Disclaimer: Refer to chapter 1.
AN: Chapter title: No Time Like Now! Gather the Genin! Part 1
"You know what's a great idea!" Ino walked down the streets, Shikamaru lazily strolling next to her and Choji munching on chips on her other side. "We should all have a party before the promotion ceremony!"
"A party before everything? Sounds like a lot of work. Why not just have it later after its all over with?" Shikamaru's suggestion was met with a glare from Ino. "…Damn. I'm going to get stuck going to this even if I'm the only one there, aren't I?"
"You bet." Ino hooked her arm around his, tugged him to her side, did the same to Choji. "You guys have a lot of catching up to me, you know that?" She was smiling as she spoke, managed to drag one out of Shikamaru and Choji couldn't help but laugh.
"You're right about that Ino. We've got a lot of work to do." Choji let the Yamanaka lead the two to whatever she had planned. "But we'll catch up to you. We've got to stick together."
"I'll figure out this Chunin thing eventually." Shikamaru stared up at the clouds in the skies above as Ino dragged him along. "Maybe. Getting promoted any further may be a little too troublesome for me. Chunin seems like a lot of work and Jonin is going to be even more than that. It's all just a real drag."
"You know, since I'm going to be a Chunin soon, I could order you to train all day instead of spending it cloud watching." Ino laughed at Shikamaru's overblown expression of horror. "I think I'll start off with some tips from Lee, he runs around the village all the time. I'm sure he'll be happy to have Ino-Shika-Cho as company."
"That's just evil Ino." Shikamaru picked up the pace, Ino laughing as the group of three carried on down the street arm in arm.
"Oh Shikamaru that's enough with the compliments, you're going to make me blush." The Yamanaka Heiress continued leading the two boys, both going along with wherever she intended to take them.
A history of friendship unique to the trio let them know it was pointless trying to change Ino's mind once she was set on doing something.
"If we're going to have a party, we should probably talk to Asuma-sensei." Shikamaru pitched in his idea. "He can probably get word to the others better than we ever could."
"Nonsense! He's way too busy with all his missions. All the Jonin are running in and out of the village thanks to the Hokage giving them so many missions." Ino would have waved him off if her hands weren't occupied. She brought them to a halt, dragged her hands in to point at herself and to draw the eyes of both to her. "I've got a genius plan anyway: We'll just split up! I'll go get Sakura, Choji and you can go get Kiba and Shino, and then we'll meet back up here to team up and bust Hinata out of wherever the Hyuga have her stashed away! Its brilliant!"
"So it'll be most of us together again?" Shikamaru was not going to be the one to directly bring up the figurative elephant in the room.
Doing that was a quick way to end up as Ino's target dummy during their next team practice.
He liked not being Ino's target dummy.
"…Ugh!" Ino dropped their arms as her whole body seemed to drop. "I really don't want to go get either of those two, especially after what they did to Sakura, but…" Her hands were fists at her side. "If this is supposed to be a celebration about all our promotions, we have to at least let them know what's going on. It's only fair. They earned it too."
"I can go tell them about it if you really want to invite them. Or we could just put it to a vote once we get the others together." Shikamaru let his hands slip into his pockets, turned his gaze up towards the clouds. They were not providing answers for this dilemma. "Majority rules for those two makes things way easier."
"What about Team Gai? They're a year ahead of us but it wasn't too bad working with Lee." Choji opened up another bag of chips as he spoke but didn't start eating them. "Besides, I'm sure Neji and Tenten could use some kind of pick me up after what happened in the Exams."
"Y-Yeah!" Ino didn't let the memories of how either Tenten's match or Neji's match ended get to her. "I'll go find Tenten and Lee and then we can break Neji and Hinata out together!"
"Sounds like a plan." Shikamaru glanced around, took note of where exactly they were in the village. "I'm pretty sure we can go find Kiba in an hour or so. The guy should be at home and going stir crazy." He couldn't help but laugh. "He's always had way too much energy for his own good."
"Then what are we waiting for!" Ino threw her hand forward, Shikamaru and Choji throwing their hands in without a moment hesitation. "Ino-Shika-Cho, time to rock. Mission: Party starts now!"
With energy only Ino could draw out of the two, they threw their hands up with her before she dashed off using the rooftops.
"We'll meet back here once we've got them!" She called back to the two before she headed off to Sakura's. She figured that was a good enough place to start.
Choji and Shikamaru watched her race off before Shikamaru turned and headed off, the Akimichi at his side.
"You know…this will go faster if we split up too." Shikamaru took to the roofs in a single leap, Choji joining him a moment later. "I can go get Shino from his place and you can go drag Kiba out of whatever hole's he dug for himself since we last talked."
"You're giving me the way harder job you know." Choji remembered the last time he had been by the Inuzuka's and couldn't help but shake. "Kiba's mom is way too scary when she gets mad. And he's way too good at making her mad."
"Don't worry. I'll come by with Shino as backup once I drag him out his place. He's probably bored with his bugs by now anyway." Shikamaru gave his longtime friend a pat on the back. "With all three of us, we should make it out alive." He grinned. "We may have to give up Kiba though."
Choji joined him in laughter.
The Inuzuka was probably already in trouble with his mom as they spoke. It would be a miracle if he had managed to keep his nose clean for so long.
"We'll meet up at the usual spot if everything goes to plan and then we'll see what Ino wants us to do."
"Alright. See you later and wish me luck." Choji offered a raised hand in goodbye before he took off towards the Inuzuka's.
'Alright, let's hope I don't spend all day on this. If I can't find him, Ino's going to kill me.' Shikamaru only took a moment longer before he dashed off as well, heading to where he figured the Aburame would be today.
Far away from the main streets of Konoha, Rock Lee continued to rain blow after blow on the spinning wooden dummy in front of him, one of four that surrounded him. The Genin continued to pummel one dummy after another, striking them with a growing ferocity that would have torn lesser training equipment apart, left it as nothing but splintered wood.
The young practitioner of Strong Fist continued to hammer away at the dummies, his speed ever growing, his focus never wavering.
At the moment, the only thing that made any sense to him at all was this relentless training, to refuse to quit no matter how tired he may become. These promotions, the continuing unease that rolled over the village, the chaos that seemed to run just under the surface of the Hidden Leaf, it was all more than he could face.
He would never run away from a problem but, for this brief time in the morning, he wished for nothing more than a clear head.
"Leaf Hurricane!" His kick managed to tear the dummy from its place in the ground, the tree it had been carved from emerging from where it had been buried as it was acted on by a truly great force, the tree reshaping part of the training ground with its reemergence into the open air. It was no new sight. His ever inspiring teacher had allowed him the use of such equipment because of their mutual tendency to destroy any other.
Lee ceased his movements, allowed air to fill his lungs, felt the breeze sweep through his bowl cut hair, cool his body. His bandaged hands were still clenched tightly at his side, his body still shook with excess energy. He forced himself to remain still, forced himself to control his strength.
'I cannot allow my rage to guide me, I cannot allow it to control me. I control my rage. I do not allow it to control me.' In this quiet moment, Rock Lee centered himself. 'My passion burns hotter than any flames, I hold to my Ninja Way be it on the battlefield or in training. While I am not a prodigy, I will prove myself a genius of hard work! I will prove to all who doubt me, who doubt others like me, that Taijutsu is all a Shinobi needs to become great!'
His vow once more affirmed, Rock Lee allowed his body to relax, allowed his anger at his own lack of knowledge, of awareness of everything going on in the village, to ebb away. He may not know what was happening now but, given time, he would discover the truth, he would find enough to know what path he must walk to preserve the peace and prosperity of the Hidden Leaf, to let the Will of Fire burn far into the future.
"I knew I would find you here." The voice was familiar, the Genin turning quickly and his teammate smiled at him. "Hey Lee."
"Tenten!" Lee was in front of her in a blink of an eye, Tenten catching sight of his weights laying in a heap on the ground. "I did not expect to see you today!"
"What kind of teammate would I be if I never told you how awesome you are for getting your promotion on your first try?" The Kunoichi reached to the side of her chair with her good arm, tossed her scroll into her hand. "Besides, I wanted to give you something I've been working on. My dad just finished it too."
"You do not need to give me any gift Tenten." Lee was set to refuse and Tenten in turn gave him a hard stare. Even while injured, her force of personality was enough to cow even her sensei if need be. "…Perhaps just this once." Her smile returned as she broke the seal on the scroll and unrolled it.
"Trust me, you really want to see this." She nodded to the scroll and he took the unspoken message, drawing blood from his thumb with practiced ease and releasing the seal.
A heavy weight immediately slammed into his gut, dropped him to the floor. It was a miracle nothing was broken as he gasped for air on the ground, the wind knocked out of him. He wasn't unfamiliar with the feeling but it was usually the end result of a heated spar with Konoha's foremost Taijutsu master.
The only difference between then and now was that he could usually see the punch coming.
"Say hello to your new weapons!" Tenten wheeled herself over to where Lee had managed to sit up on the ground. He glanced down to Tenten's gifts and his eyes widened. "Konoha's Green Beast deserves a fitting weapon. Come on, try them out!"
"I-I don't know how to thank you Tenten!" Lee took up the gifts, actually found himself struggling to lift them. "How could you find the time to even design this?"
"Don't worry about that." Tenten waved off his question. "Now tell me, how do they feel? They're not too light right?"
"I would never call these light." Lee lifted his hands with no small amount of effort, marveled at Tenten's creation. "How did you manage to find the material for these?"
"It was easy once I figured out what those things were made out of." Tenten wheeled herself over to where his weights had been dropped. "Actually, do you mind if I take these? I've got something else in mind."
"They are yours!" Lee began his attempts at running through basic movements, the simple katas he could recall seeing his sensei perform at blinding speeds while training. The completion of such things became a task with few equals in his life of constantly pushing his limits. He could feel his strength drain, his arms drag, the heavy weights proving greater than his endurance despite his relentless training. All while he tried to familiarize himself with his new weapons. A new struggle had presented itself to him, a new challenge to overcome through perseverance and tireless dedication. "These are truly remarkable Tenten!"
"I know." Tenten sealed away the weights, set the scroll on the side of her wheelchair. "Now, how about we actually go celebrate your promotion before the ceremony?" She wheeled herself over to him, Lee stopping in his rather staggered practice with his new weapons. "I even managed to convince Neji to show up."
"You've already planned out everything?" Tenten sealed away the weapons and handed the scroll off to Lee. He moved behind her chair and began pushing it out of the training field.
"You know I did. It's the only way to get either of you to do anything but train all day."
Lee couldn't help his laugh at that.
"I can't say you're wrong."
With that said, the two headed from Maito Gai's personal training grounds and into the village proper. The scars from the failed invasion remained, the marks from countless battles waged in the streets still in the process of being repaired. The most obvious signs of invasion had been removed, the corpses taken elsewhere, the most damaged buildings either entirely demolished or well on their way to being repaired. Still, a cautious air blanketed the rather well populated streets of the village.
Naruto's clones continued to rebuild the village around them, the walls covered with tarps where they had been broken through by truly massive serpents, ever vigilant watchers always patrolling both on and around them. The Uzumaki's army of clones had proven invaluable once enlisted by the Hokage for security.
The only strange thing was that Naruto had been strangely quiet about it. In the days since the invasion, he hadn't bothered to seek them out. He had only bothered to seek out Hinata, took her somewhere private. What the two had spoken about remained a mystery to all others. Not even the Hyuga seemed to know what Naruto had wanted with her, had not even discovered she was absent until after she had returned.
'They are everywhere.' He tightened his hold on the wheelchair. 'Is Naruto's strength truly this inexhaustible? Can he not tire, in and out of battle, will his strength never waver?' He could only think of such things, think of his brief confrontation with the Uzumaki near the outskirts of the village.
He had fallen without a single punch thrown. Even with the Gates, even with the teachings of his great sensei, he could not even avenge Tenten as he had sworn.
Naruto had beaten him without lifting a finger.
'Do all of them have such powerful Genjutsu?' It was the only thing he could think of that would render him unconscious. Perhaps the Uchiha taught the Uzumaki a powerful Genjutsu only known amongst the Uchiha Clan? He had faced Killing Intent countless times before but had never been rendered unconscious from such a thing.
Surely not even a Genin as unique as Naruto Uzumaki could channel such great amounts of Killing Intent? Lee had even felt the Killing Intent released by Gai in the few times his opponents had enraged him, had earned the unbound wrath of Konoha's mighty Green Beast. Not even that had managed to render him unconscious. It had certainly floored him, left he and his teammates shaken, but it had not left him drifting in darkness.
'I never knew there were so many in the village. Even after the attacks on the gates should have decimated his numbers, he still has such great an army.'
He cast his eyes around him, noted where ever a clone stood, where ever a clone watched. Most met his eyes with cool blue eyes and, at best, gave a nod to acknowledge him, few answering him with a crimson glare as they worked, as they held to their assigned post with only their eyes betraying their irritation at such a menial task.
The clones known as Praetorians, scattered throughout the village, were those who met him with something approaching hate in their crimson eyes. It was a marked difference from how they looked upon Tenten, how some even waved to her, lifted their hands with a familiar smile in greeting.
After all, a blonde Academy student once so proudly wore it everywhere he went. Even a year his senior he had become familiar with that grinning face.
'They are all so similar yet so different at the same time. Even so, among the countless identical faces, Naruto Uzumaki remains unique among them all. He still stands out no matter who stands with him be it his clones or Sasuke Uchiha.' He had not thought much on Naruto Uzumaki prior to the Chunin Exams, had no reason to. For all his talk now, he had been nothing but one of many graduating Genin set to complete D-Rank missions for the past few months. The only thing of note about Team 7 prior to meeting them in the Chunin Exams was the mission to the Land of Waves, a C-Rank reclassified to an A-Rank with the accompanying, rather substantial as it was, raise in payment.
"You know, they're not bad once you get to know them." Tenten had caught the subtle change, how he pushed her at greater speeds than before, how his body had tensed every time a group of clones passed them, every time the watchful eyes of the clones followed them as they traveled. Even without seeing him, she figured he had readied himself to spring into action at a moment's notice. "Even those guys in the fancy armor are cool. They've been in the hospital with me ever since..."
A hand lifted from the chair to lay on her shoulder.
Her hand raised to cover his, take his bandaged fingers in her own.
The two shared a quiet moment even on the busy streets of the Hidden Leaf.
"If there is only one thing I am certain of Tenten is that Naruto Uzumaki will do all he can to keep his promises. If he says you will be healed, you will be healed." It was the one positive out of this change in Naruto. It did not take Lee long to see that he would not break his word. If he promised something, he would see it done even if others deemed it impossible.
"I know he will." She squeezed his hand. "…I know he will."
Their trip continued on in silence from then on.
"Hey Lee! Tenten!" Ino Yamanaka landed in front of them with her shout. She was smiling. "I can't believe I ran into you two! I must be super lucky or something today!"
"You were looking for us?" Lee had brought Tenten's chair to a halt in time to avoid a collision with the Yamanaka. "Why?"
"We need a party!" At their disbelieving looks, particularly from Tenten, Ino continued. "Just think about it. A few of us are getting promoted and we haven't bothered to celebrate something that is awesome. We can't have something big and fancy on such short notice but I'm thinking we can at least have a little party tonight! Before the ceremony tomorrow! I'm going to go get Sakura right now and I've got Shikamaru and Choji getting Shino and Kiba. Then we're going to team up to bust Neji and Hinata out of wherever the Hyuga have those two!"
"I wouldn't mind it." Tenten looked back to Lee. "Think you're up for a bit less training tonight, Lee?"
"If we do not take the time to celebrate our successes than why should we strive for success? I am already looking forward to your celebration Ino!" Lee looked to the Yamanaka with a wide smile. "Simply tell me where to be!"
"For now, just meet us here in…an hour." Ino quickly scribbled a location down on a scrap of paper. "I should have the others all together by then. We can decide on a place to go once we've got everybody."
'A training ground?' Tenten was about to ask for more information only to find Ino gone, the blonde already dashing over the rooftops once more.
"See you there!" Ino called back to the two as she headed off.
"She's sure full of energy." Tenten's words earned a nod from her teammate.
"A lot of energy." Lee began pushing Tenten again. "It's good to see."
"Better than whatever lovestruck idiot she used to be." Tenten shook her head at the thought, just the rumors she used to hear about most of the Kunoichi in the latest graduating class enough to make her more than a little angry. "I'm still surprised she's improved so much in just a month. I wonder if she can keep it up."
"Only time will tell." Lee's eyes were once more focused on the clones that watched the journey of the two.
Away from the two members of Team Gai, Kiba Inuzuka wanted to bang his head against the wall next to him.
"I can't believe we're stuck here all day." From on top of his head, Akamaru barked out his agreement.
He was stuck working with his sister while his mother went out with the majority of the clan and ninken. From a few conversations he and Akamaru had overheard, the Hokage had the Inuzuka working with Torture and Interrogation to not only patrol the borders for any stragglers/deserters from the invaders but also hunt down any targets that had escaped into the forest when the invasion went south.
After the chaos of the invasion, of being on the frontlines, and simply being a Genin in general, this current bout of enforced boredom was more than he could bear.
"I can't even go out on missions anymore." Kiba headed down the hall of the latest clinic Hana had dragged him into. The few ninken left behind by Tsume and the rest of the clan were only here because they were injured from the invasion or too young/untrained to take out on missions yet. Even the older clan members and their partners had headed out, Tsume recalling them all for the next few weeks.
From the pace the clan had headed out the village at, they couldn't afford any mistakes from inexperience. The Hokage was seemingly running the Inuzuka, and a few others suited to the task, ragged trying to hunt down any possible prisoners before they could escape the Land of Fire.
Or be captured by any of Naruto's clones.
Tsume hadn't exactly been quiet when she had been speaking about the meeting she had been a part of (closer to dragged to with how boring she claimed it was mere minutes beforehand) prior to mobilizing the clan.
"This whole thing is a mess. I thought once we won, things would get easier. Not harder. What do you think about all this Akamaru?" The ninken on his head merely barked a few times. "Really?" Kiba shook his head, earned a growl and a heavy paw at the sudden movements. "Alright, alright. Calm down."
The Inuzuka reached up and scratched him behind the ears, earning his partner's forgiveness.
"I'm still worried though." His thoughts drifted to Naruto Uzumaki and all the problems tangled around that topic. "Those clones were something else during the invasion. They came out of nowhere and just couldn't be stopped. I'm almost afraid what would have happened if they hadn't shown up when they did. They saved more than a few people and just kept going."
Kiba sighed as he leaned back in his seat.
"That guy's just been a whole set of problems ever since the Chunin Exams started. I mean, what's going on with him?" He continued to idly scratch Akamaru as he thought out loud. The ninken would give input if he really needed someone else's opinion.
Akamaru could tell this was more about venting to the air than speaking.
"Yeah, he may have gone too far with Ino but he was trying to get his teammate to pass to the next round. I don't know if I wouldn't do the same thing for Hinata or Shino if I could. And he's not all bad. He still helped save the village, took on that monster when it showed up from that Gaara kid. I honestly thought we were goners when that thing showed its ugly head."
Akamaru whined at the very memory of the monster. The sudden Killing Intent, the inhuman aura of the creature, had left both on the ground. If Shino hadn't been around, the two could have very well ended up dead. Shino's bugs had kept him from losing it when the world had turned into a murderous nightmare and he had kept their visions from becoming reality.
"We really owe Shino for saving us out there." Kiba's words earned a nod from Akamaru. "Still, Naruto can't be all bad, can he? If he was really a threat, the Hokage would have done something by now. So we've got nothing to worry about, right?"
Akamaru barked his assent.
"Yeah, that makes sense. The Hokage probably has him working with mom and the clan to hunt down anybody else who ran. Naruto's just overdoing it like always. He's always been like that when it came to the Third. He's just going at it with his all like always. He's just got a bunch of clones just like him doing the same now so people are thinking it's way out of hand." Kiba nodded to himself. "That's got to be it."
Akamaru merely leaped back to his former perch, settled down under the hood of his hoodie to take a nap.
"I was just way overthinking all this. It looks weird because of scale or something. Same thing would happen if I made a bunch of clones and acted the same. Or if I got a bunch of ninken and they acted like you." Kiba couldn't help but laugh at that visual.
A whole tower of ninken sleeping on his head was a pretty funny picture.
"I should try and talk to him after he gets promoted. He'll probably laugh at me when I tell him what I was thinking, probably tell me he's just getting in some practice to be Hokage." Kiba smirked to himself. "Of course, I'll show him how far he's still gotta go. We may not have gotten anywhere this year, but next year we're definitely going Chunin. After that? All the way to Jonin!"
Akamaru let out a bark of agreement at Kiba's shout.
Outside the clinic, Choji approached one of the ninken on watch.
"Hey there boy." Kiba's sister was definitely in the clinic if one of the Haimura triplets was lounging outside. The dog accepted the rub Choji gave him. "I'm guessing Kiba's inside too?" He earned a nod from the ninken. Choji showed his gratitude by offering some of his snacks to the helpful dog. The ninken accepted with a happy bark and settled back down to continue his nap/keep watch on the clinic.
Bribing a ninken could get you surprisingly far with the Inuzuka. If their dogs liked you, the clan liked you. Vice versa as well. If they hated you, it was easy to tell with all the growling from man and beast alike.
"Alright. Thanks." The Akimichi left the ninken with one last rub to the head and stepped into the clinic.
He found Kiba and Akamaru sitting at the desk.
"Hey Kiba!" Choji lifted a hand in greeting. "Ino's got a crazy plan for today. Want to hear about it?"
"I'll do anything to get out of this boring gig. What does she have in mind?" Kiba was already out of his seat.
"Just follow me and I'll explain on the way to meet up with Shikamaru and Shino. We've got to spring a Hyuga or two too."
"Oh man, this day just keeps getting better and better! I am in!"