Previously on The Deception Gone Awry:
He looked her in the eye for a moment, face set in stone before he posed his reply to her. "Are you sure that you have considered this properly? You would be exposing your cover and I would be forced to place the seal on you for the security of root." She nodded, the risks were present but she was sure she could avoid exposure, it was not like anyone would know that she was spying on the container once she found a way to make contact with him in a believable and non suspicious manner. "Hai Danzo-sama, I know what I am asking for and I understand the risks. Besides, I think i am in need of reinforcing my public persona somewhat anyways, with this step up in scrutiny I might fall under suspicion if i am as antisocial as I am currently being." He nodded, accepting her decision and stood slowly, walking round his desk. "Come then, we will apply the seal now and then you can be on your way, just make sure that you remember that your mission is to keep the target safe, not too get too close to Naruto the container, though I am sure you wouldn't mind that either..." It was a good job she was wearing her mask, as she was blushing slightly at the insinuation he had just thrown at her, and him seeing that would do her no good whatsoever.
Chapter 12: The Test
Persona: Naruto Uzumaki
Naruto woke the next day with a headache and a sore neck despite having one of the best nights of sleep that he had had in years, and once he woke himself to a decent level he remembered why, Anko's actions of the night before causing him to curse even as he got up to turn his alarm off that had been the thing to awaken him. Looking at the time on the clock, he panicked and rushed to go and get some clothes on, he was almost half an hour late! twenty minutes later he landed in training ground seven with a heavy thud, having used his clones to throw him through the air high above Konoha as it was quicker than trying to navigate the streets or rooftops at this time in the morning. Standing from his crouch and dusting himself off, he looked up to find a shocked Sakura and a mildly interested Sasuke looking at him.
As with the previous day, it was Sakura who found her voice and asked in obvious wonderment "Naruto, did you just fly here? And how are you all recovered from yesterday?" He resisted the urge to chuckle at her first question, though he supposed that might be what it had looked like from this end, though the second query quickly brought him back to reality and he had to think on his feet to come up with an answer. "Well Sakura-chan, I have just come from being debriefed about yesterday, and whilst i was there a medic nin fixed me up as best she could, still a little sore though. About the transportation, if you want to call it flying you're welcome to, but its actually me using my clones again to jump off, gives me a nice boost to speed." he then looked around and for the first time noticed the lack of his silver haired Jounin sensei. "Ano, where is Kakashi-sensei? Or is he being late again?" Sakura seemed to consider her response for a moment before sighing and sitting down once more. "Sensei isn't here yet Naruto, I hope he doesn't plan on making this a habit, especially if he keeps telling us the wrong time to turn up."
Sasuke grunted, obviously in agreement with what Sakura had said, causing the girl to go a little dreamy eyed at the notion that her crush thought she was right. Though before he could get upset at the interaction, Kakashi appeared in a poof of smoke not too far from where they were stood, his mask covering up his facial expressions even as the man turned and eyed them for a moment critically, before raising his hand and waving as the visible part of his face crinkled into what could be interpreted as a smile. "Morning little ones." Naruto wisely stepped to the side, he had seen that look on Sakura's face before, though thankfully it was directed at someone other than him for a change. Breathing in deeply, she let loose with a single yell that embodied all of her annoyance and dislike for having been made to wait for the man in front of her. "YOU'RE LATE!"
Kakashi actually looked surprised at the sheer force of will behind the shout that was levelled in his direction from someone who hadn't even been taught in the art of intent projection yet. But he was a seasoned ninja who had faced far worse in his time, and as such quickly schooled his features back to his original carefree expression as he replied. "Mao Mao, you are quite the vocal one aren't you? Well, I was late because on my way here i happened across an old lady who was having difficulty with her shopping..." It was at this point that Naruto remembered the memories that he had got from the clones the night before. Nobody had been able to tell him what the test was, as he wasn't really able to just go out and ask about it in his disguises as that would have been suspicious, but they had been able to tell him quite a bit about the man himself.
That included his most well known habits of being a pervert and also being late to everything, and giving really bad excuses when questioned upon it, and feeling that this was the case here, he chose to interrupt rather than waste any more time. "Kakashi-sensei, I think we all know that's not what happened, and that you're not going to tell us what really did happen any time soon. So, can you just save us all some time and tell us what the test is? Considering your history, I would quite like to be the first to pass this test." Kakashi paused, obviously surprised that Naruto had interrupted him and had also known information about the test, as unimportant as it was towards the test itself. "Hmm, and how would you know that little titbit Naruto? Unless you happened to be the cause of my sudden popularity increase in the gossip circles around Konoha last night?"
Naruto chuckled slightly nervously to himself, obviously he hadn't been as subtle as he had initially thought with his information gathering, though of course that many people suddenly asking about the same thing would lead to someone noticing at some point. However, just because he had been called on it didn't mean he was just going to out and admit it directly. "I have no idea what you're talking about Kakashi-sensei, I mean people are bound to talk about you at some point, after all you are considered one of the most powerful Jounin in Konoha, especially with your moniker 'the copy-nin of Konoha'." That truly grabbed the attention of both Sakura and Sasuke in addition to the man he was actually talking to now, if Sasuke's intense gaze and smirk were anything to go by anyways.
With the undivided attention of the entire group, he couldn't resist the chance to throw in one last piece of information that he had managed to gather from the records office that one of his clones had managed to infiltrate. "Of course, that's not even including the fact you were in a genin team under the Yondaime himself, his only team in fact..." He left it hanging as Sasuke's head jerked from watching him, to instead focusing on Kakashi with something now approaching respect. Kakashi clapped his hands together appreciatively "Someone has been busy indeed I see. But enough of Naruto showing off I think, let's get on with the test as I imagine your all starting to get a little hungry." As if on cue, there were three hungry rumbles from the genin present, who all looked at Kakashi somewhat angrily for bringing it up and reminding them of the fact. The man chuckled and placed three bentos that he summoned out of a scroll on the rock behind him, and Naruto knew his eyes weren't the only ones that followed the food somewhat hungrily.
Kakashi then reached into his top pocket and pulled out a pair of silver bells, which he showed to them happily before placing them on his belt. "The purpose of this exercise is simple, to pass this test and become a member of the team, you need to retrieve one of these bells from me before this timer goes off." He paused and pulled a small egg timer from his pocket, setting it to two hours and placing it next to the bento boxes. "Also, if you don't get a bell, not only won't you be getting lunch, but you will be going back to the academy for another year." The cheeriness with which the man talked about their failure probabilities was annoying naruto no end, but rather than comment once more, he let Sakura raise her hand as she had obviously been wishing to since the start of the copy nins explanation, and the masked man nodded for her to speak. "But Sensei, there are only two bells and three of us?"
The man nodded once more. "That is true Sakura, only two of you can get a bell, so the one that doesn't get one will fail automatically. Of course, for any of you too pass, you have to beat me first, and for that, I advise you come at me with the intent to kill..." As the man jumped away from them, the only thought that ran through Naruto's head was that he was glad he had told one of his backup clones to bring his axe.
Location Change: Hokage Tower
The Hokage tower was fairly empty, the missions had all been handed out and all that were currently present were the Hokage, some of his secretaries and other workers, and of course the Jounin that had been tasked with teams for that year. They were waiting on one last member to arrive, which considering his previous habits during this day was unusual for him. Regardless of his almost reflexive tardiness, Genin graduation tests were something that the man always finished with quickly and as such was usually one of the first here, no doubt finishing up as fast as he could to then return to his illicit reading material and whatever else the man chose to do with his time.
The Hokage was waiting slightly worriedly, as only yesterday he had received a threat against the village from the same source that had infiltrated it to spy upon Naruto with little to no effort, but the idea that the boy might be the target was noted by Anko. This theory arose as she commented that the woman in question seemed to dislike the village as a whole other than the young container, meaning that if she had gone as far to risk her discovery and capture for the warning, it was most likely to protect the boy. As such he had assigned shinobi to watch over the boy during the daylight hours, and he would be talking with the boy about changing his lodgings to a more secure location until the threat was apprehended, though he couldn't help but think that the boy was responsible for Kakashi being late.
As if waiting for him to think that, the copy nin appeared in a small puff of chakra, and the Hokage had to bite back a noise of surprise as he took the man's look into account. The man was dusty, covered in mud and there was a deep shoulder injury that had been obviously self bandaged some time ago. The man's single visible eye was almost murderous as he fixed it upon the Hokage, grinding out a single sentence. "Why? Why did nobody think to tell me that I have a genin that can not only use chakra manipulation to enhance his speed to that of a low chuunin from resting stance, coordinate his clones into something that is slowly starting to resemble a cohesive unit, oh and lets not forget wields a bloody battle axe that of course his clones get as well?"
It was at this point that Sarutobi realised that he had never actually got Naruto to make an official report of what had happened yesterday, and the ones from Anko and Himako were currently being analysed by the Intelligence department so naturally there is no way Kakashi could have found out about the recent developments in one of his team. He was saved from replying by his son, Asuma who had also been taking a genin team that year, speaking somewhat boisterously to the copy nin. "So what's wrong with the kid having a few unknown skills that weren't in his academy reports? I assume we are referring to the Uzumaki kid here?" Kakashi's eye turned to rest its glare upon the younger Sarutobi as he replied somewhat more somberly. "The reason it is important is that if i had known how skilled he was, I wouldn't have underestimated him as much as I did, so when he got me in the shoulder with his cloak and dagger move, I acted reflexively rather than analytically..."
That brought the sombre mood to the rest of the room, Ninja reflexes were not to be underestimated by anyone, especially ones that belong to such an experienced and scarred individual as Kakashi. Sarutobi tilted his hat back seriously as he gazed at Kakashi. "What happened Kakashi, where is Naruto and how bad is it?" The man sighed as he reiterated what had happened after he arrived at the training ground to observe the waiting kids. Sarutobi frowned at Naruto's excuse of reporting the mission the day before, as that was obviously not true, but considering the lateness that Anko came to report the threat after volunteering to check upon him, he may well have just overslept and preferred not to have said as such, and also it did provide him with a decent excuse to cover his unnaturally healed injuries. Shaking it off for the moment, he turned his attention back to Kakashi as he began his story...
*Flashback*
An hour in, and Kakashi had to say he was surprised by the actions of the three he was testing, well specifically one of them if he was honest. The other two had acted fairly similarly to what their academic profiles had suggested, though if the girl's weakness to genjutsu was similarly disproportionate to the results he might have to ignore them entirely in her regard. The young container was what surprised him though, rather than rushing headfirst into the unknown situation and trying to engage him in combat, Naruto had followed his team mates into hiding around the clearing, and after that Kakashi had to admit that he had some difficulty in keeping track of the boy as he created shadow clones and spread them around the clearing, before disappearing off into the woods to the south.
After a couple more minutes, half of the clones had then attacked on some unknown signal, their taijutsu non-existent but fast and strong for the boy's age, which coupled with the clones numbers had Kakashi on the back foot for a few moments as he blocked and evaded the flurries of attacks. It quickly changed however when decided to be a little serious, the clones reduced to chakra smoke with seemingly nothing to show for it. Sasuke had then tried to take advantage of the distraction, and Kakashi lost track of what the boy's clones were doing temporarily, concentrating on assessing the Uchiha's skills, which were very impressive for a graduate and even most genin. They fought for almost 15 minutes, Kakashi doing the minimum to keep ahead of the boy and his attempts to grab a bell from him.
Then the boy pulled out what was obviously his best trick, the fireball jutsu that was the jutsu of choice for the Uchiha clan, though Kakashi had easily avoided it before using an earth technique to capture the boy and leave him with only his head above the ground. Once that was done, Kakashi waited for the next attack, presumably from the blond considering the number of clones that he had at his disposal and ready to use. The attack didn't materialise however, and once he activated his limited sensing abilities, he noticed that Sakura had been removed from where he had left her, and that there were several Naruto's watching him from various points whilst another dozen were gathered further away in the distance, though how far away he couldn't tell, he was after all not at all proficient in the area beyond the basic techniques.
Leaping off in the direction that he detected the group of clones, he was surprised when the clones that had been watching him rushed at him, obviously trying to prevent him from reaching his destination. They were quickly dealt with, but they seemed to have served their purpose as the other clones were prepared for his arrival, and several sets of traps activated as he leapt down into the clearing the clones were in. He parried the kunai and shuriken with practiced ease using his arm guards several of them badly aimed enough that he only had to move slightly to avoid them rather than block, causing a couple of the clones to look worriedly at one of their number as if awaiting orders from him. Kakashi chuckled, the one they had looked at was obviously the original Naruto, even as the boy in question nodded his head and the clones ran towards him, obscuring his view of the original as they attacked from multiple angles at once.
These clones seemed to have learnt from the previous clones mistakes however, and were more cautious in their attacks against him. They were still no challenge, but they lasted an extra couple of seconds than the previous clones and Kakashi was starting to get concerned about the blonds plan, seeing as when the chakra smoke cleared he saw the boy stood there, grin plastered on his face as he hefted a battle axe to rest on his shoulder from his from the hands of a clone that had evidently just landed in the clearing with the weapon. Then Naruto raised his hands and formed the shadow clone hand seal, the clone that had handed him the axe intercepting Kakashi just long enough for the technique to work before being batted away by Kakashi as he rushed to intercept the now slightly dangerous threat presented to him.
He ducked under the first axe swing, slightly surprised to find a second axe being swung towards where he had dodged to, causing him to roll under it, dispelling two clones with sharp strikes to the knees as he did so. Rising to his feet he drew a kunai to deflect the next axe strike which was aimed at his torso, flicking the blow over his shoulder into the skull of a surprised clone who also disappeared in a poof of smoke which gave Kakashi time to finish off two more of the clones and roll away from the rest of the group. The remaining Naruto's glanced at each other then faced off in a rough line, though it was clear that one of them was hanging back ever so slightly even as the others charged forwards towards him.
Kakashi felled one with his kunai before it even ran five yards towards him, drawing another in time to duck beneath two strikes aimed for his upper body and he struck forwards with his knife with blinding speed, dispelling both and then withdrawing his arm to deflect another attack. This exchange continued for another 10 seconds until only one Naruto was facing off against him, breathing heavily and axe ready in front of him. With a yell he charged forwards, swinging his axe with an obvious lack of training, allowing Kakashi to easily trip him over and disarm him in one swift move, tossing the axe to his left side even as Naruto rolled back to his feet. It was only as he saw the grin on Naruto's face and he registered the heaviness of the axe he had just discarded that he realised what had happened.
Turning towards where he had thrown the axe, he found himself with Naruto well inside his guard, utilising a speed that he had not shown at all thus far to achieve such a surprise. As Naruto cut into his shoulder with his weapon Kakashi's survival instincts kicked in and all the self imposed limits that he had put upon his skills came off as his body instinctively acted to defend itself. Even as he slammed his chakra enhanced fist into Naruto's sternum with a sickening crack and his other hand wrested the axe away from him, Kakashi's mind took control once more in time to see Naruto slam into the ground twenty yards away from him, silent scream on his face as blood began to froth from his mouth in dangerous amounts.
Kakashi created two shadow clones of his own even as he rushed to the boys side and they disappeared without waiting for verbal orders to track down the remaining team members and bring them back to the starting point even as he grabbed Naruto and took off at a run, not trusting Shushin to not damage the boy anymore than he had already accidentally done so. What he did not find out until later was that the girl on the team was sat shivering in horror off to one side of the clearing, looking down at the two bells that the clone of her team mate had been holding just before its creator was crippled causing it to disappear with a crack.
*Flashback End*
Sarutobi was looking at Kakashi with shock, and he wasn't the only one. "So one boy, not even a genin managed to get the drop on you, one of the most paranoid bastards in the village?" This comment came from an unexpected source, as Anko walked from where she had been leaning against the door of the room, her face surprisingly serious as she walked forwards into the room. "And that is not to mention that you then shattered every rib in his rib cage in at least two different places, cracked two vertebrae in his spine and pulverised his stomach and lungs as a reward for his creativity." That caused a large mix of reactions from the group of Jounin, several looking shocked at the sheer amount of damage that had been dealt, whilst others looked sad that the boy's career had effectively been finished before he could begin. There were some injuries that even the Medic-nins would not be able to fix, and spinal injuries were in that category.
Kakashi looked ashamed at the accusation of his lost control whilst Sarutobi looked questioningly at Anko for a moment before asking his question. "No offence Anko-san, but what about this boy means you paid enough attention to be here on his behalf right now? Last I checked you have only met twice..." He stopped as Anko pulled out a rather thick file from her jacket and dropped it in front of him. "My report on the boy's psyche from my interaction with him. As you can tell by its thickness he has more issues than most of my current patients, solved and otherwise. With this in mind not to mention the fact that he is currently the target of at least one skilled infiltrator and a possible flight risk due to his treatment, I decided to keep tabs on him, where he went and what he did etc. So imagine my surprise when walking down the street to get some dango I nearly get knocked off my feet by Kakashi who is holding said boy like a broken doll."
She threw a glare at the man in question before continuing to talk. "So after Kakashi dropped him off at the hospital and disappeared, I decided to stick around as the medics did what they could for his injuries. That was two hours ago by the way, and about half an hour ago Naruto woke up, despite the anaesthetic they were pumping into him. He couldn't breath properly, let alone speak, so when he got frantic enough that he was worsening his injuries, I had to physically restrain him and explain that he was safe and where he was. Giving him some paper to write on which was a challenge in and about itself, it became clear through his frantic scribblings that he thinks that you Kakashi are one of those that hates him for what is inside of him and that today's exercise was just an excuse for you to try and kill him in a way you could get away with it."
A number of people flinched at that, for a boy that was mostly ignorant of the less well known parts of shinobi life, such an attack could certainly be construed that way. The Hokage looked over at Kakashi shrewdly, trying to work out what had made the masked man run off as he did. "So Kakashi, if you haven't been at Naruto's side for the last two hours, what the hell have you been doing?" The masked nin didn't visibly react to his leaders anger, but his reply made it clear exactly why he was still looking at the ground rather ashamedly. "Well, the reason for that was that Sakura had seen what I had done to Naruto and reacted rather violently towards my shadow clones attempts to calm her down.
*Flashback*
"Get away from me you monster!" Sakura screamed as she threw another kunai at the clone of the copy nin, who dodged it hastily as he held up his hands in an appeasing manner. "Sakura-chan, please, its not what it looks like..." The next kunai flew towards his crotch causing him to leap in the air to avoid it. "Don't you 'Sakura-chan' me you bastard, I saw you kill Naruto in that clearing!" The clone paled under the mask and dodged another projectile, this one a shuriken, and reached for his earpiece so that he could contact the original. "Boss, Sakura's gone nuts, it seems she thinks we killed Naruto when we reacted, I need you back here asap as I really not wanting to end up being punctured by kunai." She growled at his statement, and as such he spent the next few minutes dodging the occasional projectile whilst trying to calm the girl down.
At last, he felt a familiar presence on the edge of the clearing area and breathed a sigh of relief as the original flickered down behind the girl and knocked her out with two simple pressure point attacks. The two looked at each other, and the clone couldn't but drive the point home to the original even as he dispelled. "Really not the best day we have had recently is it?"
*Flashback End*
"So you've managed to cripple one student that if he were anyone else would be out of the ninja service with his injuries, caused one to have a semi mental breakdown, and both of them think that you're out for Naruto's life? It's a good job the team failed otherwise it would be a nightmare." Sarutobi rested back in his seat, content that at least with this debacle Naruto would be permissible to re-sit the year despite having exceeded the two resit limit that was applicable to most candidates, and he would be able to rescind the fine and hours he had applied to Naruto as a form of compensation to the boy. He stopped however when Kakashi let out a uneasy chuckle and raised his injured hand which was closed in a fist. "Actually, Hokage-sama, I think we are going to have to settle with the nightmare." And his hand opened, revealing two silver bells, which were the key to his test, the strings they were attached to cut very close to the metal itself.
Persona: Naruto Uzumaki
Naruto awoke quite sharply, memories of what had knocked him out streaming back to him as he did so. Pain coursed through him as he tried to sit up and he bit back a cry as his eye shot open in shock. The room was dark and there was no light through the window, which meant that it was probably nighttime. Looking round the room he was surprised to find himself in one of the private rooms, which were usually reserved for shinobi who had suffered heavy injuries. Looking down he found his chest covered in bandages and his legs restrained along with his hands. As he jerked his limbs in an attempt to free himself a unfamiliar voice called across to him from the shadows. "I wouldn't do that if I were you Naruto-san, it would not be wise for you to move considering you're still very serious injuries."
He relaxed slightly as a man in a frog mask stepped forwards from where he had obviously been standing guard, he recognised the build and mask from some of the ANBU that had picked him up to see the Hokage about his . "Frog-san" He managed to croak out before his raspy throat gave up and he started coughing heavily. Frog was by his side in a moment, hand glowing slightly green as he gently held Naruto down, the pain in his chest and throat disappearing even as he relaxed a bit further. "Apologies Naruto-san, but it would be best if you simply rested until the morning, which will give you a chance to recover somewhat further from your extensive injuries. If it would help you, i can induce your stupor for you?"
Nodding slightly in assent to the idea, knowing that he would struggle to be able to return to his sleep naturally given the situation, there was a moment's pause as the ANBU ran through four handseals before pressing the fingers of his left hand against Naruto's head, Naruto's vision blackening as he felt sleep overtake him almost immediately, his last thought a wonder of why the doctors that had treated him before had never used this technique on him to deal with him being hyperactive.
However, he found himself opening his eyes very shortly afterwards, and wondered for a moment if the ANBU had performed the technique correctly. This thought dispelled itself hurriedly as he looked around, where ever the hell he was, he certainly wasn't in the hospital ward any longer. He seemed to be in some sort of corridor, though with the minute amount of reddish light that was seemingly only available from one end of the corridor he couldn't be entirely sure of its exact size or makeup. There also seemed to be a small river flowing down the middle of the corridor, and looking into it he found it murky and unclean, quite unlike the natural rivers that were spread throughout Konoha and its surrounding forests. With no other inkling of where he should be going or how to get out of the corridor, he decided to approach the lighted end of the corridor. The corridor then began to expand into what seemed to be a large intersection, the ceiling of which stretched far beyond where he could see in the dim lighting and the walls inter-spaced with several other entrances similar to the one he was exiting at that moment.
What was more interesting was the large number of pipes that were running along the walls away from a point on the far side of the room that was separated by a cage like wall that stretched up out of sight, probably to the ceiling itself, a few of the pipes containing a red flowing liquid which seemed to be the source of the light in the room. As he stepped forwards into the middle of the room, his eyes were draw to part of the cage area, more particularly an area that looked like an open-able door that was held closed by a piece of paper that had some kanji scripted upon it. Walking towards it, he managed to decipher the word 'seal' that was written upon it just in time to jump back defensively as something... big moved in the shadows of the cage. A sense of apprehension filled him as two slitted eyes, each the size of him at least, opened before locking onto him with a predatory look that sent shivers up his size. A deep voice emanated from everywhere, the pressure on him increasing until he was forced to one knee and breathing hard even as the words washed over him and a ten story fox stalked out of the shadows, nine tails swaying lazily "So you are the unlucky mortal that has been made my jailer this time round. Well my container, make yourself comfortable as we have many things to talk about..."
A/N: Well, I think this chapter is certainly going to get a response of sorts, whether good or bad I don't know. To head off some of the comments, Naruto didn't act like a brash idiot in the test like he does in the canon because of the bandit fight, in which being brash nearly got him killed multiple times and he does learn from that. Also if a trick works once, he is going to try it again though of course it didn't work out at all well for him this time. Ninja reflexes... Something i came up with because I think it is reasonable, and also means that if anything Naruto did a little too well against Kakashi and paid the price for it. Meeting the Kyuubi, well that will come into more prominence later, for now it is a good cliffhanger to end on. Hope you guys like it and am looking forward to hearing your views in the reviews Ja Ne!