2
Konoha's Phantom
The next day, Naruto walked into the classroom looking just as smug as he did yesterday.
"Hehe," he chuckled as he revelled in the glares that Sasuke and his fangirls shot at him. "Morning, Dusty!" Naruto said as he walked by Sasuke's seat.
"Shut it, idiot," the Uchiha ground as he felt his rage rising.
"Calling me an idiot even after yesterday's fight? Your Sharingan must not work, huh?" he said with a smirk as he continued towards his spot.
The reason for Naruto's smugness wasn't only because he won against Sasuke – though that was there too. No, the real reason was that after he had gotten home last night, Naruto had actually studied a little bit.
Naruto had fallen asleep in class yesterday and when he had been woken up, he didn't know the answer to the question Iruka-sensei asked. But that wasn't the case for Shikamaru, he noticed. The Nara heir slept just as much as Naruto did in class, but whenever the senseis woke him up, he always knew the answer to any questions.
So why didn't Naruto?
That was the question that bothered him the most. It was only after a lot of thinking that Naruto realised that the reason was probably that Shikamaru actually studied everything beforehand.
The blond had physically cringed at the thought of actually having to study, but he had quickly stopped as another thought hit him. Naruto didn't like to study because time studying meant less time pranking. But... That didn't apply to him anymore, did it!? Now, he could just pause the time and study as much as he wanted and then unpause and enjoy the entire day however he wanted!
And as torturous as it was for him, Naruto had done exactly that yesterday evening.
He had paused time and read through his entire academy textbooks. He had done the practice questions, read through the theories again, and tested himself on his knowledge while he practised his shurikenjutsu in one of the training grounds.
As much as it hurt his head, Naruto didn't care. He powered through it. After all, it was just one day of studying right? After that, he'd have as much time as he wanted to play!
And with all that studying Naruto could finally flex some of his knowledge, as evidenced by his statement about Sasuke's Sharingan. This only served to further aggravate the Uchiha, however, as Sasuke got to his feet, glaring at Naruto as if he was Itachi reincarnate.
Naruto merely sat down, openly smirking at his seething rival.
"Don't make me put you in your place again," the blond said with a challenging smirk. In the background, Kiba's 'ooooohhhh he said it!' only made the situation worse.
But again, right before anything could happen, Iruka-sensei walked in and ordered everyone to take their seats.
Sasuke reluctantly followed Iruka's directions, as well, but he swore the blond would find out today why you didn't mess with an Uchiha.
...
Once more, disappointment washed over Sasuke as the instructors announced that they weren't going to spar with each other today. Instead, today it would be instructor vs. student.
As everyone gathered around the taijutsu ring, Iruka started calling out names. One after another, every student got a chance to spar against Iruka and receive feedback.
Finally, Iruka called out Naruto's name who was just bouncing with excitement. YES! Today would be the day he'd show exactly how strong he was. He'd even defeat the chunin instructors and surprise everyone!
"Alright, Naruto. Do the seal of confrontation," Iruka ordered and Naruto obeyed, wanting to start the spar as soon as possible. Both their hands went and Iruka finally gave the order. "Begin!"
Naruto instantly pushed the button and appeared right behind Iruka. He swung his fist directly towards the chunin's side as he unpaused the time.
However, to Naruto's surprise, with lightning-like reflexes Iruka only moved slightly and completely dodged the punch.
"Eh!?" Naruto said, not understanding how he had missed that one. Though that one second of confusion cost him as Iruka lashed out with a punch of his own, striking the blond in the chest. "UGH!" Naruto grunted as he rolled back.
He didn't stay down for long though. With determination etched onto his face, he once again stood up and disappeared from view, appearing behind Iruka once again with a low kick aimed at the back of chunin's knee.
Once again, however, using instinct honed from years of training and missions, Iruka easily spun around, blocked the kick with his shin, and unleashed a straight punch at the blond's abdomen.
"GUH!" Naruto grunted again in a mixture of pain, anger, and confusion. Why weren't his hits landing!?
Iruka, seeing the anguish on his student's face, chuckled slightly. "I don't know how you're doing it, Naruto," he said. "But just because you can suddenly appear behind your enemy, it doesn't mean that you'll be fast enough to take them down. If you're fighting against a more experienced enemy, chances are that their instincts will always be faster than you," Iruka explained and smiled as he saw realisation dawn on Naruto's face.
...
After Iruka's impromptu lesson, Naruto decided to stop using the remote for the rest of the fight.
As all the students filed into the classroom once again, in sharp contrast to his usual behaviour, Naruto decided to merely go back to his seat and plop down as he contemplated his sensei's words.
'Just because you can suddenly appear behind your enemy, it doesn't mean that you'll be fast enough to take them down,' Iruka had said.
Now that Naruto thought about it, Iruka was right! He may be able to 'teleport' from place to place, but that didn't mean he was fast, or strong.
Hell, he couldn't even do any damage to anyone in the paused world because he didn't have enough power behind his fist. The power came not only from his muscles and his mass, but also from his speed.
This meant that unless Naruto only wanted to ever specialise in purely killing his enemies, he'd never be able to do other types of missions. And where was the fun in that?
As this realisation dawned on him, Naruto did the only thing he could think of at the moment.
...
"Iruka-sensei!" Naruto damn near yelled, bouncing down the stairs as the day came to an end.
"Naruto, stop yelling!" Iruka reprimanded.
"Ehehe, sorry sensei!" he replied as he rubbed the back of his head. "But I had a question!" he piped up, forgetting Iruka's last words already.
The chunin only sighed as he looked at his hyperactive student with a smile. "What's your question, Naruto?" he asked.
"How do I get stronger and faster like you are?" Naruto asked immediately.
Iruka could only roll his eyes once more as he lightly shook his head. He was happy that his student was coming to him for help but still disappointed that he wanted to skip straight to the 'cool' stuff.
"Naruto," Iruka started. "You can't just become strong and fast out of nowhere. There is a very important process for that to happen," he said.
"Eh? What process?" Naruto questioned.
"Well, first of all, you need to completely master the basics before you can try to train anything else."
"What basics?"
Iruka smirked. He had the blond right where he wanted him. The chunin was sure he'd get Naruto to see the importance of studying after this question of his. "Basics like, for example, what is 'chakra'?" Iruka asked.
"Umm... Chakra is the combination of Yin and Yang energy in your body that is made from spiritual and physical... uh... stuff, right?" Naruto said, reciting the definition of chakra almost perfectly.
Iruka, for his part, was stunned, not believing what he had just witnessed.
"Right, sensei?" Naruto asked again, breaking the chunin out of his stupor.
"Eh? Uh, yeah. You're right, Naruto? How did you know that?" he asked.
"I studied the textbook!" Naruto replied cheerfully, leaving Iruka gobsmacked for the second time in a matter of seconds.
"I... I see. That's great, Naruto," Iruka said with uncertainty. What the hell had happened to make the boy that was dead last in the class actually study!?
"Believe it!" Naruto said as he smiled widely. Being acknowledged by someone for doing something well never felt better! "What other basics, sensei?" he asked eagerly.
"Um... Let's see," Iruka said as he contemplated the blond's question. If Naruto had already studied the textbook then the next logical step would be, "physical conditioning," he said.
"Uh, what's that?" Naruto asked.
Iruka sighed again. He was going to get home late again today, but honestly, he couldn't bring himself to be mad at Naruto. Seeing the blond's work ethic ramp up brought a burst of pride to the chunin. And he'd do his absolute best to help his student achieve his goal!
...
"Ugh," Naruto groaned as he collapsed onto his bed without even changing.
He had tried doing the 'physical conditioning' stuff that Iruka-sensei had told him to do, but things hadn't exactly worked out as planned for him.
The blond was miffed at the newly discovered 'ability' that his ability had. Depending on how he looked at it, it could be either a feature or a bug.
No matter how much Naruto pushed his body to his limits while time was paused, he never got tired. This also meant that Naruto was unable to train his body while time was paused.
"Dammit!" Naruto swore as his eyes fell upon the scroll that he had retrieved from the library. It was in the beginner section and it was simple enough for him to understand so he assumed it couldn't be that bad. But his assumption had been so, so wrong.
Naruto really hadn't expected the physical conditioning for this so-called 'Goken' style to be so difficult – especially since it had been for beginners – but goddamn, he had really worked himself to the bone. And being as stubborn and full of determination as ever, he hadn't even allowed himself to quit and find some other style to practice.
"Ugh," with another groan, he slowly rolled himself off the bed. As much as he wanted to just close his eyes and drift off into the land of slumber, Naruto knew how important proper hygiene was from the textbook that he had studied.
...
"So explain to me, Iruka, why are you so vehemently opposed to team formations like usual?" the aged Hokage asked as he gazed at one of his best chunin instructors.
"Well, Hokage-sama," Iruka started as he shifted from one foot to the other uncomfortably. "I believe following the same standard would mean putting the rookie of the year with the dead last of the year. That would mean putting Shikamaru-kun with Sasuke-kun."
"And how is that a problem?"
"Shikamaru-kun may be the dead last on paper, but actually he merely doesn't show enough drive, which is the reason for his last place. If we were to follow the standard, we'd be missing out on making a very effective second-generation Ino-Shika-Cho trio," Iruka said.
"Hmm," the Hokage nodded as he considered Iruka's words. "Then how about putting the second dead last with the rookie?" he suggested.
"That would be a good idea, but then we'd miss out on making an effective tracking team, with the Inuzuka, Hyuga, and Aburame heirs," Iruka answered.
"I see. That's why you suggest teams based on ability, rather than class scores?"
"Yes, Hokage-sama," Iruka said as he nodded.
The Hokage returned his nod as he contemplated what to do. Maybe a change of pace would be good this year, he reckoned.
...
A drop of sweat rolled down Suki's cheek as she tried not to cower in front of the infuriated visage of her village's leader, her division commander, and even the ANBU commander.
"So you're telling me," Hiruzen repeated himself as he glared at everyone in the room. "That even after months of investigation by the entirety of the ANBU CID, we still have absolutely no information whatsoever on the identity of 'Konoha's Phantom'? Is that correct?"
"Y-Yes, Hokage-sama. There hasn't been even a single sighting of The Phantom. Not even a single witness ever—" Suki stopped as the Hokage put his hand up to interrupt her.
"Yes, I've read the reports. No witnesses and even the most secure safes aren't secure enough, I know," the aged Hokage said as he released a sigh and his shoulder slumped a little bit. "Have we tried setting traps or anything of the sort?" he asked.
"Yes, but surprisingly, even the most intricate plans of ours haven't ever worked. And the most confusing aspect of The Phantom's MO is that he never seems to go after money only," the CID commander spoke. "It's always either food, hardware supplies, shinobi equipment, or things of that nature."
"Also," the ANBU commander added this time. "We also suspect that he might be going after scrolls in Konoha's Shinobi Library. There have been multiple instances in the past few months where the librarians have found discrepancies in the checkout logs. It was only after implementing the daily auditing system that we realised that it wasn't just human error on the librarians' part."
Hiruzen's eyes narrowed dangerously at this revelation. "This is a major security risk..."
"Yes, sir," the ANBU commander acknowledged Hiruzen's statement. Though the Hokage didn't push the matter any further. He knew that the ANBU were doing everything in their capacity to bring this thief to justice.
There was only so much they could do against someone who might as well be an actual ghost at this point.
...
The entire class stared silently as Naruto and Sasuke stood opposite each other. A sharp contrast from what would've been just a few months ago.
For months now, Naruto's physical training was finally paying off. This new Goken style that he had been learning was doing wonders for him. Additionally, because of his increased healing factor, Naruto was seeing results much earlier than expected. Usually, this meant him not even having to really pause time to beat Sasuke in the spars.
"Go, Sasuke-kun!" a shrill voice rang out from the dead silent academy students.
Naruto rolled his eyes. Of course, Sakura would still be infatuated with this dickhead. He didn't care, though.
His goals were beyond their understanding.
As the end of the year approached, Naruto decided he'd show everyone who really was the boss around here. It was finally time to go all out against that so-called 'Rookie of the Year'. Though if he was being fair, Naruto was way more deserving of that title right now.
And so, he made his plan. Today, he'd absolutely demolish Sasuke.
In the split second that Iruka's arm swung to signify the beginning of the match, Naruto's mind flashed to one of the most important books that he had read. At first, it seemed like it was just a book for children. That's why he was so confused when he had found it in the Jounin section of the library. It didn't have any cool techniques, or jutsu, or any martial arts. Instead, the book focused on the more subtle aspect of shinobi life.
'Soft Skills,' the book called them.
And one of the main lessons that had stuck with Naruto was about the 'viciousness' that shinobi needed. A shinobi is one who endures, but why endure if you don't need to? If you have an objective, complete it as fast as possible while using the appropriate resources at your disposal.
That lesson had then merged into another one talking about the management of your resources and tools, but that was a topic for another time. At the moment, what Naruto needed to do was overwhelm Sasuke and finish this fight in a record amount of time.
"Begin!" Iruka's voice boomed and Sasuke didn't waste a single second in launching himself toward the blond.
I hope you enjoyed the second chapter! I have a very important question for you guys. Do y'all still want the same Team 7 or do you want Naruto to be on another team, and if so, with whom? If I have him be on another team, I won't have them do the Wave mission but a different type of C-rank instead.
Also, I suck at writing fight scenes so if y'all know any good fights in any other fics that I can reference for the next chapter, please also LMK.
So yeah, some food for thought. Also, if you guys have any ideas for this fic, please let me know. I genuinely have no idea how to proceed with this LOL.