Disclaimer: Everything belongs to Masashi Kishimoto.
Team 7's Ascension
Chapter IV - Plant the Seed IV
Splash – mud and dirt flew through the air.
Sasuke shifted his foot a few inches to the right. He was wary of the vicious nature the earth apparently possessed in these parts of Hi no Kuni.
One step back – he swung his sword downward.
Change of grip – he whirled around, stabbing an imaginary opponent.
… Itachi, if he indulged in his darker phantasies.
His arms and legs burned. Not literally, but nonetheless it was a feeling he disliked. Tiredness that felt so alien, that he was unaccustomed to. He hated Kakashi. The sensation of broken bones, of painful bruises... those he knew, but this utter exhaustion, his body brought to its physical limit was... unfamiliar.
He hated it too.
Another slash, another step, a new stance.
Yes. Kakashi, too, featured quite frequently in the violent images he created during the mind numbing training. He would pay, someday. A well placed kunai, stabbed into the man's visible eye – a fitting punishment.
Stab. Whirl. Change of grip. Slash.
Shinōbi relied on their chakra. It was an easy concept and the fundamental truth in their bloody business. Whether external or internal, it granted them the ability to achieve the impossible. Without it they were nothing.
Well, nothing might be a bit harsh, Sasuke amended.
He'd definitely call it sub-par though. Without chakra they were normal foot soldiers. Grunts. One face among thousands, nothing to separate themselves from the masses.
There was a definite limit to how much the human body could achieve in terms of physically strenuous exercises – with chakra this limit didn't exist.
The internal use of chakra: strengthening bones, amplifying speed, heightening one's endurance... these were things taught in the first few classes at the academy. Those who weren't even capable of this were thrown out of the program faster than his blond teammate could eat a bowl of ramen.
It was, of course, also influenced by a person's reserves as well as control, but the basics... the premise... it could be found in each and everyone who aspired to become a shinōbi.
When he felt tired it was because his reserves had run low. Then he just needed to rest and recharge them. Pumping chakra through his body, even for the most menial of tasks... it was such an ingrained reflex. It had been basically trained into him since his birth.
Doing something else felt wrong.
Kakashi had sealed his chakra, and he would pay – eventually – for introducing Sasuke to the concept of pure physical exhaustion.
Sasuke saw a sword approaching and quickly lifted his own to parry the incoming attack.
Clang.
The force behind the strike was surreal and although he gripped the hilt of his sword with his second hand, it was futile.
Sasuke's knees buckled.
His mind wasn't sealed though. He could use that, at least, and frantically tried to think up a strategy that would help him out of this predicament. Sasuke slid a few inches to the left planning to counter, when his feet suddenly left the ground and he fell painfully on his back.
Splash.
Damn mud.
He found himself watching the pointed edge of a sword that lazily traced his moving Adam's Apple.
"You're dead," his asshole of an instructor informed him.
Sasuke hated that man too.
"Hn," he grunted then grumbled under his breath, "... if I had chakra, you'd lose."
The instructor arched his eyebrows sceptically, then he laughed. He nodded pointedly to the sword that still kept the Uchiha firmly rooted to his place in the mud.
"The difference... shinōbi... is that you have no chakra right now. Nothing changes – you're still dead."
"Kakashi-sensei sealed it. That's the only reason you won," Sasuke replied sourly.
A grin formed on the instructor's face, only widening when he saw Sasuke's clenched fists. "I don't know much 'bout you shinōbi... but what's going to happen if you run out of chakra in a fight?"
To make his point clear, the man kicked Sasuke in his side – something the Uchiha hadn't counted on. "See? You're just goin' to roll over and die?"
Sasuke wanted to say something. He desperately wanted to defend himself, his honor, but somehow the words – I'd never run out of chakra – sounded hollow. Especially as he was still gasping painfully for breath after the kick.
He knew that the man spoke the truth... and his pride made Sasuke despise him for it.
"Hn," Sasuke grunted again.
"Look," the instructor rolled his eyes. "Your teacher left you here for a reason. Sure, it's nice to know more about swords... but if you really think that's the only reason then you're just a little kid."
"..."
"Anyway... let's continue," the instructor stepped back and Sasuke rose from the ground, intent on wiping the annoying smirk off the man's face.
The four week period had ended remarkably fast for the blond maverick – unsurprisingly, he had loathed nearly all of the thirty days with all his being.
This, however, hadn't been the case because it was a boring month like he assumed at first. No, his loathing ran deeper, far deeper.
Hate didn't come easy to him. Truly, he didn't even hate the bigoted villagers of Konoha for ignoring him all the time. Dislike, perhaps... but never with such a strong feeling of disgust as the one that had boiled in his stomach these last weeks.
He endured as the head adviser of the Daimyo talked about various political decisions. The man's voice was disgustingly sweet, he now recognized.
At least he had learned to fake interest in conversations fairly proficiently.
The adviser's chin wobbled slightly with each new word – he really shouldn't talk while eating food that left his fingers sticky and his lips greasy. In a rare moment of self-depreciation, Naruto reflected on his own eating habits and found them sorely lacking, too.
He would change that. Definitely. His love for the food of Kami would never vanish, but perhaps a bit of restraint would be appropriate in the future.
Naruto gritted his teeth and listened to the tale of another vicious plot the man had pushed through the Daimyo's court with reckless abandon, completely uncaring for the corpses his manipulations had left in its wake.
Had Kakashi-sensei intervened in Sasukes and Sakura's training too? It didn't matter, he supposed. He definitely wasn't angry with the hint his sensei had left him.
Thankful was a better fitting word, actually, because without the Jonin's timely intervention, Naruto would have fallen victim to the rotten manipulations of a man who was apparently quite experienced in pulling the strings of people like one of Suna's master puppeteers.
"So, you aspire to become Hokage, young Naruto?" the head adviser asked.
A gentle smile tugged at the man's lips, and in a friendly gesture his hand came to rest on Naruto's shoulder, guiding him through the beautiful gardens adjacent to the Daimyo's palace.
"That certainly is an admirable goal... not outside the realm of possibility either."
"Believe it," Naruto responded, his voice was a bit more subdued but nonetheless cheerful. "I'll become strong, like Hokage-jiji."
In a whisper that wasn't meant to be heard by the man, he added, "They'll have to respect me then..."
The adviser's smile widened. "You're a sharp boy, young Naruto. Don't forget though that strength alone isn't enough to become a leader of men."
"Eh? What else do I need? The old man's plenty strong."
"You need alliances," the man said.
He elaborated when he saw Naruto's confused look. "Friends, if you will – people that are strong and can help you. I like you, my boy. Why, I think I could become your first ally... and maybe, in the future, I will be there to see you accept the responsibility of being Hokage."
Naruto scrunched up his face. "You don't look that strong," he responded brashly, and paled a bit when he noticed how rude his reply had been. "I mean, I'd like to be your friend too, but are you sure that you can... you know, help me get the hat?"
"Strength, young Naruto, comes in many different ways. Let me tell you a story that you might find interesting..."
Such honeyed words... and like a kid starved for attention he had hung on every sentence.
The adviser was currently pointing at some scribbled lines on a large, unfurled map that explained the importance of several different trade routes in Hi no Kuni, as well as their economical value.
A bitter smile stretched Naruto's lips. In the dim light of the oil lamps hanging over them however, it looked like a happy grin to the adviser. Even the enemy could teach valuable lessons, Naruto learned.
Although those were much more difficult to swallow and always came with a steep price: his innocence, or at least what's left of it after Ground 44.
"... and that was how we kept the uprising under wraps, simultaneously acquiring the rare chance to build a few trading posts in Kaminari no Kuni."
"Wow, that's pretty awesome, Oji-san," Naruto replied and grinned.
The adviser had told him a lot of stories like this one over the last three days and Naruto had to admit, the guy was kinda cool, even though he couldn't really fight. As a prankster he could appreciate a well thought-out plan after all.
Using only words wasn't his preferred way of solving problems, granted, but he conceded that it could get the job done just as well.
Really, the weapons were different, but the old man was powerful in his own way... and as a shinōbi Naruto respected power at least to some degree.
He grimaced. The man had been good, really, if a bit sloppy in disguising his intentions. It was likely, Naruto assumed, that the adviser hadn't felt it necessary to conceal much in front of a child that seemed rather dim-witted. Not that Naruto would ever refer to himself as such... still, the man had masterfully played on all his insecurities.
… and he felt a burning sensation of shame that he fell for it so easily. Apparently, all it took for him to trust someone was a bit of attention, a few bland smiles and some words of encouragement that he'd achieve his dream sooner or later.
"Why the grimace, young Naruto? Is the food not to your liking?"
Naruto thanked Kami that the man hadn't payed attention to what fruits he ate. He pointed to the silver platter with a rich assortment of berries. "Picked a sour one," he replied, scratching his head sheepishly.
He should have known better after the debacle with that bastard teacher Mizuki. Obviously he hadn't learned his lesson as well as he thought.
"Yo."
A familiar voice startled Naruto as he was about to go to bed in one of the more luxurious rooms the palace held – courtesy of the head adviser. He looked up, and was surprised to see his sensei crouching on the windowsill, easily balancing on the three inches thick wood while reading his beloved book.
Kakashi snapped his orange lecture shut and jumped into the room, landing gracefully in front of Naruto. "Basic shinōbi skill number four: awareness," he said. "Never let yourself be surprised. The greatest Jutsu won't help you if you don't notice me slitting your throat."
Naruto looked sufficiently chagrined. "Heh, sorry 'bout that, Kakashi-sensei."
"Anyway, I observed some of your lessons with the head adviser..."
"He's strong, right? I mean, he's not good at fighting, but he can kick ass with speaking," Naruto grinned.
"Ma, if you say so. I'm just here to check up on you and thought I'd offer a bit of advice... Mizuki."
Before Naruto could rant about the cryptic advice, Kakashi had already left, leaving him alone to ponder his words.
It was only a single word... but that was all it took to plant the seed of doubt in him.
Mizuki, that rat bastard of a Chūnin had not only betrayed Naruto, he had also hurt Iruka and deceived him in a desperate ploy. To Naruto, the mentioning of the bastard's name alone was plenty cause for concern.
Putting that in conjunction with the head adviser was... worrying to the extreme.
He had needed a day – where he faked sickness – to get his thoughts back in order, and he sure as hell hadn't wasted those hours of contemplation.
Nice words suddenly became fiendish manipulations if looked at from a different perspective. Sugared encouragements were – in the end – nothing more than subtle lies, trying to undermine his loyalty to the Hokage and Konoha.
Oh, he was thankful for Kakashi's warning. Still, the man deserved a good prank for even throwing him into this pit of depraved vipers.
Naruto reached into a large, golden bowl and fished out a strawberry. His cerulean eyes glinted with false innocence.
… what wouldn't he sacrifice for a bowl of warm, steaming ramen now? Certainly the fat man in front of him.
Sure, it was nice to try out different foods. Even the more expensive kind, but abandoning the food of Kami for three months in a row now... he started to doubt that becoming a shinōbi had been worth it.
"Naruto, my boy... it saddens me to see you leave. You truly have the potential to become a masterful politician."
The strawberry halted on its way to his mouth.
He put on a cheerful smile when he answered, "Thanks, old man. I'll be Hokage in no time, you'll see."
"Yes, you will be... but, don't forget me when you're climbing the ranks, eh?"
"Oh, I doubt I'll ever forget you or your lessons, Oji-san," Naruto replied.
In a few minutes, Kakashi would finally come to get him out of this hellhole and Naruto found that he couldn't wait for it to happen. Playing the admiring little child while being completely disgusted with the man in front of him had been hard.
Possibly harder than anything he had done so far.
It was undeniable that Sakura was glad when she saw the familiar silhouettes of her teammates and sensei walking through the thick morning fog. The last month had been upsetting in several ways and not one day had gone by when she didn't feel the urge to blow the palace sky-high.
To simply stab everyone with a kunai – this place had even driven her to agree with her inner voice. It was a rare occurrence at any rate... but, unfortunately, there hadn't been a possibility for a violent outlet such as that.
Day in and day out she had been forced to follow one of the more experienced women at court, pandering and simpering... fulfilling the obese nobles' every wish.
Maddening.
Utterly and completely sickening... and the only reason why she stayed her hand had been the veiled glares and hidden threats from the shinōbi escort that was duty bound to protect the Daimyo's entourage at all times.
Those guys had probably felt her killing intent... weak as it was.
The worst, however, was that she still didn't know what Kakashi had tried to teach her with this one month of torture. Sure, she had added some skills to her repertoire which might help in future infiltration missions. Though, abandoning her for a whole month, just for this?
Sakura fiddled with the hems of her triple-layered dress.
A few months ago she might have even liked it. Now, however, she wanted nothing more than burn it to cinders.
To set fire to it... like the uppity sluts of the palace had done with her own favorite dress.
She'd kill them someday. Slowly.
Her team closed the distance between them, and her eyes widened a bit when she saw Naruto and Sasuke. They, too, hadn't managed to escape a change of attire it seemed.
… and, oh boy, did the blond prankster look uncomfortable in the formal white kimono. Her lips curved upward and Naruto, who saw her weak attempt at hiding her laughter, narrowed his eyes.
That proved to be too much. All the stress that had accumulated over the last month released itself in gales of hysterical laughter. In response, Naruto looked – if possible – even more annoyed. She quickly wiped the tears out of her eyes.
"It suits you," she commented lightly.
"Hn."
Naruto's attempted imitation of Sasuke was so ridiculously weak that even the Uchiha had to fight hard to cover up his grin.
"That's not how you do it," Sasuke said.
"... if you say so," Naruto shrugged. Then he looked back to the palace and shuddered. "I don't care. Let's get the hell out of here."
Sakura observed his stiff posture with interest. "That bad?"
"Worse," Naruto snorted, his eyes suddenly gleaming with mischief. "... and don't tell me you had it any better. I saw you – down in the gardens, with the rest of the entourage. Here my liege, do you want some fruit? Oh, Adviser-sama, do you require more tea? Fun month, eh?"
She threw a kunai at him and huffed when he casually snatched it out of the air. "If I ever have to set foot in this place again, it's too soon."
"Ma, it couldn't have been that bad," Kakashi intervened, smiling cheerfully as he saw Sasuke's murderous look.
"Seal. Release."
"Wow, Bastard's pissed," Naruto sniggered.
"Now."
"Of course, Sasuke-chan," Kakashi replied before getting to work.
"Why aren't we allowed to change our clothes? I seem to have forgotten," Naruto said sarcastically, grimacing as he tugged at his now filthy kimono.
Grass stains, tears, splatters of mud... no, the regal outfit definitely didn't look as good as it had done when he had gotten it.
Team 7 had left Tanyu five days ago, but instead of returning to Konoha, Kakashi led them on a merry trip through the endless forests of Hi no Kuni – vast green expanses with gigantic trees. Rays of sunshine that broke through even the thickest canopy.
Unfortunately, they had no time to enjoy the trip.
The tempo Kakashi set was fast paced. The time to rest was restricted to once a day, and the food they ate had to be hunted or gathered during this short pause. Their sensei was a slave driver of the worst possible sort, Team 7 decided.
"You won't always have the chance to change during a mission... better get used to it now."
"... and why aren't we allowed to wash our clothes?" Sakura asked.
She looked down and examined the tattered remains of her once ridiculously layered dress. It had stopped to give out a royal vibe around two days ago, and she was more than just a bit self-conscious about the smell – and most of all – the amount of skin it showed, now that it had teared in many places.
"Others might notice if you smell like roses," Kakashi answered and smirked, easily hopping from tree to tree. "To hide in the forest, become the forest."
"That makes absolutely no sense," Naruto grumbled. He grimaced when a gust of wind brought his own odor closer to his nose.
"Hn."
Naruto then craned his neck and regarded his Jōnin-sensei with a suspicious look. "Why don't you smell like the forest then?"
"A combination of minor Suitōn and Futōn techniques. I don't need a pause to clean my clothes, " Kakashi replied, too cheerful not to be faked.
"Can you teach us?" Sasuke asked; bad-smelling clothes were simply too plebeian.
"No."
"But, Sensei... don't you want to become the forest?" Sakura asked mischievously.
She'd be damned before the man would leave her to endure the smell alone.
Kakashi's eye glinted in amusement. "I'm not hiding."
"And we are?"
The amusement in the Jōnin's eye changed into a steely look and with precise throws, several shuriken and kunai embedded themselves a few inches away from his Genin.
"I suppose from now on you,re going to be."
"..."
Three days later, the Genin of Team 7 collapsed in a clearing. They were utterly spent and exhausted. Kakashi, who had hunted them for the last 72 hours without pause, landed gracefully in front of them. His nose was, curiously enough, not buried in his orange book; still, in comparison to his charges, the Jōnin didn't look winded in the least.
"Eight days," Kakashi muttered to himself. "Not bad for Genin... seems like Ground 44 has done you some good."
"That was a test?" Sakura asked, outrage creeping into her voice.
She winced as she bandaged some of her cuts with the last bits of her dress. With the exception of a small part that she used as a skirt, the dress had now completely vanished and left her standing next to the boys of Team 7 in her bra.
The first time she noticed, Sakura had become incredibly upset and ashamed – old insecurities reared their head and new ones found fertilizer to fester... then, one of her Jōnin-sensei's Kibakufudas exploded directly next to her and partially deafened her for the better part of the day.
She simply hadn't had the time to feel insecure since then. Every bit of her concentration was spent on evading the demon Kakashi had become.
Sakura watched her chest heaving up and down, and tried to regulate her breathing somewhat. Her hands brushed over the moist grass beneath her. She was glad for the soothing coldness it emitted – the tenseness slowly left her weary muscles with each breath.
She cringed when she thought back to a few of the moments when her reserves had been so taxed during their journey that she resorted to using her own muscle strength. It hadn't been a pleasant feeling for the kunoichi... but, at least she had made it through on her own.
Something that hadn't been a given only a few months ago.
Her eyes wandered over to her blond teammate. He, too, had abandoned most of his clothing and simply used the remains of the royal kimono as some kind of kilt. It wasn't easy to admit, but she had never anticipated what kind of body the blond hid under his clothes.
Then again, they were shinōbi. She should have expected it.
One thing bothered her however... the blond had gigantic reserves. He shouldn't have had any problem with the trip, yet he looked just as exhausted as herself. As soon as she remembered his horrendous chakra control though, she grimaced in sympathy.
No wonder he also looked to be in pain. With her control, she had always sent exactly the needed amount of chakra to support herself on this trip through her body. Naruto though didn't have her control and had probably forced impossible amounts of the energy through his pathways for days.
It wouldn't surprise her if he had a few inner chakra burns alongside his tenketsus and pathways.
Sasuke, she realized belatedly, was the one best equipped for the drill they had just been run through. Enough chakra, and enough control... she was surprised by the short outburst of envy she felt at that thought.
The Jōnin took a deep breath, emitting a serene aura. For all intents and purposes, Kakashi looked like he had great wisdom to impart on his team, "Everything's a test."
Sasuke grunted as he massaged his cramped legs. "What's the purpose then? Seeing us run 'til our legs break?"
"He's right... you know?" Naruto gasped between painful breaths. "There are other ways to amuse yourself."
"Amuse myself?" Kakashi asked cheerfully. "Don't make me laugh... if I want to do that, I'll go to the Red Sparrow."
Naruto knew exactly what kind of establishment the Red Sparrow was, and snorted. It was funny in a way, he supposed.
In another life, perhaps, the Hokage might not have reacted as fast as he did, pulling him out of the streets when the orphanage was destroyed during the escape of some Kumo shinōbi who tried to kidnap the Hyūuga heir.
Maybe he would have learned about the Red Sparrow far more intimately than he did. Luckily though – or unfortunately depending on the perspective one preferred – the apartment his surrogate grandfather had organized him was in one of the nicer parts of Konoha.
Sure, it was nowhere near the clan compounds... but, it was still far away from the slums, and that was what counted. Besides, it had the added bonus that the academy was near which had definitely been useful during the time he attended.
Only the relatively low orphan stipend and the consequent need for food had driven him into the seedier parts of Konoha, where he first noticed the brothel.
Most stuff was simply cheaper there in price as well as quality... no matter if food, booze, weapons, or – occasionally – women; not that he had any need for them when he first moved into his own apartment.
He looked over to his teammates and saw that, while being clueless at first, they quickly caught on to the Jōnin's words.
"... pervert," Sakura muttered.
"Anyway," Kakashi said, ignoring Naruto's amused grin, Sasuke's smoldering glare, and Sakura's outraged look. "You need to know your limitations. Some important missions require for you to travel at a fast pace for weeks."
"So... eight days? That sounds pretty awesome already," Naruto said.
"Mhh, awesome? I don't know. I'd place your travel endurance at mid Chūnin level... at best."
"We're Genin," Sasuke replied with narrowed eyes, while Naruto nodded.
"And you want to remain Genin forever?" Kakashi asked; then he looked to the Uzumaki. "I would have thought that a future Hokage wants to raise in rank someday."
Sakura, who noticed that Naruto was gearing up for a rather venomous reply, shook her head and intervened quickly, "Still, only mid Chūnin?"
"Yes. Seasoned Chūnin have the endurance to travel for two weeks with minimal pauses. The speed though is different... In the last eight days I made you move at the standard pace usually set for Genin – village regulations in peace times, you know? So, even if you held out considerably longer than I anticipated, you'd have never made it this far had I treated you like Chūnin."
In truth, the Hatake didn't give a damn about peacetime regulations. Those regulations stated that Genin had to be able to travel for four days at a quarter of the speed he had made them use... but his minions didn't know that, did they?
What they had used was more of the Chūnin standard during war... and with a bit of luck, they'd just take his word for it and work that much harder in the future.
Then again, if they did that, they would have failed at looking underneath the underneath.
Ah, well... it would be a valuable lesson either way. Someday they might learn of it, but until then he'd simply let them reap the benefits of more difficult training – sweat, blood, and tears.
"That... sucks," Naruto responded. He was decidedly unhappy with the Jōnin's explanation.
Kakashi didn't deign the blond's response worthy of answer and instead looked to the other two. "We're staying here for three weeks now – further endurance training and more chakra control."
Sasuke arched his brows. "Chakra control again?"
"Walking on water, to be precise. It's an essential skill to know, heightens your reserves and endurance, and refines your control."
Sakura's eye twitched. "And we couldn't have done that one day away from Tanyu?"
"Where's the fun in that?" Kakashi asked smilingly. "Now... chop, chop, get to it."
"In these clothes?"
"Didn't we already have this discussion?"
"... there's no water here."
"Really? My bad. Give me a second."
Kakashi sped through dozens of hand seals in an instant and slammed his palms on the ground. "Dotōn – Kaisaku no Jutsu."
The earth crumbled from his hands onward, quickly forming a rough hole in the ground around ten feet deep. He saw the hopeful expressions on his charges' faces and grimaced. "No, I won't teach you that technique. Sasuke, your turn – hardening the earth through heat should be easy for you."
"Katōn – Gōkakyū no Jutsu!"
"You don't have to shout the name, you know? It won't be any less effective if you whisper it."
"Why is that, Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura asked.
The Hatake looked over to his book-smart Genin and answered, "The words help you to focus, and even if you whisper them, you're focus would still be there. It's bad form to loudly announce your attack, and worse, it makes you predictable."
"The academy never taught that."
"Oh, I'm sure they did. But you were little kids – you still are by the way – and probably ignored anything else as soon as you had a technique you could boast with," Kakashi replied and flipped a page in his book, snickering.
Surprisingly enough, it was the blond maverick who spoke first. "That's... embarrassingly accurate."
"Great that you finally see the light, Naruto. Good choice of words too – it's your turn, by the way."
"My turn?"
Kakashi sighed. The three months had done the blond a world of good, but there were still a lot of holes in his education – thinking ahead being one of them.
"You said you need water to learn water walking," he answered. "I gave you the scroll for a Suitōn Jutsu, didn't I?"
Naruto caught on and gaped. The technique he had learned was hilariously weak, barely enough to put out a campfire. "To fill the whole thing?"
"Well, you better get started then. Or else you'll never finish the exercise."
"You're not letting us leave until we finished it, do you?" Sakura asked resigned, already knowing what the answer would be.
"Nope."
Kakashi smiled under his mask.
In one smooth motion Sakura and Sasuke turned to the blond and glared at him with all the murderous intent they could muster.
Naruto, for one, decided that silence was the most suitable option in this situation and raced through the hand seals, "... Suitōn – Semai Mizushuuha."
AN: Well, that's it. Surprisingly, the part with Naruto and the head adviser was the most fun to write.
Kibakufuda – Exploding Tag
Used Jutsu:
Suitōn – Semai Mizushuuha – Small stream of water leaving the casters mouth. (D-ranked)
Katōn – Gōkakyū no Jutsu – Medium sized fireball (You should know this). (C-Ranked)
Dotōn – Kaisaku no Jutsu – Excavation technique. (B-Ranked)