Here's the next chapter. Enjoy, and please review. It makes things easier on me if you do.
Kakashi had given them the day off as they walked out of the Hokage Tower, telling them to rest up after a long mission. Sasuke walked off, presumably to train, with Sakura not far behind. Anko wanted to track down her friend Kurenai, so she leapt off in the direction of Training Ground Eight. Gai invited Naruto, Zabuza, and Haku out to a post mission celebration with his team. It wasn't as if they had anything better to do.
When they got to the restaurant, the hostess tried to glare at Naruto, but was quelled by a look from Gai. They made their way over to a table, but were stopped by a cry of "Naruto-kun!" from a familiar voice.
The jinchuuriki spun around and saw Ino waving at him from a booth where she was sitting with her team. "Hey Ino-chan! What're you doing here?" he asked as he excused himself from his group and walked over.
"Can't a girl have lunch with her team?" Ino asked in a hard voice. When Naruto covered his head to fend off the impending blow, she waved her hand. "I'm just teasing, Naruto-kun." Ino placed her hand on his arm to try to relax him, and she felt a tickle of killer intent. She looked over Naruto's shoulder. "Who're they?" she asked bluntly.
Naruto looked back to see exactly who she was talking about. "Oh, that's Tenten-chan's team. Zabuza is the one with the big sword and Haku-chan is the pretty girl with black hair."
"Not Momochi Zabuza, former member of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist and A-ranked missing-nin?" Asuma asked around his cigarette.
"Yeah, but don't worry about that. He's not a nuke-nin anymore. The old man already said they could join Konoha," Naruto explained with a satisfied smile.
Asuma nodded, but mentally resolved to question his father about it. "We were just about to leave, but what are you doing with Gai's team? I thought you were with Kakashi?"
"Yeah, and we just got back from our mission. We got sent reinforcements because we ended up having to take down this huge bandit camp. Kakashi-sensei just told us we had tomorrow off and walked off with his porn book. And Sakura just followed Sasuke-teme wherever he went."
"Don't say bad things abou–" Ino stopped her arm mid-swing and her face colored. "Sorry. Force of habit. I'm working on though."
"It's okay Ino-chan," Naruto reassured as he gave her a fox grin. Ino melted.
"Thanks Naruto-kun. I'll see you tomorrow," Ino said.
Naruto's eyebrow quirked. "I will?"
Ino's face furrowed in annoyance as she picked up her stuff to leave. "You owe me a date for watching your plants for you while you were on that mission."
"Oh yeah! I guess I will see you tomorrow. What time should I pick you up?"
By this time, Ino was at the door, Naruto was back with the group he came in with, and they were calling across the room to each other. "Drop by the flower shop at lunch time and we'll take it from there."
Naruto nodded and sat down. Haku and Tenten had strategically maneuvered the group so the only empty seat was between the two of them. Naruto seemed oblivious to this fact. "Who was that?" Haku asked in a cool voice.
"Oh, that was Ino-chan, she's been one of my friends since I was little," Naruto explained.
"You're still kinda little, Naruto-kun," Tenten teased, taking a jab at the jinchuuriki's height.
"Hey!"
Haku ignored Naruto's indignation. "So what was that about picking her up for lunch?"
Naruto nodded his head as the waitress set down his drink. "I'm taking her out because she took care of my plants," he explained in a quiet voice, not wanting it to get to be common knowledge in case a foolish villager decided to try something against a 'demon-lover'. Ino was more than capable of handling herself, but it would be better if the situation never happened to start with. And Zabuza was watching Gai and Lee's antics, while Neji was trying to block all of them out.
"Just as a repayment for helping you out?" Tenten asked, the hope in her voice barely concealed.
"No, I'm pretty sure it's a date," Naruto said happily, and both girls' faces fell.
Naruto looked up and saw the dark clouds surrounding his friends. "What's wrong?"
"Oh nothing!" the kunoichi said in unison, their answers coming too fast and their voices a pitch too high for it to be a truthful reply, but Naruto didn't seem to notice. He just nodded happily and went back to his meal without a care in the world. He never noticed the girls resolve grow strong as they recognized their new competition. They had accepted that they would be going against each other, but now there was someone new in the mix.
--
"Quick, get him!"
"Ow!"
"Pin him down!"
"Ugh!"
"For Gai-shenshei!"
"Owowow!"
"You gotta be kidding me!"
The celebratory meal was going smoothly for quite a while until it happened. The waitress wasn't even nasty to Naruto. It would have been a great way to end a day if Lee hadn't picked up the wrong bottle. Lee had grabbed Gai's sake bottle instead of his own drink. Lee was now smashing the restaurant to bits, all in the name of Gai-sensei. The fact that Gai was yelling at him to stop didn't seem to make it through his alcohol-addled senses.
"Haku!" Zabuza called, in a last ditch effort to stop the green blur.
The ice-nin called on her bloodline, creating a series of ice mirrors around the room. Lee stopped for a moment to give another drunken call, and Haku let fly a series of senbon from each mirror. Most of them missed, accidentally perforating Naruto instead, but one hit its mark, paralyzing Lee. Gai dashed forward, fingers striking a nerve cluster, and caught Lee's body as he fell unconscious.
"I apologize my comrades," Gai said in his eerily serious voice. "I had no knowledge Lee was a natural Suiken fighter. I will make sure he gets home okay. And fear not, I promise to pay for all damages to your establishment," he promised the manager who just came out, striking the "Nice Guy" pose.
The manager quickly blinked away the blindness caused by Gai's teeth ping, and nodded. "Fine. Now get out of my restaurant!"
The group beat a hasty retreat, as even the hardest missing-nin knew not to stay around when a chef was mad at you. They each leapt off in the direction of their respective homes, though Zabuza and Haku were a bit confused as to where they would stay. The Hokage hadn't given them an apartment (not that they expected him to), and they weren't about to sleep in the woods.
"Haku, do we have enough money for a hotel?" Zabuza asked. While he may have been one of the most powerful shinobi in the Elemental Countries, he wasn't allowed to be in charge of the money. He was bad for impulse buying, and Haku knew it. She had taken control of their finances at an early age. Haku sighed.
"We have enough for week at most, and only if they are cheap. Otherwise, about five nights worth."
"What?" Naruto asked as he overheard. "You guys can stay with me if you need to. I've got plenty of room."
"We wouldn't want to be an imposition…" Haku trailed off. Zabuza nudged her, subtly saying that he had no problem being an imposition.
"Nonsense! You're staying with me, and that's final! There's no reason you should pay for a hotel when I have a place for you to stay. If you want, you can move out once you find an apartment of your own, but I don't think you will, cause my house is awesome! Come on! And make sure you remember what way I show you so you don't get hit by the traps!" Naruto was already halfway down the street before they registered all of what he said.
--
Ibiki was waiting for Naruto in the kitchen when the trio got to the house. "Am I going to have to worry about you bringing back strays every time you leave the village for more than a week?" He asked dryly when he saw Zabuza and Haku.
"Hey, I tried to get them to come back with me when I first met them but they wouldn't do it. So I had to get them this time." Naruto grinned impudently.
Ibiki shook his head. "So, you're going to be living here? There should be some rooms on the second floor that you can have. I expect Naruto will give you the tour later on."
Zabuza looked taken aback. "What, you're letting us live here just like that?"
Ibiki didn't flinch. "Technically, this is Naruto's clan house. If it really came down to it, I have no real say in whether or not you live here. Besides, Naruto is an excellent judge of character. If he is going to let you live here, I'll give you the benefit of the doubt. But don't think for a second, Demon of the Mist, that that means I trust you. I just know that if you've gotten this far, you've already gotten the approval of Anko, and Hokage-sama knows you're here."
"He has accepted us as Konoha shinobi," Haku said quietly.
Ibiki sent her a look that stated, 'Do you really think that makes you trust you any more?'
Haku flinched first.
Zabuza growled at Ibiki, who backed off only when Naruto started frowning at him. "It's still interesting to see Konoha's top interrogator living with the little brat I found chasing rabbits in the woods," Zabuza said conversationally, though everyone knew it was just to get attention away from Haku.
Ibiki just grunted in acknowledgement of his nin status, it didn't surprise him that Zabuza knew who he was. In truth, Zabuza was a treasure trove of missing-nin information. Unlike most nuke-nin, who just tried to stay alive after leaving their village, Zabuza made sure to have up-to-date copies of every nation's bingo book. Naruto had even heard a few stories where Zabuza had been able to buy off hunters with information about nin who had scorned him in the past.
Naruto saw the opportunity to diffuse the situation, and did so immediately by pulling Zabuza and Haku from the room, on the premise of a tour of the house. He showed them where the laundry was, the bathroom, and the bedrooms Ibiki had mentioned.
"And finally, this is the most important room of the house, my room!" Naruto spread his arms and posed dramatically as he swung the door open. A large bed was the focal point of the room, flanked by two nightstands. There was a door leading to a private bath along the sidewall, and a mirror and dresser opposite it. Clothes were scattered around the room haphazardly, but Naruto didn't seem to care. Haku made a mental note to try to get Naruto to clean up, being a good practice in the field, especially when you're being tracked; Zabuza didn't seem to notice at all.
The trio eventually ended their tour, but only after Zabuza insulted Naruto's room, and they got in a fight, bringing them to where they were now, outside at Naruto's favorite training spot, right behind his house, but far enough away that no large scale jutsu would hit the house.
Zabuza and Naruto were going to duke it out to see who was right, much to Haku's objections. Ibiki had joined them, though he never said why. They all knew it was to keep an eye on the former missing-nin.
Naruto started the fight, his impatience getting the better of him. He threw a barrage of punches and while Zabuza was able to block all of them, a few of them did get close, as they came from bizarre angles. Zabuza held Naruto by the wrists, who then twisted his body to come from overhead with a smashing ax kick. Zabuza absorbed the impact with chakra and took it, and pinned the foot with his head and shoulder before spinning Naruto's body, almost breaking the boy's ankle.
Naruto hissed in pain as his ankle twisted and he retreated. Haku's hand twitched towards a senbon at the sight of her crush in pain (not that she seriously gave any thought to attacking the man who had raised her since her bloodline had been discovered). Even to the trained eye, Ibiki didn't react. Only the most trained in reading people, or someone who had known him for years would have seen him tense.
The jinchuuriki moved his hands into his favorite handseal. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Five Naruto's were suddenly inhabited the training ground.
The five ramen freaks dove at their opponent, forcing him to apply himself harder. Zabuza parried their strikes and hit them into each other, but during the week they had waited to assault Gato's base, Naruto had trained and taught himself how to pack chakra into his Kage Bunshin in a way that made it so that they could last a few extra hits. Even for a jounin, landing five solid hits on someone while being attacked from five different angles was no mean feat.
Zabuza stepped inside Naruto's timing, grabbed one, and threw it into the one charging him. Those two dispelled as Zabuza jumped back, flying through the handseals for Mizu Bunshin. Two condensed into view, one on either side of him, and flickered out of view. They reappeared behind the two dispelling clones on either side of Naruto, who was now surrounded.
On the sidelines, Ibiki leaned over to Haku. "Why doesn't he use Kirigakure no Jutsu? He's hailed as a master of that technique."
Haku shook her head dismissively. "He is, but Zabuza-san is also smarter than to rely on one tactic. Kirigakure no Jutsu works on most people, but Naruto-kun is an exception. With his heightened senses, Naruto-kun is nearly as good as Zabuza-san at tracking enemies through it. It is only because of his vast experience with it that Zabuza-san is able to beat him with that technique. Fortunately, Zabuza-san has many other ways of humbling Naruto-kun."
"So you'd rather Naruto lose this match?" Ibiki questioned.
Haku was silent for a minute, deciding on how to answer. "Yes, I would. I greatly admire Naruto-kun, but I would prefer to see him lose a practice match than a fight for his life. As good as he may be, Naruto-kun still has much to learn."
The Zabuza clone on the right rushed in on Naruto, striking him in the back of the head with the butt of his sword, only to have the hanyou puff into smoke. The trio of swordsmen looked around, and a hail of kunai descended upon them, only two of them getting away. The other one splashed back into water as the kunai pierced its body.
The two's fight continued for a while longer, with Naruto pulling off some amazing escapes thanks to his clones, but never truly gaining the upper hand over the more experienced nin. Though Zabuza was covered in small scratches and bruises, with one particularly angry gash on his shoulder from where he dropped his guard for a second too long, Naruto was looking much worse. He had a nasty looking black eye, split lip, three broken fingers, and a variety of other wounds that weren't worth mentioning but added up to a lot. The fight eventually ended with Zabuza forcing Naruto onto a nearby stream, trapping him in a Suirou no Jutsu, and holding him there until Naruto admitted defeat. Not that that didn't take a while.
As Zabuza slumped against a tree and Naruto lay on the ground, Haku stepped forward and pulled out a small bag full of various herbs and creams. She knelt by Naruto first. "Smear this cream on your wounds, Naruto-kun. I know the Kyuubi will heal you before long, but the cream will dull the pain in the meantime, and hasten the healing." Naruto opened his mouth to protest, but quickly closed it again when he saw the look on Haku's face. The only thing worse than an angry Haku was a disappointed Haku. Naruto just mumbled out his assent.
Haku moved over to Zabuza next. "Rub this in once I'm done healing your shoulder. And don't let me catch you doing this again any time soon," Haku order with a stern look gracing her gentle features. Zabuza just grunted an acknowledgement. He knew better than to argue with Haku on matters of healing and recovery. Haku moved her hands in a few quick seals and whispered, "Shosen no Jutsu!" before her hands glowed a faint green and she placed them on Zabuza's bleeding shoulder.
As she ran her hands over her sensei's wound, she felt a presence behind her and a hand land on her shoulder. Haku whipped around with her hand still glowing, mentally changing the effect of the healing chakra to its more deadly cutting nature.
Her hand was caught before it got anywhere near its target.
"Who are you?" the greatest med-nin alive asked.
Haku's eyes were wide upon realizing whom she just attacked, and immediately began trying to figure out a way to apologize enough to not get killed because of it.
"That's Haku-chan, Tsunade-baa-chan, so leave her alone before I have to punch you in the face," Naruto grunted as he pushed himself up from where he was laying.
Haku gasped as she heard what Naruto just said. Before she could blink, Tsunade had finger-flicked Naruto into a tree and was berating him. "What have I told you about calling me that, brat? Huh? And I was asking because she just did something that had me interested."
"H-how did you get so close to me without me noticing?" Not what Haku meant to say, but something she wanted to know all the same. Haku prided herself on her skills, and to have someone get right behind her without her noticing was unforgivable.
"I'm not considered one of the Sannin for nothing, kid," Tsunade replied with a smirk. "Now, what were you doing with your buddy over there?"
Haku looked very confused for a moment before answering. "Shosen no Jutsu, I was healing his shoulder."
"I don't think so. I know that technique, and what you were using looked a lot like it, but it wasn't. Do it again," Tsunade ordered.
Haku formed the seals and her hands started glowing once again. Off to the side, Shizune gasped, noticing what Tsunade did the first time.
"Whoever taught you that technique was wrong. You have the second and last seals switched. Reverse them and you'll have it right, but what you were using was a really incredibly bastardized version of Shosen."
Behind Haku, Zabuza winced as he realized what he had done. "Ah, sorry about that Haku. I thought I had the handseals right, but it had been a while since I had seen it when you asked me. I never was any good at that medical stuff anyway."
At Tsunade's questioning look, Haku elaborated. "I asked Zabuza-san if he knew any medical jutsu, and he believed he remembered the handseals for Shosen no Jutsu. I trained with them until I could produce medical chakra with it."
Tsunade regarded Haku with a critical eye as she heard Shizune muttering faintly in the background, probably thinking along the same lines as her. Medical jutsu took incredible control to use and maintain, that much was well known. What wasn't quite as well known was that medical jutsu was almost as exacting as fuuinjutsu, often employing the finicky art as a way to further control the more demanding healing practices. For someone to figure out even the most basic medical jutsu on her own, without even a scroll as guidance was amazing. To force chakra to be molded correctly despite incorrect handseals was astonishing, and denoted chakra control and medical genius at the highest level. Tsunade made a quick decision.
"That's pretty good, kid. Now I'm going to make sure you know how to do the Shosen no Jutsu correctly, because I'm not going to have any self-respecting med-nin messing up if I can help it, and if you do a good enough job, I'll think about teaching you some more." Tsunade realized that there was no way Haku wasn't going to impress her, and she had in effect just taken on another apprentice. But there was no reason to come out and tell her that right away. She had a reputation to keep up.
Haku was positively giddy at the possibility of learning from the woman hailed as the greatest kunoichi alive, and she didn't even think before agreeing.
Zabuza shook his head at his apprentice's actions. He had long known that Haku didn't want to become someone like him, someone who could take another life and not think twice about it. Haku wanted to be someone who could heal people, but the fact of the matter was, Zabuza didn't know that much about that. He did his best, and personally thought Haku was an excellent medic for having no real training, but he knew he was biased after not having being treated by anyone else for the past few years. Besides, he really didn't have anything left to teach Haku unless she suddenly decided to get a giant sword and kill her conscience completely.
He decided to let her know she had his blessing to do whatever she wanted later on, alone. It wouldn't do to be seen showing softer emotions in public. Not unless he was about to go on a suicidal charge anyway.
Like that would ever happen.
"Meet me at the hospital tomorrow at nine a.m. We'll see how good you really are, and I'll decide if you're really worth my time."
--
Naruto took a deep breath before knocking on the door to the Yamanaka apartment. Ino's mother had let him in and told him to go on upstairs, that Ino was waiting for him. The door opened and Inoichi was there waiting for him. "Ino will be ready in a few minutes," he said gruffly. He liked Naruto, and was over him holding the Kyuubi, but if the boy expected to date his daughter, there would be no kindness.
"I thought your wife said she was waiting for me? Doesn't that mean she's ready?"
Inoichi shook his head. "A little word of advice. If you're going to go pick up a girl, they will never be ready when you get there. Ever."
"I HEARD THAT!" came the harsh call from both mother and daughter. Inoichi vaguely wondered how they heard him, but pushed past it. At least he wasn't whipped like Shikaku.
He knew he wasn't. He was able to persuade his daughter not to go after the Uchiha anymore.
Then again, he wasn't able to put up much of a defense when she came home with this idea, and stopped arguing completely when his wife said something to him.
No, he decided, he wasn't whipped like his friend, and if he was, he was perfectly happy not knowing he was.
Naruto and Inoichi sat in a fairly uncomfortable silence for the next few minutes, waiting for Ino to finish getting ready. Inoichi had a lot of fun playing the menacing father, which he was pretty good at, especially since he had been a jounin for almost two decades, and a shinobi for more than two-thirds of his life.
Ino came into the living room and immediately noticed the oppressive atmosphere. She sent a look at her father than had him cringing. He knew he would have an upset daughter to deal with (and most likely his wife as well, once Ino told her what he had been doing) once she got back.
Ino was done glowering at her father, and turned to Naruto, who hadn't said anything. She figured he would be complimenting her loudly by this point, not that she wanted that, but only that it was something he would do. Instead, he was staring at her dumbly, mouth half open, and eyes slightly glazed. If he decided to start giggling, she would punch his lights out, but his whisper stopped her.
"Beautiful…"
Ino blushed at the compliment. It probably had more effect on her than if he had been yelled. She was wearing a lavender dress that stopped mid-thigh and showed off her exceptional legs. She had paid special attention to her hair, and it could be seen with an extra shine to it. Naruto, on the other hand, sported his trench coat as always. However, it did seem to be cleaner than usual, as no spots of dirt could be found on it despite the rough sparing match it went through yesterday. He also had traded out his orange for deep blue variants that worked well with his eyes. Naruto hadn't particularly wanted to trade out his orange, but after multiple objections from Shizune, Anko, and Haku (who didn't really want the day to go well because it might hurt her chances, but wasn't nasty enough to actively sabotage his date, and didn't want to give the impression that it would be okay to dress like a fool when he took her out), Naruto relented. It looked good on him, but the jinchuuriki had already decided to go back to orange as soon as he could.
"You're looking pretty good yourself, Naruto-kun," Ino said in her attempts to conceal her blush. "What are we going to do today?"
Naruto seemed to snap out of it at Ino's words. He held up a basket she had overlooked until now. "Oh, well I made us some lunch and I figured we could go somewhere to eat it."
Ino refrained from rolling her eyes. Only Naruto would say something like that. "So you didn't want to take me out to eat?" she asked innocently. Her father seemed to back away at those words, though Naruto didn't catch it.
Naruto blushed. "I didn't think you'd want to go to Ichiraku's, and anywhere else I can go and not get kicked out didn't feel right," he mumbled, feeling slightly ashamed.
Ino flushed with anger at the villagers who would keep her crush from being treated like a normal human being. "That's okay, Naruto-kun," she said gently. "Food you made yourself is more romantic anyway." Naruto beamed at the simple praise and Ino caught his infectious smile. She grabbed his hand and led him off and away.
Inoichi watched them go off with a fond smile. He knew Naruto would make his daughter happy. Suddenly, he cursed. "Shit! I had the oppressive atmosphere, but I forgot to threaten his life if anything happens to her. Dammit!"
--
Naruto had stopped being led by Ino halfway to their destination and became the leader, though he didn't drop her hand. Ino wasn't sure if this was conscious or not, but she liked to think it was. "Just a little farther," he declared as they pushed through the woods.
Ino knew Naruto had a strange sense of what would make a good date. Knowing this, she thought she had prepared herself for this. However, being dragged through woods at a high rate of speed was not what she had expected. Another thirty feet and the duo burst through a wall of foliage that gave way to a clearing that made Ino gasp.
The majority of the clearing was dominated by a pond, fed by a beautiful waterfall with a small stream running off it before disappearing among the trees. One side of the pond was covered in a soft field of flowers, elegant ones that had Ino's eyes bugging. Naruto immediately knew he had made the right choice. "You know, the old man said that the Nidaime used to practice his water techniques here. I think he just liked the view."
Ino nodded absently. She was still too wrapped up in appreciating the beauty of the clearing.
Naruto walked over to the clear spot of grass right by the water. He sat down close enough to the water to dip their feet in and patted the grass next to him. Ino shook off her shock and joined him. Naruto emptied the basket, setting up sandwiches, a thermos of ramen, various snacks, and two rather delicious looking slices of cake.
Ino caught herself as her mouth started watering, it really looked good. "Come on, Ino-chan, eat up!"
"I'm on a diet, Naruto-kun…" she protested weakly.
"So what? I think you look great, and you should eat more anyway. It's not healthy to go without eating. Besides, if you train enough, you can get stronger, not have to worry about what you're eating, and not be hungry all at the same time. So eat!"
Ino's body betrayed her. Her hand shot out and grabbed one of the sandwiches, and started chowing down. Her stomach was grateful, and one look at Naruto destroyed all of her protests. He looked happy she was eating, so there was no way she was stopping now, not if she didn't have to.
They sat with their feet brushing the water's edge, and Naruto told Ino about the mission to Wave Country. She was suitably angry at Gato's actions, and hid her jealousy successfully when she heard about how many times Haku and Tenten walked in on him accidentally. Naruto couldn't explain it. He didn't understand how two experienced kunoichi like them couldn't tell when he was in the middle of changing and how they always seemed to walk in on him at that exact moment. He told her about all the bandits he had to take down, something that was easier for him to talk about than he thought it would be. Ino still held him as he went through that part of the story. Of course, she nearly killed him when he mentioned going off to fight the bear demon, but it had been a great date up until then.
After Naruto bandaged his bruises, and they spent a little while longer talking, before Naruto decided to take Ino to his favorite place in Konoha. Ino immediately knew he was talking about the top of the Yondaime's head on the Hokage Monument, but as they were walking over there, fate decided they would never get there.
"Konohamaru, rocks aren't square!"
Boom!
"Udon, you shouldn't have added so much gunpowder!"
"Sorry Moegi-chan."
"Hey Konohamaru, Udon, Moegi. What do you need?"
The trio shot up to attention. "We want you to play ninja with us boss! You haven't played with us in soooo long."
"I played with you guys last week. Are you telling me you've mastered what I've taught you already since then?"
The three ninja-in-training blushed and kicked the dirt at their feet. "Well, um, not totally…"
Naruto had met Konohamaru shortly after becoming a Genin. The boy had been running from his teacher, Ebisu, and Naruto helped hide him. They evaded detection for a while, but Ebisu wasn't a Special Jounin for nothing, and when Konohamaru started arguing with Naruto, their position was compromised quickly. Naruto ended up defeating Ebisu through a combination of Kage Bunshin and Henge, getting a surrounding group of women to attack the man for being a pervert.
After that, Konohamaru pleaded with Naruto to teach him a technique that would be able to beat Ebisu like that. Naruto eventually gave up his Oiroke no Jutsu, and Konohamaru took to it well, learning it quickly for his age. Ebisu caught up with them once again (looking rather worse for wear), and Naruto knocked him out after Konohamaru failed to. The Sarutobi heir looked up to him ever since.
The Konohamaru corps interrupted Team Seven as they were coming back from a mission, and Sakura asked Naruto what kind of ninja plays ninja. In truth, Naruto wasn't playing ninja at all. He made it seem like a game (remembering his own lack of attention at that age) as he taught them basic shinobi skills, ranging from detection and stealth to the most basic of jutsu, Henge. They were more than happy with what they were learning, and they were getting a better grounding earlier they would get at the academy. That's not to say the academy was bad, it was just that they weren't able to deal with all the different styles the shinobi hopefuls were suited for.
"Hey boss, who's she?" Konohamaru asked, pointing at Ino.
Naruto chuckled sheepishly for not introducing Ino until now. "This is Ino-chan, and I've known her since I was younger than you guys."
"Is she your, you know…" Konohamaru asked suggestively, holding up his pinky.
"Well, we are on a date right now," Ino said with an undertone that stated that the younger trio probably wanted to make sure they didn't disrupt her date any longer.
"I always knew boss had good taste," Konohamaru remarked, and Ino looked satisfied with that compliment.
"Alright troops," Naruto barked as his friends saluted, "I want you to make sure you have what I taught you down pat before you see me again! And believe me, I'll be checking."
"Yes sir!" The Konohamaru corps snapped a salute before running down the street. Just as Naruto and Ino were about to leap off, they were stopped by a shout. "Hey, put me down!"
Naruto immediately started back for his 'troops', giving Ino an apologetic glance. She let him go because otherwise she knew he would be worrying for the rest of the day.
Konohamaru was dangling by his scarf as a guy in a black suit with a hood reminiscent of cat ears growled at him. There was a bandage wrapped something on his back, and Naruto absently wondered what it was before snapping his attention back to the matter at hand.
"Hey, put him down!" Naruto called, and the black-clad nin flickered his eyes over to Naruto before dismissing him as unimportant.
"I hate little brats like you. I eat brats like you for breakfast. And you ran into me, so what do you think I'm going to you?"
Konohamaru paled and started struggling even harder to get out of the hold he was in, but to no avail. Udon and Moegi looked on in horror. Their friend was in serious trouble and they couldn't do anything to help him.
"Dammit Kankuro," a beautiful blonde with her hair in four pigtails and a large fan strapped to her back yelled, "put the gaki down before you do something even dumber than you already have."
"Oh, shut up Temari. The brat ran into me so he has to pay the punishment."
"I said, put the kid down, bastard, before I have to kick your ass," Naruto growled.
The Sand-nin gave a derisive snort. "What makes you think you could even touch me?"
BAM!!!
Naruto had replaced Konohamaru with himself, twisted out of Kankuro's startled grip and slammed his forehead into the boy's nose. Reinforced by his hitae-ite, Kankuro's nose was broken fairly easily.
"You know, that's the Sandaime's grandson you had been threatening, so I probably just did you a favor," Naruto smirked.
Kankuro reached around with a practiced motion and the package on his back began to fall. It hit the ground and leaned into his waiting hand. Naruto tensed. Whatever was in there, the guy knew how to use.
"You're not using it already, are you?" Temari questioned.
Kankuro wiped the blood from his nose. "He's got it coming."
"You were the one about to beat up a little kid!"
As Kankuro was about to retort, an incredible blast of killing intent silenced him.
"Kankuro, you're a disgrace to our village." A redhead with dark rings around his eyes said in a deadly monotone.
"B-but Gaara, th-they started it," Kankuro protested weakly.
"Shut up, or I'll kill you." Gaara turned around slowly, and with killing intent leaking, looked at Naruto. "I apologize for my brother's stupid actions."
Kyuubi's voice popped up. "Kit, I know that smell anywhere. It's fairly muted, cause he's sealed, so I'm not surprised you missed it, but that human is the container for the Ichibi no Shukaku."
'Huh?'
"He is a jinchuuriki, and with the amount of youki leaking out, Shukaku was probably rather poorly sealed."
'So, what do you want me to do about it?'
"Personally, I'd like to seal him off even further. He's notorious for destroying his container's mind while they sleep. I can seal away his mind and leave the boy's control over the youki, if he has any. Not that I care about the human, but if I can torture the crazy tanuki, that's all good with me."
'What are you talking about?'
"That crazy son of a bitch doesn't deserve the title of Biju. I know I've told you about the time all nine of us were tasked with wiping out most of human race, right?"
Naruto nodded mentally.'Yeah, you said it was the last time you really got to cut loose with your friends.'
"Right, that one. Well, Shukaku was never wrapped real tight to begin with, and during that mission, the humans launched one of their major bombs at him. Thinking himself invincible, dumbass took the hit. Didn't reform for nearly eighty years after that. Of course, being blown apart like that really screwed him up. Me and the other seven put up with his craziness for a while, but once we got fed up with it, we ganged up and kicked the shit out of him. Since then, he hasn't been real happy with us, and we fuck with him whenever we can. Ever since we got started getting sealed away it got harder, but we still get little chances like this."
'But…he was your fellow Biju, shouldn't you have helped him?'
"I don't think you understand. He knows he's crazy. He likes it. He's never made any attempt to get better. But beyond that, he's gone against several portions of the demon code."
'Like what?'
"He kills without discretion. Normally, we wouldn't care, but he takes it too far. He goes after kids, too. No self-respecting demon would go after a kid. It's despicable."
'I never thought I'd hear you say something like that, fuzzy.'
"You've never been to the demon realm. Far above any treasure, children are prized. It's because demons rarely ever have kids. That's why Greater Demons spare children, even human children, whenever they can. Some of the lower demons don't follow that creed as much, but anyone who's reached the level that we have will leave them alone."
'You never told me that.'
"Well, there's your lesson in demon etiquette for the day. Now, see if you can convince the boy to let us seal off Shukaku."
"What's your name?" Naruto asked, the mental conversation not having taken too long and the Sand trio still there.
"Sabaku no Gaara," the redhead answered, still using his creepy monotone. "You?"
"Uzumaki Naruto."
"I look forward to fighting you in the exams, Uzumaki Naruto." No one was confused about that comment, as Asuma had told his team that he had nominated them the day before, and Naruto lived with two of the proctors.
"Actually, I have a proposition for you," Naruto grinned. "How would you like to be rid of that pesky little demon voice in your head?"
Gaara suddenly clutched his head as if in pain (and frankly, he probably was), and stuttered, "M-mother?" Gaara's eyes flickered and Naruto was suddenly under bear of the killing intent of a demon lord.
Temari and Kankuro were nearly paralyzed, and it was only because of muscle memory that they were inching away while trying to keep their little brother from noticing them. They knew Shukaku was close to the surface, and wouldn't acquiesce to being sealed away. Ino was trying to make herself as small as possible. Her team had come across a group of bandits while on a C-rank, but it was nothing like this. Konohamaru, Udon, and Moegi were simply trying not to faint.
Naruto merely smiled. His eyes shifted minutely, veins of silver creeping in as his pupils elongated slightly, and he focused the killing intent of the most powerful demon lord in the land solely on Gaara. The sand user stumbled back three steps as the tension in the air dropped considerably. Konohamaru's trio could breath again, and Ino could move again.
Temari and Kankuro, however, were even more frightened. Even their unconscious attempts to run had stopped. While they were scared of Gaara and Shukaku, they were now utterly terrified of the blonde boy in front of them. He had just done what they thought was impossible. He had scared Shukaku and Gaara into retreating. They had originally thought that if they ever came across someone like that, they would be amazed or grateful. The only thing they were feeling now was terror.
"Konohamaru, Udon, Moegi, why don't you guys go practice what I showed you the other day? I want you to have it down pat by the next time I see you, alright?" Even though Naruto was forcing out enough killing intent to put a Biju in hysterics, his voice was light and cheerful. The diminutive trio nodded and ran off. "Now, Suna no Shukaku, you have absolutely no say in your whether or not you get sealed off, so leave your host alone before I have to kick your ass from here to Kumo and back. Alright?"
Gaara once again had his hand on his head, muttering quietly as he forced his demon back. Finally, he looked up. "We will discuss your proposition. Come, Temari, Kankuro."
Naruto shook his head. "Meet me on top of the Hokage Monument in thirty minutes." He turned Ino, his stern look immediately transforming itself to one of pleading. "I'm so sorry Ino-chan, I'm so, so, soooo sorry! Please forgive me!"
Ino definitely wasn't happy about their date being cut short, but she had been satisfied with what she had gotten already. She would be convincing Naruto to go out with her again soon, but whatever he was planning to do was obviously important, as most things concerning Naruto were. He tended to get involved in things that were supposed to be beyond him and come out for the better. No one had figured out how he pulled it off, at least so far.
"Naruto, if you duck out on our next date, I will hurt you so bad nobody will be able to put you back together, you got that?"
Naruto relaxed. "Thank you so much Ino-chan!" Naruto reached in and hugged her tightly, thanking her again for letting him pull out of their date when he knew she didn't want him to leave. Ino inhaled deeply, taking in Naruto's distinct scent, bringing a goofy grin to her face as he ran off, a grin that didn't leave her features for the rest of the day.
--
Precisely thirty minutes later, Naruto appeared on top of the monument, standing beside his adoptive grandfather. Temari, Gaara, and Kankuro were already there waiting for them.
"What do you plan on doing?" Gaara asked bluntly. "If you plan to kill me, I will destroy you."
Naruto waved his hands. "Hey, hey, calm down. I'm not going to do anything like that. If this works out, I'm going to make your life easier, okay?"
Gaara stared at Naruto for what seemed like forever, and the blonde jinchuuriki had the distinct feeling he was being judged. However, he didn't flinch. He didn't flinch when dealing with Kyuubi, and he didn't flinch when playing mind games with Ibiki. There was no way he was going to flinch now, not when his opponent was someone his own age.
He might have flinched if it was one of the girls, but no man in his right mind would blame him for that.
"What is he here for?" Gaara asked, indicating the Hokage.
"He's here to make sure the sealer doesn't go nuts and destroy Konoha. Plus he likes learning knew things, like the new seal you're going to get, if you agree."
"What is this new seal going to do?" Gaara was frighteningly blunt with his questions.
"It's supposed to seal away Shukaku from talking to you, attacking you, having any control over your actions, anything like that, but allow you to keep the same amount of youki running through your chakra coils."
"Why's that important?" Temari asked before she could stop herself.
Naruto looked at her with an understanding stare. Not many people studied the effect of prolonged exposure of youki on the human body. Most knew that if a large amount entered your chakra coils, you were probably dead, and if you weren't, you were in extreme pain until it exited your coils once again. However, jinchuuriki were different.
"Gaara's had youki being filtered into his chakra system for his entire life. If his seal's weak enough for Shukaku to pull his famous 'eat your soul while you sleep' maneuver, he's getting even more youki than a perfect seal would give him. Both seals are made for the same reason, to take youki and make it into usable chakra, it's just a perfect seal would take longer. But you see, both versions of the seal leak a small amount of youki into the jinchuuriki's body. Normally, youki in person's chakra system would mean intense pain or death. However, since a jinchuuriki has had the youki in their system since birth, it switches purposes. It's not a poison in their system anymore, but if it's suddenly removed, it ends up having the same effect. Intense pain or death. Probably both. The seal Gaara's going to receive is designed to allow him to keep the same amount of youki leaking into his coils but seal away Shukaku. Any other reinforcing seal we would use would work just as well in the long run, but would probably end up restricting some of the youki flow. It wouldn't be enough to kill him, but it would be enough to weaken him, if only temporarily. Since the chuunin exams are so close, and you guys are in it, that would be a bad idea. Understand?"
Temari nodded, and Kankuro did too, but Gaara just stared at him. He didn't give any indication of understanding, but Naruto instinctively knew that Gaara would let him know if he didn't. Probably violently.
Sarutobi was impressed with the way Naruto spelled it out for the Suna genin. Naruto was proud of himself for not screwing up, but was internally horrified by how much he sounded like Iruka-sensei in lecture mode.
"Where'd you learn all that?" Kankuro asked, genuinely curious. People usually didn't think of him as the intellectual one, or one who wanted to learn more. Temari was the one known for brains, and in strategy and tactics, she beat him every time. However, on the whole, he was smarter. And his sister knew it, too. It was partially why she beat him into the ground with her fan so often. But there was no way he could be a puppeteer and not be smart. He needed an extensive knowledge in physics, chemistry, aerodynamics, woodworking, engineering, and biology. He had also studied basic psychology in order to better create a more terrifying puppet.
Naruto looked at the face-painted genin and gave a sad smile. In truth, he had gotten most of it from various scrolls he had taken from the Kyuubi's lair he had visited just before he came back from his trip out side the village, but he wasn't about to tell them that. "Twelve years ago, Konoha was attacked by the Kyuubi no Kitsune. History said he killed it, at the cost of his own life, but you probably know better than most that it's impossible to kill a Biju. The best you can do is seal it away. Guess who was used?"
Looks of understanding blossomed on Temari's and Kankuro's faces, while Gaara maintained a look of disinterested indifference. However, one thing stuck out in the mind of the sand-user.
"You were treated as a hero?"
Naruto gave a hollow laugh and Sarutobi looked pained. "However much of a hero I may have been, I was treated as the Kyuubi incarnate by almost the entire village. It was only because of a few understanding souls that I didn't go completely bat shit and release fuzzy all over their ungrateful asses."
Though it hurt the Sandaime Hokage to hear that, he knew it was true. However, it hurt Temari and Kankuro even more. The blonde in front of them didn't seem like the brightest of people; after all, he wasn't afraid of Gaara. But still, it sent waves of guilt running through them as they heard that all they had to do to make sure Gaara didn't end up as a psychopathic killer was disobey their father and try harder to get close to him when he was younger.
"Perform the seal. If it goes wrong, I will kill you."
Naruto nodded and turned to Sarutobi. "I've got him to promise not to do anything too bad, so let him have his fun. He hasn't gotten a chance to stretch his legs since before I came back to the village. He won't do anything more destructive than I've ever done. Alright?"
The Professor agreed with only the greatest reluctance. Naruto bit his thumb and ran through a set of short handseals. "Kuchiyose: Kyuubi no Kitsune!"
Kankuro and Temari were wide-eyed and had their hands on their weapons, while Gaara had popped the cork from his gourd at this apparent attempt to kill them. Sarutobi looked slightly distressed as well, but nowhere near as much as the Sand Siblings.
As the smoke cleared, instead of a blood red fox, there stood a man. He was dressed in formal clothes, and he looked a bit like royalty. He wore his blood red hair long, down to his waist. His face was aristocratic, but still had the look of fox mischief that Naruto wore daily. He had no tails, nor had his ears on top of his head, nor did he have claws. In fact, the only thing that might have given him away as the demon lord of the foxes was his red eyes, but they weren't even slitted. If he had black hair, he probably would have looked like Yuuhi Kurenai's brother.
"Now, show me your seal so I can fix it," he ordered Gaara. "I've only got so long outside the seal, and I want my night of debauchery to be as fulfilling as possible."
"What did you do you Naruto?" Sarutobi asked, suddenly very angry with the fox demon.
Naruto was lying on the ground, unconscious and looking very much like he was dead at first glance. His ever-present illusion was gone, showing Naruto's true form. Luckily, the Sand Siblings were too focused on the deadliest demon in the world to notice. Once Sarutobi confirmed he was alive, he relaxed only very slightly.
"What? He summoned me, and he knew the price. It's the main reason he doesn't summon me every day. By summoning me, he loses the youki supply that's being transferred into him. He's got enough still in him to last him about eighteen hours or so, but after that, I've got to go back in the seal, or we'll both die. So, let me do the seal so I can go find some fun."
Gaara reluctantly showed his seal, and Kyuubi started to paint on a complex seal overlay. Everyone was too scared to ask the demon lord where he had gotten the ink and brush, as no one had seen any signs of it before. Completely the seal, Sarutobi inspected it briefly, before finding it far outside the area of his expertise. The only other time he had felt that way when dealing with seals was the Yondaime's special kunai. Kyuubi ran through handseals faster than he could see, and forced a hand glowing with chakra over the new seal.
"Alright, that's done," Kyuubi said as Gaara finished screaming in pain. "You should be able to sleep again, as soon as you can force yourself to actually get to sleep. Going so long without it, you've probably forgotten how."
The Biju walked over to Naruto, slipping an illusion over him to hide the blonde's true form. "Take the kit back to his house. He's probably the most vulnerable person in the world right now. Don't worry, I'll be back in the seal in time, but get him in bed. He's going to wake up with the mother of all hangovers in the morning."
--
Sarutobi dealt with the Sand Siblings masterfully, getting them back to their hotel and ordering Gaara to rest, after reiterating to the boy that he wasn't a monster, using Naruto as an example. He then went back to his office and opened an extremely large bottle of sake.
It wouldn't be until a day before the exams started that Sasuke and Sakura would meet Gaara and his siblings, and even with a bit of sleep and a lack of a demon lord ordering him around, he would still scare the shit out of them.