The Tides of Blood
Chapter one - Graduation Day
Disclaimer - I do not own Naruto, the world or any of the associated characters.
Naruto, a blonde haired boy, with blue eyes. He lived in the village of Konohagakure, he is also the jinchuriki of the Kyuubi no kitsune. For the uninformed, this meant that he housed the Kyuubi within his mind, soul and chakra, all tied together like a curse.
It is said that twelve years ago the Kyuubi no kitsune appeared and ravaged the village and her inhabitants, but a brave hero stood in its way. A blonde man with blue eyes. Not the same blue eyes that Naruto possessed, No, these eyes were sharp, calculating and fearless.
As the story goes he sacrificed himself and sealed the Kyuubi within an infant. This man was known to the world as Konoha Kiiroi no Senko, to his village as Yondaime-sama and to his family and friends as Minato Namikaze.
Naruto lived his life alone, with no friends, and no family. The village he lived in ignored his existence, in some cases called him names such as: "Demon!" and "Kyuubi brat.", at times they simply called him "dangerous."
At a time Naruto began pranking these individuals, however they seemed to get worse, so, he stopped. The Sandaime Hokage, and his shinobi helped Naruto get out of tight situations when it came to drunken villages, but that barely happened. Speaking of the Sandaime Hokage, the man bought Naruto an apartment at the age of five when the orphanage he stayed at threatened to throw him out.
Naruto learned at a young age to fend for himself. He needed to cook for himself, since he had nobody to do it for him. He started the academy at the age of seven, and was quite the student. He read all the books, as well as the supplementary ones supplied. He studied as best as he could while also keeping up his physical training.
In the first few years he was around top of his class in academics, but he soon moved down slightly, his academic grades were slightly below Shino Aburame, which was admittedly not that low, considering they had average grade of about seventy-five percent.
Sasuke Uchiha, Sakura Haruno, Hinata Hyuga and Ino Yamanaka, were above them in academic scores.
When the academy class was taught Taijutsu and Shurikenjutsu, Naruto practised Taijutsu and Shurikenjutsu every day. He practised it to the point that it became second nature. This however did not help Naruto much since, he was behind Sasuke Uchiha, Kiba Inuzuka, Choji Akimichi, and Hinata Hyuga in Taijutsu.
Although, when it came to weapons accuracy, Naruto was almost on par with Sasuke, and that was only because Sasuke had been training a few years more than himself, as well, he had sharper vision, evidence of his Uchiha lineage.
When they introduced chakra into the curriculum. Naruto was found to have very little. He had more chakra than Ino, and Sakura, but less than the male ninja of class had much, much more than he had.
This was not all bad however, since, he had the best chakra control in the class. With a decent chakra supply - for an academy civilian student - and high control the academy Ninjutsu that was taught was child's play for him.
Naruto was only taught one chakra control exercise thus far, and that was the leaf concentration exercise. This exercise was simply too easy, and thus did not improve his control, however it did give him a little more chakra, than he had. Enough for a single Bunshin.
Soon Naruto's training brought him to about eight months before his scheduled graduation test.
Academy Classroom
Mid-afternoon
The class filed out after their last lesson, however one student remained, it was Naruto.
"Naruto, can I help you with something?" asked Iruka Umino, a chunin teacher with a scar over his nose, and his hair tied into a short, flowing, Ponytail.
"Yeah, I need you to evaluate my Taijutsu." Naruto replied, "I was wondering if you could point out what I need to improve on, my Taijutsu has been stagnant for a while now, and I have no idea on what to do."
The vindictive part of Iruka wanted to send him away, it wanted him to feel pain for what the demon within him did to his parents, however the teacher side of him, that wanted to help all of his students won over. "Why, don't we go to the academy sparing field?"
"Thank you, Iruka-sensei." bowed Naruto.
Academy Sparing field.
Naruto stood across Iruka, his stance was perfect. He had his dominant leg out at forty-five degree angle, his weaker hand held out closer to Iruka, and his dominant hand closer to himself, he was partially relaxed, but at the same time ready to spring into action.
Iruka was mostly relaxed, however his muscles seemed to be ready to spring into action.
He waited, and then surged forward.
Naruto punched Iruka into the abdomen, however that was easily slid aside by a mere deflection of his was not worried, he continued on, this time he faked left and went right, however instead of a strike to the ribs as Iruka expected, Naruto threw all his bodyweight forward and rolled past Iruka's guard and behind him.
He then aimed a kick at Iruka legs, however the chunin-instructor backed flipped over the kick and landed behind Naruto. He kicked Naruto in the back with enough force to send him tumbling forward.
He moved in on Naruto's location, the blonde Konoha resident was up a second before Iruka drove a stomp-the-door-down-kick into him, however Naruto shoved the foot aside with his hand and then dropped down and swept Iruka's chunin tumbled to the ground, and Naruto backed away quickly, in an effort to regroup.
"Very good, Naruto." said Iruka, as he got up, relatively unharmed. "Up for the next round?" he asked, a grin marring his features.
"Sensei." consented Naruto.
Iruka approached Naruto at a pace closer to his true barely saw him move before the man was upon him, he was able to avoid, block and deflect a couple of Iruka's blows, before the spotted an opening and kneed him in the solar plexus, which sent him bending over and grasping his the next blow was a hammer blow to the back of his head and a kick to the ribs.
All these blows, still did not put Naruto down, because he struggled to his feet and got into a stance, awaiting Iruka's attack.
"No, Naruto I think that's all for now." Iruka instructed, feeling slightly sorry for Naruto.
"Hai, sensei." half-grimaced Naruto.
"You are not bad Naruto," complimented Iruka.
"Thank you, Iruka-sensei, but how can I get better? I want to at least be in a position where I can give Inuzuka-san a run for his money."
"Well, your technique is perfect, it cannot get you need is to increase both your power and speed." said Iruka.
"How would I go about doing that?" asked Naruto.
"Well generally your speed is improved by , I would advise running laps with a bag full of rocks." said Iruka, with a finger on his chin, "Strength, well that can obviously be improved by exercises such as push-ups, Pull-ups, sit-ups squats. Other than that I would recommend weights since they help with strength and speed, also try developing or learning a different Taijutsu style. It will be much better than only the academy was only meant as a basic foundation. Oh, and when you improve your speed, simply work on your foot work and it will allow you to translate the new speed into your movements without the actual running, after that I suppose it would be your reaction time, and that could be improved by sparing with someone frequently or dodging projectiles."
"Thanks Iruka-sensei, I was wondering if you could be my sparing partner? Like once a week? And once a month could we have full-spars? Shurikenjutsu, Taijutsu, Genjutsu and Ninjutsu all included." asked Naruto.
Iruka was reluctant, but he gave in. "Sure Naruto, as long you take it seriously, I'll train you seriously."
After that sparing session with Iruka, Naruto adhered to his instructions and ran around a random training field with a bag of rocks and a timer. He did this everyday until he could keep his top-speed constant for at least three laps, and then moved onto adding more rocks into the bag and instead of striving for speed he strived for stamina.
He started out running full-speed and kept the speed up for as long as possible, when it was simply impossible to keep the speed, he kept running for as long as possible. The training had the added bonus of increasing his chakra capacity, which was what he needed. He intended to at least have his chakra capacity on par with Hinata by the time Graduation rolled by.
He also did the usual Pull-ups, Push-ups, Squats, and sit-ups. They were obviously to assist with his strength. He wanted to take the training to extremes. Such as: tying rocks to his ankles while he did pull-ups, however it would take a few months before he could say that he was at that point.
Naruto continued his weekly spars with Iruka-sensei slowly improving his application of the style. Usually one can have knowledge of a specific area, but unless they test it in practise it doesn't amount to much use.
After Monthly Spar
"Naruto, I would really like to congratulate you on your accuracy. It is good enough to rival most Uchiha and Hyuga. You really only need to learn how telegraph movement, that will take your accuracy to the next level." Praised Iruka.
"Thank you, sensei." replied Naruto, "Anything else?"
"You need to improve your chakra capacity. Which you have done already, but it can never be too big. Also practise all the academy Ninjutsu, as well as try and speed up your Hand-seals."remarked Iruka.
"Thanks sensei." Naruto nodded.
After his first full-spar with Iruka, Naruto worked on improving the speed of his hand-seals. He also practised the Bunshin no Jutsu everyday for about an hour. He first started out creating as much clones as he could which was about twenty(keep in mind they're intangible copies.) he then moved onto creating a reasonable number. About four clones while transitioning from one kata to the next.
At first it was difficult, but he was able to have four clones perform the same movements as himself, as well as, have them surround his opponents instead of himself. Naruto also decreased the hand seals for the clone Jutsu by one. So he only had two hand seals that he needed to use.
Tiger and Snake.
Naruto found that the most chakra intensive Jutsu was the Henge no Jutsu(well only if you maintained it for a long duration.)Naruto started doing that during the forth month into his training. This slightly improved his chakra reserves everyday. He was not too worried about decreasing the number of hand seals at the moment because he needed to focus on doing that with his battle Jutsu.
The substitution required a total number of five hand-signs. That was way to many. Even with Naruto's improved hand seal weaving speeds. So far it had been two months and he still was not able to decrease the hand seals. So, he simply made sure that he had mastered the Jutsu. He would need to learn the parent Jutsu to that before he could actually make any progress.
"Sensei, I was wondering if you could teach me the Shunshin no Jutsu?"Naruto asked.
"The Shunshin no Jutsu, huh? Why?" Iruka asked.
"Well, I've been trying for a couple of months to get the number of hand seals down on the Kawarimi no Jutsu, and I read that its derived from the Shunshin no Jutsu. So it will give me an inkling on how the Jutsu works - the whole theory - and I can work on it from there."explained Naruto.
"Mhm, it does have some merit. . .I've been trying for some time to decrease the hand seals on the Kawarimi no Jutsu, if you succeed could you teach me? Yes that's my price. I'll give you the Shunshin no Jutsu scroll if you promise to teach me how to decrease the number of hand seals in the Kawarimi no Jutsu." said Iruka.
Iruka had given Naruto a scroll which he studied intently. The Shunshin no Jutsu required only one hand seal. The tiger hand seal. The Jutsu required you to use your chakra to vitalise your whole body and this created the high speed movement that the Jutsu was famed for.
"Okay, time to try it out." murmured Naruto, he held his hands in the tiger hand seal. "Shunshin no Jutsu!" Naruto disappeared in a puff of smoke and reappeared hitting a tree just across him face first. "That didn't go how I wanted it to!"
It took Naruto a week before he had learned the Jutsu, he could not really use it in battle, but it was good enough for him to travel around with, and it also helped that the longer the distance of travel. The more chakra needed to be used. This suited him just fine, because it was a way for him to increase his chakra supply while also becoming more proficient at the Jutsu.
The problem lie in the fact that he could not decrease the number of hand-seals in this Jutsu until he had better control. Not to say that it did not improve, he had already decreased the number of seals needed for the clone Jutsu by one. Which was already a substantial increase from before.
Two months before Graduation
Naruto was almost set, he had learned all his Jutsu, and his speed increase was also an added bonus. He improved his footwork and reaction speed by sparing with Iruka once a week.
Naruto had two months to master his other Ninjutsu to the point of at the very least one hand seal per Jutsu. And the Kawarimi still alluded him, so he sat down and thought about it. How was he going to decrease the hand seals, it was after all, something that could save his life one day.
"The Kawarimi no Jutsu creates an illusion over the log. That much I know, the hand seals are: Tiger - Boar - Ox - Dog - Snake, two of the hand seals found here, correspond to the Henge no means that these hand seals are likely responsible for the illusion." said Naruto deep in thought. "So, if I can master the Henge no Jutsu to the point that I don't need to use Dog and boar, I'll be able to decrease the number of seals needed to use the Kawarimi no Jutsu."
Naruto went over his notes for a while the Henge no Jutsu and the Bunshin no Jutsu had corresponding hand seal in it. The Ram hand seal. "So, since the Ram hand seal is used to focus the chakra." said Naruto thoughtfully, "Which means I can take ram out of the equation when I use the Henge no Jutsu, the Bunshin no Jutsu has another corresponding hand seal, although it's with the Kawarimi no Jutsu. The snake hand seal, generally the snake represents, transformation or rebirth, but here it is likely meant to stabilize the Jutsu, along with the ox hand seal."
Using his newly attained knowledge, Naruto practised the Jutsu without the Snake hand seal and Ram hand seal(he had already moved past that hand seal months ago.) At first the clones he created died soon after their creation, because they lacked the stability factor that the snake hand seal offered. However he persevered and after two weeks he was able to create the Bunshin no Jutsu by merely using the tiger hand seal.
He then moved on to the Henge no Jutsu. He had six weeks to complete this Jutsu, or get as close to completing it as possible. He also needed to use the knowledge he attained after decreasing hand seals here to do the same to the Kawarimi.
He first started out by using the Jutsu without the ram seal, since he already knew how to focus the his chakra without the Ram hand seal. It was easy enough to do, so he practised it a few times to make sure, before he moved on.
The Boar hand seal was used to stabilize the Jutsu, as well as ensure that image you place on your self lasts longer. So he started by leaving that hand seal out, at first the Henge no Jutsu was hard to keep constant, but after about three weeks of constant practise he was able to use the henge no Jutsu without hand seals. He didn't need to use the dog hand seal, because generally it was used to tie all the other hand seals together.
Finally he applied all the knowledge he gained from both the Bunshin and henge no Jutsu, and he was able use the Jutsu without the Boar and Dog hand seals. At first the Jutsu did work, but it took a while for the image of himself to appear over the log. It took another week before he could do the Jutsu at full strength without the boar and dog hand seals.
It took him another week to use the Jutsu without the Snake hand seal, which was used to add stability to the image he laid over the log. He now had a week left before the graduation day, and he had minimised the Henge no Jutsu to no hand seals, the Bunshin no Jutsu to one hand seal, and the Kawarimi to two hand seals.
during this week he went over all that he learned. In an effort to try decrease the Kawarimi to one hand seal, alas it was not to be. The Ox hand seal provided strength and stability, a lot of it at that. And the tiger provided the power, and he was not yet able to bring the power forth without the hand seal. He need more chakra control, it would take him about another few weeks with each Jutsu after he had the required control. But what did that matter? He knew for a fact that his academy Ninjutsu would have much more mastery than some chunin.
One week later. . .
Graduation day
Mid-Morning
Naruto wore a Navy-blue long sleeve shirt with two red stripes going down the side of the arms, and navy blue Anbu pants. The ankles were tied down with white tape. He had a ninja tool pouch that attached to his belt.
The blonde aspiring genin checked the time. "It's almost eight, looks like I'm going to be late." said Naruto, with obvious boredom, "Not, Shunshin no Jutsu." he said with his hands in the tiger hand seal. He disappeared in a puff of smoke.
Graduation day
Mid-morning
Ninja Academy
Naruto appeared outside the door of his classroom in another puff of smoke. He walked in the classroom, and noticed that it was just about full. "Good Morning, Iruka-sensei." Naruto greeted when he passed his sensei.
"Good morning, Naruto-san."Iruka greeted, "Are you ready to graduate?"
Naruto rolled his eyes, "Of course I am sensei. What do you take me for?"
Iruka chuckled before he chased him to his seat. He waited for everyone to get to their seats. "Good Morning everyone," the class murmured the same to him in return. "Today will consist of first a written test, then you will be required to perform the three academy Jutsu. Then you will have lunch and come back into the class, and I will explain the rest to you."
The class murmured that they understood, and Mizuki-sensei walked in with the examination papers, Iruka took them from him and handed them out.
"You have three hours to complete the test, your test starts now." said Iruka, after he had handed everyone a test paper.
Naruto got to work on his paper, it was rather basic. It covered history of Konoha and Hi no Kuni and the geography of Hi no kuni. It covered chakra theory, Ninjutsu Genjutsu, Taijutsu, Shurikenjutsu, tactics, the chain of command, etcetera.
Naruto managed to finish the whole paper at the two hour mark, while he missed a few things. Simply because he forgot the whole answer he was positive that he would receive a high mark.
Naruto was sitting next to Shikamaru Nara, he knew that if he sat next to Shikamaru, it was unlikely that anybody would cheat off him, because Shikamaru did not need to cheat. He is a Nara, enough said.
Naruto glanced around the classroom, he noticed that Choji and Kiba were struggling with the test, they were the only ones. Since Hinata, Sakura, Shino, Ino and Sasuke seemed to be finished with their own.
When the test came to an end the papers were collected and they waited. "Shino Aburame, please come into the next room." said Iruka.
It continued in this manner, next they called Choji, and so the order continued until the only student remaining were Ino and Naruto. To his surprise, as soon as Sasuke left the class Ino came over and sat next to him.
"So, Naruto. . .how was the exam for you?" she asked somewhat awkwardly.
"It was straight forward enough, Ino-san, how about yourself?" he asked, more out of courtesy than any actual interest.
"Of course it was so easy!" she exclaimed, then after a moment she dreamily said"I'm sure when Sasuke sees my grades I will win him over and forehead-girl wont be able to do anything about it!"
Naruto was about to point out, that it was likely that Sakura had a higher or equal score to her own, as well as it would be unlikely for Sasuke to be attracted to her simply because of her results. Instead he said. "Sure, um good Luck with that -"
"Naruto Uzumaki!" Mizuki called, it was his turn to show off his Ninjutsu.
"Bye Ino-san, Good-luck with you know Sasuke, and the Ninjutsu test." he said, before leaving.
"Bye, Naruto." she waved, "and you too!"
Testing Room
Ninja Academy
"Please perform the three academy Ninjutsu, starting with the Bunshin no Jutsu, then the Henge no Jutsu and finally the Kawarimi no Jutsu. Extra points will be awarded for how proficient you are at each Jutsu." Explained Iruka, Mizuki stood beside him.
Naruto used the tiger hand seal and said "Bunshin no Jutsu!" and four clones appeared around him in four puffs of smoke, two beside him, and one in front of him and another behind him.
"Thank you, now please use the next Jutsu." said Iruka, with a barely hidden smirk.
Naruto merely folded his arms and said "Henge no Jutsu!" smoke surrounded Naruto and he changed into Sasuke Uchiha complete with his head cocked to the side.
Iruka widened his eyes marginally at Naruto use of, or rather, his lack of seals. "Naruto, Mizuki is going to throw a blunted kunai at you, I want you to use the Kawarimi no Jutsu to avoid the Kunai."
"Hai," said Naruto as he took his place near the opposite side of the room. Waiting for Mizuki to throw the kunai. His Academy sensei let lose the kunai at a blinding speed, it was aimed at his throat.
Naruto flashed through the tiger and ox hand seals, almost too quick to identify and said. "Kawarimi no Jutsu." the kunai hit Naruto in the throat and it actually penetrated, making his eyes bulge. Iruka watched in silent horror as the kunai stabbed who has became Iruka's favourite student, however he disappeared in a puff of smoke and he was replaced by one of chairs in the room.
Iruka's eyes widened and then he said. "Ah, you're free to go Naruto." from the corner of his eye, Naruto noticed the victorious smirk that Mizuki had falter, obviously another member of the village that didn't like him. Meh, whatever, as if he cared, he would be rid of the man soon enough anyway.
One hour later. .
Academy Classroom
"The whole class has passed the academy, I will be handing out your forehead protectors shortly, however before that I would like to know who of you would like to participate in a full-spar with one of your classmates after class? Raise your hand if that's what you would like."said Iruka.
Naruto raised his hand, so did Sasuke, Shino, Kiba, Ino and Sakura. Hinata, Shikamaru and Choji decided to opt out. "Those of you who aren't participating in the spar can watch if they would like."
"Hai, sensei." replied most of class.
"I'll hand each of you your forehead-protectors as you reach the door." said Mizuki.
When Naruto received his forehead-protector he tied it around his forehead promptly. Because he had allowed his hair to grow, he looked like he was somewhere in between a young Jiraiya of the Sannin and a Young Minato Namikaze.
When Naruto reached the sparing section he waited for Iruka and Mizuki to arrive, they appeared about ten minutes later.
"Okay, each of the remaining students are going to fight one another in a full-spar. The match-ups are as follows: Kiba Inuzuka Vs Naruto Uzumaki, Ino Yamanaka vs Sakura Haruno and Sasuke Uchiha Vs Shino Aburame." explained Iruka.
"Come on boy," grinned Kiba boisterously. "lets knock Naruto down like the loser he is!"
Naruto barely batted an eyelid at the Inuzuka's proclamation. "Lets get this over with." he yawned, causing Kiba's eye to twitch in anger.
"Oh, yeah! Lets see how tough you are in a fight! Bigmouth!" said Kiba, completely ignoring his own hypocrisy.
Naruto ignored him, and walked into the sparing ring and waited for Kiba. The cocky genin took position in front of him and said. "Come on boy, I wont even need you to put this joker to the ground."
Kiba's ninken Akamaru stood to the side and waited, he was there if Kiba needed him, but he was sure that his master would show his superiority over the other genin.
"This is a spar between Kiba Inuzuka of Konohagakure no Sato and Naruto Uzumaki of Konohagakure no Sato, Begin!" said Iruka.
Kiba charged Naruto at ferocious speed, when he got near enough he swiped at him with his animalistic claws. About a year ago, this would of been problematic for Naruto, however, with all of Naruto's running, and sparing with Iruka it was not too much trouble to avoid.
Naruto avoided Kiba's attack for a few moments more. Until Kiba over extended one of his clawed attacks and Naruto kicked him hard in the chest, with enough force to send him tumbling back.
"You're good!" said Kiba with a grin. "But I think its time to finish this."
Kiba crouched down and held his hands in the tiger seal, before saying "Ninja Art of Beast Mimicry: All fours Jutsu!" Kiba's eyes narrowed further, his canines and claws elongated, and blue chakra appeared around his hand and under his shoes.
Kiba dashed at almost double his previous speed in facsimile of a charging dog, however Naruto jumped over him and double kicked his back, sending him to the ground. Kiba quickly got up while he wiped the dirt off of his face. He was interrupted by a kick to the ribs, and then straight kick to the chest that sent him back, Naruto was however upon him before he could regroup and sent a punch into his stomach, which sent him bowing over.
Not finished with Kiba, he grabbed the boys head and gave him a knee with each leg and then pushed him back and gave him a powerful side-kick. Which sent him rolling backwards.
"Please give up Inuzuka-san, I don't want humiliate you any further." said Naruto, in a tone that suggested that he was actually enjoying it.
"Fine, Akamaru catch!" growled Kiba as he threw a soldier pill to Akamaru. The small white ninken jumped and skilfully caught a soldier pill in his maw. Akamaru's fur became ruffled, and jagged-like.
"To me, boy." said Kiba, Naruto wasn't sure if he should stop it or not, he was curious as to what the boy may do.
Akamaru jumped on to Kiba's back, and Kiba crouched a little and then said. "Ninja Art of beast mimicry: Man Beast clone." smoke emerged around Akamaru, when it cleared a complete replica of Kiba remained.
"Come on Akamaru, lets show this poser, what's what!" said Kiba with an animalistic grin, while his Akamaru clone jumped down from his perch on Kiba's back.
The two crouched down and ran at him using both their hands and feet, and frighteningly fast to boot. One of them went right and the other went left. Naruto waited diligently and just as they were about to swipe him with an Inuzuka mad dog fist, he went through two hand seals, too fast for most to see.
Tiger - Ox
They ripped through Naruto's legs and chest like paper, except Naruto burst into a puff of smoke and a log remained in his place. Within seconds Kiba and Akamaru turned their attention west of their location(obviously they found him with their enhanced sense of smell) the two had to jump apart as two kunai came hurtling towards the two with deadly accuracy.
Then another two Shuriken were thrown towards the two preventing any sort of regrouping, and kept the two apart from one another. The two were forced to dodge the kunai again. Well one of them was, the other simply took out a kunai and deflected the Shuriken, only to receive cut to the leg from another Shuriken he obviously did not see.
"Aaargh!" were the simultaneous cries from both the Inuzuka nin ken and shinobi, as one was sliced and the other was kicked harshly by a stealthy Naruto. Naruto didn't stop there, he followed after the "Kiba" which he was sure was Akamaru. Reason being that "Kiba" had no weapons(besides his claws of course).
Naruto threw a sloppy right hay-maker at the injured ninken, however he moved to block, except it was a fake and Naruto swept the leg of the Inuzuka ninken and then he proceeded to stomp his sternum as the ninken hit the ground, and let out a wheezing breath.
It wasn't over however, because just behind him Naruto heard a shout of "Tunnelling Fang!" just as he turned to look in the direction of the exclamation , he noticed a great, grey tornado heading directly towards him. He tried to dodge, however the attack managed to rip a piece of his shirt and graze him enough to draw blood, even though it was only a glancing blow.
The blonde genin quickly back tracked away from the Inuzuka, he needed to keep his distance from the boy, he had no idea that the Inuzuka was capable of that. He didn't even have enough time for a Kawarimi, he barely had enough time to move an inch in either direction, evidence of his slight injury on his arm.
"How dare you do this to Akamaru! That's it! I'm going to end you." exclaimed Kiba in an animalistic roar.
Naruto was slightly afraid, Kiba's voice held nothing but contempt and righteous retribution. But one of the shinobi rules were to feel no fear in the face of adversity, death was merely and inconvenience as opposed to the greater good of your village, leader and comrades, and dammit! He was certainly not going to show fear to this wild, show-boating mutt.
"Maybe you shouldn't have involved your puppy in this fight in the first place. From where I'm standing, it seems to me that you are the one at fault. Not me. I was merely defending myself." said Naruto in an effort to enrage the Inuzuka.
His taunt did enrage Kiba, however the effects were not as he expected. Akamaru got up with a growl and nodded to Kiba. The Inuzuka palmed two pellets and tossed them at Naruto, when they made contact with the ground they released dark smoke that obscured Naruto's view.
"Gatsuga!"were the simultaneousness shouts from Kiba and Akamaru as they twisted in a great, grey, tornado inbound for Naruto's position. Guided only by their noses the rotating drill of claws each came at him from a separate position, one left and one right.
Without sight and any other ability to sense their position Naruto had to rely on his ears. He was able to move out of the way of one of the twisting tunnels of claws, but not the other. The tornado hit Naruto full on his side, shredding his shirt further and cutting deep gashes into his flesh.
With the spectators
Side-lines of sparing field
"I think this is going a little too far, sensei." said Choji from his position next to Shikamaru, who seemed to be paying close attention to the fight.
Iruka on the other hand was very concerned for who he considered his favourite student. He would have to stop the fight if necessary, there was no way that he would let Naruto die because Kiba was enraged that his ninken was injured in a battle.
"Kiba will win." said Shikamaru with a sigh. "They're evenly matched, but Naruto doesn't know any techniques that could combat Kiba. How troublesome."
"What do you mean they're evenly matched?" asked Choji in between mouthfuls of potato chips.
"Naruto is superior in Taijutsu and Shurikenjutsu, but Kiba's clan techniques are too much for 's likely that he will be badly injured or he will forfeit." said Shikamaru, in a bland tone.
Sparing field
Naruto received another tunnelling fang attack from the duo. This time he was hit full-on in the chest, ripping his shirt to shreds. Somehow Naruto indistinctly sent chakra to his chest, it softened the blow, however his skin was still marred with shallow scratches that splattered blood over the training field.
"I forfeit!" Wheezed Naruto.
Although it seemed as though Kiba was to enraged to listen, and care about him forfeiting. He and Akamaru spun once more looking for the finishing blow.
Spectator section
The spectators watched in varying degrees of horror as Kiba and the once cute Akamaru were about to grind Naruto to bits. Their looks of horror soon became expressions of awe.
Sparing field
As Kiba and Akamaru neared Naruto, they were stopped by Iruka, who in a sudden show of speed appeared in front their target and went through hand seals, before slamming his hands into the earth. "Earth release: earth dome jutsu." and a dome of earth formed around the two.
Kiba and Akamaru too late to stop their attack hit the dome head first, and lost conscious and regressed to their previous forms.(Akamaru became a puppy once more, and Kiba's beast-like features returned to normal.)Iruka dropped the dome of earth and the effects were quite jarring for the rest of the recently graduated shinobi present. Naruto had blood dripping from his side, which seemed to have healed slightly from earlier, his arm was completely healed. However his chest and stomach was covered in crimson blood and gashes.
'It's a good thing that I got a couple of medic-ninja just in case.' thought Iruka grimly.
Surprisingly Naruto was walking away from the battlefield on his own strength. The blue-eyed boy noticed a few concerned glances from some of his classmates. Such as: Choji, Shikamaru, and Ino. Sakura seemed to startled to say anything else, Sasuke pretended to have no reaction however he seemed both interested and slightly wary. Of who Naruto had no clue. Hinata seemed slightly worried, but she also did not want to embarrass her clan by involving any part of her clan with the village pariah. Shino had no emotion, however that was to be expected from the Aburame heir.
"Naruto, go straight to the Medical-ninja, they're patch you right up."instructed Iruka.
"Hai, sensei."mumbled Naruto.
The blonde genin walked over to a silver haired genin with circular classes. He had other medic ninja with him that adorned white medical clothing. "Hello, my name is Kabuto Yakushi. Pleased to meet you."
Naruto nodded."You as well Kabuto-san. My name is Naruto Uzumaki."
"Why don't you let me take a look at those wounds, I am a medic in-training after all." the silver haired genin replied.
Naruto took a seat on floor and waited for his fellow genin to heal him. The genins hands glowed green after he went through a couple of seals. The boy hovered his emerald, chakra coated palms over his injuries."It's pretty straight forward. Although, I don't have the skill to heal your wounds, even though they're healing naturally, at quite a fast rate too. I'll need one of my superiors to heal you."
"Fumiko-sensei! Could you please heal these wounds? They're beyond me."said Kabuto.
She came over and scanned his wounds. "Mhm, these wounds are quite severe, but nothing I cant fix, and your natural healing factor will simply help it along." she said before her hand glowed a brighter shade of green and she closed all his wounds up, leaving very little scaring. "The scars will disappear in a few days, but you are right as rain. I would recommend no strenuous activity for a few days until the tenderness is gone."
"Thank you Fumiko-sama." Naruto bowed his head slightly.
"Nonsense, it is my job. I need no thanks." replied Fumiko.
"Arg. . . What did I hit!" groaned Kiba, as he woke up from his bout of unconsciousness.
"A earth barrier, apparently."Quipped Naruto in a joking manner. "Um, Kiba. . I just want to say that I'm sorry if I hurt Akamaru badly. I know you care about him, but if he attacks me again I'll do the same, and I'll be strong enough to kick your ass."
"Hmmpf! As if. But no hard feelings? Yeah?" asked Kiba.
'Easy for you to say! You aren't the one that got mutilated.' thought Naruto internally. "Yeah, no hard feelings." said Naruto, with a smile that didn't completely reach his eyes. Naruto didn't really like Kiba. The Inuzuka made fun of him during the academy and damn near killed him. Still, though he didn't feel like getting into a grudge with a Konoha clan child.
A few minutes later. . .
"It's time to finish the sparing session - since Naruto and Kiba are alright - lets get the next fight under way, Ino and Sakura lets go." said Iruka after clearing his throat.
The two kunoichi left their positions(from Sasuke) and squared off on the field. "I'm so going to beat you to the ground!" Sakura exclaimed. "and then Sasuke-kun will be mine, Ino-bunta."
Ino flicked her hair back in a diva fashion and said. "As if you could beat me!" she added a laugh, "and no! Sasuke-kun will be mine, and there's nothing your big-ass-forehead can do about it. Billboard-brow!" replied Ino derisively.
"Enough of that. This fight is between Ino Yamanaka of Konohagakure no Sato and Sakura Haruno of Konohagakure no Sato. Ready?" he asked, receiving two nods he jumped away and said. "Begin!"
The two kunoichi charged each other at a snails pace. It was actually painful to watch in Naruto's opinion, many of his fellow genin shared the same view.
When they reached each other they locked in a bout of Taijutsu. They were evenly matched. Sakura had the strength and Ino had the technique. Neither had the speed.
They blocked or avoided a couple of punches, however they still managed to sneak in a few punches. Sakura's punches were much more effective, however they weren't very frequent.
Naruto turned his attention away from the fight and rested against a tree near Sasuke. "This is almost painful to watch. Don't you agree Uchiha-san?"
"Hn. I agree, even though you lost your fight. You at least put up a good fight against a clan heir known for Taijutsu, and beat him at his own game. That and it was pretty entertaining to watch the mutt get beaten up by someone with no clan or family." Sasuke replied, surprisingly he complimented Naruto.
"Thanks Uchiha-san. For what its worth, I would rather be on your team than any of these posers. You may be arrogant, but I would rather have you watching my back than anybody else." said Naruto, he wasn't looking for any friends, nor was he looking for an enemy.
When Naruto turned his attention to the battle he noticed Ino place her hands in an odd hand seal. "Shintenshin no Jutsu!" and she soon collapsed to the floor and Sakura jerked wildly.
"Iruka-sensei, I forf-" Sakura began to say, but then she suddenly jerked and shuddered, and soon a look of rage overcame her face. "Get out of my body. Ino-pig!"
'So this must be one of the Yamanaka clan Jutsu. If I ever fight one of them this could be of use.' thought Naruto, filing away his observation for later.
When Naruto turned his attention back to the two "Kunoichi" they were charging each other and in an embarrassing display they knocked each other out.
"That was. . ." Naruto struggled to find a polite word to describe it.
"Pathetic. There is no nice way to put it." Sasuke supplied.
"Meh. .they will be the best students a sensei could have." said Naruto.
"How do you figure?" asked Sasuke while giving Naruto a side-along glance.
"Why? Because any progress they make will be an improvement from their current state."said an emotionless voice. "Am I correct Uzumaki-san?"
"Yes, Aburame-san." replied Naruto, "Not in those words. But it's the gist of it."
A few minutes later. . .
Iruka had taken Sakura and Ino off the field. Sasuke and Shino faced off for their own bout. Surprisingly Ino and Sakura had regained consciousness just in time for Sasuke's fight.
"Go Sasuke-kun!" cheered Ino and Sakura, even though it seemed quite labouring.
Sparing field
"This last fight is between Sasuke Uchiha of Konohagakure no Sato and Shino Aburame of Konohagakure no Sato. Ready?" he announced, receiving two nods he jumped back and said. "Begin!"
The two shinobi eyed each other carefully before they close in on each other and faced each other in a bout of Taijutsu. Sasuke threw a sharp, fast punch at the Aburame, who barely avoided the attack.
Shino retaliated with a strong side kick, and then he followed it up with straight punch. Which was caught effortlessly by the Uchiha, then he flipped him over and jumped back. He speedily went through hand seals.
Rat - Tiger - Dog - Ox - Rabbit - Tiger
"Katon: Hosenka no Jutsu." Sasuke's cheeks puffed out and released and assortment of football(European) sized balls of fire from his mouth. The volley of fireballs had a random pattern, some seemed as though he was not aiming at him at all and the others honed in on him.
Shino jumped back and then left, and right dodging three of the miniature balls of fire, however he was blind-sided by one of the fireballs that seemed to have veered off course. Obviously the Uchiha had some level of control on the three balls of chakra.
What happened next was not what Sasuke expected. When his fire Jutsu made contact with Shino he dispersed into a swarm of insects.
What happened next was quite brilliant, somewhere from high in the trees Shino - or what is assumed to be him - unloaded a barrage of kunai and Shuriken all heading for Sasuke's location.
The Uchiha seemed to have heard the kunai and Shuriken cutting through the air, so he turned around and charged right at them. He ducked and weaved in between a few of the throwing weapons. He palmed a kunai and deflected a few of the others resulting in a "ting" and few orange sparks every time he made contact.
Once he was rid of all the kunai and Shuriken he sped up in a short burst of speed and threw a kunai into a tree. This forced Shino to jump out of the tree or face being impaled by the kunai. Somehow he timed his jump in such a way that he managed to jump over the speeding Uchiha, narrowly escaping him.
This however seemed to be the Uchiha's plan from the start because he ran up the trunk of the tree and sprung off the tree heading at Shino with a deadly velocity. "Flaming Arrow!" as he reached Shino he drove his elbow into his chest with enough velocity to break wood.
The Aburame heir lost any air he had left in his lungs, and he was sure that a few of his ribs had been fractured.
"For-forfeit." he managed to wheeze before losing consciousness. At the point it was moot to give up. He had already lost.
"Lets give it up for Sasuke!" yelled Iruka.
"I never doubted you! Sasuke-kun." were the shouts from Ino, and Sakura. "You showed that weird guy whose boss!"
"While there are no rewards besides bragging rights. I am very proud of all of you." Iruka said once Shino had regained consciousness after the medic-nin looked him over. "Now, you may all go, I'm sure your parents are waiting for you. You after all deserve to celebrate your graduation. However you will need to return here in a couple of days to find out which team you will be on."
"Bye sensei!" was the collective reply from the newly minted graduates, as they left.
"Naruto can you stay behind for a moment?"asked Iruka.
"Sure sensei." replied Naruto, he belatedly noticed that Mizuki seemed to have disappeared.
A couple of minutes later
Ninja Academy classroom
"What's up? Iruka-sensei?" asked Naruto.
"Well I have a few gifts for you. Just to say thanks for all your hard work, and graduating." explained Iruka, with a small grin. "and I hope you didn't forget our deal about the Shunshin no Jutsu."
"Of course not sensei. I've already made notes on all the Jutsu I know so far, you never know I might be able to apply them to other Jutsu."replied Naruto.
"Anyway, I got you this." Iruka said, as he withdrew a piece of paper from his ninja tool pouch. "Chakra paper. Do you know what it's used for?"
"Its supposed to be used to find out your elemental affinity, am I right?"said Naruto,
"Yup, if its fire it burns, Wind gets a cut down the middle, Lightning crinkles up, earth crumbles and water dampens."informed Iruka, "Give it a try."
Naruto took the piece of paper and focussed his chakra into it. First the left side changed from white to red, then the right side became blue, and finally the paper dampened.
"What does this mean, sensei?" Naruto asked, in surprise.
"I don't know Naruto, I don't know." Iruka replied in equal amounts surprise and ignorance
I wrote this long ago, I just haven't got around to posting it. Any comments, suggestions, queries, hit me up.
Sage of Ninshu out!