Demon of the Hidden Leaf
Ch.3- No such thing as 'too much hard work'
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Naruto let out a grunt of effort as he pushed one of his clones away and then turned to block a downward slash from another to his right. His Kubikiribochoclashed loudly with the one his clone possessed, and the muscles in his arms tensed to hold back the assault.
Suddenly, Naruto's eyes widened at the feeling of being cleaved in half...before the body erupted into a cloud of smoke. Both clones searched frantically for the original, unfortunately one of them was too slow, and was soon beheaded by a spinning blade.
The surviving clone looked on as the giant zanbato was brought down by gravity and was buried in the earth.
"Oh come on, I swear I had it that time." Cried the original Naruto, who was hanging from the tree that he'd aimed the sword from.
Looking over to its creator, the clone said, "At least it got closer, a month ago you couldn't even throw it, now you only missed the tree by like ten feet."
Naruto called back his chakra and let himself land on the ground. Pulling his weapon from its earthy sheath he replied, "I suppose you're right, and I've managed to pull off a couple one-handed swings before needing to go back to two, so that's something right?"
After his clone nodded Naruto dismissed the doppelganger with a poof of smoke. With a sigh, the blonde replaced his blade in the strap across his shirtless back and stretched. It had been a little over three months since his return to the village and, if he did say so himself, he was making great strides in his training.
His physical ability had taken a satisfying jump, seeing as he'd taken to performing workouts multiple days a week, rather than just every once in a while with heavy weights. It was a routine that included multitude of body-weight exercises along with using free-weights. The blonde remembered waking up one morning and being surprised at the reflection that greeted him in the mirror. With the increased strength came increased speed as well, thanks to the ankle weights he wore. Naruto dared to think he was now among the fastest genin in his graduating class; behind only Sasuke and Kiba now.
But that gap would soon close as well.
Along with his physical increases came chakra strength too. Naruto could now create twice as many clones as before, and each could now create a small army of their own too. The blonde had also taken to learning how to master the kawarimi, deciding that it was a move many ninja forgot about because of the fancier techniques, and yet it was just as effective and dangerous.
But Naruto didn't stop at just fine tuning an old trick, no, the young Uzumaki decided that adding a few new jutsu to his list couldn't hurt either; he chose to start with one he'd seen a few times...the Great-Fireballjutsu.
Naruto was surprised to find that it didn't take him very long to get the move down. Learning the technique's hand-signs took minutes, and while it took him about an hour to figure out the process to perform the technique, Naruto also learned that he needed to pump significantly less chakra into it for the move to be as effective than he'd thought was needed. The blonde would have to remember to ask why that was.
However, one technique wasn't enough for Naruto, so after learning the Great-Fireball he decided it would be good to learn one of Zabuza's attacks; the Water-Dragon jutsu. Naruto went to Kakashi for this one, as he remembered the man copying the technique during his battle with Zabuza.
He was a little disappointed with what he learned however.
Kakashi, while not against training him in the technique seeing as he'd learned the Kage-bunshin, made it a point to tell Naruto that until he got particularly skilled at it the blonde would once again need to carry around a water source for it to be effective.
While that little piece of news made Naruto upset for a while, he soon looked passed it. He had practiced with the Hidden-Mist jutsu constantly, and now was able to perform the technique without using a water source; instead using the moisture in the air around him.
This gave Naruto hope that he could eventually do the same with the Water-Dragon. Then, during one of his trips to the library, he found a saving grace.
After team training with Kakashi-sensei Naruto was trying to figure out how he would carry around a water source big enough for his dragon to be effective. When he needed it for his mist it needed to only be a bottle of water, and then his chakra took care of the rest, but the dragon was a mass of water simply laced with chakra to hold it together. Meaning that he would need a lot of water to make a battle-effective attack.
He found it in a water jutsu scroll; its name, the Exploding-Water Shockwave.
Naruto learned that this technique was exactly what he needed. The user shot copious amounts of water straight from their mouth in a vicious torrent, and even if the initial attack missed, you now had a small lake of water to perform other water jutsu with. And to top it off, the amount of water was relative to the amount of chakra the user had to spare. It was perfect.
That had been something Kakashi had informed him of after asking to learn the Water-Dragon. The silver-haired Jounin explained that, the higher a jutsu's level, the easier it would be for Naruto to perform it because he had the chakra to put into it. This also worked with the Hidden-Mistjutsubecause the mist was laced heavily with the users chakra.
But it also had the draw back that, low-level jutsu would be harder to master without proper chakra control because he had to focus small amounts into them.
So, Naruto set out to learn the water-style technique, and then got to work on creating his dragons.
Now, three months later, Naruto felt good about his standing among the genin pack. While still not one of the smartest members, Naruto knew he was definitely one of the strongest.
"Although," he mumbled to himself as he walked towards his team's meeting spot, "I should definitely work out my brain too. Zabuza was pretty clever, and he also had knowledge of foreign ninja as well as techniques, I'll need to start checking out some reading material when I head to the library now too."
It was about fifteen minutes before Naruto made it to the bridge Kakashi-sensei had told them to meet him at. The man had mentioned wanting to do some sparring before he decided to make an announcement.
Once he arrived, the blonde noticed that his other two team-mate's had beaten him to the bridge.
Sasuke was leaning against the railing with his eyes closed, and Sakura was seated on the other end; she would periodically glance over at her crush with pink cheeks.
"Good morning Sakura-chan," Naruto greeted with a smile. Then, turning his eyes towards the other male he grumbled, "Hey Sasuke-teme."
While Sasuke only acknowledged his greeting with a grunt, Sakura matched him with her own 'good morning'. The pink-haired girl also took a moment to take in the sight of her blonde team-mate.
She noticed immediately how much more muscular he was than Sasuke, his lack of a shirt giving her a clear view of his growing pectoral muscles and his abs. There were no deeply cut lines, but the pinkette could see the strong, budding definition. The blonde's shoulders had also widened and become broader; no doubt to help shoulder the weight of the massive zanbato strapped to his back. Sakura could also see the strength in his calves thanks to the cargo shorts he wore. The blonde's face however was still hidden beneath a mask of bandages from the nose down.
But his physique wasn't all about Naruto that was changing.
Over the course of the month Sakura began to notice that the gap between Naruto and Sasuke was inching closed day by day; it had gotten to where the Uchiha was forced to use his Sharinganif Naruto removed his weights. And even before then, Sasuke would tire far faster than Naruto, eventually giving him the lead.
This shocked Sakura because she always felt that Naruto was just as everyone always said; a no-talent loser. Someone who, no matter what, would never truly amount to much in terms of being a shinobi. And yet here he was giving the Rookie of the Year trouble!
"Cha! That's only because Kakashi-sensei spends more time watching over Naruto-baka than Sasuke-kun! He'd be ten times better than that blonde punk if sensei would train him more!" Inner Sakura butted in.
But Sakura couldn't help agreeing with her. Their Jounin instructor had been spending a lot of time with the former dead-last, so it stood to reason that the kid would improve in leaps and bounds. Maybe she should say something about that today?
"Hello there," came a voice from above. Three sets of eyes turned upward, and were greeted by the sight of Kakashi seated atop the archway at the end of the bridge.
"You're late again Kakashi-sensei, that's like the hundredth time!" Sakura shouted in irritation.
"Sorry about that," the Jounin smiled, "a black cat crossed my path and I had to retrace my steps."
"Liar!"
Naruto, wanting to get on with training, broke up the argument, "Alright, well, since you're here now how about we get this show on the road?"
"Eager aren't we Naruto? But that's fine, if you three will follow me, we'll begin today's training."
The foursome headed to their usual training ground. After arriving Kakashi said, "Okay, so, I want to see how far each of you has come in the time since we've been back. My hope is that our mission to Wave has helped open your eyes to the reality of being a ninja; so we're going to have some spars."
"But Kakashi-sensei, how is that any different from what we've beendoing?" asked Sakura. And she was right, they'd just sparred together two weeks ago.
A new voice came from behind the tree line."Simple Sakura, you'll be facing me."
All three genin looked over, and their eyes widened in surprise when Iruka-sensei walked out to greet them.
Naruto's face broke out into a cheerful expression at seeing one of his favorite people, "Hey Iruka-sensei, what are you doing here?"
As he turned his gaze to address the cheerful blonde, the scarred chunin was surprised at the image before him. 'Kakashi did mention that Naruto was different, but this is more than even I expected.'
Pushing those thoughts aside, and deciding to just being happy at seeing his favorite student again, Iruka smiled in return. "Kakashi asked me to come by and help him out in measuring your progress. I was more than happy to lend a hand, I can't wait to see how much you've grown Naruto."
"Alright you three, who wants to go first?" Kakashi asked.
Sakura turned to her instructor, her mouth hanging open and an incredulous look on her face, "B-But Sensei, Iruka-sensei is a chunin, how do you expect us to win against him?"
"I don't Sakura, he still has years of experience over you three, but if you've used this past month correctly then you'll at least stand a chance. Oh, and thank you for volunteering to go first Sakura."
The young kunoichi just let her mouth drop to the floor, before pulling herself together, and walking out onto the training field across from Iruka.
As she made her way over the emerald-eyed girl thought over how she spent her time after the Wave mission. When not watching Naruto and Sasuke train under Kakashi-sensei or doing a mission with the team, Sakura usually read up on various ninjutsu, or genjutsu, and learning how to defeat each one. She had also read how to escape certain traps as well as how to set them up.
Unfortunately, the pink-haired kunoichi didn't take any time to practice her taijutsu or actually learn any of the ninjutsu she studied.
'I just hope I can last.' Sakura thought as she entered into the basic academy stance.
Across from her Iruka had to keep from shaking his head in disappointment. The academy style was meant solely for those who had not found a style of their own yet. Many ninja, after receiving their headband, went straight to the library and found a new one; one without so many holes.
'It seems Sakura may not be taking this as seriously as I'd hoped she would. I guess we'll just have to see.' The chunin thought as Kakashi began the match.
Sakura opened with a textbook maneuver; throwing kunai to force the enemy off their feet. Following this, Sakura created three clones of herself and rushed forward. However, instead of avoiding the kunai, Iruka simply pulled out one of his own, and deflected the knifes. This left him on guard for his opponent's attack.
Sakura tried to shake him up with her clones, but the chunin could see which copies of the girl made no presence in the grass, allowing him to ignore the leg sweep and roundhouse that came at him while blocking the jab to his stomach.
With her strategy ignored and her attack blocked Sakura had to think fast. She pulled another kunai from her holster and took a slash at Iruka...only for him to grab that wrist as well. The next thing Sakura knew was pain. Her former instructor headbutted her, and with him wearing his forehead protector and her's tied like a bandanna, Sakura immediately went weak in the knees from the impact.
Iruka let go of the kunoichi's wrists and watched as she sank to the ground, her hands swiftly coming up to try and sooth the aching in her forehead. With a sigh, the scarred ninja turned to his superior and said, "Kakashi what is this? She's been your student for about half a year, why is she still using the academy taijutsu and tactics?"
"I've told her already what she needs to work on Iruka, but it seems she hasn't listened to a word I've said, I'll be sure to spend some time whipping her into shape. Hopefully you'll be more impressed with my other two students." Kakashi replied.
Sakura was quickly escorted off the field and to the sidelines while Sasuke took center stage. The Uchiha entered into the basic stance of his family's taijutsu and waited for Iruka to come to him.
Iruka knew this was Sasuke's preferred method of fighting, because it allowed the younger ninja to read his opponent's moves and then react to them accordingly. This way, Sasuke could measure their speed, strength, and fighting style all in one.
'Well then, if it's me who's supposed to make the first move, might as well make it a good one.'
The pony-tailed chunin disappeared in a burst of speed and re-appeared to Sasuke's right. Iruka slid his foot behind the Uchiha's leg and then drove his arm forward in a close-line to the throat. With his leg behind Sasuke's, the raven-haired youth tumbled backwards, but managed to catch himself and perform a leg sweep.
Iruka jumped over the counter-attack and then flipped backwards out of Sasuke's range. But Sasuke wasn't about to let him run away. The younger ninja rushed after his superior and attacked with a roundhouse kick. Iruka blocked it with his forearm and pushed it away, before retaliating with a right-hook.
Sasuke saw it coming but couldn't move fast enough to dodge it, so he let it hit, and then used the momentum to carry into an elbow attack that landed squarely in his opponent's chest. The Uchiha followed this up with a scissor-kick to the chin.
However, Iruka recovered faster than he'd expected, and managed to grab a hold of Sasuke's ankles, from there the chunin lifted Sasuke higher and finally slammed his back into the ground.
Sasuke coughed up a bit of bile due to the harsh impact, but quickly pushed passed the pain and rolled backwards out of Iruka's reach. Once a sufficient distance away, the young ninja ran through a series of hand-signs before calling out his attack, "Fire-style: Great-Fireball jutsu!"
After Iruka easily avoided it using the replacement technique Kakashi called for a stop to the match.
"Why?" Sasuke asked. "I could still fight, and I hadn't even used my Sharinganyet."
Kakashi just smiled and replied, "I know, but remember, these spars are just so I can see how you've all progressed. And you've done very well Sasuke, managing to hold your own against a chunin after being a genin for such a short time is no easy task."
Sasuke just grunted and moved to the sidelines next to Sakura, who was still nursing her wound.
However, this didn't stop the girl from congratulating her crush, "Way to go Sasuke-kun, you were amazing against Iruka-sensei. If you had used your SharinganI think you may have beaten him."
But the raven-haired youth ignored her, choosing instead to focus on the next match. Naruto had gotten significantly stronger over the last few months, and Sasuke wanted to know how the blonde would stack up against a chunin now.
Would he do better than Sasuke, or worse?
Naruto pulled Kubikiribochofrom his back, and then removed the ankle weights and wrist bands from his body as well. While he wanted to show-off his skills in kenjutsu, the blonde had decided that against his old teacher such a thing was unnecessary.
Sasuke on the other hand had a different thought.
"What's the matter loser, can't swing the sword? What's the point of carrying it around if you don't use it?"
But Naruto just ignored the smart-mouthed Uchiha. It was true though, Sasuke had never seen Naruto wield the zanbato since he'd brought it home, but that was because Naruto decided that during spars against a fellow team-mate it was dangerous. The blonde became completely serious when he unsheathed his sword, and he didn't think Sasuke would be able to handle him then.
So Naruto just moved to his side of the field and entered into his opening stance.
Iruka was interested in the stance his former student took up. His feet were shoulder-width apart, knees bent, and his left arm was held to the side at a ninety-degree angle; his hand balled up into a fist. The blonde's right arm was held up and bent inwards, the forearm blocking his face, while the hand was formed like a claw.*
'The King's Fist, an appropriate taijutsu for Naruto. Let's see how far he's come with it.'Iruka thought with pride...before being shocked as Naruto disappeared from view.
"What the—ah!" The chunin cried out as his legs were swept from under him from behind. While managing to catch himself, the man's attempt at a retaliation kick failed, as Naruto had expected it and moved away beforehand.
Iruka righted himself and kept his eyes trained on the blonde before him. He couldn't afford to let his guard down it seemed. Deciding to take a page from Sasuke's book Iruka weaved through the same hand-signs, and sent a decently-sized fireball towards Naruto.
However, where the chunin expected him to dodge it, and set himself up to be attacked, Naruto simply weaved through his own set of signs before using his Exploding-Water Shockwaveto punch a hole straight through the fire. The speedy torrent hit Iruka dead-center in the chest, but the man's body was soon replaced by a log.
Naruto canceled his attack, and strained his already impressive hearing to catch any clue to his opponent's next move. It payed off, as the blonde threw up his forearms in an cross-block to defend against a hammer-fist from above. Afterwards, the Uzumaki countered with a spartan-kick that caught the unguarded chunin and sent him flying.
But Iruka wasn't a chunin for nothing, the man quickly righted himself and was prepared for is former students next move. It came in the form of a trio of Kage-bunshin. The three Naruto's came at him in a triangle formation; as he jumped over one's leg sweep, the second was there to hit him with a roundhouse. As he blocked the kick in mid-air Iruka was left open to the third kick that was aimed at his back.
The last clone sent him flying forward before they all dispelled, this made Iruka an easy target for Naruto's next attack; the Water-Dragon jutsu. With the field flooded with water from his previous attack the blonde had plenty to work with. Next thing Iruka knew, he was being hit head-on by a B-ranked ninjutsu.***
"Alright, I think that's enough Naruto, good job." Kakashi called out, putting an end to the spars.
Naruto quickly strode over to help Iruka up off the ground. "You've definitely come a long way from being the knucklehead class-clown Naruto." The academy instructor praised.
"Thanks Iruka-sensei, it really means a lot to hear you say that."
"When did you learn such an advanced technique like the Water-Dragon?" Iruka asked in wonder.
Naruto's eyes shined happily as he replied, "Kakashi-sensei taught it to me, pretty cool huh?"
At this point Kakashi cut in, "Yes, yes, we get it Naruto you're becoming a force to be reckoned with. Now, Iruka, what's your opinion of them?"
The scarred chunin swept his eyes over Team 7 before turning back to Kakashi. Letting out a sigh Iruka said, "I really wish you'd wait another year before doing this Kakashi, but, I can't disagree that this will be good for them. It'll give them a good idea of what they're up against concerning the other village's ninja, as well as tell them where they stand among their fellow Leaf shinobi...I concede."
"Kakashi-sensei, what's he talking about?" Asked Sakura.
The Jounin turned to the kunoichi of his team and answered, "What he's talking about Sakura, is how I've recently nominated you three for the chunin exams."
All three genin looked back and forth between the two older ninja before Naruto said, "Well now, this will be fun, and I'll even get to see how I stack up against the competition. Thanks Kakashi-sensei."
"You're welcome Naruto, now, here's your registration forms. The exams will begin five day from now at 3:00pm sharp, you are to go to the academy building and wait in room 301 for your first proctor." Kakashi instructed as he handed each genin a small form to fill out.
With that, the silver-haired Jounin bid his students good luck and left via Shunshin. Iruka quickly followed, mentioning how he'd only asked his substitute teacher to stay half the day.
Once the three were alone Sasuke sighed and made to leave, throwing over his shoulder, "I'll see you guys at the academy; don't be late."
Sakura, seeing the Uchiha leaving, called out. "Hey wait, Sasuke-kun, why don't you and I spend the five days together? You know, do something personal to help build our teamwork?"
The Uchiha heir stopped and looked over his shoulder. Sakura was immediately put-off by the look in his onyx-black eyes, and it got worse as he opened his mouth.
"Or how about you use the five days to work on your skills? Even Iruka-sensei said you needed help, so instead of flirting and primping yourself up to look pretty, why don't you learn a new taijutsu form and a couple of genjutsu; you know, things to help make the team stronger."
With his piece said and done Sasuke turned and continued his walk home, caring nothing for the girl he just left torn apart in the field.
Sakura's head and shoulders slumped in defeat at her love interest's words. Naruto, seeing this, made an attempt to cheer his crush up. "Hey, Sakura-chan, why don't you and I train together? Forget about Sasuke-teme, he's not even that tough, heck I can already beat him. If we train together you'll get stronger in no time."
Her response was nothing like he'd expected. Sakura began to tremble, and while at first he thought she was going to cry, Naruto was quickly on-guard when the pink-haired kunoichi turned to him with anger in her eyes.
"Why can't you just back off Naruto-baka!? I don't wanna hang out with you; I've lost count of how many times we've been through this. Why can't you just listen?"
Naruto, for his part, couldn't help feeling hurt. Sure she had said something along those lines, but the blonde didn't think she really meant them. But now, for the second time, Sakura was telling him to really get lost.
Saying that she'd rather be alone without Sasuke than give him a chance.
The blonde genin's ocean-blue eyes lowered in resignation. He felt there wasn't even a point in asking if she thought of him as a friend, seeing as a friend would have let him down a lot more gently than Sakura had.
Finally, Naruto managed to pick his eyes up and look at the pink-haired girl that still stood before him, "Okay Sakura, I'm sorry, I hear you and I-I won't bother you anymore. I'll see you at the exams."
And with that, the blonde made his own exit, leaving Sakura to also walk home alone...and his dream of them together to fade into the wind.
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A/N: And there you have it, the end of Naruto's feelings for Sakura. Next chapter will introduce Gaara and his siblings, as well as all the other rookies.
*= Think of Vegeta's fighting stance the very first time he fought Goku.
***=First, about Iruka and Naruto's fight, Naruto did so well because Iruka is a chunin that works at the academy; he's not out in the field very much getting experience and getting stronger. Now, I'm sure he trains to stay at his current level, but, I feel that he's on the lower spectrum of the chunin scale. While I don't like Sasuke, I personally believe he could have taken Iruka after obtaining his Sharingan.
Anyway, I hope this chapter was enjoyable and you guys review and let me know what you think.
