A/N: Decided to post this chapter ahead of schedule (was gonna post it Monday but decided to do it early), and it's one of my favorite chapters to write so far. A small action scene, before delving into some character development I initially had planned for the next chapter, but decided to put it in here to help fill up space and increase word count. The action scene isn't super-fancy, but helps paint a picture of what some of the more intense fights will look like in future chapters, but do give critiques on it, I like hearing opinions.As usual, review responses at the bottom and plot summary following this AN.
Plot summary: After arriving in an untouched Konoha, Naruto starts his mission off by engaging in his favorite pasttime; studying in the Ninja Academy. Following his required 4-year training, he's placed in a team with the timid Sakura and still-lazy Shikamaru, with his sensei being none other than the former-Akatsuki member Konan. After introductions and finding out their not officially Genin they are prepared for their true test the next day, all three hoping the test isn't too tough so they can officially begin their ninja career.
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Naruto leaned against the outside wall of the Academy, idly wondering when his future-teammates were going to show up. He'd been up all night, excited and nervous for no particular reason, and as such couldn't wait to test himself and his team against the final test to become a Genin. While not arrogant or egotistical about his abilities, he felt he'd been holding himself back the last few years in the Academy, choosing to stay with his friends as opposed to jumping ahead and raising through the ranks faster. Initially he'd done it so he could get an idea of what his friends and allies were capable of, but he realized he was just making up excuses to go through his Academy years to pass what he initially put off the first time around, deeming it "a waste of time".
Now though, he realized what a large mistake he had made, possibly stunting the growth of potential allies simply because he couldn't bother teaching them how to use more advanced chakra molding and training techniques, techniques that would have given them a push in the right direction. Vowing to make up for the unintentional mistake, he planned what he'd teach his teammates at the first chance, though he was unsure of what they were capable of. Maybe the final test to becoming a Genin was the key to figuring our their potential, and through it, the map to training them to help him destroy the Hidden Sound and Akatsuki. Watching Shikamaru and Sakura enter his field of vision, which he had enhanced with a few subtle tweaks in the chakra coils within his eyes, he walked towards them, to meet them and get the day on with.
"Ready to become graduate and become Genin?" Naruto asked cheekily, noting their tired expressions. It seemed that they weren't the only ones up all night long, worrying about failing and staying another year in the Academy, as Naruto spotted the other teams had all members on the brink of exhaustion from the lack of sleep though it didn't phase the dimension-hopper. He'd faced tougher enemies in his time, even a Sakura turning down his request for a second date, and he was confident he and his team would be able to emerge victorious from whatever task was given to them.
Sakura simply glared at the brunette's cheerful demeanor, as though his career wasn't riding on the line, while Shikamaru ignored him, though he didn't feel putout by their attitudes. He knew they would no doubt be stressed out by the task, and no attempts at cheering them up would work.
"Ah, good to see you had the grace to show up," Konan called out to three as they entered the courtyard of the Academy, where younger students and the school teachers sat on the sidelines of a crudely-designed fighting area, watching intently.
"Sensei? What's the task we're supposed to preform?" Sakura asked timidly, though Naruto had a sinking feeling what her answer was going to be.
"Oh it's not too hard, you just gotta fight off a Jounin for ten minutes, a cakewalk really," she stated flippantly, watching Sakura and Shikamaru's eyes widen in realization. Naruto's mood remained unchanged, besides letting a dark chuckle escape his lips, earning a raised elegant eyebrow from the older woman while his teammates looked at him strangely.
"Just a Jounin you say? I can't wait," he muttered with a slight grin on his face. In truth he was looking forward to the mock-fight. Even if they judges expected each team to fail, which was obvious as it took a squad of Chuunin to take on a single Jounin, he wanted to stretch his muscles and see how he fared against other Jounin of Konoha.
"Despite all the claims of your teachers, I doubt you'll last no more than a minute against him, boy," Konan told him coolly, hoping to make him doubt himself, or get him to overestimate his abilities.
"Five minutes, I'm thinking," Naruto shot back without a thought, earning another raised eyebrow from the Jounin.
"Three."
"Four."
"Three and a half. No more, no less."
"Wanna make a bet out of it?" Naruto propositioned suddenly, confusing his two allies. They knew he was strong, the strongest in their class, but no one could take on a Jounin straight out of the Academy...right?
"How much?" Konan asked simply.
"Doesn't have to be money," he told her just as simply.
"Okay then, what do you want to bet?"
"What do you have?" He eyed her curiously, while she thought about the question carefully.
"What do you want?" She narrowed her eyes dangerously, taunting him silently to name something...devious that he wanted from winning the bet. While not above using her body to get what she wanted, and needed, for missions, she drew the line at using it for bets. She had some decency, unlike a certain snake-wielding Jounin she knew...
"You're too old for me to want that, grandma," Naruto jabbed, watching her visibly flinch. It was a well-known fact that while she was a reliable woman, Konan was incredibly vain about her looks, even to the extent of violently torturing her enemies if they made a bad mention of her look, which made her a deadly enemy. However, she didn't pull any punches towards any allies who made light of her looks, as Naruto had noticed many times in the past when a foolish Chuunin had misspoken and emerged with many superficial paper cuts that would make him choose his words carefully next time he was around her.
"Fine. You win, I'll teach you a few techniques you might find...interesting. However, if I win, you will admit that I am beautiful, whenever I speak to you," she snapped, agitated. She'd promised not to inflict great bodily harm on her charges, but by day two she was already close to breaking it. If not for the fact she knew the boy didn't personally know the Yondaime, she would have assumed Naruto had been paid to push her buttons.
"Okay," he accepted simply. Watching a group of leaves materialize in the yard and form into the very noticeable form of the Copy-Cat Ninja. Announcing simply that all teams had ten minutes to defeat him, at the same time, he gave them ten seconds to register before knocking out two teams to get the rest moving.
Sakura looked terrified at the ease the older man used to defeat the two teams though she calmed down after realizing it was simply an illusion; Kakashi hadn't moved from his spot and instead had his hands in his pockets while lazily watching the terrified children run around like chickens with their heads cut off.
"What do we do?" She asked, noticeably less timid than the day before.
"We let his illusion run it's course, sort out those who are unfit to continue as ninja," it was a rather blunt, and shocking, statement coming from Shikamaru, who watched the scene carefully. He had tried to disable the man using one of his subtle shadow-techniques but it failed, leading him to believe it was a clone standing there, and not the real thing.
"Good deduction," the Jounins voice called from behind them, forcing the two preteens to turn and face an incoming punch aimed at Sakura. It was blocked at the last second by Naruto however, who reared back and punched him though it had no visible effect. "Hn, you're not as strong as you're teachers made me believe, boy. Probably got by using illusions," Kakashi said, more to himself than to Naruto. The brunette simply smirked however.
"One thing you'll learn about me, old man, is that underestimating my abilities will always lead to a very humiliating death," he said as the Naruto clone disappeared in a puff of smoke, earning a raised eyebrow from Jounin as he scanned the area for his chakra signature.
"Lets see... He's not to the south, east, north, or west. Nor is he below me. Which means he's above me," he trailed off, looking up and expecting to see the brunette falling towards him, in an attempt of a surprise attack from above. When he didn't see him he took more time in reassessing his location and the people in it. The Academy students were watching in shock and awe at the ease the Genin were being decimated by a simple illusion, though they thought it to be real, while the teachers all looked and acted normal. He ruled out the Jounins on the simple idea that even a prodigy wouldn't be able to subdue a Jounin in record time and be able to emulate their mannerisms perfectly. Which left... "His teammates."
"Heh, took ya long enough. You got Alzheimer's or something? Would have thought a Jounin of your caliber would have been able to figure it out without a second glance. Guess I overestimated your abilities a little," 'Sakura' taunted slightly, dropping the Henge to reveal it was Naruto, or at least a clone of him. Kakashi was curious as to where, and how, the boy learned the Forbidden technique, but he didn't let it worry him. Not as much as how he was able to play Kakashi so much anyways, even if it was simply a clone as well.
"Don't bother looking for 'em, they're hidden well, so we can fight without any pressing distractions," Naruto, or a clone, called from behind him as Kakashi lazily turned to face the brunette. He was getting closer and closer to using the Sharingan out of irritation and annoyance, as it was supposed to be a simple show of force, to judge who could keep the illusion off the longest before succumbing to it. But this boy here, he seemed completely unaffected by it, which put the older Shinobi on his guard. While a simple B-ranked Genjutsu, it was very effective for subduing Chuunin and below, and was one of Kurenai's trademarked techniques. For a boy right out of the Academy to dispel it for himself was disconcerting as the older man had never seen it dispelled before, without assistance from a Sharingan.
Sighing softly to himself, the man put his kunai back into his pouch and withdrew his fathers legendary Fang, the curved metal glistening in the young sun as Naruto stared at it in wonder. He waited for the brunette to take up a weapon, though it appeared the brunette wanted to fight him without one.
"Heh, so you're pulling that out so soon? I should feel honored, but then I doubt you feel honored to fight me. No, you probably feel apprehension because I'm a mere Academy student, well a prodigy but still, who's able to stand up against you and your silly illusion. You're probably expecting me to pull out an even larger weapon, to put emphasis on a tired-and-true cliché about dicks, men, and weapons. I'm afraid I'll to disappoint you though," Naruto trailed off as he knelt down and scooped some dirt up, molding it into a ball as he focused chakra into it. When he was done he held his hands flat as the ball started to float slightly, earning another raised eyebrow from the Jounin, while Naruto fetched a kunai and used it to stab the ball, watching with a grin as the dirt wound itself tightly around the metal object, creating a makeshift katana four feet in length. It wasn't his best creation, he once made one about twelve feet long but was done on a dare from Konan, but was more sturdy against the lightning-infused Fang.
Due entirely to his experience in fighting the man, he managed to avoid the first three strikes from his Fang, deftly shorting out the additional charges of lightning to prevent a nasty surprise from the devious ninja. Before the destruction of Konoha, but after he'd been forced to kill Sasuke, he fought and trained with the man a number of times, eventually seeing him as a good friend and mentor who could replace Jiraiya, if he ever stopped reading those trashy books. Another two blows were blocked, though noticeably slower as he realized his concentration was waning in the fight.
'Focus dammit, you can think about the past later, after you kick his ass and win your bet with Konan,' he reprimanded himself mentally as he blocked the next blow and made a seemingly fatal mistake, he reacted slower in blocking the following lightning charge. As it made contact with his exposed neck, Naruto fought hard not to grin, waiting to see the reaction it'd garner from the man when it was revealed to be a clone made out of mud. Turning swiftly block the incoming attack, Kakashi was caught unaware by the mud clone which had buried it's own dirt-sword in his lower back, causing him to drop his Fang in defeat. Or so the crowd would think, as lightning erupted from the blade when he clattered onto the ground, destroying the two clones and having him look at the sky in expectancy of Naruto's counter-attack.
It was on time, as the Jounin lazily blocked a few slow punch and kicks, forcing a kick away from his hair, though Naruto threw a kunai to get past his guard. Blocking the kunai with the back of his left glove, Naruto formed a few quick seals, slamming his hands on the hard dirt and yelling a few simple words.
"Maiden of the Earth!", on his command several pillars made out of earth and rock shot from the ground, encasing the Jounin who noticed the pillars were as sharp as kunai from his nicked thumb, as well as more solid judging from the sheared kunai he had tested with.
"Impressive. Did you think it up yourself or did you steal it from someone?" he asked inquisitively.
"Heh, made it myself. Though I drew inspiration on seeing someone hide kunai in fireballs once. Was ingenious really," Naruto admitted proudly, wondering if the match was over. It looked as though, as Kakashi clearly had enough time to escape the prison before he even finished his seals, but who knew if he planned on one-upping the brunette.
"I concede this fight. You win, Uzumaki Naruto," Kakashi uttered simply, clearly reading the boys mind as he hurriedly dismissed the cage of stone, rock, and blades and took a small breather. The technique didn't drain any chakra from him, but he felt if he put on a show for the kids and others, it'd seem more believable that he managed to best the Jounin even though he really didn't. Kakashi was far beyond his skill, even with all his aces and trump cards, as he had more experience under his belt than Naruto ever hoped he could achieve. He wondered internally if the older man had listened in on his 'bet' with Konan and decided to draw it out so he'd win, but dismissed it on the grounds that it didn't matter whether he did or not. Regardless of whether or not he won the bet, he would have accepted the outcome and honor the terms, even if Konan didn't expect him to. It was his nindo after all, to honor the terms no matter how dirty.
Finding the unconscious forms of his teammates, who had fallen prey to Jounins illusion after thirty seconds of it being active, he dusted himself off and waited for Kakashi to announce the teams who would officially become Genin, and be eligible for missions, even if they were D-rank. Upon hearing that his team, along with Ino's, had passed the test 'to experience the feeling of fighting an enemy beyond your fighting skill' Naruto burst into a grin. Though he knew his team was going to pass, it was still satisfying the second time around to hear it, and judging from the looks of shock on his teammates, he knew he was right in staying in the same classes as his old friends. There was just too many variables to take into account if he were to jump ahead a year or three and he wasn't going to risk ruining the time-line too much, even if jumping ahead would bring the end of Akatsuki faster.
"Hn, you didn't do too bad brat. Lasted longer than I gave you credit for, but don't let it go to your head. If Kakashi wasn't holding back he would have kicked your ass so fast it wouldn't have been funny. Or pretty, for that matter," Konan praised the boy, walking away the trio as Sakura and Shikamaru stared at Naruto in confusion, wondering what they had missed while unconscious. The brunette sighed at his teacher, knowing she did that to avoid talking to them for the rest of the day. It was obvious losing the bet had dealt a significant blow to her pride and public image, which would take some time to repair, and that he would be feeling her indirect wrath for the next few weeks.
As uncomfortable as it would be however, he felt he was on the one to come out on top of the situation, as he conned her into promising to teach him a trick or two as a result of winning the bet. He just hoped that it wasn't anything 'designed to please the kunoichi of Konoha', as he still hadn't gotten over the mental images of a Tsunade without her Genjutsu enabled.
--
The next few days passed with relative boredom, aside from the fact that Konan seemed intent on ignoring their team that is. At first Naruto simply thought she was avoiding them since she wasn't prepared to train them, or expected them to pass the test Kakashi assigned days earlier. But as he thought about it more, he realized he barely knew this universe's Konan, even if he feelings for her remained what they were in his home universe before she was killed. The more time passed without an official meeting between the Genin and their Jounin sensei, the more Naruto planned, and on the fourth day without a meeting he put his plan into action.
It was a relatively painless process in getting Shikamaru out of bed and out of his house, all he had to mention was he could "teach him a thing or two about clouds" and the boy never moved faster than Naruto had ever seen him. Suffice to say it was a rather jolting ordeal, and made him wonder if Shikamaru only moved slow because he wanted to mess with peoples perceptions.
The second task, was a bit harder to achieve. Mostly due to Sakura being frightened at Naruto tapping on her window for five minutes straight and grinning like a lecherous old man, which earned an attempted assault from the pink-haired girl but he blocked it with ease. Telling her he was going to "train Shikamaru and wanted to know if you wanted to be trained too", and she told him she wished to, after a minute of silent thought. Jumping down from her parents roof, he leaned against a wall directly across the way from her house, and said he'd be waiting for her there. Ten minutes later a rather flustered-looking Sakura dashed from out of her house, hurriedly running a comb through her soaking-pink locks until Naruto told her to stop. Before she could protest the brunette held up his hand to silence her, which worked.
"Trust me, in about two hours your hair will be dirty again. And messed up beyond belief. A comb's not gonna fix that, no matter how much you argue it will," he stated, walking away from the pre-teen with his hands folded behind his head.
"But I look ugly when my hairs not straight," Sakura whined childishly, pouting for effect. Naruto turned his head slightly and looked at her through the corner of his eye.
"If you're looks matter so much to you then you should quit being a ninja and find some other non-hazardous career," he replied harshly, not stopping his pace while Sakura jogged to catch up with him, her comb forgotten in her hand.
"What about Konan-sensei then? She looks like she spends more time on her looks in a day than I do in a week!" She asked in an arguing tone.
"The difference between you and her, Sakura, is that she is one of the strongest Jounin in the village. And one of the most feared in the Shinobi world."
Sakura was silent for a few minutes as they traversed the empty marketplace of Konoha, hours before the major foot-traffic would begin. "Say, Naruto. How do you know so much about being a ninja?"
He looked at her with a raised eyebrow, wondering when the pink-haired girl was so...chatty. In the Academy she was one of the quietest girls in their classroom, never talking to anyone that wasn't Kiba or Ino. But now, it seemed like she had opened up, if only a small bit. It perplexed the boy, but he shrugged it off. So long as she had a drive to better herself, and help others, he didn't care what her personality was like.
"I read a lot of things. Books, manuals, mission logs, all that. Helps me figure out who to ask for help, and who to avoid in this village."
"Mission logs? But only the Hokage sees those!"
"Hardly. Outside of B-rank and higher missions, any civilian-class citizen can look at mission logs. To read B-ranked you must be a Chuunin, and A and S rank missions require you to be a Jounin. I simply read up on old missions Konan-sensei has done with her teammates and sensei, and made assumptions based off of what was contained in the mission log. And you can't tell me you're so blind to see her vanity, it's obvious from the way she talks and dresses that she holds her looks very highly," Naruto said in a condescending tone, quieting Sakura for the rest of the trip as they progressed towards the training areas. Upon arriving Naruto sat against a nearby tree, and indicated that Sakura do the same.
"What are we doing here Naruto? I thought you said we were going to do some training," she stated, clearly confused.
"We are. I'm just waiting for Shikamaru to get his lazy ass over here," Naruto replied, raising his voice so the shadow-manipulator could hear him, earning a sigh from the Nara and a slow grumbling from him as he walked over to the duo. "Right, now that you're both here, I'm going to start by laying down some rules."
"Rule number one; I'm going to push you beyond your limits. And you won't like it one bit, but you'll grow stronger by doing so, as well as be able to know what your limits are in battle. Rule number two; we start with the basics, and work our way up from there. Yes, I know we just spent four years learning the basics, but what I'm going to teach you about them isn't covered in the textbooks. And are far more effective to boot. Rule number three; until we get missions, we meet here everyday except Sundays at 6 A.M. Sharp. No excuses for being late, as I'll run you through something I call 'The Gauntlet'."
"What's 'The Gauntlet'?" Sakura perked up curiously.
"A one on one fight with me. And I won't hold back. Now don't interrupt me again. Rule number four; give every exercise we do your fullest. Don't hold back in any fight, as it could come back and bite you in the ass in the end. Understand?" at Sakura and Shikamaru's nod of acknowledgment his demeanor changed drastically.
"Right then. Now since you know the rules, we'll get into the training, starting with chakra and it's many uses. What can you tell me about chakra?" he asked, directing the question at both of them. They looked at each other in slight confusion before Sakura spoke up.
"It's the immaterial form of blood, vital to the life and existence to every living thing," she recited from memory.
"What is considered a 'living thing' then? In your own words, of course."
She looked slightly taken back by his question, but thought about it for a moment before answering, "Humans and animals."
"What about trees? Plants? Water? Would you consider those 'living'?"
"Er, no. No they're not."
Naruto turned to face Shikamaru directly, "Do you agree with her answer?"
He looked in thought for a minute, before nodding slowly, not understanding the meaning of his question. While he considered plants and such to be living beings, he wasn't able to wrap his mind around the concept of a tree or water having chakra, or not in any way that made sense to him that is.
"You're right, in a sense. And wrong in another. While you're right that most things aren't living when you compare them to humans and animals, they are technically living. However, plants, water, trees, and other creations do hold chakra, and have chakra coils, they're just less complex than a human or animals. But most of that is irrelevant, as it'll be a long while before you can hope to use rocks and such items in a fight," they looked confused at first, but as he explained it in detail they slowly began to wrap their mind around the concept, even if they were skeptical of it.
"Good. Now can you tell me what chakra can be used for?"
The rest of the day passed with Naruto lecturing them on various concepts covered in the Academy; the uses of Bunshin no Jutsu, Kawarimi, as well as the various affinities and what they represented in regards to personality. Fire indicated a temper, water hinted at a calm persona, earth foreshadowed patience beyond years, wind represented a free spirit and spontaneity and lighting voiced rashness. When asked how they could find out their element, Naruto withdrew two small pieces of paper from his weapon pouch, and told them to channel chakra into it, and it would indicate their affinity.
Shikamaru had an earth-affinity, which Naruto figured he would have. Sakura was surprisingly a lightning-affinity, which shocked the trio as most would have assumed she be a water-affinity, but it seemed they were wrong. The pink-haired girl seemed embarrassed at her affinity but Naruto assured her there was nothing wrong with being lightning-oriented, as quite a few powerful ninjas turned out to be lightning-oriented. While a half-lie, it seemed to raise the girls spirits considerably, prompting her to ask him when she'd get to learn techniques pertaining to her affinity.
"It'll be a bit before I teach you guys any kind of advanced technique, as a lot require chakra control and refinement beyond Genin-level. But that doesn't mean I won't teach you useful things, you just won't be learning affinity techniques for a while. To be honest you normally don't find out about affinities until your a Chuunin, but since you've found out what your affinity is you'll have more time to incorporate it into whatever techniques you want."
"What exactly are the limits on affinities Naruto?" Shikamaru asked curiously, interested in the prospect of mixing his shadow techniques with earth techniques.
"The limits are as much or little as you want them to be. You can start a fire by simply channeling chakra through your hand and touching a tree. You can asphyxiate an enemy with the right control. You can even force someone to drown by using the water in their body. Whatever you can dream up, your affinity, and chakra by proxy, can achieve it, given you have the right training and control."
"What's your affinity Naruto?" the boy questioned, unable to figure it out with his 'personality' lecture earlier. The brunette indicated water or earth, but he also had some wind-like qualities, and was eager to find out.
"Me? I'm an earth-affinity, like you Shika."
"What can you do with earth, exactly?"
Naruto smirked, eager to show off some of his skills to his friend, "I'll show ya!" he exclaimed as he scooped some dirt off the ground and molded it into a ball, similar to the one days earlier. As the ball started to however slightly, he with drew a kunai and stabbed it, mimicking his action earlier in the week but with a different goal in mind. Watching in awe as the dirt took on a life of it's own and snaked around the kunai, Shikamaru and Sakura were obviously stunned at the control Naruto had over his element, and even more so when the brunette threw the kunai-turned-katana at a tree and split it in a single blow. The duo were shocked for a minute, before looking at Naruto with a sense of reverence on their faces, clearly impressed by his show of force.
"Are...are we going to be able to do that Naruto? I mean, the adding our element to weapons," Shikamaru asked, slowly getting over the shock at the display of power. In truth Naruto could have made it pass through a few more trees without much effort, but didn't want to lead on how strong he was too faster.
"Yep. However I'm not sure exactly how all the elements do it. So you'd have to find someone who has a lightning-affinity Sakura, for the details on harnessing your element," the dimension-hopper explained, getting up off the ground to fetch his casually-discarded kunai, wiping the last remnants of dirt from the blade, walking back to his teammates while delving into the next topic on his mental list; teamwork. He felt it was something they needed to get mastered to an art, unless they wished for a shortened lifespan, he thought as he felt a pulse of chakra disappear about fifty yards to his right.
As he tried to focus on it, he felt the familiar residue left over from a clone dispelling itself, filling him with a sense of foreboding as someone was watching him and his team, but left no incriminating evidence. It would seem he'd need to keep a closer eye on what he taught his team, as well as put up clones to keep an eye on their lessons, as he wouldn't want to be giving information to someone with a vendetta against the Leaf.
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A/N: Aaaaand chapter 4 is finished. Next chapter will begin the plot, slowly but surely, and after that some rather large bombshells will be dropped in subsequent chapters. And here are review responses.
Demonkid: Yeah, I'm aware not a lot is going on at the moment, as the plot doesn't start to develop until chapter 5/6, and after that chapters will focus on the plot for a bit before balancing both character development and plot.
Toki Mirage: In all honesty a flashback was the only way I would have been able to get that scene incorporated in this story. I didn't want to extend chapter two with the scene, or start off chapter three with it and then jump months ahead to their graduation, as I felt it would have been a rough tranisition.
To everyone else who reviewed: Thank you. Feedback is part of what makes me continue posting chapters, the other part is my beta. ;)