A/N honestly, I have nothing to really say other than this
THANK YOU EVERYONE! This is by far the furthest I have gotten in any of my works thus far and the most well received. I thank every one of you for following, viewing, favoriting and reviewing this story and I can't wait to show you what I have in store. Now that I think about it, there's a few things I want to make clear right now before we begin.
1. I might still go back to the first chapters in order to fix mistakes in grammar, spelling and what not, but I won't really be making massive changes to the story from now on unless something massive in the plot changes because of it (yes I will be amending some of the early chapters to fit what happens in Chapter 6, just not at this current moment or in the near future.) The reason for this is because I want to be able to focus on the newer chapters and finish the story proper, before heading back to fix the mistakes. If I start going back, we would have another Ripple in the Flames scenario where I would forget to actually continue the story, and I don't want that.
2. I have been reading books lately in order to broaden my own knowledge of the matter and to see how other authors handle wording and the like, so I'm hoping that it also gets into my writing from now on as well.
3. On top of the previous number, I've been getting into streaming as a job in a sense over on Swordkiller55623, so between them, I haven't had much time to write at all. So don't really expect rapid updates sadly (I'm still really sorry about the wait between Chapter 6 and the Omake chapter! I really am!)
4. I'm also working on making sure my narrative makes logical sense with itself, so I might or might not follow canon loosely. I'm still not entirely sure how I want to go with the Madara Hashirama thread I set, but I know that I want it to have a role in the big Battle at The Valley of the End that happens, if it even happens.
5. I think I got the plot up to Chunnin somewhat set at this point, but loose enough that side stories and the like can still be explored.
With all of that out of the way and said and done, I thank every one of you for reading this far, and I hope you join me to read further on!
Let's begin!
Arc 2:
Chapter Seven:
Team Seven Training Arc - The Teams Assemble!
"You pass." The words still echoed through Naruto's head as he sat down absentmindedly in his seat. Yesterday seemed like a dream in his eyes, misting over the red flashes that still stained his sight. Kurama didn't try all that hard to block them, instead wanting them there to give a so-called frame of reference of what might happen out there. Revenge, a word both powerful and weak, was just as much a part of a Ninja's life as it was in their death. Some part of Naruto deep down understood that, knew it, and categorized it as something that was to be expected. People were going to die, it was just a fact of life...but the rest of his mind screamed out at the thought, demanding to know why Honoke had to die, why he had killed Mizuki, and then his brain would fight it out again and again with no end in sight.
Truth be told, he was a broken mess. No longer was his mind set on becoming a ninja, impressing his new-found friends, and becoming Hokage. His mind was dedicated to reliving that memory. The blood splatter, the rush he felt at Mizuki's fall, and the worst feeling of satisfaction he had ever felt in his life. He had done all of that, he was the one that did it. He couldn't escape that fact, or hide under that fact that Kurama was there too, he had done that. He didn't even register the tap on his shoulder until he felt himself being punched in the face. Even that felt numb to him as he blankly stared at Sakura.
"NARUTO! SNAP OUT OF IT!" She yelled at him, hand still reeling a bit from the punch she had given him.
He sighed and got up again, not able to hide a grimace from the pain. Man, Sakura hits hard! Naruto thought to himself, rubbing his wound lightly from the pain. "Yeah Sakura?" He asked with a slight tone of annoyance.
"You been acting like this ever since yesterday!" Sakura yelled as Naruto noticed the tears threatening to fall off her eyes. He blinked as his sight blurred, before realizing that he too were crying. "We've been so scared for you, you been acting like a zombie ever since then. Come on, where's the upbeat, over-optimistic Naruto we all know and miss dearly!?" Sakura hiccuped through her words, upbeat words thinly concealing her fear. Naruto looked around, noticing that the rest of the Fox Squad were also looking at him, each in their own form.
Sasuke looked at him through the side of his eyes, barely and just enough to see him and hide his frown. Shino could be doing anything due to his sunglasses that refused to leave his face, but his head was tilted towards him instead of Iruka. Iruka-sensei himself was looking at him with a worried frown of his own, while Hinata was but a step away from getting up and rushing towards him, if not for Ino holding her back and looking towards Sakura with hope in her eyes. Shikamaru wasn't even asleep, but instead looking towards him with a stern expression, but was unable to hold back the waver of worry lining his face, while Choji couldn't even do a thing to hide the worry in him, with his hand trembling to hold him back from do anything. Naruto realized with a jolt that Shikamaru's stern face was towards Choji to hold him back as the expressions lined into him.
I did tell you that you chose your friends well, did I? Kurama's voice rang through his head as Naruto deadpanned mentally.
I don't think you ever did that. Naruto replied as he felt Kurama bop him in the forehead.
"WHAT WAS THAT FOR!?" Naruto yelled out in pain, as Kurama laughed loudly in his head. "Stupid fox..." Naruto said as his eyes starting shifting colors before resting on grey. Iruka groaned as he saw it.
"Oh boy. I think Kurama is going after him now." Iruka chuckled as he looked towards the Fox Squad. Rolling his eyes at the nickname, he smiled.
"LEAVE ME ALONE YOU DUMB FOX!" "WHAT DID YOU SAY TO ME!?" "YOU HEARD ME!" The voices rang out from Naruto's mouth, but seemed to belong to two different people. Thankfully, the Fox Squad and Iruka were the only ones left since the teams were all assigned earlier.
Naruto had been like this since that morning, until Sakura finally snapped him out of it. Iruka sighed, thinking back to earlier that same morning...
Twenty minutes before, Iruka's POV
Iruka figured that when he opened the door to the classroom, that the kids would be yelling and hollering out of success of passing, and expected them to be goofing off.
Instead, all that awaited him was near silence. Sure, people were talking, but it seemed...subdued. Iruka gulped as he opened the door, doing his best to weight that thought back down in his mind.
Naruto sat blankly in his seat, his blue sapphire eyes there and not grayed out, but he looked to be a hundred miles from there. Iruka grimaced as he noticed that Naruto had been the one to cause the tension. He couldn't do anything for him, Iruka was the last person that should be trying to comfort Naruto for he had seen multiple ninja do the exact same thing after their first kill. It destroyed them, all of them, from the inside out to the point where they either learned how to deal with it or they could never carry on the will to fight again. Some deep centered hatred rose from him at the Hokage for removing the old standards of passing. Before, everyone in the room would have known that feeling, the weight of a kill, but most of these kids were still ignorant of it all. He had no idea what to say, but he had a feeling he had to, even if Naruto could not hear him.
"Everyone, as you can tell, last night was very eventful for some of the students here. Your past teacher, Mizuki-san, had turned into a traitor and tried to murder Naruto, your classmate, and failed. In the life of ninjas, you will be forced to do things you might not agree with, that might be against your morals. Throughout your life in the Academy, you seen things like this, as all the females in the class of Sasuke Uchiha were under a mass Genjutsu that nearly destroyed the very foundation of our society. I want to make sure that you all know what being a Ninja truly entails. Your life will no longer be your own, you will be a tool for the village, to use in order to protect the others, to carry the Will of Fire in you. It is not a job for the weak-willed, and I know each of you have already went through your tests, your whole life was groomed for this. But none of that ever prepares someone for their first kill, not just a kill against an animal, but on another human being. Naruto used his strength last night in order to save his friends, but in the process...he killed Mizuki-san. That is why he is like this. So I ask all of you in this room right now...what will you do if faced with the decision to either kill another human, or save your comrade. When faced with an impossible decision, a true Ninja must find his Ninja way, what will you do. If you don't wish to ever have to answer that question, if you never want to be forced into an impossible decision between a friend's life and the mission, if you never want to face any of that...then the door is right there." Iruka waved his hand towards the door.
The students were floored as eyes darted towards Naruto's direction, but Naruto didn't even flinch, no emotion past through his empty eyes, and Iruka hated that more then the gray of neither one controlling the body. Unlike before, Iruka couldn't even see the crimson tilt that usually decorated Naruto's eyes, instead the eyes seemed...empty. The classroom was silent, until a chair skid back.
The boy sitting there, having glasses and hiding his face behind his hair silently got up and left without a word. The tears that rang from him were enough of an admision to guilt. One by one, former graduates got up and left, until the class were nearly completely empty. All that were left, were the Fox Squad Nine, the nine rookies that made it through. Even with that, Iruka's pride was dwarfed by the weight of the heavy guilt in him. With but one sentence running through his mind.
'This...was all my fault.'
A small smile took his face, bittersweet in its appearance as Iruka watched over his last remaining students of the year.
"Well you guys, you passed and are all going to be assigned to a Jonin tasked with watching you all." Iruka told them, but none of them really had a smile on their face.
Well...besides one...
"ALRIGHT! LET'S DO THIS!" Naruto yelled with a bright grin on his face, even though Iruka could still see the turmoil behind his eyes (mostly because the Crimson red kept rushing around unlike normally) and rolled his eyes.
"Shut up you!" Sakura pounded her fist once more into Naruto's skull, leaving a nasty bruise.
"WHAT WAS THAT FOR!?" Naruto yelled back, leaving an exasperated smile on everyone's faces.
"So...who's getting assigned with who?" Shikamaru cut through the ensuing argument of Naruto and Sakura, with Sasuke pointedly ignoring them as they asked him who was right. Struggling to contain his enjoyment from the scene, Iruka answered Shikamaru.
"Well, for Team 6, we have Kiba, Hinata, and Shino. For Team 7 we have Sakura, Naruto, and Sasuke, and for Team 11 we have Shikamaru, Ino, and Choji." Iruka announced to a bit of mixed opinions.
"Oh man, I can't be with Hinata!?" Naruto groaned, causing a furious blush to reach Hinata's face.
"Hmph." Sasuke shrugged, not really caring.
"Ugh...I have to be with this idiot..." Sakura and Ino shared their reaction, to Naruto and Choji respectfully.
"Hey what was that!?" Naruto and Choji unioned.
Both Sasuke and Shikamaru shared a look of annoyance at their teammates as Kiba's loud voice cut through the ensuing duality that unfolded before them.
"HEY!" Kiba shouted, "Let's not get into a stupid argument about which team is better, we all know we're the best!" Kiba grinned as the two teams turned towards him.
"Oh yeah!?" Sakura and Ino shared a sinister grin as Iruka pointedly ignored everything else that happened.
"For Team 6, your instructor shall be...Mitarashi Anko." Iruka announced with a violent shiver that ran down his spine.
"T-That Anko!?" Kiba whined in fear.
"Yup! That Anko!" A voice suddenly sounded from behind him, sending him screaming out of the room. "Aww, he's scared of me~ I better go and justify that... Cmon you mutt!" The so-called Anko, a very...attractive lady dressed in very revealing fishnet clothes and donned with a light green jacket had suddenly appeared in the room, sending Iruka into a violent shiver. "Aw... Iruka, did you...miss me?" Anko whispered seductively into his ear, leaving Iruka whimpering something about Not again and not here.
Naruto was confused, but Sakura, Ino, and Hinata blushed violently from Anko's actions, only leaving Choji and Naruto staring at each other in confusion.
"You'll understand when you're older." Shikamaru said emotionlessly. Of course he had heard about the Tokubetsu Jonin from his father. The Seductive Snake of the Torture and Interrogation department. He wasn't expecting her to become a teacher, but he secretly wished Kiba, Hinata and Shino good luck with the lad-. He suddenly looked around before locking eyes with Shino, who looked down sadly.
"Did you guys forget about me?" Shino asked as everyone except Kiba, who was no longer there, Anko, and Iruka, stared at him in shock.
"Oh my god, Shino I'm so sorry!" Sakura said as she growled at Naruto, "This is your fault!"
"Me? I at least remembered he was there!" Naruto whined back, not noticing the look on Shino's face lit up from that comment.
"You forgot him, I was the one that remembered." Kurama growled in annoyance, but Naruto helplessly shrugged. "Whatever brat..." Kurama went back to sleep, bored from nothing happening.
"Y-You remembered?" Shino looked like a little puppy just then, which made it all the more ironic when Akimaru jumped on his head and fell asleep.
"Y-Yeah! Like I could forget my friend!" Naruto stuttered out aloud. Man I need to remember Shino more! This is the first time I seen him genuinely happy like this! Kurama just snorted indecently as Shino actually smiled.
The whole room turned silent in shock at the look. "Thanks Naruto." Shino said sincerely, not even bothered by the shock on everyone's faces. Iruka numbly noticed the crimson glint in Naruto's eyes taking over.
"Of course he's happy that someone remembered him." Kurama said boredly from Naruto, who hmph'd as he was pushed from consciousness so Kurama could explain, "Remember, his insects eat up all his Chakra, and you ninja are dumb enough to only use Chakra to search for someone's presence, which makes it easy to pass over his presence since he has next to no Chakra. Shino could be the best Ninja from everyone here just because of that, and could be a great teacher on presence hunting. Isn't that right...Iruka-sensei?"Kurama explained, not really liking the suffix of Iruka's name.
"T-That's right Naruto." Iruka stuttered a bit, doing his best to hide Kurama's presence, but Sakura beat him to it.
"That's Kurama. Naruto already introduced us to him before when we were helping Sasuke." Sakura explained in confusion, "I thought you already knew that?" Sakura asked as Iruka groaned.
"I thought I told you that it was a secret!" Iruka scolded Kurama and Naruto, who only rose his-Naruto's- eyebrow.
"They're close friends to Naruto, it would be stupid to hide it from them."Kurama shrugged, "My point still stands, he would great at teaching Naruto and the gang on how to hunt presences without relying on their Chakra, I can't really do the same for Naruto since I sense emotion rather than Chakra, which has its own problems, I would suggest having the teams meet up at least once a week for that training, but I'm not the Jonin here am I?" Kurama gave a fox grin that did nothing to help Iruka's already shattered nerves. Iruka coughed.
"A-Anyways, Team Seven's Jonin sensei will be Hatake Kakashi...I recommend you guys get something to do for two hours." Iruka said, noting with confusion the groan that came from Kurama.
"Great, the brat gets the brat to train him...how poetic." Kurama deadpanned, leaving Iruka and the rest in confusion and doing nothing to justify it.
"I guess we'll just do some personal training while waiting for him, we can just work on the styles we got from the library some more." Sakura shrugged, more than happy to do some personal training, leaving a light smile to take over Naruto's, for the crimson eyes finally turned to sapphire, and Sasuke's faces.
"Hmph, tell him to meet us at the library." Sasuke shrugged.
"Yatta! More sparring between me and Sasuke-teme! I'll beat you today!" Naruto grinned as Sasuke simply hmph'd again, but couldn't hide the rising smirk on his face.
The rest of the Fox Squad just rolled their eyes, well used to this, heck Sakura didn't even try pounding Naruto's head in like a certain other timeline's Sakura would have done.
"And finally, Team 11's Jonin Sensei will be..." Iruka tried to introduce as a knock sounded from the door...which was across from a hole in the opposite wall. Sighing, Iruka opened the door to show Sarutobi Asuma at the door.
"Isn't that supposed to be Team 10?" Asuma smirked as Iruka shook his head.
"We had an extra team this year, but all of them dropped out. Admittedly, I didn't want to change the teams to One, Two, and Three, so I kept it to where it was before." Iruka shrugged, inwardly panicking that it was supposed to be Team 10 and he was just so off put from Naruto, Anko, and Kurama to recall it correctly. Asuma knowingly put a hand on Iruka's shoulder.
"Relax, relax! We can just call it Team 10 because the other teams dropped out, makes no difference to me. So, Shikamaru, Ino, and Choji right?" Asuma grinned, glossing over Iruka's mistake casually. Iruka nodded.
Shikamaru simply stared at Asuma as Choji and Ino continued to talk with Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke...though Sasuke barely talked that much, and was more just planing out their trips to the library.
"So, I take it you're Shikamaru?" Asuma walked over to Shikamaru with a friendly smile upon his face. Shikamaru simply nodded.
"Yeah, I was just thinking of plans for the future so don't mind me. We'll wait on Naruto's sensei to get here and then I was thinking of doing a bit of study at the library together." Shikamaru said simply, looking towards the rest of the people there. No one even seemed to notice that Hinata and Shino had followed after Kiba later on, but Shikamaru had noted it when Asuma was walking in, with the two waving goodbye to them. Neither wanted to make too much presence about heading out, so Shikamaru just smiled and gave a little wave of his hand at them.
"Well, you could do that when training with me." Asuma slyly said with a mock of a shrug. Shikamaru merely groaned.
"I got better things to do, thanks. I gotta work on my Shadow Stitching style more, on top of that I can do to learn that presence seeking without Chakra thing that Kurama was talking about. Kurama's right, there's plenty of ninja that hide their Chakra, and if I can learn to sense without looking for one's Chakra, then I would be able to be a better asset to the team, not to mention be able to direct Choji and Ino to where they need to be." Shikamaru explained, leading Asuma to let out a chuckle.
"Well, well, well! It looks like Shikamaru's already growing up, but have you considered that you could infuse the Chakra into the air itself? If you do that, you can use it to show when a presence is there as well by seeing what the Chakra can't see." Asuma countered, trying his best to describe it as a silhouette around the person.
"At most that'll tell you they are there, but at minimum it would give you away to the enemy. The Hidden mist use that through their Hidden Mist Jutsu and it practically gives away that they are in the area. If I'm able to sense without the use of Chakra, I can keep my position hidden while still being able to pull off the same effect, saving Chakra for the fight itself instead of wasting it before hand." Shikamaru didn't skip a beat with his response.
"Would there even be a way to do it? Sensors have been trying to find that out for years and haven't found a way to sense without the use of Chakra in the end." Asuma was too shocked to really give a good response, instead trying to throw Shikamaru off his plan. Shikamaru smirked.
"Why not just train in the art of using the senses? The Inuzuka's have used their sense of smell over Chakra, The Aburame's use their insect companions, which feed off their own Chakra in the process, and there are plenty of other families that have their own way of hunting. What if there was a way to incorporate that all, without having to be tied down to using Chakra to sense? A way to subtly be aware of the world around you at all times?" Shikamaru grinned, "That's what I'm going to find out."
Asuma sighed. "I was afraid you would say that...Well I can try and find some sensing scrolls to help you out, but I'm not sure how much help they would be..." Asuma tried to say, defeated, as Shikamaru shook his head.
"Unless you can get me into the higher branches of the library, I already looked through all they have. Sadly, everything from Genin up is locked away until we get that headband. Naruto and the rest of us already decided that the moment we become Genin that we were all going to meet up at the library in order to see what they had, and in order to spar and help each other out. Kiba and them will probably be late because of Anko, but the rest of us can still go." Shikamaru shrugged as he looked to the completely defeated Asuma with a smirk, "You can come and watch if you wish." He walked on over to the group and joined in the conversation, leaving Asuma in a state of shock.
Iruka snickered as Asuma gave him a dirty glare. "Shut your mouth or I'll tell Anko that night." Asuma growled at him, with Iruka's eyes becoming terrified.
"Please don't."
"Alright! We're true ninja now! Let's get us some ramen!" Naruto bellowed with a grin upon his face as the group of seven walked out of the Academy. Asuma followed dejectedly alongside the remaining Fox Squad members, each of which had their own form of excitement showing.
"Nah, let's get some Yakiniku Q!" Choji challenged, equally as boisterous as his surrogate brother.
"What!? Come on Choji! We just had that the last time we celebrated, it's Ichiraku time!" Naruto whined out.
Sasuke smirked, "Actually, we had Ichiraku the last time." He said offhandedly.
"What!? Come on..." Naruto exclaimed in disappointment.
"Why don't we just have both?" Shikamaru rolled his eyes at Sakura's claim.
"ALRIGHT!" Naruto yelled at the top of his lungs, "Thanks Sakura, you're the best!" He grinned with a foxish charm before skipping off ahead humming a song about getting ramen.
"Prepare your wallet old man, you're buying." The Fox Squad -minus Naruto- shared a smirk at Shikamaru's comment.
"W-What!?" Asuma said in shock, as it was no secret that Naruto drove up the cost anytime he was near the Ichiraku Ramen shop.
"You're the adult here, so you're buying. It's the least you can do since we're letting you come with us." Shikamaru shrugged to the agreements of the rest of the squad.
Naruto wasn't entirely sure why Kurama started laughing out loud, but decided not to question it that much. Whatever it is, he would find it out soon. Instead, he continued singing his Ramen song with glee that they were heading to Ichiraku and Yakiniku Q. Kurama had a sort-of lopsided frown at his host. On one hand, he was honestly happy and everything...but on the other hand, he was shunting off all his pain to the side, not wanting to deal with it at all. It wasn't healthy for anyone and Kurama didn't want them to build up and up until it broke Naruto to pieces.
Don't worry, he's strong you know? A voice echoed through Naruto's mind as Kurama could have swore he imagined it. In fact, he couldn't even see Naruto react to it. Kurama deadpanned before just thinking it was his own voice in a sense. Naruto WAS and IS a strong kid, he knew that, but at the same time, he was a dumbass in multiple areas. He had no idea how bad his life was going to get just because of Kurama's existence, and on top of that, Kurama couldn't even use all his strength without risking Naruto's own health. Naruto just wasn't ready to handle him whatsoever and it hurt to watch. He had no idea what this Kakashi guy was going to do about it, but the only Kakashi he knew was being one of the three brats that used to follow his old host's partner around. But after the whole mess when Naruto was born, he had no idea what happened to the kit's parents, nor the three brats. Kurama groaned lightly, causing Naruto to give out a questioning grunt in response.
"It's nothing Naruto, don't worry about it. Just thinking about some stuff." Kurama waved it off, causing Naruto to shrug and carry on. Kurama just wasn't sure what to do, and he knew it was nothing like him, but he was in charge of a near-suicidal brat and it changed him somewhat. He had no idea where his other half was, and well...He couldn't do much to save Minato in the end. He scoffed mentally this time, mad that he used the man's name like he had. He had barely managed to stop him from using the Death Seal, but couldn't do much in order to save him from that damn Uchiha. Kurama schooled his thoughts, noting that even Naruto stilted slightly from the rush of killing intent that had leaked from Kurama.
"K-Kurama, what's wrong?" Naruto thought with a stutter from obvious fear. Kurama sighed.
"Just some bad memories, go enjoy yourself today Naruto, look, you're already at the store." Kurama didn't have to say anything more as Naruto yelled in glee at finally making it to his favorite stall. Kurama sighed once more before curling into a ball. He hated his prison, for it forced him to be bored for most of the time, but that boredom led to thinking, and all he could do was try not to think of his earlier memories before they consume him. That gate was still in his memories, and he could only imagine how bad he would be if that seal was broken, and how soon it would have to be released in order to help Naruto out. Kurama barely even paid attention to the festivities that Naruto was partaking in, the jokes at Asuma's now-empty wallet, and the laughter that the group went to, but the small bit of attention he did pay was shown in the smile that Kurama carried. He knew it wouldn't last forever, a ninja could never have only happy moments, but he could say that he was more than happy to try and keep Naruto safe.
Heh, can't believe you fell for him that fast. Another voice joined his head, but Kurama ignored it. He bet that if it was a different world, if he had been imprisoned instead of helped, if his memories weren't sealed for his own protection, and if he wasn't shown the kindness of humans, that Kurama would have been completely different from what he was now. He was in charge of Naruto's safety, and he would be damned if he was going to let the little kit get hurt on his watch. Naruto was a good kid, but he would be a terrible ninja.
More like he would be Too good of a ninja. His mind unhelpfully informed, he growled lightly at the thought, but couldn't do a thing to deny it. Ninjas had to have stone-cold hearts, they had to kill and fight for their nation, they had to face deaths and everything falling apart around them. There was no guarantee of anything, any tomorrow. Naruto couldn't do any of that, his heart was too pure to risk tainting with death on his hands.
You say that, but he already killed someone. The second voice popped back in once more as he shook his head. Something felt off with that death. No matter how many times Kurama and Naruto relive the memory, it just felt...off. Ninjas were known for manipulation, and though it was no easy feat, there was no possible way that Naruto, who wasn't even a Genin, could beat a Chunnin one on one, even with Kurama's strength.
So you think that man is still alive!? He could hear shock rising in the first voice, but Kurama nodded resolutely. There was no doubt about it, that man was nearly certainly alive still, having used Naruto to create his cover.
Why not tell Naruto about it? The second voice, a lot more calm now, asked with just a bit of fear. Kurama looked towards where Naruto was enjoying time eating out at Yakiniku Q and then thought about what could happen if he told him. He decided against it. Naruto felt terribly after thinking he killed the man, and though it was cruel, he was better off thinking he did kill him, if only just to not cause him to fall apart all over again if the man was in-fact dead. Though Kurama doubted it, he only had a prisoner's view on the mess, and while his gut told him the man was alive, he had no proof. Naruto needed the guilt of death on him, if only to keep him from getting cocky and arrogant of his skills, alongside giving him a necessary course of a Ninja's lifestyle. He can still relax like this even with that guilt on him.
Yet he only can do this by pushing off that guilt to you. The first voice cut in his thoughts as Kurama sighed. Indeed, he was pushing that guilt further and further into his mind, nearly completely onto him, but Kurama would most likely not be there with Naruto all the time, and he was certainly not going to be charged with Naruto's own guilt, that was his problem to deal with.
Then what are you going to do? The second voice asked as Kurama's smile turned into a near frown. He didn't know. What could he do to help the kit, he was a giant demon fox with nine tails, one of the nine Chakra Beasts, and had no idea how one dealt with stuff like this. He couldn't tell Naruto what he assumed was the truth without ripping a hole in Naruto's heart, but at the same time, he had no idea how to help Naruto get through his guilt at that same event.
You'll find out in time Kurama. The voices seemed to vanish with that line, leaving Kurama alone to his own thoughts, but he was still nowhere near an answer to that question.
For what could he really do?
Naruto and the rest of the Fox Squad let out a satisfied sigh after finishing their meals.
"Man that hit the spot!" Naruto said with utter bliss in his tone, a bit over-exaggerated, but the rest of the squad couldn't bear to care. Asuma had big fat anime tears coming out of his eyes as he moaned about the fact that they took his next month's salary with how much they spent, but even he was in high spirits and was more just messing around, (Is what he wished, but they really did take next month's salary with the amount that they ate...Then again, he could always foot the bill towards Kakashi...) when they went towards the library.
"So, now what?" Sasuke asked, looking somewhat bored again.
Shikamaru shrugged, "I figured we could explore the Genin section, see if we can't find anything we can use, but we're just killing time until your sensei arrives."
"SASUKE! I CHALLENGE YOU!" Naruto grinned as he shouted his challenge, pointing an accusatory finger towards the non-impressed Genin.
"Naruto, we're outside of a library...SO SHUT UP!" Sakura muttered through gritted teeth before yelling and punching Naruto on the head.
"Sakura~" Naruto moaned in pain.
Shikamaru groaned as he looked towards Ino, who was strangely quiet the whole time, Choji was also quiet, but was more enjoying the atmosphere and eating his chips, but Ino hadn't spoken a word since they were in the class. Shikamaru, with a eyebrow raised from something akin to curiosity, walked over to her. "You okay?" He asked casually, noting that she jolted from the sudden attention she had gotten.
She tried waving it off with a light blush upon her face. "Y-Y-Yeah! I-I'm alright!" Ino stuttered maddening, causing Shikamaru to snicker a bit. "H-Hey! What's the big idea!" She exclaimed from embarrassment.
"Nothing, I was just wondering why you were so quiet." Shikamaru shrugged as Ino fell quiet again. He sighed, "You know nothing's going to change with you acting like this you troublesome woman. I can tell something's wrong, even if they're too busy goofing off to tell. I think even Choji has and was keeping you company. So what's wrong Ino?" Shikamaru said, looking her dead in the face.
Ino looked down, playing with her hair with a deep blush on her face alongside a bittersweet smile, "I...I don't know. It just feels like I'm not really helping all that much here. It's just...I don't want to ruin the mood or anything." Ino cut herself off with a shake of her head as Shikamaru sighed with another mumble of 'Troublesome Woman' from underneath his breath.
"Ino, we're teammates, near on best friends now, you can tell me if anything is bothering you." Shikamaru told her, not realizing that they had drawn the attention of the others before Sakura joined in.
"Yeah Ino, come on, what's wrong?" Sakura said with a smile.
Ino sighed. "I don't know why you guys allow me to be friends with you after what I did..." Ino said with guilt lining her tone, but Naruto himself grunted.
"We went through this already Ino, we already told you that it was whoever put that Genjutsu on you's fault, not yours." Naruto said offhandedly. If he had to be honest, he still didn't trust Ino all the way, not after what she did to Sakura, but Sakura seemed to have forgave her.
"Bu-" Ino tried to interject before Naruto gave her a mild glare.
"He's right Ino, it's not your fault. Look, I already forgave you a long time ago for that, and we're Genin now! We got bigger things to worry about then stuff from the past. Don't worry about it, okay?" Sakura said with a smile.
"Like she said, don't overthink it too much, if thinking is doing this to you, then stop doing it you troublesome woman." Shikamaru said with a tap of his finger against her forehead, causing her to blush once more. Sakura snickered teasingly but refused to explain why it caused Ino to go after her in embarrassed rage. All in all, they weren't allowed into the library with how they were acting, so they decided to go a different day when they could get Kiba and the rest of Team Six with them instead of just two of the three teams.
"Man, we never even met that annoying Kakashi person today!" Naruto whined while heading home after Sakura, Sasuke and himself split from Asuma and Team Ten.
Sasuke merely shrugged, "Not like we really need him." Naruto groaned a bit from that.
"Yeah but, he can teach us stuff that wouldn't be in the library!" Naruto fired back, causing a surprised look from Sasuke and Sakura.
"Wow, that was actually intelligent of you Naruto, did Kurama give you that one?" Sakura joked, but the look on Naruto's face said it all, and soon enough all three were laughing at him.
They barely even noticed the weird man on the street, having a mask on his face that covered most of it, simply reading a book; however, Naruto noticed him when since he was looking around.
"Yo." Kakashi said simply as he stealthly walked up behind them, Sasuke and Sakura froze, but Naruto was mostly just livid.
"Where were you!?" Naruto yelled as Kakashi shrugged.
"Was helping an old woman cross the road, and was waiting on her to get done shopping to help her back across." Kakashi didn't even miss a beat, and to only insert more irony, an old woman having brought groceries was needing help crossing the road, to which Kakashi helped her. "And now that that's done, I take it you're the brats I'm looking after?" Kakashi said, noting the jaw drops with a mental glee that was unparalleled by many. "Though I think I might have to ask someone to hinge your jaws back up with how they're loose like that." Kakashi joked casually, before avoiding a rushed punch attempt by Naruto.
Naruto growled out as Sasuke glared at the two of them. "Naruto, not now." Sasuke shook his head at his friend, to which Naruto tried arguing. "I'll tell Sakura about that" Sasuke said as Kakashi watched with amusement on how fast the color drained from Naruto's face, and how fast he stopped arguing.
"Tell me about WHAT exactly!?" Sakura loomed with oppressive rage barely hidden at the two of them, even Sasuke looked slightly nervous.
"Nothing!" Naruto readily replied, and soon Kakashi was forgotten once more as they ran off into the distance.
Kakashi sighed, "And here I was going to tell them to meet me tomorrow by noon for the test. Oh well, I guess I can just wake them up at eight for it." Kakashi shrugged before disappearing, but not without a mumble that went unheard by all around him, "Not like they'll pass like that anyways."
A/N AGHHHHHHHHHHHH YES! Welcome to the end of the chapter guys and holy shit I am so sorry about how long this took. The beginning area took the grand majority of the time and it was just rewrite after rewrite trying to decide where to take it (The first paragraph was the only thing that stayed the same throughout, as I thought it was pretty good, but I just couldn't decide on where to start the damn thing afterwards)
in fact, I had originally started it in Choji's house, then thought against it and decided to start at the school, then reworked that to where Sakura punched him. It was a nightmare I tell you.
As soon as I got that all worked through, it was smooth sailing from there, to the point where I finished the chapter in just 3-4 days of writing it, which really shows the amount of writers block that happened.
Thank you all so goddamn much for reading, it means a lot and I swore to myself and you all that I will finish this fanfic, and I mean to keep that promise no matter what.
This is mostly just a small calm before the storm chapter in order to lead into the famed Bell Test, but on top of that, this also sets up some plots for the future, and yeah I do like InoxShikamaru a bit, but I'm not at all going to focus on that pairing, but I did give you guys a nice moment to make up for that lol.
So yeah, the next chapter will be the bell test, and then we'll start a set of chapters showing their training with Kakashi (Or chapter, idk how much I'm going to show of that all, or how many in a row. I think it'll just be placed in the chapters without needing their own chapters, but we'll see!)
Once more, thank you ALL for reading and following along, I read each and every one of the reviews, and it means a lot, good or bad. I try to take the critism to heart, and work with that all in mind. It really helps a lot guys and I thank everyone who reviewed, favorited, and/or followed the story.
Well with all that out of the way, I will see you next time with some more Two and the Same, See you next time!
-Char
P.S. I know that the children, who are 12 for anyone that forgot, act a lot older than they should, but you also have to understand the setting with it as well. They're Ninja, and Naruto just killed (presumably) a man last episode being Mizuki, so I think that they would act a bit more mature. As you guys see, they have their childish moments, but I digress. (That and I kinda always wrote them somewhat mature and I kinda don't want to admit that, whoops :P ) All jokes aside, thank you all for the support, and I'll see you next time.