Chapter 9: Oooooh, the wonderful world of swords

Chapter 9: Oooooh, the wonderful world of swords.

Disclaimer:

It was a sunny day, as our favorite author was walking down the pyramids of Egypt. When suddenly, she spotted a gold, glowing document shimmering in a cave. Intrigued by interest, she ran to it. Reading the wonderful letters, she read: Copyright of Naruto.

"OMG, OMG, OMG! The ultimate copy right!" She exclaimed, running to the paper. As she neared it, a trap door opened, making her fall down a bottomless pit, one inch away from the golden pages.

"NOOOOOOOO!" She yelled, watching the gold radiance disappear from sight. "One of these days, I'll own that document, but for now, I own nothing but the ploooooooot!" She yelled until she disappeared down the bottomless pit.

AN: That was interesting. Anyway, on to the show!


He stared at the weapons, deep in thought.

There before him were his prize weapons from the previous day. He was certain he wouldn't have to buy a kunai or shiruken for a while. (Not that he brought any in the first place, those prices were murder!) There was also a good supply of shadow shiruken, spears, sie, (I don't know how to spell them, but there those thing Raphael has on teenage mutant ninja turtles (the red one), nun-chucks, gavels, daggers, kodachi, and a few swords.

The problem was, he didn't know how to use most of the stuff. In fact, he didn't even know most of this stuff existed. He's never seen anyone ever use this stuff, (excluding the things you know he uses). What's the use of it all if he cant use it?

"I know!" He jumped up, yelling. With that, he darted off through the woods, leaving nothing but blurs.

Now, as our mental camera pans through Konoha, we are lead to a building labeled; Konoha Public Library, Eastern Branch. We are now led though the doors, and past the librarian, through the stacks of books, up the stairs, past the main tables, into a single, lone table in the corner. Here, a black-haired, black-eyed boy sat, with a pair of dirt-brown pants, and a sky-blue shirt. On his filled table, there lay books on many different weapons, and some on camouflage cloaks, each one taking its turn of being read through by Naruto. With how fast he was reading them you'd think that he was a natural born reader. Never would anyone have thought that, just a few months ago, he couldn't read worth his life.

He was actually compared with a sponge; everything he reads, hears and sees gets absorbed into that pink mush called a brain. Many of the people walked by, looking at the coal-headed boy, wondering how he could even think to read so much. More observant people smiled at the sight of someone so eager to learn. The really observant people were amazed at how interested he was in weapons. The shinobi, either active or retired, smirked at how promising the younger generation seemed.

Either way, Naruto was here, reading away. This was his favorite library. Why? Because this library had more books on shinobi info, than all the others combined -besides the one in the Hokage tower, but he didn't know that. When he walked in, he was actually greeted with Ino and Sakura. He almost blew his cover by yelling a 'Hi'. But he didn't, and that was what's important. They wouldn't have noticed anyway, for there glaring match dominated there attention. They actually ran through his area once, babbling about 'get that book first' between themselves. In fact, of he were to listen, you could actually hear the arguing, though it was whispered, it was loud. If was aware, he could've felt the tense air. Yet, none of that registered to him. Only thing going on in his mind was him and those books.

Yep, he was a bookworm in disguise.

Well, unless you want to hear about his bookworm life, let's time skip.


It was a normal day in the forest, the trees, the bushes, the birds, the moving patch of ground…

Okay, maybe that's not exactly normal. Let us follow that moving patch shall we.

(15 minutes later.)

Naruto snickered as he arrived at training ground 32. He was hidden under the camouflaged cloak he scavenged from the last training ground.

"Right on time!" He whispered to himself. After he learned about uses of those weapons, he decided to practice himself. But he found that practicing with-out knowing if it looks right was useless. Thus, he snuck into the hokage tower and into the library. There, he found a file on who used what training grounds, and for what. Apparently, the last on he stumbled upon was run by a trap-master, though that is obvious now.

He learned that this spot was used by a nun-chuck specialist.

(Later on)

He watched training with the kodachi.

(Later on)

He watched training with sie.

(Later on)

He watched training with swords.

That on, by far, was the most interesting.

Naruto sat a safe distance away, a pair of expensive binoculars in hand. A female jonin sensei and a boy chuunin gakusei (student) stood face to face. The sensei's lips started moving, into which Naruto heard with ease as "Lets begin, first we'll practice dance of the lotus."

"Why would they dance with swords?" Naruto asked. Soon, they took off. His eyes widened in surprise and amazement. His mouth formed a perfect "o". They gracefully moved toward each other, as if they were doing some sort of ballet. If it wert for the loud and defining clash of metal on metal, Naruto would have been convince that they were practicing for a dance. He watched attentively, burning the movements into his brain for later use. Using the sword seemed so interesting, so fun, and so easy. He was almost compelled to stop right there and try it. Yet that would cause him to miss some stuff, and most likely reveal himself in the process.

He watched as the gakusei brought his sword in a graceful arc down onto the sensei's head, only for her to block, pus the sword off, spin around and aim a hit to the side. This was caught by his sword blocking and pushing her off. The boy then performed some footwork as he brought the sword in a swift motion to the neck, the woman dodged and shot her weapon into his open chest. The boy jumped back before decapitation, and charged in for the kill. The sensei leaped back, to use a tree to jump above the student, and swung her sword down. The student avoided decapitation by dodging, and leaping onto a large tree branch. The sensei followed, and soon they were going at it on that branch. Soon enough they were hoping from branch to branch to branch, fighting.

All this happed in less than 30 seconds. Naruto was enveloped in watching them.


The Hokage was smirking at the scene. Looks like a certain blond just found a new interest. He was going to be sure that Naruto knows where else to go to watch some sword training. Naruto didn't know, but the Hokage knew of all his antics, except when he was setting up a prank in to which for some reason he misses those. Why, because I say so. Anyway, Sarutobi knew of it, and promoted him in his persistence to learn. He actually had a verbal argument with the jonin whose training field he plumaged. Not that it lasted long, because nobody wanted an enrage hokage on their hands. Replacing those weapons cost a pretty penny, not that he minded.

It's his ramen obsession that's scary. Last time he treated Naruto he was left close to being poor. So he decided to help Naruto in learning how to be a good shinobi, much safer on the wallet. He smiled as he pulled several scrolls, from his own personal collection. Was Naruto in for a surprise.


Naruto was happily making his way to the next training ground. He decided out of all of them sword was the best. He also was determined to master it.

GRUMBLE, GRUMBL, GRUMBLE, POP!

Apparently, his stomach was determined to get some food first.

"Aw, come on! Cant I just watch one more sword lesson!"

Grumble

"Please?"

Grumble, Grumble, Grumble!

"Come on! Right after one more!"

"Grumble!"

"Hey! Am not, I feed you all the time, if anything your being selfish."

"Grumble, Grumble, grumble, grumble, grumble."

"Says the sack of muscle tissue."

"Grumble, Grumble, Grumble, Grumble."

"Well maybe I should become anorexic!"

"Grumble, Grumble, Grumble."

"Try me."

"Grumble, LURCH!! "

"OW! Okay, okay, you win. I was going to go anyways."

"Grumble, Grumble."

"Well I was."

And with that, Naruto took a detour to the ramen shop.

"Hey old man!" Naruto greeted as he popped in. Techui and his daughter Ayami smiled at him. "Hello Ayami!" He said to his daughter, in a more respectful manner than the father.

"Well with the way you greet I would think you were a suitor of my daughter." The chef laughed.

"Huh?" Naruto asked, looking like a confused kitten. That only got laughs from him.

"Don't mind him Naruto, what would you like?" Ayami said, giving Techui a good-natured glare.

"Five bowls of Miso please!" He said. Techui replied by going to work. "You got it!" Ayami said, before going to help her father. A few moments later, Naruto had three empty bowls stacked up, and he was working on the fourth.

"I see you were hungry." Techui chuckled.

"Yep, I was up ever since early this morning getting some good lessons." He said, now on the fifth bowl. Techui smirked.

"So, that means your learning a lot in school."

"Yep! A whole lot!" He exclaimed, digging in to his last bowl. Techui waited until he was finished, paid and was on his way out. "Have a nice time in school!" He shouted as he was leaving.

"Sure thing!" Naruto said. The chef waited for that to sink in, until he heard the distinct "OH CRAP I SUPPOSED TO BE IN SCHOOL!!" That set him laughing and Ayami shaking her head.


An extremely fast orange streak was making its way to the hokage tower, going unnoticed by the villagers, and shinobi. When on the verge of being caught, the streak would seemingly merge into a fence, in a cat or dog, or on a building. Once the heat died down, it was active once more, going to that tower.

This streak was non other than Naruto, going faster than most genins. When ever he was on the verge of being discovered, he would henge into an animal, or use his camouflaged cloak. While at the library, he realized that he could make the cloak camouflage into anything, as long as he applied a little chakra. As a result, his stealth was ten times better than normal. He decided to practice using the cloak and henge for stealth. It was harder than just using his own ordinary stealthy ways, but he was determined to master different methods of stealth.

He believed that it was best to always have a back-door in doing things. That way if something prevents him from doing it one way he could always do it another way. He found that using this method, he couldn't hide from the jonins or ANBU, nor a few high chuunins. Thus, he decided that the best way to practice was to try and sneak up on the hokage. If he could get past his defenses, then he was sure he could get past everyone else's. That would make it easier to sneak up and watch others training. Seeing as to how he was recently caught. If it weren't for his legs, he was sure he'd be close to dead by now.

It didn't take long for him to get inside the tower, and was surprisingly easy to sneak in. Yet as soon as he was in the hokage's office, Sarutobi busted him.

Let us review what happened. Naruto stood outside the Hokage's door, camouflaged as the wall, thinking of a way to sneak in. Suddenly, the secretary walked down, a stack of papers in hand. She knocked on the door, and when she was given the permission, walked in. Naruto quickly dashed through the open door, morphing into the other wall. As the secretary set the papers down and left, the Hokage seemed to be deep in thought.

"Naruto, you can come out now." He said suddenly, surprising him. Naruto came out of his disguise.

"How'd ya know it was me?" He sighed dejectedly. Sarutobi laughed.

"Cut it with the pity show." He said. Soon, Naruto was in front of him, sitting on his desk.

"But how did you know it was me?" He asked pleadingly.

"I read you chakra signature." He said.

"Huh? What's that? And how do you hide it?" Naruto inquired.

"Simple, you suppress your chakra." Sarutobi answered. "Everyone has a unique chakra signature, it's like how everyone has a different voice." He explained.

"How do I suppress it? And how come I can't ever find them on others?"

"Naruto, you need to know how to find them first." He hid a smirk. Knowing what was coming.

"How do I find them?" He asked.

"Although I could explain, that'd be too easy, so here." He said handing him a scroll. Naruto first smiled at the scroll and the thought of learning a new technique, and then replaced that with a frown. "But can't you just show me ojiisan?"

"No, its not as fun that way." He smirked.

"Please?"

"How about this as incentive," He held up a scroll, "Once you finish that, I'll give you this scroll. It teaches you the first steps of using a sword." He smiled as Naruto's eyes got wide.

"COOL! I have this done in no time! I'll go right no…Hey, how'd you know I was interested in swordsmanship?" He asked suspiciously. Sarutobi smirked once more.

"I'm the Hokage, I have to know what everyone is up to." He shrugged. Naruto accepted that answer, and hopped out the window to learn that scroll. "See ya' old man!" He yelled as he left. Sarutobi let out a sigh. "Must he rub in my old age." He shook his head, smiling as he did so.


(Thee hours later.)

Naruto sat cross-legged in his favorite spot. Leaves over almost all his tenketsu. He eyes were closed in concentration, his hands together in a single hand sign. His goal; to make the leaves stick to him. He already was half-way there, the leaves would stay as long as he didn't move a lot. The problem was, he moved a lot.

As it turned out, learning how to suppress your chakra signature was like learning how to control your chakra with leaves, except reversed. It was kind of tricky, seeing as to how it took him to months to master that leaf exercise, not that it helped him form a clone, much to his ire.

Staying as focused as he could, he slowly stood up. The leaves stuck. He started walking around. The leaves stuck. He jumped a few times. They stuck. He stepped on water. They stuck. He tried to run. They fell off.

"Dang-it!!" He shouted. "I was so close!" Calming down, he sat down, replaced the leaves, and started over. After a few seconds, he tried running again, only for them to fall off. Naruto started to get frustrated. It was almost impossible to calm down. He looked to the pile of swords. He was determined to get that scroll. He made a deal with him. Although he didn't say it, his actions sealed the deal. He learns this scroll, he gets that scroll. Simple way to put it.

He put the leaves back and tried again. He pictured himself spying on ANBU and the hokage with the technique. He imagined his body, pilling in chakra from around him. It was like how you reel in fishing lines. He focused each tenketsu point on his body. He felt the chakra being pulled in, and focused to strengthen that pull. Soon enough, there was no more chakra being pulled in. Instead, he felt other charkas around him. It was weird, but in his mind's eyes, because they were closed, he could see what the chakra was emanating from, and even see it in color. He focused more on this, and found them taking shape and form around him, until he could actually see a chakra lined clearing that he loved so well. The tree's leaves were dark-green, the bark was brown, like it was in real life, but glowing. The grass were a lighter shade than the trees, and he could even see the fish in the water. Some were green, other were pink, others were orange. He spotted some birds that had more neutral tones, but some outlandish, like lime green, bluish-yellow, and so on. He spotted light brown rabbits in the tall grass, and even saw some bugs crawling around. Things that were once living emanating a dark gray glow, against the black of everything else, the things that never were living to begin with were black. If it weren't for him knowing this spot by heart, he'd not known that they were there.

The water, however, was an extremely dark blue. He could see each ripple. The sky was a lighter blue, and the sun was a bright white, but not blinding as it normally is. Clouds were like cotton balls of light-gray. Rocks, were pitch black, so black that they stood out from the black background. Same for the metal-clad weapons. So he knew they were there, it was just hard to tell them from the blackness at first glance. Then again, with everything else glowing, it was hard not to see it.

"O-Kay, this is weird." He thought. "Really weird." Looking around, he noticed the scroll. "Oh yeah!" he yelled, opening his eyes, keeping tight hold to the leaves. He could still feel the chakra from the things around him. Every time he blinked, he saw everything in like when he had his eyes closed, if only brief. He got up, and started walking. Okay, that was good. He jumped around. Good. He walked on water. Good. He ran around the clearing. Good. He leaped up and around the trees. Good.

Finally, he stopped, looked to see if the leaves were really in place. It took him a moment to register that he was successful, another one to decide on which coarse of action. Not long after though, he was leaping though the forest as a green and orange streak, bulleting to the hokage tower.

Now, anyone going at such high speeds coming out of nowhere would scare anybody. The villagers and genin were scared right out there socks. The chuunins were no better off. Normally, the jonins and ANBU would know when he was coming because of his chakra signature. But that was hidden now. Thus when he rocketed out of thin air towards these high ranking, powerful ninja, they were so shocked, that they fell to the ground in panic, reaching for there weapons, but he was gone before they could pull them out. Sarutobi, seeing all this, shook his head. Seems like he was going to expect some trouble out of him. He decided that it would be good to tone down Naruto's speed a bit.

He was very fast for anyone his age. In fact, he was faster than most genin, and some chuunin. Which is why he can get away from them so easily when being pursued from his pranks. But then again, that was to be expected. Naruto was always running from something when he was younger. Angry mobs, angry pranked mobs, angry pranked shinobi, angry pranked hokage…okay forget that last one. Anyway, it was natural for Naruto to be faster than most.

Sarutobi wanted him to get better at his skills, but didn't want him to run around like a bullet scaring everyone to death. One of these days, someone was going to have a heart attack because of him. Some are already in a comatose state, if only lasting for a few minutes. He smiled as Naruto arrived. He knew just how to deal with this.

"OJIIIIIIII!!" Naruto ran in, so exited, he skipped out on the 'san' part. "I mastered the scroll like I said I would I kept these leaves on all the way here and even surprised the ANBU so now that I mastered this technique can I please have the sword scroll now, huh? Because I know soon I'll master that one and will be a great swordsman and that will get me one step closer to being the hokage!! He exclaimed all in one breath. It amazed Sarutobi that he didn't seem to be out of breath at all. But then again, knowing Naruto, he could've gone on much longer with out feeling an ounce of shortness.

"Well, I see that." He said calmly. Them smiled wide. "Now that you mastered that, you may have the other scroll, but I also have something else for you." And with that, he reached into his drawer and pulled out four orange weights with blue on the edges and as the lining.

"Theses are chakra weights. The more chakra you add to them the heavier they'll be. This way you can strengthen you muscles, and increase your speed." He said, smirking at Naruto's wide-eye expression. 'I'll never get tired of seeing that shocked face of his.' He thought.

"Really!" Naruto asked, in more of a statement way. He nodded. The next thing he knew, Naruto was on the ground putting on the weights. Once they were on, he stood up.

"Wow, they fit great! So now I just put in the chakra!" He said, starting to concentrate.

"Only put…"

SLAM!!

Naruto fell to the floor hard. Sarutobi sighed.

"…a little." He finished his now superfluous sentence.

"Oh." He said, lifting himself up from his foot deep floor impression. "Guess it would work better with less weight." He said sheepishly. Then he tried added a little bit of chakra. This time around, he felt his legs and arms get heavy, but not overbearing. "Wow!" He said. "Thanks old man!" He cheered.

"Don't mention it. Now how about you go and train with those now." He smiled.

"Right!" He nearly yelled. He then was leaped out the window.

Sarutobi smirked.

"3…2…1…" he counted

"Hey!! What about that scroll you promised me?!" He hopped back in, yelling. This caused the leader of the village to laugh heartily.

"Well, I'm glad to see you remembered." He said, handing the smiling child the scroll. "As soon as you master this one I'll give you a more advanced one." He promised. Naruto smiled.

"I'll have this mastered in no time!" He exclaimed, now leaping out the window for good.

"I know you will." He said looking after him, before returning to his mountain of paper work. "Once you get older, your gonna have to relieve this hokage from this paperwork for another scroll." He sighed hopefully.


"Stretches?" Naruto asked nobody in particular as he read the scroll. He sat in his favorite training spot, sword propped up against a tree, ready for use. "I have to start out with stretches? Out of all things…" He mumbled, looking at the illustrated poses. "They look kinda gay to me." He added as an after thought, while cocking his head to the side. He was about to toss this whole concept, until he remembered something from earlier. When he read a book on swordsmanship, it said; "A good swordsman is always flexible and adjustable in different environments."

"Alright, think of becoming the next hokage. The best of them all." He said to himself. "The best hokage, the best hokage, the best hokage." He chanted over and over, as he pulled himself into the first position on the scroll.


Inside the Hokage's office, bared off from the rest of the world by a wall of paperwork surround all sides, a faint, but definite sound of suppressed laughter was heard. Behind the paperwork, was the hokage, leader of the villages, top ninja in Konoha…laughing like a loon.

Wiping away some tears, he looked into the ball, and saw Naruto in an interesting pose. He looked like a cross between a ballerina and a duck. It was hilarious. Naruto then pulled into anther pose, which started him off again.

"Oh man, I forgot how funny it was to watch others do this." He said after overcoming his laughter. "I can't wait to see the look on his face when he finishes," He chuckled mischievously.


AN: Now what could that scheming hokage be planning? Find out on the nest chapter of: Academy Days!

Hah, hah. Like I would do that to you all, or would I, but really, I still have some stuff to write.

Now on with the story!!


It was a week after the scroll situation. The day seemed to be happy and bright. It was a couple of hours after school. The birds were chirping, smiling villages, you know, the normal everyday happy scene in Konoha.

All this was interrupted by a very, very angry blond.

Naruto stomped on the rooftops, headed for the hokage tower. His cheerful smile, replaced with a deep, murderous frown. Fire burned behind his blue eyes. As he went across, the birds flew away in terror upon sensing his furious presence. He could barely keep his chakra signature hidden as he sneaked inside to the boss of the village.

"SARUTOBI!!" Naruto busted in, causing an eye-brow to raise on the hokage, an action that masterfully hid his smirk.

"Naruto, you can't just walk in expecting I have nothing to do." He said.

Suddenly, tumbleweed flew in from one window, and out the next. 'I swear nature is on his side.' He sighed.

"Alright, what is it." He said knowingly.

Naruto didn't catch on to him already knowing the answer, and started ranting.

"First you said I needed to master that other scroll to get this one! Then you give me this one and the first thing it has me is thousands of stretches. So I stretched, and stretched, and stretched. I learned them all, memorized them all, and mastered them all. I look on to see if I FINALLY begin to train with the sword, and ITS BLANK!!" He yelled.

The hokage contrived an apologetic look, to help cover up his amusement "I'm sorry Naruto, but before I can set you on anything to advance, I must give you the basic stuff, so you can build up." Naruto didn't look happy.

"I think you just wanted me to do some gay stretches." He stated plainly. Sarutobi chuckled a bit, at reminder of how those stretches looked.

""I assure you that I did nothing of the sort." He said definitively. "Do you want the next scroll or not? I mean if you think the stretches were too much then I guess you wouldn't want to continue, the path to swordsmanship starts with embarrassing, seemingly pointless styles." He shrugged. Naruto's eyes got wide.

"I want the next scroll! Where is it! Can I have it!" He stated more than asked. All traces of anger gone. Instead his eyes portrayed a pure eagerness about them. "I want to start on it ASAP!" He yelled.

Sarutobi chuckled to himself. Apparently Naruto hasn't thought that the other scroll could be nothing more but more stretches. He felt compelled to give him just that. But that wouldn't be very noble, funny, but not noble. So he handed Naruto the next scroll, this one was green on the outside. The ramen-addicted blonde grabbed it greedily. He was about to leave when, he got a suspicious glance at the Hokage. He quickly opened the scroll and looked at what was inside.

The title read: Dance styles.

He fell head first into the ground.

"WHAT IS THIS!!" he yelled at the Hokage, who was wearing a smirk.

"That's another training scroll." He said simply.

"But what does dancing and some gay poses have to do with swordsmanship?" He asked irately.

"The skills are all interconnected, believe me. Tell ya what, if you manage to master that scroll in its entirety, then I will treat you to all the ramen you can eat that day." He smiled as Naruto's defiant mask slipped.

"Well, if you say that they are all interrelated, even though I don't believe you, I will learn it. Just how many more of these to go until I actually get to use a sword?" He asked. He wanted to know what he was getting himself into.

"Oh, just another scroll on the dance styles, except more advance, then you get to the actual sword."

"Okay," he reluctantly agreed, "But I'm gonna eat your money's worth later." He said sternly, then leapt out the window.

"Why did I offer the ramen again?" He thought to himself, dreading the hole that would soon fill his wallet.


One and a half months later…

ZZZZZZZZZZZ

Iruka stared at the blond who was snoring peacefully in his desk.

ZZZZZZZZZZZ

The rest of the class stared at him too.

ZZZZZZZZZZZ

His quite snores would normally be ignored, but since the class was so quite you could hear a pen drop…

ZZZZZZZZZZZ

Naruto's snoring was obvious.

ZZZZZZZZZZZ

He was seemingly unaware of the stares. Annoyed, hateful, murderous stares from all the fangirls who thought he was interrupting Sasuke's train of thought, and for him to have the nerve to snore next to such an amazing figure. (AN: Cough, not, cough.)

ZZZZZZZZZZZ

He was oblivious to the annoyed stares from the teachers.

ZZZZZZZZZZZ

He was oblivious to the half-amused, half-annoyed stares from all the boys, except Shikamaru, who was sleeping himself, but not snoring.

ZZZZZZZZZZZ

He was just in a blissful sleep.

ZZZZZZZZZZZ

The only two people who knew of the reason behind his snoring were Sarutobi, and Iruka. They knew that he was tired because he spent all day, going through the dance styles of both mastered scrolls rigorously, to prove he was ready for the next one. He spent half the day going through them all, a quarter bonding around on a high of excitement, only to be slowed down by the weights he unconsciously increases overtime. The last part of the day was spent emptying both of Iruka's and Sarutobi's wallets at Ichiraku's. Both whom are a hair's breath from being poor now. Unlike the ramen vendor who was a hair's breath from being rich.

ZZZZZZZZZZZ

So he got barely any sleep, because they both knew that Naruto would rather train until he drops compared to just plain going to sleep, despite the insistence that he should get to sleep first.

ZZZZZZZZZZZ

Iruka actually found out Naruto's activities by spying. He's been noticing the blond coming to class later, and more tired. He got suspicious of his activities, so he followed him to his favorite training spot. There he saw what he was up to.

ZZZZZZZZZZZ

Afterwards, he met up with the Hokage and they planned on ways to help Naruto out more, and also to make sure he stops coming late and lazing about in school.

ZZZZZZZZZZZ

So far, everything was going smooth.

ZZZZZZZZZZZ

Except for when he slept in class.

ZZZZZZZZZZZ

Like now.

ZZZZZZZZZZZ

He was about to get up and wake him, his snoring obliviously irking everyone. Until…

Silence.

His snoring ceased.

Soon after, everyone was returning to there work. Normally, he would've woken the blond, but he decided to take it easy on him today as a reward for his achievement.

But only for today.

Any other day and it's 'wakey, wakey.'

Besides, he was going to need his energy later. He smiled, he had the perfect inducement to get him to study some more.

Just have to wait a little later…


ZZZZZZZZZ…sniff, sniff…

"Ramen!" Naruto popped up from his sleep, greeted with a cup of noodles in front of his face. He quickly seized the noodles. He looked up to see Choji smiling at him. Looking around, Shikamaru, Kiba, Akamaru, Shino, and Hinata stood there waiting. Hinata was the one cuddling Akamaru at that moment, seemingly unaware of everyone else, as was Akamaru.

"Thanks for the ramen!" He exclaimed, then some chop sticks poof into existence. "Ikadisimasu!" (SP?) he exclaimed before diving in.

"Where did those chop sticks come from?" Kiba asked.

"Those whom truly respect food are prepared to eat it at all times." Choji filled in. He then opened his vest to show the napkins, knives, bowls, cups, pots, chips, and other things. Everyone else stared.

"Its true." The blonde shrugged. Showing the inside of his vest. There were many chopsticks, cups, knives, lighters, plates, bowels, packs of just-add-water emergency food, some skewers, pots, pans, and even a water picture.

Choji and Naruto then replaced there vests, and were going on eating as normal.

"I don't see it." Shikamaru said.

"Me neither." Kiba replied.

" I think I see a bump where it could be." Shino added.

"where did all that stuff go?" Kiba asked

"Maybe it's the clothes." Shikamaru thought.

"I need one of those then." The rest chorused.

After Naruto consumed his free lunch, he and the rest of the group went to recess. Naruto noted that Hinata really liked Akamaru, and vice versa. She looked so happy and carefree with that dog; she completely looses her shy demeanor. He vaguely wondered why she was so shy in the first place. Sadly, that thought was halted by something slamming into his head.

'BOINK!'

A red ball bounced rather roughly on his for head, and then back to where it came from. It's a good thing he has such a hard head. Naruto, now rubbing his head, was looking around for anymore flying projectiles. His friends tried hard to stifle there laughter.

"Hey, what are you laughing at?" He yelled irately.

"Its j-j-just that, you s-s-should have seen you face!" Kiba managed to chuckle out.

"Naruto, that ball was the most obvious thing coming in for a mile." Shino said, a hint of humor in his voice.

"Yeah, well it just caught me off guard. That's all."

"Sure it did, look, you weren't paying any type of attention. I know your grades bad, but your sight too?" Shikamaru added his teasing. Naruto started to get mad. Not angry-mad, more like play-mad. He knew that they didn't mean what they said offensive, he found it funny himself. Not like when other hateful people laugh at him, when he's badly hurt, and they laugh with the evil satisfaction to see him in pain. No. Not that type of laughing. He preferred to be a laughing stock in this way than in that hateful way.

Instead, he stormed off, towards that one single swing. Sitting there, brooding, his friends soon joined him, sitting around the tree trunk, or lying on the grass, one even stared up at the clouds. (Wonder who that could be.)

"You know, we haven't done anything fun together in a while." Kiba avowed after a moment, boredom seeping through him like water through toilet paper.

"Yeah, I agree." Naruto confirmed. "We've just been acting super-Shikamaru." He finished. Because of there friends lazy persona, they unanimously agreed that being lazy was given the title of being Shikamaru.

"Nothing's wrong with looking at the clouds." The lazy Nara responded with a scowling tone.

"Unlike you, you lazy bum, we want to do something more productive." Kiba voiced out.

"While the rest is good, it is reasonable to spend our free-time doing something memorable." The logic user said.

"Like what?" Choji asked, now curious as to what they could do with there free time.

"We could always paint a bunch of buildings, and then toilet paper all the trees, and lastly pour mud in front of peoples door-steps." Naruto added subconsciously, not really thinking about what they could do at that moment.

"No wonder why you're always in trouble." Shikamaru sighed. In response Naruto sheepishly rubbed his head.

"Heh, maybe it is." He said.

"Instead of getting us all in some extremely troublesome situation," Kiba started, using the Nara's favorite word, "we could hold some race around the village, with an obstacle course or something." That was enough to peek Naruto's attention.

"Obstacle coarse you say?" Naruto asked, now fully looking forward to what they were talking about.

"Nah, sounds too troublesome." Shikamaru banished the idea.

"Not if you're the judge to see who wins." Choji said.

"I'll consider it." He replied, not really sounding like he would.

"I think it's a great idea!" Choji said, knowing that they were going to make Shikamaru the judge, weather he liked it or not.

"I-I think s-so t-to" The shy Hyuuga added her quiet opinion.

"What are the obstacles going to be?" A now over-excited blond asked.

"I don't really know; I didn't get to that part." Kiba shrugged.

"I think we should do it in the forest somewhere, we can set up a good obstacle coarse with out worrying about the villagers getting in the way." Naruto voiced.

"Agreed, a race with the least amount of possible interference would be the best choice." Shino nodded, followed by agreed nods of everyone else.

"As long as I get a not to troublesome view of the clouds." Shikamaru stated.

"Wouldn't dream of having you any place else." Kiba chuckled. And that's what began the planning's of there race.


Naruto, Kiba, Choji, Shino, Hinata, and of coarse Akamaru all stood looking ahead proudly at there obstacle coarse. Shikamaru just yawned lazily, not showing any admiration at all. Then again, only thing he made was his judging post, which was really a cozy lawn chair with a big fluffy pillow. Perfect for cloud watching.

Naruto lead them to this underused training ground right after school. Him and his friends all brought a wealth of supplies for there obstacle coarse. The clearing was field with overgrown grass, spider webs, anthills, mosses and some animal burrows; all showing that this was a forgotten field. Naruto discovered this place while looking through the Hokage's old scrolls. As soon as they arrived, they went to work setting up the pre-planned course.

"It's beautiful!" Naruto exclaimed, anxious to try it out.

At the start of the large course, were two feet tall wide posts, which were roughly the size of there feet, all aligned diagonally. Next was some rope hanging from the tall tree branches, sorta like vines George of the Jungle would swing on. After a good series of those snake-like-ropes, There was a structure similar to low monkey bars, except it was made from ninja wire and sticks. It was extremely low to the ground, so that only those whom crawled would be able to pass under it.

After passing the 15 feet long, three feet wide structure we get to the deep flowerpots, all bunch up and set around in four long rows. The objective of this was to get past the field, either balancing on the rims or getting your foot stuck in the deep pots. The quickest way seemed to be the rims. After three yards of that, we cross a small lake, with tree branches overhanging it; they were about one to two feet from each other. That stretched to about three meters.

After that, there were few ropes leaning from the last branch that overhang the lake. It went down to the edge of the water. After that, there was a nice pit ahead, in which getting across required swinging from the overhanging ropes. It wasn't a very deep one, just about three feet deep, four meters long. After that, there was a path semicircular path, an ark, like those that people put on there gardens on there walkways. Finally, there was Shikamaru, already looking up at the clouds. The route was wide, long, and circular, all in the seeing range of the lazy Nara, so he could call out the cheaters. Not that anyone believes any one would cheat; it was just by habit they made it cheater-safe.

"All right, this is how this troublesome event will take place." The Nara called lazily, "First, you all will run on top of those troublesome posts. If you fall, you will have to start over from the beginning. After you leave the posts, you no long have to start from the beginning if you fall from your place. Then, you swing along those troublesome ropes. After you pass that, you will have to crawl under the troublesome ropes over there, no over, no around, under the ropes. Then you have to go across the field of troublesome flowerpots. I don't care how you cross them; you just have to cross them, no going around or over them. Next," He yawned lazily, "you have to get across the troublesome lake by climbing the tree, and leaping from branch to branch. There pretty close together, so no problem there. Then you slide down the trouble some rope and swing over the pit, run under the arch, and repeat the troublesome thing three times. The first one to lap around three times wins." He finished.

"AND" Naruto spoke up, which got the Nara to roll his eyes.

"Fine, and if you fall from a spot, besides the first spot, you have to go back five feet and go over it the proper way. No running ahead. For instance, you fall from the ropes, you go back five feet, get back on the ropes, and swing the rest of the way. Happy now, you troublesome people." He finished.

"Let's break in this course!" Naruto yelled excitingly.

"Prepare to lose!" Kiba announced.

"Ha! Don't get to cocky dog-boy." Naruto countered.

"Please! I have better chance than you Mr. Orange." Kiba shot back.

"Says the one who goes around in depressing gray." Naruto said.

"At least I'm dressed for stealth! Unlike your outfit which yells "I'm Here!"" He argued.

"I don't need to hide from danger like you and your 'stealth'."

"I don't hide from danger, I just do things the smart way."

"Who says your smarter than me!"

"Your grades do." Kiba said smugly. That hit a nerve.

"At least I don't smell like wet dog all the time." Naruto countered. Kiba's nerve was hit.

"Dunce!"

"Dog-worshipper!"

"Ramen obsessed freak!"

"CUT OUT THE FIGHTING!" Choji yelled, breaking the two up. There normally nice, friendly, social, BB-Q loving friends' ferocity made them both freeze up.

"The conflict you two have will be solved in the race." Shino said in a reserved manner.

"L-lets start the r-race now." Hinata added her opinion.

"Yeah! LETS DO THIS!!" Naruto and Kiba then said in accord, with renewed vigor at the thought of a race starting.

"Alright, line up on the troublesome yellow line." Shikamaru yawned, pointing to the yellow strip of paint that signaled the start of the race. The others complied.

"On your troublesome mark." He said, everyone's bodies tensed as they anticipating running.

"Get your troublesome selves ready." He yawned. There legs twitched, loaded up like rockets, ready to blast-off any second.

"Yourallidiots-GO!" He yelled out, his insult overtaken by the start of the race.

They all hopped along the posts easily. Naruto and Kiba in the lead. Shino coming up next, then Hinata, and of coarse Choji. Ahead of them all, just because he could be, was Akamaru.

"Your going down!" Kiba yelled at the blond, keeping eye on his next post.

"After you!" Naruto called, trying to gain lead.

Electricity passed between there eyes as they glared at each other.

Soon enough they reached the ropes, Naruto and Kiba instantly started swinging, arguing and glaring all the while. Kiba gained lead on Naruto, who was having more difficulty swinging than him. He laughed as he left him behind to crawl under the wires.

"Not so fast now are ya!" He called out. Naruto soon was crawling under there with him. "I'm headed up." He called. To this the Inuzuka laughed and went further ahead.

Kiba stayed in lead until they reached the flower-pots. He tried walking on the rims, but his balance was off, thus, fell into the deep pot. Climbing out, cursing as time was wasting he quickly started carefully, yet clumsily edging around the rims. Naruto, who had excellent balance because of sword training, found this part easier than Kiba. He first few times he fell in, causing him to loose more time. Then he considered the placing of the pots.

He smiled evilly. Getting on the rims, he began to go through a sword dance he learned earlier that month. This allowed him to gain lead with out stumbling once.

"Now look whose slow." He said, passing up the frustrated Kiba. He growled, and picked up pace.

"Naruto leaped off the pots first. He immediately went on climbing the tree. Kiba eventually caught up with him, being faster at climbing trees, until they were neck and neck, jumping from branch to branch. They both slid down the ropes in unison, and were once more, swinging across the ropes. Here, Kiba gained lead again.

"Give up Naruto!" Kiba yelled to him, " No way I'm letting you win!"

"Yeah sure!" You think I would just let you win like that! Be aware Kiba!" With that They jumped off the ropes one after another. Naruto caught up with Kiba in the run towards the arch.

"I" Naruto said, straining his body to best Kiba.

"Must" Kiba said, trying to get lead once more.

"Beat" Naruto said determined, arc coming into view.

"You!" Naruto yelled at last.

They passed up Shikamaru in blurs, blowing leaves and dust on his face.

"Cough, Cough. Man could they be anymore rude!" He huffed.

He watched them run around the coarse again, trying so hard to best each other. "For sleeping in class Naruto sure packs a lot more than his grades say." He watched him gracefully dace across the pots. "He even has a few surprises." He nodded.

"But the winner of this race is already decided." He said, looking in the winner's circle.

SWOSH!

The two competing boys flew by again, this time Shikamaru protected his face with his shirt. Once the dust settled he watched them circle around once more.

"If only they were to look up from each other."

"Not with how they are involved." A winner said.

"It'll just be less troublesome if they did."

"Yeah, but cut them some slack, at least they try."

"Close-minded is there down-fall."

"I feel sorry for them."

"They'll learn soon."

"Or not."

There conversation was stopped when the two made it past the arc simultaneously.

"I WON!" They shouted, sounded a lot like Ino and Sakura. Painting heavily, they turned to Shikamaru.

"I won didn't I?" Kiba asked.

"Tell dog boy that he lost!" Naruto demanded.

"Well actually, you both lost." Shikamaru shrugged.

"Huh?"

"What do ya mean?"

Both boys looked up and saw Hinata, Choji, Shino and Akamaru staring at them.

"NANI!!" They both yelled together.

"Choji won this one." Shikamaru said casually.

"I was second," Shino announced.

"Th-third." Hinata quietly said.

"How!"

"We were in the lead when this started!"

"Let someone else explain it, too troublesome." To this Choji chuckled.

"Actually, I won first because…"


"Now I'm sure that in some way that was cheating." Naruto said, walking back through the greenery with his friends.

"Same here." Kiba grumbled.

"Yeah, maybe in other countries, or in a competition where we go up against babies or weaklings…" Shikamaru started off.

"Hey! What are you implying!?" Kiba asked hotly.

"Nothing, nothing to troublesome." Shikamaru said coolly, smirking.

"Next time we'll make you race then." Naruto grumbled.

"Pst, with what incentive?" Shikamaru challenged.

"We'll tell your mother how you sleep in class." Kiba and Naruto said in unison, smirking evilly. Shikamaru paled and stumbled a bit. That set them all laughing.

"Evil, black mailing, troublesome…" He started mumbling.

Soon enough, the strong beams of sun spread over them as they entered the village, no more trees to shade them off. "Well, looks like here's where we part." Naruto said.

"Yeah, I want to hurry up and get in my not-so-troublesome bed." Shikamaru sighed.

"You would." Kiba rolled his eyes.

"Bye"

"Bye"

"This is troublesome but, bye."

"B-bye"

"Bye!"

With there good-byes said, Naruto wandered away, wondering what to do now. He considered starting on that new scroll, pulling his good old friend the prank, eating some ramen…eating ramen…ramen…RAMEN!!

Naruto was instantly running towards the business district part of town, where the famous Ichiraku's was housed.

(Later on that day…)

"Yum that was some good ramen. Now what?" Suddenly, someone spat on him…

(Later on that day…)

"Hahaha! That was a good prank!" Naruto said on a rooftop, trying to get the tears out of his eyes. Spat on the wrong person sucka!" He soon regained himself. "Now what is there to do?"

He peered down and saw a shinobi with a katana strapped on her back. He smiled.

(Later that day…)

CRACK!CRACK!CRACK! SWOSH! CRASH!!

Naruto stood panting with a very large tree on the ground, a little way a ways from his special training spot. He smiled, looking at the thick trunk where the tree once stood.

"Wow! And it only took my four dances of the lotuses, one dance of the waterfall and two dances of he vultures.." He sighed. "Guess that old coot was right about those scrolls…not that I'll tell him that."


"Then you shouldn't talk out-loud." Sarutobi smirked in front of his crystal ball.


"Hn, I have this strange feeling ojiisan suddenly knows…" Naruto said, scanning the area suddenly for chakra signatures.

"Anyway, time for me to get to a new tree!" He said, bounding to his fourth large tree.

'Hn, that's interesting…the old man is painting some sort of…seal.' Thought a eavesdropping blonde as he peered at the Hokage's work. He was hanging upside-down, official Spiderman pose, and hanging from a wire. 'Wonder what that could be for?' He thought, watching his strokes attentively.

"Naruto, if you must invade my private time at least don't spy." He said suddenly, startling the child. The end result is that Naruto fell from the window, and smack dab on the roof. Sarutobi sighed and shook his head.

"Hey, how'd ya know I was there?" Naruto asked, rubbing the large bump that grew out of his injured, yellow head.

"Well, while you did hide your chakra signature, I could hear your breathing, and your moving, and your clothes, and that wire vibrating as you moved, and the birds you scared away…shall I go on?" He asked, paint-brush in hand, still facing the easel.

"I get the point." He said depressingly. "Anyway…" He spoke up again, happy as can be. He sat himself next to the Hokage, looking at the easel, which held a complicated-looking seal. "What-cha doing?" He asked.

"Making a seal." He replied.

"For what?"

"Holding stuff."

"Holding what?"

"Oh, just some family heirlooms that are too cumbersome to move around by hand."

"How's it worked?"

"Would you like me to teach you how to do a seal?" He sighed, giving him a sidelong glace, pulling the brush from his work. He already knew the answer by the look of eagerness that spread from his eyes through his face.

"Yes!"

"All right. I'm done with this one anyway." He said, putting down his brush, and reaching to get some blank scrolls from his desk. He handed one to Naruto. "Now listen up, these are special scrolls. If you write on them…" He illustrated by writing his signature on the scroll. "You can clear them out and write fresh. Perfect for practice." He said, now putting some chakra in the scroll, and the writing dissipated.

"Cool!"

"Okay, I'll teach you how to write a basic storage scroll. Wont hold anything too big, but can hold an awful lot, maybe those kunai you gathered a while back." He said, eying him. Naruto sheepishly rubbed his head.

"Oh…uh…yeah."


With that the hokage taught him how to create and use a storage scroll.

Naruto looked at his now empty clearing. He smiled. Two scrolls sat in the middle of it. He really put use to the Hokage's lesson. He immediately came here to store all his kunai, once he mastered it. Then the shiruken, then the other weapons which he'll never use, then the swords, then the wires, then the camouflaged blankets, then his sleeping supplies, then…well you get the point.

He even sealed all the empty scrolls, and sealed all the other scrolls into one scroll. Now he had two, convenient scrolls. Once was for practice, the other held all his supplies. Excluding the one under the tree trunk with his sleeping supplies.

He then pushed those two under there. The hokage also showed him how to make it so that only he could open the scrolls to retrieve stuff. That was a good trait.

"Wow, never thought this place would be empty again." He said to himself, looking around his favorite spot, which was previously dirtier than his under-used apartment. He saw the willows blow freely in the wind, Sakura petals blowing into the clearing, making its way to the lake. Those that landed were boated across as wind gently pushed them in the water. Light fluffy clouds and thin wisps of clouds decorated the deep blue sky. It looked like something you might find in a resort brochure.

"Time for more time with the sword-training." He said, walking into a patch of woods that he set aside for such. It wasn't far from his clearing; just out-side of it. Here he was surrounded by tall, thick trees. The trees hung branches over taken by multiple shades of green. In some cases, it looked as if trees shared branches. Naruto took time to find the dead or sickly looking trees, which were plentiful in this area, and cut them down branch by branch, piece by piece, to practicing with his sword. The final sets of dances were always dedicated to cutting the tree down.

In this manner, he has taken down five decayed trees. He planned to use them for firewood, when he went to sleep in his clearing. He was also going to try and carving a few things. No reason in particular why that came up, he just thought of trying it eventually. Who knows, maybe that trait will come in handy one day.


AN: Ah, another chappie done. I hope it doesn't feel to choppy, if it does, please tell me. I felt comfortable enough with it to publish, even thought I am positive I have enough grammatical and spelling errors to make my English teacher give me an 'F'.

Sorry for the long delay in the updates. Dumb computer virus has to ruin my progress. Please forgive me for such long wait.

Besides that, Naruto is learning the sword now! W00t! He is also learning about how to use seals, which I will, yes this is a spoiler, base my next chapter on. Wait….wait…yeah alright, next chapter on him learning that, and the chapter after that will be about…like I would tell you that already.

Thanks to all those who reviewed so far, and especially those who informed me of my errors. I will fix those errors, if I haven't already changed them, as soon as I get the chance. Sorry for me taking so long to thank you all for this. I would include names but the computer I am on doesn't have the net, and when I get on the net I only have about fifteen minutes. Sorry, but that time goes to homework.

Please keep reading and reviewing! For I am a narcissist who loves praise, and will try my best to get that praise! I am also lazy, but that's another story.

Thanks for reading this long, boring analogue. I appreciate your time and consideration. (Sounds all formal.) Hope to update soon.

Konbanwa;

Littlemoontiger.