Hello everyone! This is mostly an unplanned chapter. In reality it's nothing more than Sandaime's reflections on a few things. Yeah, I know, it's a filler, but I tried to make it interesting. Maybe you'll like one of the changes I've made? Meh, in any case, it'll hold you over until my next chapter is done.
Please Read, Important Notes!
A few reviewers have brought up a good point. What I meant about those three Jounin not being able to beat him was if he was using all his skills. For example, if he used his eyes and Kyuubi's chakra. And you forget he is a seal master. A simple Five Points seal is used to block off chakra, since it is placed on the abdomen. It screws up Naruto's chakra control in canon and blocks off Kyuubi's chakra mostly because it's overlaying the seal on Naruto. The Five Points seal, if i've read correctly, can be used on a regular ninja to almost completely block off their access to chakra. There are alot of other seals he could use too. Besides, if he was to take off his mask, even if he couldn't go toe to toe with either of the three in their respective specialties, he would only have to get them to look into his eyes. Against Ino and Sasuke, Naruto wouldn't use any of his truph cards, sticking to Ninjutsu, Taijutsu, and Genjutsu to fight them with. You forget that Naruto has been teaching Ino to fight using deciet, not going toe to toe against her foes. Most likely, he has been teaching Sasuke the same thing. If the two of them were to fight against Naruto using all those skills while working together, while they may not be able to outright beat him (I don't think I said that, per say) they would be able to challenge him and give him a good work out. That's what I meant by that.
If you remember, in canon, Kakashi seemed to be putting up a pretty good fight against Itachi. The thing that really allowed Itachi to win was his Mangekyou. In my story, Naruto did put up a good fight against Itachi, but for the most part was getting stomped. It was when he revealed his Sesshougan and neutralized Itachi's Mangekyou that he was able to gain the advantage. Itachi got overconfident in the abilities of his bloodline, and when it was trumphed, he was shocked. Naruto took advantage of this and knocked him out while he was still processing the info. You know the rest. If you have any more questions, feel free to ask. I hope i explained this adequately.
After all, with a little trickery and cleverness, a Genin could take out a jounin if he lead him into a fatal trap. Keep that in mind. Power levels in the Narutoverse are not good measurements. There are many factors that go into a battle. At Thermopolae, going by the size and skill of the armies, the Persians should have won. In the end they did, but it was the tactical genious of the Spartan general that put the phalanx in the perfect place to make the numbers of the Persians ineffective. What few people know was that there was also a naval battle at the same time in the same general area. The Athenian general lead the naval forces against the Persians. Their fleet was outnumbered as well, but somehow they managed to inflict heavy losses against the Persians. The loss of those ships destroyed their supply network and forced the Persian army to retreat lest their army starve to death.
Keep that in mind as you read my stories. There will be some very illogical battles that will mostly be won through trickery and outmaneuvering opponents. Ninja aren't the type of people to fight toe to toe. That's a Samurai's job. Ninja are supposed to be able to win through deception. Meh, i've rambled long enough. Thank you for bringing it up, and i hope you'll continue to read my story.
Sandaime Hokage sat behind his desk, calmly puffing on his pipe. For once in a great while, nearly all the paperwork on his desk had been completed and was in the outbox. Naruto's suggestion about using a Kage Bunshin or ten was most helpful. It was rather comical when the secretary had walked into the room to see eleven Hokages furiously doing paperwork. It was a pleasant change, he decided, not having to worry about a Kage's mortal enemy.
While it was his job as Hokage to read up on the progress of all Genin students, there were none that interested him more than Ino and Sasuke, under Naruto's tutelage. The rather detailed report Naruto had submitted late last night, after a long day of training, gave Sarutobi much needed insight over the two Genin's progress over that last two months.
In a risky move, Naruto had started training Ino in elemental manipulation. Her progress was astounding, considering her standings in the academy. She was mediocre at best; a few steps above dead last at worst. Her time under Naruto had changed her goals from getting the attention of boys to that of becoming a serious kunoichi. The leaps and bounds in her training, due in no small part to the rigorous training and nearly one on one attention from her sensei, had brought her up to a high level Chuunin, if Naruto's reports were to be believed. Most likely, she was fighting closer to a Tokubetsu Jounin. After all, she only had a short time until her elemental manipulation abilities were on par with a Jounin's.
Sasuke, at first, had been a problem. Few of the early reports from the early days of his training under Naruto had anything good to say about him. Mostly it was along the lines of how arrogant he was, his refusal to cooperate, and an inability to take loss well. Naruto had taken a few extreme measures and had given the boy a few painful lessons in humility. Sarutobi's student's efforts had paid off in the long run.
Since Naruto felt that relying on a single tactic or ability severely limited a Ninja's ability to fight, he had forbidden the use of Sasuke's Sharingan. After the first week, when he realized that Sasuke continued to activate his Doujutsu early on in any spar, Naruto had used his impressive sealing abilities to prevent its activation. It was not gone by any means, but it could not be used at all. The Uchiha had complained rather loudly. After Naruto had told him that the reason why he had been able to defeat Uchiha Itachi, a superior opponent in all ways, was because he had relied on the Sharingan's power, he had shut up rather quickly. Since Naruto had a perfect counter to almost any Doujutsu, it had been a short fight after Naruto used his Sesshougan.
After he had, in his sensei's words, gotten that stick out of his ass, he too had improved. Without the Sharingan, Sasuke could fight at a low Chuunin level. On the few occasions that Naruto allowed him to use it, Sasuke could give Ino a run for her money. The greatest improvement was Sasuke's ability to work as a team. He and Ino working together could hold give Naruto a much needed workout. While they couldn't quite defeat him outright, if they had another partner fighting on the same level as they were and working as a well oiled machine with the other two, the would most likely beat him. Well, as long as Naruto didn't use his own Doujutsu. Although with how quickly Sasuke was learning how to manipulate his own elemental affinity, fire, it wouldn't be long before both he and Ino could beat Naruto two on one.
Naruto's own progress was noticeable as well. Since most of his time was spent training his students, Naruto didn't have the time he needed to continually improve. The little spare time he had was spent trying to stay at the same level rather than go beyond it. Lately, with his student's improvement, the two have been giving him the workout he needed to continue improving. He wasn't getting stronger as fast as he would have if he has spent the same amount of time sparring against other Jounin or against Sarutobi, but it was still enough to keep him satisfied.
The true improvement was is social skills.
Since Naruto had spent a lot of time with people much older than him, mostly through training with them, he had matured at a very fast rate. While he wasn't as cold or emotionless as many child prodigies who spent almost all their time training could be, he still didn't have enough experience as a child. At least, before he had taken Ino as a student. The two had spent a lot of time bonding, and not just through training. They had gone to movies, gone out to eat, and generally just hung out, much like many other children their age would do. Even when Sasuke joined the team, they kept on socializing. Once the boy had opened up to his teammates and started acting his own age, rather than years older, Sasuke had broken out of his shell as well, even if only slightly.
Sarutobi couldn't help but feel proud. The three had changed each other, and for the better. He had a suspicion that the next generation of the Sannin had been formed, even if in a rather unorthodox way.
However, before their skills could be used to benefit the village, they had to progress to Chuunin. That meant that they had to pass the Chuunin exams. While Sarutobi would be more than willing to allow Sasuke and Ino to participate as a two man cell, he wasn't so sure that the other Kage's would approve. So that left finding another Genin to fill the slot. There were a few from the last exam that had a teammate or two get promoted, but for them to work properly as a team, they would have to do some training together.
That wouldn't be a problem with Naruto overseeing their training.
However, there were a set of minimum requirements to even be able to apply. Since the two were special cases and had D-rank missions waived, they didn't have to participate in those. Recently, the Kage's had agreed that a minimum of twelve C-ranked missions were required to enter the exam. With only a month to go until the registration deadline, there was little time. Sasuke had taken a few missions with Kakashi, before he was moved to training the next two Copy Ninjas. Since Naruto and Ino occasionally came to the Hokage Tower to visit the Sandaime and he had Ino work with one of the secretaries for a while so that he and Naruto could talk or train together, he could count those instances as C-ranked missions. After all, many Chuunin worked in desk jobs as a part of the bureaucracy that kept the village running, and their rate of pay was generally that of an ongoing C-ranked mission, Ino's short time doing menial tasks like filing paperwork could be considered as such.
Both Sasuke and Ino still had to complete two more to meet the requirements, though. Sarutobi furrowed his brows in concentration. What could he let them do to have it count as two C-ranked missions?
His eyes drifted to a small pile of mission requests. Grinning sheepishly to himself, he looked through them. Tossing most of them out as being too long and risking the team missing the exams, he finally came across a short, if somewhat dangerous mission.
There were reports about a large group of bandits plaguing the small farming villages on the Fire/Rice border. At the same time, it was almost time for one of the informants Jiraiya has stationed in the new Oto village to send a report back to Konoha. He couldn't risk letting the border patrols pick up the message, since Oto may be watching them. Having a group of Genin staying in a village with a famous, if rather small, series of hot springs after completing a mission would not be seen as out of the ordinary. Even if one of Oto's many desk-bound Chuunin was going to take a vacation to the same spot and accidentally run into them at a local in, no one would suspect a thing. Nodding to himself, Sarutobi wrote out the mission report himself. Taking care of bandits and escorting a moderately important scroll would both count as C-ranked missions. It would satisfy the Genin's requirements and they could enter the exams.
Sandaime's thoughts drifted to his apprentice. Thinking back to the day that everything had changed, he couldn't help but think that, maybe, he had acted a little irrationally.
(Flashback)
Even though Sarutobi did have the right to take on any apprentice he wanted, he still had to get the approval of the council, if only to reassure them that he could continue his duties as the Hokage. It was with a foreboding air that the Council was called the same day that Naruto's particular ability had manifested.
After the routine greetings and call to order, the truly difficult part started.
"Honorable Council, there has been a new… development with Naruto." Sarutobi's voice was level, and it carried a sense of importance. That didn't stop the apprehension that filled the council. Once their whisperings had ceased, he continued.
"The boy was severely beaten by a small gang of villagers. By the time his ANBU guards had found him, they had already dispersed, leaving him in critical condition. After rushing him to the emergency room, he started going into shock." Sarutobi paused to let the mutterings die down. "Before the doctors were able to do anything, the Kyuubi intervened." The mutterings and whispers returned, more urgent than before. He didn't miss the gleam in a few eyes that bore no good will towards the lad. What scared him more was Danzo's smirk. No doubt he would try to use the incident as a way to draft the Jinchuuriki into his Root organization.
"Once the youkai had receded, the doctors began an analysis. The fox changed many aspects of his body, the majority of which improved the base functions to a point of perfection beyond that of a normal human." Outraged grumbling halted his progress for the moment. "The real cause for concern was the Doujutsu that surfaced." Dead silence reigned.
"An incident with a nurse gave valuable input towards the workings of said ability. It seems that direct eye contact sends anyone that looks into Naruto's eyes into unconsciousness." The statement was left with stunned silence. "I believe that if he could channel chakra into his eyes, he could potentially kill with a glance." Gasps of shock were the most common action. From most of shinobi, however, looks of unabashed interest met the Hokage's gaze. Danzo was practically gleeful in his seat. No doubt he was thinking of the many advantages Root could gain with that ability.
Seeing that Sarutobi was not going to continue, Hyuuga Hiashi took the floor. "What do you propose to do about this situation? It is clear that he is a threat to our well-being, even if unintentionally." Sarutobi frowned, but Danzo beat him to the punch.
"His new abilities would be best used as a tool for the village. In a normal human, such manifestations would create an incredibly strong ninja, but with the Kyuubi's power backing the boy, he could be near invincible, given the proper training." Nods met his statement. "Therefore, for the safety of Konoha, it would be best if he was placed under the authority of Root. No doubt we could mold him into the village's perfect weapon."
"Honorable Council" Sandaime began "I wish to take him on as a personal apprentice."
Outraged cries met the proposal. Certainly the council was against the action. But the Hokage was a stubborn man.
"Under my care, I could keep a closer watch on him than Root would be capable of. While the training regimen would, undoubtedly, make the boy strong, I feel that their tendency to create emotionless tools would create instability in the boy." Dissatisfied grumbles were silenced as Sarutobi continued. "Uchiha Itachi may have been strong, but his emotionless shell cracked and it cost us the entire Uchiha clan."
With the event still fresh in the council's mind, it struck deep. Many were frowning in disapproval of the plan, but they still nodded, indicating that most felt that Root would not be in the best interest of the village.
"Under my care, I could make him just as powerful as Root could. However, I could keep him on an emotionally stable level. I could give him the ability to think for himself. Root does not develop that skill, beyond reacting to an opponent in a fight. Without leadership, the Root would be a disorganized mess, their members ineffective. After all, a tool is useless unless it is properly wielded." Whispers broke out, as many began to see the Hokage's wisdom. Some, however, had doubts.
A very influential villager stood to say his piece. "If you teach that abomination to think for itself, how would you prevent it from destroying the village once it has gained enough power?"
Danzo interjected. "He could be controlled by Root. Itachi massacred his clan because of an internal struggle. Root would make sure that he would only act on his superior's orders. There would be no way that he could even consider attacking a Konoha citizen."
"Why create an unintelligent tool when I could shape him into a useful Shinobi? The boy has already expressed interest in becoming Hokage. What else do you need to be certain that his loyalty is solely to the village? I would take that aspiration and shape it into such a fierce loyalty to the village that there would be nothing he wouldn't do for Konoha. Yondaime himself had expressed such aspirations at a young age. His goals were directed by my student, Jiraiya, into a fierce loyalty to Konoha. While his reign was tragically short, under his talented care, Konoha flourished. If I could mold the boy into the perfect Hokage, he would undoubtedly be as effective as the Yondaime ever was, and backed by his skills and the Kyuubi, his strength would truly make Konoha the strongest Hidden Village ever seen."
For many of the council, it was a hard pill to swallow. His words had struck them, being very sensible. The logic behind them was infallible, and many found themselves agreeing with his views. The thought of allowing the Kyuubi container become their leader did not sit too well with many of the council members, but if Sarutobi could indeed back up his words, than their choice was obvious.
That did not stop protests, though. "I will never allow this village to be lead by that Demon!" one of the civilian members shouted. Sandaime nodded fiercely to one of the ANBU guards. A simple kunai to the temple was all that was needed to enforce Sandaime's law. Shock spread through the council.
"If you will not see things from my perspective, than I will be forced to take action." Sandaime quickly flared his chakra. ANBU poured into the council chambers, taking up threatening positions around most of the members. "As the Sandaime Hokage, I hereby banish the council. It is to be reformed into two separate bodies. One is to deal solely with the civilian side of Konoha's affairs. The other will consist of prominent Ninja and Clan Heads, and will deal only with managing Konoha's military expenses and act as advisors to the Hokage. I declare that Root is to be disbanded and all their members are to be incorporated into the either the Hunter Nin division or the ANBU, whichever fits their skills best. I also declare that Uzumaki Naruto is to become my personal apprentice. Said declarations are to be active immediately. Any protest to my orders will be considered an act of treason and will be dealt with by immediate execution. Am I understood?" The council's resignation was permeable in the chamber.
"It's time you learned who really leads Konoha. The Hokage has always been the supreme dictator of Konoha, and the council is merely a tool used to cut down the work the Hokage has to do. Never forget that. For too long the council has presumed themselves to be above my orders, even going so far as to completely subvert them. I will stand by no longer. Remember your places. While you are valuable members of Konoha, this is not a Democracy!" With that, Sarutobi walked out of the council chambers, a determined and almost smug look on his face.
(End of Flashback)
Since then, the Hokage's responsibilities had increased. Within the week, a simple system was put in place. A bureaucratic chain of desk jobs, run mostly by Chuunin with long term pay, was put in place to take care of most of the lesser important working of Konoha. Many of the D and C ranked missions were handled solely by that system, overseen by the Shinobi council. The missions were accepted and rejected by said council, as well as determining the importance of the missions. For example, if the council decided that a simple C-ranked mission was of vital importance to the village, they could choose to upgrade it to a B or possibly A-ranked mission and send it to the Hokage for approval.
The Civilian council used a similar method, only using civilians instead of Chuunin for their desk jobs. They oversaw the running of the non-militaristic working of the village, such as the civilian police force, a section of ANBU that drafted mostly Chuunin and a few Tokubetsu Jounin to fill their ranks. They patrolled the city for non-military related crimes and oversaw their investigations. They were also in charge of the arrests of civilian criminals. The Civilian council also elected Judges to oversee the courtroom trials that dealt with civilian crimes and lawsuits between citizens. It kept the businesses in Konoha running smoothly, set tax rates to support their actions and fund the military (which was mostly self-sufficient anyway) and generally kept Konoha running.
The system was three pronged. The Twin Councils, as they came to be called, dealt with most of the mundane tasks, while the Hokage himself oversaw most of the more critical workings. Within a year, it became painfully obvious that the new system was far superior to the old one. Konoha flourished. The Civilian council did a superlative job at managing the civilian sector. Unemployment took a nose dive, money was handled far more efficiently, which lead to better roads, utilities, and a sky-rocketing economy. The educational system was overhauled. The civilian side shifted the curriculum so that the typical High School graduate (or at least the Elemental Nation equivalent) also had the basic core classes of a University student under their belt before they even went on to higher education. All in all, things were far better than they had been.
It was no different for the Shinobi side, either. The new system cut through oodles of red tape, cutting down the time it took for paperwork to be run through the system. The workings became far more efficient, and tasks were completed far quicker than before. Since most of the lower level missions were handled independently of the Hokage, the leader's time wasn't taken up listening to a Genin team recount how boring their assignments were while giving a mission report. This left the Hokage time to focus on the safety of the village and the political maneuverings required to keep the village on good terms with its foreign counterparts. The Shinobi council, inspired by the reform of the civilian half the education, decided to improve the Shinobi side as well.
It would be impractical to change the curriculum on the students that were already in the academy. So, when the new reforms came out, they only impacted the years below that of the one that would spawn the Rookie 9. The improved curriculum had far fewer textbook lessons and far more actual physical lessons. Most of the book work was a basic history, theoretical strategy, and basic Ninja procedures (stuff like how to act around important dignitaries and how to give mission reports). The practical applications for the younger years consisted of basic physical conditioning and weapon practice. The instructors were to teach a basic Taijutsu style, a variety of low level Ninjutsu in each element as well as the three basic jutsu of the old curriculum, and some very simple Genjutsu. It even covered a few basic sealing techniques, like how to seal things into scrolls, probably the most basic sealing technique known that was still useful. There was a small class on basic first aid that included a few simple medical jutsu, stuff like pain numbing jutsu and some simple blood clotting jutsu as well as when they were best used. After all, one wouldn't want to use a blood clotting jutsu to a neck wound. It could cause a blood clot to block passages in the brain, causing a stroke and potentially killing your patient.
The aim of the new curriculum was to give the Genin a broad range of basic skills that they could draw on while on a mission as well as giving them an idea on what they would like to focus their training on. When the students were around 10 or so, they were allowed to choose a specialty and take advanced classes in that area. Since all Genin would have a basic training to allow them to survive in the field, each would also have one area that they would specialize in. Teams would no longer be formed by grades, but by specialties.
Most specialties were rather self explanatory. Genjutsu specialists were, obviously, good with Genjutsu. Ninjutsu was the same. Tracker specialists had clan techniques or bloodline limits that dealt with tracking, such as the Hyuuga, Inuzuka, or Aburame. Medical ninja were field doctors. Taijutsu specialitst, however, had three seperate branches they could choose from. First was hand to hand combat. The second was close range weapons. The third was long range weapons. A Taijutsu specialist had to have the basic skills in all three Taijutsu branches, but had to excell in at least one. Each of the specialitst were placed into teams according to their specialities and what the team was meant to do.
The teams were classified as Combat, Tracker, Information, and Scout. Combat teams consisted of a Taijutsu, Ninjutsu and Medical specialists. Combat teams were meant to be the backbone of Konoha military operations. Tracker teams consisted of a Tracker, Taijutsu, and Genjutsu specialist. They were the ones that would track down missing nin and eventually join the Hunter Nin corps. Information teams were made up of a Taijutsu, Ninjutsu, and one other person with high book grades. This team would follow paper trails and do some sleuthing. They were the ones who worked in the background and analyzed information brought back, in hopes of deducing possible threats to Konoha. Scout teams consisted of a Tracker, Ninjutsu, and Genjutsu specialists. They were sent behind enemy lines plotting the lay of the land and photoghraphing possible targets and enemy locations. Any leftovers were placed into a Backup team. A Backup team consisted of the least skilled people in the academy. While the other teams were doing missions, a Backup team got their butts trained off. Their extremely difficult training regimine would either make them strong, or force them to quit. Backup teams were held in reserve in case of emergencies or to fill in vacancies because of injury or death in other teams.
Each team type had a more advanced level. A Combat team would be turned into a Heavy Combat team when they became Chuunin. Likewise, a Tracker team would turn into an Assassination team when they advanced in rank. Information teams would be trained in torture and interrogation to complement their skills. A Scout team would be turned into a First Strike team. A First Strike team was the first team onto the battle field, doing anything from Sabotage to combat in hopes of weakening enemy defences or holding them off until the Heavy Combat teams could move into position.
The whole theory behind this new curriculum would be to create teams that, fresh out of the academy, would fight closer to Chuunin level than Genin level. Of course, this depended on the children's skills as well, but with the level of training they would undergo, all of them would be far stronger than the academy graduates of the previous conditioning. There would be some that dropped out of the academy because of the intensity of the training, but those that graduated would not be taken lightly. Under a Jounin sensei that could most benefit their team designation, each team would be stronger than their predecessors from the earlier curriculum. The Shinobi Council had decided that they had been letting their standards drop over the years, and in the hopes of increasing their strength, they had proposed the new plan. Sarutobi had agreed, mostly because it let each Academy Student choose the specialty they would have, as well as have them list their preference of teams, in hope that they could be placed on a team that they would be content with.
Since the Academy required that all the basics had to be covered by any Ninja hopeful, clans such as the Hyuuga could not limit their members to the clan teachings. A law was passed, under Hiashi's suggestion, that any Ninja had the right to choose any specialty they wished, regardless of their clan's wishes, and the child would not be punished in any way for their choice.
While the Hyuuga's elder council had protested the law, Hiashi had placated them by saying that the Hyuuga could offer their members more options in battle, and that the new curriculum could be adapted to include the clan teachings to improve their fighting style. There was a long series of debates which ended in Hiashi killing several of the elders and diminishing the power of the elder council. While Hiashi was trying to change the Hyuuga, there was only so much he could do at any time. However, he had set the stage for his successor to change the Hyuuga and eliminate the schism in their clan. Still a cold-hearted bastard by any definition of the word, he was at least trying to bring the clan together. Who knows? Perhaps his successor will succeed where he failed.
Yes, the fallout from a simple beating and Kyuubi's intervention had shaken Konoha up quite a bit. Save for those who had fallen from power, none could argue that the change was for the worse. Konoha was prospering, next year's batch of Genin would be some of the strongest yet, and things had never looked better.
Sarutobi realized that his pipe had gone out while he was lost in thought. He emptied out the ash, filled the bowl with a fresh batch of tobacco, and snapped his fingers to make a small flame to light it. He took a deep drag, blowing the smoke out of his nose.
He tapped a seal on the underside of his desk. Barely a minute later, a Chuunin secretary entered his office.
"Hai, Hokage-sama."
"Please send someone to find Uzumaki-san and his two students. I have a mission for him."
The man simply bowed and left. Sarutobi leaned back in his padded leather chair. Yes, things were definitely for the better. He could only hope that they stayed that way. After all, who knows what the future could bring. He was only hopeful that Konoha could rise to the challenge, so that the Will of Fire could burn brightly far into the future, shining through the youth that would inherit it.
Sandaime idly mused that, perhaps, he had heard a cry of one of his more eccentric Jounin yell about the flames of youth, the sound drifting in through the open window.
Yeah... sorry it wasn't much. Hope you at least enjoyed it.
Erm, I hope you don't think that the changes I made were too extreme. Well, yeah, they were extreme, but I hope they were at least believable. About the Misc. team. More or less, as I said, they are the ones with the least talent. While I did say that they would be flushed out of the program, I meant that they would get their buts worked off in hopes of making them quit. If they persevere, the severe training would undoubtedly drastically improve their skills and possibly make them stronger than the ones who underwent normal training. I didn't mean to mislead you by saying 'flushing out' was forcing them to quit or taking care of them in a more... permanant way. It merely meant that they would get worked to the point where they would get stronger, or if they couldn't handle it, would quit.
So... yeah. Until next time!
