Now I'm getting to the places I really want to be.
I created a discord, and the code is at the bottom of the previous chapter if anyone wants to join. I sent some Mangekyo designs and a Kamui dimension design there, for a visual picture of what it'll all look like. I can also respond to questions or ideas a lot more smoothly in the discord. I'm also able to bounce ideas off of people a lot more easily there, and I'll tell the discord whenever a chapter is gonna take a while to come out.
Whoops for taking so long. I've been pretty much exhausted for the past 2/3 days so it's been a slow write. I have a bunch of ideas for the upcoming arc, though.
Return to the Hidden Leaf
Just outside of Konoha
Team 7 was finally on their way back to the village, and the village's gate was in view. Naruto was talking, loudly, with Sasuke while Kakashi read his orange book. Sakura was watching Naruto and Sasuke, still thinking about the conversation from the start of their journey back.
'Naruto, the dead last of our class, is an Uchiha and the son of the Yondaime Hokage? And he's as strong as Sasuke! Is everyone from our class that strong? Will I always be a drag on these two?' Sakura thought, and turned to look at her sensei. "Kakashi-sensei?" She asked.
Kakashi looked up from his book at the girl of the group. "Yeah, Sakura?"
Sakura looked back to the two boys one more time, before turning back to her sensei. "Could you uhh.. Could you give me some extra training, now that we're nearly back to the village?" Sakura asked, and Kakashi gave her an eye smile.
"Ahh, I was wondering when you were going to ask me that." Kakashi told her, and she started to smile. "However, I'm afraid I'm going to be too busy training those two." He said, and her face fell. She opened her mouth to speak, but Kakashi beat her to it. "So, I was going to ask someone better suited to your needs to train you personally." Kakashi finished, and her smile returned
"Really? Who?" Sakura asked him.
Kakashi tapped his masked chin a few times. "Well, I was thinking of asking team 8's jonin sensei, Kurenai. Since her team members are all part of major clans, they're all trained in their clan styles and Kurenai only gets to do teamwork training and take them out on missions. I think Kurenai would love to train a young kunoichi, especially one with chakra control as good as you." Kakashi told her.
Sakura looked excited at the idea, but she still had a few questions. "Isn't she the genjutsu specialist? Would that really be useful on a team with two, three counting you, Sharingan users?" Sakura asked.
Kakashi shook his head. "Maybe, but Kurenai is a jonin, she doesn't only know genjutsu. She became a special jonin off of her genjutsu skills, but she still later met the requirements to be a full jonin. Plus, the Sharingan doesn't allow the user to use genjutsu over an area. It's good for one-on-ones, but not so much for groups. Since you're working with two Sharingan users, who can see through genjutsu, you'd be able to put a genjutsu over a large area without worrying about it interfering with your teammates."
Sakura's eyes widened in excitement. "Ohhhhh! So can you ask Kurenai-sensei to train me once we're back to the village?" Sakura asked.
Kakashi nodded his head. "Yeah. I always wanted to get you more training, but I didn't want to force it on you. I was just waiting for you to approach me about the subject. Though, I am sorry that I can't train you personally. To be honest, I'm not really all that great for training genin. Their Sharingan-" he said, and motioned to the boys ahead. "are the only reason I know how to train them, because I'm one of the few who knows how it works." Kakashi explained.
After a few more minutes of walking, with Naruto and Sasuke still talking up ahead, they reached the gate to the village. After checking in with the chunin at the gate, Kakashi turned to his team.
"Well, we need to report to the Hokage. Since our mission went so.. off the rails, he'll want to know about it as much as possible." Kakashi told his team.
Naruto smiled at the thought of going to the Hokage's office. "Yeah! I can't wait to see the old man, I've barely talked to him since becoming a genin!" Naruto exclaimed, and Sakura hit the back of his head.
"NARUTO! He's the Hokage, you can't just call him 'the old man,' it's disrespectful!" Sakura berated him.
Naruto rubbed the back of his head where she it him. "Sakura.." he drawled. "He's always been fine with me calling him that! And it's not like I knew he was the Hokage the first time I called him that!" Naruto told her.
After another minute of Naruto and Sakura arguing back and forth about respecting the Hokage, team 7 headed off to give their report on their train wreck of a mission.
Hokage's office
After receiving the full report on what happened in the Land of Waves, Hiruzen Sarutobi was silent. He already had a general idea of what happened, thanks to updates from Kakashi, but the reality of it was.. more than he thought. 'Naruto and Sasuke had to kill someone on their first mission out of the village? He seems to be fine, but is he really? Minato.. I'm sorry for what's been done to your son. Itachi.. I'm sorry your brother had to face this so soon.' Hiruzen thought, looking at Naruto and Sasuke. The third member of their team, Sakura, more or less came out of the mission unscathed, the only difference in her was that she had a new desire to train.
"Ah. Well, I see you all handled yourself very well, especially for genin so fresh out of the academy." Hiruzen told the three genin. Naruto gave one of his bright grins at the praise, while Sasuke gave a smirk and Sakura looked uncertain. "Naruto, Sasuke, I'm glad that, despite everything that happened, some good came of this mission. Would you boys mind showing me your Sharingan?" Hiruzen asked the two.
Naruto continued to grin. "Of course, old man!" Naruto said as he activated his Sharingan, and Sasuke quickly followed his example. Their eyes both turned red, and 3 tomoe spun into existence in each eye. "See, three tomoe! We're awesome!" Naruto exclaimed, and Hiruzen gave him a grandfatherly smile.
"That is quite the accomplishment for someone so young, especially for both of you to have it." Hiruzen told them, and turned to look at Kakashi. "I assume that you, as their sensei and one of the few with a Sharingan, will be helping them train their now-matured Sharingan?" Hiruzen asked, though he knew the answer. Kakashi was known for being lazy, but Hiruzen had no doubt he planned on training both of them.
Kakashi nodded. "Of course, Lord Hokage. Minato-sensei would bite my head off after I die if I slacked off as a sensei." Kakashi joked, and Hiruzen smiled.
"If not him, you'd have also have Kushina to deal with." Hiruzen joked in return, causing Kakashi to scratch the back of his head in a very Naruto-like way.
"Ahh.. yeah.. she would probably find a way to kill me all over again." Kakashi laughed awkwardly.
Naruto just looked between Kakashi and Hiruzen. Hiruzen had told him who his mother was, shown him a few pictures, and told him a couple of stories from missions, but he didn't really know much about how either of his parents acted. Sasuke and Sakura were also interested, though neither of them had seen any pictures of Kushina.
"My mother? What was she like?" Naruto asked them, and Kakashi eye smiled.
"Ah.. Kushina Uzumaki. You remind me of her a lot, actually. You got your father's hair and eyes, but you got your mother's face shape and personality." Hiruzen told him, also smiling. Normally he'd be more cautious of talking about Naruto's parents, but Naruto had already told him about telling Sasuke, and the mission report included telling Sakura about Naruto's parents.
Sakura decided to speak up. "Do you have any pictures of his mom? Since he told me, I've noticed how closely he resembles photos I've seen of his father. Does he really get his face shape from his mother?" Sakura asked.
Hiruzen smiled and pulled out a picture from his desk. It was a photo of Minato and a pregnant Kushina, both smiling at the camera. Minato had his hands around Kushina, resting on the baby bump of the unborn Naruto. "As I'm sure you can guess, Kushina is the redhead, and that's an unborn Naruto." Hiruzen told them, pointing to Kushina's baby bump.
Naruto smiled at the photo of him and his parents, looking at the smiles of their faces. Sakura was looking back and forth between the picture and Naruto, while Sasuke just stared at it wide eyed. "Wow, Naruto really does look a lot like both of them. She's very beautiful, too." Sakura said, and then noticed Sasuke's wide eyes. 'Does Sasuke like Naruto's mother? Is that what he like? Maybe I should dye-' Sakura thought, but stopped herself before getting too far into that train of thought.
Naruto, noticing Sasuke's wide eyes, looked at him with a confused expression. "What is it, Sasuke?" Naruto asked, snapping Sasuke back to reality.
"That's the Tomato Lady.." Sasuke murmured softly, getting a laugh from both Kakashi and Hiruzen.
"Ahh.. you're lucky Kushina isn't here to hear that. She hated being called a tomato. One time Minato-sensei called her that as a joke, and even his speed couldn't save him from her wrath." Kakashi told them, getting a laugh from Naruto.
Sasuke shook his head. "No, I'm not comparing her to a tomato. My mom had pictures with her a few places around the house, and when I asked for her name my mom just called her the 'Tomato Lady.' I didn't understand why, though." Sasuke explained.
Kakashi nodded his head. "Ahh, that makes sense. Mikoto and Kushina were really close friends. Mikoto was even one of the few who knew Kushina was pregnant." Kakashi told them.
Naruto smiled and put his arms around Sasuke's shoulders. "Ha! I bet our moms would love how close we are, we're basically brothers!" Naruto told him, and got a smile in return from Sasuke.
"Yeah, yeah, now get your arm off of me." Sasuke told him, but everyone could see that he was still somewhat smiling.
Naruto removed his arm from Sasuke's shoulders, also still smiling. "Hey, do you think we could go to the Uchiha compound and find some of those photos? If you wouldn't mind going there, of course. But it'd be nice to have some photos of our moms around the apartment, you know?" Naruto asked Sasuke.
Sasuke thought about it for a few seconds before nodding. "Yeah. I think that'd be nice." Sasuke told him.
Naruto turned back to look at the Hokage. "Well, I think we're gonna get going and do that. Cya, old man. And I'm still gonna be stealing that hat of yours, you know!" Naruto said, and turned to walk out of the Hokage's office, followed by Sasuke who just waved his goodbye. The two headed for the old Uchiha compound, leaving Hiruzen, Kakashi, and Sakura in the office.
"Well.. I should go tell my parents I'm back. Bye, Lord Hokage, Kakashi-sensei." Sakura said, and left the office, leaving just Kakashi and Hiruzen.
Before Kakashi could follow his students out of the office, Hiruzen stopped him. "Kakashi, there are a few things I need to ask and tell you." Hiruzen told him.
"What is it, Lord Hokage?" Kakashi asked with his usual tone of not caring.
Hiruzen sighed. "I'm sure you're aware, but the Chunin Exams are coming up soon. The council is putting on a lot of pressure to ensure that Naruto and Sasuke will be there. The council's opinion of Naruto has risen greatly since we discovered he was an Uchiha and possesses the Sharingan. They want the village's last two Uchiha to participate, to show the village's strength. Will you be nominating your team for the exams?" Hiruzen asked Kakashi.
Kakashi stayed quiet for a few seconds before nodding. "Yeah, I definitely believe Naruto and Sasuke are ready, especially now that they both have the three tomoe Sharingan." Kakashi told him.
Hiruzen nodded his head. "And how about Sakura? Do you believe she is ready?" Hiruzen asked, catching onto Kakashi's lack of inclusion.
Kakashi sighed. "I don't believe so, no. She, finally, just got the actual motivation to survive in the field and train. She only just asked me for training."
Hiruzen nodded again. "I see."
"Will this make Naruto and Sasuke unable to take the exams? I know that the Chunin Exams are generally only teams of 3, but there have been exceptions. Will Naruto and Sasuke be able to take it as a team of 2?" Kakashi asked.
Hiruzen stayed quiet for a few moments before answering. "Normally, this would make them unable to take the exams. However, like you said, there have been exceptions. Sasuke's own brother, Itachi Uchiha, was one of those exceptions. On top of that, there is also the council. The council wishes for the last two Uchiha, Sasuke and Naruto, to take the exams. So, they should be able to enter the exam as a duo, if necessary." Hiruzen explained.
Kakashi gave a small bow. "Thank you, Lord Hokage." Kakashi said, and begun to leave. However, he was stopped again by the Hokage's words.
"However, I request that you still give Ms. Haruno the option to take the exams. If she feels she is ready, she should be allowed the same opportunity as her teammates. If not, they will be allowed to enter the exams as a duo, assuming they decide to enter the exams, that is." Hiruzen told Kakashi.
"Of course, Lord Hokage. However, I would be shocked if Naruto or Sasuke chose not to take the exams." Kakashi said with an eye smile.
Hiruzen chuckled a bit at that. "As would I. Now, there is one last matter I need to tell you about." Hiruzen's tone became serious, and Kakashi could tell it was something important.
"Yes, Lord Hokage?" Kakashi questioned.
Hiruzen sighed. "It's about Naruto. As he has the Sharingan, I'm sure Danzo will want to get his hands on him. He was always adamant about training the boy, but I was able to hold him off. However, now that news of his Sharingan is getting out, I'm sure Danzo will want to train him and have him take control of the Kyuubi. You have to make sure that doesn't happen. Danzo may try to be sneaky about it, so please let me know if you notice anything." Hiruzen explained.
Kakashi nodded. "Of course, Lord Hokage. I would never let that man get his hands on one of my students." Kakashi told him, an unusual amount of emotion in his voice. Kakashi knew what Danzo was like, and he knew exactly how much of a monster Danzo was.
Hiruzen gave Kakashi a smile. "I appreciate that, Kakashi. Now, you are dismissed." Hiruzen told Kakashi, who gave Hiruzen a barely-formal bow and left the office.
Uchiha Compound
Naruto and Sasuke were both entering Sasuke's old home, in search of pictures of their mothers. This place still held bad memories for Sasuke, but having Naruto there eased his mind.
Naruto looked around the house, and turned to Sasuke. "Do you remember where any of them were?" Naruto asked Sasuke, who shook his head.
"No, it's been years. Though, if it weren't for the dust covering everything, we'd probably be able to spot her bright red hair." Sasuke joked.
Naruto laughed a bit, then went to search the house. After a few minutes of searching, Naruto spotted a picture with something that looked like the color red. He walked over to it and blew the dust off, revealing two women. Naruto recognized one of them as his mother, the bright red hair was unmistakable. The other looked shockingly like Sasuke, if he was an adult woman.
"Sasuke!" Naruto called out, and got a 'huh' in response. "I think I found one!" He yelled, and Sasuke came from the other room.
Naruto held out the photo he found for Sasuke to see, and Sasuke nodded with a smile. "Yeah, that's my mother, Mikoto Uchiha." Sasuke told Naruto, who grinned.
"You look a lot like her. Like, exactly." Naruto told him.
Sasuke smiled again. "Yeah. You'd look exactly like your mom if you had different hair and eyes. The Hokage was right, you definitely have her head shape." Sasuke told him, and it was Naruto's turn to smile.
"Yeah. They're both beautiful, you know? Let's see if we can find any more." Naruto said, and they went back to searching the house
After a few more minutes, Sasuke called out for Naruto. When Naruto found him, Sasuke held up a photo of a pregnant Kushina with Mikoto and a baby Sasuke. Mikoto was holding Sasuke up to Kushina's stomach, and his baby hands were on Kushina's stomach.
"It's us and our moms." Sasuke stated, though a small smile could be seen on the corners of his mouth.
Naruto's smile, however, was much less subtle. "That's awesome! We were friends before I was even born!" Naruto told him.
Sasuke sighed a little, but the small smile was still there. "You have a very broad definition of friends." Sasuke said.
Naruto just shrugged, his smile dropping a little. "Hey, when everyone ignores your existence, you take what you can get." He told Sasuke, who put a hand on his shoulder.
"Well, you aren't alone anymore. And, according to this photo, you never were." Sasuke reassured him, and Naruto's full smile returned. "Now, let's find some more photos."
Naruto and Sasuke went back to searching and, after a few minutes, Naruto heard the sound of a crash from the other room. When he went to check it out, he found Sasuke standing over a broken frame, Sharingan spinning. When Naruto checked what the photo was, he saw that it was a picture of their family. Fugaku on the right, Itachi on the left, with Mikoto and Sasuke in the middle. Based on Sasuke and Itachi's apparent age, it wasn't long before the massacre. What stood out the most, though, was the faces. Mikoto and Sasuke both had straight faces, but they at least looked happy. Itachi and Fugaku, however, seemed upset.
Sasuke was staring at the photo, his Sharingan unintentionally active. He'd seen other photos of Itachi, sure, but he was able to ignore those. This one, however, was shortly before the massacre. It was from when he was obliviously happy. He barely even noticed when Naruto entered, and didn't react to Naruto until he heard Naruto's voice and felt Naruto's hand on his shoulder.
"Sasuke." He heard, and looked up to see Naruto, who's Sharingan was also active. "It's alright." Naruto told him, but he could tell that Naruto was pissed too. 'How could anyone do what he did?' was the only thing going through Naruto's mind. He didn't know his clan, but it was still important to him. "We'll find him, and we'll find out why he turned out the way he did. And, once we find out why, we'll kill him."
Sasuke stared into Naruto's Sharingan, and he could see the sincerity. As Sasuke looked at his best friend, at his true brother, Itachi's words ran through his mind. 'You must kill your closest friend.' He continued to look at Naruto's Sharingan, and couldn't help but think of Itachi's. 'Naruto has the same eyes as any of us.. but he's so much brighter. I remember Itachi's friend, Shisui, and he was like this. How could Itachi kill him. For power? To test his skills? There has to be something else, right?' Sasuke thought, and deactivated his Sharingan.
"Yeah, you're right." Sasuke told Naruto, who deactivated his Sharingan in response.
"Do you want to leave now, or do you want to look for some more pictures?" Naruto asked.
Sasuke thought about it for a bit before answering. "I think I want to look for more pictures." He told Naruto, who smiled.
After another 20 minutes of searching, they were only able to find a few more, and they decided to leave back to their apartment.
Naruto and Sasuke's apartment
Naruto and Sasuke got back to their apartment, and they decided to put the photos around their home. Luckily, they were already in frames and just needed to be dusted off.
"Where should we put this one?" Naruto asked Sasuke, who looked around the apartment.
"Ahhh.. how about by the tv?" Sasuke asked.
Naruto walked over to it, and put the photo on the right side of the tv. It was the photo of pregnant Kushina, Mikoto, and baby Sasuke. On the left side was the photo they took with Kakashi and Sakura as team 7. Naruto was grinning like crazy, per usual, on the left. Sakura was in the middle, leaned forward and smiling. Sasuke was on the right, giving his signature smirk. Kakashi was standing behind them, his hands on both Naruto's head and Sasuke's head.
After Naruto put that photo down, they finished putting the rest around the apartment, and headed off to their rooms for sleep.
Training ground 7
The next morning Naruto and Sasuke headed to training ground 7, where Kakashi asked their team to meet. They were both a little late, but they didn't expect Kakashi to be there for another few hours anyways. However, once they reached the training ground, they were surprised by what they saw.
Kurenai and Sakura were both at the training ground, but that wasn't what was unusual. Kurenai being there was unexpected, but not as unusual as the other thing The unusual thing was that Kakashi was already there, not late, and reading his book.
Kakashi looked up at the two latecomers with an eye smile. "You're late." He stated, and went back to his book.
Sasuke opened his mouth to explain why they were late, but Naruto beat him to it. "Ah, sorry Kaka-sensei. There was this little old lady who asked us to help with her groceries, and then she made us cookies and it would have been rude to decline." Naruto told him with a smirk, and Kakashi had to fight back a laugh.
Kurenai paid the newcomers no mind. She expected at least one of Kakashi's students to pick up his bad habits, and was just glad Sakura hadn't.
Kakashi couldn't help but think of Obito when he heard Naruto's excuse. 'They're so alike.. their clothes, their attitudes, and they're both so different from other Uchiha.' Kakashi thought. "Oh well, I can't fault you for that, now can I?" Kakashi asked, sarcastically. "Anyways, I'm going to start training you how to really use those Sharingan of yours. Kurenai will be training Sakura whenever she has the time, and I'll be training the two of you." Kakashi explained, and both Naruto and Sasuke became excited.
Naruto and Sasuke both activated their Sharingan, obviously excited, and then they both found themselves on the ground with aching faces.
"What the-?" Naruto tried to ask, but they now saw Kakashi standing over them. Naruto and Sasuke tried to scramble back, but Kakashi sent them both flying. They landed with a thud, and looked over to see Kakashi standing there as if he hadn't just launched them 20 feet. "WHAT THE HELL, KAKA-SENSEI?" Naruto screamed.
Kakashi just looked over at them with a sadistic smile, not that they could see it under his mask. "Maa, maa, Naruto. You're the ones who wanted to train, right? Well, what's more efficient than a one sided battle with someone better than you?" Kakashi asked, and was on them again before they could respond. This time, however, they were able to almost dodge his strikes. They tried to counterattack, but even with their Sharingan it was useless. And Kakashi wasn't even using his Sharingan. How were they supposed to learn by having a Jonin hand them their asses? Before they could ask themselves any more questions, they were under attack again.
Sakura looked over at her sensei and her teammates, and watched as Kakashi ruthlessly beat them into the ground. Then she looked back to her current teacher, and was grateful to be trained by someone other than Kakashi. At first she was a little jealous, but that quickly went away when she saw his "training methods," if they could be called that. Kurenai was explaining genjutsu to her, and giving her a detailed explanation on how to train when Kurenai was unavailable. Kurenai was focusing on genjutsu theory first, then she would focus on genjutsu practice.
Two hours later
After two hours of 'training,' which the genin decided was more like torture, Sasuke was immobile on the ground and Naruto was barely standing on his feet. Kakashi was ruthless, and they finally understood how their sensei was an ex-ANBU captain. Sakura had moved onto practicing genjutsu with Kurenai, but she was still at a very low level.
Kakashi walked over to where his two students were, barely even winded. "That was good for a first day." Kakashi told them, and Naruto smiled weakly. Sasuke was too exhausted to even move his face.
"You.. are a.. monster.. kaka..sensei" Naruto gasped out between breaths. Sasuke tried to nod his head in agreement, but he physically could not move anything but his eyes.
Kurenai and Sakura were both looking over at the exhausted genin and the monstrous jonin. "I bet you're glad you have me training you, instead of him." Kurenai told Sakura, who nodded her head violently.
Kakashi eye smiled at the two exhausted genin. "Rest up for a bit. After you're both at least vertical-" he started, and blew air at Naruto to make him fall. "-we'll work on your Sharingan." Kakashi told them, and pulled out his book while the two genin rested up.
Naruto and Sasuke just kept laying on the ground, breathing hardly. Naruto, who was in a slightly better condition than Sasuke, turned his head to look at his fellow Uchiha.
"I.. think we may.. have made a.. mistake." He gasped out between breaths. Sasuke, still unable to speak, barely moved his head in agreement. Sakura just looked over at her teammates with pity.
After around thirty minutes, the two Uchiha were somewhat recovered. Naruto more than Sasuke, thanks to his Uzumaki and Kyuubi recovery abilities. That was when Kakashi looked up from his book and walked over to stand in front of the pair.
Naruto and Sasuke instinctively flinched when he approached them, and Kakashi gave them an eye smile. "Alright, now show me your Sharingan." He instructed, and the two Uchiha complied. Their eyes turned red, and three tomoe appeared in each eye. "As you both know, my Sharingan is inferior to yours." Kakashi started, and removed the forehead protector covering his Sharingan. "Due to that, I'm unable to use it to the same extent you two are. Despite that, I became famous because of my usage of the Sharingan. As it stands now, I can use my Sharingan better than either of you, despite the disadvantages mine possesses." Kakashi explained, closing his right eye so only his Sharingan was visible.
"Yeah, but you're like way older than us, you know!" Naruto argued.
Kakashi sighed. "I'm not that old. I'm only 26." Kakashi told them, and Naruto nodded his head.
"Yeah, and we're 12! That's over twice our age!" Naruto yelled, surprising everyone with how he can already be this energetic.
Kakashi sighed again, this time in defeat. "I guess." He admitted. "Though, I was around your age when I got my Sharingan. And, by then, I was already a jonin." Kakashi told them, getting the expected looks of surprise. Even Sakura, who could hear their conversation, was shocked.
The training ground was silent for a few seconds, before one loud scream broke the silence. "WHAT?!?!" Naruto shouted in disbelief.
Sasuke continued to stare at his sensei in barely veiled shock. 'He was already a jonin when he was given his Sharingan? At 12? I assumed he became strong because of the dojutsu of my clan, but he was already further along than either me or Naruto are now!' Sasuke thought, gaining a new respect for Kakashi Hatake.
After giving them some time to process what he said, Kakashi continued. "Exactly. Despite not being a natural Sharingan user, I have effectively used it and made a name for myself over the past 14 years. So, as you could probably guess, I have many tricks that will help you two learn the Sharingan. For the next few weeks, I will be training you to become masters of the Sharingan. I will train you on both using the Sharingan on your own, and on using the Sharingan to work together." Kakashi told them, and both Naruto and Sasuke seemed excited despite their exhaustion.
Naruto raised his hand. "Kaka-sensei? I have a question." Kakashi nodded at him to go on. "Why did you beat us up so much if you were just gonna train our Sharingan?" Naruto asked, and Kakashi gave him an eye smile, but with both eyes instead of one this time.
"I wanted to see where you two are at. If I had to rank you, I'd say those Sharingan of yours make you high-genin to mid-chunin level." Kakashi explained, and Naruto nodded in understanding, while Sasuke smirked. "Also, it was fun." Kakashi told them, still eye smiling, making both Uchiha face fault.
"Kaka-sensei!" Naruto whined, and then flinched when Kakashi made a sudden movement towards him.
"Maa, maa, Naruto. Don't be so on edge. You don't really think I'd hurt my cute little genin, do you?" Kakashi asked, his usual eye smile somehow seeming sinister.
Naruto just looked at him in fear. "N-no K-Kaka-sensei."
Kakashi then turned to Sasuke, who flinched like Naruto. "How about you, Sasuke?" He asked with the same sinister eye smile.
Sasuke, usually stoic, couldn't help but act like Naruto. "N-no, K-Kakashi." Sasuke stuttered out, and Kakashi raised an eyebrow. "K-Kakashi-sensei." He corrected himself, trying to avoid another beating.
"Alright, my cute little genin. Let's get to work." Kakashi said, and began to train them in usage of the Sharingan.
Kakashi wasn't an Uchiha, so naturally he didn't have all the skills an Uchiha would be taught, but he wasn't lacking in his own skills. Plus, Itachi Uchiha had taught him a few tricks during their time together in the ANBU. He wouldn't tell the two where he got the skills from, but they would benefit from the skills regardless. He would pass on as many of his Sharingan skills as he could in the next 2 weeks, and for the third week he would focus on the other skills that would benefit the pair in the Chunin Exams. Tracking, stealth, and, of course, taijutsu and ninjutsu.
Two weeks later
The Hokage was in a room, and all the jonin sensei were standing in front of him. They were there to nominate their students for the Chunin Exams.
"Alright, first, will the jonin in charge of the rookie teams step forward?" Hiruzen requested. Kakashi Hatake, Asuma Sarutobi, and Kurenai Yuhi all stepped forward. "Kakashi, Asuma, Kurenai, are there any on your team you feel are ready for the exams, despite their inexperience?" Hiruzen asked. "As you know, any genin who has carried out 8 or more missions is technically eligible for the exams. Beyond that, only you can decide if they're eligible. So, Kakashi, you begin."
Kakashi raised two of his fingers in front of his masked mouth. "I lead squad 7. Sasuke Uchiha, Naruto Uzumaki-Uchiha, Sakura Haruno. I, Kakashi Hatake, recommend all three of these genin for the Chunin Selection Exams."
Kurenai went next. "And my squad is number 8. Hinata Hyuga, Kiba Inuzuka, Shino Aburame. And now I, Kurenai Yuhi, recommend all three."
Asuma went third. "And my squad is number 10. Ino Yamanaka, Shikamaru Nara, Choji Akimichi. And now I, Asuma Sarutobi, recommend all three."
There was a short silence following these recommendations, and it was closely followed by murmurs. It wasn't often that rookie genin were nominated for the Chunin Exams, and even less often that all 9 rookie genin were. The murmurs were broken by Iruka Umino, the former teacher of the rookie genin.
"Hold on just a minute!" Iruka demanded.
"Yes, what is it, Iruka?" Hiruzen asked, though he could already guess what was coming.
"Lord Hokage, with all respect, the nine names that were just given were all my students at the academy. I know their skills and abilities. Every one of them has great promise, but it's too soon! They need more experience before they are tested. If they try now, they are sure to fail the exam!" Iruka told the Hokage.
All three jonin sensei were turned around now, and all looking at Iruka. Kakashi was the one to speak. "When I became a chunin, I was 6 years younger than Naruto is now." Kakashi explained.
"Naruto is nothing like you!" Iruka exclaimed.
Kakashi stayed silent for a few seconds, before he lifted up the forehead protector to reveal his three tomoe Sharingan. "Isn't he? If anything, I'd say both he and Sasuke could very well have become better than I was by now, under proper instruction. I haven't been their jonin sensei for as long as you taught them, but they've both shown drastic improvement. Both now have three tomoe Sharingan. And they hadn't even had their two tomoe Sharingan for very long before reaching the third stage." Kakashi explained, shocking everyone but Asuma, Kurenai, and Hiruzen.
Murmurs spread around the room again, and Iruka was silent. 'Three tomoe Sharingan?' 'Naruto is on the same level as Sasuke?' Were some of the murmurs spreading around the room.
Hiruzen cleared his throat, silencing the room. "Is that all, Kakashi? Iruka?" Hiruzen asked. Kakashi seemed content to go back to the meeting, but Iruka wasn't.
"No. I don't care how good their eyes are, they still need training and experience before they can take the exams!" Iruka stated.
Kakashi sighed. "What kind of training would suffice. Would training by a fellow Sharingan user for 2 weeks straight suffice? What if that Sharingan user was an experienced jonin of the village?" Kakashi asked, and Iruka couldn't think of an argument. Kakashi turned back to the Hokage. "Please continue, Lord Hokage." He said with a bow, and Hiruzen continued the meeting, now taking nominations from the elder genin teams.
Elsewhere in the village
Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura were all walking together down the village. Kakashi and Kurenai had given them some time off, as all the jonin sensei had a meeting with the Hokage. As they were walking, they all noticed a weird, moving, square box. Sakura seemed confused, but Naruto and Sasuke both knew exactly who was in the box.
Naruto sighed. "Come out, Konohamaru." Naruto told the box, which shot off with fireworks and three coughing kids came out of the box. Konohamaru, Moegi, and Udon. All three were coughing from the smoke, and Konohamaru apologized to his friends before standing up to face Naruto.
"Just as I'd expect from my rival, boss! And-" Konohamaru started and turned to Sasuke. "Other boss!"
Sasuke sighed. "Konohamaru.. that is a terrible disguise." He told the boy.
Konohamaru scratched the back of his head. "Oh, well" he turned to look at Sakura. "Is she dating one of you?" He asked.
Sakura turned as pink as her hair and looked at Sasuke. 'He thinks we're-' She started to think, but was cut off.
"No." Sasuke said simply.
Konohamaru laughed. "Ahaha! Thought not! No one with such a big forehead and such a flat-" Konohamaru started, but Naruto quickly covered his mouth. However, it was too late.
Naruto looked Konohamaru in the eyes and told him one word. "Run."
Konohamaru looked confused, then he looked at Sakura who was ready to punch him to next week and ran away, followed by Sakura.
Naruto, Sasuke, and the other two kids just walked in the direction that Konohamaru and Sakura ran, until they heard Konohamaru scream.
Naruto and Sasuke shared a look. Sakura was mad, but she'd never make a kid scream like that. They both activated their Sharingan, 3 tomoe spinning to life in each eye, and ran to where they heard the scream.
When they reached Konohamaru, they saw him being held up by a kid in a catsuit with purple face paint on. To his side was a girl with blonde hair and a giant fan on her back. Sakura was standing in front of them, surprised.
Naruto walked up to the group, Sharingan spinning. "Let the kid go." He demanded.
Kankuro, the kid holding up Konohamaru, scoffed. "Yeah? You gonna make-" He started, and then looked up and saw Naruto's spinning eyes. "The hell?" He asked, and Temari, the blonde girl, nudged him.
"That's the Sharingan, Kankuro. The legendary Dojutsu of the Uchiha. Though, I've never heard of an Uchiha with blond hair." Temari explained, eyeing Naruto curiously.
Kankuro gave a short laugh. "The Uchiha? Isn't that the clan that was wiped out in a single night by one person?" Kankuro asked, trying to get a rise out of Naruto. However, he wasn't prepared for what happened when Naruto did get upset.
It was just for a second, but the siblings knew the feeling. For a second, Naruto's chakra spiked, his Sharingan temporarily turned slitted, and his whisker marks thickened. Anyone else would have written it off as a trick on their eyes, but these two siblings knew better. Kankuro dropped Konohamaru, who quickly rushed behind Naruto, and both Temari and Kankuro backed up.
Only two others in the area noticed the quick change. Sasuke could visibly see the chakra spike with his Sharingan, and knew about Naruto's status. And the other person..
A kid in red hair appeared in a swirl of sand in front of Temari and Kankuro, and they both backed up even more. "G-Gaara!" Temari stuttered.
Gaara didn't pay any attention to his siblings, his focus was on the red eyed man in front of him. The red eyes weren't what interested him, though. What interested him was the very familiar spike of chakra he felt. "You.. you will prove my existence." Gaara said, ominously, before turning and walking away. Temari and Kankuro shakily followed after him, looking between Gaara and Naruto in fear
Naruto and Sasuke both deactivated their Sharingan once the trio was out of sight, and Naruto looked down at Konohamaru. "You okay, Konohamaru?" Naruto asked the boy, who was obviously still shaken.
Kankuro nodded his head. "Y-yeah." He stuttered out, and Naruto gave him a smile.
"Okay, just be careful for a bit, you know?" Naruto told him, and Konohamaru nodded his head. "Alright, well, I gotta talk to Sasuke. You should apologize to Sakura."
Naruto walked over to where Sasuke was, while Konohamaru apologized to Sakura. Naruto looked at Sasuke, uncharacteristically serious and quiet. The two of them walked further away from the others, before Sasuke turned to Naruro. "Was that..?" Sasuke asked Naruto, who nodded.
"Yeah.. I think it was. Though, I don't know why. I was angry, but I wasn't that angry. Nothing like that has happened to me before. It's like something in me reacted as soon as I felt that red haired kid." Naruto explained.
Sasuke nodded. "Yeah.. there's something off about that guy." He agreed.
Naruto just went back to his normal self, and started smiling stupidly. "Oh well, we'll find out at some point. No reason to stress about it now. The blonde girl was pretty though, you know!" Naruto told Sasuke, who sweat dropped at the sudden change.
"You really should be more.. serious about stuff like this, idiot." Sasuke said, and Naruto just laughed.
"Ah, we can't all be as emo as you!" Naruto said, still laughing.
"Hn." Sasuke grunted.
After that, they both headed back over to Sakura. The trio of genin continued to hang out and talk, though the talking was mainly Naruto and Sakura. They got some food, Ichiraku at Naruto's insistence, before going back to their homes.
The Next Day
Sakura was waiting on the bridge for her teammates, Naruto and Sasuke, and her sensei, Kakashi. Kakashi had been on time for the past two weeks, he didn't want to miss Naruto and Sasuke's training, but he was apparently back to his old habits. Even worse, apparently Naruto and Sasuke picked up his habit. Kurenai wasn't here today, she said she had a meeting with her own team, so Sakura was waiting on the bridge, alone.
Naruto and Sasuke arrived before Kakashi. They both looked like they'd just gotten out of bed, and their hair was even more messy than usual.
Naruto rubbed the back of his head sheepishly when he saw Sakura's irritation. "Ahh, sorry. We got lost on the road-" Naruto started, but he was cut off.
"YOU'RE LATE!" Sakura shouted, and punched Naruto in the arm. Her training with Kurenai allowed the punch to actually somewhat hurt Naruro. Not nearly as much as the hurt from Kakashi over the past three weeks, but it didn't tickle.
Naruto rubbed his arm where Sakura hit him and looked up at her. "Why'd you only punch me? Sasuke was just as late as me." Naruto complained.
Sakura looked at Sasuke, and then back at Naruto. "He's Sasuke. Plus, he was probably only late because of you, Naruto." Sakura argued. She'd gotten better at treating Sasuke like a normal human, but hey, she was still Sakura.
Sasuke just shrugged in response. "Eh. We actually both slept in, it's the first time in weeks that Kakashi didn't make us wake at the crack of dawn and I guess we got carried away." He explained, and Naruto stuck his tongue out at Sakura.
"Oh.. well that doesn't explain why Naruto used an excuse like Kakashi-sensei would!" Sakura argued.
Kakashi chose this moment to show up in a shunshin.
Naruto and Sakura both shouted "YOU'RE LATE!"
Sakura turned to Naruto with an irritated expression on her face. "YOU WERE LATE TOO!" She yelled at Naruto, and he had to dodge another punch.
"Ah sorry, I got lost on the road of life." Kakashi excused, and Naruto started laughing. "What is it, Naruto?" He asked, and Naruto brought his laughter to a stop.
"I just used that excuse, sensei." Naruto told him, and Kakashi had to fight back a laugh.
"Wow, you really are a lot like Obito." Kakashi told him.
Naruto had a confused look on his face, trying to remember where he'd heard the name, before he remembered. "Oh! He was your teammate who gave you your Sharingan, right?" Naruto asked.
Kakashi nodded at his question. "Yeah, he was eternally late, dressed like you, and even shared your dream of being Hokage." Kakashi explained, and Naruto grinned.
"Well, since he can't do it, I guess I'll have to be Hokage for the both of us!" Naruto announced, and Kakashi let an actual smile spread across his face, even if they couldn't see it through his mask.
Kakashi, remembering why he asked them to meet him, pulled out three pieces of paper. "Alright, anyways, I asked you three here because of the upcoming Chunin Exams." Kakashi explained, getting three confused looks from the genin, though Sasuke's was at least masked by the trademark Uchiha stoicism.
"Chunin Exams?" Naruto echoed, voicing the question they all had.
Kakashi nodded. "In a week, there will be an exam to determine which genin will progress onto being Chunin. It's why the three of you have been trained over the past two weeks, and will be continued to be trained for the next week." Kakashi told the team, getting looks of excitement and anticipation from Naruto and Sasuke. Sakura looked unsure.
Naruto was grinning in excitement. "You really think we're ready, Kaka-sensei?" Naruto asked.
Kakashi gave his student an eye smile. "Of course I do. Though, that doesn't mean you have to take it." Kakashi told them, but it was mainly aimed at Sakura. "Here are the forms. Sign these and show up at the location listed in a weeks time. I will continue to train you for the next week, even if you choose not to take the exams." He said, and handed the forms to the three genin. Naruto and Sasuke both took the forms quickly, and Sakura hesitated a bit before grabbing hers.
"Thanks, Kaka-sensei!" Naruto gave Kakashi a look of appreciation, and even Sasuke almost looked appreciative.
Kakashi's eye smile turned sinister, somehow, and he cracked his knuckles. "Now that that's out of the way.. I'd suggest putting those forms up. We've worked on your Sharingan for the past two weeks, but now we'll work on taijutsu." Kakashi told them, and the boys faces instantly changed from appreciation to fear. Sakura looked at them with mirth, before Kakashi turned his attention to her. "Since Kurenai isn't with you right now, you'll be training with me until she comes around." He told Sakura, and her expression instantly changed to be even more fearful than her teammates.
After allowing them to put up the forms, Kakashi 'trained' them, but they still agreed it was more like torture. Sakura participated, though she was getting nicer treatment than the boys, until Kurenai showed up for her personalized training.
One week later
Sakura, Naruto, and Sasuke were all standing in front of the location given on the forms. Naruto and Sasuke both had theirs signed, but Sakura looked at the boys apologetically.
"I'm sorry.." She apologized to the boys, and held up her own form to show it wasn't signed. "I'm not ready to take this exam." She told them, and Naruto gave her a warm smile.
"It's alright, Sakura. It's better for you to confidently take it some other time than for you to take it now without being confident." Naruto told her, and Sasuke made a 'hn' sound in agreement.
Sakura looked at them, appreciating Naruto's words but still feeling bad. "But if most of the other teams are teams of 3, you guys will be a member down." She told them. Naruto just gave a Sasuke-like smirk, his Uchiha side shining through for once.
"Don't worry! Kakashi trained us into the ground for three weeks straight. I'm sure we'll be fine as a duo." He reassured Sakura, who gave him a smile. It was true, and she'd seen it happening. The first two weeks were mainly spent on training their Sharingan. The first week was mainly focused on the physical aspect, or the 'Eye of Insight,' which allows them to copy jutsu, movement, and read a persons actions. The second week was mainly focused on the mental aspect, or the 'Eye of Hypnotism,' which is the genjutsu aspect of the Sharingan. They still weren't anywhere near Kakashi's level with either skill, but they had improved. The final week was mainly practical, non-Sharingan, skills. He beat them into the ground with taijutsu, taught them stealth, and taught them tracking. Again, none of those skills were anywhere close to his level, but they were definitely on par with most chunin.
Sasuke turned to Naruto. "We should get going. You may have picked up Kakashi's habit of being late, which usually makes me late too, but this isn't something we should be late for." Sasuke told Naruto, a hint of annoyance at the habit he picked up.
Naruto grinned and sheepishly scratched the back of his head. "Yeah, I guess you're right." He said, and they headed into the building to start the exams, with Sakura wishing them good luck from outside.
Okay, this is a bit later than I wanted it to be. But hey, chunin exams arc starts now! Also gonna be working on a second fic, probably at least, but I won't push this one aside. It'll probably just be an every-other-issue type thing. This'll still be my priority though, the other one is just to satisfy a few ideas that I had that wouldn't fit into this fanfic.
I recommend joining the discord because I'll be more direct with telling when I'm releasing stuff there, also I talk a bunch and bounce ideas off the ones there - e6 7U bSn Xr7
Anyways, this fic is getting closer and closer to where I really want to be so that's pretty fun.
Review responses
Guest - thank you for the positive reaction
Racan - i sent you a PM response, but if you can't see that you could google "How to join a discord server" and there would probably be better responses than what I can give
ML3 - I responded on discord but I'm gonna respond here, in case anyone else has the same thoughts. I probably won't slow down too much long term, I just need to get a few essays and a paper done but I write pretty fast anyways so it shouldn't be too bad
KongFooMaster46 - I don't know why Sasuke is written as such an egotist, when he really isn't. His goal was always to become powerful and kill Itachi, he only acted egotistical when someone else got power because he wanted that power to kill Itachi. It's not "You are strong give me your power" out of ego, he's like that because he genuinely thinks he needs that power to kill Itachi. In this, he's accepted that he can work with Naruto towards his goal of killing Itachi. He has no reason to be a dick towards Naruto because what's good for Naruto is good for Sasuke.
And yeah, writing relationships for 12 year olds would feel.. just weird. I'll probably give some characters chemistry, but there won't be any "wow she's hot" unless it's to someone older. i'll probably sow the seeds of some pairings, but they won't happen till further down the line
MoonKnight030 - i just have a tendency to apologize a lot lmao, don't think too much of it if i say "sorry" in any review.
As far as Naruto x Temari, someone brought up a pretty good point that made me want to at least try it - it's kind of reminiscent of Minato and Kushina, except they kinda switch. Naruto has Kushina's personality and brashness, Temari has Minato's smarts and more analytical side. But the temper switches sides, Temari has Kushina's temper. I will be trying it out but if I can't find a good way to do it, I won't try to force it.
4th hokage minato - this one took me a few more days, so sorry about that lol. i think that once i get used to being back in school i'll probably speed back up, though
Ohhbabygirl - yeah, i'm still pretty undecided on sasuke, but kurotsuchi seems like an option. i do wanna try temari with naruto, though.
TheSoundOfThunderingEngines - when sasuke was yelling at sakura? i thought it'd be a good way to show how much more pissed he was than usual, but i can go back and reread it to see if i think it'll be better uncapped
Vanquisher17 - the update is here
deniswanheda - i don't speak spanish, so I'm relying on google translate for this. but you're right about all of that.
Vonta01 - exams arc is starting