Summary: Recca, Kagero, and a SI are placed in the world of the Nine Tails
Crossover: Flame of Recca, Naruto
Disclaimer: I don't own what other people do. I do own me, though.
Feedback: Sure thing... I like hearing how I can improve :)
Pre-fic Comments:
Hopefully, this part will push the fic over the 10,000 words mark. I know that the continuity of some of this stuff is off, but I honestly don't care, and don't feel like trying to type all that stuff out. Too troublesome. And yes, the teams have been rearranged. Shino has been dropped from the fic, as with him there is one too many people and I wind up with a group of one. If you comment on this, please make it a constructive comment and not "d00d! you suck! SasuSaku 4eva!", 'kay?
ranma hibiki: Of course Hokage knows something, you did catch the conversation where Hokage said he'd help if Kagero approved? And as for Naruto... don't you think he's naughty enough without added fuel?
Alex DarkFire: Thanks for the compliments... and as for Magic in the Bones, I really don't know what to do with that fic at the moment, and I need to be really depressed to work on the Inverted series.
As expected, Kagero-kaasan did dress me down for scaring Inuzuka Kiba like that. I didn't care, though -- my hatred of dogs is second only to my hatred of vermin and willfully stupid people.
I didn't have much luck managing to talk to the Morino clan, though -- they were amazingly stubborn, and I had to resort to hitting the books.
"'Niisan," Recca whined. "C'mon, Naruto and I want you to spar with us!"
"I'm making notes on this, though," I complained, gesturing at a piece of paper I was working on.
"Not that stupid genjutsu thing again," Recca said, frowning.
"It isn't stupid!," I retorted, then grabbed my mouth as I realised something.
"Hanabishi! Out!," the Head Librarian commanded. While she kind of liked me, she was unbending in her rules, and one of those was that people don't make noise in her library.
"There," Recca said smugly, having baited me into yelling. If he had yelled, he would have been the one getting kicked out, not me. "Gotcha outta here."
I scowled as I rolled my paper up, stuffing it into a pocket as I returned some scrolls to their places. "I guess you just volunteered to be my first guinea pig."
"Sure thing," Recca said as we ambled out the door. "And no hiding in the shadows again!"
"You're just mad that I can learn 'kaasan's techniques that copy the Eikai Ball, and you can't," I said smugly.
"Ma, ma, well you're just jealous that you don't have my flames," Recca returned.
"Sugoi! Recca-niisan, you got him!," Naruto cheered as the two of us approached the part. "Matora, for someone with such a cool scar, you sure are boring."
"Man, you say that as if I'm as bad as Shikamaru," I said, frowning at the mention of the scar.
Kurei's attack on us when Recca and I were one had resulted in scarring. In Recca's case, he was lucky enough to get a short, one or two inch long scar on his cheek that he habitually covered with a band-aid. Me, I got a huge long scar through my eyebrow and down my cheek.
"I dunno... you stare at scrolls all day, and he stares at clouds," Naruto said.
"I don't stare at scrolls all day -- I do go into the forest," I pointed out.
"Oooo, did you find Kiba again?," Naruto asked eagerly. The dog boy had been picking on him again in class.
"Nah, I don't think that that dog of his likes that part of the forest any more," I said.
"Can't imagine why," Recca sniggered.
We all jumped as Recca dodged a kunai thrown at him.
"Recca! I challenge you!," Fuuko called out.
"You can't beat me," Recca said confidently.
"Go, Fuuko!," Domon cheered, having sneaked away from his mother's flower shop where he was supposed to be weeding their flowerbeds.
With that, the two rivals started trying to incapacitate each other, so I began to sneak off.
"Oi," Naruto hissed to me. "I'm gonna go egg Kiba's house -- you on?"
"Sure," I whispered back. Kiba had been an asshole to me, too -- although, in my case, it was because he could smell tiger on me, and unconsciously was badly disposed towards me as a result.
"Hinata," I called out in a low voice.
"M-Matora?," a timid voice returned. The pale-eyed Hinata stepped out from behind a tree, embarassed slightly to be near her crush, Naruto. "How did you know I was there?"
"That's a secret," I grinned, tapping the side of my nose in a hint. "C'mon, we're gonna have fun!"
As Naruto and I pelted eggs at the Inuzuka residence, Hinata quietly tried to ask us to stop. A few dirty jokes beforehand from me meant, though, that she was way too embarassed to not stutter, so Naruto couldn't understand what she was saying.
Then a bamf noise and a puff of smoke announced that bad news, and The Law, had arrived.
"C'mon!," I called out to Naruto. "Run!"
I began to fall into a patch of shadows like someone slipping beneath the surface of water, but a strong hand grabbed my Dimmu Borgir shirt. (I was one of the (very) few in the village that was into heavy metal, a style of music imported from outside the map.)
"Maaatooooraaaa," a familiar voice said. "Naaaruuutooo."
"I-I-Iruka-s-s-sensei?," Hinata stammered. "I'm sorry, I tried to stop them, but..."
"It's okay, Hinata," Iruka said. He then stared at us two boys. "Matora, Naruto, I can't believe you did this! Your parents will hear about this! And you're supposed to be in school at the moment, too!"
"Uh... do we get any last requests?," I asked, as Iruka-sensei approached Naruto and I with rope in hand, a mad gleam in his eye.
Five minutes later, we were sitting on the classroom floor in front of everyone, roped back to bad.
"Bah!," Naruto said, face turned away in pique.
"Tomorrow is the Ninja School's graduation exam!," Iruka-sensei thundered. "Naruto, you have failed the last two times!"
Recca began to laugh.
"Hanabishi Recca, you can stop laughing now -- your record is just as bad!"
Recca stopped laughing, and started to frown.
"This is no time to be outside causing trouble, you morons!," Iruka-sensei reprimanded us. "Time for a review test on Henge no Jutsu! Everyone line up!"
"WHAT?!," the class roared.
"Transform into me," the teacher said, relentless.
I sighed. This sucked.
Most of the class Henge'd into an image of Iruka-sensei without a problem, until he got to Recca.
"Hanabishi, Recca!"
"Henge!," Recca called out, making the appropriate handseal.
Rings of smoke circling him (her?), an image of a beautiful, well-endowed raven haired beauty appeared in front of Iruka-sensei, one hand on her back pushing out her breasts and the other on her hips.
Jets of blood erupting from his nose sent Iruka reeling into the blackboard. "Dumbass! You fail!"
Recca sniggered as he sauntered away.
"Hanabishi, Matora!"
I knew I was in Iruka-sensei's bad books as it was. I simply Henge'd into an image of him, to save myself strife.
"You pass! Finally, someone with a brain! Uzumaki, Naruto!"
I closed my eyes and sighed as, with a call of "Henge!", Naruto turned into an image of a blonde female, buck naked, blowing a kiss at the teacher.
"Gyahahaha!," Naruto crowed as Iruka suffered blood loss again. "I call that one Sexy no Jutsu!"
"You dumbass!," Iruka roared, sure now of who had come up with the 'technique'. "Don't invent stupid skills!"
"Maybe Naruto could sell himself if he doesn't make it as a ninja," I offered, causing Naruto to glare at me, the rest of the class (except for Recca) to laugh, and Iruka to look disapprovingly at me.
"I won't let you two go home until you clean all of it up!," Iruka commanded Naruto and I.
I groaned. The two of us were at the Kiba house again, this time to clean up the mess we had made.
"Like I care!," Naruto yelled.
Suddenly, a jet of water splashed onto the house, shortcircuiting our efforts with rags and buckets of water. We turned... to see Recca with the Kiba's garden hose.
"Recca-niisan?," Naruto said, puzzled.
"If you're any later home, I'll get in trouble," Recca said. He then made a victory sign with his fingers. "Team Hokage cannot lose!"
Iruka shook his head, silently laughing. Well, at least they might get through the Genin entrance exam.
The next morning, we all passed the Academy Graduation Exam... barely, in Recca and Naruto's cases. Both of them preferred straightforward action to plans, but luckily we were allowed two attempts each. Recca and Naruto needed both.
"Now, I will call out your teams!," Iruka-sensei announced. Everyone promptly sat still.
After the first several teams, Iruka-lazyass-sensei finally got to the good teams.
"Team Seven: Uzumaki Naruto, Hanabishi Matora--"
Naruto and I exchanged a high five at this.
"--and Uchiha Sasuke."
Our faces dropped. Not him!
"Iruka-sensei!," Naruto called out, finger pointed accusingly at Sasuke, "Why does an outstanding ninja like me have to be on the same team as that bum?!"
"... Sasuke's grades were first among all thirty graduates," Iruka thundered, arms akimbo. "Naruto, you were dead last! We have to do this to balance the teams, you understand?"
"Bah, just don't get in my way... dead last," Sasuke said.
"What did you call me?," Naruto said disbelievingly.
"Give it a rest, Naruto," I moaned.
"Team Eight," Iruka-sensei continued. "Haruno Sakura, Yamazaki Ino, and Naru Shikamaru!"
"That's going to be fun to observe," I said. "An ongoing catfight while the third member watches clouds."
"Team Nine! Hanabishi Recca, Akimichi Chouji, and Kirisawa Fuuko!"
Fuuko got an evil smile on her face at that, fingering the tip of one of her kunai while she gazed at Recca, who frowned.
"Team Ten! Ishijima Domon, Hyuuga Hinata, and Inuzuka Kiba!"
"Domon, Hinata, I feel sorry for you, being saddled with the mongrel," I called out.
"What was that, Hanabishi?!," Kiba yelled back. I grinned, as he was still unaware of my status as a weretiger.
"Okay, this afternoon we'll introduce the jounin sensei," Iruka said, completely ignoring the various fights that had broken out. "Take a break until then."
Naruto and I looked up as two figures approached us.
Ino and Sakura. Damn. I had expected them to wait until tomorrow or something.
"We have a bone to pick with you two," Sakura said, cracking her knuckles.
"Don't look at me, look at Iruka-sensei," I said, holding up my hands in a defensive placating gesture. "I had less than nothing to do with it."
"Na-ru-to?," Ino said questioningly, scowling.
"I hate him! Why would I want to be in the same team as him?," Naruto protested.
The two girls paused to think this over, and then had the decency to apologise.
"We're sorry," Ino said. "Now, if you'll excuse us, we have matters to discuss between each other."
I got up, walking over to where Shikamaru was lying on the grass after eating his lunch. "Hey."
"Hi," Shikamaru returned.
"Man, do I feel sorry for you," I said.
"Hihihi! I bet I know who'll wear the pants in your team!," Naruto sniggered.
"So troublesome," Ino and Sakura's teammate complained.
"Stupid goddamn useless lameass mother $#ing so-called jounin so-called sensei!," I ranted.
"Why is the sensei of our Team Seven so damn late?," Naruto bitched. "All the other teams have gone off with their sensei. And Iruka-sensei has left!"
"I hope that Recca and Fuuko's sensei survives to actually teach," I observed.
"Hihi! Yeah, he did look pretty sick," Naruto agreed, kicking his heels. He ran up to the blackboard, grabbing a chalk duster then running to the door.
"Stop!," I commanded.
"Fun killer," Naruto accused.
I went and got some chalk. "Bring the duster here."
Naruto grinned evilly as we ground fresh chalk dust into the duster straight from the new chalk, then put the duster wedged up between the sliding door and the frame.
"That's what you get for being late!," Naruto said cheerfully.
"Pft, like a jounin is going to fall for such a simple booby trap," Sasuke said, from where his fingers were arched in front of his face, looking far too much like Ikari Gendou for my liking.
Right after he said that, a figure poked their head through the door, dislodging the duster and causing it to fall onto their head. Chalk swirled around, coating their forehead protector in white chalk dust.
"Gyahahahaha!," Naruto laughed, pointing. "You fell for it!"
I silently smiled.
The man finished walking through the door. He was dressed in black, with a green flak jacket. A mask covered his lower face, and his forehead protector covered up his right eye, leaving his left exposed.
"Hmmm... how can I say this?," the man wondered, holding his hand up to his chin in thought. "My first impression is... I don't like you guys."
"Okay, let's start with some introductions," the man said.
We were all sitting on the roof of the Academy, where they had a garden.
"What do you want to know?," Sasuke said coolly.
"How about... your likes, your dislikes, dreams for the future, hobbies, stuff like that," the man elaborated.
"Hey hey, why don't you introduce yourself first?," Naruto suggested.
"Oh... me? My name is Hatake Kakashi. I have no desire to tell you guys about my likes and dislikes. Dreams for the future? Hmm... well, I have lots of hobbies."
"So all we learned... was his name?," Naruto said incredulously.
"Not really," I said. "We could go look his public records up, since now we know his name and what he looks like."
"You could," Kakashi shrugged. "Now it's your turn, from the right."
"Me! Me!," Naruto said, excited. "My name is Uzumaki Naruto, and Matora's parents adopted me. I like cup ramen! What I like even better is the ramen that okaasan makes. What I dislike is waiting for the ramen to cook. My dream... is to surpass Hokage, and make people accept me, Recca, Matora, Fuuko, Domon, and the others! Hobbies... pranks, I guess."
"I see," Kakashi said, scratching his head. "Next?"
"My name is Uchiha Sasuke. There are a ton of things I dislike, but nothing I really like. And... I don't want to use the term dream, but... I have an ambition. The resurrection of my clan, and to kill a certain man."
Kakashi sighed.
"You mean you don't like girls, or the thought of getting laid?," I asked. "You gay or something?"
Naruto edged away from Sasuke as the Uchiha gave me a truly evil glare.
"Okay... and lastly, you."
"Me? Well, my name is Hanabishi Matora. I like books, and getting things done with a minimum of screwing acround. I dislike bugs, dogs, and stupid people. My dreams... well, to have a good life, I suppose, and to look after my friends and family. I have some hobbies, too. Oh, and since you're all my team now, I guess you'd better know that I'm a weretiger."
"A what?," Sasuke asked. frowning. Cool! I knew something he didn't!
"That's old news, Matora-niisan," Naruto said.
"It's new news to me," Kakashi said easily. "I've never met a weretiger... demonstrate, please?"
I obliged, changing form to halfway between tiger and human. I got another foot or two of height in this form. Then I changed to full tiger, my clothes disappearing to God and Hokage-sama knows where.
"Amazing," Kakashi said. "I never heard of a weretiger, before."
"Hokage-sama helped him with it," Naruto chimed in.
I changed back to human, clothes reappearing on me.
"That explains a great deal about your relationship with Inuzuka Kiba," Sasuke said dispassionately.
"That's enough of that," Kakashi sighed. "We will start our duties tomorrow."
"Be still, my beating heart," I muttered. Louder, I said, "What, exactly, are we doing tomorrow?"
"First, we are going to do something with just the four of us," Kakashi said, arms folded.
"What? What?," Naruto asked, eager as anything.
"Survival training."
"Survival training?," Naruto asked.
"God, I hate survival training," I muttered. And it was true, too -- dirt, mud, and all the bugs you could squash.
"I'm your opponent, but this isn't your usual training," Kakashi continued, an evil gleam in his eye.
"Then! Then! What is it?," Naruto asked.
"Hehehe...," Kakashi said. I patiently waited for him to hurry the hell up. "When I tell you guys this, you are definitely going to flip."
"You... you... even if Sasuke's into guys, I don't wanna part of it!," I yelled. This was boring, dammit!
"I am not gay," Sasuke said cooly.
"Of the twenty seven graduates, only twelve will be chosen as genin. The rest will be sent back to the Academy," Kakashi said, eye half lidded. "This training is a super difficult exam with a failure rate of over sixty six percent!"
Naruto bugged out. I sighed -- it figured, be too easy to just let us be genin. Sasuke just stared cooly at Kakashi.
"Aw, man... but we worked so hard at graduating!," Naruto protested. (I snorted -- the last thing Naruto worked hard on was egging Kiba's house.)
"Oh, that? That's just to select those who have the chance at becoming genin. Anyway, tomorrow you will be graded on the training field," Kakashi said. "Bring all your shinobi tools. Oh, and don't have breakfast, or you'll definitely throw up."
He then handed us some computer printouts. (Someone with access to Hokage's office -- the rest of the village was only allowed radios and compact disc players.) "The details can be found on this printout. Don't be late tomorrow."
Post-fic Comments:
Well, despite the fair amount of canon dialog, the next part will have a fairly divergent scene.