Awesome response to last chapter, made my week.
Chapter 3
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Naruto stepped back, the upper part of his arm catching the brunt of the powerful kick. He winced at the force behind the strike, but that wasn't going to stop him, and he leaned forward and lashed out with a strong right-handed jab. Yamato barely avoided it by leaning his head to the side and caught the blond's exposed wrist with his left. Yamato pulled him forward and struck with a punch to the jaw, sending the off-balance blond scrawled to the grass.
"Much better," the newly-minted captain declared, "but-"
The blond disappeared in a puff of smoke. Yamato, frowning, bent forwards, cleanly avoided an elbow to the back of the head and twisted around.
"I said no ninjut-"
The blond's elbow snapped into a knife-hand that Yamato had the wits to knock away with his right elbow. Seizing the opening, Yamato pushed forward with a lightning fast left jab into Naruto's solar plexus. Naruto just barely avoided it by twisting around the strike, continued into a spin and built up momen-
Yamato twisted and bent the arm, smashing an elbow into the blond's face before swiping his legs out from under him. Naruto caught himself with both arms and used the momentum of his fall to sling himself into a spinning heel kick. Yamato hopped back just enough to avoid it and let the blond launch back to his feet.
"Good enough," he said, crossing his arms. The man meant it to.
"Th-thanks sensei!" Naruto breathed, bent over with his hands on his knees.
«Skill Level Up!»
Mixed Taijutsu [Lv.16]
«Stance» Allows use and mixing of taijutsu styles and moves.
«Skill Evolution Bonus: Learning other styles resets level, but increases mastery bonus»
Complete mastery bonus: +35% strength, +42% agility, 18% decrease in reaction time.
Current Mastery: 100%*
The blond was glad to be done with training his taijutsu – at the rate they were going he wasn't going to have had the opportunity. It'd been what, eight years since he first picked up academy taijutsu?
"Your age group is being assigned tomorrow." Yamato's tone seemed normal enough, but with all the time they'd spent together Naruto could pick out the subtle undertone of 'sad Yamato' in the statement. They probably felt the same way about it.
"You're going back to Anbu full-time, right?" Naruto asked, awkwardly glancing to his feet and fiddling with his vest.
Yamato nodded. "With you off my hands…"
The issue with training with Yamato was a unique one. The man was important to the village for a multitude of reasons, some of which required his presence at the village more often than not. Due to this, even with eight years of tutelage, Naruto hadn't gone on more than a handful of missions. It was absolutely great for training his skills- one of the first things the man did, after a short evaluation, was in fact to have the blond discover his primary chakra nature.
Wind Affinity
«Passive»
A natural disposition towards wind-oriented elemental chakra promotes efficiency and growth.
Chakra cost of wind-related skills -50%. Wind-related skills experience +100%.
As such…
Wind Manipulation [Lv.53]
«Passive»
Allows conversion of basic chakra into wind-oriented elemental chakra.
Increases rate of levelling wind-related skills by 5%/Lv. [Current: +265%]
Wind was easily his strongest nature, but he vaguely trained in the other ones too. The problem with just mindlessly training is that he didn't really level up. Like at all. If he'd only been measuring his progress by his levelling, he would've been more than a bit disappointed after eight years.
[Naruto Uzumaki]
[Chunin]
«Level 39»
EXP: 2266/5850
Strength: 98(+131)
Agility: 97(+141)
Intelligence: 112(+9.5)
Charisma: 36(+0.4)
Chakra: 3330(+2880)
Available Points: 0
…but levelling the passives did, clearly, have absolutely amazing attribute bonuses that made it worth it, it only took an incredible time investment to do it. The most effective ones were Chakra Enhancement and taijutsu, the latter of which he finally - after learning several styles (which was as easy as touching a scroll) and getting used to them - just maxed out. Chakra Enhancement maxed out a couple years ago.
The most evident short-coming of the then four-year-old blond had originally been his reach; he had literally no chance of striking an adult in taijutsu (which made his success during the kidnapping years ago even more ludicrous – though he did get his throat sliced open, didn't he?) and as such, Yamato taught him the basics of kenjutsu. In his words, it was the easiest way to increase his melee engagement radius – but even now he still had the disadvantage while they were both using weapons. All Anbu learned kenjutsu, and though initially Yamato had only been a member of the Anbu for a year, it didn't prevent him from giving tips to a total amateur. Parry evolved into Kenjutsu as soon as he learned his first kata.
Kenjutsu [Lv.60(MAX)]
«Passive»
Promotes reflexes and parrying efficiency while wielding a bladed weapon.
«Skill Evolution Bonus: Channeling chakra through weapons provides additional bonuses»
Reaction time: -0.5%/Lv. AGI bonus: +0.5%/Lv.
They didn't train kenjutsu incredibly often, and what little they did train it had fallen off when he stopped improving a few years back. The lack of missions was a real hindrance, and it was really all that had him accepting the hokage's proposition. That, and while he'd become good friends with his sensei, he knew the man would prefer to use his time making the difference in an important mission, rather than training a brat.
The students this year had come up one person short of the three-man divisions, apparently. Usually they'd just move a graduate to other teams that had space, for example; a team that had lost a genin or two to either promotions or combat would usually pick up the extra. It was actually considered rather lucky if it happened to you, because you'd be guaranteed to have an experienced teacher and squad-mates. The hokage, however, offered to make a pass on that tradition, and to place Naruto with the rest of his age group. It would tidy up the numbers cleanly, theoretically boost a genin team a bit, and let him take missions more often. He wouldn't even really be out of place, and in fact the hokage's exact words were 'make some friends.'
"You're my friend, right sensei?" Naruto asked, straightening the navy shirt beneath his vest and rubbing his sore nose. That had been one hell of a nasty hit to the face.
"Perhaps," the man murmured. He seemed to be having a moment. "You're genjutsu detection is par. Your taijutsu is good," he stretched the word as if still unsure, the hard-ass. "Your ninjutsu is good, and your kenjutsu is okay."
"Uh, sensei?"
Yamato shook his head. "I'm just making sure we're done," he tilted his head, "you did well for your age."
"…Thank you," the blond smirked good-naturedly, "you too."
The man's jovial nature disappeared in an instant. "What are you suggesting?" A shadowed countenance overtook the man, and Naruto realized he may have overstepped his bounds.
He stepped back quickly. "Uh, I'm just saying, sensei… you're kind of old now and..."
His fists clenched, and when Naruto focused clearly on his fingers, he thought he saw a thin trail of blood. "I have decades left to build my reputation, chunin."
"Look, I-I'm just saying, you're the same age as Kakashi, and the dude has a full head of grey hair-"
"Decades!"
«««»»»
It was the last opportunity to reasonably reallocate students between the teams.
"Of class 2D, Team 7 and Team 10 are set in stone," the third announced. His office was almost empty by now, as the jounin that had once filled it had walked out one-by-one during the proceedings, as soon as their decisions were finalized. Class 2D was the final one. "Team 7 with the tried and true best and worst, and Team 10 with the Sarutobi, Yamanaka, Nara and Akimichi tradition."
Six of the seven jounin still present quickly confirmed their selections and left the office, leaving it with one, who crossed her arms resolutely.
"…and we're left with two parts of an incomplete tracking team, Kurenai." The man gave the remaining kunoichi a sympathetic look.
She sighed. "I'll take Hinata as an apprentice." It was somewhat disappointing, as she truly wanted a team, unlike some of the jounin in particular. It left a foul taste in her mouth, but there was little to be done about it.
"I have a chunin," the third tested, "that is the same age as the graduates…"
Kurenai blinked dumbly. "To give me three?"
Hiruzen nodded. "Yes, to give you three."
"It's not that I'm ungrateful, but who is it?"
«««»»»
With her closed fist a hairsbreadth from knocking, Kurenai steadied her breathing and relaxed her mind. It helped in quietening the maddening whirlwind of conflicted thoughts circulating throughout her conscience, but it was a fruitless effort and it all rushed back stronger than ever. She wanted to be grateful, but for him?
It quickly became a strenuous conversation after the third voiced the name of the kyuubi jinchuuriki. She didn't have it in her to simply reject the boy and change her mind, but right now she was seriously contemplating it. Kurenai could recall the night of the kyuubi's attack very clearly. She was fifteen, a chunin, and extremely willing to join the battle, but like the rest of her similarly-aged cohort, she was blocked from the fight. By her father. She never saw him again after that. The appearance of the kyuubi drastically changed her life.
It changed everyone's lives.
Thousands of people died, half the village was destroyed, and while she didn't lose any friends – they were mostly kept back, just like her – she'd lost many acquaintances and worst of all she lost what was left of her family. In the end, even the fox's capture was a great tragedy that required the ultimate sacrifice from their great war hero; their fourth hokage. Even his wife was not spared, his family one of many that perished within the night. Now, years later, the village still hadn't recovered, even in number, and the memories still kept some awake at night.
She was expected to teach that.
Intellectually, she knew that Naruto Uzumaki was a twelve-year-old boy. He was probably still in that phase where boys were beginning to act more combative and started seeking the illusion of maturity, brought by the onset of puberty, but were still unfortunately short and carried high pitched voices. The corners of her lips twitched. Twelve-year-old boys were odd creatures, she thought, but she couldn't let that colour her perspective.
If only it were that simple, but he wasn't even a regular twelve-year-old disregarding the kyuubi. The boy was already a chunin, at least a year earlier than she was (at thirteen - she didn't actually know when the jinchuuriki was promoted), and it takes a particular kind of person to get an early promotion. The kind of person that carried baggage, that had a reason to push themselves forward, a tangible drive.
Except, he was supposedly unaware of his status as jinchuuriki, even now.
Really, Kurenai didn't know what to make of the boy, but she should meet him before she rejects the formation of the team and that was the entire reason she was here and thinking about all of this! She rolled her eyes, she'd done things that were significantly more dangerous on the spur of a moment than what was she doing now.
With that burst of confidence, she pulled her fist back and knocked on the door. This time, without stopping halfway. Three times for good measure.
She was both surprised and annoyed with the quick reaction. It wasn't so much her hearing a footfall or even the opening of the door, no. It was a slight wavering in her chakra – normally undetectable, but she was extremely intimate with the manipulation of chakra as a master of genjutsu – indicative of what she'd guess to be sensory ninjutsu. It was a surprise the kid – she presumed the kid did it – could do one reactively in such little time, but it was annoying simply because she didn't expect it.
By the time she got over it, she heard the unmistakable screech of a chair being pushed back along wooden flooring, and surprisingly audible footfalls toward the door.
She took her last chance to calm down her beating heart. When did she get so nervous? Seriously, the kid's just twelve, he'd love to have a sensei. She shook her head and abruptly straightened when the door swung open.
"Yo, Kurenai right?"
"Ah?"
Kurenai might've been staring, but she was instantly put off by his figure. He was already her height – honestly, she was pretty short but at twelve? – and his figure was infinitely more developed than she was expecting. She'd seen the kids in Hinata's class – shinobi-in-training or not, they were mostly pretty scrawny still. The kid, if that still held, had muscles that would look utterly normal on a jounin. He wasn't really that big, but when she was expecting short and scrawny, it was in comparison. Well, at least the vest wouldn't look ridiculous on him, wherever it happened to be. She'd always refused to wear hers because it didn't really fit her figure.
"You alive in there?" he'd risen an eyebrow, but all Kurenai caught in his words was the utter disinterest. She might just be conflating boredom, but she expected more of a response than… that.
Defaulting to her regular greetings in the face of an oddity, she lightly bowed her head and introduced herself.
"I am Kurenai Yuhi, jounin, and sensei of team eight come this time tomorrow." It would be best not to voice that she was still deciding whether or not to take a team based on whether or not she thought she could stand him.
"…right." It occurred to her suddenly that he'd already known her name, and that her introduction was then a bit pointless. "Well, I'm sure you already know," he said it jokingly, and she winced, "but I'm Naruto Uzumaki, chunin and team 8 hopeful."
"Hopeful?" she asked before she could stop herself.
He tilted his head and his sky-blue gaze somehow seemed piercing, like he was learning about her – or rather, already knew her – merely by staring into her eyes.
"Yep," he nodded, "come in." With a wave of his hand, he left the doorway and Kurenai hurried to follow before she lost herself. Noticing the rack by the entrance and that the boy was barefoot, she quickly slipped off her shoes. She glanced back to her potential student and couldn't help but admire the confidence in his gait. He sure seemed comfortable in his posture.
"You are twelve?"
The blond paused and shot her an odd look. "Uh, yeah? Last I checked, my birthday was in October."
...That's right, it happened in October.
The hallway fell to the beginnings of the lounge, a small room connected to an equally small kitchen separated by its tiling. A square table sat on the border of the two rooms, small but with two chairs on each the close and far sides of the table. The lounge only contained a cheap couch and a short coffee table, littered with several dozen books, stacked neatly. The kitchen was disappointingly ordinary, and two doors separated the lounge from what she assumed would be a bedroom and a bathroom.
The big scary image she'd conjured of a demon in the shape of a twelve-year-old fled from her quicker than she could sit down when he pulled back a chair and offered her a seat. She sat down dully, out of her element, and only watched impassively as he collected what seemed to be a mess of his chunin vest and some metal plating from the table and stored it in a cabinet under the sink.
"Want something to drink?"
She shook her head, and he didn't even bother shrugging before pulling back his own chair on the other side of the table and taking his seat. He leaned forward, prompting her to do the same, and tilted his head, giving her a curious but knowing look.
"What are you here for?"
He was intense but seemed patient enough that Kurenai was comfortable closing her eyes for a second, in an effort to regain her earlier confidence.
She already knew she was okay with this, now. He wouldn't be holding her back, and she'd already had to remind herself he was the jinchuuriki twice. It wasn't obvious. He didn't seem like some angry – or worse, abused – teenager… preteen, she reiterated, even if she didn't quite believe it by looking at him. She would be okay with linking some of his appearance with a thirteen-year-old who had gone through puberty a couple years early, but the musculature-
Oh. The fox. There's no way this had nothing to do with the fox. She didn't know what kind of benefit containing an immeasurably powerful entity comprised entirely of corrupted life-force would bring to a jinchuuriki, but at least one facet seemed obvious.
She blinked a few times and rubbed her eyes with her offhand when she realized she'd been staring into nothing for the past half a minute, only to meet the gaze of a horribly amused chunin. It was strange, but the blond had some sort of comforting glow about him – she quickly double checked – and it definitely wasn't a genjutsu. It couldn't just be his confidence she's feeling, could it…?
"Yes," she muttered, "that. I wanted to see you before meeting with the team in full, tomorrow."
"Why me?" he asked, a hint of curiosity – not at the answer, Kurenai was struck with the thought, but she felt he was more interested in why the answer was the answer. She quickly shook that off, she was getting antsy and though she'd only been in the home for a minute she was eager to leave.
"I was unsure," she answered smoothly, giving a crooked smile. "But nothing's changed, training ground thirteen at eleven hundred hours."
Kurenai quickly pushed back against her chair and stood, feeling his gaze and despite knowing that it was improper to leave so quickly with so little said, she turned and left the room.
She slipped on her footwear and her hand paused a hairsbreadth from the handle. For a moment, she reminisced over the time hardly a minute earlier when she'd done the very same with a very different attitude, when she heard a foot fall vaguely behind her.
"One second, Kurenai."
She turned her head, acknowledging his words but not eager to turn away from the door.
"Think about it like this, yeah? Hinata will be much safer if I'm in the team too. Think on it, and don't be so nervous tomorrow, you're making me nervous."
Kurenai froze. How did he-
He looked through her so easily, she knew she didn't mention any of that at all and she knew that she was very good at hiding her nerves. Wearing a tight frown, the woman closed her hand over the door knob and turned, leaving quickly and shutting the door just as quickly.
Left behind, Naruto shook his head and tapped on the reward pop-up.
«««»»»
It had rained overnight, and the grass of the training ground crunched pleasantly beneath Naruto's sandals as he stifled a yawn. He'd taken his mindless grinding into the early hours of the morning again. Training ground thirteen was plain and boring, but that had its own charm. It was lightly forested, but you had as much a chance of walking into a tree as you did to trip over a blade of grass. Most training grounds were about the same size, and he couldn't say this one was notable in any way.
He would probably be waiting a few minutes, but that just gave him time to sit down and wake up. Eyeing the moist grass distastefully, he picked a wide enough tree and waved an arm.
With his unnatural ability, he didn't necessarily need to know how to mould his chakra. If he wanted a jutsu to happen and he had the skill for it, he just lost a little chakra and it happened. It was probably- no, definitely unfair to those that not only had to learn the long and hard way, but also had to focus each and every time they used what they had learned. Naruto just couldn't relate.
Another wave of the hand, and the tree toppled away from him. The falling trunk croaked a ghastly sound as it fell and let loose a bang as it hit the ground, but the blond was more interested in the freshly cut seat and plopped himself down. If he knew his ability at all after twelve years, then a good time for a quest would be just about…
New Quest!
«Team 8 [1]»
Team 8 is officially founded!
Act in your authority and don't be foolish.
Complete missions to standard.
Requirements:
1. Complete 15 D-rank Missions
2. Become friends with your teammates (Optional)
Rewards:
+Exp
+? +? +?
"Oh," he muttered, reaching up and cracking his knuckles. He leaned back with his hands behind his head and let his gaze drift to the clouds. The tag on the quest name meant it was part of a series, and he'd only had one of those so far, with Yamato… it took years to go through all of them and it gave him the bulk of his levels since making genin. It was definitely a good sign, but he wasn't particularly interested in doing any D-ranks.
Act in his authority, huh? Maybe he didn't need to…
He heard their footsteps and the dredges of conversation before he saw them. He sat up and turned towards the sounds and observed his team as soon as he could.
«Kurenai Yuhi»
Renowned in the Leaf as a budding genjutsu prodigy.
Orphaned as a chunin, but now a jounin seeking to teach.
She's still worried you'll blow something up.
Mood: Relieved, Hopeful, Guarded
Her flavour text was different yesterday, having mentioned a girl named Hinata and doubts about the team – him in particular. He had no idea what she was worrying about – did he have a reputation for blowing things up? - but it was always interesting to Naruto to see the Observe text of a person change. He moved his gaze to the taller of the two genin.
«Shino Aburame»
Heir to the Aburame clan.
A prodigy, he turned down an invitation to ANBU as a child.
He wants to meet you.
Mood: Curious, Content
He didn't know either of the genin at all, not even in passing, and took a moment to absorb that one of his teammates was an heir to a major clan. Hopefully that didn't mean he couldn't laze around during D-ranks and order them to do it. Hours spent doing chores was hours he could instead spend sitting there and grinding jutsu and Chakra Control. On reflection, grinding during chores wasn't impossible, but – probably due to his ability – he had always been pretty lazy. There was a difference between doing manual labour and letting his abilities work themselves over.
His gaze shifted to the shortest of the group, a petite girl with dark blue hair who he'd immediately been able to identify as a Hyuuga by the eyes.
«Hinata Hyuuga»
Heir to the Hyuuga clan.
She might lose her status to her younger sister,
due to her poor confidence.
Mood: Nervous, Happy, Curious
A tight frown settled over his jaw and he worked his mind through the situation he found himself in. The genin – about the same age as him but presumably less experienced – were both clan heirs, though he found it almost strange that they were both the same age. Was that planned? Sounded like the beginnings of a betrothal contract to him.
He's rambling in his own head now, great.
Was he supposed to bow his head and pretend they weren't in a military organisation and that he was higher ranked? He'd never met a clan heir, nor a clan head, nor did he have any reason to. What was the proper etiquette in addressing them?
He almost missed the way the small group paused in front of him and stole glances at the fallen tree beside him, but he didn't miss Kurenai nudging the genin forward. He watched in pleasant surprise as the genin both paused in front of him and bowed their heads.
"We're in your care, Uzumaki-san."
The corners of his lips twitched upwards and he stood, hands on his hips.
"It's nice to meet you! Shino Aburame and Hinata Hyuuga, right?"
The blond grinned cheekily as the two looked slightly confused and glanced back to the jounin, who shrugged with a blank look. She must've instructed them to introduce themselves, and that was so terribly reminiscent of yesterday that he couldn't keep the smirk off his face.
"Well, I'm sure you know this already-" his eyes darted to Kurenai's and he gave her a wink, "but I'm Naruto Uzumaki, chunin, and your new teammate." He bowed his head lightly, more like a nod than anything, "and you don't need to be nervous around me. Looking at you, Hinata."
The girl moved back a step and the three straightened, Naruto and the genin turning to face Kurenai. It was good to know that their status as heirs seemed, so far, that it would be inconsequential. He let himself calm down and crossed his arms, intent to listen to Kurenai alongside the genin, as is her superiority.
"Usually," Kurenai began softly, her voice a whim of the wind, "a genin team begins with a test, to determine if they're worth the jounin's time. If they fail, they're without a teacher but still a genin. If they pass, they and the jounin become a team." The woman gave Naruto a pointed look.
"We aren't doing that, and I'm sure you can figure out why." She gave Hinata a friendly smile and Shino a nod. "You two are lucky Naruto volunteered, but it won't change our training. Being a shinobi is tough, and you'll find yourselves tested to your limits…"
Kurenai droned on while Hinata and Shino listened intently, but Naruto ignored her speech. Not necessarily because he'd heard it before, or that it bored him, but… instead, he scratched his chin and gave the sudden popup in front of him an odd look.
Ascension [1]
«The Forbidden Scroll»
A traitorous chunin has accepted work from Orochimaru.
Tonight, he will steal the forbidden scroll.
Intercept him past the west gate.
Requirements:
1. Assist Mizuki (Optional)
2. Kill Mizuki (Optional)
3. Detain Mizuki (Optional)
4. Steal the scroll for yourself (Optional)
Rewards:
+?
…there were several things wrong with that pop-up.
«««»»»
AN: I'm publishing a new story with the stats and skills and all of that next week, when I post chapter 4. This is because chapter 4 finally introduces other people's stats, so there's actually something to compare the numbers to. He's pretty strong and it'll make more sense that way. Beside that, posting the stats in this story would pad the word-count very unnecessarily.
Every time I came back to this chapter to re-read it and edit it, I made him just a bit stronger, more and more, until I reached the point where I was comfortable with his ability after eight years of training with an utterly broken ability.
Next chapter next friday, as usual.
Edit: In case you're curious, current progress on chapters is always listed and kept updated on my profile. Thanks for reading!