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Naruto: The Weapon Master
Chapter 11: Cooling down before the Exams
After departing from Wave country, the group were on their way back to the Hidden Leaf Village. Along the way, Hinata, Haku, Sakura and Fu were talking girl stuff and their relationship with Naruto, Anko was poking fun at Kurenai with her supposed secret relationship with Asuma, and Sasuke was brooding as always although he would stare at Naruto intently from time to time. Kiba was busy playing with Akamaru and Shino was walking silently but one could hear a buzz from within his coat.
Although it may look like Naruto walking, but he was actually within his mindscape having a talk with Kurama and Chinami while his body was moving on autopilot.
"This mission was quite a tricky one, don't you think Ku-chan?" said Naruto.
"You're right about that Naruto-kun, no one would have expected the mission to end up like that," said Kurama.
"Indeed, but the good thing is that, the country is now free from the hands of that tyrant forever. This is one of your many milestones in life," said Chinami with a smile.
"I know, but I can't help but feel that I just gotten some unwanted attention because of the mission" said Naruto with a thoughtful look.
"You may be right, we'll find out sooner or later," said Kurama hugging Naruto from behind.
"T-thanks Ku-chan," said Naruto while blushing from the contact.
"Naruto-sama, someone is trying to get your attention from outside the mindscape," said Chinami.
"Okay then, I'll talk to you girls later," Naruto faded from the mindscape and his eyes refocused to see Fu trying to talk to him. "Hey Fu-chan, what's up?"
"Umm, well you see I…." Fu trailed off, not knowing what to say until she heard Chomei speak to her from her mindscape.
"Come on Fu-chan, you can do it! Just ask him if he could show you around the village when you get there!"
"I was uh… hoping that you...uh show me around the village when we get there," asked Fu nervously.
Naruto looked her for a moment before smiling brightly "Of course, I'd love to! That is if you're okay with it," Fu nodded happily while Chomei was cheering her on, happy at getting to spend time with him too. Hinata and the other girls looked at them with smiling sine they all agreed to share him as well as any other girl that is to truly love him to for who he is.
Soon the group finally arrived at the gates of the Hidden Leaf Village, Naruto was tempted to use his bracelet to equip everyone with the air trecks were it not for Kurama and Chinami changing his mind. When they reached the gate, Kakashi reported in.
"Teams 7 and 8 returning from a joint mission in Wave country,"
"Acknowledged, but may we ask why there is a missing Nin and a few other unknown ninjas with you?" asked Izumo with Kotetsu listening in as well.
"They have surrendered unconditionally and have no intention of harming the village," said Kurenai.
"Very well then, you may proceed," said Kotetsu with a nod of approval.
With that, the group continued on their way to the Hokage tower and after knocking on the door and being told to enter, they were now standing in front of the Third Hokage as he sat behind his desk with tons of paperwork to which Naruto quirked an eyebrow.
Hiruzen looked at the group for a few moments before speaking up "By the look of things, there was more to the mission than originally thought, so I'd like to hear your report,"
Team 7 started by telling of the encounter of the Demon brothers and Tazuna having lied to them about the mission, continuing the mission and encountering Zabuza. Then Team 8 took over and told the Hokage of how Naruto went ahead of them to help Team 7 and defeated Zabuza who was then rescued by Haku, arriving at Wave, Naruto's infiltration of Gato's mansion, the battle at the bridge and the raiding of the mansion.
"I understand everything so far which leaves me to ask," Hiruzen turned to Zabuza "why do you want to join the Hidden Leaf Village?"
"It's because I've gotten tired of always being on the run from Hunter-Nins and that I want to keep my daughter safe," said Zabuza, Haku looked at him with tears in her eyes while the others excluding a few (Take a guess) were smiling gently at what they heard.
"Then you will be put on a two month probation with ANBU monitoring you while Haku will be assigned to Chuunin. Team 7 may leave while Team 8, Kakashi and Fu-san remain behind," said Hiruzen. With the said people leaving, Naruto spoke up.
"Jiji, I was hoping that you would let Fu-chan stay with me, but I have a little problem with accommodation and was hoping that you'd help me out," said Naruto with a smirk to which Hiruzen mirrored having caught the hint, then he opened a drawer and tossed a scroll over to the blond.
"You will find your new home next to the Hyuuga clan's house and I hope you enjoy living there," said Hiruzen with a smile which dropped when he turned to face the stacks of paperwork on the desk which Naruto looked with a quirked eyebrow.
"Uh Jiji, haven't you found the solution to the paperwork problem yet?" asked Naruto.
"Well if I had then I wouldn't be doing this," said Hiruzen.
"But the answer to the problem has been there the whole time, I was wondering why you haven't used such an obvious method,"
"Then could you tell this obvious method which I haven't noticed," said Hiruzen who was about to stamp a paper.
"Why don't you use Shadow clones? I mean when the copies dispel, the memory and experience is transferred to the original, that's what helped me with my training,"
Hiruzen dropped the stamp in shock as he thought of what Naruto had just said and it made so much sense that he was asking himself how he could have missed something like that. He started banging his head on the desk while chanting 'Stupid', Naruto left with the girls laughing at how the Hokage didn't think of using shadow clones.
"For a Hokage, I'm surprised he didn't think of something so simple," Kurama giggled at Hiruzen banging his head on the table while Chinami was trying not to laugh.
"Okay girls, let's check out my new residence," said Naruto walking off with Hinata, Haku, Sakura and Fu close behind.
Following the directions on the scroll which Hiruzen had given to him, Naruto led the group to where the clan houses are situated until they stopped in front of a large gate. Seeing a blood seal, Naruto bit his thumb and swiped it on the seal, then there was click and the gates opened to reveal mansion ahead of them.
"Wow, and to think Naruto's father used to live here," said Sakura with Hinata nodding in agreement.
"Well what are we waiting for? Let's check it out!" said Fu excitedly with Chomei feeling the same way.
They started to explore the house after Naruto had released another blood seal on the door, since no one was living in the house, the place had become dusty so Naruto summoned his clones to clean up. By the time they were done, they learnt that it has nine bedrooms, kitchen, a hot spring to the girls' joy, library, and a training ground.
Afterwards, Naruto took the girls out to eat at Ichiraku's, then Sakura and Hinata went home to rest while he gave Fu and Haku a tour around the village before returning to the mansion to rest for the next day.
The next few days, Haku and Fu were officially assigned as ninjas of the Hidden Leaf Village with Haku as a Chuunin and Fu as a Genin. Naruto was walking around the village since the girls were doing their own thing with Tora following them and he had just finished some training with his jutsus. He was strolling through the street until he stopped and turned to face the cardboard box behind him.
"Okay Konohamaru, a rectangular rock isn't exactly suitable for stealth so come out of there," said Naruto with an amused look. The box exploded into white smoke and three voices could be heard coughing.
"You used too much gunpowder," said a male voice, the smoke cleared to reveal Konohamaru along with two other children.
"Hey Kono, who are these friends of yours?" asked Naruto.
"They're my friends from the academy, this is Moegi and Udon. I told them all about you Nii-san,"
"Well it's nice to meet the two of you, so what do you want to do?"
"How about you play ninja with us?" asked Moegi.
"Okay, then I'll give you a head start," said Naruto.
"Okay come on guys!" Konohamaru took with the others close behind.
Naruto was about to go after them when he heard someone approach from behind him. He turned to see Sakura with Tora in her arms, Tora jumped from her arms and climbed into Naruto's hood and purred softy when he rubbed under her chin.
"Hi Sakura-chan, how did it go with you and the girls?" asked Naruto smiling.
"We had fun training, Haku-chan, Hinata-chan and Fu-chan went back to their homes, so I thought to walk around a little with Tora," said Sakura happily "So what are you up to?"
"I'm playing ninja with Kono and his friends, I just gave them a head start, wanna join?"
"Nah, I think I'll just watch,"
Naruto and Sakura then heard a voice cry out and he recognized it to be Konohamaru, Chinami confirmed it to be so.
"Naruto-sama you must hurry to them! They've run into someone and they intend to do them harm!" said Chinami with a sense of urgency.
"Sakura-can, we need to hurry over!"
Naruto took off with Sakura close behind, they went round a corner and saw Konohamaru being held in the air by the collar of his shirt by a boy in a black jumpsuit wearing purple war paint, carrying something wrapped in bandages on his back, and a blond hair girl carrying a large metal fan on her back.
"You'd better put him down if you want problems," growled Naruto with an intense glare, gaining the attention of everyone around.
"Naruto-nii!" Konohamaru and the kids were happy to see him arrive.
"Not until I give him his punishment," said the boy raising him higher, angering Naruto and Tora was hissing at them more which Sakura noticed and quickly tried to warn them.
"You should listen to him, for your sakes," said Sakura urgently.
"And what is a kid and his kitty gonna do to us?" said the boy smugly.
Naruto disappeared from their sight and reappeared with Mumei no Tamanoo at the boy's neck with the green flames radiating from the blade and Tora was on the girl's shoulder hissing with her claws coated with chakra much to her shock. She turned to see Konohamaru standing next to a second blond along the other children.
"Do you really want to find out what I can do?" said Naruto inching the blade closer that the boy could feel the heat of the flames. The boy raised his hands as in surrender and the blond puffed into smoke to reveal that it was a clone and Tora leapt off the girl's shoulder and climbed back into Naruto's hood. "And whoever is in the tree should come out since I can tell you're not from around here," then someone jumped from the tree and landed before them.
It was a girl with dark red hair which reached to her neck, she has black rings around her eyes and a red kanji for love in the left side of her forehead, and wears a full bodysuit with t-shirt like sleeves, and almost full length leggings, she also has a wide leather band that is worn from her left shoulder to her right hip which carries a large brown gourd at her back and a forehead protector was tied to it.
"Wow she looks beautiful but I sense a lot of negativity deep within her heart," thought Naruto and saw the girl turn to the boy, who along with the blond haired girl looked at her with fear.
"Kankurou, what do you think you're doing?" said the girl coldly.
"B-but Gaia I-" Kankurou tried to explain but was interrupted by the girl.
"Shut up or I'll kill you," then she turned to face Naruto "I'd like to apologize for my brother's actions, my name is Gaia of the Sand,"
"My name is Naruto Uzumaki, I guess you guys are here because of the oncoming Chuunin exams?" said Naruto, Kurenai and Anko had informed them of it a few day ago so as to prepare them for it.
"Judging by their forehead protectors, they're the Hidden Sand Village," said Chinami, receiving a mental nod of affirmation from the blond.
"Yes we are, and I hope to see you there as well, I can tell that you are capable of proving my existence," said Gaia with a sadistic grin which made Konohamaru and the others hide behind Naruto in fear. Then she left with her team, leaving Naruto to think about her and finding something odd about her when Kurama spoke up.
"Naruto-kun, that girl is the Jinchuriki of Shukaku, the one tailed tanuki, but I sense something strange about her," said Kurama with a worried look.
"Then she's just like me, but what's so different about her?" asked Naruto.
"That's because Shukaku-chan is very shy and tends hide behind her sand unless you're someone that she's comfortable with, but I sense insanity and rage from her and it seems to have a serious effect on her host,"
"Then we'll an eye on her during the exams and find out what caused it to happened," thought Naruto, receiving nods from his tenants before turning to face the others "Are you guys okay?"
"We're fine, thanks for helping us Naruto-nii!" said Konohamaru happily along with Moegi and Udon.
"So what do we do now?" asked Udon, Naruto thought deeply before getting a proverbial light bulb and smiled at the kids.
"You guys wanna see something cool?" asked Naruto, getting excited nods from the kids "Then follow me, you too Sakura-chan"
Naruto walked off with the Sakura and the kids following him, he led them through a forest until they came across what looks like a cross section of a swimming pool with two concave ramps both topped by decks facing each other.
"Naruto-kun, what is this?" asked Sakura curiously.
"Well this is what one of my masters would call a half-pipe, my sensei told me of a sport at his time which is called freestyle skateboarding and how people ride gears similar to mine to perform tricks, after hearing about it, my curiosity got the best of me so I had Jiji and Kakashi-nii help me construct it with their earth jutsu. I often come here to have my own piece of fun, which is why I decided to bring you guys along to watch," said Naruto with a foxy grin.
"That's sounds cool Naruto-nii, could you show us?" asked Konohamaru with stars in his eyes.
"Of course, just watch," Naruto jumped onto one of the decks and channeled chakra to his bracelet and called out "Surf the clouds!" then the hoverboard appeared next to him.
Then he hopped on and launched off the deck, zipping down the ramp to the other side sent himself into the air and performed a 180 degree rotation before descending down the ramp and moving to the other one. He kept doing this until gaining enough speed and air time.
"Now to bust some moves!" Naruto shot up the ramp and started spinning rapidly in the air completing a full 1080 degree rotation, then went into the air again pulled a method air by arching his body back and grabbing the board with his hand, then he did a kickflip then went down and up a ramp again. This time, he grabbed the nose and stuck his legs out in opposite directions along with a backflip (an Airwalk).
"Wow, Naruto-nii is so cool!" said Moegi with stars in her eyes as they watched Naruto perform his tricks.
"I'll say," said Udon.
"I told you, Naruto-nii is the best!" said Konohamaru proudly. Sakura simply smiled as she watched Naruto with admiration.
Naruto launched himself into the air one more time, then he grabbed the board and performed a handstand with a 360 spin before finally landing on the deck. He dispelled the hoverboard and jumped down to meet Sakura and the kids.
"So what do you think, pretty cool right?" asked Naruto with a foxy grin.
"That was so cool Naruto-nii, can you teach us how to do that?" asked Konohamaru excitedly.
"That would have to wait until you're trained in balance and honed your reflexes, plus my team and have to get ready for the Chuunin exams,"
"Okay Nii-chan, and good luck on the exams!" Konohamaru took off with the others behind him.
"How about I escort you home Sakura-chan," said Naruto, Sakura nodded happily and linked her arm with his as they walked back to the village.
After seeing her home, Naruto headed back to the mansion where he had dinner with Haku and Fu before retiring to his room to sleep. As he was about to sleep, he thought about the upcoming exams and grinned in excitement.
"I bet there are going to be a lot of strong ninjas from different villages, I can't wait to show them what I can do," thought Naruto.
"True, but we mustn't forget that we have to find out is wrong with Shukaku-chan and her host, I'm really worried about her," said Kurama.
"Don't worry Ku-chan, we'll definitely help the both of them,"
"It's as you said Naruto-sama, there will be strong opponents at the exams, so it would be wise not to underestimate them," said Chinami.
"True, but that doesn't mean that I can trick them by making myself look weak before giving them a taste of reality," thought Naruto with a mischievous look. "Let's go to sleep, goodnight Ku-chan, Chinami-chan,"
"Goodnight Naruto-kun/ Naruto-sama," both tenants said before laying down to rest as well. One thing's for sure, it's gonna get wild at the Chuunin exams.
This is Hussbek online with another chapter, this the intro to the chuunin arc, so look for to it, I hope that you like this chapter but look forward to the future chapters, read and review as always. I did a little Tony Hawk just let out a little steam.
This is Hussbek from Ghana,
Signing out.