"Maaaaan… three o'clock? That's like… four more hours."
Uzumaki Naruto is walking through the busy morning streets of Konohagakure no Sato. With his hands folded behind his head, he has the look of someone who is not enjoying time; which brings him to show a rather distinct frown on his face. While his dashing good looks are something to behold, his attitude might not. And he can't blame people for that.
He admits, he has quite an attitude that definitely needs an adjustment in some vital points; but it's not like his attitude might get him killed anyway. Or… it will, since he has just jinxed himself on the spot, damn it.
He raises a hand just above and away from his face, blocking the sun out from his view. "Today is sunny as fuck, no wonder it's so hot." Even if he is wearing light at the moment, he is still releasing sweat as if he'd just run a few laps around the ninja academy. He takes a moment to comb his hair backwards with his hand, using the upper part of his arm to dry his face, making for a completely unnecessary movement since his arms are also sweaty.
Looking around, he is now in the shopping district of Konoha; the place where most of the people from all the corners of the village are most active in, aside from the red light district at night. This district has everything. Foodstuffs, clothing shops, merchants, pawn shops, electronics and even a few libraries amongst them too. He used to question himself as to why a library would find a place for itself in a shopping district of a village, but now that he knows the answer to the question, he isn't surprised.
Apparently, the libraries here, charged their customers for borrowing their books. Kind of like a normal library but with more profit. He wonders why they didn't just open a video rental store; that might work better. But leaving behind his honest opinions, he is making one of those libraries as his destination at the moment. Sure, he knows. For someone who looks like him, a library would be the last place on earth that he'd visit. But guess what? No. He tries to keep himself feed with important things like books; learning a few of this and a few of that, just enough to give him a grasp of what's going on with the world. And besides, the library's an interesting place. At least the one he'll be visiting…
On the way there, he encounters a few people dressed in black ceremonial uniform walking in a line going past him. People seems to be giving them way as a horse carriage follows the first line of people and followed by some more people in the same uniform. Usually, he'd associate the color black with death. But there's no way that someone in Konoha would waste money, no matter of what ranking status they are, to hire a horse carriage to deliver a body to the morgue or the wooden fridge.
"I wonder what's that all about." The blonde eyes the unusual spectacle with wonder in his eyes, but dismisses it as one of those things that he doesn't see much in life. "Maybe some important looking nobles going to important looking places, turns out, they aren't."
Now that the distraction is out of the way, he begins walking to his destination, the library. But not just any library; the library that he's about to visit is special because it does not rent out books for money; it rents out books for favors. Yes, freaking favors, believe it or not. Why is it like that? It's because the owner of the place is one hell of a jerk; instead of asking you for your money, he asks you to be his little bitch slave or whatever. Which is why no one really visited that place, at least not unless they really need to borrow the books that are only available there. But the owner is pretty smart. Since people are too lazy to walk all the way from here to the public library all the way on the other side of the map, they will make the few libraries here as their target to borrow books simply because they are nearby. That and well, the things that could be borrowed in this particular store are not available anywhere else. Yes, he shits you not.
What kind of library would have a book about reverse parenting!? That's brilliant!
So yeah, basically, the place is just for shits and giggles.
After a good amount of walk from the Hokage tower to here, Naruto takes a brief moment to let his eyes take in the sight of the miserable and shady looking place. Okay, when he said that this place doesn't get business that much, maybe this is the reason for that. Smiling, he enters through the front door.
"Welcome to the book and borrow; if you want to borrow a book and get yourself in a situation where you'll never be ever to forget, then let me know." Came a lazy sounding voice from the front desk.
Naruto approaches the lazy sounding clerk, putting a hand on the counter while he shadows in on the guy who is so focused on his book. The man, noticing that something is blocking his reading light, takes his moment to pull away from the book. "What the—oh, it's just you blondie." The man recognizes the blonde with a lazier tone. Lazier than before. His eyes roll sideways and his hands making quick work of discarding his book to the drawer underneath the counter.
"Good morning Tai-san." Naruto gives the man a friendly smile as well as a small wave.
But of course, since the man he knows as Tai is a very lazy person, he does nothing to return his greeting. "So whaddaya want blondie? Want to owe me a favor and let your be immersed in one of my finest collection of books," he begins flatly. "or would you like to have the honor of taking my little Saren out for breakfast for me." And he ends it in an even flatter note.
"The second actually, Tai-san." The blonde replies with a small chuckle, crossing his arms while he does so. "I'm not looking to borrow some books nor am I looking forward to owe you some favor that might involving me getting drunk and ending up with a monkey, a hose and a pregnant prostitute the next day." He waves off politely. "I need Saren, actually. For something important."
The man nods and proceeds to take out the book that he was reading earlier from the drawer, all the while calling for his daughter's name. "Saren! The blondie is here to pick you up for food! Don't be worried about staying out late, you can sleep in his house for the night or something."
The sound of small pitter patters is heard coming from the back, and that sound slowly gets louder and louder with every passing second. The door to the back is kicked open, revealing a girl who is shorter than Naruto and her brown hair tied into a single up do. Without even thinking, the girl launches herself at the blonde, who catches her in an embrace. The adult in the room does not react at the sight of his daughter hugging a boy in front of him, he instead prefers his book more.
"Thank you thank you thank you thank you!" the girl says in a single breath. She then lifts her face from the blonde's bare chest, giving him an honest to God thankful look. "Do you know how starving I am right now?" she asks.
Naruto, stifling a laugh, shakes his head. "No?"
"Then let's eat first and talk while we're eating!" she proceeds to drag him out from the shop with a strength that he never know that a civilian girl could have.
.
.
.
Not much to be said here.
"So, you want to know about a few things, eh?"
Currently in a café where most of its customers are girls who force their boyfriends to take them to eat here, Saren and Naruto is discussing about the so called 'important thing' that Naruto told her earlier. "Yup." The blonde replies, while taking a sip from his coffee. He eyes Saren and she hasn't changed much ever since the last time he'd seen her, which was like two years ago when he's younger. She grows a few inches yeah, but that's just about it. She is still the same short tempered, sweet toothed and cute info broker he knew.
Saren is not that much younger than him actually. He's thirteen she is twelve, so they are only a year apart. But unlike him who has the look of someone who appears to be fifteen up to eighteen year old, she looks like any other twelve year old out there. Her height is way inferior to his; she only reaches up to his shoulders. And it seems that she is still putting on that 'goth loli' style, minus the hair. Not all people in Konoha wears a black frilly dress, monochrome stockings, a pair of black dress shoes and carries around a parasol after all; so finding her in a crowd is easy, you just have to look down.
"Not only a few things though… it's a few ninja related things."
Saren frowns a little bit, sticking her spoon into her ice cream parfait that she is just in the middle of enjoying of. "Ninjas? Shinobis? I thought that you want nothing to do with them?" she points a finger at the blonde. "Two years ago you never asked me about shinobi related things, I want to know why are you asking me now. Come on, spill it!"
The blonde sighs as he combs his hair to the back with the gaps of his fingers. "Okay, calm down. No need to make a scene here." He says. "So, the Hokage found out what I've been doing these past few weeks. I know that we haven't really met in the past two years but I've been sending you mails, right? You know what I'm looking for. You know what I'm aiming for here Saren."
The girl nods stiffly. This is where their conversation will sink into the serious part, when Naruto gets all cold toned and quiet. The blonde resumes his speech. "I have to make a believable lie, well they aren't technically lies since they are true, but I can't have the Hokage getting on my case. But since I've given him a few things, the chances of him bumping into me and my escapades are pretty high in the near future. So, in order to both avoid and prevent that, I need information regarding the Torture and Intelligence division of Konoha, some of the notable people in the ANBU rosters, and a few things about previous ANBU commanders. The current one is Itachi, you know, the soon to be heir of the Uchiha clan?"
Saren scoffs, ruining her pretty face. "Of course I know, I won't be an information broker if I didn't know that." She shakes her head and rolls her eyes. "So, that's all you wanted to know or is there something else?"
Unsurprisingly, he nods. "Yeah. I want to know the names of some of the most notable Jonins in town and their skills, I know a few but not that much."
"…Getting info about the T&I division and the Jonins are not going to be a problem… it's the ANBU ones that's hard. I'll need to use favors for that, and you know what will happen if I use those favors, right?"
Of course he knows. The truth behind the book rental store? It's actually a middle zone for odd favors or in layman's term, illegal activities. Not all illegal activities, but only those that requires certain people to owe or accept favors. In short, that book store is actually a shady place. But in all seriousness, if Saren keeps on using her favors, less and less people will want her help, making her chance of getting favors from said people to be lesser and lesser by each use.
"I know." Naruto nods. "But this is really important, I can't have the Hokage interfere with my job and what's more, he's going to make me genin." Noticing the look of surprise on her face, Naruto chuckles. "Yeah, he decided to make me genin because of the bullshit I spewed at him. I told him I was hunting down people who are a threat to Konoha's safety, but in all seriousness, those people are getting out of hand and with them out of the picture, my job will be easier."
"But a ninja? You, becoming a ninja?" the look on her face says total disbelief. And he can't blame her. "What's your intention, Naruto? You won't just accept becoming a ninja even if it's the Hokage himself who appointed you—no, you won't accept it especially if it's the Hokage who appointed you. Just what kind of nasty things are you getting yourself into, Naruto?"
He smirks. "The good one."
Saren slumps backwards to the cushion of her chair. Her parfait is melting…
"So, will you do it?"
"Fine, I'll do it." Saren answers, making him glad. "But you know the drill."
"I get it. I'll owe you a favor." He smiles. "Just mention it, as long as it's in my power to do so."
"But really though…" The frilly dressed girl starts, sighing. "Oh yeah, when do you want them delivered?"
"As soon as you can, don't want to disrupt you with your work."
"Hm… you're still as patient as ever huh?" she utters.
Naruto does not reply, instead he finishes the cup of coffee in one gulp. "Besides, I'll be busy adjusting myself to my ninja life. If you know what I mean."
"Yeah, yeah… but as a genin, the pay sucks though." Saren says, resuming on her parfait. "Besides, from what I know, genin level shinobis will only be doing chores instead of a mission."
"It's not the money Saren… it's the chances. If I become a ninja, I'll have permission to go beyond the walls and into the outside world. Who knows what kind of people I'll be meeting? Besides, I'll be travelling with a jonin and hopefully two kids who know what they are doing, it's a win situation for me since the chances of me getting killed are getting lower and lower."
At the mention of him getting killed, Saren snorts as if that statement is bad humor. She knows of Naruto's 'condition'. His uniqueness so to say… but she hasn't seen him getting stabbed or hit or something like that. It just so happened that she stumbled upon him while he is metamorphosing… yeah, that's probably the correct term. She was scared shitless, she actually wet herself but thank God that it was night at that time and that they were outside. So, she knew of his condition but never seen him as he'd describe himself to her. About him being so damn tough or hard physically. Sure, he did literally turned into stone, but stones are not only hard… they're brittle too.
Now that she is thinking about this, she cannot help but ask. "Say Naruto… about your condition." The blonde perks up. "When I saw you when you … well, changed, won't it be a convenience for you?"
His answer is immediate. "No, nope. The opposite actually." He says. "My body is tough even if I don't do anything to it like channeling chakra and all that, it only gets tougher when I am in that state. The form that I was in when you saw me in my other state is called Cinders. At that state, I am brittle, hard, tough, heavy, and dense and so on and so forth; quite like the actual thing, cinder blocks."
"State… so there is more than just one state?" the information broker concludes after piecing one and one.
"Oh yeah. There's Iron and Glass." He lists down. "Those, along with Cinders, are the main one. There are also branches like Obsidian, Steel, Copper, Titanium, Concrete, Clay, Diamond, Chalk and even Ivory. And yeah, some of them I based from their properties while some are… well, you'll know if you see me in action."
"So… what do they call you? Mineral Man or something?" Saren asks, baffled.
"No. And for your information, some of the things I mentioned are not even minerals. Obsidian isn't a mineral."
The girl shrugs. "Fine."
The blonde chuckles, shifting a little bit on his chair. "Why are you asking about me all of a sudden, interested?"
This question catches the girl off guard, causing her face to redden immediately. "Wha – What do you mean?! I was just… eh… I was just asking that's all, got a problem with that?"
"No, no I don't. Just surprised that's all." He smiles at her, getting her all the more flushed.
'Damn blondes and their charm…' she eats her parfait even faster than before in an attempt to cool herself down. "GACK! BRAIN FREEZE!"
Naruto laughs heartily as he watches the girl suffer from her brain freeze. Decided to help her, he motions for her to bring her head near him. Since she is in the state she is in, Saren has no complaints or whatsoever. With his right hand on her forehead, the blonde does his magic and slowly, Saren feels better.
"Whoa… it's gone. Is this also a part of your unique condition?" the blonde retracted his hand from her forehead, much to her silent displeasure.
"Nah, basic medical ninjutsu." The blonde dismisses her thoughts. "My condition only involves my body physically, so I have to learn on how to do that on my own. The hospital's ICU is a perfect place to watch medics treat patients who are badly hurt, long story short, I've no need to buy bandages from shops anymore."
"Hm… you ninjas sure have it easy huh?" Saren sighs to herself, her shoulders slumping a little bit.
Naruto winks, tapping his forehead hintingly. "Nuh uh. Not a ninja yet, remember? Later, at three, I'll have to go to a training ground to receive my… qualification test." He says. "I don't know what it's going to be though, but there's a high chance that it'll involve me getting hit and hurting said hitter while doing so."
"Pfft!" Saren stifles her laughter, finding the mental image funny. "You so have to tell me about it later." Her eyes trail to the clock on the café's wall, realizing that she has no more time to spend over chats and tea, it is time for her to return. "Well, I think it's time I go back now… I have other clients to entertain, after all." She stands from her place, jumping out of the sofa.
"Ah, it's time for me to go too." Naruto simply slides outside, stretching his hands and legs after sitting for quite a time. He sees Saren taking out her purse and he quickly stops her. "Ah, you don't have to pay. I'll treat us both."
Saren gives him a questioning look. "Are you sure?"
"I'm sure, besides, you're helping me already so consider this an… early payment from me."
Saren giggles. "You idiot blonde, trying to look so cool."
"Hey, you can't stop a guy from trying to look cool in front of a girl." Naruto answers back, grinning.
It's a nice morning indeed.
After their morning breakfast and tea or coffee and cake in his case, they split up in front of the café with their own business to do. Saren, there's no mistaking it; the girl is getting ready to prepare to contact those people who owe her favors. The blonde, being a gentleman he is, bids the younger girl farewell before becoming one with the crowd. There is still another three hour before his supposed 'examination'. What to do to waste time… since he is full, yes believe it or not he is the type of guy who gets full by eating sweets, eating again is out of the question.
Training? Then that would defeat the purpose of the exams later, he'd tire himself already with Hanabi this early morning and since he did make her wet herself, he won't be seeing her or any other Hyuuga anytime soon, for the sake of his safety. So what to do… pranks are out of the question since he is lacking in materials and scouting for his personal business is also not that important at the moment; now that he is going to become a legitimate shinobi of Konoha, he'd figure that the best course of action is to minimalize his business; just so the old goat won't catch a whiff of what he's trying to do.
Secrecy in Konoha is so bad. It's so bad that he is not surprised if Iwa already knows that the key to the Hokage's porn stash is underneath the carpet. For far more important things like jutsus, forbidden ones and the higher ranking ones, however are kept safe but there is no telling if people out there knows about it specifically. Saren will take time gathering the information he needs, in the meantime, he will discover the shinobi while doing minimal work on his own interest. The Hokage has eyes and ears almost everywhere in Konoha, but he is confident in his sensor abilities, so there is no need to worry about the eyes and hears looking or hearing about things that they aren't supposed to; but that does not mean that he could lower his guard.
It's a tough life he is currently living in… what's worse is the fact he is the only one who chose the path he's taken now. But you know what they say, once it's set in stones then it is final. No turning back, not even a glance behind.
"Hey! You, the blonde hottie!"
Snapped out from his thoughts, Naruto looks from left to right; making sure if he was not hearing things.
"Yeah you, the blondie over there!" the same female voice he heard before is heard once again through his ears.
Okay it's confirmed, someone is calling out to him.
Directing his vision towards the source of the call, Naruto comes face to face with an unfamiliar face. A girl, notably shorter than him by a few inches—barely reaching his chin, and a hairstyle that definitely makes her look iconic. Twin buns in the color of hazel brown, a brunette of a girl calling out to him, dressed in a Chinese styled clothing with weapon pouches on her thighs. On her forehead is a forehead protector that carries the emblem of Konoha, marking her a ninja. From her looks alone, it's easy to tell that she is a genin. And her chakra levels are above the normal ones that genins usually have, making her skilled in a few fields of ninjutsu.
However, his field of vision is not limited to that only. Look at her arms, or her forearm to be exact. The muscle there is toned, much more than the ones on her abdominals, thigh and back. She must've done a lot of kunai throwing practice to be able to have that kind of complexion. Her eyes too, like him, are scanning him; but it seems that she is not capable of doing so in the length that he is capable of.
His eyes coincidentally meet hers, confirming her call. She runs toward him, on her arms are what seems to be fliers of some sort. Before he knows it, she shoves one of the fliers to his face. "Here take this, you look like a person who might seem interested in weapons like I do."
Taking the paper off from his face and her hand, he narrows his eyes. So he is right… she is familiar with weapons. He takes a moment to read the pamphlet, raising an eyebrow as he does so. "Hagane's weapon shops, providing the right tools for the right fools. Wow, nice slogan there." He deadpans.
The girl with the buns has the decency to look sheepish as she starts to rub the back of her head while looking away in embarrassment. "Hehehe… that's my dad's doing; I was against it at the first time but seeing that there's no deeper meaning than content… so… yeah." She explains awkwardly. "Anyway, please do visit okay? We're just at the end of the road, you'll see our sign miles away. See ya blondie!" she turns and proceeds to do the righteous act of advertising.
Naruto eyes the pamphlet once again before shrugging his shoulders. He folds the paper and pockets it into his persons. "Meh, maybe I'll visit when I finally become a real ninja. In the meantime…" he flexes his arms, pops his fingers and stretches them. "these will do." By doing so, he has gathered the attention of the female majority who are now staring at him with looks in their eyes. Being the natural charmer he is, he winks back at them, giving them quite the shock.
"No reason to be here any longer… better head home." With his hands folded behind his head, he heads home. And by home, he meant his shithole of an apartment. Taking the shortcut back, he ends up in alleyways filled with the homeless and junks, both the non-living things and the living things. Even a proud village like Konoha has its own sets of unfortunate societies like this… he is not surprised.
His apartment is not far really, just southeast of here now that he's past the shopping district and commercial district. Right now, he is about to enter the slums, the slums. The place where people with holes in their pockets live, the place where social outcasts resides and the place where Konoha's resident Jinchuriki is making his home at. Since the place he is living at does not house that many residents, only some people know of him living there; aside from the Hokage and his little bands of ANBUs who occasionally visit from time to time.
Apartment room number 609, floor ten. That's his condo, his casa de suite… or whatever that is.
Again, the place is a shithole, but it's a comfortable one. Besides, rent is cheap… though they really should get proper plumbing soon. He's sick of having to take baths with water that comes out from the shower mixed with rat piss in them. There's a door, a room, a living room, a fridge, a portable kitchen, a couch, a junk called television and two flickering lightbulbs for lighting. Real shit right here. But, as they all say, beggars aren't choosers. Maybe his ninja career, compiled with the odd jobs and favor he'll be running, will elevate him off from that statement.
"I'm home." As always, no one replies.
Kicking off his sandal shoes, he closes the door shut before plopping to his couch and breathing in the scent of rusted metals that is most definitely not healthy for the lungs, normal lungs at least, not his. Seriously, he has no time to worry about things like that. He figures that a short nap will do him good. So he closes his eyes, letting sleep overcome him.
And he falls to slumber.
Goggles; check.
Rubber gloves; check.
Those are basically the two things that he'll need for the upcoming occasion, basically.
Oh, and an extra pair of clothes, who knows when he might morph…
Standing beyond him are people, and from the look on their faces, it seems that they are not taking him seriously. One of them is even cracking jokes already about how a blonde brat is about to get his ass handed to him. And he is supposed to be a Jonin… shame really. But more importantly, the Hokage and his ANBU guards are present; that is enough to keep the talking and bickering to a minimum level. Standing in the middle of the designated training ground is him, dressed in nothing more than his orange vest, a pair of red trainers, his sandals and his favorite pair of goggles which are currently fixed to his forehead.
There is also a crowd of spectators, no doubt the people that will be doing the evaluation along with the Hokage. There are quite an imbalance with the number of Jonins to the number of ANBUs in the crowd… he is basically filtering them through chakra levels, but some are unidentifiable, simply because their uniform does not state their color or affiliation. He glances around, slowly taking in the scenery of people looking down at him, mocking him, belittling him… he is not bothered by that, not all. What he is pissed off, in fact, is the waiting.
"Oi you old goat." Everyone, except the Hokage and Itachi, is shocked at the way he addressed the wizened Hokage. "Can we start already? I need to go back home and water my plants you see, because… uh… science."
Everyone sweat dropped at the reason.
Hirzuen slaps himself on the face, uttering soft curses to himself as to why he didn't think of this sooner than now. Switching to a serious look, he eyes the boy for a second. Lightly armed… not even an equipment pouch… is this boy taking this as a joke?... no, definitely not but it is interesting. Hiruzen has to admit, he knows nothing of the boy's skill, aside from his condition. He gives Itachi, who is standing by his right side, a look as well as a nod. The long haired Uchiha nods before whispering to his ANBU subordinate.
"Uzumaki Naruto." The Third Hokage starts, entering a deep speech. "Before you are the shinobis of Konoha; loyal to their Kage, adamant and fearless in battle. They are men and women who possess skills that ensure the peace and safety of this village along with the people in it. Can you, Uzumaki Naruto, contribute the same?" he ends it with a questioning cliff, leaving behind a long and mute silence.
"…No, I can't contribute the same…" the blonde starts. He stares at the old man in the eyes, his lips stretched to a grin. "I'll contribute more."
Inwards, Hiruzen is smirking. "Very well, we shall see about that." He says. From behind him, three people dressed in ANBU uniforms steps forward, all dressed in the same uniform but different masks. The one in the middle is wearing what seems to be a lion's mask and is a male, the one on his left is a female and she wears what Naruto thinks to be a bird's mask and the final one, the one standing on lion's right side is wearing a mask which has the feature of a bear and the wearer is a male. All three are equipped with standard ANBU equipment and gears such as tantos, high quality kunais and shurikens, maybe a roll of fine steel wire and some explosives tags to go with them. How does he know about what type of equipment does the ANBU have with them, one might ask… well, he raided their base, remember?
"These three ANBU specialist will be testing you in three different fields. Lion will be responsible in testing you in your ninjutsu, Bear will be seeing how good your taijutsu is and Bird will be testing you in genjutsu." Hiruzen explains firmly. "Since this is only a test, they will be given turns."
Aw, the old goat is worried. How cute.
"Now, begin."
Naruto is not prepared. His eyes didn't even see the blur of black that is bear lunging at him with his fist cocked back. The blonde's eyes widen in brief surprise, but it is that, brief.
CRACK
A loud and sickening cracking sound echoes throughout the field. Everyone, even Hiruzen, is expecting the boy to end up with a broken nose or even face completely. But they are wrong. Bear mutes his scream, but it is obvious that he is hurt. He falls to one knee, clutching his broken wrist in definite pain. While everyone is immersed in their shock, Naruto sees this as his chance to counter act and by counter act, he meant a boot with the equivalent crashing power of a bull made of diamonds crashing to Bear's face. The result is not that surprising, to Naruto only. Bear is launched quite far away, but it is not the distance that matters, the damage done however… is nearly fatal.
The ceramic that most of the ANBU's masks are made off cracks broken, leaving Bear with a bleeding face and a lot of debt for his plastic surgery session later on. But he is an ANBU, the best of the best, the special operatives… he won't go down with just a boot to the face. Given the man is still in pain after getting his wrist broken and his face crushed with a very hard boot and not to mention the shrapnel that are stuck to his skin, he is shaky and dizzy. Again, the blonde uses this chance as an advantage. He never really go one on one against an ANBU, so this is his one and only chance to try it out. He disappears from bear's line of sight, but Bear—being a trained fellow he is—anticipates the kick aimed for his head from behind.
Reminded of what fate his right wrist is in right now, Bear takes the safest course of action and that is to duck under the kick and jumping to create a distance between him and the boy. His wrist is still pulsing from the pain alone… it seems that he has to go from taijutsu to kenjutsu now. He unsheathes the tanto on his back with his left hand, holding it in a ready grip. He runs forward, sword in hand, and when he gets close to the blonde, he makes a slicing motion.
"You're going to need more than a pair of rubber gloves to stop this one, kid."… is probably what the ANBU is saying inside of his head.
But that's where you're wrong, mister ANBU. You are the one who needs him to wear his rubber gloves in order for you not to end up six feet under the Konoha's shinobi cemetary.
What's supposed to happen is for a large horizontal slash wound to be made on the blonde's chest, so imagine everyone's surprise when they see the upper part of the ANBU's sword's blade breaks to a single fragment. Bear tries to react immediately by kicking his way out from the blonde's range, but the word 'tries' is the keyword here. Naruto's gloved fist crashes to Bear's lightly armored abdomen, the man spits out not only saliva but also blood to his mask's broken interior. Then a follow up left jab to the ribs is delivered by the blonde, as well as spinning shoulder attack to the ANBU's left cheek and finally a finishing uppercut to Bear's chin which sends him up two feet into the air while breaking his mask entirely and pushing his chin upwards into his face.
Silence. Not a single bicker coming from the audience, both the Hokage and his ninjas. What they have seen here is something impossible. Completely impossible. They just witnessed a no ranked boy beating a highly trained and experienced ANBU who somehow has managed to break said ANBU's wrist and fingers by letting the same ANBU punch him, completely rearranged the ANBU's face into a mess and break some bones in the ANBU's body. If Bear isn't unconscious then no one knows what state he is in now. The blonde yawns while stretching his arms up in the air as emphasize and a way to shake himself off the feeling of relaxation.
"Next?"
And that's what he got.
"Suiton: Water Spear!"
The blonde's reaction to the spike of chakra coming from a certain direction is minimal, as in it's just a raise of an eyebrow. Before the blonde knows it, he is wet already; soaked from head to toe with water created from chakra and the water particles in the air. The blonde blinks a few times to register the fact that the ninjutsu section of the test had just begin. He jumps back to scan his opponent, Lion. The blonde's eyes widen when he sees something fast comes zapping at him.
"Raiton: Volt Shot." A soccer ball sized lightning orb comes flying at him with speeds faster than his eyes could even register. Naruto feels, coupled with the fact that he is wet, the tingly sensation of lightning coursing his entire body. He feels a brief sensation of numbness on his legs, his arms, his torso and even neck; but not enough to make him fall unconscious. He just stands there, unmoving. Paralyzed and 'vulnerable', the blonde could do nothing when Lion comes running toward him with his fingers flashing hand signs at him. "Katon: Fireball!" heat meets his soaked and paralyzed state; the giant ball of fire comes to contact with his skin, causing him to channel more chakra than the usual amount in order for him to be able to tank the attack straight on.
There is not even the slightest bit of pain, scorch and even sear when the fireball hits him. All that it does is just scorch his soaked shirt, really… and since it is soaked, it's not really scorched, just a little bit ashen. The display of him taking basic ninjutsus straight on like that gains the people's attention, awe and disbelief. However, the scene is more than enough to keep them from talking in the middle of the fight. Once that Naruto feels his body again, he dashes forward in order to engage Lion in a one on one. He channels chakra to his fists, adding for a terrifying outcome. Ninjutsu does not necessarily mean that he has to shoot out flashy techniques; it basically means the use of chakra in a fight like this. So as long as he's using chakra for his punches, kicks and hits; he's okie dokie.
Lion, after having seen how the boy fights, decides that the best course of action is for him to play on the defensive and not attack the boy straight on. So the first thing that he does when seeing the boy readying for a punch is for him to dodge it at all cost, retreat and throw a jutsu that will hopefully affect the boy. As he has predicted, Naruto is straightforward with his fists; the blonde's punch is easily dodged with ANBU level reflexes and Lion uses the moment to kick himself away from the blonde all the while readying a couple of hand signs. "Doton: Earth Dome!" the earth grumble and shakes underneath the blonde, and suddenly a dome forms from the earth that sprung up from the ground; forming a small dome shaped structure that traps the blonde inside. Lion is confident that the kid will not be able to escape from this one, he used a lot of chakra to make sure that the structure is thick and strong, so there is no way of him bursting through it all badass and like.
For once, everyone is convinced that the boy is trapped. With no air for him to breathe, there is no way that he could stay in there for more than ten minutes. Then suddenly, something very, very terrifying happens.
"Surprise motherfucker." Imagine someone saying that with a muffled tone and it's coming from the underground. A hand shot up right next to Lion's leg. With no time to react much less jump, Lion can only suffer as said hand drags him into the ground, leaving him buried neck down in the earth. Shortly later, the blonde himself comes bursting out from a few meters away; gasping and heaving. He crawls out from the shaft underneath him, clothes and skin all covered in dirt. The teen stands on his feet, dusting his shoulders, hands, pants and vest from whatever dirt he could get rid of.
"Phew… thank God that I knew a few Doton techniques…" he mutters. "Otherwise, I'll have to do CPR with my own clone…" then he notices the still conscious ANBU stuck to the ground. Why is he still conscious? Well, he won't be; not anymore. "Ah, sorry I forgot. Here." He approaches the ANBU, who is desperately trying to do anything but to no avail, and raises his boot near his face. "No hard feelings, okay?"
THUMP
Two ANBUs knocked out in a day… much originality, such sweg…
Naruto directs his head to his final examiner. Said examiner is prepared for everything, she reaches for her sword; anticipating for him to charge at her straight on. She slowly watches him raise a finger to his face, each passing seconds causes sweat to pool more and more on her forehead.
A tiger seal.
"Katsu."
BOOM
Bird is knocked out via an explosion from the back.
.
.
.
"Eh… what the fuck just happened?" an intelligent question comes from the audience.
Naruto humors them. "I used an exploding tag on her and she's unconscious, duh."
"How… or when did you place an exploding tag on Bird?" this time, it's the Hokage who asked in a small voice.
"Oh, I didn't just put one on her." Everyone's stomach sinks. "I did not know who I will be up against so, while the you were giving me the boring and completely unnecessary speech about your ninjas and battlefields, safety and peace, and contributions; I decide that at that moment, the best course of action is put explosive tags behind everyone's back!" he spreads his arms and says so cheerfully, a large grin plastered on his face.
Everyone checks their backs immediately and indeed, there is an explosive tag behind them; yes even the Hokage has one. And no, not only the jonin level ninjas, but the ANBUs too.
"So gramps," Naruto begins with a questioning edge. "Did I pass?"
Needless to say… Itachi is pestering the Hokage for the boy's recruitment in ANBU even more now.
"Whew… finally got my ninja's degree!"
Walking around town, he is now sporting a new look. Not exactly a new look, he is still handsome and all that, but instead of his goggles; he now wears his newly acquired forehead protector which has Konoha's insignia etched onto it. He taps the piece of hardened metal with a large grin on his face, this thing is too soft to be called steel and too thin to be called iron. So… it's a very thick iron, perhaps? Nope. It's actually titanium. Wow. It turns out this thing might just prevent a stray kunai from hitting somebody right in the forehead. Titanium is expensive metal, he knows this because some of the ninja wires he used are made from titanium and they are freaking expensive.
"Hm… speaking of which…" a sudden thought suddenly dawns upon the young teen, his mind processing capability is heightened to reach whatever conclusion that he is trying to find. "Ah crap! If my timing's shittier than those high nosed Uchiha's, then now…!" to his anxiety and panic, his skin begins to harden. And it looks like, this time, it's going to be harder than the last time. Literally.
"Oh fuck, oh fuck, oh fuck, oh fuck!" he curses in a very incredible speed, getting the onlooker's attention on him. He begins looking around, trying to look for a place where he could hide from people. And to his luck, there's an alley just up ahead. With all of his remaining stamina from the earlier test, which is still a lot, he runs toward said alley; panicked with his heart beating loudly inside his chest. His skin is starting to harden, he could feel it change all the way down to his toes and up to his neck. Fortunately, those parts are covered by his clothing, but not his face. He slips into the alley without getting people's attention, looks like he made it.
"Haaaah..." he releases a long breath of relief, now that he has successfully hidden himself. Leaning on the alley's wall, he slides down along the wall and to his butt; making a screeching sound akin to that of metal being dragged downwards the wall's rough surface. "Man, that was a very close one." As he sits, he can already notice that his body is heavier than before… but other than that, nothing. In his metamorphic state, he could neither feel hot or cold, pain or pleasure. He can't.
He looks at his palms, examining them. "What is it this time? Iron… no, steel. Yes, this is definitely steel." Iron is rougher and softer than Steel. Also, Steel shines more than Iron and more heat resistant. It's a good thing that the morphing just began now, if it were to happen during his exams… then he'd have a lot to explain to the Hokage; and he definitely doesn't want that.
Sighing, he brings himself to his feet again. "I can go home from here. Just have to stick to the alleyways." He says to himself. Pulling his vest's hood to his head, he walks deeper into the alley and finally makes his way home for real this time.
He just hopes that no one will stumble upon him.
Hm… this chapter… I'm not proud of it. But hey, good things start slowly I guess. Anyway, it seems that more is known about Naruto's unique condition; and not just about him being able to be as tough as diamonds, but also some of the other categories that the blonde himself—or I—have register them under. This Naruto won't be too OP. I'll say that now. He is just a tank; he could tank a lot of damage done to him; that's all. But that does not mean that he won't grow from his weaknesses, he will become strong, maybe stronger even.
If I am to go by the common reason as to why Naruto is able to move while being in the state he is in, it's because his body has adapt to it at a very young age. More about the blonde's past will be told in future chapters and also his so called 'job'. Oh, and I hope that you guys don't mind OCs; because future ones and already existing one—Saren—might just play a huge role in this story. And in case if you haven't notice… this isn't canon at all. Sure, there will be canon events, but they will be heavily altered by me so I hope that you won't mind that one too.
Anything else… ah, I need help with fight scenes. As you may have noticed from the one written in this chapter, I am not that good at making them. So, please, if you are willing to help or contribute, let me know by giving me a PM. Again, you can give me reviews if you are going to criticize me and point out mistakes, I really appreciate the one given by an anonymous Guest; thanks buddy. Your favorites and follows are already enough to make me going with this project, but maybe the same rules won't apply to future projects.
Ah… speaking of which… I am interested in what you—readers—would like to see from me. Would you like me to write a crossover series, or just normal one franchised one like this? Please, let me know by PMing me and if you have a good idea in mind, let's discuss it.
I've taken a long time with this ending note, so I'll end it here.
This is me, signing out.