I don't own Naruto.
Hello everyone and welcome back to the next chapter of this story. First of all, thanks to everyone who reviewed and added this story to their alerts or favorites. I was very happy to see that this story is to your liking judging from those stats. So, I will continue writing this story until the very end.
For the fans of my other Naruto story, all I can say is hang on. The next chapter is slowly taking shape and I decided that the next chapter would be the end of Naruto's training with Jiraiya. Originally, I had planned two more chapters but I can't seem to find anything to write about it anymore. I mean, you can only write so much about training. So, I think that by the end of next chapter Naruto and Jiraiya will arrive back at Konoha. That way we can move on to the more exciting things that have happened in the manga over the past few months and years.
Let me know what you guys thought about this chapter. Any remarks or suggestions are welcome. Enjoy.
Chapter Three: The Dangers of D-rank Missions
It had been two weeks already since Yuugao had become her sensei and Naruko was already seeing the effects Yuugao's training had on her. First of all she had learned the three-climbing skill which was one of the coolest things ever to Naruko. The ability to stick to ceilings and walls was just fantastic in her eyes. Next Yuugao had started her psychical training and boy was she a slave driver.
"While you may never become an ANBU, I'll make sure you're as strong as one." Yuugao had said when Naruko asked her why she had to wear weights and do all those extra exercises.
It had been very hard the first few days to move around with those weights but now she was slowly getting used to it. Yuugao made her run laps around the village while wearing them and her muscles protested painfully the next day but Yuugao promised it would all be worth it. Now they were doing their laps around the village enjoying the fresh air and tranquility of the morning.
Naruko and Yuugao were on their second lap around the village when all of the sudden they heard some yelling behind them. When they turned their head they saw a large dust cloud and two figures getting closer and closer.
"Oh please not them." Yuugao begged making Naruko wonder who it could be.
She looked back and at first she thought she was hallucinating and saw two big green pickles running around when she saw the two shapes approaching. She blinked twice and saw that it was in fact two men wearing green outfits. Pickle nr 1 was obviously the sensei as he was the older of the two; the man had obviously no sense of fashion and his hair style left much to desire as well. Didn't anyone tell this guy that it made him look stupid? But what freaked Naruko out the most were the large eyebrows that the man had. She turned to pickle nr 2 and noticed that the younger boy wore the exact some outfit and the same haircut and while less pronounced he too had large eyebrows.
"Yuugao-san, what a pleasure meeting you on your youthful run." Pickle nr 1 said giving Yuugao a thumbs up and a smile that showed perfect, white teeth.
"Good to see you too, Gai." Yuugao sighed. It wasn't that she had anything against him but he was just so loud. "Have you met my student, Uzumaki Naruko?"
"Naruko-san, it's an honor meeting you." Gai said. "This is my student and protégé Rock Lee."
"Nice to meet you." Naruko and Lee both said.
"How very youthful of you to train at this youthful hour." Gai said taking a pose. "Lee and I are also training our youthfulness by running laps around our youthful village."
"Yes well, don't let us hold you back." Yuugao said. "Naruko here is still getting used to her weights so we're a bit slow at the moment."
"Naruko-san, you wear weights too." Lee asked. "I myself am using weights as well."
"Euh, yes but I only just started so it isn't much yet." Naruko said. "It's only 10 pound on each limb."
"Haha, do not worry my youthful kunoichi." Gai laughed. "Soon you'll be as youthful as young Lee here. Lee, you better train hard or else Naruko-san here will surpass you."
"Yes Gai-sensei, I will up my training by running hundred laps around Konoha and if I don't succeed I will do ten thousand kicks and punches to the log." Lee said excited.
"That's my youthful student; you make me proud Lee." Gai said with teary eyes before hugging his student.
"GAI-SENSEI!" Lee yelled.
"LEE!" Gai yelled back and before Naruko could wonder what was going on as a beautiful sunset appeared behind the two hugging men. It was actually quite disturbing she thought. When Yuugao and Anko hugged it seemed natural and normal but when she looked at those two she couldn't help but shudder.
"Let's go Lee." Gai said before storming off with Lee hot on his tails.
"Naruko, remind to me reschedule our morning run to another time." Yuugao said quickly.
"That was weird. Really weird." Naruko nodded.
"That's Gai for you but don't underestimate him or his student." Yuugao said suppressing a shiver. "Gai is Konoha's best Taijutsu specialist and from what we've just seen that boy is about to follow in his footsteps if his outfit and hairstyle are any indication." She then started on their own training again with Naruko following her closely.
"I wonder how much weight Lee is wearing." Naruko said.
"Knowing Gai it will be a ridiculous amount. He always goes overboard when it comes to training." Yuugao laughed.
After their morning run they went up to the Hokage tower to get a mission for the day. They always tried to get there early as they would have first pick for the missions available. Naruko had quickly agreed with Yuugao that D-rank missions were a pain it the ass. They were boring and rarely there was any challenging mission amongst them. Naruko hoped that she would have to chase that damn cat again today.
When they entered the room where mission were handed out they saw a sleepy Iruka sitting behind the desk. He looked up and smiled at the two kunoichi and greeted them fondly. After a few minutes of small talk Yuugao asked what missions were available for the day.
"Let's see; there's Tora again." Yuugao and Naruko both put their arms in a cross showing that they didn't want that one. "There's also walking out the dog of Mrs. Yamaguchi." Again a cross sign. "Cleaning up the garbage at the riverside. " Cross. "And finally babysitting the three kids of the Tanaka household."
"They all suck." Yuugao said earning a nod from Naruko. "I guess we'll take the garbage duty one."
"Okay, here you go." Iruka said handing her the scroll. "Have fun." He snickered at the glare the two women gave him.
"Why did you pick this one?" Naruko said when they reached the river side. Naruko sighed at seeing all the rubbish that floated around.
"Because while doing this one I at least can teach you this." Yuugao said before walking to the middle of the river and standing there on top of the surface. "It's the next exercise in chakra control."
"Awesome." Naruko yelled. "How did you do that?"
Yuugao smiled at Naruko's enthusiasm and quickly explained how it worked. Naruko listened carefully to the explanation and was soon ready to try it out. Since the part of the river where they were supposed to clean wasn't that deep, only reaching just above her knees, Naruko wasn't too worried about getting soaking wet. She channeled some chakra to her feet and tentatively tried to stand on the water. Unfortunately she just managed to get wet feet and a snicker from Yuugao who was picking up a piece of garbage here and there leaving the most for Naruko.
It took Naruko about forty minutes before she could take a few steps on the surface but she was getting better every time. The garbage was already mostly cleared by that time as she picked up a piece each time she fell into the water. By now however she was soaking wet from head to toe and she thanked her lucky stars it was a beautiful day. Yuugao had returned home for a moment to get a towel so she could dry herself of when she was done. When noon came around Naruko was walking on water like she had done it her whole life. Soaked to the bone she picked up the last piece of garbage and headed back to the shore where Yuugao was waiting.
"Well done." Yuugao said impressed handing her the towel.
"Thanks, it was difficult at first but once I got the hang of it, things started going better." Naruko commented while drying herself off.
"Let's report the success of the mission and then we'll go get something to eat." Yuugao nodded. "How about we go get some ramen today."
Yuugao laughed at how Naruko reacted to the word ramen. She was practically pulled by the arm to get to the tower faster. When they told Iruka that the mission was completed he asked them how it went and Naruko proudly told him that she had learned to walk on water. Iruka's jaw dropped at hearing that she had managed to learn that skill in only a few hours. He congratulated her for learning so fast and asked her what else she had learned already. Naruko told him that she didn't have time to explain all that as they were heading for ramen at Ichiraku's.
When Naruko arrived at Ichiraku's she promptly ordered four bowl of Miso ramen and started talking with Ayame while she waited. Naruko introduced Yuugao and Ayame to each other and soon the girls were gossiping. Teuchi, the owner of Ichiraku's and Ayame's father shook his head at the three but was secretly very glad Naruko had made another friend and got to have such a good teacher who treated her right. Naruko cleaned out her four bowls of ramen in record time and Yuugao told her that she didn't have to eat that fast but Naruko just said she was very hungry from all the water walking.
"Come on Naruko, we need to get started again." Yuugao said when lunchtime was over.
"Hai, sensei." Naruko said. "See you later Ayame-neechan, Teuchi-ossan." Naruko and Yuugao sped to their training ground and arrived only a few minutes later.
"Okay, first show me how far you've come with that Tsuchi-Bunshin." Yuugao asked. Naruko nodded and concentrated a few seconds before going through the handseals and seven seconds later a clone made out of mud stood next to Naruko. "Appearance is good but you need to work on speed. Once you managed to make a clone under two seconds I'll teach you another Bunshin jutsu. Work on that for a bit and after that we'll start training with your Tanto."
Naruko nodded before she started concentrating once more to make a clone; it was all about getting used to it at this point. She had the basics down and had more than enough chakra to make so all she had to do was practice making the clones. She actually liked the jutsu, it didn't have much combat potential but it was darn useful as Yuugao had demonstrated when she first taught her the jutsu. When she made a clone she had to picture the earth rising from the ground and taking her shape and in the beginning her clones were hideous to say the least; now however she had gotten used to the process and things went a lot faster. Suddenly she had an idea and tried to make two clones at the same time. She pictured two piece of earth rising and taking her shape while doing the handseals and to her surprise it work fairly well. They weren't perfect as they fell apart just before completion but she knew it was because she hadn't put enough chakra into the jutsu for two clones.
"What are you doing?" Yuugao asked her.
"Oh, I was just trying to make more than one clone." Naruko explained. "But it seems I didn't use enough chakra."
"Could you show me again?" Yuugao asked and Naruko tried once more putting almost twice the amount of chakra into the jutsu. Yuugao watched as two clones raised from the ground each resembling Naruko to the finest details. She was impressed as making more than one clone after only three days of practice was nothing to sneeze at. While the normal Bunshin no Jutsu was nothing more than an illusion created with chakra, the Tsuchi Bunshin no Jutsu used an extra element, earth which needed to be shaped and manipulated and that was something that took time to learn. Of course most Chuunin and Jounin had no trouble doing so but for a Genin fresh out of the academy this was actually very good.
"Not bad, only thing to improve now is the time but you'll get there." Yuugao said. "Alright enough of that, let's work on your Taijutsu and Tanto fighting."
Yuugao had showed Naruko several kata's that she needed to master both armed and unarmed. The armed kata's were mostly to incapacitate enemies who were unaware she was there; it was a style with grabbing the opponent in a lock and meanwhile disabling him with the Tanto. It was very effective as it a perfect why to kill without making too much sound therefore making it perfect for assassinations. The unarmed kata's were a Taijutsu style on which the ANBU style was based; it was the very basics of the ANBU fighting style and Yuugao had to argue and plead with the Sandaime to be allowed to teach her this style but in the end she received permission. The style was based on quick movements and quick kills as ANBU often had to work in situations where they had to be in and out in minutes. Right now however Naruko didn't have the necessary speed yet but she was getting the moves down and perfecting the stances. Each kata had a defensive and offensive version and Naruko had to learn both perfectly before she could move on to the next kata.
"Careful, try to keep your balance on that last kick." Yuugao corrected Naruko. "It will make the following attack easier and faster."
Naruko nodded and started all over again as was the agreement she had with Yuugao. If she made a mistake she had to start all over again from the beginning; that would help her learn the kata's faster and make sure she didn't learn the movements wrong. After finishing the kata's against an imaginary opponent Yuugao always made her practice against herself; they would go through the kata slow at first to get a reading on it and then gradually pick up the pace until Naruko could no longer follow. First Naruko would be on the offensive before they switched and Naruko was on the defensive; it proved to be a very challenging Taijutsu style but Naruko loved it. She had seen two ANBU practice their Taijutsu and she loved it; it was powerful and fast and that was exactly what she wanted in a Taijutsu style.
"Okay, that's enough for today." Yuugao said around six o'clock. "Tomorrow we'll move on to the second kata and maybe start working on a new jutsu."
"Thanks, Yuugao-sensei you're the best." Naruko smiled.
"Come on suck-up, let's go home." Yuugao laughed and walked away with Naruko following closely.
About a week later Yuugao and Naruko were heading to the Hokage tower to get a mission for the day. They were a little later than usual as Anko had a day off and she wanted to sleep in a little. This, of course meant that Yuugao stayed in bed a bit longer as well. Naruko truly hoped that whatever missions were left wouldn't totally suck as most good ones were gone in a matter of minutes. Arriving at the tower they saw Team 8 consisting out of Yuuhi Kurenai, Hyuuga Hinata, Inuzuka Kiba and Aburame Shino leaving with a scroll in hand. Kiba didn't seem too happy and Naruko already feared what kind of mission she would get.
"Good morning Iruka; we're here for our mission." Yuugao said.
"Ah, this is a surprise; normally you two are always the first." Iruka said smiling. "I'm afraid there's only one mission left."
"What's the mission?" Naruko asked already dreading the answer.
"Babysitting young Ikari until this afternoon." Iruka snickered.
Naruko glared at Yuugao who pretended not to notice but she too didn't look forward to the mission. Babysitting was a tiring and nerve-racking mission which she disliked greatly. Seeing it was the only mission left she accepted it and dragged Naruko out of the tower. Once outside Naruko accepted the fact that this mission was going to happen so she might as well get it over with. After searching a bit for the right house they finally found it and rang the bell.
"Ah, you must be the team to babysit my Ikari-chan." The young woman said. "Please come in."
"Thank you." Both Yuugao and Naruko said and followed the woman inside.
"Ikari-chan has just eaten and I already gave him a bath." The young mother said. "He's playing now and should be quiet for a bit." She then explained at what time he usually got hungry again and when his nap time was before showing Naruko where the diapers and baby food could be found. She then went to her little boy and picked him up. "Ikari-chan, you be a good boy okay. Mommy will be back in the afternoon when her daytrip to the spa is done." She kissed him on the head and placed him back in his playpen before grabbing her purse and left.
"How unfair." Naruko complained. "She gets to enjoy herself while we have to babysit her brat."
"Now Naruko, every mother needs some time to relax every once in a while." Yuugao smiled before sitting in the couch reading a magazine.
Naruko sighed and kept an eye on the kid who was still playing quietly unaware his mother had just left. She had to admit that the kid was pretty cute and so far he had been no trouble at all. He even gave her some of his toys so she could play with him.
'Hm, maybe this won't be so bad after all.' Naruko thought.
Anko was enjoying her day off when she heard the door open and a furious Naruko stormed inside straight to her room slamming the door in the process. Anko blinked because this was the first time she had seen Naruko this mad and she wondered what had happened. Two seconds later a laughing Yuugao entered the apartment making her even more curious.
"What's so funny? And what's with Naru-chan?" Anko asked her lover.
"She just mad because of the mission we had today." Yuugao said between giggles. "We were late and got a babysitting job."
"Ouch." Anko said knowing how bad those little bastards could be. "Didn't go so well then huh?"
"You could say that." Yuugao said before laughing loudly. Suddenly the door to Naruko's room opened and Naruko's head appeared.
"IT'S NOT FUNNY!" She yelled before slamming the door shut again.
"At first things went really well but around noon things took a turn for worse." Yuugao explained. "Little Ikari wasn't cooperative at all."
"HE'S SPIT OUT HIS FOOD." Naruko yelled loudly. "STRAIGHT INTO MY EYES." Yuugao started laughing all over again and now even Anko could see the mental picture and a smile appeared on her face.
"That wasn't the worst of it." Yuugao said after she managed to control herself a bit. "He was a mess after eating so he needed a bath."
"He didn't like it, I assume." Anko said already guessing what had happened.
"He threw anything he could get his little hands on and Naruko had to endure some very loud crying on top of that." Yuugao laughed.
"STILL NOT FUNNY!" Naruko shouted from her room.
"But the cherry on the cake was when she needed to change his dirty diaper." Yuugao said wiping a tear away from laughter. "Somehow he managed to grab his dirty diaper and he threw it straight at her. She only just managed to duck sideways making it hit the wall."
"IT ALMOST HIT ME IN THE FACE. DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH THAT STINKS?" Naruko yelled once more. "I HATE KIDS." After laughing for another minute Yuugao and Anko finally took pity on Naruko and stopped laughing.
"Come on Naruko-chan, we're sorry for laughing." Yuugao said sincerely. "How about we go to the onsen to make it up?"
After a full minute of silence the door to Naruko's room opened and Naruko walked out. After securing a promise from both women not to mention the diaper incident anymore she agreed to go the onsen with them. The three gathered their washing materials and set out for the onsen at the other side of town. When they arrived Naruko was impressed at the building and she couldn't wait to get inside. She had heard a lot of things about onsen before but had never been to one. After paying the lady at the counter the three went to the women side of the baths and undressed.
Each carrying not but a small towel and their bathing materials the three entered the bathing area and sat down on the small stool so they could rinse themselves before entering the hot water. Naruko felt a little uncomfortable at being naked in front of all these unknown people.
"Are you sure there are no perverts here?" Naruko asked once more.
"Relax Naru-chan; no male can enter this side of the baths." Yuugao said to reassure the young blonde. "It's perfectly safe. Now let me wash your back."
Naruko nodded and allowed Yuugao to scrub her back. Soon all three of them were ready to enter the warm water and Yuugao and Anko didn't waste any time and got right in. Naruko, who had never been to an onsen before tentatively, put her foot in the water only to be surprised at how warm the water really was.
"So warm." She said to her companions. "How do you stand it?"
"You'll get used to it." Anko said. "Just go slowly or else splash some water over you so your skin gets used to the temperature."
Naruko nodded and slowly but surely got into the water. Once she got halfway in she felt like she had gotten used to it and sat down in front of Anko and Yuugao. She looked around a bit before relaxing and enjoyed the feeling of the warm water. It was something that so could enjoy she thought to herself. After a while they three started talking and true to their promise neither Yuugao nor Anko mentioned the mission from before. Suddenly Anko felt like playing and kissed Yuugao right in front of Naruko who looked on in fascination. She had already gotten used to Anko and her playful moods but it was still kind of new to see two women kissing.
"Ne, what's it like to be kissed?" Naruko asked suddenly.
"Well, it's very nice." Yuugao said after thinking a bit. "Especially when it's a person you love that kisses you. It shows that the person loves and trusts you."
"Did you ever kiss a boy?" Naruko asked knowing that it was okay to ask questions about this subject to her neechans.
"Nope, Yuu-chan is the only person I ever kissed." Anko proudly said.
"I kissed a boy before." Yuugao nodded. "It was before I was together with Anko but I was still young at that time. I didn't realize I liked girls more than boys until Anko kissed me."
"How did that happen?" Naruko asked curiously.
"Well, Anko and I have always been friends and one night we were so drunk that we kissed and spend the night together." Yuugao smiled at the memory. "When I woke up I knew she was the one who I wanted to spend the rest of my life with."
"That's it? You were drunk?" Naruko said surprised.
"I know it might not sound very romantic but at that time it was fantastic." Anko nodded. "The best decision I made so far."
"Why these questions? Do you have someone you like?" Yuugao teased.
"No, it's not that." Naruko said. "I just wondered what it felt like."
"Don't you worry Naru-chan." Anko said. "One day you'll meet a special person and then you'll find out what it's like. I promise."
Naruko nodded smiling and they switched to other things to talk about. A half hour later it was time to go and both women promised Naruko that they would come back the next week. By the time they got home Naruko had all but forgotten the diaper incident had ever happened and she was in a very good mood. The rest of the evening she spend reading and talking with her housemates and went to back with a smile on her face just like she did every night ever since she moved in with Yuugao and Anko.
That's it for this chapter. I hope it was okay. If not then let me know what was bad and I'll try to work on it. Thanks for reading.