HELLO FANFICTION! Holy crap, it's been a year,more or less since I updated my stories,which obviously sucks,BUT! I must say thank you to everyone who has read and reviewed my stories, you guys are awesome! Now while this story is going strong, my other will unfortunately not continue, as it will wither and die, only to rise back from the ashes at a later date. As a bonus for the long delay,this chapter is the longest one to date, freakin' 2921 words! It took a while to write, but I hope you guys will enjoy it! Now,enough of my mindless rambling, let's get ON WITH THE SHOW!
Chapter 12:
With Kakashi:
Kakashi was standing outside the Forest of Death, waiting for Nathan. While he was waiting, he was reading his usual orange book. "Why the hell are you tormenting yourself, Kakashi?" a voice said. Kakashi looked up to see Nathan coming out of the forest, wiping a bit of sweat from his brows. "Ah, Nathan. Hokage-sama wanted me to gather all the Jonin sensei, including you, Kurenai, Anko, Asuma, Gai and myself to train all our genin to the ground, as he wants a huge display of power from the Chuunin exams this year. Meet me in half an hour at the dango stand" Kakashi said as he shunshin'd to tell the news to the other sensei. Nathan shrugged. "Fair enough. Better get home to tell the teams to train by themselves for a few hours then" he told himself before running home.
With Anko:
Anko was down in the basement, practicing her bass while waiting for Shikamaru to show up. She had just played through a few songs of her own before an idea showed up. Would it be possible to focus her element through an instrument? With that thought in mind, she got to work. She played a few deep notes, focusing on her earth element. When she finished playing, she was slightly disappointed, expecting at least some kind of effect. After quietly sighing to herself, she left the basement to get something to eat. However, when she got up there, she saw through a window that a small ravine had carved itself through half of the backyard. Anko then muttered "Oh crap", knowing that Nathan would not be pleased with this, and he proved her right as he walked in the door a few seconds after. "Anko, what the hell happened here?" he asked quietly, getting a response in the form of Anko blushing a bright red while scratching herself behind her head. He cocked and eyebrow at her. She sighed. "I'm sorry. I had an idea for a new way of using elemental chakra, so I tried focusing my earth chakra through my bass, but did not sense anything; I only saw this now as I just came up from the basement.
This got Nathan thinking. "If that is what happened with earth chakra through the bass, would it be possible to do the same with the other elements?" He thought before shuddering, something that did not go unnoticed by Anko. "What's wrong?" she asked. He looked at her. "Just thought about what would happen with any other element instead of earth" he said, making her eyes go wide. "Holy crap!" she exclaimed, getting a nod from Nathan. At that point, Naruto came up from the basement, having warmed up as usual. "Hey Naruto. You may not need to leave so soon, I saw Kakashi has been running around town being a messenger boy" Anko said, getting a confused look from said blonde. Then he shrugged. "Fair enough, I can wait a couple of hours, to see if his tardiness is still at its peak as when we left. In the meanwhile, I'm going to see Ino-chan" he said before walking up to take a shower. Anko looked back at Nathan, who smirked. "What are you thinking about?" she asked, making him look at her with a "who-me?"- expression on his face. She looked at him with a curious expression, making him sigh as he answered "I was just wondering, that if that is the effects of conducting your earth chakra through your bass, imagine what could happen with the other elements through other instruments?" making Anko go wide-eyed. The results could be enormous! As she thought about this, Nathan took on his black leather coat and dragged Anko with him to meet the other senseis at the dango stand.
Meanwhile, with Naruto and Ino:
The couple was walking down the streets of Konoha, relaxing while they waited to be called by their senseis. Ino was the one to start the conversation. "Hey, Naruto-kun? How did you grow so much? I mean, not that I don't like it, but last time I saw you, you were shorter than you are now" Ino asked, wondering what happened to her boyfriend. Naruto sighed. "Alright, I'll tell you. So, a couple of days ago, I went with Sasuke and Kiba to get them a weapon. We found an old, run-down weapons shop and figured why not? Needless to say, we found our blades. Only thing is, they are sentient, meaning they have somewhat of a soul themselves" he said, seeing Ino's questioning gaze before she mentioned for him to continue. "Anyway, once we touched the swords, we passed out and went into our mindscapes where we met the souls of the swords, who explained to us what carrying them means and what kind of changes we would experience, hence why I look as I do now" he said with a somewhat downcast expression. Ino was quick to speak: "Naruto-kun, even if you look older, I know who you truly are, and you are still the boy I fell in love with" she said as she looked into his eyes. Naruto looked at her hopeful. "You mean that, Ino? I mean, it's not just because how I look?" he asked, to which she blushed a little, but quickly shook her head. "No, it's not, though the look is certainly a bonus" she said with a somewhat hungry look as she looked him over. Before Naruto could respond, Kakashi shunshin'd between the two. "Naruto, you and Ino are to meet the other teams and senseis at training ground 44 in fifteen minutes" he said, to which Naruto smirked. "Lemme guess, the others are there already, aren't they?" he asked, getting a nonchalant nod from Kakashi. Naruto just chuckled as he grabbed Ino and ran off to the training ground.
With the other senseis and teams:
"Man, where the hell is Naruto? It's not like him to miss something like this" Kiba said as he and Sasuke walked down to the training ground after Nathan had visited and told them both. Sasuke shrugged. "I don't know, he's probably explaining to Ino how and why we look like we do now" he said as they saw Nathan approach them. "Hey boys, ready to be re-introduced to your old classmates?" he asked. Sasuke sighed. "Yeah, I guess we are, just wish I knew where Naruto is" he said. Nathan smiled as he answered "You don't have to worry much longer, here he comes now" and pointed behind them. True enough, Naruto was running as fast as he could while Ino was piggybacking on him, straight towards them. As he came closer, he slowed down before coming to a full stop in front of them. "Hey guys" he said and grinned. He then looked at Nathan and asked: "Hey aniki, why are we here?" as he raised an eyebrow. Nathan chuckled before shaking his head. "Now, that would be telling. Don't worry, you'll know soon enough, just go and re-introduce yourselves to your former classmates" he said as he pointed towards the clearing. The three boys shrugged and walked into the clearing. Nathan just chuckled before he remembered something. He turned around, and noticed Ino just standing there with a dazed expression on her face. "Hey Ino, you okay?" he asked with a raised eyebrow. She shook herself and looked at Nathan. "Y-yeah, I'm fine sensei, nothing to worry about" she said with a smile. He smiled at her. "Okay then, let's go save the boys from a banshee scream, shall we?" he asked. Ino couldn't help but giggle at his not-so-subtle insult at Sakura before she nodded and the two walked into the clearing.
As the three boys walked into the clearing, they saw Shikamaru catching up with Chouji, while Shino, Hinata and Sakura gathered behind Kurenai, who was talking to Asuma while Gai and Lee were glancing nervously at Tenten, who glared at them, as if daring them to be as loud and obnoxious as they usually were, while Neji was smiling as he was glad his sensei saw the reason that was Tenten's perfect accuracy and razor sharp blades.
Nathan and Ino followed up, and as Nathan came saw how everyone was talking, he decided to whistle so everyone heard. Unfortunately that earned him an unexpected attack from Kiba. "Dammit Nathan-sensei! Remember to warn me before doing that again!" he said angrily. Nathan scratched his head and grinned embarrassed. "Sorry Kiba, it won't happen again" he said. Kiba just glared at him before saying: "It better not, or Akamaru will bite your nads off", making Nathan sweat bullets and cover his crotch before once again gaining everyone's attention. "Alright people, Hokage-sama has ordered a full gathering of us here to train. The plan is for all of you to enter the upcoming Chuunin exams in a few months' time to show Konoha's strength, as there have been rumors of Konoha not being as strong as usual after the Kyuubi attack. Now, this is not purely for our benefit as it is the village's, since a lot of Daimyo's and other Kages showing up as well, giving Konoha a massive attention spot and boost in missions to increase our income!" he said before he saw Hinata raise a hand. "Yes, Hinata-san?" he said. "A-ano, Nathan-sensei, but who are the three behind you?" she asked. Nathan smirked. "I'm surprised no one asked before, they have certainly gone through a change since becoming Team 7, haven't they?" he asked as the three boys stepped forward. Kurenai, Asuma and Gai's eyes went wide (In Gai's case, wider if that's possible). "You expect us to believe that is Kakashi's students?" Kurenai said. Nathan nodded. "Neji-san, Hinata-san please activate your Byuakugan and check for any signs of use of a henge or anything of the sort" he said. The Hyuuga duo did as they were told and checked the three boys over before deactivating their Byuakugan. Neji was the first to speak. "I found no sorts of henge or seals that caused their transformation, sensei" Hinata nodded "Me neither" she said with a slight blush, unnoticeable by almost everyone. Nathan smiled. "Does that satisfy your curiosity?" he asked Asuma and Kurenai, who nodded dumbly.
Kakashi then took over. "All right, now that that's settled, here's what we're going to do. Since all of us senseis have some form of specialty, we're running you through everything. First off we should split you up into six groups, one for each sensei, including Anko. First group will be Sasuke and Sakura"-insert banshee scream here-"You will start off with taijutsu practice with Gai every day for the next months unless your team is on a mission. The following after that is armed combat with Asuma, Genjutsu with Kurenai, Ninjutsu with me, Kenjutsu with Nathan and interrogation with Anko at the end. Each sensei will pick you up from the previous. Next pair is Kiba and Shino. You will start with me, Naruto and Hinata, you will start with Kurenai, Shikamaru and Tenten, you will start with Nathan, Chouji and Ino, you will start with Asuma, which leaves Neji and Lee, you will start with Interrogation with Anko, and each sensei will accompany you to the next. Any questions?" he asked as he looked over the genin. "No? Excellent, we will follow this procedure for the next three months, understood" he asked, getting a collective "Hai sensei!" from the genin. "This program starts from tomorrow morning; your senseis will pick you up at home in the morning." The senseis and genin all nodded, signaling their understanding. Then Nathan bumped in. "Now, why don't we all pair up in the decided pairs and spar? This is pure practice to get the feel of each other and get used to each other, as we might have to work with other people other than our teams on missions" he said, getting a nod from the senseis as the genin went up to find their partner.
Sasuke went up to Sakura. "Sakura, we need to talk." He said. She looked anticipating at him. "About what, Sasuke-kun?" she asked. He looked down briefly before he spoke, carefully choosing his words. "About you" he said. She went to interrupt him, but he beat her to it. "Before you say anything, let me finish. You need to stop acting like this. I'll be blunt, as you are now, you suck as a kunoichi, you have a lousy attitude to people who don't treat me as I'm royalty, and frankly, I'm surprised the Inuzuka clan has sued you for disturbance of peace" he said. Sakura felt his words as a punch with every sentence at this before she heard him speak again. "-But I know that you can be better than this, and I want to see you become the kunoichi I know you can be." At this she looked stunned at him before she spoke. "What do I need to do?" she asked softly. He smiled slightly at her. "First of all I want you to end your obsession with me. We are 16 years old, and still have a lifetime ahead; romance should not be your top priority. Second, I want you to apologize to Naruto and Nathan. Those two has done nothing but help me open my eyes since we graduated, and I understand why I was placed in a team instead of becoming apprenticed. I was an asshole with a superiority complex until Naruto beat it out of me, and in return he gave me something more important; he gave me friendship and a way to properly rebuild my clan. As I have improved, I know you can too, and maybe you'll be lucky enough to find a summoning scroll that suits you, but don't worry about it, summoning contracts are extremely rare to come by, and more shinobi has risen to the top without one. With these words, I ask you, Sakura; can you help me help you? As long as we're partners, we train each other to grow stronger each day. I can help you find your specialty, but you have to do this for you, not for me or anyone else, do you understand?" he asked.
Sakura looked down in thought for a little while as she processed what he told her. 'He has faith I can be a strong kunoichi, but he's right, I must atone for my past sins' she thought to herself. She kept mulling over what he told her for a little while before she looked him in the eyes with a spark that hadn't been there before. "Sasuke" she said before a small pause. "I'm ready. First of all, I am sorry for my attitude against you and will work as hard as possible to be able of standing by your side as a proud kunoichi of Konoha" she said. He smiled at her before saying: "Apologize to the others first, then we can start our training" She nodded and went off to the Namikaze brothers.
With Nathan:
Nathan stood under a tree talking to Kakashi when he saw Sakura approach him. He was surprised when he saw her bow to him and say: "I wish to apologize for disrespecting you at the graduation party, Namikaze-sama. I acted out of line, and wish to repent", making Nathan go wide-eyed before he answered. "Please rise, Sakura-san" he said. She did and looked him in the eyes. Nathan stared into her eyes, making her feel like he was staring into her soul. He spoke again. "You are right, you did act out of line without knowing neither me nor my otouto's past. However, I am only inclined to give you a second chance if you can indulge me in what made you change your mind? Are you truly doing this for yourself? Or is this a trick to impress Sasuke?" he asked, never loosing eye contact with Sakura. Without blinking she said: "this is for me, though it was at Sasuke's behest" confusing Nathan. Before he could reply, she continued. "He told me the truth about me as it is, never once sugarcoating it, and made me realize exactly what a pathetic fangirl I was, and at the same time told me that he had faith I can become a strong and proud kunoichi of Konoha" she finished. Nathan grinned. Trust Sasuke to put everything out in the open so bluntly. He shook his head before smiling at Sakura and answered: "Apology accepted, Sakura-san. I am willing to give you a second chance"- Sakura looked hopeful here-"if you can prove to me that you are worthy of being called a kunoichi of Konoha and don't slack off during training, and if I'm impressed, I might help you with training myself" he finished with a smirk as he saw Sakura's eyes intensify and she bowed to him once more. "I will do my best, Nathan-sensei!" she said before she grinned sheepishly at him, making him quirk an eyebrow. "Anything else, Sakura-san?" he asked. She poked her fingers together slightly while she asked: "Do you know where to find your brother? I wish to apologize to him as well" Nathan looked at her before he nodded. "I need to talk to him anyway. Follow me, he's in a clearing not too far away from here" he said as he walked away. Sakura hesitated for a moment before she ran after him.
