"Genjutsu is not just about chakra. It also requires imagination. After all, you can't veil someone's senses if you have no clue what form you want the veil to take."
"O…kay," Naruto says slows as Ibiki leads him back to ANBU headquarters. "So I need to have an imagination? Not too hard, considering I was the village prankster for two years."
"Yes, that helps, but only with faking an area, like a house or a shop or something like that. What I'm going to teach you is how to veil yourself, to slip on disguises like clothes. Before you can do that with chakra, you need to do that with actual, physical clothes," Ibiki says as he gestures to a fat duffel bag and the long roll of cloth lying next to it.
He and Naruto are in the reception area of ANBU headquarters, the receptionist scribbling away behind her desk. "Here's your mission," Ibiki grins as Naruto begins to rifle through the duffle bag. "Make some sort of outfit from what's in there, then show it to me for thirty seconds only, before trying to either elude me for ten minutes or make your way the Hokage's tower. Got all that?"
Naruto nods, then holds up a green shirt and brown pants. Ibiki nods and steps outside, giving the boy a little privacy to change. Once he's done, Naruto walks over to the receptionist, who glances up at him from whatever paper she's writing on. "Er," Naruto begins, conscious of the blank stare on the woman's face, "do you know how I can get out of here without using the front door?"
Silently, the woman points to the door opposite her desk. Naruto nods his thanks and turns, exiting without a word. Since it is almost time for lunch, he decides to find some place to eat.
Instead of going to the market and buying a bento, as is his usual, Naruto simply allows himself to blend into Konoha's foot traffic, waiting for something to catch his eye.
Eventually, something does: it is a small stand, the banner above its bar-style seats proclaiming it to be "Ichiraku Ramen". Naruto takes a seat at the bar, the seat swiveling slightly underneath him as it accommodates his weight.
"How can I help you?" The man behind the bar passes Naruto a single-page laminated menu, and then steps back to give him some time to decide. After few seconds' perusal, Naruto hands the menu back. "I'll have one pork ramen, Mister…"
"Teuchi."
"One pork ramen, Mister Teuchi," Naruto repeats, this time with the addition of the man's name.
"Coming right up," the man says as he turns toward his cooking station. The ramen bar is silent save for the sound of cooking noodles. "So what brings you here, kid?"
"Just looking for some place to get a bite to eat while I wait out my sensei."
"Oh, so you're a genin?" Teuchi sets a bowl of steaming noodles down on the counter, then a pair of disposable chopsticks wrapped in a paper sleeve.
"No, he's not," says Ibiki, stepping up to the bar from out of nowhere. Naruto sighs.
"And here I thought I'd be able to avoid you for ten minutes at least," Naruto mutters, mostly to himself.
"Well, you did get close. Only half a minute left on the clock."
Naruto brightens. 'Please, please, just say I passed!'
"Close only counts with explosive tags. Better luck next time."
Naruto sighs, then wolfs down his ramen.
"If it's any consolation," Teuchi says, "that bowl's on the house."
"Thank you, Mister Teuchi," Naruto replies as he sets his chopsticks atop the empty bowl and stands, following Ibiki out the door.
"What now?" Naruto asks as he and Ibiki head back toward the ANBU headquarters building. "Now I'm going to teach you how to both disguise yourself and how to lose someone who's tailing you," Ibiki says.
"This isn't going to entail more hide-and-seek, is it?" Naruto's voice is slightly sarcastic.
"Eventually, yes. For the moment, it'll be most classroom style lessons."
"And where, exactly, is the classroom?"
"You'll find out tomorrow. For now, head to Training Ground Four. Fuindao and Anko are waiting for you."
The blonde nods, and then splits off from Ibiki, who heads in the opposite direction.
He keeps his head down and shoulders forward, moving quickly through the crowd, who wisely step out of his way.
Training Ground Four, when he gets there, is empty. With nothing better to do, he crosses the field to the copse of trees that separate it from the fence of Training Ground 44 and sits with his back against one of them.
The rough bark presses into his back every time he shifts, preventing him from dozing, as he'd liked. This is just as well, since it enables him to dodge out of the way of the trio of kunai that come speeding toward his head.
The kunai are only a feint for the fist that comes crashing into his stomach, doubling him over in pain. Anko grins at him from behind the fist, and then slams it back into his stomach, pitching him to the earth.
Hatake walks up behind her, spinning a kunai on his finger. He kneels, wrenching the three kunai from where they're embedded in the base of the tree. As he rises, he slides the three kunai into one of the pouches on his vest. "And today's lesson is?" He stares down at Naruto's prone form.
"Don't fall asleep?"
"Close," Hatake says, hauling the boy to his feet. "Watch your surroundings. Yes, you dodged the kunai, but if you had looked where you were going, you could have avoided Anko's fist, as well."
"The next time someone sends sharpened pieces of metal hurtling toward me, I'll try to look left and right," Naruto bites out sarcastically.
"They were dull. Besides, your opponents are going to give you no such leisure." Hatake punctuates his statement with a right cross, forcing Naruto to duck under his fist. The blond replies with a sweeping kick, intent on sending Hatake into the dirt and finishing the fight. The ANBU jumps over his sweeping leg, shoving at Naruto as he lands. Off-balance, the blond topples backward into the dirt with Hatake standing over him, fist extended to strike.
"Sweeping movements expose your leg to the opponent. Be prepared to counter both a shove and an opponent yanking you down with him."
Naruto rises, nods, and slides into a stance.
Hatake simply answers him with a high kick to the head.