I AM SO SORRY ABOUT THE NO UPDATES! My internet crashed and I couldn't get online, I'm sorry! Do you forgive me? Please? I'm begging you!
Disclaimer: I do not and will never own Naruto or Negima.
People stare at the little ramen shop with the name Ichiraku's because it's not like it's every day when you see 21 tiny children scrambling around the counter, eating up ramen. And with a blonde pre-teen standing there grinning no less…
Whenever people lingered too long, Naruto gave them a hard glare obviously telling them to mind their own damn business. Naruto gets three bowls to go since if he eats there, the kids would probably get restless.
In less than two minutes, a stream of little ninjas, all wearing similar outfits, run through the village easily evading the normal villagers. Naruto trails behind to pick up slackers if need be. He tilts his head up slightly to stare up at the sky thinking about what jutsus he should teach his mini army. 'Well, I'm probably going to have to pick which style would fit them best, or whichever one they want. I mean, if they don't like it, what's the point in learning the techniques…?'
"YOU KNOW I THINK THAT MINI SENSEI KID WOULD BE BEST SUITED FOR TAIJUTSU. MAYBE YOU SHOULD ASK THAT GUY WITH THE ENORMOUS EYEBROWS TO HELP YOU WITH SOME TAIJUTSU AND THEN PASS IT ON."
'Sorry Kyuu, but I can't do that. I can't risk meeting Lee before the Chuunin Exams; things wouldn't play out right if I did meet up with him. I already have a major risk parading these children through the streets.' Naruto glances in each direction for people whom he will have to meet up with later in life. He relaxes slightly when the hotel comes into view.
"Naruto-san," Kaede asks as she moves back slower to speak with their new leader, "Exactly what techniques are you planning on teaching us, nin? And, if I may ask, are they any different from the techniques that I know, nin nin? I can show you when we arrive at the hotel, de gozaru?"
Naruto grins and happily says, "That was exactly what I was thinking, except for the last part. You know ninjutsu of a type?" When Kaede nods, Naruto gains a pondering look. "Now I'm really interested in what other types of ninjutsu are used in other dimensions. Maybe I could study that…nah, that'd take too much time!" Naruto links his hands behind his head. "But I still need to figure out what techniques to teach you guys. I'd have to figure out what each of your certain interests are."
Kaede nods in understanding before glancing behind Naruto and her. 'What's this strange feeling? Is someone following us? Why?'
Naruto glance over at Kaede. "Hm? What's wrong, Kaede-san?" Instead of answering, she just shakes her head and speeds up to catch up with everyone else. 'Weird. I could have sworn something was troubling her… Maybe I should work on reading people.'
"NO YOU DON'T," Kyuubi says from Naruto's mind, "SOMETHING IS TROUBLING HER. SHE'S JUST NOT TELLING YOU WHAT."
Naruto frowns slightly. 'Why isn't she telling me? Do they still not trust me?' When the Kyuubi doesn't answer, Naruto groans almost silently and walks up to the hotel. He looks up and his lips quivers to stop an oncoming smile as he looks at Negi being chased around the lobby.
"They are rather lively, Naruto-sama," the head maid says with a slight chuckle.
Naruto grins and nods. "Let's see if they're this energetic when it comes to training! But before we head out back, can you tell the chef to fix something up for them to be ready in about two hours?" The maid nods and Naruto smiles. "Cool, I'll be out back teaching these kids a thing or two about taijutsu." He walks through the lobby towards the back door and when he gets to it, he stops and turns around. "I guess you guys have no interest in learning some new moves!" He shouts and everything falls silent, causing a grin to break out on his face. Suddenly, a multitude of the mage come running towards the back door, each calling out various shouts of training; Naruto side steps so they could head out back.
Grinning like a madman, Naruto looks back to see the rest of the students walking calmly outside. Once they leave, he follows them closes the door behind him. He looks at the students staring in awe at the training ground filled with different terrain and weights and all the training supplies needed. "Okay," he calls out, getting their attention. "Today we'll be working on taijutsu and from there I can assess which type of ninjutsu and/or genjutsu would be right for you." At the looks of confusion, he clarifies, "Today we will be working strictly with martial arts, okay?"
There was a series of 'ohs' from the peanut gallery as Naruto unfolds his arms. "Okay, who of you are familiar with any type of martial arts?" Most of the children raise their hands and Naruto nods. 'That's a good amount of people. This won't be so hard.' "Okay, that's quite a lot of you," he says with a laugh. "Well, we might as well start with the basics. And I mean the very basic basics. But if everyone knows this next thing I ask, we can skip them, okay?" He looks around the group for any objections and when he doesn't find any, he goes ahead and asks his question, "Does everyone know what a punch is?"
He's met with silence. What the hell kind of question is that? Does he think he's talking to four year olds? He grins sheepishly and rubs the back of his head at the disbelieving looks the children give him. "I'm guessing that you all know that, huh?"
"No shit, Sherlock," Kotaro says with a slightly pissed off expression. "Come on," he whines, "When will we be getting to the good stuff? Like where we can blow things up with just our minds or something!" He presses his palms to his temples and starts wobbly spinning slowly before promptly falling on his butt. "Ow…"
"YOU NEED TO KNOW THE BASICS BEFORE YOU CAN DO ANY OF THAT, GAKI," Kyuubi says as he slowly appears next to Naruto. "AND IT'S OUR JOBS TO KICK YOUR COLLECTIVE ASSES INTO GEAR!" A feral grin spreads across his face.
Naruto chuckles dark and presses a button, causing the terrain to morph into a frighteningly difficult obstacle course. "Let's see what level you guys are at. A Kage level nin can get through this course in less than one minute. A Jounin: three minutes, a chuunin: five, a genin: ten, an academy student: fifteen; and someone who should not take up the life of a ninja, or has never trained a day in their life: over thirty. Just so long as you stay below thirty, you will be training regularly with everyone else."
The children glance uneasily at each other and gulp. This is gonna be difficult.
The Sandaime stares down at his crystal ball in awe as the "orphans" easily complete the obstacle course with no one taking longer than ten minutes. 'These children are outstanding. What had they been doing in their other world that made them have to train? What had they been preparing for? Well, whatever it was, it had to be something big for them to be able to complete that course in less than ten minutes! This is the first time that they've trained since they had come to this place so they haven't exactly gotten used to their bodies now and yet they could move like that? Remarkable!'
He smirks and leans back in his chair. "You've certainly got an amazing group of people there with you, Naruto," he mutters quietly before blowing a ring of smoke from his pipe. He blinks in surprise when a knock resounds on his door. He swipes his hand over his crystal ball, clearing the image from it. "Come in," he gruffly calls and when the door opens, it reveals Kakashi.
"Hokage-sama," he says as he closes the door.
"What a nice surprise, Kakashi-san. What brings you to my office?" he asks leaning forward and resting his arms on his desk.
Kakashi stays silent before frowning at the Sandaime's crystal ball. 'Why is that out? What was he doing with it?' He shakes his head slightly. "I came to discuss Uzumaki Naruto."
Hiruzen takes a deep breath before he looks back at Kakashi. "What about Naruto, Kakashi?"
"He's mysterious. It's as if he just had a sudden change or that he'd been hiding who he truly was for years. It's strange. He said he would like to be an idiot for life, but that's not the major issue."
Sarutobi raises an eyebrow. "How can that not be the major issue?"
Kakashi takes a deep breath before saying, "I believe he was raped."
Hiruzen blinks in shock. 'What the hell? Where did that come from?'
"From the way he was talking earlier, he said that he wanted a 'pervert pedo to die by his hands.' And I am concerned that someone might have…taken advantage of him as a kid," Kakashi says with all seriousness.
'Okay, that kid has got some serious explaining to do,' Hiruzen thinks with a twitch of his eyebrow. "Okay, Kakashi-san. I will look into it. If someone truly has…violated Naruto then I will see to it that they will be punished to the fullest extent of the law." Kakashi nods and turns to leave, but is stopped when the Hokage continues, "But, please do not check up on Naruto. I am sure he is okay. I am keeping an eye on him for the next few days now that the truth about him has finally come out. I would truly appreciate it if you stayed away from him."
Kakashi nods. It wasn't a request, it was an order. He turns and walks out of the Hokage office and down the steps. He stops and looks into the mission room to see Iruka sitting behind the desk organizing the scrolls. 'Maybe he knows something about Naruto…' He puts on a happy face and walks into the room. "Ah, Iruka-san, long time no see."
Iruka looks up from the documents and smiles at Kakashi. "Hatake-san, I has been a while seen we last talked. How have you been?"
"Meh," Kakashi mumbles quietly before glancing around the empty room and looking back at Iruka. "Well, what can you tell me about Uzumaki Naruto?" Iruka blinks with a frown. Why would Kakashi want to know about Naruto? "He is going to be my student," Kakashi says. "And he said some…strange things when my team was introducing themselves. He isn't like the reports said he was; I'm not just talking about his skill level."
"I don't understand what you are saying, Kakashi-san."
"I believe…Naruto has a secret that he's not telling us. And for my team to work as a team, they need to know everything they can about their teammates."
Iruka frowns slightly. "I apologize, Kakashi-san, but I have not seen him since this morning and I thought that he doesn't want to be disturbed this evening because he is training for you test tomorrow, am I correct?"
Kakashi stays silent. 'I should have known it wouldn't be easy. He's even got Iruka fooled.' He puts back on his smile. "Maa, maybe I was just jumping to conclusions once more. I was just over-reacting; it's nothing to worry about! Ja ne, Iruka-san," he says before turning and walking out of the room. 'I guess I'm gonna have to investigate by myself. I apologize, Hokage-sama, but I cannot follow your order.'
Ooh…is Kakashi gonna find out Naruto's secret? Who knows? I do! You're just gonna have to wait and see!
-MosukeHinata
