Looking Beneath the Beneath
Chapter 2
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto
Previously: Kakashi looked at Naruto's face and saw the intelligence in his eyes before stiffening slightly at Naruto's implication, "the senbon…" Kakashi murmured.
Naruto smirked slightly before saying "hit the nerves that cause a near-death trance."
"Meaning he's still alive" Kakashi groaned
"You don't need to worry; it'll take at least a week for Zabuza to recover. A lot can be done in a week." Naruto murmured to Kakashi reassuringly, "now, you need to rest."
Naruto then knocked Kakashi out by hitting a pressure point. The rest of the trip was uneventful. They arrived at Tazuna's house before the end of the day. Sakura and Sasuke shared a room with a sheet as a dividing barrier while Naruto roomed with Kakashi waiting for him to wake up.
Kakashi blinked his eye open and looked around. It was either nighttime or near that by what he could see of the sky. Kakashi looked around the room and noticed naruto sitting in a cross-legged position, clearly meditating. Kakashi sighed for a moment closing his eye, before trying to sit up. Hands aided him and Kakashi opened his eye to see naruto helping him. One thought ran through his mind 'I didn't even hear him move!'
Naruto was watching Kakashi and enjoying shocking his Jounin-Sensei. His expression was priceless.
As soon as Kakashi was comfortable he asked "how long was I out?"
Naruto grinned, "Not long, just the rest of the day, but you'll find yourself fairly well rested. The pressure point I hit also helps speed recovery, as well as knocking out the person it's being used on."
Kakashi raised his eyes at the information. "Just how do you know that?" he asked naruto, in a deceptively calm voice.
Naruto chuckled to himself at Kakashi's caution before setting in to be serious. "It's amazing what a person can learn when no one really sees you."
Kakashi's thought about that for a moment before his mind went back the pranks naruto used to pull and he realized something that made him want to curse his own stupidity. All those pranks had been done right under the noses of oblivious ANBU, who hadn't known what was going on until it was already done. Kakashi refocused on Naruto "just how strong are you really?" he demanded.
Naruto smirked "That is for me to know and you to find out. I would appreciate it if kept this between us. I'd rather not face Sasuke-teme's arrogance or Sakura's banshee like ways."
Kakashi agreed to that reluctantly, but he could see where naruto was coming from. Sasuke was an arrogant prick and Sakura was a cheerleader/Banshee that didn't know when to shut-up. "But why didn't Hokage-sama tell me any of this" Kakashi wondered, sounding and feeling puzzled.
At that naruto flushed slightly in embarrassment and inside his head Kyuubi was roaring in laughter at naruto 'getting caught with his pants down' so to speak. "I –ah- might no have, um, kept him, er, completely informed." By now naruto was looking rather sheepish.
Kakashi looked at naruto before chuckling himself. "Alright, I changed my mind, I won't tell anyone as long as you tell the Hokage what you are capable of as soon as we get back."
Knowing that was the best he could hope for he agreed. He had already assumed he'd have to tell the old man sooner or later. It just turns out it will be sooner rather than later "So, what now, sensei?"
"What do you mean?" was Kakashi's confused reply
"Well, at present, there is now way in hell Sakura or Sasuke would stand a snowflakes chance in hell at winning and/or surviving a fight against Zabuza or his fake hunter-nin partner." Naruto replied
"Ah that. Well, I think I'll teach them to climb trees." Was Kakashi's reply.
"you mean the tree-walking exercise? That would help sasuke's chakra control, and up his speed (all that running trying to get up the tree) and Sakura's Chakra reserves would increase, allowing her to do more than basic academy jutsu without getting exhausted. Naruto muttered, more to himself than to Kakashi.
Kakashi looked at naruto "but what to help you with?"
Naruto grinned "how about some elemental ninjutsu? I can use my affinities in taijutsu and kenjutsu, but my ninjutsu arsenal is rather lacking."
Kakashi nodded "I can do that"
"Good, now, you might want to go back to sleep. By the time morning comes around you should be almost completely back to your normal self." Naruto told him
Kakashi just nodded before allowing sleep to over come him. Naruto settled down leaning his back against the wall. Kyuubi came over from the shadows where he had been sitting earlier. Kyuubi jumped into Naruto's lap and settled down. Both of the retreated into Naruto's mindscape. Today it was a never-ending meadow. "You told him quite a lot, kit." Kyuubi rumbled now the size of a horse.
"I know, I don't know why, but I just felt like I could trust him. I guess I just went with my instincts." Naruto replied.
Kyuubi used its tails to pull naruto to his side and wrapped him up. "Rest kit, sometimes sleeping can be just as important as training."
So naruto fell asleep as the two waited for morning.
-Morning-
Kakashi woke up to see the morning light and hear the birds chirping. He took inventory of himself and realized Naruto had been right. He looked around and saw naruto sleeping with the fox in his lap. The first thing that pooped into his head was 'cute'. Kakashi chuckled at himself for thinking that before going to wake Naruto up.
Naruto felt someone shaking him in his sleep, so he opened his eyes to see Kakashi looking at him. "Wakey-Wakey sleepy head." Kakashi said in an unusually cheerful voice.
Naruto mock glared at him. (Naruto is not a morning person. He only trains early in the morning because he has no choice.) "How the hell are you so cheerful so damn early?"
"I'm just special that way" Kakashi told naruto in a sing-song voice.
The two of the joined Sasuke, sakura, Tazuna, Tsunami (Tazuna's Daughter), and Inari (Tsunami's son and Tazuna's Grandson). Breakfast was eaten in comfortable silence as everyone (the non-morning people) tried to wake up. "All right you to, listen up." Kakashi said looking at Sasuke and Sakura. "I'm going to teach you a chakra control exercise. Once mastered it will improve your speed and/or your chakra reserves."
"But why?" Sakura asked Kakashi.
"Because Zabuza is still alive. Hinter-nins are supposed to dispose of the bodies on site. Plus, the hunter-nin used senbon. It is unlikely he hit a kill spot on the neck with those." Kakashi informed them. "Also, naruto will be with me. It appears he will need a different exercise. It would be pointless for me to try and teach him chakra control."
Sasuke and sakura looked at naruto suspiciously before relaxing. Naruto was looking embarrassed. They were thinking 'it's Naruto. It must be because he is too stupid to learn what Kakashi wants to teach us.'
Naruto was laughing his ass off mentally at how easily the two were fooled. When breakfast was done Kakashi led his three students out into a nearby forest. He showed/explained to Sasuke and Sakura what they were supposed to do. He told them that when they were completely exhausted they should return to Tazuna's house. Kakashi then took Naruto away to a different part of the forest, far enough away from Sakura and Sasuke that they would never find him. "Alright, first I need to know what affinities you have." Kakashi told naruto.
My major affinities are Wind and fire, while I have minor affinities for water and lightning." Naruto told him.
Kakashi was surprised; usually a person had only one minor and one major affinity. Plus, wind and lighting were opposing affinities, and water and fire generally don't mix either. "okay, so I also have a few more questions I need you to answer honestly before I can think of an appropriate jutsu to teach you." After getting Naruto's nod of agreement he continued. "How good is your chakra control and can you do elemental manipulation?"
"I can balance kunai for hours, so my chakra control (near as I can tell) is nearing perfect. I can use water manipulation to make and control whirlpools of varying size, I can cut waterfalls using wind manipulation, I can control small lightning bolts, and I can make a candle go out from 20 ft. away." Naruto informed him.
Kakashi felt hi jaw drop. What Naruto could do, very few people could. "How did you learn all that?"
"I first learned Kage Bunshin, after figuring out that I learned everything it learned, I was able to gain years of training in a very short time. I have a lot of chakra so I was able to create about 500 clones and make them last all day." Naruto explained.
Kakashi nodded in understanding, but was still impressed. It took a lot of metal fortitude to be able to withstand the pressure on the mind caused by that much information flowing in almost constantly. "How about I teach you water style: Water dragon? The Jutsu creates a massive dragon that hits your enemy. I used it against Zabuza." Kakashi asked Naruto.
Naruto nodded. "That would be great. What rank is the jutsu?"
"It's a B-ranked jutsu (A/N: made that up. I don't really know it's rank)" Kakashi told him "keep in mind, this jutsu is only possible if you're near water and/or you have perfect control over water. Even then you couldn't use it in the desert. The amount of water around you and the amount of chakra used contribute to the strength of the jutsu."
Naruto nodded in understanding. After Kakashi showed him the hand signs needed naruto created twenty clones and began working on it. Kakashi watched his progress from a tree branch. He was astonished. Each time a clone made a breakthrough it would dispel itself to give the info to the rest of them. All twenty clones were gone after three hours and naruto could completely and correctly use Water Style: Water Dragon to any degree he wished. Kakashi was ecstatic over how good his student was. He went over to where Naruto was. "Since you did so well I'll teach you one more jutsu. Kirigakure Silent Mist Jutsu. This jutsu isn't really a jutsu as it doesn't need a hand sign. All you really need to do is use elemental chakra manipulation to turn the water into mist." Kakashi explained.
Naruto nodded ad once again created his clones to help. This time Kakashi only stayed around for a little while before telling Naruto he was going to check on and help the other two fir the rest of the day. Naruto just nodded saying that he'd train by himself for the rest of the day after mastering the Kirigakure silent killing technique.
Kakashi went and supervised the other two genins until they were exhausted. He then walked them back to tazuna's in time for dinner. When they were all seated Sakura noticed that Naruto was missing "Hey sensei, where's Naruto?"
"Probably off training somewhere, don't worry about him just eat." Kakashi answered.
The two nodded and went back to eating. When dinner was done the two stumbled to their beds and collapsed into sleep. Kakashi went onto the roof and made himself comfortable for an all night watch.
A/N: Review, Please! It inspires my ideas and motivates me to write. Sorry the chapter is so late. I lost the original copy of the story for a while and only recently refound it. Plus I recently got a job where I work weird hours almost everyday. Also, I keep getting called into to work on my days off since people keep calling in sick. So it has been slow going for me. Also, I'm typing this at night when I'm exhausted so sorry about any error I make, but please point them out to me. I'll just kepp making them other wise. Sorry for the long wait (and the long author's Note). Thanks to everyone who reviewed, alerted or favorited. Keep it up.
