just focus on your mission and keep a look out for any danger." Kakashi said.
"…Fine." Sasuke replied and continued walking in silence.
Tazuna was sweating bullets.
He was glad that this Kakashi character interrupted the kid's question.
He really didn't want them to know that ninja's where after him.
Team seven and Tazuna continued walking in silence, mostly enjoying the warm day and scenery.
They came across a puddle, in witch Kakashi noticed but seemingly ignored it and kept walking.
Naruto, noticing the puddle before Kakashi, waited until they where a few feet ahead to inform his team.
"Oi, Sasuke-teme, Sakura-chan, Can you hear me?" Naruto asked while activating the seal.
"What is it dobe?" Sasuke asked a bit irritated.
"Yeah Naruto, what's the matter? Did you find something?" Sakura asked.
"Yes I did as a matter of fact, Did you guys see the puddle we passed a couple of seconds ago?" Naruto said.
"Yeah I saw it, What about it?" Sasuke asked.
"Don't you think it was a bit off?" Naruto said.
"Now that you mention it, It does feel a bit off. It's pretty sunny today and it doesn't look like it rained a couple of days ago." Sakura replied.
Sasuke put two and two together and smirked.
"So, there are ninjas trailing us. Alright, now that we know, we'll be prepared for when they strike. Leave this to me dobe, I want to test out my abilities."
"Fine with me, I'll back you up if your in trouble." Naruto said.
"As if he's going to need your help Naruto! Sasuke-kun is the best. Those ninjas will be lucky if they stay alive!" Sakura yelled.
"Yeah yeah, whatever you say Sakura-chan. Just stay close to Tazuna. Also, since I was able to notice something was wrong, I'm pretty sure Kakashi-sensei noticed it too, so don't worry about him. Get ready, they will make their move soon." Said Naruto.
Once they broke their communication, they slowly moved in closer to Tazuna.
Kakashi saw this and inwardly smiled.
He was very pleased that every single one of them noticed the Genjutsu.
His thoughts, however where interrupted by two mist nins that had a deadly chain connected to each other's gauntlets.
They wrapped the chain around Kakashi and apparently sliced his body into several pieces.
"KAKASHI-SENSEI!" Sakura screamed.
"One down!" said on of the mist nins.
"Your number two, kid!" The other one yelled at Naruto while he sped up towards him.
Naruto kept his eyes focused on the opponent who was rushing towards him with an outstretched gauntlet.
Once he was close enough, Naruto side stepped and powerfully swung his elbow to the mist nin's face.
The mist nin was send flying towards a tree.
While this was happening, Sasuke was calmly dodging the other nin's punches, that is, until the said mist nin was pulled away by the chain when his partner was sent soaring into a tree.
Sasuke smirked and pulled out two kunai that where tied off with a wire.
He effortlessly threw them towards the mist nin that was by the tree and tied him up.
Once he was secure, he did a series of hand seals.
'Katon: Ryūka no Jutsu!' Sasuke yelled in his mind.
Sasuke breathed out fire along the wire and his attack hit his opponent head on.
The mist nin screamed in agony before he fainted.
Sasuke turned his head around and looked at the mist nin's partner.
"That only leaves you." Sasuke said with a cocky smile.
"Kuso!" Was all the mist nin said.
He detached the chain with a push of a button and rushed towards him.
Sasuke was expecting some sort of attack, but the mist nin only dodged Sasuke's counter attack and kept rushing towards Tazuna.
"Sakura! Watch out! He's heading towards you!" Sasuke yelled.
Sakura was already prepared to defend Tazuna.
She had her kunai in front of her, ready to deflect any attack thrown at her.
"DIE!" yelled the mist nin.
Sakura widen her eyes in shock at what she saw.
Kakashi appeared out of nowhere and grabbed the mist nin in a one handed headlock, seemingly knocking him out.
"Kakashi-sensei! Your alive!" Sakura yelled with joy.
"Hai, sorry I scared you Sakura, but as you can see, I'm fine." Kakashi said.
"By the way team, good job! All of you did well with your first real battle, you each acted accordingly under pressure and didn't freeze up. I'm proud of you guys."
"It was nothing Kakashi-sensei, all in a days work!" Naruto said as he did his trademark smile.
"Tazuna, can I ask why you have two Chunin Mist ninja's after you?" Kakashi said calmly as he got Tazuna's attention.
"W-What do you mean?" He gulped audibly.
"I mean, Tazuna-sama, why did we have to protect you from two mist ninjas who are currently higher in rank than my team? Don't you know that giving false information on a mission request can greatly affect the success ratio?" Kakashi said.
"I should report back to Konoha and have this mission canceled. This is way out of our league. You will of course get a full refund, but I can't continue this mission knowing now of the current situation."
"Please don't! I'm sorry I didn't include this information!" Tazuna said
"I know It's necessary, but right now, our country is in a state of crisis. We don't have enough money to pay for the required protection that was needed. Please, I beg of you continue with this mission. Once the bridge is completed, it will bring wealth to our land. We promise to pay you back in full, with interest even!"
Kakashi looked at Tazuna and weighted out his choices.
"I tell you what, if my team is up for it, we will continue the mission. If not, we go back, cancel this mission and give you a full refund, and then you can request a mission with the proper information."
Tazuna looked at team seven with pleading eyes.
"I say we go for it." Naruto said.
"We are already more than halfway there, it will only be foolish if we go back and waste Tazuna-san's time."
"You are aware that they will send Jounin level nins right?" Kakashi said.
"In that case, I'm in. I can use the practice." Sasuke said.
"I guess I'm in too. Besides, we handled ourselves pretty good back there, you said so yourself Kakashi-sensei. I'm not about to back down now that we are this far." Sakura said.
Kakashi sighed.
'Damn teenagers, why do they always think they are invincible. A Jounin isn't a walk in the park. Their lives will be in great danger. Oh well, I'm outnumbered three to one, I can't back out now.'
"You heard them Tazuna, we will continue with the mission."
"Oh thank you so much! I am in your debt!" Tazuna said.
Team seven continued walking until they arrived on Wave Country's border.
They had to wait until a ferry arrived.
Once it did, they got in and slowly continued to their destination.
Sasuke let out an audible sigh.
"It's really misty in here. This is bad for my hair." he said.
Naruto stiffened a laugh.
Sasuke raised an eyebrow, "What?" he asked.
Naruto chuckled at this.
"I thought only Sakura would be complaining about her hair, but not you."
"Shut-up dobe! Just because I'm a guy doesn't mean I don't take care of my hair!"
"Hey, keep it quiet!" the ferry man whispered loudly.
"Why do you think I don't have the engine running. We'd be in big trouble if Gatou finds us."
After that, everybody stopped talking all together.
Sasuke was really embarrassed.
He was so lost in his thoughts, he didn't noticed when he made his last comment out loud until it was too late.
"Umm, Who's Gatou?" Sakura asked in a whisper.
"Gatou," Tazuna started, "Is one of the world's most wealthiest people. Officially, he runs his own shipping company. But he also secretly sells drugs and other illegal items, using ninjas and gang members to take over businesses and countries. He's one nasty fellow."
Tazuna paused to see if they where listening, once he was satisfied, he continued.
"About a year ago, Gatou set his eyes on Wave Country. Through money and violence, he quickly took control of the shipping industry. Over the year, he manage to get a monopoly on all business traffic in the country. The only thing than stands in his way is the completion of the bridge."
"I see, since your building the bridge, that makes you a liability." Sakura said.
"So he was the one who hired the ninjas to kill you, right?" Sasuke asked.
"That is correct. If the bridge is finished, it will bring other means for trade, effectively ending his control over us. That's why he sees me as a threat."
"Don't worry Tazuna-san." Naruto said.
"We will protect you until the bridge is completed. We can't let that man keep doing this to your country. Once the bridge is built, his tyranny will end."
"Thanks kid. I appreciate your help." Tazuna replied.
The ferry continued it's path until it stopped on a nearby shore.
"This is as far as I can take you, any closer and I'll be putting us in too much risk. Be safe Tazuna." said the ferry man.
"Come this way," Tazuna said.
"I will take you to my house to rest, it's the least I can do for you."
Team seven followed Tazuna through a dirt path.
'He's close' Naruto thought.
'I barely feel his chakra signature, but I know he's close.'
"Get Down!" Yelled Kakashi as he pulled Tazuna down with him.
Team seven, except for Naruto, dropped on the floor.
Naruto turned around and leaned back a little, effectively dodging a giant sword that went sailing by.
The said sword embedded itself in a tree and on top of it stood a tall figure, who by all means, looked scary as shit in hell.
He had a tilted mist forehead protector and wrappings around his mouth.
You could see his sculpt muscles since he didn't have a shirt on, giving off a menacing vibe.
Sakura and Sasuke where petrified with fear at the moment.
Kakashi looked at the figure and paled.
'Shit! Why him! My team is too inexperienced for him right now. I'm going to have to do this alone.'
"Well well, If it isn't the Mist's missing-nin Momochi Zabuza." He said, giving off a wave of indifference.
"…" Zabuza glared at Kakashi.
"You're the copy-cat nin, Hatake Kakashi, are you not?" Zabusa asked, keeping his glare on him.
"That I am." Kakashi replied.
"I'm sorry, but the old man is mine."
Yes I've redone and edited the story a bit.
Hope you like it.
Edit: 12/06/09
Parings so far:
ShinoXKiba
KankuroXMatsuri
IrukaXShizune
KakashiXAnko
ShikamaruXIno
ChojiXAyame
AsumaXKurenai
KonoharmaruXHinabi
Naruto X Temari X Fem Haku X Hinata X Fem Gaara X Tenten X Fem Neji X OC
LeeXSakura
SasukeXOC
