This fanfic is based on an idea that I've had floating around for a while now, but only just decided to put down on paper (figuratively speaking, of course!). The inspiration came primarily from the fanfic Master of the Iron Puppet written by Dragon Master Naruto 0093 (I highly recommend you read this fic if you like Naruto!), which uses the idea of Naruto using puppets that are constructed from metal and are heavily based on various mobile suits from different Mobile Suit Gundam series. Just so you know, the story begins during the Chunin Exam arc, and will extend into Naruto Shippuuden as well. So without further ado, enjoy the fanfic!
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto (the show, manga, or any of the games) or any of the mobile suits that appear in the story. Believe me, if I owned Naruto, there would be some proper romance going on (e.g. Naruto/Sakura, Naruto/Hinata, and Naruto/Ino etc).
Chapter 1: The First Iron Spirit.
"That idiot! What did Kabuto just say about not drawing attention? And yet he just HAS to shout out, and now everyone's annoyed at him." Sakura thought, sighing in frustration. The Chunin Exam hadn't even started yet and already it looked like the Rookie Nine were in for a rough time, thanks to Naruto's impulsive behaviour and cocky attitude. As Sakura mentally fumed, Ino Yamanaka strode over to her, anger written all over her face.
"What the hell Sakura? What possessed you to tell Naruto to do that? Now everyone here hates us!" she yelled, jolting Sakura out of her internal musings.
"What do you mean, Ino? I didn't tell Naruto to do anything, the idiot id it by himself!" Sakura shouted back, as the two girls started a full blown shouting match, arguing about whose fault the whole thing was. Ignoring his teammate's yelling, Shikamaru Nara lazily walked over to Naruto, who still wore that same cocky grin that always adorned his face.
"Seriously Naruto, what was the point of that? Now we've already got trouble ahead of us and we haven't even started. This is such a drag." He complained. Naruto turned to face him, still grinning.
"Aw come on, Shikamaru, lighten up! Besides, I want these guys to know who they're messing with!" Naruto replied, his voice oozing confidence (or more likely, arrogance).
"Tch, you really don't understand how things work around here, do you?" someone asked. All of the Leaf Genin turned to face whoever the voice belonged to. Another Genin was leaning against the wall a short distance away, but what struck the other Genin as odd was his clothing. The Genin wore black combat pants which matched his black ninja sandals and black short-sleeved shirt, over which he wore a black ANBU flak jacket. Black ANBU greaves also covered his lower legs, while similar guards covered his forearms, with headband having a black cloth. His one visible (left) eye was blue, the other being covered by an eye scope device that also held a microphone as well. On each hip was a traditional katana, each possessing a square guard and black scabbard. He turned his head to look towards the nine ninja now staring at him, a faint smile on his face.
"What was that?" Naruto shouted. The Genin ignored Naruto's tone, standing up straight.
"I meant exactly what I said. You come in here with an attitude like that, and everyone else will want to kill you within five minutes. Listen to the guy with the glasses, he knows what I mean. It's better for you to stay anonymous, that way you can easily surprise people, because they'll inevitably underestimate you." He explained.
"See Naruto, at least someone here has some common sense." Sakura told her teammate, who gave a 'Hmph' before turning away. "So anyway, who are you? I haven't seen you before?" Sakura asked.
"Oh I'm sorry, where are my manners? I'm Shiro. Shiro Yamamoto." The ninja replied, offering his hand to Sakura.
"Nice to meet you, I'm Sakura Haruno." Sakura replied. Thinking he just wanted to shake her hand, Sakura returned the gesture, but Shiro swiftly bent over and kissed her hand lightly, causing Sakura to blush.
"A beautiful name to match a beautiful girl. It's nice to meet you too, Sakura." Shiro replied, releasing Sakura's hand. Sakura clasped her hands in front of her chest, unable to speak as her blush intensified. The other Genin proceeded to introduce themselves to Shiro, occasionally asking questions such as who his sensei was, but Shiro managed to get away with only giving half-answers, not revealing his sensei's identity. Tenten was particularly interested, bombarding Shiro with questions about his swords, not surprising given her fascination with weapons. Shiro somehow managed to fully answer each and every question thrown his way, quite enjoying the conversation, which quickly turned into a full blown discussion on weapons other such tools. Suddenly out of the corner of his eye, Shiro spotted one of the Sound ninja sneaking up on Kabuto. As the Sound ninja began to throw a punch Shiro swiftly crossed the distance between them, drawing one of his swords. He caught the ninja's fist, simultaneously holding the katana's tip against the Sound ninja's throat.
"What the-?" the Sound ninja exclaimed, surprised at being stopped so easily.
"Sorry but if that's the best you can do, you won't last very long in here." Shiro told him, his expression and tone serious. The Sound ninja glared at him, before slowly backing away, returning to his team. Shiro watched him carefully, replacing his sword in its sheath before turning to Kabuto. "Hey, you okay?" he asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Thanks." Kabuto replied.
"No problem, just make sure to always watch your back. You never know when someone will try and sneak up on you." Shiro told him, before returning to his conversation with Tenten. Meanwhile Naruto and Sakura were still amazed at what had just transpired before their eyes.
"Did you see that, Naruto?" Sakura gasped.
"I know! I've never seen anybody move that fast before." Naruto replied, amazed at the level of skill Shiro had already displayed. After a few minutes, a tall man wearing a black appeared at the front of the room, causing all of the assembled ninja to face the front. The man introduced himself as Ibiki Morino, explaining that he would be the proctor for the first part of the exam and that they should take their seats. Wordlessly, the ninja moved about the room, sitting down as they found their seats. Before he sat down, one of the Chunin supervising asked Shiro to hand over his eye scope/microphone for the duration of the test, to prevent cheating, to which Shiro agreed, removing the device and handing it to the other ninja. Once seated, Shiro was pleasantly surprised to find Tenten seated to his immediate right. Both of them wished each other good luck, before they got ready to start the test.
"I hereby declare this part of the Chunin Selection Exam completed. There's nothing left...but to wish you all good luck." Ibiki announced. The remaining Genin stared at him with varied looks, ranging from the totally confused and bewildered to those like Shiro and Naruto, who were just happy to have passed the test. They had all been surprised when the tenth question turned out not to exist at all, and that they were meant to cheat to get the answers, as a way to demonstrate how well they were able to covertly gather information, even while under fierce scrutiny. Suddenly, something burst through one of the windows, causing glass to scatter onto the floor. The figure threw two kunai that were attached to some large banner into the ceiling, spreading banner out for all to see, blocking Ibiki's view in the process.
"Is this...part of the test?" Naruto exclaimed, while the others stared at the new arrival.
"Uhh, she always has to overdo it, doesn't she?" Shiro thought, sighing loudly. Tenten turned to face him, confused by Shiro's odd reaction.
"Shiro? What's up, do you know her?" She asked. Shiro chuckled, before turning to face Tenten.
"Unfortunately. She's always been a show off." He replied, as the woman stood up and faced them.
"Heads up, boys and girls! This is no time to be celebrating! I'll be your next proctor...Anko Mitarashi!" she announced. "You ready for the second test? Good, then let's go! Follow me!" The Genin just stared at Anko, all of them speechless.
"You're early...again." Ibiki said, stepping out from behind the banner.
"Yeah, yeah. Trust me, less than half'll be left when I'm done with 'em." Anko replied, grinning sadistically. "All right, you maggots have had it easy so far but...things are gonna be different starting first thing in the morning. I'll let your squad leaders know where you're to meet me, dismissed."
The next morning, the remaining Genin were gathered outside the 44th Battle Training Ground, AKA The Forest of Death, where Anko outlined how the second phase of the exam would work. All of the teams would be given a scroll, either a Heaven Scroll or an Earth Scroll, and a number corresponding with one of the forty four gates into the forest. The squads would then have to make their way towards the tower in the centre, however they had to collect the scroll they didn't have by stealing it from another team. This meant fending off almost constant attacks whilst heading for the tower once they had collected both scrolls. Before the test began, they ninja were given a half hour to prepare themselves for the three day long ordeal. Tenten quickly found Shiro, after having discussed strategies with Lee and Neji.
"Hey Shiro, how're you feeling?" she asked, already excited despite Anko's attempts at intimidation.
"Pretty good. And you?" Shiro replied.
"Same here, I'm fired up!" Tenten shouted. "So Shiro, I wanted to ask you something."
"Sure, what?" Shiro replied.
"How exactly do you know our proctor?' Tenten asked. Shiro was about to answer, when he saw a flash of metal out of the corner of his eye. Reacting instinctively, he drew his swords, deflecting the shuriken away from himself and Tenten, before blocking Anko's kunai with his crossed swords. All of the other Genin turned to see what the fuss was about, and were shocked to see Shiro and Anko locked in a struggle.
"Not Bad Shiro, your reflexes are still pretty good." Anko said, grinning.
"Come on sensei, do you really have to attack me from out of nowhere all the time? Not that I mind the extra training or anything." Shiro replied, as they put away their respective weapons.
"S-Sensei?" Naruto exclaimed.
"So THAT'S who your sensei is?" Tenten gasped. Shiro nodded.
"Yeah, and trust me it's not easy having to train with Anko. She gives a whole new meaning to the term brutal." Shiro replied.
"Is she really that bad?" Sakura asked, still slightly sceptical.
"Well that depends. Does training non-stop from 5:00am to 9:00pm sound brutal enough?" Shiro asked. The others went wide-eyed, their jaws practically hitting the floor. Well...except for Lee.
"Now that is proper dedication! I admire you, my friend!" he exclaimed, before writing it down in his notebook.
"Do you seriously train that much?" Tenten asked.
"It's actually not as bad as it sounds, you get used to it after a few days. Besides, it's better than when she chases me around the forest." Shiro told her.
"Huh? What forest?" Naruto asked.
"Oh right, I forgot to mention that earlier. I live in the tower at the centre of this forest, along with Anko-sensei. I quite like it, it's quiet and really peaceful, as long as you ignore the possibility of running into various deadly animals, or Anko-sensei when she...needs to get laid." He explained, grimacing slightly.
"You're joking right?" Tenten asked.
"No, I'm serious. The last time it happened, she chased through the whole forest for three days straight. Then some poor ANBU came to deliver a message to her and got caught instead of me. The poor guy now has group therapy sessions 6:30pm-7:30pm every day ." Shiro sighed, not exactly enjoying the memories.
"Geez, I feel sorry for you." Naruto replied.
"Well on the plus side, running from her is great evasion training. It also helps to have that extra motivation. She hasn't caught me so far, and she's tried more times than I care to remember." Shiro said. "Anyway, I'll see you guys later. If you survive the forest that is."
Three days later, Shiro was pleasantly surprised to find that all of the Rookie Nine had managed to survive the Forest of Death and make it through to the next stage of the exams. He himself had of course encountered no difficulties, arriving at the tower in the centre of the forest just a few hours after the test began, which unfortunately meant he was forced to wait for over two days before the others who had collected both scrolls arrived at the destination. After they had been given a chance to rest and catch their breath, the remaining candidates were brought into a large room in the middle of the tower. The room held a large statue at the far end, with a big television screen above it. A walkway ran the entire perimeter of the room, about halfway between the floor and the high ceiling. In front of the statue stood the Third Hokage, along with the various squad leaders of those teams that had made in through the forest. Once the Genin were all assembled, Lord Hokage asked if any of them wanted to back out now, while they had the chance. Surprisingly, no one raised their hand, so Lord Hokage brought their next proctor forward, who then explained the rules for the third phase of the exam. There would be a series of one-on-one battles, with the winner of each fight advancing to the next stage of the exam. The names of the fighters for each battle would be selected at random and displayed on the screen. The fight would continue until one of the combatants gave up or was killed, but the proctor could stop the match at any time should he choose to do so. With the ground rules established, everyone present cleared the floor apart from the proctor, while the first two combatants were chosen.
A few hours later, things were heating up. So far Sasuke Uchiha, Shikamaru Nara, Shino Aburame, Kankuro, Gaara, Neji Hyuuga, Naruto Uzumaki and Dosu from the Sound Village had succeeded in their bouts, earning a place in the next round. Sakura and Ino's fight had ended in a draw, with both kunoichi collapsing after punching each other simultaneously. Now the only ones left were Shiro, Tenten, Temari and Kabuto, each of them eagerly awaiting their shot at the next round. After a few moments, the screen brought up the next two fighters. Tenten VS Shiro Yamamoto. Shiro smiled, before leaping down to the floor, as Tenten did the same. The two ninja approached each other, stopping about twenty paces apart, as the proctor came forward.
"All right, I shouldn't have to explain the rules by now, you've heard them enough to remember. Are both of you ready?" he asked.
"I'm ready. But Shiro, don't you dare go easy on me." Tenten said, anticipation evident in her tone and expression.
"I wouldn't dream of it. I'm ready." Shiro replied.
"In that case...BEGIN!" The proctor shouted, leaping out of the way. Tenten wasted no time and quickly seized the initiative, hurling kunai towards Shiro. Shiro jumped backwards, drawing his twin katanas in the process. Using both blades, he deflected the oncoming projectiles with practised efficiency, before he was forced to leap away as more kunai came his way, but this time carrying paper bombs. Shiro pushed off from the wall he landed on, charging Tenten head on. Unflinching, Tenten hurled a mixture of shuriken and paper bomb kunai knives at her attacker. Shiro deflected the weapons, before landing and striking at Tenten, who just barely managed to block his swords with two kunai.
"Not bad, Tenten. You're pretty good." Shiro said.
"Thanks, you're not too bad yourself." Tenten admitted, before they disengaged, moving back to stand a short distance apart from each other. Shiro smirked, before sheathing both of his swords, causing Tenten to look at him in confusion.
"Well, it's been fun. But now it's time to get serious." Shiro announced. He bit his left thumb, smearing some of his blood on his right palm. "I! Inu! Tori! Saru! Hitsuji! Ninja Art: Summoning Jutsu!" he shouted, slamming his hand onto the floor. A large cloud of smoke erupted, covering Shiro completely, as everyone watched in amazement.
"Summoning Jutsu? But he's just a Genin! How's that possible?" Temari exclaimed, as the smoke slowly began to clear. It revealed a large puppet now standing in front of Shiro. The puppet was about seven feet tall, with dark green armour covering its humanoid frame. On its back was a sheath with a large knife handle protruding from it, while on its right shoulder were two small tubes. In its right hand the puppet held an assault rifle, with a curved magazine on top of the rear of the weapon, with a drum mounted below the muzzle. An extra magazine was affixed to each hip. The head was a simple squared helmet shape, with a visor in place of the eyes (GM Spartan).
-Gundam Stats Card-
Gundam: Spartan
Height: 8 feet.
Weight: 250 kilograms.
Armour Thickness: 1 inch.
Armaments: Assault Rifle x 1, Wire-guided Missile x 2, Combat Knife x 1.
Extra Equipment: Smoke Dispenser x 2, Extra Magazine x 2.
-Gundam Stats Card-
"What...kind of puppet is that?" Kankuro gasped.
"This is no ordinary puppet! Say hello to the Spartan!" Shiro announced.
"Not bad, but it'll take more than that to scare me." Tenten replied.
"Okay then, let's see how you do." Shiro told her, putting a hand against his eye scope, before speaking into the microphone. " Spartan, attack!" At this, the Spartans visor flashed, before it sprang to life and charged Tenten, its metal feet booming with each heavy step. Tenten leapt back, hurling more paper bomb kunai towards it. The Spartan stopped, bringing its arms up to shield itself, as the kunai hit home, the explosions hiding it from view. As the smoke cleared, Tenten was stunned to see the Spartan was completely undamaged.
"What the...?" she gasped.
"Nice try, now it's my turn. Spartan, fire!" Shiro shouted. The Spartan raised its assault rifle, unleashing a burst in Tenten's direction. Tenten just barely managed to dodge, as the bullets sliced through the air where her body had been. As Tenten landed, she was shocked when she looked at what she saw. The wall behind where she'd been only moments earlier was now riddled with dozens of holes, each about an inch across.
"Holy...!" Tenten exclaimed. She quickly jumped up again, unrolling a scroll. A cloud of smoke erupted from the scroll, quickly followed by a hail of kunai, shuriken, and other assorted weapons. The Spartan fired its weapon again, letting loose a stream of its strange bullets. A loud series of clangs rang out, as Tenten's weapons were knocked out of the air by the Spartan's fire. After a few seconds the rain of weapons ceased, as Tenten landed again.
"Reload." Shiro ordered. The magazine on top of the Spartan's weapon ejected itself, as the puppet grabbed another box from its hip. The Spartan fixed the magazine in place and pulled the charging handle back, ready to fire again..
"Damn, that thing's tough. I was hoping to save this for the finals, but I guess there's no choice." Tenten muttered, pulling out two more scrolls. She placed them upright on the floor either side of her. "Tora! Tatsu! Saru! U! Mi! Ninja Art: Twin Rising Dragons!" The scrolls shot into the air in a cloud of smoke, twisting as they did so. Tenten then leaped up between the two scrolls, then proceeded to summon and throw weapon after weapon at the Spartan. The puppet raised its assault rifle, opening fire on the barrage of weapons. Due to the overwhelming number of weapons Tenten was throwing, some managed to get through, but they simply glanced off the Spartans armour.
"Spartan, fire missiles now!" Shiro ordered. At his command, two rockets shot out from the tubes on the puppet's right shoulder, wires strung between them and the puppet. The missiles exploded, knocking the scrolls and Tenten out of the air. As Tenten started to pick herself up, she found herself staring down the barrel of the Spartan's gun, with Shiro standing beside the puppet.
"Give up?" Shiro asked, smiling.
"Yeah, I give up." Tenten replied, before Shiro helped her to her feet.
"Winner, Shiro Yamamoto." The proctor announced, leaping down to the floor once again. Shiro put Tenten's arm over his shoulder, then jumped back up onto the walkway, as the Spartan vanished in a puff of smoke. At the same time, Temari and Kabuto took their places, ready to begin their fight. Shiro put Tenten down against the wall to let her rest, as Naruto, Sakura, Sasuke and Kakashi came over.
"Shiro, that was awesome!" Naruto exclaimed.
"Thanks, glad you liked it." Shiro replied, grinning.
"That puppet of yours, what did you call it again?" Sakura asked.
"A Gundam." Shiro told her.
"Right, that. How many others are there? It can't be the only one, right?" Sakura asked.
"Well, they're a lot harder to make than ordinary puppets, so they tend to take about two years to create. Because of this, only eight currently exist." Shiro explained.
"Whoa, that long?" Naruto gasped.
"So, are they all as powerful as that one you just used?" Sasuke asked, with his characteristic arrogance.
"No way. In fact, the Spartan is easily the weakest out the eight. The others are all a lot more powerful, which is why I didn't use them. I need more space to be able to use them without collateral damage." Shiro replied.
A while later, the last match ended after about fifteen minutes, with Temari easily defeating Kabuto to claim the last spot in the finals. Once the battle had ended, the remaining ninja assembled in the floor, as Lord Hokage came forward to address them all. Ibiki and Anko stood on either side of him. However, before anything could be said, Kankuro and Dosu announced that they had decided to withdraw from the exam. Everyone was surprised by the decision, but no objections were raised as the two left the line.
"First of all, allow me to congratulate you all for making it this far. You have fought hard to get through the challenges up to the point, and I'm sure you've each learned something along the way. And now I will explain how the final rounds will work." Lord Hokage announced. "In the final rounds, you will be demonstrating your battle skills and prowess in front of not only myself and the Kazekage, but also many important civilians and dignitaries; those people who may hire you for future missions. In light of this, the final battles will take place one month from today. This is to allow you to rest, recuperate and train to prepare yourselves for the finals, as well as to allow for the summons to be sent out and for those people to arrive." He explained.
"That makes sense. It also gives me some time to finish that project of mine." Shiro thought, as Lord Hokage continued with his announcement.
"Now then, before we continue there is one more important matter we need to take care of for the final rounds." Lord Hokage said.
"Let's get on with it! I mean come on, how much longer do wait before we can start training?" Naruto exclaimed.
"Geez Naruto, could you be anymore disrespectful?" Shiro thought, sighing at his fellow Genin's outburst.
"Each one of you will now take one slip of paper from the box Anko is holding. These will determine who you will be facing in the final rounds." Lord Hokage said. The ten Genin waited as Anko moved down the line, each of them taking a paper as Anko reached them. Shiro unfolded his slip to see that his paper had the number seven written on it.
"Good, now everyone has one. Going from left to right tell me the number you have." Ibiki told them.
"Number one, of course." Naruto said.
"Three." Temari answered.
"Five." Shiro said.
"Six." Gaara said.
"Four." Shikamaru answered.
"Two." Neji said.
"Eight." Shino replied.
"Seven." Sasuke said.
"Ibiki, you may reveal which ninja have been paired up." Lord Hokage said.
"Right." Ibiki replied, showing the draw to the Genin. Shiro was slightly unnerved that he was up against Gaara in the third battle.
"Hmm, this won't be an easy fight, but I think I know which of the Gundams will be able to not only withstand his attacks, but also break through his defences. We'll just have to wait and see what happens." Shiro thought.
"Shiro has to fight Gaara?" Tenten thought, suddenly concerned for her new friend. "Well, if his other Gundams are even more powerful than the one I fought, he should be okay."
"Excuse me, Lord Hokage?" Shiro asked.
"Yes?" Lord Hokage said.
"Does this mean that only one of use is going to become a Chunin?" Shiro asked.
"Ah, I was hoping someone would ask that question. There will several judges observing the final rounds; myself, the Kazekage and the shinobi leaders. They will observe each battle, and decide if any of you possess the skills required of a Chunin. Even if you lose, you may still become a Chunin. Does that answer your question, Shiro?" Lord Hokage asked.
"Yes, thank you." Shiro replied.
"Now then with that out of the way, you are hereby dismissed. Good luck, and make the most of your time before the final rounds." Lord Hokage announced.
What do you think? Good? Bad? Review and tell me what you think. Just so you know, the Gundams won't be the size they are in their series, they'll be around seven-eight feet tall. Well, I hope to have the next chapter finished soon! Anzac-A1 out!