Naruto couldn't stop himself from releasing a contented sigh as he stepped into the hot rain created by his shower, the pelting water massaging his aching muscles as he tried to make himself wake up from his exhausted slumber.
It was early, not quite as early as he was normally awake however he had had a very late night in comparison to what he was used to. His mind started to waver in and out of consciousness as he simply allowed himself to soak, the warmth the shower provided beginning to revitalise him as he forced his mind to focus on the previous night.
He had done it. He had made his first step towards becoming strong, he had asked for help and even more importantly, he had gotten it.
A smile graced his lips as he remembered practicing his new style of punching, he just knew that it would give him a significant boost in strength as he finally understood why he could never win in taijutsu. He was easy to predict, his wide swings giving his opponents ample amounts of time to respond to the clumsy assault, something this new style of punching wouldn't give them.
His mind shifted to another lesson from the previous night, one that he was reluctant to listen to but knew he had to anyway.
Today he was going to ditch his jumpsuit. He loved his jumpsuit, it was both his favourite colour and incredibly comfortable, it had water proofing meaning he wouldn't get dragged down if he ever fell into a river or the likes, it would dry off quickly making it possible to wash it at night and have it dry enough to wear the next day, all in all, if it wasn't for the colour it would have been one of the most practical sets of clothing in the elemental nations.
But now he was going to have to get new clothes to wear for missions. He hated thinking about it, the idea of ditching his jumpsuit hurt, his attachment to his possessions greater than that of a normal persons thanks to his lack of friends making him find comfort in non sentient objects. He just hoped he could find something with orange on it, even if the amount of orange was significantly smaller than what he was used to, it didn't feel right not having any at all.
He didn't know why his mind was so attached to the colour orange, it was a mystery that the Hokage seemed to know the answer to, almost as if there was some divine reason to it that the old man knew, perhaps it was hereditary, that was the most he could think of.
Shaking away those thoughts he quickly reminded himself that no matter who his parents were it didn't change anything, they weren't here for him and that was all that mattered. He was certain they were dead, the Hokage had told him that it was the money they had saved up that had paid for his apartment and he was given a small amount of that money each month so he knew that they hadn't simply abandoned him.
It was also one of the reasons he had decided to become a ninja, he had heard that no civilians were killed during the Kyūbi attack, so given that they died during it meant they were ninja and if that was the case, he would do his best to follow in their footsteps.
It wasn't the only reason he had decided to be a ninja, he had seen how everyone respected the Hokage so that was his aim, to become Hokage and be acknowledged by the villagers. He knew it wouldn't be easy but he would persevere and one day, he would be the one to wear that hat and have everyone call him Hokage-sama.
Simply thinking about it made a happy grin grace his face as his mind started wandering to other things that weren't actually related to being the Hokage, namely having Sakura in his arms as she realised she didn't love Sasuke and that he was everything she ever wanted… yes, being the Hokage and being married to Sakura was everything he wanted… well apart from humiliating Sasuke but that came before Sakura married him so it was understandable that it wasn't included in his fantasy.
Once again shaking his head clear, he reminded himself that he still had a long way to go if what was established during the true genin exam was anything to go by. The only comforts he had right now, were that he had made his first step to becoming stronger and the warm water crashing down on him, its rhythmic pounding already finished its job of easing his muscles and bringing him back into top form.
Turning off the comforting rain, he proceeded to leave the shower, grabbing a towel that he wrapped around his waist before leaving the small en-suite and making his way to the living room, ready to use the open plan kitchen to make his breakfast, which just like every other day, was going to be ramen.
Putting his pot to boil and opening a cup of instant ramen, his mind once again wandered to the previous day, he had put so much practice into his new punch that he was certain he would be able to do it whenever he wanted, however that didn't mean he couldn't put a little more practice into it while he waited for his breakfast to finish boiling.
Still in a perpetual haze caused by not having fully awoken yet, he made his way to the small bedroom, his eyes focusing on the training dummy, its image still a mockery of the last loyal Uchiha.
Readying himself, Naruto couldn't help but feel the urge to wipe the smug look off the raven haired boys face, his mind happily replacing the dummy with the real deal. As far as he was concerned he wasn't facing a dummy, he was facing the conceited 'rookie of the year' and with several twists that ran all the way through his body, the blond struck the imaginary boy, his nose buckling under the strength of the strike before the azure eyed boy continued his assault.
Strike after strike hit the mockery of the whiskered child's rival, every hit pushed the dummy further as he imagined Sasuke's bloodied face as he slowly but completely destroyed him, each hit earning a wince of pain as the dark eyed child was unable to do anything to protect himself.
Suddenly his eyes shot wide open as his mind picked up on the most important part of that image, Sasuke wasn't doing anything in that image, while in real life he would try to dodge, counter and strike back. Suddenly his mind began to feel depression taking over as he realised that he had no idea how he would compare with the prodigy without actually fighting him.
No longer constantly striking the dummy, his ears focused on a hissing sound coming from his living room, causing his eyes to widen once again as he remembered his breakfast.
With a speed he rarely displayed, he was standing over the pot of boiling water and turning the heat off, hoping that it hadn't all boiled away and there was at least enough for one cup of ramen.
Nervously taking the lid off the pot, his mind was filled with relief as he saw he hadn't been distracted for too long and the water was still mostly there, ready to be used for the cup of ramen sitting on the work surface.
After filling the cup to the brim with the boiling hot liquid, he placed the pot back on the now inactive hob before taking a set of chopsticks and crushing the currently soaking block of ramen at the bottom of the cup, releasing the flavour to the rest of the water and allowing the noodles to spread out in the cup, forming the food that the boy loved above all others.
Taking the cup to the table, he proceeded to open one of the books he had taken from the library, still deciding to try and get his least favourite book out of the way as soon as possible.
'Chapter 2: dealing with sensor types'
Immediately Naruto couldn't help but blink at the chapter title, unlike the first chapter this one appeared to actually have information that wasn't common knowledge, perhaps the book wouldn't be as bad as it sounded.
'Among the ninja populace most are capable of detecting chakra to a certain extent, however there are people who learn how to sense chakra to a greater degree than a normal person, they are regularly referred to as sensor types.'
For the first time Naruto wasn't annoyed with the information offered by the book, he had never heard of sensor types before so knowing that there were people who could detect his chakra would allow him to prepare for such an instance.
'Unlike regular ninja who can merely feel the presence of chakra, a sensor possesses the ability to determine exactly how much chakra their opponent has and where they are located. This in turn makes hiding from a sensor type ninja incredibly difficult though not impossible.'
Upon finishing that sentence, his mind began to wander, if an enemy was capable of detecting his chakra then how could he hide from them? Thinking hard, his mind began to formulate plans on how to deal with such an ability.
If the sensor was capable of detecting where a person was by their chakra then wouldn't it be possible to spread your chakra over a wide area to act as a form of shroud to cloud your actual location instead of simply keeping it in one small area?
If that was not possible then was it possible to hide your chakra from a person? If so then how was it done and what sort of training would he have to undergo in order to learn how to?
'The easiest way to hide from a sensor is to spread your chakra so they cannot get a good picture of where you are, this method isn't advised as to do so you are required to waste most of, if not all your chakra to achieve workable results.'
'The harder method is more practical, however it is something that not many can achieve, requiring enough control over ones chakra to split it back into its basic components and therefore eliminate its very existence within your body.'
Confusion began to spread though the boys mind as he wondered what it meant when it talked about splitting chakra into its basic components, as far as he could remember chakra was chakra but if what this book was saying was right then chakra was actually more than one thing mixed together.
He began to wonder what chakra actually was, his mind unable to come up with anything as he realised how little he remembered from the academy. Just as he was about to give up he saw something he had forgotten about, the only book he hadn't opened yet, 'The Basics Of Chakra'.
With a curious appreciation, he pushed 'Stealth For Dummies' to another side of the table before pulling the other book towards him and opening to the first chapter.
'Chakra is possibly the most important requirement for being a shinobi, it is the energy one requires to utilise ninjutsu, genjutsu and Fūinjutsu, it is also regularly used to enhance ones kenjutsu or even their taijutsu.'
Naruto blinked a couple of times upon reading that chakra could be used to enhance his taijutsu, he had never been aware of that use before, was it possible that he was the only one in his class that didn't know? Was it possible Sasuke's strength came from using chakra to enhance his taijutsu instead of him just being better?
Realising that he needed to learn more about the power he called upon all the time, he couldn't help but continue reading the book, wondering how much he would learn from the first chapter alone.
'Chakra is composed of two parts, Yin and Yang. As their names indicate they work to their greatest effect when the two are in balance, with Yin representing mental energy used to form a construct and Yang representing physical energy used to power the technique.'
Realisation rushed through his head upon reading this statement, the way to hide from a sensor was to split your chakra into mental and physical energy instead of keeping it as chakra like most people subconsciously did. Just as his mind was finally beginning to understand what he was reading and the method of hiding from a sensor, confusion once again struck.
Chakra exhaustion was considered to be an extremely dangerous condition, which wouldn't make sense if a person could easily survive without chakra. Upon realising this, his mind once again started to work on the problem at hand. If chakra exhaustion was such a dangerous condition then why would it be safe to remove all chakra from your body?
The answer didn't take long to appear to him. It wasn't the lack of chakra that was dangerous, but the lack of it's components. That meant that if someone was capable of splitting their chakra into mental and physical energy there was a good chance that they could keep some in reserve and therefore not have to worry about something like chakra exhaustion.
Happy with the answer he had managed to come up with, he proceeded to look at the clock, he was supposed to meet his team in about half an hour and despite the fact he believed his sensei would be late yet again, he realised that if the man was on time for a change it would be best to arrive on time and not get in trouble for being late.
Putting the now empty cup of ramen in the bin he proceeded to head to his bedroom, where he happily put on the pants of his jumpsuit and the black t-shirt he usually wore under the jacket, his body dry courtesy of the time he had spent eating his meal.
Finally fully dressed, he placed a certain book in his pouch that was normally saved for ninja tools. The pouch was designed for a ninja to not only keep their kunai and shuriken at hand, but also any other piece of equipment as well, including scrolls and other such things dedicated to the art of Fūinjutsu. Finally ready, he finally left his apartment, locking the front door before taking off in a full out dash to the training ground he was supposed to meet his team at today.
If there was one thing Naruto was good at, it was running. He might not have been the fastest or the quickest to react but he was good at running for long periods of time without growing tired, combined with his ability to make sudden changes in direction it made him quite difficult to catch. Today however he wasn't running like he did before, he was running at full speed in a mad attempt of reaching the training ground in time, the burn of his body moving at speeds it wasn't used to coping with beginning to get to him as he made his way to the meeting place.
Once he arrived he wasn't at all surprised by the fact that both his teammates were already there and waiting for their sensei, he was usually the latest of the group, except on special days that is.
Looking at his teammates it was obvious that Sakura wasn't a morning person, the look in her eyes said it all, she wasn't in the mood for anything right now and probably just wanted to go back to her nice, comfortable bed instead of having to be here.
Sasuke was harder to tell, he was unable to decide if the last Uchiha was just being his usual brooding self or was instead sleeping on his feet while using the tree he was leaning against as support.
Either way, it was clear that neither wanted to be disturbed and for once he decided that he wouldn't annoy them, instead taking a seat against a tree separate from the rest and pulling the book out of his pouch. The action drew the attention of his teammates for an instant before they decided that whatever it was the blond was doing wasn't worth getting involved in.
Sometimes having a reputation as a prankster can work in your favour as Naruto found out when he was able to read in peace. He continued to read 'The Basics Of Chakra', the information it contained actually interesting him. He had never known that it was possible to fail a jutsu by putting too much chakra into it, that some techniques would actually overload while others would just get more powerful.
It told him that a person's ability to control their chakra regularly determined what sort of jutsu's they could learn and use, though it also mentioned that their chakra itself would also play a factor in that, with each person possessing a natural affinity towards a certain kind of technique, though it said that it would be covered in the later chapters that he hadn't yet reached.
XXX XXX XXX
Sakura couldn't help but feel nervous. Naruto appeared to be reading a book, something she had never expected to see him doing after he never did so much as take notes in the academy. Of course the first thing that came into her mind was that it was obviously a setup for some form of prank after all, that's all he was good for.
The worst part in her mind however was the fact that she didn't know if the prank required her to ask him about it, or ignore the fact he appeared to be reading, despite his usual display of intelligence he had shown the brains to outsmart Iruka with pranks and given that Iruka was easily the smartest person she knew, it truly did say something about her blond teammates skill in the art of traps.
She would admit that if Naruto made a trap it could prove to be quite formidable, however the problem was that he didn't seem to realise that he had that skill and never used traps in fights. To be perfectly honest, it infuriated her that the one thing he was incredibly skilled at was the one thing he never used, it was almost as if he wanted to be a complete failure.
Her mind would keep telling her to see what he was doing every time his facial expression changed to one of confusion but her fear of it being a prank prevented her, not that it mattered much anyway, every time his face took a confused expression he always changed to a thinking frown, evidence that he didn't do it much.
He would always end up with a look of realisation, though the time it took seemed almost random, as if he was genuinely confused and managing to get to an answer. Of course she refused to believe it, Naruto didn't read, that was a known fact of life, as certain as the fact that the current Hokage was an old man long past his prime.
So she sat, trying to ignore her blond teammate, which she began to find significantly easier when she decided to turn her attention towards her other teammate, the boy that she dreamed of marrying, Uchiha Sasuke.
XXX XXX XXX
Sasuke wasn't thinking of things like Sakura. Unlike her he caught a glimpse of the title before the blond had opened the book, so unlike her he understood what his other teammate was doing, he was finally deciding to take his career seriously and was finally prepared to study instead of waste time.
He didn't care, all it meant was that Naruto would end up less likely to get in his way like he would have before. All that mattered to him was that Kakashi gave him the training he needed, nothing else mattered in his eyes.
So far he was not impressed with their new sensei. This would be the third time in three days he was late and given the fact that they had only needed to meet him three times meant that so far he had been late 100% of the time, it did not sit well with the last Uchiha at all.
However he refused to let his irritation show, he was the avenger of the Uchiha clan and he would not let his hate spread to anyone except the man that had murdered everyone that meant anything to him.
XXX XXX XXX
Over two hours passed and Sakura was beginning to let her agitation at their sensei's tardiness show as she proceeded to twitch and fidget while muttering small curses under her breath, ready to pounce as soon as their silver haired sensei finally made his appearance in the training field.
Sasuke may have been equally annoyed but unlike his female teammate he refused to let anyone see his irritation as he continued to lean against the same tree he had been pressed against for several hours, he almost believed that when he left the tree there would be indentations to match the bark visible on his back.
Out of everyone though, it was Naruto that was perfectly calm. He was very happy that he had decided to bring the book with him since it gave him a distraction from the time as he calmly read through everything it told him, regularly freezing in an attempt to understand what it was the pages were telling him.
He had been pleasantly surprised with the second chapter, which explained the concept behind using chakra to augment taijutsu, that it could be used to strengthen the muscles and increase both strength and speed, or it could be collected at a small point and released on impact to act almost like a small explosion and greatly enhance a strikes strength.
He held no illusions though, from what the chapter told him, the second method required both immense control of their chakra and perfect timing to be capable of releasing it just at the moment of impact, instead of just before or just after, either of which would greatly decrease the damage done by the hit, meaning that the number of people that could use that method to its fullest was incredibly small.
"Yo," the sudden appearance caught the entire team off guard as their silver haired sensei appeared in the middle of the training ground, his infuriating eye smile adorning his face as he stood perfectly relaxed and two hours and twenty minutes late.
"YOU'RE LATE!" Kakashi couldn't stop himself from blinking several times as his mind pondered his pink haired students volume, he began to wonder if they had heard her over in Iwa however he decided to not mention it since they weren't on a mission.
"Sorry, I got lost on the road of life," his response held nothing but a minor amusement as he watched the only girl on his team sizzle with anger at his pathetic excuse while the others simply kept quiet.
The boy may not have been an open book but Kakashi was experienced enough to see the anger in Sasuke's eyes as he stared at him, it was obvious that the raven haired Uchiha was not happy with having to wait for hours, unfortunately he didn't care what his students thought of him right now, it's not like they had known each other long, they had only spoken for about ten minutes in total since they had first met each other.
It was when he looked at the final face in the group that he raised an eyebrow. Uzumaki Naruto possessed no traces of irritation or anger at him for being late, which was a complete turnaround from the other times they had met, this caused him to wonder why the boy seemed so calm right now.
It was then that he noticed the edge of a book jutting just out of the boy's pouch and he immediately understood, Naruto had arrived with something to do this time instead of simply waiting around thinking about how long he would be.
"Alright team, it is time for your first training session," immediately the group looked at him, the expectation clear in their eyes as he prepared himself to kill it with the one form of training that all children hate, "the focus will be teamwork."
The one eyed Jōnin couldn't help but feel a hint of satisfaction as he witnessed the spark die in the eyes of all three genin, their hopes of growing stronger individually shattered by that one statement, the satisfaction he received upon seeing the glare directed at him by his raven haired student was even greater and he let the boy know by giving one of his trademark eye smiles.
"Now the first thing I want you to do is line up next to each other, make sure you are close enough that you are touching, Sasuke, you can take the middle," the instructions were simple and earned a small groan from the young Uzumaki while the pink haired girl began to blush as the group lined up, with both Naruto and Sasuke showing a reluctance to touch each other, "good, now just stay still while I prepare the exercise."
There was not a single member of the trio that did not look worried when they witnessed their new sensei pulling several pieces of rope from his pouch, the last time he had had rope he had tied one of them to a log, so whatever he was planning could not be good.
Their eyes went wide when the masked man walked towards them, the only thing keeping them there being the fact that he was their superior officer and had told them to do so. However it was confusion that raked their brains when he leaned down and started tying their legs to each other.
When the man was finished Naruto and Sakura each had one leg tied to Sasuke while both his legs were tied to the others. Looking at the arrangement it didn't take long for anyone in the group to realise exactly why the cyclops had called this a teamwork exercise.
"Alright, the task is simple, all you have to do is one lap of the training ground in under five minutes, you will keep doing this until you have succeeded, any questions?" Kakashi may have said that they would keep doing it until they succeeded however he knew from experience how difficult co-ordinating three people like that was, with just two it is hard, with three the exercise becomes hellish, so he didn't expect them to succeed and instead decided within his mind that they would just keep trying until midday when they would take their first mission as team 7.
"Yeah I have one, are there any rules for this?" the whiskered genin asked as he prepared his mind to take note of the Jōnin's wording to see if there would be any loophole that could be exploited to make the exercise easier.
"Indeed there are, you are not allowed to carry each other and you are not allowed to do anything to remove the ropes keeping you together," once again the silver haired Jōnin felt a pang of satisfaction upon seeing the boy lose the glint in his eye, "then of course you have to run around the edge of the training field as opposed to several feet inside it, you aren't allowed to use bunshin or any other form of jutsu, to put it simply, you have to co-operate and run a full lap in under five minutes while tied together."
The trio could do nothing more than wonder why he was giving them such a random exercise, from what they could tell all they had to do was time their steps and everything would be easy. Or so they thought.
"You may start," it was a simple statement said with an eye smile that the man was infamous for, there were not many people that would believe a single eye could be so infuriating however they would quickly change their mind upon meeting the man.
As soon as the sentence left Kakashi's mouth, Sasuke attempted to dash off, ready to get what he considered to be a pointless exercise out of the way. Unfortunately for him his teammates weren't ready to start with him.
"W-what are you doing?!" was all Naruto could manage to spit out before the trio tripped up, the resulting pile up making the Jōnin chuckle at the sheer incompetence shown by the so called 'genius' that caused the entire group to fall over. If it was just one person tied to him then they could have compensated for the boy's brashness, however two people being forced to compensate for said actions made the exercise significantly more difficult.
"Dammit dobe, you were supposed to move your right leg then!" the dark haired boy shouted as his anger grew, he was not prepared to waste all day with this exercise simply because his 'teammates' couldn't keep up with him.
"How the hell was I supposed to know that teme! You didn't even take a minute to talk with us!" Kakashi was beginning to regret making the group perform this exercise, it appeared as though Sasuke and Naruto were both too volatile to co-operate despite the fact they belonged to the same team.
"Fine then, I'll move my left foot and then my right, you two just follow me," the prodigy stated as he managed to cool his head with a couple of deep breaths, regaining his composure and preparing himself for the next attempt at moving while tied together.
Taking a slow left step, Sasuke wasn't surprised when his blond teammate followed his foot before they placed it on the ground. Almost immediately the Uchiha followed up with his right foot, which his other teammate tried to follow to the best of her abilities, however they quickly found that the stride was too great for her.
Kakashi had to suppress a giggle at the mistake the girl that was supposed to be the smartest in their class had made. While Sasuke had put one foot forward she had ignored that and when she was finally ready to move with the boy, she had to cover approximately 50% more distance than the raven haired genin. Of course she wasn't going to make the stride.
"Dammit Sakura! What are you doing?!" it was obvious that Sasuke was very agitated at being forced to participate in team building exercises, Kakashi had originally believed that the boy might actually be prepared to work with others, however from what he was seeing right now, it would appear that he was wrong and the boy was too focused on personal power to accept the idea of a team.
"Hey! Don't shout at Sakura-chan like that you bastard!" the blond among the group shouted at the self appointed avenger in anger before the raven haired boy turned back to him and gave the boy he considered a tumour right now a death glare.
"Then get her to do this properly dobe!" Kakashi knew he shouldn't need to, however he found himself prepared to intervene at a moment's notice as he witnessed the last Uchiha losing his temper with his teammates. He was certain that if the third member of the team was anyone else this exercise wouldn't have been so bad, but unfortunately they had Sasuke and he was used to doing things alone.
"She is trying to do this properly! You're the one that isn't prepared to work with us!" Naruto shouted, his anger with his teammate rising as he heard the boy blame Sakura for something that was not her fault, he could tell that she was trying but that didn't seem to matter to the dark eyed teen.
"If you two would work properly I wouldn't need to!" before Naruto could come to blows with the raven haired genin again, he found someone else beating him to the punch.
"That is enough Sasuke!" the voice of their sensei rang out through the field, the tone in his voice telling all of them that he was actually angry for a change, "this exercise is for all of you to learn to work together, the reason you were put in the middle was because you need to realise that even more than your teammates."
All three genin could do nothing more than look down as their sensei made his point, despite her effort in trying to work with both her teammates, Sakura couldn't help but feel depression seeping in as the silver haired man made his statement.
In the back of her mind she couldn't help but think that her effort wasn't enough, that she was just slowing Sasuke down and that he had every right to snap at her for making such an obvious mistake.
Naruto however was not feeling depressed but was closer to feeling anger. Sasuke just kept snapping at everyone and seemed to ignore the idea that they were a team, that they were supposed to work together as opposed to simply follow him like he wanted them to. And now Kakashi appeared to be angry with both of them, probably because of the fact he kept retorting to the raven haired boys shouts.
Sasuke on the other hand couldn't bring himself to accept what he was being told. Sure he understood that teamwork was important for a ninja but training should have been used for skills instead of exercises that had no relevance to the real world.
That was what was annoying him, while he was here being forced to do something pointless, 'that man' was out there getting stronger his own way, if he didn't get proper training then the gap would never lessen and he would never manage to avenge his clan.
"At least Naruto and Sakura are trying to work with you, why can't you at least show them the same courtesy?" immediately the blond and pink haired genin widened their eyes, Kakashi was only angry with Sasuke, it wasn't something either of them were expecting.
Slowly Naruto began to understand. The exercise wasn't about speed or getting into a rhythm but rather, simply getting them to communicate. In order to work effectively in this situation they all needed to be capable of communicating the basic actions to each other so everyone knows exactly what they are supposed to do.
That also allowed the blond to understand why Kakashi wasn't angry with him for almost coming to blows with his raven haired teammate, it had only happened because the dark eyed boy didn't work with them like he was supposed to.
"Now why don't you three continue with the exercise and realise this Sasuke, the less you co-operate with the others, the longer you'll have to do this," the oldest in the training ground stated, causing the 'prodigy' to look away with a look of annoyance present on his face, even if he didn't like it he would just have to do it anyway.
"W-well, I've figured out what I did wrong," was the first thing Sakura said, causing both her teammates to look at each her, "both me and Naruto will have to move the same leg at the same time if we want to do this."
Although she didn't explain why, it didn't take a genius to figure out why she was right, as evident when Naruto managed to understand why after looking at their feet for a couple of seconds.
"Alright, let's try this again then, the sooner we've got this down, the sooner we can do something else," despite how much the sentence paralleled what Sasuke was thinking, it came from his spiky haired teammates mouth and earned two nods of agreement as the trio proceeded to try and do a lap of the training ground still tied together.
Their movement was slow and clumsy as they tried their best to walk in synchronisation with each other, their next hurdle being a simple turn to keep in line with the edge of the clearing, throughout it all the group proceeded to quietly pass instructions to each other as each movement was adjusted when necessary.
Above all however, the group was gradually growing less frustrated and annoyed with the exercise as they began to speed up, their minds starting to focus on the exercise at hand instead of what they would rather be doing and despite his lingering annoyance at not being given proper training, Sasuke couldn't deny that he was actually beginning to have fun.
A thought shot through his head, that he shouldn't have misdirected his anger like he had, that he should have tried to adjust himself to his teammates pace instead of expecting them to work at his speed. Somewhere in the back of his mind, hidden behind all his pride and hate, was a small voice, telling him to apologise to the rest of the group… of course it was quickly crushed by his pride.
Sakura was feeling much happier now, Sasuke was actually beginning to get into the exercise their sensei had given them and he no longer showed any hint of anger. She hadn't blamed him for his outbursts, she realised that he was simply frustrated by the fact he was having to do a teamwork exercise instead of getting tuition to help him improve further.
Out of all of them however, it was Naruto that was enjoying this exercise the most… and it was all because he got to shout at Sasuke and look at Sakura's legs most of the time. Sure he would've preferred it if he could've seen more but he wasn't complaining at what he was allowed to keep looking at.
It wasn't that Sakura had great legs or anything, he was simply biased towards her, he didn't know why but he knew he liked her hair and for some strange reason seemed to like her violent side. When he had asked the Hokage about it he had heard the man mutter that he was just like his father but didn't question it, from what he gathered his father liked exotic hair and violent women.
Kakashi was beginning to feel much more relaxed now, despite the teams initial setbacks, they had managed to get over their differences and actually start getting some coordination going on. It may not have been the best but in the end it was improving over time, though he was certain that there would be no chance of them breaking the five minute mark he had set before they went for their first mission.
Time passed slowly for the silver haired Jōnin as he simply stood at the start and finish point, a small stopwatch at his side counting higher as the group slowly made their way around the clearing, their speed gradually increasing as they began to get a rhythm going. It didn't take long for the team to finally reach the finish point, their breathing deep as the exercise made them move in ways that were not normal for the group.
"Congratulations… you took thirty seven minutes and forty two seconds," the simple statement made the teams jaws slacken as they began to realise how much time they had to save, what they forgot to consider however was the fact that the stop watch had been running since the man had told them to start, so it was including their falling over and the other argument that had occurred, "you only need to knock of thirty two minutes and forty two seconds to reach the target."
The trio could do nothing more than gape at the man when he said that without once looking up from his book. Unfortunately for them his free hand moved to the stop watch before with a couple of presses of the buttons their next lap was started, "begin."
For several hours the cycle kept repeating itself, their time gradually lowering as they began to speed up more and more, however despite their best efforts, they simply couldn't seem to get below the seven minute mark and it was beginning to grind at them as their sensei simply sat and kept his nose buried in his little orange book.
They had lost count of how many laps they had done, more because none of them wanted to know than the number, when they had started to stay at the same speed they had slowly stopped their counting as they put extra focus on increasing their speed.
Out of nowhere a loud ringing appeared, knocking them off their rhythm as they began to look for the source of the noise, quickly finding it with their sensei, a small alarm clock. Suddenly the trio began to wonder why he had been so late when he had literally had a clock with him the whole time, of course they didn't get long to ponder the obvious question when the man stood up and walked towards them.
"Alright, cut the rope, it's time for your first mission," the simple order caused three pairs of eyes to widen in surprise as they quickly drew their kunai and effortlessly split the rope, freeing them from their ridiculous proximity to each other, their first actions to be to distance themselves, though Sakura showed some reluctance, before following their sensei towards the village.
Within all their minds one thought was common and the one who decided to ask it was Sakura, her desire for knowledge overriding any qualms she may have had about reminding their sensei of his words to them.
"Uh, Kakashi-sensei, I thought you said we would have to keep doing that until we got under five minutes?" immediately the other members of the team tensed, they had hoped that the man had forgotten that statement.
"Yes I did say that didn't I," the silver haired adult replied with an eye smile, causing a small tremor of dread to pass through the genin present, "but I lied."
Instantly the trio stalled as their brains tried to process what the man had said before trying to process why he had lied to them about the exercise, it simply didn't make much sense to them, surely he could've just told them his real condition… right?
"What d you mean you lied?!" Naruto couldn't help it, he couldn't figure out why such a thing was necessary and the indignation in his voice told the older man that he wasn't happy at being tricked like that.
"What I mean is that I didn't tell you the truth, but if I had told you that you only had to do the exercise until midday would you have put as much effort into it?" the cycloptic ninja explained, nearly chuckling at the looks of realisation that dawned on his students faces as they finally understood his reasoning.
None of the children could bring themselves to respond to the man's question, after all, they knew he was right. They had pushed themselves as far as they had purely because they had wanted to finish the exercise, if they had known that it would end at the same time no matter what then they wouldn't have cared anywhere near as much about getting better and faster.
The rest of the trip was spent in silence as the team walked along the main road that ran down the centre of the village, regularly civilians would stop and let out a cold glare at the blond member of the group, only two of them knew the real reason behind those glares, Sakura and Sasuke simply believed the villagers hated him because of his pranks and although that contributed to his animosity, it wasn't the main factor.
The trip to the Hokages tower took too long for Naruto's liking, despite what he showed outside, the constant stares and glares did get to him, the constant feeling that he didn't truly belong here constantly presenting itself as he gave a wide grin in response to each glare sent his way, he wouldn't let them know that their eyes got to him, he would stay strong and become Hokage, then those glares would become something else, something far warmer.
They would become smiles of acceptance and respect, that is what they always gave the Hokage and that was why he wanted that hat. It had never once occurred to him that his way of thinking was completely wrong, that the old man had earned that respect before he received the hat that marked him as a Kage of one of the five greatest villages on the continent.
Although he refused to show it, Naruto couldn't help but feel relief upon reaching the centrepiece of the village, the massive tower that dominated the village and housed the Hokage. He could feel a hint of giddiness as the team climbed the stairs to the Hokages office, his teammates didn't feel the same way, they had only climbed these stairs once before and that was to get the picture for their ninja licence taken and to receive the official card that marked them as a ninja of Konohagakure no Sato.
Finally reaching a familiar door, Kakashi was about to give a simple knock when the door was flung open by his blond student. He had to admit that he was only slightly surprised when the boy strutted into the room like he owned it, not giving the pair of Chūnin assisting the aged leader a second glance as he walked right up to the desk.
"Hey Ojisan, what'cha got for us today?" almost immediately the whiskered genin found a relatively hard object slamming into the top of his head, or more specifically, Sakura's fist as she attempted to physically reprimand him for his lack of respect.
"I'm sorry Hokage-sama, he's just an idiot that doesn't know the first meaning of respect," the pinkette said in the hopes that the Hokage wouldn't take offence at the boy's antics. However she began to question the situation when none of the senior ninja's showed any form of surprise.
"I hope you understand the problem with simply barging in here and calling me Ojisan every time to show up," the Sandaime Hokage stated calmly, "not everyone is particularly accepting of your lack of manners."
The Hokage was an old man, despite the simple fact of him being far past his prime he was still powerful enough to be considered the strongest ninja in the village, even if all of that strength was contained purely in his skill as opposed to his raw power. His short but spiky white hair was currently hidden by the large conical hat he wore, a simple white design with a red triangular section on the front, the kanji for fire decorating the red section to indicate the man's status as the Hokage as opposed to Kazekage, Raikage, Tsuchikage or Mizukage.
On his chin was a small white goatee that made him look even older than he already did. His skin was marred with wrinkles and liver spots all over, however outside of his face, nothing else could be seen courtesy of the white and red robes he wore.
The final feature visible on the man was the simple pipe that rested between his lips, causing a steady stream of smoky clouds to escape the aged leaders lips as he puffed and savoured the tobacco's flavour before exhaling the harmful gas.
"Yeah yeah, whatever, I just don't see why I have to act like that around you when I'll be the one sitting in that seat soon!" Sakura couldn't believe the boy as he made his stand, however she decided to refrain from hitting him again when she noticed all the elder ninja sharing a chuckle.
"I'm sure you will Naruto-kun but first you'll have to get stronger, much stronger," the way the man had made this statement wonder if her blond teammate had some form of history with the elderly leader that she was unaware of, was it possible that she had misread the situation when they had entered?
"Of course I will! I'll be the greatest Hokage ever!" the sheer confidence the boy radiated when he made that claim almost made the girl do a double take. How could he honestly believe he even had a chance of becoming the Hokage when he was so… weak.
"Yeah right, like you'd ever become Hokage," it was a simple jab by the pink haired girl, muttered at a volume that could easily be missed in a louder room, however she had chosen the perfect moment to be heard when she had said that.
"What!" Naruto couldn't help but let the indignation consume his voice as the girls words reached his ears, despite everything he thought of the girl, he couldn't help but feel hurt when she made fun of him becoming Hokage, "what's wrong with me becoming Hokage?!"
Sakura actually questioned herself about if it was worth it to answer the boy and despite her lack of a sufficient conclusion, decided to anyway.
"Because you're weak, you're an idiot that would cause war simply by being yourself in important meetings and let's not forget your inability to take a hint," the girl stated harshly, causing the boy to flinch at each verbal jab she made against him.
"Well you won't be saying that when I become Hokage!" despite everything he couldn't help but respond the only way he knew how to when someone made fun of his goal, he never realised it but it had become his default comeback, even if it wasn't actually a comeback.
"Yeah, I'd probably have died of old age when that happens," once again the young girl couldn't stop herself, she realised that she may have been hurting him more than she did when she punched him but she honestly couldn't bring herself to imagine him as the Hokage, he simply wasn't Hokage material and he needed to realise that before he got others hurt over it.
The older ninja had to hold back their laughter as the blond started to splutter and showed obvious signs of trying to think of a comeback to what the girl had said, though it was obvious who the winner of their verbal exchange was.
Before the situation could get out of hand, Kakashi decided that it was time to deal with it. With a couple of calm steps he proceeded to place his hand on the blonds shoulder before saying a simple sentence that would delay the boy's retort even further and hopefully would make him forget the conversation altogether.
"Alright, why don't you two stop making fun of each other and let us get our first mission," the eye smile the man gave was noticeable to all in the room as the one he used to try and bring some order to a situation by letting everyone know that felt satisfied that whatever was happening had been dealt with.
And if anyone disagreed with him there was plenty of pain ready to be passed around.
Naruto didn't like the fact the man had stopped them when Sakura had gotten the last word, doing so made him feel like the loser and if there was one thing he hated, it was feeling like he had lost… it was that feeling that made him take advantage of the blackmail he had on Ebisu and right now, he had nothing to fall back on now this conversation was over.
Sakura however didn't really care, she had let the boy know what she thought of the idea of him becoming Hokage and if he didn't like it then that was his problem, not hers. Sure she would admit that people can change but as he was right now, there was no chance that her blond teammate would ever become Hokage and the only way he would manage that dream was if he changed almost completely and from what she knew of him, he was far too stubborn to change at all, let alone that much.
"Team seven, your first mission will be…" the Hokage started before making a dramatic pause, he loved how the expecting looks in the new eyes of new genin would suddenly vanish upon hearing the contents of their first mission. This group was no different, all three almost leaning forward in anticipation, "to clear an old ladies garden of weeds."
Silence reigned as the more experienced ninja tried to hold back their laughter at the look of total disbelief present on the children's faces as they processed the old man's words. After several minutes of silence, an idea popped into Sakura's head, she began to curse herself for not realising it sooner.
"Um, I'm not familiar with the code you're using Hokage-sama," that was it, the Chūnin could hold it in no longer and the hysterical laughter that was emitted from their mouths made the team of youngsters pause in thought for a second. None of them could see what was so funny, that is until the blond in the group suddenly understood the reality.
"It wasn't in code was it?" the spiky haired genin asked, already knowing the answer, after all, he was the biggest prankster in Konoha so he knew that sometimes the best prank was to do nothing.
"That is correct Naruto-kun, your mission is to weed a garden," the sheer fact that the aged leader said it that simply made the other members of team seven gape at the idea they were expected to do something so mundane now they were ninja.
"Alright team, let's go and get this over with, oh and Naruto, no kage bunshin, these are team building missions so you'll just have to work together," the eye smile Kakashi gave upon making this statement further emphasised the fact that he enjoyed crushing their hopes, at this rate they would never get stronger.
So it was with a heavy sigh, that the genin proceeded to give in to the fact that they were stuck weeding a garden and followed their sensei, each upset for their own reasons, Naruto because he wanted something challenging, Sasuke because he wanted to get stronger and this was just going to delay him even more and Sakura because she wasn't wearing the right clothes for gardening.
XXX XXX XXX
Sakura couldn't stop herself from letting out another deep sigh as she dragged another weed from the ground, trying her hardest to bring the roots with it. She had never imagined that being a ninja could be so boring but here she was being proven wrong. She still couldn't believe that ninja were hired to do everyday chores like this, it just seemed like a complete waste of money for the clients when they could do it themselves.
The young girl proceeded to glance at her other teammates, Sasuke was wearing a scowl like she had expected, the boy was far too good for a mission like this, that she was certain of but it appeared that both the Hokage and Kakashi-sensei disagreed with that belief, otherwise they would've given the group a higher ranked mission with more danger involved.
Shifting her gaze to the blond boy, she had to do a double take on what she had just seen. Instead of the same bored expression that adorned the faces of Sasuke and herself, the look on the blonds face was one of determination. It took her awhile to figure out what he was doing when instead of getting on his knees like the others, he remained standing before leaning forward to latch onto the base of the offending foliage, before a violent twist proceeded to tear the weed from the ground, the dirt flying off the roots as the boy appeared to put his entire body into the action.
It confused her as she wondered why he was doing it that way, wasn't it easier to just do it the way she and Sasuke were doing it? Glancing at the Jōnin who had decided to read his book instead of help, she saw something she hadn't seen in his eye before, curiosity. It caught the young girl off guard as she noticed the man examining the orange clad boy with his only eye, it was almost as if he knew what Naruto was up to.
Once again she proceeded to watch the boy as he removed weed after weed with the exaggerated movement, each twist easily breaking the ground the weeds were located as he continued his strange routine. She thought his movement was unusual and unnecessary as he put significant effort into removing each perennial he came across.
Naruto didn't realise he was being watched as he proceeded to remove the weeds, he may have been unhappy with the mission and what it entailed however it did give him a chance to practice twisting his body, something he needed to be good at to use his new punch effectively. Of course he didn't care if he was being watched, he had never heard of ninja using a punch like that so he was pretty sure he had inadvertently created a new taijutsu technique from scratch.
He knew that the way he was doing it was much harder than simply getting on his knees and pulling the weeds up, however doing it the easy way would've just made the whole mission boring, so he had chosen to do it this significantly harder way.
Already he was beginning to feel the strain on his muscles from the sharp twists he kept making, the unusual movements forcing the muscles to work in ways they weren't used to and therefore not strengthened against. He didn't mind, he knew that the burn just meant he was getting more used to using his new technique and that when he had practiced it enough it would stop causing the strain it did now.
And with that thought flowing through his mind, he kept going, the mundane job of weeding a garden becoming just another training exercise in his mind… and he always liked training exercises.
Kakashi's lone eye followed the blond, taking note of the twisting he was putting into his body, he knew exactly what it meant and knew that the boy had already taken some form of initiative and started to improve his taijutsu. The fact that the blond had also turned the mundane job of weeding the garden into a form of training exercise also showed that the blond was currently the best in the group, not because of his skills but because he was prepared to make a simple job harder in order to train.
The only thought that concerned the masked Jōnin was if the blond realised the problem with the technique he was practicing and even more importantly, where he had learned of the punch, after all, it wasn't the sort of punch a ninja used under normal circumstances, he only knew of one person that used it and his usage of it was extremely rare.
He knew for a fact that every technique had a weakness, whether it be Tai, nin, gen, ken or Fūinjutsu, the mark of a skilled shinobi was learning to cover for that weakness. He had needed to learn how to deal with his Raikiri's tunnel vision drawback, his left eye was a surgically transplanted counter to that weakness but even with it he still tended to use his summons to restrain a target before attempting the extremely powerful jutsu.
Despite his distraction on the blond, he knew that his pink haired student had looked at both of them, the look of confusion adorning her face was easily detectable, Kakashi realised that the entire team would have to learn how to hide their emotions better than they currently could, looking at them right now was like reading a kiddies book, pathetically easy.
Refocusing on the blond, he made his decision, once the team had finished this mission and received their payment, he would speak with the blond concerning the corkscrew blows. With his mind made up, he decided that Icha Icha needed more of his love and happily gave it his full attention once again.
The Jōnin knew that the mission wouldn't take much longer, the genin had each cleared the majority of their sections, with just a few more weeds left, he would be surprised if it took them five more minutes to finish off the task at hand.
He wasn't disappointed when the group finished, the garden completely clear of weeds, though there were countless miniscule patches of upturned dirt from where the roots used to lay. Fortunately the client had simply hired them to clear the lawn of weeds, not make it look nice and pretty, so they had fulfilled their end of the contract. All that was left to do was report that the task had been completed to the client and to receive their payment from the Hokage.
After the small team had gathered together in front of him, their young faces expecting new orders, Kakashi immediately moved towards the clients door and gave a simple pair of knocks. The group was forced to wait about two minutes, though the lack of anything to do made it feel significantly longer, before the client opened the door.
She was obviously old, possibly the same age as the Hokage if not older. Her eyes were kept in small slits behind a simple set of circular spectacles, while a plain brown Kimono hid her form from the children.
Before the Jōnin could say anything to the women, she walked straight past him and immediately started scanning the lawn, the only indication that she was looking at it being the systematic swaying her head made as she looked over every inch of the children's work.
"Hmph, it'll do," were the only words to leave the elderly woman's mouth before she headed straight back to her house and slamming the door on the ninja, obviously not caring about them one little bit. The next thing the genin heard was a small sigh from their sensei before he turned to face them.
"Here's a tip for you, don't kill rude clients," the genin couldn't help but blanch at that piece of advice, it just seemed like such an obvious thing to follow but the way the man said it, they began to wonder just how bad some of these people were, "oh and try to be polite to them, even if you hate their guts."
Once again the genin couldn't help but feel like the man was just stating the obvious, well apart from Naruto but then again, he didn't show anyone respect and didn't like being polite so it just sounded weird to him.
"Well come on, let's go and get paid," for once the group agreed, they all had better things to do than stand around talking about clients and standard procedure for dealing with them.
XXX XXX XXX
Excitement flooded Naruto's body as he walked out of the Hokage's office with his first ever payslip, it may not have been much but it was his first payslip for completing a mission as a ninja of Konoha, so that alone held a deep significance to him.
Of course he had to deposit it in the bank in order for it to actually be worth any money, which in turn meant he couldn't keep the slip itself. But it was his first payslip and it didn't have much monetary value, that fact alone made him consider something that most would say was stupid, he was thinking of keeping it and not putting it in the bank.
Now he was a genin he had been given access to the money his parents had stashed away, it wasn't a fortune by any means but it was more than enough to buy him some new clothes and keep him fed for a couple of years, that is, if he didn't buy other things.
It also proved to him that his parents had been successful ninja, they had managed to save up enough money from missions that the Hokage could use it to buy a flat in the boys name with it, feed him for the first twelve years of his life, pay for the damages his pranks caused, buy him clothes and ninja tools and still have enough left over for more if it was needed.
Of course the aged leader had drilled the value of money into the boy from a young age, giving him just enough to get by and letting him deal with it instead of giving him a constant supply of cash with which to live off of.
Remembering what the man had done, Naruto couldn't help but dismiss his original idea, every little bit of money would add up and allow him to live better than if he left it for sentimental reasons.
He was suddenly snapped out of his thoughts when a hand landed on his shoulder, stopping him from moving any further forward. Immediately he began to panic, whenever someone stopped him it was usually to get revenge for a prank he had played before, so before anything else could happen he shot around and just as he was prepared to strike at every males weakest area, he froze upon seeing the masked face of his new sensei.
"Well that was a rather violent reaction," the Jōnin stated when he saw where the boy had aimed his fist, "and here I was going to talk with you about your taijutsu."
Naruto couldn't stop himself from chuckling nervously as he changed the positioning of his arm so as to no longer be aimed towards his sensei's more sensitive area, "hehe, sorry Kakashi-sensei, it's just a reflex," that statement didn't make the silver haired ninja feel any better about the previous interaction however and even Naruto could tell that the man wasn't exactly amused… though he couldn't tell what the man was from the blank stare he received.
After several seconds the man's words finally hit him, he wanted to talk about his taijutsu.
"I know I wasn't good in the exam but I'm going to get better, please just trust me," the child's reaction made the masked Jōnin blink a couple of times as he wondered why the child had thought he was angry about that, everyone had to start somewhere.
"Yes, I can tell, what I meant was the technique you were practicing during the mission," the shock present on the blonds face was effortless to read even in the eyes of a civilian, let alone an experienced ninja, "who taught you that style of punch?"
Naruto's mind went blank, his sensei had just asked him who had taught him his new punch, if that was the case then was it not as unique as he had concluded? Did Kakashi-sensei know about it? And if so why didn't he use it? There were so many questions and he wanted answers, however the problem was knowing which question to ask first. Or then again he could just answer his sensei's question first and then choose which question to ask.
"I was practicing the first two rules of taijutsu when I found that punch," it was a perfectly honest answer, the book had never told him to twist his body and he had ended up doing that as an experiment and it had worked, so he had kept practicing it.
"You mean you recreated it on your own?" earning a simple nod from his blond student, the former ANBU captain couldn't help but feel a little shock flow through his body, there weren't many people that would figure out a punch like that from just the first two rules of taijutsu, "tell me, have you figured out its weakness and why most ninja don't use it?"
Naruto froze, his punch had a weakness that stopped most ninja from using it, if that was the case then just how dangerous a weakness was it to put such a powerful punch out of use?
"W-what is its weakness?" Kakashi could hear the dread in the boys voice, he obviously didn't have a clue that the strike had a weakness if his current reaction was anything to go by.
"Tell me, how do you perform the punch?" it was a very simple question, however if the boy could explain the method behind the punch then he could see the weakness, the one that most ninja avoid like the plague.
"Well… first you put your feet on the gr…" the look of realisation that took over the blonds face when he started explaining the punch was purely incredible, the punch had such an obvious flaw that he had completely overlooked it.
"I see you've already figured it out, the corkscrew blow requires you to plant your feet and sacrifice mobility in order to put enormous power behind it," Naruto couldn't argue with his sensei's statement, he couldn't believe he had never noticed it before and was beginning to regret putting so much effort into practicing the punch.
"So, it's useless," such a sudden conclusion made Kakashi sigh in annoyance, the child obviously needed an important lesson concerning being a ninja and he was going to have to teach him that lesson.
"No it isn't," the whiskered blond couldn't help but look at the man with confusion etched onto his face when he made that statement, "no matter what you use, whether it be tai, nin or genjutsu, there will always be a weakness that can be exploited, the mark of a skilled ninja is the ability to realise these weaknesses and either cover them or take advantage of them."
Naruto couldn't stop himself from looking at the man in awe, despite his earlier actions the man now looked and sounded like a true ninja and the advice he had given made sense, there was obviously no perfect technique otherwise everyone would try and learn it and he didn't know of a single jutsu everyone wanted to know.
"If you want to use the corkscrew blow then I would advise you to buy some form of armour, that would remove your need of being completely mobile and allow you to survive against more agile targets as long as you manage to avoid anything aimed at your vitals," once again Naruto couldn't help but feel he had misread his new sensei, he actually seemed to be happy to help him, even going so far as to stop him to tell him the weakness of his newest technique.
Kakashi was beginning to feel nervous, the boy in front of him was shaking, the child may not have recognised him but he had met the boy several times before back when he was in ANBU and he recognised this shaking. It wasn't the shaking of Naruto when he was crying or angry… it was the shaking of Naruto when he's trying to stop himself from pouncing at you and smothering you to death.
"Well, if that's all, I'll be going now, see you tomorrow Naruto," and before the whiskered blond could do anything, the man had vanished in a swirl of leaves, leaving the boy alone with no one to hug.
Taking several deep breaths, Naruto managed to calm himself down to a point where he no longer needed to launch himself at someone and with a clear head he began to check off the tasks he still needed to do today.
First there was deposit his payslip and withdraw some money, he needed enough to be capable of buying proper clothes for missions so he would have to withdraw more than he normally would, then he would have to find a good clothing store for ninja's, possibly one that sold armour since Kakashi-sensei had advised him to buy some if he wanted to use his new punch. Once he had done those two tasks, he would have the rest of the day to eat and train, so all in all, he felt as though he was going to have a good day for a change.
XXX XXX XXX
Naruto wouldn't admit it out loud but he liked going to the bank. It did two things for him, it made him feel like he had money to his name and the more important reason was the clerks. The number of women with amazing figures that worked in the bank was unbelievable and being the little pervert he was, that always made his visits there so much better.
Sure he liked Sakura but he was always happy to ogle any beautiful woman that he could, well except Ichiraku Ayame but he had thought of her as a sister for too long to think of her any differently, a sentiment she seemed to share.
As it stood right now, he had finished ogling the women and had left the bank, a large wad of cash filling his little toad wallet that he affectionately called 'gama-chan' and was calmly walking along the street, looking at every stall and down every ally in an attempt to find a good shinobi store.
People all along the street began to express concern as they witnessed the biggest prankster in Konoha looking for something, whatever he was after would make some peoples' lives hell, that was for certain in their minds.
After nearly half an hour of searching he finally found something that looked like it would sell everything he needed, the only reason he didn't go to the place he bought his kunai and shuriken was because it only stocked weapons, so given the fact he wasn't after that sort of product meant he had to find somewhere else.
The store he found seemed decent enough, a large sign that read 'Higarashi weapons and armour' decorated the front of the shop and let everyone know exactly what it did. His heart began to beat faster as his mind began to focus on the fact that he was here to replace his precious jumpsuit, hopefully there would be something that would allow him to retain a bit of orange while still making him less visible.
Taking a deep breath, the short blond made his first step into the store, his eyes scanning over the products on display. He had seen the clothing racks through the window so he had known that the place sold clothes suitable for shinobi. Now that he was inside he could see the large selection of weapons and ANBU style armour hanging off the walls.
His head moved from side to side in wonder as he scanned the wares, unaware of a single pair of eyes watching his every move as he ogled the selection in front of him. Suddenly his head snapped towards something that caught his eye, hanging from a clothing rack was a large selection of trench coats in all different sizes. They came in several colours, including white, black, blue, red, purple and a dark orange.
It was not like the orange that dominated his jumpsuit, his jumpsuit was loud and bright, almost like a sign trying to attract attention, while the orange on the trench coats was so dark that if it was any darker it would have probably been confused with brown. However it was clearly orange.
Almost as if mesmerised, the blond started to walk over to the racking, his hand reaching out to touch one of the orange coats when he was snapped out of his trance by a gruff voice.
"Be careful, they're heavier than they look," the call caused the blond to jerk his head towards the counter behind him. The problem with selling to ninja is that if they do a runner, you tend to fare better with a head start so many stores in Konoha had the counter close to the exit.
"S-sorry, I didn't see you there," the spiky haired genin said nervously upon seeing the man. He was a giant of a man, easily the same height as Kakashi and about three times wider, if Naruto was to compare him to something, he would've said a brick house, the man simply gave the impression that he could snap an experienced ninja like a twig if he wanted to. He had pitch black hair and a thick beard that hid half his face almost as well as Kakashi's mask, he was dressed in a simple Kosode and Hakama combo that was less ornate than anything he sold.
"I didnae expect ya tae, ya were tae busy starin at me wares to notice me back ere," the large man responded calmly, he may not have been talking like a normal person but Naruto was capable of telling that the man had no ill will in his voice.
"What did you mean about these coats being heavier than they look?" it was a simple question from the blond as he tried his luck getting information out of the obvious owner of the store.
"Me own creation, not many ninja buy it though, tae heavy, cuts down their speed," the dark haired man stated with a sigh, he had thought it was a good idea at the time, however as he had soon discovered, it didn't' sell because of its weight.
"Why's it so heavy?" the blond asked as he picked an orange coat about the right size for him off the rack, immediately discovering what the man meant when he had said it was heavier than it looked. He wouldn't have been surprised if the thing weighed over forty pounds given the fact his arms could barely hold it up.
"It's lined wih chainmail," the sudden widening of the child's eyes almost made the older man laugh, he hadn't seen such a comic expression in quite some time, "tis flexible, good at absorbin impacts an stopping blades."
"Really? I thought chainmail was supposed to be weak?" Naruto asked the man, he had heard of the term before and wondered what the deal with the coat was, after all, if it was that heavy and was as weak as chainmail was supposed to be then why would anyone want it?
"Dat's thin chainmail, dat sorta thing isn't heavy or durable, shatters cause the metals tae thin," the bear of a man said with a bit of distaste in his voice, "tha stuff in dat coat is about an inch thick, an eld together close enough dat things like kunai cannae get through the gaps… plus da metal used is chakra conductive, makes it even harder when chakra's put in it."
Naruto couldn't help but feel a small burst of confidence when he tried the coat on, the heavy garment fitting his shoulders nicely, though he did discover that although the joints were flexible, the rest of it wasn't as fluid in its movement, often stopping when the links lost space to move closer to each other.
The large man began to look at the boy with interest as he watched the child try on the coat before adopting a flat footed stance. He watched with a critical eye when the boy started twisting his body into a punch that flew forward with more power than before, the extra weight adding to the destructive power of the strike.
Naruto could feel it, the coat was just what he needed, the extra weight would add to the destructive power of his punches while the armour would protect him while he planted his feet, plus it was orange, so that was a bonus. Looking at the price tag, it was obvious that the owner just wanted to get rid of the things, their price lower than most of the other clothing, indication that people simply didn't want to buy what for most of them was simply impractical.
Deciding that he was definitely going to buy the armoured coat, the whiskered genin moved over to some of the other clothing racks, he had already found something orange so the rest didn't matter as much, several sets of the standard Chūnin style of clothing would work just fine for him.
A simple set of dark pants and shirt was all he really needed right now, however the shopkeeper wasn't one to lose a possible extra sale when the opportunity arose.
"I saw that punch o yers, very powerful," immediately alarm bells rang in the blonds head as the man started talking up his skills, "given what I seen o you so far I would guess ye are a power type fighter, am I right?"
Thinking things over, Naruto couldn't help but agree with the man's statement, he was buying the coat to compensate for his lack of mobility when using his new favourite punch so what the man was saying was probably correct, "I guess so."
"Ever thought o buyin a Zanbatō? They're perfect fer a power type, just swing an if ye hit, chances are, ye won," the man said with a small smile and a glint in his eyes, which grew when he saw the boy contemplate the suggestion.
Naruto may have been contemplating the suggestion, however there was one thing that made up his mind, the fact that he had enough to learn already without having to add kenjutsu to the mix, so the decision became clear quite quickly.
"No thanks, I've got enough I have to learn right now, perhaps when I'm older," the answer was genuine and the massive man could tell that the boy was telling the truth when he said that, so letting out a deep sigh he decided to let the boy be.
"Cannae blame me fer tryin," the joking tone the man said it in made the young boy smile and let out a small chuckle, the owner seemed like a good guy despite his intimidating stature.
"Nope, ya gotta make a living somehow. So how much does this come to?" Naruto asked, already getting out gama-chan in order to pay for the clothing and coat.
"Dat'll be 3,170 ryō," the older man said calmly, happily taking the money as the boy placed it on the counter, earning a nod off the owner when he had finished counting the money he was given, "nice doin business wit ya."
"Same here, see ya next time I need something," and with that statement, the blond left the shop, his new clothes in his arms as he began to adjust to the weight of his new coat.
XXX XXX XXX
Naruto had to admit, Ichiraku's tasted even better when he was completely drained. Once he had left the store he had immediately started running to his apartment to put his new clothes away before heading to the training grounds.
The problem of course was that he wasn't used to the weight of the coat he was currently wearing. Despite what he had initially thought, it was proving to be much more tiring wearing it than he had imagined, something that was further emphasised when he had started practicing his taijutsu in a training field outside the village.
Instead of simply practicing his punches he had proceeded to try and figure out how to put real power into his kicks and was not having much luck outside of charging his legs with chakra, even if doing so didn't so much for his technique as it did for learning how to increase his strength with his rather formidable chakra supply.
Of course doing that meant that he had not only grown physically tired but had also lost quite a bit of chakra as well. So right now he was happily devouring the bowls of ramen under his nose as he attempted to recover enough strength to make his way home.
The contented look on his face didn't go unnoticed by the owner though, he remembered that the last time he had been in the stand he had been depressed over the genin exam. Despite how much he wanted to learn why the boy had done a complete one eighty, which combined with his new piece of clothing caused the man to open his mouth in order to sate his curiosity.
"You look awfully chirpy today, did something happen?" immediately the blond looked up, still shovelling noodles into his mouth before swallowing the large volume of food and opening his mouth to answer.
"Yeah, someone gave me some help yesterday, so I'm getting stronger now!" the enthusiastic response was much closer to the Naruto he had grown attached to, yesterday had been as if someone had tried impersonating him poorly, "plus I completed my first mission today!"
"You did huh? so what did you think of the 'notoriously difficult D rank missions'?" the sarcasm that dripped from the chefs voice told Naruto that the man had either requested or heard others complain about them quite regularly, "so what were you expected to push yourself with? Painting a fence? Watering a garden? Finding a lost pet?"
"Nah, weeding a rude old lady's garden," the whiskered teen stated after taking another gulp of the noodles he lived off of, earning a nod off of the ramen chef before Naruto remembered another thing, "oh yeah, Kakashi-sensei said that we should try our best to not kill the clients even if we hate them."
That earned a laugh from the older of the two, he had heard plenty of ninja complaining about clients before, from what he could tell most people seemed to believe that since they had bought the shinobi's services, the ninja didn't need to be treated with any hospitality, rarely ever thinking about the simple fact that the people they hired were trained killers and could easily snuff them out when no-one was looking and no-one would be the wiser.
"Yeah, I've heard that there are plenty of clients that come close to losing their heads like that," Teuchi couldn't stop himself from laughing when the boy nearly choked on his meal, the laughter started by the older man's statement almost ending him, "so how's your team? You mentioned Sasuke was with ya but you never said anything about the other member."
"It's Sakura-chan!" the glee that filled the young Uzumaki's voice upon making that statement was enough to light the village if it could be converted into electricity. The older man knew why, the child had an unhealthy obsession with the pink haired girl, he knew that the boy was simply taking after his father but out of all the things the child could've inherited, why did it have to be the attraction to violent women?
"I see, then I guess you're at least happy with that part of your team," Teuchi was more than capable of realising that the boy would be happy being teamed up with his crush, he was also smart enough to know that the girl was surprisingly similar to the boy, possessing an unhealthy obsession with a specific member of the opposite sex, "I take it you'd rather have anyone except Sasuke as your other teammate, am I right?"
"Yeah, that teme just kept making problems during our training earlier," the obvious dislike in the boys voice making it clear that he did not like the raven haired boy one little bit, "and he shouted at Sakura-chan."
The ramen chef may not have approved of the boys crush, the girl was too obsessed with the last Uchiha for purely cosmetic reasons for his liking, however he knew that Naruto was similar in his crush on her, though one of the things involved in that was her temper, which wasn't exactly cosmetic, the important part however was that shouting at or trying to harm her immediately put you on the blonds hit list. For that reason alone, he felt pity for the young Uchiha… being on Naruto's hit list was possibly the worst place to be, even the Hokage feared being put on it and he was the strongest ninja in the village.
"That's not good, shouting at your own teammates isn't the best way for ninja to work," he stated, covering his opinions, he knew that blond wouldn't listen to him even if he voiced them, his obsession of the girl was simply too great.
"All she was doing was trying to complete the exercise and he was the one that wouldn't work with us," the anger was easy to notice in the blue eyed teens voice, it was obvious that Sasuke didn't take the genin exam to heart like he had.
"I guess it was a team building exercise then," the chef enquired, earning a curt nod of confirmation in response as the boy began devouring his fifth bowl of noodles, "so what's with your new jacket? It's a lot subtler than your jumpsuit."
"Huh? yeah, I decided I needed some darker clothes if I'm going to be a ninja and this was cool, plus it works for the new style I'm learning," the young boy stated before he drank the broth left in the bottom of the bowl.
"Hah, sounds like there's something up with it outside of it being orange," once again the older man started preparing another bowl of the noodles, ready for the boy to finish the one he had prepared for after the one he was finishing just now.
"Yeah, it's armoured," Naruto stated as he proceeded to accept the next bowl, happily shovelling it into his mouth, "my new style stops me from moving when I'm attacking so I got this to protect me when I try to hit someone."
Teuchi couldn't help but make a blank face upon hearing that, from what he was aware ninja tended to try and keep moving so they took less damage, it was samurai and bodyguards that tended to fight with that type of style, though they also tended to wear much larger armours that gave much better all round protection than a jacket.
The man dismissed that thought, the boy tended to be too stubborn to listen to opinions like that, if anything it just made the boy even more determined to prove the doubters wrong.
"That sounds interesting, I wonder how it'll hold up against quick enemies though?" even if the boy wouldn't listen to opinions, phrasing it like a question would at least make the boy think on it, which judging by the boy's sudden scrunch of his face had already worked.
"I don't know but I'll think of a way to deal with any speedy bastards that try to beat me," the massive grin that threatened to split the blonds face in two when he said that showed that he was confident that there was a way to win against people that kept moving when attacking.
"I'm sure you will," the blonds' confidence was contagious and Teuchi couldn't help but feel that his favourite customer would find a way to do what he claimed, it wouldn't be the first time he had actually succeeded at something, his 'kage killer' jutsu had actually defeated the Sandaime after all.
And so with a small smile etched onto his face, the older man continued to serve his favourite customer until the boy finally told him that the next bowl would be the final order.
XXX XXX XXX
Naruto couldn't help but pant when he finally made it back to his apartment. He had never thought that climbing the stairs would be so hard but the extra weight he was wearing in his coat proved to be much harder to carry than he had anticipated.
Closing the front door, the first thing he did was slip his new coat off his shoulders, flinching upon hearing the loud thud of it impacting on the floor. He would've put it on his coat hook, however he didn't want to risk the hook being ripped off the wall by the piece of clothing's incredible weight.
As soon as he made his next step he almost felt like he didn't weigh anything, his body no longer having to lug that coats extra weight around. It might not have been the heaviest thing he had ever lifted but walking around and training with it on was much harder than just moving it from one place to another.
Putting his pouch on the table, the young boy proceeded to head straight to his bedroom and instead of training, he simply let himself fall flat on his face, his soft bed supporting his tired and aching body as he let sleep claim him.
