Chapter Four: The cub becomes a Hunter
"No, you've got it all wrong! Try again." Naruto said as Hiro attempted to practice his transformation Jutsu. It had been hours since their training began and Hiro had managed to transform into Naruto several times, but he always got it wrong somehow. Mainly by getting the hair colour wrong. Somehow, it always stayed white like his own.
"Can we try something else now? This really isn't working." Hiro sighed as he collapsed onto the ground in exhaustion. He had used quite a lot of his newfound Chakra in his training. Naruto reluctantly realised that this wouldn't work.
"Fine, we'll take a ramen break." Naruto said. He was thinking of grabbing some ramen soon anyway, and Hiro's progress was reasonable for now.
"Thanks. That sounds...nice..." Hiro managed to say before passing out on the ground from exhaustion.
"What a weakling. Why did it have to be you?" An unfamiliar voice spoke with disappointment dripping from it. Hiro shot up immediately, only to find himself in an empty room, with the only object present being a massive gate made of white metal. The rest of the space was black.
"Who's there?" Hiro called out. His voice came out very quietly in comparison to the other one. It spoke in a curious tone as it replied.
"You haven't heard of me? Odd. Well, in any case, It's too early. Listen well to my next words: When you become strong enough to fight, see me again." The strange voice spoke. The gate then began to fade into the blackness.
"Wait! Who are you?! Come back!" Hiro yelled out to the void.
But nobody came.
Hiro shot up from the ground, not seeming to have moved since he collapsed earlier. Questions flooded his mind. Was that real or just a dream? Who was the strange voice? How long was he out for?
"Oh, you're up. Finally!" Naruto said, stepping out with two cups of Instant Ramen. Hiro looked to him and tried to calm down, but it was an uphill battle.
"Somethin' wrong?" Naruto asked his friend. Every time he woke up, he always seemed to have a panicked expression. Did he just have really bad nightmares?
"I'm fine. Just a weird dream." Hiro said, finally managing to relax as Naruto passed him the Cup Ramen.
"Ok. Now, let's chow down!" Naruto said. A moment later, the two boys were eating their ramen as if nothing had happened.
Iruka Umino was going out for a walk when he noticed Naruto waving and walking towards him. Just behind him, there seemed to be a boy with long white hair, looking a little bit embarrassed. This wasn't the normal reaction people had when near Naruto.
"Hey there, Naruto. Who's you friend?" Iruka casually asked. Naruto grinned and began to speak.
"His name's Hiro. We've got something to ask you, right Hiro?" Naruto said, stepping aside to reveal the silver haired boy in question, looking very nervous.
"I'm Hiro Otoko and I was wondering if-If I could join the academy." Hiro stammered out. He felt uncomfortable asking to enrol at the Ninja Academy, especially since Naruto told him it was only a week until the Genin exams. When he heard that, he did his usual panicked face and refused to go to Iruka until Naruto practically had to shove him out of the house.
"I'll have to check with the Hokage but I don't see why not." Iruka answered. He then turned to Naruto and smiled. "Nice to see you making friends, Naruto." He said. And with that, he walked off in the direction of the Hokage.
"That actually went a lot better than I thought it would." Hiro muttered to himself. Was it really that simple to begin the road to becoming a Ninja?
"Alright, Ready for more training? You're gonna need a lot more to be on par with me!" Naruto said with excitement. His new friend clearly had a long way to go to be a Ninja. Hiro nodded and the two left to do more training.
A few days later...
After a few days training, Hiro had managed to learn a fair few Ninjutsu for his first day at the academy. He had also practiced some hand to hand combat skills and managed to become reasonably efficient at it. Naruto meanwhile, had also improved somewhat through their training and was feeling confident about the Genin exams. So confident, in fact, that he had decided to try something fun the day before.
"You want me to help you paint the Hokage faces?" Hiro asked after Naruto had explained his ultimate prank. It seemed like such a strange thing to do. Although, it seemed familiar, as though he had heard it before.
"Yeah! Trust me, it'll be great!" Naruto grinned at his partner in crime. Hiro looked at him curiously for a moment but it didn't last as he shrugged and decided to join in.
"Sure. Sounds like fun!" Hiro said. They then rushed off to grab some paint. However, something was bothering Hiro. He knew that this was familiar but he just couldn't remember where he had heard this before. He also realised that this might not be the best way to introduce himself to the Academy but figured that it couldn't be that bad.
"Ok, I'll handle the actual painting. You just need to distract everyone so I can get away with it!" Naruto explained. This filled Hiro with relief. Maybe this wouldn't end so badly for him. Then a realisation entered his head.
This was almost the beginning of the first episode.
This meant...
The Kyuubi was about to be unveiled.
That would be bad.
"Looks like he finally noticed." A figure in robes thought to himself. He had been observing the boy of Wolf Temple for some time, as part of his mission. He knew it would be a long time before he would have to enact his plans but for now, he could amuse himself through observation.
"Get back to base. You're needed." His earpiece hummed to him. With a simple few hand signs, he was gone.
A.N: And the series begins! Apologies if the training seemed a bit too skimmed over, but it frankly wouldn't have been anything impressive. Typing "And Hiro used the handsign for the three hundredth time that day for practice." Would probably get real dull real fast. Things should be much more interesting next time. Anyways, see ya!
Sincerely,
Lord Terronus
Next Time: The Wolf and The Fox
A test. A scroll. And answers to forbidden questions.
Don't miss it!