Chapter Four: Revelations
Kakashi stared out the window he was sitting next to. It was already nighttime. He looked back into the room he was sitting in. Sasuke was sitting in a chair, staring off into space like he always did. Sakura was sitting in one of the two beds occupying the room. She had a tired look on her face. Kakashi smirked a little.
'For hating him so much, she took awful good care of him.' Kakashi thought to himself.
The boy in question lay in the other bed in the room, still unconscious. Kakashi took a look at Naruto and was about to stand up when Sasuke beat him to it. Sasuke got up and stretched his body out a little then looked straight at Kakashi. There was a strange look in Sasuke's eyes. Kakashi raised his eyebrow as if telling Sasuke to ask his question.
"Who is he?" Sasuke asked, quietly yet directly.
Kakashi took another glance at Naruto and looked back at Sasuke. Sakura also glanced up. She had a serious expression on her face.
"We deserve to know, sensei. He's our partner," Sakura stated.
Kakashi raised an eyebrow at that. In an incredibly short amount of time Naruto had managed to gain the respect of both Sasuke and Sakura.
'Not just respect but it looks like they may become strong friends.' Kakashi mused when Sasuke asked his question again.
"Who is he?"
Kakashi sighed. This was not going to be easy.
"Sit down Sasuke. I'll tell you what I can but I don't think I even know the whole truth," Kakashi said quietly.
Sasuke sat down slowly. He hadn't been expecting that kind of answer. He had thought that Kakashi would merely state that Naruto was Naruto. If Kakashi was going to tell them something.
'This is serious.' Sasuke thought to himself.
"Do both of you know the story of the Nine-Tails Demon Fox?" Kakashi asked with a dark look.
'I'm going to get in a hell of a lot of trouble for this. but. they need to know if we're going to help him,' Kakashi thought to himself.
"Of course we do. The Fourth Hokage sacrificed himself to defeat it. He then sealed it up so that it would never trouble us ever again," Sakura answered quickly.
"Where do you think they sealed such a powerful creature?" Kakashi suddenly asked.
Sasuke looked at Kakashi when it clicked. His eyes widened in surprise. Sakura caught on soon after. Both of them stared at Naruto.
"But. but how is that possible? If that monster is inside of Naruto. does that make him the Nine-Tails Dem-" Sakura started when Kakashi cut her off.
"No it doesn't," Kakashi snapped quickly.
Sakura visibly recoiled but steadied herself. Sasuke just stared at Naruto.
'He has the Nine-Tails Demon Fox inside of him? What the hell?! How come none of us ever knew?' Sasuke thought when Kakashi saw the look on Sasuke's face.
"Why didn't you guys ever know about it?" Kakashi asked. "The Fourth Hokage originally intended for Naruto to be seen as the hero of the village, the one who carries the Demon Fox inside of him. However, the Fourth died as he sealed the Demon Fox. Many blamed Naruto for this. Instead of seeing Naruto as the hero of the village they saw him as the bane of it. The hatred towards Naruto is prevalent throughout the village, if you couldn't already tell. This is why the Third Hokage banned anyone from telling the younger generation from knowing that Naruto was the carrier of the Nine-Tails Demon Fox. However, feelings of the parents many times are passed onto the children. He's grown up without a parent's love or a single friend. There's one more thing that many people still to this day don't understand. The Naruto you see before you right now, many believe including myself, is not his real body," Kakashi said.
"What? Not his real body?" Sakura asked.
Sasuke just stared at Kakashi as he absorbed this newfound knowledge.
"The child that was picked, Naruto, was born with bright blond hair. The boy in front of you, as you can tell, has jet-black hair. The shape of his face, along with a few other features like his eye color, also changed. This all happened as the Fourth was finishing his seal. The boy, from what I've been told, in a flash of light changed in appearance. To this day no one knows what happened. Over time people have just dropped the subject," Kakashi finished.
"Why did you tell us all this?" Sasuke asked.
"You asked didn't you?" Kakashi answered.
"You could get in a lot of trouble," Sasuke continued.
"I'm placing my trust in you two to keep this amongst yourselves. Not for me but for Naruto," Kakashi answered. "Oh yeah, and as an added bonus, I must congratulate you three for passing my test."
"What are you talking about? The only one that did anything was Naruto," Sasuke muttered.
"On the contrary. You two showed an amazing amount of empathy for him when he collapsed. This wasn't a test of whether you were incredibly strong or anything but a test to see if you guys could work in a team. While Naruto started off on his own, when he collapsed you two were there before I said anything, remember?" Kakashi stated with a smile.
*Flashback*
"Sasuke! Sakura! This test is over! Get down here now!" Kakashi yelled just as the two appeared next to him.
Kakashi looked at the two. They had already left their positions to see what was wrong. If they had been following ninja protocol they would have stayed in their positions, just in case it had been a trap. Kakashi watched as Sakura quickly rushed to Naruto to see if she could do anything. It had been at that point that Kakashi had passed them all in his mind.
"What's wrong with Naruto? What's happening?" Sakura asked frightened.
Sasuke was also by Naruto's side by now. Both of them had picked Naruto up by slinging his arms around their shoulders. They carried him over to Kakashi to see what to do next. The trio had rushed Naruto back to the academy, which housed numerous beds and medicinal equipment. Sakura and Sasuke had quickly placed Naruto in one of the beds. Sakura quickly felt Naruto's forehead then rushed off to get a wet towel. Sasuke felt for Naruto's heartbeat, and when he found it had sighed a sigh of relief. Kakashi had intended to do all of this but sat down when he noticed the two working together. While not exactly the way he had planned for things to work out he was able to see the team work in the two. While he hadn't been able to see Naruto's teamwork he assumed that when Naruto found out that he had been taken care of things would work out in their own way.
*End Flashback*
Kakashi smiled.
"I don't think I need to test you of your skills. I mean you two were both high in your class. There's no reason to think that you guys are just beginners," Kakashi stated.
Sakura smiled. She looked over at Naruto and felt his forehead.
"His temperature's going down," Sakura said with relief.
A little tension seemed to leave Sasuke's face at that. Kakashi smiled at the scene. The three would make a very good team.
"You two should get out of here. It's getting late. I'll take care of Naruto for now. You guys need your rest as well," Kakashi said standing up.
His midsection was still sore and he rubbed it. He looked at Naruto with a serious expression.
'You're hiding a lot more aren't you, Naruto.' Kakashi asked Naruto in his mind.
Sasuke got up and took one more look at Naruto. Sakura also got up. She went over to Naruto and switched the old wet towel with a new one and walked out with Sasuke.
"I'll see you guys in the morning, right here," Kakashi yelled to the two.
He turned back around and sat back down in his chair. He noticed Naruto stir a little. Kakashi looked at him and wondered what he had gotten himself into.
*****
Sakura and Sasuke both walked side by side. Both of them walked slower then usual. Sakura took a glance at Sasuke.
'I should be ecstatic to be walking next to him like this but.'
Sasuke stared straight ahead, his thoughts a jumbled mess. Sakura finally broke the silence.
"What do you think?" Sakura asked.
Sasuke just kept on walking. Sakura lowered her head a little when Sasuke finally spoke up.
"I'm not sure." Sasuke muttered.
"Yea. hey, Sasuke-kun, I. I think I'm going to be nicer to Naruto.." Sakura stated.
"Yea." Sasuke said quietly.
Sakura smiled. She felt a closer bond to Sasuke then she had ever felt. It made her feel warm inside. She suddenly thought of Naruto. She didn't feel any of the animosity she usually felt. Maybe she was growing up.
Sasuke looked over at Sakura who was smiling, but not that dumb smile she usually had on but a genuinely happy smile. Sasuke was slightly set off by it.
'Cute.' Sasuke suddenly thought when he quickly shook the thought out of his head. 'What the hell am I thinking.'
He stared straight forward. He hadn't known Naruto very well. Hell he hadn't known anyone very well, but he did remember one thing about Naruto that stuck out in his mind. He had always been alone.
'Just like me.'
*Flashback*
Sasuke sat in the back of the classroom when the lunch bell finally rang. He got up and walked out before everyone else got up.
'This is boring.' Sasuke thought to himself.
He quickly got his lunch and went off on his own when he noticed a group of other kids playing around. He recognized a few of them. He couldn't remember any of their names but some of them were in his class. That was when he heard a loud string of curses. He raised his eyebrow and looked back to see who was causing all the commotion. He recognized the kid.
'Heh, isn't he the kid that's dead last in our class?' Sasuke thought to himself.
"Naruto! Stop messing around!" Iruka-sensei yelled.
"Hey! I didn't do anything!" Naruto yelled.
Before Iruka could say anymore Naruto ran off. Iruka watched with an angry expression that seemed to soften quickly. Sasuke noticed that Naruto was running in the opposite direction of everyone else. While Sasuke could have joined in any of the games if he had wanted to Naruto had always been excluded. Of course Sasuke had no intention of involving himself with others. He had other things on his mind. Sasuke shrugged his shoulders and continued on his way, not thinking twice about Naruto.
*End Flashback*
Sasuke looked off into the distance. Sakura on the other hand stared at the ground as she walked. She also began to think back to her childhood. She had been pretty well accepted after she had gotten over the forehead incident. Sakura remembered the first time she had met Naruto. She had been, less then friendly at the time. That attitude towards Naruto had just continued and Sakura was starting to regret it. She remembered all the things Naruto had done to try and get her attention. She smiled as she remembered one particular attempt.
*Flashback*
Sakura was sitting down staring at the lake. She was staring off into space. She had just found out that Ino also liked Sasuke. The kids had all made fun of her. Sakura had run off in tears. Of course the last person she wanted to see was approaching her. Naruto, the most annoying person ever. Sakura sighed.
'Shit. I can't let that fool see me crying like this.' Sakura sniffed.
"What do you want?" Sakura asked without even turning around.
"Not much," Naruto responded simply.
Sakura hadn't been expecting that type of answer.
"Why you getting down over something like Sasuke?" Naruto asked suddenly.
"You wouldn't understand," Sakura snapped angrily.
"Whatever, I'm a hundred times better then that guy," Naruto stated cockily.
Sakura turned around to make fun of Naruto but instead she found herself staring at Naruto. He was standing with his arms crossed in front his chest, the wind blowing through his hair. He had his jet black hair tied back in a ponytail that flapped along with the wind. To be honest Naruto was incredibly handsome, even comparable to Sasuke in many aspects. Naruto suddenly looked at Sakura.
"What?" Naruto asked, his deadpanned expression back on his face.
Sakura snapped out of her reverie and looked at Naruto again.
'What am I thinking, this is Naruto! He's just a stupid moron,' Sakura thought to herself.
"N-nothing," Sakura muttered as she turned around again.
"Hey Sakura, if I could beat Sasuke." Naruto started then stopped.
"What?" Sakura asked.
"Huh, never mind," Naruto said quickly. "Hey Sakura."
"What?" Sakura asked again as she turned around only to see Naruto making a funny face right in front of her.
Sakura immediately back off, which caused her to loose her balance. She was about to fall in the water when she felt Naruto rush past her and push her back onto the dock. She heard the splash as Naruto plunged into the lake. Sakura stared at Naruto who popped back out with a goofy grin on his face. Suddenly his face broke out in shock.
"AH! It's cold!" Naruto yelled as he thrashed around in the water.
The scene was just too funny and Sakura began to laugh. Naruto saw this and smiled, his right hand tugging on his ponytail. Sakura giggled.
*End Flashback*
Sakura smiled. She had forgotten the incident soon afterwards but it was coming back to her now. Sakura looked up and found herself nearing her house. She looked over to Sasuke.
"Uh, I guess I'll be seeing you tomorrow," Sakura said softly.
"Yea," Sasuke answered back.
"Bye," Sakura said as she walked to her house.
Sasuke just watched as she walked into her house. Sasuke stood there. He really had no reason to head to his house. He looked back towards the Academy. He still had a lot of questions that he wanted answered and his answers were all back at the Academy. Sasuke smirked.
'Who would have thought that I would care for that idiot at all.' Sasuke thought as he turned around and headed back towards to Academy.
Just as he had turned around he heard a door open and then slam shut. He looked back to see Sakura heading back out of her house with a small bento. Sakura looked up and saw Sasuke, heading back towards the Academy.
"You're heading back too?" Sakura asked suddenly.
"What about you?" Sasuke asked right back.
The two looked at each other for a second then Sakura broke out into a smile.
"Let's go back to our teammate," Sakura said with a smile.
Sasuke looked at Sakura once and turned around.
"Yeah." he muttered.
'Cute.' he thought again.
Sasuke shook his head and began to walk forward as Sakura followed behind him. The two arrived back at the Academy to find Kakashi snoring.
"Figures he'd be sleeping," Sasuke muttered.
Of course Kakashi woke up at the first sight of motion. He stared at the two and then smirked.
"What are you two doing? Weren't you supposed to go back home?" Kakashi asked.
"I brought some food sensei," Sakura stated avoiding the question.
"Huh?" Kakashi muttered noticing the bento. "Well then, let's eat!"
The three sat down and began to eat some of the food. Kakashi smiled as he ate.
'I wasn't expecting this at all. I'm definitely going to enjoy teaching these three. Foods good too.' Kakashi thought.
Eventually the three finished off the bento. Sakura returned to the other bed and sat down while Sasuke and Kakashi sat down in their chairs. Sakura fell asleep soon afterwards, exhausted both physically and mentally. Sasuke saw her and sighed. Kakashi looked over to Naruto and then looked at Sasuke.
"What do you think?" Kakashi asked suddenly.
"I'm not sure right now," Sasuke answered.
"You will get stronger Sasuke," Kakashi stated out of nowhere.
Sasuke remained silent and just stared at Naruto.
"Get some sleep Sasuke. You'll need it," Kakashi said.
"Yea." Sasuke muttered as his eyes began to droop.
'The kids exhausted.' Kakashi thought as he felt a wave of tiredness wash over him. 'I'm getting tired too.'
Both of them soon fell asleep.
*****
Naruto slowly opened his eyes. He was back in control of the body. He stared at the ceiling. He sat up and looked around when he finally noticed the three other people in the room.
'What the hell?' Naruto thought. 'What are they doing here? Where am I for that matter?'
"Finally awake are we, Naruto," Kakashi said.
"Huh? Oh yea." Naruto answered.
"Those two have been here all night," Kakashi said.
Naruto just looked at Sasuke and Sakura. He felt warm inside. It made him feel good.
"Well now that you're awake I want to ask you a few questions," Kakashi said getting straight to the point. "However, I'm going to wait for them to wake up. They deserve to know what I'm going to ask you. Oh and I told them about the Nine-Tails."
"What?!" Naruto yelled.
"And they're still here Naruto. No one thinks any less of you," Kakashi stated quickly.
"Err. yea." Naruto said as he realized the truth of the fact.
That was when Ranma woke up.
'"What's going on?"' Ranma asked Naruto.
'"I'm not sure."' Naruto answered back. '"But I think they've realized that I'm different. Maybe we shouldn't have shown them our strength,"'
'"Don't worry about it. I think we can trust them with our little secret,"' Ranma said.
'"Yea."' Naruto agreed.
'"So we tell them?"' Ranma asked once more.
'"Yea. I think I can trust them,"' Naruto said as he looked at Sasuke and Sakura, then with a smile continued. '"They're my friends."'
Ranma smiled. Naruto was already maturing. That was when he remembered the pain from the previous night.
'We're going to have to do something about that.' Ranma thought when he felt a chill run up his spine.
Before he could think about it any more than that he saw Sasuke stir in his chair. Sasuke looked around and noticed Naruto looked straight back at him.
"So you finally decided to wake up," Sasuke said.
"What about you?" Naruto shot right back.
The two looked at each other, as if sizing each other up, when Sakura decided to wake up as well.
"Hey! You're awake!" Sakura yelled as she saw Naruto sitting upright.
"Uh, yea." Naruto said, unsure as to why Sakura was so happy.
"Well then, it seems like everyone's up!" Kakashi said with a smile. "We can get down to business then. Naruto, do you have anything to say?"
Naruto looked at the three and sighed.
"I don't really have anything to say." Naruto started when he switched places with Ranma. "But I do."
Everyone noticed the switch. Everyone immediately assumed the worse and jumped backwards.
"Who are you?" Kakashi asked, hoping it wasn't the Nine-Tails.
"Hey! I'm not a bad guy, so you guys can chill out a little," Ranma said as he instantly noticed the immense tension in the room.
"It's obvious that you aren't Naruto so how are we supposed to believe you?" Kakashi asked.
"Look, you're going to have to trust me. Naruto is fine with it and. hey! You think I'm the Nine-Tails whatever? Well I'm not! You of all people should be able to tell that much," Ranma stated firmly.
Kakashi reprimanded himself for getting caught off guard like that by what seemed to be another kid. Ranma did notice that everyone visibly relaxed.
'Well at least they sort of believe me.' Ranma thought to himself.
"Let me start from the beginning and tell you who I am." Ranma started.
Ranma went through his basic life story describing where he had come from and what he had been through. It took most of the morning for Ranma to get through with it. Then he explained the events that finally led up to him coming here.
"So I heard this voice that told me that she was going to steal half of my soul or something and use it to save Naruto. I'm still not sure why Naruto also took control of my body. Anyways, I didn't wake up until about four weeks ago. Apart from that I don't know much more than you guys," Ranma finished.
Kakashi was sitting in his chair staring at Naruto/ Ranma. It was almost too fantastic to believe but here he was sitting right in front of him. Sasuke was just as overwhelmed that this could even be possible. Sakura was pretty much at her limits for surprises by this time came around. Kakashi broke the short silence first.
"I have a question to ask you. What were you doing when we fought? All I can figure out is that you weren't using chakra yet you were still able to pull off techniques," Kakashi asked.
Sasuke perked up at this. Ranma just looked at Kakashi and began explaining what he could.
"What I was using was something called chi. I use two different kinds of chi, something I call pure chi and another I call emotional chi. It's kind of like your chakra in some ways. What I'm trying to figure out is why I keep passing out in pain every time Naruto and I use up our reserves of chi and chakra. I know that we'd feel drained but it shouldn't hurt nearly as much as it does," Ranma answered and asked himself.
"Chi. well if it was just chi then I know what you're talking about," Kakashi stated.
"You know about chi?" Ranma asked.
"Of course I do. It's basically what we use to work on our Taijutsu, of course our usage of chi is nowhere near your level," Kakashi stated.
"Hmm. then that means I was right, I shouldn't feel that much pain. then what the hell is it.?" Ranma asked himself when Sasuke finally started talking.
"Maybe it has to do with the Nine-Tails," Sasuke stated.
"Maybe. but I can't be sure and I don't think the demon's quite awake at the moment and I want to keep it that way for a while longer if possible," Ranma stated.
"I see." Kakashi murmured. "Well, we've been cooped up in here for long enough I think. Let's go out and see if we can't do just a little more training."
"Aren't we supposed to start missions, sensei?" Sakura asked suddenly.
"I'm sure no one will mind us being gone for a few days and besides, I wasn't able to see you two in action," Kakashi said with a wink.
"Yea! We can train!" Naruto shouted suddenly taking control of the body again.
"Hahaha." Kakashi laughed slowly.
The four of them left the room and quickly gathered up whatever they needed and met at the edge of the forest.
"Let's go!" Kakashi shouted while walking ahead of the three genin's.
*****
Iruka sat in main office. All the other groups had already come in to receive their missions. Iruka had seen most of his students and were glad to see that most of them had all passed their respective jounin's tests. However, it was starting to get late and Iruka was still waiting for one group. The one group that he had been most worried about.
'What the hell is Kakashi doing? Did he fail them or what? He would have told us by now if he had failed them.' Iruka thought impatiently.
The Third Hokage sat next to Iruka with a sleepy expression on his face. He sighed once.
"I'm terribly sorry about this Hokage-sama," Iruka stammered as he sat next to the Third.
"Don't worry about it Iruka," The Third said with a sigh.
'Argh. what are you thinking Kakashi?!' Iruka thought for the hundredth time.
The Third looked over to his glass ball and invoked a simple ninjutsu that showed him the location of the members of the leaf. He quickly spotted Kakashi heading off into the woods with his right hand raised in the air. Naruto, a huge grin plastered on his face, was following right behind him, also with his right hand in the air. Sasuke and Sakura were just behind Naruto with a smirk on their faces. The Third looked at the four with a smile. It reminded him of his own three students that he had cared for. He quickly shook the memory out of his head and looked over to Iruka.
"Seems that it's safe to say that the four of them are doing quite well," The Third say with a smile.
Iruka just sat back and breathed heavily.
'I'm going to kill you Kakashi for making me worry like this.'
Author's notes: Been a while since I updated. I'm definitely working on my other stories as well so don't worry! So Ranma's revealed his secret to his teammates and he also seems to have discovered a few clues to the mysterious pain that seems to accompany his usage of his energy. All the explanation of the chi and chakra stuff, you'll have to take with a grain of salt. I made the stuff up just to fit the story line. Well, the four of them are off to train now. What kinds of surprises are in store for them as they train? Until next time! Please R&R!
Kakashi stared out the window he was sitting next to. It was already nighttime. He looked back into the room he was sitting in. Sasuke was sitting in a chair, staring off into space like he always did. Sakura was sitting in one of the two beds occupying the room. She had a tired look on her face. Kakashi smirked a little.
'For hating him so much, she took awful good care of him.' Kakashi thought to himself.
The boy in question lay in the other bed in the room, still unconscious. Kakashi took a look at Naruto and was about to stand up when Sasuke beat him to it. Sasuke got up and stretched his body out a little then looked straight at Kakashi. There was a strange look in Sasuke's eyes. Kakashi raised his eyebrow as if telling Sasuke to ask his question.
"Who is he?" Sasuke asked, quietly yet directly.
Kakashi took another glance at Naruto and looked back at Sasuke. Sakura also glanced up. She had a serious expression on her face.
"We deserve to know, sensei. He's our partner," Sakura stated.
Kakashi raised an eyebrow at that. In an incredibly short amount of time Naruto had managed to gain the respect of both Sasuke and Sakura.
'Not just respect but it looks like they may become strong friends.' Kakashi mused when Sasuke asked his question again.
"Who is he?"
Kakashi sighed. This was not going to be easy.
"Sit down Sasuke. I'll tell you what I can but I don't think I even know the whole truth," Kakashi said quietly.
Sasuke sat down slowly. He hadn't been expecting that kind of answer. He had thought that Kakashi would merely state that Naruto was Naruto. If Kakashi was going to tell them something.
'This is serious.' Sasuke thought to himself.
"Do both of you know the story of the Nine-Tails Demon Fox?" Kakashi asked with a dark look.
'I'm going to get in a hell of a lot of trouble for this. but. they need to know if we're going to help him,' Kakashi thought to himself.
"Of course we do. The Fourth Hokage sacrificed himself to defeat it. He then sealed it up so that it would never trouble us ever again," Sakura answered quickly.
"Where do you think they sealed such a powerful creature?" Kakashi suddenly asked.
Sasuke looked at Kakashi when it clicked. His eyes widened in surprise. Sakura caught on soon after. Both of them stared at Naruto.
"But. but how is that possible? If that monster is inside of Naruto. does that make him the Nine-Tails Dem-" Sakura started when Kakashi cut her off.
"No it doesn't," Kakashi snapped quickly.
Sakura visibly recoiled but steadied herself. Sasuke just stared at Naruto.
'He has the Nine-Tails Demon Fox inside of him? What the hell?! How come none of us ever knew?' Sasuke thought when Kakashi saw the look on Sasuke's face.
"Why didn't you guys ever know about it?" Kakashi asked. "The Fourth Hokage originally intended for Naruto to be seen as the hero of the village, the one who carries the Demon Fox inside of him. However, the Fourth died as he sealed the Demon Fox. Many blamed Naruto for this. Instead of seeing Naruto as the hero of the village they saw him as the bane of it. The hatred towards Naruto is prevalent throughout the village, if you couldn't already tell. This is why the Third Hokage banned anyone from telling the younger generation from knowing that Naruto was the carrier of the Nine-Tails Demon Fox. However, feelings of the parents many times are passed onto the children. He's grown up without a parent's love or a single friend. There's one more thing that many people still to this day don't understand. The Naruto you see before you right now, many believe including myself, is not his real body," Kakashi said.
"What? Not his real body?" Sakura asked.
Sasuke just stared at Kakashi as he absorbed this newfound knowledge.
"The child that was picked, Naruto, was born with bright blond hair. The boy in front of you, as you can tell, has jet-black hair. The shape of his face, along with a few other features like his eye color, also changed. This all happened as the Fourth was finishing his seal. The boy, from what I've been told, in a flash of light changed in appearance. To this day no one knows what happened. Over time people have just dropped the subject," Kakashi finished.
"Why did you tell us all this?" Sasuke asked.
"You asked didn't you?" Kakashi answered.
"You could get in a lot of trouble," Sasuke continued.
"I'm placing my trust in you two to keep this amongst yourselves. Not for me but for Naruto," Kakashi answered. "Oh yeah, and as an added bonus, I must congratulate you three for passing my test."
"What are you talking about? The only one that did anything was Naruto," Sasuke muttered.
"On the contrary. You two showed an amazing amount of empathy for him when he collapsed. This wasn't a test of whether you were incredibly strong or anything but a test to see if you guys could work in a team. While Naruto started off on his own, when he collapsed you two were there before I said anything, remember?" Kakashi stated with a smile.
*Flashback*
"Sasuke! Sakura! This test is over! Get down here now!" Kakashi yelled just as the two appeared next to him.
Kakashi looked at the two. They had already left their positions to see what was wrong. If they had been following ninja protocol they would have stayed in their positions, just in case it had been a trap. Kakashi watched as Sakura quickly rushed to Naruto to see if she could do anything. It had been at that point that Kakashi had passed them all in his mind.
"What's wrong with Naruto? What's happening?" Sakura asked frightened.
Sasuke was also by Naruto's side by now. Both of them had picked Naruto up by slinging his arms around their shoulders. They carried him over to Kakashi to see what to do next. The trio had rushed Naruto back to the academy, which housed numerous beds and medicinal equipment. Sakura and Sasuke had quickly placed Naruto in one of the beds. Sakura quickly felt Naruto's forehead then rushed off to get a wet towel. Sasuke felt for Naruto's heartbeat, and when he found it had sighed a sigh of relief. Kakashi had intended to do all of this but sat down when he noticed the two working together. While not exactly the way he had planned for things to work out he was able to see the team work in the two. While he hadn't been able to see Naruto's teamwork he assumed that when Naruto found out that he had been taken care of things would work out in their own way.
*End Flashback*
Kakashi smiled.
"I don't think I need to test you of your skills. I mean you two were both high in your class. There's no reason to think that you guys are just beginners," Kakashi stated.
Sakura smiled. She looked over at Naruto and felt his forehead.
"His temperature's going down," Sakura said with relief.
A little tension seemed to leave Sasuke's face at that. Kakashi smiled at the scene. The three would make a very good team.
"You two should get out of here. It's getting late. I'll take care of Naruto for now. You guys need your rest as well," Kakashi said standing up.
His midsection was still sore and he rubbed it. He looked at Naruto with a serious expression.
'You're hiding a lot more aren't you, Naruto.' Kakashi asked Naruto in his mind.
Sasuke got up and took one more look at Naruto. Sakura also got up. She went over to Naruto and switched the old wet towel with a new one and walked out with Sasuke.
"I'll see you guys in the morning, right here," Kakashi yelled to the two.
He turned back around and sat back down in his chair. He noticed Naruto stir a little. Kakashi looked at him and wondered what he had gotten himself into.
*****
Sakura and Sasuke both walked side by side. Both of them walked slower then usual. Sakura took a glance at Sasuke.
'I should be ecstatic to be walking next to him like this but.'
Sasuke stared straight ahead, his thoughts a jumbled mess. Sakura finally broke the silence.
"What do you think?" Sakura asked.
Sasuke just kept on walking. Sakura lowered her head a little when Sasuke finally spoke up.
"I'm not sure." Sasuke muttered.
"Yea. hey, Sasuke-kun, I. I think I'm going to be nicer to Naruto.." Sakura stated.
"Yea." Sasuke said quietly.
Sakura smiled. She felt a closer bond to Sasuke then she had ever felt. It made her feel warm inside. She suddenly thought of Naruto. She didn't feel any of the animosity she usually felt. Maybe she was growing up.
Sasuke looked over at Sakura who was smiling, but not that dumb smile she usually had on but a genuinely happy smile. Sasuke was slightly set off by it.
'Cute.' Sasuke suddenly thought when he quickly shook the thought out of his head. 'What the hell am I thinking.'
He stared straight forward. He hadn't known Naruto very well. Hell he hadn't known anyone very well, but he did remember one thing about Naruto that stuck out in his mind. He had always been alone.
'Just like me.'
*Flashback*
Sasuke sat in the back of the classroom when the lunch bell finally rang. He got up and walked out before everyone else got up.
'This is boring.' Sasuke thought to himself.
He quickly got his lunch and went off on his own when he noticed a group of other kids playing around. He recognized a few of them. He couldn't remember any of their names but some of them were in his class. That was when he heard a loud string of curses. He raised his eyebrow and looked back to see who was causing all the commotion. He recognized the kid.
'Heh, isn't he the kid that's dead last in our class?' Sasuke thought to himself.
"Naruto! Stop messing around!" Iruka-sensei yelled.
"Hey! I didn't do anything!" Naruto yelled.
Before Iruka could say anymore Naruto ran off. Iruka watched with an angry expression that seemed to soften quickly. Sasuke noticed that Naruto was running in the opposite direction of everyone else. While Sasuke could have joined in any of the games if he had wanted to Naruto had always been excluded. Of course Sasuke had no intention of involving himself with others. He had other things on his mind. Sasuke shrugged his shoulders and continued on his way, not thinking twice about Naruto.
*End Flashback*
Sasuke looked off into the distance. Sakura on the other hand stared at the ground as she walked. She also began to think back to her childhood. She had been pretty well accepted after she had gotten over the forehead incident. Sakura remembered the first time she had met Naruto. She had been, less then friendly at the time. That attitude towards Naruto had just continued and Sakura was starting to regret it. She remembered all the things Naruto had done to try and get her attention. She smiled as she remembered one particular attempt.
*Flashback*
Sakura was sitting down staring at the lake. She was staring off into space. She had just found out that Ino also liked Sasuke. The kids had all made fun of her. Sakura had run off in tears. Of course the last person she wanted to see was approaching her. Naruto, the most annoying person ever. Sakura sighed.
'Shit. I can't let that fool see me crying like this.' Sakura sniffed.
"What do you want?" Sakura asked without even turning around.
"Not much," Naruto responded simply.
Sakura hadn't been expecting that type of answer.
"Why you getting down over something like Sasuke?" Naruto asked suddenly.
"You wouldn't understand," Sakura snapped angrily.
"Whatever, I'm a hundred times better then that guy," Naruto stated cockily.
Sakura turned around to make fun of Naruto but instead she found herself staring at Naruto. He was standing with his arms crossed in front his chest, the wind blowing through his hair. He had his jet black hair tied back in a ponytail that flapped along with the wind. To be honest Naruto was incredibly handsome, even comparable to Sasuke in many aspects. Naruto suddenly looked at Sakura.
"What?" Naruto asked, his deadpanned expression back on his face.
Sakura snapped out of her reverie and looked at Naruto again.
'What am I thinking, this is Naruto! He's just a stupid moron,' Sakura thought to herself.
"N-nothing," Sakura muttered as she turned around again.
"Hey Sakura, if I could beat Sasuke." Naruto started then stopped.
"What?" Sakura asked.
"Huh, never mind," Naruto said quickly. "Hey Sakura."
"What?" Sakura asked again as she turned around only to see Naruto making a funny face right in front of her.
Sakura immediately back off, which caused her to loose her balance. She was about to fall in the water when she felt Naruto rush past her and push her back onto the dock. She heard the splash as Naruto plunged into the lake. Sakura stared at Naruto who popped back out with a goofy grin on his face. Suddenly his face broke out in shock.
"AH! It's cold!" Naruto yelled as he thrashed around in the water.
The scene was just too funny and Sakura began to laugh. Naruto saw this and smiled, his right hand tugging on his ponytail. Sakura giggled.
*End Flashback*
Sakura smiled. She had forgotten the incident soon afterwards but it was coming back to her now. Sakura looked up and found herself nearing her house. She looked over to Sasuke.
"Uh, I guess I'll be seeing you tomorrow," Sakura said softly.
"Yea," Sasuke answered back.
"Bye," Sakura said as she walked to her house.
Sasuke just watched as she walked into her house. Sasuke stood there. He really had no reason to head to his house. He looked back towards the Academy. He still had a lot of questions that he wanted answered and his answers were all back at the Academy. Sasuke smirked.
'Who would have thought that I would care for that idiot at all.' Sasuke thought as he turned around and headed back towards to Academy.
Just as he had turned around he heard a door open and then slam shut. He looked back to see Sakura heading back out of her house with a small bento. Sakura looked up and saw Sasuke, heading back towards the Academy.
"You're heading back too?" Sakura asked suddenly.
"What about you?" Sasuke asked right back.
The two looked at each other for a second then Sakura broke out into a smile.
"Let's go back to our teammate," Sakura said with a smile.
Sasuke looked at Sakura once and turned around.
"Yeah." he muttered.
'Cute.' he thought again.
Sasuke shook his head and began to walk forward as Sakura followed behind him. The two arrived back at the Academy to find Kakashi snoring.
"Figures he'd be sleeping," Sasuke muttered.
Of course Kakashi woke up at the first sight of motion. He stared at the two and then smirked.
"What are you two doing? Weren't you supposed to go back home?" Kakashi asked.
"I brought some food sensei," Sakura stated avoiding the question.
"Huh?" Kakashi muttered noticing the bento. "Well then, let's eat!"
The three sat down and began to eat some of the food. Kakashi smiled as he ate.
'I wasn't expecting this at all. I'm definitely going to enjoy teaching these three. Foods good too.' Kakashi thought.
Eventually the three finished off the bento. Sakura returned to the other bed and sat down while Sasuke and Kakashi sat down in their chairs. Sakura fell asleep soon afterwards, exhausted both physically and mentally. Sasuke saw her and sighed. Kakashi looked over to Naruto and then looked at Sasuke.
"What do you think?" Kakashi asked suddenly.
"I'm not sure right now," Sasuke answered.
"You will get stronger Sasuke," Kakashi stated out of nowhere.
Sasuke remained silent and just stared at Naruto.
"Get some sleep Sasuke. You'll need it," Kakashi said.
"Yea." Sasuke muttered as his eyes began to droop.
'The kids exhausted.' Kakashi thought as he felt a wave of tiredness wash over him. 'I'm getting tired too.'
Both of them soon fell asleep.
*****
Naruto slowly opened his eyes. He was back in control of the body. He stared at the ceiling. He sat up and looked around when he finally noticed the three other people in the room.
'What the hell?' Naruto thought. 'What are they doing here? Where am I for that matter?'
"Finally awake are we, Naruto," Kakashi said.
"Huh? Oh yea." Naruto answered.
"Those two have been here all night," Kakashi said.
Naruto just looked at Sasuke and Sakura. He felt warm inside. It made him feel good.
"Well now that you're awake I want to ask you a few questions," Kakashi said getting straight to the point. "However, I'm going to wait for them to wake up. They deserve to know what I'm going to ask you. Oh and I told them about the Nine-Tails."
"What?!" Naruto yelled.
"And they're still here Naruto. No one thinks any less of you," Kakashi stated quickly.
"Err. yea." Naruto said as he realized the truth of the fact.
That was when Ranma woke up.
'"What's going on?"' Ranma asked Naruto.
'"I'm not sure."' Naruto answered back. '"But I think they've realized that I'm different. Maybe we shouldn't have shown them our strength,"'
'"Don't worry about it. I think we can trust them with our little secret,"' Ranma said.
'"Yea."' Naruto agreed.
'"So we tell them?"' Ranma asked once more.
'"Yea. I think I can trust them,"' Naruto said as he looked at Sasuke and Sakura, then with a smile continued. '"They're my friends."'
Ranma smiled. Naruto was already maturing. That was when he remembered the pain from the previous night.
'We're going to have to do something about that.' Ranma thought when he felt a chill run up his spine.
Before he could think about it any more than that he saw Sasuke stir in his chair. Sasuke looked around and noticed Naruto looked straight back at him.
"So you finally decided to wake up," Sasuke said.
"What about you?" Naruto shot right back.
The two looked at each other, as if sizing each other up, when Sakura decided to wake up as well.
"Hey! You're awake!" Sakura yelled as she saw Naruto sitting upright.
"Uh, yea." Naruto said, unsure as to why Sakura was so happy.
"Well then, it seems like everyone's up!" Kakashi said with a smile. "We can get down to business then. Naruto, do you have anything to say?"
Naruto looked at the three and sighed.
"I don't really have anything to say." Naruto started when he switched places with Ranma. "But I do."
Everyone noticed the switch. Everyone immediately assumed the worse and jumped backwards.
"Who are you?" Kakashi asked, hoping it wasn't the Nine-Tails.
"Hey! I'm not a bad guy, so you guys can chill out a little," Ranma said as he instantly noticed the immense tension in the room.
"It's obvious that you aren't Naruto so how are we supposed to believe you?" Kakashi asked.
"Look, you're going to have to trust me. Naruto is fine with it and. hey! You think I'm the Nine-Tails whatever? Well I'm not! You of all people should be able to tell that much," Ranma stated firmly.
Kakashi reprimanded himself for getting caught off guard like that by what seemed to be another kid. Ranma did notice that everyone visibly relaxed.
'Well at least they sort of believe me.' Ranma thought to himself.
"Let me start from the beginning and tell you who I am." Ranma started.
Ranma went through his basic life story describing where he had come from and what he had been through. It took most of the morning for Ranma to get through with it. Then he explained the events that finally led up to him coming here.
"So I heard this voice that told me that she was going to steal half of my soul or something and use it to save Naruto. I'm still not sure why Naruto also took control of my body. Anyways, I didn't wake up until about four weeks ago. Apart from that I don't know much more than you guys," Ranma finished.
Kakashi was sitting in his chair staring at Naruto/ Ranma. It was almost too fantastic to believe but here he was sitting right in front of him. Sasuke was just as overwhelmed that this could even be possible. Sakura was pretty much at her limits for surprises by this time came around. Kakashi broke the short silence first.
"I have a question to ask you. What were you doing when we fought? All I can figure out is that you weren't using chakra yet you were still able to pull off techniques," Kakashi asked.
Sasuke perked up at this. Ranma just looked at Kakashi and began explaining what he could.
"What I was using was something called chi. I use two different kinds of chi, something I call pure chi and another I call emotional chi. It's kind of like your chakra in some ways. What I'm trying to figure out is why I keep passing out in pain every time Naruto and I use up our reserves of chi and chakra. I know that we'd feel drained but it shouldn't hurt nearly as much as it does," Ranma answered and asked himself.
"Chi. well if it was just chi then I know what you're talking about," Kakashi stated.
"You know about chi?" Ranma asked.
"Of course I do. It's basically what we use to work on our Taijutsu, of course our usage of chi is nowhere near your level," Kakashi stated.
"Hmm. then that means I was right, I shouldn't feel that much pain. then what the hell is it.?" Ranma asked himself when Sasuke finally started talking.
"Maybe it has to do with the Nine-Tails," Sasuke stated.
"Maybe. but I can't be sure and I don't think the demon's quite awake at the moment and I want to keep it that way for a while longer if possible," Ranma stated.
"I see." Kakashi murmured. "Well, we've been cooped up in here for long enough I think. Let's go out and see if we can't do just a little more training."
"Aren't we supposed to start missions, sensei?" Sakura asked suddenly.
"I'm sure no one will mind us being gone for a few days and besides, I wasn't able to see you two in action," Kakashi said with a wink.
"Yea! We can train!" Naruto shouted suddenly taking control of the body again.
"Hahaha." Kakashi laughed slowly.
The four of them left the room and quickly gathered up whatever they needed and met at the edge of the forest.
"Let's go!" Kakashi shouted while walking ahead of the three genin's.
*****
Iruka sat in main office. All the other groups had already come in to receive their missions. Iruka had seen most of his students and were glad to see that most of them had all passed their respective jounin's tests. However, it was starting to get late and Iruka was still waiting for one group. The one group that he had been most worried about.
'What the hell is Kakashi doing? Did he fail them or what? He would have told us by now if he had failed them.' Iruka thought impatiently.
The Third Hokage sat next to Iruka with a sleepy expression on his face. He sighed once.
"I'm terribly sorry about this Hokage-sama," Iruka stammered as he sat next to the Third.
"Don't worry about it Iruka," The Third said with a sigh.
'Argh. what are you thinking Kakashi?!' Iruka thought for the hundredth time.
The Third looked over to his glass ball and invoked a simple ninjutsu that showed him the location of the members of the leaf. He quickly spotted Kakashi heading off into the woods with his right hand raised in the air. Naruto, a huge grin plastered on his face, was following right behind him, also with his right hand in the air. Sasuke and Sakura were just behind Naruto with a smirk on their faces. The Third looked at the four with a smile. It reminded him of his own three students that he had cared for. He quickly shook the memory out of his head and looked over to Iruka.
"Seems that it's safe to say that the four of them are doing quite well," The Third say with a smile.
Iruka just sat back and breathed heavily.
'I'm going to kill you Kakashi for making me worry like this.'
Author's notes: Been a while since I updated. I'm definitely working on my other stories as well so don't worry! So Ranma's revealed his secret to his teammates and he also seems to have discovered a few clues to the mysterious pain that seems to accompany his usage of his energy. All the explanation of the chi and chakra stuff, you'll have to take with a grain of salt. I made the stuff up just to fit the story line. Well, the four of them are off to train now. What kinds of surprises are in store for them as they train? Until next time! Please R&R!