For Haruno Sakura, life, for these past few weeks had been...somewhat disappointing.
Outside of the fact that she was on a team with Sasuke, which was definitely something to smile about, the rest of the week since her graduation was pretty much hit after hit after hit to her expectations.
Firstly, their class was a man short, which means her team in particular was a man short. Not only that, apparently less sensei had volunteered this year than what was needed, given that her class was particularly large and so since her and Sasuke were a man short, they also got the short end when it came to the assignments.
Add to that the fact that she'd learned from others that there was yet another test waiting for them after this that they might fail anyway like some of her friends and acquaintances already had and all n all she could say that her expectations for this getting better were getting further and further away. Especially when her experience so far seemed to be so far below the standard she'd heard of.
Hell, to hear some of the adults tell it, gennin teams were a second family that became even more beloved than actual family, but so far, all she'd seen of Sasuke was his back as he'd left the school last week, which would have been a disappointment in and of itself, even without her romantic dreams being cast aside.
As she made her way back up to her room after having breakfast however, she received something of a surprise.
It was a note. A sticky note to be exact, plastered over the window at the top of the stairs. She blinked, squinting as she looked through the glass to read the note stuck outside.
"Sakura, training ground seventeen at eleven."
She noted that 'In two hours' was scratched out, probably because the writer realized that he had no way of knowing when exactly she'd read this.
PS: By the way, left a few of these around the house, don't be surprised if you find more of them?
She wondered where exactly this person had left notes when she looked down at her watch and realized she only had about forty minutes to get there and had absolutely no idea where the hell Training ground seventeen even was.
Crap!
(X)(X)(X)(X)(X)
Almost thirty-seven minutes later she was wheezing, out of breath as she ran into training ground seventeen.
Still on time if only by that much.
"Are you alright?"
Sasuke's voice was normally a choir of angel songs to her, but right now, all she had in her was the ability to raise her hand, one finger held up as she leaned on her knees, trying to gulp down air.
It was a minute later that she finally straightened, exhaling an answer between her inhales. "Sorry...ran...all the way...here."
The raven haired boy shrugged his shoulders. "Fine. Guess he got to my house first. How much time did you have when you finally found the note?"
"Fourty minutes..." She answered. "Had to find out where this was though – a little out of the way."
He nodded in agreement. "Yeah."
The training ground, such as it was, was all but abandoned. The grass wasn't cut, the dirt packed tight and dry. It didn't seem like it had been used in years.
That and it was sitting on the mesa just behind the Hokage monument She could actually see the crest of the Hokage's various foreheads just to the west of her right now. Who in the hell would put a training ground right behind one of the most important landmarks of the village? What if it got dammaged?
...Huh...guess that explained why no one had used it.
"So who do you think our new teammates gonna be?"
She blinked, rounding about to look at Sasuke. "Huh? Our new..." She shrugged. "You got the rookie of the year spot Sasuke-kun so its not gonna be anyone nearly as good as you."
"Thanks...but that's not really an answer." He said, looking away.
She was about to open her mouth to speak again when suddenly...
Hands.
Two hands spurted out of the ground around Sasuke's ankles and the next thing she, or Sasuke even knew, he's buried up to his neck.
"Hey! What the hell!"
She's too shocked to do much other than stare stupidly, the thought of drawing a kunai doesn't even cross her mind before a voice cuts through Sasuke's muttered curses.
"Hahahaha! I've been wanting to do that since forever!"
She turned her eyes up, behind Sasuke where someone rose up out of the ground like a mutant cabbage from hell or something, giggling to himself like it was the funniest thing in the world to have buried Sasuke up to his neck in dirt.
It was a Chuunin she realized somewhere distantly as she caught sight of the vest, a chuunin that couldn't be any older than her. Was he...was he actually shorter than her?
Whoever it was grinned, standing up and beginning to walk closer He twiddled a stick in his hand, crouching to Sasuke's left he proceeded to poke the Uchiha in the temple with it.
(She realized then that yes- he was indeed slightly shorter than her)
"Neh, Sakura-chan. How long before you think before Sasu-chan tries to bite the stick eh?"
"Stop poking me you ass!" Sasuke howled, the stump of his neck moving his head this way and that way to avoid the wandering wooden utensil.
Her brain, which seems to have just burned out its clutch with the recent, rapid shifting of gears, finally seemed to right itself.
"Who the hell are you!?" She shouted, indignant on Sasuke's behalf as she marched over and ripped the stick right out of his hand.
The blond chuunin actually threw his hands over his head, as though bracing himself for that same stick to get broken over his skull, minutely painful as that might have been for anyone. But she stopped herself. She wasn't nearly so demented as to try attacking a chuunin – crazy and stupid as this one might have been.
He peeked out over his hands and smiled when he realized she didn't hit him. "Neh. I'm Naruto. Pleased to meet cha."
"How do you know our names!" Sasuke asked. "And get me the hell out of here!"
He turned his eyes from her to Sasuke. "Well...of course I know you're names...You're my teammates."
And Sakura felt all her expectations come crumbling down all over again.
(X)(X)(X)(X)(X)
Kitsuchi doesn't speak to his father much anymore its true, its an estrangement that was seeded long ago with Onoki's rank and the very nature of their professions, but reached a full bloom when, six years ago Onoki had quite literally gambled away his life. His daughter's life.
Every mission was a gamble, he knew. Every time he stepped beyond the village gates there was a very real possibility he wouldn't come back.
But that had been different. Worse. All the other times he knew what he was walking into. Knew the risks, the inherent dangers. Even when he didn't know, and got a surprise somewhere along the way, it was with the knowledge that he was doing his job and information hadn't been deliberately kept from him.
But those chuunin exams. Where Orochimaru, a literal snake of a man, one of the strongest ninja in the world basically all but confirmed Kitsuchi's death if his father continued his personal vendetta and his father basically just said "Go ahead"; That was a punch to the gut.
He'd felt like a piece of garbage. Something his father hadn't even given a second look to. Hadn't ever even thought about the risk before deciding 'Go for it. I'll get what I want'
That alone would have been bad enough. Nearly irreconcilable as far as he was concerned, but there would indeed, perhaps be a chance with an apology.
But when he lost Kurotsuchi...That was just the final coffin nail.
Frankly, he might feel more affection towards Koutou instead. The Daimyo of Hi-no-Kuni had not only spared his life but apparently done his level best to treat her well, even going so far as to train her. She was a chuunin level easy. Likely a Jounin from what he'd seen. Given how fond he noted her voice to be yesterday as she, Akatsuchi, Itten and he had been speaking, he got the impression there was a genuine affection on her part too.
So no, he had no shortage of resentment...perhaps even disdain for his father and it was not a secret to either the village, or his father.
That still didn't exempt him from answering his boss when he was called however, personal malcontent or not, the man was still the military leader of their village.
So it was that he found himself standing outside his office door early in the morning, the very day after his daughter had come home after six years in captivity.
Shimei, his father's personal assistant announced his arrival.
"Sir. Kitsuchi-sama is here to see you."
He didn't wait for his father to beckon him in. A petty sign of disrespect but he was feeling petty today, being here when there was someone else more important that needed his attention.
"Thank you Shimei you may go." Onoki said. The woman bowed before she turned and marched out.
The second the door clicked shut behind her his father spoke.
"How is she?"
"Resting." He answered curtly. "What did you want?"
The elder took a breath. "To ask after her. She left quickly yesterday. I was worried as to how she might have been settling in."
"She's fine. Akatsuchi and Itten went to see her." He was going to leave it at that but then he chose to continue, aggravated at how the conversation was dragging on. "Look, neither of us is particularly enjoying this so why don't we just cut to the chase. You tell me why you actually want me here and then I can leave and head back home."
Onoki glared at him. "Despite what you may think, I actually do care for you and Kuro-chan, Kitsuchi."
He glared right back.
Finally, the old man sighed. Equally aggravated. "Fine." He leaned back in his chair. As expected there was something more to this. "When I went to Koutou's palace the, Daimyo made advances. Talking about possible peace talk negotiations."
He raised an eyebrow in genuine surprise. "You're thinking about negotiating?" No one, absolutely no one that he knew of, saved for the near psychotic held more hatred for Konoha than his own father. Having sat with, consoled the families of, and buried the near thousand men the Yondaime Hokage had butchered in the last war had left that particular legacy firmly entrenched there.
For him to be-
Onoki snorted, cutting off that line of thought. "I'm not considering negotiating anymore than he is. Magojiro Koutou is a silver tongued snake and has made a career of drawing people into traps and death with his words as much as his sword. I don't trust him any farther than I'd trust Orochimaru. But what he has done is agree to a meeting somewhere in fire country a place of our choosing."
"You want to gather intelligence." He surmised.
"We'd never be able to breathe without them knowing within the palace. And we wouldn't be able to see significant by staying to the border. So we send you a little deeper into enemy territory. One of the one of the villages that's closer to Konohagakure. Between the border patrols and the village defenses. And see-"
"What if he genuinely does want to negotiate." He asked.
"He doesn't. Now-"
"And if he does?" Kitsuchi insisted, cutting him off. "If this is just one big trap as you insist this has been pretty damn elaborate. Kurotsuchi was treated well, her skills as a ninja, while untested, seem to have been developed significantly. Why would he do that and give her back before asking you to attend some peace meeting if it was a trap. By my estimation the best time to kill you would have been when you went to go get her."
"His deception would have been known to all the other four nations."
"You had no qualms about breaking a treaty signed by all nations six years ago."
The old man's jaw visibly twitched, a ready retort on his lips when Kitsuchi raised a hand.
"Look. Whatever. If you want to go in blind and possibly have the next great war on your head that's your problem. Just give me my assignment in all of this." He couldn't stand this. Couldn't stand wasting his time talking to someone who'd already made up his mind and didn't want to listen.
Onoki shook his head. Exasperated? Disgusted? He didn't know and he honestly didn't care."Forget it. Just leave."
Gladly. He thought before swiveling on his heel and marching out the door.
He had better places to be and better people to see.
(X)(X)(X)(X)
"So wait...Itachi sent you? You're the Naruto guy that went with Koutou-sama along with her?"
The chuunin, who they now knew as Naruto, nodded. Slurping on his noodles with a very stupid smile on his face. "Yup yup. When she heard the people lined up to be sensei she said to herself – 'Self I know someone way more qualified and awesome than those guys. Lemme ask him for a favor.' So she asked, and here I am."
Sasuke blinked, leaning on the table with Sakura to his left, both of them drinking tea, their bowls of ramen long since finished, sitting neatly to the side in comparison to Naruto's...something. They'd lost count.
"But...No offense Naruto-san but...you're just a Chuunin." Sakura ventured, shifting in her seat. "Gennin teams are supposed to have Jounin sensei...and three genin."
Naruto shrugged, slurping noisily. Sasuke just mannaged to keep the automatic curl of his lip off his features. "Exceptions to every rule Sakura-chan. Did you know the strongest genin team in my chuunin exam was a two man team?" He nodded to himself. "Yup. Two man teams aren't unheard of. They can even be more effective since the teacher has more time to focus on the individual genin rather than spread himself out over three of them."
"And the Jounin thing." Sasuke pressed.
"Well you see the thing is-" Mid explanation Naruto stuffed an ungodly amount of noodles in his mouth. Sasuke expected him to do what any normal person would do. Chew, swallow, and continue.
Instead...he chewed...and continued.
"Mphrf, Shurph, Vbht, Mmhum"
Sasuke blinked. Staring. It was like two horse drawn carriages smashing into eachother, full speed. You couldn't look away.
Finally, mercifully, he finished, slurping up the last of the noodles he'd stuffed his face with and swallowed. "-and that's why the Hokage agreed to let me teach you instead of a regular Jounin."
Sasuke turned and looked at Sakura who's face was completely blank. "Did you catch...any of that?"
She shook her head. "I don't think Chouji could have caught any of that..."
Naruto snickered and Sasuke's suspicion as to him doing that on purpose reinforced itself.
"Mah mah." He waved them off. "Sorry. Couldn't resist. At any rate the long and short of it is, I'm just a chuunin because I haven't had time to take the Jounin exam yet. But I could probably beat half the jounin in this village."
Sasuke wasn't at all sure as to the veracity of this statement but...if he was the same Naruto that had been with Itachi in the Daimyo's palace, and she had sent him...which he honestly could believe given that he couldn't imagine why anyone would take the job of training them without something to motivate them...he guessed he could give the guy the benefit of the doubt...
He just hoped the stupid and/or crazy wasn't contagious.
Naruto smiled at the both of them. "Well. That's it for today I guess, we'll start training tomorrow. I expect-"
"Huh? We're not getting a genin exam?" Sakura suddenly cut in, interrupting him and bringing Sasuke's eyes over to her.
She blushed in slight embarrassment. "Uhh...I mean. I'd heard that the Jounin give genin examinations to see if they should be sent back to the academy or not...we...we're not getting one?"
Really? This was the first he'd heard of it. His father and mother didn't mention it...
He looked back to Naruto.
The Chuunin shrugged. "If ya really want to take it. But I got a good feeling bout you guys. You don't need it."
Sasuke's eyes narrowed. "Hey wait a minute. You're not doing this because of Itachi right?"
Naruto blinked. "Huh...We just went over this. Of course I am. She asked me to-"
"No no." He shook his head. "Are you giving us – me – a free pass on the gennin exam thing because Itachi-chan is your friend?"
Naruto shrugged. "Not really. Like I said, I'll give it to you if you really want. But I got a feeling that you guys will pass so I'm just not willing to waste anyone's time on it. The test would waste a whole day that we could use for designing a training program instead and just get started since you guys are behind the other teams as it is."
Sasuke still glared... what he said made sense but...
It felt cheap.
Still...he was eager to get started...and wasting any more time didn't sound at all appealing.
He looked to Sakura. "What do you think."
He missed the look Naruto sent his way at that.
Sakura shifted, almost uncomfortably in her seat. "I...I guess its fine. If Naruto-sensei says-"
"Oh god no." Naruto suddenly interrupted. "No. Do not call me sensei." He pleaded, and Sasuke noted those blue eyes seemed genuinely disturbed by what Sakura had said. "Just...just plain old Naruto is fine please...both of you"
Odd, but if he was that opposed to the idea...
Before anyone could break the somewhat awkward silence that fell over them Naruto cleared his throat. "Right...well. I'll expect you both ready to meet up tomorrow, bright and early." He smiled, the strange mood he'd fallen into seemingly evaporating as he did. "I'm gonna have so much fun."
Sasuke couldn't help but notice he very pointedly excluded them in that last sentence.
(X)(X)(X)(X)(X)
When Naruto returned to his home, it was still early, but evening was rapidly approaching. He arrived to find his refrigerator full of the groceries he'd completely forgotten about today and Itachi sitting at the dining table, a book in her hand. "How're you feeling?" He asked.
"Well enough to go out and get food." She answered placidly before turning her eyes up towards him, staring rather pointedly. "How did it go?"
He nodded. "Well enough."
"But..." She prodded.
He opened his mouth...then closed it.
She stared. "Naruto."
"It...it's stupid." He admitted. "Just...its...they're-"
"Not the same people." She finished for him.
He nodded, walking over towards the table to sit across from her. "Told you it was stupid..." He laughed, trying to inflect some humor in his voice. "It just kinda hit me halfway through...probably when Sakura called me Sensei..." He paused. "Felt like Tsunade hit me in the gut." Came the admission.
She said nothing...and he was grateful for that.
He sucked down a breath through his teeth. "Whatever...I already had Ramen would you like something to eat?"
She didn't, she'd already eaten.
She asked him to make Domburimono.
He nodded, smiling more genuinely now that he had something else on his mind.
He stepped into the kitchen and she returned to her book.
(X)(X)(X)(X)
Little bit short, but such is life.
At any rate, I'd love to hear some of your ideas as to what Naruto might end up doing with Sasuke and Sakura over the course of the next two or three chapters. While I have an outline written more or less, alot of the blanks as to what exactly he ends up doing with them are just that, blanks. Wether it be humorous or a little angsty like it was at the tail end of this chapter is up in the air. Either way, I'd like to hear some of your ideas, especially now that so much of canon Naruto is gonna get thrown out the window :)
On that particular note though I'm gonna say something. This was partly in response to a review, but it bears reiteration for all readers given its importance.
Its namely this:
This story will NOT be following canon 'power levels'
In the words of Abridged Vegeta "Power Levels are Bullshit!"
Ninja in this story generally CAN'T flatten whole armies by themselves. Madara, Senju, Obito, the Sandaime Raikage. NONE of these people in this story will be approaching anything REMOTELY similar to the absurdities seen in canon that let them basically take on the whole world and still be winning. Here, the only person who was able to singlehandedly defeat an entire army is the Yondaime Hokage. Hence why he's considered the strongest ninja to ever live. Just because you're considered an S class ninja, does not mean that you are immediately more powerful than anything that isn't S class right next to you. An S class ninja can be killed in this world by a team of competent and well prepared chuunin. Ninja have to use their BRAINS in this story to win or lose, not keep pulling off bullshit technique after bullshit technique until the other side doesn't have any more bullshit to pull out of his or her ass.
Generally One rank of X, is worth two to three people of the rank directly below that.
Kage is worth two or three Anbu. ONE Anbu getting the drop on any of them could very easily take them out. (Why the hell would they even need guards if canon power levels are a thing?)
Anbu is worth two to three Jounin
Jounin is worth two to three Chuunin, etc etc etc.
I absolutely detest, the senseless escalation of canon Naruto that had them continually needing to get "bigger and better" to beat X person. It ultimately came down to a pissing contest and all sense of tactics and importance in any of the other cast members was completely lost. Naruto essentially became a one man god army and only one or two people could ever have a dream of fighting anywhere near his level.
So no. This story will never have one man army S class shinobi. If Madara ever comes back to life in this story (which he wont) Kakashi could kick his ass without a sharingan.
These are 'ninja' in the loosest sense of the term. Not walking nukes. They're very much human and they can be killed by virtually anyone that catches them off guard/gets lucky.
So yeah. Keep a mental note. "LD takes what he likes from canon and this isn't one of those things"
Thank you :) And don't forget to toss those ideas if you've got em.
