A/N: Ei guys! I'm back and ready to jam! Now wait…where'd that come from? Ah well…teehee…anyhow, sorry for the wait! Got caught up in some business…Hong Kong's great! Although maybe I should start learning how to read/write/speak their language there…But I'm still learning Japanese so I'll just try that when I have time…hehe…Anyways, thanks for all the reviews! You sure made me want to continue this all of a sudden! Hehe…well, I won't keep you here so, happy reading and hope you like it:D
Disclaimer: Do I really need to say this? Oh please…We all know that Kishimoto Masaki-sama owns all of this…Now, don't make me say it or I'll beat you to a pulp like Sakura does to Naruto! Grr…notice OOC-ness though…o.0
"Talking"
'Thinking' ('Inner Sakura')
'Kyuubi talking'
By the way, in case I didn't mention (which I think I really didn't), Naruto is currently wearing black khaki pants with numerous pockets and the same top he has in the manga, set when they're fifteen, I think? Please correct me if I'm wrong but if I recall it right, you can describe it as an orange jacket with black color on the sleeves and shoulders? I'm not very good at descriptions of appearances so…I'll just say it here. Oh, and there's also a blue spiral symbol at the back of his jacket, okay? Everyone else is wearing the same. Although I wish I could make Hinata's hair longer like in the time frame of the latest manga, don't ya think :D
"The important thing is this: to be able at any moment to sacrifice what we are for what we could become."
-Charles Du Bos
I'll Be Home
By Milky Étoile
Chapter Four
Explanations and Elaborations
"That's it!"
The blonde genin's deadpanned reactionmade his new comrades flinch. Of course, the jounin wasn't affected and only nodded.
"What!" Naruto groaned loudly in frustration. "We went through all that crap in the Academy just to be prepared for the same stupid survival test! This is INSANE!" He frantically waved his arms in the air, not even caring one bit that he looked like a complete and utter idiot. Well, that was what impatience did to people…craziness, it can cause…
"This test will be different." The statement somehow made their attention go back to him. Even Naruto seemed to have looked at him eagerly.
"How different?" the blonde asked, narrowing his eyes to him.
"Well…" Kakashi trailed off…
"Well what?" Naruto asked irritably.
"You see…"
"See what?" Sasuke seemed to twitch as he asked that.
"You'll have to…"
"We'll have to what!" A vein was already pulsing visibly in Sakura's temples while speaking.
"Wait."
…
…
…
Three pairs of eyes blinked at exactly the same nanosecond. The wind blew as they all stopped speaking. Everything seemed quiet until—
"Say—WHAT!" Three voices—yes, three, with a black-haired Uchiha as well—exclaimed loudly, apparently perturbed at the single word their superior uttered.
Kakashi sighed again. "You'll have to wait until tomorrow to find out."
"What do you mean we'll have to wait until tomorrow?" Sakura narrowed her eyes at him.
"You made us wait for two—"
"—and a half—" Sasuke inserted in Naruto's statement.
"—hours and you tell us to wait AGAIN?"
This time, Kakashi had to flinch. Honestly, don't these guys—and girl—know how to speak in normal volumes? He was surely going to have deaf ears after this. Well, they asked for it…
"Actually, I might just tell you now." They looked at him again expectantly, Naruto most eager of them. He had actually heard of something like this from Jiraiya but…it might have slipped his mind.
"Well…" The three genin glared at him, as if daring him to stop.
"Er…you see…" Their gazes intensified so much that it seemed that if looks could kill, Kakashi might as well have been toast.
"You're going to take this test to determine whether you'll be able to make it to the team as official genin."
The wind blew in their faces again and jaws were attempting not to drop in vain.
"You mean we're not real genin YET!" More veins seem to pulse visibly in a pink-haired girl's head.
The black-eyed Uchiha's eyebrows twitched again.
"Then what was the use of all that stupid testing and passing from that stupid Academy? To weed out the unworthy!" The team's blonde-haired member looked incredulous.
"…" No one knew what to say to that. And all those other questions as well.
Except Kakashi of course.
"No, you're not yet genin." Sakura looked horrified at Kakashi with his reply.
"You, stop twitching." Sasuke only glared at him, trying not to twitch.
"And yes. The test was to 'weed out the unworthy,' as you so put it." Naruto grimaced at that.
"Now you should all get ready for it. Prepare well and don't eat breakfast if you don't want to throw up." Eyebrows raised at this but no one questioned him further.
"Meet me at the seventh training field near the bridge at 7 am tomorrow. And don't be late." With that said, the silver-haired jounin known as the Copy-Cat Hatake Kakashi poofed out of their sight.
Silence reigned as the three new members of Team 7 got lost in their thoughts…
But we won't go deeper into those.
"So…anyone up for a bowl of ramen?"
"Waah! I missed your ramen so much, old man! Nothing really beats Ichiraku Ramen! Itadakimasu!" A certain blonde then started slurping down the meal in front of him like there was no tomorrow. Both of his new comrades can only stare at him in half in awe and half in amusement.
Of course, the two, Sakura and Sasuke, at the moment, had just come to the conclusion that only Naruto would be able to do such a feat. Why, you ask? Only he could eat five bowls of ramen in just a matter of minutes!
"Another bowl of miso ramen, please!"
Yes…only Naruto can eat that much. It made them wonder how large his stomach could be. Although they also thought it might have something to do with the traveling. After all, who knows if he hasn't eaten for days because of being on the road?
"N-naruto! You should slow down a bit before you choke!" Sakura tried to make him eat a bit slower, not even touching her own order since the blonde started eating. Sure, she might have already witnessed this kind of action years before, but it was still a bit unnerving…along with the fact that she actually was able to bear with it for years before…
'Is this guy insane? He almost acts as if he hadn't eaten inmonths! Is he always like this?' And as much as Sasuke tried not to wonder, he couldn't keep even his face from showing a hint of surprise.
"Fon' forry!" Naruto's muffled voice answered, his mouth still occupied by his ramen. "Mmph fush shu fish!" And he continued to eat…and eat…
"Huh!"
The owner of the ramen stand could only laugh at the boy's behavior. "You needn't worry, young girl! I think you've already seen how he's managed to eat like this for the past years!"
His daughter, Ayame, then turned to Naruto and handed him another bowl. "Here's your next serving! Eat as much as you like!"
"Arigatou Ayame-chan!" And another serving went straight to his stomach.
"A-ano…Naruto-kun…weren't we supposed to…'get to know each other,' as you put it?" Sakura had finally managed to push her astonishment away and ask. Sasuke too had that indifferent expression on his features again.
"Eh?" The whiskered boy paused in his meal and cocked an eyebrow at Sakura before recalling the real purpose of his invitation to the food establishment. "Oh yeah!" And he gulped down all that was left of his food and put down the bowl before turning back to the two of them.
"Ah! That was so good! Now…" Naruto cleared his throat and put on his usual foxy grin. "You see, I was thinking…we would have to get to know each other better so that we could work more effectively as a team!"
"You've mentioned that already," Sakura said in a flat tone.
"Oh, I did? Ah well!" The blonde shrugged. "What I really mean is so that we should know what the others can and can't do…"
"Yes, we should probably start by telling each other what we are capable of, starting from saying whether we're more adept to taijutsu, ninjutsu or genjustu," the usually quiet Sasuke agreed.
"Yeah!" Naruto nodded in approvement. "He's right! We should even tell each other what techniques we're actually capable of doing!"
"I agree," Sakura finally spoke up, seeing the sense in their suggestions. "That way, we can find out what might be our weaknesses and figure out a way to remedy whatever it is we lack."
All three of them nodded.
"All right then! Who wants to go first?" Naruto inquired enthusiastically.
And that might have just been the beginning of a new friendship in the newly formed Team Seven rookie genin of Konoha. Although that friendship was yet to deepen…
"Yo!" was the simple greeting of their…not-so-early teacher. It had already been two hours since their appointed time on the seventh training ground.
"YOU'RE LATE!" was the blunt complaint of two of his students. The third member of the group only glared at him in annoyance. Again.
"Gomen," Kakashi apologized with his smile evident with his upturned visible eye. "I saw a black cat in my way and it didn't want to go—"
"USOTSUKI!" Naruto and Sakura both glared defiantly at their obviously lying instructor while Sasuke had the look that clearly said, 'I'm going to kill you when I have the chance to.'
"I bet you were only looking for Ero-sennin since yesterday and since you didn't find him, you just went to his publisher and asked if he said anything about Icha Icha's next release date!" the current blonde in the team blurted out. "Didn't you?"
Naruto had hit the spot there so perfectly that Kakashi almost flinched. Almost.
After regaining his lost composure, he only coughed and said, "I don't think that's any of your business anyway…but now…"
The other three saw his visible eye narrowing dangerously.
But it seemed they were not fazed at all.
In fact, the genin only stared at him with same blank expressions. They even blinked at the same time. Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke did it in perfect unison that it seemed they had practiced it.
This made their instructor fake a cough again to cover up his supposed snigger before he spoke again. "Now, as you may recall, we're having a test today. A survival test, right?"
His question was met with blank expressions. Again.
"Erm…anyway, in this test you'll have a 99.99 percent failing rate and if you fail, you're going to have to go back to the Academy!" Kakashi said cheerfully. But again, it seemed this time the genin were unperturbed. He took their silence as a signal to continue.
"Actually, it's only a 66 percent failing rate. Still, failure will be staring at you straight because out of the 27 students that passed from the test at the Academy, only 9 will remain and be called official genin. I think you already know what else you can get from failing this." The silver-haired jounin leaned back on the log that was standing behind him.
"And the objectives and other details of the test?" Sakura asked, her expression changing to an indifferent one from the blank one before.
"Well…" Kakashi pulled something from his pocket and showed two bells tied together by a seemingly easily breakable string. "Each of you will need to get these bells from me before twelve noon." And he sat an alarm clock on one of the logs that were standing in the middle of the field.
"But there are only two bells. How can each of us get one?" Sakura asked, again being the mediator of the group.
This only made the gleam in the jounin's visible eye became more mischievous. "Exactly! Even if you get these bells from me, one of you will still be sent back to the Academy. And whoever does not get a bell will be tied onto these logs behind me and won't be given any lunch!"
The blank expressions from his new team seemed to now perturb Kakashi now…
He coughed again to regain his composure. "Of course, there's still the huge possibility that none of you will pass, so what's the use? Well, in any case, it starts when I say…"
And the hand indicating the seconds reached twelve…
"Go."
And all three of his students went out of sight.
"Are you sure about this?"
The whiskered blonde sighed for the tenth time in exasperation and looked up at his two companions (who were standing over him as he made drawings). "Yes! I'm quite sure! But in case that we're wrong in our assumption, then I'm the one who won't get one, okay?" he asked his two teammates who had been (thankfully enough) cooperative. Their little meeting the previous day must have done its desired effect…
"But then…" Sakura trailed off, doubting if ever that would be a good idea. Even Sasuke looked somewhat peeved about Naruto's decision.
"Oh come on! It's not as if I'm going to die if I go back to the Academy, you know!" Naruto waved a hand at them indifferently. "In fact, I'll be much safer, ne? Except from boredom, that is…" He got up from sitting on the ground and brushed the dirt off of his black khaki pants. He grinned at the two before extending his arm to them and spoke.
"Well then, everything covered?" The two nodded to him and he continued…
"YOSHI! Dekiru tte ba yo! Team Seven, iku zo!"
Sakura placed her own right hand on top of his and Sasuke followed the suite (albeit a bit reluctantly).
"Akiramenaide! FIGHT!"
And right after three voices chorused, the voices' owners disappeared out of sight in a blur.
A very…ehm…perverted giggle could be heard in the clearing where three logs currently stood with a certain silver-haired jounin leaned with that aforementioned (please refer to chapter two of this fic for more information) cursed little orange book right in front of his masked face. And as unbelievable it might be, he was still alert and actually wondering what had happened to his students.
Yes, Hatake Kakashi was actually curious. At the moment, he could say that all three of them were sure hiding their chakra but there was still the little amount he could still feel. After he had used a simple genjutsu on Sakura (who seemed to have really fallen for it), made Sasuke stuck in the ground (literally) and attempted to poke Naruto's behind with a certain…infamous technique (which did succeed anyway, seeing as he got thrown off somewhere in the woods), Kakashi wondered if ever they had actually given up.
Of course, there was a huge possibility that they were just stalling for something…planning maybe?
The thought made him smirk. If that was so, then they might just be the first team ever to be passed by the copy-cat. IF that WAS so…it's still possible that they were trying to formulate plans on their own to be able to get one of the bells for themselves…
But then again, all of a sudden, he was left with nothing to think about as he dodged a kunai that was supposedly aimed for his…behind?
Eh…the weapon hit a tree nearby and it was only then that Kakashi noticed the note that was tied on the kunai's handle. He readied himself for the explosion that was about to come but…instead of a nasty blow…
…there were sounds of firecrackers along with numerous pieces of colored paper falling like streamers would in a party. As the jounin caught one of them, a nerve threatened to pulse visibly as he saw Naruto's messy handwriting saying, "Bet you didn't see that coming, Kakashi-sensei no hentai!" with a chibi face of the blonde drawn there, sticking out his tongue.
It was because of this that the copy-cat almost didn't notice the addendum (postscript) written at the bottom.
'P. S. I advice you duck before you get hit…'
His eyes widened at that as he realized that it was only a distraction and followed the advice his student had written when he felt very sharp projectiles making their way to him. But then, he didn't have much time to think about the distraction as a right leg was nearing him, attempting to hit him straight in the face. But it didn't work though as Kakashi moved backwards to avoid coming in contact with the said leg.
When the jounin turned towards the owner of the leg, he caught sight of an orange and black blur that reappeared behind him with a kick. Although instead of its desired hit at the back of Kakashi's head, the kick impacted with the jounin's arm as he blocked with the arm that held his precious book.
Of course, Naruto caught sight of this and smirked. Kakashi's visible eye widened as he saw his most important belonging in the hands of his blonde-haired student. He had been too dazed to make even a horrible attempt at retrieving his precious book.
And so now, the silver-haired jounin could only stare in horror as the whiskered genin waved the orange pocket book in front of him with his tongue stuck out at him and spoke in a sing-song voice.
"Hehe! If you want to get it back then you'll have to catch me!" And with that, his student left with only a blur.
When the copy-cat came to his senses, he came to the conclusion of following Naruto (after a moment of shock, stupid, I know). Kakashi went after the blonde, not even caring that this was a test for genins-to-be.
Let them be sent to the hospital after he'd deal with them! To hell with the rules!
There was no more holding back. Playtime was over.
Nobody, as in NOBODY, dares do that to Hatake Kakashi. No one dares take his precious Icha Icha Paradise from him. No, not even the Sandaime Hokage (although that would be beside the point, seeing as the old man also reads the porn material).
Naruto was going to pay for it dearly…he had interrupted him from reading such a crucial part of the novel…
And to think, the last part he had read was when a couple was about to enter a room for two.
(A/N: Waiii! Gaaaaah….-faint-)
And so now, the chase begins.
つづく
Waaah…So horrible…I swear this is my worst chapter (yet). I don't know what came over me and wrote such a terrible and short chapter. It's not my shortest but I think it's the worst! Gah…must be the stress catching up to me (another comment on that, Jamie, and I'll make sure you don't only rest on the ground but IN it!)…Dang all those requirements…And we still have two more presentations to go! Maybe I should be catching up with my sleep instead of doing this…our classes are suspended after all. Ah well.
Translation Notes:
Itadakimasu!-Let's eat!; Thanks of the food! (This is said before you eat. That's just it o.O)
Arigatou-Thank you (I've mentioned this before! Gaah…)
name-chan-a honorific added to a name that is mostly used to show closeness. Sometimes, it is used by school girls to show endearment and…cuteness? (er…am I right in saying that I'm quoting from Del Rey's manga? Eep…)
Ano…eto…-Uh…er…um…(stuttering in short o.O)
name-kun-a honorific added to a name; usually, it is used for boys but some people use it for younger girls as well? (I really need to get hold of one of Del Rey's one of these days…my dictionary doesn't show much elaboration…and I'm not very good at explaining! Ugh…)
Taijutsu, ninjutsu and genjutsu-Uh…do you honestly know Naruto well? Just kidding…Correct me if I'm wrong, please (I've already said I'm not very good at explanations):
-taijutsu-'Body Art' or 'Art of the Body. It'sgot something to do with physical combating within a close distance, in short, hand-to-hand combat. Although weapons can also be included under these circumstances, even if it is hand-to-hand.
-ninjutsu-'Ninja Art' or 'Art of the Ninja'. It's what the ninja ofthe feudal era in Japan practiced, in reality.It basically involves the techniques, tricks and such in Naruto.
-genjutsu-Dunno the literal meaning.It deals with illusions and such though.
Gomen-Sorry
Usotsuki!-Liar! (I dunno if they really say it that way in the Japanese version of the manga/anime…but that's how I translated it!)
Yoshi!-Okay! All right! Good! (Those kind…)
Dekiru tte ba yo!-We can do this! (In Naruto's cheerful way of saying)
Iku zo!-Let's go! (Again, in Naruto's way of speaking)
Akiramenaide!-Don't give up!
Kakashi-sensei no hentai-Pervert Kakashi-sensei (er…I'm not quite sure but that's how I compared it with others! Hehe…-.-;;)
Review Responses
I've decided to just reply to you reviews individually instead of writing them here. It seems to troublesome, seeing as I type this offline and I don't even remember who said what on the reviews (except for a certain annoying former seatmate of mine…). So, if you'd like to find out whatever I said to you, whether to answer a question or just a simple thank you, you can always check out your mail. Except for those who have anonymous reviews. I'm still answering them here!
Wendy-Hehe...To be honest, yes, I am a die-hard NaruSaku fan...although I don't really object to any other pairings with Naruto. Although for some reason, I find SasuSaku a bit too much...that's why I'm not fond of the pairing. But anyways, thanks for the review! I'm glad you like it! Though there would be hints, I'm not rushing it...Take care!
Thanks to: Tombadgerluck, Bahamut Slayer, The Dark Kitsune Lord, joecool4, loaned, BWOLFY,tennisdesi91, Wendy, kawaiiyuzumichan, joekooland even Annika Ricaforte Lee.
Thanks for all the reviews! They really helped! Hope you keep on reviewing!Compliments, comments, suggestions, constructive criticism, or even just complete nonsense (-cough-Jamie!-cough-) is allowed! And flames will help me cook our lunch! Hehe...
Ja, I'll be leaving it there now! I'll have to go and do my assignments now…Hehe…no classes…teehee! Ah well, no achievement test for today! Yay! I'll just move on and try to come up with some sort of weird plot…or maybe the next chapters…who knows? Maybe I'll get another update up by next week! If my mom permits my use of the internet, that is. Next week is hell week! Hah! The week before the exams…too much to bear! Now I'll just move on. Ja, see you in the next chapter and take care!
This chapter was posted on February 24, 2006. Reposted on March 18, 2006.
Please leave a review before you go! It would be very much appreciated :D
Milky going over and out! ;)