A Gathering: A Seal Master's Brush:
AN: OK. I'm going to be completely honest with you guys. I write a lot. But I don't UPDATE my stories a lot, because I find it really hard to write a lot about the same subject.
So, instead of leaving my one-shots abandoned, one failed back up away from being lost forever, I decided that I would post them, like a lot of authors do.
Now, unless a RIDICULOUS amount of people ask for it, I'm probably not going to continue any of this one-shots. If you like one, you can live with that, you can spam enough people on this site so that they pester me into giving it a go or you can do it yourself.
Each and everyone of these stories is up for adoption. I am willing to beta all of them. I am willing to be a sounding board for anyone that wants give them a go. In fact, I'm going to leave a small AN on the end of each story to let you guys know how I would continue it, if anyone decides to try.
I just ask you guys to really try it, you know? Don't just re-write all the usual cliches that fill every section of these website. It's ok if your first, second or hundredth fanfiction is not good, it's by trying new things, not copying what you see that you can make something that truly expands whatever fictional universe you are messing with.
Last thing: These little exercises of the mind are not going to be restricted to one series. I'm starting with Naruto and continuing with whatever catches my fancy.
"Well... My name is Hatake Kakashi... I have no desire to tell you about my likes and dislikes... Dreams for the future... hmm..? And I have a lot of hobbies."
The three genin weren't even close to pleased with the introduction, but how would they go about demanding more information from their new teacher?
Sasuke just pretended he didn't care. Sakura complained inside her head, though her face showed her frustration. But Naruto, well, he asked. Loudly.
"What the hell, man!?" he complained "You only told us your name!"
Kakashi, his future teacher and probably the most feared jonin of Konoha, blinked twice and nodded "I guess you can go next then."
But Naruto shook his head and frowned "I don't want to go next! I want to know about you! What kind of jutsu do you know? What are you going to teach us? Talk to us, man!"
The teacher looked as bored as ever. Then, he turned to the pink kunochi and told her "Fine... You can go first."
Naruto narrowed his eyes and then shook his head, rolling said eyes. Then, he pulled a small notebook from his pocket and started drawing on it with a brush that he never dipped in paint, and seemed to have pulled from behind his ear. Hatake looked a little surprised by this, but Sasuke and Sakura didn't even look twice.
"My name is Haruno Sakura. The thing I like, well... The person I like is... Kya!" all the men on the team winced at the volume of her voice, but didn't say anything. After every other word, Sakura's eyes would dart to Sasuke and back "My dream for the future... I-I want to-no! I WILL... Kyaaah!"
Despite himself, Sasuke couldn't help but blush just a little. A girl had pretty much confessed to him, them and there. An avenger he might be, but he was still a boy.
'I guess girls her age care more about love then jutsu, huh?' thought the jonin-sensei, but what he said was just "Ok, next."
Sasuke had his fingers crossed in front of his eyes, which he kept locked on the jonin "My name is Uchiha Sasuke. There are lots of things I dislike and I don't really like anything. And... I guess I can't really call it a dream... But I have an ambition. The resurrection of my clan and... To kill a certain man."
The top kunochi of their year though the Sasuke looked really cool and Kakashi was disappointed. But Naruto was simply blowing the paint dry.
There was silence for a long while, Kakashi just looked bored and Naruto started working on another page. The Uchiha was getting more and more annoyed with the waste of his time and Sakura felt the silence was getting more and more awkward.
"Na-Naruto! Introduce yourself!" she finally shouted, and immediately blushed red when all eyes turned to her, covering her mouth with her hands.
But the Uzumaki finally spoke "Tch! Name's Uzumaki Naruto. I like the feel of paper, the smell of ink and the taste of ramen. I hate being bored and being interrupted when I'm working!" he grumbled while looking at the pink haired girl "My dream is to visit Uzushiogakure no Sato (Village Hidden by Swirling Tides.)."
Naruto's apartment was filled with paper. Notebooks and scrolls were everywhere, from numerous shelves to the floor. There were some dozens of random pieces glued to the walls and the ceiling. Not that the blond cared, no he was usually too busy when at home.
Like right now, instead of worrying about the 'real genin' test him and his team would take tomorrow, the boy was inspecting two identical tags with a smirk. Both had seemly random drawings on them, some kanji, some odd symbols in another language. The only difference between them were the words "Owner" and "Thief" written, one in each.
His latest master piece, the Chakra Stealing Seal, would work great to make sure his team never got too tired to fight. Not that he would present the solution without insulting the Uchiha in some way, thus the name. Naruto's smirk dropped when he wondered how to test this things.
The Uzumaki wasn't really tall for his age, just a touch smaller then Sasuke but still taller then his other teammate. Naruto usually wore baggy, orange pants and a black shirt with a large, red, Uzushio Swirl taking up all of his back. His shirts had no sleeves, allowing anyone to see the seals he had tattooed to his arms, in seemingly random places and with no clear function. If only people saw the rest of him. When geared up, he carried with him four scrolls in his waist, all parallel to the floor, looking somewhat like a belt, and two scrolls attached to outside of each of his legs, along with one stuck to the small of his back. The blond's hitai-ate went on the right side of his skull, instead of his forehead.
Naruto also had some of those tattoos on his face. There was a black circle around his left eye, with a line coming from the edge of it that ran straight into his hair and disappeared there. The line had five symbols that ran along it, two above and three below. He also had two odd symbols marking his neck, just bellow his right ear, with the kanji for 'Nami' (Wave) between them.
It had been a long standing argument in the academy: Were Naruto's tattoos really seals? Some said they weren't, but others claimed they had seen the Uzumaki activate them. Then there was the fact that no student had ever seen a ninja with seals written on his or hers skin.
Finally, grinning with an idea, the Uzumaki launched the "Thief" seal towards a wall. It flew faster then any kunai the boy could throw and landed against another seal there. Then, the blond placed the "Owner" seal on his forehead and pushed chakra into it. Eyes focused on the wall, the genin's smiled turned smug "Of course it works." he nodded, when the wall turned transparent.
"Yeah, before we get started there's something important I need to say." Naruto announced with a raised hand.
The entire team blinked. Kakashi had arrived three hours late and revealed to his team that he had tricked them into not eating breakfast, then explained the bell test. And just as the jonin had told his team to 'come at him with intent to kill', Naruto had raised his hand.
"Twelve years ago the Kyuubi no Kitsune (Nine-Tailed Demon Fox) attacked Konoha and was killed by the Yondaime (Forth) Hokage. True or false?" he asked.
Sakura, the girl with the best grades in the academy couldn't help but answer "True..." she said, but was clearly confused.
And Naruto nodded "Wrong. A Biju is a shitload of chakra that managed to form a conscience, there are nine and they can't die." he explained, much to the shock of everyone else. Hell, even Kakashi was left with his mouth opened, even if for a completely different reason then two of his students. Was Naruto going to...?
"The only way to beat them is by sealing all that chakra away! Jutsu are completely worthless, no matter how many you know!" Naruto explained, smirking at the Uchiha. And that was enough to break the boys trance, if only for him to glare at the Uzumaki "That's what the Yondaime did. He gave his life to power the most amazing seal in existence... And sealed the fox into my stomach." he finished in a completely uninterested voice while lifting his shirt and showing them the Hakke no Fuin Shiki (Eight Trigrams Sealing Style).
Oddly enough, it was Sasuke who took a long look at Naruto's stomach, as if hoping to see the Kyuubi, then turned to the blond and asked "Uzumaki, why are you telling us this?"
The blond huffed, lowered his shirt and narrowed his eyes "Because even if I don't like you, Uchiha, we're teammates now." he explained, before loosing his glare "I need to trust you all, just like you need to trust me. And, you have the right to know. You have the right to ask to be moved to another team."
Then, there was silence again. Sakura really was considering running away. The only reason she was still here was because her Sasuke-kun seemed to be thinking hard, and he looked sooooo cool when he was like that.
"I don't care." the Uchiha finally announced "I don't like you either, Uzumaki. But you're strong, you're the only genin I know that won't slow me down much. I'm staying." he announced, before turning to Sakura and waiting.
The pink haired genin was close to hyper ventilating. The Kyuubi! Right in this training ground, locked on her teammate's stomach by ink! And why in his stomach of all places? Is that why the blond always ate so much, back in the academy? She wanted to run, run away screaming but she couldn't change teams! She had managed to get into Sasuke-kun's team! This-This must be another test of love! Yeah! That makes perfect sense! Shannaro!
"I-I'm staying too! W-We're all together here..." she trailed off, looking at Sasuke with a blush on her face. Both boys cursed a little, in their heads, when she decided to stay.
Kakashi chose not to see the blush, not to see the insults and focused on the facts how he wanted to. He saw that one of his new students had shared his darkest secret with the other two, and they had accepted him despite it. It seems like he wouldn't have to teach them much.
"I'm glad to hear all this." he announced, before his students looked at him and remembered the bell test "Don't worry about the test, you all pass. I'm sure you kids are good enough, for genin." the jonin told them with a little more happiness then they were used too "You guys are dismissed for today, see you tomorrow at eight for our first mission!"
Then he disappeared in a Shunshin, leaving the confused and stunned Team 7.
It took a moment, but Naruto shook himself awake "Well... See you guys tomorrow I guess..." he said, and walked away.
The Uchiha grunted his agreement and left as well, but unfortunately for him Sakura had just passed another love challenge and wanted a date as a reward.
"Kuchiyose no Jutsu: Tora! (Summoning Technique: Tiger!)"
Much to the surprise and relief of the people in the room, Naruto did not, in fact, summon a tiger. He simply dragged Tora, the Daimyo's wife's cat, from wherever the beast was. And when the cat tried to run, Sasuke reached down and tossed the thing towards it's owner, before Tora could scratch him.
Kakashi took a single look at his team's actions and nodded "That's team work..." he said, before going back to his little orange book.
"Hokage-jiji." Naruto began, with a surprisingly respectful tone that still should have gotten him reprimanded by the village's leader "I'm good enough for a C-Rank, stop making us do these chores!" he all but ordered.
Of course, Sarutobi Hiruzen. The Sandaime Hokage. The Shinobi no Kami. Definitely one of the ten most powerful man to ever live, just smiled and turned to Kakashi "Tell me, sensei. Are your students ready for a C-Rank?"
Kakashi quickly put his book away, knowing Hiruzen did NOT have a soft spot for him, like the old man had for the Uzumaki 'I'm sure Sasuke and Naruto can handle it, and I'm sure they'll protect Sakura as well...' "As long... As it's not a very hard one..."
"Very well, I'll trust your judgement Kakashi." the Sandaime announced, pleased to see Naruto smiling so smugly. There was something about the boy's confidence/arrogance that the Sandaime found incredibly amusing "A merchant is planning on making a very large sale in a town called Tanzako-gai. Your team is to escort him, his daughter and all of his merchandise safely there and back."
"Sounds good, for a start." said Naruto, before turning to Hatake "So? When do we leave?"
The jonin blinked, looked up while pretending to think and answered "... Tomorrow? Yeah, gear up and we'll met up at the gate. Ten in the morning sounds good."
After the elite ninja disappeared in a cloud of smoke, Sakura turned to her team-mates "Do you think he'll be late for the mission as well, Sasuke-kun?"
"Huh/Duh!" the Uchiha and the Uzumaki answered in surprising synchrony.
Sakura was the first to arrive at the meeting place, like always. And like always, she just had to wait a few moments for her Sasuke-kun to get there as well. Naruto was another matter entirely, while he was never as late as their sensei, the blond was also almost never on time.
Except this time, Kakashi wasn't late and he brought the clients with him "Well, this is embarrassing... Where's Naru-Oh! There he is."
In a surprising show of punctuality, Uzumaki was only a few minutes late and so the jonin started the introductions "Well, these are Ito Daisuke-sama and Ito Chinatsu-sama. They're counting on us to make sure their trip is pleasant and secure." he explained, then turned to the clients "My name is Hatake Kakashi. I am a jonin and these are my students Uchiha Sasuke, Uzumaki Naruto and Haruno Sakura."
Naruto wasn't playing much attention, instead the blond was popping his shoulder, which he was almost sure he had slept on. Not that it mattered much, the client had his eyes focused on Sasuke 'Uchiha? I've heard of them before...' he thought to himself.
When it became clear, to Sakura, that her team-mater were NOT going to be polite, she turned to the clients with a nervous smile ready to greet them. The smile dropped when she took one good look at the, slightly, younger girl's face.
Contrary to the girl's name, she did not represent 'A Thousand Summers'. Large, round glasses and black hair hid most of her face, and what wasn't hidden was blushing bright red. Chinatsu had darker skin then the people from Hi no Kuni (Land of Fire) and her entire head turned from Naruto to Sasuke, and back again, over and over while she seemed to try and decide on who she would crush on. Naruto looked dangerous, with that easy, confident, almost bored look and all those tattoos he had. All in all, the blond looked like the exact kind of guy she was told to stay away from. The Uchiha on the other hand, he was so serious, so intense, soooooo cool that it actually scared her to look at him too much... But just a little bit was fine.
"Aren't they a little young to be doing this job?" the elder Ito asked, his eyes moving over all three genin, though he didn't focus on Naruto as long as on the other two.
Kakashi shrugged his shoulders and dropped a little of his professionalism "I started a lot younger..." he commented, before continuing "But don't worry, I can handle any bandits in the road. Should anything happen to my students."
The client decided to believe the jonin and so they were off. Ito had also hired a carriage, for him and his daughter, and two wagons, to carry his products, so Kakashi told his genin to climb on one each and they were off.
"Do you want to ask about it?"
Chinatsu turned bright red, something she had done a lot since the trip started, when Naruto talked to her. Despite the fact that he was sitting on the carriage's roof, starring straight ahead. She was the one staring at him, perched half way out the window.
The girl bit her lip and considered pulling herself inside, but found her courage somewhere deep inside "I-I-It?" even if not much of it.
"The ink." he explained easily, still staring straight ahead "Or maybe the blond hair? My teeth? What scares you the most?" he asked, finally turning towards her and smiling mockingly, making sure she could see his pointy canines.
The blond's mocking did little to calm her nerves, so the girl actually stuttered an answer "The... T-The i-ink..." she almost whispered.
"It's part of my jutsu (technique)." the blond explained, reaching behind his ear and making a brush appear from nowhere. He talked while twirling it "It's called Fuinjutsu (Sealing Techniques). I use the ink to make my chakra move in a certain way, to get a certain effect." he explained.
Chinatsu took a moment to think and decided that it seemed simple enough, there was only one problem: she was a civilian "What's chakra?"
"It's what ninja use do the awesome things we do."
It took her a few moments to realise that Naruto wasn't going to say anything. Chinatsu also realised that he had stopped paying attention to her, and started writing on one of his scrolls. Completely depressed, after losing his attention, the girl sulked back inside the carriage.
It was hours later when Kakashi told all the carriages to stop.
"Hatake-san? What seems to be the problem?" Ito asked, already getting out of his cart.
Kakashi lifted his hand to stop the man and spoke "Stay inside Ito-sama, there are bandits in the woods ahead." he explained, his single eye darting from one spot of the forest to another.
Finally, the jonin sighed, pulled his little orange book and ordered "Sasuke and Naruto, go deal with them."
The Uchiha grunted his agreement quickly, while the Uzumaki took his time popping his back into place. Then, they were off. Walking into the woods.
When the team-mates lost sigh of the carriage's, they also stopped paying attention to each other. Sasuke quickly jumped up, landing on a tree branch and taking off.
Not that the blond genin cared. He simply made half a Ram Seal and activated the Toton Fuin (Transparent Scape Seal), one of his favourite creations. Naruto disappeared without a trace, but he still could be heard running somewhere.
It didn't even take a minute for the Uzumaki to find a bandit, in fact he found three. Two where armed with bows and another had a spear, they were staring intently at the road Team 7's client had chosen to take.
"Shouldn't they be here by now?" one of them whispered to the others.
Only to get jabbed by an elbow "Shh! Boss said they had ninja with them! Said not to talk!"
Glaring, but quiet, the first bandit turned back to the road. None of them noticed the sealing tag flying, quickly, and landing on the tree they were hidden behind. But they all heard Naruto speaking.
"Kai. (Release.)"
When the explosion rocked the woods, the blond genin made sure to stay perfectly still even if his eyes were darting around the forest. The bandits hidden around him didn't seem to know if it was best to try to retreat, gather their force or stay perfectly still. In Naruto's humble opinion, staying was the dumbest thing they could do.
If the blond genin was visible, the kanji for "Nami" on his neck would have glowed bright blue. But even if it couldn't be seen, no one would hide from the Uzumaki.
It took a long time for the explosions to stop, and after that it still took some time for Naruto and Sasuke to return. And they were arguing when they did.
"Skill? You call that skill? A monkey could have done the same with that many explosive tags!" Sasuke spit out, not yelling but refusing to look at the other boy.
"Tch!" was Naruto's first answer "A monkey can't make those tags! We know you can't. Won't be able to even when you manage that copy-monkey eye of yours!"
The Uchiha huffed and then smirked "Are you jealous? When I have the Sharingan (Copy Wheel Eye) I can learn all of your fuinjutsu with a single glance."
And the blond snorted "Just try it! I'll be more then happy to explain to everyone why you blew yourself to hell."
"Now, now." Kakashi finally broke in, already tired of their argument "Since you are both here and the bandits are taken care off, I think you both did ok."
Then, Ito cleared his throat and spoke "Hatake-san, how many men would you say there were?"
Kakashi took another look at the road they would take and nodded "Forty three."
Then Naruto chipped in "Yeah, but the Uchiha let a few of them get away."
"If it weren't for you I could have picked them all of! Without they even knowing I was there!" Sasuke growled.
But the blond genin snorted and shrugged his shoulders "And it would only take you all day."
Kakashi gathered all of Team 7 around him, while he watched their client order his workers around. It seemed Ito had already travelled to Tanzako-gai once before and hired plenty of help for his business deal.
The jonin was reading one of his books while resting his back against a wall on the inside of the store, Naruto was cross-legged on the ground, working as usual, while Sasuke just crossed his arms and waited. Sakura didn't miss a second in admiring her crush. All was well until the avenger spoke "Sensei." he grumbled "Can you teach us something?" he asked, refusing to meet the man's eye while asking.
"Something? I've taught you plenty..." Kakashi told them, turning a page on his book.
And that was enough for Naruto to enter the conversation "Plenty? When the hell was that? What did I miss?" he asked, in his usual outdoor voice.
"About the same as me." his rival answered "Maybe he's giving Sakura private lessons?"
As one, the pair turned to glare at the their pink haired team-mate. Who quickly defended herself "No! Sasuke-kun! I swear he didn't teach me anything either!" she wasn't quiet about it either.
"Hey, hey." Kakashi interrupted "What about those hunting formations I showed you guys?"
"Tch! They're great for catching Tora, but what about people? They fight back you know!" Naruto pretty much shouted, pointing his brush at their teacher.
The silver haired jonin raised an eyebrow "You boys handled those bandits pretty well... Didn't they fight back?"
This time, Sasuke grunted his disagreement "They didn't even realised that the explosions were coming from Uzumaki's paper tags..."
While all three genin glared at their teacher, they were approached by Ito. The old man had an annoyed look on his face and he didn't waste a moment before starting to speak "Hatake-san! Please go and teach them something! Anything! The noise is disturbing my workers!"
With four people starring at him now, Kakashi gave out a long suffering sigh and nodded. With a quick hand seal, and a whispered "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu. (Shadow Clone Technique.)" another Kakashi appeared next to him. The clone left the shop without saying a word, after taking three kunai from Kakashi's hand.
"Go after him." the jonin recommended "I'll stay and watch the client." without taking his eye of the little orange book.
Sasuke and Naruto were off like lightning, Sakura only moved when she realised she was the only genin left.
Only Kakashi noticed the girl that followed his genin team.
Standing sideways on the trunk of a tree as if it was nothing, the Kakashi-Bunshin nodded to his students "And this is Tree Walking. Have fun." he told them and disappeared in a puff of smoke.
The three genin looked at each other, the kunai at their feet and decided to give it a try.
Sasuke managed four steps before his feet slipped from the bark and had to angle himself, to fall in a crouch.
Sakura managed to climb all the way to the first branch on her first try!
Naruto... He blew up the bark on his first step.
The Uchiha didn't smirk at his rival. So what if he did better then Naruto? Neither would ever admit it because they both lost to Sakura.
Still, this went on for a few more minutes. Sakura, and their hidden watcher, looked on as Sasuke managed another step or two every try and Naruto continued to fail epically. Until the blond genin got tired of it.
"This is ridiculous! Sakura, how the hell did you manage it on your first try?" he shouted/asked the girl.
And she almost didn't answer, until she saw Sasuke was also paying attention. This was her time to shine! "You're putting too much chakra into it, Naruto. And Sasuke-kun is loosing some with every step... I-I think, Sasuke-kun!" she amended quickly, what if she came off sounding like a know-it-all?
Not that either of the boys were worried about that, they both made a serious face, nodded and got back to work. Except that each 'work' were two different things.
The Uchiha started adding a little bit of chakra to his feet after every step and managed to run twice as long, until he blew up the bark and flew away from the tree.
The Uzumaki, on the other hand, sat down and pulled both his boots out. Then, he made his brush appear from behind his ear and got to work. He started off writing in a scroll, drawing half a dozen seals with small differences between them and called it enough. Naruto them chose one seemingly at random and drew it on his boots, before wearing them again.
When the blond genin tried running up the tree again the explosion was only half of the first ones "Damn..." he muttered to himself, before sitting down and pulling another brush from behind his other ear. This one did the job of erasing the ink from his sole.
His work was interrupted by Sakura "Naruto that's cheating!" she complained.
The blond meet her eyes for a moment, then shrugged his shoulders "So what?"
"And what do you plan to do if you loose one of your boots in battle?" came Sasuke's voice from a branch, half way up the tree.
And the whisker-marked genin rolled his eyes "I'm going to write the best 'Jougo Fuin (Funnel Seal)' on the sole of my feet, not on my boots."
When Naruto managed his second step up the tree, he also managed to run all it's length. And Sakura watched, gritting her teach and fuming inside. It was the very first thing, outside of book knowledge, that she was better at then the rest of her team.
Honestly, she didn't mind Sasuke catching up to her, and then besting her, that's just things were. But for Naruto to just cheat past her only talent? Inner-Sakura had plenty to rant on about that...
"I have a question." the announcement was made without stuttering, so it took the pink haired genin a moment to identify the voice. She looked down at the same time that the Uzumaki shouted "Oh, Chinatsu-chan! You finally came out!"
And then the girl was a blushing mess again "Y-Yes, Na-Naruto... Naruto-kun..." she almost whispered the last word. Which pleased Sakura a great deal, it seemed their client had chosen to crush on her blond team-mate. Very good, the female genin would hate to have to beat up the other girl.
Still, Sakura's musings were interrupted by Chinatsu's voice, once again "I said I have a question." the girl told her with narrowed eyes. Confused, Sakura dropped down from the branch she was on and waited for the girl to speak. And speak she did "Why did your sensei not send you with them against the bandits?"
The question caught Sakura completely of guard, as did the suspicion with which it was asked "I.. I just don't have a lot of offensive jutsu!" she quickly defended herself.
But the other girl didn't look like she believed it "Really? Then what kind of jutsu do you have?"
The pink haired genin allowed her eyes to find the rest of her team, and was glad to see that both boys were completely focused on the exercise "Well, I can do the Kawamiri no Jutsu (Replacement Technique), and the Henge (Transformation)! And, and the Bunshin (Clone)! Not to mention I know Taijutsu (Body Techniques), Shuriken Jutsu (Throwing Stars) and-" by then, Sakura was already bragging, but she was interrupted.
"Wait! Isn't Shuriken Jutsu offensive?" Chinatsu asked, her eyes narrowed while she waited for an answer to her accusation.
Then, Sakura gulped "Well... Yes, I'm just not very good at it..."
And the other girl lost her interest then, huffing Chinatsu turned back to watch the boys training "You don't look like you're good at the other ones either." was the last thing she told Sakura.
An hour later found Team 7, and their youngest client, having lunch. Ramen, since Naruto had just decided where they would eat and dragged the blushing and stuttering Chinatsu with him.
Both him and the Uchiha were in good spirits. Sasuke was glad that he had learned a new skill, and that his rival had to 'cheat' to do the same. Naruto had learned how to walk on walls and was eating ramen. Sakura... Wasn't in nearly as good mood. Her Sasuke-kun hadn't praised her at all, despite how well she did in the exercise, and the Uzumaki had cheated! And nobody seemed to care! Even worse, Chinatsu seemed to have decided that Sakura was dragging the team down! Whenever Naruto wasn't around she would stop stuttering and say so!
Chinatsu was just starring at the hand Naruto touched, blushing and not eating. It was only a matter of time before the blond genin stole her food.
And when he did, he also decided to break the silence "Say, Chinatsu-chan? Why did you follow us? Too boring back there?"
"I-I just wanted too see your training..." she mumbled, worried about his reaction.
"Eh? Really? Well, you picked a pretty boring session!" he told her, shaking his head in disappointment "Oh, I know! Let's finish eating and I'll show you some of my cooler jutsu!"
With that he inhaled her ramen quickly and grabbed her hand again, dragging the girl to the same clearing from before. And then, Sakura noticed she was alone with her crush.
"Say, Sasuke-kun..." she started, only for the boy to get up and pay for his food.
"I'm going to do some training as well." he told her and walked away.
Just as Sakura was about to follow, a voice caught her attention "Hey, miss! You still have to pay for your food! And for the other two!"
"Kai: Koutetsu no Bakuha! (Release: Explosion of Steel!)" Naruto shouted, holding one of his scrolls in his right hand and having unrolled plenty of it with his left. The result was the a massive cloud of smoke, from which flew hundreds of shuriken. They cut through the air and struck almost everything in the blond's field of vision.
The aspiring seal master turned to the flabbergasted girl next to him "Awesome, huh?"
When she nodded but didn't say anything, he grew more smug "And that isn't even the best part!" he announced, much to Chinatsu's surprise. Putting the scroll down, he ran through a few hand seals and slapped his hands against the paper "Kuchiyose no Jutsu: Shuriken. (Summoning Technique: Throwing Star.)"
And the weapons currently piercing the trees, the ground and some laying around after hitting rocks all disappeared in small clouds of smoke. When a huge cloud of smoke appeared right in front of them, Naruto quickly ran through more hand seals and slapped his palms against the scroll again "Fuin! (Seal!)" he announced.
Then he got up, opened the scroll again and aimed for the same area "Kai: Koutetsu no Bakuha!" and steel flew again.
And, even hours later, Naruto and Chinatsu were sited on the ground. The forest around them was littered with throwing weapons, scorch marks and the odd chain wrapped around a tree. But all that wasn't what they were looking at. The genin and the girl had their eyes on the cat she was petting.
Brown fur, red ribbon on the left ear. Yes, it was Tora, the royal pet of the Fire Daimyo's family.
"D-Did you really bring h-her away the way from Konoha?" the shy girl asked, petting the cat and trying to stutter as little as possible.
The Uzumaki nodded "Yeah, it's pretty hard work to pull it off. And I can only drag it so far because I have more chakra then normal, but I painted the seal on it myself!" then he laughed, loudly enough for the girl to duck her head "There's probably some poor bastards in Konoha being hired to track it right now! Hahaha!"
Risking a look at the intimidating boy, Chinatsu asked "And... And w-what happens if they c-can't find him?"
Then, Naruto's smirk was down right evil "Then they fail the job, everybody does until they hire my team and I drag it back from where ever she went."
"But... But Isn't that mean..?"
The blonds smile got a little smaller, and a lot smugger "Sure it is. But it's ok to be mean once in a while. Besides, there's a reason the cat runs so often. If you ask it, I'm not being mean at all." he explained, before laying on his back and crossing his arms behind his head.
Chinatsu took a long look at the cat in her lap. He looked absolutely starving for gentle petting, and didn't look like Tora wanted her to stop any time soon "Are... Are you taking him back to Konoha with us?"
And Naruto shook his head "I don't feel like dragging it to a place neither of us wants be at..."
"You don't want to be in Konoha?" the surprise did wonders in ending her hesitancy.
Again, the blond shook his head "I don't like living there. But leaving would be more trouble then it's worth..."
Again, Chinatsu didn't even think before asking "T-Trouble?" but she did stutter.
And this time, Naruto nodded "Yeah, if a ninja takes off without permission (yawn)... Well, he gets labelled as a missing-nin. He's hunted down and killed, that way he can't spread the village's secrets. Living on the run (yawn)... It doesn't sound nice at all."
When the girl finally realised her companion was getting tired, Naruto was already asleep and she had no idea what to do. The blond looked so peaceful, drooling away in the grass. In the end, Chinatsu just watched him and blushed for a long time.
AN: And that's that. Hope one of you guys like it enough to give it a go! Now, if anyone is interested, this is how I would continue the story:
Keep Naruto away from Wave, we've all seen a dozen different ways that particular Arc can go. And a thousand of the original way it can happen (even if people insist theirs is an AU).
Don't have him rediscover the Hiraishin (Flying Thunder God). The idea that we, not the author, gave ourselves when it comes to sealing, is that it can be used to do anything!... And a Seal Master-Naruto never does anything different then explosive tags, sealing scrolls, weight seals and the Hiraishin... And anti-rape seals, every once in a while...
Be creative. Have him beat an enemy by creating a seal that sticks to any surface, using the guy's chakra, and planting it on the guy's back. Then knocking him down. Good seals, bad seals, funny seals, not-funny seals, etc.
Do whatever you want when it comes to relationships. Naruto looks scary, so shy little Hinata would probably be terrified of him. Ino might like a bad boy more then a lonely prince. And I might be completely wrong about all that, you decide.
Don't go with what you think the readers will like, with what cannon did. Sasuke doesn't need to be alive in Shippuden. But he also doesn't need to be with Orochimaru. Sakura doesn't need to be Tsunade's apprentice.
And, more importantly... Have fun, Mister Writer.