Kishimoto owns Naruto

Opening theme: Kinnikuman Go Fight

Chapter 2: The Teammate

"I cannot believe we were selected to represent the Leaf Village in the Dragon Belt!" Lee cheered, doing sit-ups. He was one his four-hundredth.

After the meeting, it had been decided that Rock Lee, Hyuga Neji, and Tenten would represent the Leaf Village in the Dragon Belt Championship. As such, they were given a month off to train for the try outs. They also received a pamphlet on the Championship's rules.

"Tenten! Neji!" Lee called out to his teammates, who were just standing around. "Come and join me! We need to become even stronger before we can enter!"

"Calm down, Lee," Tenten said, "We don't know what kind of tournament this is. Simply bulking up won't be enough," she turned to Neji, "Right?"

Neji didn't look up from the pamphlet he was reading. "Actually, 'bulking up' is what we should concentrate on." He skimmed the pages some more. "Before the main tournament, the preliminaries are that test the entrants physical ability. They sound pretty extreme."

Lee, his curiosity now piqued, stopped his sit-ups and walked over to read over Neji's shoulder. "How extreme?" The bowl-cut asked.

Neji tapped a page of the pamphlet. "According to this, an earlier preliminary involved making the contestants get run down by a cattle stampede."

"What!?" Lee yelled, and ripped the pamphlet from Neji. "It does not say that!" He quickly read the page and sweated. "Oh, wait…it does. Uh oh!" He glanced in Neji and Tenten's direction. "It says here that armor and metal weapons are prohibited."

Neji glanced at Tenten. "I see what you mean."

Tenten didn't like the way they were staring at her. "Hey, what are those looks for?"

"Your fighting style does require a lot of weapons, Tenten," Neji remarked, "You may be have harder time then we will."

Now Tenten was angry. "What's that supposed to mean!?" She yelled, causing both boys to jump back. "I can fight just fine by myself! I don't need weapons!"

"Uh, Tenten, calm down…" Neji said, trying to appease his teammate. But it was too late. Woman's fury had been aroused. And hell hath no fury like modern ninja feminist.

Dattebayo

While the men of team Guy were being shown just how well Tenten could fight without weapons, Naruto was flat on his back, soaking wet. He had finished his river exercise. According to Kushina, this little work out had gone…swimmingly, pun intended, which didn't make Naruto's arms hurt less. Combined with the pressure from the water flow, his lungs was also burning from having to hold his breath, as he had trouble keeping his head above water.

"Let's take a break for lunch," Kushina decided, unpacking a picnic basket. "I made some box lunches while you were swimming."

Faster than Kushina could see, one of the sandwiches was snatched out of her hand. Naruto began chewing vigorously.

"Hey! Unwrap it from the plastic, first!" Kushina yelled.

After calming Naruto down, the Uzumaki family began to eat.

"So, mama," Naruto began, "Did you do this kind of training?"

"I'm doing my best," Kushina apologized, "But it's hard. This soft country doesn't have the same kind of wilderness the Land of Whirlpools has."

Naruto munched on an apple, thinking. "What kind of wilderness is that?"

"Well," Kushina said casually, "The jungle's were full of plants that attacked people, there was a family of kappa living one of the rivers, but it was a pretty boring place, to be honest."

Naruto stared, awestruck. Man-eating plants? Kappas? "You call that boring?" He asked, amazed.

"The locals were used to it, that's all." A gruff voice broke in, and out from the bushes stepped in Morino Ibiki, head of the Hidden Leaf's interrogation department.

"I had trouble finding you," He said to Kushina, "At least, finding you alone."

"Hey, I'm here!" Naruto said.

Ibiki grinned. "I know."

Pretty soon, Ibiki had joined the picnic, eating his own lunch.

"So, um, Ibiki," Naruto said, "How come you know mama?"

"We first met when my team were just genin," Ibiki explained, "Just a trio of brats, fresh out of the academy. As rookies, we were given the lowest-ranking missions. One day, we mouthed off to the Third Hokage, demanding to be given a real mission. And boy…did we get one."

"What does this have to do with you and mama?" Naruto asked, impatient.

"I'm getting there, cool it!" Ibiki barked, getting annoyed. Calming down, he continued. "Our mission was a delivery run…we were supposed to hand-deliver a package to a foreign country…the Land of Whirlpools."

"Comic books," Kushina elaborated, "My sensei loved to read comics from other lands."

Naruto suddenly had a vision of blond Kakashi giggling not porn, but that month's issue of Shonen Jump.

"Anyway," Ibiki said, ignoring the interruption. "We chartered a boat, and went to the Land of Whirlpools… We thought we would be back in a few days, but ended up staying a whole month."

"Why?" Naruto asked.

"Because the Land of Whirlpools is surrounded by fierce swirling currents," Kushina explained, "They're so strong that any ship that tries to enter the surrounding water is smashed to pieces. They only slow down enough for ships to pass through on one day, every thirty days."

"Bit of a shock when we found out," Ibiki grinned. "I had a feeling that if we stayed any longer, Team Jiraiya would have been declared MIA."

Team Jiraiya? Naruto's eyes widened. "You were on Ero-Sennin's genin team?! But that means…!"

Ibiki chuckled. "Yeah, the Fourth Hokage was my teammate." He sighed, looking up, "In the Land of Whirlpools, we met this obnoxious girl at the dock, who pestered us about everything we knew about the Hidden Leaf Village, and everything around it." He glanced at Kushina. "If I recall, Jiraiya-sensei taught you the Shadow Clone technique to shut you up. I think he was hoping you'd die while learning."

Kushina stuck out her tongue, and glanced at her watch. Getting up, she dusted herself off.

"All right, that's enough rest," She stated, "It's time to get back to the training."

"Right!" Naruto got up and saluted. "So, what now?"

"Now, we see what you can do," Kushina said, "I want you to fight me, and give me everything you've got!" She took a fighting stance, "I should let you know, I don't plan on teaching you any fancy moves. I want you to develop your own unique style, and not one derived from me. Most ninja get beat because they copy someone else's fighting techniques, because an experienced warrior is already used to that method."

"I better be going then," Ibiki said, standing up, "I don't want to get in the way- or the crossfire." He tapped the scars on his face.

Everyone in the Village had assumed that Ibiki's scars were the result of some horrific interrogation process used by an enemy during the wars. And while it was true he had gotten the scars during the war, he never told anyone that it was because he got between Kushina and someone she was fighting.

---

"All right," Neji said, looking plenty scuffed, "Now that our abrupt sparring session is over, can we please start training."

Tenten rubbed the back of her head, chuckling sheepishly. One of her cheeks were swollen.

"Neji!" Lee shouted, raising his hand. He had a black eye. "I have a suggestion!"

Neji looked a Lee. "And what is it?"

"We should wear these during the training!" Lee whipped out an extra pair of ankle weights.

"You're already wearing them," Tenten pointed out, "How's that going to be different from how you normally train?"

"I will be wearing heavier weights!"

Neji thought about it. Lee always gained a boost of speed after taking off his weights, so their function as a training tool was not overstated.

"Very well," Neji decided aloud, "We'll use the weights…" There was the sound of a small explosion coming from the other side of the Village. "What was that?"

---

That's it! That's one of the questions answered I mentioned earlier! You see, no one knows who that bald kid in Team Jiraiya really is. I've read dozens of fanfictions where the girl was Mikoto, Sasuke's mother, but no one ever bothers with the bald kid. Now, I know what you're going to say. "But that bald kid doesn't look anything like Ibiki!" my response is that not all kids look like miniature versions of their adult selves.

Yeah, this is basically filler, I guess. But I want to get a few chapters of Naruto going through the kind of training he needs for the Dragon Belt. Dragonball did the same thing for Goku's first attempt at the Budokai.

And review! I mean, c'mon! I got only one! Tell me what you think!!!