Little note: from now on techniques learned from the scroll aren't going to have the ending "no jutsu". His techniques will only have the name I give then (as taken from sorce)
Disclaimer: an act or statement that demounts a lack of ownership. For further details see earlier chapters.
"Kurenai?" questioned the third Hokage, "you know of Uzumaki Naruto, correct?"
"The Kyubi vessel?" questioned Kurenai, "yes I know him. Not personally but he has quite the reputation as a troublemaker. Why do you ask Hokage-sama?"
The Hokage smiled his warmest smile at her. "You have already answered my question before I could ask it. That seems to be a trend of late." He smiled and looked as if he was reviewing a fond memory. "And you're right, he is a bit of a troublemaker isn't he?"
"Meaning no disrespect Hokage-sama, but you haven't answered my question yet, and what question were you about to ask?" asked the more then slightly puzzled jonin.
"Simple Kurenai-chan, I was going to ask how you saw Naruto but you answered that when you referred to him as the Kyubi's vessel instead of the Kyubi itself. As to the answered to your question, I wanted to know if my choice to put him and his team with you was the best choice. You have demonstrated no bias toward Shikamaru for his attitude, nor Hinata and Naruto for their backgrounds. This in my opinion makes you the best choice for the jonin instructor for team ten." Explained the still smiling Hokage.
"REALLY!" cried an overjoyed Kurenai. " I'll really get my own team to teach? I'll get to instruct and train them?"
"Yes Kurenai-chan." Said the Hokage. "You have shown yourself to be a very capable jonin and I feel that you are responsible enough to take on your own three genin cell."
With a triumphant leap of joy Kurenai leapt from her seat and raced off to the academy.
Naruto walked calmly into the middle of the park and felt around with the "Rock speaker". The young kid following him had been sloppy and he knew now that it was Konohamaru, grandson of the Third. The girl further back was doing an excellent job. It was almost as though she could see through walls, which lead him to believe it was Hinata.
'But I just don't get why she would follow me,' asked Naruto in a somewhat whiney mental voice. 'who could it be if not her though?'
'You really are clueless aren't you?' replied Kyubi.
'What do you mean Kyubi-chan?'
'Uh-oh… I really should have guarded that thought!' thought Kyubi privately. 'If I tell him she likes him he might try and date her and I wont have that! But now he's curious and I can't just not tell him anything. Ohh I hate doing this but…'
'If you can't figure it out on your own then I'm not going to help you' Kyubi replied to Naruto in a slightly smug sounding voice.
'Aww, pleas? Pretty pleas with a cherry on top?' asked Naruto in his most innocent little kid voice.
'No' came Kyubi's blunt reply.
'Will you still help me out with the plan though?'
'Of coarse I will. I did help think it up and I defiantly want to find out who tree stalker is.' She privately added 'if it's a girl I'll mutilate her' with a murderous look in her eye.
As Naruto came to the center of the park he pinpointed all three of his would be stalkers on the east side of the park with him headed west. 'Perfect' he thought to him self 'you ready?'
'Already waiting for you" replied Kyubi cheekily.
And as if the starting pistol had just gone off Naruto took off towards the other end of the park. The speed he was moving at would have made most of the Anbu guard jealous. And it had the exact effect he had wanted. Konohamaru jumped out from behind a mailbox and tripped on his own scarf, taking him well out of the game. Hinata ran around the corner she had been hiding behind and started to walk as fast as she could towards the park without looking too suspicious. But the true purpose of his little sprint came with a satisfying thwack as someone leapt from their perch on the tree branch to the ground.
'Now!' thought Naruto. 'Gather red chakra into my foot and…' With a deep inhale and a short stop, Naruto raised his right leg at the knee and screamed "Crack The Earth!" and brought his foot down. The effect was as swift as it was devastating. With that single stomp he had caused several radial cracks and three incredibly large trenches. The three trenches ran from his foot towards his target, being a very confused looking Sasuke. With no time to react, the trenches swept the so called "genius ninja" off his feet and into the center where all three had met to form a good-sized crater.
Naruto calmly walked up to the edge of the crater, and looked in at the dazed, but recovering Sasuke.
"Why are you following me?" Naruto asked in a demanding voice
"How did you do that?" asked Sasuke in an annoyed tone, completely ignoring Naruto's question.
"Well it's actually pretty advanced. You know, upper level stuff, so I'm not all that surprised you wouldn't know" said a very smug Naruto, greatly enjoying lording over Sasuke. "but as fun as this has been, and for me it really has, I want to go get my lunch so I can be back on time for our teams assigned jonin instructor." Naruto turned and started to walk off when he saw that Sasuke wasn't about to let it end there.
"Tell me how you did that!" said an angered Sasuke whilst pulling a kunai from his pouch
"I'm sorry, but as much as I'd really love to show you who's the better ninja, I really have to get out of here so I can have my lunch" he said turning back. 'Hey Kyubi, I know you told me to tone it down but can we just jump straight to Ichiraku's ramen stand? I'll take it in not so huge jumps just big enough that they won't follow me anymore.'
Normally Kyubi would have protested. After all, the Hokage had told them to keep it on a low profile but as Naruto had turned away from Sasuke, she had seen Hinata. The girl had a look of pure admiration on her face and had been inching her way closer ever since he had started to run. 'Sure, let's get out of here but try to keep it from getting the old man mad at us' she said.
'Yahoo!' thought Naruto. He quite enjoyed the feeling of flying through the air. But while he was internally rejoicing, he was calm and smug on the outside and he said to Sasuke, "I don't have time to play with you, maybe some other time." And with that, he was gone.
He saw the process in his mind and played it out. First black to line the pathways, then red for the leap, then white for the cushion, then blue and green for the hold, then start again. With one great leap he was out of the park and onto the nearest rooftop at nearly eighty feet away. Sasuke couldn't even follow his movement it was so fast and the leap carried him out of Hinata's range.
The two who had been so steadfastly following him both hung their heads in defeat, though for entirely different reasons, and walked back towards the academy. Sasuke was upset that not only had he failed to find out how Naruto had done the leaps and that crazy stomp thing, he'd been beaten in one move by the dead last of the year, the one he'd called useless in his head many times. Hinata on the other hand was sad that she hadn't seen where he'd gone for his lunch. If she could find out what he liked to eat then maybe she could try to meat him there or even work up the courage to ask him there.
The blond in question was currently enjoying his favorite pass time. Eating ramen. He was enjoying his self beyond belief. Not only was he eating at Ichiraku's on a school day, not only had he passed and become a shinobi, but he had actually beaten Sasuke. In one move no less.
Kyubi on the other hand didn't like this day as much. Not only was Naruto forced to spend time with Hinata, which could lead to them liking each other or worse dating each other, but it seemed from the blatant flirting of Ayame, the ramen waitress, and the less hurtful more appreciative glances he was getting from girls his age, that the new physique he had gotten from the splitting of his chakra hadn't gone as unnoticed as she had hoped it would. He had remained blissfully unaware, but Kyubi had noticed right away. His chest was more defined, his arms were more muscular but not to the point that they became bulky, they were sleek like a swimmer's, as well as his legs. In short he looked not half bad for a ninja of his age and apparently it had an affect on other girls as well as her.
Naruto looked up from his ramen at yet another funny glance from a girl passing down the street. He was about to go back to his ramen when he noticed the clock. He had five minutes to get back to class on what would normally be a fifteen-minute walk. He dropped the money for his meal on the counter and to all but himself and Kyubi, vanished into thin air leaving not a trace.
Naruto arrived back at the academy with a minute and thirty seconds to spare and sat down next to Hinata again. Hinata looked at Naruto for a second and looked like she was about to say something when Iruka interrupted her.
"The jonin instructors have arrived. When your cell is called, you will stand and follow your instructor out. Starting with cell ten, Yuuhi Kurenai"
With those words, Shikamaru, Hinata, and Naruto walked out following the red-eyed jonin.
"Well," said Kurenai, "I guess we'll get to the introductions, meet me at the large oak in training ground ten" and with that she vanished in a puff of smoke.
A.N.: I know cliffy ending. And it's becoming something of a trend with me. Sorry for taking so long, but this chapter was originally supposed to go all the way through the "Real" genin exam, but then I just couldn't think of a good way for her to test them so if it's a little short that's why (damn you writers block!)
Thanks so much too all of you who review my story, it's a real confidence booster, and helps me come up with ideas. And a special thanks to a few of you who have somehow found the time to review every chapter so far, you guys are just great.
Crack the earth: using red chakra gathered from the rock speaker, this technique combines three elements. First a powerful stomp that causes a mild earthquake to separate the earth, a chakra explosion underground to create enough space for the collapse of the upper levels of earth, and a chakra wave to direct it towards your opponent. It can be used as a direct attack but serves as more of a confusion and set up technique for more powerful techniques, it requires a lot of red chakra so that it can form all three steps and is advised to use after a rock speaker, but because of the sheer amount Naruto can use this as a time buying technique so he can use rock speaker to gain even more chakra.
The gray spire is all colors mixed together, or just regular chakra. I've gotten a lot of questions about it and I apologize for not making it clearer.
Ja Ne