DON'T OWN NARUTO
Author's Notes: Yo, I was bored so I decided to write this next chapter out and have it released early. Also, a reviewer asked if this story should be a Naru/Hina/Kyuubi story and I would like to hear input on the idea. I won't turn the story into that pairing unless a majority of reviewers wish it so. I already have plans for Naruto and Kyuubi but they can easily be altered so that Hinata could be included. Again, I just ask for input for now.
Rising Phoenix
After Kurenai yelled start, everybody moved off into different directions. Shino hid in some bushes nearby, Hinata was hiding in some bushes in a different area, and Naruto was hiding on top of some trees.
'Hmm, interesting, from the way they act, it seems as though they want to take down the threat first instead of finding the items that I hidden.' Kurenai thought.
Kurenai decided to stay put near the stump where the timer was and grabbed an item that was located in an inside pocket within the clothing she was wearing. Naruto noticed the book and tried to suppress his laughter. The book that Kurenai was reading was Awesome Paradise Volume 5.
'I don't believe this.' Naruto thought.
"Hey Kyuubi, guess what? Our teacher is a pervert who hates perverts.' Naruto replied telepathically to Kyuubi.
Kyuubi was confused at what Naruto said because she couldn't see out to the outside world because of the seal.
'What do you mean?' Kyuubi asked.
'Our teacher right now is reading one of Shinta's Awesome Paradise stories.' Naruto replied.
'While it's true that Awesome Paradise is an action type story, about half of the book is about sex.' Kyuubi said to Naruto.
Naruto started to turn crimson red at the mention of sex. A month ago, Naruto accidentally mistaken one of the Awesome Paradise books for a book on human anatomy and he became captivated with the story. Kyuubi just happen to be out that day and saw that Naruto was reading the book showing no signs of stopping. After Naruto finished with the book, Kyuubi had the dreaded task of giving Naruto 'The Talk'. Naruto became red for quite some time after Kyuubi was done.
'I think that I should send a couple Shadow Replications to see how our teacher is overall.' Naruto thought.
'That's a good plan for facing unknown opponents.' Kyuubi replied.
Naruto formed three Shadow Replications and sent them off to face Kurenai. Naruto was sure that Kurenai didn't notice Naruto summon up a little bit of chakra because of the redness of Kurenai's face.
Over to where Shino was at, he was thinking of some type of plan to defeat Kurenai. He already realized the true purpose of the test which was teamwork, but being the quiet person that he is, decided to do nothing but think up of a plan to defeat his teacher. When he saw that Kurenai picked up a book from within his clothing, he saw that it would be a good chance to attack, but decided not to just in case it was a trap.
With Hinata, she stayed at the area where she was staying at and waited for something to happen. She wasn't feeling real confident as usual and was afraid of failing the test.
The three replications that Naruto summoned were hidden at three locations near Kurenai and decided to go for a pincer attack. The three jumped out and Kurenai placed her book away and moved into a defensive fighting position.
'So he decided to start things off with a regular replication then.' Kurenai thought. Kurenai then decided to ignore the shadow replications thinking that they were regular replications and waited for Naruto to attack. The thought didn't last for long when two of the three replications hit Kurenai hard on the face. Kurenai was shocked. She didn't expect a Genin to have a B ranked technique like the Shadow Replication. She then noticed that one of the three replications didn't attack while the other two were busy fighting with her. She thought that the third one must be the original. She disposed of the two shadow replications with a couple of kunais and started to cast a Genjutsu onto the third clone.
When Kurenai finished the hand seals, she was shocked that Naruto was still standing there like nothing has happened. The third shadow clone moved at a faster pace then what the other two were moving at and tried to punch Kurenai in the stomach. Kurenai barely dodged because she was a little shocked that a Genin saw through her Genjutsu and hit Naruto in the back of the head, hoping to knock him out. She then understood why the Genjutsu didn't work. She realized that the third shadow replication, the one where she thought it was the real one, was just another replication.
Over at the tree where Naruto was at, he analyzed the fight that Kurenai had with the three shadow replications.
'Not bad, looks like she has average taijutsu and I still haven't see what type of Ninjutsu she could use yet. I remember that she said that she was a Genjutsu specialist and that she wanted to be the best. She shouldn't have lowered her guard when a Genjutsu didn't work.' Naruto analyzed.
'I might as well send another shadow replication over to Hinata and Shino. From what I just witnessed, if the three of us can work together, we can easily beat her. She did mention that she just became a Jounin so we should have the advantage since I myself am around the same level. A lot of people may not think so, but look at people like Itachi and the Copy-nin Kakashi. Kakashi became a Jounin at the age of 13 and Itachi became the captain of the ANBU.'
Naruto headed off for the direction of Hinata while he created a Shadow Replication and sent it off to bring Shino over to where Naruto and Hinata were. When Naruto reached the area where Hinata was at; he saw that she was watching Kurenai.
"Hey Hinata." Naruto said quietly from behind Hinata.
Hinata nearly jumped up with fright but turned around and saw that it was Naruto.
"I have a plan in which we could defeat out teacher, but I'll need your help as well as Shino's." Naruto replied in the same quiet voice. A few seconds later, Naruto's shadow replication came along with Shino. Naruto dispelled the replication and started to tell Hinata and Shino his plan.
"Alright, we still have two and a half hours before this test is over. First off, we send Hinata out with a few of my shadow replications to help her out. Hinata, you'll lure her over to the lake. When she's near the lake, Shino will appear and send her off onto the water. Since she's a Jounin, it's safe to say that she knows the water walking technique."
"Water walking?" Hinata asked.
"It means that you walk on water using chakra." Shino answered to the surprise of the other two.
"Anyways, after we get her on the water, I'll use my water techniques to contain her until a few of my shadow replications find the two items." Naruto finished.
The plan sounded simple enough and Shino was impressed when Naruto said that he had a few water techniques at his disposal.
"Hinata, do you think you could do it?" Naruto asked Hinata.
"Y-y-yes." Hinata replied.
Naruto smiled and Hinata blushed a little when Naruto did so.
"Great. Then shall we begin?" Naruto replied.
Hinata jumped out of the bushes activating the Byakugan and saw that Kurenai was still reading the same book that she was reading earlier. Hinata started to run head on towards Kurenai and used her Gentle Fist style to attack.
Kurenai noticed that Hinata was rush towards her.
'This is very unlike her. Something must be going on.' Kurenai thought.
Hinata started to attack and Kurenai did her best to make sure that she wasn't hit. When Hinata was going for a shot at Kurenai's arm, Kurenai grabbed Hinata's arm and started to throw her. She was then attacked from where Hinata was by a shadow replication that Naruto created.
Kurenai was sent back and was soon assaulted by both Hinata and a few shadow clones that Naruto created. Kurenai then noticed that she was being sent towards the lake during the fight between her, Naruto, and Hinata. Kurenai then realized that the lake must have some vital role in the way that Naruto and Hinata were acting and tried to get away. When she jumped up to go over the two Genins, she was ambushed by a bunch of bugs and was forced to head over to the lake.
Kurenai managed to get rid of the shadow replications with a couple shots and moved on top of the water to get away from Hinata and recuperate a little. Kurenai's rest didn't last long when a couple of water clones appeared and grabbed each of Kurenai's arms. Kurenai managed to destroy the two water clones quickly thanks to the fact that water clones only have 1/10th of the users overall strength.
Right after Kurenai destroyed the two water clones, the water that was produced to create the clones started to swirl and a few seconds later, she was trapped within a water prison. Kurenai looked at the source of the water prison and was shocked at what she saw. Not only did Naruto cast the Water Prison Technique, he was also standing on water as if he did it for all his life.
"You underestimated us." Naruto said while maintaining the prison.
"I guess I did." Kurenai answered.
Naruto released the water prison and escorted Kurenai back over to dry land. When the two were on dry land, both Hinata and Shino were sitting down on a log that was near the stump.
"Good job you three, you pass." Kurenai said with a smile.
"This test was quite simple, first off, told us that we had to look for two items. After that, you said that if we don't find the items, we would be sent back to the academy. That was said to cause diversity between the three of us. The main point of this test was for the three of us to work together as a team because all Genin teams are done with 3 man cells and an instructor." Naruto analyzed to everybody.
Kurenai was shocked because she didn't think that anyone would find the true purpose of the test in the way that Naruto stated it.
"Oh and teacher," Naruto said, "here are the two items that you hid under your Genjutsu. You should try to use a higher level technique next time you try to hide an item." Naruto said, handing Kurenai the two items.
Again, Kurenai was shocked. She was certain that she had placed the highest level of Genjutsu to hide the two items and Naruto said that she should use a high level next time.
'I don't see why she's so shocked. I mean, ever since Itachi exposed me to the Mangekyo Sharingan numerous times during our training, I've become immune to most types of Genjutsu. The only types of Genjutsu that can affect me are those of the highest levels, kinjutsu, and bloodline limits like the Mangekyo. Wait, I guess I can see why she was shocked.' Naruto thought.
"Alright team 8 will begin its duties starting tomorrow." Kurenai said, deciding to drop the matter for now.
A week later, team 8 received 9 D class missions. 5 of the 9 missions that the team had to do involved catching a cat named Tora, which belonged to the Daimyo's wife.
"Why is it that every time that stupid cat escapes we are the ones who have to catch it?" Naruto complained after finishing up their 9th mission.
Shino remained silent as ever and Hinata was too shy to answer.
"If we have to do another mission where we have to catch that darn cat, I'm going to force the Hokage to give us a C class mission." Naruto replied more to himself than his other teammates.
Luckily, during the next week, the team received more D class missions which didn't involve that cat. After completing a mission of potato digging, team 8 was in front of the Hokage in the mission selection office turning in the report for the next mission.
"Alright, Team 8, your next mission is to catch a runaway animal." The third replied after looking at a list of D class missions.
"This mission wouldn't involve a certain familiar cat with a ribbon on its left ear would it?" Naruto said dangerously.
"I'm sorry, I was looking at the wrong list." The third replied, seeing the look that Naruto was giving him. The way that Naruto was looking at the third; it was saying 'give me a C class mission now or you're going to regret it.'
The third looked at the C class missions and found a good one for team 8 to do.
"Alright then, I'm assigning you a C class mission. You are to do a protection mission for a man name Tazuna who is from Wave Country." The third ordered.
Tazuna entered the room and looked at Kurenai and her team.
"I am Tazuna the super expert bridge builder. I expect you to give me super protection until I get back to my super country and complete the bridge." Tazuna said to team 8.
'This guy likes to say super a lot.' Team 8 thought in unison.
Twenty minutes later, Naruto was about to leave his house to meet up with the rest of his team for the escort mission. When Naruto reached the door, Itachi decided to say something.
"Naruto, be careful on your way to wave. The 'Devil of the Mist' Momochi Zabuza was last sighted somewhere in Wave Country with a single accomplice. I'm currently using Shinta's information network that he had and gathered up a little bit of information. I've also heard that this information network is supposed to be better than that of the Akatsuki. Be careful and take care." Itachi warned.
"What will you be doing when I'm gone then?" Naruto asked.
"The third managed to get me back into the ANBU. All the members of the ANBU know of my innocence now and believed the story that the third gave, which was similar to what he told him, but altered a little. Also, the Jounins don't know that I'm here in Konoha so that'll still be kept a secret. I'll see if I can get an ANBU team ready just in case you run into trouble." Itachi replied.
Naruto left the house and arrived at the meeting place a couple minutes later. Shino and Tazuna were already there and were still waiting on Kurenai and Hinata. A couple minutes later, the two females arrived and the group of five headed out for Wave Country. Naruto took heed of Itachi's warning and kept on guard during the entire trip.
A few hours later, the group went across a couple puddles and went along as it were nothing out of the ordinary. Both Kurenai and Naruto noticed that there was a suspicious looking puddle but decided to ignore it for now. When the group was twenty feet from the puddle, two ninjas started to emerge from within the puddle of water.
The two ninjas rose up and one of the two ninjas threw the other and started to attack Kurenai with chained based weapons that had sharp points on the chains. The chains enveloped themselves around Kurenai, after the chains were around Kurenai, the two ninjas pulled the chains in their direction and Kurenai was ripped to shreds.
Hinata gasped in fear, her eyes wide with shock at seeing her teacher being ripped apart while Shino was calm. Shino moved over to Tazuna and moved into a defensive stance. Naruto wasn't surprised one bit and was wearing a smile on his face. This confused the two ninjas and they decided that Naruto would be the next target to kill. The two of them retracted their chains and started to launch an attack against Naruto. One of the ninjas moved forward and started to attack Naruto with the clawed gauntlet he was wearing while the other decided to go after Tazuna.
The ninja that was after Tazuna stopped briefly when he saw Shino and decided to attack Shino. The ninja then attacked using the same clawed gauntlet that his partner was using and tried to slash Shino's body. Shino countered by using a bug replication and because the bugs were now on the ninja, Shino ordered the bugs to start draining the chakra out of the ninja. The ninja went down to the ground unconscious not long after because of the lack of chakra. Shino made sure that he didn't kill the ninja.
At Naruto's battle, Naruto easily dodged the thrust attack that the enemy nin was using and created a couple of shadow replications. The replications surrounded the ninja and managed to restrain the ninja's arms. Naruto grabbed some wire that he was using earlier and used the wire to restrain the ninja to a nearby tree. Naruto then enforced the wire using his chakra so that the enemy ninja wouldn't escape.
"How was it that a brat like you defeat me, one of the two Demon Brothers of the Mist, while we easily taken out the woman earlier?" The enemy ninja asked.
"It's simple. You never really killed Kurenai. What you destroyed was merely an object used in the substitution technique. Our teacher is on the tree above us right now. As for the fact that I've defeated you, you need to learn how to hide better. You see, in this region, it hasn't rained for days and that means that all the puddles in the region should have long been evaporated. I've defeated you because I was of a high skill then you were, that's all." Naruto explained simply.
Kurenai went down on the tree that she was on and looked at Naruto.
"Good job Naruto. I'm impressed that you managed to figure it all out." Kurenai replied. She then looked at Tazuna.
"Tazuna, I need to talk to you." Kurenai said seriously. She then looked at the ninja that Naruto tied up to the tree. "The two ninjas that we faced were Mist Village's Chuunins. They are known to fight until the bitter end, no matter what. If I wanted to, I could've defeated these two instantly." Kurenai said, now looking at Tazuna.
"If you could've defeated these two ninjas immediately, why didn't you?" Tazuna asked.
"I wanted to find out something, like who there target was." Kurenai answered.
"What do you mean?" Tazuna asked, feeling a little bit nervous.
"We haven't received any information that there were shinobi that are after you. Our mission was to protect you from gangs and thieves. This mission just became a B class mission. This was supposed to be a simple protection mission until you finished the bridge." Kurenai said to Tazuna, answering his question.
Naruto decided that he had enough and started to head to the direction of Wave Country. Naruto walked by Hinata who was still a little scared at what just happened.
"Don't worry Hinata, as long as I'm around, you'll be fine." Naruto said with his trademark grin.
Hinata blushed and saw that Naruto was still walking towards the direction of Wave.
"Naruto, where do you think you're going?" Kurenai asked, annoyed at Naruto's actions.
"We're continuing the mission. I'll explain everything as we continue our journey." Naruto said, not even bothering to turn around.
Both Hinata and Shino decided to follow Naruto. Kurenai let out a sigh and motioned Tazuna to follow her.
A few minutes of walking later, Naruto decided to explain his actions.
"Teacher, the reason why Tazuna lied and made this mission a C class instead of the more expensive B class is because the country of Wave is a very poor country. Even the Daimyo's in the country don't have much money. I also know who the person is who is sending these missing-nins. That person is none other than Gatou." Naruto stated.
"Gatou, from the Gatou Company? Isn't he supposed to run a large shipping company?" Kurenai asked.
Tazuna decided to answer the question.
"Officially, Gatou does run a large shipping company, but secretly, he sells drugs and other illegal items. He also uses ninja and gang members to make sure that he takes over businesses and countries. He is a super nasty man." Tazuna explained.
Naruto continued from that point.
"You see, if Tazuna completes the bridge, the monopoly that Gatou has in the country would be ruined. Because of that, he fears the bridge being completed, so he hired missing-nins to assassinate Tazuna."
No one spoke for a little while after that and the group soon found their way to the ocean. The group saw that the area had a lot of fog and that there was a ferryman waiting for them. The group went with the ferryman and started to head over to the country of Wave. The crew soon made it to the island and the ferryman bid the group farewell.
The five people continued their journey to make it to Tazuna's house. Thirty minutes later, Naruto noticed that there was a white rabbit and thought it to be really suspicious. Before Naruto could contemplate any more on the matter, a giant sword made its way towards the group.
NEXT CHAPTER: BATTLE WITH ZABUSA AND THE TREE CLIMBING EXERCISE
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