Disclaimer : I do not own Naruto
Talking : "Blah"
Thinking : 'Blah'
As Naruto slowly limped into the village, he could feel the wound in his chest slowly healing now that the blood flow had stopped and as he removed his shirt, he saw the pink skin slowly turning light beige to match the rest of his skin. Although the wound was gone, the pain still remained as he looked for a place to sleep for the night so his body may get back to full health. His answer came in the form of a big cardboard box laying in an alley off of the main street which he turned around so the entrance was no longer facing the street before climbing in and taking off his jacket to create a makeshift pillow for the night.
He woke to the sound of dripping water and the feel of something lightly tapping against his head and opened his eyes to see that the top of the box had started to collapse in on itself due to the rain during the night. Naruto hastily exited his temporary housing before he got soaked but as he got out, he noticed that the rain had not stopped so he ran for one of the awnings that hung over a nearby store. As soon as he was sure he would be relatively dry under there, he began to run a self-check on himself to see how the injury from yesterday was doing and to see if he felt any pain. After making sure that he was back at full health, he started to hear a rumbling noise coming from close by and realized that it was his stomach needing some food he went in search for breakfast. When he checked his pockets, he found that his wallet was gone and along with it was any chance of getting a meal legally so he went in search of an open market to do a quick snatch and grab without getting caught. As he walked through the village, he passed a man standing on a street corner handing out flyers to anyone who passed and when Naruto walked by, the man's eyes light up as he ran over to Naruto. The man shoved one of his flyers into Naruto's hands as he began to speak
"Hey kid, how good are you with that sword? Actually it doesn't matter, welcome to the Hidden Village of the Mist shinobi academy, they will pay for your attending so hurry up, the introductory classes start in a few hours so make sure to be there on time."
"Really...wait…why?"
"Well, we are still trying to recoup our loses from an…incident that happened at the academy almost decade ago where the graduating class got wiped out and the Mizukage wants to recruit as many people as possible to help before the civil war breaks out."
"Civil war!"
"Well, a group of seven idiots believe that they are better then our Mizukage and want to take over but don't ask anymore questions but when you get to the academy, be quiet and do whatever you sensei tells you to do and you will be fine."
Naruto looked at the back of the man as he ran off down the street in search of more people and then looked down at the flyer before hearing his stomach tumble again in hunger. He knew if he went, he would get money and money meant food and food meant no more stomach pains so he looked down at the directions on the map and headed towards the center of the village.
As Naruto entered through the big steel doors at the front of the academy, he saw people of all shapes and sizes and ages ranging from his age to old men who looked like they were on the last stretch of life standing and sitting all around the room. He found a seat in the back of the room away from everyone else so that he would not draw attention to himself but as soon as he sat down, another child with a black cloth covering his head and wearing a red robe came walking over to him. As the kid walked over, the sneer on his face started to deepen
"Listen and listen well kludge, I am going to be the best in this class and if anyone gets in my way, I will get my father to have them removed if you get my meaning so stay out of my way!"
Naruto did not know this kid and after hearing his little speech, he did not want to know him but before he could open his mouth for a retort, another child with striking bright blue hair and black shirt and pants with a gauntlet on each arm walked over.
"Hey Kamiri, why don't you stop bugging us regular kids like us and go back to kissing your daddy's ass"
Kamiri's scowl deepened even more before letting out a huff of air and walking away with the red robe billowing behind him as the blue haired child sat down in the seat beside Naruto. The child flashed a smile at Naruto before sticking out a gauntlet covered hand for him to shake which Naruto lightly grasped before the other child almost pulled his arm out of his socket while shaking it.
"Hi, my name is Taima, sorry about before but it looked like you needed a little bit of help against the local town asshole"
"Hi, I am Naruto and I didn't need help but I am not sorry that you managed to get rid of that kid, what is a kludge anyway?"
"It's the rich person way of saying scum and since Kamiri is the son of a noble with connections to the Mizukage, he thinks that he can rule this entire village so I spend a few minutes each day taking the wind out of his sails"
Naruto let out a little laugh and the two of them began to talk about what they wanted to get out of the academy and Taima was saddened to hear about what had happened to Naruto surrogate father but by the time the class sensei walked in, both of them knew that they had found a friend.
When the sensei of the class walked in, Naruto instantly knew that this was a man who had seen many battles and had killed many more people, he was clean shaven on his chin and scalp with an eye patch over his left eye and a long scar running down under the eye patch all the way down to his mouth. He had a grim look on his face as he turned towards the class and started to speak
"My name is Gemah but you will call my sensei, I was the commander for the Mizukage's personal guard but I have been asked to take time off to train you maggots and turn you in to full fledged shinobi. By the time this class is done, some of you will be hurt and some of you will even be dead and if that thought disturbs you then you can walk right out the steel doors and go back to being nobodies, do I make myself clear?"
"YES SENSEI!"
The class shouted as Gemah began to walk them through the basics of shinobi training by taking them outside to test all of them in every aspect of the field such as strength, weapon throwing, speed and stamina. Naruto had no prior training in weapons or taijutsu so he failed at those tests but then Gemah took them over to the track that was behind the school and told them to run twenty laps, Naruto knew that this was his time to impress his sensei. He started to sprint while the rest of the class began in a slow jog and they all laughed at him for they thought he was going to tire out early and not be able to finish but as he crossed the line for his twentieth lap not even winded, the laughter from the class who were still on their tenth to twelfth lap stopped. Gemah just looked at Naruto standing of to the side then back down to his time watch and a smile graced his battle scarred face as he walked over to Naruto. He clapped a hand down on Naruto's shoulder and Naruto looked up at him with a small smile of his own
"Way to go maggot, you have more stamina then the rest of these other maggots combined, you may be lacking in other areas but those can be improved, it looks like you have the making of a great shinobi one day"
Naruto's small smile turned into a full blown one upon hearing this and he began to jump around doing a small dance but something inside of him to him to stop before he even began which Naruto complied to and sat back down on the bench. As the rest of the class finally made it around their last lap, they all collapsed to their knees trying to catch their breath but Gemah would not allow it around quickly ushered them off to the to the final testing area, the dojo. As they entered the dojo, everyone sat on the outer ring of the mat, as Gemah stood in the middle and made everyone in the room be silent before addressing all of them
"This is the final test for all of you, some of you will die here and the ones that walk away winners will be welcomed into the Village Hidden in The Rain shinobi academy and if any of you are not comfortable with this then like before, there is the door"
"But sensei, didn't we already test our taijutsu?"
"Yes you did but this is not just about taijutsu, this is full fledged combat with another human being where anything goes as long as it means that you come out on top at the end of it, now I will be calling out pairs and the two will fight until one is unable to continue or dead, now first pair is Taima versus Honan, begin"
Taima got to his feet and strapped his steel gauntlets back onto his forearms before stepping into the ring where his opponent was a kid who looked like he had just his puberty with acne growing his face. The two opponents bowed to each other before jumping back to the edge of the mat to feel each other out before striking and Honan charged first with a sloppy form of taijutsu. Taima blocked the first blow by using his gauntlet as a guard and was on the defensive as the older teen kept throwing punch after punch and each one being blocked. Honan finally saw an opening as he managed to get a grip on Taima's gauntlets that left his mid-section wide open and Honan kicked him hard causing the air in Taima's lungs to leave and send him skidding back towards the edge.
As he got his breath back, he decided to go on the offensive instead of the defensive and charged at Honan with his gauntlets in front and began to barrage him with punches which few were blocked but most of them got through. Taima put most of his strength behind a haymaker aimed for Honan's head and a smile graced his face as he heard the crunch of broken bone. Honan fell to the ground clutching his nose as blood poured out of it like a faucet and Taima pulled back his right fist for the final blow but was stopped as Gemah took hold of his arm before he could throw the punch.
"Good fight you two, Taima you show some talent for taijutsu but you have absolutely no style do that is something to work on and Honan, you fight well but at this academy we only accept winners so come back next month when the next class starts, now onto the next fight"
Naruto sat by and watched each match start and finish with some of them ending with the two opponents both walking away and other getting carried out on a stretcher and he was slowly growing more nervous with each name called waiting for his own to be announced as the number of opponents dwindled. Naruto looked up and caught the gaze of Gemah who smiled at him before speaking once again
"We are getting down to the last few of our contestants so we should be done soon so the next fight is Naruto verses Kamiri"
Naruto got to his feet and walked into the middle of the ring and watched as Kamiri took to his feet and unclasped his robe to reveal the large broadsword that was strapped to his back. Naruto withdrew his katana and went into one of the basic katas that was taught to him as Kamiri pulled the broadsword off of his back and out of it's sheath before going into a basic stance. They both waited for the signal and as Gemah dropped his hand down, Kamiri charged at Naruto with sword in both hands and swung wide as Naruto quickly jumped back to avoid it.
As Naruto landed, he realized that due to the speed of the charge and the sloppiness of the swing that Kamiri must only wear the sword for show and have actually very little training in the art of kenjutsu. He was broken from his thoughts as he raised his katana above his head to black Kamiri's broadsword and with a push up caused Kamiri to be knocked backwards onto his ass. As he slowly got back to his feet, Naruto took this opportunity and charged with a downward swing causing Kamiri to abandon his weapon in exchange for his life as he rolled to the right to avoid Naruto's swing. Kamiri got to his feet just in time to watch Naruto turn on his right foot and bring his katana in an upward slash and felt a warm liquid substance splash on his face. He looked over to his right arm to see where he was struck only to find it laying on the floor in front of him and blood squirting out of the stub where it once was. Kamiri let out a cry of pain and anguish as he looked at Naruto with pure rage in his eyes and with his one good arm, he charged towards Naruto with kunai in hand before being stopped by Gemah and a medic team. As Kamiri was being lead off the mat, he turned around and faced Naruto
"Listen to me you bastard of a street whore, no one but no one harms me and gets away scot-free, I will have my revenge one day and until then you best always be looking over your shoulder and sleeping with one eye open"
Naruto still in shock from the blood covering his face nodded his head as Gemah led him off the mat and back onto the floor beside Taima who gave him a pat on the back but all Naruto could think about was the blood and how much he enjoyed spilling it.
(A/N) :
- I thank you for your reviews on my frist chapter and as always, critism is always welcome so until next time, keep reading and reviewing.
