A/N: Not much to say this time, not really in the mood. Enjoy the story, I murdered writers block to get this one out.
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, all characters belong to Masashi Kishimotto.
/O\/O\/O\
"Naruto... why did you kill me?" We find ourselves back on the bridge in the Land of Waves. Naruto was standing on the ground looking at Haku. His neck was bent at an awkward angle, but he still somehow managed to get his dead, soulless eyes to stare right into Naruto's.
"I didn't! I mean, I didn't mean to! I just..." The empty husk of a body took a step forward.
"Didn't what? Didn't mean to snap my neck like a twig? Did you enjoy it? Avenging your team mate? Who you couldn't even save in the first place!" Each word was like a whip. Lashing out and striking Naruto with a greater force each time. He quickly found himself stumbling over his own feet and then on his ass as he fell over trying to get away from the dead Haku. Said person had formed a huge clever of ice, which looked a lot like Zabuza's sword. "You're a monster." The blonde's eyes widened as the boy in front of him raised the massive ice clever. "Die demon!"
"AHHHHH!"
/O\/O\/O\
Naruto shot awake in his bed, cold sweat covered his entire frame as he looked around the small hotel room for any sign of Haku. When he confirmed it was just him and Sakura in the other bed he relaxed. Wait... Where was Sasuke? Almost as if summoned by the mention of his name, said boy walked in through the door with two bags in hand. A single sniff of the air told Naruto that Sasuke had been out resupplying their food and probably other materials. "Hey bastard, what's up?" The black haired boy walked to the rooms table and put the bags on it before turning to Naruto and answering.
"I went out to grab food supplies and even got some more kunai and shuriken from a local blacksmith, are you rested and ready to move?" Naruto got out of bed and stretched. Enjoying the feeling he moved towards the bathroom door.
"Yeah, yesterday was stressful but I'm more than ready for any challenge that the world throws at us today! I'm gonna hit the shower right quick alright?" Sasuke spoke before he could enter the door
"Speaking of yesterday, how did you get that clone to henge into a kunai without anyone noticing? In fact, I didn't think you had any clones left on the field." Naruto looked a little sheepish at this, rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment
"I actually don't know. I wanted a clone henged into a kunai. I focused on it and my chakra was flaring, cause Sakura was in trouble and I didn't know what to do. And suddenly I had a clone in my hand. Transformed into a kunai. There wasn't even any smoke too!" He stopped at this for a second to think "I wonder if I can do that in general? Hmm... Oh well!" He then went into the bathroom to shower. Meanwhile Sasuke was left thinking to himself.
"So... you can preform jutsu without hand signs huh? Not only that, you can change the very nature of the technique if you focus hard enough... hmmm..." He was broken out of his thoughts when a certain pink haired girl started to awaken. He sat down in a chair across the room and waited for her to become aware of her surroundings. To Sakura it was like she had just awoken from a really bad dream. Her body ached and she was pretty sure she had a bruise on the back of her neck. She looked up and spotted Sasuke sitting across the room and blushed at the thought of just the two of them in a hotel room together, however the sound of a shower running told her Naruto was here too. She decided to speak
"Sasuke what happened?" The boy nodded his head
"The enemy had captured you and gave us a chance to walk away but leave you behind. Naruto accepted the terms-"
"WHAT?!" The pinkette shouted. However before she could continue she was stopped by Sasuke who levelled her with a glare.
"Let me finish" She closed her mouth and nodded for him to go on. "As I said, he accepted the terms to get the enemy to let down his guard. At which point a trap he had set up was sprung and he was able to get you away from the Suna nin. I then quickly acted and dispatched the enemy."
"I guess I owe Naruto a thank you huh?" Sasuke simply nodded at this "So what now?" Before the black haired boy could respond the bathroom door opened and a very naked Naruto walked out of the bathroom with nothing but a towel to cover his lower region. Everyone froze as an awkward silence passed... then. "NARUTO!" Said boy was sent back into the bathroom by a solid punch delivered by one irate Sakura. Unbeknownst to her, Sasuke's crimson eyes narrowed at this. Putting his thoughts aside for the moment he waited for Naruto to exit the bathroom, fully clothed this time before speaking.
"My first plan was to move out as soon as possible. But given recent events I have decided we will take a few hours to train. There's a small field just north of this town with a small river. We'll set up there and begin" Naruto gave him a questioning look
"What exactly can we learn without a sensei?" Sasuke simply smirked at that and took out one of the scrolls Naruto had taken from Kakashi's body
"We kinda still have him."
/O\/O\/O\
We find ourselves in a small field enclosed by trees, a small river a few meters away flowing from west to east. Our three genin here huddled together around the scroll that they had taken from Kakashi's body. What was written on the scroll however left one frowning, another giggling and the other confused. "How to train genin, for dummies? Was Kakashi really a sensei? Or were we having a joke played on us?" Sakura laughed at Naruto's question while the Uchiha frowned harder and opened the scroll.
How to train your cute little genin students
1.0 Chakra Exercises
1.1 Leaf Balancing
1.2 Tree Walking
1.3 Water walking
2.0 Taijutsu
2.1 Basics
2.2 Advanced styles
3.0 Genjutsu
3.1 Basics
3.2 Theory
4.0 Ninjutsu
4.1 Basics
4.2 D-ranks
5.0 Advanced
5.1 Elemental affinity (Note: May help your students learn jutsu easier)
5.2 Shape manipulation
5.3 Nature manipulation
He tapped on water walking and a second scroll appeared. Reading over it carefully he looked at Sakura and Naruto. "We'll start with this. Finish it. Then move on to other stuff." They both nodded, he explained the exercise as they approached the river. Moving forward and taking an experimental step out onto the river, Sasuke and Naruto both fell face first into the freezing cold water. Sakura on the other hand effortlessly walked into the middle of the river and laughed as the two boys jumped out of the water shivering. Unlike last time they had expected her to be able to do the exercise on the first try. Sasuke spoke up while Naruto tried once again to walk on the water "Sakura, go back to the scroll and read up on Taijutsu. Of the three of us here you are the weakest when it comes to close combat" The pinkette nodded and hurried off to do as she was told. Naruto jumped out of the river after having failed once more and looked at Sasuke.
"Just like last time?"
"First one to complete it gets the others piece of food rations for a day" They both grinned.
/O\/O\/O\
It was around two hours later when the boys finished water walking, just like last time they had both completed it at the same time And agreed therefore that they would keep their portions of the food rations. They were making their way towards Sakura and were surprised to find her working hard. Making her way through stances and actually sweating from the effort. "Sakura?" The girl span around quickly in a starting combat stance. Surprising the boys even more
"Oh it's just you guys, what's up?" The boys just kind of stared at her for a few more seconds before Naruto spoke again
"You're... you're actually working hard?" This caused the girls eye to twitch in annoyance before taking a deep breath to calm herself.
"Yeah, after the whole Zabuza and Suna nin thing I decided to take my training a bit more seriously" She let out a little grin "Someday maybe I'll be the one saving you boys" At this she winked at them before turning around to hide her blush. She couldn't believe she just did that! She could feel the boys looking at her in shock, oh my gosh it was working! She giggled to herself as she took something out of her kunai pouch. A little something that was also left behind by their sensei. She giggled some more as she flipped open the orange covered book and whispered "Teach me more sensei..."
While this was going on Sasuke had sat Naruto down to talk to him. "Alright Naruto, I'm going to teach you how to get out of a genjutsu" Naruto nodded
"Right... what's a gen choo who again?" The avenger merely sighed as he sat down. Naruto mirroring his action
"A genJUTSU, is a shinobi technique that allows the user to make the victim see, hear, smell, taste and feel whatever they want them to"
"That seems pretty stupid" Sasuke just glared at the boy
"Is it Naruto? How about this. What if the ninja made you think Sakura was an enemy and you killed her?" This shut the whiskered boy up as he stared at Sasuke with slightly pleading eyes. The black haired boy nodded at him "The first way to get out of a genjutsu is to inflict physical harm to yourself, the second would be to have a team mate inject a bit of their chakra into you and the third would be to simply send out a small burst of your own chakra" The blonde's eyes lit up in understanding as he put his hand in position for the basic chakra molding sign. There was a slight pause and then a burst of visible chakra shot out around Naruto. Knocking Sasuke off his feet and causing Sakura a few meters away to lose her balance.
"Like that!?" The over eager boy shouted, a surprised Sasuke collected himself and jumped back onto his feet
"Naruto, how much chakra did you put into that?"
"Enough to make about fifty clones, why?" Sasuke shook his head.
"That was an insane amount of chakra" The orange clad boy grinned at that statement
"Duh! I'm an awesome ninja!" Sasuke shook his head once again.
"You don't get it Naruto, for your age and upbringing. Having no one to teach you from a young age, there's no way you should have anywhere near that much chakra. If anything your reserves should be an even contest between mine and Sakura's..." It was silent for a few moments. Then crimson eyes met blue "Does this have anything to do with the red chakra flowing through you?" Naruto was shocked at this. Telling Sasuke all he needed to know. "Its some kind of blood line right? I wont pry. But you'll have to tell me what it does at some point so I know your combat ability" He turned around to walk towards Sakura while Naruto was left there speechless. He had just dodged a major bullet! He pondered on it a bit more before hearing his name being called.
He jogged over to Sasuke and Sakura "Yo, what's up guys?" He noticed they were going over the section elemental affinity. Coming to a stop beside them, he waited for a response.
"Do you remember those little square slips of paper you got off sensei's body?" At this the blonde boy nodded and took them out of his pocket.
"What about them?" Sasuke reached out and took all but one of the paper slips from Naruto. Handing another to Sakura
"Channel chakra in them, depending on how the paper reacts it will tell you which element your chakra is" it was once again silent...
"Soooo... what does that mean?" Sasuke sighed
"It means you'll be able to know which kind of jutsu you can use that will be extra powerful because it matches your chakra element" Naruto grinned at this
"Alright! Why didn't you just say so!" He channelled his chakra into the paper and watched as it shredded itself to pieces. "Whoa... what does that mean?" it was Sakura who spoke this time
"It means you have an affinity for wind, a powerful one too" Sasuke went next, channelling chakra into his paper and dropping it as it started letting off sparks of electricity before crinkling up into a little ball. "Lightning for Sasuke, another strong one." The avenger frowned at that, he was a Uchiha. He was supposed to have fire as an affinity... he paid his thoughts no more attention as he looked at Sakura. "And last but not least, me!" She channelled her chakra into the paper and watched as it turned into a strong slab of dirt. "Earth... we all have such strong affinity's too..." Naruto simply jumped into the air, fist raised up
"That just means were an awesome team!" The pinkette rolled her eyes at his antics before looking at Sasuke, who seemed to be lost in thought.
"So now what Sasuke?" The black haired boy snapped his head to look at her, slightly caught off guard. He schooled his features back into his indifferent look and looked at the sun.
"It's almost night fall. Let's make some distance between us and this town. We've already spent more than enough time here" The other two genin nodded at this, going around they all gathered their things before regrouping at the edge of the forest. "Let's go you two" Sasuke turned and jumped into the trees, Sakura and Naruto right behind him.
/O\/O\/O\
Ellen sighed to herself. Those magical warriors were completely worthless. Some adventure that was. Asking for a room for one night then just taking off, pfft. Lame. The bell to the hotel door rang as a customer walked in. Looking up she started "Welco-" But was cut off when a hand found its way around her throat and lifted her into the air. She grasped at the arm and tried to pull it off while trying to breath. She looked up into the face of a massive man. Bandages covered his lower face, but his demented eyes dug into her soul when she made eye contact. He spoke
"Three kids, two boys and a girl, the girl had pink hair and the two boys had black and blonde hair, One of them stuck out like a sore thumb wearing orange. Which way did they go?" Ellen managed to point north with one hand. Hoping beyond everything the man would leave when he got what he wanted. Said man chuckled deeply. "Thank you" and crushed her neck in his hand then left. As Ellen lay on the ground. Choking on her own blood. As she tried to draw in breath through her crushed windpipe. One last, single thought crossed her mind before she died.
"At least... I finally got that adventure..."
/O\/O\/O\
The journey through the trees was silent, aside from the occasional giggle from Sakura, which the boys got used to after about an hour of it. Sasuke had been going over the genjutsu section of How to train genin, for dummies. He was deeply into the theory of genjutsu. He never knew it was such a diverse and useful ninja art. Combined with his sharingan, he was sure he would become a powerful genjutsu user in time. Just like his... that man. It was weird, all this time spent with Naruto and Sakura. Along with recent events he had completely forgotten his life ambition. He glanced back at the two genin behind him and scoffed. Why was he stuck here taking care of these two idiots when he should be training to become stronger? He shook his head, he would think about this later. Right now he had to focus on getting back to Konoha. For that he needed the two of them to at least help. He focused back on the genjutsu scroll and kept reading.
The theory behind genjutsu is that it is only limited by your own mind. The user can create any illusion they wish, without limit. By this, you could create an illusion of a giant beast attacking a victim. Then. Create another illusion under that one so that if they break it, lets say you set another illusion of the giant beast behind them this time. So they break the first one. Think they're safe, right before your second illusion "kills" them. Of course Illusions can't actually kill someone, but if your genjutsu makes them believe they took a fatal blow to the head, their body will act like it took a fatal blow to the head. Therefore leaving them unconscious for easy pickings. (Note: a skilled genjutsu user can actually make the victim's brain think they died. Causing the brain to shut down. Killing the victim with little work on the users side.)
Sasuke grinned. Oh yes, he was going to like this.
Meanwhile with Naruto, he was busy trying to cut through a leaf with his chakra. The scroll Sasuke had given him explained that this was the first step in learning to use his wind chakra to its full effect. As well as making it stronger and more powerful in general. A giggle caught his attention, swerving his head to look at Sakura he blushed. The girl had her long pink hair up in a pony tail to avoid having it get in her way. She had never retrieved her dress after the suna nin attack. Leaving her only in her blue shorts and a purple tank top. She looked amazing to Naruto, and he vowed right there to make sure he got her back to Konoha unharmed. "Ugh" Speaking of unharmed... he looked down at his stomach. It had been randomly sending little surges of pain recently whenever he used chakra and it scared him.
He knew he had used the Kyuubi's chakra on the bridge, and he had no idea its affect on him. Aside from moving faster and being stronger. He had no idea what it was doing now that he wasn't actively using it. He just hoped the seal wasn't weakening or something. He looked at Sasuke ahead of him, another cause of concern. The bastard could see its chakra in him and it was only a matter of time before he found out the truth. How would they react? Probably leave him behind and go find Konoha together. Who would want a demon around after all?
Shifting left, we come over to Sakura who was giggling while reading make-out paradise. The plot line was amazing! Why every female she known had called the book garbage had obviously never given the book a chance. She was learning so much about how to get boys too! Sighing she looked over at Sasuke. Yes, that fine ass would be hers someday. She swore it on her ancestors! All things aside she looked over at Naruto, she still needed to still thank him for saving her from that suna nin. She nodded to herself and decided she would do so when they stopped. A sudden thought hit her, she wasn't scared. When they had been travelling to Wave she remembered feeling scared bandits would attack them. Sticking as close as she could to Kakashi-sensei and Sasuke to protect her. Now she was tree hopping while reading a book and completely confident in her abilities to take on bandits. It... it was a nice change she found, she liked it.
Her thoughts came to a halt when Sasuke stopped. Her and Naruto landing next to him "What's up?" She found herself saying without thinking. God damn she was relaxed...
"We've made good time. Lets set up camp here for the night." The two genin nodded at Sasuke's orders as they all dropped to the forest floor. Sakura unrolled the sleeping bags, while Naruto grabbed some fire wood. Sasuke lit the logs up with a quick fire jutsu and then retrieved their food supplies. He handed each of them a bottle of water, an apple and a granola bar.
"Ugggh this stuff is gross" one foxy ninja complained
"Shut up idiot, do you have a better idea?"
"Actually yeah bastard! Why don't we hunt?" Sasuke rolled his eyes at the blonde
"Do any of you know exactly how to do that? Or even skin and prepare the meat in general?" The blonde got quiet at that. In fact the whole camp was quiet for awhile before Sakura spoke up.
"Hey Naruto?" The boy in question immediately snapped his attention to his crush
"Yeah Sakura?"
"Thanks for saving me from that suna nin..." Naruto's eyes widened in surprise before he simply grinned and rubbed the back of his head
"Oh that? Please, that was nothing! No problem Sakura!" The girl rolled her eyes at his antics and giggled a bit. She wasn't sure what it was, but it seemed while Naruto was still Naruto. He had changed somehow. A bit more of a mature air around him? She didn't know. All she knew was it was easier to tolerate his stupidity now. She looked over at the other member of their team while Naruto ate his apple. Their third companion as silent as ever.
"Sas-"
"I'll take first watch. You two take this time to get some rest. Naruto you'll be on second watch, followed by Sakura finishing up. Alright?" The two nodded and got up to get in their sleeping bags. Sakura watched her crush walk some distance away and jump into a tree. Sitting in it to get a clearer view of their surroundings. It was only a few minutes later when she looked over at the lump that was her second team mate snuggled up in his sleeping bag.
"Naruto?" She whispered. Watching as the shape tried unsuccessfully to turn over for a few seconds before finally doing it. Blue eyes met green
"Yeah Sakura?" he whispered back
"Do you think we'll make it back to Konoha?" Naruto twisted onto his back. Looking up at the endless night sky filled with tiny lights, he finally turned his head to look at her.
"To be honest... I don't know" The girl looked away at that, but looked up again when he continued speaking "But I do know me and Sasuke are going to try are damn hardest to make sure you do. Alright?" He flashed her one of his infectious smiles and she smiled back. He rolled over on to his side again and yawned "Night, Sakura"
"Night Naruto" She closed her eyes and drifted into a dreamless, yet much needed sleep.
In what only felt like moments, Naruto was once again awoken. Sasuke stood over him "Yeah, yeah, I'm up" Yawning, he slowly stood up and stretched. Watching Sasuke get into his sleeping bag and close his eyes. The whiskered blonde walked over to the tree his team mate had been keeping watch in. Leaning against it, he stood there for about an hour when he heard something. Alert and on guard, he whipped out a kunai and held it in a defensive position. "Who's there?" he whispered harshly. A shadow to his right moved into the woods and he heard a voice.
"Naruto..." He grit his teeth, and followed the figure into the woods.
"Who are you and how do you know my name?" He heard a chuckle
"Catch me and you'll find out..." This continued on for a few more minutes before the blonde burst out of the tree line and into a small clearing in the middle of the woods. There was no one in sight however
"What the...?" and just like that he feinted.
When he came too he was in a sewer like area. The place was heavily damaged, and corrosive red stuff seemed to be eating away at the walls. What set him on guard was the breathing he could hear behind him. Turning slowly, he came upon the sight of a huge cage. Two glowing blood red eyes stared down at him. Behind them, nine tails swayed in sync with each other as the beast looked down on the tiny human in front of it.
"So, we finally meet?" Naruto just stared at the massive fox. Saying nothing as it chuckled in its deep voice "It's okay. Most humans can't help but stare in fear and total awe the first time they see me" A few seconds later and Naruto finally spoke.
"Your ears look like a bunny rabbits"
It was silent... then
"YOU MOTHERFU-"
/O\/O\/O\
Sakura was awakened by hands shaking her roughly, groaning she pushed them away and opened her eyes. "Naruto, I'm awake, you don't have to shake me so hard" However, she was unprepared to see Sasuke standing over her instead of Naruto. "Sasuke? Where's Naruto?" The Uchiha fixed her with a look.
"He's missing" She jumped out of her sleeping bag and cursed while helping Sasuke pack away the camp. Then they moved out.
/O\/O\/O\
"-CKER!" The Kyuubi roared while Naruto fell over in laughter.
"Hahaha! That was great! You should have seen the look on your face! Hahaha!" The Kyuubi grumbled to itself at the stupid ape that dare make fun of its amazing ears of FOXINESS.
"I bring you in here to save your life and this is how you treat me? Remove yourself from my cage area human!" Naruto stopped laughing at this and looked at the hulking beast of a fox.
"Wait. What? Save my life?" He questioned
"Yes, but after that I don't think I will." Naruto rolled his eyes at the Kyuubi's obvious ego problems.
"You remind me of the bastard. Just the stick up your ass is like one hundred times bigger." The fox bristled at this but took a deep breath.
"Enough of this. You are dying. The seal is taking in my chakra and mixing it with yours at a rate that's too slow" Naruto raised an eyebrow at that.
"What exactly is bad about that? Less fox in me is better." Nine tails slammed into the bars of the cage with force
"FOOL! It's going in at such a slow rate that the filter isn't detecting it as it passes from the seal to your body! It's going to build up and melt you from the inside!" Naruto just stared blankly at the tailed beast
"Oh."
"Yes. Oh."
It was silent for a few seconds "So... how do we fix it?" The Kyuubi sighed at this
"I can flood your chakra system, causing the filter system's back up feature to kick in. It will purge all of my chakra currently in your system but not before the force of my chakra opens your pathways wider. This will allow more of my chakra to leak into your system in the future. Meaning you wont have to worry about the rate of our chakra's mixing ever again." Naruto nodded, but stopped after realizing something
"Why are you helping me?" As he said this he backed up and got into a defensive stance. The Kyuubi rolled its massive eyes at the human's behaviour
"This seal is a master piece. Even I will admit that your fourthHokage was amazing. Let alone the fact he bested me of all demons in battle. If you die, My soul will be dragged into the stomach of the death god for all eternity." Naruto stared at the demon and pondered on his choice. He really didn't have anything to lose did he? He nodded at the beast
"Do it." It grinned at him as a massive wave of red burst forward.
"This may sting a little."
When Naruto came to, he was back in the clearing where he passed out. However he didn't feel groggy or anything like one usually does when waking up. In fact, he felt amazing! Her felt strong and healthy. Like he could take on the world. He opened his eyes and noticed it was bright out. "huh, almost morning already?"
"Not quite you dumb ape" The blonde almost jumped out of his skin at the sound of the Kyuubi's voice. Spinning around looking in every direction he shouted
"I knew there was something you weren't telling me! You're out of your cage now aren't you?! You lying sonofa-"
"Oh shut up, I'm speaking to you in your mind you dip shit" Naruto stopped and stared ahead blankly
"Huh?" He could almost hear the sound of the Kyuubi smacking its head against its cell while muttering about stupid humans.
"Our interaction opened a link between our minds, allowing us to talk even when you're outside the seal" Naruto nodded at this
"I see... so what was that about it not being morning?" The Kyuubi chuckled
"It would seem that my surge of chakra did a few things to your body. Like for one, you now have night vision. You're welcome by the way" Naruto looked up at the night sky, which now looked like the sky moments after the sun had risen.
"What else did you do?"
"Nothing as far as I can tell. Aside from stronger, denser muscle. You're probably just faster and stronger, That's it." The blonde nodded and was about to ask more when two figures jumped out of the tree line. He turned to them in a combat stance but stood down when he realized who they were.
"Sasuke! Sakura!" Said genin walked up to Naruto. Both angry beyond belief. "Guys...?" Sakura stepped forward and punched him in the face. "Ahh! What the hel-" But was cut off in surprise when the girl hugged him while crying.
"Don't you ever! Scare me like that again!" She backed off and wiped her tears away. "What were you even doing out here?!" Naruto got nervous at that
"Sakura I wa-" he was cut off before he could continue however when a new voice made itself known.
"Awe, how touching. The little genin are having a bitch party" They turned to the figure who spoke. It swung its sword forward and pointed it at them. They could feel the grin behind his bandages widen as a crazy gleam entered his eyes. "I hope you don't mind if I invite myself. I can be quite the party crasher sometimes!" Full blown laughter escaped his lips at this as the three genin grouped together and got in combat stances. Shaking and nervous, they steeled themselves.
Zabuza Momochi had arrived.
/O\/O\/O\
A/N: Hello kids, I hope this one isn't too bad. I felt like it wasn't my best.
I hope they didn't seem to glide through training or anything. I just wanted to show what exactly they were learning and what not. Everyone will be learning a little something next training period except Naruto.
Which brings me to my next point. I love Kyuubi/Kurama. I think the bastard is awesome. So yes Naruto will be using his power, and I needed to give him something so he could keep up with Sakura and Sasuke. As practising his wind nature exercises will take a while to master. And yes. He legit only got stronger and faster from the whole chakra surge thing. As well as night vision.
Also he's not going to become buddy buddy with Kyuubi anytime soon. It will be a very strong, lovely hate-hate relationship for a long time. In fact. I have a whole thing involving them what will leave Naruto very much upset at our favourite fox.
Anywhozies, check out next time to see how the second battle between our lovelies and Zabuza turns out.
Until next time, Insanity out.
P.s. Tell me if I'm doing a good job capturing The genin's personalities