Over the month and a half that followed, a new routine established itself for Naruto. The Hokage saw him several times, at least twice per week, to teach him all the possible manners of punching and kicking. There were so many possibilities, Naruto was dizzied at first. Punching was not about cocking back one's fist and throwing it around widely, who knew?! It was all about subtle motions of the legs, the hips, the belly, the shoulders, all about being in a state between relaxation and readiness, to transfer momentum.
To help him master it, the Hokage made him run through the Academy katas. Naruto used to think them lame until the old man ground him to dust using only the style taught by the Academy. According to the Kage, it was a very efficient style promoting balance and flexibility and he insisted Naruto work with it, as it was also one easy way to learn how to strike.
Every morning, the boy created two clones who worked on the katas, overseeing each other. Their day of hard work was transferred in his mind in the evening, causing a massive headache and his body to twitch beyond his control but helping him get better at a drastically increased pace.
It was the Hokage who instituted the two clones limit after an accident that almost left Naruto a drooling, brain-dead mess. The boy's grandfather had explained to the blond the possible benefits of using his shadow clones but, having forgotten to enforce carefulness, Naruto had overdone it. That had been a lesson in and of itself, one Naruto wasn't going to discard any time soon.
The rest of the time, Naruto was with Ibiki. The jounin kept playing his mind games, running in circles around Naruto. As the month passed, however, the circles became more and more elaborate, pushing the boy to new heights, forcing him to discover new meaning to the words crafty and mean. When his sensei was taken by an emergency in T&I, however, Naruto was kept occupied by guiding Konohamaru's and the young Sarutobi's two friends' training.
All the same, Naruto got progressively better at the obstacle course, until he stalled. During week four, Ibiki eventually taught the blond how to climb vertical surfaces and walk on water by moulding his chakra in a certain way. Thanks to Naruto working hard to better his transformation jutsu with the hair exercise, the boy got the hang of the techniques quickly. It was then that Ibiki revealed that it was possible that the obstacle course might be impossible to solve perfectly without using chakra.
The boy's outraged face was immortalized by Ibiki, who took a picture of his furious genin and told him he should have sought more information about the course. The next day was the first day Naruto successfully got back at Ibiki, covering the jounin's grey coat in bright orange paint.
Ibiki was both proud and furious and Naruto was made to run the course again and again, with encouragements.
The blond boy also had his rematch against the Hokage. Needless to say, Naruto came prepared and won his bet.
The blond Uzumaki had known his Jiji's weakness for a while. The reason he had even tried his sexy transformation jutsu on him during the theft of the Forbidden Scroll was that he knew full well his surrogate grandfather was a pervert. It had had an even better result than Naruto had hoped for but he also was clear on the fact the exact same trick wouldn't work twice.
The best pranks were those that did not repeat themselves.
Hence, Naruto had acquired a sample of the Hokage's favourite read, an orange book that looked suspiciously like what Kakashi was always seen reading. A transformation had been enough to bypass the vendor, who had kindly informed him that he was buying pornography with a knowing smile and a perverted wink.
Twelve years old Naruto now bore a scar from the horrible reading session. The only positive was that he wouldn't have to experience an embarrassing talk about the birds and the bees from someone. Why that was even called the birds and the bees was beyond him. The innocent periphrase felt disgusting to him now that he knew what it dissimulated.
In any case, his intel in hand, he had studied the kinks in the book with growing fascination mixed with horror. So girls weren't that yucky, who know they didn't have cooties, and how the hell would someone ever think of using a stool, a rope and a herring like that?
A week later, when Naruto had faced the Hokage for a serious spar with their bet hanging on the result, the blond had lost no time and immediately created a clone after detonating a modified explosive tag and popping one of his pranking supply. The tag created a deafening thunder-like clap and the bomb was of the stinking kind. Both devices were intended to force the Hokage to keep his eyes open.
There, Naruto had sprung his trap, his clone and he changing into two girls; one a blue-eyed pigtailed blonde and the other a red-eyed brunette. Both were dressed in tight leather suits, the brunette holding a whip and the blonde silenced by a ball-gag. When the brunette had started to whip the blonde who in turn had moaned sexily, the old Kage had lost his bearings and fainted, blood trickling from his nose.
The funny thing was that Asuma, who had been their referee, was also out for the count. Naruto deduced the Sarutobi jounin did have a thing for the pretty red-eyed brunette jounin who was the sensei of team eight.
Naruto was proud that his observation and deductive skills had become so sharp.
When the boy recounted the spar to Ibiki, his sensei gave him the widest smile Naruto had ever received and with eyes shining with pride, the jounin promised they'd yet do a great shinobi of the boy. In before he absolutely forbad Naruto to ever use the sexy jutsu on him on pain of running the course with strong encouragements.
For his win, the Hokage gave him a picture of his mother. She was a beautiful woman with red hair and violet eyes and a round, gentle visage that reminded Naruto of his own face. All kids find their mother beautiful but Naruto had bragging rights because his actually was.
Too bad he wasn't allowed to tell of her to anyone because he would have relished the opportunity.
The tears he couldn't stop from flowing and the warm hug from his grandfather were irrelevant.
Naruto was on a break. The blond was still surprised about it because, for nearly a month and a half, he hadn't been allowed a moment of respite. Training the three shrimps was no vacation. Naruto enjoyed teaching as it showed him his own flaws but it didn't change the fact that it was a tiring activity. Even on Sunday, he was working, reading - yuck - scrolls and books given to him by the Hokage. He had already tried to go around it, begging the old man to teach him whatever these books were about directly but his surrogate grandfather had firmly refused, arguing that a good ninja had to be able to find relevant information in books to further their training or succeed on a mission.
The only thing he was resonating with was fuinjutsu, which he had taken to learn after checking the information the Hokage had totally not given him about the Uzumaki. Apparently, Naruto belonged to a clan of fuinjutsu masters and he was determined to honour his ancestors, whoever they might have been, by becoming at least good at the sealing arts.
Anyways, Sundays were about reading and rarely had Naruto found his Sundays so boring and numb, save when it was about fuinjutsu. Even if, yes, he had found very interesting stuff in some of the books the Hokage had given him, apart from fuinjutsu, not that he would ever admit to it. He was afraid his grandfather would just give him even more things to read and Naruto still liked to work in a way that required him to move his body.
Today was Wednesday, however, and neither Ibiki or the Hokage were available to teach him. Konohamaru and the corps were with Ebizu so an ANBU had told Naruto this morning that the boy had the day to relax and do whatever he wanted.
Naruto had honestly no idea what to do and so was just strolling randomly in the streets of Konoha, breathing in the fresh morning air before it got unbearably hot later in the day.
The summers in Fire Country were no joke.
Around him, the people were scampering away, like they usually did. His eyes weren't focused on them but Ibiki had trained him to rely on his peripheral vision to be aware of his surrounding and observe without being obvious about it and so Naruto could see them perfectly. How they feared him. How they wished for him to be anywhere else but here.
He hadn't really noticed, busy as he had been, but it had obviously become worse after his shadow clones had decided to show a decidedly annoying lack of restraints. The people had been clearly uncomfortable with him before but now, now they were openly fearful and worried. His clone had effectively reduced Naruto's chance to ever be accepted by a great deal.
The blond found he didn't care. At least, he didn't care as much as he would have a month ago. His Jiji had invited him several times to eat with his family and Naruto enjoyed every evening he got to spend with the Sarutobi trio immensely. Asuma was a kind, laidback uncle and Konohamaru an annoying little brother.
And a shrimp.
Naruto's sensei trained him and cared about his progress, the Sarutobi had accepted him as part of their family. Honestly, the blond was good with that. A lengthy discussion with Ibiki had opened the blond's eyes on the fact that Naruto couldn't make all the work. He could be sweet as a lamb, the strongest, the Hokage even and yet, he couldn't make the villagers love him.
Only the villagers could decide that.
The realization had been freeing. To know that it wasn't Naruto's fault, that it wasn't that he wasn't doing enough but that ultimately, it was a two-way road he couldn't cross by himself: that was liberating. It wasn't fair that even after twelve years of showing no sign of being dangerous - the shadow clone accident not counting - the people still only saw the Kyuubi's shadow looming over him. It wasn't fair he had to suffer still for their bigotry, that he had to reap their fear for his bout of hostility what they had sown it themselves.
It wasn't fair but it hurt less than before because Naruto was not allowing it to hurt him anymore. He had bonds now, people he could count on and he was certain he would form more and the villagers would be powerless to deny him.
It didn't mean it was pleasant to be looked at like a primed explosive tag so Naruto behaved like the twelve years old boy that he was and stuck out his tongue at random passersby. There was no law forbidding a genin to be a brat.
Naruto had felt and seen them coming so he wasn't surprised when he heard Kiba's voice.
"What the hell are you doing, dobe?"
The boy whirled around and stuck his tongue out at the Inuzuka. "I'm being rude to rude people, mutt."
A vein bulged on the brown-haired boy's forehead. "Say that again to my face dobe?!" Kiba spat threateningly.
"Inuzuka have good ears so you heard me, mutt."
"Kiba stand down, please." A melodious voice commanded the Inuzuka, who immediately seemed bashful.
Naruto eyed the newcomer and smiled. "Ah, you're the lady Asuma has the hots for," he waved. "Hello, I'm Naruto."
The red-eyed, brunette lady smiled back. "It's Kurenai and please don't say idiotic things like that in public."
Naruto's grin widened. "So I can tell them when we're not in public?"
Kurenai frowned and sighed. "I'd prefer you not say anything at all."
The blond was puzzled. "Is it supposed to be a secret?"
The jounin kunoichi massaged her eyelids. "Naruto, Asuma-san is a ninja with a rather high bounty in several bingo books. I myself am wanted in Kumo. I'm not confirming or denying anything about us but it is never a good idea for jounins to be too public with their relationship."
Understanding dawned on the blond. "Oh, shit, that makes sense. I'm sorry, Kurenai-san."
The jounin made an appeasing motion. "It's fine Naruto-san but please keep it in mind."
"Hai, my apology again," answered the blond with a small bow. "So," he said after straightening himself," I see Shino being all silent, how are you by the way Shino? But why is Hinata hiding in the backstreet over there?" He asked, pointing at where the little Hyuuga bluette had disappeared.
Kurenai's smiled strained a little and she sighed at the nearly inaudible "eep" that came to their ears. She would have to have a serious discussion with her third pupil and possibly one with Naruto. She eyed the blond.
The boy had a vaguely sad shine in his eyes and Kurenai, being a jounin, pieced many things together in very little time. Kiba and Shino were both momentarily gone, dragging Hinata out of her hiding spot and she took the opportunity.
"She doesn't hate you Naruto," whispered the jounin quickly in the boy's ear. "Her behaviour has nothing to do with that," she added, touching Naruto's stomach lightly.
The boy was puzzled for all of two seconds before he blushed. "W-what?"
"Do not feel forced to do anything about it. It's your choice, Naruto."
The boy had just the time to nod and exhale deeply, centring himself to repress his blush. "Hey, Hinata!" He greeted.
The Hyuuga turned into a stuttering mess before she fainted and team eight had to excuse themselves, Kurenai offering a smile to Naruto as they departed. The blond watched team eight's backs as the walked away, scratching his head all the while.
"No way, right? I mean…" He looked himself up and down, still scratching his head. "All the girls swoon over Sasuke, right?"
A smile suddenly stole itself on his face, threatening to split it in two. "Ah! Take that Kiba!" He exclaimed with a fist pump.
Naruto entered training ground seven where he was team ten finishing their warm-up. It was a hot morning of August and the blond was honestly not surprised Shikamaru's warm-up was about laying down and watching the very rare clouds that were passing overhead. The Nara was still lazy. His eyes took in all relevant detail in a matter of one second. Ino Yamanaka, the kunoichi of the lot, was pampering herself and Choji Akimichi was eating chips. Apparently, the InoShikaCho trio had yet to get into gear.
"Hello, Asuma-Oji!"
The bearded Sarutobi waved at the blond. "Hello Naruto, I'm glad you accepted my invitation."
Naruto smiled. "Yeah, yeah, you know I'm only coming because you promised the neat trick with your trench-knives."
Team ten's sensei sighed. "Right. Did I say that?" Under the threatening glare of the blond Uzumaki, the Sarutobi relented. "I did say that, don't leave yet. You're sure about it? It's very hard, a jounin level exercise."
Naruto nodded with determination. "Yup, might as well anticipate things and start on it now. So, I'm here to beat the shit out of your team?"
The bearded jounin only smiled as Ino snorted loudly before he could say anything.
"As if, Naruto-baka! Sensei, let's be serious here, Naruto is the dead-last! He can't best us," the blond girl exclaim with the certainty of arrogance.
Feeling Shikamaru's eyes on him, Naruto made a show of making a vein on his forehead bulge as he pointed at the blond girl. "Oy, say that again, pig-face?! I've always been leagues better than you."
"How did you call me you baka?!"
Shikamaru sighed. "Troublesome." Choji just munched on his chips.
Naruto tuned out the girl and turned back to Asuma. "So what's the deal?"
"You spar with them for the morning. I'll give you various objectives and the team who achieve their first wins the spar."
"Team?" Choji asked. "But sensei, Naruto's alone."
Naruto waved the Akimichi's concern. "That's normal Choji, don't worry."
Shikamaru's eyes narrowed a first time at the blond's declaration and even further when Naruto grinned at him cheekily. When the blond made a show of stretching his arms, the Nara's eyes were reduced to slits.
The blond had slid a thumb under his throat in his stretching motion, looking at Shikamaru with an intensity the Nara had never seen in the boy, all the while standing in a perfectly relaxed state.
"Very troublesome." A nagging feeling was telling Shikamaru his team was without a doubt going to be pasted. All that was left to see was how badly they would lose.
"Okay Asuma-Oji, the rules."
Asuma smiled. "Every match you'll have can be won in two way: either you incapacitate the other team or get the members to surrender or you can accomplish an objective I'll give you before the other team. Now the first match is going to be a classic." The jounin suddenly glared threateningly. "If I say you're out, you're out, understood? No killing blow, no maiming blow. Is that clear?"
"Hai sensei/Yes Asuma-Oji!" All genins saluted.
"Good… Then, begin!" The bearded Sarutobi suddenly shouted.
Naruto immediately crossed his fingers. "Shadow Clone jutsu!" The blond bellowed before he was momentarily masked by a cloud of smoke, which revealed four replicas of himself arrayed around him as it dissipated. "Attack!" The boy ordered, pointing at team ten.
The four clones looked at each other and shrugged in sync before they all stuck their tongue out at Naruto and jumped off in the trees surrounding the clearing.
"What the hell?! Oy stupid clones, come back here!" Naruto bellowed, turning his back to team ten who had only now gotten in standard formation.
"What an idiot," sneered Ino, who ran through hand signs and aimed her family jutsu at the blond.
A blond who was still screaming his lungs out at his rebellious clone, jumping up and down and left and right in frustration, which incidentally kept Ino from properly get a clear shot. Shikamaru ran through his own hand signs and crouched as his shadow deformed and sped towards the blond who decided now was as good a time as any to run after his clones to show them who was boss. The Nara's shadow jutsu reached its limit an inch from Naruto, failing to ensnare the blond.
Suddenly, Shikamaru and Ino heard Choji whimper next to them. They had no time to ask the rotund boy what his problem was as each got a kunai pressed against their throat. Shikamaru immediately connected the sensation with the clones.
They hadn't escaped the blond's control. Not at all. The Nara felt his brain momentarily freeze at the fact he had been outsmarted by Naruto Uzumaki of all people.
No, the boy corrected immediately. He hadn't been so much outsmarted as he hadn't taken the boy seriously. That changed now.
"Naruto wins the first round," declared Asuma, which got a wide grin from the Naruto who had been distracting team ten before he dispelled in a cloud of smoke.
Shikamaru's eyes widened. They had been attacking a clone. The Nara boy sighed. It was going to be troublesome.
The bearded jounin threw the boy a smile that promised pain and suffering and upped training and motioned a Naruto to come over.
"Are you the original?"
The Naruto shrugged. "I might. Then again I might not. Shadow clone is awesome like that."
Asuma snorted, an amused smile floating on his lips. "Right you are kiddo. Alright, in the next spar, you're going to have to defend an object, namely this," said the jounin, giving the Naruto an orange scarf. The blond immediately got stars in his eyes as he saw the garment. "If you can defend it for fifteen minutes, then you win. You can, of course, attempt to neutralize my team. Their goal is to get the scarf. You can't destroy it and you must keep it… Well, one Naruto has to wear at all time." Asuma said, completing the set of instructions.
The Naruto snatched the scarf and tied it around his arm, looking at it like it was the latest fashionable item and preening. Ino sneered.
"You have the entire training ground! Begin!" Asuma shouted.
This time, team ten immediately charged at the Naruto wearing the scarf. The blond's eyes widened.
"You'll never have my precious!" The boy screamed before running in the woods.
Ino scoffed. "What an idiot. He obviously was lucky in the first round. Now that we know he can make those weird clones, he can't win," said the girl with a self-assured smirk.
Shikamaru shook his head and strained his sense to the max as they entered the forested part of the training ground. "Be alert Ino, he's gotten way better than he was at the Academy."
"Pff, this idiot? He couldn't-"
Ino was interrupted by the sound of a trap being sprung. Before the girl could do anything, she was bombarded with two dozen eggshells. Filled with orange paint.
A vein bulged on the girl's forehead. "I'm going to kill him!" Ino bellowed before charing headfirst, ignoring all attempts by her teammates to calm her.
Shikamaru could only sigh as he and Choji heard several other traps being sprung. The whole shadow clone gig had been a layered feint, the Nara now realized. The real Naruto had escaped, using the smokescreen of his jutsu to disappear and go trap the training ground. Shikamaru swallowed as he realized they were now progressing in very hostile territory.
"Choji."
"Yes, Shika?"
"Don't. Move."
Fifteen minutes passed quickly and with Shikamaru and Choji moving exceedingly carefully through the forest, team ten had no chance to catch the blond. The Nara dully noted that the Uzumaki was an up-and-coming trap master and decided he would never cross the blond, at least never intentionally.
The two boys met Ino back in the clearing. The girl was tied up, covered in orange paint and feathers and also clearly quite angry.
Naruto was posing in front of a clone, the scarf around his neck while the replica was nodding.
The girl was quickly washed by to a water jutsu, courtesy of her sensei and it was a furious Ino, a wary Shikamaru and a munching Choji who faced Naruto for the third round.
"Alright," began Asuma, whose smile was now eating his entire face. "Third round will happen only in the clearing. You three," Asuma said while facing his team, "will have to tag Naruto and you, Naruto," he said, turning towards the boy, "will have to tag all three of my students."
The jounin then proceeded to distribute tags, one per member for team ten and three for Naruto. "These tags will stick with a little application of chakra. If you're tagged, you're out. As a special rule, there will be no ninjutsu of any kind for this match. Is that all clear?"
The blond nodded, Shikamaru did the same, Choji humphed and Ino cracked her fingers.
"Then begin!"
Team ten fanned out and began a pincer manoeuvre, in hope of trapping Naruto. The blond watched the three genins approach him and shuddered at the mean look Ino was directing at him. Before team ten could close the formation, Naruto sprang in action and darted towards Choji.
The two boys engaged in a furious taijutsu exchange, Choji being overwhelmed quickly by the clockwork precision of Naruto's style. Shikamaru and Ino both rushed to help their teammate. In extremis, they got the blond to back off before the Akimichi could be put out of the game.
The three genins of team ten stared at Naruto and Naruto stared back. For a fleeting instant, none moved before all four ninjas exploded into action.
The blond weaved in and out of the trio's formation, running backwards one moment only to aggressively punch through the team, escaping all attempts to box him in against the clearing's limits. With the efficiency and the rhythm of an automaton, Naruto dealt punches and kicks that very soon left his opponents bruised and short of breath.
However, three versus one meant that the blond, if he had avoided being tagged yet, couldn't tag any of his opponents either. After a while, the three genins of team ten progressively took the measure of his style and even Choji, arguably the slowest, successfully dealt Naruto some heavy blows.
After almost ten minutes of an intense spar, team ten suddenly broke the fight on Shikamaru's abrupt order. All three genins backed off quickly and Naruto didn't pursue them.
"He has a rhythm. You saw it Ino?"
The Yamanaka girl was panting heavily but she nodded.
"Prepare your tags. When I say go, we'll all tag him together," muttered the Nara, who was himself very out of breath. Even Choji, the bruiser of their team was sweating heavily. "Choji, your target is Naruto's left upper arm, got it?"
"Hai, Shika," breathed the heavyset Akimichi.
Naruto did not look much better though. They had their chance.
"Go!" Shikamaru shouted, leading his team in a renewed assault. Once again, Naruto weaved around them and dodged, taking very little damage but dishing out few. Like he had done before, the blond fell into a rhythm, an efficient set of moves that were great to keep a number of people at bay, Shikamaru realized, but which had the default of being rather predictable. His breath becoming shorter and shorter from exhaustion and anticipation, the Nara counted.
And just as he gave the order, he saw the glint in the blond's blue eyes and knew. He knew he had been had. Again. "Now!" Shikamaru choked, the realization stifling his shout.
Naruto grinned and, as the Nara feared, abruptly shifted his stance, breaking his rhythm completely and tagging Shikamaru's teammates.
"Ino, Choji, you're out!" Asuma bellowed, covering the outraged scream of the Yamanaka and the startled shout of the Akimichi.
Before Shikamaru could react, Naruto tagged him. The Nara could only plant his own tag on the blond's shoulder while he received Naruto's square on his chest.
"Shikamaru, out! Naruto, you lose a point."
"Argh, how did we lose again?!" Ino bellowed in anger and exhaustion, her brow marred with sweat and her two-piece purple outfit sticking to her frame.
"Okay, you have five minutes to rest and we'll do the final exercise for the day."
Shikamaru groaned. There was still another one? Couldn't their sensei see they had had enough? The five minutes were up in seemingly no time and the Nara groaned in despair. Pushing himself up, Shikamaru leaned on Choji. After the intense spar, five measly minutes weren't enough for any of his teammates to have recuperated their stamina.
Naruto, however, looked suspiciously fresh. The blond had been sweating much like them and breathing hard a second ago and yet he looked perfectly fine.
"He even faked his exhaustion," Shikamaru mumbled, now beyond basic surprise and just accepting the dead-last was anything but.
Ino apparently noticed the same thing and fell on her knees with a groan while Choji just whistled. "Damn, Naruto, you're still good to go?" The Akimichi asked, unbelieving.
"You bet, 'ttebayo!" The blond answered with a thumb up.
"Alright, final spar, same as the beginning, you must incapacitate the opposing team."
Team ten gave a general sob of protest at the treatment. Further torture wasn't necessary, really, they got it, they would work earnestly from now on.
"Go!" Asuma shouted, without any mercy for the InoShikaCho trio.
Naruto cracked his knuckles and blurred in what Shikamaru recognized as a body flicker before the blond elbowed him in the chin, sending him to the land of dreams. Naruto had apparently also faked his real physical abilities, thought the Nara before unconsciousness claimed him.
His sensei was going to be so very troublesome.
AN: As always, I encourage you to leave a review if you enjoyed. Also, remember that, while Naruto absolutely, definitely got much better, team ten is also a team of slackers so he had it easy.