=NINE YEARS LATER=
Standing at the north gate of Konoha were three shinobi, their silhouettes shrouded in shadows as the night lamps of the village barely illuminated their standing point.
One was a man in a disturbingly skintight green jumpsuit with orange leg warmers that seemed terribly out of place. He sported a 'hip' bowl haircut and eyebrows thick enough to trap small birds and reptiles for days on end. He could be identified as a shinobi of the Leaf Village: Konohagakure, by the red headband tied neatly around his waist and the unzipped Jonin military vest that he proudly wore. He was Konoha's admittedly self-proclaimed, fiercest beast of battle, Maito Gai.
The second could be considered viable bunshin of the first; only lacking the height and green vest of his sensei. Unlike Gai, this young shinobi wore white bandages around his hands and arms to hide the callouses and bruises acquired by his rigorous training and to help him perform one of his deadliest techniques. The only other difference between master and student was a heavy rucksack slung over his shoulders...for his journey. His name was Rock Lee, the genius of hard work.
The third was a ANBU shinobi with a boar mask. He wasn't Squad Captain material but Ginta was still among the elite of the Hidden Leaf Village. Gai had asked him specifically to accompany his..er, special student on this extended training leave. Maito Gai had saved quite a few of his fellow Leaf ninja in his lifetime. Ginta was one of them. He had gotten permission from his Squad Captain to undergo this mission and repay his debt to the green loon. His orders: escort Rock Lee to the medical temple in Northwest Fire Country and locate Rin; guard Rock Lee with his life as the boy recovered from surgery; escort Rock Lee safely back to Konoha.
A extremely simple mission compared to what the ANBU usually dealt with. And best of all...it came with ANBU pay! Total score!
"Now remember my youthful student," Gai began lecturing his prized pupil with his 'dazzling' smile, "Rin-san is a medical expert! You are in good hands."
"...in...good...hands," Lee scribbled into his tiny notebook. "Understood sir! I promise you Gai-sensei, I will return a splendid ninja!" He accentuated this promise by giving the pact of the highest level of keeping one's word: the nice guy pose.
The surgery that was going to be performed on his twisted, entwined and otherwise badly functioning chakra coils and entombed tenketsu was risky. It would not allow the young shinobi to properly mold chakra but it would vastly increase his overall stamina and resistance to the double-edged blade of his fighting style. There was a thirty-three percent mortality rate for the very few of these surgeries performed..but...
He would not allow for his flames of youth to be extinguished! He still had to defeat his eternal rival and prove, once and for all, that he could be a splendid ninja without the use of ninjutsu or genjutsu!
Crocodile tears ran down Gai's cheeks as his pride in his student welled up. He wiped his eyes with his sleeves. "Yosh! That's my student. The power of youth burns brightly within you!"
Lee became teary eyed as well. "Gai-sensei!"
"Lee!"
"Gai-sensei!"
"Lee!"
With that, the two embraced one another and the power of youth; tears of pride and joy flowing freely and without shame.
Meanwhile Ginta looked at the scene in a distrubed sort of shock. "The hell?" he asked himself, startled, as he looked at the sunset that had appeared beyond the realm of reason and rationality. "It's freakin midnight..and when the hell did we get to the beach! Oh I see." He formed the Tora hand seal. "Kai!"
Nothing.
"It's still here." he noted with wide-eyed horror beneath his mask. "I'm scared..."
By this time Gai and Lee had said their...ahem...heartfelt goodbyes.
"Now go my youthful student!" Gai exclaimed as he pointed in the wrong direction. "The temple that will kindle your flames of youth awaits!"
"Yes sir!" Lee confirmed with a salute. Flames burning brightly in his eyes and guiding his darkened path, Lee sped outwards, leaving a trail of dust behind him.
"Ugh! Wait kid," the ANBU called out in vain, "that's the wrong way!" He turned back to Gai quickly. "Uh, see-ya later Gai-san!" The ANBU darted after Lee full sped, running far, far away from the still setting 'sun'.
Soon the two were well out of sight and Gai's smile dropped...the setting sun long with it.
With a frown of concentration, Gai shoved his hands into his vest and began walking to the Hokage Tower to see their fearless leader.
His Genin team had already bid farewell to Lee. Tenten had given him a warm hug and wishing him good luck; something she knew both Lee and their sensei highly prized. Neji chilled the friendly scene by simply telling Lee "Don't die yet."
It had been quiet for a few moments after that, before Lee exclaimed that he couldn't die until he crushed his eternal rival. Neji had cringed, hating when Lee called him that, before scoffing indifferently.
Now Maito Gai was in a predicament. A very unyouthful one. He had planned on his team participating in the Chunin Exams this year. The green beast had felt as though his team needed a full year of experience before attaining the mantle of a middle ninja. More specifically, it gave Gai enough time to work on the finest and deadliest aspects of Goken with Lee. But now that his prized student was undertaking this surgery, and would not be fit to perform as a ninja during recuperation, Gai had to find a replacement in order for his team to partake in the Exam. The only question now...
"Is who?" Gai muttered to himself. That was why the Hokage had told him to stop by his office tonight. He would be able to pick a student from this years graduating class to help fill in the gap. Before he even considered which student to chose..he had to know who it was that passed.
Hearing the sound of panting brought him from his thoughts. Being a genius of hard work, Gai was more than familiar with the sound of exhaustion. Judging from the labored breaths, his person had been exerting themselves fervently for the last hour or so. Stretching out his senses, Gai listened carefully to the words being exchanged by three.
"Damn that punk demon!" one voice spat out. "Taking the Forbidden Scroll..."
"Yeah," another tired voice agreed, "I knew it was just waiting for the right time to strike."
A third voice spoke up. "I know Hokage-sama said to bring Naruto to him but," a malicious sneer could be felt from the man, "what would happen if Naraku's brat had a little...accident."
Choosing this moment to step in, Gai appeared behind the Chunin in less than an instant. "What's shaking everybody?" he asked in his happy macho voice. "I understand you all have some sort of missing scroll problem?"
The three ninja stiffened, clearly worried about if Gai had overheard their conversation, and annoyed that he was too fast for them to sense approaching. "Yeah." Chunin number three said cooly, as if he hadn't been considering treason. "That..kid, Naruto, stole the First Hokage's Forbidden Scroll of Sealing. We have to find him before he runs off with it."
As the green clad warrior was about to respond, a hawk flew over head. "It would seem, my comrades, that the situation has been resolved," Gai murmured. "If you'll excuse me!" Gai disappeared in a puff of smoke, leaving three aggravated Chunin behind.
Several minutes later Gai was at the foot of the Hokage Tower. He briskly walked up the steps and knocked on the door politely.
"Yes Gai-san, please come in." the Hokage called. It wouldn't surprise him the Ninja God could recognize the chakra signature of each and every ninja within a hundred mile radius.
Without further prompting Konoha's Green Beast prodded open the door and looked inside. Sitting behind his desk was Konohagakure's Sandaime Hokage. In a chair across from the Hokage was one Uzumaki Naruto. The boy hadn't so much as glanced at him, a far away look in his eye.
"Is..now not a good time Hokage-sama?" Gai asked as he scratched his head with a befuddled look.
The village leader considered it for a moment, glancing at Naruto before answering. "I believe we should speak tomorrow with the other Jonin instructors." He reached into his desk and tossed him a small book. "This is a list of students who have passed the Graduation exam. Study it and decide who would best suit your team's needs. We will discuss this tomorrow."
"Hai Hokage-sama!" Giving one last glance at the two, Gai closed the door and headed home for the daily rekindling of his flames of youth. In other words...sleep. Once settled into his bachelor pad, he began to review over the list of students whom graduated.
He couldn't help but first look over the file entry for Uchiha Sasuke, what with the entries being ranked from best to worst. It wasn't that he wanted to train the boy himself, lest the counters for the Sharingan be countered. He knew that his eternal rival, Hatake Kakashi, would be taking the Uchiha under his perverse tutelage. The idea of another Sharingan user to challenge Lee, or vice-versa, was quite an exciting one. He silently vowed to train his student in the fine art of beating Sharingan ass upon his return as he read.
Uchiha Sasuke. Rookie of the year. Scored top marks in all but written exams where one student surpassed his scores. Taijutsu is superb, well above that of his peers. Has advanced knowledge of Katon Ninjutsu. Able to dispel Genjutsu at a Jonin level. Has a focused mind and is able to understand new concepts at starling speed. A prodigy.
Gai couldn't help but feel a sense of deja vu. He could have sworn that he'd read the same file a number of years ago. Sasuke's file was disturbingly similar to his elder brother's...and they all knew how well that sociopath turned out. Shuddering slightly at the thought; and realizing once more that he needed to pass down the art of battling Sharingan, just in case something happened, Gai continued to read the files in the book.
Aburame Shino was a promising shinobi. Well balanced and with an extremely tactical mind. But he would do better with a sensei more talented in teaching the art of stealth. Gai's approach tended to be a bit more...direct. What he needed was someone who not only would fit well in his combat specialized team, but an aspiring ninja who could benefit from his training.
The Haruno girl was easily looked over for the facts that he already had an excellent kunoichi on his team and that this girl seemed more interested in her hair and fawning over the young Uchiha than anything else. There wasn't a place on Team Gai for someone who didn't have their heart in the job.
Inuzuka Kiba was the leading choice thus far. Solid family Ninjutsu and Taijutsu. A fitting shinobi to fill Lee's spot.
His eyes easily glided over the profile for the Hyuuga heiress. She had little confidence and with Neji being on the same team it just wouldn't help...at all.
Neither the Akimichi, the Yamanaka or the Nara; the last of whom had been well below average scores, would do. They were better off sticking together for the synergy their techniques created.
The other candidates didn't seem very promising. Most of them, he was sure, would stop ninja training after they failed their Genin test and become civilians. That was a great strength of the Hidden Leaf Village. Most citizens knew at least the three basic academy jutsu, having once trained as shinobi themselves. Though not proficient enough to defeat a well trained Genin, every civilian in th village knew basic self-defense maneuvers.
Getting a bit sleepy, Gai yawned widely. Though he was at the peak of his life in physical condition, he had skipped a nights sleep to ensure Lee had everything packed that he needed.
He was on the last few pages, still finding no one student of particular interest. The final page, near where he had skipped ahead to locate the Nara, held the final two entries that caught his attention.
Firstly their was a boy named Sai who joined the academy just a week from graduation. Not much was known about his skills, as no one had time to gauge them, but he had been able to perform the basic three jutsu required of him by the academy and therefore passed. He only took one test prior to the graduation exam..and he hadn't done well at all, making his grades just above Naruto's.
The little bundle of youth had passed the graduation exam by special circumstances...quite similarly to Lee but even more astounding. Not only had the blonde mastered the Kage Bunshin, but he had stopped the treacherous Mizuki from obtaining the scroll. Gai decided to ignore the fact that Naruto had stolen it, and focus on the fact that he had been able to do so in the first place. These revelations of the young hanyou's abilities left him to question his instruction at the academy.
According to his test scores, the boy was sub-standard with Taijutsu and Genjutsu skills; both fields holding premiere specialists right here in Konoha, himself being one of them. Ninjutsu wise, Naruto seemed to have a lot of potential, if the demonic energies from his father's genes would stop messing with his control. He didn't understand all the concepts that went into creating a shadow clone, but he knew that even Kakashi, Konoha's foremost Ninjutsu expert, seldom used the technique for the drawbacks that it had chakra wise. If this report was to be believed, Naruto created several times more than the Copy Ninja could on his best day.
The thought of training such a student made him grin sleepily yet at the same time with exuberance. Lee, dedicated as he was to training, had no talent when Gai first met him. None at all. Everything he had in Taijutsu was gained strictly from harsh training. Now imagine what he could do with a spirit as youthful as Lee's...but with many times the raw talent.
With his decision for the third member of Team Gai made, the Jonin decided it was time to sleep. Gai clapped his hands and the lights went out, the disco ball on the ceiling sparkled dully as it spun to life.
The next morning found Gai in the meeting room for the Jonin council. Kakashi, clearly planning on being fashionably late, was nowhere to be seen. Kurenai had been waiting in the office even before Gai had arrived. Granted, he had come here on his hands, but still. Soon after Jonin and Academy instructors began to fill in the place. The Green Beast received many strange looks, even more than usual. Not many were aware that he needed a third member for his team or why. When Kakashi finally showed, perverted book in tow, they began to observe the potential Genin through the crystal ball.
Many of the girls were fawning over the Uchiha, clearly most of them wouldn't make it as shinobi; possibly the Haruno girl and the Yamanaka girl had the genetic talent. The Nara boy looked half sleep already, his long-time friend chomping away on a seemingly bottomless bag of potato chips. The Aburame was sitting so still one might believe he was asleep behind those sunglasses. The Hyuuga heiress simply sat quietly.
What surprised most of the instructors in the room, and the Hokage, was the person sitting in that far corner. Naruto, as they knew him, was just sitting, staring out the window with empty eyes.
"Hey! What is he doing there? I know for a fact that Anko's kid failed!" an instructor demanded.
"Oh that's right. I don't believe that you are all aware that Naruto passed a..special examination last night. Iurka-san felt that Naruto should be allowed to graduate with his peers." The aged Hokage explained calmly, though there was always that steel undertone that so many feared and respected. "Now then, we shall discuss the nine students who will be considered for becoming Genin and place them into teams."
Sarutobi looked to his son. "Asuma." the named Jonin straightened a bit as his name was called out. "Because you have been on the most missions with the Ino-Shika-Cho team, you will take Yamanaka Ino, Nara Shikamaru, and Akimichi Choji as Team Ten. It is most likely that they will work together efficiently enough as a squad of capture and interrogation."
"Hm." the Hokage murmured as he gazed at a sheet of paper. "The next squad shall be formed of Hyuuga Hinata, Aburame Shino, and Inuzuka Kiba of Team Eight under Yuhi Kurenai. A tracking and reconnaissance team." The red eyed Jonin nodded in recognition, happy to have gotten the Hyuuga heiress onto her team.
Sandaime glanced to Kakashi, who was half paying attention to the meeting. "It is unanimous that Kakashi will train Sasuke, being the only other Sharingan user..in Konoha." Sarutobi openly acknowledged the missing ninja Uchiha Itachi.
Several murmurs of agreement and encouragement ran through the room. Clearly they all wanted Sasuke trained to achieve the height of his abilities.
"So," Kakashi spoke lazily, "who are my other two students." He didn't even sound interested enough to want the answer.
"Haruno Sakura scored the top marks among all the kunoichi and will therefore be placed with the top shinobi, Uchiha Sasuke." Sandaime answered. "Your third student will naturally be the one with the lowest marks, Uzu-"
Gai took this moment to interject. "Pardon me Hokage-sama, but I would like to request that Naruto be placed on my team!" he exclaimed while proudly jerking a thumb toward himself.
The Hokage seemed surprised by this, but not nearly as much as the others in the room. "What are you smokin Gai?" Genma asked casually. Upon hearing the two of the Sarutobi clan clear their throats, he gently rephrased the question. "I mean, what are you high on Gai?"
Gai instantly gave a charming smile. "The flames of youth of course!"
Genma sweat-dropped, as did others in the room. "Well it was clearly my mistake for asking like that..what I mean is, don't you already have a full roster Genin Team?"
Gai sighed, his smile dropping. "No longer, I'm afraid." he denied as he shook his head. "My student Rock Lee has left Konoha for reasons that are his own, with Hokage-sama's permission. As there are no students in need of a team at the moment, I must chose a disciple from this years graduating class. And there is no one better suited for my team than a youthful spirit such a Naruto!" the green man finished with excitement.
The Hokage made a thoughtful noise as he leaned back in his seat, considering this. "It is the tradition to rank lowest ranking students with the highest scoring..."
Gai was undeterred. "That may be," he agreed, "however, Naruto's scores are the equivalence of what Lee's were. Considering that Hyuuga Neji is on my team, that makes it even."
Kakashis visible eye widened a fraction. "That makes a surprising amount of sense...coming from Gai."
Deciding to ignore that for the moment, the Green Beast went on. "Furthermore," he continued with a 'logical' face, "would it not be more fair to consider Naruto's personal growth? His potential would surely not be reached if he were to be taught by Kakashi!" he gestured wildly and, by some miracle, toward said Jonin.
Icha-Icha Paradise would have to wait. Snapping his book shut, and fighting the urge to ask Gai if he said something, Kakashi's eye narrowed slightly. "Are you saying I'm not a capable sensei?" he asked evenly.
"Not a all rival!" Gai dismissed with a boisterous laugh. "I am simply stating that a student such as Naruto would do better under my supervision."
"How so?" the Sandaime asked, interested.
"For one thing," Gai held up a finger, "You have already seen what I can do with a student labeled as a 'dead last' by the academy."
Several faces became sheepish at that. The instructors had all believed that Rock Lee simply could not be a ninja. Gai had shown them up by proving it was their instructing that had caused Lee to be no good.
"Secondly," Gai continued, holding up a second finger, "Kakashi is a born genius. Naruto is...not. Would a genius such as Kakashi be able to understand and bring out the potential of a student who lacks his natural talent? Especially since Naruto is not of any clan, unlike the larger number of students planned to graduate this year. Thirdly, Kakashi will undoubtably be giving the young Uchiha special attention; where would that leave Naruto?"
By now Gai was giving the Hokage his 'intense' stare. This consisted of leaning onto his desk with both hands, one eye shut as he other bore into the aged ninja, his head shifting directions slightly.
The Hokage sighed. "Gai, what have we said about personal space?" His tone one that he would normally take with a child...mostly because he had been telling Gai this since he was a child.
Gai leaned back. "I have no idea." he admitted honestly.
Another sigh. "Despite the...theatrical presentation, you have made your point more than valid. And I suppose that taking Naruto out of this class would make the new student Sai his replacement for Kakashi's Team Seven. Very well. I grant you Naruto for the existing Team One."
Gai's response. "Yosh!"
Naruto yawned as he got up and nodded to himself, nine years...nine years since he found out he had a family. He had enjoyed his days here with them and now he was a shinobi. He aimed to do his Tou-san and Kaa-san proud now that he was.
If he were honest with himself, however, he knew he could have graduated earlier. Problem was, since yōki was stronger than human chakra, his reserves had grew to way above average for a kid his age. As a result of his hanyou nature awakening on top of his cells needing to absorb the yōki of the Kyubbi, his control over chakra was sporatic and that had caused him to have trouble with small jutsu like the academy used. He scored average marks on his test in both accuracy and written but he had issues with the bushin and due to this he was failed.
Chuckling, he remembered how Kaa-san had nearly skinned the instructors alive for that until Tou-san had explained that to her.
Thinking of his mother, Naruto recalled how she had told him of Orochimaru and how he had used her and that made her an outcast. It had made his blood boil and he'd thrown himself into training, aiming to get strong enough to hang the heibi-teme with his own freakishly-long tounge after ripping it out of his head. Now that he was an actual shinobi, and knowing how Orochimaru was after promising young ninja to join him, Naruto figured that if he did well enough to where the snake would seek him out, he'd be able to get back at the creep for messing up his Kaa-san's life.
The thought made him grin to himself.
He looked in the mirror and laughed to himself, after learning of Tou-san's ability to change himself, he had done the same and created a new appearance for himself that he liked and had then discarded the ability to alter his form, the way his tou-san did with any unwanted parts to his body. He had kept the appearence he'd had while under the Forth Hokage's genjutsu, yet had modified it, and added a few of the hanyou traits that Kyubbi jinchuriki took upon entering their inital transformation state:
His skin was pale like alabaster, and yet had warmth to it, and was free from any blemishes. His fingernails had become sharp, pointed claws on both his hands. His hair and lips were jet black in color, while as for his hair, it was in spikes that stuck up in every direction like the spines of a sea urchin. His canines were longer and sharper, making them fangs. His eye shape was more vulpine than normal and had dark circles under his eyes, his eyes themselves were bright neon green with an animistic black slit for the pupil. His ears were tempered and pointed like those of an elf ever so slightly. And as a final touch, his whisker marks had widened and become more defined and pronounced, widening and darkening until they resembled feral-looking abysmal scars
His body was all lean muscle and his defined build told that he worked out nearly to the point of all-day/everyday-obsession.
He sported a collarless, skintight all obsidian black vest with long sleeves, a pair of black kackhis and a pair tabi boot sports shoes specifically for parkour. His hands were covered by fingerless opera-length black gloves wrapped in studded red-brown leather straps. Over that was a long, sweeping trench coat of dark blue-gray with gray lining and a fur collar. Taking up the back of the trench coat was the image of a mandala comprised of nine reddish-brown circles of varying sizes atop a larger green-grey circle.
Kagura's comment on his choice in clothing had been simple once she had seen him like that for the first time: "You have your Kaa-san's sense of style.". It had made his laugh.
Placing his white Kitsuine mask on as the finishing touch, Naruto made his way to the academy, seeing as it was usually open very early. Arriving quickly, Naruto found very few in the building and that he was the first student to arrive.
He took a seat at the upper corner of the room near a window and laid his head down, hoping to get in a quick nap before being assigned a team. He never really got to sleep fully, but his eyes were well rested.
All too soon the students began to flock into he room, murmuring among themselves about their excitement of becoming shinobi and, upon noticing him, his presence. Naruto only kept his head down.
"What do ya think the kid's doing here?"
Naruto clenched his fist, but made no other signs of consciousness, he knew he was disliked since his mother was a former student of Orochimaru and his father was a half-demon, so people saw him as "unholy". It wasn't until after Iruka cleared his throat in the front of the room that Naruto lifted his head.
Iruka gave a generic congratulations to the class as a whole. He slightly tailored it for each year's students but it carried the same message every year. Have pried in your village and do your best. And he said the latter knowing full well that most of the students would not go on to become ninja. The poor bastards.
"All right then," he called after they began to calm from his speech, "I will now read the teams you will be assigned as well as your jonin sensei. Team 1:..." Iruka began to list students that he knew for a fact would not be passing.
Naruto listened on as Iruka continued announcing teams.
"...Team 7: Sai, Haruno Sakura, and Uchiha Sasuke. Your sensei is Hatake Kakashi. Team 8: Inuzuka Kiba, Hyuuga Hinata, and Aburame Shino, lead by Yuhi Kurenai." Iruka again lists a team that have no future as shinobi. "And Team 10: Nara Shikamaru, Akimichi Choji, and Yamanaka Ino. You will be under the instruction of Sarutobi Asuma. Those are all the teams listed from this years students. I wish you all luck."
Naruto blinked a few times. Sure he would have heard his name. "Iruka-sensei," he called, raising his hand, "I didn't hear my name. Don't I get a team?"
The scarred chunin scratched his head sheepishly, embarrassed. "Ah, sorry Naruto. I forgot to tell you. You've been drafted to be the placed on a team from last year. A personal request from the jonin sensei." Iruka paused, enjoying some of the gawking expressions. "You're to present yourself at training area one, ASAP."
"Uh.. Who's gonna be my sensei?" Naruto asked carefully. If it was a request from the jonin leader than they probably wouldn't mind having him on the team. But still, he wondered. And with pretty damn good reason to. But that training area...his Kaa-san had told him to avoid it at all costs, yet she had refused to elaborate, shivering. Clearly there was something there that frightened his mother!
Iruka seemed an odd mix of amused and hesitant. "Believe me," the chunin said, smiling uneasily, "you will know him when you see him." You can't miss him actually...
Nodding, Naruto departed from the class.
After wandering for a bit Naruto made his way to the designated training area. The terrain was wide and grassy with three training logs in the middle. Well, two logs and one that was utterly demolished and lie in pieces. The half-demonic ninja looked around and found nobody in the area.
Suddenly the hairs on the back of his neck stood on end. It wasn't shinobi training but instinct that told him someone was behind him. He turned around...his instinct was right.
Standing over the demolished log was a tall, muscular man in a green jumpsuit that left just enough to the imagination not to be voyeurism. Eyebrows that were at least two inches thick hung over the man's eyes like fuzzy leeches. His haircut seemed to have been fashioned after one of the Ichiraku ramen bowls.
It was like a train wreck...he couldn't tear his eyes away.
Oblivious of his newest student's well-founded apprehension, Gai strode over to the young lad with a blinding grin. "Ah, you must be Naruto! Salutations and congratulations on joining the ninja ranks of Konoha!"
The man shook his fist with what Naruto at first perceived as rage...until he realized it was barely contained enthusiasm. "Such a youthful spirit...it is beautiful!"
"...Thanks...?" the hanyou responded meekly, finding himself unable to look the man directly in his beady, black eyes, something for which Naruto vehemently thanked the fact he wore his white kitsune mask over his face. Well...that explained why mother hadn't wanted him in this area...she didn't want her son meeting this asylum escapee.
The odd ninja waved him off with a thumbs up. "It is unwise not to acknowledge one who is so full of youthful flare. Now come! Follow me on the path of youth and become acquainted with your new comrades!" the man exclaimed animatedly, making an odd pose and pointing in the direction of the village.
After deciphering that as meeting his teammates, the new ninja nodded his consent and soon found himself at the top of a large building. There was a large roof and railing to prevent people from falling off. The railing was lined with seats. Two of which were currently occupied.
Naruto looked upon the his new teammates.
One had eyes that, while the same color as Hinata's, weren't nearly as warm. In fact, Naruto would be hard-pressed not to recognize that look. It was the same as some of the more passive villagers had gave him before being found by his Tou-san. Just starring as if he wasn't even there. Like he was lower than an insect. As if...he didn't even deserve to exist.
I don't like this guy...
The other was a girl with lightly, but not overly, tanned skin. Her hair was done up in a practical style of two buns; probably to keep it out her face when she was fighting. Quite practical, in Naruto's view. Her style of dress was also more traditional, and showed off her lean arms. An old-fashioned kind of girl, apparently. She was twirling a kunai on her finger by the ring with only the faintest of interests.
Gai, who had finally reached the top after scaling the building with one hand tied behind his back, looked on stealthily as his students silently got to know one another.
"Well Naruto, I see you have meet your two teammates." Gai wrongly observed as he hopped over the railing.
"Actually he hasn't said a word," the girl with the buns said. She pointed to him. "So, who's the new meat?" she asked, eyeing him as such.
The white-eyed boy crossed his arms. "He already told us. Apparently this is to be Lee's replacement."
Gai gave a complementing pat on the shoulder to the young prodigy. "Astute as always, Neji! Quite correct. This is a student who graduated from the academy this morning. Why don't you all get acquainted?"
A look of understanding adorned the girl's face. "Oh, cool. Well..I guess it would be rude to ask your name without introducing myself, right? My name is Tenten, pleasure to meet you. I want to become a great kunoichi like Tsunade-sama." Her eyes took a glint familiar to the Sasuke-fangirls as she let loose a dreamy sigh. Tenten then glanced at the boy sitting next to him and gave him a rough elbow to the rib cage.
The boy grunted indignantly. "What would be the point? This one probably won't last any longer than Lee."
Gai laughed boisterously, either believing Neji's words naive or ignoring that it could be taken as a death threat. "Nonsense. The flames of youth burn brightly in this one." he said with the utmost confidence.
Naruto, however, was a bit unnerved. "Ano..what happened to this Lee guy?"
The kunoichi's lips turned upwards as she saw an opportunity to tease their new teammate. "Oh..they didn't tell you?" she asked somberly, shaking her head. "The poor guy. We could only find the arms."
Seeing Naruto stiffen, Tenten giggled. "Oh relax! I'm just kidding." she smacked him on the back in emphasis. Hard, in his opinion. "Lee's on an extended training leave outside the village." Her warm, brown eyes turned to the Hyuuga prodigy. "Now, I believe you were going to introduce yourself?"
Neji only gave her a mild stare and crossed his arms. He'd said enough for today.
Tenten frowned before a sadistic grin lit up her face. She leaned forward and whispered something in Neji's ear that Naruto didn't catch. That was partially why he was astonished when the Hyuuga's eyes widened and faint blush formed on his cheeks.
"Impossible," he exclaimed, turning toward her, "not even you can do that with a kunai!"
His only response was slight grin that said 'Try me'.
With a bored gaze Neji looked to the new member and introduced himself. In his own way...of course. "Hyuuga Neji. What I fight for...I'd rather not say."
"And I," Gai began, proudly jerking a thumb towards himself, "am Maito Gai. Konoha's spouting leaf of acceptance and eternal rival to Hatake Kakashi!"
Under his mask, red eyes turned to Tenten, as she seemed to be the most sensible and open of the group. "Don't ask." the girl deadpanned with a sigh.
Naruto grinned slightly as he prepared his rehearsed introduction. "I'm Naruto. I like training, spending time with my parents and with my father's subordinates, and being at Ryūchidō. I hate Orochimaru, stuck up bastards who think they're better than everyone else, the Icha-Icha series, and people who judged others without getting to know them and placed value on what bloodline a person came from instead of what they did as an individual, and blame others for actions that weren't their choosing. And my dream is...well...a work in progress, to be honest because while I do have goals, if they're seen through, I like giving myself a new one."
Neji snorted in amusement. "A fitting replacement for Lee. Your even stranger than he is...your goals, whatever they may be, will never happen."
In an instant Naruto was in Neji's face, glaring at the bastard. "What did you say?"
Neji didn't flinch, only scowling at the half-human for intruding on his personal space. "I said there's no way to reach what you aim for and still keep going afterwards. It's not your fate."
Naruto's face flashed from rage to confusion in an instant. "Nani?"
"It's simple. Everyone is born with a distinctive path that they must follow. Their destiny. To deny that fate is pointless. I know that you scored the lowest of all Genin this year. You are a failure, and nothing will change that." Neji finished in an absolute way.
Gai's thick eyebrows bunched together as he frowned. What an unyouthful thing to say.
Tenten sighed and shook her head. This was a repeat of the first introductions all over again.
Naruto, for his part, simply stared at the Hyuuga prodigy for a full minute with a confused face. He looked almost as if Neji's words just...didn't...compute. Then he looked Neji right in the eyes with a slight frown and spoke.
"That's the dumbest shit I ever heard."
Neji only shook his head. "As if you would understand. You're far too ignorant to face the facts of life. It will be a lesson you learn far too late."
"Oh yeah! So when life deals you a bad hand you just bend over and take it! Screw that, I follow my own course and make my own fortunes, no mater what 'destiny' says, dumbass!" Naruto snarled.
The Hyuuga smirked coldly. "So are saying anyone who where to, shall we say, put forth enough effort can become a Hokage? Impossible."
Naruto glared ferally. "Care to test fate then?"
"Hmm," Tenten murmured as she pulled out a watch, "two minutes to provoke someone into a fight. That tops your record with Lee."
Gai perceived the event in his usual distorted manner. "Yosh! A sparring match between young Naruto and the experienced Neji. This is an grand way to test Naruto's current skill level! Excellent thinking team!"
Tenten rolled her eyes. Gai-sensei, you maniac. she thought with fond exasperation.
Soon the newly reformed Team One found themselves at their designated training area provided to them by the Hokage. Naruto and Neji stood across the field glaring at one another. Well, Naruto glared, Neji just gave him..that damned look. The look he hated so much.
"All right," Gai called as he puled two flags from nowhere, one orange and the other white, "this is a simple sparring match so no deadly maneuvers. Let's keep this within the boundaries Konoha civility."
Neji smirked slightly. "There is no need to worry. This will be over quickly."
Tenten approached her new teammate to whisper in his ear. He briefly considered flinching back, thinking of Neji's earlier reaction "Naruto...it is Naruto right?"
Not lessening his glare at Neji, he nodded.
"Well, I'm not trying to knock your goals or anything but...believe me when I tell you that there is no way you can defeat Neji. He's narrow-minded but still a genius, the strongest Hyuuga born in a century. Please, just back down. No fresh genin deserves to fight him."
His glare disappeared completely as he stared impassively at her. She half-expected him to explode after a while but instead...
He bowed his head.
"Arigato for your concern, Tenten-san, but I have to fight him. Even if I don't win now, I can still train hard and beat him then. That will show him that destiny can kiss my ass."
A bit bewildered by the seemingly irrational confidence the new member of her team held, Tenten nodded dumbly and made her way to Gai.
This should be interesting.
Neji took a stance that Naruto's instincts took as threatening. The prodigy's arm was extended with the palm facing Naruto with the other held tightly at his side. "Anytime your ready." the boy invited smoothly.
Naruto slid into a fighting stance, yet remained where he was. Next to his parent's training, this was gonna be easy. Naruto shivered as phantom pain for the first day of his training came to mind. Looking back on it, it wasn't all too surprising that someone that was half-demon had fallen for someone as sadistic as Naruto's mother, the boy's first training day had attested to that.
FLASHBACK:
Naruto followed his Kaa-san into the courtyard and the four-year-old watched as the woman made some weird hand things and then poof, a large snake appeared and it coughed up a somewhat large package, and Naruto could tell that whatever it was, it was heavy. Anko opened it to expose two black bracers. Neither of them shined in the light, and on each was the kanji for 'snake', written in blood-red. When she took them out, she turned to face Naruto.
"Hold out your arms, son."
He complied. After both were attached she let his arms fall. It was as if she had chained his arms to the ground. He had to exert great effort merely to lift them.
"How much weight did you put on these things?"
"Oh, just nine-thousand metric tons on each arm, Gaki." his Kaa-san laughed.
"Nine-thousand metric tons! Why so much? I can barely even lift my arms, let alone fight with those on!" Naruto said, shocked.
His mother nodded at him. "Yup, that's the default weight of these things. The weight increases based off the wear's chakra level. Bit of a custom job me and your pops requested from the snake summons. And you're own chakra, yōki and the Kyubbi's yōki is being counted to add to the weight."
Naruto paled and his eyes nearly shot out of his head. "Is this really necessary?"
Anko shrugged "To use the Hidden Snake Style, that's the Taijutsu style I'm going to teach you, you have to be fast. You can have as much brute force as you like, but if you can't hit your enemy, it won't do you any good. You need to be fast enough to hit an opponent ten times, and make it look like you only hit him once." Naruto nodded and kept listening to his Kaa-san speak about the Hidden Snake Style of Taijutsu.
"This style focuses on fighting just like a snake. It will teach you to bend around your opponent's attacks, create an opening in their defense and disable or kill them with a few hits while using little to no effort."
"And how do we disable them in a few hits?" To him that sounded nearly impossible. Unless your opponent was really weak they just wouldn't go down that quickly.
"That, kiddo, is one of the secrets of the style. When we fight, we use pressure points." He gave her a confused look. "The human body contains many pressure points. By simply pushing a few of them, I could make you lose control of a limb, knock you out, or kill you." He gained an awed and terrified look at the power of this style, HIS style "But you won't be learning the Dim Mak or 'Death Touch' for a very long time. It's the final technique, and it is very dangerous in the wrong or inexperienced hands. Because of that, only the Hakuja Sennin of Ryūchidō is allowed to decide when the one learning the Hidden Snake Style of Taijutsu is ready and able to use the Dim Mak responsibly."
He accepted that fact readily. Naruto didn't think that he was ready for a technique like that either. The thought of killing someone with a mere touch. He shivered at the power of it. He vowed never to use this technique unless he absolutely had to.
Anko saw him shiver with a small bit of pride. He had realized the power of the Dim Mak. That was a good thing. Now she wouldn't have to provide a demonstration of its power. She too shuddered when she thought of the demonstration Orochimaru had given her.
At the time, she was nearing her mastery of the Hidden Snake Style. There was only the final attack to learn. She was with Orochimaru on a scroll delivery mission. It was simple, but a good chance to get out of the village.
On the way they encountered a small group of bandits. They were easy to dispatch, but her former mentor had kept the leader alive. She was confused, until he explained that he was going to demonstrate their final attack. He tapped the man once in the chest, and he was dead. She had been completely terrified of its power.
Anko turned to look at who else was in the courtyard's training area. Kagura, Goshinki, Jūrōmaru, Kagerōmaru, Akago, Hakudōshi and Byakuya (seeing as Kanna, Akago, and Hakudōshi were't direct-combat types)
"Ok you guys, see to it that he gets it by doing, come at him all at once and don't you dare hold back. I've gotta see my husband for some...important business." Anko ordered before vanishing in a plume of smoke.
Naruto looked at the seven of them and felt his heart stop as they all rushed him and the first of many "training lessons" began.
END FLASHBACK
It was after that first time that his father had given him a good bit of advise: "Break them before you engage them, and the battle will be yours in all but truth. If you cannot, then keep your claws hidden, make them underestimate you and then break them before they have a chance to view their error for thinking you weaker than they are."
He'd followed that to the letter and kept his claws hidden in the academy except for when he needed to show part of them. Added to his still needing to fine tune his control of his chakra/yōki ratio, that was why he was seen as the "dead last". Heh...shinobi see through deception, his ass!
Now, the bait.
"You know Neji...I heard you're a genius and the strongest Hyuuga born in a century. But that doesn't impress me. All I see when I look at you is someone whose so fatalistically emo that once people saw a psychological profile test of yours, they felt it would be HEALTHY for you do spend all your waking moments exposed to the "Flames of youth" freak-show. That's YOUR fate!" Naruto mocked hoping to ril up Neji into recklessness.
Off on the sidelines, Tenten winced. Ouch...Ok, now that was uncalled for. She knew right away that Neji was going to loose it. But then, having someone say it was healthy to be around Gai all the time would make ANYBODY want to kill the one who said it.
Just like both Naruto and Tenten figured, Neji took that as an insult and rushed the half-demon. Naruto smirked as he saw the blow coming and fell back into his fighting stance as Neji dealt a blow to Naruto's chest, knocking him back a bit. Neji attempted to sweep Naruto's legs out from under him, but this was avoided by Naruto, who jumped over his leg and lashed out with a swift kick to his head.
Neji staggered for a second at the attack before he regained his composure and began his assault again. He lashed out with a right handed punch, but Naruto turned so that his side faced the Hyugga and at the last possible second, Naruto simply leaned back just enough to avoid the punch, leaving a small opening in the 's defense. As Neji's arm was outstretched just above Naruto's chest, Naruto let his weight fall back as he brought his knee up to hit Neji square in the gut. Before Naruto fell on the ground from letting his weight fall back, he brought his hands up and propelled himself off of the ground and back flipped back into his stance.
Gai was surprised. He had spent a great deal of time studying taijutsu, but this was a form that he had never seen or heard of, it seems to revolve around narrowly dodging attacks and countering, particularly counters that use gravity to its advantage along with high-speed blows. It seemed that Naruto was trying to bend around attacks to leave an opening in his guard through which he could attack. Every time Neji launched an attack, he was simply countered and, from the look of it, those counters really hurt. This boy was truly skilled.
Naruto turned so that his right side faced Neji. This was the opening stance for the defensive part of his style, Naruto turned so that his side faced the opponent. This created more positions to dodge and roll around attacks and create counters. It also gave his opponent a false sense of security as it looked as though he has not defense in his stance, causing his opponent to attack more sloppily since they think he is inexperienced in taijutsu. However, he now needed to wait for Neji to attack.
Neji rushed at Naruto. He launched a palm thrust with his left fist, only to have Naruto spin around to his left. The punch passed right behind Naruto's back, and Naruto continued to turn as he lifted his leg in the air. Before Neji knew what was going on, Naruto's right leg came over his head and wrapped around his neck. Naruto pulled his leg back, pulling Neji down to the ground, and as the supposed strongest Hyuuga born in a century's body approached the ground, Naruto stuck out his left knee, driving Neji back onto his knee.
Neji grunted in pain as his back was forced into Naruto's knee. He launched a punch with his right hand but this was simply dodged by Naruto. He then followed up with a kick with his right foot, but as his foot was about to connect, Naruto grabbed his leg. He then spun to his left and gave him two elbows in the face with his left arm, while his right Arm continued to hold Neji's leg. He followed this up by continuing to spin to the left as he brought his right leg up towards the Hyuuga's head. Neji ducked under the kick but Naruto's leg continued its path until it stretched out over the kneecap of the leg that he held, and then proceeded to drop his weight to the ground, the force of his drop combined with the weight of his leg as it smashed into Neji's kneecap.
The Hyuuga howled and Naruto got behind him, clamping his arms around his head in order to break the Hyuuga's neck.
"All right, that's enough." Gai said, seeing that things could get messy if this went on. He turned to his team's killer kunoichi. "Tenten." he called. The girl jogged over. "Would you please escort Naruto to his home?"
Tenten chuckled a little and shook her head. "I thought the boy was supposed to do that."
"I think you'd be up for the job, Ten-boy." Naruto joked.
Tenten 'playfully' punched his arm in response. It reminded him of when that emotionally unstable, monster-strength, pink gorilla, Sakura, bashed him on the skull...and this girl was docile. He shouldn't get on her bad side.
The two were soon walking side by side as they exited the training field. When he was sure they were out of earshot, Gai turned to his distant student. Neji had his arms crossed, staring at Naruto and Tenten with a slight frown.
"I'm not working with him." Neji said flatly.
Gai frowned.
This wasn't going as well as he had hoped it would.
Whatever Tenten was expecting, Naruto living in that creepy castle that had shown up with that Naraku guy she'd heard about wasn't it. She had heard of this place, but being here was far from what she had expected. Sure she knew the rumors about this place, but now that she was actually seeing it up close, she honestly felt the rumors didn't give the place enough credit.
Naruto seemed to have noticed how tense she was and laughed "First time here...trust me, creeped ME out too, and I live here. But it's not as bad as you think. Trust me, I would've gotten an apartment in the slums otherwise."
Tenten gave her new teammate a sideways glance and felt a smile tug at her lips at his assurances. Naruto reached into his ninja tool supply belt and removed a gas mask, handing it to the brunet next to him.
"Sorry...barrier around the place and the air within the compound has heavy levels of toxic maiasma...Tou-san's a security nut. I'll have Kaa-san show you the jutsu to make you immune to the toxins. On top of that, our guard can read minds." he apologized.
Tenten blinked and then accepted the mask, glad her new teammate was that honest with her and concerned for her welfare, strapping it on.
As she did, Naruto formed a handsighn she was completely unfamiliar with and the air rippled and a hole opened up in the barrier that surrounded his home and went through it, the weapon mistress on his heels. As soon as she entered the grounds, she stopped dead.
In front of them was a large, horned ogre demon. It looked extremely agile, powerful, and had a large mouth full of razor-sharp teeth. Yelping, Tenten did what came naturally to a person in this position: hide behind Naruto.
Naruto grinned under his mask, "Yo Goshinki, how's it going?" he jerked his head at Tenten, "New teammate." he said in explanation as to why she was there.
Goshinki chuckled deeply and grinned at the son of his master in return. "I know...and I'm flattered. 'Who in their right minds would ever NEED a barrier and heavy levels of toxic maiasma with this kind of monster as a guard?' Heh." the ogre said.
Tenten's eyes widened as she realized this was the one Naruto had just mentioned, since there was no way this demon, Goshinki, would have known that had just gone through her mind unless it could read thoughts. Gripping Naruto's arm painfully, she tried to edge around the highly-amused demon while keeping Naruto between her and it.
Naruto shook his head and escorted Tenten inside before he lost all circulation in his arm.
"Greetings, Naruto-sama." a soft voice said, causing Tenten to jump and whip around to see who had spoken, causing her new teammate to chuckle.
What the...?! Where had she come from?!
Standing before them was a ten-year-old girl with pure white hair with white clothing and she held a small hand-mirror in her hand. Her face held no emotion whatsoever. Even her voice, when she had spoken earlier, had held no sign of an emotion. It was just as blank and as white as her cloths.
"Hello Kanna." Naruto said with a smile.
"I'm no surprised about that, I have no any signals. Body heat, heart beat, or anything else. I was made from nothing, so therefore, I am nothing."
At the girl's words, Naruto sighed in aggravation, "Kanna...DON'T start THAT again! Look, are you right in front of us, and are you having this discussion with us?"
"Yes." the monotone girl responded.
"Then since there's no way that could happen if you were nothing, because there's no way for someone or something to both exist and not exist at the same time like you claim you do, you're real...it's just that you're exceptionally gifted in hiding your presence, is all."
Kanna smiled and bowed deeply to Naruto, rising with a giggle "I know...I just like hearing you tell me that, Naruto-sama."
Naruto gave an exasperated sigh and gave her an awkward smile under his mask. "I know, Kanna, I know...you made it a point to have me tell you that at least once every month for the past nine years since I found out about my family and first told you that."
Kanna nodded "Yes. I wished to welcome you back and to let you know we found a way to where it is." at her words, the mirror in her hands showed the image of a sword. It was a double-edged straight sword that resembled a Zweihänder, with a hilt made of bone. At the hilt's end, was a purple jewel. The jewel was a perfect sphere, and glowed with an inner power.
"Sō'unga, huh?" Naruto grinned at the image. "Thank you Kanna."
She bowed again and walked off, Naruto and Tenten following her. The three stopped in a bare room that resembled a kenjutsu dojo.
"What're you up to in a place like this?" Tenten asked.
Naruto shrugged, seeing nothing wrong with that question. "Weapon hunnting. I'm out to clame that Sō'unga sword as my own, but the place it's at isn't exactly...hospitable...ya know?"
"Weapon hunting?" Tenten asked, then she grinned, "Count me in!"
Naruto looked somewhat nervious at that...and for good reason, given the nature of the "Amassing Cloud Fang demon sword of hell". And Tenten WANTED to go near it? She'd had to put up with that Gai freak too long if that was the case.
Kanna nodded and a large firey, swirling portal appeared in the center of the room.
Tenten shot Naruto a glance and he shrugged, "Hey, you WANTED to come, you didn't figure there'd be some kind of catch?"
The girl looked at the portal, paled a bit yet still looked resolved and nodded.
Naruto sighed, hoping against all things that this wasn't going to bite him in the ass and walked through the portal, his new teammate following him...
...down into Hell.