Sorry for the kinda late update, compared to my other the poll is down, is the winner is…..WATER! With 7 votes out of 16. Alright, Yay for the new Chapter! Oh, yeah, I've started a new story. Check it out if you want. ^^ (Bleep) YEAH! GOT IT!
Chapter 4
"Cherry, you in position?"
"Hai, sensei."
"Alright, approach the target slowly this time, Fishcake. Don't make it run."
"I was trying to take it by surprise!"
"Dobe, shut up and catch the damn thing."
"SHUT UP, TEME!"
"Great, it's running! Nice work you three," a low shadow burst from behind a tree, racing toward a clearing in the forest. Three more shadows rushed to catch the leading figure. One of the pursuers ran ahead and pounced on the target.
"Got it!" yelled Naruto, clutching a squirming cat that then turned and started to maul the poor blonde. "ARGH! GET THIS DAMN THING OFF OF ME!" he yelped, holding the cat at arm's length. Sasuke and Sakura joined the blonde, who had cuts all over his face.
"Can't be that bad, dobe," commented Sasuke, smirking slightly.
Naruto glared at him, and promptly threw the demonic cat at the Uchiha. He instinctively caught it and was introduced painfully to the cat's claws. "AH! GET THIS *CENSORED* *CENSORED* OFF OF ME!" shouted Sasuke, cursing his luck and trying to strangle the cat, to hell with the mission. Naruto and Sakura laughed as the two struggled, but Sakura eventually decided to help. She took the cat in her arms, immediately calming it.
"Now, now, Sasuke, can't choke the object of the mission," she reprimanded lightly, stroking the cat's fur. He glared at her, but sighed mentally. 'Kami, I hate D-ranks. This one in particular too,' thought Sasuke as Team 7, along with their sensei, who had stayed behind in the chase, walked to Mission Report. Inside, the owner of the cat, Madam Shijimi, snatch the cat from Sakura's arms and started to crush it against her chest.
"Oh, Tora! Never leave Mommy again!" she said, planting several kisses on the poor cat's head. Sasuke glared at the cat, 'You deserve that.' Tora seemed to hear his thoughts and leaped from his owner's arms, meaning to give Sasuke an early end. He nearly succeeded too, if Shijimi hadn't of pulled the devilspawn off. "Now, Tora, you can't be mean to Mr. Uchiha. Please apologize," she said, holding the cat in front of Sasuke's face. The only apology he got was another scratch to his face.
Once Sasuke had been held back, Kakashi walked over to the Hokage. "Mission completed, Hokage-sama. Now, let my team get back to training," he reported. The old man nodded.
"Good work, here's the payment," replied the Hokage, tossing a stack of ryo to the Jonin. Kakashi caught and pocketed it. His salary was dismal at best, and this would help it a little bit. He would share the payment with his team whenever they were assigned a C-rank or something.
"Training? Alright! I've had my clones at the shinobi library all morning. Let me do something right quick," said Naruto, making a handsign. At the library, twenty copies of the blonde went out one at a time; he had learned that dispelling the clones all at once gave him a massive headache. Sasuke looked at him curiously.
"Why do you have your clones at the library of all places?" he asked. Naruto was famous for his energy, him sitting down and reading a book of all things just didn't agree to that. The blonde grinned.
"I found something called fuinjutsu a few days ago. It's really cool! Right now I can make a storage seal and a few other things, want me to show you?" Sasuke nodded. "Alright, can I see your sword?" Sasuke pulled Raijin from his shoulder sheath slowly and handed it to Naruto, who pulled out a sheet of paper with a seal drawn on it. The blonde concentrated chakra on the seal and touched it with the blade. Raijin disappeared in a puff of smoke, startling Sasuke.
"What-"
"Don't worry, teme," said Naruto, focusing his chakra again. Raijin reappeared in his hand, and the blonde handed it back to Sasuke. "Cool, isn't it?" Sasuke nodded, impressed. He wasn't the only one; Kakashi was surprised that Naruto had chosen to pick fuinjutsu, of all things. 'He growing more and more like sensei,' he thought. Sasuke looked at the sword.
"Dobe, do you think you could make a seal on a piece of clothing?" he asked. Naruto thought a bit, and nodded.
"Sure. It's the same as on paper. Why?" he asked.
"I have gloves at home, and I was wondering if a storage seal could keep an element of surprise for enemies since they can't see Raijin. I could also unseal it faster that way," replied Sasuke, thinking about the implications of the seal. Sakura also voiced an idea.
"Naruto, could you also make a couple of storage seals for me? For senbon and such, that is," she asked. Naruto grinned at them both, happy that he was an integral part of the team.
"No problem guys, but let's go to training first," said the blonde, his hands behind his head in a casual manner. The other two nodded, and Team 7 walked out of Mission Report.
At the training grounds, Naruto made several dozen clones and separated them into groups, one for Mantis style taijutsu, given to him by Sasuke a few weeks ago, one for weapon throwing, and another for whatever Kakashi had planned. The original was with the latter group, eagerly awaiting his sensei's orders.
The first time Kakashi had seen Naruto train using clones, he was stunned and impressed. The clones would really help the blonde get to his teammates' level. His progress had sped up considerably; his aim was on par with Sasuke's and he was on the advanced form of the Mantis taijutsu. Now was the time to introduce something else. "Alright, today you're going to learn to climb trees," began Kakashi, but Naruto interrupted him.
"Sensei, we already know how to climb trees!" he argued, and his clones chorused their agreement. Kakashi sighed; a demonstration was needed. He turned toward a tree and slowly walked toward it, eventually reaching the trunk. He placed a foot on the bark, and then another foot. Slowly, he walked up the tree, parallel with the ground. He reached a branch and hung upside down; he looked at his Genin.
"This is what I meant, Naruto," he said, his hair now somehow pointing up toward the sky, retaining its famed gravity-defying feature. The Genins sweat dropped at his hair, but Naruto was in awe of the feat Kakashi had pulled off. "Now, I expect Sakura to pull this off first, then Sasuke, then you, Naruto," said Kakashi.
"You mean like this, Kakashi?" asked two voices on either side of him. The Jonin jumped and lost his footing on the branch, and promptly hit his head. He looked up and saw Sasuke and Sakura hanging by their feet from the branch and grinning, amused. He glared at them, and Naruto envied the two for mastering the technique so fast.
"Dammit! Why does teme have to be better than me at everything?" demanded Naruto, crossing his arms. Sasuke dropped down in front of Naruto, and cocked his head at the blonde.
"I'm not better than you in several categories, Naruto. You have higher chakra reserves, better quick thinking, and higher stamina. With work, you could surpass me," countered Sasuke, making Naruto arch his eyebrows. Kakashi couldn't resist an opportunity to poke fun at the Uchiha.
"There's that miraculous event again: an Uchiha saying that someone is better than him," he teased with an eyesmile. Sasuke whipped his head around and scowled at the man. His hand started to creep toward Raijin. Kakashi made an appeasing gesture, and the hand went down.
"Thanks, teme," said Naruto, grinning at the Uchiha's complement. Sasuke shrugged, and the blonde turned toward his clones. "Alright! Each of you take a tree. We're gonna get this down tonight!"
"Hai, boss!" saluted the clones, and they each began to tree climb, some falling and dispelling but being recreated by the original. Naruto grinned at his teammates, and joined in the exercise. Kakashi shook his head. He turned toward the two remaining Genins.
"Well, that was all I had planned today. You have the day off," he said, walking away.
"Kakashi, wait. We may need your help in something," called Sasuke. He wanted to find out Sakura's chakra nature, but he hadn't found any time to since they had been training nonstop from the time he had bought the special paper. Sasuke hoped her chakra nature was fire or lightning since then he could teach her one-on-one, but he would never know if she never tested it.
"What do you need help with?" asked Kakashi, stopping but not walking back.
"Elemental training," answered Sasuke. He sensed a puzzled frown under the mask of the Jonin, and he explained by lying a bit, "We saw the subject in the shinobi library, and we were wondering if we could start on it since Sakura and I are ahead of Naruto. I know a little bit about affinities, and the chakra paper test. Mine's a tie between fire and lightning. Sakura doesn't know, though."
"First of all, elemental training is only for Chuunins and Jonins. The chakra strain could kill Genins. Second of all, Naruto isn't going to be behind much longer due to clone training. And third of all, how do you even know about the chakra paper test? It's not in any books to my knowledge. The paper isn't hard to get, but I'm surprised you know of that use," said Kakashi, crossing his arms in an uninviting manner.
Sasuke shrugged, "My brother showed it to me before he murdered the clan. He was a bastard, but he was a smart bastard." Sasuke, of course, knew why his brother killed his fellow clan members; it was an order from the village to prevent a civil war, and Itachi had been a true patriot to place his village in front of his clan. Though it still irked Sasuke, he saw the reason, and would respect his brother's wish to protect the village. He smiled, 'Can't wait to see nii-san now. That'll be interesting.'
Kakashi had tensed at the word 'brother', but he saw that Sasuke harbored no intention to avenge his clan. He relaxed, and saw Sasuke smile. 'I swear all the reports are wrong about this guy. Yeah, he's a bit stoic, but he's not arrogant, more like confident. Hmmm, interesting,' mused Kakashi, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. He returned his focus to the matter at hand. 'Elemental training, huh? I know Sasuke can use Grand Fireball, but I never knew that he had learned about affinities. Hm, this is usually restricted to Genin, but I might make an exception since this group seems to have potential as the next Sannins.'
"Alright, I'll train you. First, though, Sakura, you need to see what your affinity is," replied Kakashi, "Unfortunately, I don't have any chakra paper, so-"
"Don't worry, Kakashi. I have some," interrupted Sasuke, pulling out small squares of paper out of his back pocket. He handed them to Sakura. She took them without saying a word, which was an improvement. She had grown less cold toward him during the last several days, but he could tell that she did nowhere near trust him yet. He sighed inwardly; that was to be expected.
Sakura pinched the paper between two fingers, and focused chakra into the paper. A moment passed, and the paper then turned soggy. The three were silent for a few seconds, and Kakashi was the first to recover. "Well, water, that's it. That's EXTREMELY rare here in the Land of Fire. I'm one of the few here that can teach you. Now, what do you know about water and its uses?" Sakura looked blank. "OK, not much. Let's see what I remember… Kami, when was the last time I used a Suiton technique? Uh… oh yeah! Water can be shaped into anything, and it damages by the sheer weight and concussive force behind it. I know you somehow have super strength; I'm not gonna ask how. You could extend your reach or shape the water in an axe or hammer. Your imagination is the limiting factor here with Suiton."
Sakura quickly saw the in-battle uses that her affinity could have, and she asked, "So what's the first step to control water chakra?" Kakashi continued to rub his chin, and for minute he didn't reply.
He eventually answered, "Well, I could suggest you find a source of water and try to draw up a bubble or something. A bubble the size of your head should do, and then try to make it float in the air. Once you've mastered that, which should be soon due to your chakra control, come back to me." Sakura nodded, and shunshinned away. Kakashi looked at the smoke left behind belatedly, and wondered aloud, "How the hell do you two know so much? Both of you are at least Chuunin-level, and Naruto is quickly gaining." He sighed.
"Well, Sakura and I are both geniuses of our generation. It's to be expected. Naruto has unflappable determination, and we've all been training since we've entered the Academy," said Sasuke, "Anyway, do you know of any chakra-increasing exercises? Strenuous ones, anyway."
"Well, you could water walk with several leaves stuck on your body, or practice ninjutsu. Your choice," replied the Jonin, disappearing in a puff of smoke. Sasuke nodded to himself, and walked over to a couple of logs set into the ground of the training field. 'Which jutsu? Fire maybe, or lightning. Let's see, right now I have high-Chuunin level chakra because of my experiences, so the highest Katon jutsu I could use might be Fire Dragon Bullet, and for Raiton maybe Lightning Surge. Hm, I'll try both.'
Sasuke flicked through several handsigns, and called, "Katon: Fire Dragon Bullet!" A stream of fire shot out of Sasuke's mouth and collided with the targeted log, incinerating it instantly. The second he had paused in the fire-breathing, Sasuke signed several more times, and shouted, "Raiton: Lightning Surge!" Crackling formed around the Uchiha's hand, and he raised it to be level with the target. The lightning blurred toward its future victim, and reduced it to less than ashes; nothing was left but a burnt ring on the ground.
Sasuke was left panting and hunching over from the exertion; Kami, he needed to get back in shape. "Good Kami, teme! Where'd you learn how to do that?" exclaimed Naruto, coming up behind him. The Uchiha jumped slightly, and mentally berated himself. Looked like his senses also needed a boost. He looked at the blonde over his shoulder and smirked.
"That's a secret," he replied, annoying Naruto.
"What! That's not fair!"
Sasuke shrugged, "Well, that's a shinobi for you." Naruto ground his teeth, but didn't argue as the old saying resurfaced: Deception is a shinobi's best tool.
"Well, do you think you could teach me?" he asked. Sasuke frowned.
"What about your tree climbing?"
"Oh, I'm done with that." Sasuke stared at the blonde and turned full to face him.
"Already?"
"It wasn't that hard. It was kind of like leaf-sticking, but with your feet, and you're a leaf that can move. So I just used just a little more chakra than for leaf sticking, and boom, I got it," he explained, grinning from ear to ear. Sasuke was impressed by the blonde's deduction, and mused, 'I know that this is a different timeline, but this Naruto seems to be a lot smarter than the other.'
"Hn. Well, back to your question: You have to get permission from Kakashi to train like me and Sakura. Whenever he gets back, ask him. Anyway, I need a short break," said Sasuke before shunshinning to the pond Sakura was at. There, the pink-haired girl was drenched in water, making her clothes cling and Sasuke's attention wander slightly as he got closer to her.
"Sakura, how's it going?" he asked, stopping about five feet from her. She turned and gave him a neutral look, debating whether to tell him or not.
"Fine, nearly got it," she replied shortly before facing the water again. She placed her hand on the surface of the pond, and slowly, water began to build underneath her hand. Her hand rose steadily out of the water, and with it a sphere of water about two feet in diameter. She raised it to head level and held it there for about three minutes, before it burst, soaking her further. Sakura sighed. "This is the longest I've gotten so far, but I think it's good enough," she said. Sasuke nodded, trying to ignore the way her clothes clung, and only succeeding marginally.
"Well, I guess just try to find Kakashi. He disappeared again, as always," he suggested, putting his hands in his pockets.
Sakura's head snapped toward him. "HE'S GONE AGAIN?!" she demanded furiously. Sasuke nodded weakly, and she stormed off. The Uchiha felt a pang of pity for the Jonin whenever Sakura found him; Kakashi would be lucky to not break anything. Sasuke shunshinned back to where he had left Naruto, and found said man standing next to him.
"Ah, Sasuke. Nice of you to join us, now if Sakura could-" started Kakashi before he was cut off.
"KAKASHI YOU BASTARD! DON'T LEAVE EVER AGAIN!" bellowed a semi-demonic voice directly behind him, and his visible eye widened as he front-flipped to avoid the incoming danger which was a fist with enough force for decapitation. A wrathful Sakura stomped menacingly toward the man, cracking her knuckles for another blow.
"Wait! I didn't leave for long! Just an hour or so!" defended Kakashi, holding up his hands in a surrendering manner. She snarled and continued her advance. He looked frantically to the other boys, hoping they would defend him. They, however, had scattered, leaving poor Kakashi to a demented Sakura. "CURSE YOU, SASUKE AND NARUTOOOOOOO!" he screamed as he was sent flying into the sky with a kick from Sakura.
In the trees, the two boys sweat-dropped. "Hope he won't be too mad," said Naruto, trying to see where their sensei had gone. Kakashi always got himself into these situations; how these kind of things came along was beyond the two of them. Sasuke shook his head and sighed.
"I doubt he will be," he replied, "Hey, dobe, can we get going to my house? You know, for the seals?" Naruto grinned and nodded eagerly. They jumped from the tree and jogged back to the village, and when the smell of ramen wafted through the air, Naruto halted. "What is it-oh," started Sasuke before he smelled the ramen. He shrugged. It was close to lunch anyway. "Alright, let's eat," he said, and by the time he had finished his sentence, the blonde had already ducked under the cloth flaps of Ichiraku ramen.
Sasuke sighed again, and followed him. Inside, they were greeted by Teuchi and Ayame. "Hey, Naruto, Sasuke. What's your order today?" asked the old man, Ayame disappearing in the back.
"Two large bowls of miso, please!" said Naruto, nearly jumping from his seat.
"A bowl of pork," replied the other. Teuchi relayed the order to his daughter, and five minutes later the two were eating. Naruto finished his ramen first, of course, and waited impatiently for his teammate. As soon as he was done, they thanked them and exited the stand, heading towards the Uchiha complex. When the two reached the front gate, Naruto gazed upon it.
"Sheesh, I know I've passed by this several times, but I never knew it was your house, teme," he said, turning his head and grinning at the Uchiha. Sasuke rolled his eyes and opened the gate. They walked through the desolate compound; after looking for other family members, Naruto asked, "Hey, teme, where's the rest of your family? It's a ghost town out here."
"The rest of my clan is dead," answered Sasuke flatly, "They died when I was eight." Naruto glanced at the Uchiha, and studied him for a few seconds.
Eventually, he said sympathetically, "Seems like you have it worse than me on that." Sasuke looked at the blonde curiously.
"What do you mean by that?"
"Well, I've never had a family, so I've never developed those ties, so they could never hurt me. But you… you've had those ties torn away, and I bet it hurts everyday," he turned toward Sasuke, "Doesn't it?"
Sasuke nodded slowly, the words striking him deeply. In the back of his mind, he admired Naruto's wisdom, but the main part was in painful reminiscence. Even though Sasuke was long over the urge to seek out revenge, it didn't mean that he still didn't mourn the loss of his clan sometimes. That night was still fresh in his mind, and it would probably remain so for the rest of his life. "It does hurt, and it will hurt forever," admitted Sasuke, voicing his thoughts, "I'm not invincible."
"No one is, Sasuke. Not even the great Uchihas were," consoled Naruto, and then he relieved the serious atmosphere by grinning brightly, "Now, about those seals." Sasuke smiled wanly, and nodded. They went into the main building of the complex, and Sasuke went into his room to retrieve the gloves.
"Here," said Sasuke, walking out of the room and tossing a pair of grey fingerless gloves to the blonde. Naruto nodded, and pulled a paper seal from his back pocket. He unsealed a paintbrush and ink bottle, and quickly went to work painting a storage seal on the palm of the gloves. Sasuke stood to the side while Naruto worked, crossing his arms and leaning on a wall.
"There! Done," said the blonde, finishing the seal. Sasuke looked up and took the gloves, examining them. He drew Raijin and pressed onto the seal. He focused chakra into the seal and sword, and Raijin disappeared in a cloud of smoke. He pulled the gloves on, held out his hand, and focused. Raijin appeared directly in his hand, and Sasuke took a few practice katas. After that, he smirked at the blonde.
"Good work, dobe," he thanked, sealing Raijin back. Naruto smiled largely, and the two walked out of the complex, and immediately ran into Hinata, who they (except Naruto) hadn't seen since the Genin assignments. She blushed furiously when she saw Naruto, who was also blushing. Sasuke frowned puzzled. The group was silent, until the blonde of the group decided to break it.
"Uh, hey H-Hinata. S-sorry about that one day," he stuttered sheepishly, scratching the back of his head. Hinata didn't respond, simply choosing to stare at him while blushing. Naruto stopped scratching his head, and saw the blush. "Hey, Hinata, why are you red?" He placed his face an inch from her's, and unintentionally smelled the lavender scent that she always seemed to have.
'Lavender,' thought Naruto blissfully, accidently bowing his head right into Hinata's chest. She was frozen for a second, and then gave a deafening "EEP!" before fainting and falling onto the ground. Naruto stood instantly ramrod-straight, and flushed. He stared at Hinata, and glanced pleadingly at Sasuke, who gave him a look that meant, "This is your problem. Deal with it." Naruto wanted to kill the Uchiha for that, but bent down and picked up Hinata, carrying her on his back. He took off toward the Hyuuga complex, leaving an amused and exasperated Sasuke behind.
'Even though this Naruto is smarter, he's still as dense as ever,' thought Sasuke, chuckling lightly. He shook his head, and walked back into the compound. He trained with Raijin for the rest of the day, sweating profusely by the end of it. He had practiced unsealing it mid-combat, and special maneuvers or tricks that stemmed from being able to pull a sword from mid-air. Sasuke went in, unaware that he had been watched the entire time from Naruto and him arriving and him going in. The figure stayed at its vantage point in a tree, and nodded its head before disappearing in a cloud of smoke.
Well, that's that. The updates are going to be slower due to school and, well… me being half-Nara. Mix that in with a little Akimichi, what do you get? Something not good. Anyway, please review, and thank you to the ones who did and will do so! :)
