Oh dear. I'm such a bad person. You know I actually cried when I went back and read all the nice reviews I got and realized I hadn't updated in months? (admittedly, I was pms-ing, so…) Please forgive me! I love you all, and thank you kindly to those who did review. Those things make my day. =D
/*\*/*\*/*\*/*\
Chapter 4: The Genin Games
Naruto sighed; the last few days had been rather boring-what with the D-rank missions of gardening, babysitting, and the unfortunate capture of the Fire Lady's cat-and the blond was feeling increasingly restless. I can't believe how boring it is to be a genin… This sucks. Naruto threw his head back against the wall and groaned in frustration, I can't even train, what with Kakashi following me night and day. He even follows my clones with some of his own! And I'm no closer to figuring out what the hell is going on with this place; genjutsu or time-travel? Or something else entirely?
"GAHHH!" He tossed his hands in the air and leaned forward, tired of thinking and feeling the need to move. He suddenly stood and jumped off, racing along the rooftops with as little chakra as possible to give his muscles a workout. He felt Kakashi let off a small chakra spike in surprise as the older man scrambled to catch up to the blond. Naruto grinned impishly and pushed more chakra into his legs, making him shoot off into the air at twice the speed he had originally been going, Time for a race! Oh, that gives me an idea… He sent out his senses, found the chakra he was looking for, and changed direction slightly to head towards it.
A full minute of leaping along rooftops later Naruto dropped into training field twenty-four to find Team 8 taking a break from practicing.
Kiba glanced up as Akamaru barked and he said in surprise, "What's the drop out doing here?"
Kurenai gave her student an admonishing look and said, "That's no way to treat a comrade, Kiba." She turned her gaze to Naruto and kept her face carefully blank as she asked, "What's going on, Naruto?" He's the one Kakashi was telling me to watch out for, the one who was acting odd. I wonder what he wants?
Naruto grinned at the genjutsu mistress, "Hello, Kurenai-sensei. I was wondering if I would be able to borrow Team 8 for the day for a sort of all-team training session I came up with. I figured they would be the most likely to say yes, so I came to get them first. Is that alright?"
Kurenai turned to her students, "What do you say, you three? We've already done some training today, and this would be a good chance to gauge your skills against your comrades'."
"Hell yeah, we're in, right Akamaru?" Kiba shouted, leaping up and grinning evilly. "Come on, Hinata, Shino, we can't let the other teams beat us!" he urged his teammates.
"U-Um, I-I th-th-think that w-would be a g-good idea, too, Shino-kun," Hinata stammered, avoiding eye contact and nervously pushing her index fingers together.
Shino simply grunted in affirmation.
"Sweet!" Naruto shouted, pumping his fist in the air, "Alright, you three should go get Team 10, while I get Team Gai. Do anything necessary to get them to come. Meet back here in thirty minutes!" With that Naruto leapt back onto the rooftops, on to his next target.
/*\*/*\*/*\*/*\
Naruto waited impatiently on the sidelines as Lee, Neji, and Tenten fought together against Gai, everyone failing miserably to land hits on the older man except Bushy-Brows, although even his blows were being avoided as often as they had to be blocked.
"That's enough, my wonderful students! It seems my rival Kakashi's student wishes to speak to us! We must be courteous to him!" Gai shouted, turning to Naruto and doing the 'Nice Guy Pose'.
"Yes, Gai-sensei!" Lee shouted, grinning way too widely and coming over to Naruto, "Naruto-kun, it is most good to see you!"
Neji simply stood where he was and Tenten walked slowly over to the orange-clad genin, smiling politely. Naruto glanced at the three and decided he would convince Gai to force his team to come with him, seeing as none but Lee looked eager to do anything.
Naruto threw an impish grin in Neji's direction (knowing the stuck-up Hyuuga would hate what was going to happen) and said, "Gai-sensei, I was just wondering if Team Gai would be available for an all-team training thing I came up with. I've got Team 8 and 10 already on board and I was going to go see if the other teams would join."
Gai threw his arms out wide, "Of course Team Gai will participate, young Naruto! Go with him, Lee, Neji, Tenten!"
"But sensei, I thought we were-" Tenten started, but Gai waved a hand dismissively at her. "Tenten, we should take this opportunity to win against Team Kakashi! You three cannot lose to my rival's students!"
Neji looked ticked, but knew when his teacher's mind was made up and simply walked over to Lee and Naruto. Tenten looked at Gai, deflated, and turned to join the others.
"Well, that went faster than I thought it would. You three head to training field twenty-four and wait for Team 10 and Team 8 while I go get Sakura and Sasuke. I'll see you in twenty-five minutes!"
/*\*/*\*/*\*/*\
Naruto crouched on a rooftop and trickled some of the Kyuubi's untainted chakra into his system, and was instantly bombarded by the entire city population's negative emotions. He gasped, the feelings almost a physical blow against him, then concentrated hard, looking for specific people and emotions. Finding them, he cut off the gold chakra and chuckled quietly, We have so much to do to get you both into shape. He then returned to field twenty-four; landing in the clearing, he found Kurenai had gone (as well as his shadow Kakashi) and Kiba and Shikamaru were waiting impatiently for him.
"Where are your teammates, drop out?" Kiba asked, causing Naruto to roll his eyes at the continued insult.
"Today was a day for individual training, so they're off somewhere. So I've now made the first part of our training: find Sasuke and Sakura!" Naruto replied, a glint in his eyes.
Shikamaru sighed, "Do we have to be here? This sounds so boring."
Naruto smiled evilly, "Trust me, it'll get more interesting. Let's see… Yes, that should do it. I'll be right back!" The blond vanished, using shunshin, the Body Flicker Technique.
Shikamaru raised a brow, That's a jounin level skill. Since when did he know that? The genius shrugged, finding the thought too bothersome to follow, and sat down on a tree stump, waiting for the blond to return.
No more than five seconds later, Naruto reappeared. And then a second Naruto appeared. And then a third. Each had his arms full of bandages. Everyone there looked over at the orange-clad genins.
Akamaru barked and Kiba looked confused, "What are these?"
"These," the middle Naruto started, "Are exactly what they look like."
"Bandages," said another Naruto, setting his pile on the ground before vanishing.
"They are part of the first training task," continued the last Naruto, setting his own bandages down. The first one who had talked gestured for Hinata to come over, making the blue-haired girl blush furiously and shuffle towards him.
As that Naruto ripped part of the cloth off and stood behind Hinata, the other Naruto said, "The first task is to find Sasuke and Sakura, but to turn it into training I'm limiting the senses you can use." The first Naruto reached over Hinata's head and pulled the bandage over her eyes, tying the cloth in a knot at the back of her head. "Hinata-chan, grab hold of this end of the bandage," he said, bringing her hand up to hold the frayed end. He could feel her trembling with nervousness and gave her hand a small reassuring squeeze. "Now, charge just a little bit of chakra into it, please. There we go," he said as he felt the chakra bind with the cloth.
The other Naruto turned to the others and explained, "You will not be able to use your eyes in your search"-he raised his hand as the other genin opened their mouths, stemming their protests and complaints-"I know it will be difficult-more for some than for others-but what training isn't? Not only that, but no tracking jutsus are allowed, for those of you who know them. Any other jutsu are at your disposal, though, such as Hinata-chan"-he turned to her furiously blushing form-"You may use your Byakugan as you wish. And Shino, you can use your bugs."
"But that gives an unfair advantage to them!" Ino complained.
"Is the shinobi world ever fair?" No one answered him. "That's what I thought. Now come on, everyone, come get some bandage and wrap it over your eyes. Then we can begin!" The speaking Naruto disappeared, leaving the last one-the original-standing behind Hinata.
Once everyone had covered their eyes, Naruto stood on the tree stump Shikamaru had been sitting on and then said dramatically, "Let the Genin Games begin!"
/*\*/*\*/*\*/*\
"Well I'm surprised, my rival Kakashi. You're student's training idea is very interesting so far. But my team will definitely beat yours," Gai said, watching as Neji started heading East as soon as Naruto started the 'Games'.
"Hm? Did you say something, Gai?" Kakashi asked, eliciting an enraged glare from his green-clad 'rival'.
Asuma groaned as Chouji simply continued eating and Shikamaru waited for Naruto to move and then reclaimed his seat on the tree stump, "I can't believe those two are so lazy. I'm never going to get them through the chuunin exams."
Kurenai chuckled and smirked as all three of her students started moving immediately, most everyone else milling about uncertainly, "Looks like my team will beat yours, Gai."
Gai turned and pointed a finger at her accusingly, "You're team specializes in tracking and locating; they have an unfair advantage and therefore should not be in this part of the Games at all!"
Kakashi sighed, "I think you're missing the point of the exercise, Gai. Naruto is introducing them to one of the great follies shinobi often fall into: their reliance on sight. This training exercise forces them to heighten their chakra sensing abilities, their senses of hearing and scent, and their ability to successfully navigate the city from memory." And I'm surprised he came up with turning a simple search into an effective training exercise. But was it a fluke, or did he really mean to test those skills, I wonder?
There were tears in Gai's eyes, "You are too cruel, my rival Kakashi!"
The silver-haired jounin rolled his one eye and turned his back to 'Konoha's Sublime Green Beast of Prey', instead joining Kurenai and Asuma's conversation, leaving Gai to his over-dramatic antics.
/*\*/*\*/*\*/*\
"Tch, this is too troublesome," Shikamaru said, sighing and leaning his head back tiredly.
"Do not say that, Shikamaru-kun! The flames of youth burn strong in you still, you need only to use them!" Lee shouted, turning to face Shikamaru but mistakenly facing the completely wrong direction. Not that anyone there could tell.
Tenten sighed as well, "I agree with the lazy kid, this is too hard."
Ino groaned in frustration, "I thought I could use my Mind Body Switch Technique, but I can't aim at anyone with my eyes covered!"
"You should have realized that earlier, Ino. Anyway, Shintenshin no Jutsu requires an immobilized target, but I can't help you with that either," Shikamaru said, having nothing better to do but analyze since he couldn't watch clouds.
Ino huffed and crossed her arms, silently pouting. Her head whipped around angrily when she heard Chouji still stuffing his face. "Would you stop eating and at least try to do something! And you too, Shikamaru! At least I'm not just giving up! You two infuriate me!" she screeched, causing Tenten to raise a brow and Lee to back away from the terrifying wrath of a woman.
Tenten flopped onto the ground, "I'm bored. Can't we just quit and take these things off?" She tugged at her bandage and found it virtually glued to her face.
"No, Naruto's done something to them. Putting our chakra into the cloth bound it to our bodies," Shikamaru explained.
"But what about Lee-kun? He doesn't have any chakra. Hey, Lee, can you take your bandages off?" Tenten asked, turning to face the direction she thought her teammate was in.
"How could you say that, Tenten-san! We must strive to win this contest so that Gai-sensei can have another win against Kakashi-sensei! We must uphold the rival tradition!" Lee replied, and Tenten imagined his eyes flaming with their usual vigor.
"I guess Naruto knew the extra holding wasn't needed," Shikamaru replied wryly.
"Let us search for Sasuke-kun and Sakura-san!" Lee shouted. And off he went, running forward and slamming into trees, fences, buildings, and disgruntled people.
Leaving the others to sit unhappily in the training field.
/*\*/*\*/*\*/*\
"Right, Akamaru! We should start from Sasuke's house to get his scent. I want to find him first so we can challenge him to a fight!" Kiba said, grinning as he walked down the streets of Konoha with nearly no difficulties. Akamaru barked enthusiastically in response from on top of his master's head, tail wagging in anticipation.
But when the two reached the Uchiha Gate they stopped short. Both could smell the faint trace of blood left behind by the Massacre years ago, and the entire compound had an awful, cold, nauseating aura as well. Kiba could feel Akamaru trembling violently on his head, so the dog boy backed up and returned to the rest of the city.
"I don't think Sasuke lives there any more, boy. And since we don't know where he does live, I guess we should go try to find Sakura instead. Off to Haruno's house!" he said, trying to calm his white-furred companion down with his normal loud self. Akamaru whined quietly in response.
/*\*/*\*/*\*/*\
As soon as Hinata activated her Byakugan she flinched at the sight before her: the chakra-laced bandage was too close to her eyes, leaving painful streaks in her vision, but after a few moments she began to get used to it. She decided to stay on the ground, as she was having difficulty judging where buildings were, making it a bad idea to try to leap onto a rooftop she couldn't see. She looked harder, keeping an eye out for the distinct dark chakra of Sasuke and the more average chakra of Sakura. She gasped in surprise when she caught sight of Naruto; instead of seeing his normal blue chakra with hints of red, she saw golden threads weaving throughout his chakra coils. Naruto-kun? What is that? She began to look closer but squeaked in embarrassment as she realized she was spying and immediately cancelled her Byakugan.
"What's wrong, Hinata-san?" Shino asked. The two had silently agreed to work with each other on finding their missing comrades.
"N-Nothing, Shino-kun. I did not see Sasuke-kun or Sakura-san. Have you had any luck with your kikaichuu?" she asked, grateful her teammate could not see her blushing.
She stammered. It must have something to do with Naruto. Did she see him with her Byakugan? My bugs were much more active and awake when he was around. I wonder why… "Yes, they've found some recent traces of Sasuke's chakra right outside of Konoha, while Sakura's has been found leading to training field ninety-seven, also outside of Konoha. Which one should we go after first?" he replied stoically.
"Sakura-san will probably be easier to find, so let's go to training field ninety-seven first. She can help us find Sasuke-kun as well. What do you think, Shino-kun?"
The bug-user grunted quietly in affirmation and the two started running towards the Great Gates of Konoha, Hinata leading, using her Byakugan to avoid people, and Shino following the sound of her footsteps.
/*\*/*\*/*\*/*\
Neji curled his lip in distaste at his situation; not only had Gai ordered them to participate in theses ridiculous 'Genin Games', but somehow the drop out had done something so that the damn blindfold wouldn't come off his head. I'm surrounded by idiots. The prodigious Hyuuga's face subconsciously went into glare mode, and despite not being able to receive the full force because his eyes were covered, everyone nervously avoided the fuming boy.
Forget this, I'm going to train on my own, he thought, and immediately headed for the Hyuuga Compound.
/*\*/*\*/*\*/*\
"What do you want, moron?" Sasuke turned his head to glare at the blond idiot sitting in a tree watching him.
"Ah, don't be so mean. I'm here to invite you to join the rest of the genins for group training exercises," Naruto replied.
Sasuke snorted, "As if. I'm busy. Leave."
Naruto jumped down from the tree and came over to his teammate, "Aw, come on! I promise the training is good. And don't tell anyone I told you, but it very well may be useful for our next mission."
That got Sasuke's attention. He turned back to Naruto. "What do you know about our next mission?"
The blond waggled a finger, "Ah, ah, ah, that would be telling. Just trust me on this, would you? I was right about Kakashi's test, right about our teamwork, right about that mission with the Fire Lady's cat, so don't you think just maybe I'll be right about this? So come onnnn!"
Sasuke rolled his eyes, "What the hell could you teach me? Go bother someone else."
"Come on, come on! You won't know until you try."
"If I say yes, will you shut up?" Sasuke mumbled.
"It's more likely," he said with an impish grin. "Now, you have to swear you'll join us before I tell you anything about the training," Naruto said, his face turning very serious.
What the hell, why not? It's not like I'm really getting anywhere with trying to awaken my Sharingan... "Sure, fine, I swear."
"Sweet! Okay, right now all the others are looking for you and Sakura with blindfolds over their eyes, and they can't use tracking jutsu, although Kiba can use his sense of smell, Hinata and Neji can use their Byakugan, etc. I'm doing this so that they can train their chakra-sensing abilities and realize they should train senses other than sight," Naruto explained enthusiastically. He looked up at Sasuke with a glint in his eye, "And since they're probably on their way here, we should do a little training and then move on. Here, put this over your eyes and then put some chakra into it." Naruto handed Sasuke a strip of bandage while he tied one over his own eyes.
Sasuke cautiously put the thing on and channeled some chakra through it, feeling the cloth tighten like a second skin. "What now, moron?" He could hear the evil grin in Naruto's voice as the blond replied, "We fight! Taijutsu only, no weapons. Let's see if our ability to predict each other's moves works without sight. Let's begin!"
Sasuke leaned back immediately, feeling the wind created by Naruto's roundhouse, then continued leaning to do a back flip, raising his legs to kick the blond in the chin. Naruto dodged it, then pushed Sasuke's leg to the side, throwing the Uchiha off-balance. Sasuke turned his back flip into a cartwheel and crouched, knees apart and arms raised to block Naruto's kick towards his chest. Sasuke grabbed Naruto's foot and twisted, hoping to hurt the other boy's leg. Naruto simply spun with the twist, putting all his weight on Sasuke's hand and bringing up his other leg for a kick at his teammate's head. Sasuke ducked beneath the attack and pushed against Naruto's foot, sending the boy away and pushing himself backwards a bit with the force of it.
Naruto laughed, "Alright, alright, that's good. I can't really help you train for a real fight, since we seem to know each other's thoughts. You up to trying some other training? "
Sasuke smirked, "Afraid you'll lose, moron? Fine, show me what training you can come up with."
"Yeah, yeah, believe whatever you want. Anyways, what I want you to do is send chakra to your nose to enhance your sense of smell, like the Inuzuka Clan does," Naruto replied.
Sasuke complied and sent chakra to his nose, but was instantly bombarded with literally thousands of smells, causing him to lose control and dissipate the chakra. He heard a laugh.
"Nice expression. You're supposed to concentrate chakra slowly, Uchiha," the blond said, snickering.
"Shut up, stupid. I got it already," Sasuke shot back, face twisting angrily. He took the other boy's advice and sent chakra to his nose in small portions, his sense of smell becoming stronger with every bit. It was like how the world smelled after a heavy rain, all the scents enhanced, but distinguishing one thing from another was nigh impossible.
"Oh, you seem to be doing better this time. You've probably realized how difficult it is to tell one scent from another. Here"-something was shoved under Sasuke's nose and he jerked back slightly at the powerful scent of ramen-"This is what I smell like. Now, it's much harder to track a topical scent like skin or sweat than to track blood, so blood is where we'll start off training." There was another explosion of scent, this one metallic, but with a hint of something Sasuke couldn't identify.
"That's my blood. I'm going to go to where Sakura is and you have to try to follow me. See ya!" the boy shouted, and then the scent retreated from in front of Sasuke.
Wait… Damn it. The Uchiha tried to pull the bandage off his face, but found the edges had bound seamlessly with his skin. That's disturbing. Fine, moron. I'll do this your way.
He concentrated chakra in his nose and began walking forward carefully.
/*\*/*\*/*\*/*\
Sakura wiped the sweat from her brow and groaned, physical exhaustion dragging her to her knees, Why in the world did I let him talk me into this crazy program? I know he said Sasuke liked strong girls, but this is just ridiculous…
"Sakura-saaaan! How goes the training?" Naruto crouched on a tree branch and waved happily at his pink-haired teammate.
Said teammate glared daggers at him and shouted, "'How goes it'? What the hell is wrong with you? I'm exhausted! What kind of training program is this? All I'm doing is working out, without chakra!"
Naruto rolled his eyes, "Well of course it's without chakra. It's a bad habit to rely on chakra, so this is designed to break you of that habit."
"But what the hell did you do to me? I can't feel ANY of my chakra!" Sakura shouted back, traces of fear evident in her voice.
Naruto sighed, Come on, I didn't mean to scare you. He jumped down from the tree and put a thin layer of the Kyuubi's pure chakra over his hand, and then he pat Sakura on the back, pushing the golden chakra into her body. "You can do this without chakra, Sakura-san. I only used a chakra sealing technique Ero-um, I learned. It monitors your body and breaks should you become so tired you need it, but this training won't put you so close to death that you need chakra to sustain yourself, so no worries, okay?"
Sakura aimed a punch at him, feeling oddly rejuvenated, but he easily dodged and laughed.
"That's right! Good, good." He looked around training field ninety-seven, "Looks like you've done well. You can stop for today. We have other stuff to do now. Look, here comes Team 8!"
Sakura looked up to see Kiba, Akamaru, Shino, and Hinata walking towards them, each with bandages covering their eyes. The hell is that for? Don't tell me… He got them training too? She glanced sideways at her blond teammate, What's going on with him? He's always been the outcast,, so when did he get all these people to listen to him?
"Oh? Naruto? What are you doing here?" Kiba asked, catching the blond's scent as he sniffed the air again.
"I was waiting for whoever would find Sakura first. I guess you three are the winners, although no one else really played. Congratulations anyway, though!" Naruto answered, grinning. He walked forward and tugged at the ends of the blindfolds, each one slipping off effortlessly into his hands.
"What jutsu did you use on those, Naruto-kun?" Shino asked, turning to look at the blond.
"Actually, that's part of the training, so I can't tell you. Anyway, we should head back to the others. I've finally got the proper motivation for them," Naruto replied.
"'Others'? Who else is with you guys?" Sakura asked. Just who else did he get training with him?
"Why, all of the Konoha genin! Even Sasuke, although he was being a pain in the butt… Oh right, here, Sakura,"-Naruto stepped up to her and quickly tapped his fingertips to her stomach, causing the seal he used to keep her chakra at bay to recede-"You'll need chakra for this part."
/*\*/*\*/*\*/*\
Damn him! Sakura stumbled forward, arms out so she wouldn't run into anything. Naruto had thrown her in the same boat as Sasuke and left her to follow them back to training field twenty-four. I hate him! Stupid Naruto! She tugged feebly at the blindfold again and growled when it continued to be stuck to her face. He is so dead when I find him…
/*\*/*\*/*\*/*\
Naruto landed in the training field and surveyed the lazy ones with disappointment, sighing as Kiba snickered at them.
"What do you all think you're doing?" Naruto asked, walking towards them.
Shikamaru tilted his head to face the sound of the boy's voice, "It's too troublesome. Can you take these off now?"
Naruto scowled, "Troublesome my ass. There are only two ways that thing will come off. Either you figure out what I did to the bandages and you undo it, or you find Sasuke and I take it off for you. Now get working on one of them."
Shikamaru sighed and leaned forward, elbows resting on his knees and his fingers together in his thinking pose.
Naruto smirked, This will be good practice, Shikamaru. You'll thank me one day. He gazed at the others, "Well? Are you going to do something, or will you just wear those blindfolds forever?"
"What do you expect us to do?" Ino complained. "If Shikamaru is already thinking of an answer then we can just wait until he figures it out so he can tell us."
"He won't have the chance to tell you, actually. I need him for something else as soon as he can see. But you can ask Team 8 for help; they can see now." The blond ignored the grumbles he received and walked over to the fence and leaned against it, thinking while he waited for Shikamaru.
What exactly should I say? It's not like I can just come out and say 'Hey, I think I got genjutsued by a crazy old woman into thinking she sent me to the past. Can you help me dispel it?' or 'Is time travel possible? Cause I think it happened to me'. And what about my other problem? Maybe I should start there… Naruto rubbed his temples, trying to stop the impending headache, and realized Shikamaru was leaning on the fence next to him, waiting patiently for his attention. He turned to the boy expectantly.
"You said you needed me for something?" the pineapple-head asked, respectful of the Naruto's privacy but watching him all the same.
Naruto sighed, "Yeah, follow me."
/*\*/*\*/*\*/*\
"So I take it you figured out how to undo the bandages?" Naruto asked. The two were on the Hokage Monument, atop the Fourth's spiky-haired head. Shikamaru lay with his hands behind his head, enjoying his favorite pastime of cloud watching while Naruto stood staring out over the village, trying to gather his thoughts.
"Nn. It's an interesting concept. How'd you come up with it?" Shikamaru replied.
His thoughts elsewhere, Naruto didn't take time to think about what he was saying and began to answer truthfully, "It was a contest between me and Tsuuu-ah, actually, I'm not supposed to say." Shikamaru gave him a sidelong glance, watching as the blond dropped heavily into a sitting position, sighed, and began massaging his head.
The lazy genius remained silent, keeping his questions back until Naruto calmed down, then asked, "I take it you have a lot on your mind?"
Naruto scowled and stared out at the village some more, fidgeting slightly, "Yes. You know you're the smartest person I've ever met?"
Shikamaru appreciated the compliment, but he was beginning to worry that Naruto was putting too much faith in his abilities. "Thanks, but what's wrong, Naruto?"
Naruto was silent for so long Shikamaru began to think that perhaps the boy had decided not to talk when suddenly the blond spit out, "Can you swear to keep what I tell you secret?"
Shikamaru sat up to lean on his elbows, surprised. He stared at Naruto curiously, I thought he might be joking, but… I recognize that expression; I've seen it on my dad's face plenty of times when he received a mission or spoke with the Hokage. Naruto is completely serious... Hoping he wouldn't regret the words, Shikamaru replied, "Yeah, I promise to keep it secret."
Naruto stared at Shikamaru, biting his lip uncertainly, then said, "Fine. You're sure? You can't back out after I start talking."
Shikamaru nodded.
"Okay. I know something is going to happen-don't ask me how-something that puts my entire team in danger, but if things go as they should then no one on our side will die. Team 7 gets some pretty severe injuries and plenty of blood loss, but each one of us learns something extremely important, things I'm not sure could be learned otherwise. So my problem is this: should I try to stop this from happening, or let it happen as it should?"
That's Naruto. Straight to the point, Shikamaru thought wryly. "I take it none of these injuries are lasting?"
Naruto shook his head, "None of them are more lasting than a month or so."
"Well then, if no one is crippled or killed, and such important lessons will only be learned through this situation, why would you want to stop it?"
Naruto looked tortured, "Isn't it my duty to keep my team safe from harm? How am I supposed to willingly watch them get hurt when I know I could stop it?"
Shikamaru was silent for a moment, thinking. He felt Naruto's eyes on him, pleading for an answer he may not be able to give. "Are these lessons they learn important enough for them to get hurt, Naruto?"
The blond stood angrily and shouted, "I don't know!" He turned away from Shikamaru and closed his eyes, trying to pull his emotions back under control.
Inspiration hit Shikamaru and he turned to face Naruto, "You want to be Hokage, right? Don't you think the Hokage asks that same question every time he hands out a mission to one of his shinobi? Don't you think he wants to keep his soldiers safe from harm, too? He never knows if any of them will come back alive, but you know for a fact your team will, and you'll be with them if anything goes wrong. So let me ask you again: are their lessons important enough to let them get hurt, with you right there to take care of them?"
Something clicked in Naruto's head and he whipped around, grinning wildly at Shikamaru, "You're right. Thanks, Shikamaru."
Shikamaru blinked, I didn't expect it to work that well. Although I suppose with Naruto, it's just one extreme emotion after another. He rolled his eyes and lay back again, staring at the clouds to hide his slight embarrassment, and muttered, "You're so troublesome."
Naruto let out a bark of laughter, "Of course. I wouldn't want to be anything else. Come on; let's go see how the others are coming along."
/*\*/*\*/*\*/*\
Naruto walked into the training field twenty-four for what felt like the hundredth time that day and snickered. Sasuke sat glowering on the ground, the others talking uncertainly with each other while they waited for Naruto to return and take their blindfolds off. Kiba was trying unsuccessfully to tear Ino's off her face, while she screeched at him to be gentler.
"Well I can't be gentler if you want me to take it off, so hold still!"
"OW! Stop it already! Naruto obviously didn't rip your head off when he took yours off, unfortunately, so you're doing it wrong!"
Kiba snarled at her, then caught sight of Naruto out of the corner of his eye and let go of Ino, "About time, you two! What the hell took you so long? Sasuke showed up ten minutes ago shouting at everyone to tell him where you went!"
Naruto burst out laughing, "Oh, I wish I could record this somehow. This is the best situation I've seen you all in to date. Damn, I would've done this training exercise earlier if I knew it would be this funny."
Sasuke snarled and stood, "What the hell, moron! Get this damn thing off of me already or I'll kick your ass!"
Still snickering, Naruto walked over and tugged Sasuke's blindfold off-receiving a glare in return-and then continued on to everyone else, causing several people to blink as they got used to the daylight again.
Naruto frowned when he pulled the last one off of Chouji and swept his eyes over the group, "Where are Neji and Bushy-Brows? And where in the world is Sakura?"
Tenten rolled her eyes, "I'm sure Neji went off to train somewhere, blindfold or not. And Lee dashed off looking for Sakura and Sasuke, but considering he's totally blind and has no idea how to track people, I'm sure he's lost."
Naruto shook his head, "Tenten, would you go get Neji, please? If he doesn't come, tell him that blindfold will never come off."
She looked at Naruto angrily, "Why should I listen to you? I didn't even want to do this. I agree with Neji on this one; it's a waste of time."
Naruto glared back at her, "It wouldn't have been a waste of time if you had actually tried. And you should listen to me because I'm actually trying to help you. But damned if I'll teach an unwilling student, so go ahead and quit if you want to." He turned to glare at all of them, "If any of you want to leave, go right on ahead. Just don't ask for my help any time in the future."
Most everyone there except Team 8 looked angry and quite ready to leave, so Shikamaru took the chance to step in, "Naruto's training plans are good. He told me about them and asked for help in making them better, so I know he can actually help all of us with weak spots." The boy looked at Naruto and saw gratitude in them as the blond smiled and nodded ever so slightly in thanks.
Ino immediately sighed, "Fine. I'll stay."
Tenten turned to her, "You just take what he says as truth? He's just a kid. What could he know?"
Ino turned angrily to the other girl and opened her mouth to speak, but surprisingly, Chouji beat her to it, "If you're underestimating the genius of not only the Nara Clan, but of Shikamaru in particular, then you're one of the stupidest people I've ever met."
Ino turned shocked eyes on her teammate as Tenten glared at him. Naruto grinned, glad to see the deep friendship of the two again, and turned to address the others, "In case some of you didn't know, the Nara Clan always has and still plans all strategies in wars Konoha fights, as well as the defense plans. They have a reputation for producing the brightest minds in all of the villages combined, so I suggest you listen to anything Shikamaru ever tells you."
Tenten still seemed angry, but she huffed and stood, throwing a "I'll get Neji" over her shoulder as she walked off. Everyone else turned to Naruto and Shikamaru for instructions.
The knuckle-head ninja turned to Kiba, "Can you track Bushy-Brows? He'll enjoy the next part of the training."
Kiba grinned, "Can't do it yourself? What a shame. Sure, I'll go find him, dropout."
Naruto rolled his eyes and turned to Sasuke, who was still brooding, "Oh cheer up, Uchiha. I taught you something, didn't I? Just as I promised. But you should've run into Sakura somewhere, and since she's not here, I take it you didn't."
Sasuke looked up at him, "No, I just followed the blood trail you left which, by the way, you ended halfway here, making it much more difficult to follow."
"Yet you made it here! See, you're improving already."
Sasuke simply snorted and looked the other way.
"Oh, here she comes."
Sakura was taking baby steps towards the gate to the training field, arms out in front of her, nose raised to the air.
"Good job, Sakura. But what happened? I left the same trail for Sasuke, but he says he didn't smell you. Did you get lost?" Naruto asked, walking forward and tugging the blindfold off. Sakura only glared, which let Naruto know she had gotten lost, and he just shrugged.
"Well, for right now we're waiting for the rest of the group to get back, but when they do I'll start the next part of the—" Naruto trailed off, his eyes narrowing as he picked up a chakra signature he recognized.
Ticked off at being ignored, Sakura made to grab the blond's ear and twist it but found her wrist caught in an iron grip before she got close. "Ow, Naruto! Let go!" She tried to yank her arm back and, that failing to help, began to try and pry his fingers loose, all the while shouting, "Naruto, stop it! Let go! NARUTO!"
The orange-clad genin snapped back to reality and let his fingers fall loose, releasing his teammate. "S-sorry, Sakura. I didn't mean to hurt you."
"The hell you didn't! Look at my wrist; it's already bruised!" She showed him her wrist and indeed dark purple was already consuming it in the shape of Naruto's hand.
Naruto winced, "You should put some ice on that soon, or it'll get worse." He then turned to Shikamaru, "I just remembered I've got to go do something, so can you get Neji's blindfold off when he gets here?" Shikamaru raised an eyebrow, but shrugged nonetheless, which Naruto took as a yes. Turning to the others in the clearing he said, "We're going to have to continue this another time. Sorry, everyone. I'll let you know when."
"What? But Naruto—" Ino started, but he was already gone.
/*\*/*\*/*\*/*\
Naruto made straight for the powerful slippery chakra he had detected, anger building in his chest. Of course she'd be here, he thought, jumping in through his window and immediately throwing a punch at the old woman's head.
She cackled and spun, dodging the punch, and put her hands up in surrender, "What's all this for? I gave you what you always wanted. Did you change your mind?"
"Fuck you! Who are you? Let me out of this genjutsu!" Naruto shouted.
"Oh dear, tsk tsk. Such naughty language for a young boy to be using. I've already told you, my name is Loki. And this is not a genjutsu, you fool, it's something much more powerful."
"So it is a jutsu, just not an illusion, huh? What the hell do you want? What does making me think I'm in the past help you accomplish?"
Loki sighed heavily, "I'm not making you think you're in the past, Naruto, you are in the past. This is not a jutsu, it's the power of the—" Her mouth clamped shut as she tried to keep speaking and she faced the ceiling, shaking her fist at it in anger. Her mouth opened again and she said, "I can't tell you what it is, you have to figure it out yourself. But I've already given you hints, so I suggest you go do some research of your own. I've got to go now, but I'll be seeing you again soon. Ta-ta!" She smiled at him and then she was gone.
Naruto yelled in frustration as she left and sat on his bed, glaring at the floor. His clenched fists slowly relaxed and he hung his head, Damn it…
/*\*/*\*/*\*/*\
Kakashi landed on the rooftop and looked around Konoha, cursing himself for losing track of Naruto after the boy unexpectedly took off from the training field. It was getting dark and he'd been looking for hours already. Feeling the anger building behind his eyes, he took a deep breath, Calm down, Kakashi. He'll turn up. You just have to use all your senses. He closed his eye and took several deep breaths, concentrating chakra on his nose and ears at the same time.
A huge surge of chakra disrupted his concentration and he whipped around to stare at the forest beside the Hokage Monument. Whose chakra is that? He leapt off towards it, going as fast as he could. A few other ninja were heading towards it as well, obviously as concerned as Kakashi, some nodding greetings at him as they passed.
All the ninja landed at the same time to find a personalized training field set up, with training dummies spaced around the clearing. Every one of the ninja looked around in amazement at the craters and near-decimated trees, and eventually their gazes landed on the prone blond figure leaning against a tree.
"Naruto?" Kakashi asked, moving to the boy's side, one eye taking in the ripped clothes and bloody hands. Naruto jerked awake and looked around wildly, "Kakashi-sensei? Wha-what are you all doing here?"
Kakashi looked up at the others, "You can go. I'll take care of this." A few of the ninja looked like they wanted to argue, but they left with everyone else at Kakashi's look.
"Naruto, what were you doing?"
The blond huffed and looked away angrily, "Training."
"What did that include?"
"It's none of your business."
Kakashi raised his brow, "None of my business, you say? You're my student, Naruto. That makes it my business to know what kind of training you're doing. Not only that, but you just disrupted half the village with that chakra surge of yours. I suggest you tell me what exactly you were doing."
Can it really hurt to tell him the truth? I might as well try… "I… I was trying to duplicate the Fourth Hokage's Flying Thunder God Technique."
This answer was not what Kakashi was expecting and he stared at Naruto blankly, "… What?"
"The Flying Thunder God Technique the Fourth Hokage was known for. It was the reason he was called the Yellow Flash, right?"
"And you were trying to do it by yourself? Do you know how dangerous that is, Naruto? Do you even know how it works?"
"Of course I know how it works! I just have to get the seal right. And I need to strengthen my body some more so it doesn't put so much of a strain on my muscles. I fell asleep because it made me so tired when I tried to use the technique."
Kakashi continued to stare blankly at Naruto, disconcerting the boy. "Er, sensei, can I go home now? I'm tired."
"Uh, sure." Kakashi stood and watched as Naruto pulled a shuriken out of a tree and then started walking towards his apartment, apparently too tired to roof-hop. The silver-haired jounin waited until the boy was gone, then headed straight for the Hokage's residence.
/*\*/*\*/*\*/*\
"My Lord, I'm sorry to disturb you at this hour, but it's an important matter," Kakashi said as a bleary-eyed Hokage opened the front door.
"Yes, yes, of course, Kakashi. What is it?" he replied, inviting the jounin to come in and sit with him at a table.
"Thank you, sir. It's about Naruto and the Fourth. Did Minato ever leave notes on his Flying Thunder God Technique?"
Sarutobi narrowed his brows, "Not that I know of. Why, Kakashi?"
"Naruto is trying to duplicate it and he says he knows how it works. How could he know that if there aren't any notes on it? No one who knows about it ever told him, right?"
"He's trying to copy the technique and use it for himself? He shouldn't even know about it at all, let alone know how it works."
"I thought so. What should we do?"
The Hokage looked troubled, "I think it's time we had Naruto examined by a team of medics. Bring him to my office tomorrow morning at seven and I'll take him to a secure location to be checked out."
Kakashi stood and bowed, "Yes, Hokage-sama."
/*\*/*\*/*\*/*\
AN: Oh yes, FYI, if I ever decide to discontinue this story I will put up a notice in the story, so if you don't hear from me for a long time then I'm either really busy or being really lazy. Eheh. ^^; Just a heads up.
PS: OH YEAH. To any Assassin's Creed lovers, have you seen the E3 trailer for Revelations? IT LOOKS SO AWESOME! I'm excited. X3
