Welcome back Everyone to another Chapter of the story. I enjoy the comments I am getting for the story and seeing that folks are enjoying reading it, thank you all.
As per usual, I own nothing here. And with that, I hope you enjoy this chapter.
Naruto and the Hunter's Path
Chapter 3
Birth of Team Wolf
The day has been going surprisingly well for Naruto, first he had gotten a good deal for staying in the Leaf Village again, got himself a squad that he intends on making the best in the Leaf, and now they were heading to his favorite ramen bar in the entire world. There was one small problem though, on the way to Ichirakus, they came across two other genin, Sasuke Uchiha and Neji Hyuuga. Naruto looked at them both. "Hyuuga, Uchiha, can I help you?"
Sasuke let out a snort at how Naruto called out to them. "What are you doing back, looser?" he asked, which got a glare from the three Kunoichi behind Naruto.
"Well we're on our way to get something to eat, but you two are in our way, so yea." Naruto said with his goofy grin and hands behind his head, which agitated Sasuke a good bit. "And what of you Hyuuga?"
Neji narrowed his eyes. "I am here to show the people the truth about you." he said which got a confused stare from Naruto. "They say you have accomplished many great feats, but that cannot be possible. Destiny wouldn't have allowed it."
Naruto blinked a few times from that last comment. "Wait, you're saying that you can see Destiny and Fate?" Naruto asked which got a nod from Neji. "Sweet, so you're a prophet. Can you tell us what the winning lottery numbers are?" he said chuckling, which got a snicker from the three girls and some other folks who were now watching.
Neji frowned a bit at that. "That has nothing to do with seeing the Fate, and that Fate says that you are nothing but a false hunter, when you left you were the dead last of the Academy, and once a looser, always a looser. There is no changing that."
Naruto blinked a bit. "Wait, but if you see one future, than you have to see them all...Oh I get it, you're a con artist, well you won't be getting any money from me." He said which was the last straw for the girls, who started to laugh till they almost fell on the floor. "Besides, Hyuuga." He started, getting a bit more serious. "Destiny has a way of changing things around, one can't deny Destiny I will admit." he said but gave another grin. "But then again, who's to say what Destiny has in store for anyone, so why worry about it? Now, if you two will step aside." He finished.
That got a furious look from Sasuke as Neji did his best to keep his cool. Neji stepped forward. "Then I suppose we will need to prove to you and everyone that you are a true fraud, trying to say you defied Destiny." he said and activated his byakugan and both he and Sasuke got ready to fight.
Naruto slumped his shoulders and arms down. "Really? Come on, we're trying to get something to eat." he whined a bit as both boys charged at Naruto. Naruto sighed a bit. "No way around it then." he said, straightening himself up as he jutted his arms out with the bottom tattoos glowing again, which caught most folks attention, especially one with silver hair and his headband over his right eye. "Wind Style: Tunneling Palm Jutsu." He called out which summoned the two twisters out of his palms, smacking the two boys and sending them back. Naruto than vanished to reappear behind them, back towards them and elbows out to strike their backs, which is what happened as both of them let out a yelp of pain and fell to the ground. Most people who saw this were stunned, both Neji and Sasuke were rookie of the year in their respective years of graduating, and here's a boy same age as Sasuke, one year younger than Neji, and just took them both down without even trying. "Now than Uchiha, Hyuuga, if you don't mind, we'll be off." he said.
Sasuke coughed up a bit and glared at Naruto. "Dang it dope, you know my name, use it." He said, getting back up to his feet along with Neji, however Neji wasn't looking like he was ready to fight anymore. Sasuke stepped forward a bit with a smirk. "You think you have the right to look down on me when it was you who abandoned your home." Sasuke said, which got glares from the three girls and some of the folks watching as well.
Naruto turned towards Sasuke and glared at him with the Rennigan eyes. "For the first part Uchiha, you're right, I do know your name, but as of right now you haven't got the skills for me to be impressed with you, nor do I respect you as a person, though nothing personal for either sense I have...issues with others. The only thing respectable I find about folks is their clan's name...though I do admit there are exceptions." he said, and the three girls looked at each other, they couldn't help but think of how much Naruto has changed. "And second, I did what I had to. The Leaf was threatening people who were getting close to me, of course I wouldn't expect you to care, one who follows in your brothers footsteps."
Sasuke was fuming from that last comment "I'll make you regret that." he said forming his hand signs for the fire ball jutsu when a man appeared and stopped Sasuke from finishing, and said man was the same one with silver hair.
"I apologize about my students behavior. Allow me to introduce myself to a fellow Jounin. I am Kakashi Hatake." He said giving a welcome bow a bit, to which caught many folks off by surprise. Everyone recognized Naruto, but only a few of them knew he was a Jounin.
Naruto looked at Kakashi. "Kakashi Hatake, I've heard a good bit about you on my travels, you're one of the few legends around." He said, nodding his head a bit for his greeting.
Kakashi chuckled a bit at that. "I doubt I can exactly call myself a 'legend' but it is nice to see you again Naruto. I hope we get some time to chat later." he said and took Sasuke away for a lecture about attacking comrades...again.
Naruto shook his head and motioned for his team to follow him again to continue onto their destination. Neji, who had watched the whole scene, folded his arms, thinking. 'Odd...he claims to respect a clan but not the people in it...and not only that, but you proved me wrong on your talent...Naruto Uzumaki, you are a mystery...' He thought, and decided to follow, hoping that Naruto would answer some questions that he had in his mind now.
After a few minutes walking the group made it to Ichirakus where Teuchi and Ayame both greeted Naruto, Ayame was the most happy to see him again, almost leaping across the counter to hug him. "Naruto! Long time no see, how have you been?" Teuchi asked as he got Naruto's order up, before he left, Naruto always seemed to order the same thing, and the two never did forget which Ramen Naruto loved.
"I've been good, thank you." Naruto said, chuckling as he gave Ayame a pat on the back as he and the group sat down and ordered their meal. Before the bowls came however Naruto narrowed his eyes and looked behind him to see Neji, who was standing inside the ramen bar. "What is it now?" he asked.
Neji let out a sigh, sort of swallowing his pride in this one. "I...I was wondering if I could join you and your team...I wanted to ask you something." He said which got a confuse stare from the three Kunoichi, but Naruto thought about it for a bit and sighed, nodding his head to his request and Sakura moved over so Neji could sit next to him and talk. Neji bowed a bit for a thank you and sat down and also ordered. "Thank you." he said as he turned to Naruto. "Earlier you told Sasuke that you only respected his clan's name, but not Sasuke himself...I know I'm in the same boat as well as...well just about everyone else from what you said, but how can you respect a clan but not the people in it? They are one of the same are they not?" he asked.
Naruto looked over at Neji. "To many that is the way it is...but I don't see it like that." He said as everyone got their ramen orders, and thanked the two owners. "You see, your clan, the Hyuuga clan, has a lot of strong members, and the techniques that is used by you and the other members of the clan is fierce if caught in it. Your clan has power yes, however, you yourself haven't exactly made a name in the world as an individual. However just getting your name out there is only a step above being acknowledge by what clan you're from really, like...Kakashi Hatake for example, I know of his skills and I know of his accomplishments. He has made a name in the world, thus he is deserving to be acknowledge by his full name, you see where I'm going with this?" he asked to which Neji nodded a bit, understanding. "However I don't fully respect Kakashi Hatake, I respect his skills, but until I know him personally I can't say whether I will respect him, as a comrade and a person, or not. Now, with Ino, Sakura, Rei, Ayame and Teuchi. These folks I do know personally, and I respect them for they showed me respect as well." He said. Neji blinked a bit but nodded in understanding. "Now, I suppose one would say that if you know one member of a clan than you know them all, but again that is not the case. True many ninjas in...let's say the Nara clan for example, form what I learned, many are on the lazy side but also a genius, however I have come across a few Nara's born into the clan who were as energetic as an Inuzuka." Naruto said, which earned a chuckling smile from Rei and her two puppies.
Neji nodded understanding what Naruto was saying and took in a deep breath. He was silent for a long time, 'So he sees a person for what he knows about them personally huh?...I suppose it is a different way to look at the world...but thinking about it...I suppose I have done her wrong then...' He thought for a while then he opened up his eyes. "I think I understand..." He said and turned to outside the ramen bar. "Miss Hinata, would you care to join us?" He asked as the three genin and two store owners looked to where Neji turned to and Naruto, without looking back, motion her to come on over.
There was a small eep when Hinata walked out of her hiding spot behind a wall and walked into Ichirakus. When she got inside she bowed to Naruto. "I-it's good to s-see you again, Naruto." She said, blushing a good bit, to which the three girls saw.
Naruto was taken back a bit from what Hinata said, he expected Chunins and Jounins to say that because they are somewhat suppose to be respectable to each other, but from another genin he didn't know much about caught him off guard. Neji looked over to Hinata. "Would you like to join us...cousin?" He asked, which caught Hinata by surprise, but she nodded and took a seat, ordering a bowl for herself. After that the day went surprisingly good for Naruto after the two Hyuugas joined in. He noticed that Ino kept going over to Hinata and whispering something, but didn't bother listening to what they were saying, girl talk and all that. After the meal the two groups went their separate ways.
[With Hinata and Neji]
The two were walking back to the Hyuuga estate. Hinata didn't really bother greeting other folks that were walking by, she still was rather distant from the village aside from her clan, and when she needed to work with her team. A while later Hinata got the nerves to ask something on her mind ever sense supper. "Uhm...Neji? I-I was wondering...I l-like that we are ta-talking now, bu-but did something ha-happen?" she asked.
Neji looked to the sky a little and smiled to Hinata. "Yea...I suppose you could say that...Hinata?" he called out and Hinata stopped to look at her cousin. Neji let out a deep breath. "Listen...I'm...I apologize for how I acted...ever sense the talk me and Naruto had...let's say I'm seeing things a bit differently...I'm not saying I forgive the main branch for what they did...but in all honesty, you are the only one who went out of your way to be nice to me...so also, thank you." he said, which got a smile from Hinata.
"Y-you don't need to apologize, brother." Hinata said reassuring. "You've had it r-rougher than I have, so you have a good reason. But thank you. I-I'm glad that now we can be more of a fa-family now." She said and Neji smiled and patted Hinata's shoulder as the made it to their home.
[With Naruto.]
Naruto had told his squad to show up at training ground 7 tomorrow as he went his own way to his new home. Soon he found it and entered, looking around and nodding. "Nice. I think I can make this work." He said. Before he could start looking around however there was a knock at the door. "Hold on." Naruto said as he opened the door to find the Third Hokage and his old sensei at his door. "Ah, hey there grandpa, Iruka. What brings you here?" he asked as he let Sarutobi and Iruka into his new home.
Sarutobi chuckled, walking in. "I came by to see how you are doing in your new home, also to learn how the team is doing." he asked as he sat down at the table along with Iruka, eager to talk to Naruto and to see how these three were doing.
Iruka would nod at what Sarutobi said. "Yes, also I wanted to have a chat, it's been forever sense I last saw you, and I have to say, you sure have grown into a strong ninja." he said as Naruto chuckled, taking a set in front of the two.
Naruto then cleared his throat. "Well I am doing good, thank you. Also about team 7. I didn't test them as to what a sensei 'is' suppose to do, however I do believe that they are truly ready. Two of them already managed to prove themselves against Kakashi Hatake, and the third is friends with the other two. I doubt teamwork will be an issue at all. However I am training them starting tomorrow." he said as he handed both a folder.
Sarutobi looked over it and let out a puff of smoke. "So...training them to be ninja hunters huh?" he asked. "Though it is up to the sensei to determine what kind of team to make them into, do you think this is the best course, they did just graduate after all." Sarutobi said and Iruka also looked a little nervous.
Naruto nodded. "Yes, but don't worry, I won't subject them to actual missions where death is involved for a couple more years...but I will admit I will train them for the worst of it." he said as both Sarutobi and Iruka were somewhat satisfied with that answer. For the rest of the day the three were talking and catching up on old times till it was time for all the two of them to head off and Naruto to get ready for tomorrow.
The following day Naruto had gotten up and ready to head to training ground 7 to meet with his team and start on their training, he figured a small spar to get things going would be good then to the actual training. When he got there he saw that the three kunoichi were early and smiled. 'Time to see what they got. Sakura, great chakra control possibly and good genjutsu. Rei and her two ninja pups are nicely in sync, and Ino with her mind jutsus and specializing in disguising paper bombs as flower petals...show time.' He thought "Alright, today we will be training to get you three ready for anything the world has to throw at us, but first a spar to get a feeling of where you are at. No holding back now, and begin." he said as all three girls looked at each other and nodded.
The first to strike was Rei with Nōsu and Nanbu as they started spinning around in the classical Inuzuka strike. "Fang Pursuit: Trilogy Strike!" The three were moving around, making it hard to see where they would end up, but Naruto was able to pic up a pattern and saw an opening right through the middle of the three, and took it, jumping through.
However when he did he quickly found out that there were paper bombs on kunais waiting for him. "Oh sh-" he was interrupted by the explosion. Naruto jumped up out of the smoke without a scratch on him, smirking. "Sorry, but you'll hav-" He stopped talking when he saw Rei and her pups charging and circling around him, giving him little opportunity to dodge. "Okay that is doing better." Naruto commented as he held out his hands. "Almighty Push." With that he deflected the fang trilogy.
There was one problem though, Naruto forgot to keep an eye on Ino, considering he was trying to not get sliced or blown up. Ino smirked as the split second opportunity showed itself as she did her hand signs. Naruto saw the signs at the very last second and quickly vanished, using his mastery of wind to propel him to the ground for a proper defense. "Okay, that was close." Naruto said sighing as he then noticed Sakura finishing her jutsu. "The heck?" he asked, wondering what she had cooked up.
Sakura smirked. "Alright 'Sensei' let's see how well you can handle my special form of genjutsu." She said, she had to use a few hand signs though so it took a while to perform, hence having the paper bombs distract and the multiple attacks, would have been better had Ino caught Naruto but beggars can't be choosers. Rei rushed over with some small papers with a seal on it and place one on Ino's right shoulder, one on her own shoulder, one on both pups, and the last on Sakura's arm.
Naruto noticed the papers and tilted his head, why would Sakura, caster of the genjutsu, need to wear a seal to protect her. "So...what's the trick going to be?" he asked, blinking as he saw Sakura charging to punch him. Naruto couldn't help but have a sweat drop run down his head as all he did was hold up his hand to block her attack, but what came next shocked the crap out of him, her fist went right through his hand. 'So where's the real Saku-' his line of thought was interrupted as the fist made contact with his face as he was stumbling back. "...what...the...living...crap...how on earth did you pull that off? Eh, never mind." He said, shaking it off, thinking it was just a trick as he did a hand seal to dispel the genjutsu that was up. Rei did another charge with her two pups. Again Naruto was going to deflect them. "Almighty Push." He said, and what he saw was the earth going everywhere as per usual, but Rei, Nōsu, and Nanbu still charged like nothing happened, catching Naruto off guard yet again, but this time he managed to get away from the attack. "Okay...what the heck is going on? I just dispelled the jutsu." He asked, now getting confused, "This 'is' genjutsu, right? Should have dis-wait." he said, remembering the papers. "Wait...wait a minute..." He snapped his fingers and pushed chakra out to dispel the genjutsu again, this time though keeping the chakra flow going constantly. When Ino went in to strike Naruto managed to block successfully this time. "Alright, that was rather impressive." He said as he laughed a bit. "Having genjutsu via the sense of touch is a tough one to pull off, but to mix the chakra in the air is a feat all in itself." He added and jumped back to pull off a small jutsu.
However, before he could get far, Rei would stop him "Tunneling Fang!" Naruto would jump to the right only to find paper bombs there to stop him as he jumped away from that attack. When he landed he looked around and smirked.
"Ah, so there's a limit to the range huh?...hm, alright then." Naruto would hold up his hands. "That's enough for today, I got a good sense of how you all fight." He would look at Ino first. "I noticed you didn't disguise your paper bombs, but I can understand the purpose behind it for this fight. However never let an opportunity to catch an enemy off guard, no matter what because if what you do can take down the enemy before the full swing of your plans than you stand a better chance of surviving a fight." He said, to which Ino rubbed her shoulder and nodded. "Rei, Nōsu, Nanbu, your strikes are well in sync, but you have too much of a pattern, either by how far apart you are from one another or that you strike at the same time, leaving gaps for the opponent to slip through, like how I did." He said as Rei, Nōsu, and Nanbu would nod a bit, knowing they needed to work on that. "And Sakura, your genjutsu is...well one of a kind, it'll turn the tide sure enough but you need to work on your strength." He said as he rubbed the side of his face. "Had you had some chakra built into your fist, that would have knocked me to the ground." He said.
Sakura would look down and sighed. "I can't do that Naruto, fact is, I don't think anyone can constantly pump out chakra for the jutsu, and store chakra for an attack." She said.
Naruto smirked a bit. "Well, no 'ordinary' ninja can I will admit. But I'm not your ordinary Jounin." He said and looked at all three of them. "And by the time I'm done training you three, this won't be an ordinary ninja team. Trust me, by the time we're done, you'll be able to both expand the distance of your genjutsu and focus chakra into your fists." He said to Sakura, then turned to Rei. "You'll also be able to punch right through any defense that might stand in your way as well." He said and turning to Ino. "And be able to pull off quick and deadly attacks while under the best of disguises. I promise that all three of you will be known world wide." He said as all three kunoichi smiled at that and nodded, determined to prove their sensei right. "Alright, rest up and we'll get a mission from the Hokage, then we'll go into training after." He finished up as all three gave a "Yes Sensei."
"Heh, impressive bunch you have there kid." Kurama said and chuckled a bit as Naruto nodded in his mind, smiling at his team. "Though I do wonder, will they be up to the task of being a ninja hunter squad?" He asked as he turned his head to the mental image of Naruto.
Naruto was silent for a moment. 'I have faith in them, from what I just witness, all three have potential, also they are determined to prove that they are the best around.' He thought as he looked at Kurama. 'Besides, these three are more impressive than I ever was before I got the Rennigan. Honestly I would be pathetic without it...and these three are doing good without the Rennigan, so you can see where my hopes are coming from.' He added as Kurama chuckled, but nodded, knowing where Naruto was coming from. Naruto would smile again. 'Who knows, they might even surpass me one day if they are determined enough and take well to my training.' He thought and with that all four would go to the park to rest for a small spell.
And here is the end of Chapter 3. I apologize about the lack of the use of Naruto's sword, Valmanway, but I'm not going to have him pulling out his sword against fellow ninjas, he only uses his sword to kill his targets as to make sure he doesn't accidentally go overboard with training. I can promise however that it will be used in Chapter four, also you'll learn of some of his adventures before returning to the Leaf.
I hope everyone enjoyed the chapter, if there are any question please feel free to ask and I shall answer them, until next time, see you in Chapter four.
