Better Equipped
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any of its characters.
: Thoughts
Chapter 6 – Time Off From Missions
After Team Seven's ordeals, the counsel decided they needed to have some time off so they don't over work themselves. No one really mind since they were tired and have other things to do like register Haku as a Konoha citizen and show him around the village.
I can't have Haku live with me and the Hokage so that will be a problem. I can always stick him at my old house. I still own the place since I still use it every now and then when I felt I needed to get away. He could stay there until he finds another place.
Haku went through many series or trials to prove his loyalty to the Leaf. He just had to fill out applications and take an oath. The Hokage personally welcomed him to the village after Naruto relate Haku's story to him. The Leaf Village was definitely different than the Hidden Mist Village. The climate is one that was totally different and is something that he needed to get use to.
It was almost midnight and Naruto was still up practicing and learning jutsus. The Hokage walked in the kitchen and saw Naruto studying by the counter.
"Still studying at this hour Naruto?"
"You know my same old routine. Practice taijutsu during the day and learn ninjutsu and genjutsu at night. All I need to do is remember the hand seals and which way I channel chakra. Why are you still up? Getting something to drink?"
"My throat was dry." The Hokage then stared at the young Genin. "Hopefully you haven't been too focused on training that you stopped…writing creatively."
"Don't worry old man. I haven't stopped writing. Right now I don't have any inspiration, that's all. Anyways, my other co-author should be able to handle things without me for awhile."
The Third nodded his head. He went to the refrigerator and grabbed a bottle of cold water and poured it into a glass. "So how did your last mission go? I read Kakashi's report but I what to hear it from your point of view."
"Well, the mission went better than initially expected. We finished the mission with no casualties, at least on our side. Kiba has gotten stronger, especially Hinata. Hiashi-san will be surprised if he sees her in combat. She went further than my expectations. In time, both of them will become even stronger which is expected from those who are from respective clans. We also got a new citizen for the Leaf Village and he's got a bloodline ability. We did run into some dangerous mission but all members of the team were able to carry through without problem. I probably did the least amount of growing during our trip. I just feel lucky that those two are in my team."
"Haku does seem to be a bright boy. His strength will be of great help to our village."
"Yeah, I'm meeting with him tomorrow so we can spar for a bit. I didn't really have a chance to fight him during the mission. He did well against Kiba but fought evenly with Hinata. I've been working on improving her confidence and it seems to be working. She is a good fighter once she believes in herself. Haku was caught surprised by her bloodline ability and her Gentle Fist style which were both alien to him. I assume that was why he had a hard time. But his skills should be on par with them now since I mentioned how strong my teammates have gotten."
"Sounds like you have a strong interest with Hinata."
"Don't think of perverted thoughts old man. She and I are not like that. I need to look out for my teammates since I need to depend on them. That's exactly what you taught me right? Anyways, did you find a good candidate for the Fifth yet? You're still strong but you're also very old."
"I've lost touch with Tsunade a long time ago. You were the last one who saw her right? Jiraiya is another candidate but somehow I don't see him fitting the role."
"Isn't there anyone else who is eligible?"
"The strongest Jounins we have are Kakashi, Asuma, and Gai. If you were taller and have a higher ninja rank, I might even consider you." He gave a few chuckles to show his student that he was merely joking.
"Very funny old man but unfortunately I'm not that strong as the rumor says. I fractured my arm in the mission after doing one of my jutsus. I still got a long way to go before becoming a real threat. My jutsus would kill me before my opponents. I guess things wouldn't be so bad if I didn't wear weighted clothing. The stress of those two together is much more than what my body can handle. Being young sucks sometimes. Plus we both know the real reason how I won against a few Jounins. I got Kyuubi's chakra to help me out. I could call on his power even for a split second so no one could sense his presence and help me in battle."
"Kyuubi's powers still amazes me. He's supposed to be the strongest of the youmas and has the most chakra. With a sway of a single tail, he could create natural disasters."
Naruto was silent as he was thinking of what his sensei had just told him. Kyuubi was the strongest of the demons which meant all that power the fox has is now relatively his. He couldn't even start to imagine the possibilities of what he could do or accomplish. If used wrong, he may destroy the people around him as well as himself if not careful. But he knows that his body can't handle that magnitude of power yet, and doesn't know if it was possible. "Anyways, it would be too weird if Gai is the Hokage, don't you think so? Haku and many others may move out of the village if that happens. But then again, a lot of good properties may go up on sale. Asuma is tough but lazy at times too, or should I say unmotivated. Probably Kakashi is the most suitable for the job with his skills. His personality is another matter. I say we find Tsunade."
"It would be good to see my pupil again."
"Yeah, and she's cute too. Although she's fifty years old, she created a jutsu that keeps her young in mid-twenties."
"Really?" Sandaime started to remember the past and what his pupil looked like. "I see…."
I wonder if he's thinking of something perverted. Well, I can't blame him.
The Third started to walk back into his room. "Don't forget to write whenever you have inspiration!"
I've been bugging him about finding a new Hokage lately but he's still not serious about this. At this rate, he really will die at the hands of Orochimaru. Maybe I'll find Tsunade for him, but I don't have the time. Guess I'll continue thinking about this later. It's late and I need to get up early.
Hinata was walking around the training site when she heard some commotions. She had gotten out of the house so she could train in secret. Since she was younger, her father had been disappointed in her progress. Soon after her little sister was born, it seemed like he had given up on her. Now he is more focused on training her sister to become the leader of the clan. Naruto, Kiba, and Kakashi sensei had told her that she had improved a lot which gave her a sense of hope. However she still has doubts of her strengths and planned to become stronger before confronting her father.
Following the noises she heard, she saw Naruto and Haku sparring near the pond.
At the moment, it was a test of speed between the two combatants and Naruto seemed to have an upper hand. They went fast enough that they were invisible to the untrained eye. Haku threw sets of needles at Naruto who crouched down really low on the ground to avoid the attack and rolled forward at the new Leaf Village citizen. Naruto sent two jabs and a straight punch that connected successfully at his opponent. Haku's head reeled back from the blow but he struggled to move forward and delivered a head butt at the blond Genin. Luckily Naruto saw the attack and countered with a left uppercut then a right hook.
Naruto-kun sure has some interesting taijutsu styles. It doesn't seem that Haku-san is good with taijutsu as he is with ninjutsu. I remember he had a hard time against me when we meet as enemies. His speed and strategy in the fight however is above average and better than me.
Naruto jumped back to get out of close range however he was struck from the back. As he turned his head around, he saw Haku who had been in front of him. He avoided another attack but caught by surprised with blow from where he just landed. Looking around the field, he saw five Hakus that were getting ready to attack. He then remembered that Haku was Zabuza's student.
So Haku is using his Water Clone Skill. I forgot that Zabuza had taught him everything he knows. I lost track of the real Haku and received a few hits from being caught surprised. Maybe I should attack using Shadow Clones or should I use Water Clones?
Naruto quickly stopped analyzing the situation when he sensed Haku was about to attack. He gracefully avoids every attack from dodging and doing flips. When the chance opens itself, he would sweep the clones or delivering attacks during mid-leaps which looked slightly awkward but effective.
There were three Hakus left who surrounded Naruto in a triangular formation. Two Hakus rushed towards Naruto but only managed to collide with each other and dispersed into water. Naruto did a forward flip to the one that was standing still then slide immediately after his feet touched the ground. With fast movements, Naruto preformed a sliding side kick at the center of Haku's chest and send him backward.
Haku flew back from the force of the kick and landed on his back. He was still lying on the ground trying to catch his breath after it was knocked out of him.
Hinata stepped out of into view and the boys immediately stopped and greeted her. "I'm sorry if I interrupted your training."
"It's not a problem Hinata-chan," said Naruto.
"We just got started. Naruto had wanted to spar against me even since we got to the Leaf Village. It seems like he is jealous over the fact that you fought against me instead of him."
Naruto was rubbing the back of his head while Hinata was laughing. She looked at her teammate again and saw cuts on his arms and legs. Haku's needle attacks did hit him after all. But the wounds had already started to seal itself up.
"So what are you doing here Hinata-chan? Were you looking for me?"
"I was on my way to the training site to train, Naruto-kun. It was then that I heard some noises and found myself here."
"I guess we were a bit noisy," said Haku. "Care to join us?"
The blond Genin nodded. "Yeah, why don't you join us? You can team up with Haku and fight me."
"Aren't you a bit arrogant?"
Naruto was rubbing his chin being trapped in a deep thought. "Actually, I have an experiment that I wanted to try. Haku, can you perform your Demonic Ice Mirrors formation?"
Haku gave him a confused look. "What kind of experiment are you talking about?"
"I got a cool new jutsu that I wanted to try out. I used it once and I wanted to see if it could counter your Demonic Ice Mirrors. Plus, I'm going to break the formation from the inside."
A jutsu that could be used against Haku's kinjutsu was something Hinata wanted to see. The reason she broke through the formation was because she attacked from the outside with strong explosive tags that Naruto had given her. Kiba who was inside couldn't do anything even with Akamaru's help. He couldn't move much less than break the formation.
"I don't know." Creating the formation was a simple task but he has a feeling it would be bad news.
"Come on…even Hinata helped me out with a few jutsu experiments and all of them went well. Isn't that right Hinata?"
The first child of the Hyuuga Main House went through her memories. "There was that time when you made me color blind."
Haku's eyes widen. "What?"
"I didn't make you color blind! Okay, maybe I did but it was only temporary. I tired to paralyze the nerves surrounding your eyes so that you couldn't activate or use your Byakugan for awhile. Instead, I accidentally attacked the nerves where you register color."
"Oh?"
"I've been trying to develop a new jutsu. Kakashi sensei was my first…test subject. The jutsu failed completely since it didn't do anything. I had to rethink about the jutsu and reformulate it. Hinata-chan helped me test my jutsu next and you know how that went. I created the jutsu to fight against the Sharingan. There are a few bugs that I still need to work out. The Byakugan is almost similar to the Sharingan so I wanted to see how my jutsu would affect on the Hyuugas. Basically, I create a poison mist through my mouth that attacks the nerves around the eyes. The poison mist can be absorbed through the skin, eyes, and by breathing it. My ultimate goal with this jutsu is to be able to neutralize most Doujutsu for a set amount of time. Pretty cool huh?"
"So what kind of jutsu are you planning on doing to counter Hanku-san's Demonic Ice Mirrors formation?"
"This jutsu I developed is almost similar to your Eight Divinations Palm Heavenly Spin. I've been working on it for two years and finally it's perfected. It's also a defensive and offensive technique but has a shorting name. Come on…if you don't, I'll tell Hinata-chan about those guys who tried to ask you out today."
Haku was getting red. Not the shade of red when a person is blushing. It's the dark red color when a person is royally pissed off. "You don't need to threaten me with that anymore since you already blew it."
Thinking about what he said again, Naruto slapped his forehead. "Damn! Help me out anyways."
"It does sound intriguing. I do want to see what you have that could break through my Demonic Ice Mirrors."
Doing a set of hand seals, Haku called forth his kinjutsu using the water particles from the pond. "Kinjutsu - Makyou Hyoushou!" Quickly, mirrors of ice formed and surrounded Naruto from all sides.
So this is what it feels to be inside of this thing. It feels like a fun house that has those funny mirrors.
Haku from the outside went into one of the ice mirrors. Soon, all the mirrors inside had his reflection.
Naruto was at the center of the formation. He quickly gathered chakra too his arms. The chakra he gathered was so intense that his eyes were shaded with energy and his arms were giving off electricity. "Hinata, get further away from here. Haku, get ready and make a run for it if things gets too dangerous." Seeing that everything was in set, Naruto readied his attack. He raised both his arms on top of his head and readied himself to release all the energy from his body in a burst. As he felt the gathered chakra was enough to destroy the ice mirrors, Naruto continued with the attack by arcing his arms downward and slamming them into the ground. "Kinjutsu – Raising Storm!"
The destructive move quickly laid waste to the area. Bundles of energy went out of Naruto's body and shattered the mirrors with waves of chakra.
Haku saw the destructive force coming to him. He quickly used all the chakra he could mustered and focus them into his legs so he could get away.
The kinjutsu laid waste a good portion of the ground not just Haku's Demonic Ice Mirrors.
Hinata looked at the jutsu in horror. She hasn't seen anything like this before. The jutsu leveled the ground in similar fashion like her Main House's Hakkeshou Kaiten technique. The only spot left untouched was a circular ground where Naruto was crouching. "Incredible Naruto-kun!"
Haku was also amazed at his friend's powers. He would have taken in from the blast if not Naruto warning him to move out of the area if it looked dangerous. Seeing the amount of chakra Naruto gathered, he instinctively moved away once his friend started the jutsu.
Yeah, what's incredible is that I made the move seem more powerful just by saying kinjutsu before its name.
"This move is really taxing my body." Naruto stood up taking in several breaths. Sweat could be seen coming off him. Seeing that his friends were speechless, he gave them a smile. "Personally, I think this jutsu is more destructive than Kaiten, but because it requires a lot of chakra, it can't be done as much in a period of time."
As Naruto tried to walk over to his friends, he found that his legs weren't cooperating.
Damn, I'm a little bit light headed again.
"Are you alright Naruto-kun?"
Narutp looked at his friends and gave them a smile. He breathed in deeply and exhales. "I'm fine, just a bit tired from releasing the chakra. I am getting hungry now. How about we continue sparring for a bit then return to the village and get some food. Then Hinata will get a chance to see how the guys ogle at Haku here."
Haku is just like those two guys that look like girls in Fushigi Yuugi. It's so funny that I'm going to burst my gut.
The group was looking for a nice place to eat when Naruto spot a clothing store that sale cloth. He went in and looked around the place. Then his eyes could on some orange fabric. Seeing the color orange made him think about the Naruto from the original timeline.
How come Naruto likes to wear orange anyways? Isn't it a bit tacky? I remembered that he didn't wear that in his younger days so why did he start to wear them? Maybe the artist was trying to save money on color and used orange. Almost everyone wore orange in Dragonball Z. The color must be cheap or something. Even the people who made Power Rangers didn't even use orange. I don't think there ever was an Orange Ranger. The Orange Ranger might as well draw a target symbol on his chest since all the monsters will probably target him first for having a bad color taste. But orange is cool for the spring or summer season when hitting the beach, but not for fighting or superhero stuff.
"What are you thinking about Naruto-kun?"
"I'm just thinking about buying a piece of orange cloth."
"Orange?" Haku asked. "Isn't that color a bit bright and tacky for a ninja?"
"So I want to be the first person to get attacked. I'll live since I have a healing factor."
"Isn't orange a bit bright and tacky for a ninja?" the Third Hokage asked.
Naruto got home after having lunch with the group. Hinata needed to come home while Haku wanted to try out on becoming a Medic-Nin. So all that is left for the Ninja was to go home and see whatever comes up. "Everybody's a critic." Naruto took off his forehead protector and switch the bandana. He places the plate with Leaf Village symbol and placed it on the orange bandana and wore it.
Hey, it's not so bad. It actually looks good and matches my black clothes.
"So why are you home sensei? Don't you have Hokage stuff to do?"
"Like you said…I'm old and I need a break. Besides, the Leaf is doing fine. We've been very prosperous."
"Maybe we are a bit too prosperous that it's a bad thing." Naruto was shocked that he said that out loud.
"What do you mean Naruto?"
Seeing that he can't find a way out from this, he might as well take advantage of the situation and somehow wan him about the Sand's future attack on the Leaf. "Well, if our village becomes too prosperous, other Hidden Villages might get jealous of us and attack us. The idea behind it is pretty simple. Let's say another kid has an ice cream cone and I didn't have one and don't have the assets to get one. Out of spite, I attack that person and maybe even rob them of it. Another situation is that because we are prosperous, we are taking away jobs and mission from other villages and they will resent us." Naruto let in a couple of seconds of silence so the Hokage can keep up. "I here the Sand Village isn't prospering because us Leaf's are taking their jobs away, plus the emperor had cut their military budget. We need to more careful now because of this."
The Hokage nodded his head.
Naruto is simply amazing to think this far ahead. I knew he was a genius when we talked all those years ago but this is something else. With proper tutelage, he will become a great Hokage like his father. Raising him, I feel like I have fixed my past mistakes with Orochimaru. Naruto, you will be the strength of the Leaf.
"Hey old man, don't space out on me. What are you thinking?"
"I'm just amazed that you thought this far ahead for the village's sake. Right now, we are in peaceful times and I surely don't want another war to rage and harm my people. I'll talk to the counsel with your thoughts and see what we can come up with."
Sarutobi walked to a window in the room and open it to let the fresh air breeze in. He was thinking about the future of the village. Although things were peaceful at the moment, a war may break out during the least expected time. He had experienced many wars during his lifetime. In the last Ninja War, many of his precious people had lost their lives. Tsunade, his student suffered a lot and her wounds may not have healed even now. She lost her dear little brother and her first love. The trials were definitely hard on her but that's how the ninja life was. He thought he could finally rest after presenting the new Hokage to the village. A younger and maybe even stronger leader, however his days were short lived when the Nine Tails Demon Fox came.
Many other memories that he considered precious came to mind as he looked at the sky above Konoha. He then turned back and looked at Naruto. "When was the last time you did chakra training Naruto? Even as we speak, your body is undergoing changes which make chakra hard to control. If you want to perform jutsus perfectly, you will need to do chakra training often to get use to the constant change of your chakra flow."
"I did a bit back at the Water Country but I get what you're saying. I just got back from training with Haku and Hinata too. Are there exercises other than climbing trees and walking on water that helps manipulate chakra?"
"There are other exercises but these are more practical." Sarutobi knew the boy was already working hard but also know that chakra control was his big weakness. Naruto was Konoha's future and he had to make sure that the boy was well protected. He kept watching Naruto as the boy got a drink and then prepared to leave. Another thing came to mind that he was curious about. "Say, wrote anything new lately?"
Author's Notes:
I would like to thank everyone for their reviews. Reading them gives me inspiration to write more.
Some of the reviews said that the Hero Water Special is after the Chunnin Exam. That could be it since Naruto was using Kyuubi's chakra without getting out of controlled. It's a special episode so it's hard to pinpoint where exactly it is in the timeline. Sasuke didn't use his Chidori nor has the speed he received from that one month of training before the last tournament and everyone's skills seemed to be lower than it should be. So I thought I should classify the Hero Water special as before the Chunnin Exam. Plus, I thought maybe Naruto used Kyuubi's chakra unknowingly and called it forth by accident. I'm almost finisged writing that chapter on the Hero Water, so should I just go ahead and post it up next or should I wait until after the Chuunin Exam? If I wait until after the Chunnin Exam, I would need to rewrite some stuff but I won't complain. So what does everyone think?
I was thinking that Sarutobi needed some more air time so I wrote a couple of pieces for him.
Raising Storm - Geese Howard (Fatal Fury)
