So wow, this fiction has beaten my first one in terms of hits, favorites, and alerts. That is something I never expected. Again, thanks to all my loyal readers, although some of your praise is a bit too much, this story can get better and I won't rest until it is. I'm still working on my writing style, so it should get better with future chapters. Now, on with the chapter! Don't forget to read & review!
Ok, folks. I need ideas on future pairings in the fiction. Tell me your ideas about who should go with who! I love odd pairings so try to think outside the box. I'll pick which ones to use based on the number of votes, so tell me what you want to see!
EDIT: Ack! I didn't make myself clear on the voting thing. I ment you could vote for pairs other than the NarutoxIno main one. Sorry, don't kill me!
Chapter 7: Copy Ninja Kakashi vs. The Trio of Terror!
"So, tell me a bit about yourselves. Name, likes and dislikes, goals for the future, things like that." The group had finally made their way up to the roof where their teacher was. He looked half asleep and was lazily reading a copy of "Ichya Ichya Paradise", much to the embarrassment of the three Genin.
"Hey! Don't you think you should tell us about yourself first? I mean, we don't even know your name." Naruto yelled out in irritation. Sasuke, Ino, and himself were arrayed in a line sitting in front of the Jounin who was still reading his book, never moving his eye to them.
"Oh...me? My name is Hatake Kakashi. I have no desire to tell you about my likes and dislikes. My goals for the future...ha." When it became obvious that he wasn't going to say anymore, Ino leaned over and started a huddle with the two boys.
"All we learned is his name..." She said.
"Well, I've heard of him before, he's supposed to be an elite Jounin." Naruto added.
"What? How do you know that, Dobe?" Sasuke asked in an way that make him seem uninterested even when he was in the conversation.
"Gramps makes me study sometimes, you bastard. Unlike you I don't spend all my time thinking up new ways to scowl." Before Ino and Sasuke could exact wrathful vengeance on a certain blonde haired samurai, Kakashi coughed reminding the three that they were not alone.
"So, the blonde boy goes next. Tell us about yourself." Kakashi said, flipping the page in his book. Naruto smiled and puffed out his chest.
"I'm Naruto Uzumaki! I like ramen, Gramps, the old man, and thinking up new Kenjutsu and Ninjutsu moves! My dream is to become Hokage and end the distrust between the Samurai and Ninja, and to get a certain person to acknowledge me..." He added the last bit sheepishly before leaning back on his hands. Kakashi blinked a few times before looking back down at his book. So, that kid really was trained as a Samurai...Hokage huh? Interesting way he turned out. And what was that bit about a certain person to acknowledge him? He watched as Naruto's eyes stole a glance at the young blonde konoichi currently ogling the Uchiha kid and groaned. Teenage hormones were an enemy he did not want to deal with.
"Alright, fine." He turned to the raven haired boy who was trying to look annoyed as the blonde haired girl latched onto his arm. "Your turn Casanova." He smiled under his mask as Sasuke glared at him then pulled his arm out of Ino's iron grip.
"My name is Sasuke Uchiha. There are a lot of things I don't like, not many things I do. My dream...no, my ambition, is to kill a certain man and restore my clan." Sasuke said as he stared intently off into the distance. Kakashi mentally sighed. Thought so... He then directed his attention to the little blonde girl with the long ponytail.
"And you?" He said as he started to read his book again.
"I'm Ino Yamanaka! I like flowers, my perfect hair, Sasuke-kun," She winked as she said his name, Sasuke grunted while Naruto's eye twitched, "and coming up with new Genjutsu. I dislike people who annoy Sasuke-kun and other girls who try to sink their claws into him! My dream is to master all of the families jutsu's and...to be the first girl to kiss Sasuke-kun!" She exclaimed while latching herself onto the flustered Uchiha's arm yet again. Kakashi big-sweated and his eye twiched. Well, at least she's not shy... Thoughts of how much this girl reminded him of a certain perverted hermit, only with reversed genders were quickly shaken off as he felt the killing intent in the air raise a few levels, Sasuke and Ino seemed to not notice that it was coming from Naruto. Oh, this isn't going to be pretty... Kakashi hastily defused the situation by snapping his book shut, getting them all to focus on him once again.
"Ok, now that that's over, I'm going to take off. Meet me at training area seven tomorrow morning." He started to put his book away when he added as an afterthought, "And don't eat breakfast."
"Why not?" Ino asked as she looked up at him from her place by Sasuke.
"Just because. I suggest you get some rest, because tomorrow the real test begins. If you fail, you'll be tossed back into the Academy." Before he was berated by two angry blondes, he went -poof- and left them on the roof.
Later in the day...
"Damn him!" Naruto exclaimed as was sitting at his favorite ramen stand. "I can't believe this, how can he even think about sending us back to the Academy after all we've been though?-!"
"Calm down Naruto, I've talked to Sakura, her teacher is doing the same thing." Ino said as she slurped up more of her miso ramen. "He's a Jounin so he can't expect us to beat him in combat or anything, so it can't be too hard." Naruto had suggest that the team go out to dinner to celebrate, but Sasuke had declined only giving his trademark "Hn" in response. Naruto didn't care though, without him here it kinda felt like...
"A date?" Came a snide voice from the back of Naruto's mind.
No! It's just...nice to hang out with her without her hanging all over Sasuke-teme. Naruto retorted. He knew he was in for it when he heard the fox sigh.
"Look, kit. You're going to have to step up if you want her. Sitting around doing nothing and regretting it is not a good way to go through life." The fox said in a exasperated voice. Naruto mulled that over for a bit before responding.
Heh, be careful fur ball, if you talk like that I might start to think you care. Indignant denials aside, the fox got relatively quiet, so Naruto assumed he had said his piece on the matter. Maybe...I should take his advice...I have to do this very carefully though...
"Hey, Ino? What makes you think we can't beat Kakashi-sensei?" Ino looked at him with a 'how-dumb-can-you-be' look.
"Because he's a Jounin. Not even Sasuke-kun could beat him now." As much as I hate to admit it...Sasuke-kun can beat him in a few years, though!
"Hmm...care to make a bet?" Ino's eye arched as she regarded Naruto. "If I can beat him, you have to buy me dinner. A nice one!" Ha! She'll be going out on a date with me and she won't even know it, I'm a genius!
"Ha, like you could do that. When you lose, what do I get?" Ino said, a bit amused.
"Umm...whatever you want?" Naruto said. He hadn't thought of the possibility of him losing.
"Heh, I have the perfect thing. When you lose, you have to call Sasuke-kun 'Sasuke-dono' from now on!" Ino said in a happy voice. No way would Naruto agree to that.
"...done." Naruto said as he stood up from the stand. Ino was too shocked to say anything as he waved and ran down the street. No way...why would he care that much about a free dinner? Ino asked herself as she finished up her ramen. She paid the man and headed off to her house, all the while fighting down the suspicion that tomorrow was going to be very interesting...
At the Lake...
"Alright fox, time to pay up." Naruto had come here straight from the ramen stand, eager to get his new jutsu for the year. He hadn't forgotten that Kyuubi said it was a offensive jutsu and was determined to learn it before heading off to the training ground in the morning. "No way I'm calling that bastard 'dono'!"
"Hey, don't get mad at me kid, you're the one who made the bet." The fox said, yawing as he did so. "But, I don't like that kid either so I'll teach you, go stand by the lake." Naruto did as he was told and waited for the fox to continue. "All right, this jutsu is called 'Suiton Daibakufu no Jutsu' or the 'Water Explosion Skill'. It's a very high-level jutsu, I imagine you'll only be able to use it once or twice before you'd be in danger of chakra depletion."
"Ha, I'd only need to hit the guy once with it for it to work, show me the seals." The fox muttered about 'over confident idiots' before projecting the seal sequence into Naruto's mind. He was amazed by the shear number of them and the speed which they were being carried out. "You're kidding me! Not even my special attack has that many seals!"
"Oh well, guess you really don't want to win that bet..." The fox trailed off, knowing it would have the desired effect. Naruto grumbled and started working through the seals while afternoon drained into night...
The Next Morning...
"Sasuke-kun!" It was morning, ten minutes before team 7 was supposed to meet up with their sensei, Kakashi. Sasuke had decided to cut the time close as to minimize the attention of a certain blonde konoichi. Naruto was off to the side in a lotus position with his katana laying on his lap, it's black sheath shimmering in the morning light, his blue trench coat fanning out behind him. He paused in his meditations to regard Sasuke for a moment, then went back to whatever it was he was doing. Sasuke had never seen him so focused.
"Uh, Ino..." Sasuke started. Ino eyes shone with happiness since the Uchiha had decided to talk to her... "What's the Dobe doing?"
Darn it, he only wants to know about Naruto... "I don't know, Sasuke-kun. He's been like that ever since I got here a few minutes ago. I tried to talk to him, but he said he was 'preparing for Kakashi'. He's really taking this bet too seriously..." Sasuke raised an eyebrow.
"What bet?" He asked. Ino just looked confused at him for awhile before answering.
"Uh, we were talking last night at the ramen stand about this challenge thing. Somehow we got onto the topic of how strong Kakashi was and he made a bet with me that if he could beat Kakashi, I would buy him a nice dinner." Sasuke smirked.
"So, Dobe isn't as dumb as I thought." He said as he sized up the blonde boy sitting beside the river that was winding past the training ground.
"What are you talking about, Sasuke-kun? It's just a free dinner, I don't see why he's taking it so seriously." Ino said as she pouted. I really don't want him to get beat up over something as stupid as food. She was shocked when Sasuke chuckled.
"You have no idea, huh?" When Ino looked at him confused, he shook his head and shrugged. "He doesn't care about the food, he just wants to-" He was cut off by his senses. A large amount of chakra was coming towards them, Ino noticed too and her hand snaked down to her kunai pouch. Before either of them knew it, a familiar silver-haired Jounin popped into existence in a cloud of smoke. Kakashi noticed that the blonde girl and Uchiha had sensed him.
Pretty good, it would take Chuunin-level chakra control to be able to sense me. Just maybe these guys will come through for me...He looked over at the last member of the team who was still silently meditating by the river. Ugh, guess they kept that old tradition of sticking the worst student with the best. "Well, glad to see you all made it. Now, the purpose of this exercise is to see if you're all Genin material." He pulled out two bells from his kunai pouch and jingled them, effectively getting Naruto's attention. "You have until noon to get these bells from me or you fail. Get it?"
"But...there are only two of them! How can we all pass when there are three of us?" Ino asked.
Oh, she's bright. "Very good observation. The truth is..." Kakashi's visible eye curved upwards, "Only two of you can pass. The one that doesn't get a bell gets tossed back to the Academy."
"NANI?-!" Naruto shot up. "You can't do that!"
"Actually, I can. Now, are you going to argue or are you going to get a bell? Time is wasting." Kakashi said as he set a clock down on a nearby stump. He tied the two bells to his waist before pulling out his 'novel' to read. He sighed when both Sasuke and Ino disappeared in a blur. Oddly, Naruto stayed where he was with a smile on his face.
"This is great! Now I don't have to ask you for a private match to beat you, I can just beat you now and pass at the same time." He said as he pulled out a wooden bokuden, his actual blade still in it's sheath at his side. Kakashi sighed as he looked up from his book.
"You can talk all you want, but it's dumb to just charge in when facing a unknown opponent. I would think going through Iruka's class would at least teach you that much. Don't underestimate people you know nothing about."
"Oh, I'm not underestimating you..." Naruto said as he exploded in a burst of speed. Kakashi barley had time to pull out a kunai as he parried a thrust aimed at his arm. Damn, he's fast. Dancing around, Kakashi blocked and parried moving all around the training ground. More and more he was led towards the river as if the blonde was heading him there for some reason.
"Whoa...I didn't know Naruto was so good!" Ino said from the safety of the trees on the edge of the clearing. Sasuke and Ino had decided to stay together and look for an opening to attack when Naruto distracted the Jounin by attacking head on. Now they were captivated with the moves of the two combatants. Kakashi wasn't going all out, but he did have to put his book up mid-fight. "Look at the way Naruto's moving, it's like he's flowing around sensei's attacks." Ino whispered to the raven haired boy.
"Hn, it's not all that great." Sasuke said as he watched the two. Naruto has been this strong the whole time? I don't believe it. They both winced as Kakashi finally caught on to Naruto's patterns of dodging and landed a solid kick to his midsection sending him flying towards the river.
"Naruto!" Ino yelled involuntarily. However, worry turned into astonishment as Naruto didn't plummet into the water like they thought he would, instead he seemed to catch himself and actually stand on the water.
"So, you can already do water walking? Impressive." Kakashi said. It was actually more than Impressive as even Sasuke didn't have that amount of chakra control yet. Kakashi noted that the boy was still a bit wobbly as he stood there, occasionally sinking a foot into the water only to pull it back out again.
"I can do more than that, Kakashi-sensei!" Damn! He's a lot faster than I thought and how did he catch onto my dodge patterns so fast?-! I have to end this now. Kakashi got confused as Naruto put away his bokuden. He was wondering if the boy was giving up before he noticed the hand seals Naruto was doing.
"Oh shi-" Kakashi said as he ripped of his forehead protector and exposing his left eye.
"Suiton Daibakufu no Jutsu!" Naruto yelled as he completed the hand seals. A moderate-sized blast of water churned out of the river towards the Jounin. Naruto saw his attack was going to miss and quickly decided to made a break for the trees where Ino and Sasuke went while Kakashi was busy dodging the water blast.
Damn! Used way too much chakra for that one. Water walking and using the Water Explosion? Not a good idea. How the heck did he dodge that though... Lucky for Naruto, Kakashi was too stunned to follow Naruto's inhuman speed as he disappeared into the trees.
Wow, that kid made me use the Sharingan and he's just a Genin! That was a Jounin-level skill too, how the heck did he know it? Covering his eye once again, he decided his best course of action was to bide his time so he leaned up against a tree to read his book...and mull over the many questions he had about the blonde haired boy who looked so much like his own sensei...
Ino and Sasuke had been watching this whole exchange with wonder and a hint of jealousy. Ino scanned the opening for Naruto, but couldn't see the other blonde anywhere. Suddenly, Sasuke jumped up from his place crouched behind Ino and drew a kunai. Ino looked up at him then got up herself only to come face-to-face with one very winded samurai.
"Dobe..." Sasuke said as he looked the boy over. Naruto was sprawled out on the grass under the tree his two team members were in. Sasuke looked back at the Jounin before hopping down to crouch beside the other boy. "What was that jutsu you used? Where did you learn it?" Naruto grinned at the other boys blatant jealousy.
"Aww, don't get jealous, Sasuke." Naruto said as he sat up. Sasuke just glared at him so Naruto tried to placate him. "Really, it's not that great a jutsu for you, you are a fire specialist, right?" This seemed to calm him down some and he walked over to prop up against a tree with a 'Humph'. Ino jumped down from the tree after Sasuke and sat opposite of Naruto.
"How the heck are we going to get one of those bells? I mean, sensei is amazing!" She said, exasperated.
"Well, I have an idea...if we all work together and manage to make him choose between death and passing, he can't fail us, right?" This came from Naruto. The other two looked at him with interest and suspicion. "Look, we have to work together if we're going to get even one bell! I have a jutsu that will really help if we all play our parts, you guys wanna try it? We can put that smug bastard in his place!" Ino looked over at Sasuke with questioning eyes. When Sasuke walked over to the two they all huddled up to hear Naruto's plan...
Meanwhile, Back With Kakashi...
"...just then, Usagi walked in on the priestess just when she was getting into the warm bath. When she didn't ask for her to leave, the blonde girl started to strip, eyeing the young girl eagerly..." Kakashi was thoroughly enjoying reading the newest edition of 'Ichya Ichya Paradise' when a sudden movement caught his attention. He sighed and put his book back into his special 'Ichya Pouch' he had custom made in his Jounin vest. He knew better than to underestimate his charges like he had done with Naruto, it would be a blight on his reputation if something like that happened again. He calmed down when he saw Sasuke step out from the tree line.
"So, it's your turn, eh?" Kakashi said gauging the young Uchiha. Sasuke smirked as he whipped out several kunai and threw them at the elite Jounin. Kakashi moved with inhuman speed as he picked all of them out of the air before they hit. Sasuke didn't wait to see the results of his initial assault, he was already closing the distance between him and Kakashi. The Jounin blocked several punches and caught Sasuke's foot in his hand. The boy smirked and sent a fist sailing at the man's head which was also caught. Now that both of Kakashi's hands were busy, the Uchiha whipped his other fist at the Jounin's midsection.
Damn it, he's going for the bells! Kakashi thought he would get one too until the boys fist flew past the bells and into his stomach. The man grunted at the impact and the raven haired boy broke his limbs free of Kakashi's grasp. Before the Jounin could recover, he had to hastily dodge several shuriken aimed at his legs. They came from Ino as she darted behind Kakashi and aimed a fist at the back of the man's skull. Now he was caught between two opponents and had nothing in sight that he could use a replacement jutsu to switch places with. He was just starting to get the better of his two younger, less experienced opponents until he caught sight of a familiar blonde haired boy doing hand seals. The two Genin's leapt away as the boy finished the many seals and let out a cry. They were in a sequence Kakashi had never seen.
"Naibun Ken Kison no Jutsu!" The boy exclaimed as the area was soon filled with mist. Oh, taking away my sight, eh? Not bad, they can work as a team after all. He was brought out of his musing as caught movement coming at him. He saw a figure appear from the mist in front of him, it was Naruto in a full sword thrust. Kakashi ducked and punched upwards as the boy passed harmlessly over him. The punch sailed upwards, aimed at the blondes stomach and...passed right through him? What the...A MIST CLONE! It was too late for Kakashi though, he felt a cold blade pressed up against the back of his neck, a kunai pointed at the front of his throat under his chin, and a third aimed at his 'Ichya Pouch'. As the mist cleared, he saw team seven all present and smiling. Even Sasuke had a confident grin.
"Excellent work you three!" They all whipped their heads around to see a grinning Kakashi sitting on a high branch of a tree a good twenty feet away.
"How..." Sasuke began as the Kakashi they had at their mercy pop out of existence.
"Shadow Clone." Kakashi answered as he hopped down from the tree. The three Genin's were still in shock but the Jounin was all smiles. Well, as much of a smile he could give while his face was covered up. "That was a great tactic you all used, good teamwork." And I would have been dead if they were really out to kill, I would have had no time to do a replacement jutsu if they weren't just trying to hold me.
"Yeah, but we didn't get a bell." Naruto said as he fell down on the grass panting. "Now we all go back to the Academy."
"I know...hey, wait." Ino looked up from her spot by Naruto. "There was no way to beat you alone, was there? We had to team up..." Kakashi smiled even more as at least one of them figured it out.
"Correct. The whole exercise was about getting the three of you to work as a team, and because of that..." He let it draw out before giving them a 'thumbs up', "...you all pass!" Happy cries echoed throughout the forest. Ino glomped onto Sasuke much to his annoyance and Naruto's anger. Kakashi couldn't help but cringe at how much trouble this was going to cause later on.
"So, Naruto, what was that jutsu you used?" Ino said after Sasuke has pulled out of her iron grip. "I've never heard of a thing like it."
"Heh, I made it myself from. I mixed the 'Kirigakure no Jutsu' and 'Oboro Bunshin no Jutsu' into one set of hand seals. It saves time, but uses twice as much chakra. I thought it up after Gramps made me think of a quick kill skill. He said it's what my style was about, to get the enemy into a favorable position so I can deal with them easier." Naruto explained.
"So...you make mist and a mist clone, then have the clone charge at the target to distract them while you sneak up behind them in the mist to kill them? Pretty good, Naruto." Ino said, very impressed. Naruto blushed a bit before Kakashi cut in.
"Well, I'll expect this level of competence in the future when we go on our fist mission tomorrow, go get some sleep tonight..." Before he could say anymore, Naruto shot up to his feet.
"Hey! It's still before noon now, can't we have our fist mission today?" Naruto said. Sasuke looked over at Kakashi and Ino shrugged. It was well before noon, the whole test had only taken two hours. Kakashi thought for a moment before slumping his shoulders.
"Ok, since you are all so eager, meet me at the Hokage tower in an hour. I'll go on ahead to see what I can get us." With one last comment about kids being the death of him, Kakashi disappeared in a plume of smoke.
At the Hokage Tower...
"And that's what happened, Hokage-sama." Kakashi had just finished up his report of the training session. The Hokage was a bit mithed that Naruto had tried to take on his best Jounin one-on-one, but was happy with the end result. "If they were out to kill, I wouldn't be standing here. Of course, I only used my Sharingan once and stuck to Taijutsu, but it was still quite a feat."
"Ah, and so you want a mission for them?" When Kakashi nodded, Sarutobi let out a sigh. "I have a mission that I need to be done quickly, I didn't want to expose them to such violence so early in their lives, but I can think of no one better for the job..." Kakashi started to get worried.
"Hokage-sama?" He started. The Third tossed him a file. Leafing through it, Kakashi's eye widened. "This is..."
"Yes, the scroll containing all the forbidden jutsu's of Konoha has been stolen. It seems Mizuki, the Academy teacher, was waiting for a chance to steal it and did so while most were busy at the graduation. The ANBU tracked him as fall as our boarder with Hidden Sand, but I called them off so I could send a proper team. I have a cover mission for you that should get you into the village without problem. We don't know if he wants the scroll for himself, or if he's trying to sell it to Hidden Sand. I don't think I need to tell you what it would mean if someone other than Konoha got the secrets in there, do I?" Kakashi shook his head. He know all manner of sealing jutsu's were in that scroll and what it could possibly do.
"I have faith in my teams abilities, but I think this might be too much for them..." Kakashi began, only to be cut off by the Third once again.
"All the other talented teams are out on assignments right now, we have to get that scroll back. It's an A-Class mission so you have the right to refuse, I just don't have anyone else to turn to..." Kakashi sighed once again. He got the feeling the Hokage was exaggerating things, but he couldn't argue.
"Of course, Hokage-sama. We will leave immediately." With a quick bow, Kakashi -poof'd- out of the Hokage's office, leaving a rather pleased man sitting at the large desk.
"Well, now lets see if I'm right about those three. Yondaime, I hope your son is as talented as you were because I've given him a test on not only his physical strength, but also his character as a person..." Sarutobi said, staring at a picture of a young blonde man with piercing blue eyes...
Sorry about the short chapter! So, Naruto and gang head out to Hidden Sand to chase after the forbidden scroll, nothing bad could happen, right? Ha! Next time on Bushido no Jutsu: "Sand and Fire: The Gathering"