It was not an emotion he was used to experience. Whenever it happened he never knew what it was at first. During calmer periods, he reflected over his feelings and he would realize: it was jealousy. Such a strange concept for him to grasp, being envious of someone else. It was unthinkable. He was the top of his class, heir to the Uchiha clan, a Sharingan user, and he was heralded as a genius. So why did he desire the power of his teammate? The bottom of his class, loud, obnoxious, and stubborn to boot – all perfectly described Uzumaki Naruto.
Jealousy was not a part of him, the only time he could remember being jealous was when Itachi came home one evening from his training and showed him his eyes. They contained three Sharingan wheels, proof of mastery. Even though he was barely out of the toddler stage, he was jealous of his brother. The Sharingan ability was difficult to use at its full power, to master it so young was nothing short of a miracle.
Now, he was feeling that same emotion towards that fool. In mere seconds he had killed at least a chuunin level ninja, not one to take lightly. If not for his ability, he would not have been able to follow. Naruto had used the same technique as against Kiba. The "Rasengan" was what Kakashi-sensei called it. At the time, he had not thought much about it; his own Chidori was more impressive anyway. Such underestimation was not typical of him, even with his skill, only a well placed hit would result in instant death. It seemed that Naruto had not even payed attention to where he struck his opponent…such power.
One time, when teasing his teammate, he told him to get stronger so he could beat him. He really did not expect for it to actually happen. "Naruto…how could this happen? What happened with you?" boggled Sasuke in his mind. He hazarded a glance at Sakura. Her mouth was gaping in absolute shock and her kunai was slowly slipping out of her grasp – just as he expected. Even Sakura snidely considered herself more skilled than their teammate due to her outstanding grades in the academy. At the moment, though, there was no more time for shock, one of the Cloud ninjas had punched Naruto hard in the face. What ensued could only be described as frightening.
"Hehehehehehehe, how pathetic. Was that all you got?" cackled Naruto in a strange voice.
"Why you insolent brat, I'll make you taste pain like you've never experienced!" the Cloud ninja bellowed.
Straightening himself out and facing the ninja in front of him, Naruto put a smirk on his face, "Not like that you won't" he stated.
"Why you…!" yelled the ninja as he started to swing his fist again.
Nothing happened though. The fist was firmly nested into Naruto's left palm and was obviously not going anywhere.
"Gotcha," grinned the blonde genin.
Lightly placing his foot backwards, Naruto brought it up in a swift circular motion, connecting with the Cloud ninja's jaw sending him staggering back a few steps.
"What is he doing?" wondered Kakashi, staring at his student with his one-eyed Sharingan. He did not have to worry about the two jounins in front of him because they were watching the boy as well. Even though he was able to sometimes predict the movements of other people, Naruto was entirely too spontaneous. It frustrated him sometimes, but now was no time or place to lecture himself for not taking care enough of the boy.
After kicking his opponent he leapt into the air. What was he doing? His body twisted not quite a half-circle. It was as if time had stopped and Naruto was frozen in mid-air. Was it really that? Or merely an optical illusion? Either way, the boy lashed out with foot, striking the neck of the Cloud ninja who crumpled at the contact.
All of team Seven gasped at once. "That was no ordinary mikazuki geri," Kakashi realized. "That had a Hyuga feel to it, but there was something else." He had heard, from those who watched the Hyuga Neji match, that Neji used some spinning kicks while in air. Also from his own eyes from observing Hyuga Hizashi and Hiashi train sometimes, there was definitely a similar feel. Kakashi had a feeling he would be seeing more of this type of technique in the future.
"Oy Sasuke," shouted Naruto shooting a glance at his teammate, "Better hurry up, it's already two – zero for me."
"Hmph, show-off," muttered Sasuke.
"He's something, that kid," said one of the jounins in front of Kakashi, "For him to take out two of us that quickly."
"Heh, you won't get the scroll from us," replied Kakashi with confidence, "Naruto isn't the only one who's strong. That black haired kid is an Uchiha; you're friends won't stand a chance against them."
"That would be true," replied the other Cloud ninja, "If we were the only jounins."
"What!" gasped Kakashi.
"That's right, one of our elite hunter-nin is somewhere in that group."
"Looks like the tables have turned," smirked the other ninja, "If you go to help your students, we'll kill you. If you do nothing, your students will die."
"Quite the predicament you're in."
Meanwhile, with his Sharingan activated, Sasuke had less trouble dealing with his opponents. One of them was a ninjutsu specialist and continually attacked him from a distance using some strange lightning-based jutsu. Even with the Sharingan, it was all he could do to avoid getting caught. A few more times of observing the technique and he saw an opening through the attacks. His Shishi Rendan was all he needed to knock out the Cloud chuunin. "So weak," he muttered at his unconscious opponent.
"Damnit, I can't find the hidden jounin" complained Naruto.
"I'll admit, he's concealing his identity well," the demon conceded, "At this point you have two options."
"Kill everybody 'till we find him."
"Or bait him into the open."
"Hrmm, I got an idea." Picking the scroll from his pouch he tossed it at his teammate, "Oy, Sakura! Catch!" Barely reacting in time, the scroll unceremoniously tumbled into Sakura's arms.
"Naruto! What are you doing, baka!" yelled out Sasuke who received a punch to the gut for his slight inattention.
"Naruto! Why the hell are you giving the scroll to me?!" demanded the pink-haired girl.
"Can't explain now Sakura-chan!" yelled out Naruto. "Now we wait."
Sure enough, the chuunin that was fighting Naruto disengaged and sped towards Sakura. "If that's the sleeper, she won't stand a chance," he thought. There were only two left, besides the two that Kakashi was fighting. The Cloud ninja dodged a swipe from Sakura's kunai and snuck his arm through her guard. Instead of hitting her, he used her momentum to spin her around and pinched some vital areas around her neck, effectively knocking her out. As expected, he looted the scroll.
"So, you finally uncovered yourself," Naruto called out.
"Heh, with the scroll in my hands, our mission is now over," replied the sleeper.
"I wouldn't be too sure of that, might want to check your scroll." Reaching into his pouch, Naruto pulled out another scroll which looked exactly like the one held by the jounin.
"What! Ohhh, I see. You sneaky bastard. I guess I got carried away."
"Hehehe. I was bored last night so I made an exact copy of the scroll I was carrying."
"Impressive. To think that I, an elite hunter-nin would be tricked by a genin. I guess there's only one thing left for me to do," the Cloud ninja said, and then disappeared.
"Give me that," heard Naruto from behind him. It was too late though; the other ninja already snatched the scroll from his hands and promptly smashed his elbow into the back of Naruto's head.
Fortunately his incredible resilience helped him not to black out. Rubbing the back of his head scanned for the jounin but could not find him. No doubt he was using another genjutsu. "Damnit, this is bad." Sasuke was still fighting one of them, Sakura was knocked out, and Kakashi was still fighting too, although he managed to defeat one of his opponents. Still, the whole purpose of the mission was to safely see the scroll back to Tsunade-sama, but that was not going to happen without the scroll. He was not going to find the sleeper, not with that genjutsu, and another trap would not work either. "Ugh, what am I going to do? Kakashi-sensei is going to kill me!" he whined to himself.
"There might be a way," interjected the demon.
"What!? How?"
"You still have a blank scroll with an ink and stylus right?"
"Yea, of course. Always got 'em around."
"Good. There's no time to lose. I will dictate to you a summoning contract between foxes."
"Huh? How do you know the contract for foxes?"
"Because I'm the spirit of a demon fox! You amaze me sometimes."
"Hai, hai. Alright, Alright. What's the contract?"
Word by word, the demon dictated the contract to Naruto. Contracts were complex to create as precise words were needed for the specific animal. Thankfully the demon was already familiar with such minutia. When he was done, Naruto signed the scroll with his blood, and pressed his bloodied fingers onto it for his fingerprints.
"Great! I'm done. Now what?"
"Excellent, now this is the skill your sensei once used, Doton Tsuiga no Jutsu, except you'll use foxes instead of dogs."
"Don't dogs have better noses?"
"A common misconception, but there's no time. You already know how to summon, but the chakra distribution is different because you have to summon several at once, and underground at that."
"Alright, how do I do it then?" Naruto asked excitedly.
"I don't have time to teach you, you'll have to let me control the chakra myself."
"What! I can't let you do that!"
"If the host is willing, then it is possible."
"But it's my body, I can't just let you control part of it, even for just a little."
"Boy, there's no time for this, now give me control!"
"No way. Sensei or no, this is my body."
"You just lost the scroll you were supposed to protect, they're all going to blame you for its loss," taunted Kyubi, trying to change tactics.
"I can deal with that," shrugged Naruto.
"Do you want to look weak in front of the others? Do you want the Uchiha kid to surpass you again? Do you want Sakura to call you worthless?"
"What? No…but,"
"There are no buts!" snarled the demon, "You have to act now, be a hero or remain the loser like they all see you as."
"F…Fine then, as long as it's just this once."
"Excellent, now perform the seal. Once I form the chakra for you, you'll remember it as if you did it."
Biting his thumb, he spread the blood in a line on his palm and then performed the seals: boar, dog, bird, monkey, and sheep. Slamming his palm down on the ground, he could feel the demon flowing the chakra for him. It was a strange sensation; it felt like it was him, but he knew he was not the one doing it. As the jutsu progressed, he could see how complex it was and how much chakra it demanded. Suddenly he realized, how were the nin-foxes going to track down this guy anyway?
"Don't worry about that," said the demon, "The scroll is old and releases a particular smell – the foxes won't miss it."
With the jutsu complete, there was not much to do besides sit and wait. Both Kakashi and Sasuke had knocked out the remaining Cloud-nins. Sakura was stirring awake too; it looked like it was all over, except for the jounin who still had the scroll.
Walking toward his student, Kakashi saw Naruto with an open scroll at his feet. "Could that be…" Taking a closer look, his suspicious were revealed. It was a summoning contract!
"Oy, Naruto," started the grey-haired sensei, "What kind of a scroll is that?"
"Oh this thing?" Putting his hand behind his head, Naruto gave a nervous laugh, "Umm, it's a contract scroll between the foxes, hahaha."
"Oh, you can summon? Since when?"
"Umm, since Jiraiya-sama taught me before that exam."
But Kakashi knew that Naruto used Jiraiya's contract scroll between the toads when he taught him that technique. Developing contract scrolls were extremely complex and for a genin to write one on the spot was unheard of. How had Naruto gotten so strong and knowledgeable so quickly? Just being apprenticed to Jiraiya for a short amount of time was not enough for such growth. "So where's the fox you summoned?" Kakashi prodded further.
"Umm, well I summoned several of them."
"Oh? And where are they?"
Clearly embarrassed, Naruto fidgeted a little before answering, "Uhh, they're tracking the guy that stole the scroll from me underground."
"Underground?! You mean you used Doton Tsuiga no Jutsu?" Kakashi asked incredulously.
"Uhhh yea, hehehe," replied his student with a grin.
Suddenly, a shrill scream of pain ripped through the forest. "Looks like you caught something," he said with a wink.
With Kakashi in the lead, it was not long before the team of four fell upon the victim of the ruthless tracking skill. Several impressive sized nin-foxes with leaf forehead protectors biting down hard on the Cloud ninja. Obviously he had never experienced such a skill before, the look of pure terror was clear on his face.
"Oh, Kakashi-sensei, did you summon these creatures?" asked Sasuke.
"Haha, nope. It was Naruto here who did that," he said clapping his student on the back.
Grabbing the scroll from the restrained Cloud-nin, Kakashi said, "I don't even need to ask what your purpose was, or for who you worked for. Your entire team has been decimated. After we leave, the jutsu will be released and I suggest you gather up those who are still alive and go back to your rebel group."
Turning to his team he said, "Well, now that this is over with, how about we head home?"
Flashing his trademark grin Naruto replied, "Hehe, sounds good to me!"
Author's Notes: Doton Tsuiga no Jutsu translates to Earth Type: Tracking Fang skill, which is the same skill Kakashi used against Zabuza at the end of their second fight when he summoned all those nin-dogs from the ground.
Oh yea, we finally get a glimpse at Naruto's new taijutsu style. Mikazuki geri means crescent kick, it's a variant on the mawashi geri (which is your basic roundhouse) where instead the foot circles over the head/shoulders area and strikes at the neck. Of course, Naruto being so small he had to jump.