Disclaimer
I, Syraxes, do not own the Naruto manga, Naruto anime, Naruto Shippuden anime, the Boruto manga or anime, video games or Naruto novels. They are property of Mussashi Kishimoto and Studio Pierrot. I am a fan, making this for the enjoyment of other fans. Please support the official release
Chapter Two: Horobiru
Haruno Sakura. Uchiha Sasuke. Uzumaki Naruto. Kakashi looked at each one of them in turn, examining them. Three freshly graduated genin, only had their first blood a week ago. His own experience with the graduation exam hadn't been a pleasant one and he doubted theirs was any better.
How had the Hokage managed to foster a genin team on him? With his sensei's son, of course. His eyes found Naruto and even now he was still surprised by how much he resembled the Yondaime. He was Minato in miniature, the spitting image. It was unnerving.
The reports from the Academy indicated that his nature was Kushina's rather Minato's. In another life, he would have been a Namikaze.
Naruto was what had drawn him to the team immediately but he wasn't the only one of interest on it. There was Sasuke. Itachi had spent a year on Team Ro before he was put in charge of his own. It wasn't too long after that he defected and put the entire Uchiha clan in the grave. Only his brother was spared, in what was believed to be a stroke of luck. Kakashi still harbored the belief it was deliberate. They hadn't managed to get too much information out of Sasuke when he was interviewed, but as a kid that had just survived the murder of his entire clan, he couldn't blame him. For what reason Itachi chose to, Kakashi couldn't say, but he knew Itachi never did anything without a reason. Though sadly, staring at Sasuke wasn't going to make that reason anymore clear, no matter how amusing the look on his face was.
And lastly, Sakura. Looking into their grades was the first thing Kakashi had done when he had accepted the position. Other than Sasuke, who had the highest scores in Taijutsu and Ninjutsu, Sakura scoured highest across the field. Her test scores, class scores and her evaluations were in the upper tiers. She was the top student in her class at South Academy and he was willing to bet that for the current graduated class, she would be in the top. If not at the very top, in most other respects.
She came from good stock as well. Haruno wasn't a name attached to some great clan, or some legendary parental figure. Both of her parents were first generation shinobi and they had gone on to achieve the rank of jonin. They then retired and founded the Haruno Merchant Group. One of Konoha's most successful merchant operations, and if rumors were to be believed, they were in with the Konoha Merchant Guild.
Perhaps not the most well rounded team but the potential was here. All he had to do was drag it out. Kicking and scream if necessary.
He looked away from his students and out the window, watching as the large trees and green grass fields of Ho no Kuni rolled past. In the distance, he could see Horobiru, the city's dark buildings becoming ever more clear as they got closer. It wouldn't be too long now, until they arrived. It had been years since he was last there.
"Grab your bags." He ordered as he stood up. They were all dressed in civilian clothing. Take away the hitai-ate and the flak jacket and you no longer stood out as a shinobi. Just another person traveling.
Not ten minutes later and they pulled into the station, Kakashi exiting the train after his team.
"Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura was the first person to break the silence. Since he informed them that they would be leaving the village for the foreseeable future, they hadn't been in a very talkative mood. Not that he could blame them; the first kills were always the hardest. "Where are we going?"
"Hmm. That is a good question Sakura. Any guesses?"
The boys didn't speak up to offer any suggestions and after a moment, Sakura answered; "An inn?"
"Not quite. Come on, I'll tell you on the way." Leaving the building, they were surrounded by a crowd of people. Kakashi's paranoid mind wouldn't let him divulge any information when prying ears could be listening. So he opted to remain silent as he lead them out from the front of station and onto the street.
Horobiru was one of the most western costly cities in Ho no Kuni. It was under the governance of the Wagarashi clan, nobility that had fallen out of favor with the Daimyo. Horobiru had since become a decaying city, where the taxes weren't spent on public infrastructure but used as the lords personal bank. Criminal groups operated here without fear of retaliation. From Lord Wagarashi, all the way down to the merest guards, bribes were thrown around freely and from what he remembered, everyone was dirty. It had at one point been a beacon of modern innovation and progress but those days were long gone. Now it was a symbol of decadence and rot, the perfect place for Kakashi's purposes.
Down the main road, past the crumbling buildings. He found it at the end of a dark street, devoid of people.
The Devil's Lounge.
The building baring that name was three stories, and appeared from the outside to have never been cleaned. The metal was old and rusting, the signs lettering just barely managing to be made out. The building itself looked like it was ready to collapse. The shocked looks on his student's faces when he told them it was here was amusing.
"Is this place safe?" It was Naruto who asked this time and Kakashi could only favor him with his signature eye smile.
"Well Naruto-kun. That depends what you mean by safe. The building won't fall down on top of your head, if that's what you're worried about."
At least he hoped not. Pushing the door aside, the scent of cigarette smoke, alcohol and sex permeated the stale air. Naked women, and the men who were seeking their services, were everywhere you liked. Kakashi noted with amusement how the faces of his genin flushed pink and Sakura looked away. Sasuke and Naruto, it seemed, couldn't stop looking.
"Sazanami." He called out, waving. The shinobi bounty hunter, turned enforcer, looked up from his spot groping one of the girls in the back and gave a great smile. Pushing the women away, he waved them over and Kakashi (after making sure his genin were following) found the way to his old friend.
"Kakashi, it's been a long time. I haven't seen you since that incident."
"Times have been keeping me busy," he offered. Sazanami just laughed.
"When don't they?" Looking behind him, his friend frowned. "Who are the brats?"
"Would you believe it if I told you they were my students?"
"Students? You?" Kakashi wasn't surprised at the look of disbelief passing on Sazanami's face. Kakashi had very carefully cultivated his image the last time he was here. "You don't seem the mentoring type."
"Hokage's orders." He shrugged. "This is Tomura, Toya and Hikari."
Sazanami and his bosses could only be trusted so far. Best not to let any real names be spoken here. There were only two Uchiha left in the world and to find one so far away from the village, might be a tempting target. Best not to let them know who was here with him.
"I can understand that. When the boss says jump." He finished off the red alcohol, setting the glass down. "So what brings you all the way out here? Another mission?"
"Not this time. Hokage-sama has seen fit to give me some time off and I wanted to get away. And as I recall, you do owe me some favors."
Sazanami rubbed the back of his neck. "Yeah, that I do."
Kakashi smiled.
"This place is a dump," Naruto said, lacking his normal enthusiasm. This last week had been a trial for him. From the looks he exchanged with his teammates, he thought they felt the same. How did you get past killing someone? Did the boy really need to die? He had been defending himself against corrupt guards who thought they'd get a kick out of hurting someone weaker than them. Naruto couldn't see what was so wrong with that.
That didn't stop the nightmares though. In his dreams, Naruto killed him every night. He knew that day would haunt him and he wanted more than anything to forget it. Forget the face of the boy his kunai cut into.
"That it is, but it will suit our purpose nicely." The house in front of them was run down. A single story building that looked like it looked to be falling apart.
"What exactly is our purpose here?' Sasuke asked.
"Training." Kakashi-sensei pushed the door open and entered the house, waving for them all to follow him. Naruto was the last on in and he closed the door behind him.
"Training? Why did we go all this way for training?" Naruto thought Sasuke sounded a bit ruder than he needed to but the blonde was personally in agreement.
"I thought it would be better to do this away from the village, Sasuke-kun." Kakashi-sensei reached his hand out and ruffled Sasuke's hair.
"Hn."
Kakashi-sensei made a hand seal. "Kage bunshin no jutsu."
The thoughts of the boy he killed left his mind as he watched multiple Kakashi-sensei appeared out of the smoke. Naruto had seen the clone jutsu before but something about these ones were different. At first he couldn't put his finger on it, but when one of the clones reached out and closed the dark curtains over the window, he knew what it was. These were solid clones, not images.
"Okay, there are four rooms in this house. My room is the one with the sealing tag on it. Go pick your own rooms and put your suitcases in them before you come back."
By the time Naruto had chosen his room and put his things away, the main room had sealing tags on the front door, the windows and the four walls.
"This place is dirty."
"I'm glad you agree Sakura-chan. So in my great wisdom, I have decided that one of my lucky students will will be responsible for cleaning the house."
"Uh, Kakashi-sensei? I thought we were here for training?"
"You are Sakura-chan, but training doesn't give you a excuse to not clean your living space. A list of chores will be divided up between you three and you'll be responsible for making sure you complete them. First thing is first though. We're on the city outskirts and the forest isn't to far away. One of you will be the one to catch our lunch and dinner, I'll take care of breakfast. One of you will cook the food and of course, one of you will be clean the main room, the hallways and the bathroom. So, who wants what?"
...
Naruto could feel a burning in the pit of his stomach. Was he really suggesting that they clean this filthy place?
Kakashi didn't seem ready to wait for them to come to a decision. "Okay. Naruto you'll be on cleaning duty. Sasuke, you'll cook the food. And Sakura, I hope you can hunt. You did have good marks in your kunai class, so I hope that translates to aiming."
"What!" Naruto blurted out. The indignity hit him like a bag of bricks. He had signed up to be a shinobi. He'd killed a man for this and now his sensei decided he was going to be cleaning?
It wasn't rational, he knew, but the anger burning through him didn't seem to care. The unfairness of it all, the anger and self loathing finally found a target.
"Yes. I do," Kakashi answered simply.
Naruto clenched his fists and stood up. Sakura grabbed his sleeve, hissing "Naruto, sit down!" in his ear. He pushed her hand away, glaring at Kakashi. On some deeper level, he knew this wasn't fair but having finally found a outlet in which to channel these feelings. Naruto didn't care at that moment.
"No."
"No?"
"No!" He grit his teeth. He took a step forward and made a mistake when he looked into Kakashi's eye. A feeling of terror washed over him, the anger from just moments ago vanishing. Like ice being stabbed through him, Naruto froze on the spot. He couldn't breathe. A cold, icy pressure sinking down against his chest. Naruto's hair stood up on end and if he could move, Naruto would have ran away. He had to move, move now and get away from here he died. Kakashi-sensei was going to kill him and there was nothing he could do to stop it...
Suddenly Naruto could move and he released the breath he was holding. The feeling passed, his body relaxing.
"Sit down Naruto-kun." Kakashi's voice was cold and brokered no arguments. Naruto sat down quickly.
"Now. Those will be your jobs for the foreseeable future, I think. Unless anyone else has any complaints?"
Naruto didn't see Sakura or Sasuke's reactions but Kakashi seemed pleased in any event.
"Good. Now that we have gotten that out of the way, we can go over your schedule. Hokage-sama kindly saw fit to grant my request when I asked him for time to train you. He gave me six months. Even approved our continued absence for that time. As I'm sure you are wondering; why I did I put use on a train and take us all the way out here? Because I doubt I would be able to get away with training you in the village the way I want to train you. We jonin have a lot of leeway in terms of training our genin but even so, there are certain laws that dictate how far we're allowed to take the training in the village. Those laws only apply to genin, because if any civilian saw, well... Let's just say it might be a public relations nightmare. There is a reason for the code of silence you take when you become a shinobi.
"That's why, it has become something of a custom to take Genin out of the village for more intense training. Of course the time allowance is usually restricted to a month or two, but I've got use a special extension of time.
"That said, your schedule will not be a easy one. You will wake up every day at five in the morning and spend the first two hours in physical training. Running laps, climbing. It might sound simple now, but I promise this will be a lot more physically demanding than the exercises you're no doubt used to from your respective schools. Right now, you're nowhere near the condition that you'll need to be in for my special course. Maybe a week or two of intensive training can fix that.
"After that you'll return to the house, where I will kindly serve you breakfast. Breakfast will be from seven to eight.
"Eight to twelve will be chakra and jutsu training. I'll give you each a jutsu to learn and you'll spend the time between chakra control exercises and practicing the jutsu.
"At twelve, Sakura, you'll go hunt use something to eat. Sasuke, you'll be cooking whatever it is Sakura catches and Naruto, you will be cleaning until lunch is ready.
"One to eight, you'll be sparing. The time won't be completely sparing but for the most part, that's what you'll be getting. Sometimes it will a free for all. Sometimes a two on one. I'll watch, give you pointers here and there and you'll start again. Of course you will be given small breaks throughout the time.
"At eight, you'll start dinner and Naruto, you'll finish any parts you didn't get to in the morning. That will be our schedule for the foreseeable future. Any questions?... Well then, how about we eat and you can go to bed. Or not. During the night, as long as you don't venture to far away from the house, it's your time. I would recommend getting some sleep though. You'll need it."
"Lord Danzo." The masked Shinobi appeared, bowing. "Lord Hokage-sama has called for you."
"Yes." Danzo closed the book he was reading, and set it back on the shelf, a dusty tome written by the Nidaime Raikage. His manifesto had been published and though he was long dead, it still held insight into how Kumogakure was run today. It was the Nidaime Raikage that had changed the cloud from the peaceful village his predecessor had created, to what it was now. Always on the search for more secrets and advantages to put it on top in the shinobi world. Seeing into the mind of the man who changed the village system from what Hashirama had intended it to be was fascinating. He often found himself returning to that book. It was what inspired him to create Root originally, in model of the special guard the Nidaime Raikage surrounded himself with. He trusted them more than his own Anbu, having sufficiently indoctrinated them from a very young age. It was the Sandaime Raikage that ended the group, giving its functions to his own Anbu. It was a shame he did not get to read it more often.
He moved through the halls silently, not even his cane hitting the hard wooden floor making any sound. Swiftly through the familiar scene he knew like the back of his hand. He had walked these halls since he was a genin under Nidaime-sama. He stuck to the shadows whenever he was about to cross paths with someone else, his lips twitching up into a smile. It was a game that he had all of Root practice, helping you keep those skills when not in the field.
He knocked on the door, the sound echoing through the hall. "Enter."
Danzo opened the door and found his old friend behind his desk, his eyes glued to the paper in his hand.
"Sit down Danzo. We have received a update from Serpent on the matter of Iwa. The Jinchuriki Roshi has died."
He raised an eyebrow. Roshi of Iwa was a fierce fighter in the best of time. He had upper tier control of the Four-Tails, able to fully transform into the beast. Danzo himself had fought him in the last war and hadn't been able to defeat him.
"Who did him in?"
Hiruzen's face went grim. "A pale figure. The Iwa Shinobi reported the figure was male and had eyes like a Hyuga."
"The byakugan?"
"Yes."
That was the fourth reported sighting of the pale skinned man with the horns, this time from a completely different village. Confirmed to have the byakugan. The Hyuga clan had no records of a person matching his description, nor did he have the Caged Bird Seal. Unless he was a member of the head branch but Danzo doubted that. The Hyuga Head Family made sure to track it's members more so than any of the branch families did.
"What happened to the Four-Tails?"
"Recovered by Iwa." Hiruzen sighed. A rogue Tailed-Breast was fair game and Konoha could always use more.
"This is very concerning." The first confirmed sighting of the pale man had been on the night of the nine-tails rampage. It had never been reported but it was believed that he was the cause of the beast being released and of its attack. The next appearance was the night of the Uchiha clan massacre, though Itachi reported that he had no interaction with this pale man. Root had helped Itachi carry out his massacre, and while collecting body's of dead Uchiha, his agent came across the white, pale man. Also taking some of the bodies.
The third time he appeared, he slaughtered two teams of Anbu. The attack on Iwa suggested that he did not only target Konoha.
Authors Note:
Syraxes here again. I hope you enjoyed the second chapter of Team Seven.
I will be changing the update day to Thursday next week, so instead of a full seven days, you'll get chapter three in six days. From that point on, Team Seven Chronicle's will be updated on Thursday
Horobiru is a fictional city
Wagarashi Family is the one of two rival family's from the Land of Tea arc. The Wagarashi Enforcer is the bounty hunter Sazanami from the Gosunkugi Capture Mission. Both of the filer arcs I watched on Toonami as a kid and that might be why I actually enjoy them. Despite objectively being able to say I don't think either is really good.
Please, if you enjoy this story, or if you have any constructive critism to give me, please consider leaving a review. It really helps!
As always, a special thanks to my beta, bluepencils12, for all her help!
