My Idol

My Idol

Chapter 4

Chuunin Exams huh….

Sounds interesting.

I wonder if Gai-sensei will allow us to go.

Probably not, it's in Iwa this year. They're not exactly on the best terms with Konoha at the moment.

Still, it'd be pretty interesting to see how my skills measure up to other genin.

Being rookie of the year is practically meaningless as a measure in the ninja world. There are just too many people younger and stronger than me. Its not that I'm worried or jealous, I'm confident in the strengths that I have and I've constantly been patching up any weaknesses rigorously over the past few months. Still…. I'd be good to see how I stack up against the rest.

It's only natural after all to be curious.

The past few months have come along smoothly. Team Gai is garnering a lot of interest. Apparently we show promise….

Whatever.

The effective handling of our first C-ranked mission and the follow up C-rank that resulted has made us a dependable genin team. We've received quite a few more C-ranked missions since then.

I still haven't got a chance to fight any ninja…

its ok I suppose, being dead before reaching my potential is one of the few fears that I have.

That… and not being remembered.

Old habits die hard it seems…. When one spends their entire life being ignored they can't help but strive for acknowledgement. That's why I will be the best.

But it's too soon to draw too much attention to myself….. I'm not strong enough…yet.

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I've spent a bit of time searching for new information on techniques…. They used to come so easily but it seems that anything more advanced than what I already know is significantly better protected.

I'll have to keep looking; I don't want to have to resort to going to the old man.

Ninjutsu will just have to wait…

I think its time I up my weights as well.

They're so fucking cumbersome though….

'Steady now Naruto….'

No pain no gain as they say.

Chakra enhanced speed is all well and good… But having Rock Lee as a teammate can really open your eyes to the wonders of good body conditioning.

I've never taken the easy way either…

If I'm fast without chakra…. With chakra… well, I can't wait to see the fruits of my labour.

I doubt I'll be as fast as Lee anytime soon… no other genin I know is.

But the gap's not that wide… besides, I can't devote the amount of time he does to taijutsu training and body conditioning.

My large chakra reserves are something of a double edged sword. It takes constant work to make sure my control remains up to par. Worse still, the more chakra control exercises I do the larger my chakra capacity grows…

Fuck it… it balances out I suppose. More waste…more to waste.

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Genjutsu…

Very useful….

I've been trying to learn a bit as well lately…. All in the name of eliminating vulnerability.

The things you can do with this shit…

So under-used…

So much potential…

Shinobi pride themselves on deception… illusion has so many applications in our line of work.

We aren't valiant princes on horses with long swords and shields…

We're silent, stealthy, emotionless assassins who skulk through shadows and slit the throats of sleeping marks…

A well placed Genjutsu or two can prove to be invaluable.

My stealth is nothing to scoff at… its something I pride myself on… watching those rich pricks wonder who robbed them… and then watching their facial expressions as they silently wished it was me who did it, just for the chance to 'take care of the demon'. Sweet irony…

This Genjutsu business has merit…. I'll return to it later.

Just in time it seems. There's a knock at my door.

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Well…. This is a surprise.

For once I actually, accurately voice my thoughts….

''Well…. This is a surprise...''

''Hey Naruto….. I erm… I was wondering if you could help me with my training…. Please?''

Ok….

Tenten's my teammate right… I suppose there's nothing wrong with helping a bit, she's proven very useful to me after all.

''Err.. Sure….''

''Thanks! Meet me at Training ground 10 ok! Bye Naruto!''

….

..

''Bye…''

I absently rub my cheek were my exuberant teammate decided to kiss me…

I'll never understand women…

Presumptuous bitch…

I hope Tenten keeps this training session professional. I have no interest in any kind of relationship with anyone at this point. Last I heard she had a crush on that arrogant Hyuuga.

I've never known her to be a fangirl type kunoichi though…

She better not start either…

I'm not averse to beating such foolishness out of her… she's a ninja afterall, girl or not.

I won't have our effective team reduced to the garbage I've seen come out of the academy years prior to ours. Foolish talentless genin hung up on ninja bedtime stories...

I'm ranting…

I'll stop now….

Better get going….

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I've always been one to admire strength…

But now…

I can't help but look past Tenten's strength and marvel at how one dimensional she is….

A part of me knows that that's hardly fair considering Lee…

But life isn't fair… besides Lee's like that out of necessity.

She's got a bad habit… a glaring weakness…

I actually feel a bit ashamed that I hadn't noticed this before. I suppose it's because of how well our team balances out.

But I can't ignore this… It affects me until I'm chuunin and no longer part of this team.

Against good ninjutsu she's useless…

This is becoming painful…

I better fix this…

''Tenten...''

She doesn't respond straight away but after a bit it seems she's paused trying to impale me with kunai.

''You need something else..''

''….''

''…..''

''………..'''

Smooth…..

It seems I've become infinitely more articulate since becoming a ninja. I really need to start speaking a bit more….

..

Maybe not…

I better explain myself… she seems caught between confusion and indignation.

''What I mean is Tenten…. You're too one dimensional…''

I deftly catch the kunai half an arm's length before its intended target… my face…

It seems I've caused offence…

''I understand you're a weapon's specialist… But being a specialist doesn't mean that it should be the only thing you can do aptly. You're a ninja Tenten… other ninja are trained to spot weakness… and yours is too obvious…''

Well…

I thought it was good enough…

Apparently not…

A hail of weapons descends upon me… I can't help but feel vindicated as I demonstrate exactly what I meant.

''Fūton: Daitoppa''

A small hurricane escapes my lips and sends not only the weapons but Tenten herself flying across the grounds…

..

''And that's just one ninjutsu…''

..

As she looks like she's about to cry I can't help but feel a small measure of guilt…

I quash it ruthlessly…

There can be no sympathy…

Perhaps a compromise…

''I'm willing to teach you… Have Gai-sensei improve your taijutsu a bit more and I'll teach you ninjutsu….'' I trail off… slightly intimidated by the look she's giving me…

How the fuck do I get myself into these situations…

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It's been a few days since my meet with Tenten…

She's truly a rare gem when one considers the kunoichi standards at the academy…

She immediately sought Gai-sensei's aid in improving her taijutsu.

He of course immediately complied after he finished crying over how youthful his students are…

Tenten's already learnt one ninjutsu and has started integrating it into her weapons technique.

I suspect she chose to learn a fire technique as it's usually effective against wind…

I can't help but smile a little…

She's still no match for me...

She seems to have rid herself of any latent fan-girl tendencies that had been surfacing…

That's good…

She hasn't tried to kiss me again either…always a plus…

I've never been comfortable with such contact.

Hmph…

Anyways… Our training seems to be coming along nicely…

Though it's unlikely he'll agree, I feel soon will be a good time to broach the subject of the Chuunin exams with Gai-sensei.

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I heal pretty quickly…

I dunno why it's taken me so long to realise this…

Small cuts I had gained through sparring with Lee have already disappeared come the end of training…

I've read many things about shinobi… I've always made sure to use as much of the knowledge I have access to as possible…

I've never really been sick…but…

Shinobi rarely suffer ailment… the constant usage of Chakra and the unusually large amount of it present in a shinobi's body tends to stave off most minor diseases…

This though… this is something else…

It seems almost as though it's a Kekkei Genkai…

But that's impossible.

Or maybe not…

It's not strange for people in the ninja world to have advanced blood lines… It is especially possible in my case considering that my heritage is unknown.

No one else I know of has carried the name Uzumaki…

Maybe I should ask the old man…

Or maybe not…

I allow myself a small smirk at that…

The less people know about me the better…

I need every advantage I can get.

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I'm bored….

I've taken a break from cutting myself to see how long it takes to heal… the time seems to shorten after each consecutive cut…

Perhaps it's a feature of my bloodline that allows my body to accelerate healing by remembering how a wound or ailment is treated/healed.

I'll have to look into this later…

But for now…

I'm bored….

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…..

……

I briefly entertain the idea of challenging my self proclaimed 'rival' to alleviate my boredom…

I reconsider just as quickly…

Best not to encourage him…

Dammit…

I'm running low on reading materials as well…

I'd hoped to be better prepared in case we actually got to attend the Chuunin Ex-…

Fuck… I've gotta find Gai-sensei...

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''NARUTO-KUN YOU ARE A MOST SHINING EXAMPLE OF YOUTHFULNESS! YOSH! TEAM TEN IS MOST DEFINITELY READY FOR THE CHUNNIN EXAMS! YOUR TEAM WORK IS THE GREATEST AMONGST GENIN!!''

….

..

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….

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Ok…

..

So… er…

''Gai-sensei, since you think we're ready, are you going to be entering us into the exams…?''

It's hard to mask my excitement… I guess rank matters to me more than I thought…

''I'm sorry Naruto-kun…''

Just hearing Gai take a sombre tone is enough to let me know what his response is going to be…

I've already worked it out myself afterall. He's merely confirming my suspicions…

''Iwa and Konoha are not friendly villages despite the current neutrality agreement between our villages…'' I tune out a bit of the history lesson….i know all of this already…..

Honestly….. What a waste of time.

It's a bit strange when Gai-sensei goes from all exuberant and …'youthful'… to lecturing and almost sage-like…

''……and so Naruto-kun the Hokage has decided that it would not be wise to send out any genin teams, especially a team that shows as much promise as ours to potentially hostile territory…''

''I see… I guess it makes sense. Thanks anyways sensei… I suppose it only gives us more time to prepare.''

''YOSH! BY THE TIME THE NEXT CHUUNIN EXAMS COMES, WE WILL BE MOST READY AND OUR FLAMES OF YOUTH WILL BURN BRIGHTER THAN ANY OF THE OTHER TEAM!!''

''Er… ok… errm… arigato sensei… I must leave now. Thank you for your time…''

I exit through the window before he can start another of his rants… I'm a bit peeved about the exams but I suppose its not so bad…

six/seven months is not a very long time to wait…

Besides... a new batch of rookies including Itachi's brother will be graduating soon…

The next few months will be very interesting…

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The past few weeks have proven monotonous and wholly unsatisfying.

My training is coming along and I can feel myself getting stronger… but I need some new techniques to learn…

The taijutsu I know is polished…

My ninjutsu flawless…

My Genjutsu... though only two techniques so far… coming along nicely.

I need something new… even a new chakra control exercise…

I finally give in and decide it's time I do something about my situation..

I take a step out onto the window ledge..

It's been a while since I've stolen anything good….

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I slink through the shadowed opening I created in the roof back in the day.

It's been a while since I've come here…

I'm determined to find more this time though…

Everywhere else that contains anything remotely both ninja and useful to me is too well protected… I'd rather not take my chances with the security at the ANBU headquarters or the shinobi library…

I suppose I shouldn't be surprised. I mean it wouldn't do for anyone to able to walk into the place under henge and leave with village secrets…

I've stolen scrolls from fairly risky places in the past but those types of scrolls are beneath my current level now.

So here I stand... at one of the first places I hit.

It relatively empty since Itachi slaughtered the inhabitants…

I feel a great deal of anticipation…

I haven't been to the Uchiha clan compound in a while...

I'm fairly certain other ninja have had the idea to raid it before I did… I know most of the valuables will be missing. It doesn't do much to deter me though…

There must be some good stuff left here…

They couldn't have taken everything…

I mean…there's still Uchiha Sasuke...

All of the stuff belongs to him now…

Besides…

Though most were unbearable, the Uchiha were a crafty bunch… I know there must be some good stuff hidden around this place...

Better start looking…

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Nothing…

Nada…

Un-fucking-believable…..

It's either the elite fucking Uchiha clan's been robbed of everything except the basic library at the clan head's house or I'm just too shitty a ninja to find anything of merit.

I really hate having to doubt myself…

But I know that these were ninja with years more experience than me, a pretty fucking impressive Kekkei Genkai and genius ninja like Shisui and Itachi… It's not out of the realm of possibility that I simply can't find anything because the good stuff is too well hidden…

I fucking hate this...

I've managed to find two Genjutsu I don't know, but they both require the sharingan to perform…

Useless…

Keep searching…

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It's been about 3 hours now…

I think I've finally found something that might prove useful…

I recognise this symbol on the wall from some of the scrolls Tenten carries around… it's a seal… no doubt a blood seal of some sort…

I quickly grab a book on basic sealing from the small library in the house and return to the seal.

Yep….

Blood seal…

Seems this one will only allow access to someone of the creator's blood…

Well… this is Itachi's old home…

So I guess Sasuke's blood will do…

Damn…

I can't kill him though…

No doubt they'll launch a full investigation and I'll be caught…

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….

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I really scare myself sometimes…. Fuck…

You don't need to kill him you psycho…

calm the fuck down…

Just a little blood will do…

Just a little bit…

...

...

...

Now to find that prick and make him bleed…

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This will take quite a bit of finesse…

It's not easy to make a sleeping ninja bleed without them noticing…

Fuck…

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I stick around for a bit and it seems I've lucked out.

He needs to go to the bathroom… excellent…

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Ok I've got the blood….

Pretty easily too….

This guy has kunai and shuriken lying all over the place… he didn't find it at all strange as he 'accidentally' cut his foot on one of them…

Oh well… all the better for me…

I exercise my well honed patience and wait for Sasuke to clean himself up and return to bed.

It wouldn't do for him to wake in the middle of my raid due to some unexpected effect of activating the seal…

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So he's asleep…

Excellent… I've waited long enough.

I hastily apply the blood to the seal and watch in fascination as the wall slides back a bit to reveal a hidden room of some sort…

It's dark and murky but the lights come on automatically…

I think it has something to do with the seals on the floor, I can feel a slight drain on my chakra… I assume it's to power the lights...

I can't help but marvel at that… It seems this trip tonight was not a wasted one afterall… Even if I don't find anything in here I've found something else to add to my list of 'look-intos and under-used ninpo'. From blood protection to something as mundane as powering lights… the application of seals already shows much potential…

First Genjutsu… now this…

Ninja have truly become complacent to allow such skills to become so supplementary whilst mainly focusing on ninjutsu.

This bears further contemplation…

I'll come back to it.

Now for this room… well… kind of a room…

Its rather large…

I can see scrolls…

A few books…

But mostly swords…

It seems Uchiha Fugaku was a bit of a collector… oh well... time to get to work…

..

Rubbish…

Rubbish…

Rubbish...

Rubbish...

Katon: Ryuka no jutsu….

...

...

...

Yes please…

A few scrolls on kenjutsu forms…

I'll take that…

Can't take any of the swords though… too obvious…

Katon: Hosenka no jutsu

I suppose it has its uses…

Another Katon jutsu… but one I've never seen before… Katon: kaensenpuu

Flame whirlwind huh… it seems Fugaku was a bit of a jutsu maker as well… it looks pretty impressive…

What's next…. Katon kaenhoushaki…. Flamethrower… looks powerful, but its incomplete…

Don't work Fugaku…I'll carry on your work…

Might even use it to kill your son…

Damn…

its great being me…

..hmmm

What else is there?...

A few history books…. A ninja tale it looks like…

Quite a few books on samurai… it seems Fugaku liked them…

I briefly remember my encounter with those powerful samurai and decide to take those books… they might prove to hold the information i'm looking for.

There's quite a bit of philosophy and stuff in here as well… who'd have thought…

Uchiha Fugaku…the philosopher…

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HAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHA!!HAHAHAHAHAHAHA

HAHAHAAHA!! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Oh god…that's rich…

Fugaku…

Hehehehe…

Damn… I gotta stop thinking about this shit before I wake Sasuke-chan.

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Oh… what do we have here….

Sage of the six paths huh… creator in ninjutsu…

Sounds interesting…

Hmm… this guy's got some interesting shit…

'Ninja Jūhakkei'…… 18 disciplines huh…

Interesting…

Book looks positively ancient too…

Origins of the Shinobi…

I flip through it idly… I can already tell it'll make for an interesting read.

Who knew that old stuck up fool was a scholar… who could have guessed the depth of his knowledge…

Dammit…

I wonder if Itachi was ever in here…

No point thinking about that now…

I've come to the conclusion that this place is a fuckin goldmine…

I'll have to return another day though; I'll soon lose the cover of darkness…

I make a hasty retreat and the wall seals itself back up after me…

How convenient…

I need to be extra careful skulking about… its pretty early in the morning and in this darkness I might be mistaken for an enemy.

I make it back to my place in one piece thankfully…

Now I find myself with a problem…

I can't sleep…

Fuck…

Insomnia had to act up tonight of all nights…

I can feel my body demanding rest but my mind wouldn't obey…

I crack open a book, hopefully I'll fall asleep while reading…

'18 disciplines of the ninja huh…'

Interesting….

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A/N: Thanks for the support… I'll try to update more frequently. I'm trying to think of ideas to fit with the story… my next update will be in the next 3 days hopefully if I can find the time…