A/N: Welcome to another chapter of The Eternal Chimera. Not too much to say
I got a couple of reviews last time. My comments: Dragonskyt, This isn't a Fire Emblem crossover. Like its stated in the A/N of Chapter 1, only ideas are going to be borrowed. Also the inconsistence i mentioned earlier isn't the immortality. Clue; it has something to do with the arrival of Kyuubi in chapter 1. And to Toby860, don't worry about Naruto being a gods-champion, 'cause he's not going going to be one. Though I admit it seems so.
Finally, remember, there is a stuff up in the fic. Spot it, put it in the review and you'll get a special mention. If no one gets it I'll post what it was in chapter four. Spot one that I'm not talking about and I'll cry. Just to help you(final clue), if you go past the mindscape scene then you've already gone past the muck up.
Thanks for the encouragements the favorites and follows. Appreciated!
Now, on with the story.
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Chapter 4: Work Hard, Fight hard
[MINDSCAPE]
She had dropped the bomb. Rei had told Naruto why she came to his world in the first place. She was to be his companion for the eternity that he lived.
Naruto was not sure what to feel. He had just been told that he was immortal. What should he feel? Joy? Joy at being able to never die? Fear? The fear of being alone after all his friends had gone. Pissed? The anger boiling deep inside for having to know his fate which he would have gladly not even known.
"How?" Was all he could weakly ask.
"I…I don't know. All I know is that you are immortal."
"You're lying." The statement aroused Rei's curiosity.
"How did you come to that conclusion?" Confused as to what possible logic he could have used to make such a statement.
"You said that you were to be my companion as I was immortal. If that were true, you would have only appeared on the exact day of my birth, but you were around for weeks before I was even born. Therefore, if I was not alive there would be no way for you to tell whether I was immortal."
"That is incorrect. I appeared on the day of your hastening." she said as though it explained everything.
"Hastening? What do you mean?" He asked not understanding her explanation in the least.
"The time of hastening is when the soul of the baby enters the body. This happens on the last day of the 26th week of gestation. It is for this reason that it is considered a crime to kill an unborn baby beyond this point. You are effectively committing murder, and nothing can be more innocent that an unborn child. From this point on the baby is considered truly alive as it houses a soul and this is how we were able to tell that you were immortal."
"Well, what happens now?" Naruto asked, not willing to show defeat.
"Nothing. You simply live your life however way you want to. You can take risks that most would never consider, though using caution is always advised." Rei stated bluntly..
"Caution? What for? I'm invincible." Naruto spoke with sarcasm evident in his tone..
"You are not invincible; only immortal. As such you can still be defeated or have you so swiftly forgotten what the Yondaime did to me?"Rei responded with her voice taking a sharper tone.
"Yeah you got your ass handed out to you." Naruto replied, trying to make the best out of Kyuubi's growing anger.
"Listen here boy, I've lived countless years and seen many things whilst doing unimaginable things in conjunction with proving my existence. I'm sure your Yondaime was by far the strongest, but if I was in the right state of mind, I'm not particularly sure you and your beloved friends would be alive to see this day!"
Long pause...
"Naruto, we have discussed everything that I needed to discuss with you. Even if you have further questions, I don't feel as though I would have answers for you. " With that Rei turned, with her tails swishing in clearly controlled anger.
REAL WORLD
Naruto woke up and looked around his bedroom rather groggily.
"Was that all a dream?" he asked himself.
'It was no dream Naruto. Every bit of it happened.'
"Kyuubi, how is it I'm able to hear you? I'm not by the seal anymore." Naruto asked a little shocked.
'We have always shared a mental connection, though I was never in any state to use it. At the moment it is rather weak. I'm actually shouting and your voice is rather faint. With time the connection will grow stronger and we will be able to hear each other quite clearly and you won't have to actually talk to for me to hear, only think of what you are saying. All this will happen in time.' She explained without much enthusiasm
"Should I tell aniki?" he asked
'I wouldn't, not until at least there is a need to tell him. There isn't any good that could come by informing him.' she advised.
"Sure... Rei?"
'What do you want now?!'
"I'm sorry for being a jerk earlier on." All with a solemn voice
No response...
-0-
Kakashi was already out. Naruto had assumed that he had gone to his day job as a Hokage's guard. It was something that always made Naruto laugh; the most powerful ninja in the village hiring guards. More like he used the ANBU that guarded him as a personal messenger service.
Not bothering to check the time, Naruto left the house to head for the academy. He still tried to beat his best time every time he went there as Kakashi had suggested all those years ago. He had started out at 15 minutes to get there on his first day. It was now his goal to break the 5 minute mark, something that Kakashi could do without even thinking.
He went to his regular class room. To find that nearly the whole class had passed the exam. He cast a look around the room; there had to be at least 30 people in the room. He walked over to his gang; all eleven other members were already present.
Sasuke, Shikamaru, Chouji and Kiba were all discussing the potential team compositions. Shino and Sai, another boy who had joined their group over the years, were not contributing to the discussion; opting to listen instead. Hinata, Ino and Sakura were discussing potential jounin sensei appointments. Ami and Misao another two that joined the gang after the Sasuke changed his attitude and became more amenable to approach, opted to only listen as they didn't have anything to contribute. Both came from civilian families, Sakura did as well, but there was something to be said for having you mother as head of the civilian council.
Naruto greeted them all with a simple "Good morning." Before choosing to listen to snippets of both conversations not really feeling like joining in this morning, he had a lot to think about. He wasn't given long to contemplate anything as his friends broke into his thoughts, it was Hinata that had spoken first.
"Naruto-kun, is it true, you stole the forbidden scroll a few days ago? Father came home and mentioned that you were not far from being executed for such a crime."
"Well, it is true, but I only did it because Mizuki-teme failed me on the exam."
One thought went simultaneously through all of his friends' heads
'Bunshin no jutsu'
"He told me that it was an extra exam and that it was a stealth test. Well I took it, Kakashi-oniisan trained me in stealth from a very young age, it should have been a piece of cake. Well it was actually, I got the scroll really easily. When I was supposed to meet Mizuki he tried to kill me and take the scroll. Iruka sensei took the hit for me... He was in no condition to fight so when I saw him injured I snapped. How I knocked the stuffing out of him."
Naruto purposefully left out the part where he ran away. Mentioning that would bring questions about why he ran away; he didn't feel like telling his friends about the Kyuubi being sealed within him neither did he want to to be seen as a coward.
"How did you beat Mizuki-san? He is a chuunin." This was Shino now adding his thoughts.
"Simple; a new jutsu." Naruto answered "Here watch. Kage bunshin no jutsu!" Naruto exclaimed while forming a cross shaped seal with his hands. Immediately five clones of Naruto popped up in a cloud of smoke. His friends were amazed when they each picked up an item in the class room just to emphasise that they could interact with their environment. Their amazement was short lived as the clones were dispelled when Iruka walked in.
"Right, I don't have much to say; simply good luck on embarking on your ninja pathway. Now for the team announcements."
This was the part that everyone was waiting for. Finding out who their teammates were and who was going to be their jounin sensei
"Team one will be Sai , Ino Yamanaka and Ami Tanaka, jounin sensei will be Anko Mitarashi. Team two will be…"
The group decided to let their attention wander until they heard another name that they actually cared about. A short while later they had their interest piqued as the heard
"Naruto Uzumaki, Sasuke Uchiha and Sakura Haruno will make up team seven with Kakashi Hatake as jounin sensei. Team eight will be Kiba Inuzuka, Hinata Hyuuga and Shino Aburame, jounin sensei is Kurenai Yuuhi. Team nine is still in circulation from last year, so team 10 will be Shikamaru Nara, Misao Makimachi and Chouji Akimichi, jounin sensei will be Asuma Sarutobi."
As the jounin senseis' names were announced they entered the room either by sunshin, or by the conventional methods, like through the window or dropping from the roof. There was only one oddball that decided to use the door. They counted only 8 jounin sensei; one was missing. Naruto automatically knew what to expect when his brother was announced as his sensei.
The others got up and went off with their sensei, presumably to get to know not only their sensei but their teammates as well.
Well, we've got quite a bit of time to kill before our sensei shows up. What are we going to do?" Naruto asked, so they wouldn't be bored stiff for 2 hours.
"How do you know that?" Sakura asked, confused that he could be so sure of a person before he had met them.
"I live with Kakashi. If it's not a better ranked mission or a meeting with the Hokage he shows up two hours late. So what are we going to do while we kill time?"
"May as well train; nothing too hard. Perhaps chakra control exercises, or may be light sparing." It was Sasuke to suggest the pass time.
"Light sparring sounds good to me. I hate chakra control exercise." Naruto cast his vote.
"I'm fine with whatever, so long as we pass the time in a way better than sitting around." Sakura put in her two cents worth.
They took to the academy school yard and held something of a round robin where each person fought the other two at least once and tried to fight the two others in a two on one match as well. They continued for close to three hours until Kakashi shunshined into the arena and called them to sit by the swing in the yard. Kakashi sat on the swing while his three students lazed around on the floor around him, tired from their sparring.
"Well, it's good to see you can use your time productively even when not being instructed to do so, but why don't I get straight to the point. My name is Kakashi Hatake; I am to be your jounin sensei. Why don't you introduce yourselves?" Kakashi greeted them.
"It is only polite that we know something about you before we go spilling anything about ourselves, especially when you asked." It was Sakura that made the point. She wasn't sure how she was supposed to introduce herself, but found a better way of saying 'I don't understand whatever it it is you are saying.'.
"Alright then, as you know, my name is Kakashi Hatake. My likes include…reading and many other things," he said with a slight pause in his sentence "I don't really have any dislikes, no real hobbies to mention and my dream for the future, well that's rather personal." By the end of the introduction Sasuke and Sakura hadn't really learned that much, only Naruto had some inkling about their sensei, and even that wasn't a great deal.
Sakura volunteered to go next. "My name is Sakura Haruno. I like reading, training and getting stronger. I dislike people who underestimate me. Hobbies include training and reading. I…don't really have a dream for the future." Sakura faltered slightly at the end.
"Don't worry, with time you may develop one, if you share it with us in the future, we will try to help you along your path." Kakashi counselled. For a laid back guy he really did come out with some pearls of wisdom once in a while.
Sasuke went next to fill in the silence that followed Kakashi's minor speech.
"My name is Sasuke Uchiha. I like training learning new jutsu and tomatoes." Nobody was expecting that from one of the most stoic people that they knew and proceeded to face fault. "My dislikes include ass kissers and fangirls. My dream for the future, well I have two. The first is to resurrect the Uchiha clan. The second is to work hard, so that when I meet my brother, I can look him the eye as an equal, not the one desperately trying to catch up."
Kakashi nodded. 'Admirable aspirations' Kakashi thought to himself. He had expected Sasuke to start talking about avenging the Uchiha clan, but instead he wants to live up to his brother's name, with the attitude that he currently has, anything is possible.
Next came Naruto, the one Kakashi knew the most about, yet he let him do the introduction anyway; this was as much for the teammates as it was for the jounin sensei.
"My name is Naruto Uzumaki. My likes include ramen, training and my older brother," Kakashi smiled at this "my dislikes include the time it takes for ramen to cook, and my older brother's tardy ways. My dream for the future is to be Hokage. To let people acknowledge my strength.,
'Right so I have a potentially powerful kunoichi that is yet undirected, a boy that wants to resurrect his lost clan and be seen equal to the greatest of his clan and one who wants to be recognised as the strongest in the village. This team has massive potential.' Kakashi made his assessment in his head, unknowingly smiling at the team make up.
"Well now the introductions are over I have a few notices. The first is that I want us all to meet at training ground seven for a survival test. Before you ask you don't need to bring any supplies other than all your shuriken and kunai, after all it is me you are going to be fighting and running from." Kakashi watched with a sick grin as all of his students' faces twisted in horror; particularly Naruto as he knew just how powerful Kakashi was.
"Well, if you don't have any questions then I'm going to make myself scarce. And by the way, skip breakfast. You'll only throw up." He promptly shunshined out of there before another word was said. Sasuke and Sakura were about to leave when Naruto called out to them.
"Hold on you two. I just want to tell you that you should eat something tomorrow." Naruto advised.
"He said not to eat anything." Sakura deadpanned.
"Think of that more like advice. Besides, I know how powerful he is. Fighting against him is asking for trouble, doing so on an empty stomach is suicide."
With his message passed on Naruto left the academy, Sasuke and Sakura following suit shortly after.
-0-
Upon arriving home Naruto found Kakashi making dinner, ramen for a change; this always put Naruto in a good mood.
Naruto approached his older brother and carefully asked his question.
"Aniki, today's introductions reminded me of something you told me many years ago. You said that when I knew my dream for the future you would tell me yours. Will you still tell me?"
Kakashi looked at his little brother and realised that he had indeed said that all those years ago in the hospital.
"My dream? There isn't much to it, though you will understand it a lot better later on. My dream is to convince several people to return." Kakashi confided
"Your right I don't get it. Maybe some day I will. Maybe when I meet those people." Naruto replied. He didn't want to think about it for too long, after all he had to get ready for tomorrow, surviving his older brother will be no easy task.
The next morning Kakashi was awoken by a very loud shout
"YOSH! KAKSHI WAKE UP! NARUTO TOLD ME YOU ARE PLANNING ON BEING LATE FOR YOU FIRST TEAM MEETING! THIS IS MOST UNYOUTHFUL!"
There beside Gai Maito was his young protege and carbon copy, Rock Lee. In an equally loud voice he screamed
"GAI-SENSEI IS RIGHT! YOU ARE BEING MOST UNYOUTHFUL! IT IS VERY UNYOUTHFUL TO ACT IN AN UNYOUTHFUL WAY!"
'That made no sense.' Kakashi thought groggily. 'Oh, who cares, it's only Naruto anyway.'
Through the directions of a certain aging Hokage, Naruto had discovered that to get Kakashi to be on time anything all you had to do was henge into Maito Gai or his student and Kakashi would be where you want him in a flash.
"Kai!" Kakashi exclaimed. The image of Gai and Lee did not disappear. "KAI!" he tried again only for the same result.
"YOSH! KAKASHI STOP WITH THIS UNYOUTHFUL BEHAVIOUR! YOU MUST GET TO YOU TEAM IMMEDIATELY!" Gai boomed at top volume.
The cogs were turning in Kakashi's head rather slowly.
'If the release technique doesn't work then it must either be a really powerful henge or genjutsu, that or…'
"AAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGG GGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHH‼‼‼‼‼" Kakashi let out a scream of pure terror that could be heard all over Konoha.
In a certain training ground a blond laughed at the sound of the scream, while his two teammates just gave him a funny look, not getting the joke.
'The real Gai and Lee in my house, in my room, while I was asleep, defiling my humble abode with speeches of 'youthfulness'.' Kakashi thought quite wildly to himself.
He bolted, got dressed as fast as he could and shunshined to training grounds; Gai had not seen his 'eternal rival' move so fast in all his time knowing him.
"See Lee, that is the power of YOUTH!" Good-guy pose.
-0-
At the training grounds Kakashi suddenly appeared in a swirl of leaves. He gained his bearings and found Naruto. Pointing an accusing finger at the blond he practically screamed.
"You…you're evil. How could you to such a thing, to your beloved aniki of all people. I wouldn't even wish that on my worst enemy."
"Well maybe you'll learn to be on time from now on." Naruto replied with a very large grin about his face.
"You will get yours don't you worry Naruto." Kakashi threatened almost maniacally.
"Well now that we are all here I have a test, this is to see if you will remain genin, or whether you will attend the academy for an entire year more before becoming genin. The test is simple to pass; all you have to do is obtain one of the bells from my waist." To make them realise exactly what bells he was talking about; he jingled them to draw their attention to two tiny bells attached to a string.
"You have until lunch time to acquire them. Begin." Upon his command they all disappeared into the dense woodland nearby.
"Well they can all hide quite well. Naruto should have no problem, but the other two surprised me." Kakashi thought out aloud.
Elsewhere, Naruto was sitting with Sasuke and Sakura.
"We have to take him as a trio; it's the only way we are going to get those bells of his waist." He surmised.
"What about the one who will go back when we get the bells? There are only two." Sakura asked, worried about having to go through the academy again.
Sasuke spoke up this time .
"Think about what he said. Never once did he address us individually. He only said that to pass we had to obtain one of the bells on his waist. It's like a guarding mission, just in reverse. Three people working together to protect a client. One person might take on any assailants while the other two are hanging back to take any that get through the initial blockade. Which one is the one completing the mission objective? All of them, even though they have different roles. Well, at least that's how I hope that he is seeing it."
Naruto nodded in understanding.
"Well, I have a plan."
...
It was hours later. Only 30 minutes before the end of the test and the trio had yet to make a move, all of a sudden Kakashi sensed some movement and saw Naruto clones en masse.
'Well this is my chance to get even.' Kakashi thought to himself as he watched the mass of orange approach. He tore into the mass dispelling clones left right and front. As he was fighting the real Naruto snuck up behind him and latched on, holding Kakashi in place.
"Like you always said sensei, never let your opponent get behind you." Naruto advised thinking about all the advice Kakashi had ever given him.
"You know what? You're absolutely right Naruto, but you would do well to listen to your own advice." Kakashi replied before poofing out of existence.
The real Kakashi was behind Naruto already with the tiger hand seal formed. Instead of announcing a katon jutsu as Sasuke and Sakura expected he proceeded to jam his fingers up Naruto's ass, sending him flying. While wincing in pain for their blond teammate's misfortune a genjutsu was laid by Sakura.
It simply showed Sasuke attempting to engage Kakashi in a taijutsu match. They figured it would be only moments before Kakashi worked out that it was a genjutsu. It was in this time that Sasuke would rush out as well, in attempt to steal the bells while his sensei was still caught in the jutsu. A rather simple plan, then again some of the simplest plans often worked the best. The only hitch was the timing necessary on both Sakura and Sasuke's part. If Sakura laid the genjutsu too early it would be noticed and swiftly dispelled. Too late and Sasuke would run out and gain the full attention of their sensei, thus wasting Naruto's noble sacrifice.
Should Sasuke run out before the genjutsu was placed then he would have to deal with a very powerful ninja with his full concentration on him, too late and he would miss the narrow window of opportunity that Sakura had given him.
Both parts were timed perfectly; the only problem was that he bells were so small that there was nothing to grab onto while he was fighting a genjutsu. Sasuke made his decision; he grabbed not only the bells but a handful of Kakashi's ANBU style pants and indiscriminately ripping the both of them away. Without part of his waist band holding up his pants the rest of his kit fell to the ground revealing yellow floral designed boxers. Sakura turned red; Sasuke was dumbstruck, though nobody could work out if it was because of his sensei's choice in underwear or simply because he was faced with a pants-off Kakashi. Naruto for his part was trying not to laugh.
As if on cue, Kakashi dispelled the genjutsu. He was left dumb as he noticed where the attention was.
"Well that's what you get for sticking your fingers up my ass." He taunted his older brother.
A moment later the time went off, signaling that midday had arrived and that the test was officially over. Kakashi gathered his students for some feedback.
"Sloppy yet very good all of you, Naruto, Sakura, Sasuke you pass. But first, gimme a very good reason on why I should let you pass."
All three looked utterly perplexed. Nobody had spoken yet.
"What? You think that I didn't know where you were from the start? You guys may be talented for genin, but there is a reason I am a jounin.
Sakura was the first to catch on.
"Wait, if you knew what we were going to do you could have stopped it and we would have never got the bells."
"It was never about the bells Sakura." Kakashi informed. "That was merely a test to see if you could work as a team. Your teammates are your friends and your allies; you are their life line, as they are yours. To quote a friend 'Those who abandon the mission are trash. But those who abandon their comrades are lower than trash.' This is something that I take very seriously. No matter what, I won't ever abandon you. Now that we have done our exam we have to report to the Hokage. He has an announcement regarding all teams."
Just as they were walking away Naruto stopped to ponder something.
"Kakashi-sensei, you remember how you promised to teach me the super awesome, ultra flashy jutsu? Well, there is no such thing is there?"
Kakashi looked at Naruto wondering what the hell he was on about before realising,
'He means that bogus jutsu name I made up to calm him down?'
Kakashi's face blew up trying to contain his laughter. He failed spectacularly. He was on all fours banging the ground in laughter. After a short explanation to Sasuke and Sakura they too were rolling around on the floor, holding their sides.
"Shut up!" Naruto yelled at them "I was like four years old. How was I to know?" Seeing that he wasn't going to get through to them he walked off in a huff.
-0-
A short while later we find not only team 7 but teams one, eight and ten at the Hokage's office waiting for the announcement about their teams. Seeing that the last of the teams had arrived Sarutobi began.
"First of all, congratulations on passing your jounin instructors' exams and becoming official genin of Konoha. Now the announcement that will affect you all is as follows. The teams of 1, 7, 8, ad 10 are here by disbanded until further notice."
There was an outcry from all in the room. They were comfortable with their teams and wanted nothing changed.
Sarutobi held up a wizened hand to stem the complaints. Despite the situation all noise stopped, he was the kage for a reason.
"In a manner of speaking this matter was taken out of my hands. The civilian council as well as the village elders requested, or more precisely, demanded special training be given to a member of your number."
"Me." Sasuke voiced. It wasn't a question it was a statement. He knew how so many worshiped him and how he hated it. It was one of the things that Itachi had hated the most. Worship for belonging to the Uchiha clan, as if there was no greater honour.
"As such instead of giving only one of your member special training I have removed the teams to provide all of you with special training. Some will receive instruction in areas where others will not."
Naruto raised his voice this time,
"In other words you're not gonna waste time teaching us pointless things if we will never use it, or simply can't. Like me with genjutsu."
"That aside, there are many reasons for doing this. The first is to satisfy the demands of the council. If it were only the civilian council I could have ignored the request, but seeing as the recommendation comes from all three of the village's elders I don't have that luxury. The second reason for doing this is that you all maintain the bond that you have developed since your academy days. The teams I put you on may not necessarily be your permanent ones. You were just placed with people that I thought you would have the hardest time working with." Sarutobi eyed every one before realising that they were silent and waiting for him to continue.
"Well then, onto what you will be learning and from whom. You will all learn to develop the three academy basics of ninjutsu, taijutsu and genjutsu. Only Naruto will be exempt from genjutsu because it is as he already said, he will never be able to use it. Ninjutsu will be taken by Kakashi Hatake, genjutsu will be taken by Kurenai Yuuhi and taijutsu will be run in conjunction with Maito Gai's genin cell. This prevents over specialisation and you will be able to deal with any kind of situation out in the field in the future."
Someone decided to interrupt the Hokage, wondering about the team placements, an interruption that he was glad for as he was quickly growing tired of talking for so long.
"Hokage-sama, will there be any changes to the teams?" Anko asked, wondering about the placement of Ino on her team instead of the traditional Ino-Shika-Cho team.
"Actually yes, Ino and Misao will be swapping teams. There were reasons that I had them on those teams in the first place, but they blew away any doubts I had by passing their genin exam." A simple nod from Anko told her leader that she understood and accepted the change in her team composition, when teams were actually active agin.
"This is only the basic training everybody will receive. Hinata Hyuuga, Shino Abrame and Kiba Inuzuka will receive training from Konoha's tracking unit. Misao Makimachi, Ami Tanaka and Sai seem to all have an attraction towards weapons usage so they will receive extra training in this area from Anko Mitarashi. The Ino-Shika-Cho team will receive training from their fathers as well as Asuma Sarutobi in team tactics and in information gathering."
Everyone looked excited by the prospect of learning such interesting thing from the given senseis. Sakura and Naruto looked a little disheartened at not having a specialty area in which to train in. Sarutobi noticed the look and would address it privately. He turned to look at Sasuke and gave him a choice.
"You are supposed to take all the areas with your classmates, but I'm going to let you pick what you will and will not do."
"With all due respect, Hokage-sama, I will take all fields, except for the training with the Ino-Shika-Cho team, that training is specifically set up for them. My brother was never one weak in one area. If I truly want to compare to him, then I must have a strong basis in all areas. "
"Very well then. Now that you all understand what you will be doing, this is how I will work the first three days of each week will be dedicated to one of the three base disciplines; taijutsu, genjutsu or ninjutsu. The next day will be training for the Ino-Shika-Cho team and weapons training with Anko Mitarashi. The day after will be the tracking training for team 8. If you feel you want to look into another area of expertise, simply to build your knowledge then all you have to do is meet at the training ground in the morning with the specialty team."
Sarutobi paused to collect his thoughts.
"The fifth day will comprise of missions where you will randomly be assigned into groups to foster teamwork amongst all of you. The sixth day will be charka exercises. This will build control as well as your reserves. I should mention that all through the week you will be doing the most grueling work imaginable to build up your physical stamina. While Maito Gai cannot be instructing the whole time as he has his own genin team to tend to, he has been kind enough to provide us with a list of exercises that he has suggested to train your bodies to their peak. Lastly the seventh day is a day of rest, there will be no training as it is important to allow your bodies time to adjust and grow with your training regimen. If there are no questions everybody except for Naruto and Sakura are dismissed."
Everybody milled out of the office except for three; Naruto, Kakashi and Sakura. Kakashi opted to stay back as both of his students were being spoken to. The Hokage first turned to Sakura.
"Sakura, I was wondering if you would be interested in becoming a medical ninja. You certainly seem to have the chakra control and a head that could easily get around the inner workings of the human body."
"Well, I don't have a specialised area yet and if you think that it would be a good idea, then I'm more than happy to give it a try, Hokage-sama."
"Very well then report to the hospital tomorrow. By then I will have arranged for a sensei for you to learn from." Sensing the finality in his tone Sakura left, leaving only Naruto, Kakashi and the Hokage in the room.
"Well Naruto, it seems without genjutsu and a speciality you have some areas to cover. That is why I have arranged for you to learn a sword style with Gekko Hayate. He is a recently retired ANBU that I have arranged to teach you sword skills. And the final area to cover requires a test."
Reaching into his desk he drew out a small piece of paper.
"Naruto, this is chakra paper. It responds to your chakra element."
Seeing the confused look on Naruto's face he realised that a better explanation was in order.
"Chakra has an elemental affinity, sometimes multiple affinities. These elements are water, fire, wind, lightening and earth. When you channel chakra into this paper it will respond accordingly. Water and it will dampen, fire and it will burn, wind will cause it to split, it will crumple if it is lightening and it will crumble to dust if earth.
Curious, Naruto instantly grabbed the paper and channeled some chakra into it. The paper split very evenly before starting to burn. The split happened so forcefully it was ridiculous, but that paled in comparison to the burning. It started out as a smolder before the paper burst into a white flame, causing Sarutobi and Kakashi to go wide-eyed.
"Well it seems that you have a very high affinity for both wind and fire jutsu. It just so happens that Asuma is a wind user and I am a fire element user. We will teach you jutsu from the corresponding areas."
Now Naruto had his two areas to occupy himself while everybody did their own thing, he was more than happy. In fact he was ecstatic about learning from the Hokage himself. As Kakashi and Naruto left using the door Sarutobi looked at Naruto's retreating back and thought to himself.
'I know your letter told me that Naruto needed his letter by the time he was a genin, but I honestly don't think that he is ready for that. At least I'm providing him some decent training instead of your clan's techniques. Minato, Kushina; please forgive me. Naruto, I hope you will understand and not hate me for too long.'
And so it was that the group trained and trained. True to his word the genin nearly collapsed every day after their work outs. The work from Gai was ridiculous, added to that any one that trained with Anko nearly lost a limb from her training methods which were more easily likened to torture methods.
If anyone thought that Kakashi was going to be lazy in training them in ninjutsu they were in for a rude awakening. Those that thought Kurenai would take it easy on them due to her gentle and kind nature were also shocked at how much of a slave driver she could be. From either area of specialty many nearly ended up on the verge of chakra exhaustion. Naruto was the only one who could move after Kakashi's sessions.
Nobody survived Gai's taijutsu training methods. Even Naruto with his legendary stamina collapsed after such an intense workout. To their defence there was only one person on Gai's team that could handle that as well; Rock Lee.
Sakura applied herself very heavily to her studies in medical ninjutsu. It was staggering just how much she could remember after one session with her sensei in the area, Megumi Takani. In less than a week she had memorised what situation called for which jutsu and had learned the two most basic jutsu from Megumi. The first was Shosen no jutsu, used for healing cuts, bruises and most forms of injury. The second was Dokumeki no jutsu, used for extracting poisons. As Sarutobi had said, she had excellent chakra control which aided in learning the jutsu.
Naruto was worked to the bone be Gekko Hayate, Asuma and his father, the Hokage. Gekko did not teach Naruto anything specific, only the correct way to swing a sword. It was one thing to swing a sword, but if the body parts were moved in the correct order then the seeing could be all the more devastating . Asuma and the Hokage left him near chakra depletion after every training session, which said quite a lot considering his humongous supply of chakra. So far he had learned Endan no jutsu, Hosenka no jutsu and was on his way to learning Ryuka no jutsu from the Hokage. He had mastered the Daitoppia, though was struggling with actually forming a blade of wind for the Kaze no Yaiba no jutsu all from Asuma.
The two most enjoyable times that the group had together were performing missions to build their teamwork and the chakra exercises. When the group first attempted the tree walking it drove Naruto nuts that Hinata and Sakura could walk three quarters of the tree on the first try and by the second managed to do the whole thing. Shino and Sai had the best luck out of the boys, though only getting half way up. Kiba and Sasuke practically destroyed their trees by applying too much chakra, while Misao landed straight on her backside after using too little.
The missions were for the most part enjoyable. The mission enjoyed the most was walking the Inuzuka dogs, while the most hated was catching Tora, a cat belonging to the fire Daimyo's wife. She had moved to Konoha for a vacation.
It was Kiba's dearest wish to present that cat on a stick to Sasuke, who would then proceed to torch it with any one of his katon jutsu. He would then have loved to have fed the 'delicacy' to the dogs in the Inuzuka kennel.
-0-
It was early morning and the rookie twelve was in the Hokage's office collecting mission assignments.
"Well, I have a pleasant surprise for you all. You all have enough D rank missions under your belt to participate in a C rank. The missions are as follows team one will be heading to a small village to protect livestock from some bandits, team eight will be carrying a document from Konoha to Taki no Kuni and team ten will be guarding a merchant from Kusa no Kuni to Konoha for so he can sell is wares."
Each team's sensei picked up the mission scroll before telling their team to meet at a gate in a short while prepared for the mission. Team seven remained in the office as they were yet to receive their mission.
"Thank you for waiting patiently while the other teams got their assignments." His words came not a moment too soon as Naruto had been about to angrily ask about their C rank mission.
"Your mission requires an introduction." He stated to the team before yelling to someone out of the room "Send Tazuna-san in."
A short man with gray hair walked in. Even from the distance they were at it was still possible to smell the stench of alcohol about his as he entered the room.
"What's the idea? Giving me a girl to guard me back to my home in Nami no Kuni?" Before he had even blinked all three genin were around him with a kunai pointed at a different vital point. Sasuke spoke first.
"We work as one. An insult to our teammate is the same as insulting us. We will not tolerate such a thing." He stated with a smirk.
"Besides, you've just seen our skills first hand." Sakura piped up "Rest assured that Kakashi-sensei is a jounin and can handle anything we cannot." She finished, lowering her weapon; her teammates following suit.
Kakashi was proud, though you couldn't see it through the face mask.
"Alright meet at the village's main gates in an hour. Pack only the essentials for a mission. In other words some food, any weapons and some camping supplies."
Three hours later
After Kakashi had managed to avoid Naruto for the two hours that he was late the group had finally set off for Nami no Kuni. The trip was interspersed by little bits of chitchat, some of which focussing on Tazuna's home village.
"So Tazuna-san, what is Nami no Kuni like?" Sakura was the one who had asked.
"It's a peaceful little village. Were mainly based on fishing and there isn't any real threat of shinobi as we aren't a ninja village."
A couple of hours through the mission four people noticed a genjutsu in the form of a puddle on the ground. Well three people noticed. Naruto, still not quite adept at actually detecting minor fluctuations of chakra had his own process.
'Damn that puddle is making me thirsty. Wait! It hasn't rained in days, it's been pretty bright and the land is flat so that water isn't run off from somewhere. This is a trap. Thank Kami aniki taught me to always question my surroundings.'
No sooner than Naruto had come to his conclusion, two figures emerged from the puddles and started attacking. They both had Kirigakure hitai-ates on, though they were slashed, indicating that they were nuke-nin. They were dressed in black cloaks with a clawed gauntlet on opposing hands and a wicked-looking chain linking their two hands. Their first move was to remove Kakashi. They did so almost effortlessly, wrapping him up in the chain before shredding him to pieces with a sharp tug at each end of the chain. Not even stopping after killing Kakashi, they turned their attention to Tazuna. The three genins didn't even get time to contemplate their sensei's death; they waited for their foes to come to them. Sakura stayed put and guarded Tazuna while Sasuke and Naruto were the ones to meet the enemy head on. Sasuke simply got inside the wild slashes and strikes that one of the pair was dishing out, simply choosing to thrust the butt of his kunai into his throat, preventing him from breathing and stopping him in his tracks. In these vital few seconds Sasuke knocked him out.
Naruto parried the gauntlet of his opponent into a tree. With the chain now at full stretch and the mostly free opponent unconscious while his counterpart was struggling to free himself from the tree the danger had now passed.
Kakashi reappeared looking as calm as ever.
"You're alive?" Tazuna was shocked. He had seen him get torn to shreds with his own eyes.
"Of course he is." Sakura admonished. "If we genin could notice such an obvious trap, what do you think the odds on a jounin not noticing are. Slim to none is my guess."
"Great work everybody. Naruto, you got careless, you have a cut in your hand. Don't move too much. Their weapons have poison on them."
"NOOOO! I CANT DIE LIKE THIS, SOMEBODY SAVE ME!" That was Naruto.
"Shut it, Naruto. I can deal with that. Megumi-sensei taught me the Dokumeki no jutsu already." Sakura offered.
"Then please do so. I first have to question these two chuunin, then depending on what they say I may have a few questions for you Tazuna-san, that unless you want to save me the trouble and tell me why they were after you in the first place."
"I…fine." Tazuna reluctantly agreed. "I'm a bridge builder. I'm currently in the middle of a project that will link Nami no Kuni to the mainland. Well there is a business man that doesn't like the idea. His name is Gato."
"Gato? The shipping magnate? Kakashi asked, slightly intrigued.
"The same. He's one of the wealthiest in the world. He uses his business as a front whilst he deals in other illegal stuff like smuggling and slavery. And he uses bandits and shinobi for the dirty work. Well he controls the waters around Nami; he who controls the water controls everything. So I'm trying to build this bridge so we will be free of his terror."
"You do realise that you have knowingly broken our contract. Encountering a shinobi automatically bumps this up to a B rank mission. Should we encounter a jounin level one, the mission status goes up to A rank. We are well within our rights to refuse the mission and turn back."
Tazuna paled at the news.
"But if you do, we will never be free of Gato's reign. He'll have me killed. Then my daughter will die of sadness and my poor ten year old grandson will be forever left alone. Please reconsider."
"I'll leave the decision to my students." Kakashi replied.
The three genin all looked at each other. Naruto then spoke for them.
"I don't know about legalities all that much, but Kakashi sensei did say 'those who abandon the mission are scum, those who abandon those in need are lower than that'. If we turn back we are both abandoning the mission and someone in need. I say we continue the mission."
"Agreed." Was all that was necessary from both Sasuke and Sakura.
"While those weren't my exact words, you summed it up pretty well. It looks like we are continuing." Kakashi summed up his group interaction and decided on the course of action to be taken.
Tazuna let out a rather audible sigh of relief. 'I win.'
For hours the troupe walked, not really saying much. That was until Naruto decided to throw a kunai into a thicket of bushes. They went over to check what had tripped his senses. Upon seeing a small white rabbit Sakura scolded him.
"Naruto, what are you trying to do? Scare me to death. Everyone is already on edge from the attack and now you've hurt the poor thing." Using Shosen no jutsu she healed the nick in the rabbit's ear before setting it free.
Kakashi was thinking on a far different wavelength.
'That's a snow rabbit. They only have white fur in the winter when there is low sun. It's now summer, so its fur should be brown. This rabbit was raised indoors, possibly for a Kawarimi jutsu.'
Then he heard something as though it was flying through the air coming towards them.
"GET DOWN!" was all he had time to roar at the other four. The three genin quickly ducked while Kakashi pulled Tazuna out of harm's way.
Not a moment later a zanbatou flew over head. Any one that had been too late in ducking would have been decapitated. The giant sword embedded itself into a nearby tree and a man appeared on the handle. He was wearing camouflaged shinobi pants and sandals, but no upper body coverings except a strap. Like Kakashi he also had a face mask on, his consisting of thin strips of material.
"Momochi Zabuza, Demon of the Hidden Mist." Kakashi said aloud, though to no one in particular.
"I'm honoured you know me, Copy Nin Kakashi" Zabuza coolly replied.
The three genin tensed ready for a fight.
"No, you three, guard Tazuna. This one is in league far above the others." He instructed his genin. "I'm going to need this." He continued, lifting up his headband and revealing his sharingan eye.
'The sharingan? How did he get that? No Uchiha I can ever remember would ever willingly part with it. It was a matter of pride for them that the sharingan stay within the Uchiha clan. Unless he's an...' Sasuke was genuinely shocked. He had never expected his sensei's covered eye socket to contain a sharingan eye.
"Kakashi I've been hired to kill that man. Care to step aside?" Zabuza tested his luck, knowing that Kakashi was hired to protect Tazuna.
"Sorry, no deal." Kakashi firmly answered, before entering a defensive stance.
"Didn't think so, though I thought I would at least show some courtesy to another professional." The words were barely out of his mouth before he appeared in the middle of the defence formation Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura had set up. Before he could do any damage he was quickly taken out by Kakashi with a kunai to his side. Where blood was leaking out they only saw water.
"Mizu bunshin" Kakashi mused out loud. A moment later Kakashi was cut cleanly in two, only to burst into water as Zabuza had done.
Zabuza then found himself with a kunai to his neck
"I win Zabuza."
"Not quite Kakashi." Zabuza said as he swang his zanbatou, to Kakashi's neck. Realising the trouble he was in, Kakashi changed his position, ensuring that he slashed the mizu bunshin's neck to kill it while he brought his kunai into a position to block the slash. The swing had too much power in it and Kakashi was knocked out off balance; it was all the opening that Zabuza needed to kick him onto the surface of a nearby body of water.
Zabuza smirked
'Just where I want you." He thought to himself.
'Why is the water heavy?'Before Kakashi had regained his bearings, Zabuza had appeared next to him.
"Suiro no jutsu" Zabuza announced his jutsu and almost immediately Kakashi was trapped in a sphere of water.
"That sphere is almost as strong as steel due to its compression Kakashi, there is no chance of escape, as your last sight, I will kill off your genin along with the old man in front of you before I kill you."
A mizu bunshin formed from one of the previously destroyed ones. Naruto created a mass of kage bunshins and sent them all to attack the mizu bunshin. They dog piled the Zabuza bunshin before they were all being sent flying. The clone dispersed a second later; it appeared that at least one of the clones had managed to stab Zabuza with a kunai before being sent flying.
"Sasuke I've got a plan." Naruto shouted.
"What are you doing? You can't beat him. Just run. Get out of here." Kakashi tried to save his students from the fate he was to have in only a short while.
"Kakashi-sensei, we lost that option when you got captured." Sasuke replied.
"After all it was you that said 'those who abandon their teammates are lower than trash'" Sakura finished for him, using Kakashi's own words against him the second time that day.
Sasuke then caught a fuuma shuriken thrown by one of the naruto clones.
'That's the plan!' As he caught the fuuma shuriken. Now to add what he believed was the other part of Naruto's plan."Shadow Fuuma Shuriken" Sasuke stated before he threw it at Zabuza.
Zabuza caught it in his hand, only to jump over the second shuriken hidden in the shadows. The second shuriken poofed into a Naruto bunshin and threw a kunai at Zabuza. Zabuza used the shuriken in his hand to deflect the incoming kunai.
"Dammit." Sasuke growled in frustration. "I was sure that Naruto's plan would work."
The teamwork displayed by Naruto and Sasuke was unreal, but in the face of such a powerful ninja it was pointless. Naruto came up with an idea.
"Our attacks have been to focused." Sasuke gave him sidelong glance to tell him that he was listening.
"Our attacks were direct. If we create an attack that is too wide a range for him to dodge then he has no choice but to let Kakashi sensei free. I'm gonna need you to create the most powerful fire technique you can." He explained, still addressing Sasuke. Sasuke didn't question, but did as he was asked.
"Katon: Endan no jutsu." A fireball eight feet in diameter blossomed from Sasuke's mouth. While in mid-flight there was a sudden cry from Naruto.
"Fuuton: Daitoppia no jutsu." The fireball went from eight feet to twenty. Zabuza paled; he had one hand tied up so he could not perform the suijinheki and it was far too large to somehow dodge from his stationary position. The other hand was providing a protective layer of water around Kakashi; it was a lose lose situation. He released the jutsu and both ninja leaped in different directions at the last second to escape the rapidly approaching blaze.
Both men settled on the water and started to go through a long set of hand seals, the amazing thing was that they were doing the exact same hand seals at the exact same time.
"Stop copying me…" Zabuza started
"…you irritating monkey." Kakashi finished for him.
They hollered the jutsu name at the same time.
"Suiton: Suiryudan no jutsu" the gigantic dragons that appeared as a result of the jutsu fought for dominance, neither winning, sending water in all directions when they collapsed. Seeing that neither jutsu had succeeded both began doing hand seals once more, both doing the exact same hand seals.
"How are you copying my every move? Can you…"
"…see into the future? Yes I can. Zabuza, your future is death." Kakashi finished the jutsu a fraction of a second before Zabuza.
"Suiton: Daibakufu no jutsu." A giant vortex appeared and slammed Zabuza against the tree that his sword had originally lodged in. When the water had receded Kakashi walked over calmly and attempted to finish the job.
Two senbon flashed through the air and pierced through Zabuza in the neck, stilling all movement. Kakashi looked over for the source and saw a young hunter-nin. Walking over to the body he checked for vital signs, with none found he walked away and the hunter-nin approached the body.
"Thank you for stopping him. I have been tracking this one for quite some time."
Understanding that the role of an hunter-nin was to eliminate nuke-nin, the three genin remained silent through the exchange. By the end the hunter-nin had shunshined away with the body, presumably in order to dispose of the body.
Kakashi turned to the group and suggested that they move towards Tazuna's house. Midsentence he collapsed due to chakra exhaustion. He had used his sharingan for quite awhile in conjunction with two jutsu that require a considerable amount of chakra. The duty of carrying Kakashi home was rotated between all three genin as they made their way back to Tazuna's home in Nami.
-0-
Jutsu Translations
Endan - Fireball
Kage bunshin no jutsu – shadow clone technique
Kaze no yaiba – wind blade
Suijinheki – water encampment wall
Ryuka no jutsu – dragon fire jutsu
Mizu bunshin – water clone
Bunshin – clone
Daibakufu no jutsu – great vortex technique
Shunshin - body flicker technique
Shosen jutsu – mystic palm
Dokumeki no jutsu – poison extraction technique
Hosenka no jutsu – phoenix flower technique
Daitoppa – great break through
Fuuton – wind release
Katon – fire release
Suiton – water release
A/N: Another chapter done! That's number four in two weeks! I hope you thoroughly enjoyed this chapter. Now I know some would be wondering why no original jutsu have been used yet, well... How bout you wait patiently, please. The ones I've created require some intense training on the parts of the genin. I don't want to make them super strong jutsu when they don't have the necessary skill to handle them(Chakra reserves and control).
Speaking of exercise, I hope you liked the training plot created in the beginning.
Next time on The Eternal Chimera; meeting Haku, fighting Zabuza and the awakening of Naruto's bloodline!
Remember, review if you actually feel like it. It would help alot though if you do. Until next time.
-kamizon