Okay, so somehow I am past 100 favs and 150 follows almost 200 for the follows! HOW!? Not that I am complaining, I am actually ecstatic at this. Like holy shit, and I thought the last one was crazy, but nah you guys just blew that out of the water thank you guys! Guess this one will have to be a long one too then. Sorry if this is somewhat late as I was waiting for the site to stop being weird and you guys can actually read it. Kinda got impatient so I hope you enjoy this one, I did at least!
Also, seeing the reviews you guys leave make my day so I wanna say thanks for those as well.
Disclaimer: I am not in possession the wealth generated from the Naruto as I don't own it.
It's weird, the time I've spent during the Academy has been paradoxically fast yet long. I've been able to accomplish many things and I can firmly say that in a classroom full of older kids I am the best, barring Gaara of course with his BS sand blocking everything I have so far that isn't lethal.
During the time that I was learning the next step of Wind mastery can be summed up to just waiting. Waiting for everyone else to catch up, waiting to make myself a solution to cutting the sand, and just plain ol waiting.
I really wish at times that I still had music or something to help distract me and pass the time quickly or just numb my brain. I miss it to be quite frank, popping headphones in and listening to my favorite tunes while I did work or even was just laying down trying to lull myself to sleep.
I thought of this while the teacher droned on about how exemplary shinobi we were and that we should be proud yada yada yada, I could care less. I just want to know who I will be on a team with! Sure, they said that the strongest students would be on a team together but who's to say that I won't be completely screwed over? Like it was a ruse to get everyone to do their best and get on the best team and that was the goal all along, but that would be lame.
The teacher stopped his droning and clapped his hands together which was really fucking loud somehow.
"Alright, now to the part that I know all of you are waiting for, team formations!" The small class started to give rise to a cacophony, reverberating around the walls. Excitement and dread could be heard from them.
"Now, it took some time but we were able to make the teams. Now hear they are..." As the teacher started to list teams off I somewhat drifted off, waiting for my name to be called. I thought of the graduation exam, they were kinda easy to be quite honest. For the first one, we had a sparing match but we could use any Jutsu we knew in this. Unfortunately for my opponent I had the longest and fastest time to work of my wind nature. I may not be the best, but I certainly was leagues above these guys.
I also was finally able to use a move that I had long been wanting to use in one of these, it was a move that I hope was something original. I call it the chakra dash. I took it from the idea that when you put too much chakra on a surface you want to stick to you get blown off. I thought, why couldn't I use that on the ground? And when I tried it I had results, I kinda got my head through a wall but they were results nonetheless. I had practiced with that so I can essentially boost myself forward as a sort of surprise and catch people off guard.
I was right when I had used it against someone that wasn't Gaara, Shira, or a wall, it did catch people off guard. I had flown up to his face and was able to give a flurry of punches taking use of the painful chakra pressure point jabs that Shira so loved to use against me, he taught me in pity. The poor teen didn't stand a chance and he was writhing on the floor, from the punches and his blocked chakra.
Now, before this whole worldly displacement I would not be able to stomach hurting another, I didn't get into fights. But, ever since coming here it was easier, was it the lack of punishment I would get? Or did something get taken that held me back from throwing a punch back in my homeworld,? Who knows, all I know is that I felt no pity for him for the most part, I didn't really know him either way much less his name.
After that the tests were just essentially showing what we knew and applying them. Like the three basic Jutsu and also one for our Chakra nature. I guess you can say that when it was my turn that I really, blew them away! Ha, puns.
Thanks to Gaara's uncle just having a small library of Jutsu scrolls, we were able to learn some of the basic ones. Right now we are working on some useful looking ones that are not in our affinity range, progress is slow. We have been able to get advice on how to train them, but it really is taking a long time to train them. Now I know why they said why it took many years for this, it was fucking hard!
"For the next team, it will be Temari, Gaara, and Ren." I look to my longtime friend in this world and give him a smile. We are on the same team! The other name sounded familiar, but right now the priority was to celebrate, well actually that's for at home but the sentiment is the same.
"Your Jonin sensei is Baki." Ah, another name that I don't know how wonderful!
After waiting for our Jonin to come in, ours was the first one to come in.
"Gaara, Ren, and Temari I am your Jonin, come with me." He was a tall man, with a gruff voice and a stern face with red markings covering one side, the other was covered by his turban held up by his headband. I had mine on my forehead as well, and Gaara had it on an arm. He walked right outside the door and we followed suit. He took to the streets setting a brisk pace, people letting him have a path. When Gaara and I, walking side by side went through the streets they gave us a wide berth, not wanting to be near us. That was normal, and quite frankly can be useful! Time for waiting in lines? Almost nil. Sure, I wanted to punch in all of the faces of the people who avoided Gaara and all that, but I took advantage of their mean spirited actions.
Arriving to our destination it was a training field, one of many I'm sure. I personally never used them as I had the room at Gaara's house to be beaten black and blue thank you very much!
"Now, what we will be doing is sparing to see where you are all at. I will personally be sparing you all one at a time so come at me with the intention to kill." I feel bad for the poor soul that would go against him first, except if Gaara went he would be fine. But yeah, Baki would be fresh and ready so he could dispatch his opponent with easy. Obviously, he's a Jonin and we are Genin.
"Ren, you are up first." OH COME FUCKING ON! Fine, I attempt to not be beaten that hard. I will at least do something against him... Or try to.
I stand face to face with him and I feel fear. Why would I not? This guy is a full fledged ninja and while I could beat my classmates with ease, I severely doubt they have killed people like this man has or at all.
Before he could even give me a signal to start I rush towards him using the chakra dash to hopefully catch him off guard. I take out a kunai and drive it towards an important area so he would block it, which would give me an opening to punch him. I start the execution and he blocks my kunai with one of his own. But then he pivots away, and I miss the punch. Damn!
I immediately dash back to prevent any counter he might have.
"Hm, interesting so you came up with a way of accelerating quickly to catch people off guard. Good, you are able to use your chakra to help bridge the gap between us. Unfortunately I have faced much faster shinobi, you will have to move faster than that!" And with that he started to make a beeline towards me, had I not been accustomed with fighting Shira then it would have been nothing but a blur. Fortunately, Shira is faster and I have been able to prevent myself from getting beat easily by him now. I can actually hold my own now with him.
I shifted my body around and made a countermeasure once my teacher came forward, this time actually surprising him. And I tried using a jutsu on him, one of the ones from a scroll I saw, Air Bullet. I make the bird seal and shoot out multiple Air Bullets out to him from my mouth. It sort of shotguns, spreading out but with the close proximity he has they all hit him. I feel proud of myself for a good few seconds until I hear a poof and in his place was a log...
How are there logs in a desert? More importantly, FUCK! I thought I had him! But no, he decided to substitute away.
"Enough, I have been able to asses your skill. Stand back off to the side." Damn, I really wanted to keep going only to land a good punch on him, cuz that pissed me off. I thought I pulled that of perfectly and it turns out it was all a ruse! A ruse I say! Ruuuuse!
I walk back with a raincloud over my head and stand next to Gaara. He gave me a small pat on the shoulder to console me. "You'll get him next time."
"Yeah, maybe you can hold him down with your sand while I get a clear shot of him." He contemplated this for a moment and I knew he was seriously considering this.
"Gaara, I was kidding."
"Oh, okay."
Baki now called up for the next opponent which was the chick Temari, and I can't help but think that she looks familiar. Maybe an important character in Naruto? I honestly don't remember as much as I probably should from the anime at this point. It's literally been twelve years, and as great of a memory I have it tends to be hard to remember many hours of a show and every single character.
It really doesn't help that I mostly remember the more obscure parts in the show, like Rock Lee drunk fighting, or Gaara standing on that tree upside down when he was first introduced, or even the process of the rasenga- wait. Wait a minute! I know how to recreate one of the coolest moves in Naruto, in my opinion, I should be trying to do this! I mean, if Naruto could do it in a week with all his chakra then surely I should be able to do it right? I also vaguely remember how there was a next step and something about adding a chakra nature to it? Hey, if the op move could be made more op and I know how to who am I to complain?
"Enough, I have seen what I needed to." Oh, the fight for Gaara and the chick are over. Whoops. I look over and see Gaara walk over to me, and now I feel bad that I didn't watch.
"Sorry Gaara, I got lost with a new idea I had." Gaara didn't look that offended, he still had is neutral face on.
"That's fine, you will have to tell me about it later though with Shira." Ohhh, that would be cool to see Gaara using a Rasengan but made of sand or something! I wonder how strong that would be?
"I want you all to come back here tomorrow in the morning packed and ready, we will be heading out for our first mission it might take a week so be prepared. Be here first thing in the morning! You are dismissed." We left as we normally did and started walking home and I decided to write down what I could remember in a notebook so I don't get screwed over just in case.
"Congratulations guys!" When we got home there was a party all set up for us, with Shira at the center. Gaara and I both were surprised at it. The party was just the three of us, but I think that we can still have a good time. We always do regardless.
He led us to the kitchen were a small modest cake was sitting there. Despite the size, I was touched by the gesture. We didn't really celebrate birthdays much during the time we were living together as for one I don't know when mine is and the others didn't want to make a big deal out of it. We still gave each other gifts and everything but never a cake until now.
"Wow, this looks like an awesome cake, did you make it yourself?" Shira shuffled at the compliment and looked down with a smile visible.
"Yeah, I wanted to celebrate you guys graduating so I made this." He stood by the cake and cut a few slices, one for each of us and put them on some plates. He gave us one and we grabbed a fork to eat it. When I took a bite I felt my taste buds explode in flavor. I had forgotten just how long it's been since I ate a cake. Definitely more than twelve years, which is quite a long time to not eat this deliciousness.
"I really like it Shira!" I gave my compliments to Shira and he brightened up at that.
"I also, like this you did a good job." Gaara also gave his compliments.
Soon after we had some games and all around fun together, and we made the most of it for now since Gaara and I have to leave on our first mission for a whole week.
After all was said and done Gaara and I started to get our stuff together. It was quite a bit and would be troublesome to lug it around but then I remembered that when we had taken stock of everything in the house we had some storage scrolls.
At first I had no clue what they were, neither did Gaara or Shira. But then when I had asked a teacher they told me what it was. It was a storage scroll, used for well storing things. We put an object we want in there and apply chakra to the scroll and it would suck it in. When you wanted it back all you had to do was apply chakra and everything would come out. Some, you can be able to take out however many you want at a time but the one we had was the former where everything would go out.
We decided to put in our items for the trip in there, including some food and water just in case as well as some money.
After that we did some light training, ate, then went to bed. This time with Shira taking watch. I had gotten into the bed that I have been for the past few years and I made myself comfortable. I had to catch up on some sleep, who knows if we will get some on the mission.
Alright! It is now time for us to get to the same training ground as yesterday. I quickly shot up from bed, went into the kitchen to make some food, and went to go get Gaara as well.
"Gaara, I'm making you some eggs okay?" Silence at first but then a silent ok makes it's way to my ears. I nod then walk back to the kitchen and grabbed the pan then the eggs which holds the source for delicious food. Cracking the eggs into a cup, I whisked it up with a fork able to whisk it better than I could have in my past life, faster too.
I placed some butter around the pan, letting it get all around it. After that, I poured the whisked eggs into the pan and started to well... cook it. Not much you can really do with that.
When cooked, I placed the eggs on three plates and grabbed some bread and placed it on the plates. I normally would have made it into toast but... I forgot to do that so regular bread would have to do.
"Foods ready! I made some for you too Ren!" I hear two okays and they shambled over to the kitchen. I placed the plates in front of the chairs and they sat down and started to eat. We ate in relative silence as they were tired, pulling an all-nighter does that. I liked how the eggs turned how, but they are quite easy to make. Still, I like how they taste and that's what matters.
"So Shira, what are you going to do while we are gone?" Shira looked up from his plate, face stuffed with food. He took a second to swallow it then spoke.
"Probably some more training, there's not much more I can do. I have to be good enough to be a Shinobi like you guys afterall." Well... yeah that sounds like him. Training all the time to be good enough. I think he's good enough however. Heck, he could probably give our new sensei a run for his money, and the guy's a Jonin!
"I'm actually close to mastering the first activation, after that I will make and practice a second activation." I gulp audibly at that, a second activation?! I don't think my body can handle that without a few bones breaking. I like my bones, it would be very nice if they never broke. Just like my past life. I've seen how much it hurts, nope I do not want my bones to be shattered into a fine powder.
After finishing up our food, we grabbed our stuff and were at the doorway saying our good byes to Shira for the week. It would be the longest we have been away from another friend. I've grown used to the same routine as usual, and now that will be broken. Well, at least we get some cash from that.
"Bye Shira, we'll miss you!" I definitely did not give him a tear-filled hug, nope I just... happen to be allergic to goodbyes. Yeah, that's it.
Shira laughed at that and patted me on the back. "Don't you think it should be me missing you? You guys will be busy the whole time. I'll just be here doing what I normally do."
"Yeah but still, I'll still miss ya."
"As will I." Gaara piped up
Shira let out a nice smile, content that he had good friends like the one hugging him and totally not crying at all.
Getting to the field we were ready with our scroll with everything in my possession and we sat there waiting for the others to show up. As we were bored and it's better to do something than just sit there I took out a deck of cards and started to play with Gaara. And that's how it went for awhile, us just playing as the sun slowly rose, shining it's light on the field that we were on.
Finally after awhile the blond chick came, took her long enough.
"What! How did you guys get here before me?" Not looking up from my hand of cards, I just speak up from there.
"Uhh, by waking up early then getting here?" She made a noise of frustration.
"No, I meant that I woke up when the sun was barely up and started coming here after that. What time did you guys even come here at?"
I shrug, not particularly caring in any case. "I dunno we got here when the sun hadn't come out yet and we played cards to wait for you guys."
There was a pause in the air.
"You guys played cards in the dark? How does that work?" Mm, mess with her? Yeah, mess with her.
"Well you look at the cards, duh." I got a small snort coming from Gaara and a smile while from the girl she made a noise that sounded like someone was being strangled.
"Alright that is enough dawdling, now that you are all here we can start with the mission." When did he get here? Oh, he's goood.
Baki, appearing from seemingly no where now stood in front of us and was ready for action.
"Now, for our mission. We will be going to the Hidden Grass Village and escorting a merchant to the Hidden Stone Village and protect him from any possible bandits. Any questions?" The chick spoke up and voiced her questions or concerns.
"Yeah, why would we need to escort a merchant from Hidden Grass if they already have shinobi there?" Yeah true, why do we have to do the work they can do?
"Well, despite all their skills in diplomacy and the like they tend to not want involvement with the Hidden Stone on account of them being invaded during the Third Shinobi War. They won't send shinobi there if they can help it. And while we are allied with the Leaf, the Hidden Stone is somewhat neutral towards us." Ah, ok that'll do it, being invaded that is.
"Now we must be on our way for this C rank mission." He started to take off towards a direction that I had no clue where it went. I followed anyway with Gaara right next to me. We ran through the streets until he took to the roofs and we followed, taking a large leap up. Jumping from roof to roof, I still had no clue where we were going until I saw a large archway with a gap in the middle which I assume is the exit/entrance.
We stopped at the foot of the gap and there were two shinobi there standing guard. One look really relaxed and the other... didn't. They looked like if they moved a wrong way something could blow up.
"Ah, Baki new team I see. Already going for a mission?" The relaxed and older shinobi spoke.
"Yes Mushi, I tested them and they were sufficient enough for it." The now named Mushi stroked his greying beard.
"I see, so looking at this mission assignment you will be doing an escort? A good C rank to start them off with. Builds a good foundation of what to expect in the ninja world."
"Uncle, stop messing around with the guy, we need to guard this!" The younger more... volatile shinobi was eager to see us off it seemed. At that the uncle laughed.
"Haha, forgive my nephew, Junior is new to the guarding post and merely wants to do his best. I tell him not to worry, but he believes an enemy could show up at any moment." Baki waves his hand. "None taken, now if you'll excuse us we will be heading off now."
Mushi stamps the scroll and we head off. While running through the sands I thought of how nice it would be to be a guard as I'm sure it is a really relaxed position to be had. I mean look at Mushi, he was really relaxed! And that was how it went for the meanwhile, us running and me picturing what I could do after surviving the Chunin exams slash invasion in the Leaf.
Another stray thought occurred to me. "Hey Gaara, since we won't be near sand maybe you should take some with you just in case? Like a gourd or something like that." He nodded and while running he gathered sand and coalesced it into a large gourd with sand filling into it. It looked scarily similar to the one in the anime but instead of those weird symbols it had a some that read friends and friendship. I was personally touched by it.
"I like the gourd Gaara, it looks cool." He smiled a small smile and we kept on running. Of course, I had my goggles on which I feel like it was a good move as I heard the Temari chick making some noises of frustration and irritation from sand. Ha! I get to have clear eyes and run in style. Thank you cool goggles!
We ran until night fall, and we were able to get out of the seemingly endless desert at one point and cross into a new territory. It was one that I hadn't seen in many years. Plant life, and rain. If I wasn't participating in a mission right now then I would be rejoicing and playing around in the rain. It really has been so long. Even were I lived it rained a few times. In Suna I can't remember when it had rained at any point.
The other two looked amazed at it. Gaara looked like someone had showed him a whole new wooooorld. And for all intents and purposes it's true. All he had known was the hot, dry, sandy deserts of Suna and now he something that was the clear opposite. It was wet, cool, and grassy a complete contrast. It was one that I liked personally, for Gaara? Not so sure.
"What do you think of this?" Gaara looked at me with wide eyes.
"I think it's beautiful. This is completely different from home." I nodded at that. I looked ahead and we were running to a small outpost where there were people milling about. When we got there, slowing down our pace to a more civilian walk gradually we walked though the town until we got to an Inn. When we got inside our Sensei ordered three rooms. One for the Temari chick, one for himself, and the third for both Gaara and I to share. We all got our own keycard and headed off to our rooms. I wanted to just take off my clothes and take a hot shower, but before I could do that I had an idea/reminder of something that could help me a bunch.
"Hey Gaara, I'm going to go get something at a store real quick alright?" He nodded and I left for a store taking some money with me. Inside the store I looked around for what I needed. I grabbed a bunch of empty balloons and some rubber balls. I took them to the store clerk and dropped them off there. The clerk raised an eyebrow at me.
"What's a ninja going to do with balloons and rubber balls?" I acted nonchalantly and decided to tell the truth as it would be too ridiculous to believe.
"Would you believe me if I said that I was going to use it to make a powerful technique?" The man paused then laughed.
"Ha! And people say shinobi don't have a sense of humor. Fine keep your secrets to yourself then." I handed him the money and I took them with me as I went out back into the cold. I honestly can't wait to get back into the room and have a nice hot shower then go into the warm blankets. I should have bought some hot cocoa if they had any. It would have been nice to drink some with Gaara in the room. Eh, who says I can't go back and check?
Turning back I went into the store and looked for it.
.
.
.
There was no hot cocoa. My disappointment is immeasurable and my day is ruined.
Omake: "Take your hit."
While I was ruminating on different things during the spar I hear a loud noise and my name being called.
I looked up and saw a weird sight. It was our sensei being held by a bunch of sand and unable to move with Gaara raising a hand to keep him in place with the sand. Gaara looks towards me while keeping his hold on our teacher.
"Here Ren, I'm holding him for you now you can take your shot." I look at him, then the teacher, then to the chick. I shrug then dash forward to our teacher and land a punch on him. And boy did it feel satisfying. When I looked back at him with a smug look I drop it as I see our sensei wasn't there anymore and in his place was a... log. Again! Damn it! Will I have no satisfaction from that? Not even a little bit?!
I looked to the heavens and yelled to whatever deity put me here. They truly were a sadistic being.
Alrighty! That is the next chapter! So we are finally kicking things into gear so it will go by a little bit faster than it did earlier. But don't worry it won't be too fast. Now... for those of you who know what is happening with Ren don't worry it won't be overdone nor will he spam it. Think of it as an ace up his sleeve. One more thing. Do you guys want Ren to have a love interest? Personally, I don't think I would be good at writing that so if it did happen it wouldn't be a main focus at all and happen was later on. I might put up a poll for that. I am fine either way, I just want to hear what you guys have to say. Anyways, hope you enjoyed this longer chapter.
Also join my discord server if you want. I'd like to chat with you guys and just hang out.
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Till next time, peace!