"Sooo… Do you have any idea what's going on?" Naruto asked Gaara as he set down his third drained bowl of ramen.
"The Chunin Exams," Gaara replied in his usual monotone, still halfway through his first bowl. "Delicious noodle soup. You, eating like a savage."
Naruto shrugged unapologetically. "Everything still on schedule?"
"So far as I am aware," Gaara allowed. "Given our situation, I do not think it unreasonable to assume that those…between us…may also have returned."
Naruto froze with his chopsticks halfway to his mouth, the noodles from his fourth bowl swaying gently. Then he shrugged and returned to eating. "Probably," he managed through a mouthful. "We'll have to try to get in contact with B before he messes anything up."
"I think he will be the least of our worries, Naruto," Gaara pressed, pushing his finished bowl away and turning slightly to look at his companion. "I believe that all of us may have…returned. We are spread across every nation, if you recall."
Naruto shrugged again without pausing as he inhaled the remainder of his noodles. "Have you told anyone?" he asked, between setting down his chopsticks and picking up the bowl.
Gaara shook his head. "There is no one who I wish to tell, at present. Have you?"
With yet another roll of his shoulders, Naruto jerked his head toward the Hokage's tower. "I'm gonna end up telling Jiijii. Kakashi-sensei already suspects something's up—that's why he's following us."
"I had wondered," said Gaara, with a breath of sardonicism.
Naruto scratched the back of his head, looking sheepish, "I uh…woke up in the middle of tree hopping, and he grabbed me as I fell. I reacted on instinct. He hasn't said anything to me, but I'm sure he's told Jiijii." He nodded at the Hokage Residence again, making clear who he meant by "Jiijii".
Gaara grunted. Temari and Kankurou were simply staring between him and Naruto, open-mouthed, their first orders of ramen cooling in front of them. Rolling his eyes, Naruto made his voice eager and young-sounding, "Are you guys gonna finish those?" He indicated their food. "Because I will…" They both blinked and returned to eating. Naruto turned away to 'pout'.
"What are you going to do about…about your predecessor?" Naruto added quietly to Gaara. Gaara had become the Godaime Kazekage after his father, the Yondaime, had been killed and impersonated by Orochimaru during these very Chunin exams. By the fact that Gaara was here and had indicated the plans for the invasion were still on schedule, the replacement would happen sometime within the next month.
"I do not believe the…switch…has yet occurred," Gaara replied, his voice only as low as ever, knowing that Temari and Kankurou were unlikely to try very hard to overhear him at this point in—the past? the present? "If everything proceeds as planned, I expect that allowing it to happen will be…necessary."
Naruto put down his bowl, and placed a comforting hand on Gaara's shoulder. Temari and Kankurou both choked, but Gaara only shut his eyes momentarily.
"Your…concern is appreciated," he whispered to Naruto. "But we all must do what is necessary. A second chance does not mean that all cannot go wrong again."
Naruto nodded firmly and got to his feet. "I've got the bill today, Teuchi-oji-san," he told the proprietor, who nodded. "I'll see you three in the Exams," he added to the siblings, and strolled out of the ramen stand.
"We will need to make plans, Uzumaki," Gaara's voice carried out to him through the curtain.
"Sure, sure," said Naruto. "You know where to find me."
As Naruto walked away, he heard Temari haltingly ask Gaara if he had somehow met Naruto before. He could almost see the invisible smirk on Gaara's face as he said that this was his first meeting with a brother by circumstance. Naruto sighed and placed both his hands behind his head, drawing his orange coat open so the red Uzumaki spiral showed clearly on his chest.
Gaara had certainly given him plenty to think about. If the other jinchuuriki were indeed back, then he had a lot more work to do a lot sooner than he thought. There was no time now, but his month between the second and third stages of the exams was going to be busy as hell. This would mean stepping up his plans…he could no longer delay in working out his Hiraishin formula—bound to be different now than it had been before—because he would need the Hiraishin to reliably visit other countries during the month break, and still be back in Konoha in time for the exams. He wondered idly if Gaara would accompany him. Together they would make a more convincing argument if they were stopped along the line—even though Suna and Konoha were allied, nin rarely found friends between them. Or rather, that had been the case until Naruto and Gaara made it otherwise as…brothers by circumstance…
Naruto's smile stretched his eyes again.
Less than a block away, Hyuuga Hinata wondered what Naruto was pondering, and what had made him so happy. Whatever it was, she was glad of it—Naruto often plastered a grin on his face, especially when he was troubled, but it was often transparent to one who had watched him as much as she had. For once, she had not been…reconnoitering him…she had simply been out in the district and noticed his face in the crowd which, as ever, parted slightly around him. He did not seem to care however; this smile was completely genuine, and it lifted her heart even as she felt butterflies in her stomach, and a lingering anxiety that she would certainly never cause him to smile like that… Oh, what if he was so happy because he had finally gotten a date with Sakura?
Before she could work herself into a real depression, Naruto paused. Hinata was not as good at lip-reading as many of her clan, but she had activated her byakugan almost by instinct when she had noticed him, and she was something of an expert on Naruto. She saw him mouth to himself, "Why am I being followed by two people?", and she froze, panicking, wondering how he could possibly have detected her.
Before she could carry the thought further—for instance, to wonder why there was anyone else following him—Naruto had slipped into a nearby alleyway, and then vanished. How had he done that? Naruto had so much chakra that he seemed to glow like a beacon to her dojutsu. At times, she thought he might even have more chakra than their sensei, but she supposed the teachers must simply be too talented at hiding their strength for her poor potential to detect. She turned her head this way and that, despite it being unnecessary to do so with her byakugan active, but she couldn't see Naruto's distinctive signature anywhere.
"Hinata?" said Naruto's voice.
Hinata squeaked and whirled around to find that Naruto was adhering to the wall behind her, and had been crouching precisely in the byakugan's secret blind spot. As she tried to calm down from wondering frantically how he could have possibly known she was watching him, it suddenly occurred to her instead that she was alone in an alley with her crush, who was looking at her curiously. She shut her eyes, deactivating her bloodline, and blood rushed into her cheeks. The world spun under her feet as it all became too much, and she fainted.
Her last conscious recollection was of Naruto's voice saying, "Hina—oh, damn!"
Five minutes later, Naruto was glaring at the gates of the Hyuuga estate. He had knocked as well as he could given that he was carrying the unconscious Hinata, and when a voice from within had inquired who he was, he had announced himself without thinking. The Hyuuga within had, of course, promptly left without opening the door when he heard that Uzumaki Naruto was knocking, merely calling back that he had better not prank the compound. It appeared the fool had not even bothered to use his byakugan to see past the door, because he hadn't made any mention of Naruto holding his heiress.
Scowling, Naruto weighed his options. If he knocked again, they were likely to get angry. Seeing him with the unconscious Hinata, they were likely to jump to the worst conclusions. Naruto was not about to take a beating for no reason, but fighting Hinata's family would not endear him to anybody. He could sneak in, he had no doubt, but being caught inside the Hyuuga compound with the unconscious heiress in his arms somehow struck him as an even worse prospect. He couldn't take her back to his own place—for one thing, she would probably faint straight away again if she woke up in his bed—and he certainly wasn't about to just leave her here on the street.
"Excuse me." Naruto's frustrated musings were interrupted by a cold, clipped voice, and he turned to see Hinata's father, the clan head Hyuuga Hiashi, sweeping toward him. "May I ask what you are doing outside my compound, holding my daughter?" His tone made it abundantly clear that the question was an order.
Naruto inclined his head as respectfully as he could with the girl in his arms. His jacket spread around his ankles, and he saw Hiashi's eyes dart toward the black flames on the hem.
"My apologies, Hiashi-dono," Naruto said smoothly, drawing the Hyuuga head's eyes back to his face. He was pleased that he could actually read the surprise in the older man's expression—the Hyuuga were masters of concealing their thoughts—but the combination of addressing him by his given name and an honorific suitable for one clan head to another, coming from who he obviously saw as a street ruffian, had given him pause.
Naruto smirked internally. Seeing people's reaction to his political interactions had always been amusing when he was Hokage, for the brief period before open war, and returning to the past promised to extend that entertainment. "I was in the market and felt myself being observed. It made me nervous, but when I found it was my classmate I relaxed." He shifted the girl slightly in his arms. "Evidently I startled her, however."
Hiashi was looking at him a little suspiciously, and he was plainly watching for any tic or sign that Naruto was lying, but overall Naruto was a little surprised by the Hyuuga head's attitude toward him. He would have expected far more hostility, even if it was cold—the man had been adamantly against his assuming the Hokage's seat in the future, and had remained a prominent devil's advocate during the war, even when he actually agreed with Naruto's decisions.
"I know that I can leave her safely in your hands, Hiashi-dono," Naruto added, as the silence stretched. He extended his arms slightly so that Hiashi could retrieve his daughter, and the motion seemed to decide Hiashi on a course of action.
"Please, bring her inside, Uzumaki-san." He strode past Naruto and opened the door with a flash of chakra. A quick glance at the inside as he passed revealed a number of seal tags attached to the inside. He couldn't read all of them so quickly, but it appeared that a given one would react if someone knocked, another if the door was opened without chakra identification or with the wrong signature, and yet another—the one currently glowing—if a correct signature was used. Presumably the latter prevented some minor sort of alarm from being sounded, which an unauthorized access would set off.
Naruto considered all this as he followed the Hyuuga head down two hallways, ignoring the dirty looks he received from Hyuuga main family and branch family members alike. Really, their whole clan divide was ridiculous, because all of them seemed to have that same general hauteur. Except Hinata, of course. She had always been sweet to him, in the other future, and he had an inkling that she might have been sweet on him, but had never had much time to devote to things like dating. Still, Hinata had been one of his precious people in the future, and he would take care of her now.
His thoughts were cut off again—he seemed to be losing himself in thought more and more often lately—by Hiashi sliding open a door on their right, and directing Naruto inside. He entered as instructed, and promptly blushed when he realized he had walked into Hinata's bedroom. Precious person or not, this wasn't quite proper. Even Ero-sennin would have objected…
Naruto cut off that train of thought ruthlessly. His…second teacher…was still one of his sore points, and he knew it, but he couldn't afford to start crying in front of Hiashi. Instead, he laid Hinata gently on her bed and immediately backed out of the room again. He then asked politely, "Was there something else you needed, Hiashi-dono?"
Hiashi said nothing, but slid the door closed again and turned away in a manner that indicated Naruto was to follow him. Naruto gave a tiny sigh, but did so. The clan head led him to a small sitting room, then knelt seiza on a mat and gestured for Naruto to sit opposite him. Hiashi clicked his fingers, and a panel on the side wall slid back, admitting a branch family member laden with a tea service and short bottle of sake.
Naruto said nothing as he was served the tea, recognizing what his host was doing, though not why. This was how he had been greeted by the more formal of his allies in the other future; often by the heads of the Aburame or Akimichi—Konoha's other two noble clans once the Uchiha fell—or by the daimyo or visiting dignitaries. He had never, however, received or even expected such from Hyuuga Hiashi.
When Hiashi, too, had been served, Naruto inclined his head respectfully and raised the teacup to his lips, holding it gingerly with both hands and waiting for his host to drink first. This was both good manners, and good sense—they had been served from the same vessel, so if Hiashi drank, the tea was unlikely to be poisoned. Not that the Hyuuga had any particular reason to poison him, or that poisoning the tea was the only way to accomplish it if they did wish to…
Naruto mentally shook himself. He was being overly paranoid. He was in the past, in a world not yet at war. He had done nothing to merit assassination yet, and nobody except the Hokage, Jiraiya, and Kakashi even knew who he really was. In any case, poison was dishonorable, and would be out of character for the Hyuuga, who thought their nobility unimpeachable.
He drank his tea slowly, savoring it—a finer quality than he would be able to enjoy for some time again—until both their cups were dry, and still neither of them had said a word. As the tea service was cleared away and the sake bottle left with two dishes, Hiashi at last met Naruto's eye instead of gazing impassively into the middle distance.
The branch member left, bowing, and slid the door shut behind him. When Hiashi didn't move, Naruto made to serve the sake, against tradition. This seemed to jar his host from a reverie, and his hand shot out to gracefully take up the bottle first. He served Naruto first, then himself, and set the bottle back between them.
"It would seem I have…underestimated you, Uzumaki-san," said Hiashi at last.
Naruto tilted his head, unashamed to show his confusion. "I'm afraid I don't quite understand, Hiashi-dono."
"You have…a reputation as a prankster, of course, and something of a…" Hiashi hesitated, though Naruto couldn't tell if it was from choosing his words or concern that he might give offense. "A ne'er-do-well," he finished.
Naruto blinked. Perhaps both? He shook his head slightly to rid it of that thought. "I…see…" he temporized, indicating that the clan head should continue.
Hiashi seemed to ponder his next words, then said, "Please correct me if I am mistaken, Uzumaki-san, but given your attire and choice of address, I cannot help but believe you may be more…aware of your origins than is commonly believed."
Naruto snorted, he couldn't help himself. He took his dish of sake and drained it, then replied, "There is nothing to correct in your impression, Hiashi-dono." Mixing the polite with the uncouth was something that came naturally to Naruto, and he never hesitated to do so.
"I see," Hiashi echoed. "And is the Hokage aware of this?"
"If he isn't yet, he will be soon," said Naruto, carelessly. "The old man isn't stupid, and he sees a lot with that crystal ball of his."
"And are you, yourself, aware that you were followed here?" Hiashi pressed.
"I am aware of one watcher, by whom I do not feel threatened. Are there others by whom I would be?" Naruto shot back.
Hiashi's byakugan pulsed and released so quickly that the veins of his temple did not even bulge, and Naruto would not have noticed if he weren't so familiar with the particular sheen the Hyuuga's white eyes took on when the bloodline was active.
"No, the only people nearby who have an interest of you are your teacher, and my daughter." Hiashi leaned forward. "May I ask what your intentions are toward my daughter?"
Naruto stared, glad he had finished his drink, because he would likely have choked at that monent. "Intentions? We're both twelve!" he exclaimed. Kurama huffed a laugh, somewhere in the recesses of Naruto's mind. Hiashi seemed to relax, but only very slightly.
"You must be aware by now that my daughter thinks quite highly of you. Until today, I must confess I disapproved. I do not think that Hinata is strong enough to succeed me." Naruto's eyes flashed at the implied insult to his precious person, and Hiashi continued more quietly, "But having observed you today, Uzumaki-san, you seem far more mature than you are given credit for. You remind me, if I may say so, of your father nearly as much as your mother, now."
Naruto felt his eyebrows contract, but he said nothing.
"Let me rather ask, then, what you think of Hinata," said Hiashi. "It is common knowledge that you struggled in the Academy, but still you graduated, and it is plain to me that you have made great strides since then. What is your opinion of my daughter?"
"I think that she is a lot stronger than anyone realizes," Naruto replied at once. "Herself included. I understand that many of your clan dislike her apparent timidity and gentle nature, but I think they are great strengths undermined by a lack of confidence…which she lacks because she has so rarely been told, in her life, that she has done well. Her self-esteem suffers each time that she is told, not how to improve or what she has done correctly, but only that she is not good enough.
"Hinata is a kind soul and would not readily battle for conquest. She dislikes causing others harm, and would more happily learn to cooperate so that people can live in peace. But, as the Shodai himself wrote, 'The central tenet of the Will of Fire is that love is the key to peace. Although battle is often central to a shinobi's existence, it must be remembered always that violence is not strength and compassion is not weakness.' All of the Hokage have believed in that message, and so do I.
"Then, not even twenty years ago, the Yondaime gave a speech which I will paraphrase: 'Only when a person has something precious to protect can they become truly strong.'
"Hinata will not fight for herself, because she has been raised to believe that she is worthless. But if she were to fight to protect the people she loves—her sister, her cousin, her village—you would see her become a tigress."
Hiashi was openly staring. Naruto got to his feet, and inclined his head yet again. Future or past, he didn't bow to anyone, but there was no need to be disrespectful. "Good day, Hiashi-dono."
Hiashi remained sitting on the cushion, his sake dish untouched, until dinnertime, ruminating on the young blond boy's words, and wondering if he was really the same boy who had graffitied the Hokage Monument only a few months before.
Terumi Mei swept into Kirigakure like a queen. She wore the Mizukage's hat and robe, altered to accentuate her generous curves, and a smile that was at once kindly and firm. She was flanked by her retainer, Choujuurou, with Hiramekarei on his back, and by an ANBU with a mask painted to resemble a turtle. Ao strode along behind her, grumbling at his usual position being usurped, but even he had grudgingly agreed that having an ANBU visible at Mei's shoulder would help give the impression they wanted: a Water country willing to look unified, behind a leader standing for reunification and the end of the civil war.
Within their entourage was a casket with a window over the face, showing the face—peaceful in death—of Karatachi Yagura. His trademark hooked staff was just visible, apparently clasped in his hands.
As they crossed the lake to the Mizukage's tower, the Turtle-masked ANBU open the door and swept Mei a bow before vanishing in a haze of shimmering mist. Ao moved back up to her left side as she sat down at the kage's desk as though her appointment to the position was a foregone conclusion. She folded her hands upon it calmly, and waited for the daimyo's messengers to arrive.
Kakashi was nearing his wit's end. Constantly watching Naruto doing nothing was frustrating enough in itself, if only because Kakashi would not have believed it for a second even before…whatever had changed. Naruto trying to play innocent now, when he had changed his wardrobe, equipment, and apparently his entire attitude, and could actually slip away sometimes if Kakashi wasn't careful, was just sad. The rather pathetic attempts to pretend that nothing was different, even as his clothes and movements and ability to use Shunshin silently contradicted him, actually convinced Kakashi more than ever that whatever the change was, there was no impostor—this was still Naruto.
Naruto had carried Hinata back home after she had collapsed, in itself not unusual. What was unusual was that Hyuuga Hiashi had invited Naruto inside, where he had remained for nearly half an hour. When the blond had emerged, he had been unescorted—also unusual—and appeared deep in thought until he realized that he was out in the street, at which point his face carefully blanked.
It was strange. With the new gear Naruto had bought, he should be training incessantly if he planned to use them in the exam, but instead he seemed entirely confident. Indeed, it seemed more as if he was simply picking up things he already knew how to use. And then there was the fact that he had bought one of his father's old Hiraishin kunai from the blacksmith, and had apparently placed an order for more of them. Between that and his new coat, could Naruto possibly know about his parents? And when had Naruto learned Shunshin no jutsu anyway? His use of it to startle Hinata, apparently having sensed her watching him, had been way beyond genin level. Was it possible he had just been holding back ever since the Academy? But why do that, and why change it now?
Following his student with his book out, simply so that he would not seem out of character if he was spotted, Kakashi noted idly that Naruto seemed to be heading for his apartment. Well, that would make him easier to keep track of. Sure enough, his student hopped to the rooftop, then jumped and adhered to the wall of his building with far more ease than Kakashi would have expected a mere week ago. He paused for a moment outside his own window, likely to bypass some of his rather ingenious pranks-turned-traps, then slipped inside. After giving him ten minutes to settle in and get complacent about being followed, Kakashi vanished—to the untrained eye, anyway—and appeared on a rooftop across the street with an unblocked line-of-sight to Naruto's window.
Inside, he saw the blond puttering about with a kettle for tea, or more likely, for ramen. Sure enough, Naruto retrieved a styrofoam cup of dehydrated noodles from his cupboard, not unlike he had done many other nights under Kakashi's and other ANBUs' watches, before the Hokage had deemed Naruto competent enough to live without the constant supervision. As he waited for the water to boil, though, Naruto broke routine by grabbing a cutting board and kitchen knife, and quickly dicing up a carrot and a spring onion. When he poured the boiling water into the noodles, he also quickly added the vegetables and a few slices of narutomaki—of course it would be narutomaki—then cracked an egg in, before covering it to let it cook. Kakashi blinked. That was…not necessarily beyond Naruto's culinary skill, but it struck him as something the boy simply wouldn't have thought of, not long ago.
While waiting for his food to be ready, Naruto vanished into his bedroom, then returned to the kitchen table with a scroll, ink, and brush. He spread the paper out on the table and promptly began scribbling. At one point he got up, measured his own height against the doorframe, then sat back down. When three minutes had passed, he pushed the work aside, inhaled his dinner, then took up the brush once more.
From where he stood, Kakashi couldn't see what his student was scribbling, so he jumped over to the building just as Naruto had done earlier. He padded higher up the wall, and leaned down slightly to peer into Naruto's window near the ceiling. And nearly fell off the building. Was Naruto…
…doing math!?
He was unable to keep himself from staring. What could his student possibly be doing? Was this linked to his odd behavior somehow? Naruto had never cared about academics, even when he was in the Academy—he was too much of a hands-on learner. And yet here he was, intently going over equations and nibbling the end of his brush as he checked his work.
From what Kakashi could see, not all of it was simple math, either; some of it was based on what he thought might be Naruto's own height and mass, but there were other calculations that looked like jerk vectors and fluid displacement—the sort of thing Kakashi had seen on the desks of Ninjutsu developers, not twelve-year-old genin. He simply sighed. Yet more suspicious behavior…with no grounds for confrontation. The only thing truly particularly suspect about Naruto at all was the piece of…evidence?…Kakashi had picked from Naruto's jacket when the boy had hugged him the first day he began acting strangely. Naruto hadn't seemed to notice it missing, but both Kakashi and the Hokage had been gravely concerned.
Kakashi hopped away from Naruto and spared a few hours to check up on his other students, but neither was acting any differently than usual, or than expected. Sasuke was training almost to exhaustion—he should really make a point of telling him to go easy with the exams only a few days away—and Sakura seemed to be pacing frantically around her room and chewing her hair. Well, he hadn't been planning on it, but perhaps he should call a team meeting tomorrow. It would be the day before the exams began, and it looked like they could do with both some encouragement and a reminder that they were a team. Kakashi heaved a sigh. Hopefully the latter would be something he could eventually stop having to remind them of.
The day of the chunin exams dawned bright, and a little chilly for Konoha, which of course meant that the temperature would still be considered extremely mild. Civilians might wear a thin jacket, but nin were unlikely to even notice the slightly larger amount of chakra they would need to regulate in order to keep comfortable.
Naruto met up with Sakura and Sasuke con his way out of Kotetsu Ryuu. Higurashi-san had outdone himself, providing not three Mie kunai as he had promised, but four. Naruto had one of them out to test the weight and balance—perfect, as expected—when he nearly bumped into his teammates. Sasuke looked the same as ever, but Sakura had her long hair pulled back in a tight braid.
"Oh, hey guys!" He exclaimed. "Great; we can head over to the Academy together! I wonder why they hold it there?" He had a good idea, of course, but he was getting better at pretending around his teammates. "I guess probably there isn't anywhere else to administer a written test to so many people," he answered his own question before the others could.
"Written test?" Sasuke repeated, skeptically.
"Well, why else would they tell us to go there instead of the stadium?" Naruto demanded.
Sakura glanced at Sasuke, but said quietly, "He has a point."
Sasuke's lips twisted, but he gave a reluctant nod. His eyes found the knife sitting easily in Naruto's grip. "What's that, Loser?"
"Mie kunai," Naruto answered, as though he had taken the insult as an endearment. "Actually…" he reached into his coat and produced another one, subtly squeezing them and imprinting his seal on the handle of each. "I got one for each of you, as a celebration for entering the chunin exams! They're really good kunai!" He extended the knives ring-first, and each of his teammates took them slowly. Once his hands were empty, he stuffed one in his pocket and scratched the back of his head with the other. "I figure you can use 'em in a pinch and today's a good day for it, but you might just want to keep 'em as as a memento. Just make sure you pick 'em back up if you have to throw 'em. They were expensive."
Both of his teammates were staring at the knives, wondering why in the world Naruto would have bought something like this. With the pay they had received from their A-rank mission, it wasn't as if he didn't have the money, but it just seemed…strange, somehow.
"I wanted to get one for each of us," Naruto continued, apparently oblivious to their confusion, but slowly putting them more at ease with each word. "As a sort of Team 7-thing. But I could only afford two." A harmless lie. With any luck, he wouldn't face anything today he couldn't handle without resorting to Hiraishin. Once he used Hiraishin, the game would be up—unless there were no witnesses whatsoever, he would never be able to talk his way out of being able to perform the Yondaime's signature, legendary, lost spacetime ninjutsu.
It had taken him almost eighteen months to recreate it in the other future, and that was with his father's old notes to work from. Now…hell, he would probably have to make the announcement of his parentage prematurely. Though, he still thought it was only a matter of time before Sandaime-Jiijii called him in for a chat, and he knew he couldn't—wouldn't—lie to Jiijii.
Even so, Naruto had spent most of yesterday tagging important places around town, like his own apartment, the Uchiha compound, Ichiraku's, his father's head on the Monument, and even the window outside Jiijii's office. He had even managed to place one inside the office, albeit above the drop ceiling. As long as he was focusing when he went, he should be able to appear in the office itself instead of inside the ceiling. Hopefully. There hadn't exactly been time to test that one. Then he'd had to scamper to arrive at the team meeting, only slightly less late than Kakashi, before heading home to find Gaara waiting for him.
"Anyway, where are we supposed to go?" he prompted as they reached the Academy. "Third floor, wasn't it? Wait, don't the front stairs only go to the second floor?"
Sakura nodded. "If we go to the staircase down the hall by Iruka-sensei's classroom, we can go straight up," she said hesitantly. Naruto led the way there instantly. Sasuke, who had been about to turn toward the front staircase, slouched after him instead without a word. Sakura followed, smiling faintly.
Kakashi-sensei was waiting by the door on the third floor. "Oh, good," he said, snapping his book shut. "I'm glad you all made it. Especially you, Sakura; I guess our team meeting did some good?"
They all thought back to the previous day, and shuddered. None of them acknowledged it. Kakashi's eye crinkled in a smile. "I was a little concerned that you might not all show. Genin must enter the chunin exams in a team of three, after all, but it wouldn't be fair to pressure one's teammates into participating, especially during a rookie attempt."
"Are our other classmates here too, then, Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto probed.
"You'll just have to see once you're inside," Kakashi eye-smiled again, twinkling at him. He vanished in a plume of smoke.
Naruto scowled. "If he's good enough at Shunshin to use it in a closed hallway like this, why does he drop a smoke bomb every time," he complained, waving at the cloud.
"Huh, I guess you really do have Sharingan no Kakashi for a teacher," said a new voice.
Team 7 looked around and saw three more people standing in front of the staircase. "Tenten-chan!" Naruto exclaimed, mostly for the others' benefit, but also to cover up the lurch in his stomach at seeing Lee and Neji again. He had to remind himself forcibly that Neji would be stuck back in his endless whining phase which he thought was brooding. Hopefully he could get through that without hospitalizing his cousin again.
"The exams are not yet due to start," exclaimed Lee, without introducing himself. "Before we must compete within, I would challenge you, Uchiha Sasuke!"
Sasuke looked at him incredulously, taking in his green jumpsuit, round eyes, and the prominent eyebrows that Naruto had acknowledged in his nickname, Bushy Brows. He had forgotten that Lee had challenged Sasuke, but hopefully they would be able to get inside without either boy showing off.
Sakura seemed to dither on the spot. "Oh, you shouldn't, you'll get in trouble…"
"Oi, oi," Naruto barked, as Lee started to get into his Gouken opening stance. "We're here to get promoted, aren't we? We're literally standing outside the exam room; you don't think we'll get marked down for an unauthorized fight?"
"Oh, come on," said Tenten, "I wouldn't mind a good scrap either." Her eyes slid to the hilt of the blade on Naruto's left thigh. "Maybe you can prove to me that you can actually use that stuff you bought from Otou-san."
Naruto rolled his eyes. "Look, you know two-thirds of the exam is about combat anyway, right? Both field combat and tourney combat. We'll all get our chance to fight. You guys need to chill."
He smiled at Team Gai to make the dismissal less rude, but resolutely turned his back and pushed past his teammates to the door of the classroom. Sasuke and Sakura followed him, unsure what else they could do given that Naruto of all people had just backed down when directly challenged—for a good reason, it had to be admitted, but it was still unusual.
The room was about half-full. Naruto supposed that a bunch of people must be caught up in the genjutsu downstairs. Rather than take a seat, Naruto looked around, then moved toward the side wall where Team 8 and Team 10 were standing awkwardly. Naruto placed himself carefully, so that Sasuke and Sakura would pass him, leaving him as the only one with his back to a room full of 'hostiles'. This might have been intimidating had he actually been twelve. As it was, the pathetic amounts of killing intent being directed at them were downright laughable. Even Sakura and Sasuke seemed barely affected, compared to the other rookies, though that might have been because of meeting Zabuza in the land of Waves. Say what you wanted about Zabuza, the man had damn near weaponized his killing intent. It was a wonder they hadn't all stabbed themselves, faced with that as fresh genin.
"Hey guys," Naruto said, conversationally to the other teams. He bumped fists with Kiba and Chouji, and nodded to Shino and Shikamaru. Hinata stopped blushing at the hostile attention being focused on them, and started blushing at having met Naruto's gaze, poking her fingertips together. Her mouth, though, gave a tiny smile. Ino, who Naruto had not seen since his 'return', cocked an eyebrow at him.
"Hmmm…" she said, loudly; she was plainly trying to cover her own discomfort with the sort of false bravado Naruto himself had been known for at this age. "Forehead-girl is right, that jacket does suit you, Naruto."
Naruto grinned, a little surprised, but pleased he didn't cut too bad a figure with a jacket that was technically too big for him. Seals could do a lot, but there was no mistaking that Naruto still had some growing to do, and fortunately the coat would now grow with him. Hopefully with a better diet from here on, Naruto would actually get a little taller than he had been in the other future.
Team Gai joined them against the wall, and Naruto started making introductions, offering no explanation for why he knew Lee and Neji. As he rounded them off, he heard an unwelcome voice. "You rookies should really keep it down. Everybody's on edge; you shouldn't draw attention to yourselves."
Naruto stiffened imperceptibly, and his hands curled into fists within the sleeves of his coat. "Can you hear someone talking?" he growled pointedly to Sasuke, trying not to grind his teeth. Kurama was snarling in the back of Naruto's mind, and Naruto had to work hard to keep the Kyuubi's chakra fully contained. His teammates both looked mildly surprised at his show of open dislike, when Naruto was usually gregarious to the point of irrationality. Shino, Shikamaru, Neji, and Hinata all seemed to pick up on this too, and the dozen of them drew slightly closer together. No one seemed willing to engage Kabuto in conversation, answering his prodding questions only with clipped replies, and eventually he seemed to give up and move away. Naruto—honestly surprised at how quickly and how well the twelve of them had begun reading each other—was saved from having to explain himself by the arrival of the bearlike proctor, Morino Ibiki, head of Konoha's Torture and Interrogation department.
"Shut up and find your seats," he roared unnecessarily. His intimidating presence in his leather overcoat had caused most of the room to fall silent. All of them scrambled to the seats they had been assigned—Naruto more calmly than most—and found that from where he was sitting, he could make eye contact easily with both his teammates on the other side of the curved lecture hall. He gave them both a thumbs-up, then returned his attention to Ibiki.
The lecture and test were exactly as he remembered them, and glancing down the list of questions, he saw that he could easily answer some of them himself without even having to cheat. He felt eyes on him, and looked up again to catch Sakura looking at him worriedly. He gave her a roguish grin and then immediately began scribbling an answer to the easiest question. He sensed, rather than saw, the relief in her posture from across the room. Hopefully he wouldn't have to worry about her potentially giving up to save him, as she had nearly done last time. Naruto's jaw had nearly hit the ground when he had learned that in the other future, hurled at him as an insult, but which he recognized for the gesture of worry and affection that it had been at the time.
Six questions later, Naruto had over half the exam time left and was extraordinarily bored. He supposed he could use the time to finish answering the questions, but he and Gaara had thought it might be more worthwhile to try to get some other teams eliminated. That would be easier to do during the second exam, but if he could knock some teams out now, there would be less work to do later.
He stretched in his seat, looking around very obviously so he couldn't be accused of cheating by the proctors, and caught Gaara's eye, off to his right. He jerked his eyes to the left and right, and Gaara smirked, though likely nobody else would have seen the miniscule movement of his face.
"Eyes forward or it's a mark for you, Twenty-three!"
Naruto blinked before realizing that meant him. Was that the same number he had been the first time? He didn't recall. Hadn't he been sitting beside Hinata last time? He shrugged, turning back to his seat. For Gaara, his sand would likely allow him to sabotage people easily. Naruto would have to be…much less subtle. He sighed silently. At least it was in character.
"Oi!" he shouted suddenly, hunching forward to cover his paper. "Keep your eyes on your own paper, dattebayo!" He glared at the bewildered chunin hopeful sitting next to him, light flashing off his Kusagakure headband.
"That's three strikes, Twenty-two!" Ibiki barked. "Fifty-six and Seventy-one, you can join your teammate outside!" The entire Hidden Grass team left, including—as according to Naruto's plan—the pale-faced girl who had been replaced by Orochimaru last time. He didn't know when that switch had taken place, and didn't really expect that to completely stop Orochimaru's plans if they were the same, but he felt some petty satisfaction nevertheless. Kurama snorted inside his head, but didn't comment.
Naruto didn't manage to get anyone else kicked out, though he did consider it a victory that he forced Ibiki to "demerit" one of the actual chunin confederates planted in the room, who the actual chunin candidates were supposed to cheat from. Gaara seemed to be faring much better, as far more teams were dismissed than last time even before the final question.
When time was up, and Ibiki began outlining the Impossible Task of the final question, Naruto carefully caught Sakura's eye again, and winked. She gave a weak sort of smile back, but nodded. Sasuke, behind her, gave a smirk which, though tiny, was infinitely more noticeable than Gaara's.
Finally, Ibiki dropped the bomb—that anyone who attempted the final question and failed would be forever barred from promotion. At this point in the other future, Naruto had leapt to his feet and started shouting that Ibiki had no right to make such a rule, and that even if he did so, that Naruto would be the first genin to become Hokage. In the end, the joke was on Ibiki, because Naruto's eventual battlefield promotion had been straight to Kage. Still, Naruto had no desire to be shackled to his old rank again. Being promoted to chunin was about demonstrating tactical fitness and ability to lead, things for which Naruto knew full well that he was overqualified.
The room emptied steadily, but Naruto merely put his feet up on his desk and smiled insolently at Ibiki. Most of the retreating chunin hopefuls didn't seem to notice his ease, but it looked like Team Kurenai, Team Asuma, and Team Gai all did. By a flurry of glances between them which Naruto didn't think he was expected to notice. He smirked, his gaze still fixed on Ibiki's face. The T&I head seemed to be torn between amusement and exasperation that his attitude was keeping all the other rookies in their seats. Still, because the older candidates were still dropping like flies, Ibiki said nothing.
Finally, the last few quitters trickled out, and after a moment's stillness, Ibiki declared that the rest of them had passed. His mouth twitched as he glanced toward Naruto, but then became stony and serious. He gave his lecture about information being more valuable than lives, and conviction being essential for chunin, before he was interrupted—right on schedule—by a window shattering to reveal a poster proclaiming the arrival of the second proctor, in all her tan-miniskirted and -overcoated glory, Mitarashi Anko.
Naruto's stomach clenched at the sight of Anko. He had grown close to the purple-haired Tokubetsu Jonin in the other future, sensing a kindred spirit. His desire to remove her Cursed Seal of Heaven was half the reason he had worked so hard to become proficient with fuuinjutsu; at first it was so he could later remove the seal from Sasuke, but eventually it was for her own sake. Anko met his eye as Ibiki had, and he gave her his best foxy grin. She smirked back in her characteristic semi-insane manner, and cried for them to meet her in twenty minutes outside the Forest of Death!
As with Ibiki's test, Anko's description of the second phase of the exams was pretty much as he remembered it. Only nine teams had passed: Team Kakashi, Team Kurenai, Team Asuma, Team Gai, Gaara's team, Kabuto's team, a team from Grass, a team from Sound, and a team from Rain.
Naruto was just pondering what, besides the number of teams competing, seemed different from last time, when his instincts screamed and he realized a kunai was flying toward him. Just before it reached him, his hand shot out and caught it, and he instinctively flung it back in the direction it had come from. Then his mind caught up with his hands and he realized that Anko had flung the knife, and that she was now nursing a thin cut on her cheek where she had narrowly dodged his return throw.
She was biting her lip, looking equal parts impressed and infuriated, and Naruto quickly signed in Konoha handtalk Sorry. Will buy you dango if you don't kill me.
Anko's eyebrows rose almost to her hairline, but she twisted one hand in a handtalk sign that indicated the sealing of a promise. Then she took her hand from her bloodied cheek, licked her fingertips, and spoke normally.
"Now that we're all paying attention," she said pointedly. "I have to ask you all to sign these release forms," she drew out a storage scroll, "stating that you indemnify Konoha in the event of your death from here on out."
Once they had all signed the consent forms, she handed each team one of two scrolls, marked Earth or Heaven, and explained that they would be considered passing if they arrived at the tower in the middle of the arena with their full team intact and at least one of each scroll. Thus, only a maximum of four teams could possibly proceed to the final round, and there would be one more scroll of one type than the other.
Since there were so few of them, Anko allowed them to pick their own entry gates as long as there were at least two empty gates between them and another team. Naruto immediately requested the Westernmost gate, which got a curt nod from Sasuke. Naruto caught Gaara's eye, and the other jinchuuriki quietly claimed the Easternmost gate. This was part of their plan as well: they would both close in on the tower as quickly as possible, and eliminate as many other teams as they could. Of course, they had made this plan not realizing just how efficiently the first exam would eliminate contenders.
Naruto felt a little guilty about it, but he knew all too well that none of his fellow rookies except maybe Shikamaru deserved to be promoted yet, and eliminating them from the exams would simply mean less chance for them to get injured, especially if the Otogakure team managed to slip past him and Gaara. Even the jinchuuriki could only cover so much ground at once, and Orochimaru's Hidden Sound were not to be underestimated—sonic jutsu were difficult to defend against on the fly.
Anyway, he had chosen the side farther from where the rest of the Konoha squads besides Kabuto's were beginning, so if his allies got stopped it would likely be by Gaara, but he knew Gaara wouldn't hurt them. The goal, between them, was to disrupt Orochimaru's plans. The easiest way would have been to have either Gaara's team or Naruto's own knocked out of the tournament, but in so doing they would force Orochimaru to improvise, and they would lose the advantage of knowing what was coming. Hopefully, by entering from a different gate, rushing through the forest to the tower, and being near backup in the form of the Hidden Sand, they could avoid Sasuke being branded with Orochimaru's Cursed Seal. Naruto could always remove it, but it would tip his hand to Orochimaru too soon.
The starting whistle blew, the instructor opened their gate, and Naruto darted into the forest as fast as he thought his teammates could reasonably follow. Reaching out carefully with his chakra, he found that they had both secured the marked Mie kunai to their backs as a last resort, so there would be no getting separated in a pinch. He had also slipped one to Gaara as they left the first exam room, meaning that he had two left, including his father's prototype, but since he had told his teammates for expedience that he didn't have any more, it would be best if he could stick to his other weapons.
"Where are we going, Naruto?" Sakura puffed from behind him, and he forced himself to slow down a little more.
"Anko-ch—Anko-san said the goal is the tower in the middle, and based on how big this training ground is to run around, I figure the middle's gotta be about ten klicks from where we started. Since we know that's where everybody else is going, we can stake it out if we get there early enough, and just take every scroll from every team that tries to get by us; reduce the competition for later." Naruto could sense Sasuke's eyes on him, but couldn't see his expression. Since Sasuke didn't say anything, Naruto chose to take his silence for agreement with the plan, and went on. "What scroll do we have, anyway?"
"We've got an Earth scroll," Sakura replied. "So we'll need to find a team with a Heaven scroll."
Hadn't they had a Heaven scroll last time? Oh well, that sort of difference couldn't be significant.
"I agree with Naruto, we should wait to ambush another team near the tower," said Sasuke unexpectedly. "We can cover ten kilometers in an hour without getting tired or falling for any traps, if somebody manages to beat us there."
Naruto, too preoccupied with keeping away from Orochimaru to consider how odd it was that Sasuke was agreeing with him, simply nodded and fell silent.
Gaara's team also reached the vicinity of the tower within an hour, and spread out to begin setting traps. No sooner was Gaara alone than he was jumped by the remaining Kusagakure squad that had been following them for the last twenty minutes. Within seconds, all three were pinned against nearby trees by his sand.
"What scroll were you given?" Gaara asked the apparent leader. He spat at Gaara, but Shukaku's defense caught it. The sand restraints on all three tightened enough to make breathing difficult. "I will ask again," Gaara went on, calmly.
When again none of them answered, Gaara raised his right hand. "This is your first warning," he told them, a small stream of sand drifting toward each prisoner. With three small, sickening cracks, he broke each of their right forefingers.
All three cried out in pain, and one shouted, "Earth, we got an Earth scroll, it's in his bag!" She rolled her eyes at their third companion, who paled dramatically when Gaara turned to face him. Gaara merely directed his sand into the bag, retrieved the scroll, and then caused his sand to cocoon over the prisoners entirely. After a few moments, he couldn't feel any of them struggling any longer, and drew the sand back to simple restraints. A quick genjutsu on the unconscious—and thus unable to resist—Kusa-nin, and they would sleep right through the end of the challenge. Gaara used his sand to set their broken fingers, then hardened the sand into a sort of makeshift cast. He bound the three carefully, and laid them against a tree. He would bring them to the tower later. For now, they would sleep.
Gaara glanced at the Earth scroll in his hand. Irritating. His team had been furnished with an Earth scroll by the proctor, so their job was not yet done, and now there was one less chance to avoid eliminating a Konoha team. The so called "Konoha Ten" had been reliable allies in what Gaara thought of as the lost future, and he would avoid harming any of them if humanly possible.
Feeling Shukaku shift in the back of his head, Gaara added sternly, Or demonically possible. They will not be harmed. The Ichibi made no reply, but Gaara could almost feel him sulking at being denied bloodshed. Should we find Orochimaru's pet medic, you will have blood to spare, Gaara promised the tanuki. Shukaku subsided, accepting that, and Gaara settled in to wait.
Four days later, Team Kakashi had not seen hide nor hair of any other team, and Naruto's nerves were nearing the breaking point. The first few days had been bad enough, but by the third night, Naruto had insisted that they mount 2-person watches instead, with only one person resting at a time—even though Naruto was also standing watch with more kage bunshin than his teammates could possibly fathom.
Even when it was his turn to sleep, Naruto found himself barely dozing. And the slightest footstep, from Sakura or Sasuke returning from their watch, woke him before they even drew close enough to touch him. Still, there had been no contact from any hostiles, and Naruto was beginning to worry that he would have to stage a fight with Gaara's team to make sure they actually passed.
He knew from a small message early on the fourth morning that Gaara had fought Kabuto's team, but that the rogue medic had escaped with his team. Gaara had also engaged and captured Team Kurenai, securing their scroll with no injuries.
"Where the hell is everybo—" Naruto started to complain, then ducked as a shuriken came whistling by. As it thunked into a tree behind him, Naruto drew his kukri and settled into an armed Shioken stance. "About damn time!" he barked. "Let's go!"
Based on the attack being a single shuriken, and on the miniscule killing intent he could feel, Naruto was sure that whoever was attacking them, it wasn't Orochimaru. Where the hell was Orochimaru? Naruto felt Sasuke draw in front of Sakura, and he flung out an arm in a handtalk sign, telling Sasuke to stay put. Then Naruto flashed forward in a Shunshin, landing on a tree branch and finding himself immediately surrounded. The three genin participating from Otogakure—what had their names been?—all looked startled by his sudden appearance, and two of them dashed backward, leaving the leader to close with Naruto.
Which one had been the leader? Was it the one with the air jets in his arms? No, that one was behind him, Naruto realized as he had to backflip over the blast of air and sound. And he remembered that the kunoichi on the team had been a senbon-user, which meant the one he was closing with was the one with that weird gauntlet on his arm. That could be an issue—he remembered their leader being clever, and thus the biggest threat.
Sure enough, the Oto leader swung his arm in a strange arc to make air vibrate across the holes in his Resonating Echo Speaker gauntlet. The sound waves, magnified by his chakra, immediately upset Naruto's balance, but he was adhering to the branch with chakra. Rather than block the incoming blow, he wrapped his arm fully around Dosu's gauntlet, muffling the the vibrations and slamming the kukri in his other hand between the Oto-genin's ribs. He missed the heart, but as he withdrew the knife and leapt away, another blast of air and sound from Zaku behind him blasted Dosu off the branch in pieces, eliminating the greatest threat.
As Naruto landed back on the forest floor, two dozen senbon landed around him with a loud jingling noise. Bells…yes, the senbon-using Sound kunoichi had attached little bells to her needles to disguise the number of senbon flying, and to produce the sound waves for her genjutsu. Naruto caught up the hilt of his kukri with his teeth, growled, "Fuuton: Daikakoukiryuu!" and clenched his hands in the snake seal. A great downdraft centered on him seemed to blast outward, flinging away not only the senbon still flying at him, but all the ones in the ground as well.
Releasing the kukri from his mouth, he caught it in a reverse grip as he dashed forward again, slashing out at the kunoichi—Kin's—throat, before he could be caught up in any genjutsu. As she fell to the ground, he pulsed his chakra to be sure that her death had not been an illusion, but the moment cost him and Zaku succeeded in blowing him off his feet. Thankfully there were no trees in his way, so he simply rolled back to his feet and flung a kunai back at Zaku, who simply blew it out of the way with his air cannons. The Oto-genin's face was twisted with rage, but Naruto remained calm. As Zaku raised both his arms again, Naruto used another Shunshin to dash, not directly at him, but slightly to the side. He jumped, turned over, and kicked off a tree to land at the Oto-nin's side. With a swift elbow bash, be broke Zaku's left arm, and as Zaku brought his right arm around to blast Naruto away, the blond pressed two fingers into a pressure point in Zaku's elbow, forcing his good arm to fold. Zaku's Air Cutter discharged, but his palm was now pointed at his own face.
Naruto turned away quickly, using a Fuuton jutsu he had invented to expel wind from his pores, causing his clothes to billow around him and the blood coating him to blow away. Once it settled, he created some clones to search the bodies for their team's scroll, and headed back to their clearing.
Where was Orochimaru? The Sound team last time had said that their mission was to kill Sasuke, but Orochimaru's actual plan had been for them to test Sasuke's abilities with the Cursed Seal. But Orochimaru hadn't shown up this time. Naruto wasn't much of a chakra sensor, but he knew his teammates' chakra and he knew Orochimaru's. Sasuke and Sakura hadn't used any chakra during his brief scuffle with the Oto team, and while Orochimaru could conceal himself, he wouldn't have been able to prevent Naruto from noticing his allies' worry. It was nearing noon, there were barely twelve hours left in the test, and while they did—finally—have the Heaven scroll they needed to pass, he still didn't know where the hell Orochimaru was.
Screw it; they needed to get inside. He created another clone to tell Gaara that it was time to come inside, and sent out a few more as runners, getting them to gather up all the disguised kage bunshin lying around and search the forest for the other Konoha teams, and either guide them or carry them to the tower at the end of the testing period.
As he arrived back in the clearing, he tossed the Sound team's Heaven scroll to Sakura and pulled a cleaning cloth from his backpack. Quickly scrubbing the blood off his kukri, he returned it to its sheath, packed up all his things, and was ready to go immediately. Seeing his example, his teammates began packing as well. He could tell they had questions—Sasuke, especially, had hardly twitched his narrowed eyes from Naruto's back since he had returned—but they were also eager to get inside the tower.
"Let's rock," said Naruto, as the other two finally caught up their gear.
"N-Naruto…" Sakura asked, looking at the blood spattered on the ground where he had cleaned his kukri. "Did you…?"
"Did you kill someone, dobe?" Sasuke finished when Sakura trailed off.
Naruto paused as a wave of memories rushed over him. One of Naruto's clones back where he had fought the Sound team popped, having used up its chakra to burn the corpses. The rest of the clones had stolen all the Sound-nin's useful gear and were burying it for later retrieval. Another clone popped as it marked the tree near where the tools were buried with the Hiraishin formula. Finally, the clone he had sent to Gaara dispersed itself as well, indicating the Sand's agreement that it was time to finish.
"Yes," Naruto answered Sasuke. "They were going to kill us. Did you think they gave me their scroll because I asked nicely?"
Sakura looked pale, but Sasuke seemed almost…approving. Naruto jerked his head toward their destination and said, "Let's get to the tower now we've got a Heaven scroll. I really wasn't expecting to stay out here this long." This wasn't quite true—even if they had obtained the Heaven scroll immediately, he would have still argued for staying to try to eliminate other teams—but it didn't matter now. A moment later, the doors of the tower closed behind them, and they had passed the second exam.
Thousands of kilometers to the Northeast in the land of Hot Water, only a short distance outside the gates of the famous hidden-village-turned-tourist-trap Yugakure, there lay a desolate wasteland, dotted with geysers and boiling mud pits. In a small cave concealed by a stand of petrified trees, Utakata of Kirigakure stared out through the billowing vapor as though not really seeing it at all. His fingers tapped restlessly against his bubble pipe, and sweat beaded on his bare chest due to his loose, open kimono.
Suddenly, he jerked his head up, his pipe rising toward his lips, as he heard what sounded like pounding footsteps and and odd, wettish whistling. Before Utakata could make any other move, though, an enormous red shape coalesced out of the fog. With a piercing whistle, the figure dug in his gigantic heels and skidded lurchingly to a stop, a few dozen meters past where Utakata stood.
"Sorry, you were closer than I thought and it's hard to stop once I get going," the huge shape said.
Utakata blinked, and resolved the reddish blob into the shape of a tall, broad man wearing odd crimson armour. There was a pipe coming from his back which was emitting steam at regular intervals. He might have been an automaton if not for the very human eyes blinking out from under his low hat.
"Who are you?" he asked suspiciously. "How did you find me?"
"I do a lot of thinking, and I finally realized that this would be a good place to hide," the giant rumbled. "So I came here to look for you. If you weren't here, I might pick up a trail, and if not, I could still enjoy some lovely steam." He exhaled, and steam seemed to curl up from under his hat. "But when I was near enough, I sensed the…extra presence, Roku-san."
Six. The man had called him six. He knew, somehow. Utakata peered at the man, narrowing his golden eyes. Under the red straw hat was an Iwagakure hitai-ite. The steam the man was emitting appeared to be chakra-based, similar to Terumi Mei's steam-based Futton kekkei genkai, but as far as Utakata knew, that bloodline had never left Water country, much less spread as far as Earth long enough ago for this huge man to grow. That left only one other option—and the more likely one, since the man had referred to him by the number of tails on his bijuu.
"Does that make you Go-san, then?" Utakata shot back.
The giant bowed his head in affirmation. "I am Han, and I bear Kokuo of the Five Tails."
Utakata followed his lead, mind whirling. "I am Utakata, and I bear Saiken of the Six Tails."
Han drew a few steps closer, his armour creaking. "Then, perhaps, we can work to each other's benefit," he said. "I was alone the…last time I was found, and suffered for it."
Utakata knew the Gobi had been captured before him, in the hazy memories he had been unable to shake off. But if this man was referring to those memories…perhaps they were real?
"The enemy travels in pairs, do they not?" he asked, as confirmation. Han nodded. "Then I agree, we can be of great help to each other." He extended a hand, which the large man took ponderously, and shook.
A/N: Couple of things to note. First off, damn this was a long chapter. Second, if you're wondering what the hell Hiashi's deal is…so am I, because that was NOT planned, and it tacked on an extra 2000+ words.
These characters are running away with my story… I swear, I get no respect at all.
Uhhh…I think this level of violence can still be called "canon-typical" and I don't think I've gone overboard, but if you think I've been too graphic let me know so I can add a warning. Feel free to let me know also if you think Naruto is "too strong", but bear in mind that the enemies he's fighting are genin, while he is (in discipline and chakra level at least) a kage. How do you think canon!Naruto would have done at this age if he had to fight the Third? Or his father? He would have been slaughtered.
Lastly, a correspondent pointed out that it is possible that the term "Peggy Sue" is not as universally-understood as I had thought, so I'm willing to use the label "Time Travel". For those unfamiliar however, a snippet from TVTropes: "A Peggy Sue [story] gives a character[s], usually at the end of a story or series, the chance to go back and relive her/his life with the knowledge he gained from living through his story the first time." It has nothing to do with a Mary Sue, which in Naruto usually means a cartoonishly-overpowered OC (or a non-OC simply written OOC).
Are the jinchuuriki in this story going to be strong? Yes. But they're jinchuuriki; they're already canonically strong. Naruto isn't going to be going head-to-head with the likes of Akatsuki right now because he's barely thirteen—but he does have near-free access to Kyuubi's chakra and eight known allies who are as strong or stronger than him, simply by virtue of being the same as him but mostly older. And having people that you know you can count on and who count on you makes a huge difference to someone like Naruto, who is already (from his time in the lost timeline) less empty bravado and more actual confidence than he was the first time around.
Tl;dr: Trust me to craft my story, ne?
