Chapter 11 – As Times Goes On (Part 1)
Two weeks later at lunch, Naruto is talking to his friends about this great bowl of ramen that he had at Ichirakus'. Everyone at the table all looked at him with annoyed eyes as he had been talking about it since class began. They were getting kind of sick of it. With the exception of Hinata and Shino Aburame, they told Naruto to shut up and sit down. As Naruto pouted, Shino looked at the group of friends from behind his sunglasses. He remembered the day he came to sit with these people.
One weekend, he was around the Nara's property, hunting for some bugs. He found a really nice species around the area and wanted to catalog them. He must have annoyed the deer in the area because Shikamaru appeared. He asked what he was doing and he told him. Shikamaru allowed him to search for the species as long as he did not annoy the deer. He agreed and continued his hunt. Shikamaru took the deer and went to relax.
The next day, Shino approached him at lunch to thank him. He told that he found a bit more than he expected and asked for permission to continue his hunt. Shikamaru told him that it was okay. Naruto found his hunts interesting and asked Shino about it. Shino sat down and began to explain what he did. He was surprised that he had their attention. When Shino came back to the Nara grounds, Shikamaru joined him in his hunt and invited him to lunch again. Since that day, Shino has been an associate of 'The Loser'.
As they were talking, Sakura came up to them, standing in front of Naruto. Naruto raised his eyebrow and wondered what she wanted. Naruto wasn't exactly one of the people that Sakura liked. After he called her and the rest of them fan girls, Sakura demanded an apology. Naruto refused to give her one as he told her that she owed him an apology for accusing him of something stupid. So why was Sakura here?
"Naruto, I was wondering if you would come with me for a second?" Sakura asked sweetly. Everyone was surprised by the flirty tone that she was using.
"Excuse me?" Naruto asked.
"I had some time to think about it and I was wrong to accuse you. I have something for you and I would like to give it to you in private." Sakura explained. She batted her eyes at him, which made Naruto's cheeks a little pink. He stood up and began to follow her, despite protest. She led him toward the entrance of the academy to give him his gift. Naruto walked behind her but he noticed something in the corner of his eye. Sakura entered first and Naruto followed. That's when something fell on Naruto. It was pink paint.
Sakura and others of the Sasuke fan club was laughing at what just happened to him. It was the perfect payback for what he said. One of the girls had a camera on her and was about to take a picture until she heard a feminine voice sputtering and spitting out paint. She then began to sob about the paint in her hair. The girls were confused until a small ball landed in between them. It suddenly exploded, covering them in an orange mist. They all came out of the entrance, each of them looking very ridiculous. Everyone in the yard was have a time, laughing at them covered in orange. Sakura was the most mortified.
"Did you really think that would have worked on me?" Naruto asked from their left. He had his arms folded and gave them a bored expression. The girls were furious and charged at him. Naruto avoided them by running up the wall and dashing off. The girls were on his heels as he laughed at them. It would take several instructors to catch them all.
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Iruka looked at Naruto who was amused and Sakura who was pissed. Iruka just sighed as he turned to Naruto.
"Okay Naruto, for now on, all of your paint bombs are forbidden within the academy. This is my only warning." He then faced Sakura. "I will allow you and the other girls to go home for today but tomorrow you will be cleaning the mess that you all created."
"All he's getting is a warning? Look at what he did to us!" Sakura shouted.
"You instigated this Sakura. Naruto may have told you something that you did not like but you attempted to embarrass him by dumping that paint. Naruto did nothing wrong but get you back. As of right now, you and the rest of the fan club are to leave Naruto and his friends alone. Am I understood?" Iruka asked with seriousness.
"Yes sir." Sakura said meekly. He motioned them to leave. Naruto left first but he did get one last word in. He called her 'shallow' under his breath and walked out. This made Sakura mad but she had more pressing issues to deal with.
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Now ten years old, each one of the guys were improving on their skills. They had progressed well since they were nine. Kiba was still the fastest of the class, Choji was improving on his staff techniques, Naruto was using his fūinjutsu for fun and Shikamaru was showing his mother how well he can use barriers, something that enraged her to no end. As they continued to improve, they would start to find new interests. One of those interests started with Kiba.
Kiba was jogging a new route with Akamaru. He did it pretty early on the weekends due to the chores that he had to do. He was now wearing fifteen pounds on each wrist and ankle while Akamaru carried fifteen as well. As they jogged the new route, which was twice as long as their old, they came upon a sight that confused them.
They saw a man. He was a tall and well-built man with high cheek-bones, thick eyebrows and black hair cut in a bowl style. He wore a green jumpsuit, orange striped leg warmers and the standard Konoha flak jacket, which was unzipped. What confused the duo was the fact that he was walking with his hands and had on some stone slippers. Kiba watched curiously until the man whipped her head around to face the two. He saw them wearing the weights and gave them a toothy grin. He flips to his feet and face the two.
"Ah, such a beautiful day for some training! Am I right?!" Guy exclaimed.
"Uh, sure?" Kiba said with caution. Guy got into his face and startled the two. He looked at his wrist and ankles.
"I see that you have recently upped the weights. This is great! You are the epitome of youth!" He then pulled out two green suits like his. One was given to Kiba and one to Akamaru. "If you wish to get a really good spring when launching the Tunneling Fang, do a hundred squats daily. I am now off. Enjoy the rest of this youthful day!" Jumping back on his hands he sped off, leaving one very confused kid and dog.
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"Maybe we need to report this. I mean, the guy is clearly crazy." Shikamaru said after Kiba told him about the encounter.
"I don't know. This jumpsuit is kind of cool." Naruto said.
"What do you know about fashion? You think orange is a ninja color." Kiba spat. Naruto gave him the middle finger. "Either way, he did give pretty good training advice. He seems to know what he was talking about because my mom agreed. She also told me that if I wear that jumpsuit, I was a dead man." The group just continued to eat lunch and talk.
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Naruto was escorted to the Hokage's office by the ANBU. He was told that the old kage wanted to see him about something important. When he entered the office, Naruto took on a serious expression when he faced him. Hiruzen missed that smile that he would come in with. Hopefully, he could get it back today. He has Naruto sit down and the two face each other.
"It's good to see you Naruto and I'm happy that you did not give my ANBU any trouble. I called you here for two reasons. The first is to apologize to you." This stunned Naruto a little. "You do have a point. I could have told you about your clan. I know that your life in the village is not one that a young child as yourself should have. I could have given you some measure of happiness by telling you about them. However, in that same token, I did it to protect you. I know that you read that book your friends gave you. You know what happened to your clan." Hiruzen said.
"Yeah, I know. I guess you have a point there. Still, you could have told me about them." Naruto said.
"I know and again, I apologize for that. Perhaps we can start over Naruto. I do miss you coming around." Hiruzen said.
"Yeah, why not old man. Um, are there any more secrets that you have kept for me?" Naruto asked.
"Yes, I have but I will make a deal with you. I will tell one of those secrets when you graduate. For now, I'm asking you to be patient."
"I guess that's fair. So what was the other thing that you wanted to talk about?"
"I'm curious about your little sealing array that you placed in Ms. Kawakami shop. It seems to have worked really well." Hiruzen said.
"Is she okay?" Naruto asked with worry. She was one of the few who was nice to him. She was the one who sold him his ink, brushes and paper. She was complaining about someone breaking in and taking supplies.
"Yes, she is fine and the culprit has been captured. I need to know what exactly did you do." He asked the boy.
"Oh, it's a wicked cool array. I write seals around points of entry right and if the seal is broken in any way, the security kicks in. You get about two steps before you are frozen because of the other seal that is embedded into that array. Seals crawl up your body and you're caught. You aren't moving until the authorities come. It also alerts the victim so they can hide or call the cops. I've improved it some because I realized that it wouldn't work on shinobi but I've solved that problem." The blond said with a grin. Hiruzen could only look at Naruto with shock. That was just genius. Naruto covered his bases and it was something that did real good. Who knew that Naruto had the same gift as his father and mother?
"That is a very impressive array. I was wondering if you would be kind enough to set up that security array for the tower. I will pay you of course and I will help you make this a trademark. It will prevent others from stealing any of your ideas." Hiruzen said.
"Really? That would be awesome! Do you want what to see my other ideas?" Naruto asked excitedly. Hiruzen just smiled at him.
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The sounds of sticks were clashing against one another. Choji was defending himself pretty well against one of his cousins. The cousin pushed his advantage and Choji was sent out of the ring. The instructor stopped the spar and the two Akimichi faced each other. They bowed at each other and shook each other's hand. Choji was the last spar of the class and they all stood in front of the sensei.
"I am pleased at the strides that you all have made. There is still room for improvement but that will happen with time and patience. Continue to improve your skills, you are dismissed." The teacher said.
"Thank you sir." They all said. They all walked off the floor and to the locker room. Choji decided to talk to his cousins.
"Hey Haruki," the boy turned to face him. Choji had something for him. "This is a thank you for helping me out for these pass months. I don't think I would have been as good if it wasn't for you."
"Thanks a lot Choji." Haruki said. He opened the bag and got a really yummy smell. "Pot stickers, my favorite!" he dug it and ate one. He felt that he was in nirvana because of how tasty it was. "Thank your mom for me." He said.
"Um, actually, I made that for you with my mom's help." Choji said, surprising his cousin.
"You serious?! Wow, this is really good Choji. Thanks again for the food." Haruki said. Choji was really happy about what he said. He made his way home to tell his mother all about it. He asked for more lessons and she was happy to teach him.
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Shino watched the board carefully. Shikamaru was just that good when it came to this game. However, he was kind of distracted. This was due to the boy's mother slamming the barrier that he created. Shino just shrugged and returned to the game, not wanting to forfeit this game. He was going to beat the Nara genius this time.
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Authors' Notes – I wanted to do another two chapters of this story. I tried for three but I didn't have the time. Anyway, I hope you like the chapter.