CH 7
Naruto - New, Yet So Old - Naruto - New, Yet So Old
Naruto woke up when his new alarm clock buzzed the time. This was his fifth one he had to get since he'd traveled back in time. Two went out the window and one died by kunai. The last one was lodged in the ceiling when he threw it in a violent punch upwards. He had to throw a kunai through it too, to get it to stop buzzing, since it had gotten stuck between the hidden beams. The kunai was still up there too, so the boy had moved his bed to another location of the room since he never wanted to stay too alert in his own place.
He got up, did his normal stretches and looked at the time on the wall clock in his tiny kitchen. He nodded to himself and continued with his morning routine; stretches without weights, push-ups, sit-ups, squats, and stretches with weights.
The weights were on for the rest of the day after that. Then he packed two water canteens and left in order to do his morning run around Konoha. He still had plenty of time since he'd been getting up at five every morning for the purpose of conditioning his younger body. The Chunin guards were used to his routine by now and they'd bet amongst each other how long it would take to boy to run around the village and whether he'd do it twice that day or not.
Today he'd chosen to run twice around in order to exhaust himself. That way he'd look slight pathetic to get under estimated by Sasuke and Sakura, although he strongly suspected that they'd still only believe that he was 'Dead-Last' of the class. He wondered whether to attend their placement announcement and then recalled how the old man had wanted him present for that.
He sighed, already tired from the idea of being on Team Seven again. He returned to his apartment for breakfast, showered and dressed in the manner he'd been dressing since his Team Eleven had overhauled his wardrobe. He put on his skin-tight dark grey elbow length shirt and capry or longer than knee length pants. Over that he put on the sleeveless mottled brown and dark red patched jumpsuit. The pants portion fell to his knees.
Then he put his Konoha band around his neck, having preferred to wear thin ninja goggles on his forehead, as he'd always done. His wrist and ankle weights were the same dark grey colour as his under garments, not underwear because those were black and his regulation ninja footwear were the same dark red of his sleeveless jumpsuit.
The goggles were the best for detecting nin-wire, chakra string manipulations and in hiding his Gyo Jutsu technique. That technique was visible to others that had Kekkei Genkai that affected their eyes. He needed to maintain his Nen Jutsu techniques secret. It was on the advice of his last sensei, but he'd secretly checked his Ninja file and it seems that Tokuma-sensei had never reported a new technique being used. That's why his mission scroll on stated ' Exhibits elements of unknown Jutsu type not yet recorded'.
He looked at the time, but didn't bother the hurry. He took with him his drawing satchel and replaced the sketchbook he'd been using when he'd been with his old team. It wasn't full, but then he'd only wanted to add to it, if the people were his old teammates. He was looking forward to the day when he could draw, Risa bonded with a nin-dog, Akiko with an opened clothing shop and Tokuma-sensei with his knew team, whoever they may be.
Naruto strolled down the street and was followed by not one small person, but three. It seems that the kid had a couple of good friends that had been waiting for him to get back from an adventure a couple of days ago.
"Hiya Boss," Konohamaru said. "Are you busy, can I introduce my friends to you?"
"Did you do your exercises," the blond looked at the boy and grinned when the kid acted shifty. He rubbed the kid's head and said, "I didn't think you would. I don't have much time because I'm meeting my new team members today, but go ahead and introduce your friends. Maybe I'll have time later for better introductions." He knew that he'd have time later, if today happened just like it had in the past.
"Cool," Konohamaru said. Then he pointed at a cute and smiling girl with two orange-red tails high on her head. "This is Moegi and this is Udon, they're my best friends and are the members of my ninja team." Udon was a kid that sounded like he had a nasal problem, as evidenced by the unbreaking snot-bubble hanging from his nose.
"Nice to meet the both of you," Naruto said. "I'm Uzumaki Naruto."
"Hi," the girl said shyly, but still with a smile on her face.
"Hello," the boy said with a slight wheeze and a wave of his hand.
"I do have to go, but I'll see you three later," Naruto said with a wave.
"See ya, Boss," Konohamaru said with a salute that the other two performed with him.
"He's kind of cool," Udon commented, as they walked towards the comic book store.
The Hokage's grandson, nodded and said, "I gotta tell you he works really hard everyday..."
Naruto grinned as their voices faded. 'Maybe I'll draw something of our adventure,' he thought as he walked into the Ninja Academy. 'I think that the old man might like that...'
He made his way to Iruka-sensei's room from memory and sure enough there was the man that had been one of the better influences in his past life. The man looked slightly frazzled because he'd found out that he was going to be overworked until a replacement could be found for Mizuki who'd been caught doing something against the Hokage and Konoha...although just what that was, hadn't trickled down the Ninja grapevine yet...
"Naruto," he called out in a tone happy to see the prankster. "What are you doing here?"
"My new team members are graduates of your class, Iruka-sensei," Naruto told him. "I was told report here at this time."
"I see," the man said. "Well then, just pick a seat. The Jounin-senseis should be arriving after the teams have been announced."
"Thank you," Naruto said. His feet carried him in the same direction as his past. He sat down and never once realized that some things never do change. He pulled out a charcoal pencil, his pad of paper and began to draw Iruka sensei at his desk.
Suddenly there was a commotion at the door, girls squealed, sighed and watched the shoving race between Haruno Sakura and Yamanaka Ino. The girls arrived near him and had created shadows on his page. Naruto blandly said, "Could you guys go sit down or something, you're causing unneeded shadows in my drawing."
"Shut up Naruto," Sakura said in that tone that promised him pain, if he didn't get out of her way.
He looked up and noticed the gathered girls around the desk he'd been sitting at. "What the…" He wondered. He then looked forward, then blinked and looked to his left, saying, "Well, hell!"
Then, some inner sprite (probably fox shaped) with a head for pranks, fun, but whatever it was, goaded him into action. He hopped up onto the desk, crouched down, nearly nose-to-nose with none other than Uchiha Sasuke. This time instead of saying things in his mind he said them out loud.
"I don't know what's so great about you. You're broody, arrogant and think your better that everyone else, che... I still don't get it..." Suddenly he was nudged from behind and he overbalanced again, with the same results, again, and both boys were wide-eyed at the result.
'What the hell...' They both thought at the same time. CHUU! (lip-smack or kiss)
Naruto's eyes narrowed as he watched the other boy, sputter and spit. However, he never overreacted to any of it like the last time. "You have a sweet tooth don't you," he said developing a slow grin. "Cause I definitely tasted sugar, what was that...sugar cane bonbon?"
"NAAA-RRUUU-TTTOOO!" Killing intent flared just then and even those that were nearly chakra null could sense it. Sakura was nearly blazing red with jealousy and anger.
"Oops," Naruto barely glanced at the mob of girls. Quicker than they could react he grabbed his things, sprung up, and flipped to land feet first on the ceiling of the room. He then sat down on cross-legged and upside down still up there. He ignored everyone and just continued drawing quietly right where he was. He was eternally grateful for having learnt extreme chakra control in order to be able to do this.
Sasuke blinked and looked around for the blond. He noticed that some of the students kept glancing up above him. When he looked up, he gaped at the sight of the blond boy sitting calmly on the ceiling as though it was something he did every day. He glared the boy, pissed at the thought that the 'Dobe' of the class, knew how do something so cool that he hadn't learnt yet.
Then the Uchiha looked out the window, ignoring basically everyone else in the room in his irritation. He stayed that way hoping that the announcements would be over quickly. He couldn't wait until he could finally work as a Ninja and get the strength needed to defeat his older brother.
"All right everyone please, calm down," Iruka-sensei said. "You won't learn your placement unless everyone takes a seat." Soon all the students were seated and the man said, "Naruto, won't you come down."
"No thanks," the blond replied. "I already know who's supposed to be on my team. I'll just stay here until the room clears. I sense hostile intent down there and I'm not stupid enough to subject myself to that. I'd hurt the ones that attacked me."
Iruka only shrugged, since it made sense to stay out of an enemy's way and he was glad that no one would be hurt because of it. He called out all of the teams and cell numbers. The announcement of Team Seven had many in girls in the room groan, while only one squealed in twittering delight. The blond received a glare from the dark haired boy under him, while Naruto only dropped a pink round ball wrapped in plastic, from one of his pouches to tease the Uchiha about tasting like sugar.
Sasuke glared at the offending item. Then he glared up at the blond who only blew a pink bubble at him behind twinkling blue eyes. The bubble popped softly into a flat mess, before being sucked back into the offending mouth that had kissed him. Blow, pop, repeat...
There in the brunette's hands was a pink bubble-gum ball that called his name. He shrugged and ate it. He knew that his bubbles would be better and bigger than that idiot's anyway. The blond had been right anyway, it had been a small bit of sugarcane candy that had lingered. It had been his favourite candy from the time he was a kid.
Sakura had hoped that the boy of her dreams would offer the sweet to her. It was bad enough that the boy she hated had kissed the one that would be her future husband, but now that evil boy had gotten Sasuke to eat candy. He'd never accepted anything like that before from anyone since for some odd reason that no girl could figure out Sasuke was never seen on Valentine's Day.
'I really hate Naruto,' she thought, clenching her fist. 'When he gets down from there, I'll make him pay.'
The other students placed in groups were eventually called for by their Jounin-sensei. Who all grinned when they saw the Genin on the ceiling. He'd received a surprisingly friendly greeting from Kurenai-sensei, who'd asked him what he was writing.
Naruto stood up on the ceiling and had walked over and down the wall to show her the drawing of Iruka-sensei. He'd even showed her the one of Konohamaru catching his first fish. The expression on the boy's face was kind of priceless. "I'm glad that you're still doing this," she'd told him. "Good luck with your new team, it looks like you'll need it."
"Thanks," the blond had replied before running to the ceiling to avoid the irate pink-haired Kunoichi. Sakura had seen an opportunity, but the blond was just too fast and had managed to escape to the ceiling once more.
The class was soon empty except for three Genin, who were waiting… and waiting… and waiting...and...
Naruto was tired of being on the ceiling and having noted that there was more room for self-defence because there wasn't so many people in the room anymore. He chose to get down. He put away his drawing pad and pencil. Stretched his arms, did a handstand on the ceiling and then he released the chakra that held him there. He dropped lightly onto the desk without making a sound.
Sakura dozed at one of the desks and Sasuke slowly made his way silently to the blond, who just looked at him wondering what the other boy wanted.
Sasuke frowned and waited for the exploding questions, when he noticed what the other boy was wearing. "Why are you wearing that, run out orange?"
"Better camouflage," Naruto said. "What's wrong with it?"
"You're an established Genin," Sasuke stated.
"Yep," Naruto replied, fingering his Hitai-ate. "I've been one nearly two years, what's wrong with that?"
"You should never have been able to pass," Sasuke told him. The words, 'ahead of me', were unspoken.
"Why," Naruto returned. "Because you think you know more than I do? No, wait...Is this attitude because you're an Uchiha and they should have treated at special? Or is it because they wouldn't let you take the exams early?"
The brunette boy's face flushed with anger.
"Do you think that you'd have fit in with older students that had already been at the Academy longer than you," Naruto asked. "Do you think that you'd have wanted to follow their orders or that of the sensei you'd have been assigned?"
"No, of course not," Sasuke replied immediately. Naruto waved his hand in a 'there you go, here's your answer,' kind of way. The brunette's eyes bugged out at the thought of that. "No way, there's no way that they'd hold someone back for something like that."
"Sure they would," Naruto told him. "That's why they'd need to place you on a team with people that didn't care about who you are or care how important you think you are." Sasuke snorted and then looked in the direction of the dreaming Kunoichi. "Well, two out of three ain't bad."
"Two?"
"I don't care about you," Naruto replied honestly. "I more than suspect that our new sensei won't either, so that's two..."
"Bad numbers," Sasuke commented with pout.
"Don't try to look cute," Naruto said. "It doesn't work for you." He lifted his head to face the door while flicking a small stone to clang against Sakura's headband to wake the girl up.
Sasuke pursed his lips to prevent a chuckle from escaping at the sight of the girl's sleep puffed face. He'd been surprised that the blond would take such an action and then watched as the boy focussed on the door of the room. "Why…"
Naruto held up his hand and the pointed at the door and told him so softly that the other boy almost missed it, "And…now…"
The door slid open and a grey-haired one-eyed Jounin peered into the room. "Yo," the man said. The blond sighed. "Meet me on the roof."
Naruto turned to Sasuke and said, "Race." He took off at a speed that surprised the Uchiha, who'd barely registered the word and followed a cloud of dust up the stairs. Sakura only whined, "Wait for me," but was left to run and catch up to her new sensei and the rest of her team.
"I win," the blond told the other boy.
"You cheated," Sasuke told him with a frown because he'd lost.
"Nope, I won 'cause I'm faster," Naruto said doing a fancy back flip and ending in a pretend finishing pose of animé-like triumph and snooty superiority.
All of which he immediately dropped to block and defend himself from the attack of the outraged Kunoichi who was still upset about the kiss that happened in the class room. The last Uchiha and their sensei watched as the blond put the girl down with three quick Taijutsu moves that nearly knocked her out.
"Sakura stop being a bitch," Naruto said, as he sat on her back to show that he'd won and to bop her on the head like she used to do to him. "We're supposed a Genin team now, not attack each other…um, unless sensei tells to."
"Bu..but… you," Sakura looked at him like she'd never seen him before after he'd let her stand up again.
"Hm, the past is the past," Naruto glanced at her. "I'll not let you strike me because you're pissed off that things didn't go your way."
"Let me?" She shrieked, not knowing what he was talking about.
"Sure," Naruto told her. "I let you do it in the feint hopes that you'd eventually realize that it's wrong to do that, but no more."
"Children that's enough," their new sensei told them. "Now it's time to get to know one another."
"What do you mean, sensei," Sakura said, trying to suck up in a way that said she was a good girl, like she normally did with other adults around.
"Mah," the man said. "You know things about your likes, dislikes, dreams of the future, that kind of thing."
Naruto snorted and then asked, "Why don't you show us how that done?"
"Good point," the sensei said. "I'm Hatake Kakashi, call me Kakashi-sensei. I like many things, dislike few things and my dreams…are not really your concern, now what about you Blondie."
"I'm Uzumaki Naruto," the blond said as though he needed to think about it. "I like... many things, dislike…very few things and my dream…well that one's easy, one day I will be the Hokage of this village."
"I see," Kakashi-sensei said. "You," he pointed to the squirmy Kunoichi.
"I'm Haruno Sakura," the girl said. "I like…tee hee," a quick blushing glance at the brunette boy next to her. "My dreams of the future…EEEE," she squealed with another glance at the same boy.
Kakashi-sensei rolled his eyes upwards, an action that caused the blond boy to snicker, but the man only asked, "Dislikes."
"Naruto," she declared with certainty.
"Oh great," Naruto told her. "How's that going to work for our team?"
"If you leave it will get better," she said sticking her tongue out at him.
"If I leave, you and your precious future dream will get recycled back into the Academy and lose that Hitai-ate you're so proud because you fail," Naruto declared.
"Leave him alone," Sasuke said to the girl, not wanting to go back to slow class learning because the girl didn't like the blond boy.
"What about you Romeo," Kakashi-sensei said, indicating that the Uchiha needed to answer the same questions that they did.
"There's not much that I like, so everything else doesn't matter and in the future there's someone I must kill," Sasuke said.
"All right then," Kakashi-sensei said. "We meet at the monument tomorrow morning at seven for survival training. Don't eat breakfast, dismissed."
Naruto shook his head, hopped to the next roof over thinking, 'Boy that man never changes. I have a mission report to write up and a couple of ninja to meet outside of the village.'
Sasuke had escaped as soon as they were dismissed and avoided the girl's poor attempts at getting him to do something with her.
Sakura had been left behind to sputter at nothing and finally walked home with her shoulders slumped and a whiny, "Oh, Sasuke."
Naruto - New, Yet So Old - Naruto - New, Yet So Old
The next day the three of them were waiting for their sensei to show up.
Naruto knew that the man was going to be late, but he still showed up on time, like he was supposed to. He hopped up onto one of the unlinked fence posts and began a series of exercises that had Sakura wondering about the boy's sanity. He was currently up on one hand doing push ups and after fifty he'd switch hands.
"Why are you doing that," Sakura finally asked.
"Shinobi are the soldiers of the village," Naruto quoted by rote. "If you have time to wait you have time to practice, study or exercise."
Then he straightened his body with legs pointed straight up that showed perfect balance. He put both hands on the post and then with straight he did a perfect side-to-side split with his legs. Down, up, down, up, he brought them together and then down into that perfect split about fifty times. Then in that split position, he bent his arms and did a push-up, after his arms were up he lifted his legs straight up for about three seconds and then let them fall back into the split, before doing the next push-up.
Sasuke stared open mouthed at the level of concentration that Naruto had. The number of exercises configured to be done on that one post caused him twitch. He wanted to do the same, but his balance wasn't good enough yet for that.
'Even my own legs need to be stretched before doing anything remotely close to that,' he thought. 'How long has he been doing these kinds of exercises?' His eyes widened again as the blond now curled his body down and moved as though to sit on the post, only to uncurl back into the split position and then up to a straight line.
Naruto did this a few times until he noticed that his new sensei's chakra headed in their direction. He finished his up movement and then curled down one last time, to finish by sitting on the post top and looked utterly bored by the time the Jounin arrived.
Sakura fumed at how the blond just grabbed Sasuke's attention. Every time she'd moved in the brunette's direction, the blond changed his routine and that kept their teammate's attention not on her, where she believed it should have been.
"Yo," Kakashi-sensei showed up holding two bento boxes, an alarm clock and two bells. "I thought about everything that you guys told me and I must say, none of it impressed me. So your official Genin exam begins now. You must get these bells away from me. The one without a bell fails, gets tied to a post and doesn't eat lunch."
"Wait," Sakura's attention riveted to the fact that this was an official exam. "What happens if we fail?"
"You get recycled back into the Ninja Academy," Kakashi-sensei said. "You have two hours to get the bells from me, starting now." He poofed away and disappeared from their combined sight.
The three Genin hopped quickly into hiding places, with the exception of Naruto. He just switched with one of the ten Kage Bushin that had been dispersed before he'd even arrived at the location. This was to ensure that their chakra signatures were completely hidden by the surrounding environment before their sensei had arrived.
He had that one follow up on the bell by the trap and let the sensei give his lecture about, 'If a trap seems obvious, then it's obviously a trap.' The man had out a smut-book and was reading it to irritate those that were fighting to be his Genin.
Sasuke decided to try on his own. He used speed, Taijutsu and had actually forced the man to put away his Icha Icha Paradise book, in order to stay alert against the attack. However the sensei tricked him by burrowing under ground and then pulled the boy so that he was stuck there with just his head protruding.
Kakashi-sensei had a much easier time against Sakura, as she'd easily been trapped in a Genjutsu with a bleeding Sasuke image floating in her mind. This image caused her to pass out.
Kakashi-sensei then thought, 'No dice with these three, how disappointing.' He then seemed to have forgotten about one of the team members who hadn't been quite that immobile. After he buried the dark haired Uchiha brat, reached into his pouch seeking his beloved book and noted that it wasn't there anymore. "What the…"
"Hm, this looks interesting," Naruto said, leaning up against the tree. He'd opened the book to the last chapter and said, "Chapter twenty-nine, Kuro leaned against the wall crowding Aurora…"
"What are you doing," Kakashi-sensei asked in shock, no student had ever managed to successfully lift anything from his pockets during a test like this one. "I haven't read up to there yet."
"Aurora whispered her answer to his question, as she slid her fingers," Naruto moved out of the way of the hand that grabbed at the book.
One of the Bushin appeared in Sexy Jutsu form and looked nothing like Naruto. She grabbed the sensei's arm and leaned against Kakashi. She said, "Yes Kuro, just like that, show me that..."
"AAAHHHH," Kakashi-sensei yelled, covered his ears and closed his eyes. "Don't tell me… Don't tell me…" Unexpectedly he felt surrounded by Naruto's chakra and felt several strikes. He opened his eyes to five Narutos that had just attacked him. He defended, destroying them, but walked into a wire mesh net that closed in on him. He switched out with a log just in time before being garroted or de-limbed.
The alarm clock rang in the distance to indicate that the time was up for this pitiful Genin team. Naruto's remaining Bushin disappeared. The blond then did his regular Sexy Jutsu and tied the two bells to his pigtails. He raced back to the post he'd been using to exercise and sat upon in the in the lotus position. He looked completely serene, despite the fact that he was not a girl.
Kakashi-sensei didn't notice that his bells weren't there as he helped to free the Uchiha from the pit he'd been sucked into.
Sakura woke up from her second fainting spell to cling to Sasuke, who shook off her attention, saying, "Don't touch me." They neared the area with the alarm clock and noted that the bentos were still untouched by anyone.
The three entered the area and were stunned that there was an older looking girl that looked an awful lot like Naruto, sitting on a post in the lotus position with perfect balance.
"Where's Naruto," Sakura asked and looked around for the one she considered a total fool and failure.
Kakashi-sensei and Sasuke both knew that the girl was Naruto, who answered the Kunoichi. "Hi guys," Naruto-girl said in a tone that made the man and boy perk up and then they both blushed because it was an unwanted reaction. "About time you got back, I've been waiting for you."
"Naruto," Sakura gasped. The blond girl nodded her head and that's when they noticed the bells in her hair because they tinkled a simple sound. "When did you get the bells and why didn't you tell us about it?"
"A while ago, around the same time when I lifted this," Naruto-girl held up the orange covered pervy book, balancing it on one of its corners, on the tip of one of her index fingers. "This one's not one of the better novels," she said and tossed it back to Kakashi-sensei, who pocketed it immediately. Naruto-girl pulled the bells from her hair and dissipated the Jutsu reverting back to a boy still seated in the lotus position. He dangled the bells together and looked at the sensei with a meaningful look.
"Ah," the man said and ten minutes later, Sasuke and Sakura were tied to the posts on either side of the seated Naruto.
"What the Hell," Sasuke complained.
"Why," Sakura cried.
"I did say that the one who didn't get the bells would be tied to the post," Kakashi-sensei stated. "Naruto has both which means that the two Genin who didn't get the bells get tied to the posts. Now I'll evaluate your skills and the actions you all displayed." He glared at all of them, but the blond boy just ignored his theatrics by cleaning an ear with his pinky finger and a full open mouthed yawn that showed sharp pointy teeth.
"You all fail," Kakashi-sensei told them. Then he turned to Sasuke and said. "You tried to do everything by yourself. You didn't even think to ask for help from your teammates. Sakura, you were only concerned with Sasuke and he is your weakness, you'd didn't even help Naruto when he was stuck in the trap. Naruto, you… you…do you even know the purpose of this exercise?"
"I know, I know," Naruto said. "I could have approached either of them to formulate a plan of attack against you, as a team of three should be doing. However neither of them would have listened to me because they still only see what they want to see. They don't want to see that I could take them both down without trouble based on their weak cooperative skills." He barely glanced at their outraged looks in his direction. "Sakura couldn't even pose a decent challenge right now because of her lack of physical training and Sasuke would be easy to defeat because of his repetitive attack formations."
"Hm," Kakashi-sensei noised. "At least you thought about working like a team, so only based on that, I'll be giving the three of you one more chance. Naruto you've earned the bentos, don't even think of sharing them or untying these two, now give me the bells."
"Nope," Naruto said. "You'll have to take them from me, um… at a later date though." He'd moved too fast and put them away in a scroll before the man had barely seen the movement. He grinned at the sensei's confused expression.
"I'll be back in an hour," Kakashi-sensei told them. "Don't disobey me, Naruto."
"Hai, hai," the blond agreed with a wave. He waited until the man had completely disappeared from the sight of his two tied up teammates. He then stole a kunai from each of their leg pouches.
Sakura tried to kick him and screamed, "What do you think you're doing you little perv?"
Sasuke just watched and waited to see what the blond would do. To both their surprise their own kunai was planted in such a way as to cut the rope that had tied them up. It wouldn't do the job immediately, but with a bit of work they could get free on their own.
"Situational exercise: Pretend that the two of you are on a mission," Naruto told them. "The enemy has captured you and I could only send a kunai from that angle to help the two of you get loose. You need to make the minimum amount of movement to get free before they discover that you're not alone because guards are in the room with you. Do it now."
The two blinked, thought about it and then they were both out of their bindings too quick or noticeably to succeed in the pretend mission.
"Sakura you moved too fast, so you die," Naruto said. "Probably slowly and raped after they recaptured you. While Sasuke moved with some care, you would still have been detected. You'd probably have died, while using your Grand Fireball, but at least you would have destroyed a larger number of the enemy than her. All of which means both of you have just left me stuck bringing your bodies back from the failed mission." He then tossed them the bentos that Kakashi-sensei had brought and pulled out the one he'd packed from home.
"Why did you pack a bento," Sakura asked.
"Why starve," Naruto returned. "Missions can last an hour or all day. Do you think that Kakashi-sensei will be feeding you during the time we're going to be doing missions?" He paused and the said, "That is if he'll still give us a chance. Anyway always bring your own food and drink when accepting a mission, that way you aren't subjected to local water sources, if they're not reliable. It also means that your food won't be poisoned by some looking to harm you, just because they hate ninja."
"What do you mean," Sasuke asked. "About the local waters sources?"
"You really don't want what is euphemistically called, 'Gut Rot', or 'Swamp Gut' do you?" He asked them, turning their thoughts to the information they should have remembered from their classes at the Academy.
They were about half way through their lunch when clouds suddenly rolled in, thunder crashed and their sensei appeared and looked like he was about to hunt them down to kill them. "You…you…," he roared in anger. Then he stopped his dramatics and with a closed eye smile he told them. "You pass."
"What," Sakura said. "How?"
"A team works together," Kakashi-sensei said. "Those who don't follow the rules and regulations are trash, but those who don't care about their companions are worse than trash!" He looked at all of them and said, "Naruto tried to point out that in a mission situation and one where he'd do his best to free you, that you'd need to ensure that your movements are not detected. He was also right and that you both would have died if you'd have moved that quickly to free yourselves from bonds like that. But as of today you three are now officially Team Seven. So go home and we officially begin tomorrow. Meet me at the bridge at seven am." He walked away leaving them to their own devices and vowed to finish that book as soon as possible to see if the irritating blond had been right about the few paragraphs in it.
Sasuke slowly finished his meal and the turned to look at Naruto, who'd just finished his own lunch and had put away his containers. He motioned the blond to follow him without alerting their female teammate. When they were far enough away he asked, "How come you do those exercises?"
Naruto grinned and said, "It's so that I can get into tight places without being caught while I still can."
"What do you mean," Sasuke asked. "While you still can?"
"My body is small right now," Naruto told him pointedly looking up to indicate that he was still an inch or two shorter than the dark haired boy. "I could effectively change my diet to stunt my growth if I wanted to, but I don't want to do that. However I will do what I can to stay limber enough to crawl through tight spots, as much as I can." The other boy looked at him confused. "All right let's go to your compound and I'll show you what I mean."
"Why my compound," Sasuke asked. "No one's there."
"Exactly," Naruto said. "No one will challenge us or question us about what we're doing, so let's go." He suddenly stopped and asked, "Wait, do you have a pair of goggles like these?"
"No," Sasuke said, offended that he'd need such dorky things.
"Follow me then," Naruto said. "I'm sure Akiko will lend hers to you. You'll need them to see properly."
Sasuke just followed the blond to a house. He watched as a nice looking girl limped up to the blond, hug his teammate and then hand him the same type of goggles that were situated on the boy's forehead.
"This is Uchiha Sasuke," Naruto introduced him to the girl. The black haired boy just bowed. "He's on Team Seven with me and Sakura. Sasuke, this is Haruno Akiko, one of my favourite Team Eleven members."
"Hello," Sasuke said confused about why this girl seemed so nice.
"Oh man, you got Sakura," Akiko said. "I pity the two of you. If you want me to beat her up just tell me. I'll even do it for free."
"That won't be necessary," Naruto told her with a grin. "I'll drop these by later."
"Now that you're on a team are you going to need your blades," she asked.
"Not yet," Naruto said with a grimace. "We're a new formed team and that means…"
"D-Class missions," she finished for him with a teasing groan. "I'd warn him about Tora before you have to hunt her down."
"I might and then I might now," Naruto said. "Ja ne."
"Ja," she said and waved at both of them.
Naruto - New, Yet So Old - Naruto - New, Yet So Old
The two boys ran to the Uchiha compound and Sasuke watched as Naruto selected one of the smaller houses after asking him if he could set up a net trap inside it. "Sure," Sasuke said. "How long will that take?"
"Not long," Naruto said. "Give me a few minutes."
He stepped into the dusty building. It was empty of furniture, but there was a super tiny window in one of the rooms, so that's where he set up the wire with a few bells hanging to make sound if he hit the wires. He set them up in a base net configuration, but he did randomly toss a few lines to add to the effect. As soon as he was done, he left the room and house to go find Sasuke. He didn't have to go far as the boy was leaning against the house's doorframe.
"So who's Tora," Sasuke asked.
"Oh man," Naruto said with a grin. "She's a D-Class mission. Do you really want to know?"
"Who's she," Sasuke persisted, thinking that it was a girl.
"She's a cat not a person," Naruto told him. "Actually she's the Fire Lord's wife's beloved cat. That thing likes to run away a lot too. So that mission comes up often and its D-Class rated." He looked at how the other boy deflated at the thought of an actual mission was actually to locate a lost cat.
"I'm ready," the blond asked.
"What are these for," Sasuke asked holding up the goggles.
Naruto rolled his eyes and said, "So you can see the nin-wire I set up in one of the rooms. Come on and watch. You wanted to know why I do those exercises. Do you still want to know?"
"Yes," Sasuke said putting on the goggles reluctantly.
"Turn the right lens to red and the left to blue," Naruto told him. "If you ever manage to activate your Sharingan, you won't need the goggles." He paused and then looked at the other boy. "Maybe you should hide the fact that you're an Uchiha and never let anyone know if you've activated it or not. You'd be in trouble, if ever we get a mission outside of town."
"What the hell for," Sasuke said, having adjusted the lens and gestured the blond to lead the way. He paused in the doorway of with the nin-wire set up. There was only a small window to escape from.
"Think about it," Naruto said, after he'd removed his jumpsuit and most of his equipment and tucked them inside a scroll. Then he placed the scroll in the single pouch at his back on the belt he wore.
He flexed his fingers and toes and then began to navigate the wire while the Uchiha looked on open mouthed and near breathless at the flexibility that the blond boy was showing him. He swept his legs up and down. He crawled so low that it looked like he was about to brush the wire, but was always short of activating the bells that were hung on it. The blond jump up and suddenly he was on the ledge of that very tiny window and in a move that only contortionists could pull off the blond avoided that last strategically placed wire and was out of the room.
Naruto climbed up on the roof, raced over it and came back through the main door to meet up with his new teammate. He put his jumpsuit and ninja sandals back on. He returned to the room where Sasuke was still standing in the doorway and gaping at the fact that none of the bells had rung.
"Hey Sasuke," Naruto called out. "I'm already out of the room."
Sasuke slowly turned back to the other boy on his team and then he removed the goggles, giving them back to the blond. "Here," he said. "I didn't think anyone could do anything like that."
"I won't be able to much longer," Naruto said. "I've grown about two inches since made Genin. I don't know how much more I'll be growing over the next few years, but you can bet that being flexible will still be a bonus against some opponents."
"How'd you find out about those," Sasuke pointed to the goggles.
"Chance," Naruto told him. "I notice that most Ninja have a pair of glasses of some form, like sunglasses and stuff. Glasses are sold in nearly every store that sells Ninja equipment, so by curiosity I picked up these," he pointed to his goggles. "I put them on and then flipped through the lens options and found that I could see quite a bit more than the average human eye."
"Oh," Sasuke said. "Why should I hide the fact that I'm an Uchiha?"
"Hm," Naruto noised, knowing that the boy never thought about why he should think to hide his clan or that he might be a Sharingan user. "How old are you?"
"You know the answer," Sasuke glared.
"Say it," Naruto said.
"Twelve," the boy answered.
"How old do you have to be to breed," Naruto asked.
Sasuke blinked at the question and glared at the blond.
"Who's likely to be targeted on our team," Naruto asked. "I mean if someone is interested in breeding with someone known to have a rare Kekkei Genkai... say perhaps of the type that's known to have been massacred and there's only one left?" The blond looked outside and said, "Just think about it. I have to go now. See you tomorrow at seven am."
'Honestly,' Naruto thought. 'The first time around we were lucky that no one came after him because he's known as the last Uchiha with the potential for Sharingan activation.'
Sasuke watched, as the blond boy zipped away, hopping on the rooftops like most other Ninjas do. He'd never once thought about the possibilities of what might happen to him, if he was stolen during a mission. 'Would my team come after me to rescue me,' he thought. 'If the situation was reversed would I go after them to get them back?'
Naruto - New, Yet So Old - Naruto - New, Yet So Old
TBC…
