A/N Humble apologies, dear readers. Seems like I dropped off the grid again. I'm sorry for any pain it caused. It happens, I got hit by life I guess. In the face. With a chair.
I've moved around a lot, got a new girlfriend. A new job, new car, new everything really. Fanfiction fell to the side with all of this going on in 2017.
However! Here we have another upload. In this chapter I start to make good on my word. We're going to mess around with some truly overused tropes in Naruto fanfictions. We're not going to deconstruct this particular cliché - yet. But we are going to stretch it to its limits and laugh at it. Which will be fun.
All I'm going to say is: Keep an open mind. Read and enjoy.
The Legacy Ascending
Phase One
~ In Konoha Arena ~
Ibiki's explanation of the first test was succinct.
"I'm about to delegate all of you into eight different groups. After that, everyone will undergo the same test, but in different locations. Each group will average about twenty-five Genin. Don't cry when I split up your teams!" The last line was added in sharply, and Ibiki glanced over the crowd with narrowed eyes before he continued.
"Now, I want you to listen carefully. I will shout your name only ONCE! I will then give you a direction, and after that I expect you to start walking. If you get lost, just follow the smoke. Once all of your group reach your destination, the test will be explained in proper. Okay, ready!?"
Some people chorused a 'yes'. Naruto remained silent.
"Good, onto the names! First off: Naruto!"
The boy in question blinked in surprise at being first, but quickly snapped up his head. Naruto thought he could see a new spark behind Ibiki's eyes now. He must have checked the disclaimer and found the planted Konoha leaf. Naruto forced down a self-satisfied smile.
"Desert zone!" Ibiki proclaimed loudly and pointed off into the distance. Naruto had memorized the arena's layout earlier, so pointing out the direction was actually unnecessary. "Watch for the purple smoke!" Ibiki added to him before he called out a new name, whom he gave similar instructions. Naruto stepped out of the crowd and performed a smooth shunshin, he made it clear he was not using any hand-signs.
xXx
~ Desert Zone ~
Naruto was quick to arrive on location; the desert zone wasn't as large as he'd thought. Still, he would have struggled to find the test supervisor had it not been for the brazier beside the man. A slow burn was roiling inside it, and a line of purple smoke stretched up into the sky.
Taking the last few steps normally – that is to say, without using the Shunshin – Naruto stopped in front of the man by the brazier. He wore the standard Konoha flak jacket and was rolling a senbon needle around in his mouth. His seemingly carefree and lackadaisical manner reminded Naruto of Kakashi, and it had him on guard.
"No questions please, wait for the rest of the group." The man ranted off before Naruto could so much as open his mouth.
With a shrug, Naruto walked past him to study what had to be the test area. There was a . . . structure of sorts. Five pillars. All formed of dried mud, a Doton user's work no doubt. They were large enough to have half a dozen people stand on them with personal space to spare, and five stories tall maybe. The five mud columns were in the shape of a five-pointed star, and a somewhat hastily erected earth wall connected all the columns.
He was looking at a fight pit. The next part could get very messy. Good. An unbidden voice rose up inside him. It surprised him.
Walking swiftly, Naruto rounded a corner and heaved a sigh. He had just realized he was still being intoxicated by the temporary tweak he'd made in the seal, and he had to correct it.
Holding up all five fingers, Naruto focused. His reserves were so massive, this kind of chakra usage was nearly impossible for him, it was only through hundreds of hours of practice that he'd gotten this far with it.
He visualized gathering drops of dew on his fingers in the midst of a hurricane. It wasn't an excessive analogy when the amount of chakra Naruto needed was so tiny he could barely wrap his mind around it.
Satisfied, Naruto crammed the seal back into its original place. The added chakra drip from the Kyuubi disappeared. He felt relief fill him, but it did not last.
xXx
~ Earlier that day - Inside the Eight Trigrams Seal ~
Kurama woke with a stir. Something was different. There was a tiny change in the eight trigrams seal. He could feel an almost imperceptible drain of chakra through the seal. Likely due to the boy somehow, but Kurama didn't know how.
He must be struggling with something. He pondered on what kind of scenario his host was in. It was hard to say, Kurama didn't even know how old the boy was, much less his development. Time was impossible to track in the seal when he had no connection to the host he was sealed within. He could have been trapped inside the seal for decades by now for all he knew, it sure as hell felt like it most of the time.
That was unlikely though, the seal would have been all but an eroded husk of its former self if that had been the case. But the fact that the boy had somehow tinkered with the seal for the second time now was intriguing. He hasn't damaged the seal yet, so he must be at least halfway competent.
Kurama stretched his chained limbs as best he could and tried to fall back into sleep, it was the best way to kill time.
After a while, the tiny drain stabilized. The subtle change was enough to jerk Kurama awake again. The boy had somehow . . . realigned the seal back into place and in the process cut off the surplus chakra flow.
He must be of out of danger by now then. Kurama thought to himself, and absentmindedly flexed his chakra, like he would do every now and then again to check the seal. And that was just it, the seal had worsened again. Not much, but slightly, ever so slightly. Immediately, Kurama tried something he had been attempting for years now. He forced tendrils of his chakra through the seal and tried to pull at the crevices he could feel. He wanted to meet his vessel.
xXx
~ With Naruto – Inside the seal ~
Naruto took in his new surroundings warily. What just happened?
The street he was standing on was dimly lit by a dying sun. There were a multitude of buildings on both sides of the street. Interestingly, they all seemed to be structures he'd seen before at some point in his life. Some were complex works of architecture, others were simple places he'd stayed at. He saw a restaurant he'd used to frequent a few years ago, down the lane.
The street wasn't a real place he realized, but a fiction drawn up from his subconsciousness. The question was how was he standing in it?
It was at that moment a blood-curling growl cut down the quiet street. "Finally . . ."
Naruto felt a shiver move down his spine and he immediately spied for the source of the voice, but there was nothing. That could only have been the Kyuubi. . . So, this must be the inside of the eight-trigrams seal. The thought was a bit humbling. But where is the fox?
Oddly enough, running into the giant fox didn't strike him as all that scary. Naruto felt in control of this place, it felt like he could do things here he normally couldn't. Imprisoned as it was, the Kyuubi should have no real way of hurting him. unless he gave it one.
He glanced around the chaotic but pretty street. The young Uzumaki then began walking at a leisurely pace.
His mindscape was a telling place, and very obviously decorated by his sub consciousness. Naruto's first momentary pause was to stare at the statue of a man. The flame pattern running down the man's haori made identifying him easy even for someone who never knew him.
The Statue of the Yondaime was completely overshadowed however, by a much larger one standing next to it. Naruto saw himself in that one. He was different, older and battle hardened, but it was undoubtedly him. With an uncaring shrug Naruto moved on.
Nothing I didn't already know, I've wanted to surpass him for a long time now.
He walked on and noticed how the surrounding nature was taking over. The cobbled path he'd started on had almost disappeared beneath a thick layer of green. The buildings were overgrown with vines and moss. A winding tree was growing straight through a windowed house that he saw.
Naruto paused when he arrived in front of a garden pond. Curiously, five large slabs of stone stood erect in the pond. He inquisitively stepped closer. The stones were arranged in a circle, and a symbol was hewed into each of them.
The five elements. Naruto realized when he waded in to get a closer look.
He almost immediately noticed how the symbol for air seemed to almost glow with power. The other four didn't give of anything like that, but they were not completely inert either. The symbols for fire and lightning were thrumming quietly. He could barely feel anything from earth and water though. It could be a representation of the elemental nations, but he doubted it. It was more likely this illustrated the five elements and his progress in learning them.
He had always wanted to master all five. Arrogant maybe, but he didn't care.
A bit hesitantly, Naruto stepped out of the pond and continued onwards. His wet footwear squeaked as he walked and he briefly wished he was dry. No sooner had he finished the thought and he was dry.
Completely flummoxed, Naruto stopped and stared down in wonder. There really is something to this place.
Spurred on, Naruto experimentally stretched out a hand. He watched as the grass around him started to grow. In seconds it reached his knees, and the surprise alone was enough to make a lapse in his concentration. The grass stopped growing.
The rules in this place are not the ones I'm used to.
Naruto slashed down his arm in an arc. The green ocean in front of him was removed in that single motion. The grass disappeared in a soundless wind. No chakra necessary, just pure visualization. The workings of this place are beyond strange.
Of course, existential control would certainly come in handy when facing the Kyuubi, so he wasn't going to complain, but he wanted to know how far he could take this?
For instance, maybe he didn't have to search every nook and cranny for the Kyuubi. Maybe – by visualizing – he could summon the kyuubi to him? Naruto paused that particular train of suicidal thought before it could get any further.
Maybe Jiraiya was actually right in calling him reckless.
Then again . . . he seemed to be in his element while inside the seal. Just how much could he really do?
He looked around the broken road he was on and immediately spotted a dilapidated windmill standing at a slight tilt. He narrowed his eyes in concentration, and the woodwork screeched loudly. Naruto watched unblinkingly as an invisible force ripped one of the mill arms straight off and threw it away like you would a tooth pick.
Feeling cockier, Naruto raised the bar. With the force of his will he tried to topple the mill. He surprised himself when the large structure was torn out of its foundation and slung into the ground.
Naruto released a large breath of air he had unconsciously kept in. Only then did he notice how breathless he was. He gulped down air. He was a bit shaky, but that feeling did not compare with the elation at having toppled over a large windmill like it was nothing.
"Incredible. . ." Naruto breathed out loud. "There is a bar though."Limits or not, he could still wreak havoc with the environment with willpower and imagination alone. What he wanted to know now however, was how far could he alter this world. Without preamble, Naruto extended his arm and focused. He was satisfied when a small tanto dropped into his hand out of thin air.
Having fun with this, Naruto looked at the ground and imagined something else. The rabble of a road with weeds and grass poking through disappeared, and was replaced by colorful plants and flowers. Naruto barked out a laugh full of disbelief. "This place is beyond surreal." He muttered to himself.
Suddenly, summoning the Kyuubi didn't seem so reckless anymore.
xXx
~ With the Kyuubi ~
One agonizing second after another went by, but still no boy. When he showed, Kurama planned to coerce him into making a deal. He would tempt the boy, promise him power. The child would no doubt be suspicious, but in the end, he would accept. Humans never turned down power freely given. The hidden catch was the dissolving effects of his chakra, which would gradually deteriorate the eight trigrams seal. Not to mention the boy's health.
He would just have to use some shock and awe to make the boy biddable first, keep him from asking questions. That's when it happened, ironically enough.
If you blinked you would have missed it. In one moment, Kurama was lying on the cold stone floor of his dark prison, his limbs chained down. In the next, he was gone.
For about half a second, Kurama hung in the air, then he crashed into a soft and unfamiliar surface. Animalistic instincts kicked in and Kurama bounced up on all four – he was so bewildered he forgot to even question where the chains holding him down had gone. Confused and angry, Kurama whirled around in an attempt to get his bearings. The giant fox spotted a silhouette standing a distance away.
That was when all hell broke loose.
Something hard slammed into his back from above and forced him into the ground. A pained groan escaped him, that more than anything stoked the fire in him. Something was snaking itself around his legs. With a vicious snarl Kurama spun to let out a 150-decibel roar.
The nine-tailed fox could never properly set the sense of complete and utter shock into words at what came next. Out of the corner of his eye, he got a glimpse of a tree crown coming at him with momentum. The full-grown beech-tree came swinging out of nowhere, and Kurama had no time to react.
The thick tree trunk snapped in half at the impact and sent the massive Biju back into the ground.
What the hell is happening!? Kurama's fiery rage was mounting. Dizzy from the heavy blow, Kurama failed to recognize his legs were bound. He tried to stand, but immediately staggered and fell. A dust cloud rose from the impact.
"Hi there . . . Sorry for the rough introduction."
Kurama snapped open a bloodshot eye. There, standing in front of his face in the whirling dust was a blonde-haired boy.
"You . . ." The Namikaze brat!
"Me." The tiny mongrel replied. The carefree blue eyes on the runt was enough to send Kurama into a red-hot frenzy.
"YOU!" The word was expulsed with large amounts of thick and malignant chakra. It sent the boy flying, and Kurama watched with satisfaction as the upstart crashed into the ground like a ragdoll. He held back an annoyed grunt when the kid managed to flip himself up in mid roll and land on his feet, still fit for fight.
The two locked eyes.
"Do you have a death wish?" Kurama growled through sharp canines. He was so infuriated he was shaking.
To his surprise, the kid gave a shrug without breaking eye contact. "Do you?"
Frowning at the implied threat, Kurama suddenly noticed the skyline. It was turning dark?
It was, but only because a gigantic tsunami of projectiles was inexplicably closing in. It was a monstrous volley of shuriken that nearly blotted out the sky. The approaching cloud of dark metal gleamed with razor sharp points. What Jutsu is this?! Kurama was baffled. The incoming steel storm made no sense at all. It's no jutsu . . . He's . . . controlling the mindscape!
Digging in his heels, Kurama let loose a big roar of defiance amplified tenfold with chakra. The roar was so powerful it split the descending steel wave in two. Looking down, Kurama fully expected Naruto to have vanished, but was surprised to see him standing motionless. He only moved when a few stray shuriken almost skewered him.
"You forgot to check your rear." The kid shouted through the din of falling steel. Kurama didn't listen and pounced on the boy. He was in mid stride when something careened into him from behind and sent him sprawling into the ground head over heels.
"I think we've flexed our muscles enough for now." Naruto remained still, standing just a few feet away from the prone fox.
As if to punctuate that, a wind mill arm of all things crashed into the ground just a small distance away from Kurama. Clumps of dirt and grass flew everywhere.
"Let's break it up, before we get too caught up in the heat of things." Naruto bent down into a squat and folded his arms across his knees.
"We should talk."
"Now you want to talk? After starting a fight." Kurama asked with incredulity. He took longer in getting back on all four this time around. He was shocked at how easily the kid could control the environment in the seal already. Exerting power like this usually took years if not decades to acquire. Kurama kept his thoughts from showing.
The boy raised an eyebrow. "I figured you wouldn't take me seriously unless we fought first."
". . . You flaunt power, and you think that will garner respect? All I see is a kid who relies solely on force alone to get past his problems. Is this my new vessel? Kurama spat out the last word with venom. He could see the brat's pokerface was beginning to slip.
"I assumed you would understand a display of power better than anyone else." He responded. He's honest. Kurama noted. But wrong.
"Contrary to what you seem to believe," Kurama rose to his full height. "I don't suffer from hubris." That proved too much, and the kid's mask fell away to reveal a wry smile full of disbelief.
"That's rich, with your past." His voice had turned chill. Inwardly pleased, Kurama feigned insult and lowered his head to stare intently at the small figure in front of him.
"What do you know of my past? You are nothing, you know nothing and you will remain as nothing."
Naruto clenched his fists in quiet frustration and responded harshly. "I may not know much, but even I know it's wrong to decimate half a village and its people in blind rage."
". . . Once again, you're mistaken, I did what I did, but not in blind rage. Unlike you humans, I keep my rage under control."
Naruto rose to his feet again and stared fiercely at the fox. "So, it was calculated then, do you honestly think that's any better?"
"I think you will hate me no matter what I say or do." Kurama stretched closer still, the kid – Naruto, he reminded himself – was staring at him with barely a tremble. He was composed, very different from the mother. "And what's wrong with that? Hatred is a fine attribute, it gets people farther than most other motivators."
"Too bad I don't hate you then, or anyone else." Naruto kept his eyes on him. Kurama swished his tails in frustration. What?
"I made you an orphan. I destroyed half your home." Kurama drove in the points harshly.
"Jiraiya says I'm strange like that. I have a strong sense of justice, but I don't carry grudges." Naruto paused to give a shrug, then he continued. "I probably should hate you, it's only logical given what I know. But I can't force myself to hate someone any more than I can force myself to be happy. So, I say we let the past remain in the past and move forward. As equals, trying to make the best out of the situation we're in."
Kurama struggled for words, "you want to . . . wait, what?" The situation had taken one too many turns in the last fifteen minutes, this one above all had shocked him the most. He could see the kid take immense joy in his sudden lack of bearing.
"You are proposing an . . . alliance? After first dropping a tree on me." Kurama was starting to question if maybe he was having a surreal and lifelike dream. The Yondaime's offspring was nothing like he had expected.
"Well, I . . . Yeah, sorry about that. I apologize." The brat dipped his head humbly.
"You also leeched off my chakra." Kurama rattled off. He managed to keep back his surprise at the earnest apology.
"Not because I wanted to, your chakra felt like tar." The kid replied with a grossed-out voice.
"Hmph. Are you at the point where you have no choice but to resort to my chakra then?" Kurama sensed an angle he could work.
"I just didn't like my odds. It won't become a habit."
"Oh? Don't you want access to my chakra?"
"Well, I might need it one day, but I don't want to become dependent on it."
"You're here now because you helped yourself to more of my chakra."
"A few extra drops, what you're talking about is something else. I'm not stupid."
"Ha! You don't want the power to liquefy your enemies?"
"I can handle my enemies without liquefying them." Naruto replied in a deadpan.
The Kyuubi lowered his head so close to the ground it nearly kissed the grass. He looked at the boy with condescension. "Do you even know how the seal operates? It's true design?"
The kid did not hesitate to respond. "You're referring to what my father worked into the seal. The fact that he wanted me to one day take your chakra, right?"
"Exactly. You know what is intended, so what's your motive? We will never be allies." Kurama said bluntly.
The runt hesitated this time, he seemed to chew it over for a minute.
"Honestly? Curiosity more than anything else. I want to know more about you tailed beasts, I want to learn your history, your perspective of the world. I figured you could be a wealth of information if we could get along. We would just have to tolerate one another, to begin with. You said it yourself, I know nothing, and I want to rectify that."
Kurama didn't think that was all there was to it, but he kept up his appearance and scoffed. "Ahh, curiosity. The excuse of the innocent, but what if I refuse?"
"I'll chain you up and put you in a dark room for the rest of your days in here. If we form a partnership on the other hand, you can roam around the mindscape all you want." As he spoke, several things happened. The scattered shuriken all disappeared, a fragrant lush grass smelling of rain grew up around Kurama's paws, and a handful of Sakura saplings sprung up and matured several years right in front of his eyes. The pleasant red sun in the distance cast an idyllic red hue over the pretty scenery.
Then, everything slowed down again, and a pair of heavy chains appeared around his hind legs.
"Do we have an agreement, Kyuubi?"
Kurama growled. The chains were yanked roughly. A threat. With all the dignity Kurama could muster, he rose to his full height to look down at the tiny boy beneath him.
"Deal." He growled.
The chains vanished without a trace. "Great!" Exclaimed his new partner. "I was actually in the middle of on exam, so let's hash out any details later. See ya!" With a wave Naruto vanished.
Kurama blinked. Stared. Blinked again. He let out a long breath and ground his teeth together. So disrespectful.
Oi! get out of my head, snooping around in people's heads is way more disrespectful.
Kurama looked down, nope, no boy. He was still gone. A realization lit in him.
It would seem we've formed a telepathic link through the seal . . . Odd, this never happened with Mito or Kushina . . . And no, I cannot read your mind, if that's what you were fretting over right now.
That's what a mind reader would say to trick someone . . .
I regret this deal already.
Can we yell at each other through the link? Like, HELLOO?
Maker end me now.
No, no, no, we haven't even begun sharing information-
Argh! With a big groan of frustration Kurama pushed the link away, and Naruto's voice was gone.
Ahh, sweet relief. I can block him out. Exhausted, the fox gingerly laid down in the grass. That brat will be the end of me.
xXx
Naruto felt the presence of the fox lash out and push their link away, and silence filled his head. Putting the Kyuubi out of his mind for now, he backtracked around the fight pit and saw that a group had formed, someone was speaking.
" . . . Otherwise, we should be good. Now, let's begin. Please follow me." The supervisor turned on his heel and used shunsin to reappear on top of the wall. He gave the group a wave before he jumped down to the other side.
Immediately, the group rushed to follow. Naruto stopped in his tracks and watched the Genin run past him and straight up the wall.
One boy didn't immediately sprint up. After a moment of watching him, Naruto realized the guy wasn't being careful, he was steeling himself. Stopping beside the spandex clad boy, Naruto laid a hand on his shoulder. "If you struggle with walking on surfaces, you might be better off just quitting here."
The kid snapped his head up to look at him. He had freaky eyebrows and going by his glassy eyes he had hurt his feelings. Naruto tried to reason with him.
"Look. They're not going to promote a Genin if he has to rely on rope just to get over a small hinder. Save yourself the trouble and try again next year."
The boy straightened only to give a formal bow. "I appreciate the concern, Naruto-san! You impressed me greatly in the spar earlier, I wish I could be like you! However, that is not the case! I may not be able to use ninjutsu like you, but techniques like surface walking are still within my grasp! I just have to concentrate!" He clenched a fist and spaced out for a short moment. He recovered quickly.
"No access to Ninjutsu does not mean I cannot become a shinobi! I know that, and my teacher knows that! So please, watch me fight before you pass judgement!" He told him with a large grin and a big thumbs up.
Mollified, Naruto could only nod. "Okay, if you're that confident I won't say anything. I actually look forward to see what you can do now, I'll keep my eyes on you."
"Oho! You also have the fires of youth, Naruto-san! I too will take great care in examining your future battles! Yosh, I'm pumped up! I will make sensei proud today!" The boy in green bent his knees and kicked off. He soared over the wall.
Naruto stared, his eyebrows almost connecting with his hairline. "Crazy people all over today . . ."
Not wanting to be left behind, Naruto followed suit and ran up the wall to join the others.
xXx
"The rules are as follows! The team with the most members standing in the center of the battlefield when time runs out, wins."
The man – he had introduced himself as Genma – was standing on a red circle in the middle of the small makeshift arena.
"This test will last for twelve minutes, during that time, your team's goal will be to stand in this circle as the timer runs out. The team with the most members in the circle when the clock runs out wins. Of course, it's going to be a bit more difficult than that."
Genma rolled his senbon around in his mouth and gazed over their group.
"There will be five teams, I'm going to divide you into them in a minute, after that each team gets on a platform." He pointed at the earth construed towers surrounding them.
"Now then, the complications. I have a whistle here." Genma held it up for everyone to see.
"Each team can only send down teammates to contest the center after I have blown in the whistle, otherwise everyone has to stay on the platforms. I will only blow in this whistle four times throughout the test."
He paused for a moment.
"You look confused. Well, allow me to elaborate. The first whistle will of course go off when the test begins, at the twelve-minute mark. Your team decides on who and how many of you to send down. There will be three more intervals where you get to send down more people, and the whistle is the signal."
Genma stopped pacing. A dark-haired girl shot her arm up, and the supervisor nodded at her.
"Do we have to send down someone at each interval?"
"Excellent question. No, you do not. Then again, I'm only going to permit you to send down three people at most during a interval. You will not be able to send down your entire team in the last three minutes. Further questions?"
"After you blow the whistle, how much time do we have to act on?" The boy was from one of the lesser nations. Some was unable to recognize the symbol of Yugakura, the hidden village of hot water springs on the boy's forehead protector. Naruto was, hot springs was a favorite pastime to Jiraiya.
"Five seconds, if you are any slower you will be disqualified for descending." Was the curt answer.
"Nothing else? No? Good, let's get you sorted and ready. Form a line."
It was a quick procedure from there on, Genma split the twenty-five Genin into groups of five and delegated them to a platform each where they would have five minutes to plan. Naruto ended up with three other boys and one girl. The one who had asked a question earlier, she wore what Naruto recognized as the traditional white Hyuuga robes held together by a black sash. He had seen her earlier among the Konoha rookies, but now she had her hair in a bun secured with a couple of senbon. Practical, she probably has a mind to use the senbon if she gets cornered.
He was mildly surprised when she quickly took charge of the group.
"Everyone. Let's plan our victory."
Naruto raised a brow in mild interest. The other boys had been quietly staking out their competition on the other platforms, they swiveled their heads at the girl. Naruto stood attentive with his arms tucked under his armpits.
"I am Hinata Hyuuga. Let's work well together. As I am sure you understood from the supervisor, strategy is a big facet of this contest." She paused, and the guys turned around fully. They seemed either confused or skeptical at her words.
"Agreed." Naruto spoke when no one else did, hoping to show her not everyone on the team was a numbskull. "It's a good thing we're not facing a Nara here."
Hinata gave him slight dip of the head, but with her poise it felt like she had done much more. "Exactly. We have a few minutes to plan before the test begins, so let's not waste any time. Let's begin with you, tell us your name and what you specialize in."
Hesitant to reveal much at first, the boy – Hachiro - eventually caved and told them he was a Ninjutsu specialist but could also employ some decent Genjutsu.
The next one up was called Isamu, he was a bulky Taijutsu user who could only use the 'academy three'. The bunshin, the Kawarimi and the Henge. As pitiful as that was, the last guy was worse.
He introduced himself as Saburo, and in his village there were very few people to teach shinobi skills. The abilities he listed off was barely Genin worthy, much less Chunin. " . . . And I recently mastered the chakra technique where you place a leaf on your forehead and you make it stick there, you know that one?"
Naruto couldn't help but let out a sigh. "Oh boy . . ."
The Hyuuga did not react, she was in deep thought. Naruto had her pegged as a main family member.
"Thank you, Saburo-san . . . that is adequate."
"Wow. You gotta be the worst Genin here." Hachiro said plainly.
"Shut up, I can still kick your ass."
"Huh? No, you can't. You couldn't beat up a cat."
Naruto watched the two bicker, ready to defuse them.
"What about him? You forgot that guy?" Isamu asked Hinata. She frowned and threw Naruto a look.
"No, I already know what he can do." She glanced at him again, her pale eyes felt strange to him. They belied a cleverness horribly misplaced in somebody so young. "Unless he has anything to add for himself."
Naruto gave a shrug. "No, Hyuuga-san. You can consider me your jack of all trades."
"I will."
"So, send him down first, you saw what he did to that crazy woman! Or, I dunno, why even bother with going down on the first two whistles anyway, isn't it better to wait?" That was Hachiro speaking, he had a very bland and grating voice.
"It depends on what the other team does." Hinata explained. "The team that secures a firm position in the center first gets an advantage because you can't send out all of your teammates at once. On the other hand, you can conserve your strength and send out everyone on the last two intervals, that is probably going to be a popular strategy. It's simple and plausible to work well enough. But there might be a better option."
"Huh? There is?" Hachiro asked. Hinata stared at him for a moment.
"Consider this situation: one team sends out one or two persons at every whistle, in the early stage it's not unlikely that they stay in the game simply because most teams will play this game passively and hold back. Fast forward to the later stages, and the team that dropped down people earlier already has a few teammates on the ground, the passive teams will only now start to send out two or three people, while the former team can have their entire team on the ground. The biggest danger with this kind of strategy is that the opposing teams huddle together to remove the bigger threat first."
"Exactly, that's what I figured, it's a bad idea." Hachiro nodded to himself. Naruto was impressed by how fast Hinata was able to move past the boy's behavior.
"Not at all. Firstly, I don't think it's going to be clean, there might be a lot of Genin jumping down on the last whistle, which will go off-"
"When there's three minutes left until we have to be in the center." Naruto supplied, he had done the math on that one earlier.
"Yes, thank you, that's not a lot of time to neutralize a lot of enemies and get in position for the win. There is a chance the last three minutes will be chaotic. Personally, I think that as long as we keep away from the red center piece of the battlefield, we're going to be mostly ignored." She finished with a satisfied smile. It very clearly flustered Hachiro.
Impressive, her tutors must be good.
"So, who should go down first? That guy?" Isamu asked and gave a nod toward Naruto.
The Hyuuga considered that. "Naruto-san would no doubt secure us a good position."
"There's nothing wrong with using your trump card early." Naruto smiled. She raised an eyebrow at that, unimpressed.
"But no, I think you should go down first Isamu-kun."
"Wait – why?" Isamu protested.
It was right then, that the first whistle went off. The test had begun. What did the supervisor say? Five seconds?
Naruto stepped over to Isamu. "No time to explain big boy, jump down, there's no time."
Isamu only blinked and stared uncomprehendingly at him. Not saying anything, Naruto turned him around and pushed him off. The boy let loose a scream before he hit the ground.
"Good luck man!" Naruto shouted.
"Fuck you!" Came the muffled reply from below. Naruto turned and gave the rest of the team a self-conscious smile.
"I trust the rest of you will go down on your own?"
xXx
Isamu did not make it to the next whistle, unfortunately his kawarimi wasn't fast enough when he got tangled up in ninja wire. He had been taken down by two opponents, so Naruto thought he performed admirably considering. Only three teams had decided to compete in the opening phase, but one of them had sent down not one, but two Genin.
Their tactic was working so far, the two teammates were standing on the red centerpiece. The next whistle was due in about a minute.
"Which one of us is next?" Naruto asked lightheartedly. Isamu had been quietly whisked away by a supervisor.
"Saburo-kun, and you, Naruto-san." She replied without taking her eyes off the two down on the field. The pair was skilled enough, but they had no real synergy or teamwork.
"Well, you heard the lady, Saburo. Let's tear up the place." Naruto walked to the edge. He threw a backwards glance at the small guy. "You ready?"
"Uh, yeah, can you go down first and catch me if I fall? I'm not so confident in my surface walking yet and-"
"Step up beside me then. I'll help you." Naruto offered. When Saburo came to a stop beside him, Naruto grabbed the neckline of his vest and held him over the edge. His sandals were halfway over the edge.
"Wha! please don't! let me go!" Saburo shouted, arms flailing.
"Focus!" Naruto told him sharply. He could feel the two Genin behind them tense up.
"What?!" The boy asked with bulbous eyes.
"Search yourself and mold the chakra you need to your feet."
"Now?! I can't-" Naruto let go of his collar and grabbed the vest again further down the back. Saburo yelled again, he was aligned with the ground now. Naruto held himself easily in place by channeling chakra to his own feet, effectively keeping him stuck. A fall like this was hardly worth blanching at, but Saburo had very clearly never experienced any proper training.
"Yes, you can. It's now or never, I'm going to drop you at the next whistle."
"What!?" Despite his protests, Saburo was clearly trying. "I just, I can't do it like this."
"Stop being scared, take control! I've got you, just blast out your chakra, don't be afraid of using too much."
"I . . . I" It was like flicking a switch, an instant change occurred. Naruto released him. Saburo stared straight down, but he wasn't falling.
"Keep that feeling and don't let it go. Memorize it."
"O-okay." His voice was shaky.
"Well done." Hinata said from behind them.
"Thank you!" He replied, his voice bordering on ecstatic now. "I've never been able to stand still like this before!"
The shrill sound of a whistle washed over them.
"That's good, but now you got to walk, we're up." Naruto told him, before jumping down. He landed with barely a bend in his knees, chakra reinforcement was great for cushioning falls. Saburo came to a stop beside him, he was shaking with adrenaline.
Opponents were climbing and jumping down all around the pit.
"I-I'll stay out of your way." Saburo began to walk off. Naruto grabbed his sleeve and pulled him back beside him.
"Are you kidding? We're teammates, we stick together." Naruto gave him a smile and Saburo almost sagged in relief.
"I can't do much though."
"Do your best, watch my back and I'll give you some pointers as we go."
"Huh? Wha-?" He didn't get to finish as Naruto had to push him out of the way of a kunai.
The Genin opposite them let out a hiss of frustration, before he brandished a Wakizashi. He was from Taki going by his forehead protector, another one of the smaller nations. Naruto eyed the blade, the best craftsmen came from Taki, and it showed in this Genin. He had an additional Tanto on his hip.
"Naruto! Behind!" Saburo called out.
Naruto whirled around and shot out his right arm reflexively. The girl who had bored up behind him was tossed away by a powerful gale of wind and knocked forcibly into the wall. She hit the ground roughly, but he could tell she wasn't done for yet.
"Nice one Saburo." Naruto complimented, the girl would have gotten the drop on him if not for him. She had completely slipped under his radar.
The Genin here had so small chakra signatures it was impossible for Naruto to pinpoint them unless they were using a taxing jutsu, and with so many of them around it was just as hard to identify which signature was which person. He couldn't rely on his sensory skills here.
"Why don't you finish her up?" Naruto gave a nod towards the girl struggling to get back on her feet, and turned around to face the Genin from Taki who was confidently striding forth.
"I'll take care of this guy." Naruto's serious voice propelled Saburo into action.
"O-okay!" He unsheathed a kunai and advanced on the girl.
The boy with the wakizashi snorted. "That guy won't last a minute against her."
"Focus on yourself." Naruto told him and leaned in. Dirt and gravel shot up behind him when he moved. Naruto was nearly on him in a heartbeat. Scared out of his mind, his opponent manically swung his Wakizashi in a broad cleave. Naruto slowed down just enough to watch the wakizashi whizz by him harmlessly.
The boy from Takigakure stared with bulbous eyes as Naruto stepped in and grabbed his blade. In two rehearsed moves, his opponent was disarmed and lying on the ground, wheezing for air.
"Fuck . . . you!" With a grim face he flipped through three quick hand signs and substituted with a kunai, but a white tag was around the hilt of it.
Oh.
It exploded in the next instant. Propelled by the blast wave, Naruto blitzed away in one of the fastest shunshin he'd ever used. He was unable to slow down fast enough and slammed into someone. He flipped around like a ragdoll before he hit the ground and tumbled until he managed to twist himself and get his feet behind him. He slid to a complete stop on both legs. Despite the combat suit, he had definitely felt that one.
What a fucking clusterfuck this is. Having just barely finished that thought, he realized he had ended up in the worst possible spot. He was standing on red clay.
"DORYYYYYYAA!" A loud battle cry from his left set Naruto's alarm bells going haywire. The Jinchuriki swiveled his eyes and saw the source of the roar closing in on him in his peripheral vision.
Not holding back, Naruto shifted his feet and spun into a roundhouse kick and followed that up with a wheel kick that had the guy cradling on the ground clutching his head. Another opponent was running up behind him, but Naruto allowed himself half a second to scout after Saburo. He spotted him faring badly against the girl from earlier.
He had to help him, but first . . .
Stringing together a dozen different hand signs, Naruto turned around and unleashed his Genjutsu on his approaching target. He had caught the boy off guard and the illusion kicked in swiftly. The Genin slid to a full stop and began weaving out of attacks only he could see. He was fighting an illusion of Naruto. It would keep him busy until he realized he had been put under.
Naruto looked back at Saburo, who was now surrounded by not only the girl from earlier, but also the Genin from Takigakure and another teammate. The trio was playing with Saburo, every delivered hit to the boy was laced with condescension. It stirred something primal and fierce in Naruto.
He pumped chakra to his feet and burst into a sprint.
"How did this kid end up here? He's so bad." Saburo was hit in the gut and pushed away only to be punched across the jaw by the girl. He slumped to his knees.
"Yeah, let's wrap this up and move on." The girl shook her sore hand. She heard Naruto approach too late and only turned around just in time to take a fly kick to the torso. She was sent rolling and ended up against the wall again. She remained limp this time.
Not pausing in his movements, Naruto leaned out of the way of the Wakizashi when it came for him. The other teammate came at him from the side.
"You think you're something special? Fū will fucking roll over you." The Taki boy shouted as he slashed after Naruto. Ignoring him, the young Uzumaki made it look like he was about to use his superior speed to burst inside his guard again, but instead he unexpectedly shifted direction at the last second and went for his companion. Surprised, the guy tried to stab him with a kunai. Naruto grabbed him by his wrist and twisted it. With a yank and shove he sent the boy stumbling into his teammate.
Naruto looked down at his teammate. The kid was pale and bruised. He had a cracked lip, and a strong discoloration around his chin.
"How are you holding up?" Naruto extended a hand. Saburo grabbed it firmly but didn't respond to his question.
Naruto formed a familiar hand sign and created a shadow clone. "Pay attention now." Naruto told Saburo and gestured for him to back off with his clone, Saburo nodded fervently.
Having recovered, the Takigakure Genin threw his tanto to his teammate and raised his wakizashi into textbook position. The two moved to box him in, their pincer attack was more cohesive this time around.
"When cornered, make some space." Naruto told Saburo and twirled a kunai into his grip. He flicked it towards the one with the tanto, who threw himself to the side to avoid it.
"Keep your eyes on your opponent-" with practiced ease, Naruto slid out of the way of the Wakizashi.
"-Not their weapon." The small blade hummed as it sliced through the air again and again. Until Naruto brought a kunai down into his opponent's thigh. Who yelped in pain and fell to his knee, clutching the wound.
"Keep aware of your surroundings!" Using his opponent like a spring board, Naruto kicked him away and backflipped over the second guy. His opponent immediately tried to skewer him when he landed.
"Remember!" Naruto sidestepped the tanto.
"The biggest stick doesn't always win!" Using another kunai Naruto bashed the tanto aside and struck him in the wrist with the butt end of the kunai. The tanto fell to the ground, but his other hand brandished a kunai. Naruto grabbed his elbow and rammed a thumb into the pressure point there. His hand seized up and he lost the kunai, Naruto spun him around and forced the elbow over his head. From there he simply pushed down and the Genin could only yelp as he was forced to his knees, then all the way down to the ground.
"Stay down, or I'll brake something next time." Naruto whispered before he released him.
"Nice lecture, asshole, but we're not in class." Naruto turned to see the girl he'd trounced twice now standing behind Saburo with a kunai held against his throat. The weak boy had tears streaming down his face. "Sorry . . ."
"An important lesson, Saburo. Is to always remain one step ahead of your opponent."
Her expression fell when a kunai was placed at her throat. An identical Naruto was behind her.
The two on the ground looked down in regret and disappointment. Neither tried to get up.
"Drop the kunai and let him go." Naruto told the girl. She gritted her teeth but did what he asked after only a moment's hesitation. Saburo jerked away from her.
"Good." Naruto commended her. "Now lie down, you're done and you know it."
When she didn't immediately comply, the clone behind her stepped on her shin muscle and she was forced down to her knees. She cursed at him, but the clone paid her no mind whatsoever.
With Saburo in his wake Naruto moved on. A Chunin showed up to remove the defeated trio. "As you three have been subdued I will help relocate you from the test area." Were his exact words.
Naruto had his clone stay in the shadow of the wall while he studied the remaining competition. The last of the action was at the center, where three Genin were duking it out. Naruto couldn't immediately tell who was on the same team, but it was easy to see the fight was approaching a close. Instead of intervening, Naruto stopped to watch it unfold. Saburo stopped beside him.
"Catch your breath." Naruto advised him, "round two might get worse."
It was only half a minute later that one got badly injured and stayed down. The fight between the last two continued on for a few more seconds, then the high-pitched sound of Genma's whistle blasted through the miniature arena.
Naruto snatched a small black object from his equipment pouch and threw it into the ground. A thick grey smoke enveloped the two Genin. Saburo whirled around, surprised and fascinated by the dark fumes.
"The question now . . ." Naruto murmured to himself in the smog. "How much assistance will we get?"
Two lithe figures from above landed a bit further back in the smoke.
"Clever to use the smoke-screen here, it gives us time to plan our move." It was the silk like voice of the Hyuuga girl, her silhouette stepped up beside him.
"Well done you two." She commended them.
"Yeah, not bad." A different voice chimed in, was it Hachiki? Naruto struggled to remember his name without a face to go with. "But what's the plan now?"
Naruto replied. "I'm going on the offensive this round, you guys keep watch over each other."
"Very well." Hinata said as if it could not be helped. "Let's stick together and keep in motion."
"You three do that, I'll run interference and eliminate the competition." Naruto walked out of the remaining vapors.
"I'll pop up if you catch some trouble!" He called out over his shoulder, and with a Shunshin, he was gone. He appeared in front of a group of three Genin. Without sermon, he charged one of his Fuuinjutsu scrolls with chakra and flipped it into the air. Before it curved out the scroll disintegrated in a powerful blinding flash that took them by surprise. As the three groaned and staggered around with no eyesight, Naruto opened his eyes and made short work of the group.
Five seconds later, three opponents were removed from the competition. Naruto dashed over to the next cluster of Genin, where he proceeded to disarm and incapacitate everyone he came across in turn and order. He used enough force to keep anyone from getting back up. Naruto kept a steady pace as he calculatingly breezed through opponents. No one managed to lay so much as a scratch on him.
"Five." The blonde maelstrom counted and weaved in-between attack after attack with exhilaration. This was pretty good exercise. Sure, there no one with exeptional talent apart from a few oddballs, but he was restraining himself. Without his weapons this was good practice.
"Six" Another person hit the ground, this one covering his head in pain. Without a backwards glance, Naruto ran with quick steps over the rocky desert field to eliminate the ones competing in the center. He entered the fight like a comet, the first target was on the ground before he could let out a gasp. Naruto grabbed a handful of his hair and exposed the boy's throat. He must have realized where things were headed, because he cried out in surrender immediately after.
Naruto discarded him and pressed on, there were many one versus one scenarios taking place in the center. Three shuriken whizzed by his head, and a stray kunai bounced across the ground and over his feet. A misfired waterjet Jutsu was in the process of soaking the field and turning parts of the area into a muddy red goop.
The skill level in the center was significantly higher, Naruto saw much better movements here. Deciding to make things easy for himself, Naruto dug down into his Fuinjutsu pouch. He placed a painted sheet on the ground and sent his chakra through it.
The seal released a massive amount of chakra and thick black lines zigzagged out in patterns that quickly formed a vague hexagonal shape, the hiragana seen inside the inky lines made it obvious this was Fuinjutsu at work. The finished seal covered a big chunk of the center, and the moment it activated many cried out in distress and surprise. Now weightless, Naruto took a quick scan around him to see how his fellow Genin were handling zero gravity.
Most were having troubles, spinning helplessly around in midair or floating upside down. Someone began to yell with fright. Very few kept their cool.
Keeping his amusement down, Naruto narrowed his eyes with concentration and went through a myriad of different hand signs. He finished and held up his palm, where a unique wind-natured technique took shape. He proceeded with smashing the swirling chakra into the ground, where the technique disintegrated and immediately created a powerful air vacuum. Powerful winds rushed to fill the void, and in the process, it dragged with it a bunch of panicking Genin.
Naruto's blonde hair whipped around his face in the fierce wind, but he held himself firmly attached to the ground with chakra. The rush of air died out after three seconds, but the damage was done. Everyone was either hurtling through the air or bouncing across the ground towards the epicenter. Towards him.
Naruto lightly pushed off the ground and slowly drifted away towards the edge of the seal. He had a good view as the Genin crashed into each other and bounced about. He had been prepared for the seal to turn inactive around that time, but Naruto almost fell on his ass when he landed anyways. The switch back to normal levels of gravity were unpleasant and difficult to adjust to.
He was much better off than the competition. A few of which were loudly emptying their bowels. No one was getting back on their feet, although a few were trying without success. He didn't blame them, but neither did he show any sympathy when he indiscriminately grabbed their necks and squeezed their pressure points. They were like helpless chickens, no one recovered fast enough to put up much resistance.
Well, except one, the boy in spandex from earlier got up. The peculiar Genin shifted his feet slowly into combat stance, he was eyeing Naruto with intensity.
"You really are incredible, Naruto-kun." Rock Lee said, slightly out of breath. "I want to fight you!" He proclaimed loudly and clutched his fist.
Naruto stared at him and tried to ignore the two Chunin darting around to remove the unconscious Genin.
"Naruto-san." Hinata and the rest of the team was coming up behind him. He saw no one else on the ground, the rest of the competition was gone, apart from the bowl cut guy they were alone. "Careful, Rock Lee has a world class Taijutsu master." The Hyuuga stopped next to him. "Don't take him lightly."
"Duly noted." Naruto nodded and swiveled his eyes to Lee. "Let's go."
"Yosh! Let our fires of youth burn brightly!" Lee lowered his stance. "My weights are off Naruto-san, so you better not hold back."
Weights?
Rock Lee kicked off and disappeared in such a potent burst of speed it might as well have been a Shunshin. He appeared in front of Naruto, who blanched at the raw display of speed. He had no time to-
Pain and vertigo hit him in equal measures, he spun in the air and lost his sense of up and down before he hit something hard and crashed into the earth wall.
What the fuck just happened? Naruto asked himself, lying on the ground against the fight pit wall.
Needless to say, it was painful to get up, but he only flinched a couple of times. He had taken worse hits, his lungs could still take in oxygen. Something warm dribbled down his face from a cut, and from somewhere under his ear as well. He felt dizzy and had bad vision. Even so, Naruto walked towards the vague shapes he could see ahead.
"I'm sorry, Lee. I underestimated you." He called out, it was painful not to limp. "Won't happen again, I assure you."
"Naruto-san . . . Are you okay? I used my full strength, I don't even think Neji could shrug that off." Lee approached him with his guard down. Of all the things Naruto had expected to hear, sympathy and worry was not one of them. This guy was such an oddity.
"Nothing to worry about. Let's continue." Naruto tried not to wheeze on the last few words. His ribs felt like they had some hairline fractures, but maybe not. Either way, he was hellbent on not showing weakness.
He slid into his stance, ready to fight. He was ready . . . but how had Hinata gotten behind Lee? Naruto watched with large eyes as the white eyed girl used her signature Hyuuga Taijutsu to strike Lee in the neck and the back in quick succession. The boy seized up immediately and fell over, he spasmed and tried to get back up, but to no avail. He was done for.
With a toss of her hair, which was out of its bun now, she walked up to him. Her pupil less eyes gave him a challenging stare, as if daring him to tell her she had done anything wrong. With a glance at Lee, who was still struggling to get up, Naruto rose to the bait.
"Dick move." He said simply. Her dignified face scrunched into a frown.
"You are obviously in worse shape than you are letting on." She told him in low tones. Naruto gave her a wry look. She was merely thinking of their victory, and he couldn't blame her for that. He thought it was obvious she had won by merely ending up on the same team as him, but she was the meticulous type. She would leave nothing to chance, it seemed.
"Right you are, miss." Naruto told her and stalked off. He paused beside Rock Lee, who had somehow gotten himself into a weird kneeling position.
"Sorry about the girl, Lee. We'll have a proper spar after this."
"I am not . . . done yet, It's not over. Not yet!" The boy was shaking from exertion.
"Lee, she closed several important Tenketsu points, you won't-"
"I know what she did!" He groaned in frustration. "I know this feeling very well . . . I know it's impossible to fight it, but I can't just quit! I gave a promise!" With renewed vigor, Lee kept trying to force his body to get up, without success.
Naruto frowned at the boy, he was either very determined, or very stupid. If not both. He let him be and stepped onto the red clay area. His teammates gathered beneath the only completely vacant tower, theirs.
Naruto stood still in the center and waited. He must have made a battered figure by now, his outfit was turning more ragged with each fight. His shoulder was covered in crusted blood, and two thin trails of blood went down his face and throat. And she wants a repeat performance. I'm not a slot machine you can insert coins into and take out easy victories . . .
The last whistle went off after what felt like just a few seconds. Naruto watched with blank eyes as the last of the competition jumped down and silently joined forces. They weren't stupid, they'd seen what he could do. Teaming up was the smart thing to do, and Naruto had to commend them. They were nine in total, and all of them had without speaking agreed to a temporary truce. All in order to remove the bigger threat first – him.
Too bad it won't do them much good.
The small group began to spread out into an uncoordinated half circle. Naruto held up a hand and formed half a hand sign with it. Nine Kage Bunshin popped up around him in a small semi-circle. Each clone was fast to unseal a weapon of some kind. Be it a Ninjato, or a Bo staff, or a Wakizashi, one even held an ornate Katana that was arguably too big for his size.
Naruto let out one word: "Go."
The clones demonstrated how effective coordination could be when they attacked. As they closed up on their target, each clone skirted to the side and swapped targets. The surprise worked surprisingly well. One had been expecting to deflect a small Tanto, but instead she was smacked in the head with the Bo staff.
Naruto stood perfectly calm and watched his clones fight. Their strength was split in nine, so they were unremarkable in many ways. Yet, they could still do good against weak opponents. At least his clones had the basics down, that was more than he could say about all of his opponents. Two of which were beaten and forced to submit after only half a minute, neither of the two had been able to cope with how his clones could change their targets at the drop of a coin.
That changed the tally to nine clones against seven trained Genin. Outnumbered now, the fight was starting to turn into an uphill battle for the Genin. Of course, they could take great personal risk and brush through an attack in order to pop a clone, but what would that do? Exactly, it was just a clone, the risk wasn't worth it. Naruto could make more.
Even so, one tried when desperation kicked in, and he was able to pop a clone that way. The effort cost him a functioning right arm, however. He was then taken down by an opportunistic clone who happened to be in the right place.
"I give up!" One Genin shouted loudly and threw away his kunai, he wasted no time before storming off the field, clearly furious with the entire fight. He was bleeding badly and had a slight limp.
Yeah, must be aggravating losing to clones. Naruto thought to himself, and demoralizing. The last five looked close to quit as well.
However, they never gave up, the five fought admirably and made a back to back system that worked for a while. In the end the clones employed a collaboration Jutsu that forced the group to scatter. Singled out, they were quickly overwhelmed.
The rest of his team came up behind him as the last opponents were forced to the ground. They waited for an announcement to be made as there was no other team left to contest them. Naruto made a joke that no one laughed over, and the remaining time drained away slowly in awkward silence. Naruto thought it was probably the most anticlimactic victory he would ever have. When the proctor showed up to declare their victory it got no better. He whizzed onto the arena floor with a Shunshin and gave them a brief look.
Naruto dispelled his clones.
"Congratulations, your team won. I see you lack a teammate, but he also passed the test. You are all qualified to take the next test, which will take place tomorrow in the center island of the arena. Be there at noon."
"And the ones who lost?" Saburo asked, he looked significantly calmer. Genma rolled his senbon around.
"If they're fit to continue, they have an opportunity to make a comeback. Not that any of you need to concern yourself with this, but they can undergo another test, the ones who fail that one gets eliminated."
Rock Lee will get through that, no doubt. Naruto thought.
"Anyhow, you're dismissed. Fair warning, do not interfere in any active test areas as you leave the premise."
"Yes sir." Naruto replied candidly and watched as Genma took off in another shunshin. He turned to his temporary team. Saburo was the first to say anything.
"I didn't deserve to win, you guys did everything and I was just-"
"Let me stop you just there." Naruto cut him off, Saburo looked at him. "This may sound harsh, but you shouldn't have competed to begin with. What were your teachers thinking?"
"I-I don't know." He let out with a forlorn voice. "My teachers . . . are fond of their titles as Shinobi, but they're not the real deal, they're just . . . all we got. I guess they wanted the prestige of having a student from our small village participate in this huge exam."
"Morons." Naruto let out in a breath.
"Tiny political gains at the risk of losing a student . . ." Hinata looked revolted.
"Be careful tomorrow if you're going to continue, there are unstable people participating." Naruto told him. Gaara came to mind.
Saburo gave a small nod, his bruised face looked tired. "I will, thank you. See you tomorrow." He gave another respectful nod before he departed. Hachiro gave them both a glance before he too shrugged and followed suit.
"Good luck." He said it as a goodbye.
"You too guys, good luck." Naruto told them and stood there for a while. He stayed there even until after they had disappeared, but not alone, Hinata stood beside him in silence. Both watched the sun dip lower in the sky.
"…"
"…"
"You don't strike me as the type who lingers." He told her after a while, still watching the horizon.
"Are you?" She asked, somehow amused. She turned her face to him, suddenly solemn. "I wanted to ask you a question."
Naruto met her gaze firmly, but nothing could have prepared him for the question. "Are you the Yondaime Hokage's son?"
A/N Well then! Another chapter done. I wrote the scene where Naruto and the Kyuubi meet. I don't think it's been done like this before. I chose to make Kurama ignorant of Naruto's past to give the two a completely blank slate to start off their relationship. Neither knows anything about the other. Except for imagined things and rumors, of which there are plenty.
When it comes to Naruto's near godlike control inside the seal. Please, hold your pitchforks for a moment. Firstly, Naruto have not become a god, he's just incredibly powerful while inside the seal. Secondly, I feel like this has not been done before, I have some plans with this.
Let me explain, Naruto's abilities in the seal is inspired from all those cardboard stories where Naruto and the Kyuubi meet, and after they become friends, Naruto magically rearranges the sewer Kurama is in into some sort of paradise. Yeah, you know them, there are many of these fics.
But then this newfound incredible skill is forgotten and left in a corner. It's never used again, ever. So, Naruto's outlandish power inside the seal was a poke at all those fics, as well as me trying to do something different. For the record, Naruto will of course continue to use what he learned in the seal as the story goes on.
The first test I feel okay with, Naruto – unbelievably - cannot always have incredible opponents each overtopping the last. Sometimes he has to fight scrubs, and that's okay. We will see more over the top fights soon enough, you can count on that.
Anyways! Thanks for making it all the way down here! So many of you review and favorite the story, thanks a bunch. I appreciate all the support, thanks for the read guys! Until next time :)
The Epic Pen, signing off.
