Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any other copyrights involved in this story.
Chapter 20 – A Respectful Challenge! Return of the Wolf
In spite of Naruto's impatience, he managed to have all the time in the world to chow down on the food that the Kamiya Dojo served him.
The others stared at him blankly as he practically shoved his food down into his mouth.
"What?" Naruto asked as he noticed them staring at him.
"Do you…actually… like the food?" Yahiko asked, nonplussed.
BONK!
"What kind of a question is that, Yahiko!" Kaoru yelled furiously as she slammed her fist into Yahiko's head again.
"Now, now, see what Yahiko's trying to ask you is…do you realize that this food was made of cooking gone wrong?" Sanosuke said with a smirk.
"I'll have you know that this food is perfect!" Kaoru screamed as she repeatedly clobbered Sanosuke with zero effect.
"Now come on, I'm sure Kaoru-dono's food isn't that bad, that it isn't," offered Kenshin helpfully.
"Kenshin, not you too!" Kaoru cried as her eyes got all bubbly.
"I like it!" Naruto declared. "I think this food is really good!"
The others stopped bickering for a second to let the words sink in.
"You actually think that stuff is good?" Yahiko looked, if possible, even more nonplussed.
"Yeah! The only thing that actually beats this stuff is the ramen I eat at home…but this is the best non-ramen food I've ever eaten!" Naruto exclaimed.
Kaoru let out tears of joy. "Oh Naruto, you're so sweet!" she said as she gave Naruto a big kiss on the cheek. "See, a REAL man would be able to enjoy MY cooking!" she said to the other three as she crossed her arms proudly.
"ANYWAY…," said Sanosuke, wanting to change subject before he retaliated with a clever comeback. "So kid, what kind of world you live in?" he asked Naruto.
"Um…well, actually, I don't know much about the details of the whole world, because I've never really gotten that far. So far the only places I've been to were the Country of the Wave, the Country of Wind, and my home country, the Country of Fire," Naruto replied as he stuffed rice into his mouth.
"Country of Wind? Your other countries are named after elements too?" Yahiko wondered.
"Yeah, like so far, the known countries in the world are Country of Fire, Country of Wind, Country of the Wave, Country of Lightning, Country of Water, and Country of Earth," Naruto explained.
"So your village must be the leaf, then, right?" Kenshin deduced.
Naruto looked surprised. "What! How did you know?"
"I know that there are various ninja clans in this world, although in some cases the clans themselves will gather to form a village, and even though your world is different from ours, I'm pretty sure the way of the ninja is the same anywhere," Kenshin said. "I'm also guessing that your forehead protector does not just protect your head, as it also has a leaf symbol carved into the metal, and I can think of no other reason for that symbol other than the symbol for your village. Am I wrong?"
Naruto just stared at him. Wow, he might actually be smarter than Shikamaru…
"Yeah, that's Kenshin for ya; his level of insight is so damn good that he's able to see through a person's attack even after taking only one hit," Sanosuke said, acknowledging the bewildered look on Naruto's face. "You can't put anything past him."
"Well, yeah, I live in the Village of the Hidden Leaf, but I just like to call it Konoha. And yeah, there are also ninja clans in our village too, and they're pretty strong," Naruto said.
"Your village has a jounin too, I assume?" Kenshin asked.
"Uh…," Naruto was confused by that question not only because he was stupefied again by Kenshin's insight, but also because the question sounded so…odd.
"It's alright, the ninjas in this world also call their leaders jounin too," Kenshin reassured.
"Oh…no, that's not what I was confused about," Naruto said. "I was confused because you asked if I had a jounin…but our village has more than one."
"Your ranking system is different, then?"
"Actually, we still have the Genin, Chuunin, and Jounin in our village, but our leader is called…the Hokage," Naruto said, almost dreamily.
"The what, now?" Sanosuke asked.
"Fire…Shadow?" Yahiko repeated quizzically.
"Wait a minute…I remember you were yelling something about that, Naruto-kun," Kaoru observed.
Naruto smiled and scratched the back of his head. "Yeah, I said that before just to intimidate you guys, but I really meant it; my ultimate dream more than anything is to be Hokage!"
"You want to be Hokage, huh? Now why would you want to be such a thing?" Sanosuke asked nonchalantly, not realizing what he had just sparked.
Naruto smiled proudly as he began to say the reason that he had always been saying. "I want everyone to acknowledge my existence and see how great I am!"
How great…you are? Yahiko thought.
"Well gee, now why didn't I think of that before?" Sanosuke muttered sarcastically, albeit amusingly.
"That sounds like a very good reason, Naruto-kun," Kaoru said.
Kenshin stared at Naruto, who went back to chowing down on his food. Interesting…, he thought, it's an interesting reason, given what I sense deep inside him…
"So what rank are you then, Naruto-kun?" Kaoru asked casually.
Naruto's expression slightly dropped. "Well, I'm SUPPOSED to be chuunin…but I'm still not sure yet; the last exam we had was interrupted, and I just realized I forgot to ask my teacher if I passed."
"You know, I think we should just forget about all these small questions and instead move on to the big one that I think everyone's thinking right now," Sanosuke said as he gave Naruto a piercing stare.
"Huh?"
"During our little skirmish before, you did this really weird thing, and all of a sudden…there's another you! If I recall, I don't remember ninjas being able to do that. What the hell was all that about?" Sanosuke asked loudly, as if he had been itching to say it for a while.
Naruto, in all honesty, had also been expecting that question for a while. "Oh, that thing...," he began, "well, it's what we call in my world 'ninjutsu', or ninja magic. We…"
But then Naruto stopped and suddenly felt a dawning realization. "Do you guys…know about chakra?"
"What?" said Yahiko.
"Okay, nevermind," Naruto said, thinking that one answer pretty much summed it up. Thinking they deserved an explanation, however, he continued, "The chakra that I'm talking about is this force within the body made up of physical and mental energies. With this chakra, we ninjas can do many things like walk on any surface that's not the floor or ground, or use ninjutsu or genjutsu. In order to do them, however, we need to mold the chakra and use hand seals."
"A mix of physical and mental energies…you know we have that too," said Yahiko.
"Huh? Really?" Naruto asked, puzzled.
"Yes, except we call it 'ki' rather than 'chakra', and we don't really use it the way you do; we just use little bits of it for our attacks," said Kenshin.
"Hey kid, you wanna show us that little trick again?" Sanosuke asked.
Naruto, who had just finished eating, grinned and said, "Sure!"
He stood up and walked to the center of the dojo, where he crossed his left and right fingers again. Now that I've eaten a lot, I should be able to make at least twenty clones! Naruto thought gleefully.
"Alright…here goes!"
KAGE BUNSHIN NO JUTSU!
There were puffs of smoke, and when they cleared…
"AW MAN!" Naruto screamed in agony.
There were only three clones.
"Whoa, this time he made three!" Yahiko said excitedly.
"Dammit, not again!" said Naruto frustratingly.
"What, what's the matter?" asked Sanosuke.
"I was supposed to make twenty clones, but only three came out!" yelled Naruto. "Why is this happening? I'm molding the right amount of chakra…but it's not working!"
"Naruto-kun, I think I might know why," said Kenshin.
"Huh? You do?" Naruto wondered.
"Whether I'm right or wrong, I don't know, but I am guessing that the rules governing the body's energies are different in both our worlds. In your world, that same amount of energy you used to make twenty copies would have worked, but in this world, it generally takes a lot of energy to even execute the simplest of techniques," Kenshin theorized.
"So…so you're saying that if I want to make twenty clones, I would have to use up even more chakra than what I normally use?" Naruto asked, slightly horrified.
"Precisely."
Naruto gave a very loud sigh. "Aw man…and just when I've finally got the hang of molding my chakra, I have to mold even more! Sigh…,"
"It will be all right; by the time you go back to your world, you will probably have mastered the use of your chakra in this world," Kenshin reassured calmly.
"I hope so…," said Naruto, looking slightly downcast.
Yahiko suddenly stood up.
"Naruto-san," said Yahiko.
Naruto was shocked. "What did you say?"
Yahiko leaped to the outside of the dojo.
"Naruto-san…," said Yahiko again as he drew out his wooden sword. "Let's have a fight!"
Meanwhile…
"How's Shikamaru?"
"He is still unconscious, Sakura-san," said Lee.
"Don't let him get too comfortable…he's still not off the hook."
All three of them (Sakura, Lee, and Neji) jumped into the air from their seats, for they had never noticed their new captor enter the room.
He's scary-looking…who has eyes like that nowadays? Sakura thought nervously.
But his power…he took out one large man in an instant…he is definitely not normal…, Lee thought just as nervously.
Even I couldn't notice him…then again, I can't seem to notice anything lately anyway…, Neji thought.
On Neji's side, Shikamaru suddenly gave a groan and fluttered his eyes open. In an instant, Neji covered Shikamaru's mouth with his hand.
Shikamaru, noticing the signal, immediately understood and sat up in his seat like the others.
The man smirked. "Hehe…you should have just stayed down, boy."
The mysterious-looking man went to the desk that the four were in front of, and sat in the chair behind it. He sat with his back straight and crossed his arms on his desk.
"Before we begin, I'm going to point out that I don't care who you all are or how old all of you are; you have violated a rule stating the forbidden trespassing into the town of Shungoku. By law, the punishment for such a crime is –
"WE DID NOT DO ANYTHING!" Lee blurted out.
Suddenly a blade was pressed at Lee's throat.
"You will never interrupt me again…," said the man menacingly as he withdrew the blade. "Now, as I was saying, the punishment for such a crime is –
"YOU ARE GOING TO PUNISH US JUST FOR GOING INTO A TOWN!" Lee blurted out again.
"Lee…if you would be so kind as to let the man talk…," said Neji calmly, though years of being with Neji had taught Lee just when to shut his mouth. "We might be able to get –
"Get what? What are you trying to get?" The man suddenly cut across.
Neji felt slightly tense for the first time in a long time. "Um…that is…"
"What is your goal? Why did you enter that town?" The man pelted hard at Neji.
Neji could not really explain it, but somehow each question the man threw at him gradually made him feel smaller and smaller, and he was doing his to stop his tightened fists from shaking so horribly. "Uh…I…we…tha-that is…"
If the man had any idea of what mind games he was playing with Neji at that moment, he did not seemed to be amused. "Quit blabbering around like a child and answer the questions!" he flared.
Sakura could not bear to see this scene any longer. In reality, Neji was the one who indirectly kept everyone calm by being constantly calm himself. If Neji broke down (and make no mistake, he looked pretty darn close to it)…the whole team…
"Stop it right now! For crying out loud, all he wanted to get was your name!" Sakura angrily shouted, knowing full well that her reaction was completely spontaneous and informal for a first meeting, and that what she said wasn't completely false; they, after all, never caught his name.
Even the man already knew that wasn't what Neji meant as his already narrow eyes became narrower, and for a second Sakura thought the man would actually fulfill his promise of killing them.
Instead the man spoke again in a calmer tone, "Saitou. Saitou Hajime, captain of the police in this area."
He waited for a while, but when the four ninjas still didn't make a sound, he gritted his teeth.
"Well?" he asked.
The four ninjas just looked puzzled for a second before Lee said hesitantly, "Well…what?"
"You all must have names, do you not?" Saitou asked, irritated.
"O-oh, my name is Haruno Sakura!" Sakura yelled out unexpectedly; the tension apparently was killing her.
"Sakura-san!" Lee shouted.
"Great, Sakura, why don't you just kill us while we're at it?" Neji groaned even though he was still shaking, for it was an unspoken rule to never say one's name to anybody on a mission.
"I-I'm sorry everyone, but…I just couldn't help it!" Sakura moaned.
"That's the most pathetic excuse I haven't heard you say in two years…," said Neji with as much contempt as he could muster.
"And just who was the one who kept shaking like a little boy, huh?" Sakura shot back, completely forgetting who she was talking to. "Hardly what I've expected from the "genius" of Hyuuga!"
Now it was Neji's turn to narrow his eyes. "Why, you…"
THWIP THWIP THWIP THWIP!
"Ow!" Sakura yelped.
"Geez!" Shikamaru yelled.
"What the – " Lee shouted.
"Dammit!" Neji growled.
Watching the four rub their newly bruised heads, Saitou retreats the sword back into the sheath, his eyes nothing more than slits.
"I know that Neji and Sakura-san needed to be hit, but why did you have to hit me?" Lee moaned.
"Yeah, that's right, just forget about my pain, why don't you?" Shikamaru mutter sarcastically.
"Geez, that really hurt!" Sakura exclaimed while massaging her head.
"First the lame excuses, now I have to hear your whining all over again?" Neji sneered, shaking his head.
"ENOUGH!" Saitou yelled with his hands slamming on his desk so hard that the four literally fell out of their chairs. "The next time I hit your heads… you will all be free from that pain…," he glared ominously.
The four just stood there, frozen. Then just as fast as they fell out of the chairs, they sat back down again with Sakura saying ever so joyfully, "It's such an honor to meet you, Mr. Saitou Hajime-san, this is Hyuuga Neji, Nara Shikamaru, Rock Lee…"