Chapter 14:
I don't own Naruto, any of its characters, or any references in this story. If I did, horrible things would happen. Neither do I own any of the Naruto Abridged references that will soon show up. I do own all OCs and new jutsu in the story.
If you think I copied something from another fic, it depends. A small fact or trick probably is copied by accident, but big changes or powers are all me.
Long live Team Fourstar! Now tfsdbzabridged! Piccolo is a Yoshi! There is no fourth wall! Where are my pants?!
Please note that since Ghost won't be here for a while, the humor will be toned down a bit, and the main characters will be a bit more serious.
… I still won't be taking much seriously though.
o. o. o.
Naruto's entrance into the academy was unique… and by unique, we mean Naruto was still clinging to Kakashi's leg while looking in every possible direction at a record pace out of apparent fear that Anko would show up… which she would.
The chase, the conversation, the toaster… okay, maybe not the toaster and the toothpaste, but everything else was planned earlier that morning to downplay Naruto's new appearance to the general public. Ghost explained to those involved in the group that if a person was exposed to two very unique scenarios, the person would focus their attention more on the larger, more in your face, and blatantly loud one. For example, if the Fourth claimed to have had a wife and announced it to the entire village, then the Kyūbi attacked the same day, the village would obviously focus on the Kyūbi. Not only that, but the after the Kyūbi is gone, the information of the Fourth would be not as significant as if it had come out by itself.
So, using that logic the group decided to announce Naruto's new appearance that day in conjunction with Anko and Ghost trying to scar the poor boy for life in broad daylight. Ghost would leave after talking to Kakashi to show that he is allied with the village, while Kakashi would take Naruto back to the academy. Anko would show up sporadically throughout the rest of the day to scare the living shit out of Naruto and everyone around him to seal the deal. The end result would be people around town talking like this:
"Did you see the demon today? I heard it looks more evil than it did before, and its eyes…"
"I heard, it was getting chased around by the snake bitch and some crazy guy screaming about toothpaste and toasters."
"… wait… what?"
"Yeah, they were running all over the place screaming their heads off. Apparently the kid stole Anko's dango after she called him short or something…"
"Hahaha, the idiot stole her dango?! That's suicidal! What the hell?"
And it all goes down from there.
But enough about how short the human attention span is, back to the - hey look a squirrel...
BOOM!
And thus the handsome and incredibly sexy Narrator died.
o. o. o.
Hinata sighed as she pretended to pay attention to Iruka. Ever since Anko and Hana had started teaching her, everything that Iruka taught her just seemed so dull, repetitive, and dare she say it… useless. The basic strategies that Iruka taught the class were nowhere near as interesting or useful as the ones Anko taught and practiced with her, and the basic theory that he went over with the class should be taught to the remedial class compared to what Hana was covering with her now. The heiress envied Shikamaru at the moment. All he had to do to stay in character was to fall asleep. Lucky lazy bastard.
School had become something of a chore for Hinata. With all the extra training she was receiving and all the practicing she was doing privately, Hinata was miles ahead of everyone else in her age group aside from Shikamaru and Naruto. She still had her façade up… and it was driving her crazy. Hinata had on more than one occasion almost let slip her real skills or talked back to one of her bratty classmates. She was thanking all that was holy that Naruto had admitted that he had feelings for her, otherwise she may had to have to start showing off in class to get noticed and to knock Sakura off her pedestal. How the girl could talk so much with such a high shriek was beyond her.
Hinata knew that her personality was dramatically changing, but it really didn't concern her that much. To be perfectly honest, these feelings for the academy were the strongest and most blatant ones she had next to her adoration for Naruto and her irritation with her clan. While she still acts somewhat withdrawn, she has started to express her opinions more frequently and on occasion has even objected to other's ideas. Hinata hated to admit it, but Ghost's constant taunting and childish behavior had indeed had a decent effect on her.
Personality changes aside, as long as no one found her dream diary and her bag of 'clothes' that she had 'found' several months beforehand during 'training', she would be able to keep her image solid.
… Now, if only Ghost would stop asking her where she put the bag…
Hinata's horrendously mature rated thoughts were interrupted, as well as the class, when a knock at the door sounded. A second later, Kakashi and Naruto entered the room… well, Kakashi walked in. Naruto, paranoid and untransformed, was clinging on to the jōnin's leg. Needless to say, they had everyone's attention.
"Um…Hi." Kakashi said slightly embarrassed. "I think this belongs to you."
Iruka gaped, staring at Kakashi and then at Naruto, then at Kakashi again… then at Naruto again.
"Naruto?" He asked hesitantly with the entire class watching in curiosity. "Are you…"
"SNAKES!" Naruto shouted in a semi-hysterical manner. "EVERYWHERE! SNAKES! NO MORE TOASTERS! I DO NOT WANT ANY MORE TOOTHPASTE!"
Everyone sweat dropped.
"What the heck happened to you, dobe?" Sasuke asked.
"Yeah, what gives?" Shouted Kiba. "The dead last is more out of it than normal."
"Why did you even bring him here?" Asked an irritating Sakura. "He's been gone for three months. There's no way he can be a ninja now. He's just a failure. And what's with that stupid transformation? Is that another one of his retarded attempts to look cool?"
Kakashi sighed as he felt Naruto twitch. He had heard how bad Naruto had had it in the academy, but he hadn't thought it was quite this bad. Looking at the class, he could see that Hinata and Shikamaru were having trouble holding in their emotions and were glaring daggers at their classmates. He was going to have to do something about Sakura's attitude once his squad was reassembled.
Ghost was right, she was a complete bitch when she first started being a genin.
o. o. o.
Ghost paused as he was walking towards the town where Jiraiya was supposed to be. He took a deep breath through his nose and smiled.
"I love the smell of someone admitting I was right. It smells like… waffles."
o. o. o.
"If you must know," Kakashi replied, not trusting Naruto to answer that rather harsh onslaught of comments from his once-peers, "Naruto's current behavior and tardiness was due to another one of his pranks gone wrong. He, for some reason thought, it was a good idea to steal dango from Anko Mitarashi, a special jōnin of the village who specializes in torture and interrogation and has a summoning contract with snakes. She is also the owner of an incredibly short temper. Later on he was chased by his new … guardian, Ghost, who happens to have a very… unique sense of humor, which explains his ranting about toasters and toothpaste." Everyone sweat dropped.
"THE Anko Mitarashi…" Iruka breathed out hesitantly while starting to mimic Naruto and looking everywhere in paranoia. "The woman known as the Snake Mistress of Konoha… the highest ranked interrogator in the village next to Ibiki and Inoichi… THAT Anko?" This had the entire class' attention. If their teacher was that scared of the woman… then Naruto must have pissed off someone very dangerous… again.
"Yes. So don't be surprised if she pops up today and starts scaring the crap out of everyone here." Kakashi shrugged as Iruka paled.
"Oh crap." Ino whispered, gaining everyone's attention. "I think I know her. Daddy took me to work about a year ago and he showed me some of the people he thought could take over his job. I was talking to this big guy in a black trench coat and a bandanna when this woman with purple hair and a creepy smile snuck up behind me and cut my cheek with a kunai, then licked the blood off of me." She shivered. "Daddy told me that if I value my life, I should never anger her, and under no circumstances was I to EVER touch her dango."
Everyone stared at Naruto in unison, all pitying him and cursing him to various levels.
"Kakashi-sensei, could you not leave today…" Naruto asked while shivering a bit. "I need someone to protect me in case Anko comes back. Ero-nii left the village for a while, so there's no one to distract her in case she comes after me again."
"Yeah Kakashi, who knows what I'll do to the kid without anyone to back him up." Said Anko from the back of the room, grinning like the sadist she was and scaring the living shit out of the students closest to her. "Ghost is gone now, and I have no one to give me any massages." Her grin widened. "He did tell me that he was teaching you a thing or two," she said seductively to Naruto while pulling out a kunai from her trench coat. Hinata's ears twitched at this information, something that did not go unnoticed by the rest of the special group. "Maybe you could practice on me? I promise I won't bite, as long as you're doing a good enough job that is." Hinata's hands were now twitching as she focused on staying in her seat. Anko was having a hard time holding her laughter in as she watched her student suffer.
"Kakashi-sensei…" Naruto trembled… not really faking it at this point. Anko had a habit of getting carried away, and he could only do the replacement and transformation techniques in public.
Kakashi sighed. "Anko, that's enough. I don't want to explain to Hokage-sama why half of the academy students went back home with severe psychological trauma this afternoon. I also would like to have blood circulating in my leg sometime in the near future."
Anko pouted. "Tch. Fine. I guess I'll just have to find another target. But before I go."
A kunai whizzed through the air and cut Naruto's cheek deeply, enough to bleed a fair amount before healing up again. Anko appeared behind a semi-shocked Naruto and licked the blood off his cheek and moaned. "MMMMmmmmm. Kid… I'll let you off today. Your blood is goooood. I haven't had some of this quality since Ghost's a few months back. Just don't mess with my dango again… ok?"
Naruto nodded slowly as the laughing woman walked out the door, leaving a shocked and mentally scarred class in her wake. His classmates were too distracted by Anko's performance to notice that the cut was already gone.
"Damn it." Kakashi grumbled, knowing he was going to have to explain this to the council. "Iruka, just to be safe, I'm going to stay for the rest of the day. I'm supposed to watch over Naruto for the next couple of months anyways."
Iruka could only shudder and nod before looking at Naruto again, who had just detached himself from Kakashi's leg. It was then that he finally remembered about Naruto's new look. "Ah, Naruto. I know you want to look cool and all, but you can't have transformations up during class. You know this."
Naruto scratched the back of his head sheepishly. "Ah… Iruka-sensei, this isn't a transformation. I really look like this now."
"Yeah right." Sakura shouted. "Quit lying idiot!"
"He's not lying." Kakashi said with his face already buried in one of his books.
"What?" Iruka asked a bit unnerved. He trusted Naruto like a little brother, but he was still (rightfully) afraid of the Kyūbi, and was concerned that it might be taking over. (Being afraid of Naruto for something that he hadn't done would be silly. Being afraid of an immensely powerful energy-creature-thing that was most of 100 meters tall and capable of casually destroying mountains would only be logical.)
"Well…" Kakashi drawled on, getting everyone's attention. "Naruto's parentage is unknown, so we don't know exactly what happened to him, but his new appearance, as well as some new traits, was sprung up on us about three months ago. We think it might be due to some unknown bloodline limit, but we aren't too sure. As you can see, the cut on Naruto's face is now completely gone. This is one of his new abilities, extremely fast healing. He also has larger chakra reserves…"
"Ha! It's not like he will ever have more chakra than Sasuke-kun!" Ino laughed out loud, getting a nod of approval from almost all the girls in the classroom.
"Actually, he already has more chakra than I do." Kakashi rebutted without hesitating, causing everyone in the room to gape in surprise.
"You're kidding… right?" Iruka stammered.
"Nope. Naruto here has around twice as much chakra as I, Hatake Kakashi, elite jōnin, do, and he'll only have more as he gets older. Unfortunately, this also means that his chakra control is below abysmal. His three month absence was needed for him to re-gain both control of his body and remotely adequate chakra control. Hokage-sama has agreed that the standard clone technique may be beyond him at this point in time considering that his overwhelming reserves make it far more difficult for him to make one, but Naruto here didn't want any special treatment." Kakashi explained. "In fact, instead of telling you how much chakra he has, why don't we simply test him? If I remember correctly, there should be a chakra level measuring device somewhere in the academy."
Iruka snapped out of his stupor. "Y-yes. There is. We haven't used in some time, but I think it still works. Just a moment." And with that Iruka left the classroom in a bit of a frantic hurry.
Silence plagued the classroom as everyone inside stared at Naruto and Kakashi… who was giggling perversely every few seconds.
"Sooooooo…" Kiba said, breaking the silence, "You two know each other?"
"Yeah." Naruto replied, apparently somewhat back to normal after Anko left. "Ero-nii was making sure that my body was developing in the right way, but he had to leave for a while for business, so Kakashi-sensei here was brought in to keep an eye on the end of the process. He's a bit of a perv, but he's really strong."
"Flattery will get you everywhere, Naruto." Kakashi muttered while turning a page.
"He kinda looks like someone from Kiba's family." Chōji mumbled through his mid afternoon snack as he looked at Naruto more carefully.
Kiba smirked. "Yeah, right. Everyone in my family smells like dogs to some extent. Blondie over there on the other hand reeks of foxes."
Everyone stared at Naruto, expecting him to reply.
Naruto simply shrugged. "Heck if I know why. I'm an ORPHAN. One at birth, remember?" This comment caused everyone, including Kakashi to flinch. "I simply woke up one day feeling like crap. It lasted about a week, and I ended up like this. Ero-nii happened to be in town and saw me. He knew what was happening to me and decided to help me out with my new changes… although sometimes I wish he didn't." He shivered. "The end result was that I have a lot more chakra, my control is okay after the crapton of training he made me do, and I can do the transformation and replacement techniques faster and easier than before. I can see and smell a bit better and my taijutsu isn't as horrendous as it was before. I still can't do the stupid clone technique, but I hope to get it down by the time we graduate. I honestly don't know why I have to learn that freaking technique, it's not like I can't learn something else with my reserves… stupid chakra control, stupid Ero-nii, stupid cows…"
Shino spoke up. "Ghost? Isn't that the name of the stranger who snuck into town a few months ago?"
Everyone else from a clan who didn't know about the man perked up. "Yeah, my dad was ranting about the guy…"
"…eating ramen…"
"…rude as can be…"
"… cool black trench coat…"
"Yeah, that's Ero-nii." Naruto confirmed everyone's suspicions. "The guy is strong as heck, but I don't think he's entirely there half the time."
'Like Gai.' Kakashi mused.
"Tch. I bet he's just another idiot loser like you are. Why else would he willingly be around someone like you for three months?" Sakura pouted.
Before Kakashi, Naruto, Hinata, and Shikamaru had time to even think about how stupid Sakura was being at the moment, Iruka and Mizuki, who had been on break, came back with the chakra sensing machine. It was rolled in on two stands. On the first was a large metallic ball on a rod. Wires connected the rod to the second stand, which had a large screen, currently displaying a 0.
"Hehe." Iruka chuckled. "I found it in the storage area under an inch of dust. I'm surprised it still works."
"Kakashi! What are you doing here?" Mizuki asked curiously. If one paid close enough attention, they could see a slight twitch in the man's hands.
"I just dragged Naruto here after he almost got skewered by Anko." Kakashi replied in a bored tone.
"What a shame." Mizuki replied in a tone that almost resembled sarcasm.
"How does it work Iruka-sensei?" Naruto asked poking the large screen curiously, ignoring Mizuki.
"What you do is simply put your hands on the ball and channel a fair amount of chakra; it doesn't have to be a lot. The display shows how many units of chakra that person has." Iruka replied. "If I remember correctly, the average genin has a level of around 150 units, chūnin have around 500, jōnin have around 1500, and a kage-level ninja could have anywhere from 5000 up. I've heard of one ninja from Kiri who was rumored to have had chakra levels of around 16000 units. Because you are all still academy students, anything around 100 will be considered high, though. Let me give you an example."
Iruka walked up to the ball and placed his hands on it. A few seconds later, the attached screen displayed the number 631.
"Not bad Iruka." Kakashi mused as he walked over to the ball. "Let me have a try." 'Last time I checked, I was around 2670.'
Kakashi placed his hands on the ball. Several seconds later the screen revealed an impressive 3985. There were several mumblings among the students.
Mizuki whistled. "Damn Kakashi. Last I heard you were still in the mid 2000's. Keep that up and you might just get the old man into retirement."
"Like hell he is!" Naruto shouted a bit too eagerly, pushing Kakashi into Iruka and putting his hands on the ball. "That hat is mine!"
"Naruto you dumbass!" Ino shouted. "Stop fooling yourself! There's no way… someone like… you…"
Everyone in the room who didn't expect it stared at the ball in shock at the number on the screen. 8742. (A/N: NO, I AM NOT DOING AN OVER 9000 JOKE! Too easy.)
"You were saying?" Naruto grinned, on the verge of maniacal cackling.
He has kage-level chakra reserves.
"No way…" Kiba whispered.
"Troublesome…" Shikamaru mumbled.
"Well, at least you all now know that Naruto here is a ninjutsu type." Kakashi sighed.
"Move, dobe." Sasuke demanded as he pushed Naruto aside and touched the Magic 8 ball… I mean the chakra sensing sphere.
"I didn't know you were so interested in big shiny balls… Uke." Naruto teased, using the nickname that Ghost used for the Uchiha. Naruto was disappointed that he didn't think of it first. Several of the boys in the class laughed hard while the entire female population in the room minus Hinata got up to wail on the blonde.
"Dobe." Sasuke growled at the insult as a number showed up on the screen.
238.
"…Impressive." Kakashi commented, doing nothing to placate the dark haired youth's ego. "As expected from the rookie of the year."
"This thing must be broken." Sasuke growled. "There is no way the dobe has more chakra than I do. He can barely do a standard clone!"
"I said this before." Kakashi sighed. "Because his chakra reserves are so high, his chakra control is far worse than any of you could possibly imagine." He looked around the room until he saw Sakura. "You… what's your name?"
"Sakura Haruno, Kakashi-sensei." The pink haired girl replied, momentarily forgetting to maim Naruto.
"You look like a smart girl, Sakura." 'If only in book smarts at the moment.' "Can you tell me what the Inverse Law of Reserves and Control is?" The scarecrow asked.
Sakura blushed as she instantly went into textbook mode. "Yes. The theory is that the higher a person's natural chakra reserves are, the more difficult it is for them to control its natural flow. Likewise, a person who has naturally small chakra reserves will find an easier time controlling the flow of their chakra."
Kakashi sighed. "So using that logic, wouldn't it make sense that Naruto, having the immense chakra reserves that he does, would have trouble making a clone, which requires the most control out of the academy three?"
Sakura stumbled as the rest of the class got the hint and started to look a bit guilty. "Yes… but… the leaf balancing exercise should have helped him with that, and he wasn't different before he left…"
Iruka sighed as Mizuki's eyes twitched in irritation. "That would be the case with anyone with normal chakra reserves, Sakura, but as you have seen, Naruto is a different case. "
"Most control exercises are designed to raise a person's control and their reserves at the same time. The leaf balancing exercise is designed with this in mind so that people with small reserves can build on both slowly, so you get used to the steady increase and control it better. Naruto here already has chakra levels that are on an immense scale, and I have a feeling that they were fairly large before his got his new look." He said while looking at Kakashi, who was reading his book again.
"That being the case, Naruto had to learn not how to bring out his chakra, but how to stop it from going all over the place. You have to understand that this has never really happened before, which is why we never suspected that this could happen. Naruto would need an extensive amount of extra chakra control exercises just to have the same amount of control as a normal genin. Naruto, I as your teacher am sorry for making such a simple mistake."
Naruto shrugged. "Nah. Don't worry about it, Iruka-sensei. Ero-nii taught me not to blame the masses for something that they don't understand. He did tell me to beat the living daylights out of the ignorant and the stupid, but I don't think that would fare well with a good portion of the village. Plus, that would mean that I would have to beat the crap out of myself, and I don't want to do that. I'm not that flexible yet."
Several chuckles echoed throughout the classroom.
"All right. Enough lecturing. Class is almost over." Iruka said in a lighter tone. "If you want to see what your chakra levels are, get into a line and wait your turn. I'm not going to bring this huge thing out again."
As the entire class lined up (Shikamaru and Hinata were very last), Iruka turned to the cyclops. "Is it…?" He whispered.
"Ghost fixed a flaw in the seal, resulting in Naruto's changes. The last three months were needed to help him get used to the new information and adapt to his new body. He knows, Iruka, and he's trying not to let it control the way he lives his life. You should try not to let it control yours either. Other than that, he's pretty much the same. Just don't let others know that he knows. I can't tell you why, but consider it an S-class secret."
Iruka nodded as he watched his students walk up to the ball and place their hands on it, all at one point staring at a goofy grinning Naruto.
o. o. o.
Mizuki couldn't believe what he had just seen. The demon brat was already as powerful as a Kage! Couldn't anyone tell that the monster was in control? Its eyes were a dead giveaway!
He would have to go ahead with his plan a bit earlier than expected. The demon was getting too strong. It must be killed. All he had to do is take him aside so Kakashi didn't hear anything…
o. o. o.
Hinata was not having a pleasant time after class. Even though she had discovered that her chakra levels were well above chūnin level (782), she was taken directly from school to her clan estate, so she couldn't talk to Naruto about the previous day. Kurenai said that her father had asked for her to come home immediately. She knew that Sakura's comments had hurt him, but she couldn't do anything to help him in public or people would get suspicious.
That and she REALY wanted him to give her a back massage. She was thanking her lucky stars that no one saw her bleed from the nose and drool at the same time at the end of class.
When she got home, she was instantly sent to the clan's training ground where, surprise, surprise, her father, sister and the council of elders were waiting for her. Hinata still had her façade up, but on the inside she was more than irritated. Aside from the boring school, pent up sexual frustration, inability to do anything for Naruto, confusion and stress about what was to come in the following year, and her family acting like complete assholes, the girl was about to snap. And unfortunately for Hanabi, they had provided her with a target.
"Hinata," one of the more annoying elders started.
Hinata had noticed a few months ago that a couple of the elders had mysteriously disappeared… ones that she wanted nothing more than to slap on the Caged Bird Seal and turn on full blast. When she asked her father what happened to them, he merely stated that they had resigned from the council. Hinata recalled that Hyūga council members only resigned when they died or when they were deemed unable to give good council. She also recalled her father almost smiling when he said it.
"You will now fight your sister in a match. We will use it to determine whether you are adequate enough to bear the Hyūga name. Should you fail our expectations, you shall be banished from the clan. Do not disappoint us." Several of the council members were smirking. They couldn't wait to get rid of the 'weakling'. Hiashi, on the other hand, was rather uncomfortable with the situation. If things got bad, he had a feeling that Ghost would start running his mouth… and not in a childish manner either.
Hinata, keeping her temper, shakily nodded and walked onto the sparring platform. She didn't want to, but she would have to win this time in order to stay in her family.
"G-Good luck Hanabi-chan." Hinata stuttered out, trying to keep her temper in check.
Hanabi scoffed as she got into position. "I don't need luck, failure."
… Fuck it. Sister or not, Hanabi was going down. Hard.
As soon as the signal was given, the two sisters rushed each other. Everyone watching had their bloodline activated, so everyone watching would get a perfect view of how badly Hinata was going to beat Hanabi. Whether or not they would be able to follow what happened next was another story.
As Hanabi threw her first strike toward her sister's left shoulder, Hinata simultaneously parried the arm and pumped her own chakra into it, curving the strike all the way up her sister's arm and effectively crippling the offending limb. Hanabi would completely recover, but there was no way in hell the girl would be using it for the rest of the battle. It took Naruto over a minute to heal from such a wound, so a normal person would have to wait days to fully recover.
Hanabi, completely shocked and caught off guard from the surprise counterattack from her sister and the extreme pain going up her arm, was helpless as her older sister proceeded to strike her two more times in rapid succession in the shoulder and chest, effectively knocking her out cold.
The elders and Hiashi were stunned. They had expected a quick fight, yes, but with Hanabi the winner. And certainly not in merely three strikes.
"What… just happened?" Asked one elder.
"I'm not too sure myself." Replied another.
"It appears that…" Started a confused Hiashi. "She curved her chakra when she deflected Hanabi's strike, and forced it up her arm…"
"Impossible." Growled an elder by the name of Komashi (A/N: I love making shit up in Japanese, it's so easy and you don't have to make any sense at all), one that Hiashi deeply loathed. Komashi was a heavy supporter of the caged bird seal, and it was common knowledge that he occasionally raped some of the Branch house women, married or not. Unfortunately, there was never enough evidence to prosecute the man, since none of the rape victims ever spoke up against him for obvious reasons… "The weakling cannot be this strong. Why would she throw those fights if she wasn't?"
"Because, honorable elder," Hinata answered in a dead tone while glaring at him with a stare that Hiashi would be (and was) proud of, "Unlike some other members of this family, I actually care for others' wellbeing. Under most circumstances, I would have thrown this fight, for I care about my little sister's health. However, the stakes of it were too high this time, and I happened to have a long day and am weary." Everyone listening to Hinata shivered. Apparently the girl was losing to her sister each time on a whim, regardless of how her family looked at her. They would have to be more careful when dealing with her now.
Looking around, Hinata continued. "I do not believe I will get the peace and quiet I will need here, so I am going to go to the village now. I will answer any questions you may have for me when I return. Farewell." Hinata turned to the entrance, which she had just entered in through five minutes earlier.
"Wait, Hinata." Growled one elder. "You have much explaining to do. We demand an explanation for your skill and…"
"You would have continued to have known nothing if I had continued to play the role of a weakling, which by the way, you had mistaken my unwillingness to attempt to harm my father and my sister for." Hinata interrupted coldly, unnerving some of the other elders. "You risked not knowing for some time now without much concern for my own wellbeing or mental health. I doubt a few more hours will have any more of an impact on your EXCEPTIONAL decision making skills. Like it or not, I am still heiress of the Hyūga clan, and still hold some power. As such, I am telling you that I will answer any questions I deem are necessary WHEN I deem necessary. Good. Night."
Hinata walked out of her family's compound with her head held high leaving a large group of old men gaping in her wake. On the inside of the compound, the elders and Hiashi were wondering how strong Hinata was, and what they should do when she returned.
On the outside, Hinata appeared serene and composed.
'Crap Crap Crap CRAP! WhatdoIdo whatdoIdo whatdoIdo?!'
Appearances can be deceptive, eh?
o. o. o.
"Hmmm." Sarutobi mumbled as Naruto and Kakashi waited for his verdict.
Just moments earlier, Naruto had entered the office with Kakashi in a bit of a panic demanding that the security seals be placed. The second they were, Naruto blurted out that Mizuki had already asked him to steal the Forbidden Scroll, which concerned the old man a bit.
Naruto and Sarutobi had already asked Ghost about the repercussions of trying to trick Mizuki into moving a bit earlier than last time a few weeks beforehand, but Ghost had responded that he had already thought of it himself. Unfortunately, he did not want to risk giving the village council a reason to banish or execute Naruto, believing that the reason they didn't manage to do so last time was because the Hokage made Naruto a genin, putting him under the Hokage's sole control before they could pass a vote. Sarutobi remembered that the first time this happened, he had barely managed to get Naruto's ninja registration papers signed off before the council was all over his ass trying to banish and or execute the boy.
"May I make a suggestion, Hokage-sama?" Kakashi asked, interrupting the old man's contemplation.
"By all means, Kakashi."
"Why don't we just label this as an unofficial mission for Naruto to aid in the capture of the suspected traitor Mizuki, with me as a hidden supervisor? You didn't have anyone else involved last time, and this could help with Naruto's reputation. Since Ghost is proposing a new training regimen with you as one of the test subjects, we could use this incident as a sort-of promotion for it."
Naruto and Sarutobi looked at Kakashi before looking at each other curiously.
"Go on…" Naruto urged, intrigued.
Kakashi eye smiled. "Simple. You just do what you did last time, except this time I show up to apprehend Mizuki after he announces his intentions. With the Hokage providing the story and me backing it up, there should be enough evidence to keep the council off your back."
"Wait, aren't you supposed to be protecting me because quote: The seal is still setting in and the right hits in the wrong place could let the fur ball out? Wouldn't the council get a bit skeptical if you let ME of all people aid in the capture of a potentially dangerous individual?"
Kakashi shrugged. "That's why I'm going to be there in the first place. Hokage-sama has complete faith in my ability to take down any obstacle that might present itself during this mission and protect you in the process. Besides, you were VERY persistent in helping us and we just couldn't say no to you." He hinted in a tone that didn't trick anyone.
"Your reward for aiding in his capture can be what you learned from the scroll. I assume that Ghost-san wanted you to have another look at it?" Sarutobi asked.
"Yeah, Ero-nii said to copy down around five new jutsu for me to work on. He said that I should get some wind style in my jutsu repertoire, since all I have right now in terms of elemental ninjutsu are my juiced up Rasengan and chakra streaming for my blades, but above all else try to learn the Exploding Clone jutsu. He was doing his creepy laugh when he started thinking about it. I asked him why, against my better judgment, and he simply asked me to picture a thousand of my clones running all over the place covered in exploding tags. Then he started to laugh some more. … then I started to laugh. Heheheheheh."
The older two men in the room paled at the thought of Naruto learning the Exploding Clone technique… and knew that Ghost would kill them if they tried to stop Naruto from learning it.
'We're accomplices in creating a monster.'
"Hokage-sama, please don't tell me…" Kakashi asked his superior in an extremely nervous tone.
"It's called the Forbidden Scroll for a reason Kakashi… unfortunately." Sarutobi replied crying anime tears.
"Shouldn't we get going?" Naruto asked, snapping the two men out of their fear induced stupor. "Mizuki told me to get the scroll to training ground 82, ironic, by around 11, and I need to get the right supplies to copy down my new jutsu as well as get enough time to actually 'learn' one of them before the bastard gets there."
Sarutobi nodded. "Of course. As of this moment, you two are assigned a B-rank mission to confront and apprehend the traitor, Mizuki… what's his last name again?"
Kakashi and Naruto looked at the Hokage, and then looked at each other, then at the Hokage again.
"You know, I don't have the faintest clue." Kakashi replied.
"Got me." Naruto shrugged.
Sarutobi sweat dropped. "He's been your teacher for several years… how do you not know his last name?"
"Hey, don't try to blame me for forgetfulness old man. You're the one who hired him for the job. You should know your employee's names by now, especially the ones that are in charge of teaching your future ninja."
"Cut me some slack brat. Unless you've forgotten, I'm OLD, and in charge of an entire village of ninja." Said village leader grumbled.
"Ummm… guys?" Kakashi interrupted. "Remember the plan? You know… the one with Mizuki? And the scroll? Tonight?"
Knock knock knock.
The three males turned to the door.
"Yes?" Sarutobi asked, releasing his privacy seal.
"Hinata Hyūga is here to speak with you Hokage-sama." Said the secretary from the other side of the door. "She said it was urgent."
Everyone listening to the message's eyes widened at this statement.
Sarutobi got up from his desk and opened the door to see a slightly unnerved Hinata on the other side of the door. Looking back into his office, he saw Naruto and Kakashi eye the girl in concern. Sarutobi sighed. This was going to be a LOOOONG night.
"Naruto, Kakashi. I believe that our conversation is pretty much done for the night. Whatever Ms. Hyūga wishes to discuss with me, it seems to be private, so I am kindly asking you to leave."
Naruto flinched in understanding. It would not do to be in the same room as Hinata while she was having an important conversation with the Hokage with other people aware of his presence. He didn't like it, but he had long since learned (more like had beaten in to his head) to keep out of other people's business, at least in the public eye. "All right old man. I'll see you later. Come on Kakashi-sensei."
Naruto walked out of the room, giving Hinata a worried glance as he passed. Kakashi simply followed the blonde, seemingly not paying attention to the distressed girl as he read his book out the office.
As soon as Hinata entered the room, Sarutobi set up the privacy seal yet again. "So I can assume that something is amiss, Hinata?" He sighed.
"Y-yes Hokage-sama. I may have revealed a bit of my true ability to my family in a match against my sister earlier today. Now they are starting to ask questions."
Sarutobi rubbed the bridge of his nose in frustration. "How badly did you beat your sister?"
"I beat her in three hits Hokage-sama… with the first being one of my applications of the first step." The heiress nervously explained.
The Hokage frowned. "Did you tell them anything?"
Hinata shook her head. "No, Hokage-sama. As soon as the match was over, I somehow convinced… well, more like scared them into waiting until later tonight for me to answer any questions. As soon as I left the compound, I came right here."
"Scared them?" Sarutobi raised an eyebrow.
The girl blushed. "Y-Yes. The academy has shown itself to be… less challenging ever since I started my training with Naruto-kun and Ghost-sensei. With the additional stress of yesterday's news and my family threatening to banish me if I performed poorly in my match against Hanabi… I can only say that I may have lost my temper a bit."
The old man let out a tired sigh. "I don't blame you. Your family can be a bunch of stuck up pricks if I do say so myself. No offence."
"None taken, Hokage-sama."
"Back to the topic at hand… so your family knows that you have been hiding your true skill, correct?"
Hinata nodded. "Yes. I believe that my father may have known that I have been up to something ever since he first met Ghost-sensei, but he has not made any motion or said anything that would confirm it."
"Then how do you know?" The Hokage asked curiously.
The girl hesitated. "He has been… more lenient on me. He does not insult me as much as before, and he is more considerate of my apparent limitations during training. I cannot think of anything else that would cause it."
"Hmmm…" Sarutobi pondered. The situation was a tricky one. He couldn't risk lying to the Hyūga clan or else he might do some irreparable damage to their relations, ignoring the fact that Hyūga are extremely good at detecting deceptions in the first place. Bending the truth might work, but by how much? If what Hinata is telling him was something to rely on, then Hiashi and Ghost probably have some sort of shared hidden agenda. Ghost had hinted as much during their frequent meetings the past few months.
…Hidden agenda? Maybe he could work from that angle…
Hinata watched nervously as the man known around the elemental nations as the Professor slowly formulated a solution in his head, his smile growing with every second.
Ghost and Naruto weren't the only ones who could make up brilliant plans on the spot…
o. o. o.
Anko, Hana, Kurenai, and Yūgao were all drinking at a local bar on their weekly girl's night out. (A/N: For all extensive purposes, the Ninja rule: Old enough to kill, Old enough to have sex, Old enough to drink applies here legally.)
"So come on…" Yūgao egged on a blushing and slightly hammered Hana. "Who is it? You're not hiding it very well."
"I'm not telling." Hana managed to slur out.
"It's Ghost, ain't it?" Anko drawled while swaying side to side.
"Eeep!" Hana blushed.
"Heheheh, nothing to be afraid of girlie, I'm startin' to get a soft spot for the crazy bastard myself. Besides, his massages are literally to kill for." She started to drool.
"Ghost?" Kurenai asked. "You mean that foreigner that came into town a few months ago? Why him? I mean, yeah you have occasionally tried to rape him across town with Anko, but I just thought it was because he gives good back rubs."
Yūgao continued. "Yeah. I heard that he's not all there in the head. He even had the nerve to insult the council to their faces… okay, I'm starting to tell why you would like him. But isn't he just some stranger? I mean he might be strong, but he's still just another village-less ninja right?"
Anko chuckled. "You have no idea." Kurenai and Yūgao motioned at her to continue. Anko obliged as she leaned forward, causing the other girls to follow suit. "I once forced him to actually show some of his skills against me. Nothing big, just some stealth and assassination trials. I swear, if I didn't know any better I would have assumed the guy was really a ghost. The second I said go, he disappeared in an instant. I couldn't tell where the fuck he was; no scent, no sound, no trails, no chakra, nothing. I started to wonder if he had found out that I was going to try to rape him if he lost to me (Cue mass sweat drop), when I start to hear these weird noises all around me, and I'm talking weird weird. Like, wounded animals, occasional slight wind blowing right past my ears, fucked up echoes all around me, Gai screaming about youth. It was creepy as hell and it didn't take long to completely fry my nerves, and then suddenly there was nothing but pure silence all around me." The women listening swallowed heavily as they got more into the story.
"… And don't tell me it was a genjutsu, Kurenai. I tried to dispel whatever the hell it was, but there was nothing there to begin with." Anko suddenly whipped out an arm and slammed it on the table, scaring the women and making them jump back. "Two seconds later, he has me pinned to a tree with at least forty kunai and I'm wondering what the fuck just happened. He was so fast I couldn't even pull off a replacement in time. I managed to get off of the tree somehow, and the overconfident bastard hadn't moved an inch since he appeared before me, but before I managed to pull out my kunai or make any seals, he took his hand out of his pocket and held my panties out in front of my face! The ones I was actually wearing minutes beforehand! And don't tell me THAT was an illusion, because I checked… Anyways, I was too shocked to do anything else at the moment aside from gape at him. He simply laughed, threw my panties on top of my head, and walked away. And here was the creepy part." The girls leaned in close at this. "As he was walking away, he started to disappear slowly into thin air, like a freaking ghost. The bastard was playing with me the entire time. I was never scared so shitless and turned on so much at the same bloody moment before then!"
There was silence at the table.
"So does that mean that you're a masochist?" Hana asked. The rest of the girls face faulted.
"Why?" Yūgao sniggered as she picked herself back up. "Do you need someone to talk to about the best way to tie yourself up at night?"
"N-Noooo." Hana stuttered as she looked away unconvincingly.
Anko chuckled. "I wonder what Tsume would say if she found out her eldest pup from the proud and feral Inuzuka clan, raised to be an alpha, liked to get whipped like an omega."
"Says the woman who was turned on after being pinned to a tree and having her panties taken off without her knowing." Joked Kurenai. "Honestly though, I thought that from the way you described him, you two would have had your way with him by now… not that I approve but…"
Anko shrugged. "I don't blame him on my part. Any time I get turned on near the guy, I get… clingy and pointy. Apparently he doesn't like getting cut while making out. Any time I try to get my hands on him, he slips through my fingers and runs away for his life. Maybe I should try Hana's approach next time and make myself the damsel in distress instead of him…" The women at the table started to deadpan as Anko started to drool.
"I… haven't tried to do anything to him either… aside from those times he gave me a massage… mmaassaaggeee." Hana started to drool in tandem with Anko as Kurenai and Yūgao sweat dropped.
"He can't be THAT good…" Yūgao mumbled.
"He isn't…" Anko fantasized.
"He's better…" Hana continued.
"The best." Anko finished.
"Maaaasssssaagggeee." Both said in unison.
"Okay, this is getting a bit creepy." Kurenai shuddered.
"Join us." Hana/Anko chanted. "Become one with the sisterhood."
"Damn it Anko, what did we say about corrupting Hana?! I have to work with her in the field, you know." Yūgao growled.
"You make it sound like this guy is perfect." Kurenai groaned. "I bet he has a ton of skeletons in his closet…"
That snapped Anko and Hana out of their day dream, as they remembered the first time they really met Ghost. This didn't go unnoticed by the other two women.
"You know something, don't you?" said Yūgao.
"Spill it." Kurenai ordered.
Hana looked to Anko nervously. Both shuddered at the memory.
"Sorry." Hana replied.
"Can't say. The guy was pretty serious when he told us not to let anyone know. Hokage-sama even told us to make it an S-class secret, even when he himself doesn't even know. That is how important this guy is." Anko said in a distracted tone.
Kurenai and Yūgao looked at each other in confusion.
"Was it that bad?" Yūgao asked.
"…" Hana was pondering what she could say. "… For the rest of my life… I will never forget what I saw that day. Those visions and sounds will haunt me forever… and I cannot talk to him without occasionally seeing flashes of that incident before my eyes, and wonder how he can stay remotely sane…"
"Hana…" Anko hissed.
"You saw it too Anko! You saw the entire damn thing! Can you honestly tell me that Orochimaru could come up with anything as bad as what he went through?" Hana snapped.
"…"
Yūgao and Kurenai were quiet in fear and shock. Whatever the two women saw… it was bad.
"L-Lets just drop the subject." Kurenai said, trying to calm down her friends who seemed to be experiencing some unwanted flashbacks. She would have to look into this later, S-class secret or not. Yūgao was thinking along the same lines.
Everyone's train of thought was interrupted by a sudden commotion going throughout the bar.
"The demon's stolen the Forbidden Scroll!"
"I knew it couldn't be trusted."
"The Hokage's demanded that all available ninja go to him at once."
The girls all looked at each other.
"Anko?" Hana whispered.
"Yeah… something seems off." Anko mumbled darkly.
"What are you two talking about?" Kurenai whispered. She had heard about Naruto and his constant pranking around the village, so she would admit that she would be a bit biased against the boy… but not to the degree that the other villagers were. She was level headed enough to try to know the boy herself before drawing any real conclusions.
"We can't say much right now…" Hana started, "But we know that Naruto is not the kind of kid who would simply try to steal the Forbidden Scroll and try to leave the village. He isn't like that. He's loud, childish, and a bit dense at times, but he isn't a traitor of any kind."
"Yeah." Anko continued in a low tone. "Besides, the kid is tight with the old man. I mean really tight. The brat would probably give the geezer his left nut if asked to. The only reasons why I think the old man would be calling everyone together like this is if something has gone horribly wrong… which I highly doubt… or,"
"Or they're trying to hide something." Finished Yūgao.
"So what do we do?" Asked Kurenai.
"For now, we just go with everyone else to the Hokage to see what he has to say. Then after everyone else leaves, Hana and I will get the real story from the old man. If you two happen to see Kakashi, keep him in your sights. He's supposed to be keeping an eye on the kid for now." Anko instructed in a low volume as she put her share of the bill on the table.
"Right." The other three women nodded as they left the bar, ninja-style … 'cause they're cool like that.
o. o. o.
"So remind me again how this is going to work?" Asked a skeptical Naruto to a disinterested Kakashi and a nervous Hinata while copying his third jutsu from the Forbidden Scroll.
"Sigh, this is the last time Naruto." Moaned Kakashi. "Hinata here is under suspicion from her family after showing off a bit too much."
"I said I was sorry." Mumbled Hinata from inside her coat.
"It's okay, Hinata." Comforted Kakashi. "It was bound to happen someday. It was admittedly a bit earlier than we'd hoped for, but at least the timing was convenient. Anyways, what we are going to do is essentially the same as before. Naruto is alone in the training field when Mizuki comes for the scroll. Hinata and I will wait in the bushes for confirmation of Mizuki's betrayal. When that happens, we come in to apprehend him, me in front and Hinata as backup. We then take him back to the Hokage, taking the long route, both to show everyone of Mizuki's betrayal and of your involvement."
Naruto nodded while looking through the scroll for his fourth new jutsu. "I get that much, but why does Hinata getting involved with this have to do with explaining her skills to her family? Oooooo. Wind style: Wind Fang Bullet. Nice." (Fūton: Fūgadan (A/N: Yes I made this up. Deal with it.))
Kakashi sweat dropped, wondering if he would survive the bell test this time around. "I was getting to that, Naruto. Once the chaos involving Mizuki and the village council dies down for the night, we will go to the Hyūga council and deal with them."
"What are we going to tell them, Kakashi-sensei?" Hinata asked hesitantly.
"The truth of course." Kakashi eye smiled.
"WHAT!" The two youths shouted.
"Quiet down, you two. You don't want to be found before the plan comes into action, do you?" The two shut their mouths while blushing. "Not the entire truth, but a good portion of it. We'll tell them that Ghost has been secretly training you two as test examples for a program that is going to be implemented starting with the next batch of genin. We'll tell them that Ghost handpicked you two in particular, and that you were under strict orders from the Hokage himself to not tell anyone, as the program was not fully established or supported yet. This mission here was a test to see the outcome of the training, with me here as a supervisor. Your reward was 'learning' the Shadow Clone technique from the scroll with the Hokage's permission. If you are asked how you learned some of the other things that they have seen you do, simply say that it was part of the program and that you are under orders to keep it secret. If they complain about you two working in close proximity to each other, we can calm them down by saying that we have no incentive to put both of you on the same team, as it would make your team far more powerful than the others regardless of how they are assembled."
Hinata looked down in defeat. She was hoping that she would get placed in the same team as Naruto when they graduated from the academy, but it seems like her hopes had just been shot down. Naruto and Kakashi saw this immediately.
"Kakashi-sensei…" Naruto said worriedly.
"Don't worry, you two. Do you honestly think that Ghost would do something like this without finding some sort of loophole?" Kakashi eye smiled. "I can't tell you the details yet because it's supposed to be a secret, but I can assure you that if both of your teams become active squads, which they most likely will, you will still see plenty of each other while training."
Naruto grinned as he went straight back into the Forbidden Scroll. Apparently the scroll had not only forbidden jutsu, but also all elemental and other techniques B-rank and above as well. Naruto had already written down the instructions and descriptions for the exploding shadow clone technique, Wind Release: Pressure Damage (Fūton: Atsugai), Needle Jizō (that thing Jiraiya does with his hair), Wind Release: Wind Fang Bullet (a technique similar to Shukaku's drilling air bullet, only smaller), and…
"Heheheh. This will do nicely." Naruto started chuckling evilly as he found his final wind technique.
"I don't like the sound of that laugh, Naruto." Kakashi stated nervously. He was starting to think that the boy was spending too much time around Ghost.
"What jutsu did you find?" Asked Hinata as she looked at the final technique her crush had found. She immediately paled while reading the name and description of the technique.
Wind Release: Maelstrom of the Wind God. (Fūton: Fūjin no Naruto)
S-class forbidden wind jutsu.
82 hand symbols…
Description: Creates a number of large, fully developed tornadoes. Number of distinct funnels will depend on how much chakra is put into the technique. Deals immeasurable damage to the surrounding area and anything it comes into contact with. Tornadoes will move and act according to the caster's will, provided their movements don't cause the tornadoes in question to destabilize. Requires mid-high Kage level chakra reserves and high level wind element chakra control in order to perform… and survive performing. WARNING: CONSTANT FOCUS MUST BE APPLIED TO TECHNIQUE WHILE ACTIVE OR ELSE THE TORNADOES WILL ACT ON THEIR OWN. ONCE AUTONOMOUS, CONTROL CANNOT BE REGAINED.
(A/N: I made this up too. Wheeeeeee!)
Kakashi stared at the technique in awe. "I heard of this… It was during the end of the third war. Suna was losing a major battle against Iwa when the Fourth and a few platoons came to their aid and pushed Iwa back. The Kazekage was so 'grateful' that he gave us this technique as a way of saying thank you… only to find our rage at discovering that no one in Konoha would ever be able to perform it. I don't doubt the Kazekage gave it to us so easily because he knew that that was the case."
Kakashi gulped. "My… sensei told me that it was the final technique of the first Kazekage… the one he used to literally overwhelm Shukaku in a battle of wind and weaken him enough to get everything in place to seal him away the first time, at the cost of his life. …Naruto." Kakashi turned to the blonde sternly. "I will not tell you whether you should learn this technique or not… but if you do, be sure to use it even less than the Rasenshuriken. Even with Sage Mode, I don't think you would be able to hold this technique for long without doing massive damage to yourself. Damage I don't even think the Kyūbi can heal."
Naruto stared at his teacher solemnly, then looked at a shivering Hinata. Several minutes passed in silence.
"Sigh. Kakashi-sensei, I understand your concern, but unfortunately I feel that I will need this technique in the future. I will take your advice to heart and only use it when I have little to no other option left. Thanks." Naruto said sternly as he looked at the Copy-Nin square in the face. Then he started to write down his new trump card.
Kakashi nodded, and then turned his attention to Hinata, who was shaking profoundly.
'It seems that Hinata has finally been overwhelmed by what she's involved in.'
Sighing to himself, he walked over to the girl and nudged her to Naruto. "I'll be nearby in the woods to alert you when Mizuki comes." He whispered as he disappeared into the forest.
Hinata gulped as she understood what Kakashi was doing. Slowly, she walked up to Naruto from behind and hugged him.
"Hinata?" Asked a shocked Naruto.
"I'm scared." She mumbled out into his back as tears flowed out of her eyes. "I'm scared Naruto-kun. I don't know if I can do all this…"
"It's just Mizuki, Hinata-chan." Naruto tried to reason… not understanding what the girl was afraid of. "Ero- nii said that you're really strong… strong enough to become Hokage if you really wanted to…"
"No I'm not." The girl wailed into his back. "I'm just a scared, weak, twelve year old girl. I'm the shame of my clan. No one expects me to do well. I was almost banished from my clan a few hours ago! How can I stand up to someone like Orochimaru when I can't even stand up for myself? How can you even look at me? How…"
Slap.
Naruto had turned around so fast that Hinata had lost her grip on him and he smacked her across the face hard. Hinata stared at Naruto in shock, fearing that he was going to hate her as he stared at her coldly.
Then he hugged her tightly.
"I can because I have precious people there to help me and precious people to protect. And you do to Hinata-chan."
Hinata froze in shock for several seconds before completely breaking down and crying heavily into Naruto's neck while hugging onto him for dear life.
This went on for about fifteen minutes before Hinata finally calmed down. They had still yet to part. Somehow, Naruto managed to make a clone to finish writing down the wind technique of ultimate destruction without ruining the moment. Ghost would be proud.
"Hinata-chan, whatever happens I want you to know that I will always think that you are strong. You lived with a family that constantly put you down, yet you always managed to continue to get back up regardless for those you cared about. Who cares if your sister and your cousin are prodigies? Does it really matter? All it means is that it will be that much greater when you beat them in front of everyone else."
Hinata snuggled into Naruto's chest, unintentionally rubbing herself against him. Luckily for Naruto she didn't notice his blush. "But what about the Akatsuki? I'm just a girl Naruto-kun. I can't fight a bunch of S-class missing-nin…"
Naruto chuckled. "Alone most likely." Hinata looked down in depression. "But that's what we have allies and friends for. We didn't say this before, but the Akatsuki shouldn't make any major moves for around three years. Not only that, but they don't know that we know most of their secrets and abilities. So we have the advantage." Naruto looked up to the night sky. "Ero-nii told me that out of everyone that is in our group right now, the ones that show the most promise right now are you and me… in that order. He said right after you showed him your variants on the second step that you would have a better chance of becoming Hokage then I did… and later on he told me that he wasn't blowing hot air."
Hinata's eyes widened. "B-but how? You're so much stronger than I am and…"
"Combat strength is only part of the job Hinata-chan, you know that." Naruto gently corrected while brushing her hair. "A Hokage, more than power, needs to be able to make the right decisions, needs to be able to keep their head on their shoulders, not lose control, needs to have the backing of the villagers… right now you have the better chance at the hat then I do." He sighed. "Right now, I'm still the Kyūbi brat in everyone's eyes. Even if I've gotten better, I'm still short tempered and make stupid mistakes. I lose my concentration way too easily and still have trouble with some of the more basic aspects of life. That is where you have the edge on me Hinata-chan."
Hinata was quiet for a few minutes, pondering about what Naruto had just said. "Naruto-kun?"
"Yeah Hinata-chan?"
"What would you do if I became Hokage instead of you?"
Naruto was stunned for a moment before he started laughing loudly. "Hinata-chan, I would be the first person to bow before you and call you Hokage-sama."
"You wouldn't get mad?"
Naruto smiled. "You are the only person around my age that I would be perfectly happy with being Hokage other than me… Hokage-sama."
Hinata backed away from Naruto for a moment to look into his blue eyes and smiled, deciding to go out on a limb and kissed Naruto on the cheek, causing the boy to blush heavily. "Of course you would. Who wouldn't want their girlfriend to be known as one of the most powerful and respected shinobi in the elemental nations?"
Naruto put on a thoughtful expression. "… Shikamaru?"
"…"
"…"
"Snort… bwahahahhahahaha!" The two laughed in unison at the idea of Shikamaru marrying an extremely high caliber kunoichi.
… And Naruto knowing that it would eventually happen … again.
o. o. o.
In Suna, a 15 year old girl with blonde hair tied in four pigtails sneezed while wielding her giant fan, causing the attack that she had aimed at her teacher to instead go towards the elder of her brothers, who was tinkering with his puppet Crow. Two seconds later, said brother was pinned to a wall by his own puppet tools, traps and appliances. While no one else had noticed, the girl's youngest brother had almost cracked a smile at the amusing sight.
o. o. o.
Shikamaru was practicing water walking when he sneezed and fell into the river he was practicing on, causing enough of a commotion to gain his father's attention.
"Shikamaru?" Shikaku asked as he saw his son climb out of the river.
"Troublesome." The son muttered under his breath as he tried to come up with a story for his current situation…
o. o. o.
It took a while for the two to catch their breaths after laughing so hard.
"Hinata?"
"Yes, Naruto-kun?" Hinata giggled, wiping a tear from her eye.
The blonde smirked. "I want you to promise me that you will try your hardest to be as strong as you can… to be Hokage. And I'll promise you the same thing. It'll be a contest to see which one of us will get the hat first."
Hinata blinked in a confused manner. "But isn't being the Hokage your dream? What if I really do become the Hokage instead of you?"
Naruto grinned as he stuck out his hand. "Then I'll support every decision you make."
Hinata returned the smile as they shook hands and promised each other that one of them would be Hokage.
"… so I guess we're officially unofficial boyfriend and girlfriend now." Naruto chuckled.
"Yep!" Hinata beamed as she hugged Naruto with all her might.
"Will you two please be quiet? I'm trying to copy down this impossibly long jutsu here!" Shouted the clone that Naruto made earlier.
Naruto groaned. "Way to kill the mood, asshole."
"Do YOU want to copy this bastard down?" Said clone replied, clearly not giving a damn.
"A clone?" Hinata asked in a dazed voice. "When?"
"Right after genius here slapped you." The clone answered without remorse, ignoring the original's silent gestures for 'Shut the hell up, you dumb fuck!'. Naruto proceeded to slap himself in the face.
"I needed to get the damn thing written down and Mizuki is coming soon." Naruto groaned to a slightly hurt Hinata. "If I didn't make the clone, I would have been too distracted to focus on you."
"Nice save."
Poof. The clone dispelled via a kunai in its head. He quickly made another clone. "Don't be like the idiot. Just finish writing down the technique." Naruto growled to the second doppelganger. Thankfully, the memories of the dispelled clone told Naruto and the new clone where it had left off, and it was almost done with everything. "And that is why I'm not ready to be Hokage yet…" He grumbled more to himself than to Hinata. Just a couple more hand seals…
"Naruto, Hinata, he's coming." Kakashi appeared before the two could continue their conversation. The temperature dropped considerably as everyone got down to business. Naruto's clone finished writing down everything on the second scroll and quickly packed everything away in Naruto's pockets as Naruto rolled up the forbidden scroll and looped it around his back.
Hinata walked up to Naruto and pecked him on the cheek, which got a raised eyebrow from Kakashi. "Be careful Naruto-kun…"
Naruto smirked. "You don't have to worry about me. I'm gonna be the Hokage."
Hinata was already following Kakashi into the woods, "Not if I have anything to say about it." She said confidently just before she disappeared into the foliage. Anko had really taught her well.
Two minutes later, Iruka showed up in the clearing out of breath.
"Hehehe. Looks like you found me Iruka-sensei. Does this mean I have a chance to be able to graduate now?"
o. o. o.
Scabbard chuckled to himself as he walked through the woods on his three paws and prosthetic leg. It was far too easy for him to escape Orochimaru's hideout, even with all the security seals in his way. Once again, mankind's inability to presume that other species are capable of higher levels of thought has led it down the path of ruin.
As soon as he arrived at the hideout, the snake bastard locked him in a seal-lined cage designed to sap its content's energy and prevent one from manipulating electricity. The Sannin then quickly left to obtain some materials from another hideout to perform future experiments on him.
Too bad for Orochimaru that Scabbard has an ungodly amount of energy in him. He barely even felt the drain.
It was an easy task to disrupt the seals that prevented him from using any of his electrical powers and wedge open the cage. All he had to do was use the parasite in his body to extend a tendril from his tail and literally scratch the seals until they were useless. Sometimes the crudest methods are the most efficient. It's a shame that the seals around him were inadequate at keeping him from using his powers. He was hoping for more of a challenge from the so-called genius Sannin.
While the seals around him prevented one from controlling the flow of electrons, AKA electricity, they did nothing to hamper controlling of the electrons themselves, which is what his power was. Absolute electron manipulation. It was something only a few people knew about, and fewer people knew how to truly counter. Getting out of the cage and room that he was in was a moot point after disrupting the seals. All he had to do was rip the door open with his parasite… and blast the prison door open with a monstrously powerful beam of electricity.
The man may be a bit lacking in the emotion department, but he certainly got points in the 'loud and flashy techniques' department.
Regardless, his less than subtle methods had set off all the alarms in the base, causing many of the shinobi in there to believe that one of Orochimaru's long term experiments had gone wild again. Thus, any shinobi that crossed Scabbard's path ran away from him as fast as they possibly could. All of the ninja knew better than to kill any of their master's projects, and that went double for getting in the way of any of them.
However, that didn't mean they didn't have plans for when such events happened. Standard protocol dictated that should one of Orochimaru's experiments go out of control, all resident shinobi would move to designated safety zones while the rest of the base was sealed off and flooded with a strong sleeping gas, which was already saturating the air as Scabbard walked down the hallway.
Too bad the gas had almost no effect on the man/dog. Scabbard frequently experimented with his body down to the molecular level, seeing which chemical compounds did what to which parts of his body and so forth. It was one of the perks to being an unequivocal genius and being able to screw around with one of the three things that make up everything tangible in all the known universes. While he had yet to subject himself to this particular brand of gas, he had still adapted his body to an unnaturally large range of poisons and sleeping agents. The result was that the gas' effect was reduced to make him at most a little light headed, and that sensation only lasted for a good 30 seconds before Scabbard made the appropriate changes to deal with the gas entirely.
Before leaving out of sheer boredom, Scabbard decided to do a bit of exploring around the panicking base… and came out with two VERY interesting treasures that he came across in the main laboratories.
The first was of course, information. Scabbard had to hold in a laugh as he downloaded all the information from one of Orochimaru's computers directly into his brain within several seconds by simply touching the computer's USB drive, and uploaded a virus that would secretly send him updated information on a weekly basis. Not only would it do that, but the virus would implant itself into any and all uploaded programs and connected terminals and spread itself indefinitely. It was amusing how one of the Snake Sannin's greatest assets in this world would end up being one of his greatest weaknesses. Plans, seals, hideout locations, maps, foreign agreements, jutsu, poisons… all his. He could last a while on this in the underground information trade.
However, the second treasure was by far more intriguing and entertaining.
A small ring with the kanji for 'Void' that was oh-so-carelessly left on a mounted old withered hand…
o. o. o.
A/N: Yep… another chapter, another night completely lost, and another hundred million brain cells killed.
I'm gonna close the poll soon regarding whether Sarutobi lives or dies, and whether Haku is a dude or not. So far:
Sarutobi:
Live: 31
Dead: 4
Haku:
Dude: 11
Not Dude: 25
If you don't like what you see, vote now or forever moan in anguish.
As for the Sakura and Sasuke bashing… I just need to get it all out of my system before I make them competent. It's… it's just too easy when it comes to those two. Please be patient, they will be somewhat sane and logical soon.
Okay: Please don't tell me that Kishi actually decided to do the 'Sage of Six Paths had two kids that decided to kill each other after daddy died and now their descendants are causing problems for everyone' storyline. That is not right. It's too predictable, and easy to see coming. I hope that the guy comes up with something decent to make up for it soon.
On a side note: I really hope to get up to the big 100 reviews by the end of ch. 15. I'm not saying "Grrr, review or else I won't write anymore". I'm not an asshole and will still write regardless. I just want to see if my story will make it to triple digits by then. If you want to, I would greatly appreciate anyone who gets my story's name more widely known around the site.
I have a feeling that my title and summary are partially to blame for some people not taking interest. With that, if anyone thinks they have a better title for this story… please don't hesitate to suggest it… unless you are trying to be funny and give me a bad title instead… that's my thing.
Oh, by the way, Deathmvp: thanks for the reminder for Naruto's and Hinata's alone time talk. I had completely forgotten about it.
If anyone else has decent and logical suggestions like that, please do not hesitate to let me know. Worst case scenario is I completely ignore it. Best case is I tweak the story according to the suggestion and make it better. Yay better!
Also, I have decided to not make this a crossover, and by that I mean no characters from other series will appear in the Naruto-verse, they will be referenced occasionally, but no one else aside from my OCs will actually appear. I WAS planning to have Archer from Fate Stay Night (Unlimited Blade Works Movie coming out January next year YYYYEEEEESSSSS!), Geno from Super Mario RPG legend of the seven stars, and some other guys, but I decided against it after concluding that it would take away more than give to the story. So anyone worrying about what was going to happen later do not need to anymore.
Anyways… blah blah blah please review blah blah blah watch out for the demon chicken of doom blah blah blah I like waffles.