Minor A/N: All non-Naruto stories are being put on hold while I plan out some stuff. Oh, all stories are still going to be around 4.5k-6k words. Thank you for reading, now here is the story.
Flashback: Naruto- at the age of 14 years 8 months
Naruto was huffing and puffing on the ground, his body aching and his lungs praying for air, he was nearly on empty.
"Get up and try it again" said a rough voice
Naruto climbed to his feet and turned to the extremely damage tree off to the side of him.
"I SAID GET UP AND TRY IT AGAIN!" Roared the same voice as before.
Naruto nodded and raised his hand into the air, flames covering the hand before he rushed forward and slammed the hand into the already damaged tree. The result was an explosion that sent Naruto flying back and landing on his back.
"Get up and try it again" said a rough voice
"No, I don't want to. It doesn't work, because I can't control yet or because it's too unstable for me to use." Said Naruto angrily
"I don't care what you think, I said for you to get up and try it again" commanded the voice.
Naruto growled, and his hand once again ignited into flames, but this time, he didn't think about charging at the tree, he kept on building up his charka allowing the flames to build.
"I didn't say to just stand there, attack the tree" hissed the person who had been ordering him around.
"No, why don't you try it if you think that this is such an amazing technique" spat Naruto before he momentarily lost control of his charka and the flames shot off of his hand and into the forest. The result explosion was huge and sent trembles all throughout the ground as countless trees fell or caught on fire.
"See Naruto, you just needed to use it in a different way"
"Yeah sure, like you knew that would happen, that was an accident" retorted Naruto
"Well, I guess you're just going to have to recreate that accident over and over wouldn't you"
"I'm going home, I don't want to do this anymore. My clothes are burned and barely hanging on by a thread, my charka is literally burning my insides, and I really don't want to this anymore"
"I didn't ask what you want, NOW GET BACK TO IT" roared the voice.
Naruto growled back as his charka spiked again and they could both feel the rising anger in Naruto, who just sighed.
"Yeah sure, I'll start trying again, Lord Hokage" he spat
Back to the Present Time
They had been a team for a single month, 30 days. And it was honestly the most boring month of Naruto's life. Kakashi had been strict, forceful, and downright evil when it came to their training. Just not Naruto's training. He basically told Naruto that there wasn't a point on training him in any new techniques, Justu, or any new fighting styles that would further his skill level until he was in peak physical condition, as he would need to be as strong and fast as possible. Which was a little surprising as Naruto had thought that he was in pretty good shape, that was until he began Kakashi's training, then he realized how much stronger he could really become.
Kakashi would on random days come to Naruto's house and plant massive charka absorbing weights all over Naruto's body, somehow without ever waking Naruto. You have not felt discomfort until you wake up and you are magically several 400 to 600 pounds heavier than when you went to bed. So, while Naruto was working on his physical attributes, he was still seen as lightyears ahead of either of his teammates, which was a little saddening, as he had been an average student, while these two had been the cream of the crop, but neither of them were that much better than him at graduation point, if they were better at all.
Sasuke was clearly the better Shinobi of the two rookie Genin, and it wasn't even close. When the team was first put together, the gap between Sakura to Sasuke was the same as the gap between Sasuke and Naruto. Too wide to cover in any amount of time that the better Shinobi was still breathing. If Naruto was being honest about Sasuke, he for the life of him couldn't see the hype. Sasuke was mostly average in just about everything, making him a well-rounded Shinobi, but that was it. He had average strength, speed, charka reserves, Justu knowns, Taijustu, and Genjustu. The difference between him and most other Genin is that they were average in 2 maybe 3 of those categories, but Sasuke checked around 8 to 9 boxes.
That made him seemingly so much better than most other Genin because even if they could match him in 1 thing, they could most likely not match him in another thing. Sasuke was around a low Chunin level, which was still better than most of his classmates, but that wouldn't be getting him any real promotions in a Chunin exam because the exams were different. You couldn't barely Chunin level and expect to win anything, you had to clearly be a Chunin to advance. Over the last 5 years, Naruto had seen more than a couple of Chunin Exams, 6 in total.
Sasuke wasn't this all-time great prodigy that they were trying to make him out to be, Naruto had been old enough to remember Itachi Uchiha being in the village ,the way everyone was in awe of this 13 year old boy who was an ANBU member. When compared to his brother, Sasuke came up rather short.
At least Sasuke was prepared to be a Shinobi, having a solid foundation for growth and being capable enough that he wouldn't be killed by a basic bandit. But if Sasuke was a C to C+ ranked ninja, Sakura wasn't even on the ranking system. Everything about her needed to be improved, from her attitude to her physical abilities to her ability to actually through a punch to being able to use more charka than required for a normal illusion based clone at any given time without tiring. Did anyone expect her to be like Naruto with enough charka to make most Kages' blush with finding themselves lacking? Absolutely not. But the bitch could still be average.
Sakura in a nutshell was too weak, too slow, too much attitude, paid too little to her surroundings, too unprepared for the Shinobi lifestyle. There was only 1 thing that Sakura was even remotely average in. Care to guess what that was? Being a fan girl was an acceptable answer, but in terms of being a Shinobi, it was trap making and history. History doesn't help you on the battlefield other than being able to talk about how you got your ass whupped repeatedly. Her trap making was average because it was 100 percent textbook, which was the best thing she had going for her.
As Kakashi said "You literally can do nothing right, which means that you can forget about everything that you know about being a Shinobi. You aren't strong enough, you aren't fast enough, despite what people tell you, you aren't smart enough. You couldn't possibly be able to be any worse of a Shinobi. The good news is that the only lower you could go, is being buried 6 feet deep because you were killed. You can only go up from here, you can't get any worse"
Naruto thought she took the criticism pretty well seeing how she only cried for 15 minutes opposed to the nearly 45 minute episode when she got dirt in her hair the day before. That was 28 days ago, and since then Kakashi had basically broken Sakura and Sasuke to the point that they didn't have the energy to argue with him about being run into the ground. With Sasuke, Kakashi would go about correcting all of the small errors that he had. Bend you knee before you jump, rotate to your left as you dodge before you throw the punch, always use a log. The little things to mostly smooth over his Taijustu before he joined Sakura and Naruto in physical conditioning.
They all had different levels of conditioning training. Sakura had to run as many laps as she could in 20 minutes, take a 1 minute break and then run 1 less lap in 15 minutes take another 1 minute break before running 1 less lap in 10 minutes then working her way back up to her 20 minute mark. Every time she failed, she had to start over, it was a long and tiring process for the pink haired girl, but her stamina slowly began to pick up and over the course of a month, she went from restarting 17 times to restarting 2 to 3 times.
Sasuke had to run 30 laps in 12 minutes, followed by 1000 correct punches on a training dummy under the watchful eye of a Kakashi dummy followed by a 1000 kicks to the same dummy, all of which he had to do correctly, or he would start over. The days were long for Sasuke, but it was the running part that was the issue for him, but after they learned tree walking, he understood how to better control his body for that type of result.
Naruto's training was a little different as it varied in form from day to day. On the days with the massive weights on his body, he would do something similar to Sakura, but he would start with as many laps as he could in 25 minutes then work his way down to 10 minutes before working his way back up to 25 minutes. Then he would do the same punches and kicking training as Sasuke. On days without his weights, Kakashi would slap a charka suppression seal on Naruto and send him on a 50 mile hike that Kakashi would set up that was filled with set places for various exercises like push-ups, sit-ups, carrying weights from point to point. There was also a 2 hour lift on the hike or you guessed it, Naruto would get to start over.
But over the course of the month, they had all improved. Sakura was gaining stamina and her charka pool had expanded to the point that she was nearing where Sasuke started. She was still physically lacking strength, but her speed made her more suited for the option of being a Genjustu User than anything else at this point. Sasuke had ironed out some of his smaller footwork issues while picking up speed and more strength. He needed to become able to hit hard and fast. Naruto was slowly turning from a guy who used Charka to supplement his speed and strength to having the natural strength and speed that he had before.
The next step for each of them was simple to Kakashi, Sakura would begin building strength and learning Genjustu, Sasuke would continue to learn his fundamentals while still building his speed. Sasuke would probably acquire his Sharingan at some point sooner than later, he would need the speed to match his eyes or all he would get is a permanent slow motion version of the ass kicking engraved into his brain. Naruto would be taught several wind Justu while Kakashi would finish his elemental training while gifting him the Taijustu style that fit the blond's body type, the style of his father.
After a month of doing nothing but training his students into the ground and doing the D-Rank missions that were basically a chore. Kakashi decided that his team had made enough progress to deserve a reward, which he gave them not in a day off like they wished but a C-Ranked Mission. They entered the Mission Assignment and saw Team 8 there as well.
What Team 7 was not expecting was for the Hokage to be there again. But there he was, the old man was sitting in his robes and hat, pipe alit. The usual workers are there as well, but they didn't seem to be running it like they used to, not while the Lord Hokage was present.
"Lord Hokage, what a pleasure to see you again" said Naruto in the most monotone voice anyone had ever heard.
"It is always good to see you again Naruto, are you keeping up with your training? You know how much I hate to hear about a lack of training" said the Hokage as he took a puff of his pipe.
Naruto just grit his teeth and walked behind the rest of the group of the two teams and just ignored the Hokage. Sakura shot him a glare for his disrespect, but Naruto's piercing eyes sent her head turning back the other way. Hinata looked at Naruto and the other two Genin on his team and tried to see what she could put together what their team dynamics were like. They looked comfortable enough in each other's presence but didn't seem like friends like she was with Kiba and Shino.
"So, Kakashi what brings you here today? I could give you a RR-117 or maybe you want the Genin to get a little cardio? I could look the other way if you wanted a TSP-227." Said the Hokage
"Tempting, but I was thinking of something more than a storage cleaning or transportation mission, I was hoping that you would allow my team to get a C-Ranked mission today."
"Hmm, I don't know. How many missions have you completed in the last months? Your record shows only 28, which is 7 missions short of the base requirements of the rookie Genin team." Said Iruka, while Hokage simply shrugged at Kakashi
"We have 2 new Genin on this team, but I also have Naruto, Iruka. Surely that gives me a little leeway with the rules. Have you seen this kid, he's more suited to be your boss than a Genin at this point?"
One of the Chunin scoffed and said "Yeah sure, the kid isn't a kid. He's a 17 year old young adult, if he was qualified to be a Chunin, he would be one at this point."
The Hokage winced and everyone looked at the old man wince.
"It seems Hito, that you are currently dead" said Hiruzen
"Huh?" said Hito before he realized that he had a kunai to his throat and Naruto was standing behind him.
'I never even saw him move' thought the generic Chunin.
"Okay, I give you the last C-Ranked mission that we have, will you take Naruto and leave. The last thing that I need to be forced to clean up a puddle of Hito's urine because Naruto showed him that talent and rank don't really matter." Asked Iruka
Kiba and Sakura snickered as Hito blushed heavily.
"Sure" said Kakashi
"I would hate to be that guy, but wouldn't you say that since I was here first, my team has actually completed the numbered needed to get the C-Ranked mission, oh you know, the fact that you were about to give it to my team, mean that I should get the mission" stated Kurenai rhetorically
"Oh, my kami-god, I hate it that you Jonin are always in this "my students are better than your students" arguments. As far as I am concerned, my students are better than all of your students." Said the Hokage, getting an eye roll from just about everyone.
"How about you both go on the mission. This way you can both leave, and I get some peace and quiet for a moment." Suggested the old man Hokage.
"That works for me" said Kakashi quickly, trying to put the pressure on Kurenai, trying to make her the unreasonable one.
"whatever" she huffed as she was backed into a corner and forced to let Team 7 go with them on the mission or seem like she didn't want another fellow Genin team to come along with her team, which could hurt her in the future.
"Somebody let in Tazuna." Said the Hokage as he felt a headache coming on.
A generic Chunin opened the door and in walked Tazuna (Not describing him).
The old man was clearly a drunk as he walked in smelling of the not kid friendly drink along with having a bottle of the stuff in his hands.
"My name ssss Tazuna, Imma master builder" said Tazuna as he slurred slightly.
Kakashi, Naruto, and Kurenai looked at each other and it was like they could hear each other's thoughts 'It is going to be one of those missions'.
Kakashi cleared his throat and said, "Yes, I'm sure that you are. We're going to take you to back to the Land of the Wave, Tazuna."
"Yea and say until the bridge is finished ri?" asked Tazuna asked, showing that the alcohol wasn't affecting him nearly as much as anyone thought. Although nobody would say that his next words were all that bright.
"So, where are the real ninja? All I see is a bunch of short brats, an obviously stupid girl with pink hair because who really has pink hair, a guy with 1 eye, a woman who looks like a better lay than ninja, and a tall brat who looks like he has an attitude problem." Said Tazuna before he took a sip from his bottle.
Kakashi chuckled and Naruto grabbed the back of Kiba's and Sakura's shirts to prevent them from rushing at the old bridge builder.
"Okay, listen up guys. We will meet up in 2 hours at the Village gate. Don't be late" warned Kakashi before he disappeared in a burst of smoke. The younger Genin walked out and left Naruto and Kurenai behind with Tazuna.
"Okay, Tazuna. We will see you in a little bit" Kurenai told him before she walked out followed by Naruto.
"So, how have you been Naruto?" Kurenai asked Naruto as they walked down the stairs towards the exit.
"I've been good, Kakashi has been running us ragged with his training. I thought that my training was intense before, but he seems to always be able to take it up another level whenever we start to get comfortable."
"Really? I never thought of Kakashi being that type of teacher."
"Huh?"
"Well Kakashi is fairly lazy most of the time. Outside of most B-Ranked to S-Ranked missions, he's basically a sloth. Barely moving and extremely lackadaisical."
"That isn't how he is with us. He is constantly pushing us, finding new ways to break us down. He has broken us down, finding flaws, things that we can improve. And physically, that's what he's focused on me only."
"why focus on your physical abilities only?"
"I'm not sure if I am being honest, but from what he's told me, it is because that's what I need to get to the next level. He believes that if my speed and strength are organic, without any charka enhancement, that it will better suit me in the long run."
"That makes sense though, maybe there is some merit to it."
"What about your team? How are you training them?"
"Well, I got 3 clan kids, so you know how that goes. I can only try to enhance the things that they know already. Can't teach them Genjustu or Taijustu, and none of them really have any use for a Ninjustu outside of their clan ones. It is a bit of bother that they aren't more skilled either, because at least then I would be able to get a decent workout in our training."
"I understand where you're coming from, my teammates aren't exactly world breakers either. Not that I am either, but the gap between them and myself is the gap between myself and Kakashi, and it isn't getting smaller anytime sooner."
"It is because as we continue to live in these times, the academy requirements drop more and more, the Genin produced today wouldn't have graduated 5 to 7 years ago. Mostly because what was taught was different, there was more combat driven classes. It was more training and less learning, but with the rising number of civilian children who are enrolling in the academy, the graduation standards have dropped to allow them to have a chance to graduate as well."
"You seem to know a lot about the politics behind the falling standards of the academy"
"Well, when you go on a couple of dates with the Hokage's son, you tend to hear a couple of rants."
"Oh yeah, how are things with Asuma?"
"There isn't a thing with Asuma anymore, he's a jerk"
"Eh, you're not wrong. He was pretty mean to me when I would visit the Sarutobi Housing when I was a little kid. I remember how happy old man Hokage was when he left to join the 12 Guardians."
"Oh, they don't get along?"
"Yeah, Asuma lacks certain characteristics-"
"That you possess Naruto. One's that my son never had" said the voice of the Hokage behind the two slowly walking Shinobi.
They turned around and both said "Lord Hokage"
"At ease, I was just going for a walk to stretch my legs, I can't stand sitting behind the desk all day long. There is more to life than paperwork." Commented the Hokage
"There sure is, that is why you could never convince me to try and become Hokage" said Naruto. Kurenai's eye widen, but she remained silent and just listened.
Hiruzen sighed and asked Naruto "Are you still on that? Why wouldn't you think about becoming Hokage? It is a noble aspiration to have, one that you should understand"
"I don't think being Hokage is for me. The people have to respect you, look at you for leadership. We know how they look at me."
"You could change that Naruto, by becoming the ultimate protector of the people. They would see you the way that you want them to."
"Yeah, I don't think. I cannot harm them, and I will not allow them to be harmed while I am at the scene, but that's as far as I will go. I will not sacrifice myself for anyone who treats me the way that they do."
"Very well" said Hiruzen before he turned and walked off.
Kurenai frowned and asked Naruto "What was that about?"
"it is a long story Kurenai"
"Well Naruto, it is a good thing we have a long walk to the Land of Wave then"
High above both of them was Tobi sitting on the Hokage's Monument.
"Hmm, so the Kyuubi Brat doesn't care for the people of this village? Well that will certainly be something to keep an eye on for the future." Tobi thought aloud to himself before he disappeared
At the Village Gate:
Naruto arrived and saw that everyone but Kakashi and the client was there.
"Naruto, where is your backpack?" asked Sakura looking at Naruto who is had come with nothing more than his normal clothes. The other Genin looked at Naruto and then at Sakura.
"They didn't teach any of guys sealing in the Academy?" asked Naruto confused as to why everyone had backpacks and why Sakura was asking him that type of question
"Sealing? Why would they teach us something like that? It doesn't have any real world applications" said Sakura to which Naruto and Kurenai shared a look before Naruto made a face that showed disappointment.
"Sakura, do you know anything about how they stop Biju? Anything about the Fourth Hokage?" asked Kurenai
"Can't you just kill the Biju, that's what the Fourth Hokage did. And what does sealing have to do with the Fourth?" asked Sakura
"You can't kill a mass of charka Sakura. The only way that you can stop a Biju attack is to seal it into something or for the more powerful Biju, you have to seal them into a person. As for what sealing had to do with Minato Namikaze, the Fourth Hokage? Everything. He was a sealing master, trained by the sealing master and one of the Sannin Jiraiya. His most famous techniques were a blood related seal technique, the Flying Thunder God Technique was sealing at its finest." Naruto informed the pink haired girl and the rest of the Genin
"Well said Naruto, but the history lesson is over." Said Kakashi as he arrived with Tazuna, who looked more sobered up.
Kurenai and Kakashi both looked at each other before whispering about something. Whatever was said made Kakashi look visible uncomfortable, but Kurenai quickly spoke, drawing the attention to her and off of her silver haired coworker.
"We have a long trip to get to the Land of Wave, we should head out. Our formation will be Kiba and Sasuke in the front separated by about 4 feet. Sakura and Hinata you will be close to Tazuna on either side of him. Naruto and I will be covering the rear closer together while Kakashi trails us for back up support. We are basically moving in a V shape. Everyone understand?"
Getting nothing but Yes's all around, they got into formation and set off for their mission to the Land of Waves
A/N: This story might actually be my most underrated story. I like the feel of it, it's a bit colder than some of my other stories, but it also feels more emotional. It has a nice balance to it, it feels like there is so much unknown about what already happened and what will happen. That might be part of the mystery aura that I get whenever I reread any of my chapters.
Now, from what I've learned is that when Itachi graduated from the Academy, the requirements were lasting in spar against your instructor for like 3 mins, the 3 standard Justu, an academic test, some type of obstacle course, and the weapons throwing test. Naruto's canon test was literally the 3 Justu, Weapons, History test, and a physical examination with Naruto failing the history test and the clone Justu every time. That seems a little watered down because it went from a multi-leveled test on multiple topics to a history test. The sparring probably failed some kids, so I can see why they would get rid of that.
With each and every given chapter that I write, we learn more and more about the complicated relationship between Hiruzen Sarutobi and Naruto. The third Hokage is interesting because he is so powerful and while we see a glimpse of that in the fight against Orochimaru and the other 2 Hokages, we never get to see how powerful he truly was. He was said to have mastered every Justu in Konoha and all elemental natures. For those of you who are wondering when and how he managed to fall under Tobi's control, don't worry the answer will be coming up sooner than later.
Now like a Marvel Movie, here is some mid-credit/Author Note scenes
Alternate Scene: Mission Assignment
"I would hate to be that guy, but wouldn't you say that since I was here first, my team has actually completed the numbered needed to get the C-Ranked mission, oh you know, the fact that you were about to give it to my team, mean that I should get the mission" stated Kurenai rhetorically
"Kurenai, you don't need this kind of mission. Your team is very solid, but I know for a fact that my team is more equipped to deal with any mission that we're given better than every Genin team in all of Konoha." Said Kakashi
Somewhere in the distance, Kabuto and his 2 Jonin level fake Genin teammates all sneezed at the same time and their sensei gave them a look and said, "You better not be getting sick, I don't want to deal with that."
"Are you saying that my students aren't as good as yours?" questioned Kurenai
"Uhhh, yeah. I have Naruto, you could take my two other students and Naruto by himself would still be better than all 5 of the other Genin here combined.
"Yeah right, he can't be that good." Said Kurenai looking at Naruto through the side of her eyes.
"How about a wager, Naruto vs the other 5 Genin. Naruto wins, my team gets the mission. Your team wins, you get Sakura and the mission" said Kakashi.
"Sakura and the mission?" question Kurenai
"She's a budding Genjustu with almost 10 times the charka reserves that she had in the academy" said Kakashi as he dangled Sakura in front of the red eyed beauty.
"Deal" said Kurenai
1 massive ass whupping later
"Wow, I can't believe he used Sakura to beat the other Genin. That was brutal" whispered Kurenai as she just finished the most one sided fight she had ever seen.
"You can keep Sakura if you want" said Kakashi "I will just take the mission and Naruto"
"What about Sasuke?" Kurenai asked as she pointed to the Uchiha kid crying on the ground with bruises all over.
"What about Sasuke?" replied Kakashi
So, in the next chapter Naruto will begin to explain the falling out that he had with the Third Hokage to Kurenai and we will start to see the Land of Wave mission action start up. The Naruto and Kurenai romantic interactions are going to start around the Chunin Exams Arc, but don't hold me to an exact chapter just yet.
Speaking of interactions, I have an interactive twitter page, the interactive Twitter is up, my handle is HKM_FF, so that is HKM_FF, please follow me there. Now you know the usual, I will tell you that I will update by this date or that date, but we all know that my pants are on fire, because I am a liar. At least when it comes to my update dates and actually updating.
Anyone who has ever messaged me can attest to the fact that I do reply, and I do read you message. I respond to PM's, Reviews, bat signals and everything in between, sometimes.
That's all for now, until next time. Also, if you have any suggestions or complaints, feel free to leave a review or PM me. Unless you're going to be a dick about it, then you can literally kick rocks.