Chapter 25 – Old Problems, New Directions

Tsume looked at Naruto with surprise. She had just listened to what Naruto had explained to her. She was both shocked and a little angry. To think that the Uchiha was so arrogant to even threaten to steal Naruto's jutsu was something. Tsume knew about the issues with Naruto and his teammates. It wasn't just from Kiba who she heard from. She also spoke with Ibiki who helped out Naruto from time to time. From what he knew, Kakashi did not run a tight ship. She knew that he did not discipline the Uchiha.

Tsume was now regretting not fighting harder to get Naruto on another team. It seem that she was right about Kakashi's focus. Lucky for Naruto, he had other avenues that he could go to. After her thoughts, she turned to look at Naruto.

"Well, I can talk to Murakumo for you. She is one of our dog trainers and she has a personal training ground which she uses to train them. I'll talk to her and ask her to allow you to use the grounds to train. However, I don't think that you have to worry. If Sasuke ever went through with that threat, he would face consequences that would be really severe." Tsume said.

"What do you mean?" Naruto asked.

"It was before my time but during the reign of the Second Hokage, he had to deal with a similar problem with the Uchiha clan. The Uchiha was dealt with but many shinobi were not happy with the clan. A law was put in the Konoha charter that if any Uchiha was to use the Sharingan to steal anyone's skills, they would be subject to heavy penalties." Tsume explained.

"What type of penalties?"

"It could be from suspension from duty to banishment with their Sharingan sealed. The charter is very clear. I'll still talk to Murakumo for you but if that Uchiha gets in your face again just remind him of that. It will shut him right up." Tsume said. Naruto gave her a big smile before giving her a hug.

"You're the best aunty Tsume." He said.

"I know. I'm awesome."

XXX

A week later found Kakashi at the training grounds. His face was in his book as he was waiting for his team to come back from their punishment. Two days of rest ended when a late but serious Kakashi arrived to the training ground. He immediately berated his team for what happened in the Wave Country and that things were about to change. The first change that was immediate was that Kakashi implemented punishment. If they would not work together, then he punished them together. The punishment was always something physical that ranged from laps to push-ups.

Kakashi looked up from his book to see Naruto come into his view. He was always the first to finish because he was always the one with the most stamina. He was quickly followed by Sasuke who had to take some deep breaths. After a long moment, Sakura came in and dropped to her face in fatigue. Kakashi just sighed as he looked at his team.

"Well, did you have a nice run?" Kakashi asked. All he got was a glare from Naruto and Sasuke. "You can be angry all you want but I told you a week ago that this would happen."

"Oh yeah, now you're acting like an authority." Naruto muttered as he got his wind back. Kakashi just looked at him and did not comment.

"I've... had... enough..." Sakura muttered from her position. Kakashi turned to see Sakura struggling to stand. She faced her sensei with a glare. "It is not mines or Sasuke's fault that Naruto won't work with us."

"The blame is not Naruto's. The exercise was a simple trust fall, which you refused to do because I paired you with Naruto. You are to blame for this. I told you all that if you refuse to act like a team, then I will punish you as a team." Kakashi stated. This made Naruto softly scoff but Kakashi heard it. "I also do not appreciate your scoffs Naruto. I am trying to do better." He turned back to his team. "You can rest for five minutes before we continue." With that, Kakashi vanished.

It did not take long for Sakura to turn on Naruto.

"See what you have done? You've made Kakashi sensei mad." Sakura stated.

"Like I care if he's angry. He can try all he wants but my opinion isn't going to change." Naruto said.

"God, you are just so annoying. You're the main reason that me and Sasuke are suffering." She spat.

"Again, like I care." He said. Naruto ignored her and started to stretch. Sakura was steaming at being ignored by the blonde. She then turned to Sasuke.

"Sasuke-kun, say something." She said.

"You're annoying." Sasuke stated, stunning Sakura. "You are also an embarrassment as a kunoichi."

"Sasuke..." Sakura said sadly and softly.

"I don't even know why you're a ninja in the first place. What do you really contribute to the team. You have no skills, you barely train and you don't come from any type of shinobi background. You're useless, just like you were back in the Wave Country. Just do us all a favor and quit." Sasuke said harshly. Sakura could not say anything. Her feelings were really hurt and tears began to form up in her eyes. Sasuke scoffed at Sakura and turned away only to see Naruto give him a dirty look.

"You got something to say loser?" He asked.

"You know, you've have got to be the worst human being alive on this earth. You think that you're this spectacular shinobi but you're not. You're a bitter little boy who believes that everyone is below him just because he has Uchiha blood. It didn't matter to Zabuza and it did matter to Haku when they both laid into your ass." Naruto stated. Sasuke growled at that.

"If I had my Sharingan, I would have defeated them both!" Sasuke shouted.

"I doubt that and I doubt that you would have made a difference even with your Sharingan. You don't seem to realize that by yourself, they would have killed you. Who saved your ass in the Wave Country when Haku had you on the ground? You might think that you don't need us but without me, without Sakura, you would have been dead. So, get off your damn high horse Sasuke. You're not any better than her or anyone else." Naruto said. Sasuke was clenching his fists at the words Naruto said. The look Naruto gave almost dared him to do something. That's when Kakashi returned. He looked at the scene before him and sighed.

Why did his team have to be so difficult?

XXX

Kakashi wasn't the only team having issues. Asuma looked at his team and could feel the tension. While it wasn't his whole team, he could see that problem between Ino and Shikamaru. He knew why it was happening but he decided to stay out of it. It was an issue that they would have to handle by themselves.

"Okay team, we're done for today. Meet back here at the same time." Asuma said. They all nodded and Asuma vanished. Choji turned to Shikamaru.

"So, are we meeting up later today?" Choji asked.

"Maybe. I'm working on this new barrier that Iruka gave me. My dad thinks that it would be a good idea to learn. After I learn this, I can could up with some ideas." Shikamaru explained.

"Okay then, we can hang out tomorrow. See ya later." Choji said after bumping fists with him. Choji left the field and after some time, Shikamaru turned his attention to Ino. She was looking at him with annoyance and he did not want to deal with this any more than he could. With a sigh, he faced the annoyed girl.

"You got something to say?" Shikamaru asked.

"I want to know why you're treating me like an annoyance." Ino demanded.

"It's because you are an annoyance. Is there anything else?" He asked. This made Ino mad.

"You don't get to talk to me like that!" She shouted.

"Damn you're loud and troublesome. If you're just going to yell at me for ignoring you and calling you annoying, I'm going home to work on my jutsu." Shikamaru said and turned to walk off. Ino was not happy about this and wondered why Shikamaru was treating her like this. That's when she remembered something that happened five days ago.

"Is this about me not going to Choji's promotion test?" Ino asked, making Shikamaru stop. "Are you still angry at me about not being there? You're being a big baby about something that happened five days ago. I apologized for my absence and Choji has already accepted it."

"Because it is something that you counted on and your mother told you to do. You didn't have anything important to do like you told us. You were sitting in an empty store, flipping through a magazine. If it was any other person, they would have scoffed at you and never accepted your apology. Oh, you can't say you apologize sincerely when it took you three days to do it." Shikamaru stated.

"So what are you saying Shikamaru? Am I a bad friend?" Ino said with a tone.

"Yes." Shikamaru said plainly, shocking Ino. "You might think otherwise but the proof is right in front of you. You did it to Sakura over Sasuke. Choji does not expect much but the least you could have done is be there for a moment in his life that he was really proud of. It highlights just how shallow of a person you are and that you don't value friendships as much as you say." With that Shikamaru turned around and walked away. It would be a while before Ino found her voice but Shikamaru was already gone. The blonde was stewing in anger at what Shikamaru just said to her. With a huff, she stormed off in the other direction to cool off.

Asuma watched from his hidden spot. In truth, he agreed with Shikamaru's statement. He was there for Choji's promotion test. He was happy for the plump boy's success. He also saw the disappointment in his face when Ino was not there. He knew that Noriko was not happy with her daughter for blowing off Choji's big day. Choji did forgive her but Asuma was disappointed in her as was Shikamaru. He could only hope that things did not escalate any more than they did.

XXX

Kakashi dismissed his team for the day after a few missions. Sasuke was quick to leave as he was still angry about the words that was said to him. Kakashi soon left, probably to talk down the Uchiha. Naruto was about to leave as well but someone stopped him.

"Uh, Naruto, can you stay for a minute?" Sakura asked. Naruto turned around and noticed her meek demeanor. She looked nervous but Naruto stood and waited. After a while, she spoke. "Thank you for sticking up for me. I know that you don't really like me."

"I didn't really do it to defend you Sakura. I did it because Sasuke needed to be knocked down a peg." Naruto said.

"Oh," Sakura said sadly. Naruto noticed this and felt a little bad.

"Look Sakura, I don't agree that you should quit but I think that you aren't taking this seriously. I think that if you took your kunoichi career a little more serious, they Sasuke wouldn't attack you like he did. Maybe Kakashi would take you more serious too. I have my doubts but you never know." Naruto said. Sakura seem to be thinking about what Naruto said.

"Do you have any advice on how to start?" She asked.

"I would talk to Iruka. He's pretty honest when it comes to explaining things. He might even give you a direction to go." Naruto answered. Sakura nodded at that and turned to leave. Before she did, she faced Naruto again.

"Thanks Naruto, I mean it." Sakura said and ran off. Naruto just smirked and walked off. He felt that he did something good today. He figured that he deserved a bowl of ramen for a reward.

XXX

An explosion rocked the area. Kurenai, Hinata and Shino had to cover their eyes from the dust that was slowly settling. They all looked after it settled to see the damage that was created. Kurenai looked on with wide eyes at the size of hole that was in large boulder. She was just surprised because this was the first attempt of a new jutsu for Kiba. She turned her attention to Kiba would was resting on the ground. She could see a smile on his face but it was quickly changed into pain as he was rubbing his hands. Hinata was checking his hands as Akamaru hopped on his lap.

Kurenai just looked at her student with some pride. If Kiba got his new jutsu down, he was going to be a force to be reckoned with. That she was sure of.

XXXXX

Authors' Notes

So here's the new chapter. Sorry that I have not been updating. Life happened. Anyway, I changed half of the last chapter to write this one. I like how it came out. I really have nothing to say, so enjoy the new chapter.