Chapter 7 The New Team Seven
Disclaimer: I don't own the world or characters…blah blah blah…
EdSpikeSesshyGirl: Thanks for the review. Yes Itachi and the Akatsuki will be making an appearance; they will be some of the main enemies of the village along with Kabuto. More on that in this chapter actually…
Three Years Later
Sasuke walked into the next room, high vaulted ceilings and several ninja lining the walls, in the center a man sitting on a throne.
"Sasuke Uchiha, the last Uchiha anyone can find in fact. It is good you have chosen to defect to us." The man said in a silky voice that didn't sound quite right coming from the large ninja. He was a mass of muscle a heavy axe sat next to him used only when he became angry, so quite often, he was the third nephew of the Mizukage and had control of one of the small islands between the mainland and the water country in his uncle's name. This island was one of the first on the list for Morigakure's expansion. With the Uchiha's betrayal the water country had gained the advantage. Or so they thought, they did not know that the sharingan eyes could be deactivated so they did not think it was odd when Sasuke looked around the room with them, only the two guards behind him and the man in the center of the room were not in the genjutsu. When the lightning charged needles cut into them no one could react. When he beheaded every ninja in the compound no one stopped him. When he passed out from exhaustion no one could kill him, they were already dead.
The next day he watched as wave ninja killed the rest of the ninja on the island, he watched as Naruto walked triumphantly through the village its citizens looking at them with hope in their eyes, they had never been treated kindly under the rule of the daimyo or his ninja.
Sasuke looked at Naruto's battle armor, gone was the bright orange jacket, what replaced it was a suit of armor quite like the one he himself now wore. The armor was that of the Senju clan design, their symbol was used for the village headbands also, Naruto's had the word Namikage, displayed on the back, and Sasuke's own back had the symbol of the Uchiha, just as Neji's had that of the Hyuuga. This was only ever worn when they were invading an island; it showed their wealth and their might. They wore their normal clothes when at home or on a mission.
In the three years since the founding of the village the mainland had been reduced to a constant state of war and then became peaceful again when the fighting stopped, the land once known as fire country had been cut up among the ninja villages and the new close boarders invited war to come in easily. The sound village lead by Kabuto, who apparently transplanted tissue from some of Orochimaru's supporters, had become one of the strongest villages in the world by taking over the land that was once the fire country. The rain village had become stronger they were lead by a group of nine unknown ninja they had taken over the wind, bird, grass, and river countries. The sand village had been all but destroyed, the lack of a leader had scattered the village and left the country open to attack, no one had claimed it yet.
The wave and mist were currently at war over the sea country islands, they were the only two ninja villages with 'navies' or boats manned by ninja who could fire from long distances. That was the waves strength in this war, they had ninja with different elements not just water, they would burn or slice or fry enemy boats.
Naruto while lead many of the island attacks Sasuke had wanted to see just how strong his sharingan had become though so this time he had came up with a plan. Naruto had certainly become stronger in the past two years, they all had, out of the rookie nine, team Gai, and the sand siblings the lowest rank was jounin (Kiba, Sakura, Ino, Shino, Temari, Kankurou, Ten Ten, Lee and Chouji), many were Anbu (Sasuke, Gaara, Neji, Shikamaru), Hinata was the leader of the Hyuuga clan, and Naruto the Namikage.
"You did good Sasuke." Naruto said walking up to him. Naruto was taller than Sasuke now taller even than Zabuza he was known to the world as one of the strongest kage, the wind blade, controller of the nine tailed demon, he had so many names the enemy didn't know who to say was attacking until they were cut in half by a wind blade or rasenganed into a wall. Sasuke too had changed, his skills were known across the world as some of the best, the silent killer, the lightning blade of the forest, sharingan Sasuke these were his names.
"Hn, a loser like you would know that how?" Sasuke joked.
"Shikamaru will be handling the creation of the government here. He says he wants a vacation anyway." Naruto said. "We should get you to the medics you're out of chakra…" Naruto grabbed the other man and dragged him towards the medic tent that was offering free medicine for the villagers.
Leaving the village the next day Naruto saw the village waving goodbye to the ninja who had invaded just the day before. Naruto laughed. It was the same at every village the mist ninja were cruel and unforgiving. They had found a small clan of ninja with bloodline traits hiding on one of the concurred islands from the mist village. They had joined the forest village the next day adding nearly fifty strong fighters to their numbers. During the war Naruto had fought a separate war, one of taking in all of the orphans, they didn't want to leave their homes but in the end with the promise of food, shelter, and understanding they had joined. These ninja now bolstered the once small ranks of the forest. What was once a village of refugees was now a military establishment. They had taken in the small forgotten clans that the old villages had forced away and they had steadily grown until the former leaf ninja where just a quarter of the ninja and children in the village.
The wave country had grown, taking all of the islands between it and the water country, the sea country, tea country, and soon the water country itself.
Tazuna was truly the one who gained the most out of this; he had an ever growing country of people who loved his government, the people were happy to pay taxes so long as the ninja protected them. Unlike the mainland there were often pirates, monsters, and other things that ninja needed to do that kept a constant demand for them. The village hidden in the forest grew; several of the richer islands now had secondary villages lead by Naruto's most trusted.
Upon returning to the village he was greeted by a grinning Iruka. "I already heard about your victory Namikage Naruto." He said. "I'm happy to say that the next year's students will be graduating tomorrow."
"Good." Naruto said wondering were this was going.
"You know Naruto there are some things you should do before you get too old. Perhaps you should take a genin team." He suggested slyly.
"What are you talking about?" Naruto asked he had never wanted a genin team before why would he want one now?
"Well you see all of the Hokage were trained by someone who was a kage or trained by one, Sakura, Sasuke and you are the last three that meet this. Sakura has refused and Sasuke is in the Anbu so he can not take a team full time. The only person who can is you." Iruka said smiling.
"I'm the Namikage I have to do paperwork…" Naruto said it wasn't really true he had created clones two years ago that still worked every day on the hours of paperwork that sat at the village leader's desk for no apparent reason.
"Liar, everyone in the village knows you haven't done any paperwork in two years." Iruka said holding out a piece of paper. "That's your team number, try not to be late Naruto." Yes, even though he was the kage he could still be bossed around by Iruka, a feat few people dared except for Jiraiya and Tsunade.
"A genin team…what have I gotten myself into?"
The next day
"Team seven will be, Gereso Uruami, Merawako Ahuya, and Hina Tadei." Iruka said to the class.
Gereso a ninja not from the land of fire had come to the village when he was very young; his entire family was ninja their eyes a low level doujutsu that let them see in any amount of light perfectly. Also unique to his clan were the use of tattoos to focus and manipulate chakra. He was brave all he wanted to do was prove he was better than his brother who was already a jounin even though he was only three years out of the academy. He has sky blue hair that resembles a flame. He was amazing at both taijutsu and genjutsu. He wares many strong chains going around both arms and up his sleeves and perhaps covering his entire body.
Merawako has scarlet hair worn in a style that resembles a flowing river. He wears a red trench coat and uses red playing cards, with sharp edges, as weapons. He uses the wind element to turn the cards into dangerous flying blades. He considers Gereso his rival because he is the only one who never noticed Merawako as second in the class.
Hina, Tadei as she preferred to be called, has white hair that resembles flower petals, two katana held in her belt, she was perhaps the worst student in the class doing the worse work with ninjutsu and genjutsu. Her sword work however was some of the best Iruka had ever seen at her age. Naruto could do a lot with her if she focused and let him teach her.
"Where is this guy, Naruto Namikaze, have you ever heard of him Merawako?" Tadei complained.
"No." Merawako said, he was surprised that she actually talked to him most of the girls just blushed at his good looks and said hi.
"He's here…" A voice said from behind all three of them. They all looked up at the Namikage who stood at the catwalk closest to their class room. "I've been here for two hours and yet you never looked. As ninja you should always be on the outlook for danger. My first impression is not a good one."
"Lord Namikage you are our instructor?" Gereso asked.
"Obviously you're the stupid one." Naruto said offhandedly. "Ok let's get this over with; I want to know a little about all of you, name, goals, likes dislikes."
"What do you mean?" Merawako asked. "Can you give an example?"
"Right…My name is Naruto Namikaze, I like ramen, my friends, fighting and learning new jutsu. I dislike many things so I don't feel like sharing. My goal is to protect this village and the people in it even if I die doing so. Now why don't you start?" He said pointing at Merawako.
"My name is Merawako Ahuya. I like training, reading, and working with others. I dislike people who are selfish and a restaurant not having a bathroom. My goal is to be a great ninja so my dad will be proud of me." He said looking at his teacher.
"The girl next." Naruto said.
"My name is Tadei. I like very few things. I dislike Iruka's lectures (Naruto laughed at this), people talk during movies, and perverts. My goal is to become one of the swordsmen of this village." Only Naruto himself could make that goal become reality, he was the leader of the five swordsmen, Sasuke, Kohonamaru, Asuma, and Shikamaru were the others in this group.
"Next please."
"Gereso Uruami. I have no reason to share anything with you beyond that, this is all just an exercise to see how we respond right?" He asked. Naruto laughed at this, it wasn't he like Kakashi had actually wanted to know about the people he might have to train.
"No, your wrong, horribly so. I wanted to know about you to see what to expect of you in the future." Naruto was completely disappointed by this point and he had come in expecting the worse.
"Ok I'll give you all a chance, go home but don't eat dinner; if you do you'll end up regretting it tomorrow. Meet me at training platform seven." Naruto left.
The next day
They were on time, luckily because if they had been late Naruto would have dropped them right there. The training area was one of the smallest, barely enough room for a dozen tree branches. In the center were three wooden posts; behind those was a leaf symbol and hundreds of names the ones of those who died in the defense of Konoha.
"Good you're all here. Now today is your final test, if you don't pass this you can't become a genin." Naruto said simply.
"What? We already graduated how can we not be ninja?" Tadei asked.
"You can not be alive…" Naruto started but left the empty threat open. It worked however, the large sword on his back and light battle armor he wore, not as heavy as the armor he wore when invading an island but it worked just as well and gave him more mobility. "As it is only two of you will have the ability to become genin today. You see only two of you can get these." He held up two small bells that the young ninja watched. "If you can't get a bell by lunch you don't get to eat." He smiled remembering his own reaction when Kakashi had done this.
"You have to be joking, this is cruel. You are making us kill one of our teammates to kill." Gereso said.
"Maybe you aren't getting it. You have to get a bell, I have the bells and I'm going to keep you from the bells. How you get them and what you do after that is up to you." Naruto explained. "Now since I've explained the test. You can start."
Tadei jumped forward, swords drawn quicker than the untrained eye could see, Naruto who had trained with a sharingan user and Lee for years could see the move as if it was normal movement. His own sword was pulled from his back. The three blades all hit making a loud ringing sound. Gereso jumped forward taking thinking that both of his teacher's hands would be holding the blade. He was punched to the floor and saw Merawako jump over him with two cards in his hands, he tried to cut into the Namikage but the sound of shattering metal was followed by Merawako being slammed in the stomach with the flat of the sword sending him spinning away.
"Taijutsu, two of you are average, the other is just pathetic." The younger ninja had hidden in nearby in the tree limbs. Gereso thought of a plan, this guys weakness is genjutsu, he is a master of taijutsu and I've heard he's good at ninjutsu so that must be his weakness. He jumped in front of the man and four of the tattoos on his arms glowed black.
Chains surrounded Naruto Gereso was below him on a platform, everything was dark except for the light given off by the golden chains that were wrapped around his arms and legs. Gereso clapped his hands together and the chains began to move. Naruto felt his body being ripped to shreds by the chains. The clone too was ripped apart the chakra it was made of not knowing the difference between reality and genjutsu. The bell in Gereso's hand disappeared with it.
"Genjutsu, I train with a master of genjutsu, Sasuke Uchiha. Your pitiful attempts to fool me are going to get you killed." Naruto said from behind him. Everything went black, the dark mist around them blocked out all of the light. Naruto smiled as he heard the boy come towards him. "I take it back you are good at taijutsu." He said blocking the chains that came from the darkness. "I take it you can still see me. A doujutsu, I should have known when I saw your eyes, no pupils just black."
Gereso sent three more chains towards the man. All were blocked he heard his teachers blade spinning in the darkness, clearing the black mist with wind chakra. 'Damn it!' He retreated back to the trees.
Tadei was too stunned to move, those swords had been special to her, and she had bought them with her own money after saving for years. Her dad had not let her use them however and they sat unused in their home. When her father didn't come back from a mission one day she started wearing the swords to school, she was naturally skilled with them and nothing else. Tears spilled from her eyes. When she saw the black mist form around Gereso and Naruto she had thought it was over, Gereso was the best he never lost, then he retreated a scared look on his face. She had no more weapons, no kunai she could never aim them right, no blast notes, nothing, she could barely make clones. She began to cry falling into a pit of self-loathing. 'Why can't I do anything right?'
Merawako smiled, he had a plan that was far better than his teammates, if taijutsu and genjutsu didn't work then he would use ninjutsu.
He jumped from his branch four cards in each hand he threw the wind imbued cards at the kage and can forward pulling out a scroll. Naruto met the cards with a heavenly wind spin which sent them off in different directions and knocking the other two from their perches. He used the scroll as he came closer; it summoned a card larger than his body with held Naruto's sword at bay.
"Come on! If we all attack at once he can't take us!" He yelled to the others who agreed, Gereso tossed Tadei a kunai and all three turned as one to face Naruto. He had cut the thick metal card easily with his wind blade and had not attacked simply to watch what the boy came up with.
He knocked all three of them down easily laughing as he did so. "It's twelve. You haven't beaten me. Tadei, you want to be a hero correct?" He asked.
"Yes." She growled.
"Do you see that stone, the one with all the names on it?"
"So what about it?" She asked angrily.
"Those are the names of heroes. The people who died in Konoha three years ago. The people who died to defend our lives."
"I'm not from Konoha." She said angrily, one of the ninja from this village had taken her during the war; she went willingly to the food, shelter, religion and friends they had offered her.
"So? None of you are. All of you came later but your lives would have been much worse if it weren't for those people. Gereso, you are from a bloodline clan in the water country islands you would have lived your entire life in hiding if we had not survived. Merawako, you and your father were saved by Shikamaru and Chouji, two of my friends, during an invasion on one of the islands, your father had been a disgraced ninja who only wanted you to be a ninja the mist village would have never given you that chance. Tadei you were an orphan living on your own, my friend Kiba brought you here two years ago because you were alone."
"I see." Gereso said nodding.
"Right." Tadei agreed.
"Thank you sir." Merawako said.
He held out his hand smiling. "Congratulations, you pass." He laughed remembering how long it took his team to figure this out.
"What?" Tadei yelled replacing sorrow and loathing with anger. "You…you…" She couldn't tell her teammates about the broken swords importance.
"I was testing you, forest ninja work in teams because that is how ninja best operate. If one of you can not beat an opponent then one of the other two should be able to." Naruto smiled putting his sword in its proper place. "You passed, and you gave me a few surprises."
They walked away, Tadei turned back to talk to Naruto.
"Those swords you broke were special to him." Naruto smiled at her.
"I understand…this sword is special to me too. I've had it broken many times and repaired every time. Today Merawako could have killed me if I didn't stop him. I thought about myself before you and I'm sorry. All I can do is offer to replace them. That and get you training to use those swords." He looked at the younger girl and smiled again. "One day, if you train hard enough, you might just be strong enough to join us." She jumped joyously at this.
"Thank you sensei, thank you so much." She squealed.
A/N: I hope you liked it. Thanks for all the reviews today, three in all…It's nice to be thought of.