Here's the second chapter of The Marionette. Remember to Read and Review. Flames are acceptable as long as you tell me what I did wrong and how to fix it. If you'd like to beta my story, pm me and I'll consider it. Now that the formalities are out of the way, you may comence reading when ready. Chapter two, action!
Miira
Four years. Four years had passed since Naruto had found the Kugutsu no Jutsu scroll. Using the Kugutsu no Jutsu had been alot harder than he thought. The first obstacle had been learning chakra control. For some reason, his control was absolutely abyssmal in the begining. Lucky for him, Hinata's Jyuken style needed perfect shakra control and her father had been nice enough to teach the clan's control excercises to him. The next obstacle had been learning how to form chakra strings. The scroll had said you needed to summon your chakra to your fingertips and expel it from those tenketsu points at a constant rate. Naruto had practiced that by controling his friends limbs when they weren't looking. Making Shino dance the Hokey Pokey had been the funnest training session ever, even though his bugs had crawled on his strings and into his pants. After getting control and strings down, he began the best part of the Kugutsu no Jutsu. Building your first puppet.
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It was the last week of their fourth year at the Academy. Shikamaru, Shino, Chouji, and Kiba were all waiting on Naruto at the base of his apartment.
"What the hell is taking him so long? It takes him longer to get ready than my sister!"
"Troublesome blonde."
"My stomach's rumbling. I wish he'd hurry up."
"Indeed."
Before they could whine some more, Naruto's door opened and out stepped their friend.
"Hey guys, sorry about the wait. I was just putting on my new clothes." Naruto had now ditched the 'Here-I-am-kill-me-now' orange jumpsuit. He now wore black shinobi pants with bandages that went from his ankles to the bottom of the pants. He had on a fishnet shirt with a black long-sleeved shirt over it. The black shirt had an orange spiral on the back. He also wore an unzipped black coat with a high collar (Think Ibiki's coat). The coat had the Uzumaki spiral on both shoulders and the back. He still wore his goggles on his forehead though.
"Damn Naruto, nice threads!" Naruto looked up from examing himself.
"Thanks Kiba. Shall we get going now?" A nod from the other boys and they were on their way.
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Naruto and friends got into their seats right before the bell rang. Not long after, Iruka and Mizuki walked into the classroom. Iruka then began the class.
"All right class, today we'll be going over elemental affinities and then..., uh, hey, where's Naruto?" Naruto facefaulted.
"Hey Iruka-sensei! Are you blind!? I'm sitting in the same spot I've been sitting in for the last four years!"
Iruka smiled sheepishly. "Oh, sorry Naruto. I didn't notice you without the orange." He then turned back to the class. "Everyone has an affinity. There are five of them. Fire, water, ...
A few people's thoughts turned to the blonde demon container.
'What happened to the orange?'
'Is that the same Naruto?'
'Naruto-kun is so, so, so sexy!' (Guess who.)
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After lunch, Mizuki's half of the class began. While Iruka taught them knowledge and ninjutsu, Mizuki taught weapons and taijutsu. He also set up spars. They were currently outside on the Academy's training field. They were all lined up on the side of the building while Mizuki paired them up as sparing partners. After a couple of spars, Mizuki finally got to Sasuke and Naruto.
"Okay, next up, Sasuke vs. Naruto." Both boys stepped up and stood on either side of Mizuki. They both got into a taijutsu stance. "Okay you two. Taijutsu only the first five minutes, then add in ninjutsu when you hear the bell." Both boys nodded. Mizuki stepped back then swung his arm down. "Begin!"
Naruto made the opening move. He dashed forward and aimed a punch for Sasuke's face. Sasuke saw this coming and blocked the punch, using his hand to grab Naruto's fist. Pulling Naruto off balance, Sasuke attempted to knee Naruto in the gut. Naruto blocked Sasuke's knee with his foot and kicked off, putting some distance between them. Sasuke jumped into the air in an attempt to kick Naruto before he hit the ground. Naruto saw it coming however and grabbed Sasuke's foot before it could connect. Using gravity to help, Naruto swung Sasuke around and threw him towards the ground. Sasuke flipped in midair and barely landed on his hands before pushing off and returning to his feet. The bystanders could feel the frustration in the air. Even though they were best friends, both boys were incredibly competitive and as of yet, neither of them had landed a hit on the other. Then, as if sharing the same thoughts, both boys ran towards each other, fists cocked back. When they met, they let their fists fly, nailing each other in the cheek. The force of the blows knocked them both on their backs. As they got up, the sound of a bell went off, signaling them to add in ninjutsu to the fight.
"All right Sasuke, I'm gonna win this match. You know why? I've been studying a particular jutsu scroll I found in the library for quite awhile now. I'm through being in second place. It's time I test out my new jutsu and finnaly beat you!"
"Heh, that's some big talk Naruto. Let's see if you can back it up."
Naruto opened his coat wide enough for Sasuke to make out two scrolls attached to the inside of it. Naruto pulled out the top one and opened it. Written on the middle of the scroll was the kanji for puppet. Naruto cut his thumb on one of his canines and spread the blood on the kanji. Summoning his chakra, he put both hands on the scroll. "Release, Miira!" There was a poof of smoke and an odd looking puppet appeared, a little taller than Naruto. It was covered in bandages from it's waist, up to it's neck. From the waist down was a grey hakama, hiding it's legs. It had four arms and four eyes along with a mouth and nose. The eyes were in the shape of a diamond. Atop it's head was a pharaoh's headdress. Five chakra strings leading from Naruto's fingers to Miira held the puppet up.
"Hahaha! That's what your fighting with? An overgrown childeren's toy?" He immediately had to duck in order to dodge a kunai from Miira's mouth that would've imbedded itself in his forehead.
"Careful Sasuke, Miira doesn't like to be made fun of." Chancing a look back, Sasuke saw that the kunai launched from Miira's mouth had sunk into a tree up to it's handle. "I've equiped Miira with all sorts of weapons. For instance, this." Miira raised it's arms and four six inch blades popped out of it's palms. The puppet dashed towards Sasuke, it's hakama flapping in the wind. Sasuke pulled out a kunai which met Miira's blades. The sound of metal meeting metal rang through the training field. Many of the students watched in awe as Sasuke seemed to be overwhelmed. Sasuke put all of his strength into his next swing. When the blades met his kunai, Miira lost it's two left blades. With a spin, the last two blades were seperated from the puppet. Sasuke smirked in Naruto's direction.
"That all you and your toy got?" Naruto gave his friend his foxy grin.
"Heh, far from it!" Miira opened it's mouth and a clicking noise could be heard inside. Suddenly, a volley of senbon needles was launched at Sasuke. His kunai deflected many but Sasuke ended up with senbon in his legs and arms, hindering his moverment. "Face it Sasuke. You can't beat Miira. You haven't even seen half of what it can do! I'm ready to end this, how about you?"
"All right, time for me to use my secret weapon." Sasuke went through half-a-dozen handseals. "Fire Release:Great Fireball!" A might ball of fire engulfed Miira. "Now that puppet is just a pile of tinderwood." Sasuke said with a smirk that quickly turned into a look of shock. There, standing in the middle of the fireball, was Miira, undamaged. Naruto started laughing.
"Hahahaha! You should see the look on your face! Sorry Sasuke. Miira, and all of it's components, are infused with my chakra! It's completely fire-proof." Taking advantage of the stunned Sasuke, Naruto pulled off one of his puppet's deadliest tricks. The bandages wrapped around Miira's torso unwound and shot at Sasuke. The bandages wrapped around him, traping him in a cocoon, and pulled him infront of Miira's chest. Each of Miira's four arms sprouted five, four inch long spikes. Both pairs of arms pulled back into an X-shape, the spikes floating over Sasuke's heart, lungs, and stomach area. Mizuki's jaw dropped in suprise. He lifted his left arm.
"Uzumaki Naruto wins."
"Yeah, all right! I beat Sasuke! I'm the best!" Sasuke smiled in spite of himself.
"That's all well and good Naruto but could you do me a favor please?" Naruto turned his gaze on his friend.
"Sure, what do you want?"
"GET ME OUT OF HERE!" Naruto put his arm behind his head and grinned sheepishly.
"Oh yeah, sorry." Naruto twiddled his fingers a little and the spikes on Miira's arms retreated. It's arms dropped to it's sides and Sasuke was released from it's bandages, which rewrapped around Miira's torso. With a poof of smoke, the mummy-like puppet disappeared.
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Once back in the classroom, Iruka went over the guidelines of the final test.
"Your final exam is at the end of the week. That gives you about four days to practice and study. In order to graduate, you need 95 points or more. The test is seperated into four parts. A written test, weapons efficiency, taijutsu, and finnaly, ninjutsu. Those who have enough points after the ninjutsu portion of the test will be given their forehead protector and aknowledged as official leaf nin. Class is over today. Go home and get some rest. We'll see you tomorrow."
"Hai sensei!"
As Naruto was about to exit the building, Hinata came up behind him. "Um, N-Naruto-kun?" Upon hearing his name, Naruto turned around to find his first friend behind him.
"Oh, hey Hinata-chan! I was just going to get some ramen to celebrate my victory today! You wanna come with me?"
"Um, s-sure."
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The 20 minute walk to Ichiraku's was quiet and uneventful. When they arrived, they took the closest seats to the bar. Ichiraku Ayame appeared out of nowhere.
"Hello Naruto-kun! Oh, who's your friend?" Naruto grinned and pushed his friend towards the young woman.
"This is the strongest kunoichi in our class and my friend, Hyuga Hinata!" Hinata blushed and pushed her fingers together.
"I'm s-sure your j-just s-saying that."
"No, I'm serious Hinata-chan!" Ayame giggled at the scene before her. 'How sweet, and they make such a cute couple too.'
"So what can I get you two?"
"I'll have three large bowl of beef ramen please!"
"May I have one medium bowl of miso ramen please?" Ayame went into the back of the stand to help her father prepare the orders, giving Naruto and Hinata a chance to talk.
"D-Do you think we'll p-pass, N-Naruto-kun?" Naruto looked at her like she said the sky was green.
"Of course we'll pass Hinata-chan! You're the strongest kunoichi and I'm tied with Sasuke for strongest shinobi." A few seconds of quiet passed between them. Naruto was waiting for the ramen to arrive and Hinata kept looking at him out of the corner of her eye.
'I wish I could have that level of confidence like Naruto-kun.' Ayame finally brought out their ramen and they began to eat, Hinata with slow and poised manners, Naruto like a gaping abyss, devouring everything before him. After they were done, Naruto put some coins on the bar. As they were about to leave, Naruto spoke up.
"Hey Hinata. When we pass, maybe we'll be on the same team." Hinata went home with considerably high spirits at the prospect of working with her crush.
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A/N: Hope you guys enjoyed the second chapter. Naruto will have three puppets by the time the Chunin Exams roll around. I have already created two for him. Now I want you guys to design his third puppet. It can be an attack type, defense type, a capture type, or a combination of the three. Which ever puppet idea I deem good enough will be used by Naruto in this fic. By the way, Miira is Japanese for Mummy. Ja Ne!