Disclaimer: I own nothing.
A/N: I fixed up Chapter 1, so read the new version.
Naruto blinked as his newest teacher had him hanging from the tree in the center of the garden by a length of ninja wire wrapped around one of his ankles, the other end tied around one of the tree's branches.
He struggled, briefly, before a kunai suddenly whizzed by him, neatly slicing open one of his cheeks. Naruto gasped, feeling his cheek as blood welled up from the cut. He stared at the woman that had thrown the kunai, contently munching away on her dango.
"Well, come on kid. You're burning daylight. Cut yourself free and we'll start your weapons training." She said, chewing on the stick she'd just finished in an attempt to get some of the remaining bits off it.
Twisting his body around, Naruto saw the kunai embedded in the tree. Swinging back and forth, he reached his hand out and grabbed it, pulling it from the tree with some effort. Bending his body almost completely over he cut himself free of the wire. His success was short-lived, however, as he landed harshly on his back.
"Owww." He stated, moving to a standing position. The kunai wasn't one of the blunt ones that that scarred guy made him use whenever he came around. No, this one was a real kunai that real shinobi used.
"Okay, brat. We're going to practice the motion for throwing each of the three ninja tools." She said, producing a shuriken and a senbon needle from a pocket of her jacket. Naruto grinned, pain already forgotten. Then, she promptly began throwing the weapons at him.
"We're also going to practice dodging incoming projectiles." She stated casually, producing a seemingly endless number of said projectiles from such skimpy clothes.
"You suck, Anko-sensei!" Naruto crowed, knowing the rules of this 'practice session'. If he ducked behind an object, she would obliterate it with a jutsu and continue throwing things. Some might ask how exactly this trained him how to throw. Well, he had to pick them up off the ground and throw them back. If his form wasn't perfect, he received a cut on some part of his body for his efforts.
Six Years Later...
Yamanaka Ino sat at the counter of Yamanaka Flowers, flipping through the most recent copy of Kunoichi Today. She had to keep up with the latest in shinobi fashion, after all, even if she was spending her Saturday here. But she'd promised her father that she'd watch the shop while he and her mother were out. The bell above the door dinged as someone entered the shop, and she did not bother looking up from her magazine.
"Hi, welcome to Yamanaka Flowers. Let me know if I can help you with anything." She said, idly turning a page of her magazine. It was probably a customer that wanted one of the pre-done arrangements anyway.
"Hello." Came the quiet reply, and Ino's head shot up so fast it was amazing she didn't give herself whiplash. What was Sarutobi Naruto doing here? She ducked under the counter, pretending to be rummaging around for something while she used the vanity mirror she'd placed there for just such a purpose to make sure she looked good.
While she was checking her makeup in the mirror, Naruto was walking down one of the aisles, minding his own business as he looked for what he wanted.
It came as a surprise to the youth when suddenly his classmate, Ino, practically appeared at his side. "So, Naruto, what can I help you with? Do you need an arrangement done?" She asked, careful to appear helpful and interested but not too eager.
Naruto shifted the senbon he was chewing on across to the other side of his mouth, and returned his hands to the pockets of his navy sleeveless hooded sweatshirt. The sweatshirt was unzipped, leaving his simple forest green shirt open to the viewer. Under the tee shirt he wore a mesh one, also sleeveless.
His pants were the color of the charcoal many of Konoha's smiths used when smelting, and his ninja sandals were the same color as his sweatshirt. Finally, his hair was the same shade as the chalk Iruka-sensei used to write on the blackboard.
Ino shook her head, realizing that she'd been checking him out. Thankfully, he hadn't noticed, or was pretending he hadn't. "I'm here to get an arrangement done. Something to take to the grave of a loved one." He said, emotion causing his voice to shake slightly.
Showing surprising tact for the leader of a clique like hers, Ino simply quietly told him to follow her and give his input on what flowers he did or didn't want. She told him what flower meant what, and soon he had an arrangement in his hands.
"How much do I owe you?" Naruto asked as they returned to the counter, Ino closing her magazine in a way that she attempted to make nonchalant. When Naruto caught her and raised an eyebrow, she blushed.
Naruto paid the required amount, then paused as his eyes followed her slim arm up to her face. "You should eat more." He commented, knowing she dieted from what he'd seen at the Academy.
"I have to diet so I can maintain my figure and look good!" She retorted, angry that he would say such a thing.
Naruto blinked, raising an eyebrow at such a defense of her dieting. "Ino. We are ninja. We are active enough on a day-to-day basis that you could eat nothing but dumplings all day and 'maintain your figure'. The amount of exertion that goes into being a ninja is astonishing. You're only hurting yourself." Advice given, he turned and left the small flower shop.
After making sure he was gone, Ino poked at the bandages covering her stomach. Is he right? Am I dieting for no reason? She thought, then quietly pushed the magazine off the counter and into the trash. If Naruto said it, it had to be true. After all, he was the number one student in their class.
Naruto's hands were once again in the pockets of his sweatshirt as he stood in front of the Memorial Stone, his bouqet replacing the old one there, placed there about a week earlier by someone else. "Hi, Kakashi-sensei." Naruto greeted, as he was joined by Konoha's resident cycloptic pervert. The man had taught Naruto all of the jutsu the teen knew, and had promised to give him help whenever he could.
"Naruto." The silver-haired man returned, settling one hand atop his sometimes-student's head. The boy grumbled about teachers who didn't know the meaning of boundaries, but nevertheless returned to chewing his senbon. He would never admit it to it, but he had picked up the habit when he was younger, after seeing one Chuunin doing it. The guy had looked cool, which made Naruto want to do it.
"Isn't the exam tomorrow?" Kakashi asked, wondering if his standing request would be accepted. He'd put it in ages ago, as soon as it had become possible to do so. He'd been blocked when he sought apprenticeship, but a three-man cell was better than not teaching him at all.
The next day, Naruto entered the classroom, greeted by the sight of the resident brooding asshole, Uchiha Sasuke. Grunting in something that could be passed off as a greeting, Naruto climbed the stairs up to the top right corner of the room, then took the seat closest to the window.
Opening the window, he sat in his chair and leaned it back against the wall, choosing to emulate his friend, Shikamaru Nara, and take a nap.
Several minutes later, he was woken up by someone sitting next to him with a huff. "Sakura beat you to the seat?" He asked, grinning around his senbon when she chose to answer with another huff. The other seat was taken by Shino, the bug user.
"Good morning." Shino greeted, refraining from placing his hands on the desk.
Naruto had been about to answer Shino's greeting when a piece of chalk came flying up from the lower part of the room and hit him in the forehead with pinpoint accuracy. Opening one eye to glare at the chalk-thrower, he reluctantly returned all four chair legs to the floor.
"Now that I have everyone's attention, we can start the exam. Good luck, and may you all serve Konoha with the Will of Fire." Iruka stated, giving the customary opening statement before handing out the written portion of the exam.
Iruka led the class out to the training field reserved by the Academy 24/7, then told them to take up positions around the ring. While it wasn't a true ring, it may as well have been. So many taijutsu finals had been conducted here that a section of the field in the exact center had no grass, and was actually about two inches lower than the rest of the area.
"Alright then. First match, Yamanaka Ino vs. Sorataka Ami." In the interest of fairness, girls fought other girls, and boys fought other boys. As the two took up their positions inside the makeshift ring, Ino found herself standing directly across from Naruto.
Iruka broke her out of her thoughts, by calling out for the match to begin. Ami charged across the clearing towards her, and Ino ducked under the leading punch, lashing out with a leg sweep that brought her around into perfect position for a follow-up kick, but only because of how flexible she was.
Using the remaining momentum from the leg sweep to spin herself, Ino leaped into the air and brought her foot around, intending to land a blow to Ami's stomach. The bully was having none of it however, and rolled out of the way.
Ino's landing kicked up dust and she quickly backed away, intending to keep herself out of out of range of retaliation. Ami seemed to have had just such a thought, as her fist impacted the ground where Ino had just been.
Hissing in pain, Ami pulled her fist back, cradling it to her chest. This moment would prove to be her undoing, however, as Ino took the momentary lapse in judgement as her cue to end the match.
Sprinting forward, she grabbed a fistful of Ami's hair and brought the purple-haired girl's head down into the ground, face-first.
"Alright Ino, that's enough." Iruka called out, and Ino rose from her position seated on Ami's back, then dusted herself off before moving over to one of the open spots in the crowd, this one right next to Naruto.
"A little brutal there at the end, don't you think?" Naruto asked, smirking slightly as he made a motion towards Ami, who was nursing an apparently broken nose.
"I figured I'd finish her off while she was distracted. Plus, I've always wanted to make her eat dirt. Win-win scenario." Ino commented, giving a shrug. The taller boy returned the shrug, then strolled out onto the makeshift field as Iruka called out his name.
Standing across from his rotund friend, Naruto shook out his shoulders before assuming his stance. "Alright Choji, give it your all!" He called out to Akimichi, who gave a firm nod.
When Iruka told them to start, Naruto moved in to Choji, knowing that the Akimichi boy wouldn't make the first punch. He wanted his friend to make a good showing, and if that meant taking a few punches, so be it.
Throwing a punch, Naruto watched it impact against the chip-munching boy's shoulder, who then grinned as he looped an arm around Naruto's outstretched arm, then heaved the white-haired boy over his shoulder in a textbook throw.
Allowing himself to be carried up and over, Naruto surprised Choji by securing his grip around his larger classmate's arm, then landed heavily on the other side, before throwing a vicious punch that Choji moved his head out of the way to dodge, before retaliating with a punch of his own.
Feeling the punch impact his ribs, Naruto grunted when he heard the telltale crack that announced his now cracked rib. They released their grip on each other and began trading blows, Naruto strangely only throwing punches. His fighting style was odd, too. He hadn't attacked with a single kick for the entirety of the spar.
"What is that style?" Shikamaru muttered to himself, watching as Naruto used his forearm to block another of Choji's punches, then punch Choji's side twice before the Akimichi could get away.
The match went on in a similar fashion, with it being extremely close between the two. Finally, Naruto landed the deciding blow, a single punch that the Sarutobi seemed to put all of his weight into.
The punch hit Choji squarely on the jaw, knocking Choji to the ground. Iruka chose that moment to call the match, causing Naruto to help Choji to his feet, and then back to the sidelines.
"Come on Choji, I'll buy you some yakitori after school's over." The Akimichi, who had seemed glum over his loss, brightened at the prospect of free food. Not to mention that Naruto was perfectly fine with Choji eating his fill, which made him like it even more when Naruto paid.
The next match was between Kiba and Sasuke. As expected, Kiba took a sound beating, though he did manage to get in several hits on 'The Last Loyal Uchiha'.
Naruto watched each fight happen disinterestedly, though he did pay attention to Shikamaru's fight against Maruboshi Daisuke, another civilian boy whose parents had some money to throw away. After the lazy Nara decimated his opponent, he returned to standing on Choji's other side.
"What a drag. Now my mom is probably going to hear about this, and I'll get yelled at for being too rough or something." Shikamaru muttered, then promptly sat down next to Choji. Standing up was too much effort right now.
"And now, for the ninjutsu portion of the test. Each of you will come up to the front of the room, and perform the three jutsu taught here." Iruka stated after the one-hour lunch break that took place between the taijutsu portion and the ninjutsu portion.
Naruto watched each of the students go before him, then stood and walked to the front of the room, chewing on a new senbon. Iruka had made him take it out on the way to the taijutsu test, and he hadn't had a chance to get another one, since Choji insisted on lightening his wallet.
"Alright, Naruto. First, perform the Henge. Transform into a person of your choice." Iruka said, to which Naruto simply made the requisite seals. In a blink of an eye, where Sarutobi Naruto had once stood, now stood Tobirama Senju, the Nidaime Hokage, in his armor.
"Very good. Kawamiri with anything in the room." Once again, Naruto made the seals. Where Naruto stood was now a chair, and Naruto was casually leaning against one of the desks in the center of the room.
"And now the Bunshin." Iruka stated as Naruto returned to stand before him.
"Can we use any kind of Bunshin?" Naruto asked, to which Iruka raised an eyebrow, but nodded.
"I suppose you could get extra credit for using a different kind." Iruka stated, taking a step back.
"Suiton: Mizu Bunshin no Jutsu!" Naruto called out, grinning in satisfaction when two perfect clones of him formed behind and to his right and left.
"Very good, but where'd you get the water?" Iruka asked, interest piqued.
"A canteen I keep in my pack." Naruto stated, then waited for Iruka to give his verdict.
"You pass, Naruto." Iruka said, smiling slightly as he passed the headband to his now two-times student. And both times, he'd learned everything Iruka had taught him.
The rest of the exams passed without event, with Iruka reluctantly failing those who hadn't passed, and passing the ones who had succeeded.
"I'm home!" Naruto called out, kicking his sandals off. As he passed by a portion of the wall that had feet sticking out of it and was sideways, he casually leaned over it and good-naturedly punched his little brother in the head, then continued on to the kitchen so he could get a glass of water.
"Ko', you need to hold your camoflauge properly." He threw over his shoulder, knowing that Konohamaru looked up to him.
"Naruto-nii, can you teach me? Ebisu-sensei is always trying to teach me useless stuff! Please?" Konohamaru followed him into the kitchen, to which Naruto grinned.
"Sure, I'll teach you something."