Sorry for not updating this story in so long, life sucks.
To clear something up, here's a list of Sages:
Hagoromo Ōtsutsuki, First Sage of Six Paths;
Madara Uchiha, Second Sage of Six Paths;
Naruto Uzumaki, Third Sage of Six Paths;
Nagato Uzumaki, creator of the Paths of Pein;
And finally Obito Uchiha, second user of the Paths of Pein.
I've already gone ahead and fixed the minor mistake in the last chapter, where I called Naruto the Fifth Sage. He's definitely the Third – Nagato gets his Rinnegan from Madara, and Obito from Nagato, so they're not real Sages, per se; they're just Rinnegan wielders according to this story.
…ooOoo…
Interlude I
Chapter 7 – Welcome to Training Ground 1
"Sensei, where are we going?"
"Oh, you'll see," Kakashi answered Sakura's query. "Trust me on this one, you'll enjoy where I'm taking you three."
Naruto grumbled. "We better," he said, "I didn't wake up at four in the morning just to be dragged around-"
"Well then maybe if you'd paid attention to what I told you yesterday, you'd have gone to bed earlier last night and wouldn't be so tired this morning, or as grumpy now would you?" interrupted his sensei. Naruto glanced away, his slight mumbling halted by the massive yawn he let loose.
"Naruto has a point though," spoke up Sasuke. "Even I'm a little curious as to where we're going. Are you sure you aren't lost?"
"Quite sure," said Kakashi. "You never quite forget where this place is after you've been here once. Trust me on that one."
"But why do we have to be here so early?" asked Naruto.
"Well…" drawled Kakashi. "It's for one simple reason." Naruto looked at his sensei, his expression betraying his massive curiosity as Kakashi opened his mouth and said: "Because I said so."
This of course, made Naruto trip and fall under the surprise of such a statement. "I should've seen that coming," he said as he picked himself up.
The team was walking towards the area where Konoha's massive training grounds were located, on the west side of the village. Team 7's standard training site was Training Ground Three, which was located southwards of the direction they were heading in currently. As such, even though the day before they had been told that they were being taken to a new training site, they were still confused as to where this site was, since the rest of Konoha's training grounds were located south of their position, following the curve of the Great Wall surrounding Konoha.
"Kakashi-Sensei," asked Sakura, "are we headed to the Zeroth Training Ground? I thought that was-"
"-a restricted area, yes," said their teacher, his face still in his orange book, "The area where we're headed is actually very close to that one. Don't fret though, shinobi can only enter the natural preserve on special order of the Hokage. Besides, you wouldn't want to mess with the animals in there, trust me."
"Why not?" asked Naruto, confused.
"Well, over ten to twenty years ago, the No-Hunting District was formerly used as a testing ground for the Chūnin Exams," said Kakashi, "but after a while, it was deemed unfit for the exams for… specific reasons. Since there wasn't any other available use for the area, it was sealed off, and with years of different types of chakra usage and exposure to different chemicals and poisons and other substances from other villages and our own… well, it's been a while, but no one's ever been able to figure out how that ecosystem has evolved yet."
Sasuke frowned. "You're talking as if the area is an organism of its own," he said.
"In a way, yes," nodded Kakashi. "Which is why it's a restricted area. It doesn't bother us, so we don't bother it."
Sasuke nodded, his own curiosity satisfied along with those of his teammates', the group lapsing into silence. This of course, didn't last; at least, not with Naruto Uzumaki there.
"So how much longer?"
"We're almost there," answered Kakashi patiently. "In fact, if you look up, you can see the roof of the gymnasium from over here…"
"Wait, seriously?" asked Naruto, looking for the building in question. Indeed, his teacher was right, but with the little light of the morning there were very little details to be discerned from such distance. Even so, it was obvious that the building in question was massive.
"A gymnasium, sensei?" asked Sakura. "But there are plenty of those in Konoha…"
"This one's different," said Kakashi, "since this gym was built for ninjas in mind."
Naruto and Sakura exchanged excited glances, and even Sasuke couldn't help but share in the feeling. Curiosity was rampant in their young minds, and it was becoming increasingly difficult for them to find restraint. Kakashi couldn't help but chuckle as he looked at them out of the corner of his eye. To be that young… he thought. I hope they can conserve their happy outlook on life for as long as possible.
It was a few minutes later when they finally reached the building in question. Naruto craned his head upwards as he stared at the height of the roof, which seemed comparable to the height of the Great Wall of Konoha, which had been built by the First Hokage using his Wood Release Bloodline Limit. If this building seemed just as high and imposing as that from the outside, then there was no doubt that this place would quickly become one of Naruto's favorite places in Konoha.
"Alright, my cute little genin," said Kakashi as he opened the double doors leading into the gym and spreading his arms out. "Welcome… to Training Ground One, also known as the Gymnasium."
If there was a word that could describe the place, that word was open. The next word that could describe the place was loud. The area inside of the Gymnasium was around the size four or five football fields placed side-by-side-by-side, with the Gymnasium divided in different areas. There was a roaring in the Gymnasium as well, a loud constant sound that almost drowned out the sound of dozens of shinobi fighting each other, or the sounds of metal hitting metal as dumbbells were lifted.
"Now, as you can see," said Kakashi, fighting to make himself heard over the din, "the Gymnasium is divided into three different Sections that are specialized in different aspects of Shinobi training. Section 1, the closest to us," he pointed at an area filled with exercise equipment and boxing rings, "is focused on physical strength and endurance training. The second Section, beyond the first, is focused on pure Shinobi combat, as you can see." Kakashi pointed at the area in question, where even at five in the morning already there were people fighting against each other on dozens of open tatami mats or on the flat concrete ground. Some people were fighting one-on-one, but others were also fighting in groups against each other.
"And finally," continued Kakashi, pointing at the final section, "we have the Amerina, which I dare say is a favorite among those who come here." Team Seven could see why – simulated rain was falling from the ceiling, crashing down on the concrete surface of the Gymnasium and causing the roaring sound that permeated the building. Here, as well, Shinobi were fighting and practicing in the Section, which had different types of areas within to simulate different environments – flat surfaces for classical fights, or more obstacle riddled areas for more acrobatic-like fights.
"Amerina… Ame Arena – The Rain Arena," said Sasuke. "Catchy name."
"How does the rest of the Gym stay dry?" asked Sakura. "Isn't there a drizzle or a sort-of mist that should spread over to the rest of the building?"
"Theoretically, yes, there should," said Kakashi, "but in fact, there is a Sealing Barrier that cordons off that Section from the rest the building. It's designed for water only, and doesn't require much chakra to sustain, so it's perfect for the 'rain.' Still, as you can see, there's no ninjutsu being thrown around in that area since there's so many people in close proximity to each other. On top of that, the Barrier won't stop a stray jutsu, just the rain." Here, Kakashi turned to his students with an expectant look. "So, tell me – was it worth waking up at four in the morning to come here?"
Naruto's grin was answer enough for the Team. "Definitely," he said, "I can see we're going to have some great training here, believe it!"
Kakashi chuckled. "I thought so," he said, before his demeanor became more serious. "Alright, so yesterday after training, I mentioned that there were going to be some changes in our training schedule. It's been three days since we got back from Wave country, and already you've felt that I've been pushing you harder than before."
Understatement of the century, was the shared thought between the genin.
"Well I'm telling you right now that it's only going to get worse," Kakashi continued. "We're going to come here to the Gymnasium three times a week, and bring up your endurance using the arenas here. From five in the morning all the way till seven in the afternoon, we're going to be hitting this Gymnasium and drive you three into the ground. And before you say anything, Sakura, I've already spoken to your Iryo-nin instructor."
The three genin were standing at attention, hands clasped behind their straight backs and feet placed at shoulder width, with their expressionless faces betraying nothing of the dismay that they were feeling at their new training regimen.
Fourteen hours of non-stop endurance training? Thought Naruto, How in the name of the Sage are we supposed to freakin' survive this? Could this get any worse?
"Oh, and there's no lunch while we train here."
Me and my luck, thought Naruto. I guess the point of this training is that we're not supposed to survive.
Kakashi held up a familiar red pill. "Your bodies aren't used to the consumption of these, so we're also going to train that as well. At lunch time, you three are going to consume a quarter of a pill, which should be enough to rejuvenate your body and restore your chakra enough to keep going for the day."
"Why not the full pill?" asked Sasuke.
"Sakura?" said Kakashi, motioning for her to answer. "You should know this, please answer your teammate."
Sakura nodded. "It's because the pill isn't made for regular consumption," she said. "The pills are made up of powerful stimulants and nutrients, said to allow the user to keep fighting for three days and three nights without rest. At the end of the three days effect however, the shinobi in question is brought to the point of complete and utter exhaustion."
"Correct," said Kakashi, "On top of that, however, there's also the fact that if you swallow one of these pills without your body, being used to it, you could potentially kill yourself from the overload of chakra in your system. Your bodies aren't used to these pills, so that's why I'm starting you off on such small amounts. Besides," he gave his patented eye-smile, "three days' worth of energy is a bit overkill for now, even with your new training regimen.
"Speaking of which, what we're going to be working on here, as I said, is your endurance. For your age, the three of you already have an impressive amount of stamina, but we can still bring that level up even higher. The reason for this is that while you could probably outlast a higher-ranked enemy, you can't overpower them yet for obvious reasons."
"So you want us to be able to have enough time to outsmart a more powerful enemy," said Sasuke, "by teaching us how to make that time."
"Exactly," said Kakashi, "which is why I'm going to teach you three a new way of fighting."
"Oh cool!" said Naruto, grinning in excitement, "What are you teaching us, Sensei? Is it a deadly style of taijutsu? Something that involves new jutsu? Or maybe a new secret art of some kind that-"
"I'll teach you three how to box," interrupted Kakashi.
Silence. Strangely, it was Sakura the one that broke it. "But sensei, wouldn't that mess with what we've learned in taijutsu?" she asked.
"Normally, it would," came the answer, "if I was teaching you the full art. All I'm going to teach you, really, is how to hit, how to take a hit, and how to move around an opponent. This is the kind of stuff that the academy only partially covers; the basics of every taijutsu style. On the other hand, I'll also put you three through the training regimen that boxers normally go through to bring up their stamina."
"Isn't boxing for civilians?" asked Naruto.
"Yes, it is, but mostly because the fighting style doesn't require chakra techniques or the huge amount of mobility that ninja have. As such, it's one of the few fighting styles that we permit civilians to learn so they can defend themselves. Muay Thai, Sakura's taijutsu style, is another one of those," said Kakashi. "While taijutsu styles at its core don't require chakra for their usage, each style has a limit as to how far you can go in its proficiency without the use of chakra.
"Take Naruto, who's still learning two styles at once. Snake style doesn't require much chakra at all; in fact, the only requirement that the style really has is the high amount of flexibility. Fox style, on the other hand, is more chakra intensive since you need to be able to quickly dance around your opponent and go in when you have a chance, striking fast and hard on a single spot multiple times before retreating. It's possible to do without the use of chakra, but at your level you still require it to move as fast as you need.
"Now let's take Muay Thai," said Kakashi. "The Art of Eight Limbs. This style's basic requirement is high amount of strength, along with a high pain threshold. The reason for this is because Sakura's style is more… linear, would be a proper way to say it, while Naruto's both styles are more mobile. Muay Thai is an art that requires being able to hit hard and strike from places that enemy wouldn't expect from. That's why it's called the Art of Eight Limbs, since that's what you have to strike with – two fists, two shins, two elbows, and two knees. On top of that, clinching is a basic requirement for the art – Sakura's art means that she has to stick to her opponent in order to bring them down at a very short range.
"Now let's think about what happens when Sakura enhances her taijutsu with chakra," said Kakashi.
Naruto shuddered. "Ok, I see where you're going with this," he said. "You're going to bring up our endurance without chakra, so that when we do use chakra we'll be practically unstoppable."
"Correct," came the answer. "So let's get started, shall we?"
One of the first lessons that Ninja are taught is how to access and manipulate the chakra that exists in their bodies. Within their first month at the Academy, ninja-in-training are taught how to use and see this power, but before that first month they are merely aware that the power is there without feeling it.
Once ninja go through with that training of activating their chakra pathways, there is no turning back, and chakra is constantly running through a ninja's body until the day of their death. As such, a ninja's body becomes used to unconsciously channeling chakra in order to perform the smallest and greatest of tasks and to help a ninja's development as they grow – ninja in general, even without training, are naturally much stronger and agile than a common civilian.
And yet, there were civilians that through time, effort and training could match up to the prowess of a ninja, so that the phrase "the weakest ninja in the world would always be stronger than the strongest civilian in the world" would never be true. Civilians that mastered the art of boxing, for example, could easily defend themselves from a genin or low-level chūnin, so when Team Seven started their endurance training, it showed.
Their growth would be tested not one month after their return from Konoha.
…ooOoo…
If there was one thing that Naruto hated nowadays, it was being treated differently.
Oh, it wasn't as if everything had changed. His friends still saw him for he was, as did his teachers and the two servers at Ichiraku Ramen. Even old man Hokage still treated him as he usually did when he showed up on the weekends to help him out with his paperwork as he'd been doing since he'd enrolled in the academy.
No, the one person that was treating him differently was his mother.
Anko was… well, it was hard to explain. The twenty-four year old special jōnin was one of the strongest in the village, in Naruto's opinion. She was both talented and skilled, with an array of abilities and quirks that made her a nightmare to face in combat. She was sadistic and unrelenting to the people she interrogated in her day job (there was never a shortage of those), breaking their minds by however the situation called for: bit by bit in a process that left her victims a quivering shell or in a single, unforgiving blast that left them shaken and shocked. Both worked just as well.
But at home, the jounin's coat was put up in a hangar next to the door, and his mother would smile at him. And everything would be well, no matter what. Even though the day would be hell for either one of them, they could always look forward to have their day brightened by the presence of the other. Even if Anko couldn't cook to save her life, or Naruto couldn't understand why his mother preferred dango over ramen, or that either one couldn't clean up after themselves leaving the apartment a messy pigsty, life was just perfect between the two.
But Naruto could tell that things had changed since the mission to Wave country.
Over the years, his mother had raised in him in a way that was reminiscent to the way she was – independently. Like him, she'd lived her early years as an orphan – her parents had been killed in the Third Shinobi World War – so she didn't have anyone to depend on. As such, when Anko had adopted Naruto into her care she'd only curved out those habits and tendencies that she felt would be detrimental to his future, like his loudness or his gods-forbidden extreme love for the color orange.
He still shuddered at the memory of those jumpsuits burning, as well as Anko's crazy smile.
Anyways, as it happened, the way he'd been brought up probably turned out best for the both of them. Having lived on the streets for so long, he'd reached a level of independence and maturity that most children didn't have at his age, so Anko didn't have to do much overhauling, so to speak. Instead, it was only a matter of talking to him, telling what was right and what was wrong, and more importantly, why. Why he had to do this, why he had to listen and think before talking, why he had to be quiet or at least not so loud, especially in the mornings… things like that. And yet, it was enough. The boy had grown and taken his lessons to heart and was on the road to being a fine young man.
But now, his mother's calm and usually aloof attitude when it came to him had been switched out for something more focused, in a way. Ever experienced Anko's fussing? Few people could understand how that felt, all of them countable on one hand and have fingers left over. It was… unique, to say the least, carrying her own special brand of personality to the point of being borderline stalker-like. She'd show up at his training on days out of the schedule they'd agreed on, for example, making sure he was fine before rushing back to work, and at home she'd hover nearby, keeping constant vigilance over him out of the corner of her eye.
The last straw had been when she'd attempted to cook dinner.
It had started off with a bang, to be honest (the figurative kind, not the literal. They lived in a building filled with active shinobi, how do you think that would end up?), since first she had to raid the pantry for stuff to cook. After realizing that they kept that filled with junk food, mostly, she'd rushed out personally to the market and looked for supplies, leaving her son bewildered for a moment before she rushed back to the apartment, grabbed him by the arm and body flickered the two to the market. She then proceeded to drag him from stand to stand, checking items out with an experienced (read: inexperienced) eye before purchasing them and ignoring her son's protesting words of you don't know how to cook stop this before you kill us. After all that, they went back to the apartment and she tried to make dinner.
The family of two took a long look at the result, flinching in unison when the thing moved. Two kunai knives immediately flew through the air and stabbed it to the wall, where it died with a keening sound.
Naruto looked at his mom with a deadpan stare. "This happened the last time you tried to cook, mom," he said. "No offense, but you suck."
"Well I don't see you trying to do something about it!" came the irritated answer.
"I did do something about it," he said, "I threw a knife at it. Also, I sent a clone out and got us dinner from the usual place-"
"Where is it!?" snapped Anko, her eyes wild and slightly insane, "Give me the food!"
"-and hid it appropriately because I figured something like this would happen," he finished with a frown. "Mom, what's going on?"
Anko hesitated for a single moment. "Nothing's going on," she answered, turning away and heading for the… thing with another knife in hand. She lunged, stabbing it quickly, and there was another pained keen. Dear gods, it was still alive!? "You missed," she told her son, pulling it out of the wall and depositing it in the trash, knives and all.
Naruto frowned. "It's not like those things have some kind of anatomy I'm familiar with," he answered her latter statement. "You didn't answer my question."
"There was nothing to answer," said Anko, sealing the trash bin and creating a clone. "Get rid of this thing, will you?" The clone gave its creator a glare worthy of herself before doing as told, vanishing in a Body Flicker.
"Yes, there is," said Naruto, his gaze on his mother as she moved to the kitchen counter and promptly sat on it.
"No, there isn't."
"Is."
"Isn't."
"Isn't."
"Is."
"Ha!"
"Wha-? Oh come on!" protested Anko, "that's no fair!" She pouted at him, but her lips twitched at the corners before letting loose her soft laughter, Naruto joining in.
"Seriously though," he said once they'd calmed down, "you're worrying me, mom. What's going on?"
Anko sighed, looking down at her clasped hands in her lap. "Don't look at me like that," she mumbled.
"Huh?"
Anko huffed. "Your eyes," she said, her gaze back to her son. "Just when did they stop looking like the innocent blue eyes of that seven-year-old I picked up off the street?"
"Mom?" asked Naruto, confused. "Where are you going with this?"
His mother sighed. "It's just…" she trailed off, taking a deep breath. "Naruto, honey, these past six years… they've been the best of my life. I was eighteen when we met, and I was nineteen when I became a mother. I've raised you, alone, by myself, and it's been a blast. We've had fun, we've had fights, and we've… we've been the thing we've always wanted. A family. You're my son, and I love you, Naruto." Anko's breath hitched, and Naruto was surprised, no, shocked to see tears forming in the corner of her eyes. "But now I know how all those other mothers feel when their children go off on missions on war. It feels like my soul is being torn, because it shouldn't be you out there, it should be me, fighting, killing, surviving, instead of-"
Anko's breath hitched again, and the tears started to fall. Immediately, Naruto rushed forward and hugged his mother for all he was worth, feeling her shake as she cried into his chest. He could feel tears of his own forming, but he knew that now, for once, he would be her pillar of strength.
Meanwhile, his mother kept talking, "But I understand t-that there's n-nothing I can do!" she wailed. "I know that you c-can't stay and be my little boy, t-that you have to s-s-suffer and grow up, and now you have these eyes and people are going to hunt you and oh dear gods what if people like Orochimaru find out about you-!"
"Hey, hey," Naruto consoled her, "Sh, sh, sh, it's okay," he said, holding her as Anko for one of the few times in her life let loose on the tears and fears she'd held in since adopting Naruto. "It's okay, mom, it's okay," he said, rocking her side to side, arms around her, until her sobs subsided. Naruto moved back, looking at his mother straight in her eyes. "Mom, do you trust me?" he asked.
Anko sniffed. "Of course I do, what kind of a question is-?"
"Do you trust Kakashi?"
"Well, yeah, b-but-"
"Do you trust Sasuke and Sakura to watch my back?"
"They don't have much experience, but yeah-"
"Then you have nothing to worry about," Naruto cut her off again. "Mom, I knew from the first day that being a ninja was going to be hard. I knew that since the day that the Old Man gave me the offer, from the very day that he explained to me what it meant to be Hokage. Mom, I always knew that I would constantly be in danger. But do you know why I never changed my mind, even after knowing all the danger?"
"Honey, Naruto-"
"Because of you, mom," he said, smiling, "because I met the most precious person I could ever find in this whole village. Because of you, because of my friends, my family, because I made myself a promise, a promise that I'd become strong enough be become Hokage so that I'd be able to protect you all!" Naruto grinned at her, even as Anko's eyes widened at the conviction in her son's voice. "So don't you worry mom, I'll grow strong, stronger than anyone in this or any of the other Hidden Villages! I'm Naruto Uzumaki, dattebayo, and someday, I'll be Hokage! I'll be strong enough to protect you and everyone I love, and that's a promise, a promise I'll never break! Because that's my ninja way!"
For a few moments, there was silence in the kitchen. Anko sniffed a couple of times, wiping her eyes before giving Naruto a bright smile. "That's going to take a while," she said, "but I look forward to the day that I can proudly see you wear that hat. Now come here," Anko sniffed once last time before grabbing her son and hugging him for all he was worth, Naruto returning the sentiment. "I'm so proud of you, Naruto, I want you to know that. Never lose that smile of yours. Never lose that heart. Never falter, never give up, and one day, Naruto, you'll see your dreams come true."
And Anko believed her own words. She could see it in her mind – her son, her beautiful son, smiling down at Konoha, wearing the Hokage's hat, the emblem of the Land of Fire catching the light as his eyes sought out her own, her smile bared to the world while she looked on proudly.
…ooOoo…
Sorry for the rushed and rather crappy chapter, but I needed to get this out there. Training Ground 1 was just… well, it started off like a good idea, but then it was a crappy one, and I'd already written most of this chapter and I didn't want to start over… meh, I'm too lazy, and it's been a while since I updated.
Next chapter will (finally) bring in the beginning to the arc. Don't be afraid to not review, even I admit this chapter sucked.
