Ryoshuu

Chapter 5

By

ensngre

"Is Kakashi-sensei always this late?" An 11-year-old Hanabi asked without much interest shown on her face.

"Yeah, you better get used to it, brat." She was mature beyond her years, and Naruto knew that, but it still didn't change the fact that she was a brat.

"I'm not a brat." She was getting annoyed at this, no-one had ever called her a brat before. "You're being disrespectful." And what's with those bandages?

He laughed. "Me? I'm the one who's being disrespectful? You should learn your place, brat." Yes, he was happy that his team were designed like this, because this way he could get half-revenge to all who had called him brat through the years. Though he didn't exactly mind teasing the young Hyuuga-prodigy, either.

"No, you're the one who should learn your place! You're--"

Poff. "Maa, maa, you shouldn't fight between each other." Kakashi said in a lazy tone, and relaxed his lazy eye on his new student. After awhile of staring, he concluded, "oh, a brat."

"Told you so, brat!" Naruto snickered after hearing the outburst of the white-eyed girl.

"Well, either way, it's two weeks until the chuunin-exam is held." Kakashi said. "We all know each other, though we've never met the newest addition. Let's take the usual introduction procedure, shall we?"

The first impression the lazy ninja had given Hanabi hadn't been exactly what you would call good. After finding out what the contains of his orange book was, from Naruto, she concluded that she didn't like the team. At all. Well, so she told herself, but she knew it was a good team.

Her new teacher was, after all, one of Konoha's most renowned ninjas, and she had heard dozens of rumours about him that would make any ninja jealous. Despite his perverted nature and laziness, he was indeed a true genius.

Then there was Uzumaki Naruto. He wasn't at all as noisy as he had been several years ago. Truth be, he wasn't nearly as loud as before, but he returned a little to his former self when Hanabi came into the picture. She knew that he was strong, she could almost feel strength radiate from him. He had made a deep impression to her during his match against her cousin Neji, and even though she wouldn't confess it, she admired the relatively short blonde.

Lastly, there was Uchiha Sasuke. She didn't know much about him, although she knew he was a prodigy, even more so than herself. There was no words spoken between him and Naruto, but no words needed to be spoken for her to discover a strong friendship and a stong sense of companionship. She was a bit jealous of them, because she had spent almost all time with persons in or connected to her clan. She had never had a real friend before, and you couldn't guess it from looking at her, but she felt really lonely sometimes. Hopefully, the time with this team would change that.

All in all, it was a team consisted of great ninjas, and she was sure she would learn much from them, and she dearly hoped that they would learn something from her as well.

Her thoughts continued, before a voice spoke up.

"Where's the exam located, Kakashi-sensei?" Sasuke asked.

"Oh, it's held in the Hidden Village of Stone." Kakashi said to the re-instated Team 7.

"Stone, eh? I've been there a couple of times…" Naruto said, with Sasuke nodding short after, indicating that he too had been there.

"Yeah, it'll take about three days to get there," Kakashi continued, "but until that, let's concentrate on your teamwork." And they did that all day, and when Kakashi stated that training was over for today, Sasuke and Naruto both stayed behind to spar.

"Hey, Hanabi-brat, why don't you stay and spar, too?" Grinning, Naruto asked when she was about to leave.

Hanabi lit up and smiled, maybe he isn't that bad, and returned to the training-grounds.

"So, who'll begin?" The dark-haired male asked the two. It would be pretty interesting to spar with a Hyuuga, but that wasn't on the top of his list right now. "What about it, Naruto? Shall we two go at it first?"

"Yeah. If that's okay with you, Hanabi," she nodded, and he continued. "I'll set the rules." He went forward, took up a wooden stick, went to the middle of the field, and drew a circle. Tne spectator had seated herself beneath a tree located only meters away from the circle. "Well, because of these seals, I can't use chakra. So taijutsu will do, is that okay, Sasuke?"

"Heh, of course. Plain taijutsu, I got it. And the first one to leave the circle loses, right?"

Naruto nodded, and stepped into the ring, which was about five meter in diameter. "It was a long time ago since we last sparred, right, Sasuke?"

Sasuke grunted. "I won't take it easy on you," and smirked while stepping inside the ring.

"I didn't expect you would," Naruto mockingly said, and dashed forward.

The young Hyuuga was beyond words. Never had she seen such a fight. She was amazed by these two, their fight seemed like an endless dance, never letting the other get in a hit. It was beautiful. After about 15 minutes, someone of the two flinched, and got immideately kicked out of the ring.

"Oww, seems like I lost," Naruto said, while getting up. He was shaking pretty well, and to have putten up with the taijutsu-specialist so good was amazing in Sasuke's eyes. He was a taijutsu-specialist, after all, since he didn't have to spend time on learning jutsus. His valuable Sharingan took care of that. "And the seal is working accordingly…" He whispered, only heared by Hanabi, who didn't have a clue on what he was talking about.

"That was a good fight," Sasuke had to say. It wasn't everyday someone could match him this well, and he thought if Naruto hadn't had these seals on him (for reasons unknown), he wasn't so sure that he would've won. But he had held back, so he couldn't really guess who was stronger. It didn't matter too much to him, but the old rivalry from years ago still was in his mind, and undoubtedly in Naruto's too.

After they had sat down on each side of Hanabi and rested for a couple of minutes, Naruto suddenly spoke up. "Well, what about it, brat?" He said while getting up. "Show us what you got," he said, while offering her a helping hand.

The spar had been lecturing for Hanabi, she was no match for both of them of course, but she was a little below the level where Neji had been when he fought Naruto four years ago, and that had surprised both of them. They had underestimated the skinny little girl, and Naruto wasn't happy about it at all. He had hated being underestimated.

Saying farewell to a tired Sasuke, the two of them continued down the busy roads of Konoha. You couldn't tell that it was almost night.

"Say, brat, care to accompany me in a meal of ramen?" Naruto asked, smiling evilly towards the poor, unknowing Hyuuga. He was so going to convert her to a ramen-loving being.

"R-ramen?" She thought for a while. "I've never tasted ramen…" Naruto stopped in his tracks.

"You haven't? Then it's off to the ramen-stand!" He exalted.

"Hey, two miso ramen, old man," Naruto said as they walked into the small stand. The owner somehow recognized the voice, and quickly turned around to get welcomed by an all too familiar head of yellow.

"Ohh, Naruto! So you're back!" He grinned, and was inwardly glad to have the opportunity to serve his number-one-through-all-time-customer. "Hey, Ayame! Look who's here!" A head plopped out of the door located behind the counter.

"Naruto-kun?!" She startled, and couldn't really find the words. "Idiot, we were dependant on you, and then you just left!"

"Aah, gomen," he said while putting his hands together. "Don't worry, though, I'm back again and I promise I'll eat here as much as I can." He smiled a little smile. There weren't that many civilian that actually liked him, but the owner of the Ichiraku-stand and his daughter had almost been like a family to him. They were valuable friends.

"Yeah, or else we'll not forgive you. Anyway, two miso ramen coming up," the old man said, and with the special occasion it was, he followed up with a, "it's on the house," and grinned

After another seven bowls from Naruto's side, they thanked for the food, and went outside. "Ahh, no-one does greater ramen than Ichiraku. Did you like it? Well?"

"It was okay, I guess," she herself had taken three bowls of ramen, with todays training fresh in mind. "Well, I have to go home now," she said. It was getting awfully late, and while she could enjoy the night sometimes, she was all too tired of it this night. Being the gentleman he is, Naruto followed her home, and bidding her goodnight.

He found himself a good spot for spending the night in, it was an opening in the forest that was located beside a small sea, covered in green grass. He lay on his back with his arms under his head, and just looked up to the black, star-filled sky above. What would you do in my position, father?

The week had passed by, Hiashi had been relieved to hear that his daughter had come into such a good team, and it was now time to set out to yet another chuunin-exam, for some being the second time, for another being the first time.

"Hey, brat," Naruto called out. The pale girl turned around, wondering what he could want. The blonde stepped up to her, bowed down, put something over her head, brought it down to her neck and freed her hair that was being held back by that something. "It's my old pair of goggles," he said with a smile plastered to his face, and ruffed her hair. "Take good care of it." And the two began to walk to catch up to the other two, and leave the massive gates of Konoha behind.

"Don't worry, Tsunade, he knows what he's doing," the white-haired man said. He was unsure about the nature of the new seal Naruto had, and couldn't stop wondering what it was. "We'll ask him when he comes back." And the two sannin's looked out at the window in the Hokage-office, trying to figure out what Naruto could be hiding. Author's comments

Six senses? :P Well, I'd like to call it a sixth sense, the ability to feel the pressure that chakra produce.

Thank you for all your reviews.