Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.
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Chapter Seven:
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Ebisu's wooden bo staff clacked sharply against Naruto's much heavier iron pole, the jounin taking care to deflect his student's powerful strike lest it splinter the less robust weapon. That was the secret to combating the boy's seemingly prodigious strength; deflect, parry, and dodge. At close range, Naruto's every attack had to be treated as a potentially crippling injury in the making. Operating under the effects of constant chakra-enhancement, a necessity due to his peculiar condition, Naruto did not broadcast the telltale surges of chakra another ninja would release when temporarily boosting their bodies to perform some superhuman feat or another; his was just a steady thrumming presence for anyone with the ability to sense it. Not all ninja learned to detect those signals, just one of the reasons why few survived long enough to attain jounin rank. Ebisu was one of these ninja, for all the good it did in this situation, as lack of the expected cues made fighting Naruto at a level appropriate to the boy's skill a little stressful.
The overhead blow turned aside and its follow up sweep avoided by a wide margin, Ebisu knew better than to let his guard down. While his bo was a static weapon, his student's was not. The whole point of this exercise was to force the boy to apply his rather devious creativity to that hunk of chakra conductive iron he so adored. He did not want his student to be merely adequate, but a instead a terror to fight, with a tool that could be anything its wielder could imagine from one moment to the next. To facilitate this, Naruto was barred from using the weapon in any single form for more than three consecutive attacks. The threat of no ramen privileges for a week was perhaps a bit too much motivation, Ebisu would later consider.
Over the better part of an hour, Naruto cycled through more than a dozen random blunt instruments, tried a variety of swords, used the bo-like pole several times, and even attempted to wield his weapon in the form of a halberd once. A proper halberd was not an easy weapon for Naruto to manage, it was too long and he was too short. That little misstep nearly ended the spar early. Ebisu updated his mental notes of which weapons appeared to best suit his student's style for later. It was all well and good that Naruto gain some proficiency with as many forms as possible, but it was unfeasible to expect him to become truly skilled with more than a few.
As Naruto's iron pole suddenly lengthened dramatically, losing its rigidity in the process, Ebisu was forced to sacrifice his bo staff and dodge with a chakra enhanced burst of speed. The boy cackled as he twirled his improvised whip with unnatural, snaking precision. The sharp crack of its dagger-like tip breaking the sound barrier only accentuated how dangerous this new variation could be.
"Excellent choice, Naruto," congratulated Ebisu. He drew a pair of kunai and upped his own speed to better match Naruto's now heightened threat level.
"I almost got you that time, Sensei!" Naruto cracked his whip, again missing Sensei but destroying the kunai used to deflect the strike. It could be repaired easily enough afterward.
Naruto yelped, nearly dropping his rod-turned-whip, when Ebisu darted forward to take advantage of the longer-ranged weapon's lack of close range utility. He did drop it, however, when the man's kick connected solidly with his armored sternum, blasting him off his feet and into a roll that left him grounded and disoriented. A kunai pressed against Naruto's throat once again ended the spar. They always ended like that! No matter how much he learned or how fast he became, Sensei was always that much faster. He was getting tired of the sensation of that damned kunai tickling his neck. One day he'd laugh and end up with a second smile.
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"Thanks, Teuchi, it was great as always! Seeya next time, Ayame!" Naruto decided that once he became a ninja and started earning the big time ryo, when he could afford as much Ichiraku's ramen as he wanted – stupid small allowance! – he would give up the instant stuff forever. It even made sense from a ninja's point of view. Store enough Ichiraku's away in his seals and he could avoid all sorts of potential hazards in the field. Fresh ramen at night without risking a visible fire, fresh ramen prepared by trusting hands not waiting to poison the nosy foreign ninja…mmm, fresh ramen.
His stomach pleasantly engorged, Naruto set of for the student training ground where he often met with the guys on his free days. He had not traveled more than a block when he caught sight of a far off head of lovely pink hair. Could it be, after nearly two years out of the academy, had he finally found Sakura?
Naruto cursed his lack of a passable body flicker. Progress on the technique was slow and if he attempted to use it now to catch up to Sakura before she disappeared he would probably end up ramming his head through some unsuspecting villager's living room wall.
He caught up with Sakura shortly, having only lost sight of her a handful of time. She was stepping into an unfamiliar flower shop just as Naruto rounded the corner. Hadn't Shikamaru lazily mentioned at some point that Ino's parents owned a flower shop? If this was Ino's parents' shop, it seemed kinda odd to see Sakura visiting. According to Kiba's complaints, based mostly on the volume of the girls' many violent shouting matches, Ino and Sakura's silly competition to garner Sasuke's attention had progressed to a heated rivalry. Naruto still couldn't figure that situation out at all. When he'd been withdrawn from the academy, both girls were still on friendly enough terms, shifting between sighing dreamily or making googly eyes at Sasuke and giggling together conspiratorially over some unfathomable girl-type stuff.
Never having had cause to enter a flower shop – the only girl he knew was Ayame – Naruto opened the door and entered cautiously. Maybe the ramen slinging girl would like a flower?
"…crazy, Forehead! Ami does not have a pair of Sasuke's boxers!" That was Ino screeching.
"Well, that's what she said and the pair she was waving around was Sasuke's brand! I wouldn't make up a story about something so important, you stupid pig!" Sakura responded with equal if not greater force.
And on that note Naruto slipped right back out the door, hoping neither girl noticed his very brief presence. Even though it would have been awesome to say hi to Sakura and get a good look at her after so much time, he had no intention of getting drawn into whatever insanity had infected his former classmates. Sasuke, you poor bastard…
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"I do not make this recommendation lightly, Hokage-Sama," Ebisu said.
Hiruzen was a bit dumbfounded, to be honest. Ebisu and Naruto had developed a very effective teacher – student relationship. Naruto's reported skills as a ninja trainee greatly exceeded where he would have expected them to be had he remained in the academy. Ebisu, staid and stoic Ebisu, might not realize it, but he'd grown into his role as a teacher while overseeing Naruto's education. He didn't just teach, he genuinely cared about his student's progress, going so far as to learn new skills with the express purpose of passing them on to Naruto. So, all things considered, it was strange for the jounin was looking to terminate his very lucrative teaching contract prematurely.
He quirked an eyebrow and gestured for Ebisu to continue his argument.
"Naruto has proven to be an exceptional student, Hokage-Sama, exceeding my earliest estimates with ease. He has the beginnings of a serviceable taijutsu style to complement his physical power and unique weapon, a well developed school of personal ninjutsu, and his seal work alone will one day make him an asset to the village. His only glaring weakness is his inability to cast any but the most simplistic of genjutsu." Ebisu paused before admitting, "To be fair, most children accepted into the ninja academy would also excel if given the full attention of a dedicated instructor for two years. While I could undoubtedly further Naruto's education with another year to work with him, it would not be fair to my student."
"How would another year of personal instruction be unfair to Naruto?"
"He already possesses the skills you would expect to find in a seasoned genin on the cusp of promotion to chuunin rank, Hokage-Sama. At this point he only lacks the necessary experience. In another year my student would definitely be worthy of elite chuunin status, but lacking in any field experience. Then, as a best case scenario, he would spend a minimum of six months to a year working with a genin team who did not have the advantage of specialized tutelage."
Ebisu obviously had not come to this decision lightly or without great thought.
"It would be a stifling environment for Naruto, Hokage-Sama. Better to allow him to spend his time as a genin when he can actually be a genin, despite his age. It was only a few short years ago when we regularly graduated children years younger than my student." Between conclusion of the last great ninja war reducing the need for troops to replace casualties and the controversy tied to the assumption by the populace at large that promoting Uchiha Itachi too far, too quickly, had led to the bloody massacre of his family, standard graduation age had been increased to thirteen years or older. Though this was not a true law written in the books, the Hokage's word was the law.
Hiruzen nodded, contemplating his jounin's reasoning.
"As Naruto's teacher," he began, silently adding, and a man in whom I have trusted the wellbeing of a child I would be proud to call my grandson, "your opinion obviously carries great weight with me in regards to his education." He set his unlit pipe aside, and said, "I must give this matter some thought. You are dismissed for now, Ebisu."
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"You're shittin' me, right?" Kiba demanded, skeptical of Naruto's claim.
ARF! ARF! Reiterated Akamaru.
"No joke! I just wanted to say hi and see how Sakura was doing," Naruto ignored or didn't notice his companions rolling their eyes, "but her and Ino were arguing about some other girl having Sasuke's underwear. They were jealous! I hope they didn't notice me there or they might try to silence me!"
ARF! ARF! Well, at least Akamaru believed him.
"Fine then, if you guys don't believe me, you can just ask one of them in class tomorrow," he pouted. If the girls didn't try to eliminate any of the boys then he, too, should be safe.
"True or not, I for one don't want to talk about Sasuke's underwear," interjected Shikamaru. "This whole conversation is on the verge of becoming troublesome."
Naruto would have rather sparred with his friends, but Kiba was a sore loser, Chouji wasn't interested in fighting on the weekend, and Shikamaru wouldn't even have deigned to dignify the offer with a response. Sigh. The things he did for his friends. "Wanna play shogi?"
The Nara boy regarded him with one skeptical eye cracked partially open.
"Maybe you should play checkers with Akamaru instead," Kiba said with a laugh. "You almost beat him last time!"
ARF!
"Akamaru is a badass like that," Naruto said in his defense. "Akamaru, buddy, you need to keep your human in line. He's getting mouthy again." He had to dodge a pebble flicked his way by the young Inuzuka.
ARF! ARF!
"It's so not cool when you gang up on me with this asshole, Akamaru," Kiba muttered.
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"Thank you for meeting on such short notice, Ebisu." The Sandaime Hokage was not alone when Ebisu entered the aged leader's office. Might Guy, arguably one of Konoha's most powerful jounin and without doubt the most eccentric, waved cheerily.
"I serve at your pleasure, Hokage-Sama." He nodded a greeting to his fellow ninja.
"Please have a seat, gentlemen. Now, Ebisu, your proposal to promote Naruto to genin rank a year early has presented us with an opportunity that would otherwise be untenable. Guy, if you would bring Ebisu up to speed?"
"Thank you, sir!"
He'd had enough dealings with the green clad man over the years to be prepared for some of the strangeness that was sure to come next.
"Ebisu, word of your youthful efforts to fan Uzumaki Naruto's flames of youth inspired me to petition Hokage-Sama for an apprentice of my own," Guy announced.
Oh, bother. He was going to be blamed for whatever insanity Guy ended up causing in his soon to be apprentice.
Guy went on to explain, in between exclamations of…youthfulness…his desire to take on an apprentice from the soon to graduate academy class, a student who had caught the jounin's eye with his steadfast determination to become a ninja despite an incredible handicap. Ebisu was frankly astonished a student had been accepted into the academy that had no ability to mold chakra. The Hokage was inclined to grant Guy's request, if only because of his long and loyal service to the village, but doing so would not only rob him of a most promising jounin teacher for a genin squad, there would also be a team one genin short of complete; Guy had already pulled enough strings and promised enough favors to guarantee the boy's graduation.
Behind the dark lenses of his sunglasses, Ebisu shot a glance at the Hokage. The village leader's kind old eyes practically twinkled with suppressed mirth.
"…and so you see, by allowing Naruto to graduate early, Guy not only gets his apprentice, you are able to stay on as Naruto's instructor in the role of his genin team leader!" The Hokage's cheerful conclusion sounded vaguely Guy-like. Surely he wasn't contagious?
The solution did make a certain amount of sense, Ebisu conceded. Before the possibility of Naruto's early promotion entered the fray, Guy was slated to lead the graduating classes' most promising genin team. Using the traditional Konoha arrangement of pairing the best scoring male and female ninja alongside the lowest scoring, Lee would be Guy's student one way or another. Naruto would not have been the lowest scoring ninja of the class, Ebisu was most certain, but since he technically had noacademy scores to judge him by, those records having been purged, the boy could be slotted into Lee's place with a minimum of fuss.
This whole scheme hinged on Ebisu agreeing to take on a genin team. It was not a very difficult decision to make actually. His entire career as a jounin and most of his time as a chuunin were spent teaching in one capacity or another. He had considered putting his name forward to lead a team, if some years in the future. If Ebisu accepted the Hokage's offer, not only would Naruto get a well deserved promotion, he would be able to continue teaching the boy alongside a pair of skilled young ninja.
Finally, after discussing the matter for several more minutes, learning relevant information – his potential teams' names and specialties – and the useless – Guy's hopeful plans to take a yearlong leave of absence from performing missions to devote his full attention to Lee – Ebisu said, "I wish to accept your offer, Hokage-Sama. I would be pleased to lead Naruto's team."
"Yosh!" Guy exclaimed, pulling Ebisu in an enthusiastic hug too quickly for him to protest. "Our students shall be veritable bonfires of youthful flames!"
If nothing else, Ebisu thought while struggling heroically to escape Guy's grasp, by taking team lead, I am saving two future Konoha ninja from this man's insanity.
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A/N: There we go. I've decided on the early graduation route for Naruto, though it will require some adjustment to my planning. Credit for the way this worked out goes in part to a helpful reader, Kishinokurobi, who suggested Lee become Guy's apprentice, thereby opening up a spot on the former Team Guy. It felt only natural for Ebisu to take over as Naruto's team leader, just as he did for Konohamaru in canon once he became a genin.
To answer a question that has been coming up a lot, I'll go ahead and say that Naruto will not be gaining the Sandaime Kazekage's Iron Sand powers. They function in a manner totally different to Naruto's control over iron, for starters, and would go a long way towards making Naruto too powerful for my tastes. He will be quite capable on his own, trust me.
Additionally, while Naruto is not incapable of learning elemental ninjutsu, he has not picked up any so far. He is a different ninja than the stupidly impulsive kid portrayed in canon. Gone will be the thoughtless spamming of shadow clones and his sadly underdeveloped wind affinity(such potential neglected for so long is hard to swallow). Ebisu has forged Naruto into a skilled young ninja, not a one trick pony.
Please review. Comments and criticisms are greatly appreciated.
Published: 6/3/2012
