More Than a Ninja
Chapter 7: Friend or Foe?
I would like to make an announcement: My story has now reached 10,000 hits! I would like to thank the readers, the fans, the reviewers and everyone else that I can't think of right now! I've got sudden urges to write this fic, so I will finish up a chapter or two and start writing more of 'The Yellow Flash of Kiri'. The update speeds will be most likely the same for now but I might rotate between stories, depending on the response for the first chapter.
"Will Uzumaki Naruto (Cough) and Inuzuka Kiba (Cough) please report to the arena?" Hayate coughed out. Naruto and Kiba's eyes met as they walked down the stairs. They knew each other's fighting styles; they knew each other's jutsu. This match would come down to strategies, intellect and luck.
"If both contestants are ready, begin!" Hayate yelled as he disappeared out of the arena.
"Let's give a good show, eh?" Kiba inquired towards his blonde teammate.
"Sure, no holding back! May the best man win?" Naruto responded.
"Yeah. Let's go Akamaru!" Kiba than tossed the puppy a soldier pill. "Man-Beast clone! All fours Jutsu!" The boy and his dog then both got on all four of their limps and charged at Naruto. Kiba tried to slash the blonde's face, but the blond caught his wrist. Naruto then flipped the animalistic boy over his shoulder, slamming him into his canine partner. The enraged Inuzuka then growled and almost charged in headfirst again. He stopped mid-charge and decided to think first for a change.
Naruto had never been happier. He was always happy when he got a good fight, and out of everyone in this room, Kiba was the only one who would give him a good, nonlethal fight. He got into a defensive stance and waited for the dog-boy to charge. He was surprised when he didn't. Naruto decided to use this moment of silence to his advantage.
"Wind release: Great breakthrough!" Naruto raised his hands horizontal form the ground and blasted an enormous torrent of wind straight at his opponent/teammate. Temari's eye's widened in shock at the sight of this. 'When I learned that jutsu it was no where near as powerful as that! Just how much chakra does this guy have?'
The wind jutsu kicked up a lot of dust, but it looked to be a direct hit. Looks can be deceiving…When the dust was gone it revealed a giant wall made of earth. The wall soon collapsed to reveal a smirking Kiba.
"You didn't think I'd go down that easily?" Kiba mocked.
"Not for a second." Naruto replied as he set his fingers in a familiar seal. "Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Soon enough a giant puff of smoke covered the entire arena. When it cleared there stood no less than 50 Naruto clones.
"Impossible!" The sand Jonin, Baki, muttered just loud enough for Temari to hear.
"What? They are just clones…" Temari muttered, not impressed.
"Those aren't just normal run of the mill clones…Those are solid copies of the user, capable of giving, or taking damage. They can even perform jutsu. The shadow clone jutsu is a high B ranked KinJutsu exclusive to Konoha." Baki explained. The wind mistress's eyes shot out of the sockets. 'Just who are you Uzumaki Naruto?'
The Naruto's all charged in towards the two Kiba's. As soon as they were within 10 feet the Kiba's jumped high and became spiraling tornadoes of death.
"Fang over Fang!" Kiba yelled as the twin tornadoes charged into the group of clones, dispelling half of them. Kiba then nodded at Akamaru and threw a smoke bomb on the ground. "Not so tough when you can't see, eh Naruto?" Kiba mocked as he picked off the Naruto's one by one. "Found you!" Kiba shouted as he grabbed what appeared to be the real Naruto. He held a Kunai at the blonde's throat. This was the sight that everyone saw as the smoke cleared. "Any last words?" Kiba asked.
Naruto smirked. "Just one: Boom!" With that word the Naruto started to glow white and exploded, knocking Kiba off his feet. Just then seven Naruto's popped out of the ground. The first one launched Kiba into the air with its foot. "Uz…" The second one then jumped up and hit Kiba higher in the air. "Zu…" The third Naruto was launched into the air by the others and hit Kiba towards the other Naruto. "Ma…" The fourth one further continued to hit Kiba until throwing him to a fifth. "Ki" The fifth Naruto launched Kiba up where the real Naruto was also launched too. The real Naruto then brought his foot down in a menacing axe kick to Kiba's gut. "Naruto Rendan!" Naruto yelled as Kiba was launched to the ground. As soon as he hit the ground the young boy puffed into a downed Akamaru.
Kiba then charged at Naruto and delivered a hard uppercut to Naruto's chin. Naruto was sent flying into the wall. He rubbed his chin when he got out of the newly made crater.
"When did you substitute?" Naruto asked, clearly curious.
"When you first launched me into the air." Kiba confirmed Naruto's suspicion that it had been the real Kiba, but he had substituted with Akamaru. "Now to avenge Akamaru!" Kiba yelled as he charged Naruto. Naruto then took a page from Kiba's book and threw a smoke bomb onto the ground. "What are you playing here? You don't have a nose nearly as strong as mine and you can't see…" Kiba wondered out loud.
"Maybe you're just not getting it! With the smoke up, no one can see anything." Naruto whispered, his voice appearing to come from all angles. Naruto mentally thanked Zabuza for showing him how to make his voice project like that. All of a sudden Naruto disappeared from his spot and appeared behind Kiba, pointing a Kunai at his neck. Kiba snarled, knowing there was no way out.
"Proctor, I give up!" Kiba called as the smoke cleared, revealing Naruto pointing a Kunai at the Inuzuka's neck.
"Right, the winner is Uzumaki Naruto!" Hayate called. Naruto and Kiba then shook hands and walked up the stairs together.
"That was a rather impressive performance. Who knew Kakashi could actually teach?" Kurenai wondered with fake shock written on her face.
Kakashi groaned at this. "Is someone jealous that my student's are clearly superior to her own?" He shot back. Kurenai frowned and realized that out of all her students, the only one she was confident any of them could defeat was Sakura, and that was just judging on her reputation from the academy. She figured Sasuke could fight on equal grounds with the two male-members of team 7. She assumed he would be overconfident, causing him to lose.
The board then started to flash again. It landed on the names: Shino Aburame vs. Tsurugi Misumi.
"Will both contestants please report down to the battle field so we can (Cough, Cough) Start the match?" The sickly Jonin asked. When both the bug-user and the purple-dressed man were standing on the fighting floor Hayate raised his hand. "Begin (Cough)." Just as those words left his mouth Misumi charged forward and started off with a jab at Shino's chest, which was blocked. He then followed up with an uppercut; the uppercut connected and sent Shino flying away. As soon as the black haired boy hit the ground he dissolved into bugs.
"What the…" Misumi muttered as he looked around for his opponent. He saw him standing a short distance away. The best part was that he was facing the wrong way. Misumi smirked as he crept up on Shino and seemed to wrap around him with his long limbs.
"Give up. I can easily disconnect all my joints using my chakra, allowing me to stretch them like so. Now give up before I suffocate you." The secret spy for Orochimaru smirked.
"The first rule of a Shinobi is: Always look under the underneath." Shino replied, taking the line from his father. Soon the Shino dissolved into hundreds of bugs that started to suck his opponent dry of chakra. "You lose." Shino stated in a 'as a matter of fact' voice as he fixed his glasses.
"The winner is Aburame Shino!" Hayate announced.
Up in the stands Kakashi was inwardly impressed with the bug user. He seemed to be one of Konoha's top competitors in the finals so far, along with Naruto and Sasuke.
The flashing board then stopped abruptly. "Will Kintu Dosu and Sabuku no Gaara please report to the fighting arena?" Hayate surprisingly didn't cough once, as if waiting to see the dangerous sand-nin was more important. As soon as the two fighters were in place Hayate called the match to begin.
"Give up; you are no match for the hidden sound!" The mummified man smirked as he looked at the apathetic red-head.
"If I recall correctly, so far the sand has one competitor in the finals while the sound has zero." Gaara stated in a monotone voice. This angered Dosu, who proceeded to flick the large gauntlet type weapon on his arm. This sent a concentrated wave of sound at the Sand-nin. Gaara soon was on the ground screaming as blood seeping out of his ears. Dosu smirked.
of the gourd on Gaara's back. The sand rushed at Dosu with blinding speeds and soon was wrapped around him.
"Sand coffin!" Gaara named the technique in an insane voice. "Sand burial!" Gaara squeezed his hand shut as the sand literally crushed the sound-nin. The other sand-nin present hoped that amount of killing would satisfy the Jinchuriki for the time being.
"Winner, (Cough) Sabuku no Gaara!" Hayate stated, clearly freaked out at the brutal, yet efficient, way Gaara ended the match.
Naruto grimaced at the match, inwardly thanking the heavens that his demon was stable…well maybe not stable…maybe just not as fucking insane as Gaara's. He still remembered his latest visit with the Kyubi clearly.
Flashback…
Naruto was standing in front of the Kybui, demanding answers. "How do you know the Yondaime is my father? Or where my 'jumping' came from?"
The Kyubi snorted at this. "You don't think a being as old as me wouldn't pick up on stuff like that?"
"Wait…Are there any more people like me?" Naruto questioned.
"There may be…" The demon fox muttered.
"Where?" Naruto begged, hoping that somehow there would be more of his family, or people like him.
"You will have to answer that on your own, foolish ningen. BEGONE!" The Kyubi then roared and sent Naruto out of his mindscape.
Flashback end…
Naruto then looked down to see the next match was about to begin. He saw the match was Nara Shikamaru vs. that one sound chick.
"If both contestants are ready, (Cough) Begin!" Hayate exclaimed as he jumped into the stands.
"Man what a drag! I have to fight a troublesome woman!" Shikamaru muttered as he sighed.
"What was that?!" Kin narrowed her eyes as she glared at the lazy shadow-user.
"And she's deaf too? Man this is really going to be troublesome…" Shikamaru muttered as he put his hands in his pockets. This caused Kin to face-fault.
"I'm not deaf you idiot!" She yelled as she threw some senbon at the lazy leaf-nin. Shikamaru didn't even have to dodge to avoid the needles.
'She purposely missed…And there is a bell attached to the end of some of her senbon…Hmmm…I wonder…'
Up in the stands the Jonin were once again conversing.
"I think your student will lose Asuma. He seems too lazy for his own good." Kakashi pointed out as he read his book. Asuma sweat dropped at this.
"That's the pot calling the kettle black…And Shikamaru may not look like it, but he is actually a genius." Asuma pointed out.
Kurenai interrupted. "How so?"
"I had a I.Q. test disguised as a puzzle for him…And that boy has an I.Q. of over 200." Asuma stated, causing the two other jonin to almost trip.
"2-200!" Kurenai sputtered out. Asuma merely nodded and motioned for them to watch the match.
Shikamaru barely caught the flash of light coming from an almost invisible ninja wire. He looked down the wire to see it attached to the bells. All of a sudden he heard a loud ring and his vision got blurry. He stumbled back as he saw five Kin's.
"What happened?" Shikamaru questioned. All five Kin's answered.
"You got caught under my genjutsu. You thought just because I am a girl it'd be an easy win? Ha!" Kin all of a sudden tried to charge Shikamaru only to find her body not willing to budge an inch. "What the…?"
"Shadow possession jutsu…success…" Shikamaru muttered lazily. Kin's eyes bulged out of her head.
"How did you know which was the real me? And how did you get me without me seeing?" She questioned.
Shikamaru explained, "I used one of your senbon's wire and I sent a shadow down it. You were so caught up in me being in your genjutsu you forgot to be aware of your surroundings. Now it's over." Shikamaru yawned.
"Big deal, whatever you do to me will happen to you as well…" Kin was cut off as Shikamaru threw a shuriken at her, making her do the same as him. He ducked back and she smirked, knowing she'd do the same. Her smirk was wiped off her face when she bashed her head against the side of the wall, making Shikamaru the winner.
"Winner: Nara Shikamaru." Hayate announced as the screen started again. Everyone was holding their breath, not wanting to be paired up against him/her. The screen then stopped.
"Will Akimichi Choji and Rock Lee please come (Cough) to start their match." Hayate announced. Choji gulped.
"Common Choji you can do it!" Ino cheered for her long time 'friend'.
"I know it's troublesome but at least you don't have to fight a girl…" Shikamaru used his form of encouragement, I think…This however caused Ino to bash him upside the head at the mention of 'Troublesome women'.
"If you win I'll treat you to an All-you-can-eat barbeque." Asuma offered as a fire began to burn in Choji's eyes. He then ran down the stairs and was ready to go.
"Yosh! It is my fight at last!" Lee cheered as he jumped off the balcony.
"(Cough) If both contestants are ready…Let the match (Cough) begin." Hayate brought his hand down, signaling for the two genin to start.
"Let us have a very youthful match!" Lee yelled towards Choji. Choji ignored this and immediately created a set of seals.
"Expansion Jutsu! Meat Tank Boulder!" Choji yelled as he bloated up into a large ball. He then started rolling at high speeds towards Lee, who merely dodged out of the way. Choji, however, followed the green-clad boy. Lee then dodged again but this time he countered with his 'Leaf Whirlwind'. He landed a kick straight onto Choji that sent the big-boned Akimichi flying into the wall. Hayate sweatdropped at the amount of time that match took.
"(Cough) Well it looks like we have a (Cough) winner. Rock Lee of Konoha!" Hayate announced, causing Lee to yell in triumph.
"I did it Gai-sensei! I'm going to the final round!" Lee cheered.
"Good work my youthful student! If you do not become a chunin I will scale the Hokage's monument with a two ton boulder strapped to my back!" Gai yelled back.
"And if you should fall off and break all the bones in your body I will personally pick you and that boulder up and run you to the hospital, using only my hands!" Lee continued on with their 'small' workout talk.
"And if you…" Gai started only for Hayate to cough, this time intentionally.
"We are kind of in the middle of an exam…(Cough)." Hayate explained while Gai nodded and gave his nice-guy pose. He then yelled something that Naruto tuned out. Selective hearing was a godsend in a place like this.
"Ahem..(Cough) The next match will be between Sabuku no Kankuro and Hyuga Neji." Hayate coughed out. When both contestants were ready he called the match to begin.
"Give up, you were fated to lose as soon as you were made to be my opponent." Neji stated.
"Ha? You Konoha-nin might believe in crap like that, but back in Suna we actually have some common sense." Kankuro mocked.
"If you had any common sense at all you would have known that switching places with your little puppet is useless." Neji argued as he charged forward and hit the 'package' on 'Kankuro's' back with a gentle fist strike. Kankuro then emerged, coughing up a fit.
"What the hell did you do to me?" Kankuro demanded.
"The gentle fist is not Konoha's strongest Taijutsu style for a reason. Instead of focusing on delivering wounds to the outside the Hyuga focus on delivering internal blows to the chakra pathways directly, or even the organs. Now you are within my range of division." Neji stated, surprising Hinata, who didn't even know the '64 palms' herself.
"Two palms." Neji yelled as he delivered two hits to Kankuro's abdomen. "Four palms…eight palms…sixteen palms...thirty two palms…Sixty four palms." Neji finished with a smirk. "I told you that you were fated to lose. You cannot change your fate. Once a failure, always a failure." Neji sneered, causing Naruto to growl.
""Bullshit!" Naruto yelled, knuckles white from gripping the railing so tight.
"What was that?" Neji narrowed his Byakugan at the offending blond.
"I said: Bull-Shit! You can always change who you are with enough hard work and dedication!" Naruto yelled.
"Yosh! Such a youthful attitude! Lee this boy could be your eternal rival, just like my rival Kakashi!" Gai shouted, causing Kakashi to back away innocently.
"You are a fool. One is born with a simple fate at birth. You cannot change it no matter how hard you try. This is why you are a failure." Neji pointed out.
"If we meet in the finals, I'll prove too you that your fate-crap is a horse." Naruto growled. Temari looked over, seeing a look of dedication she hadn't ever seen on anybody. She wished she had something she could believe in like that.
The board then stopped, interrupting their argument. "Will Haruno Sakura and Yamanaka Ino please report to the arena?" Signal the ever present 'cough'.
Sakura's eyes glowed with a determination not unlike her blond haired teammate. She was ready for this with all the training she had done.
"You should just give up right now forehead! There is no way you can beat me!" Ino boasted, completely confident she could still beat her rival.
"Ha! We'll see about that Ino-pig!" Sakura shouted back.
"Begin!" Hayate said.
Sakura immediately made a set of hand seals and whispered to herself. Soon four clones appeared beside her. They four Sakura's charged in towards the blonde, who didn't know which was which. Ino opted to just throw a shuriken at all of them, when only one dodged she smirked, knowing which one was the real pinkette. Sakura stopped in her tracks and undid her headband. Ino looked in surprised.
"I told you that when I became a real Konuchi I would wear this on my forehead." Sakura explained as she tied the headband around her forehead. Ino followed suit after she nodded.
Sakura charged forward and tried to land a jab to Ino's neck, Ino went to block it only to find out it was a feint as Sakura launched a roundhouse kick at the blonde. Ino was hit square in the face and sent rolling away.
"You're not a real Kunochi…You care more about your hair then your training!" Sakura accused as she chopped off a long chunk of her hair with a kunai. This shocked the rookies, who had always known Sakura to care deeply for her precious locks.
"You think you're the only one who can cut their own hair?" Ino yelled as she cut her ponytail off with her kunai, further shocking everyone, especially team 10. Sakura smirked, knowing her plan had worked. Ino gasped as she felt a Kunai against her neck.
"When…How?" Ino sputtered out, seeing two Sakura's.
"The Shadow Clone Jutsu…It's really a wonderful technique…Too bad I can only create one or two before I run out of usable chakra." Sakura explained, already feeling the exhaustion that came with the shadow clone. How her teammate did it she would never know…
"Winner: Haruno Sakura!" Hayate exclaimed as Sakura jumped up in joy. Ino, instead of being mad, had a smile on her face.
"You really bloomed into a beautiful flower Sakura…" Ino smiled at her old best friend, wishing they could go back to how it used to be. Sakura smiled back, wondering how she had let a boy get between her and her best friend.
"Yeah…" Sakura mumbled, clearly embarrassed at the praise.
The board already had the next contestants up. "Will Hyuga Hinata and Tenten please come down to (Cough, Cough) battle." Hayate called out. Hinata was nervous. She was up against Neji's teammate.
"Your Neji's cousin right?" Tenten asked, hoping it would be an affirmative so she would know what to expect from her opponent.
"Y-yes." Hinata mumbled as she pushed her index fingers together. Tenten nodded as Hayate started the match. Tenten immediately threw a kunai and jumped backwards, knowing that fighting a Hyuga in close range battle was suicidal. Hinata activated her Byakugan and tried to charge forward, only to have to dodge a group of well-aimed kunai and shuriken. Hinata get in close and tried to land a palm strike on the bun-haired girl. She missed and was swatted away with a rather weak backhand curtsey of the weapons mistress. Tenten knew her worst area was taijutsu so she opted to try and get as much distance as possible.
"I was hoping to save this for the finals…I guess I have to use it now." Tenten then pulled out two scrolls as she rose into the air, twirling the scrolls down from her.
"Twin Rising Dragons!" The brown haired girl yelled out as hundreds of weapons of all kind popped out frown the scrolls. She then began to hurl the weapons at the shy girl with amazing speed and precision. Hinata knew she was done for if she didn't think quick.
She started to spin and formed an incomplete rotation. The incomplete shield only knocked the weapons away, not sending them back like it was supposed to. To her surprise Tenten rose her fingers as the weapons rose again and hovered around her.
"Give up or I'll just keep coming with the weapons until you run out of chakra." Tenten threatened. Hinata hesitantly nodded her head and gave up. She looked downwards and pushed her index fingers together.
"Winner: Tenten!" Hayate announced as the two ladies went back to the stands. Hinata wasn't watching where she was going and accidently bumped into Kiba.
"Ano…I-I'm very s-sorry Kiba-kun…" Hinata muttered out.
"It's okay Hinata, neither of us were watching out for anyone. You did great out there! I didn't think you were so strong!" Kiba praised the shy Hyuga, who turned redder after each sentence.
"T-thank y-you, Kiba-kun. D-do you think I g-got any better?" Hinata asked as she was expecting a big flat 'no'.
"Sure you did! You did great! I didn't pass either so I know how disappointing it is." Kiba explained, remembering his fight with Naruto.
Hayate coughed, if it was intentional or not is still up for debate, getting the attention of the audience. "Congratulations to all of (Cough) you who have passed the preliminary round, you will now move onto the finals. To (Cough) those of you that lost your fight, be grateful you made it this far and try again in six (Cough) months time. Please come down and (Cough) draw cards to see who you will be fighting in the final round." Hayate explained, the genin then made their way down and all picked a number, Kurenai pulled out a number for Sasuke.
"One." Neji stated in his monotone voice.
"Ten." Tenten said.
"Five." Sakura piped up.
"Seven." Kurenai answered for her student.
"Two!" Lee shouted.
"Nine." Temari smirked.
"Six." Shikamaru muttered lazily.
"Eight." Naruto answered.
"Four." Gaara stated, obviously bored.
"Three." Shino muttered quietly.
Hayate nodded. "The (Cough) Matches will be the following: Hyuga Neji vs. Rock Lee, Aburame Shino (Cough) vs. Sabuku no Gaara, (Cough) Haruno Sakura vs. Nara Shikamaru, Uchiha Sasuke vs. Uzumaki Naruto, (Cough) and Sabuku Temari vs. Tenten. You all have two months to train. Please train as much as you can. Their will be a lot of political figures and you want (Cough) to do well for your village. I will see you in two (Cough) months time." Hayate then dismissed the remaining genin. Naruto passed by Temari and gave her a quick wink and he was off to find his sensei. Soon enough he found Kakashi walking down the hallway of the hospital.
"Kakashi-sensei, will you train me for the finals?" Naruto asked as he waited anxiously for a reply.
"Sorry Naruto, I will be training Sakura, because, no offense, she is probably the weakest of our team and Kiba is training with his family." Sakura looked mad at being called weak but just nodded her head; after all, that was why she was training. Naruto frowned and muttered a downcast 'Ok'.
"But I got you an even better person to train you!" Kakashi finished, causing Naruto to raise his eyebrow. It wasn't everybody that the copy nin could claim to be better than him.
"Who?" Naruto asked suspiciously. "If you hand me off to Ebisu, I swear to god…" Naruto threatened.
"Me." Jiraiya answered as he entered the hallway from a room. "The Uchiha's seal is all secured." He said to Kakashi.
"Wait…I'm going to be trained by a sannin?!" Naruto exclaimed.
"Yes, indeed, you are. Follow me and we will begin your training." Jiraiya stated as they began walking away, leaving a dumbfounded Sakura and a smirking Kakashi. When the two ninja arrived at the hot springs Naruto raised an eyebrow.
"Why are we at the hot springs? I already know the water walking exercise…" Naruto trailed off.
"We are here so I can do research while you train, of course!" Jiraiya answered like it was the most obvious thing in the world.
"What kind of research?" Naruto questioned suspiciously.
"Well I'm glad you asked!" Jiraiya grinned as he pulled out a very familiar little orange book. "I am the proud writer of the Icha Icha series! I need to research to get inspiration to write my new book!" The old pervert grinned perversely.
Naruto face faulted. "You mean I have a sensei who reads the stuff and a sensei who writes it?!" Naruto screamed.
"Do you want to be trained by a sannin or not?" Jiraiya asked, clearly getting annoyed.
"Y-yes! What will you be teaching me ero-sama?" Naruto asked with fake respect. Jiraiya twitched.
"First I'm going to let you sign the toad contract!" The toad sage grinned.
"Why would I want to summon toads?" Naruto asked rhetorically.
"Oh these aren't just any toads…" Jiraiya explained as he bit his thumb and went through a set of seals. All of a sudden he slammed his hand on the ground and a toad that stood at least 8 feet high on all fours appeared. He had on battle armor and twin wakashis on his back.
"Woah…" Naruto stared, dumbfounded. "Teach me!" Naruto yelled as he jumped up and down. Jiraiya grinned and handed him the scroll. Naruto immediately ripped it open and pricked his finger with a kunai. He then signed the ancient contract with his blood. He noticed the last two names on the contract.
'Well of course there's Jiraiya and…Namikaze Minato…Wait…The Yondaime signed the toad contract?!' Naruto thought. "The Yondaime summoned Toads?" Naruto asked Jiraiya.
"Of course, I did train the Yondaime after all…" Jiraiya nodded. Naruto wondered if Jiraiya knew he was the fourth's son…He would have a long talk with the current Hokage after this training session.
"Wait…You said that's the first thing you'd teach me…What else will I learn?" Naruto asked.
"Well how about a demonstration…" Jiraiya smirked as he walked up to a tree. He then held out his hand for a moment until a spinning ball of chakra appeared in his palm. "Rasengan!" Jiraiya yelled as he thrust the ball into the tree. The rasengan grinded the tree until there was a large hole in the tree. "That, Naruto, is the Rasengan. It was invented by the Yondaime and took him three years to master. I don't expect you to learn it in the time you have left over after you learn to summon. It took me four months to master." Jiraiya explained. Naruto, however, wasn't paying attention to the old sage as he was currently dreaming about what kind of damage he could do with a jutsu like that.
"Now…Show up here at 10 a.m. tomorrow and we will begin your training." The toad sage instructed.
"Wait we aren't starting today?" Naruto asked, wanting to start as early as possible.
"Of course not! Today there are blonde twins in the hotsprings!" Jiraiya muttered dreamily, causing Naruto to sweat drop and mutter a 'Riiigggghhht'.
Naruto then waved to Jiraiya and took of at a walking pace, intent on confronting the Sandaime about his 'Discovery'.
Hokage's Office
Naruto stormed into the Hokage's office, causing the secretary to go wide-eyed but merely shrug it of as if it was daily occurrence, which it probably was.
"Good morning Naruto-kun, what can I do for you today?" The old Hokage asked as he took a puff of his smoke. Seeing the pissed of expression on the jinchuriki's face he activated his privacy seals. "What seems to be the problem?"
"You knew, didn't you?" Naruto accused with a solemn voice.
"You have to clarify more than that…" Sarutobi replied.
"You knew that the Yondaime was my father, didn't you?" Naruto looked down, unable to see the look of surprise on the old Hokage's face.
"How did you…?" Sarutobi gasped out.
"The Kyubi told me…" Naruto answered, still looking at the ground.
"I'm sorry Naruto…I couldn't…" Sarutobi started, only to get cut off.
"So you did know?!" Naruto glared daggers at his leader.
"Yes…But you have to understand…If it got out that you were the son of the fourth Hokage, your life would be in far more danger then you could ever understand!" Sarutobi tried to reason with the clearly pissed off blond.
"What do you think I'd run down the street yelling, 'The Yondaime's my father'? I understand why you would keep it from me when I was younger…But I know how to keep a secret!" Naruto yelled, talking about the Kyubi. "Do you know how many times I'd thought that my parents were killed by the villagers, or worse abandoned me, or hated me for what I contained? The least you could have done was to tell me who my father was!" Naruto growled out.
"Naruto-kun…I'm sorry I didn't…" The Sandaime tried to talk again, only to get cut off again.
"Did Jiraiya know too?" Naruto suddenly asked. This further shocked the third hokage, not suspecting Naruto to know Jiraiya's relationship with the Fourth yet.
"No. I didn't tell him…" Sarutobi admitted. "He recently found out and that is why he came back…"
"Why didn't you tell him? He could have watched over me!" Naruto shook his head in frustration.
"If he knew you were alive, he would have stayed in Konoha. His spy network is immensely important to Konoha…" Sarutobi tried to explain. "I'm sorry about all the mistakes I've made, Naruto-kun."
"I understand. I just would like you to know I've lost all respect for you. I will be leaving now Hokage-sama." Naruto spat out, with venom in his voice, as he 'jumped' to an unknown destination.
Sarutobi sighed as he rubbed his temples. He wondered for the hundredth time if he had made the right decision.
"Minato…You would be ashamed of me…" The old Hokage seemed to really feel his age for the first time in a long time. His eyes lingered at the picture of the fourth as he began to work on his paperwork. Sarutobi had no idea what the future was going to look like, but he could already tell he wasn't going to like it.
A/n: It feels good to be back from my vacation! Thank you all for the wonderful reviews! I'm really excited for the upcoming chapters. Please read and review.
If you press the little green button, there is a small possibility you will win the lottery in the next 20 years…Very small, but still possible. The next chapter of The Yellow Flash of Kiri, will follow in 1 or 2 days.
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