A/N: In truth I wasn't one hundred percent sure I would continue this fic, but I suppose I've just been getting so many ideas that I couldn't help myself. If I can, I'll try to have an update out every weekend (though I wouldn't count on that to last long).
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, or the character Kreia (alias: Runa). Though her appearance is not exactly like that in Kotor (Knights of the Old Republic), her personality and traits are all from the game. For the purposes of this chapter…I also don't own Rosari+Vampire, Fairy Tail, Bleach, Evangelion (and any other anime I make reference to this specific chapter…you'll know the scene in which they appear)
Chapter 2: Becoming a Genin
-x- Flashback -x-
"I did it to protect you Naruto. You see your father had a lot of enemies outside of the village, many who were petty enough to try and kill his only living child."
"But if you would have announced it, no one would have hated me for being the Kyuubi!"
Hiruzen sighed, "I disagree. I thought about it constantly, wondering if I told them you were the Yondaime's legacy, they probably wouldn't hate you. They probably would see you as a hero and would understand the terrible burden that you carry every second of a every day." The old man sighed, "However, after they turned on you the first time, I quickly lost faith in the people. I don't think it would have mattered who your father was. They would have rationalized that the son of their hero was destroyed and the Kyuubi had the gall to inhabit his empty body, or some such nonsense. And then, not only would you have had to deal with the people of Konoha, you would have had to deal with assassins from other Shinobi villages as well." The old man paused for a moment to take a long drag of his pipe, before continuing. "Honestly, if I believed that your life would have turned better here, I would have revealed the truth. Assassins be damned. Perhaps I made the wrong decision, but like I said, I lost faith."
The blonde pouted, understanding the old man's viewpoint. "But why didn't you tell me? Didn't I have the right to know, that my father wasn't an old drunk or that my mother was a whore."
The old man frowned at the blonde, "I told you repeatedly that your parents were both great shinobi; that your father died in battle and your mother died giving birth to you. However…" The old man shut his eyes tightly, mentally wondering what kind of bastard would tell a child their mother was a whore. "I am sorry that you had to hear those awful lies. And to answer your question, I didn't tell you because I was afraid you wouldn't be able to keep it a secret."
Naruto, obviously registered the slight much faster than Hiruzen gave him credit for, slammed his fists the Hokage's table, "So what, you LIED to me, because YOU couldn't trust ME!"
The Hokage frowned again. When put in that form, which was quite accurate really, it truly did sound bad. "When you were being teased and ridiculed, can you really say you would have stopped yourself from screaming out, the Yondaime was your father or something of that nature to prove them wrong? In an unnecessary attempt to prove to those fools that your life did have meaning? Most would have probably thought you were lying, and may have retaliated against your possible comments. But some may have believed you, or at least had been suspicious. And then it would have all been for not."
The blonde sighed as he got up from the chair he was seated in. He then looked at the Hokage through tearful eyes. The boy was obviously angry, but the lack of an outburst clearly meant that the boy understood the Hokage's side of the argument. "And my mother?"
Hiruzen held his breath. "Your mother?"
"Who was she? Is she dead to?"
The Hokage let go of the breath he was holding, though he managed to do it without the boy noticing it. "Her name was Kushina Uzumaki, and like I mentioned earlier she happened to be a very powerful Kunoichi. She was…actually a lot like you, personality-wise."
Naruto nodded, "Is she dead?"
Hiruzen paused for a moment. He really wanted to come right out and tell him the truth. Another possibility was to lie and say she abandoned him for what he was. He could also say he wasn't sure what happened to her, that she just disappeared, though that was probably the worse lie possible, if he could even pull it off. But in the end, all he could say was, "Yes, what I said earlier was true, she died during childbirth." All he could do was cover his own ass. No telling how far things could get out of had if the blonde went investigating.
The blonde smiled, as he stood up. To Hiruzen, that smiled held a spark of insanity that made the old man shiver, "The first life the demon took, eh."
Hiruzen's eyes widened as the boy turned around to walk out the door. "Naruto wait!" The boy stopped, and turned slightly to the old man. "You. Are. Not. A. Demon. Don't ever think any different."
The blonde, who looked little more than a living corpse gave a ghost of a smile and then turned to leave.
-x- End Flashback -x-
Hiruzen Sarutobi sat in his office, cradling his aching head within the palms of his hands. He truly had no idea the blonde was that bad off. He knew his constant smiling was nothing but an act to mask his loneliness, but in truth it seemed the boy's sanity was hanging on a thread. Maybe the original thread had broken and he had already fallen…until Kreia reached out to him that is…
Hiruzen scowled. Why the hell couldn't he had seen things sooner. Why the hell did it have to be Kreia that saved the boy, and not someone more…readable? In many ways he'd prefer if Orochimaru were the one teaching Naruto, at least then Hiruzen would know what to expect. Kriea was too much of a wildcard for Hiruzen to ever be able to read…perhaps the reason she was able to connect with the boy in such an obvious way. The man sighed; he had to think about his options.
The first option was to just allow Kreia to teach Naruto, essentially to wait and see what the woman had planned. For very obvious reasons, he counted a total of twenty-three, Hiruzen decided to put that plan at the very end of his list and label it under 'fuck, no'.
The second plan, and the most obvious one, would be to get Naruto away from Kreia. Either reveal the woman's nature to the boy or, if that didn't work, put the boy under protective custody to prevent Kreia from using him in any plot. Unfortunately, Naruto's protests and retaliations aside, Kreia simply had far too much information on Konohagakure to simply allow herself to be cut out of Naruto's life. If the boy found out the truth about his mother, he would almost instantly cut all ties with Sarutobi, and by extension Konoha. She could also reveal to Kushina Hiruzen's treachery, which could have the unfortunate affect of turning Whirlpool against them. Unfortunately, the Kazama clan simply had too much influence over Whirlpool, and Kushina's brother, the clan head, sure as hell wouldn't let something like this slide. Fifteen year old alliance be damned
The third plan would be to simply…kill Naruto, the safe plan. They could cut off Kreia's plans before they even start. And if Kreia decided to reveal the truth to Kushina, they could always deny it as nonsense, by simply making all traces and evidence of the boy disappear.
Sarutobi sighed. The third plan was obviously the best for Konoha…but he just couldn't bring himself to go through with it. Naruto was…innocent. His only crime was being born on October 10th, why the hell did he deserve to be executed because of that. In his head, he could choose between Konoha and Naruto. The obvious answer was Konoha, the needs of the many and what not. However, he couldn't shake the feeling that he could still save Naruto from Kreia's clutches. Perhaps he was being foolish, but he would have to go with a wait and see approach. There was also the matter that, despite the fact that Hiruzen viewed Kreia as evil incarnate, she had yet to make a move directly again Konoha. The man sighed…
'I'll have to bring Jiraiya in on this.' But there was still the problem of Naruto's obvious skill-set. The Shadow Clone technique was explainable, but the Phoenix Technique wasn't something the boy could explain as learning within the forbidden scroll, simply because it wasn't in the scroll.
Sarutobi shrugged, all else fails, and someone too important to ignore asked, he'd tell them that Jiraiya had given the boy a few private lessons.
The man sighed, now he just needed to find out what Kreia meant by, plot to destroy Konoha.
-x- Later that night –x-
Almost immediately after Naruto made it to his apartment, he called out to Runa. "Runa- I mean, Master?"
"I knew you'd call out to me my young apprentice. You have questions I presume."
"Is my mother dead?" were the first words to come out of Naruto's mouth. He wanted really wanted to believe in the elder Kage, but he already lied to the boy once…twice if you counted the fact that he didn't reveal the whole truth about his father. He really didn't have much to go on unfortunately.
"I'm sorry my apprentice, but in truth I only know what the fire shadow, your Hokage, knows." It was true. She knew everything the Hokage knew regarding the boy.
Unfortunately for Naruto, he misconstrued Runa's words in the exact way she knew he would, "Oh…" The blonde sighed sadly as he sat in his bed.
"Naruto…the past can't give you what you desire. You have to look towards the future and make your own place in the world. If you choose to continue your studies under me, I will give you the ability to do just that."
The blonde smiled a bit. "Are you going to be my Jounin-sensei?"
"I don't need to be your Jounin-sensei to teach you, in fact becoming your Jounin-sensei would only hinder that task. Aside from that, our connection must continue to remain a secret, even the fire shadow agreed." That last part wasn't entirely a lie, she knew for a fact that Hiruzen would prefer it that way.
Naruto didn't really feel like questioning why they should keep their relationship a secret, at this point he was willing to label it as another thing that he didn't understand, but that someone else had already thought about much more thoroughly than he did. There was one thing that he was curious about, "Do you and old man Hokage hate each other?"
That caught Runa off guard, "Oh, and what brought on this question?"
The blonde shrugged, though he didn't think Runa could actually see him do that – she could – and sighed, "The way he looked when the two of you were talking…could he talk to you by just thinking?"
"Your asking one question, within another question. In some cultures that is considered rude…it's also an easy way to get sidetracked."
The blonde smiled sheepishly.
"To answer your second question, yes, we were having a rather lengthy conversation. Make no mistake, I can't read a person's mind using the technique I use to communicate with you. I don't know what you're thinking right now. The fire shadow, however, knows how to project his words out in a way that allows the two of us to communicate, without him having to speak out his words. He doesn't have the same ability I do, he just knows how to allow me to communicate with him much more efficiently and silently."
Naruto nodded, "Can you teach me how to do that?"
"Again you stray away from your original question. Do you really want an answer to it?" Once again, the boy looked sheepish. "To answer your third question, yes, I will teach you, perhaps after I help you learn the first two techniques I promised. Learning how to speak to me silently isn't something that will be necessary for you at the moment."
Naruto nodded, though he was a bit put out. "So…do you and the old man hate each other?" In truth he didn't want to find out the truth. The old man was still the closest thing he had to family, all things aside, and Runa had become pretty close to him as well. Aside from Iruka, they were pretty much all he had. It really would upset him a lot if the two of them disliked each other.
"Do I hate the Fire Shadow? No. He's done things to me that had me upset for quite some time, but I don't actually hate him. I do disrespect many of his methods, mostly his methods in dealing with children."
"Why's that?"
"He has a firm belief that children need to remain innocent and pure", the way she spat those words showed exactly what she thought of that concept, "a concept that doesn't work for people in situations like yours."
"Yea…" Naruto agreed spitefully.
"People like you need to be taught how to confront what you are head on, it's not something that should have ever been hidden from you. He says you should have learned when you were older…I say you were old enough when you first joined their academy." Kreia sighed, in an obvious sign of frustration, one of the few emotions she had ever shared with Naruto. "A child who trains to become a ninja, a killer, can't be shied away from unfortunate information."
Naruto nodded slightly to himself, he definitely understood where Runa was coming from.
"Now, you will need to visit your scarred teacher to receive instructions in filling out your registration form, then you should have a day off to begin your training. Be prepared for it."
Naruto nodded, and gave a small 'yea'. He then began getting ready for bed. It was far too late…
-x- Training Ground -x-
A few days later found Naruto sitting in the middle of the forest. On the ground around him were dozens of symbols drawn into the dirt. He had been meditating for the last hour of so and on the outside looked very calm. On the inside though, he was having an intense training session with Runa.
"Good, I didn't feel the pulse of chakra that time, I think you're almost ready to begin the training." Naruto smiled at that. He had been working on this for well over half a day.
Apparently, the Heavenly Techniques, as Naruto had dubbed them, were going to be a little more complicated to learn, despite the fact that Runa said she could teach them to him in just a few days. She had yet to inform Naruto anything about the techniques, but apparently the first step was tapping into the…Kyuubi's chakra. Not enough to enter, what Runa called, the Jinchuuriki form, but just a small pulse of chakra. Unfortunately, using it's chakra, in any way, had the regrettable side effect of lighting Naruto up like a beacon to anyone who could even remotely sense chakra. That was the point of the current training, so Naruto could learn to pull a small bit of the Kyuubi's chakra, without anyone sensing it. At least…anymore than if he were using his normal chakra.
"Meditate for another hour and then train yourself for the rest of the day, and prepare yourself to meet your team tomorrow. We'll pick up your training in three days."
Naruto pouted, "Can't we do it now?"
"I had thought we had moved past you questioning every single decision I make." The woman snapped.
"Umm, sorry Master."
"Good."
He didn't like it, but he wouldn't question his sensei in this matter again. Perhaps he could take some time and practice with his Shadow Clone Techniqueor the Phoenix Technique. Perhaps continue to experiment with the Transformation Technique, it seemed to work greatly on that elite tutor after all.
-x- the Academy, the next day -x-
The next day found Naruto sitting in the Academy, in his old classroom to be exact, waiting to receive his new team. He thought about the last day with a slight smile on his face.
If there was anything that he liked about being a shinobi, it was definitely the privilege of buying from Shinobi-ONLY shops, something he couldn't do before even though he was an academy student. It was a right of passage reserved only for those who reached the rank of Genin.
At first he was kind of worried they'd end up hating him just like any of the other stores he regular attended, but that hadn't been the case at all. He was able to purchase decent sets of kunai and shurikan from the shops he had gone to. Not only were they much better than the crap that he normally bought from most of the other stores that had allowed him the privilege to shop in their stores, but they were also much less expensive. The best part was when he found that one of the shops sold food, rations to be exact, and apparently instant ramen was among the foods that most ninjas considered 'rations'. So while he was at the shop he had decided to stock up…again at a much cheaper price than he was allowed to before hand.
Though the shop owners seemed to give him odd looks, neither hateful nor the opposite, it was definitely better than dealing with some of the crap he had to deal with before hand. He was definitely looking forward checking out a certain weapon shop he spotted on the way home, the four bags he was carrying at the time being the only thing that had stopped him that moment.
"What are you doing here Naruto?", broken from his trance, Naruto lazily turned his head to look at Kiba Inuzuka. Silently, he wondered why the boy didn't have his dog, Akamaru, with him, but chose to ignore it when Kiba continued his rant. "This class was only for people who passed the exam, Naruto."
Lazily, Naruto tapped his forehead protector, "Oh, so I guess I'm just wearing a Hitai-ate for the hell of it?"
Kiba looked at Naruto suspiciously before shrugging and leaving to go sit somewhere else. The rest of the time he spent waiting for Iruka came and went mildly uneventfully. Sakura Haruno, his crush, came barreling into the classroom, with Ino Yamanaka right next to her. Strange as it sounded, he could have sworn he heard Runa's voice mutter the words, "Pink Cow Bitch." But that couldn't be right; Runa said she wouldn't be in contact with for the next few days. There was a slight altercation when the two girls' tried to get the last seat in front of Sasuke-kun, which resulted in him being mowed over. He decided to forget everything, considering what today was. He was going to finally be put on a Genin team; nothing could possibly kill his buzz.
"Team Seven will be: Sasuke Uchiha, Naruto Uzumaki-"
Naruto's head hit the table in front of him, seems he spoke to soon.
"-and Sakura Haruno."
As soon as his hearing came back, a side effect to Sakura's shrill shriek, he thought that maybe it wouldn't be so bad. He got to be on a team with Sakura after all…
"Pink Cow Bitch."
Naruto blinked at that. 'Master? You there?' he thought curiously. Of course, since he never learned to project his thoughts, it was unlikely that she would have heard him, even if she were listening. In the end, he didn't hear her, or anything that sounded like her, for the rest of the day.
-x- Naruto's Apartment -x-
After the rather…interesting meeting with his team and their new sensei, a man named Kakashi Hatake, he had decided the best thing he could do was train for a few hours. He didn't know what to expect from this survival exam, so he decided a small work out would be the most prudent way to go.
Hours of training later, the blonde finally walked into his apartment. He was too afraid to try and summon the pulse of chakra outside of that circle Runa had made for him. He would have gone back to it, but Runa had all but demanded that he destroy it after his training lesson that day, less someone stumble upon it. Apparently it was illegal for Shinobi, who used Sealing Techniques, to just leave their seals lying around in a public training ground. It was a bylaw that the boy could easily understand after reading the book on Sealing Runa left him. Unfortunately that left him without a good spot to train for his future technique. One mistake and he could potentially end up with half the village's shinobi force on his ass in mere moments.
The Jinchuuriki sighed as he walked to his kitchen. He paused immediately when he saw a book on his kitchen table, with Runa's signature yellow sticky note on top of it. Excited, he quickly walked over to it, hoping Runa had left him another cool book to help his training. He grabbed the note and read it.
"Naruto, a shinobi's greatest weapon is deception. Hide your strength and hide your weaknesses. Make your opponent believe your greatest strength is in fact your greatest weakness, and then crush them. Don't be afraid to anger or humiliate your opponent. An enraged enemy at times may harness their rage into their strength, but is generally much easier to deceive and, by extension, defeat. Cover your weaknesses so your opponents can't use them against you, whilst trying to find your opponent's weakness so you can use it against them. This book is both your sensei's greatest weakness and his greatest strength, despite the fact that he openly flaunts it. Surely you can find a way to use it against him."
Naruto blinked, as he looked at the book. "Icha Icha Paradise?" The blonde shrugged and opened the book. Runa's note suggested that he might have to fight his new sensei during his little 'Survival Exam', and he figured it wouldn't hurt to be prepared.
-x- later -x-
In the end, Naruto managed to come up with a strategy exactly five hours later. Four hours, fifty-three minutes, and thirty-two seconds of that was spent reading the book from cover to cover. Normally he was a slow reader, and it would have taken him a lot longer to read a three hundred-page book…but the simple dialogue, many pictures, and large writing managed to speed things up for him considerably.
Either way, six minutes and twenty-eight seconds later his strategy was completely set.
-x- The next morning -x-
Naruto managed to arrive at the meeting spot exactly three minutes before eight o'clock. Noticing that Sakura was already there, he smiled at her and waved. "Hey Sakura-chan!"
The pinkette scowled at the blonde and then proceeded to ignore him. A moment later, Sakura looked up and smiled in Naruto's direction before getting up and running towards him.
Getting the wrong idea, the blonde smiled at her, before she shoved past him and continued running. The blonde turned around and scowled as he saw Sakura run towards Sasuke who had just appeared. "Sasuke-kun, you're here! After our exam, you want to go on a date?"
"No", was his only reply as he walked right passed the girl.
"I'll go on a date with you Sakura-chan!" Naruto called out.
Sakura turned on her heal and glared at the blonde, "Shut up Naruto-baka!"
The blonde pouted as he watched Sakura go and sit down, a little too close to Sasuke. He just turned and sat down against a tree, hopefully his sensei would be there soon.
Unfortunately, it would be another three hours before Kakashi deemed to show himself to his prospective Genin. This time he appeared in a puff of smoke. "Yo!"
"YOU'RE LATE!" Both Naruto and Sakura yelled at the silver-haired Jounin.
"Sorry, I'm afraid I got lost on the road of life."
"LIAR!" Though, once again, only Naruto and Sakura yelled at the man, it was obvious that Sasuke had similar feelings.
"So, anyway…" Kakashi began as he walked to three wooden posts in the center of the clearing. He quickly placed two lunch boxes on the ground and a timer on one of the posts. "…here is your test." He pulled out two bells. "I have two bells here. Your objective is to take these bells from me. Those of you who don't get a bell will automatically be sent back to the academy."
Sakura's hand immediately shot up. Kakashi gave her a small nod, though he silently wondered how long until she realized she wasn't in school anymore. "But sensei, there are only two bells."
The Jounin's lone eye went up into a small upside down smile, "I suppose that means one of you will go back to the academy." At that all three Genin looked at him in shock. "Oh, and feel free to use any weapons or Ninjutsu you want on me, anything goes. Come at me with the intent to kill, or I promise you won't get anywhere."
Sakura's hand shot up again; once again Kakashi gave her a slight nod. "But if we come at you like that, we could really hurt you", she pleaded with him.
If Kakashi didn't want to keep a stoic air around him, he probably would have laughed in her face. Fortunately, Sakura wasn't the first person to ask him that question. It seemed like there was always one idiot, each year, who thought Genin, fresh out of the academy, could hurt an experienced Jounin. "I can handle myself fine, don't worry."
Sasuke shot out of the ground, running straight towards Kakashi, kunai in hand. Kakashi easily smacked the boy's hand away, and delivered an open-palmed thrust straight to the boy's chest, sending the Uchiha straight back to where he was originally sitting (1). "That's the spirit Sasuke-kun, but wait until I start the timer." He obviously put a sarcastic tone on the kun. "Oh! And if you can't get any of the bells, I'm going to tie you to one of those posts and eat my lunch in front of you." All three of the Genins' stomachs growled, reminding them that they were told not to eat breakfast this morning. "Now, you have one hour." Kakashi said as he started the timer.
When he did all three of the Genin, jumped into the trees, hiding themselves. Kakashi was actually impressed. He couldn't see any of them. With his enhanced hearing he was able to detect their breathing, however faint it was. Sakura was easy enough to distinguish from the three breaths. When he concentrated chakra to his nose, to enhance his sense of smell, he could clearly smell both a scented shampoo and perfume, both coming from the same area. Either it was Sakura, or one of the boys' had an interesting story to tell. Either way, the perfume and that brand of shampoo was the first to go IF the he decided to pass the girl. It was already decided that the two boys' HAD to pass this exam, but that sure as well didn't mean he wouldn't drop the girl if she proved too much of a liability. Kakashi sighed as he grabbed his little orange book and began reading it.
It was almost forty minutes into the exam before someone finally made their move. Kakashi easily sidestepped five thrown shurikan. Calculating their trajectory, Kakashi followed their path towards one of the trees. Concentrating chakra to his ears, he could hear someone moving quickly through the trees. A hint of blue revealed it to be the Uchiha (2).
With twenty-one minutes left in the exam, he decided to follow Sasuke to beat a few lessons into the boy. He was immediately stopped when Naruto jumped into the clearing, standing in the open.
"So one of you finally decided to show yourselves. Compared to the others though…you're a little bit weird." He didn't care for the orange jumpsuit. Then again, he didn't think any of his Genin were dressed properly. Sakura wore a red dress, despite the fact that most ninja dresses, Sakura's included, were just impractical. In truth they were made for the sole purpose of making money off of little girls that wanted to play ninja, little girls' parents to be exact. Sadly, it worked quite often. It wasn't only the dress though; the color simply didn't work for stealth missions. Sasuke was the only one with decent colored clothing. The dark blue was decent in most environments, but the white shorts definitely needed to go.
"Listen up right now sensei, my name's Naruto Uzumaki, and I'm going to be the greatest Hokage ever!"
Kakashi nodded, ignoring the blonde, however admirable his dream may be. "Yea I think you mentioned that before", he said before burying his nose in his book.
Naruto scowled, "Why are you reading that?"
"To see what happens next."
Naruto's eyebrow twitched, "I mean, we're suppose to be fighting."
"Don't worry. You're probably both weak and slow…I doubt you could actually hurt me." Kakashi made a poor assumption based on Naruto's reported grades. To bad Kakashi didn't remember that old saying, 'when you assume, be prepared to be made an ass.'
Naruto smirked, as he put his hands into a cross. "You better watch, I'm going to show you my ultimate Ninjutsu/Taijutsu combo."
Despite himself, the comment got Kakashi interested, though he didn't show it outwardly.
"Naruto Style: Icha Icha Harem!"
Kakashi's headshot up, his visible eyebrow raised, "Naruto Style-what?" Suddenly, the clearing was filled with Narutos, before they all disappeared in a puff of smoke. When the smoke cleared, it revealed Kakashi surrounded by women. Naked women. Naked women that he remembered, with all the detail provided to him by his Sharingan, as girls in his favorite book series. His visible eye widened as he stared at the girl closest to him, "That's…Moka, the vampire princess." He looked a little lower, "The details are perfect…right down to the tattoo of the rosario she has just above her…"
His thoughts were stopped when 'Moka' suddenly attacked him; luckily for him his instincts kicked in allowing him to easily sidestep her punch. He was about to retaliate when he caught something in the corner of his eye. 'Oh my god, that's the Witch C.C. and Princess Euphemia. They're reenacting the scene where C.C. convinces Euphemia to explore her sexuality.' The spot where Kakashi's mask hid his nose suddenly turned red. Once again, his six-sense kicked in and he managed to avoid another punch from behind. He turned in time to see… 'That's Rukia Kuchiki!'
Suddenly, Rukia was flanked by both Moka and another girl… Kakashi's eyes widened, 'Erza Scarlet?' This was like a dream come true. 'If they weren't all trying to beat him up…and if they weren't all really guys…OH is that another lesbian scene.' Kakashi said as he turned his head to the left. Once again, his six-sense, the one who always told him when danger was coming, was the only thing that kept him from getting knocked out. Strangely, this time it was saying, "Wake up you damn pervert your about to get your ass kicked." That would be the day. Gai would never let him live this day down if he were to lose to a freaking Genin, however awesome a strategy he may be using.
He managed to avoid a punch from Erza, blocked another punch from Rukia. Unfortunately, he spent a little too much time admiring the rosario tattoo, which allowed Moka to kick him in the side. 'Oh hell no! I can't believe I'm falling for this little punks plan. How dare he use my precious against me', Kakashi seethed. 'I'm gonna punch his lights out…hey is that Rei and Asuka?'
-x- With Sasuke –x-
Sasuke Uchiha was aroused, impressed, and frustrated all at the same time. The arousal came from obvious reasons, proving that despite what some people (cough-Kiba-cough) said, he was in fact heterosexual. He was impressed that the dobe managed to pick up such an effective, if perverted, strategy. Unfortunately, he was frustrated that the blonde kept failing to retrieve one of the bells. There were so many openings in Kakashi's guard that he failed to cover, yet the blonde kept attacking head on, or from obvious angles, that the strategy was rendered nearly meaningless. Nearly.
Sasuke prepared to jump down. He could definitely make use of Naruto's strategy. 'I'll grab both bells and then give Naruto the other one' he rationalized. But time was running out and this was definitely too good a chance to pass up.
-x- With Sakura –x-
Sakura growled at the scene before her. 'How dare that baka…' She was definitely going to smack that blonde baka for this perverted garbage!
-x- in the clearing –x-
'Oh NO, Nyuu! I can't believe I dispelled Nyuu.'
"Fire Style: Grand Fireball Technique!" Kakashi glanced to the right in time to see a large fireball coming straight at him. The moment he felt the heat on his face, he smiled, 'Maybe they're getting it after all.' And then Kakashi was engulfed in the flame. Luckily for Naruto, Sasuke had the forethought and self-control to avoid hitting the blonde, and his clones, with the flame.
That didn't stop Naruto from scowling at the Uchiha though. One of the women, a pig-tailed blonde, yelled, "Sasuke what the hell are you doing? You just fried our sensei!"
"He's still alive you idiot, and you just gave yourself away!" the Uchiha seethed.
Unfortunately, for Sasuke, Naruto wasn't Kakashi's target. The Jounin appeared behind the Uchiha, crouched down, his hands in a tiger seal.
"Sasuke-kun! Watch out, he's going to destroy you!"
The Uchiha moved to turn but it was to late. "Leaf Village Secret Finger Jutsu: Thousand Years of Death!"
And, unfortunately, things got uncomfortable after that.
-x- Wave Country –x-
While Naruto was finishing his meditations the day before, and going through his team meetings today, Kreia had decided to return home for a day or two. The house was nice; large enough to comfortably fit seven or eight adults, which practically made it a mansion for herself and her houseguest. It was built in a remote region of Wave Country, though unfortunately not remote enough apparently. Some goons, which were currently illegally taxing the people of Wave Country, had stumbled upon her house and decided, since she was technically living in their Country, that she was subject to the same taxes as all the other citizens. Kreia rolled her eyes at that thought. It was ridiculously easy to get rid of those two, if not annoying. However, she had silently promised to kill the little bastard whom was leading those mongrels, for the annoyance of the whole situation.
"Master."
Kreia turned her eyes towards the green-haired teenager standing at the doorway to Kreia's private meditation room.
"I think the 'tax-collectors' are back", there was an obvious amount of sarcasm in her voice when she said tax-collectors.
Kreia nodded towards her. "Bring them before me", she ordered. The girl nodded her head and left. When she was alone, Kreia's emotionless face twisted into an annoyed scowl. That little bastard hadn't realized it yet, but his life expectancy had just dropped significantly.
-x- With team 7-x-
Unfortunately, things had gotten significantly worse for the Jounin. The girls had begun attacking Kakashi with greater ferocity than before and even seemed to be doing it with greater strategy than Kakashi would give a new Genin credit for; he was impressed to say the least. Even more unfortunate, was the fact that Sasuke was back in the fight and, for some odd reason, seemed to take Kakashi's technique personally.
It was a combination of Sasuke weaving in and out of Naruto's clones, while the clones provided the Uchiha both back up and cover. It was a potent strategy, one that seemed premeditative, but that boys could only had thought up on the fly. Unfortunately, every time Kakashi, begrudgingly, took out a clone, two more took its place. He had to wonder how much chakra the kid had; the fight was starting to get difficult. Really, the fact that naked women surrounded him from his famous novel series had absolutely nothing to do with it…really.
Sasuke had almost gotten the bell more than once already, Kakashi had to stop holding back those few instances to prevent his defeat. The Jounin grinned as he got a clear look at the timer, 'three…two…one!' The sound of the timer going off filled the clearing, causing both Sasuke and the Narutos to stop what they were doing. Kakashi turned towards the girl he believed was the real Naruto. "Cancel your technique, this exam was over." With a pout, Naruto transformed back to his real form and dispelled the clones. Though they didn't get the exact point of the exam, it was obvious that both Sasuke and Naruto were on the right track. Now he just needed to get the correct lesson through the three kids' heads, especially Sakura, who had yet to do a single thing throughout the exam. And if Kakashi knew women as well as he thought he did…then Sakura should come bursting out of the woods to…
"NARUTO! YOU IDIOT!" Sakura jumped into the clearing and slammed the stunned boy in the face with her fist, sending him back several feet. Before she could do anything else, Kakashi quickly grabbed her hand and put her in a painful arm lock.
-x- later –x-
Five minutes later found the team leaning against the wooden posts, Sakura was tied to the post. Kakashi was a few feet away staring at the Stone of Heroes.
"I'm going to give you three one last chance." He said as he looked towards the team. "Sasuke and Naruto, feel free to eat the lunch I provided for you." He then glared at Sakura. "But Sakura doesn't get any, and don't either of you dare feed her. It's her punishment for, not only doing nothing during the exam, but for attacking a fellow teammate, for his…choice strategy." Sakura looked down, her face the perfect picture of shame and regret.
Naruto looked at little upset at this, "But-"
"But nothing! I make the rules, remember that." With that last comment, Kakashi disappeared form the clearing.
Both Naruto and Sasuke grabbed their bentos, but before they could even eat a bite, they heard Sakura's stomach rumble. Unfortunately, this act caused the girl to just curl into herself much more than she had been before.
"Have some Sakura."
Sakura slowly looked up to see Naruto offering her his lunch box. She looked at him in shocked before she slowly nodded. "No Naruto. You heard Kakashi-sensei, you'll fail if you give me any. Ummm…besides, I'm on a diet."
"We don't have the luxury for your damn diet, we need you at one hundred percent." Sasuke began, as he offered her some of his lunch box as well. "Kakashi isn't around, so if we feed you some food quickly, he'll never know."
Naruto scowled at the other boy before looking towards Sakura. "Eat some, come on."
Sakura had tears in her eyes at the display, "Sasuke-kun…"
"YOU!" All three were suddenly rocked back when they felt an explosion next to in front of him. Kakashi suddenly appeared looking to all the world as if he were about to unleash the hounds of hell on his Genin. "PASS!"
"huh!"
A/N:
1: I'm pretty sure it was Naruto who did this in canon, but considering that he had a strategy cooked up, I think it's believable that he would have waited. It also seemed like something Sasuke would do, so he did it in my story instead.
2: Once again, Naruto made the first move in canon. In this fic, though it wasn't stated, both Sasuke and Naruto were waiting for someone else to make the first move. This time, Sasuke made the first move.
Jutsu List:
-Name: Phoenix Technique-
Rank: B
Users: Naruto, Most ANBU
Info: The precursor to the Mythical Palm Technique and, by extension, all modern medical techniques. Compared to it's successor, this jutsu is not only less efficient, but can cause wounds, normally bones, to heal improperly. Normally used by those lacking the chakra control to use the more sophisticated techniques. Usually, an ANBU will use this technique to stabilize the patient and wait for a true medic to attend to the patient.
-Name: Heavenly Subjugation (of the Omnipresent God)-
Rank: Not Applicable
Users: Naruto (future user), Kreia (presumed), Pein (Deva-path)
Info: Uses the force of Gravity to repel an opponent. Not much else is known about the technique, though through the laziness of a certain author, the name will be shortened to Heavenly Subjugation.
-Name: Heavenly Attraction (of All of Creation)-
Rank: Not Applicable
Users: Naruto (future user), Kreia (presumed), Pein (Deva-path)
Info: Uses the force of Gravity to attract an opponent. Not much else is known about the technique, though through the laziness of a certain author, the name will be shortened to Heavenly Subjugation.
A/N: That's all for now. Please Review.
