The evening after he graduated the Academy
Getsuubi was happy. He wasn't overjoyed or ecstatic, just happy. Today he'd accomplished one of his goals, he'd passed the tests set forth at the academy. Naruto, however had not. When they were dismissed Getsuubi had sat next to his blonde friend outside the entrance to the Academy.
"Still have the same old trouble with the Buunshin, aren't you?" He queried.
"You could say that. It doesn't matter how many times I've tried, I just can't get the damned thing right. It always comes out totally useless." The blue eyed boy pouted. "I don't know what I'm doing wrong either. The only two things I can do kinda good are Kawarimi and Henge."
"I know. I've seen you, and you're the one who taught me how to do the stupid Henge." Getsuubi saw his friend smile at the memory. "It's still pretty priceless the look on Iruka-sensei's face when he found out it was completely solid." Getsuubi illustrated the look that had been on their sensei's face and Naruto busted out laughing.
"It's so much funnier when you do it, cause it makes your eyes look all funny." Naruto said. He was glad that Getsuubi was doing his best to cheer him up. The more he watched the other kids and their parents, the more isolated he felt. Having Getsuubi helped more than anyone would ever know.
Both blondes turned back to watch as the crowd in front of the academy and watched it thin out until just Uchiha boy was left. He walked over to where the two blondes sat.
"Hey, Getsuubi, Dobe." He said.
"Don't call me dobe, Sasuke-teme. I have a name you know." Naruto shouted.
"Hey, Sasuke. Can you at least go light on him for once. He's the only one they wouldn't let pass." Getsuubi stated flatly.
Uchiha Sasuke wasn't what either blonde would really call a friend, but after he lost his family, he'd become a lot less of a stuck up prick around both of them. He seemed to realize they all shared a connection.
Sasuke's face didn't change, but his words did. "Naruto, will you at least stop shouting now?"
Naruto immediately stopped his tirade and his acting and sat back on his swing. "Yeah, I guess. Since you actually used my name for once. Hey, you guys wanna go get some ramen for dinner? To celebrate you two graduating?"
"Sorry, Naruto. I'll have to do it some other time. There was something I needed to do tonight before I get assigned to my team tomorrow." Sasuke actually looked contrite about his apology, and Naruto said that doing it later sounded great. Getsuubi was also relieved, because he'd promised Keshai that he would be at the bar tonight to help.
The three broke apart and went their separate ways a little while later. Naruto going to get his ramen, Sasuke walking towards his clans district, and Getsuubi headed for the red light district and Keshai's bar.
When he was younger, the gray eyed boy had not realized exactly what sort of area he was stealing food from, he just knew that the people around there were almost always loud and inebriated. Now he understood what happened in the part of town, but he wouldn't abandon Keshai just because of where business was convenient.
As he walked into the door, he was greeted by a warm welcome from the regular customers. His cooking had become quite good in his time with the older bartender, and the people who regularly came in would always ask if he was coming in. If he was, they would wait for him to show up to order anything to eat. Each one of them quickly took notice of his hitai-ate that was strapped around one of his thighs, and whistled or made some comment about it.
As Getsuubi passed by one of the tables, his arm was caught by one of the regulars and he was wheeled around to face her. She was one that was in sometimes, just enough for him to recognize her, and he'd realized a long time ago that she was a kunoichi. He figured she just came to drink away her problems. Getsuubi regained his feet and stood in front of the purple haired woman defiantly.
"What's a youngster like you doing in here and wearing a hitai-ate?" She asked.
"I earned it at the academy. As for what I'm doing here I owe the bartender for providing me with a place to sleep. Now if you don't mind I have things to do..." Getsuubi stated flatly.
The kunoichi laughed, and the boy had the nasty suspicion that this was the person that Iruka had mentioned as the Snake Princess, Mitiroshin or something like that.
"Yeah, I s'pose you do. By the way, I'm Anko, Mitarashi Anko. You ever need help with something just ask kid." She said as she let go of his arm.
The blonde rolled his shoulder before he answered coldly "Do not call me a kid, Anko. I've lost it on people for a hell of a lot less. I'd rather not get into trouble on my first day as a gennin, but insult what little pride I have one more time, and consequences be damned. I'll try to tear your ass apart. I'll fail, but I'll give you one hell of a run for your money. As for your offer for help, I don't ask for help. Never have, and never will. If I can't do I on my own then I wasn't meant to do it. Now if you don't mind, leave me alone. I need to get to work." He turned and stocked off behind the bar, leaving a very surprised woman behind him.
He didn't bother looking back over his shoulder as he took up his position at the grill and began preparing the food as fast as Keshai could take the orders. By now Getsuubi had mastered handling a full dozen bodies, each one with six arms apiece. It was more than was needed to man the bar, but he did use a couple at times like this when times were busy. Had he bothered to look back, he would have seen one Mitarashi Anko watching him with great interest. She might just go back on her word to not take a gennin team this year, she thought, so long as this boy would be on it. He had spunk, to talk to her like he had and walk away, and he used his techniques as if they were nothing in the long run. Creating four of himself and all of them immediately growing extra arms and working would have left most chuunin standing exhausted.
Anko began to wonder just how strong the boy really was as she left the bar to go to the Hokage tower.
As she walked into the Hokage's office, she realized that the room was already populated by three other jounins, Hatake, Asuma, and Kurenai.
The Hokage broke the sudden silence. "Anko-san, to what do we owe the pleasure?"
"I was wondering, Hokage-sama, if I could talk to you for a moment?"
The question was answered as Sarutobi motioned for the others to clear the room, he gave them clear instructions to wait outside, and they would resume their talk in a few moments.
As soon as they had shut the door, Anko turned to the Hokage again. "I was wondering about one of the new gennin."
"Any particular one?" The Hokage asked with some curiousity.
"In fact, yes. Getsuubi. I was wondering where you were planning on placing him for his team assignment."
"And why have do you care so suddenly?"
"I saw him tonight, in the red light district in one of the bars. He helps the bartender, Keshai, out a lot. Tonight he walked in with the hitai-ate strapped around his thigh, and I grabbed him to talk to him. After a few minutes he pretty much politely told me where I could shove my degrading words, and promptly went to work with the help of some of his special clones. He acted like it was no big deal that he just used a ton of chakra for such a mundane purpose as making food. He didn't even flinch when he brought them into existence." She paused to catch her breath after her tirade, and realized that the old man before he was smirking. "What?" She asked, slightly flustered now.
"Are you volunteering to be his jounin sensei, Mitarashi-san?" He asked.
"If he is not already assigned, then yes, I would." Was the immediate reply. She couldn't say what impulse made her say it so quickly, but she was more than happy that she had finally made a choice.
The Hokage stood and walked to the door, opened it, and brought the others back inside.
"We were discussing the fate of Naruto and Getsuubi, along with the Uchiha." Sarutobi said as he motioned towards the others. "It would appear that due to unusual circumstances involving the theft of the sealed scroll, and the subsequent learning of Kage Buunshin, Naruto has become a gennin. This would mean that we have one extra gennin than the current teams require. I believe that the Uchiha would be best paired with Naruto, so that they could learn from each other, but that would leave Getsuubi to wait. However," He held up one hand to forestall the speaking of the three jounins beside Anko, "We have found a way around that. You said, Anko-san, that he can create enough of himself that he could make his own team, and he can do it without any sort of apparent strain, right?"
At a nod from her and confused looks from the others, he continued. "Then this is what I propose. The teams shall be as follows. Under Kurenai-san, there will be Inuzuka Kiba, Hyuuga Hinata, and Aburame Shino. Under Asuma-san, there will be Yamanaka Ino, Nara Shikamaru, and Akamichi Chouji. Under Kakashi-san, there will be Uchiha Sasuke, Haruno Sakura, and Uzumaki Naruto. Anko-san, you will train Getsuubi. Are there are objections to this arrangement?" After a few moments of looking between each others faces, the jounins unanimously shook their heads. "Then that is settled, your teams will be assigned tomorrow at thee academy. Don't be late." With that each of them disappeared from the room using various means.
Back at the bar, Getsuubi and Keshai were closing up early. The regulars were still there, but only those that Getsuubi had gotten to know through his years with Keshai. As everyone sat down at the bar, each held a saucer with sake in it, even the boy, but for once no one was going to complain about it. He was a shinobi, so he may as well be an adult in their eyes.
Keshai stood behind the bar and held his saucer aloft as he spoke, "Here's to the boy that has become close to all of us. Getsuubi, this is to your accomplishment of one of your goals. This is to you becoming a Shinobi." Each of them held up their saucers, including the stoic boy, and then drank the contents.
Getsuubi stood when he was done. "Thank you, to all of you." A small smile found it's way onto his face. "Thank you for accepting me as I am, and for celebrating with me on this night." As soon as he was done, he sat down again. Each of the men had a few more saucers of sake before they began to clear out. Getsuubi lay down on his bed as the last one left.
"I get assigned to my team tomorrow..." he said as Keshai sat on a chair next to him. "I wonder what Naruto is going to do."
"If he's your friend, he'll be ok. I think it takes a lot to truly be your friend. That said, he's probably already figured out a way to become a gennin. Only worry about him he hasn't found a way within the next few days. Deal?"
The gray eyed boy thought about if for a few minutes before he stuck out his hand and shook Keshai's. "Deal."
The next day in his regular classroom
"Hoy, Getsuubi." A very subdued Naruto said.
The short haired blonde looked up to see his friend standing over him. Complete with a hitai-ate on his forehead.
"How'd you make it? I thought you didn't pass yesterday. Were you just doing that to make me pity you?" Getsuubi rapid fired questions at his companion.
"No, nothing like that. It's a long story. To make it short, Mizuki told me that if I stealed the Hokage's sealed scroll and learned one of the techniques in it that I could become a gennin. He tried to steal the scroll from me, but Iruka sensei came and stopped him. Mizuki tried to kill Iruka, but I had learned Kage Buunshin. Apparently I can do that one right, because I created like two hundred of them and beat the crap out of Mizuki. I hope Iruka-sensei is ok. He took a shuriken to his back to stop it from hitting me."
Getsuubi smiled at his friend. "Don't worry. It'll take more than that to rid us of Iruka-sensei. He's too stubborn to let that stop him." He poked the hitai-ate on his friends forehead. "It's good to know I picked a good friend. Told you, you could do it."
Naruto thought about it for a minute before he laughed and took his seat. Their replacement sensei came in before long and all the gennin began to grow quiet.
The sensei waited until it was completely silent to speak. "Due to circumstances that involved many different factors, I'll be assigning your squads instead of Iruka. He was supposed to give a speech about loyalty and all that jazz, but since he's currently out cold and we don't know if he had any notes, I'm just here to give you your team assignments. Any questions?"
Yamanaka Ino stood up, "Yeah, what happened to sensei?"
"I can't answer that right now. Are there any other questions?"
This time it was Naruto, "Why can't you tell them what happened? They're going to find out sooner or later anyways."
Everyone in the room was silent for a moment before the instructor replied, "You know why, Naruto. The information you attained last night is something that cannot be discussed without the Hokage's permission."
A dead silence ensued. No one was sure what had really just been said, but a very silent Naruto replaced himself in his seat. He knew now that the reason that no one could know the story was because Mizuki had told him about the demon fox inside of him. He hadn't told Getsuubi that part yet, and had planned to tell him later. Now he wasn't so sure.
Before the silence became a problem, the sensei spoke again, "I guess there aren't any more questions. So I'll get your senseis now." With that he exited the room, returning a few minutes later to still find the class silently staring towards Naruto. Each of them wanted to know how he was involved, but no one wanted to be the first to ask.
Only three of the jounins had shown up, but that was enough as the instructor once again spoke out. The gennin turned to listen to him. "Teams will be as follows. Team seven, under Kakashi Hatake, the absent jounin, will be Uchiha Sasuke, Haruno Sakura," A loud cheer was heard from the pinkette, followed by the thunk of Ino's head on the desk. "And Naruto Uzumaki." Another dead silence followed, though this one was interrupted by Sasuke.
"Well, at least I know one of my team is decent." Sakura immediately looked up hopefully, but almost fainted when she realized that the black haired boy was looking up and past her. "Hey, Naruto. It's good to have you."
This surprised everyone in the class, but Naruto just sat and smiled. "Good to have you too, Sasuke. Maybe you can help me brush up a bit on my control of chakra?"
His question went unanswered as the sensei interrupted, " Pipe down. Team eight is under Kurenai Yuuhi. You are Inuzuka Kiba, Hyuuga Hinata, and Aburame Shino."
At this a loud groan was heard from Kiba, but nothing else was said.
"Team ten will be with Sarutobi Asuma. Your team consists of Nara Shikamaru, Ino Yamanaka," Her head was once again heard hitting the desk. "And Akamichi Chouji." This time a strangled sob left her.
Those close to her heard her whisper, "I'm stuck with the lazy one and someone I barely know, I'll never get a chance at Sasuke."
The instructor paused for a very long time, and eventually Getsuubi stood up and asked, "Sensei, if they are all assigned to a team, I would assume that Anko-sensei is my teacher, but who is on my team?"
A laugh was heard that startled everyone. It came out of the only jounin that hadn't been mentioned yet.
"I've seen what you can do with what you've been given, give you a little while and you could probably walk around with two of you by your side twenty four hours a day. I think your damn capable of handling yourself, don't you?" the purple haired kunoichi asked him directly.
"Y-yes, sensei." Was all she got as a reply.
Each of the teams filtered out with their sensei except for Naruto's group and Getsuubi, along with Anko.
"Hey, Naruto, Sasuke, you still want to meet later at Ichiraku's?" the gray eyed genning asked.
"Yeah, see you there, Getsuubi."
"Hn, yes. I'll be there."
Getsuubi's lips twitched a little, then he turned to his sensei as she spoke.
"Come on ki... Getsuubi. We've got a lot to accomplish before you can get off the hook." The look in her eyes as she spoke told him that her slip wasn't meant to be there, it's just what she was used to calling anyone younger then her.
He nodded and followed her out.
As they walked along, Getsuubi studied his sensei further. She was taller than him, but that was easy at this point in his life, most of the new gennin were taller than Getsuubi,. The only one that was shorter was Naruto, and he wasn't more than an inch behind the gray eyed boy. Her hair looked like a sort of grayish purple, with a knot done in the back of it that made the tail spike out around the back of her head. The biggest anomalies were her choice of attire and her eyes. Her eyes held a lot of the same pain that Naruto and he had, but they didn't hide it as well. Her clothes were far from what you would expect for a kunoichi too. She wore a pair of shirt and shorts that were standard metal mesh, just like Getsuubi's own undershirt. Over that she wore a medium length tan trench coat and a skirt that in Getsuubi's opinion invited trouble with it's lack of length. At least that was his opinion, he could be wrong. The only other thing that caught his eye were the greaves she wore over her standard blue shinobi shoes. They weren't something most shinobi wore, but they could have their uses.
As he studied them further, he felt that there were eyes other than those of the crowd upon him, and looked up to see that his sensei was also appraising him.
"You like what you see, boy? Or are you just wondering why I choose to dress strangely?"
"Neither sensei. Your wardrobe is your choice, and I don't find women attractive as others do. The opposite sex is not a piece of meat to be ogled and sought after like some sort of prize. I was simply trying to figure out if the greaves were to compliment your taijutsu or if they were for protection from one of your own techniques. The other option is that you leave your shins unprotected while casting some of your jutsus." He replied smoothly, almost coldly.
Again Anko was taken aback by this boy. Most of the opposite sex, no matter their age, would ogle her, but here was this boy, who seemed to really not care about such things, and he was analyzing everything about her.
"I'd also like to know why you keep your kunai pouch inside of your coat. It would seem impractical in a fight." Getsuubi said, as he realized that the silence from his sensei only grew longer.
Anko, realizing that the boy wanted and answer now, stopped and turned to him.
"For someone your age, you must not have many friends to have developed such analytical skills. I-" She was interrupted by her student.
"I have only one friend, Uzumaki Naruto. I would greatly appreciate it if you do not bring up such subjects again."
"As I was saying, I wear the greaves to compliment my taijutsu. My kunai pouch is inside my coat because I don't often use anything in it. When I do, I usually have time to draw it out before anything happens. I rely mainly on my jutsus."
"I see." Was her only reply.
They continued walking until they came to Konoha's gates.
"Sensei, why are we leaving Konoha?" Getsuubi asked.
"I was already informed of your main abilities and it's drawback by the Hokage. If we are to train as I want to, then we need to be in a place where you can go all out without fear of hurting the village. I take it that is why you left on a great many occasions in the past. Correct?"
"Yes, sensei."
"Good. Now... Ok what the hell do I call you?" Anko stopped just outside of the gates and turned on him.
"You can call me anything that doesn't imply stupidity or childishness." The blonde stated.
"So what in the hell do I call you? I don't want to call you Getsuubi all the time. It's long and annoying. I can't just call you Get, or Suubi, or baka, or kid or anything else though, either." She threw up her hands in frustration.
"Until you come up with a decent name then, you may call me what Keshai does. Little man. However, for your information, I would greatly appreciate a different name soon. On another note, do not ever put the suffix 'kun' on my name. That would imply that you like me. I do not want to be liked." The blonde boy sounded sullen for the first half, and forceful the more he talked. He sounded like he hated it.
"Ok, Little man. Why do you hate 'kun' so much?" Anko asked.
"Ichiraku Ayame is the only one who can get away with it, and that is because Naruto and her have coerced me into not getting angry because of it. In return, I call her 'chan'. It irritates her, but she understands that it is my way of returning the favor. Now, if you don't mind, I think you said there was a lot I had to do 'before I could get off of the hook'. I'd like to get it done because I do not want to be late tonight."
Anko led him further away from the village to the clearing where Getsuubi usually practiced his techniques. "We're here. As far as what I want you to do before we are done for the day, I want you to show me everything you can do without... Going overboard."
Getsuubi immediately formed his bloodline handsign and grew twelve full bodies of himself. Each one formed the handsign and grew an extra four arms.
"This is as far as I can go so far with my abilities. If I cut back by two bodies I can place a full set of eight arms on each body." He said.
"What happens if you were to put more arms on them right now?" the purple haired kunoichi asked.
"I would lose my mind and destroy everything around me until I either ran out from chakra exhaustion or I got control of myselves."
"You make it sound like there are more than one of you."
Another one of the boy before her answered her, "We are all one person, just many bodies. Each one of us is completely independent of the original, yet we are all part of the original." At that all of them melted and returned to the original. "What I'm about to do, no one has seen besides Naruto. He's only seen it once. The Hokage knows that I can do it, but has never seen it. Ready a kunai, sensei." With that the blonde formed his handsign and formed another body, standing right next to the first. "Now, chose a body, and stab it through the heart." They said in chorus. "It would be best for this demonstration to kill the original."
Anko looked shocked. He was asking her to kill him! "What do you mean!?" she asked, alarmed. "You want me to kill you?"
"Exactly, but if you won't do it," the one that was a clone pulled a kunai from the pouch on his hip, "Then I will do it for you." With that the clone stabbed his duplicate in the heart and watch as is hit the ground and dissolved into a puddle of flesh.
Anko just stood in shock. "How the fuck are you still standing if your a clone?"
"It's simple. All of us are one being. So long as there is one of us that lives through a battle, we will survive." The boy bent down and put his hand into the mass of dead flesh, watching as it was absorbed. He clutched at his heart right before it was complete, grimacing I pain until there wasn't any of the original body left behind, then he straightened and looked at his sensei in the eye. "I can pick them up and repair the body and use it as another clone later. That is my bloodline."
Silence reigned in the clearing for almost ten minutes, neither one moved.
"Would you like to see my other abilities Anko-sensei? I promise that none of them are as vulgar as what you just witnessed." Anko watched the boy as he spoke, noting the devious smile that appeared for a split second on his face at the word vulgar.
"Yes, please continue." She barely got the phrase out before she went to sit with her back against a tree and watch. Outside of his bloodline, he could use Kawarimi very well and the regular Buunshin. It was when he used henge that he again acted strange.
"Sensei, there is something I want to show you about this." He held up his hand, indicating his transformation. He looked like a thirty year old man, well toned muscles and completely clean shaven, even his head was shaved. The man looked to be about a foot taller than Getsuubi.
As Anko approached him, the man made a motion towards his head. "Please, slap me."
It was the weirdest request she had ever heard barring the gray eyed boys earlier request. She did as she was asked, and was surprised when her hand encountered what felt like flesh.
"What is this?" she asked quietly.
"This is mine and Naruto's. We couldn't do a normal henge to save our lives, so we found a way to make it solid. It was risky, and I nearly destroyed my clone that I was having work on it once, but we got it down now."
"So you mean Naruto can do this too?" She asked, surprised that they have figured out how to turn chakra into something solid so easily.
"Yes. That is all I know how to do at this point, they never taught us anything more at the academy." Getsuubi said.
"Alright, how good are you at taijutsu?"
"Take your stance," Getsuubi dropped his henge and formed four extra arms, "and prepare to defend yourself. I wasn't kidding when I said I would try to whip your ass." With that he launched at her, using everything he had.
The spar lasted for almost two hour before both combatants lay on the ground, completely exhausted. Getsuubi had multiple bruises up and down his body, but with that many arms he was constantly hitting and defending all at once.
Anko looked just as bad, except that she had a few more bruises than Getsuubi did, even with the extra help of the greaves she had bruises all over her body.
"You're not bad, Little man. Where did you learn?" She asked when she had caught her breath. She looked over at him and realized that he was already calm and sitting up crosslegged.
"I taught myself. The style has no name, and no real basic mechanics. It's all about hitting fast, defending while you're there, and getting away before they can gather themselves too much. May I go now? You've tested everything I know." He asked very pointedly.
Realizing that she had probably already made him late with her many hours of questions and sparring, she let him go.
"Be back her bright and early tomorrow." She called as he left.
She didn't hear a reply.
AN: That took a lot to write, so I really like the people out there reading this are enjoying it. Those of you who read it and Fav/Com/Rev are awesome and I really appreciate it. I hope you like this chapter as it is really starting to kick off into a good story. Hopefully I'll get up the next Chapter inside a week, but I'm never sure when I can upload.
Anyways, that aside, I'm doing the best I can as far as keeping up with where I want to go, but my muse is killing me to get back to my other story too. I might go to it for a little while and then come back to this. Who knows? Either way, I'll see you guys next chapter.