Disclaimer: Not mine!
~Chapter, Start!~
-Hokage's Office, Konoha-
Tsunade, Hiruzen and the ANBU stationed in the room were surprised when a flash of orange deposited a shaken Anko, and unconscious Hinata and an uncharacteristically tired Naruto.
Before anyone else could say or do anything, Naruto lifted Hinata into a bridal carry before taking her towards Tsunade.
"Tsu-chan, please check on Hinata. I want to make sure that she's alright."
Hearing those words, Tsunade became all business. She vacated the couch she was sitting on, allowing Hinata to be laid on it, before placing a pair of glowing hands on the girl's stomach. Everyone watched as the glowing hands travelled up and down the bluenette's body, before Tsunade pulled her hands away and turned to face Naruto.
"She's running a slight fever, and her body displays signs of chakra-based regeneration. There's a bit of chakra thicker than her own circulating through her pathways right now, and that's why she's still unconscious. Fortunately it isn't a drastic amount of chakra, and this chakra seems to have regenerative tendencies, so it won't hurt her. It will, however, stretch out her coils until it runs out, which will mess with her chakra control quite a bit."
Naruto let out a breath of relief at that, before turning towards the Third. His eyes widened as he remembered something, a twist of his wrist releasing a rolled-up scroll from a storage seal that he placed on the old man's desk.
"Mission successful, sir. Kumo seems willing to try and move past previous animosity, and negotiate a Non-agression pact. That scroll, I was told by the Raikage, bears their response to the scroll you sent, and revisions and counter-offers to some terms in the first missive."
Hiruzen cracked the scroll open, giving it a cursory read before rolling it back up and stowing it away in one of his drawers. He then eyed Naruto and Anko analytically, seeing their tense and tired postures.
"I do not believe a diplomatic mission would end up with your team in the state it currently is. Anything else to report?"
Naruto nodded tiredly at that.
"Yes, as we returned from Kumo we were intercepted by a squad of Iwa-nin. They had orders to kill me. Their squad was composed by a handful of jounin, including the Tsuchikage's granddaughter, and both of Iwa's jinchuuriki. Me and my team were keeping them at bay, until Hinata got hurt."
A glint of anger entered Hiruzen's gaze, his hands tightly gripping the desk.
"Please, continue."
Naruto nodded thankfully at that, before procceeding.
"I was engaging the two jinchuuriki, Anko was fighting Onoki's granddaughter, and Hinata was facing the group of jounin. She seemed to have them on the ropes, but one of them hit her at the cost of bursting his own previously-closed tenketsu, and it pushed her into the path of one of the Yonbi Jinchuuriki's attacks. Fortunately she managed to deflect enough damage to allow me to remove both her and Anko from battle. She had bad burns all over the right side of her body. I used everything I knew of Iryojutsu (Medical Jutsu) to heal and stabilize her."
Hiruzen narrowed his eyes, already picturing himself ramming Enma's adamantine staff form up Onoki's posterior, before Naruto took a deep breath, and kept speaking.
"I left Hinata with Anko, and then went back to re-engage."
Hiruzen released his desk from his grip, linking his fingers together before planting his elbows on the desk, covering his mouth with his hands as he spoke.
"I hope you have a good justification for putting yourself in that dangerous situation without backup. Prove to me that your appointment as a jounin was justifiable, and that you don't need to spend some time running ops with chunnin."
Naruto scowled at Hiruzen, before answering with a bit of acid in his tone.
"Don't call me stupid, old man. I would've extracted if it were possible, but with one of my teammates unconscious, the other one dead on her feet, and with the enemy being as good as they were, they'd no-doubt track us and manage to box us in. We would be forced to fight them, and fighting under those conditions would probably lead to at least one of us dying. Me engaging them was the best solution, as if I beat them, then I could gather my team and return, and if I didn't, then they'd have no reason to further pursue my teammates."
Hiruzen nodded at that, his anger and worry receding as he analyzed the blonde's words, reaching the same conclusions as him regarding the situation. Naruto motioned for Naruto to continue, which the blonde did.
"I re-engaged, and incapacitated one of the jounin in the group so effectively that the rest retreated, leaving behind only the two jinchuuriki, Lava-style Roshi, and Steam-train Han, to fight me."
Hiruzen nodded at the blonde's words, prompting him to continue.
"I fought them seriously, and they reciprocated. They were losing to me, so they summoned the power of their bijuu. I responded by doing the same, and once again I was hedging them out. They responded by pulling on the entirety of their bijuu's power, transforming into their full form before attacking again. I kept one step ahead of them at every moment, and they got frustrated enough to use their ultimate technique."
Everyone in the room had their focus on Naruto, hearing in awe the tale of how he fought two full-power jinchuuriki and survived. Even Anko was riveted, as she did not witness the actual fight, only a lightshow at a distance.
"I reciprocated with one of my strongest attacks that wouldn't completely annihilate the area all around us, me included, and I managed to beat them. That's when Onoki showed up."
Anko and the ANBU were shocked into a stunned silence, Hiruzen gasped sharply and Tsunade let out a muffled curse, which Naruto ignored completely as he kept speaking.
"Onoki went there to interfere in the fight. The assassination order didn't come from him, but from a member of his government who wasn't afraid of the punishment given to one by using their Kage's stamp. He was being honest, so I allowed them to leave in exchange for having the bastard that caused all of this sent to me for some... fun. I returned to Anko and Hinata's position, and then I made the jump back here. I have to tell you, even with a beacon to lead me, making a jump from the edge of Kumo all the way to Konoha is goddamn tiring. I just want to take a hot shower, go to bed, and sleep until next week."
Everybody in the room was left in a shocked silence. A blonde 14 year old beat two full-powered, war-veteran jinchuuriki, faced off with the Tsuchikage and forced him to make a concession, and then still had the chakra to teleport his team entire countries of distance.
Hiruzen mumbled an absent-minded "Dismissed" to the two standing in front of him, his mind running so fast that he didn't even notice when the blonde teleported away with his squadmates.
Snapping out of his daze, Hiruzen opened one of his desk's drawers, getting a blank scroll and his stationary, before he started drafting an official letter.
"Hiruzen-sensei" Tsunade spoke up "What are we going to do about this attack on a Leaf shinobi?"
Hiruzen kept applying his elaborate brushstrokes on the rice paper, letting silence pervade the room for a while. He finished writing his message, putting the scroll aside to allow the ink to dry, before adressing Tsunade.
"You and a squad of shinobi are going to be sent to Iwa with this missive for the Tsuchikage. Naruto might have let them go as is, but I am going to get reparations for him regardless. Allowing an attack like that to be ignored so easily is inviting more trouble in the long run."
Tsunade nodded at that, before speaking up.
"You do know that he'll want to come as well, right?"
Hiruzen shot Tsunade a particularly devious grin, before answering.
"I intended to send him anyway. Imagine how much Iwa is going to panic in the presence of the son of the yellow flash, who just so happened to singlehandedly beat the crap out of their two bijuu containers."
Tsunade smirked at that.
"I thought Naruto was supposed to be the prankster."
Hiruzen could only chuckle evilly, creeping out the ANBU stationed in the room.
-Elsewhere-
"WHAT THE FUCK WERE YOU CLOWNS THINKING!? I GAVE YOU, ALL OF YOU, VERY SPECIFIC INSTRUCTIONS REGARDING NAMIKAZE'S SON! AVOID AT ALL COSTS, THAT WAS WHAT I SAID! WHAT GAVE YOU THE IDEA TO CHASE HIM DOWN AS YOU DID!?"
The squadmembers winced and cringed as their leader, Onoki, raged and shouted at them. Kurotsuchi spoke up meekly.
"But, grandfather... We had an official missive..."
Onoki glared witheringly at his granddaughter, causing her to shrink back into herself, before squeezing his eyes shut and pinching the bridge of their nose in exasperation.
"So, let me get this straight. After I gave you lot a specific set of orders to follow, you recieve a missive saying the exact opposite. You don't think to ensure it was real, and that it came to me, you don't even bother trying to get more information on your assignment, you just take off like that. Let me ask you a question. You lot are jounin, correct?"
The squadmembers capable of such nodded slowly at that, with Onoki nodding alongside them.
"Yes, that's correct, you lot are jounin... And jounin are supposed to notice even the smallest details possible in every single situation, correct?"
Not waiting for an answer, Onoki kept speaking.
"Of course, that's expected of anyone bearing the rank. So I want you lot to give me a reason not to demote you back to genin and have you doing D-ranks for the rest of your lives, when you don't manage to notice that the missive bore the Tsuchikage's stamp during a time period where I was away from the village."
They all froze at that, paling tremendously.
Jori Nabe, one of the most Namikazephobic members of the squad, spoke up at that.
"But Tsuchikage-sama, isn't the fact that the Namikaze brat is dead more important?"
Onoki gave Nabe such a disgusted look that one would be forgiven to believe he was covered in shit, before speaking up.
"Who said anything about the Namikaze dying?"
Sharp gasps came from all the conscious squad members with the exception of Roshi and Han, who were still being floated by the Tsuchikage. Onoki lowered them into view for the rest of the group, before speaking up.
"You see the shape that Han and Roshi are in? They were beaten by the boy while fighting at full power."
Nabe whimpered, and the armless and tongueless Minoru voided his bowels. Kurotsuchi spoke up at that.
"That's impossible, no-one should be able to do something like this, much less a 14-year-old, right? Right? Plus, you were there! After fighting Roshi and Han, he had to be wiped out! You could've taken him down!"
Onoki shook his head at that, speaking in a grave tone.
"Wrong. The boy is strong. Monstrously so. After demolishing Roshi and Han, his chakra levels were still high enough to fight me. Had he not heard me out and decided to attack from the start, he probably could've slit my throat in an instant with the Hiraishin."
Listening to that, realization flooded Kurotsuchi's mind and her face twisted in horror. She breathed out a low "Hiraishin", before absentmindedly speaking out loud, loud enough for the people in the clearing to hear.
"He has the Hiraishin, but he didn't even use it during our fight... He could have killed all of us at any moment..."
Onoki interjected at that.
"And yet he didn't, preferring to instead demolish the overall second and third strongest in our village, at full power, at the same time. I see you realize now the amount of danger you lot were in the entire time. Now, enough talk. I'm sure that Hiruzen is going to craft something to slap us with sanctions and reparations, and I want to be well-rested when I have to deal with the clusterfucked you stirred."
It was a pensive, horrified and defeated squad that made their way back towards Iwa territory.
-Amegakure no Sato-
"..."
A man wearing an orange spiral mask looked out one of the windows of the tower he was in, watching the non-stop rain that fell as far as the eye could see. He shifted slightly, acknowledging the presence of the person that rose from the ground as if it were a liquid.
"We've just watched the most interesting thing on the way here."
The man under the mask, one Uchiha Obito, who was masquerading as Uchiha Madara, who was, in turn, masquerading as Tobi, responded.
"Zetsu..."
The white side of the plant-man huffed, before speaking up.
"Fine, take away all of my fun. It's not easy being stuck with this humorless guy, you know?"
The black side let out a heavy sigh, before speaking up himself.
"Every day, you make me want to kill you more."
"Aww, love you too, partner!"
"ENOUGH!" Obito barked out at that, before calming back down and speaking in his usual tone "Now, what is this information you were about to give me?"
"The Kyuubi Jinchuuriki was sighted leaving Kumo, so we decided to keep an eye on him. He's a pretty cool guy, that kid. I like him! He seems to have the ability to detect us at close range, so we had to observe from at a distance. Completely his fault, by the way. I suggested we go up and greet him."
Black Zetsu and Obito seemed content in ignoring white zetsu's words, as the black half continued his report.
"A squad of Iwa-nin was sent to assassinate him, amongst their members the four and five tails jinchuuriki. We weren't close enough to see much, but we saw enough to know that he totally kicked their asses! With a pretty lightshow to boot! The Yonbi and Gobi were forced to fight at full power, and yet they were handily beaten, as far as we can surmise. Blondie beat the crap out of them, like a redheaded stepchild!"
Obito let out a small 'hmm', considering Zetsu's words, before speaking up.
"This changes nothing. We'll keep collecting resources for these 2 years we have left, and then we'll start hunting after the bijuu. When it's time to collect the Kyuubi, if push comes to shove, all of us will fight him simultaneously. No matter how strong he is, he won't be able to survive something like that. Now go to Sasori and appraise the state of his spy network. We need the best contracts for the highest amounts of money."
Black Zetsu responded with a grunt even as the white one kept on chattering, before the two started sinking back into the ground.
Obito shifted his attention back to the cloudy sky, watching the rain fall.
-The following week, Konoha Academy-
"I'm proud of you, all of you, for achieving what you set out to do. You are now the protectors of our village, wear that headband with pride!"
Umino Iruka's gaze moved across the sea of faces of the year's crop of graduation students, pride in a job well done filling his chest. As his gaze fell on a brown-haired, rambunctious boy, he felt a few bittersweet memories emerging.
'Konohamaru... He reminds me so much of Naruto that it's not even funny. Takes me back to those days...'
Shaking off the nostalgia, and reminiscing, Iruka cleared his throat and spoke up.
"The teams are as follows..."
After announcing the majority of the teams and their sensei, the rest of the class noticed that Sarutobi Konohamaru, Utatane Moegi and Mitokado Udon, alongside Hyuga Hanabi were not given a sensei. One of the children asked about it, prompting Iruka to respond.
"We had an odd number of students graduating this year, leaving Hanabi without a team to join. Arrangements shall be made later on, and it will probably culminate in her being added to one of the teams as a fourth member. About Moegi, Konohamaru and Udon's situation... Well, there were two jounin that personally requested to have them as a team. They couldn't reach an agreement, so they will be given a special test to determine which of the jounin will become their sensei."
The other students eyed them with wonder, amazement and, in some cases jealousy at being personally requested by two jounin.
"Hmmpf, they probably just want the fame that comes with teaching the grandchildren of Hokage-sama and the council of elders. If it were on a basis of skill and talent, i'd have more requests than them."
Konohamaru's head whipped around so fast that he should've gotten whiplash, settling on the dismissive visage of Hyuga Hanabi.
Everybody expected Konohamaru to complain, scream and shout at Hanabi, as was the norm whenever the Hyuga girl needled him, but they were surprised when a massive grin bloomed across Konohamaru's face, before he spoke up between chuckles.
"You're jealous!"
Hanabi blinked once, twice, before fighting down the blush and stammer that wished to emerge, answering in the same stuck-up, derisive tone.
"Why would I be jealous of you, monkey-boy?"
"Because regardless of how good you think you are, I was the one to get direct attention from jounin. And you'll be even more jealous when you hear about one of the jounin who requested to have me in their team."
The entire class's gaze changed to Hanabi, watching and waiting for the girl's response. They saw the minuscule twitch of her eyebrows, before she lifted her chin in the air haughtily, responding in the 'Hyuga are the best clan™' tone of voice.
"As I said, they are merely individuals who wish to exploit the only good thing about you, your connection to the Third Hokage-sama. They're probably low-end jounin wanting to make a name for themselves through you."
Everyone turned back towards Konohamaru, watching his expression. They saw the mischievous look in his eye being matched by the gleeful grin stretching across his face, before he dropped the bomb.
"I don't think Naruto-niichan needs to use this type of tactics for increased popularity."
The entire classroom gasped as one, before whispers started flowing around the room.
"Did he say Naruto?"
"Naruto, as in Uzumaki-Namikaze Naruto-sama?"
"He's so dreamy~"
"He's really strong! I wanna be as strong as him!"
"Isn't he Yondaime-sama's son?"
As gossip flowed through the classroom, Hanabi froze in her seat, flabbergasted.
Uzumaki-Namikaze Naruto, the strongest of his generation, hero of the Sound-Sand invasion, killer of Orochimaru, son of the yellow flash and heir of the Uzumaki clan directly requested to have Kono-baka and his friends as his team?
"I refuse to believe this!"
Everyone turned silent at Hanabi's veement declaration, Konohamaru's grin staying unfalteringly on his face, even as Hanabi continued.
"I refuse to believe that Uzumaki-sama chose you as part of his genin squad instead of me! The fact that I'm the heiress of the Hyuga clan would bring him as much prestige as having the grandson of the Third! With those two things matching, there should be no way he'd miss having me as his student! I have the best grades, both in theory and practice! I'm the best in our graduation class, and one of the best in the Hyuga clan! I've even activated my Byakugan already, and have a solid grasp on the Jyuuken!"
Konohamaru shrugged at that, before answering nonchallantly.
"Doesn't really matter what you believe."
Before things could escalate further, a flash of orange deposited Uzumaki-fucking-Naruto himself in fron of the entire class.
Everything went quiet, before an explosion of noise met the class as all of the children tried to get Naruto's attention at once, with more than a few students fangirling on Naruto, boys included.
The blonde could only scratch the back of his head in confusion, before turning towards Iruka and shrugging. Having been stunned by witnessing the Hiraishin in person, Iruka finally managed to shake himself out of his daze before lightly pushing Naruto aside and clearing his throat, preparing to use one of his strongest techniques.
"SHUT UP AND SIT DOWN RIGHT NOW, YOU BRATS!"
The entire class organized itself and went silent at the application of the famed Demon Head Jutsu, eyes front and center and focused on Iruka, causing Naruto to sweatdrop heavily.
Iruka turned his gaze towards Naruto, adressing him.
"To what do we owe your presence today, Namikaze-sama?"
Naruto's eyebrow twitched once, twice, three times, before the blonde grinned much too sweetly at Iruka, before whispering to him.
"Iruka-sensei, if you ever pull a -sama on me again, I'll teach every single one of your classes That jutsu."
Iruka paled at the threat, even as Naruto kept speaking.
"Now, if you don't want your students to see you jetting away via nosebleed, then remember to call me by my name. Naruto. Not Namikaze-sama, Uzumaki-sama, Uzumaki-Namikaze-sama, Naruto-sama, or anything like that. Na-ru-to. Are we understood, Iruka-sensei?"
Iruka nodded rapidly at the threat, causing Naruto's smile to turn genuine, before he turned to adress the curious class.
"Well, I'm here to gather Mitokado Udon, Utatane Moegi and Sarutobi Konohamaru for a special test."
Hanabi slammed her hands on her desk, standing up and pointing at the grinning Konohamaru before speaking up.
"Namikaze-sama, why would you want him as a student? I'm stronger, smarter and better behaved than him! He's just an idiot who spends his time clowning around and pulling pranks!"
Naruto turned to give the girl an appraising look, causing her to lose some of her conviction, and a blush to tint her cheeks by the intensity in his eyes, before Naruto spoke up.
"You're Hanabi, Hinata-chan's sister, right?"
Hanabi, surprised by the question, could only nod meekly, causing Naruto to chuckle lightly at that.
"Well, I don't know how much she told you about me, being her boyfriend and all-"
The entire class started vibrating with murmurs at that, until Naruto continued talking, causing them to grow silent and listen.
"-but I know Iruka-sensei can tell you this: I was worse. I was worse than Konohamaru during my academy years. I was always slacking off, getting bad grades, screaming and shouting, and pulling pranks. I was the dead last of my graduating class, and now I'm a jounin at 14.
What I mean to say is that you should underestimate no-one, and that you shouldn't always take things at face value. You should always try to look underneath the underneath, because you don't know who the next big name shinobi is going to be. Plus, it's very, very bad to reach a conclusion based on flawed, uncorroborated data. You should inform yourself properly before creating an opinion on someone. This extends to all facets of your life. Seek as much information on whatever it is you intend to do before reaching a decision. It could just end up saving your life."
Iruka's eyebrow twitched as he watched the way the children in his class absorbed Naruto's words with full concentration and focus, the sort of thing he would love them to have during his own classes.
Unknowing of his sensei's thoughts, Naruto continued speaking.
"Now that that's out of the way, I really need Kono, Moe-chan and U-kun to follow me."
As the three kids made their way towards their idol, Hanabi spoke up.
"C-can I go too? To watch their test, I mean. Since I don't have a team, i have no reason to wait for a sensei, so it should be no problem, right?"
Hanabi had directed the last question at Iruka, but before the man could respond, Naruto spoke up.
"Sure, you're invited to come. No, wait. You know what? All of you kids are invited to come watch the test."
A massive amount of cheers erupted from the class, followed by the sound of stampeding children as they followed after Naruto, leaving Iruka in the classroom, alone and flabbergasted. He regained his bearings, yelping out a "Wait for me!" before following after them, truly curious about the test meant for Kohamaru, Moegi and Udon.
-Training Field 13-
A large crowd had gathered around the training field in order to watch the proceeding test. After the entirety of Iruka's class traversed the academy grounds making as much noise as humanly possible, the other teachers and students inquired about the situation, ending up with the entirety of academy classes, instructors and even the headmaster going out to watch the test.
The large group travelling through the village, lead by 'Namikaze-sama', inevitably gathered the attention of more people. Civillians and shinobi alike, if they had no tasks to fullfil at the moment, and nothing better to do, joined the procession towards the field.
Now, a massive group was arrayed around the clearing, watching as Naruto, Konohamaru, Moegi and Udon walked towards the center of the training field and the Third Hokage waiting there with Ebisu beside him. Naruto went to the other side of the Hokage, while Konohamaru and his friends arrayed themselves in front of the Hokage, standing at attention.
Hiruzen spoke up, causing the murmur amongst the people watching to die down.
"The three of you know why you are here, do you not? In case you don't, it is because there were requests by two jounin to become the leader of your genin cell. The two gave good arguments, but in the end, you'll be the ones deciding who is your sensei. Well, I say you, but I really mean your performance, as it is based on it that I shall assign you to one of the men beside me."
Giving them time to process this, Hiruzen kept speaking.
"Your test will be composed of two parts. First, it will be a tracking exercise. Two scrolls were hidden somewhere in the clearing, and you are tasked with finding them. They hold the clues to the second test. If you fail to find them, you fail the test automatically. Understood?"
The three children nodded seriously, before the Hokage, Naruto and Ebisu vanished in a swirl of leaves, leaving behind a piece of paper with something written on it.
-Elsewhere-
The crowd around training field 13 had been redirected by a swarm of Naruto clones towards various areas with large screens displaying the test, with audio capable of picking up the words of the kids. Further Naruto clones walked around the various different areas, selling popcorn, cotton candy, drinks and snacks for the people.
One of the screens , however, had been set up at the Ichiraku ramen stand, bringing Teuchi and Ayame the most amount of business they'd had in a while.
The camera seemed to change angles intuitively, knowing when to keep all three kids in frame, when to go for an overhead, over-the-shoulder, perpendicular or any other type of viewing angle. It also occasionally split the image, focusing on different angles.
-Training Field 13-
"I can't understand what's written here, it's a squiggly mess..."
Konohamaru scratched his head in confusion as he tried to understand the piece of paper, before shrugging and turning to his team.
"Any of you understand what's here?"
The other two leaned in, looking at the odd-looking squiggles, before Udon's eyes widened in recognition.
"I know what that is! That's a seal!"
The other two gave the paper a renewed look, before Konohamaru tilted the paper, and the two reached the same conclusion.
"It is, but it's a bit... slanted. Like it's been made by an amateur, that's why I couldn't make heads or tails of it."
Udon removed a bottle of chakra-conducive ink and a brush from his back pouch, organizing them on the ground before speaking up.
"Naruto-niichan was probably the one who made the seal. If he made it at professional-grade, I doubt even Jounin would be able to crack it. He made it deficient on purpose, probably mimicking the sealing technique of a genin-level individual."
Konohamaru, Moegi and Udon sat down in a circle, placing the piece of paper on the ground in the middle of them as they tried to analyze the seal.
Udon took a piece of paper of his own, placed it on the ground, before he started drawing squiggles on it in slow, deliberate strokes, his tongue poking out the side of his mouth in concentration.
"Wait, Udon, go back two characters and change that L-looking one into an S, with a diagonal bar in the middle."
Udon's eyes widened, before he re-drew that specific symbol.
"Also" Moegi spoke up "Bridge that twisty J and the Loopy C-like things together."
Udon followed the suggestion, before putting down the brush and allowing the ink to dry. As soon as it was dry, Konohamaru, being the team member with the highest chakra capacity, put his finger in the middle of the tag and pushed some into it, causing the kanji to glow a bright blue. They pushed their newly-made tag into the piece of paper Naruto left behind, causing a puff of smoke to deposit a rolled-up scroll, tied up with string. After doing their best to check on the scroll for traps, as it wasn't beyond Naruto to do so - an occasion with some maple syrup, flour and feathers coming to mind - they cut the string, and unrolled the scroll, reading the message within.
"If qualities of Heaven are your desire, acquire wisdom and knowledge to take your mind higher
If Earthly qualities are what you lack, train your body in the fields and prepare to attack
When both Heaven and Earth are opened together, the path of peril will revert to the righteous path forever
This 'Human' is the secret way... that guides us on from this place today"
-Jounin Lounge-
Everyone in the lounge turned their gaze towards Naruto, who was watching his students with a smirk on his face. Gai was the one to speak up.
"That poem was made by the third and used during your chunin exams, was it not, Naruto-san?"
Naruto nodded towards Gai, prompting the spandex-clad man to speak up further.
"But I believed it only applied when you already possessed the scrolls? What are they to do without scrolls?"
Naruto smirked, before answering "They'll know what to do."
-Training Field 13-
The three academy graduates seemed to be thinking deeply about the issue, before Moegi spoke up.
"This... Heaven and Earth, Wisdom and Knowledge, and Body... This is talking about chakra."
At Konohamaru and Udon's questioning looks, Moegi elaborated by drawing a circle on the dirt underneath them, before parting it with an S-like line, splitting the sphere in half similarly to the yin-yang symbol.
"Chakra is composed of two parts."
As she spoke, she started writing characters on one side of the split sphere.
"The spiritual component..."
Before writing characters on the other.
"And the physical one."
She then looked up towards the two boys who seemed to not have understood, sighing exasperatedly, before explaining further.
"The spiritual component stems from honing your mind and gaining experience, and the physical component stems from strengthening your body. Heaven is the spiritual component, Earth is the physical component. "
Seeing the two boys' looks of mounting realization, Moegi continued.
" 'When both Heaven and Earth are opened together, the path of peril will revert to the righteous path forever' When we put together the physical and spiritual energies, creating chakra, then our path forward will open.
'This 'Human' is the secret way... that guides us on from this place today'
Probably refers to some sort of guide that we're supposed to discover."
The two boys' eyes lit up in understanding, before Konohamaru tilted his head in confusion.
"Guys, does your chakra feel weird?"
Moegi and Udon looked towards Konohamaru, before closing their eyes and putting their hands together in a Ram sign. The two drew upon their chakra, before their eyes snapped open in surprise, with Udon speaking up.
"There're traces of foreign chakra in our bodies!"
Moegi raised an eyebrow and met Udon's gaze, before asking.
"Genjutsu?"
At Udon's shrug, Konohamaru spoke up.
"Well, flare your chakra guys. Then we'll know whether we're under genjutsu or not."
With a cry of "KAI!", the three flared their chakra, causing the foreign chakra to leave their bodies. They heard what sounded like glass shattering coming from the scroll they read the poem in, and noticed that the text had changed.
" The Earth is underneath you, to be grasped with your own two arms
The Heaven is right above you, to be seeked out from both below and above
Find the two, and your path shall be illuminated
To the guard that holds the judgement "
-Jounin Lounge-
Naruto enjoyed the incredulous and surprised looks that the other Jounin were sending towards the screen as they watched his cute little disciples' efforts.
Genma was the one to speak up first.
"Observant, those kids. Figured out the Third's riddle in a few minutes, and advanced through an altered interpretation. They even managed to detect a disturbance in their chakra caused by an external source, and break it. What the hell have you been teaching them?"
Naruto smirked smugly, before speaking up.
"Keep watching and find out."
-Training Field 13-
"Earth is underneath us..."
With that absent-minded thought, Konohamaru pulled a Kunai out of his pocket, eyeing it contemplatively, as Moegi and Udon discussed what the solution could possibly be. Konohamaru kept looking at the Kunai from various different angles, twisting and twirling it, before speaking up.
"Guys... Do you remember what Naruto-niichan told us about the origins of the Kunai?"
-Flashback-
"Well, my cute little disciples, since you managed to pester me enough to get a lesson out of me, I decided that today I'll be teaching you about weapons."
The three kids were bouncing in their seats with energy, anticipating lessons in swordsmanship, or how to bounce kunai and shuriken off of eachother, or how to escape an enemy fortress with only a senbon and a piece of paper.
"We'll start with Kunai, and what better way to learn how to best optimize their use than by..."
As the three kids leaned forward in anticipation, their eyes shining with excitment, Naruto finished happily.
"Learning their history!"
The jaws of the kids hit the ground, forcing Naruto to focus as hard as possible to not burst out laughing, managing to curtail it into a small smirk. As Udon froze, and Moegi sputtered, Konohamaru spoke up.
"Naruto-niichan, we don't need to learn history! We need to learn how to use our weapons!"
At that moment, Naruto turned absolutely serious, prompting the children to follow suit. Knowing that it was a serious moment, the three listened in rapt attention as Naruto spoke.
"You're wrong, Kono. In order to learn how to use your weapons, you need to learn their history. How were they crafted? Why? How were they first used, what is the optimal way to use them found commonly throughout it's history? What are the ways that it cannot be used as?
For Example, look at the Kunai. Most people see Kunai as a disposable hunk of sharpened steel, good for throwing and forgetting, and occasionally for close quarters combat if you're not a taijutsu specialist and you've lost your main weapon, but they forget that they can be much more than that.
It can be used as an emergency medical tool, for things such as bloodletting to extract poisons, battlefield surgery to gouge out shrapnel and other projectiles from the body of a comrade, or to transplant organs.
In fact, the Kunai was first designed as a gardening tool by a noblewoman who enjoyed the activity very much. It allowed her to more easily dig the dirt while using less strength, root out plants and weeds, prune branches off of plants at easy access and so on and so forth.
One day, her home was sieged by a group of bandits, and her bodyguards dispatched. They intended to use her for ransom, so they left her in her garden, with her gardening tools, of which the Kunai was one.
Big mistake for the bandits.
Using the single nicked, scratched and mostly worn Kunai she had, she managed to escape from their clutches. She faked feeling faint and ill to lure the one watching her in, before slashing out his throat. She followed that up by sneaking out of her garden space and into the house. She propositioned two of the men, telling them to meet her in her bedroom. The first one was felled as he crossed the treshold of the door, as she waited while sticking to the wall and stabbed him on the back of the neck as he moved past her, before dragging him away.
After that, she placed herself on the bed and hid the Kunai under the pillow. As the second man she propositioned approached her and disrobed, she pulled her kunai on him and stabbed him in the heart.
She liberated the rest of her kunai and trapped the majority of the doors and windows of the home, before luring the remaining bandits in. As they entered the house and moved through the various rooms, more and more traps were sprung. Kunai hanging on top of the door falling directly into heads, some rigged to be shot with string, and one of them was even attached to a cupboard door that was attached to a tripwire, opening when the bandit stepped on it and slamming the kunai into his throat.
She eliminated the bandits, made her way to the tent of their leader and slit his throat as he slept, before stealing one of their horses and riding back towards her father's manor."
The children were enthralled by the tale, with Moegi fangirling the hardest. After giving them a few minutes to get it out of their system, Naruto resumed.
"Remember children, a noblewoman with no combat training managed to fell a group of bandits using only a gardening tool, her wits and day-to-day objects. Your mind and your ability to impovise are improved overtime, but your knowledge of your tools can be taught directly.
Now, the Shuriken..."
-Flashback End-
"A gardening tool..." Moegi mumbled, before Konohamaru's eyes widened.
"Guys, the Earth means physical energy. Working your body. The Earth also means one of the things we have to find. 'The earth is underneath us', maybe that was meant literally."
Moegi spoke up next.
"You're saying that..."
And Udon finished the thought.
"We're supposed to dig it up from under us."
The three kids looked down, pulling out a kunai each before digging into the ground.
They suceeded in finding something after 15 minutes of harduous digging, being met with a metal box about as big as a mailbox. Pressing his finger on the lock, Konohamaru channeled some chakra to unlock it, revealing a brown scroll and three radio headsets.
-Ichiraku Ramen-
"Wow" Kiyomi said between chews of noodles, before swallowing and speaking with an empty mouth "Naru-koi's training a group of impressive kids, to manage to get this far off of the academy."
Kei swallowed her mouthful of Pork Ramen, before nodding and commenting.
"Yeah, they've the talent and the minds to be great. Under his Tutelage, they'll be amongst the best, no doubt about it."
-Hokage's office-
"Naru really taught them well, huh old timers?"
Tsunade's question got no response, as Hiruzen, Koharu and Homura were too busy gaping at the television screen in front of them to speak.
-Uzumaki Compound-
"Naru-chan really makes for a good teacher, wouldn't you say, Shige-chan?"
Yamamoto nodded at Hayato's assessment, before taking a sip of his hot tea.
-Training Field 13-
"So, we've got an 'Earth', now we need to find a 'Heaven'."
Udon thought for a bit, thinking back on the second riddle before looking towards the communicators.
" 'The Heaven is right above you, to be seeked out from both below and above' ... Guys, I think I've figured out the Heaven."
When Moegi and Konohamaru turned their attention towards him, Udon elaborated.
"We need to seek the 'Heaven' out from above and below. The last sentence showed that the riddle was more literal than the first one, as in the earth was literally right underneath us. I think this one is literal as well. At least one of us has to climb high above us, while another one stays on the ground, and we need to coordinate our efforts to look together, that's why we got these communicators."
Konohamaru and Moegi nodded in agreement, before the three of them put the headset on.
"Well" Konohamaru started "I can climb to the tallest tree here in the field and look down to search for something, Udon, you search from below, Moegi, find a tree at about the midway point between me and udon, both in height and in distance, in case we miss something."
The other two nodded, before each of them went to fullfil their task.
Using treewalking, both Konohamaru and Moegi climbed up their respective trees, before activating the communicators.
"Little Monkey, in position."
"Redcheek, in position."
"Calculator, in position. Little Monkey, what do you see?"
Konohamaru looked around the branch he was in, before he felt a twitch on the back of his neck, like a sliver of chakra was extremely close. He turned around for a bit, feeling his way around the trunk and branches, until his finger glided over a groove in the wood, much too smooth to be natural.
He looked at it closer, examining it before calling out.
"I see... A seal. Something about Occlusion, hiding from sight or whatever."
Konohamaru pushed against the seal, before Moegi's voice sounded from the communicator.
"Kono, freeze as you are! Udon, another seal sprang up near you, I can see the glow from here."
Udon focused on trying to sense chakra, one of his admitedly weaker skills, before he finally managed to feel something. He moved towards the source, finding a glowing seal engraved on the ground. He crouched, looking closely at it before calling through the earpiece.
"This one reads 'Power', 'Distribute' and 'Regulate'. Can't understand any more than that."
Moegi felt another array lighting up near her, shuffling along the branch she was in until she got close enough to read it.
"Mine says area, zone, and close. I think we should destroy them all at the same time."
Konohamaru spoke up at that, taking control of the situation.
"Okay, since we don't know the maximum amount of chakra the seals can channel, and we don't know if we have enough to short them out that way, we'll have to physically strike them out. Ready your tools."
Each of the kids pulled a kunai from the holster, before positioning it near the seal.
"Steady your hands. Strike in 3, 2, 1..."
The three slashed the seals out simultaneously, destabilizing the entire array. They felt a burst of chakra moving through the training field, before a short pillar appeared beside Udon. The three kids convened around it, feeling around the pillar and finding a level which lowered a hidden panel, revealing a white and blue scroll with 'Heaven' written on it, and three soldier pills.
Storing the pills away since they didn't use much chakra, the kids moved away from the pillar and back to where they first dug into and found the earth scroll.
Moegi spoke up.
"Okay, now that we've got 'Heaven' and 'Earth', we need to mix them together to illuminate our path. We probably have to put them together. Unroll on three."
Udon and Konohamaru slid their fingers into the crease on the outward edge of the scroll, before Moegi started counting down.
"3"
"2"
"1"
"Go!"
The boys unrolled the scrolls, seeing what seemed to be halves of a sealing array. When each half started releasing smoke, they tossed the two towards the same area, causing them to cross together before a pillar of light emerged from it, followed by a cloud of smoke.
When the blinding light and the cloud of smoke subsided, everybody could see the figure of...
-Jounin Lounge, Hokage's Office, Ichiraku Ramen and Hospital Maternity Ward-
"...Kakashi?"
-Training Field 13-
"Cycloptic Pervert? What're you doing here?"
Kakashi's eyebrow twitched at that, before Moegi spoke up.
"Don't be an idiot, Kono! The Pervert Scarecrow is supposed to be the 'Human' key to this riddle, what we get from mixing 'Earth' and 'Heaven'."
Kakashi's eyebrow twitched further, but before he could say anything, Udon spoke up.
"Reading Perv is probably the one that will show us the real path from the dangerous one."
Kakashi's eyebrow twitched further, before he spoke up in his regular, lazy tone.
"Maa maa, where did you hear all of these names?"
The three kids answered simultaneously.
"Naruto-niichan/Naruto-Sensei/Naruto-sama."
Konohamaru rounded on Udon, pointing an accusing finger at him.
"Oii, since when is it you call Niichan 'Naruto-sama'?"
Before rounding on Moegi.
"And you 'Naruto-sensei' ? What the hell is wrong with you?"
Moegi bopped Konohamaru on the top of his head, before answering.
"We're just showing Naruto-sensei some respect in front of his subordinates!"
*Twitch Twitch*
Kakashi fought to keep the eye twitching to a minimum, a vein throbbing on his forehead even as he kept his lazy tone.
"But what makes you say I am Naruto's subordinate?"
The three kids traded looks, before each of them answered in turn.
"He's stronger than you" came from Konohamaru.
"He's more handsome than you" came from a blushing Moegi.
"He's more influential and famous than you" finished Udon.
-Everywhere else-
Snickers and laughter followed these words, alongside words of agreement from various women towards the second point.
-Training Field 13-
TwitchTwitchTwitchTwitch
Kakashi's eyebrow twitched so hard you'd think it was having a seizure, before he clapped his hands together and spoke up, his lazy tone gaining an almost imperceptible edge to it.
"You know what, let's stop dilly-dallying and move on with the test. Long story short, I hold the key, you need to impress me, fight to kill, go!"
As soon as he said go, Kakashi felt the presence of the three kids vanishing altogether.
'Well doesn't this bring back memories?... Dangerous, somewhat Ominous memories, but memories nonetheless. I can't find hide nor hair of the kids, and using the sharingan with them is a definite no-go.'
Kakashi leaned to the side, watching as a Kunai sailed past where his head previously was, only to sink itself ring-deep into a tree, a thin line of blood opening on his cheek.
'Academy students just get more dangerous every year.'
Kakashi then had to jump back, before a pair of hands emerged from the ground under him. As Kakashi landed, he was forced to dodge more extremely accurate Kunai, all aimed at either lethal points (Liver, Spine, Heart, Jugular), or debilitating ones (Elbows, Knees, and Kakashi Jr.), the last one just barely missing him and grazing his pants leg, causing him to shiver in abject terror.
When he focused back on the the hands emerged from, the area was already empty.
Kakashi looked around, trying to sense the presence of the not-quite-yet genin...
"Katon: Goukkakyu no Jutsu! (Fire Style: Gread Fireball Technique)"
A massive fireball, sporting 10 meters in diameter streaked towards Kakashi, turning to ash any blades of grass it touched.
'Jesus, the flashbacks won't stop coming.'
"Suiton: Mizurappa! (Water style: Water Trumpet)"
A cone of water emerged from Kakashi's masked mouth, impacting into the fireball and nullifying it, creating a cloud of vision-blocking steam in the process. Kakashi kept his ears open, trying to anticipate attacks...
"Fuuton: Daitoppa! (Wind style: Great Breakthrough!)"
Until a mass of concussive wind slammed into him, sending him flying until he managed to right himself middair.
'Honestly for fuck's sake, this is chapter 3 all over again!'
Kakashi landed, sticking himself to the ground with chakra in order to halt his momentum, before he was forced to lean to the side to avoid the swing of an oversized Kunai, somewhere between a Tanto and a Wakizashi in size.
He was forced to duck to avoid a follow-up slash, before hopping away to avoid a downwards cut. Then, Kakashi turned around with his arms crossed for a block, anticipating Konohamaru's flying kick.
What he didn't anticipate, however, was a cloud of smoke depositing a Kage Bunshin in Konohamaru's path, acting as a platform for him to kick upwards from. In an instant, Konohamaru tossed his soldier pill into his mouth, refilling his almost-empty reserves before a cloud of smoke signaled another clone above him, which he kicked off from to gain speed as he flew towards Kakashi, going for a punch to the face. Kakashi grabbed him by the wrist, but Konohamaru surprised him once again by throwing his arm to the side, breaking Kakashi's guard, and slamming the top of his head into the Jonin's nose.
Kakashi retaliated by throwing the visibly winded boy away, before jumping back, watching as an assortment of Kunai and Shuriken struck the place he was standing at.
"Okay, that's it. I'm pissed, you pissed me off. Not going easy on you brats any longer."
Then, Kakashi vanished.
Moegi's eyes widened, before she rolled away from her spot, crouching in the bushes, watching as Kakashi's fist made a small crater on the ground she previously stood on. As Kakashi moved to punch her, he was surprised by Konohamaru placing himself in front of Moegi, his arms crossed in a block.
The Sarutobi was thrown upwards, his arms trembling and all but powerless now, while Moegi and Udon ran towards his landing zone.
Knowing that Kakashi would no longer allow them to hide and would actually pursue them seriously, the three defaulted to the instinct that Naruto drilled into them relentlessly:
Teamwork. If you can't do it alone, do it as a team.
Moegi slid her soldier pill into Konohamaru's mouth, allowing the boy to swallow it and regain the chakra he used when summoning the second Kage Bunshin, which he pushed towards his arms in order to stop the shaking and make them usable.
Udon crossed his arms together, a handful of Kunai sliding down his sleeves and placing themselves between his fingers.
Konohamaru shook his arms loose, before leaving his hands together, positioned for handsign weaving.
Moegi raised her oversized Kunai, gripping it with two hands and keeping it at her chest-level.
As the three prepared to attack again...
*PLIM PLOM PLIM PLOM*
A bell signaling the end of the exercise rung, causing Kakashi to force himself into a calm countenance.
The copy ninja pulled his copy of Icha Icha Violence from his back pouch, getting his twitching eyebrow into order before speaking up lazily.
"Well, you guys sucked so hard you didn't even manage to locate where the bells were on my person..."
The eyes of the three kids widened at that, they went straight for the fight instead of trying to locate the bells first! How could they make such a rookie mistake?
"...But, you impressed me enough during combat to make me give them to you. The catch? There's only one actual bell. Naruto's a busy person nowadays, and he has no time to take on a full squad, so he'll be taking a single disciple instead. You'll have to decide amongst yourselves who gets to become his disciple."
The three kids looked between eachother, their gazes meeting and a private conversation flowing between them. They seemed to reach an agreement, as Konohamaru stepped forward towards Kakashi...
Before kicking him in the nards.
Every single male watching the scene cringed at that. Konohamaru, uncaring of that, took back his spot in the middle of his friends, before speaking up.
"We're a team. We never abandon eachother, we never turn our backs on eachother. If Naruto-niichan can only take a single apprentice, then give Hanabi the spot. She's the one without a team. We'll train under another jounin, and see if Naruto-nii has the time to teach us occasionally."
Kakashi, his single visible eye wattering as he curled up on the ground clutching his junk, managed to squeak out a "You passed", before losing his consciousness, foam falling out the sides of his mask as his eye rolled back into his head.
The three kids exchanged looks, before shrugging and walking away from the Training Field, leaving Kakashi behind.
And that, ladies and gentlemen, was how Team Naruto came to exist.
~Chapter End~
Another Chapter, in the next day, in the same week. It seems the inspiration fairy struck me twice. Let's hope for a third strike, folks!
Having said that, it's the 'begging corner of begging' , where I try to emotionally blackmail you into leaving Follows, Favorites and Reviews.
Ahem...
"Please, Favorite/Follow and Review my story, or they'll break my legs!"
With that out of the way, this is FrancoGamerxz, wishing you a good day/noon/evening/night.