The Lesser Evil
Disclaimer: I do not own anything having to do with Naruto.
Authors Notes: I will apologize for the ridiculously long wait and not waste your time with the million and one excuse I have (some legitimate, many not). Plain and simple I was being lazy, I'll try and get the next one out ASAP (in my language this means before Christmas). Well little Naru's about to have some fun, and I imagine a few complaints about some of the stuff in here, but I claim artistic license. Just know that simply because something looks one way now doesn't necessarily mean that's how it will stay. If you left reviews look at the end of the Chapter for a comment on it, also if you see an asterisk (*) it will have an explanation at the end of the chapter for what it means and what not. Peace and enjoy.
Chapter 5: Academy Student?
The Hokage continued to work, his eyes moving rhythmically back and forth as he read the latest paper to find its way into his hands. He scowled at the council's newest request before using the large, red colored, DENIED stamp. Placing the stamp at the very top of the paper he threw it into the finished pile before grabbing another paper. The pile was dwindling, but he knew that in the morning it would be back to the same size as before.
An hour or so later, as the sun was starting to set four people appeared in the center of his office. All were looking the worst for the wear, blood covered, sweat soaked, and travel weary. The Captain of the team stepped forwards, his squirrel like mask an oddity in the ANBU corps. But then again on his team there was someone with a bunny mask so maybe he shouldn't be so derisive of the man.
Squirrel bowed before starting his report, his voice taking on the regular monotonous quality all ANBU were taught in order to not be recognized. "Hokage-Sama, the team arrived on time at the destination and encountered no problems, initially. However upon the Target's arrival, the information given to us was proven faulty. There were more then triple the guards expected, and at least double the amount of shinobi."
The man paused, allowing the information to sink in. It was his way of explaining their appearance. "We attacked at the most opportune moment, and despite the extra amount of guards; managed to kill the target. However we encountered fierce resistance while we made our escape. In the end however, we either killed or evaded the rest of the problems." The old man nodded in understanding, it was a short and concise mission report but it told him everything that was absolutely essential.
"Thank you Risu-Kun*, I expect all of you to fill out your written reports and have them on my desk by tomorrow morning." Nods were his only answer; it wasn't like he had really expected anything else. "Zou-Kun*, Koara-Chan* you are dismissed. I need to speak to Risu-Kun and Usagi-Kun* in private." The two nodded bowing and disappearing in a swirl of leaves.
The Hokage leveled his gaze on the two remaining members in his office, thinking of how to explain this next part. Taking an unobtrusive breath he started in, wondering if he would get any reactions out of him. "Risu-Kun, I'm sure you've figured out what this is about." The man hesitated before nodding, and turning his head to look at his subordinate. "Yes, I do Hokage-Sama. Do you really intend to do this though?" The old man nodded, not bothering with a verbal comment. Instead his eyes were examining the quiet ANBU member.
"It's time to make you an official shinobi of this village, Usagi-Kun. I hope that you are ready for this." The rabbit masked ANBU Operative nodded once before going back to his impassive stance. Waiting to see what else would happen, his dull blue eyes shining slightly through his mask's eye holes. "That's good then because you will be attending the Academy for the rest of this month, until the graduation exam." The Rabbit masked fighter turned his head slightly.
The only real indication that he'd heard anything that was said. However he still refrained from speaking, in his mind however he wondered why he had to attend that… place for a month when it would do nothing for him. How would it benefit the village to take him off missions for a month? He wasn't sure, but this was Hokage-Sama's orders, they had a reason. Of which he was sure, even if he wasn't good enough to figure it out.
"As you wish Hokage-Sama." The old man just sighed in mild frustration at the boy's compliant attitude. He did, however, refrain from commenting on it. This was how he was supposed to be, even if it was saddening for an eleven year old to act thus. "Good. Your classes start at eight in the morning and end at three in the afternoon. Room Two Zero Eight, your instructor is Umino Iruka. I expect you to show up every day, on time to assist Iruka-Kun by doing your best. You start tomorrow."
The boy just nodded before bowing, he was taking that last sentence as his dismissal. He turned towards his Captain and gave a sharp nod before disappearing in a swirl of leaves. The Hokage sighed again as he watched the boy leave. "I will activate Nezumi from reserve to active status immediately Hokage-Sama." The old man just nodded before pulling out another form from his piles. "I'll get you another reserve member as quickly as possible Risu-Kun. That'll be all for tonight." The man nodded, disappearing as well.
He didn't understand why the Hokage was sighing in exasperation over his previous subordinate's actions. They were utterly correct. But then, these were none of his concern, so he decided not to waste any more time thinking about it. It was a shame however to be losing Usagi. Nezumi was good but the man just didn't have Usagi's instincts.
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In the morning Naruto woke at his usual time of five, though admittedly he was feeling groggier then normal on this morning. That could be attributed to the fact that he hadn't gotten to sleep until around one in the morning. That was because he'd been ensuring his mission report was completed and perfect. Nothing was wrong with it, and it contained as much as he could recall (which was damned near everything, but he had a feeling he was missing something) and the spelling was right, so was the grammar, plus the handwriting was legible.
Shrugging the thought off, as he jumped into the shower. And right back out two and a half minuets later. He recalled the day he'd been pulled from his training center and been given this apartment. He'd been eight at the time, and been so focused on missions that he rarely ever saw his tutors. But then again they were also ridiculously busy with missions as well, so he rarely saw them even when he was around.
It had been decided that doing missions for the village was far more important and that he should know how to support himself. An agreement had been struck, between the Hokage and the council. He would get half the normal pay for any mission he did, since he wasn't a shinobi, and he would be set up in this small apartment. His training had been officially considered complete on the day he'd been handed the key to this apartment.
At the time he'd been officially low Chuunin level, and probably pushing Chuunin level, but it hadn't bothered him at all. They were his orders, and by that time the incident had already happened. Emotionally he was dead to this village. Physically, he was their very responsive slave. For now he drove these idle thoughts out, locking them into a corner of his brain. He was dressed and ready to train, though he had just less than three hours until he had to report to Iruka-Sempai.
As he walked out of his sparsely decorated apartment he locked the door. It wasn't any deterrent from shinobi, but it did occasionally stop the less violent villagers. It was time for his morning warm up, and hopefully the Academy wouldn't be a complete waste of time, as he was prone to thinking. He might get lucky after all.
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Iruka walked into his classroom, a smirk adorning his features. As he pulled out his lesson plans, his mind wandered to his conversation with the Hokage. It hadn't been long, no more then seven minuets, but it had been informative. Looking down at his attendance report he scanned down to the newest name on the list.
He hadn't recognized the name at first, but once he had he'd been surprised and angry. Like many, or in his mind everyone else, he had thought the demon boy was dead. Some how he had lived, and fate had chosen to put him into Iruka's classroom. Though he only had a month to pay the monster back for what he had done, he would use it wisely. His smirk darkened at his thoughts while he worked to set everything up.
Ten minuets later, at seven forty five, a voice clearing by his door interrupted his thoughts. In surprise Iruka looked up, all of his students knew that they could just come into the room if he was already here. Not only that, but they all knew not to bother him until at least seven fifty. But his eyes narrowed as he took in the person who had interrupted him.
In his doorway stood a young man who was about five foot eight maybe a little bit shorter. He wore a mask covering the bottom of his face, showing only his eyes. And he had the eeriest Reddish-blonde hair, almost like he had blood running through it. His eyes were the oddest blue and instead of having a round pupil like normal humans it was slitted like an Inuzuka.
His clothing was quite simply put, ANBU. He wore the ridiculously tight black pants and black sandals. He also had on the equally ridiculously tight black tank top with the white vest armor over it. The armor had cuts and dents in various places but looked well kept. He wore black gloves that extended up about an inch past his elbow with greaves over his arm, also white.
Over the back of his hands were white metal plates as well. He had Kunai and shuriken pouches on both legs, as well as a Tanto on each hip. On his back, over the right shoulder he had a wakizashi and over the left shoulder he had a Katana. The kid had muscles, his bicep and leg muscles showed the most because of the revealing material.
However, his chest and stomach muscles were hidden behind the armor. You could hardly see the black tank top underneath the white armor, but Iruka knew it was there. The young man was also missing the usual ANBU tattoo that would have accompanied such an outfit. He wasn't missing the mask though, for on his left hip, covering the Tanto's sheath a bunny mask of all things rested.
The weapon looked around his new classroom and frowned. It seemed too… peaceful to be a place to teach others how to be shinobi. Maybe this was just a meeting place and they would get their physical exercise by going to a more appropriate place? He certainly hoped so at least. He allowed his eyes to rest back on the only person in the room, who was gritting his teeth and clenching his jaws.
The weapons head cocked to the side slightly before speaking, his voice was slightly deeper then a normal eleven year olds, but nothing like his body suggested it should be. "You are Umino Iruka-San?" He made the statements into a question, attempting not to anger his newest teacher. The other tool merely nodded before the weapon offered a polite bow.
"I am Uzumaki Naruto. Where would you like me?" The orphaned Chuunin wanted to scream out that he wanted this monster in hell but he bit his tongue. As he tasted the blood, he used the pain to calm himself down. "There are no assigned seats; you may sit where you wish." The boy-man just nodded before pivoting sharply and moving towards the seat directly next to a window in the first row.
Once seated he leaned back slightly resting a cautious hand on one of his Tanto hilts. He could feel his new teacher's fury, and the killing intent that was directed at him. He was, however, unsure of why this Chuunin seemed to dislike him so. Taking a breath the newest Academy Student in Konohagakure no Sato closed his eyes, intent on not angering his teacher any farther.
In five minuets not one word had been said between the room's occupants. Iruka had completely avoided looking at the young shinobi in training and Naruto just kept his eyes closed. Their hostile silence, was however, broken by the arrival of the rooms other students. Naruto opened his eyes when he heard the first footfalls entering the room and was surprised to see that eleven and twelve year old students walking in, in garish colored outfits.
Not only that but all of them were goofing around with each other, acting like this place was no big deal. Just another stroll through the park. Naruto cocked his head to the side in confusion, though before any of the other students began to take notice of him he straightened his head, hand tightening around the hilt of his Tanto. It was pathetic, fourteen kids had entered the room already and it appeared as though only two had noticed him.
One, Naruto easily picked out as an Aburame and the other was obviously an Inuzuka. Though Naruto had the feeling he was being watched by a third, unseen person. Avoiding looking around the young weapon closed his eyes again, fighting back the anger he felt rising. These… children were so carefree for people that would soon become shinobi. IT galled him to think that there were people aspiring to be weapons that acted like this when in a very short time they would soon hold a rank higher then he ever had.
Naruto had just managed to get a firm hold onto his temper when an arrogant, annoyed, and bored voice interrupted into his control exercise. "You're in my seat." Naruto's eye cracked open and he examined the other boy. This one stood at maybe five foot one or two, he had a very basic build with little muscle. His hair style was reminiscent of a ducks ass, and if the boy ever entered ANBU that would probably be his mask. A duck that was, Naruto wasn't sure they had any mask's that resembled asses.
While all that was very telling the most informational part about the kid, was the kid himself. He was the surviving Uchiha that was for sure. Naruto could see the resemblance between this child and the man Itachi. Though the resemblance was only in the facial structure, Itachi had been much taller and had more muscle. Again, that could probably have just been the age difference. Plus his eyes had told Naruto that he understood the life of a shinobi, this boy's eyes were just arrogant.
"I've been informed that there are no assigned seats Uchiha-San." Naruto's tone was quite respectful. This was not to be confused with subservient. He however really was unsure what he should think of the boy, he had been easily impressed by Itachi and some of that moved down to this boy but not all. The feelings might have confused him if he had not decided to follow the Hokage's actions, and the Hokage seemed to like the boy well enough.
"Everyone always sits in the same seat… and you're in mine." The Uchiha was unceremoniously cut off by what Naruto recognized as females. Though he had always though females were more like Tsume, Yuuhi, Mitarashi, or Uzuki-san. Then again if he had bothered to really think about the opposite gender a little bit more he would have realized that he had only met about twelve females in his entire life. Well that was excluding those he dealt with on missions, some of those missions no words were spoke between them at all.
These eight were not. In fact not only were they lacking the look of true Kunoichi but they all wore bright colors, well with the exception of one. But purple didn't count for much and her ridiculously long hair more then made up for that. They all looked pathetically weak and they were currently all screeching loud enough that Naruto wondered if he should ignore all his lessons and cover his ears. The Inuzuka sure was, and Naruto could feel his chakra rushing to his ears to dampen the banshee like shriek.
Now though he was in a bit of a quandary, he needed these squealing things to stop or his ear drums were going to burst, but Hokage-Sama had asked him to be good and respectful. What he wanted to do was put out some killing intent and tell the things to shut up, but that seemed counter productive. Especially since at least one of the females in the group was the heiress to a council seat. Rubbing his ears, Naruto decided on the easiest course of action.
He let loose a bit of killing intent as he stood up, purposely making a loud noise when he slammed the chair back. Naruto looked at the Uchiha and with his usual monotone like voice spoke, the annoyance all others felt noticeably lacking in it. "Uchiha-San you may have your seat and the… kunoichi with it." The young weapon moved away taking a seat in the back right hand corner of the room where he had a view of everyone. Naruto's movements and words had the desired effect of shutting the banshee's up it also brought attention onto himself.
Back in the front row, Sasuke was watching the weapon with a badly disguised curious gaze. The, what appeared to be, older boy emitted the same feel that experienced shinobi did. Not only had that but of everyone, including his academy sensei, this other student come closest to being like Itachi. He had that quiet grace that once noticed was both ahrd and easy to forget. He moved like a predator stalking its prey, and wasn't afraid of making the killing strike.
These thoughts sent a small shiver up Sasuke's spine; he would look forwards to testing his prowess on this new person. Beating him would definitely bring him several steps closer to being able to finally kill Itachi. During his thoughts the lone Uchiha had failed to realize that Iruka was taking roll call and so when his name was called the young 'prodigy' snapped his head up in surprise before giving the customary here.
Iruka's voice hardened, and caused several students to break out into cold sweats as he unleashed a portion of his killing intent and glared hard at the seriously clad new boy. "Uzumaki Naruto." He didn't bother to make it a question, but Naruto decided to take it as one. Everyone else had answered with either the word here or present but Naruto, unfamiliar with such informal forms of address spoke the line that had been drilled into his head.
"Uzumaki Naruto present for duty, Sir." He curbed the urge to stand and salute, but barely. At least he'd caught onto some things, though he felt presumptuous for not doing so to this Chuunin. The other kids snickered at his formal monotone and choice of words, but when the new boy didn't respond they quieted down some and Iruka, after a boring staring match where he glared angrily and Naruto just watched passively, continued calling roll.
Naruto was briefly wondering if maybe the Chuunin was angry that he hadn't given the customary salute and resolved himself to make sure he did so next time. Of course this man would expect more from him, he was the weapon. Trained for years, he shouldn't have based his own actions off of the other student's. As the weapon took him to task, he did not fail to notice the curious looks, or the single hate filled glance.
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Naruto had never been so bored before. For the first hour of class they had gone over history, history of all things. Naruto knew the necessity of knowing your village's history but these were things these children should have learned in their first year. Naruto had to physically restrain himself from leaving, losing his temper, or falling asleep. Of the four homework assignments Iruka had already assigned for this night Naruto had exactly none left to complete. Naruto was unsure why this place was taxing his abilities but it was becoming wearisome.
The second two hours had been filled with theory and mathematical stuff, and even, god for freaking bid, how to write legibly. Naruto after three hours of sitting through some of the most boring repeat lectures of his life found himself standing outside at eleven during lunch time. As the lunch bell had rung Naruto had been one of the last to leave the room, due to his seat in the rear. It hadn't bothered him though, the young shinobi found it reassuring not to have strangers at his back.
Naruto had not bothered to pack a lunch and had no intention of leaving to go and get some as several students were doing. Instead he found himself standing near a tree with a swing attached to it. He with grew his sword and proceeded to run through some of his more basic kata's. Not only would this help him get rid of excess energy, but also it would calm him down from the rising emotions he felt. Ignoring the stares the blondish red haired weapon swung his wakizashi and katana through their deadly dance.
After only ten minuets of his most base workout the weapon was approached. He swung both blades down barely missing the academy student. His blue eyes narrowed on the same boy who had brought the banshee's near him that very morning. "Uchiha-San." Naruto said the word without inflection showing neither respect nor disrespect. When he had been in training the Uchiha had demanded their respect but now that they no longer held a seat on the council Naruto was unsure if they should still be given the same respect.
No one had ever really clarified that issue for him, and the Hokage didn't seem to care either. "Who are you?" The weapon refrained from showing emotion, but inwardly he was wondering why he was being asked such a question. Hadn't the Uchiha been listening during roll call? "Uzumaki Naruto." The narrowing around the Uchiha's eyes and his slightly more aggressive stance told the weapon that this wasn't the answer the Uchiha had been looking for. "That's your name, but who are you? No academy student should be that proficient with swords."
Naruto blinked, slowly while trying to form his thoughts. Well that was probably a true statement; he'd seen Jounin's who had trouble keeping up with his blades. Still, his Kata's were the most basic and no matter how fluidly he ran through them, even Genin who'd been training could do the same. "I am an Academy Student, by decree of the Lord Hokage Uchiha-San. Nothing more and nothing less, a weapon for Konohagakure no Sato." This obviously wasn't the answer that the Uchiha was looking for either since he scoffed at the weapon's words. Now slight confusion did set in for Naruto had answered truthfully.
"Whatever, you're just a waste of time even with your Kenjutsu skills." Naruto merely shrugged, he would take those words as a dismissal. He lifted his swords again dropping back into his stance and going through the Kata's again. When the bell rang only four people noticed that after twenty five minuets of practice, fifteen of it constant, the newcomer had not worked up much of a sweat. Iruka glowered at the class as they made their way back toward the training grounds for Ninjutsu practice. Once they were all assembled in a semi circle around the man he began to speak.
"All right class you need to work on the Henge, Kawarimi, and Bunshin jutsu's." Naruto blinked as the other students split off to start working on the most basic of techniques and left the weapon in one of the most confusing places he'd ever been in. These were students who would be expected to turn into killers in a month still working on these techniques. He twitched when a student failed to Henge properly and came out looking like a retarded, wart, covered, midget form of Iruka. He'd been watching the other students for about five minuets before Iruka approached him, a smirk on his face.
He was being followed by another shinobi, most likely a Chuunin, with shoulder length white hair. "Are you going to practice for the test Uzumaki?" Naruto turned his body to fully face the instructors, his face and body language as passive as ever. He knew that he was being watched by some of the other students. Unsure of whether this was a test of some sort the weapon chose to answer truthfully. "I don't need to practice such a simple technique, sir." Iruka looked annoyed, though he'd probably already known that Naruto could do the technique without fail by this point. "Well then you'll fail in the participation category."
The smirk on Iruka's face had the young weapon in confusion again. It didn't make sense that he should need to practice such a basic technique that used less then a percent of his chakra. "To get these… participation points I must correctly do each technique once, right sir?" The two instructors shared a look before the white haired one spoke up. "Yes. But considering who you are you will have to perform each one simultaneously." Naruto nodded, "Once that is complete may I practice however I wish?" Iruka sneered at him leaning forwards slightly till the two's faces were mere inches from each other.
"Only if you can do it." Naruto brought his hands up and started making seals, however neither of the chuunin's could really see what hand signs he was making. Naruto's real body now stood next to a tree, a leaf floating down to the ground where he'd used to be and two clones flanking it, one looking like the white haired Chuunin and one looking like Iruka. The weapon strode towards them not speaking until he was ten feet away. "Was that good enough Iruka-Sempai?" The two shinobi turned glares on the demon container before moving away, neither speaking but the sound of gnashing teeth was just barely audible.
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Naruto had practiced with his clones after having shown his two teachers that he could indeed perform the techniques simultaneously. He'd used wind techniques and other basic ninjutsu against his clones, and they against him, in order to better improve his abilities. He'd also not wanted to show too much of his techniques, in case it cause problems. It was common practice for Shinobi to hide the true extents of all their abilities even from their leader.
Now however it was time for Taijutsu practice. Today was apparently a tournament day, where everything was set up so that each person had to battle another until only one could continue. Males against males and females against females. Though Naruto did not agree with that system, since in the real world females would often find themselves pitted against males. Naruto's first opponent was a boy named Shinji, from a civilian clan; he was the first of his family to enter the shinobi academy.
Having seen the boy struggle with the Kawarimi technique Naruto was confident that he wouldn't need to exert too much to knock the other student out. He was right, of course. The other boy had charged in, thinking to make a name for himself by taking out the new boy quickly. Naruto had merely to sidestep his opponent and knee the other student in the gut. From there it was a quick downward spiral where Naruto ruthlessly finished the other boy off using the hilt of his kunai to knock him out.
Naruto received glowers from the instructors as he stepped out of the ring, vacating it for the next competitors Aburame Shino and Kuruhei Shiho. This ended up being another quick fight since the boy freaked and fainted when the Aburame sent his bugs at him and relieved the boy of any excess chakra. When Shino had been exiting the marked off fighting area Naruto had nodded towards the other boy in approval. He received nothing in return, but had not expected to either.
In fact the only reason Naruto had acknowledged the other student was because he had been quick and ruthlessly efficient in securing his win. That was something many a new shinobi took a long time to learn, for this boy to already know it then he was far above the rest. Naruto remained standing where he was at something resembling attention but slightly more relaxed. He only noted two more interesting fights; Nara Shikamaru who had beaten his opponent without doing pretty much anything and Uchiha Sasuke who had fought Inuzuka Kiba. Naruto was of the opinion that the Inuzuka was much better Taijutsu wise and could have won had he been less arrogant and moved in more efficiently rather then playing with his prey.
However that was for the Chuunin Instructors to correct, not him. Though he did doubt that other then Iruka-san none of the instructors would correct the boy on his habit. They seemed too enthralled by the Uchiha. Naruto shrugged the thought out, watching as another boy was swatted away by a student from the Akimichi clan. These fights were drastically one sided. None of the non-shinobi clan students stood a chance against those who were in a clan. Which made sense, there was no one other then these politically minded Chuunin's to help them.
The first round of the male's tournament finished and Iruka announced the start of the females. Naruto thinking that the females should be close to the males abilities was sorely disappointed. The Hyuuga made a good showing, with the Yamanka a far second and a few other females close to the Yamanaka's abilities. Other then the Hyuuga, nothing was even noteworthy. The next round of male battles would be Naruto versus Aburame Shino, then Nara Shikamaru versus Uchiha Sasuke, Akimichi Chouji versus Fumio Aki, and lastly two twin boys that Naruto figured wouldn't last long.
As Naruto stepped into the ring Iruka leveled him with a glare and spoke with a condescending tone. "No weapons Uzumaki or you'll be disqualified." Naruto looked over at the Chuunin, his eyed betraying nothing but he nodded. "As you say, Iruka-san." He turned back towards the Aburame to see the bug-wielder already set in, not the Academy's Taijutsu stance, but a different one. More then likely one that favored his families' abilities to use their bugs as anything.
Though Naruto made it a habit to never underestimate an opponent because as he had been told to assume something about anything would only make an Ass of you and me, he made a mental note to take the kid on as though he were one of his old instructors. Naruto dropped into the normal academy style stance. If he was forced to use one of his more… lethal ones he would but for now hiding his abilities was a must. His hands itched to feel one of his blades in his hands, but he fought the urge off.
"Begin." The harsh tone Iruka used was lost on the blondish-red haired student when he shot forwards snapping his leg out in the text book style kick. He'd not held back and the other student's eyes hadn't even managed to widen in surprise when Naruto's foot made contact. The end of the match was about as explosive as the start. Unable to have even realized that he had been hit until after he had already been flying through the air and impacted into the ground, Shino had long since rolled out of the fighting area and impacted into the wall. Leaving a nice Shino size imprint with his body.
He didn't get back up. Naruto hadn't aimed to kill or maim the other fighter, but he had aimed to knock him out, he'd succeeded. However he had also grossly underestimated the anger the teachers might feel for the ruthlessness of his attacks. "You're disqualified Uzumaki for unneeded roughness." Naruto turned to stare at the Chuunin; he held back the scoff and angry retort. He was a weapon, such things were below him. If he was disqualified then he was disqualified. He'd long since noted that all the losers had to do was sit and watch, when they really should have been getting practice from the three other teachers just standing around.
"As you say, Iruka-san. But I request to be released for the day, as it seems I will no longer be needed." Iruka looked annoyed and about ready to say no. It wasn't even one o'clock yet and they would be here until three, but the Chuunin was already thoroughly annoyed with having the demon vessel there and decided to jump at the opportunity to get rid of him. "Fine." Naruto nodded, bowing to the other shinobi before disappearing in a small puff of smoke. He had better things to do then stand around and watch other student's fight.
Plus the last two hours or so would more then likely be of no help to him what so ever. If what he'd already seen was anything to go by. He would go to the public training grounds and get in his normal work out, but first he would up the weights by a hundred pounds or so. If he was going to be wasting several hours a day playing at the academy he would have to train extra gruelingly. Nothing less then massive improvement would be accepted; he had a month before he would continue missions after all.
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The ANBU's Names: This is the things with the asterisks (*) next to it.
Risu – Squirrel – Naruto's ANBU Squad Captain before he attends the Academy
Usagi – Rabbit – Naruto's ANBU Name and Mask animal
Zou – Elephant – A member of Naruto's ANBU team, before he joins the Academy
Koara – Koala – A Member of Naruto's ANBU team, before he joins the Academy
Nezumi – Mouse – A Reserve member of Naruto's ANBU team before he joins the Academy
Review Replies:
To Hawk869: You're completely correct. I think the same as you are, that Naruto would indeed begin to feel hatred. However I also believe that the rules that apply to ROOT also apply to Naruto. In ROOT it was shown (through Sai) that they had to fight and kills to get through their training and to their current positions. More then likely this also meant severely degrading missions and other such things. And yet all these people became utterly loyal to the man that caused them all this pain. Also, in my opinion, I think children who go through some traumatic experiences 'erase' those memories. They can still be recalled but only painfully and one would have to concentrate on it desperately to do so. Finally Naruto would also remember the only person to be kind to him, the Hokage, and would as such afford him to the complete and utter respect and loyalty he does. Finally he is also severely detached from his emotions, much as Sai was. Whether or not he can come back into touch with them remains to be seen, I might flip a coin to decide that. I hope I answered your review as best as possible.
To Coca-Cola Classic: Thanks I really do apologize for the horrendously long wait and will work on getting the next 'installment' out as quickly as possible. I hope you (and everyone else) enjoy this chapter as well.