Four Man Squads
Chapter 7 - The Passing of a Month
Obito had taken Sasuke back to Konoha. He was sad that he couldn't stay and watch the rest of the matches, especially for his team. However, the situation with Sasuke seemed to be hitting critical mass, and something had to be done. Sasuke was in extreme amounts of pain from what Obito could tell. Obito had finished the preparation for the sealing ritual when he heard footsteps from behind him. Sharingan active, Obito turned around to see was approaching. As soon as Obito saw the messy lump of gray hair and the forehead protector pulled low over one eye, he knew that his old friend had finally showed up to help.
"What's up, Kakashi?" Obito greeted warmly as he dropped the Sharingan.
"Not much, you know the standard ANBU stuff." Kakashi replied, "How's Rin?"
"She's good." Obito answered, "She told me to tell you to stop by more the next time I saw you."
"Yeah, figured she'd say something like that." Kakashi stated, "I wish I could really, but being in charge of all of ANBU doesn't leave me a lot of free time."
"That's what I told her. Guy also wants to renew his 'youthful rivalry' with you." Obito replied with a smirk.
Kakashi looked at Obito exasperatedly, "He still goes on about the powers of youth and all that?"
"Yeah, you know Guy." Obito answered, "Anyway, on to business…"
"Yes, you need help sealing a Curse Mark Jutsu from Orochimaru." Kakashi finished for Obito, "I see you've finished the preparations as I instructed then we can get started. You'll need to copy my every move with the Sharingan, hopefully this seal will hold the curse."
Kakashi and Obito then began a long series of signs that stretched on for a good couple of minutes. Finally they both intoned together, "Divine Seal: Six Dragons Jutsu!" The markings Obito had made around the area began to retreat into Sasuke's neck around the curse seal. The markings took the form of six dragons encircling the Curse Seal. Sasuke screamed in pain as the jutsu took effect, and soon passed out.
"Whew," Kakashi let out a breath of relief. Obito was shocked at how draining the sealing actually was. Kakashi addressed Obito, "That seal should keep the curse from interfering with Sasuke's chakra or activating on its own. However, if Sasuke wants to release the curse mark he can, and each time he releases it the seal gets a little weaker until it breaks."
"Well, I'll have to make sure he knows that and the implications of releasing the curse." Obito replied.
"So, You two can use sealing jutsu now? My how you've both grown." a disembodied voice rang through the massive chamber. Obito and Kakashi both turned to see who the voice belonged to, only to meet the snake-like eyes of Orochimaru.
"You are…" Kakashi started.
"Orochimaru." Obito finished, his Sharingan now active.
"Long time no see, Kakashi-kun, Obito-kun." Orochimaru said as he came out into the clear, "I hate to disappoint you both, but I'm not here for either of you, I want the boy behind you.
"Why are you after my cousin?" Obito asked.
"Simple, I want what you and he have. I desire the Sharingan." Orochimaru answered.
"What are your goals?" Kakashi inquired.
"The newly created Otogakure, that's my village. You should understand from just that." Orochimaru replied.
"If you get any closer to Sasuke, even if you are one of the Yonnin. Kakashi and I can compete with you." Obito said as he flashed through handsigns, "Katon: Yari Daikage!" Obito felt the familiar staff of flame form from his hand. He then heard what sounded like thousands of chirping birds. Kakashi had decided to use his Chidori, even though he couldn't use it to any great effect.
"Heh, ha ha ha ha." Orochimaru laughed at them, "What you do, what you say, is all off. That seal is meaningless. To accomplish his goals, he will accept even the most evil power. This is the way of the avenger. Sasuke-kun will eventually seek me out to gain more power." Orochimaru turned and began to walk away, "Also, were you guys going to try and kill me? Why don't you try, if you can."
Obito suddenly felt the immense wave of killing intent hit him, and knew immediately what would have happened had he faced Orochimaru, even with Kakashi at his side.
"Compete with him?" Kakashi said, obviously as shaken as Obito was, "Are you an idiot?"
Obito grinned and shrugged then turned around to pick up the unconscious Sasuke and walked out of the room, and off to the hospital.
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Naruto, Hinata, and Sakura followed the convoy out of the Forest of Death. Everyone was traveling together for protection. Naruto and Hinata hadn't said a word to each other since learning that they would have to face off in the first round. They knew the chance was there that they'd have to fight, but to have to do it in the first round sucked, big time.
"Um… Naruto-kun?" Hinata started.
"Yeah, Hinata-chan?" Naruto responded.
"I-I'm sorry we have to f-fight." Hinata said.
Naruto's grin returned, "What are you talking about? You had no control over how the pairings would turn out."
"So what are you going to do?" Sakura asked both of them.
"What do you mean?" Naruto asked obliviously.
"Uh… geez you're dense. You and Hinata do most of your training together, what are you going to do now?" Sakura explained, "You're supposed to use this time to train and develop new techniques. So what are you going to do? If you two keep training together then you'll know all of each other's moves."
"I never thought of that, but you guys are my teammates, I can't keep things from you guys. I'll keep training with Hinata as long as she wants. Do you want to keep training with me Hinata-chan?" Naruto replied.
"Y-yes, Naruto-kun. I would like that." Hinata answered.
"There, so that's settled." Naruto said happily.
Team 7, minus Sasuke, continued on their way through Training Ground 44, much happier than before.
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A few days after the completion of the preliminary rounds, Obito had his genin team out at their usual meeting spot under his light pole. He was extremely pleased, three of his four genin passed, and from what he heard Sakura's match was an extremely unfavorable one. He was less than pleased at the fact that Hinata and Naruto had to face off right at the beginning of the exam, but these things happen. Another thing he was pleased that Naruto and Hinata were going to continue training together regardless of the fact they were to fight in a month.
"Alright, well since most of you are going to be participating in the third exam in a month, we won't be having any missions for a while," Obito addressed his team, Sakura looked slightly dejected, being the only person not to pass the preliminary, "This means we'll be spending all our days training. I want you all to continue your team training under me. However, I'm also going to recommend you all get specialized training from other sources. Hinata, I know you will most likely be receiving training from your father. Sasuke, I still have a few more fire jutsu I wish to teach you, and I have a friend, Kakashi Hatake, who can help you with some lightning jutsu so you will be training under both of us. Sakura, even though you aren't competing, Rin has agreed to further your medic training and I've convinced Kurenai Yuhi, the jonin for Team 8 to help you with genjutsu." Obito watched as Sakura perked up from hearing she was going to be learning genjutsu from Konoha's "Mistress of Illusion."
"What about me, Obito-sensei?" Naruto asked eager for whatever special training he was going to undertake.
"Well, I know of a special person coming in to the village for reasons other than picking up an apprentice, but I think you should try to recruit his help in aiding your training. Until you can, or if you don't, I've arranged for Ebisu, you know him, to help you with your chakra control as you're still pretty sloppy in that regard." Obito replied.
"Who's this special person?" Naruto inquired happily.
"Jiraiya the Toad Sage, one of the legendary Yonnin." Obito replied simply. All of the genin stared at Obito in awe, "He trained the Yondaime. He also has a lot in common with you Naruto, I think he'll take you under his wing in no time. Anyway, I need you all to get to me your training schedules so I can figure out when we are going to train as a unit, preferably it would be the afternoons that we could leave open for team training. You're all dismissed until 3:30 in the afternoon tomorrow." Obito then disappeared in a small gale of leaves.
"Kakashi Hatake?" Sasuke wondered to himself, "The leader of ANBU."
"Well, it seems we're all going to be busy for the next month." Naruto said cheerily.
"H-hai, Naruto-kun." Hinata affirmed.
"You guys have any plans for the rest of the day?" Naruto asked.
"N-no." Hinata replied.
Sakura took a long look at Sasuke, "Not really…"
"You got something in mind, idiot?" Sasuke answered.
"Well, I was thinking we could get something to eat, been a while since we ate as a team." Naruto said rubbing the back of his head, "Then we might as well get a jumpstart on our training."
"Sounds good to me." Sasuke said as he got up.
"Really?" Naruto and Sakura asked at the same time.
"Yeah, why not?" Sasuke replied his usual scowl covering his face.
"Well, you'd usually say something like," Naruto but on a scowl of his own and did his best to impersonate Sasuke, "'You're all annoying.'"
"Don't be rude to Sasuke-kun!" Sakura yelled at Naruto as she walloped him on the back of the head.
Sasuke wasn't too pleased with Naruto at the moment, but he had questions he wanted answers to. Like how Naruto beat Neji, when Neji had obviously gotten the advantage in the match, and those insane powers he had released against Orochimaru. Sasuke was hoping to spar with Naruto a bit and see if he could see where that power came from.
"Are we going to go or what?" Sasuke asked impatiently.
"Of course." Sakura said happily as she grabbed on to Sasuke's arm.
"N-Naruto-kun, are you okay?" Hinata asked worriedly.
"Yeah, I'm fine, Hinata-chan. Sakura-chan hits harder every day." Naruto replied as he rubbed the knot on his head. "They're leaving us behind!" Naruto took off running to catch up with Sakura and Sasuke.
"N-Naruto-kun!" Hinata said as she took off after her crush.
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After enjoying a rather nice dinner and an extensive sparring session Team 7 was reasonably exhausted. Sasuke, however, was frustrated. He got no answers as to where Naruto's strength came from. Sasuke decided to take a page from Naruto's book on this one, and just be as blunt as possible.
"Hey, Naruto, where do you get all your strength from?" Sasuke said.
"Huh?" Naruto replied, oblivious to the meaning of the question.
"Well, you have a lot of stamina and what seems like a nearly inexhaustible amount of chakra. Where does it all come from?" Sasuke asked.
"Yeah, and those sudden bursts of chakra when you were fighting Orochimaru and Haku. I could feel it, Naruto. It felt… unreal." Sakura added.
Naruto looked around panic-stricken, he wanted to be anywhere else but here.
"Hinata, you've seen his chakra through the Byakugan, is there anything weird about it?" Sasuke asked.
"W-well… umm… usually no. B-but, in those two instances that Sakura brought up, his chakra was different, and in the fight against H-Haku it took the s-shape of a f-fox for a brief period." Hinata answered.
Naruto looked around at his teammates, took a deep breath, and assumed the appearance of someone who had decided to do something that he might later regret, "Alright, I guess I can't keep it from you guys any longer. I assume you're all familiar with the Kyuubi no Kitsune?"
"Yeah, it was killed in that attack on Konoha twelve years ago." Sakura answered.
"Yes and no." Naruto answered, "What actually happened was the bastard fox was sealed into a newborn baby as no mortal is strong enough to slay a demon, much less one of the bijuu. Anyway, you know the date of the attack right?"
"O-October tenth." Hinata answered. She did not like where this was going.
"Right, my birthday, I'm 12 years old." Naruto answered solemnly. Both Hinata and Sakura gasped and raised a hand to their mouths. Sasuke still wore his normal stoic expression. That explains a lot. Sasuke thought.
"N-Naruto-kun, are you s-saying that the K-Kyuubi is sealed in… inside you?" Hinata asked.
"Yes. I understand if you guys don't want to have anything to do with me anymore." Naruto said dejectedly.
Hinata looked at her crush sadly, so much he had carried, for so long. She could feel tears starting to form, "No," she said, her voice uncharacteristically resolute, "This is not something you have to carry alone, Naruto-kun."
"Really? You mean that?" Naruto asked.
"Hai, why should it matter whether or not you contain a demon?" Hinata answered.
"Thank you!" Naruto exclaimed as he launched himself at Hinata and embraced her tightly. Hinata could feel the blood rush to her face as her mind raced, Do not faint. Do not faint. Do not faint.
"Yeah, you might be an idiot and annoying sometimes. But, you're our annoying idiot." Sakura stated. Naruto turned his head as he released his embrace on Hinata and smiled at Sakura.
"Hmph." Sasuke said, "You're still an idiot." Sasuke had a slight smirk on his face.
"Thanks, guys." Naruto said as he wiped away a tear, "I was so afraid you guys would run away from me if you found out, and you all are really the first friends I've ever had."
I guess I should be a little nicer to him. Sakura thought, I never knew he had been through so much.
Team 7 split up as they made their ways home for the night. As per the usual, Hinata and Naruto ended up strolling down the street together.
"Thanks again for the things you said Hinata-chan." Naruto said.
"I-it was nothing, N-Naruto-kun." Hinata said blushing as she remembered the embrace he had given her.
"No, it wasn't. It was everything. You really don't know how long I've lived in fear of what would happen if you guys had found out. I was sure I would lose you." Naruto replied honestly.
"N-Naruto-kun, you'll never lose me." Hinata said, she was slightly shocked at what she was saying, but Naruto was going through something through a crisis, and she would walk through all nine circles of Hell to help him.
Naruto stopped abruptly. Hinata turned to look at her love. He was crying, she didn't know what exactly to do at that moment.
"Thanks, that means a lot to me." Naruto said through some sniffles. He then walked up to Hinata and pulled her into another embrace. Again, Hinata could feel herself turn a deep shade of crimson. After the embrace, Naruto and Hinata walked the rest of the way to point where they'd have to split up in relative silence. Naruto had nothing left to say, and Hinata was solely focused on not fainting. Naruto had left one his arms wrapped around Hinata, as if he was afraid of breaking human contact.
As they came to their point of separation, Naruto finally broke contact with Hinata. "I guess I'll see you tomorrow?" Naruto asked.
"H-hai." Hinata answered.
"Well, then bye, Hinata-chan." Naruto said as he began to turn around.
"G-Goodbye, Naruto-kun." Hinata replied as she left to return to the Hyuga manor.
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As Hinata entered the Hyuga compound, a branch house member told her that her father wanted to see her. Therefore, she found herself standing outside the door to her father's study, fretting over what her father was going to say. She knocked on the door.
"Enter." Her father's voice commanded. Hinata opened the door to see Neji sitting beside her father, both of them staring at her intently.
"I-I was told you wanted to s-see me, father." Hinata said as she sat in front of Hiashi and Neji.
"Yes. First, I must congratulate you on reaching the final portion of the Chuunin Exams. Neji here told me of how you handled yourself against that Oto kunoichi." Hiashi stated. "It seems that I have been underestimating you somewhat."
Hinata looked at Neji. Something about him seemed different, while he still looked at Hiashi with hate, he didn't seem to be as angry at everyone else. Had Naruto knocked some sense into him?
"However," her father continued, "I have also been informed that your opponent in the first round of the final rounds is Naruto Uzumaki. The same genin who beat Neji in the preliminaries. If I may ask, how do you plan on defeating the one who defeated Neji, who is considered to be one of the most gifted Hyuga in generations?"
"I-I don't know, father." Hinata answered honestly, she knew that her father could tell if she was lying. "I-I have a month to figure it out."
"As I thought… well, I have something to help you then." Hiashi said. Hinata couldn't believe it, her father was going to help her. Hiashi continued, "Neji has offered to help prepare you for the fight with the Uzumaki boy. You are going to be training with him, under me, every morning until the exams. We will be working on trying to teach you the Eight Trigrams Sixty-four Palms and the Kaiten."
"Hai, father." Hinata said, this fit perfectly with what Obito-sensei was wanting, so she had no reason to refuse.
"Well, then you may go, Hinata. Get some rest, we start tomorrow." Hiashi stated. Hinata nodded and complied with the order, immediately heading to her room and taking a quick shower and getting to bed.
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Naruto met Ebisu early the following morning. Not of his own choice, but rather because Ebisu had found Naruto.
"What do you want, closet perv?" Naruto asked Ebisu, remembering the incident with Konohamaru and the Harem Jutsu.
"Obito-san asked me to oversee your training, and I intend to do that." Ebisu answered.
"Yeah, but why do I have to have you as a trainer, when everyone else gets to train with cool people?" Naruto asked frustrated.
"Because, out of everyone on your team, you have the worst basic skills." Ebisu said.
"What do you mean?" Naruto asked.
"You are horrible at converting and controlling chakra. Obito gave me an analysis of your abilities. And while you have been improving, there is still a long way to go before you are able to match Sakura, Hinata, or even Sasuke's skill in chakra control." Ebisu answered.
Naruto simply started at Ebisu for a moment, "So you can make me better than Sasuke?"
"Yes, I can." Ebisu replied confidently, "I'm not a special elite instructor for nothing."
"Alright, let's do this." Naruto answered.
"Good, follow me." Ebisu said as he took off to where Naruto would be doing his training.
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Team 7 met up with Obito at 3:30 at the park where they always met at. Obito would've been late, if it hadn't been for Rin making sure he made it on time. Obito looked around at his team. All of them looked pretty rough, he guessed they had all started their training. Naruto looked like he'd been boiled, Hinata was nursing some bruises and looked like some of her tenketsu points had been closed, Sakura was just suffering from exhaustion, and Sasuke had some chakra burns around his hands.
"I see you've all started your morning training sessions. I assume everything is going alright." Obito said. All of the genin just nodded. "Good, then each of you is going to be putting your training to use here."
"What are we going to be doing?" Sakura asked.
"Well, I'm actually going to be leaving that to you." Obito said, "In time, you each need to learn how to come up with a training system for yourselves, instead of relying on others to train you. I feel this is as good of a time as any. You each need to decide for yourselves how you want to train during this time."
The reactions were what Obito was expecting. Sasuke got up and walked off, obviously wishing to train alone, and Sakura followed him. Naruto and Hinata then left together to train like they usually did. Obito sighed, he was going to have to break Sasuke out of his shell, but Obito didn't know how to go about it.
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Naruto and Hinata had ran off to the area that Ebisu had taken Naruto earlier that day. It was a rather beautiful area actually. There was a hot spring at the top of a cliff that flowed over the side to make a waterfall and a second hot spring at the bottom of the falls. There was a bathhouse nearby, but Hinata was too busy staring at the beauty of the waterfall to really notice.
"Umm… N-Naruto-kun, what are we d-doing here?" Hinata asked.
"Training, of course." Naruto said as he stepped out on to the water. He sank into the water up to about half way up his shins, took a few steps, and finally fell into the hot spring. Naruto then climbed out of the hot spring cursing, it at least explained why he looked like a boiled clam.
"Damn it, I can't get the hang of it." Naruto said as he shook himself a little dry.
"M-maybe I can help." Hinata said. She gathered chakra to her feet and took a step out onto the water. Her feet sunk into the water a little, she noticed exactly how hot it was. She activated her Byakugan and watched the chakra she emitted from her feet. She noticed it took constant adjustment to keep her feet stuck to the surface. Eventually, she got the hang of it and was standing quite easily on top of the water.
"O-okay, Naruto-kun. You try it again." Hinata called out. Naruto carefully stepped out onto the water again, "Try to expel chakra just enough to keep yourself afloat." Naruto began to sink.
"More." Hinata advised. Naruto then began to rise out of the water, but was about to unbalance himself.
"Less." Hinata corrected him, Naruto complied and began to settle onto the water like Hinata.
"Thanks, Hinata-chan." Naruto said, then he looked over her shoulder, "What's that old man doing? Is he peeking into the bathhouse?"
Hinata looked at the old man through her Byakugan, "Yes he is." She answered.
"Hey, Old Man…" Naruto started to shout before he crashed into the water. Hinata stifled a giggle as Naruto pulled himself out of the hot spring. Naruto ran over to the white-haired old man.
"Hey, you pervert!" Naruto shouted, "What are you doing looking at the ladies' bath?" Suddenly, shouts rang out from the bathhouse as the women inside realized that the voices were talking about that particular bath.
"Keep it quiet, brat." The old man covered Naruto's mouth, "You're gonna get me caught."
Hinata strolled up to the spectacle as Naruto finally got his mouth free of the old man's head, "Who the hell are you?"
The old man jumped away from the two genin, "I'm glad you asked! I'm the toad sage from Mount Myobokuzan. Jiraiya, one of the legendary Yonnin!" Jiraiya struck a series of kabuki poses as he finished his introduction.
Naruto just looked at him stupidly, "You're THE Jiraiya?"
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Team 10 had entered the barbecue after ending their training today. Asuma was proud that his team had performed so well in the preliminary round. Chouji was ecstatic because this was the meal that Asuma had promised to him for winning his match. Shikamaru was just wondering how troublesome the coming weeks were going to be.
"Three more orders of beef, please." Team 10 heard a girl shout from a booth not far from their usual one. The each turned to see the only person occupying the booth was the Suna kunoichi that had forfeited before the preliminaries started. They all stared at her in amazement, the only person they'd ever seen eat three orders of beef alone was Chouji. However, the girl was as skinny as Ino.
"How can she eat that much and not get big?" Ino asked no one in particular, "I have to constantly watch my weight."
"Perhaps she has a high metabolism, or, like Chouji her jutsu expends a lot of calories and allows her to keep a slim figure." Tsuneni stated in her deadpan voice.
"Must be nice…" Ino replied. However, before any of them knew what was going on, Chouji had taken off to the Suna-nin's table.
"You sure you can eat all of that, little girl?" Chouji asked her.
"Oh, I could eat circles around you, big boy." Chiyoko replied.
"I accept your challenge, how many order have you had already?" Chouji asked.
"Four." Chiyoko replied.
"Seven orders of beef!" Chouji shouted as he sat across from the Suna kunoichi.
Ino and Tsuneni just simply stared at what happened. Asuma placed his forehead firmly into his palm. Shikamaru simply muttered, "How troublesome…"
An hour or so later, Team 10 minus Chouji, had enjoyed a rather delicious meal. They all looked over to the booth were Chouji and the Suna-nin were still locked in their eating competition.
"How many orders have they had?" Asuma wondered aloud.
"The Suna kunoichi is on her twenty-fifth order, Chouji is on his twenty-fourth." Tsuneni stated simply.
"You actually kept track?" Ino asked incredulously. Tsuneni merely shrugged.
"Who would have thought there was anyone else who could eat like Chouji?" Shikamaru asked rhetorically.
Suddenly, another Suna kunoichi entered the barbecue restaurant. "Hey, Chiyoko! Baki-sensei wants to talk to us now. Let's go."
"It seems we'll have to postpone our contest." Chiyoko said as she rose from the booth. "Come to think of it, my name is Chiyoko Guujin, what's yours?"
"Chouji Akimichi." Chouji answered her question.
"Well then, Chouji-kun, I'll see you around." Chiyoko said as she ran off with Temari.
Chouji returned to his team. "What was that about?" Ino asked.
"Ah, nothing." Chouji said as a small blush crept onto his face.
"You like her don't you?" Ino pointed her finger at Chouji while she more or less shouted her question.
"Yeah…" Chouji admitted.
"Troublesome…" Shikamaru said as he turned his head to stare at the clouds out the window.
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The next morning, Naruto had met again with Jiraiya at a small waterfall on the outskirts of the village. Naruto was just sitting around being bored while Jiraiya peeked at several young girls playing at the base of the waterfall.
"When are you going to help me with my training, Ero-sennin?" Naruto asked. Jiraiya involuntarily twitched when he heard Naruto's nickname for him.
"Alright, kid. First thing, have you ever felt a special chakra coming from you?" Jiraiya asked.
Naruto thought about it for a second, "Yeah there's been times where I could feel a different chakra flow through me, and I got extremely strong, but I don't remember those times very well. All I do remember is how different it felt, like if I had to put colors to it, my normal chakra is blue and this new chakra is red."
"All right, I want you to try and release that red chakra." Jiraiya said.
"Okay," Naruto answered and began to build up his chakra.
"So?" Jiraiya asked.
"Nope, just my regular chakra." Naruto said sadly.
"Geez, you have no talent." Jiraiya stated.
"Stop acting all high and mighty! I don't even understand these different chakras myself! And, what does this have to do with you teaching me anything?!" Naruto shouted angrily in response.
Jiraiya looked at Naruto, "Listen, the technique I'm going to teach you requires much more than your normal amount of chakra. So, we need to pull out and use that huge chakra sleeping inside of you."
"How do you know about this other chakra?" Naruto asked.
"Well, I am a sennin." Jiraiya responded, "Anyway, this special chakra of yours is your greatest weapon, and not using it is a huge waste. There's no need for you to do training similar to what others go through. Up until now, all your training has been about controlling and conserving chakra so as to not run yourself out of it. However, you have so much chakra that this should never really be a concern for you. Therefore, you should be focusing on raw power rather than control. Since you have two types of chakra and don't tire easily, you should train to release the highest amount of chakra and use it to capacity. When you're able to do that, there's a ton of jutsu that you'll be able to use."
"Like what?" Naruto prodded.
"Like the Kuchiyose no Jutsu that I'm about to teach you." Jiraiya answered.
"Kuchiyose?" Naruto asked.
"Yes, you sign a blood contract with various forms of life, then you can summon them when needed. It's a type of space-time ninjutsu." Jiraiya explained.
"That's awesome! Hurry and teach me!" Naruto shouted.
"First I need you to use up all your normal chakra, so go practice your water walking until then." Jiraiya said as he returned to watching the scantily clad women at the base of the falls.
After about an hour, Jiraiya heard a splash from the river that fed the falls, and dragged Naruto out of it. After Naruto awakened, Jiraiya continued the lesson.
"Since it seems your almost out of chakra, it's time to teach you the technique." Jiraiya said.
"Yay!" Naruto shouted.
"Now, I'm going to demonstrate it so watch closely." Jiraiya said as he bit his thumb, causing blood to come up, and then he slammed his palm to the ground, "Kuchiyose no Jutsu!"
Suddenly, Jiraiya was standing on the back of a rather large toad that was carrying a scroll with its tongue. The toad handed the scroll to Naruto.
"That's really cool." Naruto said as he began to open the scroll.
"That's the summoning contract with the toads, it has been passed down for many generations. You write your name on it in blood, and under that press the fingerprints of each finger in the hand you want to summon with also in blood. After that, when you want to call on them, gather your chakra and place your summoning hand down on the ground or any other surface. The seals for the Jutsu are boar, dog, bird, monkey, ram."
Naruto bit his thumb and used the blood to right his name on the scroll, then after touching his blood to each digit of his right hand pressed his fingerprints into the parchment. "That should do it right?" Naruto asked.
"Alright, give it a try." Jiraiya said.
"Kuchiyose no Jutsu!" Naruto shouted as he slammed his palm to the ground. After a small puff of smoke, all that was sitting in front of them was a small two-tailed tadpole.
"This is going to be a long month…" Jiraiya stated as he placed his head into his hands.
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Hinata showed up at the same place and time as always for their team training. Her whole body was sore. Her father was still a ruthless trainer, and ever since she had started to try learning both the Eight Trigrams Sixty-four Palms and the Kaiten things hadn't got much easier. However, Neji was much different after his defeat at the hands of Naruto. His anger and rage seemed to be fueled directly at the clan elders and her father. In fact, Neji had apologized to Hinata for his actions, and had even promised to help her in any way he could. Having him there at the training was a blessing, since he had learned the Eight Trigrams Sixty-four Palms and most of the Kaiten on his own, he was a great help in correcting her stances and giving her pointers. However, she was beginning to doubt if the Sixty-four Palms was really suited to her, and had begun to think of ways to adjust it to better suit her own style.
Soon, Naruto came running up to the meeting point shouting her name and waving his arms. Hinata smiled at him and waved back. Soon after, the rest of Team 7 had gathered.
"So what do we want to do today?" Naruto asked.
"W-well, I-I have something I'd l-like to have you all h-help with." Hinata said.
"Alright, Hinata-chan we'll help you." Naruto said, "Right?"
Sakura nodded and Sasuke gave a noncommittal grunt.
"What do you need us to do?" Naruto asked.
"F-first, w-we need to go t-to a training area." Hinata said.
A few minutes later Team 7 was at their usual training grounds with the three stone columns.
"Alright, so what do we need to do?" Sakura asked.
"I-I just want you to throw k-kunai and shuriken at me." Hinata stated.
"What?" Naruto shouted.
"P-please, just do it… for me." Hinata said.
"…Okay, Hinata-chan." Naruto answered.
Sasuke, Sakura, and Naruto surrounded Hinata and prepared to throw their weapons when she gave the word. Hinata stood with her Byakugan active, trying to see that familiar green symbol that signified the start of the Eight Trigrams.
"Okay." Hinata said to everyone, and on her command they all threw their weapons simultaneously. Hinata became a sudden blur of movement, and she began to knock kunai in shuriken out of the air, however over half of the projectiles managed to penetrate Hinata's defense, resulting in her getting a little cut up.
"You okay?" Naruto asked.
"Yes, I-I'm fine, Naruto-kun." Hinata answered.
"What is that move?" Sakura asked.
"I-it's a technique that I-I had an idea for." Hinata said. "It's s-supposed to be an ultimate defense, like my clan's Kaiten.
"Why not just use the Kaiten?" Sakura asked.
"I-I'm having trouble learning it," Hinata replied, "A-also, it has weaknesses. L-like how much chakra it uses. This would use a lot less chakra than the Kaiten."
"Cool." Naruto said, "So you wanna try again?" Hinata nodded.
Team 7 worked on Hinata's new technique for a couple of hours before the Hyuga heiress was too tired to do much more. After that, Sasuke and Naruto began to spar as Sakura tended to Hinata's cuts and injuries. Hinata and Sakura watched as their respective crushes fought it out to a stalemate, much to Sasuke's irritation. After they were done with their training session, Team 7 enjoyed a meal at Ichiraku Ramen. Everyone, including Sasuke, enjoyed what little downtime they had between their respective training schedules.
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Two weeks later, Naruto's training in the Kuchiyose no Jutsu hadn't progressed very far. While he was now summoning young frogs, that still had tails, he wasn't progressing fast enough to use the jutsu with any effect during the final rounds.
However, where Naruto was failing the rest of Team 7 was succeeding. Hinata while not fully perfecting any either the Eight Trigrams Sixty-four Palms or the Kaiten, had mastered a lesser version of her family's main jutsu, her own creation, the Eight Trigrams Thirty-two palms, and she was close to completing the maneuver she had began to call the Protection of the Eight Trigrams Sixty-four Palms.
Sakura, training under both Rin Uchiha and Kurenai Yuhi, had progressed in using medical jutsu and learned several new genjutsu, including Kurenai's famed Demonic Illusion: Tree Binding Death technique.
Sasuke was advancing in leaps and bounds. Not only had he learned and mastered the Chidori and a couple of other mid rank lightning jutsu from Kakashi, he learned the Yari Daikage from Obito. All of this on top of learning how to better control and use his Sharingan, Obito was sure that the younger Uchiha would probably waltz through the final rounds.
Naruto couldn't help but feel the last couple of weeks had been useless. He wasn't getting anywhere even though he was always at a point of near chakra exhaustion, he couldn't summon the other chakra Jiraiya said he needed for the summoning jutsu.
"Kuchiyose no Jutsu!" Naruto shouted as he slammed his palm back down to the ground. The ensuing puff of smoke revealed a young toad with hind legs, but it still had a tail. "Damn it…" Naruto said as he passed out from chakra exhaustion.
Jiraiya sighed and got up from his peeping perch overlooking the base of the waterfall. "Can't blame him for passing out, he's been going at it almost nonstop for the last couple of weeks." Jiraiya said to himself, "It seems his body is still too small to handle the pressure of the Kyuubi's chakra. Forgive me Yondaime, but there is only one way for him to learn how to tap into the Kyuubi's chakra at will." Jiraiya then picked you the blond-haired genin and strode off to a nearby canyon.
Jiraiya laid Naruto down. As soon as Naruto hit the ground, he woke up. "Where am I?" Naruto asked groggily.
"Get up!" Jiraiya commanded, "You're training ends today. If you don't want to die then you better figure this out for yourself."
"Huh?" was all Naruto was able to mutter before Jiraiya used a single finger to push Naruto through a push and over the side of a cliff. Naruto screamed as he began his descent into the gorge. After a little bit of quick thinking, Naruto decided to put his training to use. Gathering his chakra to his hands and feet, Naruto made an attempt to stick himself to one of the outcroppings of the wall. However, this proved fruitless, he was falling too fast and the sides of the wall was too slick to help him.
At this rate I'm truly going to die! Naruto thought. Suddenly, Naruto found himself ankle deep in water in what appeared to be a sewer of some sort. He could feel a strong force coming from down the hallway, and he followed it to a large ornate gate with a piece of paper over it, the word "SEAL" written on the paper.
"Come closer, Kit." a voice behind the gate said. Naruto complied with the command only to have a huge set of claws nearly take his head off. "I want to devour you, kit, but this damn seal is in the way."
"You are… the Kyuubi!" Naruto said.
"For you to come here, what do you want, kit?" Kyuubi asked.
"Hey, I'm letting you live in my body you stupid fox. So how about you give me some of your chakra as rent?" Naruto demanded.
"If you die, I die, eh? To threaten me like this, you got guts, kit. I like you, here's your 'rent.'" Kyuubi answered as he seeped some of his chakra through the seal and gave it to Naruto.
Naruto's eyes snapped back open to see that he was still plummeting to his doom. "This is it, this is the Kyuubi's chakra." Naruto said to himself as he went through the now familiar handsigns. "Kuchiyose no Jutsu!" Naruto yelled as he slammed a palm to another on of the cliffs outcroppings. Naruto suddenly felt his fall stop as he landed on something soft.
"Whoa, this thing is huge." Naruto said as he looked around in amazement. He finally laid down on the massive toad he had just summoned.
"You lil' punk! What'cha doin' on top my head?!" they large toad yelled, "I finally get some fresh air and this happens. Jiraiya summons me and puts some weird kid on top of my head. Hey punk where's Jiraiya?"
"Jiraiya? I'm the one who summoned you." Naruto answered.
"You summoned me?!" the huge toad shouted, "Don't make me laugh, kid. You shouldn't be telling lies like that. There's no way some shrimp like you could summon me."
"You piece of shit toad! How dare you say such things!" Naruto yelled back, "I'm the one that summoned you, so I'm your master! You got that, you stupid toad?!"
"Who the hell do you think you are?" the toad replied, "Some little punk is saying he's the master of the Boss Toad, Gamabunta-sama. You want your head ripped off?"
"I'm sorry, boss toad." Naruto said, in fear of his life once again.
"Alright, calm down. I'll make you my underling, be thankful." Gamabunta replied.
"Hai, boss toad." Naruto nodded in acceptance. Gamabunta then wrapped Naruto up in his tongue and hopped out of the chasm. Naruto passed out from the sudden movement and his own chakra depletion. Gamabunta looked down to see the toad summoning contract laying on the ground and read the new name on the list.
"Naruto Uzumaki, eh? So this kid did summon me. Impressive, no one has ridden on my head since Yondaime. Calling me took a lot out of the kid though, guess I should take him to the hospital." Gamabunta said as he took off to Konoha Hospital.
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Naruto groaned as he opened his eyes.
"Finally awake, eh?" a man next to Naruto said. Naruto looked over to see the familiar pineapple hairdo of Shikamaru.
"Where am I?" Naruto asked.
"Hospital, you've been asleep for three days." Shikamaru answered.
"Why am I here with you? Where's Ero-sennin?" Naruto questioned.
"How would I know?" Shikamaru replied, "I came to see Chouji, and they said you were sleeping here so I came to see you."
"What's wrong with Chouji?" Naruto inquired.
"Nothing much, he just injured his stomach getting into one of his troublesome eating contests with a Suna kunoichi that he's taking a liking too. It's troublesome really." Shikamaru informed him.
Naruto laughed, "Sounds like him."
"Well, you two aren't the types to have girls come visit you. Anyway, I brought a fruit basket for Chouji, but the doctors said no, so I thought we could split it." Shikamaru said.
"You're a nice guy, Shikamaru." Naruto said.
"Whatever, I just brought it because otherwise it would go to waste." Shikamaru stated.
"We should eat this in front of Chouji." Naruto suggested while holding back a laugh.
"Man, you sure are a pain in the ass." Shikamaru sighed.
Naruto and Shikamaru got up and began to make their way over to Chouji's room when they noticed Gaara in Rock Lee's room. Shikamaru quickly used his Shadow Possession Jutsu to stop Gaara from finishing whatever he was doing.
Naruto flew into the room and punched Gaara straight in the jaw while shouting, "What the hell do you think you're doing in here?!"
"Hey, Naruto. While I'm using the Shadow Possession Jutsu, I mimic his movements." Shikamaru said.
"Sorry, Shikamaru." Naruto apologized. Naruto then turned back to Gaara, "What are you up to?"
"I was trying to kill him.' Gaara replied in his deadpan tone.
"Why is there a need to do that?" Shikamaru asked, "You won your match. Do you have some sort of personal grudge against Lee?"
"I do not." Gaara replied, his voice still in monotone, "I'm going to kill him just because I want to kill him."
"What the hell are you talking about, bastard?!" Naruto yelled.
"You must have had a messed up childhood. How self-centered can you be?" Shikamaru replied.
"If you get in my way, I'll kill you too." Gaara answered.
"Go ahead and try!" Naruto shouted in response.
"Hey, stop, Naruto." Shikamaru tried to calm the blonde down, "We know from your fight that you're strong. However, we aren't too bad either, and we didn't show off our special moves either. Also, it's two on one, so if you listen to what we say, we'll let you leave quietly."
"I'll say it again, get in my way and I'll kill you." Gaara responded.
"I won't be killed by the likes of you!" Naruto again provoked the red-headed Suna-nin.
"I told you to stop it!" Shikamaru reprimanded Naruto, "His strength is like a monster, don't you understand?"
"I have a real monster in me." Naruto answered, "I won't lose to him."
"A monster, eh?" Gaara said. "Then it's the same as me. As you said, I had a messed up childhood…" Gaara than began to give Shikamaru and Naruto a detailed description of his life, including how his mother was sacrificed to seal Shukaku into Gaara as he was born, and then the constant assassination attempts as Gaara grew unstable and was deemed a threat. Then he informed Naruto and Shikamaru of how he values his existence by killing others. Suddenly, Gaara's sand began to lash out, and at that time another person entered the room.
"That's enough!" The new person was none other than Might Guy, "The final rounds are only about a week away, so don't get antsy. Or do you want to stay here until the finals are over?"
Gaara grasped his head as in pain and walked over to the door of the room, "I'll definitely kill all of you, just wait." After that statement, Gaara left.
Shikamaru sighed, "So troublesome…"
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The next week went by quickly for Team 7. With the increased training regimen they rarely had time to think about much else. Naruto was ecstatic about finally mastering the Kuchiyose no Jutsu. Hinata had been making serious progress on the Protection of the Eight Trigrams Sixty-four Palms. Sasuke was learning various styles for spears and staffs from Obito to help him with using the Yari Daikage. Sakura continued her practice of genjutsu.
Two days before the final rounds were to begin Hinata and Naruto were training together like they did on most days. Both of them, however, were saving their energies for the final rounds.
"N-Naruto-kun?" Hinata said as they relaxed under a tree to enjoy lunch.
"Yeah, Hinata-chan?" Naruto replied.
"A-are you n-nervous about the final rounds?" Hinata asked.
"Yeah. It's nothing but strong people in the finals. I'd be crazy not to be nervous." Naruto answered honestly.
"T-that's not exactly what I m-meant, Naruto-kun." Hinata said.
Naruto sighed, "You mean about our match?"
"Y-yes." Hinata answered.
"Yeah, I'm nervous. I know it's gonna be rough, but we both have our own dreams to fight for right?" Naruto replied.
"Hai!" Hinata answered.
"Then we're both just going to have to leave it all in the arena, and whoever's better will win." Naruto said earnestly, "No matter what happens, we won't let it affect our friendship, right?"
"Hai." Hinata nodded in agreement.
"Anyway, did you finish that awesome protection thingy?" Naruto inquired.
"N-not q-quite, I'm c-close to finishing it though." Hinata answered.
"Well, want to see if we can finish it?" Naruto asked.
"Huh? W-well I guess we can…" Hinata replied.
"Alright!" Naruto shouted as he took Hinata by the hand and lead her out to the clearing of the training area. Naruto then formed the signs for the Shadow Clone Jutsu, announced the technique, and made several dozen copies of himself, all clutching kunai. Hinata activated her Byakugan, and attempted to see that familiar array around herself.
"You ready?" all the Narutos announced in unison.
"Hai." Hinata said as she began to twirl her arms around herself, "Protection of the Eight Trigrams Sixty-four Palms."
All the Narutos unleashed their kunai at Hinata, who proceeded to deftly stop or cut down all but 4 of the incoming projectiles.
"Wow! You're getting a lot better." Naruto said, "You got almost all of them."
"Th-thank you, Naruto-kun." Hinata said as she checked the minimal damage that the kunai inflicted. "Y-you mind going again?"
"No problem." Naruto replied as he and his clones readied more projectiles.
Again, Hinata strained to see that green array that accompanied the Eight Trigrams Sixty-four Palms. She began the now familiar motions of her defensive jutsu.
"Here it comes!" all the Naruto's shouted as half of the leaped into the air to give a more variance to the attack. Hinata concentrated harder, suddenly, she could see it, the array was there.
"Protection of the Eight Trigrams Sixty-four Palms!" Hinata said as her arms became nothing but a blue blur. At the end of the technique, all of the thrown projectiles were scattered about in various pieces.
"Was that it?!" Naruto shouted, "That was amazing, you got every single one."
"Th-that was it." Hinata answered shakily, "That's exactly what I was wanting to accomplish."
"Way to go, Hinata-chan! I knew you could do it!" Naruto shouted as he ran into embrace her.
"Th-thank you, Naruto-kun. I owe a lot of it to you." Hinata answered.
"Huh? I didn't really do anything." Naruto replied confused.
"N-no, you constantly helped m-me and told me I could achieve what I was trying to do. That was a l-lot for me, N-Naruto-kun." Hinata informed Naruto.
"Well, it seems we help each other out a lot, doesn't it?" Naruto said with a grin.
"Hai." Hinata agreed.
"Well, now that you've finished with that, what do we do know?" Naruto asked.
"How about we just relax and enjoy the rest of the time we have before the final rounds?" Hinata suggested.
"Yeah, I like that idea. Ero-sennin has been pushing me really hard over the last few weeks, I could use some rest." Naruto said as he flopped back on to the grass to stare at the sky.
Hinata giggled at Naruto before laying back on the grass beside him.
"I never can figure out what Shikamaru gets out of watching these things." Naruto said as he watched two clouds float lazily across the sky.
Hinata looked over at her crush before looking at the sky, "I don't know, it seems peaceful. I kind of enjoy it myself." She answered as she watched the same clouds float along.
"I guess…" Naruto answered, "I guess I'm not the type that likes to just sit around for long periods of time."
Hinata giggled again, "No, I guess you're not, Naruto-kun."
"Wanna go get dinner at Ichiraku's later?" Naruto asked out of the blue.
Hinata felt her face redden at the thought of a date with Naruto, even though they had been doing similar things for a couple of months, "Y-y-yes, I-I would like that." she finally managed to say.
"Great!" Naruto shouted as he sat up, "What should we do until dinner?"
"Can't we just stay here?" Hinata pleaded.
Naruto looked a little dejected at that, but he soon regained his grin, "Sure. Maybe something will come our way." Naruto said as he laid back down to stare at the sky again.
Hinata was just happy to be alone beside the one she loved, even if all they were doing was staring at clouds.
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The next day, Konohagakure became a festival town. Nobles, important people, and spectators from all over the allied nations arrived to watch the final rounds of the Chuunin Exams. Vendors peddled their wares in the streets, all of the hotels in the area were full to bursting, and all the restaurants were bringing in record sales.
The visitors and townspeople were all excited about what this years finals promised. Word had gotten around that this should be the best Chuunin Exams seen in the past few years. The finals this year contained not only one of the last Uchihas, but also the last remaining Kousetsu who had taken up with Konoha after their clan hat been ran out of Kiri. Also the heiress of the Hyuuga clan was battling against an unknown that had beaten the Hyuuga clan's prodigy in the preliminaries. Also, the children of the Kazekage and several other prominent Konoha clans were battling in this Exam's finals, ensuring this to be one of the most eventful and exciting Chuunin Exams in the last few years.
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A/N
Bolded speech is obviously a bijuu or summon talking, but just to clarify, there ya go.
Thank you all for your outpouring of support. I hope I can continue to meet all of your expectations. I hope you have enjoyed the story so far, even if it has been nothing but a rehash of the original story so far, I do have plans for large sections of my own original content to come at a certain point in the future. Until then, enjoy Four Man Squads.