Kishimoto owns everyone's favorite blond, not me ~pout~. Also Chakura Hankyouteii no Jutsu (Chakra Echolocation Technique) was created by Kenichi618.
Chapter 10: Team 7
As Naruto walked home from the Hokage's office, he couldn't help feel both elated and disappointed. Elated because he was now officially a shinobi of Konoha and he had just completed his first B-rank mission. Disappointed, despite his strength, he had not been able to prevent Iruka-sensei's injury.
I will have to do better next time. If I had only finished my sword… the seals are almost done but I still haven't found a way to integrate the compression seal and the wind chakra conversion and shaping seal so I can channel other types of chakra if it becomes necessary. It might take a few more weeks but if I assign a couple of clones to work on it, they should be done with it before my team takes our first c-rank mission. Now that I think about it, I had better set a bunch of clones on earth manipulation training so that I can master it and start working on Mokuton training now that I have some jutsu for it. Now, the last thing I have to worry about right now is the Chishio Bunshin. While it could be the perfect thing for sparring and a few other things, I can't spare two gallons of blood each time I want to make one.
Finally arriving home, Naruto decided to get his clones started on both the earth manipulation and finishing his sword. He unsealed the dimension scroll and started walking up the stairs.
I still can't believe I forgot to take into account where the entrance would be when I used the duplication… wait duplication, why can't I duplicate blood? It would have to be a bit specialized, duplicating a set amount of blood instead of everything within its boundaries. It would have to have a blood recognition component and an output control component. Damn… another project to work on now, but if I finish it I will have a Ninjutsu/Fuuinjutsu hybrid clone. I guess I'll have set some clones to work on that too.
Reaching his training grounds, Naruto created a hundred clones. 60 of them he set to work on creating boulders with earth chakra then turning them into dust, 10 he set to work on ice manipulation, 5 he set to work on his sword, 5 he set to work on the blood duplication seal, 10 he set working on the Mokuton jutsu (even though he wasn't sure if he could use them yet), and 10 he set to working on chakra control.
Having gotten his clones started Naruto decided to test out a theory. He left his pocket dimension and sealed it back in the seal on the back of his hand. He wanted to see if he could have them continue training and have their memories return to him despite them being in a pocket dimension.
With that done, Naruto went to bed. Tomorrow would be a good day.
When Naruto woke up he immediately decided to check on his clones in the dimension scroll. So he quickly got ready and then dressed in his new clothes. He quickly put on a pair of black cargo pants that were similar to ANBU issue pants except the cargo pockets in this pair were actually scroll holders. The pants were followed by a long-sleeved navy blue shirt with a hood that could come out of a seal on the back of the collar. He was wearing black shinobi sandals and had kunai and shuriken pouches of each hip. The pouches were a bit special because they each had storage seals on the outside that he could use to store anything he needed to.
All of his clothes, including the sandals and pouches were a bit special. All of the clothes he put on had three seals on them, two of them which he actually had to place six months ago. These were a regeneration seal and a growth seal. They had to be placed six months before because that was the amount of time it took for them to fully integrate with the clothes, or another way of saying it would be that is how long it took for the seals to 'memorize' the clothes. The regeneration was pretty obvious; by channeling chakra to it his clothes would repair themselves. The growth seal on the other hand was not, it had to be activated with his blood so it became synchronized with him, it literally kept his clothing matching his frame (this seal wasn't on the pouches but it was on the sandals). As long as these two seals were not destroyed he would never have to get new clothing. That is not to say that he didn't have several sets but that those that he would not have to replace them. The final seal wasn't really necessary but it was very useful. It was a modified of the color shift seal he had used to prank the teachers. This version allowed him to change the color of his clothes to whatever he wanted when he channeled chakra into that seal.
Finally ready to go he opened the dimension seal and start up the stairs. Arriving at the top of the steps, he quickly became disappointed.
"Boss what are you doing back so soon?" a clone asked.
"Yeah, we thought you were going to sleep" a second clone said.
"What do you guys mean?" Naruto asked his clones, "I just woke up from a full night of sleep".
"We've only been training for about four hours boss" the second clone answered.
"I see" Naruto said. So time moves more slowly inside than outside, or at least it does when it is in the storage seal on my hand, I wonder if it will do the same thing if it isn't in that storage seal. But still I wonder why there is a time discrepancy. But before that I will have to put the transmission half of a paired summoning seal on the back of it in case it is ever separated from me.
"Start dispelling, 10 every five minutes" Naruto ordered loudly. To reduce the impact Naruto sat down and started meditating. Fifty minutes he stood up and recreated the 100 clones.
"You guys know what to do, get to it."
With a fresh set of clones training, Naruto left the training dimension again. He closed the dimension and turned the scroll over. After deactivating the stasis seal he drew two seals. The first on the transmission half of a paired summoning seal that he placed on the back of the dimension scroll. The second was the reception half of the seal which he placed on the inside of his left hand. Placing his left palm on top of the dimension scroll, Naruto connected the transmission and reception seals and activated them so the dimension scroll could only be summoned to his hand. Then he re-activated the stasis seal and rolled the dimension scroll back up, hanging it on his back with some ninja wire.
After everything was set, Naruto headed out. While he had to go see Iruka-sensei at the academy, there was one very pressing issue to take care of. That in mind he raided his closet.
Naruto arrived at training ground 42 about fifteen minutes later. Once there, he collected wood for a fire and quickly started it with a low powered Katon jutsu that was literally good for nothing but starting fires when setting up camp.
It took a few minutes to really get going, but once it did Naruto built it up until it was practically a bonfire.
"I would like to thank this bonfire for cleansing something that truly needs to be destroyed" Naruto said, almost in prayer.
With his goodbye (and good riddance) said, Naruto threw the orange monstrosities into the roaring fire and moved back to watch them disappear forever. For good measure he even stayed to watch the fire burn down a bit before dowsing the fire with water he condensed from the air.
With that done, he finally headed to the academy to see Iruka-sensei.
The academy was almost completely empty. There were no students and practically no teachers. In fact there might not be any other than Iruka and a couple other teachers that just gave their class the graduation exam as they probably had to prepare profiles of their passing students and deal with the paperwork for those who failed.
Naruto quickly walked up to Iruka-sensei's office and knocked on the door.
"Come in" came a voice from the other side of the door.
Following the order, Naruto opened the door and walked in before closing the door behind him. Looking at his teacher he noticed that he had quite a few bandages under his clothes.
"Hey Iruka-sensei, how are you doing today" Naruto asked.
"Hi Naruto. I'm fine, I'll be back in perfect condition a few days after team assignments" Iruka said noticing Naruto's look of worry.
Naruto let out a quick sigh of relief. "That's good to hear."
Iruka gave Naruto a once over, finally noticing that he wasn't being blinded by just looking at his student. "I like the new clothes Naruto. What happened to the old ones?"
"I just finished cleansing them" Naruto answered with a big smile on his face.
"Cleansed, what do you mean?"
"I started a bonfire and burned them" Naruto stated, then seeing the incredulous look on Iruka's face asked another question. "You didn't think I liked wearing 'Oh here I am, please kill me now' orange did you?"
"I was under that impression. Why else would someone wear clothes like that?" Iruka asked.
"To be underestimated" Naruto answered simply. "Who would take someone who acts like an idiot and wears clothing like that seriously?"
"I see… well, I can't really blame you. Being underestimated is actually a very good thing to be in the shinobi world. Well, I promised to teach you a jutsu that I created, right?"
"What type of jutsu is it?" Naruto asked, not quite able to keep the excitement out of his voice.
"Remember several years ago when you asked me how I always found you?"
Curious, Naruto answered. "Yeah"
"Well, I'm going to teach you the jutsu I always used to find you" Iruka said.
"So you are going to teach me a jutsu that lets me find people?" Naruto questioned.
"No, this is closer to a sensory technique. It is called Chakra Hankyouteii no Jutsu (Chakra Echolocation Technique) it sends out a pulse of, I guess you could say, specially cultivated chakra. Because of the slightly different nature of the chakra, it will bounce off of anything it touches and when it does it alerts you. This in essence allows you to sense your surroundings. If you become good enough with it you can even sense chakra signatures of different people and things. That is actually how I always found you, by recognizing your chakra signature. There are two down sides to this jutsu, one of which will probably not apply to you. First this jutsu takes a lot of chakra to perform. Considering I saw you make hundreds of Kage Bunshin yesterday, I don't think you have to worry about that."
He's right, but for more than one reason. The same reason that I get nearly half of a Kage Bunshin's chakra back when I dispel it will apply here. The nature of my chakra will probably allow me to recover about half of the chakra that I have to use to perform this technique.
"The other down side is that it takes a great deal of time to get used to the information that you receive and learn to sort it out. There are only three hand seals that you use for this technique but you also have to remember to compress and expel the chakra when you do it. The seals are Dragon, Bird, Dragon. You try it."
Following Iruka's instructions, Naruto made the hand seals, saying "Chakra Hankyouteii no Jutsu", and when the jutsu activated he remembered to first compress the chakra that it called up then expelled it. He immediately got a slight headache, just like when he dispelled a Kage Bunshin. Also just like a Kage Bunshin, the headache started fading immediately. What he got was an almost perfect layout of the academy building and a sense that there were three people, other than the two of them, in the building. The people seemed to 'shine' to this new sense, probably their chakra, but they each 'shone' in a slightly different way.
That must be what Iruka-sensei meant when mentioned chakra signatures, and I sensed almost the entire building. I wonder…
Naruto quickly formed the hand seals again. This time he used more chakra to perform it. Like the first time he got a slight headache, but it faded even more quickly, and he sensed the entire academy building and a bit of the grounds outside of the building.
Interesting. Now what if I…
Forming the hand seals a third time, Naruto used the same amount of chakra that he did the first time but compressed the chakra much further before he released it. This time he barely even noticed the headache before it disappeared. Despite having less of a headache, he actually sensed more of his surroundings then when he used more chakra.
Very interesting. I bet I could do the same thing with this jutsu that I did with the sealing jutsu and Kage Bunshin. It is incredibly useful now but it would be even more useful if I could use it without needing any hand seals or having to call out the name. When I get to that point I bet I could use it as chakra control exercise. First using a large amount of chakra to perform it, then trying to compress my chakra enough to cover the same area with less chakra, decreasing the amount of chakra until it requires very little. If it ever gets to that point I bet I could use it to keep a nearly constant awareness of my surroundings. Then again I could use a greater amount of chakra with more compression to sense further away. This jutsu has some serious potential.
"Thanks Iruka-sensei this is awesome. As much as I like powerful jutsu that can cause a lot of destruction, I like this just as much" Naruto said as he formed the hand seals again, compressing the chakra as much as possible.
"You're welcome Naruto. Just out of curiosity, but do you feel tired at all after performing it four times?" Iruka asked.
"No, it uses less than 1/50th of the amount that it takes to make a Kage Bunshin and I seem to be recovering a respective amount of the chakra I used each time."
Incredible Iruka thought he might be able to take it further than I ever imagined. I just don't have enough chakra to use it more than twenty times an hour, but Naruto could probably do it constantly for an hour and barely even feel the drain.
"I'm glad you like it, but could you let me finish my paperwork? The amount of paperwork that I have to fill out without an assistant is insane, especially after my class just graduated" Iruka said, slightly sad that he couldn't spend some more time with his student.
"Thanks again Iruka-sensei. I have to go get my picture taken and give it to Jiji anyway" Naruto replied.
"Just go to the Hokage tower. There is a photographer there between graduation and team assignments so they can take care of everything there."
"Great, thanks Iruka-sensei" Naruto said as he left Iruka's office, making the hand seals to activate the jutsu again.
Naruto slowly walked to the Hokage tower, almost constantly using the new technique that Iruka-sensei had taught him. As he walked, he said the name more and more quietly until it was just slightly louder than a normal speaking voice. Of course until he got it that quiet, he received some very strange looks.
Walking into the tower he asked the receptionist where he could go to get a picture taken for his shinobi ID. She directed him to a room on the second floor without even a hint of a scowl. Following her directions he came to a small room where a plump balding man was stand near a camera on a tripod that brought it up to shoulder height.
The man motioned him to sit in a chair that was placed facing the camera. "Ok kid, sit there and I will take the picture."
Naruto did as told and sat down quickly.
"Good, now wear whatever expression you want to be on your shinobi registration" the man paused as Naruto's face shifted to a mostly serious expression with a hint of his normal foxy grin. "Ok then in 3… 2… 1… Now."
The camera flashed but that soon disappeared. The photographer took something out of the camera and left the room. A couple minutes later he came back into the room and handed Naruto a picture. "Here you go. You know where to take this right?"
"Yeah, thanks for taking it for me" Naruto said politely even though he suspected that he wouldn't have gotten exactly the same treatment if the photographer had recognized him.
Leaving the photographer's room Naruto headed up the stairs. Reaching the top floor Naruto was about to go past the secretary's desk like normal when she stopped him.
"Uzumaki-san, the Hokage is in an important meeting. Could you please wait here for him to finish?"
Surprised that she had stopped him considering she never had before, Naruto consented and sat in one of the chairs in the waiting room.
A few minutes later Danzo emerged from the Hokage's office. After giving him a calculating look, similar to the ones Mizuki had given him but colder, he walked past.
Not liking the feeling he was getting from Danzo, either the look or the feeling of general unease, Naruto activated his Kitsune-me and could barely stop himself from gasping.
He immediately got up and went into the Hokage's office. Naruto walked up to the desk and created a sound barrier that covered the Hokage's desk and the two of them but nothing else.
"Jiji, what's wrong with that Danzo guy?" Naruto immediately asked.
"What do you mean Naruto" the professor asked, his interest being caught.
"What do I mean? The chakra signature of that guy's right eye and arm don't match his body and the arm itself has several chakra signatures. There are six different signatures, one that cavers almost the entire arm and five others with two spots at various places on the arm. But the eye feels really weird almost like I've seen it before."
"I see. Do you-" the old man started but stopped as a cat masked ANBU appeared beside him. "What is it Cat?"
"Sir, I just wanted to check to make sure you were ok" the cat-masked man stated.
"Of course I'm ok. Why wouldn't I be?"
"Sir, despite the fact that I could tell you and Uzumaki-san were talking, I couldn't hear you."
The Hokage turned to look at Naruto again. "I see, that is fine. You are dismissed to return to position."
"Yes sir." the cat-masked ANBU said as he saluted, then he faded back out of sight. Deciding he wanted to have a look around the room, Naruto activated his Kitsune-me again and saw the normal three ANBU hiding in the room. He even noticed that the cat-masked ANBU actually had a chakra signature that was similar to Danzo's arm.
Maybe the similarity has to do with a bloodline Naruto thought while the ANBU was fading.
"So Naruto, why can't my ANBU hear us?" the professor asked giving Naruto a very piercing look.
"Sorry about that Jiji. I created a small sound barrier around the two of us and your desk before I started talking. I remembered that you said that Danzo was one of the elders so I didn't want what I was saying to be overheard" Naruto defended.
"I appreciate the forethought. But what I meant was how did you create the barrier?"
"It is a seal I have that doesn't let sound escape a set amount of space around me" Naruto replied while cursing himself for showing more than he had planned to.
The old man relaxed a bit. "Well thank you for doing that. It would be bad if Danzo found that I knew about that."
"No problem Jiji" Naruto said while internally sighing in relief.
"Did you recognize the chakra signatures?"
"No I didn't, sorry Jiji."
"That's ok. Just tell me if you find out what it matches" the Hokage ordered.
"I understand" Naruto said indicating his acceptance.
"So what did you originally come for my boy?" the old man asked as Naruto sat down in the chair in front of his desk.
"You told me to get my picture taken and bring it to you this weekend, so here I am and here it is" Naruto said as he handed over the picture he had had taken by the photographer. While he did that he deactivated the sound barrier.
The Hokage took the picture and took a look at it for a second before looking at Naruto again. "I see you have changed you clothes."
"Yep, the orange monstrosities no longer served any purpose so I changed into something a bit more appropriate."
"I can see that, they look good on you. Much more fitting for a shinobi" Hiruzen said before placing the picture in a folder. "Now that that is complete, you are set. Just remember to be at the academy at 8am on Monday."
"Ok, thanks Jiji. See you around" Naruto said as he prepared to leave the office but he never got that far as the door suddenly burst open.
"Fight me old man!" A small boy wearing a yellow t-shirt and light green shorts with a strange helmet that was open at the top shoeing spiky brown hair and brilliant blue scarf that was so long it fell to the ground said as he ran through the door and fell flat on his face, having tripped on his scarf.
He slowly got up off of the ground, his hand rubbing his forehead. "Damn it. Why was a trap there!" the kid said as a man wearing all black clothes and black bandana-style hitai-ate followed him through the door.
"Are you alright" the man asked the boy as he looked around; the second his eyes landed on Naruto they took a malicious light.
The whole time this was going on Naruto was fighting to keep himself from laughing. That was only until the little kid came up to him.
"I know. I bet you were the one who set the trap."
"Dream on kid. You tripped over your own scarf" Naruto replied as he picked up the kid, planning to set him back on his feet as he looked like he was going to trip again.
"Hey Naruto" the man said before Naruto had a chance to put the kid down, "Put him down he's the Hokage's grandson."
"Yeah, that's right you can't do anything to me, I'm the Hokage's Grandson, Sarutobi Konohamaru" Konohamaru said, confident that like everyone else Naruto wouldn't do anything to him.
"You know what kid, I only picked you up to put you back on your feet but I've changed my mind" Naruto said as he punched the kid lightly in the head, he didn't really want to send him to the hospital after all.
"Now I'll see you next time Jiji" Naruto said to the old Hokage as he left.
For the rest of the day Naruto just relaxed, or he would have if Konohamaru hadn't kept following him. Naruto finally had enough as the little brat was trying to hide behind a sheet that was made to look like fence boards but that he was holding the wrong way, with the boards horizontal instead of vertical.
"Stop following me you little brat, you couldn't fool anyone with a disguise like that."
Konohamaru lowered the sheet so it no longer covered his face. "He he. Impressive, to see through my disguise like that."
"Kid, look down and tell me what you see" Naruto said blandly.
Konohamaru looked down for an instant before looking back at Naruto. "The ground."
Naruto slapped his face with his hand before dragging it down his face. "I meant look at your disguise."
Konohamaru looked at his disguise this time. "What about it."
Naruto just sighed in exasperation. "Now look at the fence beside you and compare the two. What do you see?"
Konohamaru looked to the side and started blushing. "Just what I would expect! From now on I'll call you Boss. But in exchange, please teach me the jutsu you used to knock gramps out with. Please. Please Boss."
Naruto just sighed in exasperation again. "What the hell, I've got nothing better to do today. I'll teach you a couple of things but I can't teach you that jutsu" Naruto said and saw his face drop, "but maybe we'll find something else that will do the same thing. Let's go to a free training ground for now."
"Ok Boss" Konohamaru said as they walked to a training ground.
"Before anything else, you really have to work on your stealth. You could never sneak up on anyone, let alone the Hokage, like you did. But what can you do? Can you do the leaf concentration exercise? The tree climbing exercise?"
"Of course I can do leaf concentration and climb trees."
"I didn't ask if you could climb trees, I asked if you could do the tree climbing exercise" Naruto clarified.
"What is the difference?" Konohamaru asked.
"I'll take that as a no. No matter, I'll show you when we get to the training ground."
After a few minutes of silence, which Naruto had was a rarity around the energetic boy; they arrived at training ground 15, which was empty today.
"Now watch" Naruto said as he walked up to a tree and started walking up the side. "This is the tree climbing exercise."
"Wow boss, that's awesome. You have to be some kind of super shinobi to do that!" Konohamaru shouted excitedly.
"Not really, this is one of the most basic chakra control exercises" Naruto said as he stood on the side of the tree looking at Konohamaru. "It is a genin-level technique, but you have to know it before you can anything better. Doing this makes your chakra reserves grow so you can do more jutsu before you get tired."
"Really such an awesome technique is so easy. How do you do it?" Konohamaru asked as Naruto jumped back to the ground.
"I never said it was easy, just where you have to start. Come over here and lay on the ground with your feet touching the tree."
"Like this?" Konohamaru asked as he did what Naruto explained.
"Good. Now channel chakra to one foot and make it stick to the tree. To make sure it is sticking you just try to pull it off. If it comes off just add more chakra. If you add too much chakra you will feel like you are being pushed away. Once you get it down with one foot, try it with the other. When you can do it with both feet, slowly try and walk up the tree. Just remember, when you try to walk you have to release the grip your chakra has on the tree with the foot you want to move. If you get too tired and feel like you can't do anymore, stop. That means you have used up almost all of your chakra. I'll warn you right now; this will take a long time to master as it is only mastered when you can walk up and down a tree for an hour straight without feeling like you have to stop. Now get to it."
About two hours later Konohamaru had gotten it down well enough to take a few slow steps before he lost concentration. He finally had to stop as he was too tired to continue and was sitting on a log next to Naruto.
"So kid, why are you attacking your grandpa all the time? From his reaction I get the feeling that it is a common occurrence" Naruto asked, curious about his young companion.
"My name, Konohamaru, is something that grandpa gave me. You would think that people could remember it considering I'm named after the village. But no, whenever people look at me they only see the Hokage's grandson, they never call my name, they never see me for me. I sick of people only seeing my grandpa's shadow so I'm going to become Hokage and throw one that makes his completely vanish."
He is just like me, people don't see him for who he but who he is related to in the same way people don't see me but 'the Kyuubi'.
"Idiot, becoming Hokage isn't that easy. There is no way that some brat could become Hokage just because they want to be acknowledged. You've got it backwards; you become Hokage only after you get acknowledged. Anyway, there is no way you will get there before me" Naruto said with his eyes deadly serious as he watched Konohamaru's eyes widen in shock. "Forget that for now get back to it."
Just as Konohamaru was putting his foot on the tree to take his first step, a voice rang out catching both boys' attention. "I've found you!"
On a branch just behind where Naruto was sitting to watch Konohamaru was his tutor, Ebisu. From the angle that Naruto was looking at him, he could see the cold eyes shining behind Ebisu's sunglasses.
Ebisu quickly jumped off of the he was standing on, landing behind Naruto and leaving him between student and tutor. "Now let's go home young master."
So Konohamaru is stuck with another one of those idiots who can't see him for who he is… or me for anything except the Kyuubi.
"No! I'm going to get strong enough to beat that old geezer and take the Hokage title! Don't get in my way!" Konohamaru shouted.
Ebisu just walked toward them with his hands raised like he was placating children. "A Hokage must be well taught in every aspect of being a shinobi. He must be a master of at least 1000 skills and only then… Huh? What are you doing young master?" Ebisu asked as he finally noticed Konohamaru's odd stance.
"The tree climbing exercise."
"There is no way… If you hang out with trash like him you will become stupid" Ebisu said as he reached Konohamaru and tried to drag him away by his scarf only for Konohamaru to stick to the tree with chakra, not that Ebisu noticed. "Just do what I say young master! My teachings are the easiest way for you to become Hokage. Now let's go home!"
"Let me go" Konohamaru shouted.
Suddenly they both heard a sound that made them stop.
"Pft… HAHAHAHAHA…Oh that's rich. You, a shortcut to be Hokage. Who do you think you are?" Naruto choked out through his laughter.
"I am an elite tutor. I have taught many future Hokage candidates, I am the shortcut to become Hokage" Ebisu stated, sticking out his chest in pride.
"Ok mister elite tutor name one person who has become Hokage or even a candidate for Hokage…" Naruto waited for a minute, seeing if he would get an answer. "No answer I see. Not surprising considering that with that bullshit you spouted when you arrived; there is no way anyone you teach could ever become Hokage. Shortcut to become Hokage, my ass. That is such utter bull; there is NO shortcut if you want to become Hokage. It is true that you must become a master of many skills but even if you do so, if you don't earn the respect necessary you will never become Hokage."
"Why you little brat!" Ebisu yelled as he stalked toward Naruto.
Seeing the violence in Ebisu's eyes, Naruto quickly set up the same sleep seal he had used against the Hokage. It didn't quite work on him, probably because his anger was causing his chakra to flare unconsciously shielding him from the full effect of the seal. Instead of falling asleep, Ebisu was just barely hanging onto his consciousness.
"Wow, I have to admit I am impressed. The technique that you are caught in knocked the Hokage out without any problems. Well no matter" Naruto said as he channeled a little more chakra into the seal, making it visible for a second and knocking Ebisu out.
"That was awesome boss, you defeated my tutor. I really want people to acknowledge me… and yet…" Konohamaru said before Naruto slammed the edge of his hand gently against the younger boy's head.
"Didn't you listen to anything I said? It isn't going to be that easy, the Hokage is the title given not only to the strongest shinobi in the village but to the smartest and most respected. If you really want an awesome title like Hokage, one which everyone will acknowledge, there are no shortcuts."
Remembering everything that Naruto said, one phrase in particular popped into Konohamaru's head: 'you become Hokage only after you get acknowledged. Anyway, there is no way you will get there before me'. "Whatever, stop lecturing me like you know everything. From now on you aren't my boss any more. From now on we're rivals."
"If that is what you want, you have a lot of catching up to do. As of Monday I will be taking my first step as a shinobi, I am going to be a genin. But as long as you keep trying, I will fight you for the title of Hokage one day…" Naruto said, waving as he walked away "Konohamaru".
The next day Naruto went as far away as he reasonably could, which was pretty far considering he could Hiraishin back to the bathroom of his apartment if he need to (it was the only room of his apartment with no windows after all). He was going to do something he had been planning to do for quite a while. He would have done it in the training grounds in his dimension scroll but he didn't know what effects summoning would have on a pocket dimension. So Naruto found himself in a large field quite a distance beyond training ground 44.
Deciding to summon Gamakichi first Naruto bit his right thumb and wiped a little blood on the summoning tattoo while channeling about the same amount of chakra he would need for a Kage Bunshin. As soon as he did a plume of smoke appeared in front of him. When the smoke cleared, Gamakichi was standing in front of him.
"Hey Naruto. How have you been doing? I see you got rid of the orange since I last saw you" Gamakichi said, glad to see his friend again.
"Hey Kichi, I'm doing well. I just graduated from the academy yesterday and I decided that it had served its purpose, so I got rid of it. So how have you been doing?" Naruto asked in return.
"Oh I've been good. I've been learning some techniques; I can make oil for the Gamayu Endan and use Katon: Endan. So why'd you call me today?"
"I decided it was time to summon your dad but I wanted you introduce us."
"Great. Pops has been wondering when he would get to meet you."
"Well here we go" Naruto said before biting his thumb and wiping it on the summoning tattoo again. But this time he channeled enough chakra to create 100 Kage Bunshin. As soon as he did the entire area was covered in smoke which quickly cleared.
Naruto found himself standing on the head of a giant rust-red toad that was taller than the Hokage tower. The toad was wearing a white-lined navy blue vest with a giant sword, which appeared to have the proportions of a dagger, and a pipe sticking out of his mouth.
"Jiraiya get back here you little lecher, why did you call me to a place like this?" Gamabunta said.
Naruto walked to the front of Gamabunta's head so the giant toad could see him. "Sorry about that Gamabunta-sama, I just thought it was a good time to finally meet you since I just graduated from the academy. I only called you way out here because I'm not yet ready to expose the fact that I am capable of doing so."
"So you're Naruto, huh. Nice to meet you kid, but why are you calling me Gamabunta-sama?"
"That's what Tou-san said he called you, so I just followed his example" Naruto answered.
"Yeah Minato always did call me Gamabunta-sama but I always told him to call me Gamabunta, so I will say the same to you."
"Ok, Gamabunta it is."
"Hey pops" Gamakichi said, finally speaking up.
"Gamakichi, is that you?"
Gamakichi jumped right next to Naruto so Gamabunta could see him. "Yep, it's me pops."
"What are you doing here?"
"I wanted my friend here when I met his father" Naruto replied.
"I see" Gamabunta said, taking the pipe out of his mouth and blowing a giant smoke ring. "Do you need anything else kid?"
"No I just summoned you so I could finally meet Gamakichi's Tou-san."
"Well it is good to meet you kid. Feel free to call us anytime you need us" Gamabunta said before an evil glint crept into his eyes. "Oh yeah, if Jiraiya ever tries to teach you to summon us, summon me, I've got a thing or two to say to him."
After he finished speaking, Gamabunta's tongue flicked out and grabbed Naruto, setting him on the ground before dispelling in a puff of smoke.
"Seems like pops likes you" Gamakichi said from Naruto's shoulder before dispelling as well.
Left alone, Naruto started the long trip home, practicing the jutsu Iruka-sensei gave him on the way.
The next day as Naruto was walking toward the academy he was reveling in the absence of the usual glares. He knew, of course, that they would return as soon as the villagers realized it was him.
As he reached the academy he realized that he was early. He couldn't feel anyone within his classroom except Iruka with the chakra echolocation technique. He didn't let that bother him as he walked into the classroom and sat down in his usual seat and put his head down on the desk.
Naruto closed his eyes and tried to get an exact sense of the room and the objects within it, without opening his eyes. He was hoping that if he got good enough he would even be able to sense things as precise as writing on pieces of paper.
Continuing to exercise this new sense, he could tell when his classmates started to come in and decided to try to identify them by just their chakra signatures. It actually turned out to be pretty easy, probably because of the large amount of time he spent with most of them. Chouji was a happy signature that felt kind and hungry, Hinata felt like kinder aspects of water, Shikamaru felt calculating but incredibly lazy, Sakura felt like a spring day and almost as smart as Shikamaru if in a less calculating way, Shino felt like a 'many' being for lack of better words, and Sasuke felt like a very strong shield but one with a few cracks that were almost gone as if they had been slowly healing. The only other two that made real impressions on him were Inuzuka Kiba with Akamaru both who felt something like the other and slightly feral and Yamanaka Ino who felt like a flower perfumed intruder, if that even made any sense. The rest of the class had so little chakra that it was hard to get any read on it.
His musings were broken when one of those students that he had a hard time sensing came up and spoke to him. "Naruto, what the hell are you doing here? Only those that passed the exam are supposed to be here."
As he lifted his head, Naruto heard snorts come from Sakura and Shikamaru. "Are you blind? The fact that I am wearing this hitai-ate" Naruto tapped the hitai-ate tied to his forehead "generally means that I passed."
Almost everyone fell silent at the fact that Naruto had just said something that sounded intelligent, his friends being the exceptions of course. Then since everyone's attention was on him they finally noticed that he was no longer wearing the orange that they had come to associate with him.
"Finally decided to stop hiding I see" Shikamaru said.
"Yeah it had served its purpose and is no longer necessary so I decided to stop wasting the effort" Naruto shot back.
"You actually look good in that Naruto" Sakura said from behind him.
"Thanks Sakura."
"My kikaichu sense something strange about your clothes. Would you care to share?" Shino said as he turned around to look at Naruto.
"Maybe later Shino, but not in here" Naruto said.
"Understood."
"Is that really Naruto? He actually looks good, but nowhere near as good as you Sasuke-kun" Ino said in a very annoying voice.
"So how are Natsumi-chan and Mikoto-san doing Sasuke?" Naruto asked, ignoring Ino.
"They're fine. Natsumi is constantly following me around and watching me train when she isn't asking me to teach her. Kaa-san is fine too, she has been spending a lot of time in the garden and-" Sasuke started but was cut off as Iruka-sensei came into the classroom.
"Ok class" Iruka started actually getting everyone's attention for once. "As of today you are all real shinobi, but you are only genin. A long journey lies ahead of you but you will soon start taking missions to help the village.
"Iruka-sensei, where is Mizuki-sensei?" one of the students Naruto didn't really know asked.
"He has been reassigned" Iruka said calmly. "Like I was saying, as of today you will be assigned to a three man team with a Jounin-sensei, whose instructions you must follow in order to complete your missions. We have tried to create balanced teams. Team 1 will be…"
At that point Naruto zoned out, not caring about any of the teams except the ones his friends were on. It took several minutes but he finally heard Sakura's name called.
"Haruno Sakura, Uzumaki Naruto, and Uchiha Sasuke will be Team 7. Team 8 will be Hyuuga Hinata, Inuzuka Kiba, and Aburame Shino"
"No" Ino shouted in horror "I'm stuck with the lazy/lard duo".
Deciding to ignore Ino, Iruka just continued. "Team 9 is still in circulation from last year. Team 10 will be Akimichi Chouji, Nara Shikamaru, and Yamanaka Ino. Your Jounin-sensei will be introduced this afternoon, you are free until then."
Chattering broke out when Iruka-sensei finally released them. Naruto quickly made his way to Sasuke and Sakura. "Do you two want to go get some Ichiraku Ramen with me?"
"Sure" Sasuke said simply.
"Ok, I'm in" Sakura said quickly after.
The new team quickly left the academy, making their way to Ichiraku Ramen. The second they entered the restaurant, Ayame caught sight of them.
"Hey Naruto, how is our favorite customer doing today? I like your new clothes by the way. And how about you Sasuke-san, Sakura-san?" she asked, knowing Sasuke and Sakura from some of the previous times that they had come together after a training session.
"We're good Ayame-nee-chan; we're just celebrating after becoming a genin team. How about you?" Naruto asked.
"A genin team huh, finally became shinobi did you?" Teuchi said as he came out of the kitchen. "And finally got rid of that orange target you used to wear too, about time."
"Well those clothes served their purpose, and if I wanted to I could still be wearing orange, even as I sit here."
"And how is that Naruto?" Sasuke asked.
"Like this" Naruto said as he channeled chakra to the color shift seal in his shirt, making it turn the same orange he was known for before becoming navy blue again. "I thought it would be a great camouflage, especially if I put on the hood, then it becomes full body camouflage without any need for chakra for genjutsu."
"I have to admit that is impressive" Sakura commented.
"Enough about my clothes. Can I have two miso, one pork, and one beef. Keep them coming back to back please, Ayame-nee-chan."
"One Chicken please" Sasuke ordered.
"One vegetable for me please" Sakura said.
"Coming right up" Teuchi said as he went back into the kitchen.
"So how did you get clothes like that?" Sasuke asked.
"Well, I bought the clothes from Higurashi Weapons then I put a seal on them so they can do that. Do you remember the colorful teacher incident where they had to cancel the academy for three days?"
"Of course, I've never laughed so hard in my life as I did when I saw Mizuki. Are you saying you did that?" Sakura asked.
"Yep, I placed some seals in a trap so when they went into the instructor's lounge they became like that. Anyway, I used a weaker version on my clothes so I could change their color at will" Naruto explained.
Sakura looked down at herself, realizing how her clothing painted almost as big of a target on her as Naruto's orange clothes did. "Hey Naruto, could you put that seal on my clothes? I really like my clothes but they do stick out and if I could change them they would still be appropriate."
"Hn."
"Sasuke what have I said about that monosyllabic response?" Naruto said before turning to Sakura. "Sure I could apply the seal, but you will need to give me the clothes you want it on."
Just then their ramen came. "One vegetable, one miso, and one chicken" Ayame said as she placed the ramen in front of them.
That marked the end of their conversation as they quickly finished their ramen and headed back to the academy. They didn't want to give their sensei a bad impression by making him or her waiting after all. The three of them arrived just in time to see a beautiful woman with black hair and red eyes named Yuuhi Kurenai take team 8 and a laid back man with slightly spiky black hair and a black beard named Sarutobi Asuma take team 10. The other teams filed out soon after, leaving just team 7.
After nearly an hour of waiting for their errant sensei the three of them were starting to go a bit stir-crazy.
"We came back from lunch quickly hoping to make a good impression but no. Our sensei has to be the one Jounin that can't get here on time" Sakura said, almost shouting in her agitation.
"If he doesn't get here within ten minutes I'm going to have to repeat that prank I told you about at lunch" Naruto decided.
"I'm almost sorry for our Jounin" Sasuke said at the same time as Sakura said "Poor guy".
Just as Naruto was getting ready to go through with his threat, the door of the classroom creaked open and a man with gravity defying silver hair and his hitai-ate covering his left eye stuck his head through the door.
Hmm… why does this guy seem familiar Naruto thought seriously, how many people have hair like that… of course, that ANBU!
When Kakashi stuck his head through the door and felt the waves of anger rolling off of his genin he couldn't help being just a little bit intimidated. "Hmm, how do I say this… my first impression of you three is… you are scary" he said in a deadpan but still sarcastic voice. "Meet me up on the roof in five minutes."
Naruto quickly used Iruka's technique and sensed someone on the roof, quickly memorizing the chakra signature as Kakashi-sensei's.
"So what do you guys say, should we hurry and go through the halls or should we walk up the outside wall and surprise the hell out of him?" Naruto asked gleefully.
"I'm for the wall" Sasuke said.
"Me too" Sakura agreed.
"Wall it is then" Naruto said as he walked over to one of the open windows and started walking up the wall. When he saw he wasn't being followed he turned back to the classroom. "Let's go."
Kakashi was sitting on the railing of the roof looking at the door that led to the roof when he heard a noise behind him. Turning around he saw something that made his one visible eye go wide and a visible 'O' to form beneath his mask. His three fresh genin were walking toward him, up the outside wall of the academy.
While he might be able to understand that coming from Sasuke seeing as he came from a clan and has someone to teach him, how could his other two genin do it too? That just shouldn't be possible, not to mention that they were doing it perfectly and from the look of it they were completely accustomed to doing so. If they were so good at that, what else could they do?
As the three genin approached the roof they could see their sensei's eye go wide when he looked at them but the surprise he felt was quickly hidden.
"I'm impressed, I didn't think any fresh genin could wall walk like that but I've got three. Come up here and sit in front of me and we can begin" Kakashi-sensei said, gesturing to the roof in front of him and waiting for his team to sit. "Let's begin with introductions. How about names, likes, dislikes, dreams for the future, hobbies, stuff like that"
"How about you go first sensei?" Sakura said.
"Ok. My name is Hatake Kakashi. My likes and dislikes are my business so I'm not going to tell you guys. My dreams for the future… hmm… Well, I do have lots of hobbies…" Kakashi deadpanned, keeping a bored expression the entire time.
"So all doggy told us… was his name" Naruto said to his teammates while looking at his sensei and scratching his hair. He was able to see their sensei's eyes widen again before turning into what looked like a smile with only one eye.
"Why did you call him that?" Sasuke asked.
"Well… he smells like dogs" Naruto said quickly recovering from his hesitation.
"Now it's your turn, we'll start from the left. You're up pinky." Kakashi cut in.
Sakura looked back at their sensei. "I'm Haruno Sakura. I like my friends and reading and dislike perverts and people who don't take me seriously. My dream is to become a great kunoichi and I'll worry about the rest after that. My hobbies are learning about medicine and a bit about genjutsu and spending time with my friends."
Kakashi turned to Sasuke. "You next black-top."
Sasuke just stared back at Kakashi. "My name is Uchiha Sasuke. I like my family, friends, and training and I hate anyone that would put them in danger. My dream is to resurrect my clan and if I ever find him kill someone. My hobbies are training and spending time with my sister."
Kakashi turned to his final student. "You're up blonde."
Naruto quickly looked at his friends then back at their sensei. "I'm Uzumaki Naruto. I like my friends, training, and Ramen. I dislike people who are late or would put my friends in danger. My dream is to earn the respect of the village and maybe one day become Hokage. My hobbies are training and Fuuinjutsu."
Interesting Kakashi thought I was kind of expecting her to be a fangirl and the Uchiha to be a brooding Emo who only wanted revenge, thank Kami I was wrong. But probably the most surprising one is Naruto, he actually recognized me and while he wants to be Hokage but he also understands what he will need to get there, not to mention he likes Fuuinjutsu. Of course, another plus is that he isn't wearing orange and actually looks like a shinobi.
Kakashi quickly scanned his potential genin. "Well now that that is done, we will start our duties tomorrow."
"What kind of duties?" Naruto asked excitedly.
"First we are going to do something that involves just the four of us.
"What?" both Sasuke and Sakura said at the same time.
"Survival training."
"But didn't we do enough of that in the academy?" Sakura asked.
"This will be a bit different," Kakashi chuckles a little, "this time your opponent will be me". This time Kakashi straight out laughs.
"What is so funny?" Sasuke asked.
"It's just that I'm pretty sure that you are going to explode after I get to this next bit."
"Why would we explode?" Naruto asked, finally speaking up again.
"Well, it's just that out of the 27 people who graduated this year only 9 will actually become genin. The rest get to go back for another year at the academy. The survival training will be a test with a failure rate of 66 percent" Kakashi finished, reveling in the looks that his three students were giving him.
Hmm, there is something wrong here. Even if there is a 66 percent chance to fail, how he is saying it makes you think that it is individual but the fact that there are nine people who actually become genin indicates that there will be three teams of three. Naruto thought, making sure his thoughts didn't appear on his face. It feels like he is setting us up for something.
"What the hell! What was the point of passing the exams if you are just going to test us?" Sakura asked, her temper getting the better of her.
"Oh those, they were just to weed out those who stand no chance of becoming genin. You will be tested tomorrow, meet me at training ground 7 at 8am. Bring all of your shinobi tools" Kakashi said as he went to leave before looking back over his shoulder. "Oh and you might want to skip breakfast, otherwise you will throw up."
With that Kakashi disappeared in a puff of smoke, leaving the three alone on the roof.
"Do you guys want to come over to my apartment?" Naruto asked. "It could be important."
"Sure" Sakura said.
"Why not?" Sasuke agreed.
Like Kakashi, they left the roof, but unlike Kakashi they just walked down the stairs and out of the academy building.
Arriving at his apartment, Naruto had his teammates sit down while he closed the windows and created a privacy seal, making the walls glow blue for a second. That was something Sasuke didn't miss.
"What was that Naruto?" Sasuke asked from his seat.
"That was me being slightly paranoid and creating a privacy seal. Now nothing we say can be overheard by someone listening from outside." Naruto explained.
"Why go to all of that effort?" Sakura asked.
"I suspect Kakashi-sensei wants to see our reaction to his 'test'" Naruto said as he made three hand seals and used the sensory technique Iruka had taught him, silently. As he received the information from the technique he sensed Kakashi's chakra signature outside his window. Naruto decided not to mention Kakashi's presence.
"Why?" Sasuke asked.
"Let me first ask this. How much of his misdirection did you see through?"
There was silence for a few seconds before Sakura spoke up. "The number of graduates he chose. Why did he say there would be nine, was it just to tell us that 2/3rds of us would graduate."
"More like why was he trying to make us work against each other as much as him?" Sasuke interjected. "There is no way we can beat a Jounin by ourselves, you try fighting my Kaa-san for a while and you won't question that and the scary thing is that she was a relatively unknown Jounin while Kakashi-sensei is pretty famous. I used to hear my clan talking about him, they didn't like him but he was well known."
"Actually I didn't think of that point. I just realized that since nine people would be passing there would have to be three groups of three while the 66 percent that fail would be the remaining six groups of three" Naruto said.
"So the test is at least partially about teamwork? I mean he was trying to make us work against each other after all" Sakura said tentatively.
"That and the fact that he wants us to go to a test at less than our best" Naruto theorized. "Considering today, he will probably show up late again tomorrow. So if we didn't eat he would probably be able to use it against us. I'm definitely going to eat breakfast, if I throw up, I throw up. I'd rather be forced to throw up then be forced to fight without eating."
"I agree" Sakura said. "I'm not going to take a test that my future depends on in anything other than perfect condition. Not to mention he never actually ordered us not to eat."
"Same here, not that Kaa-san would let me do otherwise anyway" Sasuke agreed.
"Now that that is decided, how far should we go against him?" Naruto asked.
"I'm going all out" Sasuke decided. "I won't wear my weights and I'll deactivate the resistance seal."
Sakura looked at Sasuke and decided to follow along. "I'll do the same."
They both looked at Naruto expectantly.
"I guess I could reduce my resistance seal to level 7" Naruto said uncomfortably.
"Reduce it to level 7! What level are you on!" Sasuke almost exploded.
Naruto nervously started scratching the back of his head with his right hand. "Level 14" he whispered as he looked at the floor.
That struck both of his friends speechless for a couple minutes. Naruto started to get worried so he looked back up and saw that his friends had gone into shock with their mouths still hanging open. Even more worried; Naruto went up to them and waved in front of their faces. They immediately snapped out of it and looked at him in amazement.
"How can you possibly be at level 14?" Sakura asked.
"I applied mine about three years before I applied yours" Naruto answered.
Sasuke looked thoughtful for a second. "That makes sense, if we had had the resistance seals that long we would be at a higher level too."
Sakura decided to change the subject. "So what should we do about this survival training that Kakashi-sensei has planned?"
"I don't see how we can make any plans yet but since I can make shadow clones I'll send one of them with you to meet sensei tomorrow. That way if we have to fight Kakashi-sensei like it sounds you guys can let my clone fight sensei and we can prepare a strategy.
"Ok" Sakura decided after a moment of thought. "But your right, we can't make any plans if we don't know what our objective will be."
"Sounds good" Sasuke agreed as he got up to leave. "I'll see you two tomorrow at 8am."
Sakura got up to follow and they both left quickly to prepare for their test.
When Naruto arrived at training ground 7 at 8:05am, he found both of his teammates sitting with their backs against training posts. The posts were a short distance from a bridge that crossed a small river.
Sitting down with his back to the third post, Naruto spoke up. "What do you want to bet Kakashi-sensei is at least an hour late?"
"Not worth it, you would win" Sasuke stated.
"In that case, screw it. I'm going to get ready" Naruto said as he stood back up and made two Kage Bunshin, the first one sat back down against the post, the second turned into a stone. Naruto quickly picked up the stone and gave it to Sasuke. "After he gives his explanation, throw this on the ground to let me know what is going on."
"How would throwing that on the ground allow you to do that?" Sakura asked, intrigued.
"When I learned the Kage Bunshin no jutsu, I found out that when one clone dispels anything they learn is transferred back to the original."
"Fine, go hide" Sasuke commanded.
Running into the woods, Naruto found a tree with dense foliage to hide in and lay down on a branch. Once he got comfortable, he started practicing the sensory jutsu that Iruka had taught him, this time trying to get it to work with only two hand seals. He did manage it, but everything he sensed was really blurry. He kept practicing until it started to everything he was sensing started to clear up. When it did he was actually very surprised because Kakashi-sensei was standing in one place looking at some sort of stone, and had been since he started practicing. He decided to leave it alone because trying to figure out what was going on would only expose him before the test began.
In the end Kakashi-sensei stood looking at the stone for not one but two hours before he finally went to start the survival training. It took another ten minutes before he finally found out what was going on, when Sasuke smashed his rock-shaped shadow clone.
After two hours of waiting, Kakashi-sensei finally showed up.
"Good morning you guys" Kakashi said as he walked up to them.
"You're late!" they all shouted at Kakashi-sensei in return.
Kakashi didn't reply, he just walked over to the training posts and placed an alarm clock on the center post. "It's set for noon."
The three genin just gave him puzzled looks.
Kakashi reached into his pocket and pulled out two bells to hold between them. "Your task is to get these two bells from me before time runs out. Those who don't get a bell by noon… get no lunch…"
Kakashi paused as if waiting for a response, like growling stomachs or scowls. When he didn't he looked slightly disappointed but just continued. "I'll not only tie you to one of the stumps but also eat in front of you."
All three of them thought along the same lines. 'So that's why he said not to eat breakfast, I'm so glad we didn't listen to that!'
"You only have to get one bell. So there will definitely be at least one person tied to a post. And if someone doesn't get a bell they fail and are sent back to the academy" Kakashi said as he watched the genin gulp. "You can use kunai, shuriken, or anything else you want. Just know this, if you don't come at me with the intent to kill, you won't succeed."
The three genin just looked at him with serious expressions.
"Well it seems like you are already prepared to come at me with the intent to kill" Kakashi said. "I think I'm starting to like you guys. Ready… Begin!"
From the Naruto clone's point of view, he saw Kakashi-sensei clip the bells to his belt while his two teammates leapt off into the woods while another clone stayed there to fight against Kakashi. Then it felt itself flying through the air, heading right at a tree trunk.
Naruto quickly used the Iruka's jutsu to find Sasuke and Sakura before heading out to meet up with them. Finally he caught up with them as they were leaping through the trees while suppressing their chakra as much as possible.
"So what do you two think about this 'bell test'" Naruto asked.
"Sakura was definitely right about the teamwork part, why else would he have two bells instead of three when you have to have three-man teams?" Sasuke replied.
"So what should we do about him?" Sakura cut in.
"The problem is those bells, unless we can stop him for a second he will just reclaim the bells even if we manage to take them" Sasuke said.
Naruto decided that a seal could do that. "I can stop him with a paralysis seal but it will only last for a few seconds, he will be able to just fight his way through it."
Sasuke looked almost gleeful. "I'll distract him, there is this one I jutsu know that will be perfect."
"Then I'll get the bells" Sakura finished.
"I've got a better idea" Naruto started while glancing toward Sakura. "I'll cut the bells off of his belt with a kunai; I will have to stay in one place for a few seconds. Sasuke you must use your technique the second he freezes up, Sakura be ready for that as I will throw my kunai moments after Sasuke uses his jutsu. The second we start you must be gaining speed to grab those bells. Anyone have anything else to add?"
Neither Sakura nor Sasuke said anything signaling their acceptance. Just before they started Naruto thought of a question that hadn't been asked. "Did you guys remove your weights and deactivate the resistance seal?"
They both nodded.
"I guess it was only me then" Naruto said as he shook his head at himself. He quickly channeled some chakra to his restriction seal and set it at level 7.
Just as he finished his second clone was destroyed. "I've just got two things to say. First if you ever hear him say 'Konohagakure Taijutsu Ougi: 1000 Years of Death', Kawarimi as quickly as you can.
Sakura just looked confused. "Why what is that technique?"
"It is a chakra enhanced ass poke, he destroyed my clone with it. The second thing is that he is a pervert. As soon as my clone started fighting him, he took out a copy of Icha Icha paradise and started reading it."
Sasuke looked disgusted. "I really didn't need to know that."
"Let's worry about that later, give me 30 seconds to get in position then start you two" Sakura ordered as she took off into the woods.
After waiting thirty seconds like Sakura asked, Naruto and Sasuke took off heading back toward the clearing.
Arriving Naruto took off toward Kakashi. He didn't even bother with Taijutsu, as soon as he got within 5 meters he yelled "Sasuke now" as he created a paralysis seal that quickly caught Kakashi, holding him immobile.
Even after just a few seconds of the paralysis, Naruto could feel Kakashi start to break the seal. So when he heard Sasuke yell "Katon: Karyuu Endan (Fire Release: Dragon Fire Flame Bullet) he was relieved. As soon as he saw the dragon-shaped fireball fly past him, he threw a kunai.
The kunai moved just a little faster than the fire and right before Naruto felt Kakashi-sensei break the seal, his kunai sliced the bells off of Kakashi's belt. He could tell that Kakashi-sensei probably used a Kawarimi, no Jounin would be caught that easy after all, but right after the fireball impacted Sakura ran up to them with a victorious expression on her face.
They were about to start celebrating when they heard cries of despair. "My precious, my poor precious, what have they done to you."
Following the voice they found Kakashi-sensei kneeling on the ground cradling what was left of his book. Apparently, even though he had managed to escape with a Kawarimi, he wasn't fast enough and his book still got burned. When Kakashi-sensei finally looked up, there was barely suppressed rage in his eyes.
"You know, for some reason I get the feeling it isn't a good thing that his book burned" Naruto said quietly, slightly intimidated.
"Ok I won't be going easy on you any more" Kakashi-sensei said in a dangerous voice as he reached for the bells.
"Are you looking for these, Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura asked, holding out the bells as she saw their Jounin-sensei feeling where the bells used to be.
"How, How…" Kakashi was absolutely stunned, not only had his genin managed to temporarily paralyze him and burn his precious book, but they had done so as a distraction to get the bells. That wasn't even mentioning that he didn't know Naruto had paralyzed him, it had to have been Naruto, or that Sasuke hadn't used just any fireball but the Karyuu Endan, something that he should have nowhere enough chakra or control over fire to perform.
"So do we pass Kakashi-sensei" Sakura asked.
"First you must decide to who you will give the second bell" Kakashi replied, just barely managing to get himself back under control.
Sakura looked from Sasuke to Naruto and back again before taking a bell in each hand and throwing the bells to both of her teammates. "There we go. Now we've all got a bell. You never said we had to keep them after all."
"I see. In that case… you pass" Kakashi said, having been completely overwhelmed by his team. "You displayed very impressive teamwork but always remember this: In the shinobi world those that break the rules are trash, it's true, but those that abandon their comrades are worse than trash. Anyway you pass, now get lost."
"Yatta" Naruto shouted and grabbed his friends while jumping up and down in happiness.
"Meet me here tomorrow at 8am."
The Hokage Office
Sarutobi Hiruzen looked at the Jounin standing in his office with understandable pride. These were the men and women that were assigned to teach the next generation of Konoha's shinobi. All of his best and brightest, all except Hatake Kakashi who was running late as usual.
He was just about to give up on waiting and start asking which teams passed when Kakashi showed up. He looked very upset which put the old Hokage on edge. "Kakashi, what's wrong?"
Kakashi didn't even seem to think about what he was saying. "My precious was destroyed" he stated as he took what was left of his Icha Icha book, which was just the spine and some of the back cover.
Suddenly laughter broke out from one of his female Jounin.
"Oh that is rich, I bet you took your perverted book out to read while testing your genin and it got burned while you were underestimating them" Kurenai managed to get out through her laughter.
"So how did they manage to do that?" Hiruzen asked humorously.
"Naruto somehow managed to paralyze me while Sasuke used Katon: Karyuu Endan to distract me and Sakura grabbed the bells that Naruto had cut off with a kunai just before I Kawarimi'd to get away from the fireball" Kakashi narrated, not noticing how his tale left the room completely silent.
"Well anyway, onto the team who passed" the old Hokage said to change the subject.
"Team 1, Fail."
"Team 2, Fail."
"Team 3, Fail."
"Team 4, Fail."
"Team 5, Fail."
"Team 6, Fail."
"Team 7… Pass" Kakashi said surprising almost everyone because he had failed every team before this one.
"Team 8, Pass" Yuuhi Kurenai said, looking very proud.
"Team 9 is already accounted for so team 10…" Hiruzen said.
"Team 10, pass" Sarutobi Asuma stated.
"Since that is everyone. Kakashi, Kurenai, and Asuma please complete the necessary paperwork and get it to me as soon as possible. Dismissed."
Everyone disappeared from the office, leaving the Hokage alone behind the stacks of paperwork.
A/N: Has everyone heard the phrase 'through a mirror, darkly'? Well, this story is what I like to think of as 'through a mirror, intelligently'. I know I could have just skipped the Konohamaru parts but I really like his character, the character's potential anyway. So instead of getting a pranking idiot as a role model, Konohamaru gets a competent (still some pranks) role model that will actually teach him useful things for his career as s shinobi.
This shock is meant as a wake-up call to Kakashi. Seriously, if you had a team that overwhelmed you like this, even if you weren't going anywhere near all out, wouldn't most people think 'wow, I can really take this team a long way' and try to get them to fulfill their potential?
I think that is all I have to say, so enjoy until next time.
Next Chapter: Training and Drunks
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