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Chapter Two: More Youthful than Ever
Team seven passed the next few days under a pall of tension.
Had Naruto pulled some failed prank or announced his continued quest for revenge, things might have continued as normal. Instead, he arrived the next morning and trained with the bare minimum of conversation. Whether they admitted it or not, the rest of his team found the unusually taciturn blond more terrifying than any threats of revenge.
After two weeks, the blond seemed to return to normal. They took on missions, Sasuke argued with Naruto and life went on. When he grew bored of needling the unresponsive Naruto about his failed "vow"; Sasuke returned to his usual line of insults.
The boy's threat would pass forgotten until two months later.
In the midst of another dull D-rank mission weeding a wealthy citizen's garden, Naruto straightened and swiped his face with the sleeve of the jacket knotted around his waist. He glared at the tree his sensei lounged in. Shaking his head, he stepped into the shade of the tree and peered up at the jounin. Kakashi sat in the joint between a large branch and the trunk, his hanging leg swung minutely in the warm summer breeze. Pointedly ignoring the boy, he giggled and flipped the page of his book.
"Kakashi-sensei," Naruto's tone was hard; his teammates looked up from their work. "Though it may not look like it, I haven't forgotten my promise. If you return my notes and apologize, I won't carry out my revenge."
Kakashi gave a questioning hum and peered down at the orange-clad boy. A few moments passed and then he shook his head. "Oh, that." He returned his gaze to his book. "Even if I wanted to return your notes, I can't. For some reason, they burst into flames when I was reading them."
A pleased smile spread across the whiskered cheeks. "You tried looking at them with your sharingan, didn't you?" Kakashi gave a small grunt of agreement. "Nice to know my security measure worked then."
Sasuke's eyes widened at the implication and scowled at the orange clad genin's back.
Naruto shook his head. "Since you can't return my notes, if you give me a sincere apology; I won't carry out my threat."
"I could," Kakashi drawled and tilted his head, "but I don't really feel like it. Get back to work all of you."
Naruto frowned a moment, and then his face went blank. "I see. Before I go, here are a few interesting facts for you Sensei... When I was six it took me a week of planning to pull off painting all the masks of Sparrow's squad pink and purple with hearts-"
Sasuke's ANBU guard snorted. "Sparrow still has a grudge against you kid." Sakura and Sasuke gaped at their teammate in a mixture of admiration and horror.
Naruto flashed a grin up at the unseen guard and continued. "I'm not a child anymore, Sensei. Imagine what I could do with these last two months and innumerable Shadow clones."
Kakashi didn't visibly react, but he felt the hairs on the back of his neck lift at the thought. Naruto's gaze eerily resembled the furious gaze Minato sensei locked on his Iwa enemies in the war. He mentally gave himself a shake, refusing to be cowed by his teacher's legacy.
"I'm pretty sure I can watch my back," Kakashi drawled, raising his book back to his face.
Naruto's shoulders slumped and he heaved a sigh of defeat. "You're lucky I like you sensei." He muttered before squatting down to pick more weeds.
Two hours later, Naruto joined a troop of clones in a wide clearing not far from where Team Gai typically trained. A clone transformed to look like one of the failed genin from the chuunin exam handed the blond a full backpack and dispersed. Naruto and his remaining clones grinned.
"This is gonna be awesome." One of them chuckled, carefully tying a piece of sealing paper to the ring of a kunai. The original chuckled, pulled a bundle of clothing from the bag, and stripped out of his orange jumpsuit.
He pulled on a smoke-gray body suit, midnight black jacket, matching ninja sandals and charcoal gray cargo shorts. He attached his forehead protector to a black bandanna that covered his distinctive blond locks. A few dabs of camouflage paint thickened his whisker markings into a semblance of clan markings. Tossing the shopping bag and paint aside, he twisted and flexed to test his range of movement.
"So how do I look?" He asked his clones as he reattached his kunai and shuriken pouches.
The clones looked up from stabbing the tag marked kunai in a pattern around the clearing. "Awesome boss!" One cheered, giving a double thumbs-up. "It's perfect for the plan." Dark chuckles rang from the others.
Naruto checked the contents of his bag and then slung it over his shoulder just as the last clone stabbed his kunai in the ground and stepped back. His eyes traced the circular pattern of blades, their tags fluttering in the faint breeze. He nodded to himself, and then turned to the clones. "Let's do this. Who has the anchor?"
A clone peered over a scroll of seals and called out a string of numbers for another clone to copy onto an orange tag. The clone retrieved a kunai with a green tag and a large sealing scroll, then handed them to Naruto.
"Here you go, boss," the clone said as Naruto placed all but the green-tagged kunai in his new backpack. "To revenge." The clone stated and dispersed.
One by one, the troop of clones repeated the phrase and dispelled until only the original remained. The no longer orange-clad blond leaped to the center of the array.
"To revenge." He echoed, charging the green tag with chakra and thrusting the knife into the ground.
The tags lit up and the world slipped side-ways. Naruto wanted to scream, but he was frozen in a half-crouch as the sky went black and then swirled with dizzying flashes of color. His inner ear went crazy, and gravity seemed to yank him in random directions. Meanwhile, he felt the energy draining from him like water from an unstopped sink.
His stomach twisted in knots and the ramen he ate before attempting the seal soured in his belly. Just as he wondered whether his puke would fly away or just come back to him, the force holding him to his kunai vanished. Whirling like a released top, he spun a few feet, overbalanced and crashed face-first into a bush. Consciousness flipped him the finger and all went dark.
Waking up with leaves in your mouth and a large twig up your nose was a novel experience, Naruto decided as he fought his way back to awareness. An experience he could have lived without.
He spat out the leaves and hissed a weak curse. His arms merely twitched when he tried to push himself up. A failed attempt to shift his legs garnered similar results. His muscles burned and throbbed and his core felt like an empty well.
He cursed again; he hadn't imagined the technique would be this demanding. Until he regained some chakra, moving was impossible. "I wonder how hard it will be to fall asleep with this in my nose." He muttered to himself.
Seconds later, he was asleep.
Yelling from what seemed a great distance slowly brought him back to awareness. A strong grip around his ankles yanking him from the bush finished the job. Howling in pain, Naruto clutched his abused sinuses and rolled onto his back to glare at his assailant.
The shinobi-as Naruto spied the forehead protector tied around the boy's waist-pulled Naruto to a somewhat wobbly upright position. "Ah, you are a Konoha ninja!" The black haired boy exclaimed, black eyes shining under very large eyebrows.
Bushy brows? Check.
"Was that some sort of training? Or were you assaulted by some unyouthful enemies?" Dark eyes darted around the wooded area, in hopes of spotting said enemies.
Youth talk? Check.
"I was trying a new technique," Naruto rasped, massaging his nose as he eyed the boy's black pants and green t-shirt. "The backlash was more violent than I expected."
Green spandex outfit? Negative. Hm.
Two out of three wasn't bad though.
"A new technique? And you're around my age!" Possibly-Gai cried, worship in his eyes.
Naruto mentally shrugged, and asked, "Are you Maito Gai?"
"I am! You've heard of Konoha's rising star of taijutsu then? But who are you?" Faint wariness crept into his tone. "Why have I never seen you before?"
Bingo, the time traveler grinned.
"That is simple," Naruto responded, "It all has to do with the technique I performed. I just traveled back in time."
Before Gai could open his mouth to reject it, Naruto kept speaking. "You know, Gai-sensei, I never would have imagined you were once my height!" He carefully walked around the boy, struggling to hide the shaking in his steps.
"'Sensei'?" Gai parroted with wide eyes. "I'm your teacher?"
"Nah, not mine," Naruto stepped to a tree and leaned back against it. "One of my best friends is your student. He worships you and shaped himself entirely in your image."
Gai's eyes sparkled with wonder, caught in the idea of someone worshiping him. Leading to imagining being someone worthy of worship. Reality stepped in, and suspicion crept back into his expression. "I'm still not convinced. I'm going to get a jounin." Gai didn't turn, but took a few steps back.
"Damn," Naruto rubbed the back of his neck. He hadn't planned on Gai being so untrusting. "The Gai I know would at least have given me a chance to explain why I'm here. I guess I shouldn't be too surprised that you're a lot less youthful considering..."
Gai stiffened, and his eyes widened and he stopped backing away. He bit his lip, obviously torn. "Considering what?" He finally asked.
'Gotcha!' The blond mentally cheered. Outwardly, he shook his head and spread his arms, palms up. "Since you don't have an eternal rival."
Gai gaped at the time traveler. "You know the youth power of eternal rivals? Yes, you must, since you mentioned it. Argh! If only I knew who my ultimate rival was so I could reach the full potential of YOUTH!" He cried dramatically raising his fists to the sky, the faintest flickers of waves crashing behind him.
'Wait for it...' Naruto fought down a manic grin.
"But wait!" Gai whirled to face the disguised blond his face beaming with hope. "You are from the future! You could tell me who my rival is!"
As swiftly as he brightened, the genin drooped. "But wait, if you came from the future, you likely have some amazing noble quest to save the future of Konoha and the world from destruction by an evil maniac who wants to control the world with... with the moon!"
Naruto raised an eyebrow at the outrageous scenario his fellow genin dreamed up. "No, nothing like that. I actually did come to guide you to your true rival."
Despite his instant joy, Gai couldn't help but ask, "Why? Why come back in time to tell me about my rival?"
"There are several reasons," Naruto slid down his tree until he sat on the ground. "Some less noble than others, but one reasons is: he needs you just as much as you need him. You probably know him, Hatake Kakashi."
Gai's jaw dropped. "THE Hatake Kakashi? The youngest jounin in a generation and only non-Uchiha to master the Sharingan is my rival? How could I possibly match him?"
"That is a good question." Naruto nodded, "Sadly I don't have an answer to that other than 'undaunted persistence'. You won't be in a normal rivalry, but your competitions will push both of you to be some of the strongest jounin ever."
"Competitions?" Gai frowned.
"Oh yeah!" Naruto grinned, gesturing with his right hand. "You challenge him to all sorts of random contests. If you lose, you promise to do some stunt like climbing the Hokage Monument on your hands. Never quite understood that part." He muttered the last as an aside, but Gai heard him.
"It isn't a youthful challenge without some penalty," Gai explained, nodding slowly no longer doubting that this Youthful Ninja was from the future.
"Right. Anyway, considering what has recently happened with his team, Kakashi needs your friendship to anchor him to the village. A rival like you is just what he needs to keep his flames of youth from burning out."
Gai gasped, "You're right! What little youth Kakashi had before Obito was lost has dimmed greatly! I understand!" He clenched his fist, eyes burning. "I will declare Kakashi my eternal rival and encourage my burning flames of youth to bolster him through his sorrow!"
"Just a warning," Naruto raised a finger. "He'll probably ignore you at first so pick some challenges based on things he's already planning on doing. Take it easy at first so you don't scare him away too. If he pretends he didn't hear you, stroke his ego a little and claim he has a hip attitude."
"Got it!" Gai bounced on the balls of his feet, ready to find his new rival.
"I have a special gift to help you on your way." The time-traveler reached into his backpack and removed a small, slightly dusty sealing scroll. He placed it in Gai's outstretched hand but didn't let go. "Sealed in this is your ultimate tool to reaching your full youthful potential. My master made me seal it away because I was not strong enough to handle its power."
He relaxed his grip. Gai took the scroll and activated the seal with shaking hands. A green spandex suit fell into his hands. "This... This is AMAZING! I've never seen such a glorious outfit!" The black-haired boy whirled to Naruto, tears shining in his eyes. "I will treasure it always! Thank you so much, Youthful Ninja from the Future! Before I go, tell me, will I ever see you again?"
"Of course," Naruto grinned. "That's a promise, and I never go back on my promises! You'll have to keep my arrival and actions here a secret until then."
"But when will I see you again? Five years? Ten?" The boy knelt at his side and peered anxiously at his face.
"We'll meet sometime after your 150th challenge." Naruto clapped a hand on the future taijutsu master's shoulder. "Now go get him."
"Yosh!" The boy cheered and sprinted away.
"Mission complete." He summoned some kage bunshin and handed one of them the large scroll from his pack. Each of the clones took one of the seals on the scroll and unsealed a brace of tagged kunai.
As the clones dashed around planting kunai, Naruto fished out several cups of ramen with seals scrawled on their lids. A flash of chakra and minutes later he feasted.
By the time he finished his meal and sealed away the garbage, the array was complete. His clones congratulated him on his success before dispersing.
As he double checked the placement of the seal, Naruto's stomach protested at the thought of the ride ahead. Maybe he shouldn't have eaten so much ramen. Unfortunately, it was too dangerous to stay longer. Sleeping in a bush and only being found by his target pushed his luck to the breaking point.
Heaving a sigh and shaking his head, he stepped through the kunai-formed seal patterns. Gritting his teeth, he crouched and then stuck the orange-tagged kunai into the soil. The magnet-like connection returned and the disconcerting celestial light show began. When the invisible force jerked him like a leaf in the wind, he lost his battle against nausea.
Thankfully, his vomit did not fly back into his face. A bemused part of his brain, drifting aimlessly in his increasing exhaustion watched it catch fire and disappear. He giggled, wondering where it would end up before he flew away from the ground and skidded face-first along blissfully soft, upturned soil and hot ashes.
For a moment, colored lights flashed in his vision. He struggled to breathe, his exhaustion crushing him to the ground. A twitch of his neck muscles aided by gravity turned his head to the side.
The eye not pressed against the ground widened as much as he could force it in horror. All he could see was burning and torn to pieces. "Crap, I destroyed the world..." Naruto wheezed, and succumbed to chakra exhaustion.