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Book One: The Beginning… Chapter One: Team Kakashi…
Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Sandaime/third Hokage of the Hidden Leaf village/Konoha puffed his pipe, as he looked through a couple of files on his desk. He sighed as he went through them again.
Naruto Uzumaki; the container of the nine tails and legacy of the Fourth Hokage, apparently very good in strategy,
Sasuke Uchiha; the last surviving hope for resurrection of the Uchiha clan and genius in battle,
Haku Kamasaki; the sole remainder of the decimated Kamasaki Hyouton clan of the Mist said to be able to achieve instant transmission with their ultimate Jutsu which was the like of the Hiraishin,
Kaiza Hyuuga; the only prodigy in the whole of Konoha after the late fourth Hokage who could create his own Jutsus in rapid succession, having already invented five or so, Kaiza was also one of the Hyuuga head's twin children but he was rejected upon birth because of some strange reason,
And finally Kenshin Shinozaki; the only survivor of the Hidden village of Whirlpool, son to the family that adopted Kushina Uzumaki who was Naruto's late mother and the late Fourth Hokage's wife. Kenshin was the last holder of the purple chakra, a second chakra in the body that allows the user to do demon art Ninjutsu.
They each had a personal profile all of which the Sandaime was going through, devising a plan to rebuild Konoha's strength, after Orochimaru's devastating attack during the Chunin exams.
He let his mind wonder to all the legendary ninja who had passed through Konoha's history.
The Shodai/First Hokage founded the village with his god-like ability to control the Bijuu, and do Mokuton/Wood Element Ninjutsu, who practically grew all the trees that surrounded Konoha.
The Nidaime/Second Hokage had the ability to perform Suiton/Water Element Ninjutsu without a water source, and was the wielder of the godly weapon, the Raijin.
He himself, the Sandaime/Third Hokage, was the only known man in the world to master almost all known Jutsu, with every combination and every sets of hand seals known, thus gaining him the name Shinobi professor, or to his more loyal supporters, Shinobi god. He had trained all three of the legendary Sannin.
Jiraiya of the Sannin, one of his students, was also a legendary ninja, having a mastery of seals bested only by the Yondaime. He single-handedly established Konoha's current information source and spy network, and was the current carrier of the toad summoning contract.
Tsunade of the Sannin, another one of his students and a teammate of Jiraiya's, was the greatest Taijutsu master to ever grace Konoha, with her monstrous strength able to pluck huge trees out from the ground and use them as a weapon with minimal effort, also being able to completely kill a person with just one of her blows at even half strength. She was the current carrier of the slug summoning contract.
The Yondaime Hokage, said to be the strongest shinobi ever to walk the earth. He was the greatest master of seals of all time, and his mastery over space and time Ninjutsu giving him the ability to close in on large distances in only a second using the Flying Thunder god Jutsu, giving him the nick name Yellow Flash. He was the only mortal who had ever defeated the Kyuubi no Kitsune and sealed it into Naruto, his own son, for the safety of the village.
Sarutobi sighed as he came upon memory of the treacherous Konoha ninjas who were of legendary status. Orochimaru the fallen Sannin was the greatest master of Kinjutsu in over a century, and was able to bring the dead back to life and manipulate them to do his bidding. He had also perfected his immortality Jutsu, now constantly stealing other peoples' bodies to stay alive. He was a genius in his own right, and was currently the holder of the snake summoning contract. He was the strongest of the Sannin, but he was also a traitor to the village.
Itachi Uchiha was the next greatest ninja to grace Konoha after the Yondaime, being the one to discover the Mangekyou Sharingan and reach new heights with it. It was said that if you only stared into his eyes, you would be trapped in a world of intense and extreme pain for seemingly three days, even though it will only be a second in reality. He could do space and time Jutsu, like summoning fires from the underworld that could never be quenched. He was so loyal, that when the council ordered him to eliminate his entire clan, he did, but left a survivor to regenerate the clan; his little brother Sasuke. He had to turn traitor to hide the council's involvement in the Uchiha massacre.
Now, when they were getting into a war again, they needed a new generation of powerful ninja to help them survive. He was getting old and could die within the year, while Tsunade could still not be found and was grieving over the loss of her brother Nawaki and her lover Dan. She also had a fear of blood now, and had fallen low. Jiraiya was still there, but even he was getting old as well, and he couldn't hold off against his own if Konoha was in any other danger. No… they needed a backup plan, and those five individuals whose files were in front of him had the potential to give Konoha what she needed; reassurance. His face twisted into a smile as he remembered another one of Konoha's legendary Shinobi… "Bring me Hatake Kakashi please," he spoke over the intercom. He now realized that a huge storm was approaching, and he could only hope that they weren't too late in preparing to counter it.
A few minutes later, the Sharingan warrior was bowing in front of him, ready for his mission. "Hokage-sama, you requested my presence…"
"Indeed Kakashi, sit down," he motioned to the seat in front of him. "I will get straight to the point, Kakashi take a look at these files." He said as he handed the five files to his subordinate. Kakashi's visible eye squinted as he looked through the files. According to these, those six boys were extremely potent in Shinobi arts. He then found out that three of his current students were there: Sasuke, Naruto and Haku. He handed the files back to the Hokage and silently asked him to continue. "Well, as you can see, each of these boys has a secret value to this village. I know that what I am about to ask you to do is not the best thing to do for these six, but it's the best thing to do when considering the village as a whole. I want you to train these boys, to reach S-rank within two years, and form another ANBU unit, one strictly for assassination, infiltration, and S-class missions."
Kakashi's visible eye widened, as he went through the information the Hokage told him in his head. "H-Hokage-sama, I…"
"I know what you're going to say Kakashi, and I'm afraid there's no other way. The sound Sand alliance, as they are will only seek aid from Iwa, the very village that hates our guts from the loss they suffered from our hands all those years ago. Seeing this, Kumo will jump in as well, hoping to deal revenge on the Hyuuga who have dealt a great damage to Kumo on our past skirmish. Kiri has no reason whatsoever to aid us, and currently has its own problems right now, Ame, Kusa and Taki are all weak against the main powers, leaving us to fend off against Orochimaru and the other four great Shinobi villages, eventually leading to Konoha's downfall if we do not play our cards right. Now because we can't win the numbers game, it would seem that we need to win the other game… quality as opposed to quantity, and sooner rather than later." The third explained fully to Kakashi as he finally nodded.
"Alright, I understand sir, but I don't think it'll take two years… it will have to take at least three… considering Naruto's rather poor chakra control and weakness against Genjutsu, Kaiza's lesser chakra capacity, Sasuke's reliability on the Sharingan, Haku's failure to learn Ninjutsu other than Hyouton, and Ken's poor usage of his second chakra… and I'm not sure if I can return to…"
"I know Kakashi, that's why I am leaving them in your capable hands; besides, it's time you dropped your lazy, aloof façade and revive the real Kakashi, the one that died with the Yondaime that fateful day. I need the Copy-nin back; I need you to train these boys while getting a few S-Ranked missions done. At least think about the last part." With Kakashi's nod, the Hokage continued, "Your mission will be code named operation prodigy, and you will get all the funds you need for their training, equipment and etc. I am ordering you, Sharingan no Kakashi, as your Hokage, to take these five Chunin, and go out of Konoha. Return after three years with Black Operatives, when hope will also return!"
XXXXX
It was a rainy morning, with the clouds dull, the skies dull, and the faces of the people dull. A kid could be seen hugging his mother's lap, crying into it, as his mother sat behind her market stall, with all the fruits sprawled on the display, with tears running down her face; her son's cries of 'I want my daddy' hurting her more than a blade impaling her heart. "Don't worry son, I'm sure that wherever d-daddy is… h-he's thinking of… thinking of us…" She tried reassuring her son, but she couldn't even reassure herself, knowing fully well that her husband was gone… dead and gone.
All this was seen by Naruto who had been walking down the streets. He bit back a sad frown and a tear as he strengthened his resolve. He was a ninja, he wouldn't cry here or now, or ever for that matter. He failed to hide that emotion from his eyes, however, as they burned with pain and sorrow. 'Is this how wars affect people? No it's not… it's how battles affect people. This war Orochimaru's starting, it's going to affect people in a more grievous way, if that's even possible.' He didn't really realize where he was going, it didn't matter anyway; the new team's assembly was an hour away, and taking note of Kakashi's late and tardiness, it would start in another three hours time, not that he would be late like that. He refused to be like his sensei, at least in the tardiness part. 'I wonder who my other team mates are…' he wondered as he saw a five year old, with dirt smothering his face playing on the soil without anyone to look for him.
The last week he had spent most of which recovering from the fight he had with the Sand's Jinchuriki, Gaara. It was a tough fight, which he managed to win only with a close call. It was a week ago today, and now he was on his way to meet his new team, formed because he had graduated to Chunin. He realized that his pay for the A-ranked mission that Sasuke, Haku and he were assigned to was still in his money chest back home. 'Note to self, when I get the chance I must get myself some armor and a Chunin vest, along with a weapon… it's time to get more serious now that life has taken a twist for the worse.'
He let a bittersweet smile graze his lips as the reminisced about his old team-mates. Haku was one unique person, with that metallic mask always covering his face, not letting anyone see his true face except for his team mates. He had a bloodline limit which allowed him usage of Hyouton or Ice element Jutsu, and that one devastating 'Demonic Ice Mirrors' he had created on his own was truly a Jutsu to be reckoned with.
He had only seen the other boy use it twice; once against the other Jounin accompanying Zabuza on their fight on the great bridge, and the second when he fought that Temari, the sister of Gaara. But his Jutsus weren't all that was cool about the guy, he was easily related to, and always had an air of easiness about him.
His other team mate was Sasuke; the very last of the Uchiha who were all killed in a clan massacre twelve years ago. That guy was truly a force to be reckoned with, as a Genin he had already activated his Sharingan which was perfected during his last fight with Gaara's older brother Kankuro. He had activated it back when they had battled Zabuza for the first time and he had Kakashi trapped in a water prison Jutsu.
The Sharingan was a Doujutsu with three components: The Hypnotizing coma which allowed him to manipulate the brain of his target to a small extent where he could hypnotize him, but that could only be made through eye contact, the Piercing coma, which allowed him to copy Taijutsu movements, dispel Genjutsu, and copy Ninjutsu by monitoring how his target forms his chakra and the Graphical eye which allowed him to remember a particular scene he wants to remember by taking it as a picture and storing it in his brain, acting as a substitute camera, but it could also be focused so that he would see things slower than they really are.
He still had trouble mastering them all, but he was hell bent on doing it soon, and so he would. That was not all about the Uchiha, at the rank of Genin, he was a little like Haku, being able to use most of his clan's Jutsu; those that Chunin and Jounin used. Aside from that, he was a cool guy who was easygoing as well as a genius in combat.
Naruto then looked over himself and how he had grown since his academy days which were only a few months past. His mastery of the shadow clone Jutsu was going well, seeing as he could make about a hundred and twenty without using too much chakra. He understood that his large reserves of chakra were because of the fact that he was the Jinchuriki of the Kyuubi no Kitsune, a beast with nine tails of chakra being sealed inside of him by the fourth Hokage.
It was classified information, so no one really knew about it but his parents, Kakashi sensei and the Hokage, not forgetting himself. There were a few of his family's Jutsu that his father had taught him, like the Ultimate Substitution Jutsu, an advanced version of the basic substitution, with which he could replace multiple objects at a time. Currently he could do five at once individually, but with the help of his shadow clones, he could do five by the number of clones that could do it. While He couldn't boast to have a bloodline limit like his two other team mates, he did have a rather special ability to manipulate metal to a little extent where lethal wounds by swords, kunai or shuriken became mere flesh wounds. He was able to alter the strength and direction of any metal within a meter radius of himself.
Naruto came out of his musing as he realized that he was standing in front of the Ichiraku's Ramen stand. 'Hmm, well it seems like I just found a way to enjoy my morning!' "Hey old man Teuchi, I'll have four bowls of pork ramen please" He ordered as he took a seat in front of the counter.
"Coming right up Naruto," the man replied as he went to work. A couple of minutes later four bowls of ramen were positioned in front of him and he began the disgusting display of rudeness that drove other customers away from the food stand, got ramen broth all over his face and made Teuchi's jaws drop. The disgusting action that dared call itself eating and Naruto didn't even realize any of these things.
Teuchi smirked at himself. No matter how many times Naruto would come in and eat this much ramen, he still didn't get use to it… it was too horrifying to get used to.
XXXXX
Naruto resisted the urge to frown as he arrived at the designated meeting spot for his new team; there was no one in sight. It was eleven, that was when they were all supposed to meet, so why wasn't anybody here yet? He again resisted another urge, but this one was to roll his eyes as Sasuke appeared in a regular Shunshin.
"Hey cat-face, looks like we're gonna be teamed together again huh," Sasuke smirked as a tick appeared on Naruto's forehead; this never got old, ever.
"Will you ever stop calling me that? It's really annoying, chicken-butt!" Naruto retorted, but only succeeded in making Sasuke smile lightly, and he admitted to himself that they were the best of friends along with Haku, and the familiar 'cat-face' nick name had a good sound after all the Orochimaru triad just passed.
It took a few more minutes before another boy leaped into the clearing that was training ground fifteen, and greeted Naruto and Sasuke with a knowing nod. They both nodded back, and settled into an uncomfortable silence.
The guy was about Sasuke's height which was 5'3, with Naruto slightly taller than them at 5'4. He had brown spiky hair that was as big as Sasuke's, but while Naruto's hair was untamed, and Sasuke's had the Uchiha style, the other guy's hair spiked back with only a few spikes coming down his forehead, on which he wore his forehead protector, just above his rather odd purple eyes. His Chunin vest was customized. The only differences were that it was thicker than the Chunin vest, it didn't have as much pockets, and it was totally black. He wore fishnet under it but it was totally covered by the vest. His pants were identical to a regular Jounin's as well, but the difference was that the shuriken pouch and kunai holster were already attached to it, having been manufactured with it. He stood with his hands in his pockets, smiling at Naruto and Sasuke.
"So, looks like we're the ones in the same team huh, well my name's Uzumaki Naruto, this guy with the chicken-butt hair is Sasuke, what is your name?" Naruto broke the silence with a subtle verbal attack at Sasuke, only for the Uchiha to be indifferent.
"Well, my name's Ken, Ken Shinozaki. Nice to 'formally' meet you two," seeing their puzzled expressions, he explained, "I was among the Shinobi spectators on the Chunin exams, and needless to say you guys were two of the strongest candidates at that time."
"Hmm, thanks for the compliment Ken-san, so does that mean you've been a Chunin a while now?" Sasuke asked, getting a nod from the spiky haired teen.
"Six months previously, on the exams held at the Hidden Sand."
Their conversation was halted, however, as another boy appeared from behind the trees, walking in their direction. He had black short and rough hair, white pupil-less eyes, and calm smile on his face. He wore a sleeveless brown collared shirt like Sasuke's short sleeved blue ones, and black shorts pretty much like Sasuke's white ones. But before he even got to them, Haku could be seen leaping from a tree on the opposite side and landing close to them. Kakashi arrived a little after the guy with the pupil-less eyes got to them.
Kakashi still had on his same clothes being the Jounin vest and mask, forehead protector covering his left eye and long black pants.
Haku wore a brown leather vest instead of a normal Chunin vest; the vest was originally sleeveless, but Haku customized it and put an extension of long sleeves there, and although it was brown, it didn't have the same material as the vest, but rather the material all other shirts were made of. He had a katana sword sheathed and strapped to his back, which was a change from his normal gear.
"So, I take it you've all met," Kakashi paused before he continued, "but I'd still like each of you to introduce yourselves, you know, like your name, likes, dislikes, hobbies and dreams etc."
The two boys new to the squad were a little confused so Naruto decided to go first. "My name is Naruto Uzumaki; I like reliable comrades and dislike unreliable ones. My hobby is training, and I don't currently have a dream." Seeing the example, Kenshin went next.
"Ok, my name is Ken Shinozaki, I like learning new Jutsu, I don't have a particular dislike in my mind at the moment, my hobby is similar to Naruto-san's hobby, and I haven't thought of a dream yet." With Kakashi's nod, the guy with short hair and pupil-less eyes went next.
"My name is Kaiza Hyuuga, I like creating my own Jutsu; in which area I haven't had much success lately but, I dislike Orochimaru and other traitors like him, I don't have a hobby in particular, I just do whatever I do with a decent amount of willingness, and my dream is to end this pointless war with Sound and Sand, hopefully Orochimaru's death as well." Kakashi smiled slightly at that, only it was hidden under his mask.
"I am Sasuke Uchiha, I have similar likes to Naruto and Kaiza-san's, my dislikes are similar to Kenshin-san's, my hobby is uncertain and my dream is still undecided."
"My name is Haku Kamasaki, but Haku's just fine, I like loyal friends, dislike traitors, no particular hobbies, and no dream as of yet."
"Alright, it's eleven thirty so I want you all to talk amongst yourselves for the other half hour left, and come up with a plan to fight me, coz at twelve sharp, I will see how long you all can hold out against me, in my full power. This is like a test to see your current power levels, because discussing it is just out of the question. Any questions?" with that, the famous Copy ninja disappeared not even giving them the time to raise a question.
"Gee that was… indescribable, he just went up and left. Didn't even give us time to raise questions" Naruto stated rather disbelievingly, which got Haku to roll his eyes.
They all heard a whizzing sound, but they didn't know what it was. Then suddenly a thick mist crawled over the place, being so thick, one couldn't even see his nose in front of him. Naruto called out to the others but only got a chilling laugh that sounded sickeningly like Zabuza's coming from everywhere. Genjutsu… he quickly got his hands up in a seal and whispered "release" but nothing happened. He tried dispelling the Genjutsu a couple more times before he realized that he couldn't. 'Either this is a very strong Genjutsu or it's real.' He thought before the mist cleared revealing him to be standing in a clearing in a dark forest, and standing on his opposite was Kakashi.
XXXXX
"What the heck, Kakashi sensei, I thought we were gonna plan an assault on you!" Naruto voiced his confusion only to make Kakashi eye-smile.
"I didn't say this was a test of your teamwork, in fact it's a test on individual skills!" Kakashi said as he broke into a sprint towards Naruto. Thinking fast, Naruto threw down five smoke bombs, covering the entire area before his signature Jutsu was heard.
"Multiple Shadow Clone Jutsu!" not long after than, Kakashi felt displacement in the air in front of him before he stepped aside to miss a kunai aiming for his windpipe. He quickly let a decently large amount of his chakra explode out to clear the smoke, to see about fifty Naruto look-alikes staring at him. Then they all attacked, breaking into groups of ten. One group headed straight for him, while others jumped up and released a barrage of kunai and shuriken at him. The other two groups were doing hand seals that he instantly recognized as the Wind element: Wave Jutsu.
Kakashi brought out a kunai to parry the onslaught of kunai and shuriken, only for them to explode in puffs of smoke to be replaced by the group of Naruto clones that were heading for him, now at such a close position, he couldn't do anything but leap back and prepare a Substitution Jutsu. He suddenly realized that there was air displacement behind him. Remembering the kunai that he had missed at first, he deduced that a Naruto clone had replaced himself with it, one of the clones who were doing the Wave Jutsu. He landed only to leap higher to miss the wave of compacted air heading from behind him, only to see the clones that had been in front of him replaced with the other clones that were preparing the Wave Jutsu, now aiming the other ten Waves of compacted air at him. The waves smashed the wood on which Kakashi used the Substitution Jutsu on, breaking it into millions of little pieces.
Meanwhile under the ground, Kakashi had to catch his breath as he marveled at Naruto's near flawless strategy. 'He had used much of his chakra to created thirty clones who could do Jutsu and twenty clones to distract me. While two groups of ten clones, namely in the twenty for distraction attacked me, another ten went into hiding, preparing to use his Ultimate Substitution Jutsu with the distraction clones. The other twenty then prepared his real attack. Not forgetting of course the kunai he had used earlier on, planning to replace it with a clone of his, namely one of the ones doing the Wind element: Wave Jutsu, to get me to leap into the air, where I couldn't dodge the attacks of the other clones who were used to replace the other clones who had gotten so close to me, giving them the advantage of range. Even now, only the twenty one clones who have used up their chakra will be dispelled, leaving the other twenty nine, with nine having the ability to do Jutsu.' He summarized Naruto's plan, making his face pale.
Indeed if it was a less experienced Jounin whom Naruto had attacked, he had a high chance of giving him fatal injuries. 'It seems you have indeed mastered use of the Shadow clone Jutsu Naruto… giving an Elite Jounin like me a run for his money with only three Jutsu, however excellently used. And to come up with such a plan in such a short time… truly remarkable, a genius in battle strategy indeed, however, it's time for me to go to the offence.'
Above ground, on a tree, Naruto cursed at he missed Kakashi, "damn, that should have been enough to at least give him an injury, but he sustained none at all!" He started looking around frantically for Kakashi as some of his clones dispelled due to lack of chakra. Suddenly Kakashi came out of the ground and delivered lightning fast fatal blows to the clones, and a few seconds later, they all dispelled. The copy ninja seemed to look around for Naruto, making Naruto exhale with relief. Suddenly Kakashi melted into mud as Naruto heard a voice beside him.
"Over here, Naruto…" Darkness overcame Naruto for the second time in a week.
XXXXX
"Byakugan…" Kaiza whispered as he activated his bloodline limit, realizing that the mist wasn't a Genjutsu. He quickly searched around for his other teammates and Kakashi, but found that he couldn't see anyone. He walked through the mist for a few minutes before he came back to the clearing that was training ground fifteen. He saw Kakashi leaning against a tree, with his eyes on his orange book. "Where are the others, Kakashi-sensei?"
"Hmm, well apparently Naruto decided to go have some lunch, Sasuke decided to check out his girlfriend's house, Ken is running laps around Konoha along with Haku. That only leaves you and me." Kakashi replied, never leaving his book.
"You're lying, what is the meaning of this?" Kaiza asked again, only to leap back suddenly as Kakashi appeared where he was a second ago, kunai in hand. Kaiza let out a low growl, not understanding what this was.
"It's the test Kaiza; I'll tell you where the others are if you manage to last against me for an hour!" Kakashi was now running towards Kaiza again, but to his surprise, the Hyuuga Chunin rushed him as well. 'It's either he has a plan or he's just plain out idiotic… either way, I'm going to find out soon!' He wasn't too surprised when he punched right through Kaiza. 'Hmm, Genjutsu… and a powerful one at that'
From his hiding spot, Kaiza could see Kakashi dispelling his Genjutsu, before looking around for him. He knew he couldn't win a one on one fight with the copycat, but there was no way he would fail this test. Besides, from this he could gain experience; he liked challenges. Making up his mind, he deactivated his Byakugan, before going through a set of hand seals. "Lightning Element: Lightning Wave Cloning Jutsu," ten clones appeared beside him before leaping towards Kakashi, who now spotted their location. He made a few more hand seals before whispering "Shadow Clone Jutsu," letting a solid clone materialize into existence beside him. "Lightning Element: Static Body Wave" he whispered after another set of hand seals, letting a minor electric current flow through his and his clone's bodies; though not strong enough to strain their hearts.
Kakashi deflected a barrage of shuriken and kunai, before he caught one and threw it back to plunge one of Kaiza's clones in the heart, making him burst into electricity, 'Lightning clones,' he turned around and caught a fist aiming for his face, before he squeezed it hard, dispelling the clone in the process, only to be shocked by the sudden flare of electricity it burst into. His body was still too shocked to move when another clone came and hit him with a strong uppercut, sending him back a meter, before another came and kicked him in the gut, making him double over. He recovered quickly, jumping up and throwing two kunai with deadly accuracy and amazing speed, plugging both clones on the head, making them burst into electricity. 'Damn that kid, this isn't a regular lightning clone Jutsu; he must've added a few modifications to it! Even though I'm holding back, to actually hit me at all is a great feat considering he's a Chunin, and he did it twice with only clones! Is it just me or am I stuck with some of the greatest Chunin Konoha will ever produce?' He landed again, made a few shadow clones to deal with the remaining clones, with each destroying the other due to Kaiza's clones' effect.
"Now" Kaiza yelled as he appeared in front of Kakashi, hitting him in the face, before the copy ninja could react. He followed up with two more jabs, before he delivered a heavily chakra enforced blow on Kakashi's chest, sending him flying backwards to hit a tree trunk. Just then, a barrage of kunai was sent his way from another tree.
'Damn this kid,' he thought for the second time that day, before he rolled forward in a summersault, and stood again, away from the pointy objects path. 'His blows were lightning fast, although he himself wasn't… how can that be!' He questioned mentally before seeing the little electric sparks flowing through Kaiza's body, 'another unique Jutsu, unbelievable!'
Just then, he remembered the Boy's likes… 'He liked creating his own Jutsu! Damn, looks like we have an unpredictable one here…' He then brought his forehead protector up, letting his Sharingan blaze. He immediately saw how Kaiza was doing his Jutsu, and did the necessary hand seals. 'So… the electricity flows through his body and he activates it's effect only when he delivers a blow, increasing his speed tenfold for only a second, and after that he'll be generally slow again while dodging and ducking until he decides to activate it's effect. But now I know how to do it as well, thanks to my Sharingan.' After activating that Jutsu, he rushed Kaiza, and battled with him using the same techniques.
While as they generally moved with decent speed, when they were ready to deliver a blow, the electricity's effect would kick in, increasing their speed tenfold for only the second in which they would deliver their blow. However, Kakashi had the upper hand, as he knew Kaiza's moves before the boy even made them, courtesy of that blasted Sharingan. Kakashi would dodge a few blows, before getting through once, and then repeating the cycle again, whilst Kaiza would dodge a few blows before getting caught off guard with a few of the copy ninja's blows. After two whole minutes of exchanging blows, they leaped apart, with Kaiza crouching and catching his breath on Kakashi's opposite. 'Good, he passed…' with that thought, Kakashi vanished with sheer speed only to reappear behind Kaiza and whisper "sleep" before delivering a few blows to key points in his chakra system to make him sleep. After this, the copycat covered his Sharingan again. 'Next…'
XXXXX
Ken was standing a few yards from Kakashi, with his right hand holding a kunai, and his left hand in a defensive position in front of him, looking with slight anger at Kakashi. "Well then, don't expect me to just let you win because I won't!"
"Hmm, I realized that Ken, but you know," he stopped, disappearing and reappearing in front of Ken, "You're way out of your league!" He backhanded Ken with a strong blow, sending him back a few meters. Ken quickly recovered from the blow, and replaced himself with a log. Kakashi then felt a few kunai heading towards him from the left, and he deflected them all with one of his own. 'That won't be enough, Shinozaki… I wonder if you will resort to your secret,'
Ken suddenly appeared a few meters behind Kakashi and rushed him. While he wasn't a genius in creating Jutsu like Kaiza, a genius in combining Jutsu like Naruto, or a Genius in combat Like Sasuke, his stealth and speed was on high Chunin bridging low Jounin, and so he had no problem sneaking behind Kakashi, especially since the latter was holding back.
The copy ninja realized that Ken was behind him, and twisted fully only to be met with a foot to the face which sent him reeling backwards. He recovered and locked on a Taijutsu match with Ken, both being equal in speed and swiftness. They exchanged blows for a minute or so, before he broke through the Chunin's defense. He ducked under a twisting side kick from Ken, and jumped over the follow up sweep kick, before flipping in mid-air and coming down with an axe kick.
Ken's knees buckled as he guarded the blow Kakashi gave him, the effects of the flip coming into motion. He threw Kakashi back, and ran after him, but the copycat landed gracefully and with a chakra enforced leap appeared in front of Ken to send him reeling backwards with a hard punch to the gut.
Kakashi followed up with his attack with a backhand that sent his new student backwards a little more, before he took a giant step forward and finished with a grip and throwing Ken the other way. He sent a kunai after the boy, but Ken recovered quickly again and caught the kunai with his mouth as he landed on all fours.
Thinking quickly, Kakashi leaped back and did a few hand seals before he announced his Jutsu, "Fire Element: Mythical Firebird Jutsu."
Ken dodged the multiple fireballs with a decent amount of effort, while doing his own hand seals. 'This is my last resort, and to use it already…' he finished his Jutsu just as the last ball of fire fizzed past him. "Demon Art: Second Black Chakra Release," the purple in his eyes suddenly receded leaving a dead black in its place. Purple flame designs were crawling on his skin now flowing from his eyes down, before manifesting into purple chakra that flowed around his body. The purple aura intensified. "Level one…" he disappeared and reappeared in front of Kakashi before he gutted the copy ninja three times and then he kicked him on the chin, sending him sailing backwards through the air. He was now running through hand seals at a faster pace.
Kakashi righted himself before landing on all fours. He quickly got up and started doing his own hand seals. 'He released his second chakra just like the Hokage told me. According to the third; Ken's chakra capacity, speed, strength and Ninjutsu should be increased by three times their own, which means he's now on a High-Jounin level informally… let's see if the Hokage is right in that assessment!'
"Demon Art: Earth Dragon's Shadow Jutsu!" the earth in front of Ken exploded outwards, as two dragons came out of it, each with a head the size of three men. One was made of rocks while the other was made of pure shadows, and they were twisting around each other as they stretched their way towards Kakashi with the speed of a regular Chunin.
"Fire Element: Fire Dragon Projectile," Kakashi quickly yelled, as he sent three dragons made of fire to collide with Ken's Earth shadow dragon. His visible eye widened when the shadow dragon tore through his fire dragons, absorbing them during the process and getting three times bigger, while the earth dragon headed straight towards him, both separating from the other. 'Damn it; looks like those dragons support each other, he must have known beforehand that I would counter with my own Jutsu… fine he passes!' with that thought in mind, Kakashi vanished with sheer speed, and reappeared behind Ken, and darkness overcame the boy's world making him lose concentration, which in turn dispelled the Jutsu; the shadow dragon dissipated and the boy's purple chakra receded. 'Three down, two to go!'
XXXXX
Haku found himself standing in a place very similar to the bridge that connected the land of waves to the mainland; the great Naruto bridge, and needless to say he was shocked. There was no way he could be there when just a moment ago, before the mist blinded him, he was at training ground fifteen with his new team. He knew that this wasn't a Genjutsu, because he had already tried to dispel it to no avail, and his chakra control was on the level of a regular Jounin. There was no one in sight, until he saw Kakashi, walking toward him from the other end of the bridge. His figure grew closer and closer until he was only a few yards away, and Haku decided to voice his questions. "Kakashi-sensei how is it possible that we are here?"
"It's not, this is just a Genjutsu, scenery Genjutsu if you would, and it's a very strong one mind you, and it won't wear out until after our battle." Kakashi replied, putting away his book.
"So it's like this, huh? What's the purpose of this test?"
"Just to tell me what level you're currently on… and other useless stuff." Kakashi said nonchalantly, as he crouched, preparing for one of Haku's fast moves.
"Then let's get started!" Haku suddenly shouted as he rushed through a series of hand seals, using the water beneath the bridge as a source for his water Jutsu. "Water Element: Water Bird Jutsu!" he said as a large bird rose out from the water, and flew right up into the air before diving in towards Kakashi, who prepared his own Jutsu. Haku didn't let up, and decided to further his own attack by doing another set of hand seals, "Lightning Element: Wave of Lightning Blizzard!" He yelled as he released a wave of lightning towards Kakashi, right where it would meet his water bird before they would both hit the copy ninja.
Kakashi frowned at the power of Haku's first Jutsu combination; it seems that this match was brought to a climatic start already. He went through his own set of hand seals to counter; after all he didn't copy over a thousand Jutsu not to use any. "Wind Element: Great Wave Jutsu!" he suddenly said as he blew out a strong wind force that was three times as strong as the attack Naruto had used to catch him off guard, and it hit the lightning dead on, causing a small explosion, canceling each other out. He quickly jumped up, to evade the water bird, before he made a few more hand signs, and did another Jutsu he had copied. "Lightning Element: Lightning Spear!" He reared his right arm back, before shooting it forward, and a spear made out of lightning was sent towards Haku, who already had his hands in seals.
"Ice Element: Eight Deadly Tigers!" he whispered he slammed his palms on the bridge, forming eight large tigers made of ice, from his palms. He leaped onto one, and it leaped out of the way of Kakashi's lightning spear, as another intercepted the attack. The remaining six then speedily moved to where the copy ninja would land.
Kakashi made a few hand seals and released a fire dragon that devoured the ice tigers, melting them into nothing, "Fire Element: Fire Dragon Jutsu!" when he landed however, he was surrounded by ice mirrors that suddenly appeared around him… 'Well, he resorted to it at last; I think he's starting to tire. Those Jutsu of his do use chakra. I would be surprised if he was still not breaking a sweat.' Haku's form appeared on all the mirrors, and began showering Kakashi with senbon, although the copycat parried them all with a kunai on his right hand. After a few failed attempts to injure the copy ninja, Haku made two more mirrors, one in front of Kakashi, and another behind, although he didn't see the one in the back.
"This is where I win, Kakashi-sensei," Haku stated as he came out of the mirror in front of Kakashi, and drew his sword. He sank back into the mirror and Kakashi suddenly felt a pain on his chest as a slash mark appeared on it, with Haku appearing on the mirror behind him. "This is my ultimate Jutsu, and you're within my range of attack, Secret Art: Demonic Blade!" With that Haku continued to travel between the two mirrors, giving Kakashi non-lethal wounds with his sword, and all this was done in only a few seconds. Kakashi suddenly disappeared, replaced by one of the senbon Haku had used against him.
Clang!
Haku appeared when the senbon was at, and picked it up… 'When did he do it?' As that thought was running through his head, Kakashi suddenly appeared behind him, and delivered a swift chop to his neck with his hands. The boy fell forward with shock etched onto his features.
"Damn it, is it just me or are these kids more powerful than regular Chunin, or Jounin for that matter?" Kakashi whined in disbelief as he looked at the flesh wounds he had gotten. "One left, only one more then I can go to bed! And I hope he's not even stronger than Haku!" 'On a better note though, Haku indeed has grown in only a short time during the Chunin exams. He passes with flying colors.'
XXXXX
Sasuke smirked as he stared at the form of his mentor; who had several cuts on his body, having already understood what this was. 'Individual tests, to see our skills on an individual scale, equally important as the team skills test. This will give me a chance to test my limits.' They were on the training ground, with no one else there.
"I can see that you're enjoying this, you must have a reason, mind sharing it?" Kakashi asked as he lowered his orange book to get a better look at Sasuke.
Sasuke let out a dry chuckle as he looked back through the months passed. "You were the one to show me the Uchiha compound after my parents told me the truth about my clan, Kakashi-sensei, and after that fateful day all those years ago, I've always trained there, seeking out ways to improve my Sharingan…"
Kakashi felt a chill run through his spine, "what are you getting at, Sasuke?"
"One week ago," the last Uchiha continued, unfazed by Kakashi's sudden interruption, "just after I got out of the hospital, I was there researching when I stumbled upon some valuable info… the only scroll that contained the secrets of the Sharingan, and how to achieve the Mangekyou Sharingan."
Kakashi's visible eye widened for the second time that day as he felt sweat run down his body. 'If this is true, and he's somehow managed to unlock the Mangekyou, I might have to go full on myself… ugh, scratch that, I 'will' have to go all out!' He became serious as he asked, "So you've unlocked it then?"
"No" With those words out of the Uchiha's mouth, Kakashi regained his calm interior. "But, I did unlock something close to its power,"
"Explain, Sasuke…"
"It's simple, the Sharingan as we know it has four levels: Level one is when the user only activates one of the three comas on each eye, the Graphical coma, allowing the user to focus more on what he sees. Level two is when he activates the second coma, the Piercing coma, allowing him to copy Taijutsu and Ninjutsu, while dispelling Genjutsu. The third level is when the user unlocks the Sharingan's complete form, with the third coma, the Hypnotizing coma, allowing the user to enter his target's mind through eye contact.
The fourth level is where my treacherous brother is currently at, gained by achieving certain conditions. The fourth level is so great, however, that the jump between level three and four cannot be done by an Uchiha who isn't prodigious, so I went to the next best option… level three and a half!" Sasuke said as he finally made a few hand seals and closed his eyes.
"I call this, the Kage no Mangekyou Sharingan!" When he opened his eyes, there were no longer three comas but four, in a diamond shape instead of a triangle, within it, there were another three comas, surrounding a single dot barely visible to Kakashi who was standing afar. The red color was glowing now, making it seem truly demonic, as Sasuke's eyes started to spin. He suddenly saw through Kakashi's Genjutsu. Naruto, Haku and Ken along with Kaiza were all unconscious, lying beside a tree. 'Perhaps he had beaten them all already…'
'I-impossible, it's just plain impossible! Even Itachi had activated his Mangekyou only through accident, this guy; he did it through will and made it seem easy! And he's only twelve!' Kakashi thought as he sweated profusely. "What does it do…" he could hear himself say as if he was from a distance.
"Four new comas, unlocking four new abilities which I will show you in our battle, would you like to get started, Kakashi-sensei?"
'To hell with the test, if I continue like this, I could risk getting treacherous. It was one thing to fight against the Mangekyou Sharingan even when I knew fully of its capabilities, now against another almost as powerful with blanks in my intelligence is outright foolish, I'll risk revealing more secrets… forget the test, he already passes, now I need to get him to sleep!' Kakashi planned before he suddenly disappeared with a burst of superhuman speed, intending to catch Sasuke off guard.
Sasuke, seeing his Jounin sensei's move with his new Sharingan, took a giant leap backwards just before Kakashi appeared where he was, with a look of pure shock. 'Damn it, he saw through my intentions even though I was this fast!' Kakashi cursed as he looked towards Sasuke.
"I forgot to mention the fifth ability that didn't come with a coma; unlike the complete Mangekyou Sharingan, these eyes do not have power over time and space, but they do make up for it in one thing, the shadow eyes which I posses multiply the original comas' effectiveness and power by five! In other words, if I could recognize your swift moments by focusing before using the normal Graphical coma, with this improvement, if I focus hard enough, you're maximum speed will only seem like your normal speed to me!" Sasuke clarified for his sensei, making the older man cringe. "Although I don't have the speed to match my eyes, fifty percent of the job is done!"
Kakashi, trying his best to eliminate some of Sasuke's advantages with his new eye, decided to uncover his Sharingan, and cover his right eye. "Alright Sasuke, let's see if you can use your new eyes to catch up!" Kakashi said as he rushed at Sasuke again, with even greater speed. He got the shock of his life, however as he lost all his energy just as he got very close to Sasuke. 'I suppose I shouldn't have stared into his eyes even with my Sharingan,' he thought as he landed on the ground.
"That's another thing, my Hypnotizing coma is also enhanced, so while originally I could only hypnotize with it by manipulating your brain waves, now I can cancel the brain waves your brains send to all your muscles except the heart for a few seconds, paralyzing you." Sasuke explained before he went and grabbed Kakashi by the back of the collar, before lifting him up and delivering a vicious blow to the gut, sending him a few meters backwards.
Kakashi's muscles started working again, as he landed with a dull thud on the ground, and he shakily got up to his feet. While his brain was again sending waves to his muscles, the shock of Sasuke's trick was still heavy on his brain and muscles. It was then when he stood up, that he saw Sasuke's eyes transforming back into the normal Sharingan before fading completely, leaving a weak black orb in its place. The last Uchiha fell to his knees, smiling slightly.
"Looks like I overused my new eyes a bit… this is actually the first time I've used it in combat… chakra exhaustion…" Sasuke managed to mutter before he passed out.
Kakashi just sighed as he struggled to get to the Uchiha. He was no fool, he knew that from the info Sasuke had given him, he had only activated his new eyes last week, and therefore wouldn't be able to use it that long yet, so he just decided to coax the Uchiha to use all of his new powers until he grew exhausted. That didn't change the pain he was currently in, those eyes were strong, and to get them to wear out was a task best saved for ANBU. He was going to ask Sasuke more questions later. Now he needed to rest as they all did. 'Perhaps if the boy hadn't wasted his time talking…'
XXXXX
The next day, Sasuke's eyes fluttered open, as he gasped in pain. His eyes hurt, a lot. 'It feels like my have been stabbed by a kunai!' he thought as he sat up. He shook a little as images of the previous day flooded through his mind. Him showing Kakashi his new Sharingan, and miscalculating the time period he could have it activated in, and fainting. He looked around, and recognized this as a strange place, just as he heard a voice.
"Heck, my neck hurts like hell!" Naruto whined sleepily as he twisted from his position on a couch to Sasuke's opposite, and fell to the floor, grunting.
Kaiza suddenly walked into the room, just as confused as Sasuke was. "Where is this place?"
"I thought you would know," Sasuke replied, with his left eyebrow twitching. Another groan of pain from behind him got him to look back, seeing Ken sit up, with his hands on his eyes.
"My eyes are burning!" He said with despair. Beside him, Haku was still knocked out.
"I think we're at Kakashi-sensei's place, after… hey what happened to you guys yesterday?" Kaiza suddenly asked, getting a groan in response from Ken.
"Kakashi sensei, he lured us apart with Genjutsu and took us all down one by one, I suppose."
"Well, he said it was a test… but my neck still hurts like hell! Just what did that lazy excuse for a sensei do to it anyway?" Naruto complained, making the others smirk. Just then, Haku's eyes flicked open, and he sat up hesitantly, just as Kakashi entered the room.
"Hmm, looks like you're all awake, feel any pain in various parts of your bodies?" Kakashi asked his students, as they all nodded. "Well, don't worry; it'll soon fade away, but I have some things to discuss with you guys." With that he took out a few scrolls from his pack, and handed five to each of them. "These are the five scrolls I need you to master. The first is a Taijutsu scroll, created by myself. It deals with speed and swiftness, an easy counter for the gentle fist, copy fist and standard Jounin Taijutsu. The next is a scroll on three advanced chakra control exercises I invented myself, and once you complete them all, your chakra reserves will increase sevenfold, reaching the capacity of an elite Jounin. Those tasks are hard, mind you, and an average Shinobi would take a year to complete each one."
The Chunin were now curiously looking at their scrolls. "The next one is a Ninjutsu scroll, varying for each of you due to your affinities. The fourth is a scroll that you yourself can go and show to the Hokage, and from there he will assign you to a c-rank mission. After you've completed ten, the Hokage will hand you a gift." He said, sounding as mysterious as he could.
"This… isn't your average Chunin training is it Kakashi-sensei?" Kaiza asked, and Kakashi nodded.
"Well, as each of you know; you all contain secrets sacred to this village. Each and every one of you has a special ability valuable to the village, and that is why you were put into the same squad. However, the missions you will be going on from now on until after your tenth, will be individual missions, to gain experience… in other words, you five are the first to try a new training regiment that the third Hokage and I are trying to introduce. If it goes well with you guys, then we'll train others in the same way." Kakashi explained to the others.
"Huh, what about the fifth scroll, mine is some sort of Kenjutsu scroll." Naruto asked, getting Kakashi back into his explaining mode.
"Yes, well the fifth scroll differs from each of you. Naruto has a Kenjutsu scroll, while Sasuke has a scroll on the history of Konoha, Haku has a strategy 101 scroll, Kaiza has a scroll that goes deep in explanation of the five main elements and Ken has a scroll that deeply explains the origins of chakra and the inside to different kinds of chakra." Kakashi explained, getting nods of approval from them. "It's because Sasuke is to be a future council member that he gets the history scroll, that Haku has the ability to counter strategies that I give him a strategy 101 scroll, Kaiza has the ability to create his own Jutsu that I give him an inside look on the elements and so on and so forth."
"So why do I get a Kenjutsu scroll, do you think I've got what it takes?" Naruto asked quizzically, making Kakashi eye smile.
"Nope, I just didn't have anything else to give you." Naruto face faulted at that. Kakashi walked to his window and opened it, motioning to it. "It's a kilometer to the Konoha gates, to get in the village. I'll always be here to take any of your questions, but we won't go into the next part of your training until you've all mastered your scrolls, and completed all ten C-Ranked missions. Also, Kaiza, to show that you've mastered the inside look at the elements scroll, you have to create a Jutsu for each element. Naruto, I'm looking forward to see you with a sword." They all nodded before each one of them filed out, leaping from the window to the trees outside.
'They should all be back in about four months at most… knowing Sasuke, he'll master all those Jutsu before even attempting on going on one of those solo missions, and Naruto will just use his shadow clones to fasten the progress he makes on mastering those Jutsu. My training regiment is flawless, considering their current skill… but is it the right thing? When they come back to me, they will all have already killed people, and lost their innocence.' With that thought in mind, Kakashi went on to prepare some more details for his project prodigy.
