#Hidden Spirits: Village Hunting & Side Effect#
A Naruto Fan-fiction -- Sequel from 'Hidden Spirits'
By: Climax
Disclaimer for ALL chapters: Do not and never own Naruto. Except this story plot, idea, and my own characters I create on this story.
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Scroll 1: Sasuke's Replacement in Team 7
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"You got to be kidding me, Tsunade-baba (granny)," growled Naruto. He was in Hokage's office, thanks to Kakashi's kindness to summon his faithful dogs for carried him. Tsunade stared Naruto in a mix of tiredness and stressfulness. Actually, she didn't want to deal with Naruto because she had just finished her deal with the blasted-absorbing-mind-and-body-energy paper works. Her neck, back, and hands were aching now. Plus the fact of her brain was shouting for aspirin.
"I'm not kidding, Naruto. And don't address me with 'baba' title if you don't want me to address you with 'gaki' (kid) title. You and I know that you are a teen now, don't we?" said Tsunade based in fact.
Naruto frowned. "But-! To have a new teammate for the upcoming chuunin exam doesn't sound well at my ears!!"
Tsunade fought the urge to give the boy one or more pieces of her mind. But unfortunately, she was too tired to angry.
"It does for me. How come you and Sakura are going to participate in a chuunin exam if your team of three is incomplete?? I have talked this to Sakura and she agreed to have another teammate!!" the Godaime shout back in frustration, trying to make the loudmouthed idiot to understand.
Well, it was not that Naruto didn't understand, just didn't want to accept it in silent. How come the Godaime just replace Sasuke easily as if the spoiled brat of Uchiha was nothing but property?
"I know that, baba! I just don't like how easily you are going to replace Sasuke!! Beside, how can we have a well teamwork if we don't know anything about the person!! And the chuunin exam is no more then one week tomorrow!!" yelled Naruto furiously.
Tsunade's patient string snapped. She suddenly stood up, knocked back her chair. She gripped Naruto's shirt collar, pulled him up, and stared right into his eyes. Their faces were only centimeters range. "Then I return those words to you. How could you bring Sasuke's butt home in that one week?? We spent three years to track Orochimaru and we don't even found his smell!! And even if you find him, I bet you are died before you could persuade him!!"
"And I bet you are wrong!!" yelled Naruto back.
"…"
"…"
Both silenced for a moment.
After that, they both sighed tiredly and plopped back to their own respective chairs.
"I'm getting too old for this immature fight…" Tsunade mumbled as she rubbed her forehead.
"I'm getting too mature for this childish fight…" Naruto groaned as he used his hand to rake his blond hair.
"So? Who is my new teammate? I hope you didn't insert a bastard to balance my team like the chuunin and jounin teachers three years ago…" Naruto said half serious half joking. He was seriously didn't want to have any bastard he had to face. Sasuke alone was more than enough. He decided to make a joke to break the tension between Tsunade and him.
Tsunade grinned. "So Kakashi is right…" she mumbled, loud enough to Naruto for hear.
"Kakashi is right about what?" asked Naruto curiously. It was evident in his eyes that he smelled something fishy.
Tsunade's grin widened. "How about a bet, Naruto? If you yelling, shouting, screaming, bang your head to something, vomit, blushing, or have the urge to kill your beloved teacher Kakashi you mustn't call me 'baba' for one week from now. If you do, I'll make sure that you are disqualified from the chuunin exam personally FOREVER. But if you don't do what I'm expecting, you are free to call me baba and have a C-rank mission if you want to. Deal?"
Naruto frowned. He had never seen such a confident Tsunade even in gambling. What Kakashi said to her must be a real pain in ass for him. He wondered briefly if he should take the challenge or not. He absolutely knew that this bet was dangerous for his shinobi reputation, but his curiosity beat his careful self.
"This is quite a hard decision, but fine. It's deal. So tell me what my teacher said about me…"
Tsunade put her best cheerful face. "He said that you and Sasuke are a couple of special, rare species of lovebirds that he can never find at anywhere, anytime, any-century, even in his perverted book of Icha Icha Paradise and Violence."
Naruto was having the best challenge in his lifetime to keep his expression as blank as possible. Calm down, you idiot!! If you want to be a good shinobi, you mustn't let your enemy read you!! Naruto scolded himself inwardly. But it seemed his attempt failed.
"Naruuutttttooooooo…" Tsunade was trying her best to make her voice sweet but the result was her voice sounded scary. "You are broadcasting your killing aura, kid…"
Sadly for him, Tsunade was damn right.
::At the same time, Kakashi…::
Kakashi winced a bit. He had bit his tongue, hardly. He was eating a bag of rice crackers in his apartment. For some random odd reasons, he didn't want his face uncovered in front of the public (much to fans disappointment) so he usually eats at home. If he had to, he usually avoid face contact with other people and eat in a great speed that many would envy.
But it was unusual for him to accidentally bit his own tongue. But he decided to shrug it off. Maybe someone is talking something bad about me…
If only he knew that his prediction was near to the truth…
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"I should remember that he always late…" mumbled Naruto furiously as his right foot tapping furiously to the ground while his hands were folded against his chest. His mouth was pouting.
He heard a sigh beside him. It was Sakura. She was still the same, only she wore two pink bracelets at each of her hands and her hair was a bit shorter, almost similar to men's hair.
"Well, we couldn't help it. Since we thought that the student will come with him so he will come one hour earlier at least…" said Sakura.
Sounds of angry veins popped could be heard easily. "AAARRGGHH!! It's three hours thirty minutes 38 seconds already!! That ecchi (similar to ero, but more polite) sensei! He's good at nothing but late!!"
Sakura stared at him with an unbelieving face. "You count it?"
"Well, like there is anything I can do…"
Sakura sighed again. "At very least we could know that the end of the world is near when he come early…"
Naruto was just about to comment Sakura's remark when someone was approaching.
"Finally!" Naruto shouted in a mix of anger, impatience, and relief.
" 'Finally' what?" asked a quite similar voice. But that voice was the last one he expected to be heard here.
"Rhaera!! You as-plain-as-ice archer! What are you doing, here??" shouted Naruto. Actually, he didn't need to shout since he didn't have any grudge against the boy, but his impatience combined with anger overtook him.
Rhaera titled his head curiously. His blindfolded eyes seemed to stare curiously and dangerously to Naruto. Rhaera was a green-haired boy that accidentally met Naruto in one of Konoha forests. He still wears that very dark green, sleeveless, and tight shirt with high neck; combined with a pair of black shorts and that boot-like ninja shoes. The only things that changed were he wore a pair of grey colored - fingerless gloves and his long black scarf now decorated with an iron plate that usually attached to a forehead protector. A Konoha mark was engraved on the iron plate. It was clearly stating that he was a shinobi of Konoha.
"Isn't that my line? I am waiting for my new teammates and jounin teacher, here. You don't need to shout…" he said with his never changing plain tone. The reason why Naruto called him 'as-plain-as-ice' was because he was so expressionless; either face or voice.
"Oh, sorry. I forgot that you are a genin like me, too…" Naruto said sarcastically. Then his eyes flew to the paper bag that Rhaera was holding. And Naruto could smell something delicious from the paper bag. "What's that?"
Rhaera followed Naruto's eyes. "Oh, this? It is the taiyaki (goldfish shaped Japanese cake that filled with red beans) that I bought before I came here…"
Naruto's eyes suddenly glittering. "Do you mind to share with me?" he pleaded with his best puppy eyes and sweet voice. Rhaera was about to answer when…
"Ehem!"
Sakura coughed. She didn't like being ignored all the time. Her face was clearly showing it.
"In case you two forget about me, I will be very happy to remind you…" she said with a forced happy tone.
Naruto realized he had to take an action before Sakura take an action to him. He forced his usually cheerful but now groggy smile to his face. "I'm sorry, Sakura! I'm going to introduce you to him! He is-!"
Rhaera cut him. "Rhaera. Age near fifteen. Mastering the art of archery, taijutsu, a bit of ninjutsu, and definitely a sucker at genjutsu. The rest is unknown because I have amnesia," Rhaera explained himself in the same plain tone.
Sakura poked Naruto with her elbow. Naruto turned to her and she whispered to his ear. "Is he a robot or something? He is even a lot more boring than Kakashi-sensei…" asked Sakura.
Naruto shrugged. "I don't know. The first time I met him I'm nearly sure that he is a walking corpse if he didn't shouting angrily to me…"
Sakura stared at him. "Shouting angrily to YOU?" she asked. Her eyes stared suspiciously at Naruto. Whenever someone was shouting angrily to Naruto, no good things happened.
Naruto grew nervous. "Well, it's a very long story…" Naruto decided to change the topic before Sakura could beg him to tell the tale because waiting for Kakashi was the thing that almost at the top list of 'the shinobi's world most boring things'.
"So, Rhaera. When are you supposed to meet your new teammates and teacher?" asked Naruto as he took the taiyaki from the paper bag and bite it. Taiyaki was one of the best friends for snack. He noted when his mouth chewed the cake.
Rhaera gave him an 'I don't remember giving you the permission to eat my taiyaki' look but decided to not push the matter and answer Naruto's question. "I'm supposed to meet them about three hours ago or so, but…"
At the same time, Naruto and Sakura thought: Three hours ago… new teammates and jounin teacher… something was on the right place on the right time.
"… I heard from the Godaime-sama that my new teacher is always late for three hours. And it was already more than three hours. I guess they have head out without me or searching me."
Naruto choked his taiyaki. Wait a freakin' second!! Don't tell me that he is…
As if on cue, Kakashi popped up from no where and said, "I'm sorry, I was searching for your new teammate, but then I found him here…"
Naruto and Sakura nearly fainted from suffering the greatest heart attack. For the first time in years, Kakashi managed to tell them a reason that seemed logical and acceptable. Too bad Sasuke wasn't here. They would be very interested to see the young Uchiha's flabbergasted expression.
Kakashi chuckled at his students' shocked expression. But his chuckling decreased when Rhaera looked at him with an unreadable but weird expression.
"Are you my supposed to be teacher?" asked Rhaera without missing his plain tone.
Kakashi put his cheerful face again and answered, "Yes, I am. My name is Hatake Kakashi. And they are your new teammates."
Someone, please kill me now! thoughtNaruto. If only Sasuke was here, either of the boys would be very pleased. Naruto was thinking that the end of the world was really approaching when Kakashi told them an acceptable lie and that oh-so-plain archer was his new teammate.
Rhaera never put back his weird expression. "You know sensei? My first impression of you is…"
Naruto and Sakura suddenly recovered from their shock to hear what Rhaera going to say. Kakashi lifted his eyebrows.
"…your name is as weird as your personality."
Naruto and Sakura could agree no more. For some twisted ways, 'kakashi' means scarecrow…
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Started on: November 19th 2004
Ended on: November 21st 2004
looking for reviews T.T sob Just one. ANYOOONEEE!! Review for the second chapter, PLEEAAASSSEEE!!! suddenly wearing a cheerful mask But since I'm a thankful person, I'm going to thank you to my first reviewer.
Answer for review:
Dragon Man 180 Konoha was in an unstable condition for the upcoming chuunin exam and possibly war. In a condition like that, how could you expect a 'party'? You sure a happy-go-lucky person, aren't ya?
