Disclaimer– "Substitute 'damn' every time you feel inclined to write 'very'; your editor will delete it and the writing will be just as it should be." -Mark Twain
The Maelstrom of Konoha-1.03
The Tale of a Young Boy's Ascent into the Legends
Please be patient with pairings and such. They won't appear for a 'DAMN' long time (I don't have an editor. Read disclaimer quote if you don't get it). If I didn't make anything completely clear in the story (read: confusing), email/review your question and I'll try and clear it up. (If I can't then...well, maybe I can't make it any clearer.) Now bow down while I eat innocent baby bunnies in front of you...in an evil manner. -Cantor
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Naruto slept restlessly that night, tossing and turning under his sheets, which tangled uncomfortably and left him sweating. The young blond had been up late that night, celebrating his new graduation with his sensei, Iruka.
One might think that with all the excitement from the long day, that the newly promoted young blond haired, blue eyed genin would be sleeping soundly, too exhausted from earlier to be so restless. Normally, this conclusion would be correct. Even the normally over energetic Uzumaki Naruto would succumb to a peaceful sleep after a taxing day. However, the the genin's unrest was not due to unspent energy as many would think.
In fact, Naruto had nearly stumbled into his apartment after eating a celebratory dinner with his sensei, Iruka early that day. "So...tired." mumbled the genin, eyeing his bedroom door eagerly. He trudged into the bathroom and brushed his teeth and washed his face, splashing some cold water onto himself in the hopes of keeping himself awake with the icy shock for a few moments.
Afterwards he turned around and walked to a calender he had tacked onto the wall. He quickly marked down that on the day after tomorrow, he'd have to go to the academy at 10:00 in the morning for an explanatory meeting for new genin, where he'd find out what team he was on and with who else in his class, as well his who his Jounin instructor was.
He glanced at tomorrow's date, realizing it was November 6th, the first Tuesday of the month. He made a little reminder to himself to gather his allowance and also made a short list of things he'd need to buy with it, groceries, a large part of which was ramen, some new sandals, since his current ones were getting worn thin.
He then eagerly walked into his bedroom, albeit slowly from his exhaustion, and barely managed to pull back the sheets before he collapsed in bed, his eyes closing.
His peaceful rest had lasted for all but 30 minutes, before a voice had boomed in his head, "I told you to kill him. You didn't."It wasn't a question. "I knew you were weak. You always were, letting thepathetic humans in this village treat you like garbage!"Naruto's eyes bulged as he realized exactly who, or what, was talking to him right now. "You are my prison,"the voice continued,"but just because I'm stuck in here doesn't mean I'm going to let you be a WEAK AND PATHETICJAILOR!"
Naruto kicked frightfully at that roar, but, being the foolhardy greenhorn genin that he was, he quickly began to argue back, "I didn't want to kill him!" Okay, that sounded more like a whine, but Naruto was still getting the hang of this. "Mizuki-sensei wasn't -" he was cut off by a thundering"SILENCE! From now on, you will NOT show mercy to filthy two timing humans. Nor will you show that filth that betrayed you any respect by calling him 'sensei'."
Naruto gave a slight shudder at the idea of talking to...this demon, and turned again his bed, looking for a comfortable position. He shut his eyes and tried to focus on anything but the voice in his head, trying to tune it out. Unfortunately, it seemed that no matter what he did, the voice continued to roar insults, demanding that it's jinchuuriki be as brutal as itself was to it's own enemies.
Eventually, it said something that truly terrified Naruto. "You are my container and yet you are pathetic and weak. If you will not fix it yourself, then I will step in. I will not die because of your stubbornness."
Naruto's eyes shot open at that, scared at what the demon could be hinting at. Is it going to break out? Will it try and take me over?
Mirthless laughter rumbled in his head, and his answer came to him. "Don't think I haven't tried. I will have my freedom one day. Until then though, I'm offering to give you...power. I'll think of it as insurance that you will stay alive, and consequently me as well... Now, I will speak to you face to face..."
Naruto straighted suddenly, and nearly began to run from his bed, before he realized he had no where to run – not from his inner demon. He felt an odd tug at his navel before things went black.
It was going to be a very long night for Uzumaki Naruto.
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Meanwhile, across the village of Konoha, in a dimly lit room, Iruka was currently evaluating his student's final scores for the academy so that he could make – no,suggest properly balanced teams. Iruka's job wasn't actually to make the teams, but rather, having the most experience with the genin from the academy, he was to file a report on the students abilities and put them into what he thought would be the most suitable teams, before handing the report over to the Hokage, who would give it a final review with the possible Jounin sensei, and then they would finalize the teams, sometimes making changes on their own whims.
'Seems Uchiha Sasuke has the highest overall yearly scores,'thought Iruka.'that makes him this year's Rookie of the Year, while pink-haired Haruno Sakura has the highest test scores, making her...the student with the highest test scores. Hmm...Naruto has the lowest scores...thats a shame, he could domuch better.'
Iruka had in front of him individual papers for each of his 27 students this year, on top of each paper on the left hand side were there names, while beneath them were their grades on every single test or exercise they had ever completed at the academy this year. The papers also had the chakra reserve level, ninjutsu, genjutsu, and taijutsu proficiency, as well as the projected levels that they would receive in these areas.
After he'd finished sorting through them all and was well acquainted with each student's information file, he spread them out over his desk, which was brightly lit by the only light that was on in the room, and began to organize them into this year's genin teams.
Soon, these kids would be stuck in this teams for close to their entire lives. If they were lucky. Some wouldn't pass the final genin exam given to them by their prospective Jounin instructors, while others...well, others might suffer the horrible fate of the death of a team mate on a mission.
Iruka kept this in mind as he set up the teams, deciding that he would stick with the traditional method of putting the teams together – making sure they were all well balanced – so that he would hopefully spare them from unfortunate deaths. He'd rather have the students be uncomfortable with people they weren't on the best of terms with than have them face the cruelty of the death, all because of a weak team.
"Let's see here..." he mumbled, scanning over the papers. "Ah, Uchiha Sasuke. rookie of the year. Now...let's see. Traditionally, rookie of the year is teamed up with the year's lowest scoring genin." Iruka's eyes scanned over the papers till his eyes fell on Naruto.
"Naruto isn't going to like this..." He sighed. He picked up Naruto's information and laid it on top of Sasuke's paper, leaving just enough room to show Sasuke's name. He scanned the other papers.
"Hmm. Well Shino and Kiba both have excellent ways to gather information with their 'helpers'. So I'll put them together... Ah! Hinata also has the Byakuugan, so she can team up with them. That's one full team for reconnaissance." Iruka smiled as he put their papers together in a neat stack.
"Now, we have the Ino-Shika-Chou team that will be continued from last generation, and will hopefully be just as successful..."
Iruka sighed again, looking over the 18 genin of the original 27 in his class that passed the academy's test. 'That's a 33 percent failure rate'Thought Iruka with a frown. More people had failed this year than usual. 'Surprising that Naruto passed then, considering that had Mizuki not interfered with a genjutsu Naruto would have done it.'Either way, it didn't matter. Naruto's official reason for passing may be because of his mastery of Kage Bunshin and helping apprehend the traitor Mizuki, but Iruka knew he could do it on his own. 'if only I'd been more observant during the tests with Mizuki...'
Iruka sat back with a groan, stretching his arms and cracking his neck. He rubbed his eyes a bit, blinking when he opened them again and the bright desk lamp seared his eyes.
It was going to be a very long night for Umino Iruka.
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Off down the street from where the academy instructor was laboring over the possible genin teams, and a few blocks over, a noisy bar was open, casting light onto the dark street through the windows and slightly ajar doorway.
Inside the bar were several Jounin, many of them were regulars here, as this bar had been around for some time, and was well known for its comfortable atmosphere. Music was playing lightly in the background over many conversations, and a thick layer of smoke hung in the air.
Off next to one of the windows, in their own booth, were too well known kunoichi of Konoha. One wore a long, high collar trench coat over a tight, revealing fishnet shirt and leggings that ended at her thigh, reaching just past the short skirt she wore that matched the long coat. She had bright hazel eyes and dark purple hair, which she had tied back. Despite all of this, her most eye catching feature was the smirk she wore.
Special Jounin Mitarashi Anko was well known for her smirk. One could read volumes into her smirk, which had more variations than one could name. There was that told you she had the upper hand, another that told you she was toying with you, another that made you feel entirely too uncomfortable, and not in a good way, among many others.
Across from the Special Jounin was another beautiful woman, with raven dark hair that flowed past her shoulders, and bright luscious red lips. She wore an odd outfit, with one long red sleeve over her right arm, her left arm remained bare, over which was a dress that seemed almost like it was one long, thin piece of cloth that she simply wrapped around herself after she got out of the shower, leaving many men to wonder if that was really how she undressed, and subsequently, that led to other, vulgar thoughts.
The most striking thing about this woman though was her bright red eyes, which caught your attention and seemed to hold it more than anything else about her. One could look at her eyes and truly call them the most beautiful eyes they had ever seen on a woman. It was a compliment that this particular Kunoichi often received in fact, though it was sadly over exploited as a compliment, by men who only had one interest in mind when saying it.
Yuuhi Kurenai's red eyes stared at her friend across the table as she at her fourth plate of dango and finished off her sake.
"You keep up at that pace and you'll be fat and drunk." she commented wryly.
Anko snorted. "And if you keep staring the men here will think you're more into me than them."
Kurenai didn't even blink. "Well, it will stop some of the annoying pick ups I get from the drunks."
Anko frowned. That wasn't how this was supposed to go. Kurenai normally would've just came back with another stab at her and her eating habits or something, rather than something so...annoyed sounding.
"What's bothering you?" she asked finally, pouring them both some more sake. She caught her friends odd look, and held up her hand to stop her from asking what she meant.
"You know what I mean, so don't even bother asking. I can tell something is bothering you right now, so spit it out."
Just then one of the 'brave men' at the counter in the front of the bar got off his stool, and checking himself over, started heading over towards the two women. Anko and Kurenai both noticed him, the former giving a wicked grin, saying "Looks like you have another suitor, Kurenai-chan! And if you don't tell me what's bothering you soon, I think I'm going to help the young man out."
Kurenai rolled her eyes, though she realized that the man wasn't exactly the most attractive of the bunch...he looked like he was beaten with the ugly stick when he was born, so she thought carefully on how she would tell Anko what was troubling her, in order to avoid Anko helping the man flirt with her.
"How familiar are you with...Uzumaki Naruto?" asked the red eyed woman.
"Hmm?" Anko hummed, still watching the man stumbling his way towards them. "You mean the Kyuubi brat?" she asked.
Kurenai nodded, trying to ignore the man who had finally reached the edge of their table, standing there stupidly. "What do you think of him?"
The drunk man, hearing this, thought she was talking about himself. He smirked cockily. "It's not often I hear two gorgeous women talking about me before I even meet them. How about I buy you two a drink and we get to know each other a little better?"
Hardly even noticing what the man said, other than that it was another pathetic attempt at approaching them, they continued their conversation.
"Well, I can't say I've ever really given the boy any thought. He's probably had it pretty rough though." answered Anko, taking another sip of her sake, only to find it empty. She turned towards the man. "Hey, didn't you offer to buy us a drink?" she asked.
The man blinked stupidly, before grinning and giving her a nod. "Of course. I'll be right back, so you, me and your pretty eyed friend here can get cozy together." He winked to her and Kurenai before he turned around and gave a victory sign to his friends across the bar and walked off to get them some more sake.
Kurenai raised an eyebrow and Anko's methods of getting more alcohol, but let it slide. The man might realize how stupid he was after this. "Before the genin exams I walked into a shinobi store and found the store owner threatening him and about to beat him. And I don't think the he would have got off easy, especially if anyone else happened to go into the store. The looks I've seen him draw from some villagers are terrible, not to mention some of our own shinobi!"
Anko nodded silently, her eyes downcast as she thought it over. "That bad, huh? I thought things like that had ended a few years back, especially after...well, most of it ended after the orphanage incident. I remember Ibiki having a few field days around that time. I was too 'inexperienced' to sit in on any of the sessions yet, but I know they weren't pleasant."
The man came back, and hearing the orphanage incident, immediately realized who they were talking about. "The demon?" he snarled, as best he could drunk, his words coming a little slowly. Obviously thinking this was what the women wanted to hear, he proudly told them his own story. "Wasn't too long ago I got my revenge on that monster. Managed to get a few good hits on him I did." The man started to embellish a bit, already trying to capitalize on what he thought the women would find oh so appealing."The brat tried to fight back, but he was no match for me. I nearly managed to finish him off, but I could hear someone run off when they saw me, probably to get the ANBU, but believe me, I'd be surprised if that brat managed to walk home that night," he boasted.
Abruptly Kurenai stood up, and turned to face the man, who barely had time to react before she kneed him squarely between the legs. Nearly every male in the bar winced and put their legs closer together, as though instinctively protecting their own genitals from pain. Putting her hands into a seal, Kurenai ignored the tears in her eyes and she called out silently, "Magen: Jigoku Gouka no Jutsu (Hellfire Technique)".
Suddenly the man's face contorted into a silent scream, as he felt the imaginary flames begin to consume his body. He flailed around on the ground for a moment, still holding himself, when finally he found air in his lungs, and began to scream aloud.
Anko stood up quickly and put her hand on her friend's shoulder, "Stop it!" she hissed. Kurenai turned towards the purple haired jounin quickly, as though surprised to find her there. Reason dawned on Kurenai's face and the man's screams lessened.
The two women turned to see the bartender walking over, glaring at them. "Out!" he yelled, pointing towards the door. "I don't need a whole shinobi fight inside my bar! I get enough damage from simple drunken idiots tripping over their own feet as it is!"
The women hurriedly paid their tab and hurried out the door of the bar, into the cool night air. A small tawny cat saw them and quickly slunk away down an alley.
"So, I can see Kurenai is a little touchy when it comes to her little boyfriend." teased Anko.
Kurenai scowled at her friend. "Hardly, Anko. I don't indulge in such...perversions."
Anko laughed throatily. "Ah but their so much tastier young..." she hissed seductively.
"Well I can say we're bound to disagree on some points," Kurenai admitted. "I really do hate seeing people mistreat Naruto though. Anyone who takes the time to actually watch him can tell he's not being influenced. In a way, it's similar to how the villagers used to treat you, Anko."
Anko stopped walking alongside her friend for a moment at her friends comment. 'Just like me, huh?' She fell back into pace with her friend quickly though, and trying to cover up her reaction she teased her friend a bit more. "Well I guess if you've been...watchingthe boy much then I guess we actually DO agree, Kurenai-chan,"Anko spoke suggestively. "Younger IS better. Just don't take advantage of him without me if he ends up on your team. I'll expect you to share." Anko winked and smirked seductively at her friend. Who in turn bowed her head, hiding her face behind her long dark locks of hair.
Much to Anko's surprise though, Kurenai's response wasn't a retort. "I actually think I do want the boy on my team Anko... not for the reason you're suggesting though."
Anko blinked, and blinked again. Finally she threw her head back and laughed loudly, the sound of her mirth echoing in the street. "You can keep denying it Kurenai-chan! But I know you want some fresh meat just like me." Anko winked again, not letting up on her teasing. "Of course, I will expect you to share." Suddenly her tone got serious. "All jokes aside, if he's anything like me, then I really do want to meet him, Kurenai. Let me know how things go after the teams are finalized."
With that the purple haired jounin walked off in the other direction towards her house. "Later, Kurenai."
The red eyed woman watched her friend as she slowly faded out of sight, the streets too dark to see very far. "Bye, Anko." she responded finally, turning in her own direction towards her apartment.
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Naruto found himself lying in a deep puddle of water. He groaned and slowly pushed himself up, barely noticing soaking clothes as he got to his knees, and finally managed to stand up completely, and take in his surroundings.
He was standing in a long, seemingly endless tunnel, with halls branching off into the darkness on either side of the hall. He finally realized his feet were standing in a puddle a good 5 inches deep, and he was soaked.
He stepped onto a dry part of the ground and wondered aloud, "Where the hell am I?"
A sudden harsh gust of warm wind rumbled down the hall, and Naruto figured that the exit to outside must be out there. He began to think about everything he remembered before he woke up, trying to puzzle out where he was.
"Let's see...I was in bed, trying to finally get some rest, when that bastard fox began to bother me... hmm. We had that whole conversation with it complaining like an old lady, when he said... Oh damn."
Naruto looked up to find a huge gate in front of him, over which was a small thin piece of paper that read "Seal" on it.
Two eyes gleamed behind a cage and a giant set of teeth grinned maliciously. "I am not like an Old Lady, weakling."
Naruto stared up at the fox that stepped forward in the cage, it's body was huge! Thankfully he didn't lose himself in fright. Crossing his arms in front of him, Naruto stood firm and asked, "What do you want, Old Lady?"
The fox took a deep breath and roared in frustration at Naruto's words. "Call me that again, and I'll make sure to make your life a living hell. Don't think I have no influence in here just because I'm behind the seal..."
I chill ran down Naruto's back at the words, and he decided that he'd lay off the fox for now. "What do you want, Kyuubi?"
"Come closer. Let me have a look at you." it spoke calmly, no hint of its previous anger in its voice.
Naruto was about to refuse, but he remembered the fox's threat just a moment ago. He took a few step closer, only to have to jump back quickly to avoid the set of claws that shot out of the cage at him.
"What the hell are you doing!" he shouted.
The fox growled. "I want to devour you, rip your arms and legs off and listen to your pleasant screams to amuse me, gouge your eyes out with my claws and gnaw on your flesh, but I can't because of this seal. However…seeing as that still eludes me…I wanted to talk to you, about a deal. Just remember though, One hand washes another."
Naruto nodded. "What's the deal then?"
"Become more powerful. I won't stand for weak container. When I consider you strong enough, I will allow you to use a portion of my chakra in battle."explained the Fox.
"Fair enough." agree Naruto. "How strong is strong enough?"
The Fox frowned for a moment...or seemed to. "I haven't decided yet. I'll only let you use it beforehand if I think you need it to survive. You'd better hope you don't disappoint me. For now, I will give something out of good faith."
Naruto immediately brightened up. "Ohhh! Is it a super powerful jutsu? Something that I can defeat everyone with and become Hokage? Or maybe its-"
"SILENCE!"roared the Fox, his jaws wide as he bellowed the order at the boy. Naruto promptly fell over at the pure force of the fox's voice. "You will show respect to me! I am the King of the Bijuu and the elemental god of fire!"When Naruto nodded dumbly and remained silent, it continued."I am giving you advice."
Naruto pouted at the word advice. He had been thinking he would receive something physical. But he wisely remained quiet.
"Use the Kage Bunshin skill you acquired while training. The forbidden scroll you read said it transfers things that the bunshins learn to you when you dispel them. That should mean anything they learn when practicing a technique will carry over to you. Also, another piece of advice: The berserker technique won't harm you like it does others. One of the many benefits that your pathetic body receives from jailing me is superior healing."
The Fox stayed silent for a moment so this sank in, his tails swishing behind him. "When you prove yourself worthy, I will give you other boons to make yourself stronger, perhaps heightened senses. In the meantime, I'll think of what I want in return."
It glared down at Naruto for a moment before growling, "Now, leave. I'm tired of looking at something sodisgustinglike you." At that the fox turned away and went into the dark recesses of its cage, until it was completely hidden in the shadows.
Naruto suddenly felt a harsh shove in his mind, as his mind went blank for several moments before he found himself in his bed. He laid his head back down onto his pillow in relief. The sun had already started to rise, and he didn't feel very rested at all. He had things to do though, so he got up and headed to the shower.
By the time he headed out of his apartment, the sun had risen well over the horizon, lighting up the village clearly. Naruto walked calmly down the street and walked up Main towards the Hokage Tower. Today was the first Tuesday of the month, and he was supposed to pick up his monthly allowance. When he was younger, it was also the day that he would assign a genin team to take care of his little chores, like buying his groceries and anything else he needed, and bringing them to his apartment afterwards.
It helped a lot when he was younger and he would easily be bullied around by shop owners. Now that he was older he normally could stand up for himself, he usually did it himself, and instead saved the money he'd normally spend on a D-rank mission and instead save it up. He had quite a significant amount saved up, actually, which he kept in his own personal 'bank' under a floorboard in his apartment.
When he finally reached the Hokage Tower, Naruto immediately headed straight to where his small deposit box was, as he'd come to call it. He opened it up and pulled out the stuffed envelope, as well as a second, thinner one. That was odd. He rarely had anything but the larger envelop with his allowance delivered to him.
Overcome with curiosity, he opened it up, to find a short, neatly written letter from the Sandaime.
Naruto,
If your reading this, it means I've passed on.
No, that was just a joke. Forgive an old man for teasing. I'd like to speak with you sometime today when you have the time.
Sandaime Hokage
Naruto glared as he crumpled the paper as though strangling it. "What kind of weird joke was that, Old man?" he growled, before turning and beginning to head up to the Hokage's office.
He ended up waiting for a few minutes outside the door before he was admitted. The Hokage immediately brightened up when he saw Naruto.
"Ah, Naruto. How are you?" he asked.
"Good, Ojii-chan." answered Naruto as he sat down in front of the Hokage's desk.
"Hmm." that's good to hear muttered the Hokage. "I wanted to talk to you today, mainly because of what has happened since yesterday." he trailed off for a moment, looking at Naruto carefully for any sign of discomfort before continuing. "I've learned from both Iruka and...Ibiki, who has question Mizuki, that you are aware of the seal now."
Naruto nodded, looking more than a little downcast. "Hai."
"I imagine you must feel very betrayed, Naruto. After all, you have been unaware for 13 years." Not waiting for a response, the Hokage plowed on. "But I want you to know, that this was done for your own safety. I originally passed a law that said nobody was to mention the fox in hopes that you would have easier experience growing up. Certainly one of my bigger failures..." muttered the Old Man.
"You didn't mess up, Old Man!" exclaimed Naruto, trying to cheer his grandfather figure up. Okay, maybe he hadn't had the best experiences when he was little, but surely he was better off than he would have been without the law! Naruto was willing to put all his faith in the Old Man's decisions.
The Old Man looked up, shocked at the young boy's words. "I'm glad to hear that, Naruto," he professed. He frowned afterwards though. "I must ask you though, is there anything you want to talk to me about?" he asked.
Naruto thought for a moment, thinking to himself. 'I have been talking to the Kyuubi...that can't be anything good. I even came face to face with him! Should I tell him?'Naruto looked up to see the concern in the old man's eyes. He didn't want to worry him. But this was something important...
He gave a sigh, and began to tell his story, all about everything, starting from when he first had the odd vision when he was reading to the forbidden scroll, to the voices he heard, which beforehand he had always thought were his own, darker feelings, all the way to his conversation late last night with the demon, face to face.
By the time he had ended, the Old Man was gripping the edge of his desk, his knuckles white, in fear and worry. "Naruto," he began, slowly thinking of how he wanted to ask this. "Did the Kyuubi truly not ask for anything in return?" he asked.
Naruto thought for a moment, going over the entire conversation. "He said he'd think of something. I'll tell you when I know though, Old Man!"
The Hokage sat down slowly in his chair, rubbing his temples. This was truly worrisome. "Naruto, promise me you'll keep me informed on your conversations with the Kyuubi. Understand?"
Naruto nodded quickly. "You got it!" Naruto turned to leave, but as he reached the door it flew open towards him and a young boy of around 7 years old, with an odd piece of headgear, a pale yellow T-shirt, gray shorts, and an overly long blue scarf that trailed on the floor behind him, and ultimately tripped him as he charged the Hokage, crying, "This is the end of you, old man!"
Both Naruto and the Hokage sweat-dropped as the boy fell flat on his face. The boy pushed himself up, and turned to glare at Naruto. "Isn't it a little cowardly to trip someone from behind in order to stop their attack?" he demanded.
Naruto blinked. "Huh? I didn't trip you."
"Don't lie!" shrieked the younger boy. "The least you could do is admit to it! Coward!"
Getting a little angry, Naruto took a step forward and grabbed the boy, just as a jounin came running in, "Honorable Grandson!" He saw Naruto holding the boy in his hands. "You! Put the Honorable grandson down this instant! He is the Hokage's grandson and should be respected as such!"
The boy in question crossed his arms. "That's right. I'm Konohamaru! And I will defeat the Hokage and take his place!"
Naruto was truly mad now. He was supposed to respect this dipshit? Like hell he would! He raised his fist above the boys head, and slammed it down, dropping the boy as he did so, letting him fall in a heap on the ground. "Tch. I'll see you later, Old Man." Naruto turned away and waved over his shoulder as he walked out.
It wasn't much later in the day when Naruto found the boy called Konohamaru stalking him and declaring Naruto to be his eternal rival, that Naruto would look back at his actions in the Hokage's office and wonder where he went wrong while he finished stocking his apartment with grocers, and then went out to practice the Berserker jutsu like the fox suggested, with several large groups of Kage Bunshin.
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Back at the Hokage's office, Iruka had just turned in his team suggestions to the Hokage, who sent out the order for the prospective Jounin sensei to meet him as soon as possible in his office.
Later, 5 out of the 6 Jounin stood in front of him. Gekko Hayate, stood next to his good friend Shiranui Genma, who had a senbon in his mouth as always. To their right were Aoba Yamashiro, his own son Sarutobi Asuma, and Yuuhi Kurenai. They were only waiting for one more person. They had been doing so for the past hour.
A Lazy, "Yo!" came from the doorway, and they turned to see Hatake Kakashi walking in, giving them a small wave.
The Hokage sighed. 'About time he showed up.' he thought tiredly. "I've called all of you here because I recently received the information on this year's graduating genin fresh out of the academy. Since there are three genin and 6 of you, I'm sure you have all guessed that there are 18 genin total that have graduated."
The Hokage handed them each their own papers, which were their team members information files stapled together. Immediately the Jounin got together to compare teams.
"You gave me the Ino-Shika-Chou group pops?" Asuma asked around his cigarette. "Sounds interesting. I hear the Nara boy is particularly intelligent, despite what his...dismal test scores say."
The Hokage folded his hands and held them in front of his face as he leaned with his elbows on his desk. "It seems their parents really pushed Iruka to put the three together. Seeing the past success with the combination, I can't see any reason to not go along with it."
Kurenai glanced at her own team. "I have a Hyuuga, an Inuzuka, and an Aburame. So far we have two teams made up of just pure clans?" she asked no one in particular. 'I wonder who has Uzumaki. I wanted him to be on my genin team.' Kurenai glanced over at Genma and Hayate, who were both comparing their students. Neither of them had Uzumaki.
Aoba was frowning at his student's information, as though already deciding to fail them. Kurenai looked over at his, knowing the Uzumaki kid wasn't the best of students, but didn't see him in Aoba's team either. 'That only leaves...' she looked towards Kakashi, who hadn't even bothered to look at his team.
"You aren't even bothering to learn a little about your team, Kakashi?" she asked as she walked over to him.
He glanced at her with his one eye before pulling out his Icha-Icha book. "What's the point? I have the Uchiha I've requested to train, but other than that, the others are useless. I haven't found a team worth passing yet, and I doubt this one will be any different."
Kurenai inwardly bristled at his tone. 'He doesn't even care! He'll do nothing for Uzumaki!' Kurenai turned towards the Hokage in hopes of changing the teams. The Hokage looked up at her with a smile, as though expecting this. It wasn't unheard of anyway, for a jounin to request a team change.
"Hokage-sama," she began. "I would like to request that Uzumaki Naruto is put onto my team."
The Hokage raised an eyebrow, but only asked, "On what grounds?"
The red eyed Jounin cast a glance at Kakashi and answered, "I have invested a personal interest in the boy, and feel that I would be a more suitable sensei."
"I'm afraid I can't allow that, Kurenai." said the Third.
"What? And yet Kakashi gets the Uchiha he's been wanting so badly?" exclaimed Kurenai. "I know for a fact that he's been asking for the Uchiha for a long time now, and yet I can't train the one student I'm interested in?"
The Hokage just looked at Kurenai quietly, as though considering the possibility. Finally he sighed and glanced over at Kakashi. "May I have Naruto-kun's information please, Kakashi?"
Kakashi nodded, and taking his eyes from his book, handed the paper over to the Hokage, who in turn gave it to Kurenai.
"As you can see Kurenai, his skills aren't geared towards your specialties. Naruto is much better off learning from Kakashi, as he is more ninjutsu based as well." explained the Hokage. "On another note, Naruto is...difficult, at times. You being a rookie Jounin, and still so young at that, you might not be ready to handle the whirlwind that is Naruto."
Kakashi decided to add his own two cents in. "You might have wonderful chakra control that you could teach him, but that's not something I can't teach him as well. Besides, who says the brat is even ready to be a genin?"
Kurenai's eyes flashed dangerously as she stalked over to the silver haired Jounin. "Fine. I may be an inexperienced rookie Jounin, and you may think that I can't handle the boy, but I'll tell you one thing Kakashi. If you mistreat that boy in any way Kakashi, In any way at all,there'll be hell to pay." she warned.
"Enough!" the Hokage slammed his hands down on his desk, getting everyone's attention. "The teams remain the same for Kurenai, Kakashi and Asuma." He turned towards the other three Jounin sensei. "Now, do any of you have any objections with your teams?" he asked.
When none of them spoke, the Hokage sat back with a sigh. "Then the teams will remain as Iruka put them. Tomorrow the genin will have their explanatory meeting and you will be meeting them for the first time. Make sure you have an appropriate test ready to make sure that they are ready to be genin of Konoha. That is all."
"::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::"
End of CHAPTER 3
I agonized over the teams on whether to change them or not. In the end, I chose the route that takes longer to come into fruition, but has a much more engaging story later on. The other option was of course putting Naruto on Kurenai's team, but that...well, if I explain my reasons why I did it, I'll be ruining some things. So whatever. One thing to keep in mind though: Team 7 ends up a failed team in canon...
Yay! Alright, so I know so far a lot doesn't seem to have changed from canon yet but have patience. I just need to make tinylittle changes right now, and in a chapter or two it will blow up in our faces. So stick with me here D. I'm just planting a lot of catalysts.
