Temari happily licked her spoon as she relaxed. In Suna she couldn't appreciate a nice sundae ice cream treat as the heat made it impossible to eat it slow enough to make it enjoyable. Her brothers were back at the apartment with sensei reviewing orders that had come in. Groaning, she sat back on her seat as the sounds of screaming filled the air as a white hair man raced by ducking under lighting bolts.
"Today was going so well." Going back to her treat she ignored the sight. If she was paying attention or had looked up she would have seen that it was a chicken sparking with lightning race pass. But she didn't and was more focused on her treat that was nearly gone.
'...Perhaps I should order seconds…'
In his multi decade career as a ninja for the land of fire Sarutobi Hiruzen had seen many odd and weird sights. From missions gone wrong or better than expected, calls of youth from the Gai clan members to the pranks Naruto had done to the ANBU. But this was a new one.
"Jiraiya… why are you clinging for dear life up there?" The Hokage asked, clutching his nose as a chicken clucked around his feet. All around people were whispering while Jiraiya whimpered from his place. "You're making a commotion…. Ah Naruto, there you are."
"What up Ojī-sama? I thought you wanted me at the tower?" Naruto was on his way to the tower when he had spotted the Hokage and a small gathering of ninja looking up to a strange man on top of a pole. Walking over the young gennin picked up the chicken and started to pet it. "Hey girl. Did Wu-san leave you here?"
The chicken tilted it's head. If it was a human the old man was sure it would have a look of confusion. "Bawk?"
"You know this chicken Uzumaki-san?" Naruto rubbed his head as the chicken glared at the strange man on the pole.
"Ah… yes?" Hiruzen sighed and leveled his grandfather's gaze at Naruto. Taking the hint Naruto sighed. "Her name is-"
"Lord Hokage-sama, perhaps we should perhaps deal with this somewhere?" An ANBU spoke, interrupting Naruto. The Hokage sighed and nodded his head at the point the agent had.
"Naruto, follow me please and keep a hold of your… pet. As for you," Hiruzen looked up at the sannin. "Get yourself cleaned up and go to my office on the double."
With that the third Hokage started walking back to the tower with Naruto following behind. Reaching into the folds of his sleeves he took out his pipe to help deal with the aches in his bones and the headache forming. The exams were a time of perception and strength of the hosting village as much as showing the strength of the future manpower. Because of this more foreigners were inside along with merchants, lord's, nobles and spies. With the sight of one of his best ninja running in terror of a chicken they would be a laughing stock from Kumogakure to Iwagakure.
Naruto followed behind his grandfather figure, ignorant of the headache the old man was having. Taking the hand that wasn't holding onto the chicken he tilted his hat so that he did not have to see the looks amd glares sent his way. It was nice to be back in person instead of having the memories of shadow clones of the village, but Naruto felt disappointed. After all, he was a genin of the village and a monster.
'Masted Wu would have said something about this being a teaching moment.' He thought, smiling from the memory of Wu chilling his need to be approved by those around him.
"You spend too much time on what-ifs Naruto." Wu said as he poured some tea. Naruto glared at the old man as mud dripped off his face from the one sided beat down the old man delivered. The worst part was the old man's white clothes were still clean. Wu looked up at Naruto. "What are you still laying on that for? You're not a pig in the pen, get up."
"Stupid old man." Naruto cursed as he stumbled to his feet. Only to fall back down as a rock was launched to his forehead by Wu staff.
Wu shook his head "I might be old, but my hearing is still good. Now get up and have some nice relaxing tea."
"Yes master- OW!"
"No muttering! Speak clearly and don't let the person who you are insulting be in ear shot. You are a ninja aren't you? Your as bad as Kai was when he was first under my care."
'Yep he would.' Naruto smirked from the memory. He had learned more about the red ninja as Wu called Kai that day, how the young blacksmith learned the ninja arts after Wu's brother lord Garmadon had his skeleton army took her away. Even though Naruto wasn't trained in the monastery or a flying ship by Wu, he was sure he could at least hold his own against the ninja team trained by the old master.
By this time Naruto had followed the old man to his office along with the chicken.
"Naruto…" The third said slowly as he sat down. "Where have you been? Unless I was mistaken, Kakashi had assigned you a tutor that you didn't go meet after the second round."
"Oh! I asked an old friend of mine to teach me." Naruto casually said as he took a seat. Hiruzen arched a brow at that. He knew everyone in the village and he was unaware that anyone would have given Naruto a time of day that wasn't busy. But before he could ask who Naruto went on. "Wu teachings were hard but-"
"Lord Hokage-sama, the Suna delegation has arrived and is waiting outside." An ANBU announced as she appeared in the office. Cursing the interpretation mentally the Hokage waved Naruto off, concerns for diplomacy outweighed the boy's interactive with a foreigner at the moment.
Naruto, not one to stay and explain as he was hungry, bounced out of the office with The chicken cooing on his head. "Jiji was old today."
"Cluck?"
"Yeah I know. So what do you think of some Ramen?"
"Clunk!" peck"Ow! Ok OK, I'll get some veggies and fruit. Wu and you are really mean." The chicken puffed up as Naruto relented to the sage advice Wu gave him to stay healthy.
As Naruto hopped from roof to roof he thought about everything he had learned so far under Wu. The oji-san was relentless and didn't let Naruto fail his expectations under his eyes. Ninja of wind Wu had called him...
"Like wind you are free in your emotions, playful and fun but destructive when your focus your power. Wind is all around us, pushing and spiraling in nature,unwilling to bend or break when it meets resistance from obstacles. Soft it plays with the hair, brings the sweet smells of flowers and food to us. When strong it pushes the water to smash against rocks, feeds fires that burn and makes us struggle to move forward when it is against us or pushes us to where we may wish not to go. You, Naruto, are the master of wind. With your untapped potential I see you becoming more than just a Hokage of your Village, but an elemental master."'Elemental master... seems like a powerful ninja to me still.' Naruto thought as he landed on the balcony to his apartment. Unlocking the door Naruto sighed as he was greeted by a mess of feathers, marks from lightning and the remains of his refrigerator.
Closing the door, Naruto went to the Ramen stand. He was too hungry for this and he hadn't had breakfast this morning! Sighing he slowly walked away with the chicken trailing behind him like a loyal pet.
Then voice came from down the street. "Oi! Naruto!"
"Hey Kiba!" Naruto waved as the Inuzuka and his puppy walked up to him. "What's up? looking for a rematch?"
"You wish, you know I was going to win if nor for that freak fart!" Kiba snapped as he draped an arm around Naruto. "Where have you been anyway? I thought you would have been preparing for the exams like the rest of you lucky remains... By the way... what's with the chicken?"
Kiba crouched to take a look at the strange fowl to get a better look. Akamaru was sniffing at a distance and let out a small whine as the chicken clucked and pecked the ground.
"That's-"
"What a strange bird." Kiba reached out to pick it up, only to scream as the bird zapped him with lighting. Falling down backwards a puff of black smoke was expelled from his mouth as spiral spun in place of eyes.
"Sorry Kiba but she's rather... electrifying in personality." Naruto said lamely before stepping over his unconscious friend and continued on his journey to the ramen stand. As for Akamaru, he sat down next to his master to wait for him to wake up. However a smell from the alleyway caught the puppy's attention that made him xurl his tail and bark loudly. Whatever it was it wasn't human said Akamaru's nose to his brain. It wasn't human. He only stopped once the manhole cover rung out as it was closed behind the thing that was making the strange smell.
"Dam that dog." Pythor said as he moved down the latter into the sewer of the village. "Now look where your at again Pythor, the dam sewers! I hate the underground, first it was the element master with their music, then it was to unleash the Great Devourer... Honestly, I've never been one for the outdoors."
Sending a glare at the manhole he took a look at where he was. "Hmmm... possibly a service tunnel. Now should I follow the water or back track now?"
"I'm telling you Kotetsu, there's no such thing. Naruto I think will at least do a double knockout of that Neji gennin. Otherwise he doesn't stand a chance. "
"Izumo, Naruto has shown the greatest improvement of all the new teams. Neji might of been a progeny in his class but he's barely learned anything outside his Clans martial arts."
Pythor blinked before fading from view as the voices of two humans came from upstream. 'Better start moving slowly away from them.'
As the snake slithered off Izumo and Kotetsu had come to the rungs leading up to the manhole.
"Yeah, looks like someone tripped the alarm alright. Must had either gotten scared he or she would have been caught or went downstream."
"Dam. I don't want to be that baka. Doesn't this lead to the torture and interrogation rooms?"
"Yep. I'll let Ibiki and Anko know they have a volunteer appointment session on their way. Say... what about some Ramen? We could get some hints on what Naruto is planning?"
"Naw, let's just be surprised. I'm hoping for a nice payout this year."
I was going to leave this as a one shot but after serial pms asking me to continue I decided to make this a full on story. Slow bulid up but it will be worth it. Until next time.
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