The Art of Breathing
Chapter 11: To Stare into the Abyss
"The true soldier fights not because he hates what is in front of him, but because he loves what is behind him." – G.K. Chesterton
...
Humans are truly fascinating creatures, capable of great feats of both logic and imagination. They are also, in some unescapably ironic way, completely blind to even the most obvious things if those same things fall into the category of 'impossible.'
Konoha was strong. The best. To be attacked was unthinkable, impossible.
But something was happening. Yuuto could read in in the tensed shoulders of the jônin on the streets and the additional, if hidden, ANBU presence.
These tells, as well as a few other subtle changes, were not present when he had left. That they were when he returned after his mission…
Something was not as it should be. He remembered one of Mad-eye's lectures at Grimmauld Place.
"Constant Vigilance!" Mad-eye barked, pacing the floor with an uneven yet smooth gait. He turned, focusing a single shrewd, dark eye on Harry while the vibrant, glowing blue one that earned his nickname swiveled around seeking threats.
"Remember Potter, pay attention to the normal sounds in environments you frequent. This will help you establish a status quo and help you recognize when things are out of sorts." Moody narrowed his remaining eye and leaned in. A scowl on his disfigured face. "In this case we can learn a bit from illegal potion brewers who concoct their potions in the woods while trying to secret their deeds from the ministry. When the birds stop singing, a branch snaps under foot, or items are out of place, they often get their first indication that something may be wrong. Be aware of your surroundings. Negligence can and will kill you, along with anyone else who's with you."
The increased security went unnoticed by most of the ninja, the civilians weren't even worth mentioning. The jônin could be explained away with the presence of foreign shinobi or genin participating in the exam. Professional paranoia, if you will.
But Yuuto recognized what was happening. Konoha was gearing up for an attack.
He handed in his mission report and went directly to the Academy. The extra security had his back up.
Iruka was sitting at his desk doing final preparations for his new third year students. Since his old class graduated, he had the new batch this time.
His head snapped towards the door as Yuuto stepped over the threshold. "You're back." He said, relaxing his stance with a smile.
Yuuto nodded with a dark expression on his face. "What happened while I was gone that has everyone on edge?"
Iruka's mouth tightened. "Orochimaru interfered with the second exam." The tension in the room skyrocketed. "Sasuke was marked with a cursed seal. Team 7 made it to the tower yesterday, just on time."
Yuuto cussed. Iruka gave an unhappy nod and continued. "We were warned that if any interference occurred with the exam, Konohagakure would be attacked. The teams who made it past the second exam are competing in the elimination rounds now. We'll know the results by this evening."
Yuuto scoffed and nodded. Running a hand through his dark hair in nervous gesture then smoothing his expression over, he stated, "We just have to be ready then." He sighed a little and gave a wave, moving to go to his own classroom. "I'm going to finalize my room for tomorrow then. See you Iruka."
His friend called a farewell to his back.
As it stood, Yuuto wouldn't be walking anywhere in the village without as much gear as he could reasonably carry without being overt.
After all, it wasn't paranoia if they were really out to get you.
Yuuto stood at the front of his classroom. A look of pride on his face as he greeted his academy students back for their fourth year.
"Welcome back brats," he said with a smile. "Congratulations on starting your fourth year of Konoha's Ninja Academy."
He panned his eyes across their faces. "You have passed last year's requirements to move up and have decided to continue on the path to become a ninja of Konohagakure."
"But," Yuuto's smile faded into a more serious face, "it will not be easy. You won't be able to continue without serious application, practice and study."
"You can't falter and you must have a good reason to grow stronger. Power alone is not enough."
He met their determined gazes with a firm smile and gave a brisk nod. "Let's take attendance then."
Yuuto read the names off his list and wondered what the future would bring.
After he dismissed the class for the day, he walked back over to Iruka's classroom to talk about their students and the current situation in the village.
Yuuto sat, leaning the small chair back and propping his feet on the desk. "I think my brats will do well this year. They certainly looked determined."
Iruka threw him an exasperated look. "Get your feet off the desk," he ordered. Yuuto pulled a face and dropped his feet and chair to the ground.
Iruka rolled his eyes and mumbled under his breath, "As bad as the kids."
"Hm? What was that?"
"I said 'I've got interesting kids.' I'm pretty sure that one is Naruto's protégé," Iruka declared. "He's just as bad, and he drags his friends along with him."
Yuuto laughed quietly. "I think I passed that group on the street a few weeks back." A massively entertained look on his face, "He knows 'Sexy no jutsu'."
Iruka groaned and plunked his forehead against his desk. "Wh-y?" he whined.
Yuuto sniggered and Iruka sent him a glare. Green eyes widened with an innocent look and Iruka snorted.
They both sat quietly for a moment before the conversation took on a more serious cast.
"We need to drill the kids into following orders quickly and quietly, to insure an effective and safe evacuation to the shelters," Yuuto commented grimly. "We need to start as soon as possible, if something is going to happen, it will happen before the Chūnin Exams are fully completed."
Iruka gave a serious nod, "I think I'm going to have my class form temporary squads. We'll do command drills for the next few weeks and I'll keep pointing out the evacuation routes."
Yuuto nodded and questioned, "What about protective seals?" They continued to discuss contingency plans for another few hours.
Hopefully the precautions taken would be enough to keep their charges safe.
Madoka had always sworn by a soak in the hot springs for relieving stress. So Yuuto wasn't opposed to relaxing in the baths once in a while.
He made his way from the academy to the hot springs and couldn't help but notice his favorite blonde prankster practicing water walking on a pool outside of the women's baths.
"Oi! Uzumaki-kun!" He called.
Splash! The kid went under the hot water. Yuuto winced. Oops.
He jogged over and helped pull the blonde out of the water. "Sorry about that Uzumaki-kun," Yuuto apologized.
Naruto squinted up at him before recognizing his face. "Ah! Yuuto-sensei!" He shot up and pointed at him, "What are you doing here!?"
Green eyes blinked, staring at the finger pointing in his face before looking the boy in the eyes. "Ah." He exclaimed, putting a hand behind his head and giving a little smile, "I'm here to relax in the hot springs."
He gave Naruto a once over. "You look like you could use a break as well," he observed. "Come on," he ushered the youth to the counter and paid for both of them before Naruto could do more than just puff up in indignation at the implication that he should stop his training.
"You can tell me how the Chūnin Exams are going for you."
After undressing and wrapping a towel around himself. Yuuto waded into the bath, dunking himself under the water before leaning against the side to soak. He let out a relieved sigh, shutting his eyes, and let his muscles relax in the heat.
When a minute or so passed he straightened, opening his emerald green eyes again, and looked over to Naruto.
Raising a dark eyebrow he questioned, "How did the elimination rounds go yesterday?"
The boy, sitting two arm lengths away, startled, peered over to him, cocked his head to the side and gave a sheepish smile. The whisker-like marks trisecting his cheeks crinkled and Yuuto couldn't help but smile back a little. There was something very infectious about the blonde's grin.
Naruto brightened, "Awesome! I totally kicked Kiba's ass!"
Thus began an epic retelling of the pre-third exam elimination rounds.
Of Sasuke's victory. "That other Leaf-nin was creepy! He did this freaky thing with his joints and absorbed chakra! But Sasuke was all like, bam! He used Lee's taijutsu moves. I didn't like that, but I knew he would win." Naruto exclaimed with a nod.
Of Sakura's and Ino's double knockout. "They weren't very good." The boy grimaced, "But Sakura beat Ino's mind jutsu. And did you know she protected me and Sasuke-teme in the Forest of Death?!"
Of Neji's brutal takedown of Hinata. "How could he do that to family?!" Naruto shouted indignantly, as if the mere mention of it offended him.
And Rock Lee's loss to Garra of the Desert. Naruto huffed, his expression dropping as he narrowed his eyes. Crossing his arms defensively, he said; "Something is wrong with that guy. Lee tried his hardest and did really good… But that guy, that guy really tried to kill him."
They sat in silence for a while before Naruto stated, "I'm fighting Neji in the third exam."
Yuuto looked back over to the young blonde. The genin looked up with a seriousness most didn't think him capable of. "I swore on Hinata's blood that I would beat him for what he did to her."
Yuuto gave a serious nod, acknowledging the comment and the oath.
"What kind of training did Hatake-san choose to prepare you for this fight?" The dark haired academy sensei queried.
Naruto's face screwed up in an expression of distaste. "Kakashi-sensei said he wouldn't be able to give me the attention I would need." Blue eyes glanced over to Yuuto before dancing away. "He's training Sasuke. Kakashi-sensei said I was the weakest in the basics, so he got super prev to help train me."
Black eyebrows raised in confusion, "Super perv?"
Naruto raised a hand to rub the back of his head in awkwardness. "Heh heh. Konohamaru's tutor. He fell for my ninja harem technique."
Green eyes blinked, he could guess but he probably didn't really want to know. He waved it off. "So, this tutor, did he help?"
The blonde boy brightened, "He showed me how to walk on water! It was hard. But then he went to stop the pervert sage from peeping on the women's bath and got his ass kicked!" He exclaimed with waving hand gestures.
Yuuto's eyebrows raised in bewilderment. "A pervert sage knocked out your trainer?" He said incredulously.
"Yeah!" Exclaimed Naruto. "He was peeping in the women's baths, and super perv went to stop him, then pow! Pervert sage knocked super perv out with a huge toad!" This explanation was accompanied copious hand motions to emphasize the knock out. "The toad was just there, like poof! Then after pervert sage introduced himself, it disappeared!"
Yuuto turned his full, if bewildered, attention to the whiskered boy. "Did you train yourself after the tutor was knocked out then?"
Cerulean blue eyes stared questioningly for a split second. "No, I got pervert sage to train me. He had to be strong to knock out super perv anyway," the blonde explained.
"He did this relaxing technique that helped me get water walking easier!" The boy continued enthusiastically. "The stupid technique hurt though. Pervert sage did some chakra enhanced hand strike to my stomach and said 'release' and stuff," he scowled. "But hey! It worked."
The sensei closed his eyes to processes, in vague horror, what he had just been told. The child just got some random pervert to train him. One that knocked out his assigned tutor. And said pervert may have done something to the seal. He swallowed and took a deep breath.
"Naruto, what was pervert sage's name? What does he look like? Describe him." He questioned seriously.
"Eh? He said it was Jiraiya the Toad Sage or something. Tall. Shaggy, long white hair. Red haori, red tearline markings on his face, dark eyes. His hitai-ate had two small horns with 'oil' written in the middle. He had this big scroll on his back. Oh! And he writes those perverted books Kakashi-sensei reads!" Naruto grinned.
Yuuto ran the description through his head, then relaxed just a minuscule. That sounded like Jiraiya of the Sannin, one of the Sandamie's genin team. The only one still actively working for the village.
And Naruto did mentioned that this 'pervert sage', he did find some amusement in that nickname, had a large toad. One big enough to sit on, which disappeared in a poof of smoke. Hm…
Huh, ok. He could work with that. He would of course check to see if the man was actually in village and do everything to see that the blonde was safe and not being tricked.
"That sounds like Jiraiya of the Sannin. He's one of the strongest ninja from Konoha, the Toad Summoner and a Seal Master." Yuuto enlightened the genin.
"What!? Cool!" came the immediate reply. "Awesome! I'm training with him tomorrow too! I'm gonna be the best!" Naruto crowed.
Green eyes sharpened. It wouldn't due for the little chaos maker to be tricked or taken advantage of. On one hand this could be a great opportunity for Naruto, on the other this man could easily abuse the child's trust. A little manipulation was in order.
"Are you going to try using seals to beat Neji Hyuuga, Naruto?" Hook.
"Huh?"
"Seals could be used to restrain your opponent, or you could use low powered explosive tags for distractions, smoke bombs probably wouldn't work too well with his Byakugan," Yuuto suggested.
Naruto gaped in shock, "Really? What else can seals do Yuuto-sensei?" He asked curiously. Line.
Yuuto chuckled, "A lot. You can seal things in scrolls, like documents, weapons, and gear. You can put security or protective seals on buildings or even clothes. You can even make seals to summon animals, but those are usually tattooed on the person. A seal master would only be limited by their imagination and willingness to work hard."
"But seals aren't something to play around with Uzumaki-san," Yuuto said seriously. "If there is even a single mistake, a seal could literally blow up in your face like a high powered explosive tag."
"There isn't really enough time to learn to make your own seals for your match," the 26 year old revealed. "We could lay down a foundation for you to learn them in the future though." He gave the blonde an appraising look. "If your dedicated enough to stick with it."
Sapphire blue eyes stared back with an iron resolve, and Naruto said "I would like that."
And sinker, a successful catch.
Yuuto nodded. "After your training sessions with Jiraiya-sama, if you're not too tired, come to the academy. Iruka and I will be there until five pm every day after classes."
"We'll teach you to optimize what you already know. And Iruka and I might be able to teach you a few new tricks," Yuuto said with a grin.
Naruto's eyes sparkled with determination, as he stood up suddenly in the water and pumped his fist. "Woohoo!"
The pre-genin teacher and the chūnin hopeful parted ways for the evening, both thinking about the next day.
For Yuuto, this set up would allow for him and Iruka to watch over and help Naruto grow into a better ninja. Simultaneously making sure this new trainer wasn't bad for him and helping the boy round out his education. Naruto would have a higher chance of survival in the field, and hopefully a higher chance of survival of whatever tricks Orochimaru had in store for Konoha.
And if Yuuto threw a few tracking and monitoring charms at the blonde genin, no one had to know.