An Arrow Among the Flame

Chapter 4

Naruto checked himself in the mirror for a third time to make sure everything was in order. He had his favorite outfit on. It consisted of a nearly black shirt with a dark brown jacket over it. His legwear consisted of the standard ninja khakis with iron shielded boots. The only jewelery he wore was a small orange amber piece that had been cut into a spiral. The entire outfit was a gift from Nasu when they first left the village. It had multiple seals on the inside ranging from storage and defense, to the ever handy size adjusting and stain resisting varieties. At first, Naruto hadn't been too fond of ditching his favorite color, but he warmed up to it when his sensei showed him how to use the seals in the jacket. That had sealed the deal for him and practically ripped his jumpsuit off and discarded it.

Today was his first day at the academy, and he wanted to dress to impress. Nasu had prepped him on what the academy taught and scoffed at the hideously low standards. Naruto had laughed at his sensei's request to lay low, but don't be an idiot. It was ok to show off a little bit, but not to steamroll the class. It wasn't an easy request, but he would try. After all, what kind of ninja showed their best skills before a fight? Naruto finished checking himself over just as the timer went off. 'Time to go.'

Naruto neared the academy in time to hear the bell ring for classes. The scroll had said to report to 'Iruka' and that his class was on the second floor. Naruto walked to the school and saw an adult headed toward the school as well. He wore a chunin's vest and had his brown hair tied up into a pony tail. Naruto called to the man, "Excuse me sir, but I'm new here. Would you be able to direct me to Iruka-sensei's classroom?"

The man looked toward Naruto and said, "Sure since we're headed the same way. I'm Iruka, and you must be our new class member, Naruto?"

Naruto felt a wave of déjà vu and nodded dumbly. 'This dude looks just like Nasu!'

Naruto followed his new teacher to the class room and saw the classroom fairly full, and decided to take a seat next to a brooding kid in the corner of the class. The kid never stopped staring out of the window as Naruto approached. Shrugging it off, Naruto sat down, rested his face in his left hand, and watched the rest of the class trickle in. He had taken note of a few people such as the Aburame clan member, and the Hyuuga girl who seem to be constantly nervous. Right as the bell rang, two girls burst into the room. Both were breathing heavily and arguing who was first. He didn't take too much notice of the blond girl, as during his travels Naruto had noticed that 'Blonde Beauties' were practically a dime a dozen. The pink haired one was fairly exotic to him however, and began wondering if it was a natural color or if she dyed it to look that way. As she looked over to him and their eyes connected, like a field to ocean, he thought he might be developing a crush on her. Then, she opened her mouth.

/

In the hokage's office, Nasu had explained the better parts of their trip to the wizened Hokage. "And that's pretty much it. Other than the trip home, that is." Nasu finished. The hokage looked up to the man before him and said, "So you're telling me that Kyuubi's chakra has enhanced Naruto's senses significantly?" Seeing the man nod, the Sandaime continued, "I hope you packed him some earplugs. He's going to be in for a nasty surprise."

/

Pure unadultrated pain ripped into his ears as the girl he was thinking of screamed, "THAT'S MY SEAT YOU'RE IN!" Naruto's hands lept to his ears as agony ripped his very core apart. Nasu's patented sonic tags couldn't even compare to the decibals that the girl could reach as he fell out of his chair still clutching his ears.

"Sakura, that's too loud. Hasn't anyone taught you of using your inside voice?" her blonde companion said as she neared the spot the blonde boy had been sitting a moment before.

As she approached the boy, she saw him shoot up and yell, "Kami fucking shit! Are we under attack or something? That had to be a damn war siren or something." He instantly regretted saying it as he collapsed in pain again while the pink haired banshee continued to yell at him.

It ended after Iruka walked in and yelled at the girl to quiet down and take a seat. "Alright class, today we are going to review the Transformation Technique. Since we have a new student with us, he will start us off. Naruto, will you show us the technique?"

An evil glint came into Naruto's eyes as he nodded in the affirmative. 'Time for some revenge for earlier.' Naruto walked to the front of the classroom and went through the seals for the technique, and began to shift. Smoke erupted from the boy's form to reveal a perfect copy of Sakura, or so the class believed. Iruka was the only one who had seen the last seal and the feral grin plastered on his new student's face.

"Huh? What's going on?" Sakura asked as she looked around.

"Great job, Naruto. You can release the transformation now." Iruka said as he made a couple of marks on the clipboard.

"What are you talking about Iruka-sensei? Wait, why am I in front of the class?" Sakura stated.

/

Naruto could barely hide his smile as he was now seated next to the blonde girl from earlier. He had flawlessly preformed the perfect transformation and a perfect substitution technique with it. Nasu had forgone the basic illusions of the academy and taught Naruto the true forms of each. While the perfect transformation was pretty self-explanatory, the perfect substitution was much more sinister than its counterpart. With the right amount of both chakra and control, an enemy could throw a weapon at you and suddenly find themselves in its path instead. He saw the confusion on everyone's faces and decided just to take it as far as he could go.

"Naruto, drop the technique already. You could never pull off these looks." 'Sakura' told the girl at the front.

Sakura could only stare at where the voice came from. It was like she was looking in an oddly placed mirror. "What the hell?" she screamed and pointed at the other girl. Realization dawned on Iruka as he looked at the two.

"Okay," he started, "Which one of you is the real Naruto?" The one in the back broke into the same feral grin and switched himself with the helpless girl. Naruto didn't hold back a snicker when the rest of the class caught up with their teacher. The blonde's expression was so priceless that he couldn't help taking her picture. Waving the film to help along the curing process, he then pocketed the photo for later. Iruka cleared his throat and asked, "Naruto, would you care explaining what you just did to the rest of the class?"

"Simple, It was a basic switch and deceive. By using a smoke bomb, I was able to both transform and switch places with my target. If I was a guarded target, they would probably hunt down their own person, thinking it was me. It could have a myriad of uses, from switching in a weapons path, infiltration, surprise attacks, or my personal favorite, the seat shuffle." Naruto's grin never dropped during the explanation.

Several questions fired at once.

"I though we couldn't switch with other people, how do you do it?"

"Are you able to do it to anyone?"

And the boy's favorite. "What's the 'seat shuffle'?"

Chaos erupted in the class as the last question finished and his hand went to a half ram seal. Iruka found himself on top of the Inuzaka's head, who was in a new seat, along with half the class. Naruto made a quiet escape with the distraction, deciding to head to lunch a couple of minutes early. After finding a decent tree, he hoisted himself up and pulled out a cup of ramen and some sushi from a scroll. "Time to eat!"

/

It wasn't long before the bell for lunch rang. Naruto had just finished the last of his meal, and started a mental checklist of the students. He sincerely hoped that he wouldn't be put in some no name team. 'Kiba, Chouji, Shikamaru, Shino, and Mr. Duckass are the only ones that look like they could handle themselves. The others are either sub-standard or just pathetic.' Looking over to the hyuuga member of his class, he continued. 'She's the only one who I haven't figured out yet. One minute she's the image of insecurity, the next she pulls an Uchiha and becomes as personable as a rock.'

Sensing a presence next to him, Naruto looked to the right and saw his desk partner sitting one branch over. "Hey Sasuke, watcha doing up here?" He noticed the banshee walking under the tree and immediately understood. Not only was she loud, but Naruto thought she might be borderline psychotic. She had pestered Sasuke for the better part of the morning and Naruto realized why Sasuke was in the tree with him.

"Ah, I get it. No worries, you can hang here as long as you need to."

Sasuke had a stunned expression on his face and rested his back to the tree. "Thanks, you're the first person who's understood my problem."

"It's not like it isn't obvious. Lemme guess, others say 'why don't you enjoy it?' or something along those lines."

"Bingo. It's not like I need the affection. I'd rather they train than pursue me. I'd rather have a girl who could defend herself than, well, that."

"Well at least the banshee would be proficient in sonic techniques. She actually made my ears bleed with just her voice." Naruto said with a grin. Both shared a laugh and told of their lives so far. Naruto told Sasuke of Nasu and training, and Sasuke responded with questions and comments. By the end of the lunch period, both were smiling and decided to race back to class.

/

Naruto returned home to find Nasu scowling at a scroll in his hands. "Oi what's up sensei?"

Nasu flinched and rolled the scroll back up. "Nothing much Naruto. Just finalizing some paperwork. Nothing too big. How was your first day?"

"It was pretty good. I met the 'last Uchiha' today. He isn't how I thought he would be. Sasuke's actually pretty cool to be around."

"That's good to hear. You should invite him for a meal sometime. Anyone in particular you'd want for a team?"

"Not really. Most of the class are pretty terrible. I bet most only knew the academy techniques. I can see why you taught me the way you did now. The best probably wouldn't last a half hour against other genin."

"Alright. Dinners on the stove, and all you need to train is in meditation right now. I don't want you overdoing yourself okay?"

"Yes sensei." Naruto replied as he went toward the kitchen.

Nasu got up from the sofa and opened the scroll he had been glaring at. 'Naruto Uzumaki no Soreya. Man the ladies will be all over him when he really shows his skill.'

/

Breath in. Breath out. Breath in. Breath out.

For the common passerby, No one would care about the blonde boy sitting in the clearing. To shinobi however, one would be surprised that he was floating about an inch above the ground. Naruto had just begun his meditation rituals for the day. Nasu had told him how to start his meditation by using chakra to hover over the surfaces of the earth without disturbing it. He had started Naruto on a sheet of glass and had him practice it for five days a week for two years. Once he had gotten sick of the training and nearly quit. It was only when Nasu had laid a thorough ass-whupping on him did Naruto reconsider.

-Flashback-

"I'm sick of this sensei! There's no point to me staring at the inside of my eyelids for the entire day. I may as well sleep for the day with how far this is getting me!" Naruto shouted. It wasn't fair that this man had promised to teach him, then turned around and told him to sit still and think! "I thought you said this would make me strong!"

Nasu cracked his eye at the boy before him. Honestly Naruto had lasted longer than he did for the training before the snap. "Boy, do you know the true meaning of power? The true meaning of power isn't to kill your enemy, but to live longer than him. Even in this world, there are those that forget this principle. Never forget that strength doesn't matter in this exercise. What matters is speed, stealth, and cunning. I tell you what, if you can land a hit on me, I'll speed up your training. Hell, I won't even move my feet."

Naruto perked up at this. Even this guy couldn't fight too well if he couldn't use his feet, right? Seizing the opportunity, Naruto charged at his teacher only to see him move out of the way. What had shocked Naruto wasn't the fact that Nasu moved, it was that the man had moved without even a twitch of his leg. It was as though he was hovering across the ground. Nasu grabbed the boy by his wrist and flung him into the nearest tree.

As Naruto hit the tree, he could feel the fracture of his forearm and the painful landing blurred his sight. Before he passed out, he could hear his sensei's voice, "Remember this lesson young one. If pain is the only way you'll learn, than you will curse your years with me. I'm trying to give you true power, not just strength or skill but the ability to harness both."

Naruto had woken up the next morning with his arm completely healed and no bruising at all. He didn't know it at the time, but his tenant was about to help pay the rent.

-Flashback end-

Naruto was jolted from his thoughts by the appearance of something that would make Kyuubi cry. It was human in form, but it was covered in what looked like a green rubber hide. Looking upon the beast's face, Naruto could see its mane was vaguely bowl-shaped with two huge growths over its eyes. It took him a couple of seconds to realise that this thing was indeed a human male, and it was about to speak.

"Yosh, what do we have here? Are you lost my youthful friend?" the newcomer asked.

"No, not really. I was just trying to clear my head." Naruto replied, deciding that maybe he shouldn't tell the whole truth.

The newcomer blinked once a put on what appeared to be the reported 'good guy' pose. "How very youthful of you! My name is Maito Gai. Would you like to join me for my mid-day work out?"

"The name's Naruto, and sure." Naruto flashed a grin that rivaled Gai's. 'It's not like Nasu told me not to train at all.'

By the end of the work out, Naruto was thoroughly winded alongside a grinning Gai. Naruto had agreed to meet the rest of Gai's team tomorrow, and all in all, Naruto knew where he stood physically.

6am

The next day came and Naruto was nowhere to be found at the academy. He knew that today was going to be a practice written exam for the finals at the end of the week. Naruto decided to try for extra points by sneaking in and stealing a test early, and left it finished in the turn in drawer in Iruka's desk. He had worn a similar outfit as yesterday, but with an added trench coat instead of his jacket and a mask in the image of a fox. The mask itself was nothing too special, but instead of both eyes painted the same, the right was painted with the symbol of the leaf village over it. He knew of the taboo surrounding foxes in this village but decided to shrug it off anyway. Seeing that he was four hours early, Naruto decided to take a nap at the meeting site.

9am

Gai had arrived just as Naruto woke up, but didn't bother looking up in the tree that served as Naruto's perch. Naruto knew that Gai had noticed him, but figured that he would use Naruto as a test of sorts for his team. After all, Naruto wasn't doing anything other than hiding his chakra. Naruto took the time to survey the miniature version of Gai that served as his first student, Maito Lee. He could tell the relation towards Gai, seeing as they are practically clones of each other. Naruto continued to watch the two warm up before turning his thoughts toward the other two members. 'Weapons mistress, huh? Wonder how she'll react to a bow.'

Time's up!

Sorry about the late chapter everyone. Work's been hauling me around by the scruff of the neck. Not too much to add for an authors note. Also, for those who are questioning things (such as Sasuke actually being agreeable) it'll be revealed in later chapters. Thanks for reading. See y'all in the next chapter!