Chapter 2
Unknown-nin345: Hello and welcome to the second chapter of The Tale of Four Brothers. I left you all hanging last time with the revealing of the 'curse' Naruto, Kaen, Denkou, and Nadare bear because of the bijuu they hold. I didn't want to go full out with a TMNT crossover and make all four of them turtles since that wouldn't really fit what I have in mind for the story.
Anywho, at least now, I can give you all a proper list of the pairings:
--Naruto X Hinata; Kaen X Tayuya; Nadare X Ayame; Denkou X Shizune.
P.S- I hate mid-terms.
Summary: Four brothers, all cursed by what they hold. They grow & learn to be one with the shadows, but now their father & mentor decides the four should step into the light & show the world what they can do…
--- (The next morning) ---
Inside the 'Den', as the four brothers called it, the four were going through light warm-up katas, both with weapons and without (back in the disguises of their seals). They weren't doing anything too serious since they didn't want to wear themselves out before the final exam. When they were finished with their katas, they settled down into the lotus position and meditated for about ten minutes.
When they were ready to go, Naruto and Denkou grabbed their skateboard and bike respectively, and all four headed to the door.
Before they left, Splinter came out of his room and said, "Good luck, my sons."
Naruto smirked as he replied, "You don't need luck when you have awesome skills like us." Kaen bopped him on the back of the head. "Dow! Geez, why do ya have to hit so hard?" He asked with a small glare at Kaen.
Kaen smirked and said, "Because it's fun." With that, he turned and left, a pouting Naruto following behind him. Denkou waved goodbye to Splinter while Nadare bowed.
Once they were all gone, Splinter sighed and shook his head, "Kids."
Out in the stone hallway, Nadare picked up a blue scooter while Kaen swapped his combat boots for a pair of red roller blades. Together the four walked a short distance to a ladder and all climbed up it, emerging in a sewer line. Once Nadare and Denkou had unfolded their rides, the four took off down the sewer. A short while later, the four brothers stopped at another ladder and set their rides down on either side of it before they climbed up the rungs and came out in an alley that was nearby the ninja academy.
Together, the four brothers walked through the gate and up to the academy. As the four all walked side-by-side to the building, the students muttered amongst themselves, especially those from Naruto's class.
The brothers ignored all that they heard whispered about them and just walked straight into the academy. When they reached the corridor where all their classes were they faced each other and stuck out their fists towards each other.
"Strength and Honor," The four brothers said as one. They nodded to each other and went to their classrooms, each prepared to do whatever it would take to pass.
When Naruto entered the classroom, he looked around and saw that only two other students were seated already, Hinata Hyuuga and Shino Aburame.
"Naruto?" The blonde turned his head and saw Iruka looking at him a little strange.
Naruto answered the question with a question, "What's up sensei?"
By this time both Hinata and Shino had looked up, each with their own thoughts about this 'new' Naruto.
'Hmm, Naruto-san is making my Kikai-senses tingle. I have a feeling he is going to embarrass the Uchiha today.' Shino thought with his Kikai bugs softly buzzing their agreement.
'Oh! My! Kami-sama! Naruto-kun is so fucking hot!' Were Hinata's thoughts while she blushed a bright crimson color.
Iruka gestured at his appearance and asked, "What happened?"
Naruto smiled lightly and underneath the headband, his blue eyes flickered over to Hinata as he answered shortly, "Something big."
Iruka smiled back. "Well, I hope you're ready for the exam," He said to the blonde.
"You know me Iruka-sensei," Naruto said. He then turned towards the aisle and started climbing the steps.
When she noticed that Naruto didn't seem to be stopping at any of the other rows her mind started going into overdrive, 'Is he going to sit by me? No, why would he want to? But what if he does? What will I do? What will I say? Oh-no, he's…Kami-sama; he's got a six pack!' Indeed, now that he was so close she could the muscles on his torso that the orange tank top he wore did nothing to hide.
"Hey Hinata, do you mind if I sit here?" Naruto asked gesturing to the empty seat on the shy girl's right.
Hinata simply shook her head, not trusting her voice at the moment. Naruto smiled and nodded his thanks as he sat down.
Once seated, he turned to face Shino, who was sitting in the first seat of the row next to him, and said, "Hey Shino, there's something I've always wanted to say to you." When the glasses-wearing boy turned in his seat to look at him the blonde finished with a smile, "Your glasses are really cool."
A hint of a smile appeared at the edge of Shino's collar as he replied, "One could say the same about your jacket."
Naruto nodded down at his jacket and said, "Yeah, I guess orange does look better with black than it does blue." He turned over to the midnight blue-haired girl and asked, "What do you think Hinata?"
The shy girl glanced up from her twiddling fingers and softly said, "I think it makes you look ho-handsome."
Naruto blushed lightly when he caught her near slip-up as he said, "Thanks Hinata." Both the slip-up and Naruto's blush made Shino raise an eyebrow in curiosity.
Silence came down on the classroom as the four waited for all the other students to arrive. Each of the three students was occupied with their own thoughts in the silence, so no words were exchanged.
Naruto: 'Come on you coward, ask her already! But, what if she says no? Should it matter coward? You still would have asked her. Go on, ask her already!'
Hinata: 'Oh Kami-sama! I can't believe I almost told Naruto-kun he was hot! I hope he didn't notice my slip-up. Hmm... I wonder what those muscles of his feel like. Oh, if only I could touch them. N0! Bad Hinata! No thinking naughty thoughts about Naruto-kun. But maybe a quick peek won't hurt. Bad Hinata!'
Shino: 'Yes, but what if it was an African swallow?… I know they're non-migratory but just think. … I suppose so, but what if two swallows carried it? … They could grasp it by the husk! … Fine, you win this round.'
Soon the class filled up with the rest of the students, some noticing Naruto's new look while others couldn't care less. A couple of students were surprised when Naruto didn't show any reaction when Haruno Sakura, his supposed crush, came into the room; Hinata was mentally doing an extreme happy dance at this point.
Iruka stood up and began addressing his class once he was sure everyone was in the room. "Well, this is it. I've tried to fill your thick heads with the knowledge on how to be a proper shinobi. There is still a lot more for you to learn though, and if you make it to be genin, it will be up to your jounin sensei's to teach you all some of the more finer points that I was unable to."
He looked around at them and smiled lightly as he said, "Now, onto your final exam. Hokage-sama has decided to do something slightly different this year. Instead of the Taijutsu portion of the exam being against one of your classmates, a small number of you are going to be fighting one-on-one against a student from one of the other classes."
Many of the students had shocked looks upon their faces and were about to shout out how unfair that was when Iruka simply held up a hand, a stern expression on his face.
"I know that many of you think that what I just said is unfair," The scarred teacher began, "But it's no different that what you will experience if you become a shinobi. More often than not, you will be going up against an opponent who will be a complete unknown to you. This is to prepare you so that you can be ready for when this might happen."
He reached down behind his desk and pulled up a purple box. "In this box are slips of paper that have a number on them. Each of you is going to come up, one at a time, and draw a number. You will then give it to me after memorizing your number and return to your seat. Once everyone has gotten a number, I'm going to write down six random numbers down on the board. If your number is on the board, then you will be fighting against a student from one of the other classes. If not, then you will be graded separately before the Ninjutsu and Genjutsu portion of the exam begins."
Iruka lifted a finger, pointed at the first student at the bottom right-hand corner of the classroom, and said, "Now, starting from there, come up one at a time and pick out your number."
Silently, the class started going up to the purple box to pick out their number, which they then handed to Iruka who wrote it down on a clipboard that was covered with a Genjutsu that would only let his eyes see what was written on it. Once the last student had handed his number to Iruka, the scarred teacher picked up the clipboard and began writing a specific set of numbers down. None of the students could see what was being written since Iruka's body was blocking the sight.
When he finished, Iruka turned back around and revealed to the class which numbers he had picked: thirteen, five, eight, ten, eighteen, and two.
"Would whoever drew these numbers please stand up?" Iruka asked his class. He was silent as he watched Hyuuga Hinata, Uchiha Sasuke, Inuzuka Kiba, Aburame Shino, Uzumaki Naruto, and some random kid stood up.
"Congratulations, you six are going to be fighting against the students from the other three classes." Iruka said with a smile. Some smiled back while others smirked. "However, I want you to be absolutely clear on one thing: these fights will involve no Nin or Genjutsu whatsoever. These are fights where you will demonstrate your skill in Taijutsu only. If you do use Ninjutsu or Genjutsu of any kind, you will immediately fail the Taijutsu portion of the exam. Am I clear?" He asked. The six standing shinobi-hopefuls nodded in response.
"Good." Iruka said shortly. "Now, let's begin the written test." With that, the six sat back down and Iruka passed out the exam. For a little over an hour silence, save for the scratching of pencils and muttered curses of students, filled the room as the ninjas-to-be took their written tests. Once everyone had finished Iruka picked up the tests from the students and stacked them on his desk.
The scarred teacher then turned to the students and said, "Alright. For those of you who won't be fighting against the other students; when your name is called you will go through the door on my left and Mizuki will test your Taijutsu skills. For the six who will be fighting, follow me."
The six stood and followed their teacher, who had picked up his clipboard that had the six's names and numbers on it, out into the empty hallway. Once out there he led them out of the school where the sparring circles were. The other classes with their teachers, and one other female chunin that had an armband with an odd symbol on it had already gathered there and Naruto wasn't very surprised to see his brothers among the group picked.
Iruka walked up to the female chunin who was obviously not one of the instructors of the four classes and handed him his clipboard. The chunin nodded and compared it to the other three clipboards she had.
After a minute or two of nodding to herself she looked up and said, "Okay then, the first fight is between number six from Minahara's class against number two from Takemano's class." Two boys walked out to the middle of the circle and bowed to the chunin. She looked at both of them and said, "You both know the rules. No killing blows." She raised an arm and brought it down.
As one, the two boys rushed at each other and started fighting each other using the basic style taught at the Academy. The two were evenly matched until the boy from Minahara's class managed to score a blow to the other boy's solar plexus and quickly pinned the other boy to the ground while he was still out of breath.
"Alright number six, let him up." The head chunin said as she wrote something down on two of the clipboards. The two boys left the circle and rejoined their classes. The head chunin looked over the clipboards once more before she said, "Number thirteen from Umino's class and number four from Ikana's class, step forward."
Naruto and Kaen stepped to the middle of the circle. Off on the side, Nadare and Denkou chuckled in anticipation, drawing odd looks from the other students.
The head chunin looked at both and said, "Remember: no killing blows." After they both nodded, the head chunin brought her arm up, but stopped when she saw both fighters reaching into one of their pockets. Almost everyone there sweatdropped when both boys pulled out an i-pod.
The two cycled quickly through their songs before they stopped and placed the headphones in their ears. Before they pressed play though, they looked over at the head chunin and nodded. The head chunin brought her hand down with a shake of her head while the two brothers pressed play on their music players.
Their heads started bobbing to the music they were listening to, Naruto's at a faster rate then Kaen's, as they settled into their fighting stances. Naruto even started bouncing on the heels of his feet while Kaen slid out of his trench coat, leaving many of the girls gathered drooling at the sight of his very muscular upper body.
On some unseen signal, the two launched forward and commenced in a fast-paced dance of fists and feet. Nearly everyone watched in awe, and one certain brooder in jealousy, as the two sped up until all their movements flowed with the fluidity of water. To most of the students they didn't look like they were even hitting each other, but the chunins, as well as the other brothers, could see that the two were getting glancing hits in.
Suddenly, Naruto's head launched back as Kaen doubled over. The blond clasped a hand to his nose, where a hint of blood could be seen leaking down, while Kaen could be seen holding onto his stomach, a purple bruise already forming. Despite these injuries though, both of the fighters were grinning brightly.
Naruto brought his hand down from his nose, which was slightly bleeding, and asked, "Seconds?"
"Hell yeah." Kaen answered. Both brought their hands down to their i-pods and switched to a different song. The two then settled into a different fighting stance each and began their fight anew.
This time around, Naruto was using his feet and legs more in his attacks while Kaen seemed to have become an immovable rock. The only time he lifted his feet was to block any strikes that were too low for his arms, other than that he didn't move forward and he didn't move back. Once again, the two continued to up the speed of their fighting.
The students, and even the chunins, were left in awe at the skill these two showed in their Taijutsu. Truly, as Miato Gai might say, they were both geniuses of hard work if the ease with which they fought was any basis for the others to judge.
Soon though, Kaen managed to turn the tables on Naruto and caught one of the blonde's legs as it came at him. With a shout of effort, he threw the blonde straight out of the circle, thankfully not hitting any of the students or teachers.
As Naruto was standing back up the head chunin (who shall remain nameless) said, "Alright you two, that will do." Both fighters nodded to each other as they walked back to where they had been standing. As the blonde passed by Hinata, he quickly slipped a note into her coat pocket without anyone but the lavender-eyed girl noticing.
"Okay, number eight from Umino's class and number seven from Minahara's class," Said the head chunin.
Kiba walked forward with an arrogant strut and his dog Akamaru resting on his head as one of the females from Minahara's class came forward as well. She looked like one of the few kunoichi who actually cared about her ninja career if the way she held herself was any indication.
"Number eight; leave your nin-dog on the sidelines. This test is for your abilities alone, not yours and your dogs." The head chunin said.
Kiba scowled, but did as he was told. Once he looked back at his opponent, he winked suggestively at her, bringing an angry scowl to her face.
The head chunin brought her hand up as she said, "Remember, no killing." She brought it and in the blink of an eye along with a high-pitched scream, Kiba was down on the ground clutching his family jewels, moaning in pain. A couple boys grimaced in pain.
The smoky-white haired girl looked a little satisfied as she said, "I have a boyfriend no-nuts!"
Hinata used the time while everyone was focused on the match to quickly read the note that Naruto had placed in her pocket. Once she finished, she was blushing lightly at the words written and quickly placed the slip of paper back in her pocket.
The head chunin chuckled. "Alright number seven, that's enough. Someone help number eight back to the sidelines please." She said as she wrote down something on the clipboards. Iruka walked forward and picked up the moaning Inuzuka before carrying him back over to the sidelines.
The head chunin, who was still lightly chuckling, said, "Now then, number fifteen from Takemano's class and number ten from Umino's class step up."
The silent Shino and an equally silent boy walked to the center. Both bowed to each other and then settled into obscure fighting stances that only Kaen and Naruto recognized (had Maito Gai been there he would have recognized them as well). Shino was standing in the starting stance for the style known as Muay Thai, while the silent boy from Takemano's class had settled into the beginning stance for the style known as Hapkido.
After the head chunin had brought her fist down the silent boy advanced quickly, and the two were locked in their struggle. Whenever the boy from Takemano's class managed to get Shino in some sort of submission lock, the bug-user would bash the boy in his head with whichever elbow was closest.
After a while the two had backed off from each other, each breathing heavily from the pain each was going through, and realized that they could no longer fight effectively.
Both fighters bowed to each other and walked back to where they had been standing before the fight, surprising both the students and chunins.
"Well that was interesting," The head chunin said. She quickly wrote a couple notes down on the clipboards and moved on to choose the next fighters. "Number nineteen from Minahara's class and number two from Takemano's class, in the circle."
Denkou walked into the circle, after spearing his bo-staff into the earth, as well as a girl who could only be the twin of the one who had kneed Kiba in his balls. However, she looked like she had a bit more muscle than her sister did and had raven-black hair.
Denkou looked from her to her twin before he looked back at her and jerked his thumb at the other girl. "You two twins?" He asked, the girl simply nodded in response. "Ah."
The head chunin brought her hand down and the girl launched herself forward. Denkou barely got his hands up in time to block the kick to his shoulder.
"You're very forward, you know that?" The brunette asked with a good-natured smile.
The girl smiled back at him, tore her leg from his grasp, and quickly spun around to hit Denkou with a reverse roundhouse. Denkou ducked under the kick and attempted a sweep kick that the girl back flipped over.
As Denkou settled into his fighting stance he asked, "Am I right in guessing that you're the silent twin?"
The girl just attacked, using a lightning-fast fighting style that was hard for Denkou to react to. A lot of the time, it was only quick reflexes that allowed Denkou to block the blows. The black-haired girl was relentless in her assault, leaving the brunette little room to go on the offensive.
Soon though, Denkou found the opening he needed. He struck as fast as lightning, jabbing her in the solar plexus and spun around the breathless girl as she held onto her stomach. Once behind her Denkou poked a specific spot in the middle of her back that her collapse down to the ground, the nerves in her legs having been numbed.
"Very well done number nineteen," The head chunin complimented as wrote on her clipboard. "Could you help number two back over to the sidelines please?"
"Sure thing," Denkou responded as he moved over and wrapped one of her arms around her shoulders before he lifted her up. The silent girl's twin came up and placed her sister's other arm around her shoulders as the two carried her over to the sidelines.
Once the three made it over and set the silent girl down, both girls nodded their thanks. Denkou nodded back and walked back over to retrieve his staff, but not before he noticed the silent girl begin to use sign language to communicate with her sister.
"Alrighty then, number five from Umino's class and number nine from Takemano's class. Come into the sparring ring please," The head chunin said.
Hinata and a girl that could obviously be classified as a fangirl walked into the ring. Unlike usually, Hinata's posture wasn't timid or drawn in on herself, instead she actually seemed confident in what she could do. The reason for this metamorphosis was because of what the midnight-blue haired girl had read on Naruto's note.
The head chunin brought her hand down and the fight was over within a minute. The fangirl simply couldn't stand up to the Jyuuken fighting style. It took everything the blonde had not to shout and cheer for Hinata when he saw her win her fight.
The head chunin 'hemmed' and said, "Well that was fast. Now then, number one from Takemano's class and number two from Umino's class, into the ring."
Nadare walked into the ring after removing the holster that held his twin katana with a calm look on his face. Sasuke, meanwhile, was the epitome of smugness and arrogance as he entered the ring.
When the head chunin brought her hand down, the duck butt-haired Uchiha rushed forward to the stone-like Nadare. Just as the Uchiha was about to hit Nadare, the white-haired boy launched out and gripped Sasuke's arm in a death grip. Nadare squeezed down on the arm, drawing a grunt of pain from Sasuke and flipped the black-haired boy hard onto his back.
Sasuke rolled away and coughed a bit as he rose up to his feet. His face had gone beat-red in his anger as he once again charged. This time Nadare sidestepped the charging boy as he stuck out a leg, once more sending the Uchiha into the dirt. This continued for a bout a minute longer in the same fashion, with the Uchiha growing steadily angrier.
By this time, several of the students were chuckling or snickering at the ease with which Nadare was taking down the so-called 'genius', which of course only served to fuel Sasuke's anger. As the raven-haired boy slowly stood up, he subtly moved his hand closer to his kunai holster. Suddenly he spun towards Nadare while flinging a kunai at the white-haired boy. It was all for naught though since Nadare caught the knife at the hilt.
The white-haired boy narrowed his eyes at Sasuke as he asked, "Resorting to weapons are we Uchiha-san? I was under the impression these spars were supposed to be Taijutsu only."
Sasuke scowled as he said, "Iruka never said that weapons we couldn't use weapons, only Ninjutsu or Genjutsu."
"Really?" Nadare looked over at the head chunin and asked, "Since Uchiha-san is using his weapons may I be permitted to use mine?"
The head chunin seemed to think on it before she nodded and said, "Sure, why not?" She then looked over the other students as she warned, "But this is only because number two used his weapon first, no other fight from this point on will include weapons."
Nadare smirked before he dropped the kunai, extended both of his hands to where his katana were resting, and focused for a minute. The holster for his blades started vibrating before both swords flew out of their sheaths and into his hands. Nadare shifted into a ready stance as Sasuke seethed in jealousy while a couple students stared in awe.
"Shall we continue?" The white-haired boy asked.
Without waiting for an answer, Nadare rushed forward and began slicing at the Uchiha. Even though he was going half his maximum speed Sasuke was still hard pressed to dodge. Soon, the Uchiha began receiving little nicks in his clothing and small scratches on his skin. Barely a minute after using his twin katana, Nadare knocked Sasuke to the ground and held his blades at the boy's throat.
"Good job number one. The fight is over now," The head chunin said.
Nadare removed his blades from Sasuke's throat, walked back to where his holster was before he sheathed his blades, and reattached the holster. Sasuke was contemplating attacking the white-haired boy while his back was turned towards him when he felt a stern grip on his shoulder and looked up to see Iruka sternly looking down at him.
"The fight is over," Was all he said as he guided Sasuke back to where the rest of their class stood.
-- (After the rest of the fights) --
The head chunin finished writing a couple extra notes on the clipboards before she handed them back to their respective owners as she said, "Alright, head back to your classrooms and finish the exam. I've seen a lot of talent here and I hope some of you become genin so that you can broaden that talent. Good luck to all of you." With that, she formed a half-ram hand seal and disappeared in a puff of smoke.
The classes then began filing back into the Academy, except for Naruto and Hinata who lagged behind a little so they wouldn't be overheard.
"What did you want to ask me Naruto-kun?" The midnight-blue haired girl softly as well as shyly asked.
Naruto opened his mouth as if to speak, but closed it before taking a breath in order to steel his nerves and asked in a rush, "Wouldyouliketogooutonadatewithme?"
Hinata, despite her shyness, giggled lightly and asked, "Could you try that again more slowly Naruto-kun?"
Naruto breathed in then out and gulped nervously before he tried again. "I was wondering… Would you like to go out on a (gulp) date with me?"
Hinata froze in mid-step as a bright red blush spread over her cheeks while her mind kept repeating three words over and over: 'date with me'. Naruto waited patiently for the girl's mind to reboot and was rewarded with the brightest smile he had ever seen the shy girl give as she nodded.
Naruto smiled back as he said, "Awesome. So… uh," An idea came to his head and he acted on it, "I'll pick you up at six tomorrow. Dress for a picnic."
"Okay. Where are we going?" Hinata asked in her usual gentle tone.
Naruto smirked playfully and winked as he said, "That's a surprise. Trust me; the wait will be worth it."
Before Hinata could say anything in reply to that the two arrived at their classroom. Thankfully the others had only been in the room for a minute or two, so the two didn't receive many suspicious looks as they sat down.
"Alright," Iruka said to quiet down the chattering of his students. "I'm going to call you down one at a time and you're going to perform the Henge no Jutsu as well as the Kawimari no Jutsu. Once everyone has gone you'll be called into the other room where Mizuki and I will be waiting, once in there you're to perform the Bushin no Jutsu."
He looked around at his students as he spoke, noting which ones were and weren't nervous. The scarred teacher was surprised when he saw that the normally shy and timid Hyuuga heiress was sporting a look of complete confidence in her self.
One by one the students came up to perform the two specified jutsus. Some did well, bad, and, a small number, great. As usual, all the fan girls squealed and swooned when Sasuke went up and performed both jutsu, although Iruka's trained eyes caught a few big mistakes in the henge the Uchiha had chosen.
Naruto had a certain gleam in his eyes as he walked up to the front. Once there he performed the Henge no Jutsu, transforming himself into Uchiha Sasuke. However, on the back of the shirt was the following anagram:
I am an
Upset
Chicken-
Haired
Insignificant
Hard
Ass.
Before any of the students could say anything though, Naruto dispersed the henge and performed the Kawimari no Jutsu, switching himself with Iruka (which of course made Sasuke seethe in jealousy in addition to the anger he was feeling).
Soon it came time for them to go into the side room and attempt to pass the exam. The students were dismissed out of a different door so the students still in the room didn't know who passed and who didn't.
When Naruto heard his name called, he confidently walked to the side room. As soon as he walked through the door, he began to feel a tingling sensation all over his body. The blonde recognized these tingles as a sign of a Genjutsu being placed on his body and grit his teeth in frustration. Naruto knew he could easily dispel the Genjutsu, but the strength he always inadvertently put into the dispel technique would also temporarily short out his henge seal.
"When you're ready Naruto," Iruka prompted.
Naruto brusquely nodded and place his hands in the ram hand seal before he tired to gather as little of his chakra as possible.
"Ninpou: Bushin no Jutsu!" Naruto shouted. As he did, he immediately felt his chakra spike and knew what was going to happen…
-- (End Chapter) --
Unknown-nin345: I have a confession make…when I first typed up this chapter it was 18 pages long. Since I didn't think you would be able to last for 18 pages of typed words, I decided to slash this chapter in half and make the other half chapter 3. So, yay! Two chapters for the price of one. Credit for the U.C.H.I.H.A. anagram belongs to Maverick9817 and his PHEONIX fanfic.
COWABUNGA!!!