A/N:

So, this chapter got finished very soon after chapter 13 was done. Boy, when you get just a little bit of inspiration, it can go a long way.

By the way, this story has recently hit two major milestones: 1000 followers and 100,000 views! Thanks so much to everyone who has read and followed this story and made this possible!

Once again, if you want to see more awesome art like the cover for this story, check out Nacrym's profile on Deviantart. Link is in my profile.

Chapter 14: Killing Intent Training

Naruto stood in the center of the practice field. He had given his teammates complete freedom over where they would start from, and they had chosen to be spaced out evenly around him, near the edges of the arena. Once again, they had loaded their weapons with practice rounds, and the shielding on their weapons was in place.

Ruby and Blake were slightly cautious about the coming fight, but Yang was impatient to begin. "Come on, Whiskers! You ready yet?"

"Patience, Yang," Naruto replied. "Just give me a moment more."

Naruto was doing some quick mental preparations in order to be able to use his Killing Intent on his teammates. It would be difficult for him to direct KI against them, since he instinctively knew them to be allies and friends. After a few more seconds, he felt that he was ready, and called out "All right, attack whenever you're ready!"

For Yang, this meant immediately. She charged directly at him. Ruby, after seeing her sister charge in a little recklessly, decided to charge as well to give her backup. Blake approached more slowly, getting into a better position, but also waiting and watching to see what the effects of Naruto's Killing Intent would be.

When Yang and Ruby got close enough, Naruto drew Kitsune no Ikari and slashed at Yang, who blocked with Ember Celica and went to punch him. Naruto spun past the punch, smacking Yang's arm away from him, and blocked an attack from Ruby. Kitsune no Ikari and Crescent Rose ended up locked together.

Yang, seeing an excellent chance, charged toward Naruto. All she had to do was draw her fist back and-

RUN!

Yang nearly froze as an intense urge to flee took her. She just knew somehow that if she kept going toward Naruto, she would be killed. He would have no mercy upon her, and tear her limb from limb. She fell backwards, landing on her butt with an outcry of fear, and scrambled away from Naruto as quickly as she could. Her entire body was shaking as she turned herself around and pushed herself up off of the ground.

Blake watched with wide eyes as Yang began to flee, but it wasn't long before the blonde brawler regained control of herself. Yang had only taken two steps when she froze again, and turned back toward Naruto, a look of confusion passing across her face before her expression settled into realization. Ruby, who had been distracted by Yang's cry, had been knocked back by a strong kick from Naruto. Blake decided that this was as good a time as any to try an attack of her own. She began to move toward Naruto, readying Gambol Shroud.

As she approached Naruto, his head turned toward her, and they locked eyes.

Blake suddenly stopped, frozen stiff, as sheer terror overcame her. She couldn't look away from Naruto's intense gaze. Those eyes, which were normally so warm and reassuring, were now hard and unforgiving. Blake knew at that point that she was in the presence of an apex predator: the ultimate killing machine. Even worse, it was displeased with her. She couldn't fathom what she had done to draw such ire from it, but her instincts were screaming at her, telling her that her only hope was to prostrate herself before this predator that wore the face of her friend and beg for its forgiveness. She fell to her knees, dropping Gambol Shroud as she did so, as a vision of her own death flashed before her eyes.

Suddenly, a sharp pain in her stomach replaced the terror she had been feeling, and she felt herself being flung backwards by some force whose source she couldn't identify. In the moment that she landed, she realized that Naruto had ran forward and punched her. With quivering hands, she pushed herself up off of the ground to see Naruto pick up Gambol Shroud and begin to fire it at Yang, who had apparently recovered from what must have been Naruto's Killing Intent.

Naruto was forced to change tactics as Ruby entered the fight. He threw Gambol Shroud at her, which distracted her long enough for him to ready Kitsune no Ikari and take a swing at Yang, who jumped backwards to avoid the attack.

Ruby spared a moment to glance at Blake, who was still shaking like a leaf as she picked herself up from the ground, before refocusing on the ongoing exchange between Yang and Naruto. Naruto had actually sheathed Kitsune no Ikari, and was fighting Yang hand-to-hand. Normally, this would be a situation that Yang would be getting the better of him in, but her hands were still quivering slightly, and she was being more defensive than she normally would be in a fight. She spent more time blocking Naruto's attacks and retreating than actually punching him back, and it was not going well for her. Suddenly, for no apparent reason, Yang flinched and jumped backward to put some distance between her and Naruto, the quivering in her arms becoming more pronounced for a moment, and Naruto took the opportunity to throw a few shuriken at her. At this point, Ruby began running toward Naruto to help Yang out.

However, those shuriken hadn't been meant to hit Yang directly. Instead, they went wide of her before looping back around and spinning smaller and smaller circles around Yang, whose arms were quickly bound to her sides by ninja wire. Naruto drew Kitsune no Ikari and turned toward Ruby after he was sure that Yang would be sufficiently hindered, and had to bat away a swipe from Crescent Rose.

Ruby kept moving forward, trying to give Blake a chance to retrieve Gambol Shroud and Yang a chance to untangle herself. She attacked with dizzying combinations and powerful swings, forcing Naruto to give ground before her. She began to smile as she considered the possibility that she could end the fight before Yang and Blake even needed to assist her. After all, Naruto had promised not to use Jutsus for the fight.

The smile quickly fell from her face as she felt the most intense fear she had ever experienced in her life. She drew Crescent Rose back toward herself in a defensive stance instinctively, and backpedaled twice as fast as Naruto had been retreating while she had been fighting him. If she didn't get away from Naruto, she somehow knew that she would be seriously injured, or worse. An image of the Rasengan flashed through her mind: how it ground through bark and wood like it wasn't even there. Naruto had the power to cripple her on a whim! What was she thinking, fighting him!?

A tiny voice in the back of her head spoke up, saying that Naruto had promised not to use Jutsus against them, and that even if he hadn't, he would never hurt her like that. But that voice was quickly crushed under another wave of mind-numbing terror.

Then, just as quickly as the fear had come upon her, it vanished. She blinked and looked around the field, seeing that Blake had Gambol Shroud in her hand once more, and that Yang was detangling herself from the last of the ninja wire. She took a deep, shaky breath to calm herself, and then looked back toward Naruto.

His face was expressionless as he stood with Kitsune no Ikari ready in his hands. His eyes seemed slightly unfocused, and he didn't seem to be looking at anything in particular. However, that did not change the fact that he was ready to move at a moment's notice. Ruby thought that it was strange that he hadn't taken the opportunity to attack while she had been retreating, but decided that she had other things to worry about. For example: what to do now?

Ruby, Yang, and Blake looked at each other, and in silent agreement, they all turned toward Naruto and charged simultaneously.

Perhaps they thought that by attacking all at once, they could defeat Naruto before he had a chance to use his Killing Intent against them. Maybe they thought that they were now ready for his KI, and could attack without worrying about it anymore. They might have even come to the conclusion that he could only focus it on one person at a time.

Whatever they thought, it didn't stop their attack from failing completely.

The instant they all began to attack Naruto, that overwhelming terror returned. It wasn't as strong as it had been before, so they were all able to continue to fight him, but they became sloppy and undisciplined. They would flinch away when Naruto made aggressive motions in their direction, and their shaking limbs made any attacks they did attempt far weaker than they would be normally. As time passed, the shaking in their limbs lessened slightly, and the fear began to become less intense, but they didn't notice these slight details as they fought as if their lives depended on it.

They continued to fight for nearly twenty minutes before Naruto began to finish them off. Yang was knocked unconscious with the end of Kitsune no Ikari, a nasty bruise forming on her forehead. Blake was tied up in ninja wire much like Yang was, only her entire body was bound, so there was no way she could get out. Finally, Naruto flared a particularly nasty spike of KI at Ruby when they locked eyes, and she froze for a moment. For some reason, Naruto flinched as if he had been hit, and the terror that Ruby felt dropped dramatically. However, it didn't matter. He had already been moving forward as he flinched, and his left hand closed around the shaft of Crescent Rose, his right hand bringing the blade of Kitsune no Ikari to rest against the side of Ruby's neck.

Ruby met Naruto's eyes for a second time as the fear disappeared completely, and said "Looks like you win, Naruto. Good job."

Naruto simply nodded, and released her, sheathing Kitsune no Ikari as he did so. For some reason, there was a sad look in his eyes for a moment before it was replaced with a smile and he said "Thanks. You didn't do too bad yourself, for your first time facing KI."

With a smile of her own, Ruby looked over at Yang and Blake. The smile faded slightly as she looked at her still unconscious sister. "Ooh… she's not going to be happy when she wakes up." She looked at Naruto and said "Sorry, but you're on your own when she comes after you for that."

He nodded, having resigned himself to his fate from the moment he had struck Yang to begin with.

Ten minutes later, Naruto was rubbing a lump forming on his head, and Yang had calmed down enough to admit that Killing Intent was far more formidable than she had given it credit for.

They practiced two more times in the same manner as the first, and Yang, Blake, and Ruby were able to barely beat Naruto on the third try. It took Yang flaring her Semblance, ridding herself of the fear from Naruto's KI, to put him on the defensive, and Ruby managed to hit him directly into Blake's ribbons, with which Blake quickly wrapped Naruto up. An immediate and massive flare of KI caused them to nearly abandon Naruto to allow him to escape, but all three of them managed to suppress the urge and keep him restrained.

For a second time, Naruto met Ruby's eyes as he applied his KI. He didn't flinch that time, but he quickly averted his gaze from her, looking down almost shamefully. Once he had surrendered and been untied, he congratulated his three teammates.

"You've definitely begun to build up a significant resistance to Killing Intent. Good job. I think it would be a good idea for us to end the practice session here." He looked over at Ruby. "I know we usually practice for an hour or so longer than we have today, but you three probably need some rest after what I- well, after what you've gone through." He looked slightly sad for a moment as he said that, but he quickly schooled his expression into an approving smile.

Yang and Blake readily agreed to that, and once Ruby had nodded to them, they began to walk back to the dorms. Ruby took a step or two in the same direction, before realizing that Naruto had not moved at all. She stopped and looked at him. "Are you not coming back with us, Naruto?"

This seemed to shake Naruto out of some deep thoughts. "What? Oh. No, I'm coming back with you. I was just… thinking about something. Sorry if I got a little distracted." He began to walk after Blake and Yang, who were far ahead of Ruby and him by now.

Ruby fell into step beside him. She remembered how he had reacted when they had locked gazes in the arena, and became concerned about his strange behavior. "Hey, Naruto, is everything alright with you?"

Naruto gave Ruby a sidelong look of surprise, and replied "Yeah, everything's fine. Why do you ask?"

"Well, it's just… you were acting kind of weird just now, and when I looked at you while we were fighting, you were acting kind of weird too. I just wondered if something was bothering you."

It took Naruto a second to realize what Ruby was talking about, and another second or so for him to reply. "Don't worry about it, Ruby. It's nothing major."

Ruby looked at him uncertainly. "Are you sure? If something is wrong, I want to help. That's what a leader is supposed to do, right?"

"Yeah… I suppose so." Naruto was silent for another few seconds before saying "It's just… using Killing Intent isn't as easy when you're… when it's a friend you're trying to use it on."

Although she wasn't sure what that had to do with Naruto's odd behavior, she was happy that he was confiding in her. "How so?"

"The key word of Killing Intent is 'intent,'" he explained, looking straight ahead. "I would never intentionally hurt the three of you, so in order to use enough of my KI to really have an effect on you, I had to forget who you were, in a way. I didn't focus on your faces if I could help it, and I dredged up as many memories that made me angry as I could." 'Not that that's too difficult,' he mused to himself. "When we made eye contact… well, your eyes are really unique. I've never seen such a pretty eye color anywhere else."

Ruby blushed at these words, and smiled, but Naruto wasn't done. "Looking into your eyes reminded me just who I was fighting, and the way you were looking at me… I… it hurts to have someone you care about look at you like that, you know? Like you're a monster…"

Happiness and sadness warred inside of Ruby. Naruto had just admitted that he cared about her, but he was hurting inside, and she couldn't help but be sad with him. "You're not a monster," she insisted. "You're an awesome Huntsman, and the best teammate I could have. If training us to resist KI is going to do that to you, then we won't do it anymore, okay?"

Naruto looked over at Ruby, looking slightly surprised at her words. After a second, he smiled, and his whole face lit up. Ruby could tell that this wasn't the kind of smile that he would put up to hide pain. It was warm and genuine, and it made her heart flutter for a moment. "Thank you, Ruby. It's… nice to be able to talk about stuff like this instead of keeping it to myself like I used to. But I don't think we need to stop the training completely. The sparring with KI was more to prove a point to Yang than anything else. From here on out, I can just close my eyes and saturate the whole arena with KI. Honestly, that's probably a better way to do it anyway, since that's the way my KI is likely to affect you in battle anyway."

"Well, if you're sure about it, I guess we can do more KI training," Ruby said. "Although, I'm not exactly eager to do it again. I didn't know I could get that scared."

"Yeah, the first time experiencing KI is a bit rough," Naruto said sympathetically. "Don't worry though. I can almost guarantee that my KI is the most intense in all of Remnant. If you can get used to mine, you'll be pretty much immune to anyone else who would be able to use it."

Curiosity rose up in Ruby. "Why is your KI so much more potent than anyone else's?"

Naruto's smile faded slightly, and Ruby started to slightly regret asking that question. "Remember that special condition I have that I mentioned during Initiation?" Naruto asked her.

It took Ruby a moment to remember what he was talking about, but then she nodded. "Yeah, you said it was why you could do more Jutsus without… hurting yourself… than most people could, right?" She tried to think about the fact that Naruto's Jutsus could kill him as little as possible.

"Yeah, I did," Naruto confirmed. "It basically makes any technique I can do stronger than it should be. That includes KI."

Ruby was silent for a moment before saying "What exactly is that special condition you have? You never actually explained what it was."

Naruto's smile disappeared completely, and Ruby immediately regretted asking. "I don't want to talk about it," he said with a tone of finality.

"I'm sorry," Ruby said quickly. "I shouldn't be prying into your personal business like that. Man, I'm such a dork…"

"It's okay," Naruto said, giving Ruby a slight smile. Unlike his previous smile, there was a hint of sadness to it. "You're not a dork; you're just curious. I don't mind you asking a few questions, honestly. It's just, there are some things I'm just not willing to talk about for now." As he finished saying this, they rounded a corner to see Blake and Yang opening the door to their room. The four of them went in, and then quickly got to the serious business of calling and contesting dibs on the bathroom.

Once all of them had showered and gotten into more comfortable clothing and began to lounge about the room, Yang decided to comment "I guess I shouldn't have taken that Killing Intent stuff so lightly. Please tell me we don't have to go through that again anytime soon."

Naruto chuckled. "That's up to Ruby-Taichō. Don't worry though. KI is always much worse your first time experiencing it. Trust me, I sympathize with you."

"So your sensei put you through this training as well?" Blake asked.

"Well… not exactly," Naruto said.

Blake shut her book and looked over at him. "What does that mean? You had to have been put through some training for it, right?"

Naruto shrugged. "I don't know if he was planning to put us through training for it or not, but it kind of became a moot point."

"How did that happen?" Yang asked.

"My old squad and I kind of came across some high-level Killing Intent while out on a mission," Naruto admitted. "We had to… improvise, and after that, it would have been kind of pointless to do training for it."

His teammates looked slightly surprised by that. Blake leaned forward slightly and asked "How exactly did you encounter KI like that? And why was your squad out on a mission? I didn't think the lower academies sent their students out of the city for anything." She then remembered Naruto mentioning that he had lived in Konoha. "Oh… they did things differently in Konoha, didn't they?"

Naruto simply nodded and began to explain. He decided that it would be best to tell some half-truths and vague information for the moment, rather than explain in detail about his home village.

"In Konoha, at a certain point in our training, we were allowed to go out on easy, low-risk missions, under the supervision of an elite ninja sensei to keep us out of trouble. The person who hired us lied about the mission so that he could get it cheaper. It was supposed to be something our squad could handle fairly easily, but it turned out that there was a bounty out on his head, and a group of nuke-nin looking to collect it."

Blake's eyes widened. "Missing Ninja?"

Naruto nodded. "Ninja who betrayed their villages and went rogue. The group that was after us was from Kirigakure no Sato: the village hidden in the mist. However, that particular village had a very unpleasant reputation. It was more commonly called Blood Mist village."

Ruby, Blake and Yang all felt a shiver go up their spines.

"The nuke-nin leading the group was a man called Zabuza Momochi. He also had a bad reputation and a nickname. They called him the Demon of the Hidden Mist, or the Demon of Blood Mist." That didn't help his teammates' misgivings at all. "We ran into him, and my sensei fought against him. Eventually I had to jump in to help, along with a… teammate of mine. Zabuza had KI about as strong as mine is now, and he put the full force of that KI against us." Suddenly, Naruto put a goofy smile on his face, and the tension abated. "We won in the end though, and we got Tazuna home safe."

There was silence for a moment before Yang spoke up. "How exactly did that village get a nickname like Blood Mist village?"

Naruto hesitated a moment, chewing on his bottom lip slightly. "I'm not sure you want to know." Kirigakure had been considered extreme even among Shinobi; the policies that they used to have would probably greatly unsettle the rest of Team RUBY.

"Come on, we're big girls," Yang argued. "You don't need to baby us."

After a moment of consideration, Naruto decided that is was probably better to just tell them. After all, brutality wasn't unique to the Elemental Nations, and they would all have to hear about things like this eventually anyway. "Alright, but don't say I didn't warn you," he said. "In Kiri, they had an academy that was run a little bit like Beacon is. At the start of a student's first year, they would be assigned a partner. Partners would work together in every aspect of their training. They would eat together, train together, get the same grades, and inevitably become good friends. Then… they would have the final exam."

Here Naruto hesitated again, and Ruby said "Well, everyone has exams, right? Even we'll have to take an exam like that at Beacon."

Naruto winced slightly. "Not like this… Pray that you never have to take a test like this. For the final exam, the partners would be put into a training room, and… they would have to fight to the death. The survivor would graduate, and become a ninja. If neither would kill the other, the proctor would execute them both."

Ruby gasped, Yang's jaw dropped, and Blake froze, eyes wide. Naruto could tell that the three of them were imagining being told to kill their partners in order to graduate, just as he had when Yang had first asked him about the nickname. "Worst part is," Naruto continued, "Kiri's academy was at the same level as Konoha's academy. That means that the average graduation age was twelve."

"Th-that's horrible!" Ruby exclaimed. "How could someone… what kind of person thought up that test?"

Yang opened and closed her mouth a few times before she remembered how to speak. "Damn… just… that whole village…"

"Please," Blake said softly. "Please tell me that that exam doesn't happen anymore."

Naruto shook his head. "That exam hasn't happened in over twenty years. Kiri had some changes in leadership, and some other things happened that made the military reconsider the wisdom of cutting its forces by 50% immediately. Either way though, the name stuck."

It was quiet for several minutes in Team RUBY's dorm room, as none of them wanted to discuss the subject further. Blake went back to reading, Yang started brushing her hair, just to have something to do, and Naruto pulled out some shuriken to sharpen. Ruby, however, simply sat there, a question that she wasn't sure she should ask on her mind. She was caught between fear and her curiosity. She couldn't bear not knowing the answer to her question, but at the same time, she was afraid of what that answer would be if she asked. After a while, curiosity won, and she spoke.

"Nartuo, did you ever have to… take an exam like that?"

Everyone's eyes locked onto Ruby, surprise in their expressions. After a moment's pause, Naruto set down his shuriken and whetstone, and answered. "Not like Kiri's, no. Konoha… despite everything else, they wouldn't have done something like that. Our final exam was a test of skill in the face of adversity. Three fresh Genin were pitted against a Jōnin, and we would have to fight until the Genin were defeated, or they completed whatever objective the Jōnin assigned them. If they passed the test, the Jōnin would become their sensei."

Ruby's shoulders relaxed noticeably, and Blake and Yang were relieved as well, although they didn't display it so obviously. Blake decided to ask a question of her own now that the atmosphere was less tense. "Low ninja and high ninja? Were those ranks in Konoha?"

"Yeah," Naruto answered. "Although, rookie ninja and elite ninja are probably better translations. From lowest to highest rank, there were Genin, Chūnin, Tokubetsu Jōnin, or Tokujō for short, Jōnin, and ANBU."

"Dark Side?" Blake asked. "That doesn't sound like a usual name for a rank."

"Oh, sorry. It's an acronym. Although, 'Dark Side' is pretty fitting. ANBU was a special division of the military. It wasn't an actual rank, but ANBU members had more authority than anyone but the Hokage, who was the strongest ninja, and the military leader of the village. ANBU is short for Ansatsu Senjutsu Tokushu Butai. They were the best of the best. Messing with a member of ANBU usually got you killed or imprisoned."

Somehow, it didn't surprise Blake that Konoha had a faction known as the Special Assassination Tactical Squad, and she didn't comment on it. Yang, however, had a question of her own. "So, what were you, Whiskers? Lemme guess, a kick-ass Joonin?"

Naruto shook his head with a small smile. "That's Jōnin, Yang. And no. Technically speaking, I'm still a Genin."

This surprised all three of his teammates, and Yang protested. "No way! If you kicked our butts as a Genin, then those ANBU guys would be ridiculous! Nobody in the world could possibly be that powerful!"

Blake and Ruby nodded in agreement, but Naruto just smirked. "I said 'technically,' Yang. When I took my Chūnin exam, Konoha came under attack by a rival village, supported by the minor village Otogakure no Sato." His smirk fell away, and he became somber. "The Hokage was killed, and the resulting upheaval cut the exams short. Soon after that, I… I had to leave Konoha permanently. By virtue of skill, I'm probably around Tokujō level."

Ruby noticed his change in mood at the mention of the Hokage's death. "Were you close with the Hokage?" She asked.

Naruto nodded. "He was… well… I used to call him Ojichan… grandpa. He was the closest thing to family I had."

There was silence for a moment before Naruto smiled and said "But now I've got you guys, yeah? He died an honorable death, protecting the village he loved. No reason to be sad anymore about it."

That smile of his was infectious, and his statement that he had the three of them now warmed their hearts. Soon the entire team was smiling along with him. For the rest of the night until they went to bed, they chatted and talked about other, happier things.

All of them had had enough of Shinobi matters for one day.

A/N:

So, some serious talk, some fluffy moments, and a whole lot of team bonding. All in all, I'm pretty happy with the way this chapter went. Naruto now feels comfortable enough with his team to talk about some aspects of life in Konoha, although he's not yet ready to tell them about Kurama. Will he trust them enough to tell them? Will he be forced to reveal the secret in the midst of battle? Will Ozpin force his had with inquiries? Will Nora ever find out what a sloth actually sounds like? Keep reading to find out.