Disclaimer : I Don't not never own Naruto
Original A/N :Also I've decided it would be HakuxNaru and ZabuxAnko
ZabuXAnko is a big maybe, because frankly...Anko is a little weird, and while people manage it, unless the person shes flirting with is clinically insane, nobody in their right mind would date Anko. But like I said, people manage it, and its usually NarutoXAnko in that case. Or possibly IrukaXAnko. They just don't give any reason why they're together :).
ADD Kyuubi Naruto : Thats because chapter four wasn't out yet...I accidentally had put it up before taking it down to edit. Sorry about that.
Darthme1011 : Yeah, NaruFemhaku
Demonkid : Hey! Your wish came true! I didn't really do anything for you, I'm just editing chapters...but it seems that we were thinking along the same lines:)
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One Month Later
Sunlight filtered through the window blinds as Naruto rubbed his eyes. Looking around groggily, Naruto sat up, confused. 'Blerb...Where the hell am I?"
Seconds turned to minutes as he stared at his surroundings. passed... Naruto smacked his head with his hand. 'Oh yeah...this is...my room, isn't it?'
Staring at the navy blue walls, now utterly devoid of orange, Naruto sighed. 'Stupid Kisame, repainting my room.'
Looking at his bookshelf, now mounted with stuffed beanie babies, Naruto muttered, "-and adding his stupid Shark Plushie collection to my bookshelf..."
Cursing at his misfortune, he changed and went to brush his teeth. He then went down stairs for breakfast to see a grinning Kisame bursting with excitement and five other sullen swordsmen along with Haku, who smiled at him. "What are you so happy about sensei?"
Kisame grinned showing off pointy teeth and annouced, "After a month of intense experimenting and practicing, I've managed to make edible squid, not crap (Zabuza shook his head violently), not remotely edible, (Haku rolled her eyes) but edible (Raiga gagged)!"
Right as he finished, the seventh swordsman walked in, grabbing a piece of squid before popping it into his mouth. Naruto watched in interest as the man suddenly ran outside holding his stomach, before wincing at the retching noise.
Noting the ominous signs concerning Kisame's so-called edible squid, Naruto said "I'll pass..."
"Excellent, more for me then!" Kisame said giddily.
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After breakfast, Naruto and Haku reported to the training grounds, followed by their respective senseis. Zabuza was noticeably hungry, made evident by the fact he was holding his stomach and groaning constantly.
Kisame sniffed, "You should've eaten more."
After he had recovered from his stomach lurches, Zabuza leaned on his sword to broadcast today's lesson. "Okay guys, Lesson One, Taijutsu! When and if disarmed of your weapon, you must be able to fight with your body. This is your first lesson Naruto will be sparring with Kisame and Haku with me using taijutsu only. This is to gauge your abilities in this art." (Author : Cause art is bang! Yeah! )
His eyes hardening, Zabuza growled, "Get ready now..."
Both Naruto and Haku visibly tensed.
"GO!"
Kisame ran forward, feigning a punch at Naruto, before sliding systematically into a sweep kick. Taken off guard, Naruto managed to turn his fall into a series of back flips before turning to face Kisame again. "Almost got me there sensei!"
Deciding to attack head on, Naruto closed in on Kisame before launching a flurry of punches. With no trouble at all, Kisame dodged each one, redirecting the last punch toward the ground. As Naruto fell forward, Kisame swung his right leg around, aiming for the back of Naruto's head. To his surprise, Naruto had twisted his torso around while falling and caught Kisame's leg with his hands.
Kisame swung his leg wildly, managing throwing Naruto off. Springing up, Naruto grabbed a handful of dirt from the ground before leaping onto the roof. From there, he catapaulted off the platform before landing on Kisame's head.
Smearing the dirt into the Shark Man's eyes, Naruto gave him a powerful uppercut, sending Kisame reeling. Pressing his advantage, Naruto headbutted Kisame's chest before kneeing him in the stomach. He followed up with a sharp chop to the face before finishing with a kick to Kisame's crotch.
Tumbling away, Naruto was panting as he watched Kisame get up, not fazed at all. Rubbing his eyes, Kisame grinned sharkishly, "A dirty little trick, Naru-chan, but you're gonna have to do better than that to hurt big, bad, Kisame."
Grimacing, Naruto found the string that secured his ninety pounds of weights.Giving it a determined tug, the weights fell off, sending a small shock-wave through the earth.
Kisame sweatdropped as the boy charged toward him, twice as fast as before. 'That was unexpected...and rather intelligent. Damn...'
Naruto, instead of his usual punches decided to tackle Kisame's legs instead. However, because he was lighter than before, his blows weren't nearly as forceful and he was tossed away when Kisame flicked his foot upwards.
Rolling away, he ran around Kisame. This time, he reinforced his arm with chakra, in hopes of causing actual damage, before he attempted to ram it into Kisame's back.
Kisame sighed as he jumped up into the air, avoiding Naruto's attack completely. His eyes widened slightly when he saw Naruto's smirk. 'Mah...it looks like he planned ahead.'
In accordance with his makeshift plan, Naruto picked up the weights he had thrown off before. Using the string, he whirled it around his head like a ball and chain before letting it fly at Kisame.
Kisame smiled as he saw the boy's makeshift weapon. 'Huh, I can't dodge. Maybe he isn't so dumb anymore...-but its still not good enough!' Even as the weights spun toward him, Kisame was already bringing his arms out in front of him. As soon as it was with in arm's length, Kisame took hold of it, jerking it backwards before hurling it back to earth, making sure that it was far out of Naruto's reach.
Landing, Kisame finally decided to go on the offensive. His first punch grazed Naruto's head. Naruto, seeing Kisame's guard down, quickly moved to jab Kisame in the stomach. With his other hand, Kisame caught Naruto's wrist before the punch could hit and threw the boy at the barracks wall. As Naruto slid off, looking exhausted, thin spiderweb cracks had appeared in the wall.
Kisame charged forward, throwing another punch at Naruto. It was met by Naruto's open hand, as was his second punch. The two struggled for a second before Kisame let his legs give out. Taking care to fall forward, Kisame used his height and weight advantage to simply overwhelm the boy.
Naruto groaned as the Shark Man sat on top of him. "Bastard, you weren't even trying. And that was unfair."
Kisame shrugged, "All is fair in love and war. And hey, in this case you only lose your life..."
Smirking Kisame added, "Besides, it not my fault you're such a shrimp."
Naruto glared at him, "I'm six."
Kisame snorted, 'Excuses...'
Zabuza's fight had been over long before. Zabuza was looking on with interest as Naruto was finally beaten by Kisame. "Your little chump put up quite a fight huh?"
Kisame played along, "Nah, I've seen fish put up more of a fight than Naruto."
Snickering Naruto cackled, "Yeah, like that squid you made a month ago. I heard from Zabuza how much of a fight it put up."
Ignoring, the obvious barb toward his cooking skills, Kisame smacked Naruto on the head.
Zabuza continued, "In any case, even with Naruto's impressive showing, I've decided, You All Suck!"
Haku twitched in annoyance, "Well obviously. You guys have much more experience than us and much more training. It would be a miracle in itself if we did win."
Kisame ribbed Naruto, "Hey Naruto, you should consider following her example. She has actual respect...You know what that is right?"
Naruto sniffed, "Its not that I don't give you respect, its just that you don't deser-"
Clamping his hand over Naruto's mouth, Kisame grinned sadistically. "Seeing as you're in such good spirits after our fight, I've judged that we're going to double your weights again."
Naruto looked horrified. "WHAT THE F--K?" Naruto screamed through Kisame's fingers, loudly enough to cause Zabuza to wince.
Kisame acting like doubling ninety pounds of weights was a trivial thing, Kisame answered, "Welcome to life, kid."
Turning to Haku, Kisame asked in a nicer tone, "Now Haku, do you wear weights?"
"N-No..." Haku stammered slightly embarrassed.
Kisame pursed his lips, 'Thats not good.'
"Well Zabuza, I'd say to start her off with twenty pounds."
Zabuza looked a little surprised, "Are you sure she can handle that Kisame?"
Smiling again, Kisame chirped, "Nope! But anything that doesn't kill us must make us stronger, right?!"
Naruto smiled wryly at Haku, "A real confidence builder, eh? Don't worry, twenty pounds isn't much. You'll get used to it real fast."
Seeing Naruto's attempt at reassurance, Kisame put in, "Oh, and if it makes you feel better, Naruto will have 180 pounds on."
Naruto groaned, "Thanks for reminding me..."
Thinking for a moment Naruto complained "Wait...are you serious? 180 pounds is almost twice as much as I weight now!"
Kisame tapped his navy blue cloak, which produced a dull clinking noise. "Eight-hundred pounds right here."
Zabuza snorted before pointing to his arm braces, "Only eight-hundred? You sissy. Three hundred an arm, two hundred a leg."
As the additional weights were tied on to Naruto's chest and limbs, Naruto mumbled, "This is child abuse..."
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Two weeks later, Naruto was called to Training Ground 05. Ever since the fight, Naruto had seen a huge leap in the amount of focus he put into his training. The difference of strength between himself and Kisame had sparked a one-sided rivalry. Though Kisame wasn't really aware of it, Naruto compared everything he ever did to the Sharkman's. Each time he fell short, it only served to make him more aware of his deficiencies and how to remedy them.
As an unexpected reward of his hard work, Kisame had finally decided Naruto was ready for it. When Naruto found Kisame at the training ground, he was greeted with a toothy smile and eyes glinting with expectation. It was with pride that Kisame presented Naruto his first sword, one crafted of the finest wood in the region, to be used for training, though it was suitable for actual combat.
With a smile threatening to eclipse his face, Kisame congratulated Naruto on his advancement, "I've decided its high time you've started to learn the noble -and romantic- art of swordsmanship, Naruto. The amount of work you've spent bettering yourself has only impressed upon me more firmly that you have started to take your career as a ninja seriously. From now on, you are officially my apprentice."
Naruto gasped at the last part. Apprenticeship under a powerful ninja, especially one so renowned, was no small matter. It was almost like an glorified adoption, but something...more. It was recognition by somebody that you could one day become well versed in their art. Whether it was being a ninja, a black smith or a chef, an apprenticeship was a huge step in an aspiring novice's education and the unlocking of their ability.
Though outwardly stoic, Kisame himself was bursting with delight, and lightly patted Naruto on the head.
"Now Naruto, I'm going to give you a sample of the things you're going to be able to do when you finally graduate from my tutelage..."
Twirling the wooden sword, Kisame threw it like a boomerang, sawing a tree in half, before the sword made a U-turn in midair, returning back to his outstretched hand. It was like he was proving that even a simple wooden thing, in the hands of an experienced user, could become a deadly weapon. And it was true.
Naruto watched open mouthed as Kisame did more parlor tricks with his wooden sword, parting the waters in the lake, creating a fissure in the ground with a single thrust downward, even spinning the sword fast enough that Naruto was blown backwards.
Tossing the sword to Naruto, Kisame took his Samehade out. "You're first lesson is the basic stabbing motion using a sword. Being a fairly basic and simple attack, it can easily be chained into a combination attack. Watch this."
Choosing another tree, Kisame took his Samehade before running the blade through the tree, before whipping the sword out and flicking the tip, creating a slash on the tree's bark. Whirling around, the sword came back in a 360 degree circle, leaving a cut mark four inches deep. Spinning around again, Samehade flew out of Kisame's hand, perforating the tree like a chainsaw.
"If that was a real person, I would have stabbed them through the stomach, slashed their throat, split their body in half before impaling their head with my sword."
Naruto, taking his sword, went ahead and tried to copy Kisame. The stab went fine, but when he attempted to flick the sword's tip, the sword flew out of his hand, embedding in the ground behind him.
Kisame shook his head, "In time Naruto, you are not comfortable enough with this weapon or are you skilled enough. As I was saying before, the first lesson is simply a stabbing motion."
Handing Naruto a book, Kisame specified, "On page thirty-four is a diagram on the human body and its weak points. I want you to memorize them as well as practicing the stabbing the specific points and organs on the training dummies. There are eight major points and each are to be hit fifty times."
Barreling on, Kisame continued, "After that, practice the stabbing and slashing motions one hundred times each, described on page three of the book. Any motion, without sufficient practice, leaves you open for a split second when performed. For example, when you punch, you are able to punch, then kick, block, jump, or run. There is little or no time lost between actions. Using a weapon like the sword, you have to make sure that your movements are fluid or else you will be cut down immediately in combat. This exercise will help improve your fluidity."
Last but not least, Kisame ordered, "Then, you will practice chaining the two, stabbing and slashing, so that in a combat situation, you are able to utilize more than one attack every time you move without any awkwardness or loss of balance."
Trusting Naruto to follow his orders, Kisame immediately dissolved into a puddle of water, leaving Naruto alone in the training ground. Naruto just stood there, stunned. His brain overwhelmed with the enormity of the task he had just been given.
As soon as he had sorted out his directions, he gripped the wooden sword with a renewed sense of determination. 'Hmm...If I want to be strong like Kisame-sensei, I'm going to have to train hard - harder than ever.'
And just like that, his quota doubled.
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It was the beginning of a period of intense training for Naruto. To Kisame's satisfaction, Naruto had finally found a worthy goal : Becoming one of the Seven Swordsmen and surpassing Kisame himself.
And he was proud.
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Yeah, I'm late in posting this, but in the two days, I worked to almost triple the word count from 900 to 2500, so you better appreciate it!