A pale bluish lavender-white apple rolled up against Naruto's hand, yet the simple bump as it glanced off his hand was enough to caused him to awaken.
Naruto groaned and a red-gloved hand entered his field of vision. Naruto took it and was pulled to his feet.
The first thing Naruto noticed was, naturally, the person who had helped him stand.
The young man was scrawny, his body actually much like a runner's; slim and compact. Tall and lean, the figure's slight build belied his strength. He had light red hair that fell to his jaw, and his eyes were sky-blue. The outfit he wore was blood red and included a long red coat that hung to half way down his shins and black shoulder guards with black clothing underneath as well as crossed leather straps near the collar, holding the jacket closed, though they weren't as noticeable due to the black clothing that he was wearing underneath them. He had a small emblem on the silver buckle his large, black belt. It was five silver stars arranged in a circle, the symbol was a military rank; it meant he was a five star general. He had on black boots that had three-inch raised elevator soles, red gloves, and a double-edged rapier with a bright red blade and a intricate, silver, wing-like design for the hilt and guard in his right hand and it was hard to notice, but he also wore silver earrings. However, what was the most eye-catching thing about him was that he had a large, black-feathered wing coming out of his left shoulder blade.
As soon as the fresh genin was standing, Naruto and the man both yelped as many separate bands of glowing green-white fluid that were flowing as a whole wrapped around the both of them and pulled them towards one another. As they neared, the bands connected and formed a cocoon with them both inside it for a few seconds before it blew apart in a flash of white light.
Gasping and falling to his hands and knees, Naruto shook his head as he stood up. He noticed he was wearing the outfit of the man from a moment ago, and even had his sword and his blonde hair color had joined with the red color the man's had been, turning it from blonde to auburn.
Genesis Rhapsodos...that had been the man's name. But why did he suddenly know that? And these memories and all these new skills he suddenly knew...where had they all come from?
"What's going on? And come to think of it, where am I and how'd I get here?" Naruto asked, standing up shakily.
"I summoned you here to this special place, Naruto." a female voice said and Naruto whipped around. His eyes widened.
The one who had spoken to him was a woman, about twenty years old, her hair was pale platinum white in color with just the faintest trace of pink in it, she was dressed in silver and gold valkyrie-like suit of armor with a shield on her left arm. In her right hand was a sword unlike any sword he had ever seen before in his days in the Academy, it had two edges and the bade of the blade where it met the hilt looked like a pair of hinges for some reason, the sword also had some kind of script in a foreign language engraved on both flats of the blade.
And fittingly enough given her appearance, she had the aura of a soldier.
Naruto looked at the woman, "Forgive me for asking, but who are you?"
The woman's lips twitched into a smile smile, "Call me Lightning."
"You brought me here? How? And what just happened?" he asked.
"The Goddess Etro made me her sentinel, so I have quite a few abilities added onto what I could do before, so bringing you here was easy. As for what happened...I brought you both here from across time and reality, and joined you both together with you as the base, Naruto. It was the only real way to help him and you." Lightning said.
Naruto's eyes widened. The Goddess?! Part of him felt a sudden surge of devotion at her words, why that was, he didn't know. And this woman was her hand-picked sentinel, thus, she was worthy of all respect and reverence due to someone of that station. Naruto bowed deeply to her.
"Get up." she said rolling her eyes and walking towards him.
Naruto obeyed, nearly falling over in his haste to do so.
"Yep...definitely Genesis Rhapsodos." she said, looking at him with something that was a mix of annoyance and amusement.
Naruto ignored how she seemingly knew who both him and Genesis had been, and focused on what she had said before "You said...merging us was the only real way to help us? How? Why?"
Lightning shrugged, "Genesis was part of a group called SOLDIER. The heightened abilities of SOLDIER members were maintained by a delicate balance of various genetic factors. A change in this balance could only be caused by a 'leak' of genetic information, but this wasn't possible under normal circumstances. That was a phenomenon was unique to Genesis. It steamed from the ability to create copies of himself by splicing his cells into a physically strong subject, imprint his DNA on others who took on his likeness onto the subject and convert their genetics. however, Genesis was unable to absorb others' traits, and thus his body slowly degraded overtime. He was eventually cured of it with no trace of his degradation left.
You merged with him because of that with you as the base because your cells...I guess you could say they overpowered his due to yours being stable and his weren't...that's as close as a accurate way to say it as I can give. You have his memories and skill and a few traces of his personality. You're still you, just tweaked a bit. A good bit of your potential was unlocked by it. But I wouldn't become so overly dependant on Genesis' skills that you neglect your own development if I were you, Naruto."
Naruto nodded "And how do you know me?"
Lightning rolled her eyes and explained all about places knows as "Cocoon" and "Gran Pulse", of beings known as Fal'Cie, L'cie, and Cie'th. Of cruel tasks and crystal sleeps, and the task given to end the world, offering it up to the Fal'Cie's maker in bloody tribute. Lightning and her companions had been given the task of committing genocide, yet they defied it, slaying the Fal'Cie and cutting the strings. After all that, she was whisked away to Valhalla, the invisible World of lost moments that was both touched and yet untouched by the flow of history at the end of time and located in a gap between the Unseen World and the real world, as a direct result of Etro's intervening to release her and the other l'Cie from crystal stasis. In turn, this caused the time line to become distorted and Lightning to be erased from that moment in history. She chose to stay in Valhalla and accepted her new role as the dying Etro's protector, apparently gaining abilities associated with the Seeress Yeul and the l'Cie, but without the usual drawbacks and side-effects.
"Give me one reason to believe anything you're telling me is true. If this isn't all just a dream, give me proof." Naruto said.
Grinning deviously, Lightning lightly ran her thumb along his left top whisker mark. Naruto's eyes instantly drooped and he released a small rumble that could be described as a purr came from his chest as she stroked the thumb over the grooves of each mark. So too, did Naruto, it seemed, as he began to subconsciously nuzzled his cheek against her hand, seeking more comfort from her fingers' gentle touch. Smirking, the former L'Cie ran her fingers over another whisker mark, earning another drawn out purr and causing Naruto's eyes to shut and she continued to run her fingers across the whisker marks on the blond's cheeks, causing him to rest his head on her shoulder and purr in content.
When she pulled away, Naruto released what sounded like a small pitiful whimper until his eyes flickered open and he shook his head to rid himself of the dream-like bliss that fogged his mind due to her fingers' gentle ministrations.
As soon as his focus returned, the first thing he noticed was Lightning smirking at him. Naruto blushed, embarrassed. "H-how did you know about THAT?! I've never told anyone about it!" He was modified...his reaction to what happened when someone stroked his whisker marks was something personal to him, something he had never told ANYONE, no way a random stranger should-or even could-know about it!
Lightning raised an eyebrow at him, amused. "Believe me now, Naruto?"
His cheeks still burning with shame, Naruto nodded. Her story being true was the only way she could have know about that.
Lightning shook with suppressed mirth for a few seconds more before growing serious again.
"Naruto...I have to warn you: You've got your own skill set added to that of a First-Class SOLDIER with abilities possibly equaling those of Sephiroth. But Sephiroth and Zack are back too, and they'll have their reincarnation's abilities added to the ones they had before when Genesis was around too. No telling how their mindsets turned out. Even with the Valhalla's view of all the time stream and Etro's divine gifts, it isn't easy knowing what goes on inside the head of a Jenova Project-generated being that served as former first-class level members of the Shinra Company's Mako energy-imbued privet SOLDIER unit."
Naruto nodded. He knew that first hand. It was hard knowing what went through the minds of test-tube spawned monsters that were given life by madmen that felt that they had the right to play God and utterly ignore all laws of both man and nature alike just so they could rub a few dimes together by leeching the very planet itself of its ability to support and sustain life.
Lightning frowned at him, as if she knew what he'd been thinking. "Naruto...you're NOT a monster! Think that you are again and by the Goddess Etro, I swear that even if you were from the Kaguya clan, you wouldn't be able to restore your skeleton!" she promised with a snarl.
Naruto paled and nodded quickly.
"Good boy." Lightning said with a smirk, 'Weird.' Lightning thought, 'I never knew just how funny it was to have men looking ready to shit themselves in fear because I'm acting like I'm in a foul mood.' For some reason, she was actually amused by this. "Anyway...want to meet Lady Etro? She gave up her physically from for the sake of humanity, but her consciousness still remains. I'll show you the strongest focal point in Valhalla for her mind if you'd like." Lightning told him.
Naruto's eyes widened as the new part of him that was now the new Genesis Rhapsodos usurped his mind at the offer, shocked and delighted beyond measure. "Lead on, Fair Warrior Demi-Goddess! Please! Lead on!"
Lightning rounded on Naruto as he clamped his hands over his mouth, a muffled squeak of "Sorry!" slipping through his fingers.
Lightning shook her head, damn...and people considered NARUTO annoying? Genesis' personality beat the Konoha shinobi-in-training in that regard, hands down. She walked away, waving him forward to indicate he should follow her.
"Now before you get excited, I need to tell you that Etro displays through her actions a kind and compassionate personality protective of humans and l'Cie. She suffers a great sadness due to her isolation and the memories of countless deaths that include those of the seeress Paddra Nsu-Yeul. Etro even saw me as a sinner for her actions before our meeting for the deaths they caused as l'Cie and had entire armies out to kill us. While she has good intentions, many of Etro's actions have unforeseen harmful consequences. For example, her decision to save Lightning and her friends on the Day of Ragnarok caused a series of paradoxes, and Caius Ballad, a man whom she gave eternal life with the Heart of Chaos, was driven kill her due to the effect the paradoxes have on the various incarnations of Yeul. Given the numerous times her actions have caused inadvertent disasters, Etro can be seen as a capricious goddess. Personally, I don't think so. She just hates death, isolation, and sadness and has unparelled love towards all mankind. Its the source of her actions."
Naruto nodded "I get that. She loves life and all the things that come with it and enjoys the happiness of those who are alive. She can't stand killing and mourning for the dead. So she tries to cause as much happiness as possible. In what way is that wrong? Sometimes good intentions backfire, but that doesn't mean they're wrong."
Nodding at that, Lightning lead him to a crystal throne that seemed to have a ethereal presence hovering about it. Lightning bowed to the throne, Naruto doing likewise.
Naruto suddenly found himself reciting what sounded like poetry in a reverent murmur, his voice carrying on clearly throughout the silent chamber. And while he felt this goddess deserved respect and loyalty, it was as if his body was moving automatically, like something from the outside was moving his lips and using his voice.
"A deity without divine power, having bequeathed all upon mankind.
Her Providence sought nothing.
Her Providence made nothing.
She but looked on, silent in Her sorrow.
The Goddess pitied mortals, destined as they were to die, and so She deigned to intervene in the hour of their greatest peril. She averted cataclysm that was to be, and put to rest the ones who would have robbed so many of what time fate had ordained.
Her compassion did not end at this.
The Goddess pitied also those subjected to that fate of Focus, crueler still than death. To them She sent Her messengers, to deliver hope when all was lost.
Divine Etro granted the most selfless of gifts. Her power and strength flowed through the gate to the Unseen World, and with each passing second she grew weaker and weaker.
Now the goddess sleeps within the Heart of Chaos. Should she cease to exist, then the power granted to humanity, the power that makes their universe whole, will disappear. When the sands of time run out on the goddess, so too do they on the world of man.
People's hearts are pure chaos, formless and ever-changing. A mystery none can solve.
That is why humans are such contradictions.
One moment they stand at each other's throats, the next they form shaky alliances.
Yet without the hardships accompanying chaos, one cannot fully grasp moments of bliss, nor the meaning of happiness, thus would they take for granted the joys around them should chaos cease to be.
Hence the Goddess is seen as chaos incarnate by those who treasure life not, and seek to poison those without understanding against her benevolence. Yet deceit can only hold until truth breaks them and the power of illusion they hold dies."
Lightning and Naruto rose and she looked at him with a smirk, "Never thought you were a poet."
Naruto rubbed the back of his neck "Er...that was Genesis, though I feel similarly. He was just giving a voice to how he and I both felt."
Lightning felt her lips twitch. Naruto with Genesis Rhapsodos's flare for poetry...something just told her she'd find that funny.
"Do me a favor...if I start reciting random poetry for no reason in a situation, live up to your favorite element for me."
Lightning gawked at him. "You want me to blast you with a bolt of lightning when you start reciting random poetry for no reason like that?" given Genesis' personality, that would be a LOT of target practice!
Naruto didn't much like the look behind Lightning's eyes. She was honestly considering his request to hurl lightning bolts at him, even if he asked for it, he was starting to doubt that request was actually a good idea. Best give her something else to think about.
"So...why am I here? What's your angle for doing all this to me?" he asked.
Lightning looked at him, here it was...the point. "I can't leave Valhalla...at least not long enough to resolve this problem myself. Much as I hate to say it."
"Problem?" Naruto asked.
Lightning nodded grimly "Imagine a group of realities, all of them almost exactly alike, yet each having just enough distinction to qualify as being different. A multi-verse, as it were," Naruto nodded before she continued, "something's causing those distinctions to slowly erode and cause all the different realities to merge. The worlds are all grinding together, each one's reality trying to be the dominate one." Lightning said.
"And it'll end up ripping them all apart." Naruto said with a wince.
Lightning nodded. "And whoever or whatever's doing it is actually shielded from the sight of the Unseen Realm. But I know this much: the source is using your reality as a base of operations since there have been those with reality-warping skills there, besides, your world's shinobi make a habit of defying the laws of physics. Hide in plain sight. And like I said: I can't leave Valhalla for long enough to resolve this problem myself. That's why I did this to give you Genesis' skills. There's too much at stake to leave anything to chance. I know you're strong in your own right Naruto, but nothing's wrong with some added insurance."
Naruto nodded. But there was something about this that didn't feel right to him somehow. What was it? He was brought out of his musings on what felt was wrong as Lightning held out the apple from before to him, a Banora White apple, which was also known as dumbapples because the Banora White trees bear fruit at random times of the year, as if the tree were too dumb to know when to bear fruit, hence the name, if Naruto's memories from Genesis were right.
"What am I supposed to do with that?" Naruto said, confused.
"Eat it when you wake up and the rest will take care of itself. Trust me." Lightning told him.
"Alright...but can you tell me who I can trust if realities are merging, it would help." Naruto said, taking the fruit from her.
Lightning sighed and shook her head at him with regret, "I'm sorry, but I can't."
"Not allowed to share that kind of information? What the hell is that?!" Naruto demanded incredulously.
"Look, I want to help you, but the fact is, you can't have me do everything for you!" Lightning said, exasperated.
"I'm not asking you to do everything for me, I just need to know who to point my sword at!" Naruto snapped.
Lightning rolled her eyes. "I understand that, but if you know who they are without them knowing you, it'll lead to unwanted situations."
Naruto grunted. Damnit! He hated facts like that! "I get it...still pisses me off though."
Lightning nodded, understanding that completely, as a former soldier, she appreciated knowing who to aim her weapons at beforehand herself.
"Tell me about it...But there ARE two people you can let know about meeting me without them thinking you're crazy or having that bite you, my sister, Serah, and the one she's with, Noel Kreiss."
Naruto sighed "Thank Etro for that..." he muttered. "So what now?"
"Now...you've got to wake up. We've both got a job to do. Here," Lightning said, wrapping her hand around his left wrist and a metal liquid like mercury secreted from her hand and hardened into a silver wristband of some type with the same kind of writing that matched the letters engraved into the flat of Lightning's sword etched into it and the top where it's face would be if it were a wristwatch had a replica of the same metal necklace pendant worn by Lightning on it, looking like a lightning bolt without a point at the end.
As Naruto looked at wristband, Lightning spoke to him.
"We'll be able to telepathically communicate while you're wearing that. I may not be able to do much, but at the very least, I'll be able to give you guidance and advice while I try and slow it down from here in Valhalla since its unique properties can be used to that advantage."
Naruto nodded "When and where do I start? That's all I need to know."
Lightning nodded "I hate saying this, but since you're going to need a place to return to, you'll have to go through that test that lazy guy in the mask told you about. If you have your own home's forces hunting you for perceived defection, it'd make things unnecessarily harder for you."
Naruto nodded "Loud and clear, and don't worry...I'll stop this even if it kills me and I'll look after your sister too." he said firmly with a salute.
Lightning smiled, glad to hear that as Naruto's body begin to fade away slowly.
"Looks like you're heading back. Godspeed Naruto...I'm counting on you." Lightning said. She had faith in that he was the correct person to ally herself with and entrust this to, he had the potential to become a very strong man with equally strong passions. He loved and hated with equal fervor and commitment. If you were precious to him there was nothing he would not do for you. Likewise, if you were his enemy he would never stop until he had destroyed you.
She could only watch and pray she had chosen wisely.
Naruto opened his eyes and groaned. What the...? Weird dream. He rolled over and something fell from his hand onto the floor: an apple, yet it was a silvery-purple color.
At the sight of it, Naruto's eyes widened. The dumbapple?!
Maybe it wasn't all a dream. Taking the fruit up in his hand, Naruto bit into it, recalling everything Lightning had told him and how important it all was. As soon as he finished the apple, Naruto's entire body convulsed, his mind seemingly splitting in half in one instant. Images and sensations exploded in his brain, and he screamed. It felt as if someone had taken a blunt hacksaw to his head, sawed open his skull, then poured corrosive acid all over his brain. As he tried to focus through the pain, the traits from merging with Genesis that he'd gained in his dream, minus the wing, faded into existence over his form, becoming solid as he felt his body go through a growthspur until he was five-foot-two-inches, the same height as Shino. He fell to the floor, gasping, as the processes ended.
[You ok?] a voice asked as the pain receded.
"Yeah...I'm still here." Naruto said, then looked around, seeing no one there with him, no one to speak to nor speak to him, before his eyes fell on the polished sliver wristband that covered his right wrist and his eyes widened as he realized the voice had been inside his head.
"Lightning..." he muttered, feeling shocked. He grinned in spite of himself, 'Can you hear me?' he thought.
[Yeah.]
"So the connection works...wasn't a dream after all." he muttered, then looked at the time and his eyes widened 'OH CRAP!'
[what's up?] Lightning's voice asked.
'I'm gonna be late for the survival test that our sensei told us about! That's what!'
[Ah, that. Shouldn't you eat something first?]
'Well he did say that the failure rate was sixty-six percent, and we'd be sick if we ate so...' Naruto trailed off as he noticed Lightning had gone quiet.
[...Word of advice: eat anyway. If the failure rate is already sixty-six percent, there's no need to sabotage yourself by being low on energy, he never ordered you to not eat, but suggested it. If this were a mission, you would have been compromised and unlikely to continue. And you DO need to have this exercise be a success, like I said, since you're going to need a place to return to since you being helpful in stopping the merging of realities would be harder if you have your own home's forces hunting you down for perceived defection.] she said after a moment, apparently she'd been thinking.
Naruto nodded 'Good point. But since I don't want to be late, I'll eat there. It IS a survival training exercise, after all.'
[Sounds like a plan.] Lightning's voice echoed through his head with a type of semi-approval in her tone.
Naruto stepped out onto his apartment's balcony and he bit down a yell as the flesh of his left shoulder blade tore and a large, black-feathered wing extended from it. He fell down panting. He'd need to find a way to make that painless. Fluttering the wing to rid it of blood, Naruto leapt into the air, relying on Genesis' memories to know how to grinned, enjoying the flight, before he landed at the training field his would-be sensei had indicated. Landing more heavily than he meant to, Naruto bit back a grunt of pain as his legs throbbed in protest, then he bit his tongue to keep from screaming as the wing sank back into his shoulder and the flesh and muscle knit itself back together. Wiping the sweat from his brow, Naruto set about getting his breakfast ready. Cutting a wand of dogwood, he stripped the bark and seared the wood over the coals to burn off the bitter sap, the former blond gathered fish, mushrooms, frogs, and other eatables for his breakfast. He gutted, skinned, and otherwise cleaned the spitted carcasses, burying the offal deep enough to hide from scavengers. Gathering thin, flat stones, he built a small oven and after building a small fire within it, set the food to cooking. Without salt, he couldn't season it, but that wasn't a problem at all to him. For Naruto, the meat left something to be desired: the initial bite stuck in his throat and the taste of hot grease almost made him feel sick, but he dry-swallowed twice and the unpleasantness faded. Ripping thick goblets of flesh with his teeth from the carcass. With each bite, he consumed as much meat as he could and stripped each bone clean with the efficiency of one who possessed an intimate knowledge of how animals were constructed and the quickest way to disassemble them. Then got to work on cooking the eggs, mushrooms, berries and nuts, using the hot stones from the makeshift oven as a frying pan.
As he chewed and swallowed the last bit of a cooked yolk, he sighed. Wondering about his mission to stop the Dissidia effect. And if he'd ever see Lightning again. He knew she was telling the truth about what she had said...he'd see it in her face when she described how things went with being a L'Cie.
The isolation... the frustration...the cursing of fate...the hate aimed at her for what was beyond her control...all that were things he himself was used to having to deal with. He recognized the sense of truth in her words. He'd had to deal with that for thirteen years now already, so he could tell her feelings when she talked about it weren't fake...Naruto had to admit the way those Fal'Cie had that Cocoon place so xenophobic bugged him and put the taste of ash in his mouth.
Come to think of it...where was Serah? He couldn't protect her for Lightning if he wasn't with her, but he needed to find her first for that. He hoped that whoever "Noel Kreiss" was, they were keeping her safe.
Naruto was brought out of his thoughts as a voice suddenly screamed at him. "Who is tha...NARUTO! YOU DOLT! SENSEI TOLD US NOT TO EAT, AND HERE YOU ARE STUFFING YOUR FACE!"
"Relax...I made plenty so you and Sasuke could eat too, no need to bite my head off or make me go deaf!" Naruto snapped, his fingers in his ears and an annoyed scowl on his face as he turned to whom had shouted.
Sakura Haruno and Sasuke Uchiha had arrived.
At the now-redhead's retort, Sakura opened her mouth to tear into him again when Sasuke spoke up.
"Sakura...shut up." Sasuke said.
Sakura instantly shut her mouth.
Naruto looked at the pink-haired girl and then turned away, shaking his head in disgust. Whipped dog and slavishly-obsessed fangirl...what had he seen in her?
"If you guys wanna eat..." he said, offering the remainder of his makeshift breakfast to them. Sasuke snorted and turned away "I don't need that." he said, turning away.
Sakura glared at Naruto, "I'm on a diet, anyways. And just so you know baka, a new outfit, dying your hair, and a lump of metal hanging at your hip aren't going to make me want to date you, so just give it up!"
Naruto shrugged "More for me then, your loss. But don't blame me when it bites you two in the ass later. And by the way Sakura: nice banshee shriek jutsu. Trying to cause someone's head to explode with your voice...it suits you."
Sakura blinked a moment before that sunk in. Banshee shriek jutsu? Trying to cause someone's head to explode with your voice...? It suited her? HEY! "You just insulted me, didn't you?! There's no banshee shriek jutsu for causing someone's head to explode!"
"Wow, your forehead IS that big due to more than pictures of Sasuke in a speedo being behind it." Naruto drawled.
Sasuke turned green and Sakura flushed, marching up to Naruto and raised her fist to sock him in the face, but she stopped dead when the red blade of a rapier pressed against the right side of her neck, right where her carotid artery was.
"If you think I'll take your abuse and put-downs on how I'm not Sasuke, those days are dead and buried, Haruno." Naruto said then put the sword back at his hip then sat against one of the wooden posts and pulled out a small, hardback, white book entitled 'LOVELESS' and was soon lost to the world. He could read it because of his merging with Genesis and it was in the language he knew, but to Sakura and Sasuke, the book's title as well as the contents of its pages, it was utter gibberish.
A fuming Sakura, a disinterested Sasuke, and a young man in red and black with a sword at his hip and his nose in a book. This was the sight that greeted Kakashi when he arrived at the training ground to test his would-be team.
He cleared his throat, getting Sasuke and Sakura's attention, but the redhead remained lost to the world. Kakashi frowned and tried vainly to get Naruto's attention away from the little white book he was reading with a content smile on his face. Kakashi found it so irritating that he snactched the book from Naruto hand and put it in his ninja tool pouch, effectively improvise-confiscating the book from his teacher's son. Though the irony that it annoyed him wasn't lost on the man who regularly had jabs about how the Icha-Icha series was his a life support. Now he knew how other people felt when he showed up with Jiraiya's marvelous literature in his hand. Maybe he'd only read fifty pages of Icha-Icha when he was called to meet someone from now on.
"Oi Gimme my book back! I wasn't done reading it yet!" Naruto snapped with fire in his eyes and gripping his sword's hilt tightly.
"All in good time" Kakashi said, then paused when he saw he had all three of their attentions. He held up two bells he took from his pouch, "Okay, your test is to get these bells from me."
"But there are only two bells, Sensei!" Sakura pointed out.
"Very astute, Sakura. The person who doesn't get a bell is going back to the-" Kakashi was interrupted by Naruto
"Done" Naruto said in a bored tone as he held up both bells in his hand.
Kakashi's eyes widened when he noticed that he indeed have the bells even though Kakashi only took his eye off of it for a most a second. Sakura and Sasuke were staring in disbelief as well.
"How did you do that?" Kakashi asked warily.
"A ninja does not reveal his secrets sensei." Naruto replied back cheekily, mentally thanking Genesis's private military background, as well as the superhuman strength, speed, agility, reflexes and stamina he possessed due to being born from the result of Jenova Project G.
"Fine be that way, but I never said start so…" In a blink of the eye Kakashi had taken the bells back and was back in the same position he was standing before.
"Okay, you caught me off-guard then, Naruto, but it won't happen again. If you want these bells you have to come at me with the intent to kill." Kakashi said gravely.
"But you could get hurt, Sensei!" Sakura said in a panicked tone.
"Pfft, I doubt that. He's a Jonin and we're genin, Sakura." Naruto stated matter-of-factly.
Kakashi nodded, "He's right Sakura. I doubt any of you lowly genin would be able to actually hurt me."
Kakashi's taunt seemed to have worked since Sakura was glowering at him while Sasuke's glare could have set him on fire if it could. Oddly, Naruto just sat back with the same impassive stare. It was slightly unnerving because he hadn't blinked and it reminded him of Minato-sensei's look, despite the clear changes he was seeing the former blond had gone through.
"Oh before I forget, you have until lunch to get the bells. If you don't then you don't eat lunch." Kakashi smirked when he heard Sakura's and Sasuke's stomachs growl.
They glared at Naruto who sat there with a slightly smug air to him, "Did you eat breakfast, Naruto?"
Naruto looked up at his sensei and nodded, "I just gathered up some of the local flora and fauna that were eatable. It is a survival test and needing to know what's safe to eat in the field is important if you don't have rations. I offered to share it...but..."
"Kakashi-sensei said not to eat, you idiot!" Sakura yelled.
"See what I mean?" Naruto asked Kakashi rhetorically before turning to Sakura, "You skipped eating and look where that got you. You and the jackass are low on energy and we're about to take a life-changing test. If this were a mission, we would have been compromised and unlikely to continue." Naruto countered.
"He's right Sakura. I never ordered you to not eat, but suggested it. You shouldn't be so susceptible to suggestions from strangers. Honestly you believed every word I said yet all you knew about me was my name." Kakashi admonished.
Sakura just stared at her sensei in disbelief while Sasuke glared at Naruto. The formally-blond boy was raising more and more questions and the Uchiha scion would find those answers.
As I was saying, the person who doesn't get a bell is going back to the academy." Kakashi said in a serious tone.
A tense silence overtook the training field before Kakashi continued, "You have two hours…begin!"