Demon of the Hidden Leaf
Ch.2- Gearing up and getting down to business
xXx
The morning after his return from Wave found Naruto snoozing in his bed. The day before, he'd gotten Kakashi to teach him how to do the Hidden-Mistjutsu. And although the blonde wasn't experienced enough to do the technique without some form of water present, they did discover that he only needed a small amount to get him started. So Kakashi mentioned that for now, he could carry around a water bottle.
While this irked Naruto he was still happy that he could at least dothe technique. It was the first step on the long road to his goal.
Afterwards, Naruto had gone to Ichiraku's to regale the father/daughter duo of his time in Wave. It was on the walk home that he noticed the looks he was getting.
Now Naruto had grown used to being looked at, mostly in disgust or anger, but this time the citizens looked at him with confusion...and a little bit of fear.
Or rather, they looked at his sword with fear.
Naruto knew the civilians didn't understand the true nature of the blade, so he guessed they were just afraid that he himself had it; this made Naruto scoff to himself. After returning home he completed his workout and then went to bed. He had a busy day tomorrow.
The following morning, letting out a yawn, the young genin rose from his bed ready to begin the day. After finishing his morning routine the blonde went to get dressed. And then he stopped.
As he looked at himself in the mirror Naruto realized something; his wardrobe needed an upgrade. The blonde thought about how he'd seen not only Zabuza dress, but Haku and Kakashi-sensei as well. All three of them wore dark or neutral colors that helped keep them hidden in their environment.
Staring at his reflection in the mirror, at his orange pants and his orange jacket yet to be zipped up revealing the black shirt underneath, Naruto cringed.
"I can't strike fear int my opponents looking like this, but where am I gonna get new clothes? Everywhere I go the people rip me off...unless they don't know it's me they're selling to."
Setting up his hands in the proper sign, and then a puff of smoke later, Naruto was replaced with a young brunette boy, with green eyes, dressed in basic civilian clothes.
xXx
It didn't take long for Naruto to find a store that sold shinobi items; being a ninja village meant that many of the stores catered to that group of clientele. With a ringing of the bell atop the door, the disguised Uzumaki made his way inside a store that looked promising.
When the young woman behind the counter didn't say anything Naruto had to hold back a grin at how successful his plan was turning out; why hadn't he thought of this before?
Scanning the shop looking for his section the former blonde noticed that there were two women by the dressing rooms talking.
The first one he recognized from the Academy; she'd been a guest speaker in their genjutsu class. Kurenai Yuhi, if memory served right. She was beautiful, something Naruto could see even with his crush on Sakura.
She had shoulder-length, raven-black hair and piercing red eyes that were shadowed with liner. The older kunoichi was outfitted in a thigh-length dress that was a mixture between a kimono and medical tape. One of the sleeves had been torn away, and this showed that her entire arm, from bicep to fingertip, was wrapped in bandages. Naruto could see mesh armor underneath from the neckline of her dress. Kurenai wore standard shinobi sandals and her headband was used to keep her hair out of her face.
Turning his gaze over Naruto was met with the sight of another beautiful young woman; this one Naruto hadn't seen before. Her hair was purple, and tied back in a fanning ponytail. Her eyes were a light-brown, and were pupil-less, but that only added to their look in Naruto's mind. The kunoichi was dressed in a tan trench coat and a mesh shirt, her lower-body barely covered by her burnt-orange skirt. Naruto saw that she also wore shin-guards, along with the standard shinobi sandals.
Apparently, he'd been staring too long, because the purple-haired woman turned her eyes on him and said, "Hey kid, why don't you take a picture, it'll last longer."
This snapped Naruto out of his stupor, and shaking his head to clear his mind answered, "Sorry, I didn't mean to stare, I just...um—"
"Got caught up in checking out two hot women, there's no need to deny it, but next time remember the golden rule: glance and turn. Otherwise-" here Naruto lost sight of her, until he felt cold steel pressed gently against his cheek, "you may just get hurt."
Swallowing the lump in his throat the disguised Uzumaki nodded before saying, "Lesson learned, again, I'm sorry for staring."
Anko pulled away from him and patted him on the shoulder. "Good, sorry if I scared ya. I just I feel it's my duty as a woman to curb any early signs of perversion, so that there are least a few decent men in the world you know?"
"Um.."
"Anko enough, if you keep antagonizing the kid I won't treat you to dango and you'll have to buy it yourself." Kurenai cut in, taking pity on the young boy. This got the other kunoichi's attention quickly.
"No! Okay, I'll stop, just anything but that."
Smirking in satisfaction Kurenai said, "Good, then let's go, we've been here way too long and you haven't even bought anything."
As she followed her raven-haired friend out the door Anko muttered, "Of course I didn't, we were there for you remember?"
Once he was alone again Naruto shook his head in amusement before turning his attention back to the matter at hand: outfitting himself like a true shinobi.
xXx
While Naruto perused the racks of clothing back in the store, Anko and Kurenai walked down through the streets heading for Anko's favorite shop. It was a few minutes before the purple-haired kunoichi spoke up, her voice laced with curiosity.
"Was it just me, or was that kid back in the store wearing a henge?"
"No, I noticed it too." Kurenai replied.
"That's...weird. You have any idea who it could have been, or why they might have been doing it?"
Kurenai shook her head. "I'm really not sure about the 'why', but I have a good guess as to 'who'."
This interested Anko, "Really, who was it, and how do you know?"
By this time they'd made it to the dango shop, and both women sat down at the bar. While the T&I specialist motioned her order to the man behind the counter, Kurenai answered her question. "I'm pretty sure it was Naruto Uzumaki."
Anko's faced crinkled in confusion, "The jinchuuriki? How do you know?"
"He's one of only a handful of people with a chakra signature as noticeable as the one he's got; the others being Lord Hokage, Kakashi, and Guy. And I don't see any reason they'd be using a transformation jutsu to sneak go into a clothing store."
"But why does the kid need to sneak into a clothing store?" Anko asked around a mouthful of the dumplings that had just been handed to her.
"Because many of the villagers don't get too happy when he enters their shops; at least that's what Hinata's told me from watching him."
The rest of their time together, Anko's face would remain scrunched in thought.
xXx
Inside one of the changing stalls Naruto had undone his disguise and was checking himself in the mirror.
His torso was covered in a sleeveless, black hoodie zipped to the top. His lower-body was hidden away underneath a pair of black cargo pants; with his kunai and shuriken holsters strapped to his thigh and hip respectively. On his feet were the regulation sandals, and his wrists were taped. His headband was tied around his forehead, but remained turned to the side, and finally, Naruto had wrapped white medical tape around the lower-half of his face.
The blonde turned from one side to the other, taking in his new look, before grinning in satisfaction and changing before replacing his henge. After that was done, he gathered his clothes, and proceeded towards the register to check out.
Once finished buying his new clothes, and making sure he had extra, Naruto exited the store and returned home where he then proceeded to once again drop his transformation jutsu. As he was putting his new wardrobe away the blonde thought about what his first step should be to reaching his goal.
"I should probably work on my taijutsu first." He said quietly to himself.
And with that thought in mind, Naruto once again left his little apartment to make his way towards the library.
It used to be that Naruto wasn't particularly allowed in the library, the woman who ran it banned him for being a 'trouble maker', but now that he was an official ninja of the village Naruto was granted a special level of access to certain sections of the building. However, with Konoha being a ninja village, there were still some sections that only chunin or above level shinobi were allowed to pull from.
Naruto was fine with that for now. The amount of knowledge available to him now was vastly superior to the scraps he'd been fed in the academy, so the blonde decided to be make due with what he was given, and be happy with it. His obvious first stop was the taijutsu section, followed swiftly by a section dedicated to training exercises.
Taking a handful of both types, the blonde ambled over to a table and sat down, before opening up the first taijutsu scroll. The Kam-no-Ken, or Turtle fist, specializes in counter-attacks. This style uses the opening's your opponent creates when they attack against them; primarily used by defensive fighters.
After reading the description Naruto knew immediately that this wasn't the style for him, he was anything but a defensive fighter, so he moved on the the next scroll in the stack. This one was called the Hachidori-ken; Hummingbird fist. That style was quick, and used jabs as its primary attack, but it required an intense amount of speed to be effective. Something Naruto didn't have.
As he picked up his third scroll he thought hopefully to himself, 'Third time's the charm right?'
And in this case, it was true. After opening the parchment, and reading the description, Naruto's face lit up into a thousand-watt smile; he'd found his new taijutsu style.
The O-no-Ken; King's fist.
This style not only incorporated using more than just standard punches and kicks, it was also based on strength. Naruto read further and found it got a huge boost if the user was fast, although speed wasn't the primary element. And although it didn't have a five-star defense, Naruto believed in striking first and taking out your enemy before they had a chance to counter.
With his new taijutsu style selected, Naruto moved on to finding training methods to become a more effective ninja.
The first one he looked at wasn't a technique, but a method. Weights. This was something that the blonde had heard of, but had never thought to try because he'd still had his head in the clouds. But now, with the realization that his current level wasn't going to cut it anymore, Naruto decided that weights may just be a good idea.
And if weights seemed like a good idea, then the chakra control exercises he found were fantastic!
Naruto remembered how many more clones he was able to produce after learning the tree-walking technique, so he bet the water-walk and waterfall run would be huge helps too. It had amazed the blonde to see Zabuza and Kakashi-sensei duking it out atop the water back in Wave, so much that he hoped the silver-haired Jounin would teach it to him, and now here it was, ready for him to master.
Another chakra control exercise he saw was the leaf concentration that he'd done in the academy. This one the blonde skipped over though, because he felt there was nothing to gain from it, and so then moved on to the next scroll.
This went on for another half hour before Naruto decided that it would be a good idea to get some training in. So, he returned most of the scrolls he'd taken, and left with the few that he'd need to look at for reference.
'I'll pick up scrolls on kenjutsu tomorrow,' Naruto reminded himself as he walked out the door. 'Sensei probably won't have us doing any real missions for a while, so I'll have time to work on my training. I can also pick up my weights too, because if this is anything like the tree-walking exercise, I'll be spending all day training.'
As he moved through the busy streets Naruto wondered if it was okay to leave Kubikiribocho alone in his apartment. Because while no one really bothered him, there had been a select few that took it upon themselves to trash his home when he was younger.
But then Naruto shook that thought from his mind; he was a ninja now, and no civilian was stupid enough to mess with him now. No matter how they felt about him.
It took him about another half hour to walk to the training ground Kakashi had taken them to for their bell test. Naruto had chosen this particular place to train because it had a large body of water for him to practice water-walking on, as well as trees to hone his tree-walking technique when he had time.
Once arriving the blonde was quick to get to work.
Stripping away his new shirt the blonde sat down on the grass and re-read the water-walking scroll. It explained that, to perform the technique, the user needed to emit a constant stream of chakra from the bottom of their feet and then use the repellent force to walk across the water's surface. Naruto also noticed that the scroll mentions that walking on water is more difficult than trees because the amount of chakra needing to be emitted changes constantly.
After reading through the instructions, Naruto walked over towards the large lake. Closing his eyes and setting his hands into the 'ram' symbol, the blonde proceeded to take a single step out and place his foot on the surface of the water. When he went to put pressure on it...he sank.
Feeling his foot get enveloped in cold water Naruto pulled his leg back and grimaced. "Well damn, I guess this needs more chakra than the tree-walking. Alright then let's go for round two."
xXx
An exhausted Naruto lay flat on his back under the late afternoon sky. He'd been practicing his new chakra control exercise for hours, and the sky was beginning to take on a fiery-orange hue.
An hour before, Naruto finally managed to keep himself above water for a grand total of three minutes. After his success the blonde took to using the next hour for physical workouts, so as to better condition his body.
'I'm beat,'the Nine-Tails jinchuuriki thought to himself.'It must be this water-walking thing really is tough, because even walking up trees didn't wear me out this bad.'
Deciding it was a good time to head home Naruto pushed himself up onto his hands, grabbed his discarded hoodie, and stood up. Swaying a little from the constant fluctuation of his chakra the blonde put his top back on, and then turned his head when he heard a noise.
Naruto sighed when he noticed a badly done disguise being held up against one of the trees.
"Konohamaru I know it's you; your stealth sucks remember?"
The tarp fell and revealed a young boy dressed in a yellow t-shirt, gray shorts, a blue scarf, and a pair of green goggles. "I'd expect nothing less from my greatest rival, way to see through my cover Naruto-niisan."
"Not that I'm not happy to see you, but was there something you wanted Konohamaru, because I was just about to go eat and head home."
Konohamaru's onyx-black eyes widened before he asked, "Well can I come with you, please? I wanted to spar, but we can do this instead, and you can tell me about that mission you went on."
Naruto could see the hope in the younger boy's eyes. He really just wanted to spend time with the blonde; it didn't matter how. Deciding that it wouldn't be a problem Naruto told him, "Sure Konohamaru, let's go."
The youth jumped and cheered before following after his idol.
It was as they were navigating through the now-sparsely crowded streets that the young Sarutobi inquired about Naruto's new attire. "Hey boss, I like the new look, but what made you decide to give up your old jumpsuits?"
"Hmm? Well, it ties in with the mission I'm gonna tell you about, but let's just say that I realized how much more seriously I'll be taken if I'm not wearing such bright colors."
"But boss, that jumpsuit helped you stand out, it let everyone know that you were Naruto Uzumaki!"
Naruto chuckled lightly at his young friend's point of view; was that how he was before his mission to Wave? Deciding to answer the boy's question Naruto said, "Exactly Konohamaru, it made me stand out. Being a ninja I need to be able to blend in, be stealthy, and I can't do that if I'm wearing bright orange; like how you won't be very effective wearing yellow."
At that moment the blonde noticed they'd arrived at the ramen bar, so he and his shadow took their seats and ordered. Once that was done, Naruto turned to Konohamaru and began to re-tell his adventures in Wave country.
Throughout the story the young academy student flashed through multiple different emotions.
He thought about how cool it must have been to have gone beyond Konoha's walls, felt surprise to hear about how his idol had froze up against the Demon Brothers, and he also felt pride when Naruto told him of how he'd outsmarted a Jounin.
By the end of the tale their food had arrived, so both of them turned to enjoy it for a few bites before the younger boy said, "Wow Naruto-niisan, that sounds like it was dangerous. I can't believe you managed to get one over on a Jounin, you're amazing."
Naruto smiled, although with his new look you could only tell by his eyes unless looking closely, and said, "Thanks Konohamaru, but I didn't do it alone, although next time I'll be sure to be more helpful. That's what I was doing out at the training grounds, I need to get a lot stronger."
"Oh, hey, can we spar tomorrow? We can meet up where I found you earlier and you and I can duke it out. How's that sound?"
At first Naruto was going to agree just because he knew how much the younger boy missed him, but then he remembered that Konohamaru was an academy student...and tomorrow was Wednesday.
"Um, Konohamaru, don't you have class tomorrow?"
For a brief moment the youngest Sarutobi's face became a mask of sadness, but then it brightened as he replied, "Well yeah, I do, but I can skip it and we can hang out instead."
But the blonde Uzumaki was already shaking his head 'no'. When he saw the confused look on Konohamaru's face he elaborated. "Actually, I want you to go to class tomorrow, okay?"
"But Naruto-niisan, you used to skip class all the time, what's the big deal if I do it?"
"I skipped class because nobody cared if I went, it didn't matter whether I showed up or not because everybody was happier when wasn't there. But you, you have people who want you to succeed Konohamaru, and if you skip school to hang out with me you'll be disappointing those people; me included. I know the classes can be boring, but they are important, even if you don't think so right now. They lay the groundwork for you to become a talented shinobi, and I want you to have the best grip on it as possible. We'll spend time together on a day you don't have class okay?"
After listening to his idol's words, the younger boy could only nod in acceptance. "Alright boss, but only because you promised we could spar when I don't have to go to school."
After that the two ate the rest of their meal, telling jokes and stories, having a good time until it was time to go. Once he finished dropping off the brunette, Naruto made his way back to his apartment, and after making sure his sword was still under the floor boards, collapsed on his bed and fell asleep.
xXx
