AN: I hope you enjoy. I'd like to thank you all for the response. While I do not answer all review, I do read all of them, of that you can be sure. They give me strength, Genkidama style.
It was barely five in the morning but Hiruzen Sarutobi was already seated in his trusty armchair. It had been a week since the incident, a week since his surrogate grandson had joined the ANBU, and a week since the Sandaime's nights had been longer than five miserable hours. Behind the venerable mahogany desk created out of the Shodaime's mokuton, the Hokage was distractedly preparing his pipe, his eyes lost on the desk's surface. The wooden plate had all the tells of constant use. Each wear and mark had their story. There was a large gash, for example, that Hiruzen remembered had been carved by his sensei the Nidaime, in the only instance he had seen the otherworldly calm Senju angry.
It had been terrifying and Kumo had regretted starting the second shinobi war, even if Tobirama Senju had not come out of it alive.
Right now, the desk was covered with various papers. Not the overwhelming quantity the Sarutobi liked to complain about, he had secretaries after all and the administration served its purpose, but a fair amount of reports were still occupying too much space for the aged Hokage to be content.
Paperwork was not what was truly unsettling the veteran shinobi. While it was an annoyance to review the -mostly excellent- work of competent people he trusted because it was an honest waste of time, the Hokage was not upset because of that.
Hiruzen knew Naruto had visited the Sarutobi compound just yesterday and the blond had insisted on not seeing him. Naruto's shadow clone had been polite. The Hokage sighed and allowed regrets to assault his heart for a second before he put a lid on his emotions. The old man had heard the blond's demand for ramen and jutsu loud and clear but he also knew Naruto likely needed time to work through his feelings.
It did not sit well with Hiruzen to let it happen. He had averted his gaze with his three students in the past, allowing one to become an old teenager with confidence issues, one a gambling, bitter drunk, while the last had betrayed the village and turned missing-nin. He still did refuse to look, not finding within himself the courage to face them.
It was all it amounted to; courage. Courage to acknowledge acts that pointed to a truth no man would be keen to admit. Despite all his strength and qualities, despite all his success, Hiruzen Sarutobi had failed, arguably where it had been most important.
The old man felt like a puppet hung by too many strings, entangled within them. He had never had the courage to face Jiraiya and admit that yes, Orochimaru had been his favorite. He had never been able to face Tsunade and admit that yes, her medic program would have been possible but he did not really believe in it, too trusting of Konoha's traditional superiority to consider warfare changing endeavors. He had never been able to face Orochimaru to tell him it was not his fault Nawaki had died and Tsunade was devastated.
Would it be a repeat of that with Naruto? Was it not already happening? He had weaved lies after lies, refusing to reveal the truth, at first to protect the boy, then for fear of being hated. He had not had the courage to face a twelve years old who had all the reasons in the world to be angry all the while asking from the same boy to find within himself the strength to endure the scorn of his home village.
Hiruzen rubbed his tired eyes. What had the Nidaime seen in him this fateful night? Had Hiruzen's own boast of being able to ward off the Kumo shinobi been just that? Where was the bravery he had felt coursing his veins then, ready to face certain death so that his precious teammates could escape with their lives?
His sensei had called it the Will of Fire but had it truly been it? Was the philosophy that had guided Hashirama Senju and Madara Uchiha a glorified rewording of the needs of the few against the needs of the many? Why would the kanji of "Will" be so similar to the kanji for "Shinobi" if that was so simple? The Professor knew full well it was not so.
Why was Hiruzen having an existential crisis this late in his life? It was a moot point now! He had been committed to his various mistakes and he could not solve the mess he had created.
"Naruto-kun," provided a helpful part of his mind.
The sacrifice of each individual person was expected but the village was a whole and it gave back what had been lost or at least endured with you. Why had he allowed for it to be different for Naruto? Had his Will of Fire truly been extinguished?
"That'd be fair. I'm old. I'm ash. I should be the soil from which the young tree draws his strength," thought the Sandaime before he grimaced. If things were like that, why had he allowed for Naruto to live this life? When had he grown complacent to allow the hate to fester and grow?
Naruto had always been welcomed by the Sarutobi clan, Hiruzen had made sure of that but couldn't he have done more?
He had facilitated the good of the many. He had reduced the Will of Fire to a travesty of what it really was. He had accused the villagers of losing their own fire the other day but he had done nothing to rekindle the flames. He had accepted the distrust, the fear, the anger to grow. The simple thought of such a treatment happening to any of his sons, daughters, or grandchildren was chilling and yet, by staying put, he had permitted it to happen to Naruto. Why? How?
A memory he had thought buried jumped to the forefront of his mind. The glazed, mad, fiery red eyes, the bloodlust that had him, The Professor, rooted in place, the powerful swing of a tail, obliterating all that stood under it, the rain of corrosive, ichor-like chakra, the shake of the earth, the brimstones and ashes. The towering form of the Kyuubi, devastating, all-powerful, unstoppable, looming over Konoha like a man would over an insignificant ant-hill.
Hiruzen felt shame and horror well within him and let the unlit pipe fall to the ground as he took his visage within his hands. In spite of all his discourses, had he been just as afraid as his citizens? Why had he allowed Naruto's life to happen? For some petty, misguided need for revenge? Hiruzen refused to look deeper, did not dare to peer into the somber gunk that layered the bottom of his soul.
He feared to discover what reasons had pushed him. He hoped it was resentment fuelled by grief and not something even more callous.
Hiruzen tore himself from his own thoughts, refusing to confront them. Bile rose up his throat. Once again, he lacked the courage to face someone, only this time, it was himself. Haggard, the Hokage's gaze fell on one of the four portraits lining the right wall of the office. It was a color photo of a young man sporting blond, spiky locks, two azure blue eyes, and a light smile on his sharp face. The Hokage Hat was resting on his head.
"Below courage, there is nothing huh, Minato?" The Sandaime whispered to himself, his visage contorted in a grimace of anguish. The old man let out a sigh. "Well seems like you were wrong for once. There are regrets just below."
Hiruzen let his eyes fall back lamely on the desk. The windmill was starting to move again, his time was nigh. Would he depart for the pure lands without ever fixing anything? Would he become a ghost chained to this earth by his remorses? Would he be the first of his line to be denied the honors of joining Son Goku's retinue?
The words of Dragon echoed in his head. "You are a coward." Hiruzen felt anger replace shame at the thought. He was. In the books, he would be remembered as The Professor but to those who knew him, he would be just that. The Coward. The man who could not bear to fail as he was so accustomed to success.
The man who had manipulated one boy he pretended to see as a grandson in order to ensure loyalty and obedience rather than order the village he had absolute authority over, all because it had been easier.
The old man's fist crashed on the desk and he growled behind clenched teeth, his closed eyes crying bitter, burning tears.
It was time to make things right. It was time for the Coward to disappear so that only the Professor stayed.
A knock at his door informed the Sandaime his first task of the day was beginning shortly. With a rare fire in his eyes, the Professor freshened himself and called for his visitor to enter.
Naruto got up before his alarm. The blond sprung out of his bed and lost no time going through his morning routine. A few minutes later and the blond, his mask on, was down in the cafeteria eating his porridge, a stack of tags in front of him. One of his clones had done a good job the day before and had created some seals for Naruto's masked senpais to sample.
The exchange was quick. The two older recruits were suitably impressed by the tags and after a rapid discussion, it was agreed on that Naruto would provide a batch of twenty tags to both, all medium yield.
It made Naruto wonder for a second if he could not draw a universal exploding seal with an option to select the desired power. The blond made a mental note to explore the possibility and wolfed down his breakfast before joining the start of the Warmer.
Unsurprisingly, Cat, Dog, and Tiger were waiting for him. The fact Dragon was here with an owl-masked operator was unusual. All Naruto could say about the Owl was that she was a woman and that she had peculiar dark-blue hair. Tiger spoke first in his unflappable monotone.
"Today, Dragon-sama will accompany you with Owl here to your chakra control session. Nothing to worry about," began the tiger-masked ANBU. "As it is your second week and because you're you, we have decided to up your training pace. You'll create three more clones than usual in order to send two with Dog, two with Cat, and two at the library. Your second library clone can study what he wishes. Once you find something that holds your interest, you'll inform me and keep at it until you can demonstrate some of it."
"Does bettering my fuinjutsu studies count?"
"Affirmative. Lastly, you'll create one last clone that you will send, without the mask, to the Hokage Tower. It's time you begin your official desk job."
Naruto paused at that, slightly taken by surprise. "I thought my desk job was a fake?"
"At first yes," interjected Dragon, "but we thought it unwise to cut you entirely from the shinobi population. You won't have to deal with civilians, as promised. When you reach the Tower, your clone will give this scroll to the guards," said the general while producing a small scroll from nowhere.
Naruto shrugged. It was not ideal but he wasn't going in person anyway. And shinobi were less hostile than civilians, at least outwardly. His shadow clone could survive that. "Alright, buntaichou. Anything else?"
"No. Let's start our day."
His bunch of clones created and under care, Naruto started his set of stretches. He was a bit surprised to see Tiger stay with him but when he asked, all he got was a grunt. Shrugging it off, the blond finished his warm-up and started running up the slope.
Dragon watched with interest as two diminutive blond recruits were attempting to carefully gather chakra to the sole of their feet in order to climb up the smooth surface of the bowl. Discreetly, the general signed an order to the operator standing next to him.
There was the telltale surge of chakra announcing a jutsu, a whispered gasp, and then nothing. After a minute, the Owl signed a message back to her commander who nodded.
"Recruits, one of you attempt the traditional sticking technique."
The two clones looked at each other for a second and one shrugged and designated himself with a thumb. They knew better than to question the general. Their tasks assigned, one replica still tried to create the chakra manipulation they were going for while the other simply molded his chakra into glue.
Owl let another small gasp escape her, which surprised Dragon a first time, then the operative chuckled lightly, which nearly floored him. People from Owl's clan never laughed, it was a law of the universe much like the Nara were lazy or the Akimichi portly.
The commander signed again but was requested to give another minute to the ANBU. Dragon once again nodded and waited. Suddenly, the owl-masked operator started to walk down the bowl's walls slowly, while carefully watching her feet. After a few seconds and one last glance at Naruto, she nodded, seemingly satisfied, and signed a message to her officer.
The two exited the room under the curious looks of the two replicas until Dog reminded them to get to work.
"So Owl, what did you see?" Dragon asked with their distorted voice.
"It is just a theory, general, but I think I identified several elements."
"Go ahead."
"Hai. First, this recruit possesses an incredible amount of chakra yet his tenketsu are closed off."
"Closed off?"
"Hai, general. As you know, tenketsu are the regulation vents of the chakra system. The byakugan sees the chakra that naturally escapes from them. This recruit's tenketsu are abnormally… Tight, if you will."
"So not sealed completely?"
"Hai, but… Constricted. I have no better word. I can barely see any chakra venting from them."
"And it affects his capacity to push chakra out of his body?"
"Exactly, but that is only one piece of the puzzle."
"Explain."
"His chakra is incredibly… Potent. It's also greatly unbalanced toward yang. Nothing unusual with that but it is the first time I see it to this extent. Yang chakra is supposed to affect the substance of things, right?"
"As much as we know, yes."
"When he attempted to climb up with the natural technique, he molded his chakra in the same way I do. The difference is that while my muscle strength is enough to un-stuck me, his chakra is so potent, it's like he is glued firmly to the surface. His leg muscles cannot tear him free and he needs to deactivate the chakra flow entirely-"
"Which he already concluded would be highly impractical, hence the research for an alternative. Why hasn't he succeeded yet?"
"He is basing himself, whether he knows it or not, on the traditional technique. We do it by creating thousands of threads between our feet and the surface we want to stick to. Those threads are relatively large. He is going for hundreds of thousands of threads but much, much smaller."
"His small tenketsus stop him from achieving the necessary control?"
Owl nodded. "I believe so, taishou."
"Any idea as to why his tenketsus are… Atrophied like that?"
"Sorry but no idea. I've heard of genetic defect causing some tenketsus to be completely closed off but this… Ajar state of thing? Never." The operator answered, slightly apologetic.
"It's quite alright Owl, thank you for your service. If you have any idea that comes to you later, let me know. You are dismissed for now but I'll probably have a use for your service again in the coming days."
"I volunteered, general." Owl saluted solemnly and departed, leaving Dragon to his thoughts.
"Uzumaki will have to pay his doctor a visit, apparently." The ANBU mused aloud.
The run up the Warmer was strangely exhausting for Naruto this time. He had accelerated his pace one tiny bit to test how far along he was but at the end of the slope, his lungs were on fire, his legs were screaming bloody murder at him, and his whole body was apparently not happy with the exercise. He was sweating but it was only partially from the effort and he felt a little queasy which was weird because it was the first time it happened to him.
Naruto Uzumaki had a stomach made of steel and concrete, numerous perished cups of noodles had been witness to that.
"How are you feeling recruit?"
Naruto hesitated a second between a lying bravado that'd earn him a punch or some expletives about how positively shitty he felt, which would earn him a punch. A week with Tiger had made the blond a bit wiser as to what was allowed to be said and how, so Naruto settled for a middle ground.
"I feel sick, sergeant."
Tiger nodded, not surprised. "It means HSRB has truly begun."
Naruto pushed down a retch and swallowed the bile that tasted weirdly like iron and, knees wobbling, asked. "HSRB?"
"Harmful Substance Resistance Build-up. You've been poisoned since your arrival here, small doses, non-lethal. With your reinforced physiology, we had to triple the dose to make sure it had any kind of effect."
"Fuck," a now seriously greenish Naruto -whether it was because of the poison or the knowledge he had been poisoned was anyone's guess- answered.
Unsurprisingly, Tiger decked him.
Naruto-clone had searched the library for two hours without finding anything mildly interesting on fuinjutsu. Now Naruto Uzumaki was not one to brag…
Anyway, Naruto Uzumaki did not want to come off as arrogant like some raven-haired teme but the few basic manuals present in the library truly were of no help to him. He was beyond them.
Fuinjutsu was considered the most difficult of all ninja art and if Naruto had to give a reason for that, the blond would actually give two.
First, fuinjutsu was not really a ninja art because fuinjutsu was not based on chakra. Contrary to ninjutsu, fuinjutsu did not require chakra to work. It could manipulate chakra, bend chakra, use chakra, often did a little of all three, but fuinjutsu was not chakra-based.
As extraordinary as it seemed, fuinjutsu was not a branch of ninjutsu. Ninjutsu, by using chakra, worked around the rules of the world, bending them sometimes but never truly going against them. Chakra was fundamentally energy and if fed enough energy, the universe was content to go out of its way to do your bidding.
Fuinjutsu was all about not having enough fucks to give and transcending what was normally allowed. For ninjas set in their way of viewing how things were supposed to work, it was a shift in thoughts process not many were ready to take. Insanity was frequent enough in the shinobi life to not risk it willingly.
It did not mean Fuinjutsu had no rules of itself, just that the set was different than for the rest. Why was that? Naruto could not tell for sure. Maybe it was the improbable, unnatural union between the freedom of poetry and the rigor of algebra. The impossible wedding broke the reality somehow.
And that would be the second reason. Fuinjutsu was just as much a science, each prong and squiggles needing to be exactly where they had to be, as it was an art, the effects of a seal being dictated ultimately by the haikus contained inside its matrix.
That would weird out anyone, most people demanding to see where the logic in that was, what were the rules, how was the rhyme. Naruto mainly found it funny to write stupid haikus, encase them within three prongs and a circle, and see what would happen.
More often than not nothing. The rumors about failed fuinjutsu experiments ending up in a big explosion were just that; rumors.
Fuinjutsu was all about sealing after all, quite literally. It meant that the base of all fuinjutsu was the idea that something would be placed inside something else. There was rarely a reason for anything to go up in flame.
The dangerous part of fuinjutsu truly came with the idea that if an object was inside a container, said object could come out. Violently. It was then the risk of spontaneous combustion rose to higher levels.
In any case, Naruto knew all that already and was growing increasingly disappointed at the fact there seemed to be nothing of interest on fuinjutsu in the ANBU library. The books were beginner guides at best, mainly about mimicking a seal more than understanding them, and the boy did not need that. The basics of the sealing art were not that complicated once one accepted a square could be a sphere and a non-euclidian dodecahedron at the same time. Naruto did not need the basics, he was already capable enough to create his own seals, 'ttebayo! He needed new ideas, new insight, new forms, and new rhymes.
Naruto was growing desperate when an old scroll caught his eyes. Covered in dust, masked by spider webs, somehow outside of the tube of plastic that normally contained scrolls, this particular one had an aura of importance. The aura things had when they were important and Naruto wasn't supposed to touch. The Forbidden Scroll had had the same feeling about it.
His eyes darting left and right, the blond scanned the aisle he was in. No one. The boy's reluctance caved in in approximately three seconds. Carefully, Naruto reached for the rolled length of paper and opened it on the table. Immediately, his eyes shone.
"The Haikus of Mount Myoboku. A Gathering of Toad Poetry." The blond read aloud before his eyes took in the first poems, written in neat handwriting. Naruto's blue orbs widened and a smile graced his lips.
He had just found a treasure, there were no two ways about it. Alien toad poetry meant alien fuinjutsu with alien effects.
Undercover-Naruto-clone entered the perimeter of the Hokage Tower at half past four. He showed the scroll to the guards, was searched nonetheless -"procedure" had drawled a bored chunin- and was allowed to enter -legally this time- in the sanctuary of Konoha. The place where all decisions were made, where the high command was sat, where the Hokage ruled from.
The Tower was red, nearly as large as high, round, and overall, frankly not elegant. In Naruto's enlightened opinion, the main tower looked like a big piece of jelly and the two smaller towers on each side were not better. If he had been older, jelly would not have been the first thing that would have come to his mind.
The Communication Tower immediately to the left next to the complex, a white, lean, spiraling column with a blue roof was much better.
The scroll in his hands indicated that Naruto-clone had to go to the mission assignment desk. The large room, where ninjas of Konoha would go to receive their missions, was located within one of the secondary tower.
To the right of this tower was the Academy. The mission assignment desk was in the building in-between the main tower and the school. There was probably something symbolic about it but it escaped Naruto for now.
The boy followed the signs of various panels -at least the place was properly indicated- and entered a large rectangular room with a wooden floor and a wooden ceiling. Large sliding windows replaced two consecutive walls out of the four. In front of those windows ran a long, L shaped desk behind which were seated a number of chunin already doing their thing.
Naruto-clone swallowed uncomfortably when he saw that the Hokage was also seated behind the desk. The blond replica groaned, as low as he could. He groaned again, loudly this time, when the old man motioned for him to come.
Dragging his feet, the clone approached the one man no Naruto -be it the real one or a replica- wanted to see right now and bowed a bit stiffly.
"You called for me, Hokage-sama?"
The chunins in the room momentarily ceased their activity. The blond Uzumaki was well known for barging in the room the Hokage was in, wherever said room was, to play one of his pranks, ask for ramen, demand Hiruzen train him, or all three simultaneously. The blond Uzumaki was also well known for calling the Hokage "Jiji", and if the reactions to that among the ninjas varied, it was definitely strange and a little foreboding to hear the boy call the old Sarutobi by his proper title.
"Something has changed," mentally concluded all the chunins in the room who then noticed the headband Naruto was wearing. A few sneered, most shrugged, some smiled a little.
The kid wasn't all boast after all.
"I did Naruto-kun. Please, take the seat to my right and I'll explain why you are here."
The clone nodded and sat in a rather comfortable chair. At least he would not suffer from back pain. The blond looked at the old Kage.
"You are here to help me assign mission Naruto-kun. You have been taught in class how missions are ranked, true?"
Naruto-clone nodded. There was a class in the Academy, thankfully taught by Iruka, named "ninja business" that covered various topic. Mission rank, mission attribution, teams, and a bit of everything and nothing truly. All subjects that were related to ninja life but did not fit elsewhere were taught in the "ninja business" class and as such, it could be the most boring or the most interesting lesson.
"Well, while the theory taught in the Academy is not wrong, assessing the real risk of a mission comes with experience. There are numerous factors beyond the task itself that are taken into account when a mission is given a rank. It is very important to rank a mission properly so as to not send underprepared ninjas. You're following me so far?"
Naruto kept himself from rolling his eyes. One, it wasn't that complicated and two, his "short" attention span had never been that short anyway and only when it wasn't interesting. Not that the Hokage's explanation was extremely compelling but Naruto knew that if he acted up, Tiger would hurt him.
That was frightening enough to pay attention.
The blond eventually nodded and Hiruzen resumed his explanation.
"Once the mission is hopefully properly ranked, we need to find the adequate team for its completion. An ideal ninja team can take on any challenge but the reality is that most teams specialize in one field, sometimes two, and while they are capable, some missions are not meant for them."
Naruto-clone nodded again. Properly assess the level and send a team fit for the job. Okay. "Where do I come in?"
"Today, and for the foreseeable future, you'll learn to assess mission level and propose which team should do what."
The blond shrugged. "Alright. Do I shadow one of the chunin in the room Hokage-sama?"
The old Kage smiled. "No, you'll be shadowing me."
The boy sighed internally. He could not be angry at his Hokage, he repeated to himself internally. He wasn't angry at his Hokage. He was perfectly happy to be here.
Iruka had visited the Hokage early this morning with the results of his early investigation. The old ruler had not been pleased with the news. The idea that at least an entire class had had its results tempered without anyone noticing was worrying and had darkened the Hokage's brow.
It did not make sense. Whoever was responsible for the sabotage had operated in a variety of ways. Some tests had been entirely modified, like Naruto's and Hinata's, to appear worse than they really were but the method left identifiable traces of the alteration. The only reason for someone to do the modification this way, was if their time was limited. Others had simply not been corrected correctly. It pointed directly to the teacher responsible for marking those tests as the guilty party. Corruption? Blackmail? Genjutsu?
Worst case scenario, there were several infiltrators who did not know of each other, tasked with modifying the tests the master-mind wanted to be modified, all in different fashions.
The feeling of guilt that was added on top of the quagmire did not help Iruka think clearly. He had failed his students. All of them but he felt like Naruto had been the prime victim. Iruka had not believed the blond when he had assured him that some of his results did not make sense. Rather than taking thirty little seconds to check his tests, Iruka had been dismissive of Naruto's claims. The chunin had been condescending. Naruto was the endearing screw-up, the clown, he obviously was not that capable.
The brown-haired chunin rubbed his eyes and sighed. Why had he refused to see it? Naruto had taken the genin exam three times. All three times, his written results had been acceptable as Iruka was the one correcting the tests. Not excellent but way above his usual marks. Why had Iruka not realized? The brown-haired man growled under his breath and shook his head.
He was not solving this right now. Konoha had at least avoided the worst by redefining the new genin teams, even following some, if not all, of his recommendation. The teacher sighed and looked at the gathered students -ex-students, he corrected himself- who he had taught for four years.
Those who were here had all a shiny new headband adorning their head. Iruka felt his heart clench at the thought that if there was one person deserving to be here, it was a blond, blue-eyed boy who had been forced to fight for the hitai-ite that should have been his by right. A boy that was right now punished, in part because Iruka had not done his job properly.
The chunin groaned internally. It was not fair. The teachers of the Academy were all supposed to be beyond reproach. How? How could he have even imagined an operation of sabotage was being conducted in the heart of Konoha, inside its very military school? It was T&I job to uproot spies, not his!
He trusted his colleagues to do the right thing. How do you weigh the words of a child against the words of an adult?
"But you did not even attempt to verify Naruto's claims. And why would you expect them to do the right thing when you did not?"
Iruka shook his head and refused to follow this train of thoughts. Now was not the time, he had duties to attend to first. The brown-haired man focused again on his ex-students. Hinata was curled into the same old ball of insecurities. He had advocated for her to receive help. But her father had refused. A Hyuuga did not need psychological support, Hinata as a Hyuuga, ergo Hinata did not need a shrink. Iruka had concluded Hiashi was a son of a dog.
The girl had her wide white eyes looking down, probably mortified that Naruto had not passed. Shikamaru Nara was being his usual self, asleep and not having Ryo to care about the world around him. Not to say the boy with the pineapple cut was selfish; he did not care about himself either. The complete lack of personal drive was proof enough. Nara, Underachievers Inc. Shino Aburame was a proud member of his clan. The boy, hidden behind a high-collared beige coat, was silent, observing, and silent. Invisible.
Ino Yamanaka, an ash blond girl with seafoam eyes, and Sakura Haruno, a pinkette with green eyes, were bickering over Sasuke while being seated on either side of said boy. The chunin was thankful for the psychological follow-up or he had no doubt the raven-haired Uchiha boy would have murdered the two turkeys right now. It was such a waste, both girls had potential, and they were wasting it. But while it was the rule of the Academy to impose a certain amount of discipline, it was ultimately the parents' role to set their children straight.
Choji Akimichi was doing what he was best at and it was unfortunate for a clan heir's main talent to be his capacity to eat. Kiba Inuzuka, a feral-looking boy with a small white dog roosted on top of his head, was boasting. Ami was being insufferable, and so on. They had not changed. It had been barely a week, of course they had not changed. It felt like a month to Iruka but the youngs were blissfully ignorant of what was happening around them.
Well, no more. They were ninjas now and they would have to grow up quick if they did not want to be on the receiving end of a career-ending incident. A kunai through the skull was rarely forgiving, strangely enough.
Iruka coughed once, coughed twice, molded some chakra without the need of hand sign -he had become familiar enough with the jutsu to shape his inner energy instinctually- and roared, his head growing five time its normal size.
"Shut up!"
The Akimichi people were not the only one who knew about partial extension jutsus. The class stilled and all genins looked at the teacher. Iruka stared back, meanly. He had given two or three farewell speeches over the past few years and normally they were supposed to be encouraging.
In light of what had been happening behind the scene, he would be harsher today.
"You're shinobi now." Iruka barked dryly, startling some of the genins. "This headband you gained is merely the first step. Yesterday, you had a rank, a standing, a score that placed you among your peers; today, you are nothing but genin. Whether you were first or last yesterday has no bearing on who you are today, as you are nothing but genin. Yesterday, you were the oldest and the strongest of the Academy, today you are the youngest and weakest, you are nothing but genin."
Iruka swept a glance over his ex-charges. They were shocked by his tone; never had Iruka Umino, the kind teacher, spoken so.
"You can be proud to have passed the Academy but remember that there is still much more to learn. Remember that you're stepping out of school into the vast world. Do not doubt the skills you acquired here but do not become arrogant, for today, you are nothing but genin."
The teacher sighed at the flabbergasted looks he was receiving. In the eyes of some children, not necessarily those Iruka wanted to, shone some doubts. It was better than nothing. He would not solve everything today.
"I will now announce the teams."
Hinata was feeling weird, mainly because she did not know what exactly she was feeling. She had been dejected at first to see Naruto was missing from the class, proof enough that he had not graduated and that nothing had been possible.
Why couldn't they see Naruto deserved his headband for his sheer force of will alone? She had seen the blond training, training, and training again. Failing so much yet never giving up. Enduring the heated glares, the whispered insults, the mean mockeries. How she wished she had the same steadfast, unfaltering courage.
She could do so much then. Rise above her status of failure, become a successful kunoichi, take the reins of her clan and end once and for all the rift her ancestors had instigated.
Yes, she wished she was as brave as Naruto and could not understand how it was possible for such a person to not get a hitai-ite. She then felt regrets. What if she had approached him? Would it have changed anything? Rather than watching his back as he pushed through the unfair obstacles fate had decided to place in his way, what if she had attempted to stand alongside him? She had scoffed at herself. Where would she have found the courage to do that in the first place?
Then Iruka had shouted for the class to fall silent and had admonished them for one last time, basically telling them that they were nothing, meant little, amounted to less. Hinata knew that to be true as far as she was concerned but to think their kind teacher had placed them all in the same basket had been strange.
Hinata was a failure, she knew that for a fact but then what were the others? Iruka had not singled out a single person during his speech, his eyes had made clear the fact his words were for everyone. She had been puzzling this for a minute until her name came up.
"Team ten under Asuma Sarutobi; Hyuuga Hinata, Inuzuka Kiba, Uchiha Sasuke," said Iruka dispassionately.
There were two loud outraged cries from a pinkette and a blonde before the teacher silenced them and continued to announce the teams.
So Hinata felt weird because she did not know what to think. Kiba was a loud, boastful boy who was nonetheless kind with his friends. She hoped she could gain his friendship. As for Sasuke…
Franky, Sasuke was an enigma. He was the heir to the Uchiha clan, the sole surviving member of the ruling family after something had happened many years ago. Since they had entered the Academy four years ago at age eight, Hinata had always seen the raven-haired boy alone and brooding.
About what exactly, Hinata could only guess but it probably concerned the family the boy had lost.
Not that Sasuke was alone, no. He was the last of his line but not the last of his clan. But the Uchiha who were left in Konoha after whatever had happened were distant cousins at best and apparently, their bloodline had receded to the point they were not able to use it. Sasuke was the last potential wielder of the famed Sharingan. Heir to the second most powerful clan in Fire Country. Expected to do great things. Orphaned. Pressured. Judged.
Hinata understood why the boy felt alone. She knew what it felt like, to a certain extent. Yet where she had caved in, he was the rookie of the year, undoubtedly the best ninja in class.
"Today, you are nothing but genin." The warning of Iruka echoed in her head. Could Sasuke be nothing but a genin too? Wasn't he better than all of them? Better than her?
"Yesterday, he had a rank." Her teacher's words bounced within her mind. "There is still much to learn."
Could she leave her rank behind her? Could she shake the yoke of her past failures off her? Could she learn too?
Could she be nothing but a genin? Would she find the courage to take this chance to change herself?
"What is the second most important quality of a Shinobi, recruit?"
Naruto was panting after he had completed dozen upon hundred upon thousand of full-counts. The poison really had done a number on him and he was glad for the reprieve Tiger had offered him. The blond breathed in and out rather loudly behind his mask as he pondered the question.
After a week, he was beginning to vaguely get his instructor. If an obvious question called for an obvious answer then the answer was not correct. Naruto was tempted to answer strength but strength was a word that meant nothing and everything. What was Strength? The physical power to achieve physical prowess? The ability to fling jutsus left, right, down, and up?
After he had had his discussion with Ayame-Neechan just the day before, Naruto had not only found himself a new goal; he had come to realize that this strength he so desired was a mean to an end.
He desired strength to protect Ayame to make sure he would get to taste her godly ramen and eat it for a long time afterward.
Strength was not a quality. By combining qualities and exploiting them rightly did a shinobi acquire strength.
"A strong motivation." The boy offered to his teacher, who inclined his head to the left.
A few seconds passed with the sound of Naruto's slowly settling breath the only thing that could be heard in the training ground.
"Why would you say that?"
Naruto shrugged. "If I'm motivated, I don't let up whatever I wanna do until I do it."
The ANBU fell silent as if considering Naruto's words and only spoke again after a full minute. The blond's breath was steady and calm by then.
"It is an excellent answer," the man said with something piercing behind his monotone, something Naruto had rarely -if ever- heard directed at him. The man was impressed, favorably.
The blond smiled behind his mask and felt pride mounting within him. He squashed the urge to babble something that would earn him a bone-rattling slap and rubbed the back of his head.
"I won't rank the qualities a shinobi should possess, as they are all equally important," Tiger drawled, his lifeless monotone back. "Give me another quality you think a ninja must show."
Naruto's eyes widened a bit and the gears of his brain started spinning at their full speed. It was a very, very large question and a tricky one at that. What were the qualities of a good ninja? If endurance was one, were they only physical traits? Could the spectrum of answers be wider than that?
The blond searched his mind for ideas when a particular memory came to him. Naruto immediately tried to evoke the Shinobi Code in his mind eye. It was a list of rules a ninja was supposed to abide to and live by. The Code was the sum of the traits a shinobi had to display. The text was the commandment of the ninja. The essence of the nindo. There would be something in there that would help him, he was sure.
Naruto frowned as he realized that, apart from the first rule, "ignore your emotions", something that had never sat well with him, he could not remember anything. Probably because he had not bothered learning it.
At the time, he had deemed the test that began with "ignore your emotions" as something obviously drab and terrible, 'ttebayo!
Was it really though? The blond gave himself a mental scowl. Of course, something telling you to ignore your emotion was terrible! If he ignored his emotion he could not have a motivation, right?
Was it right to ignore the rest of the code and forego potentially useful knowledge? The simple fact he was forced to ask himself that was enough of an answer. The blond grimaced as a disagreeable thought hit him. How many lectures had he ignored, judging them useless with all the arrogant wisdom his mere decade of life had granted him, that could come in handy now that he truly was a ninja? The blond groaned; had he been that stupid, that disrespectful?
To be fair with himself, he could not have imagined the idea, back then, that strength had many foundations and was not just about jutsus. Which was going full circle because maybe learning about the Code would have clued him on that. The blond refocused his thoughts on the question and groaned again. Realization dawned on him that his answer could be precisely what was failing him.
"Knowledge."
"Your arguments?"
"The more I know, the quicker and the easier I can solve a problem, whatever this problem is."
Silence fell for a moment between the instructor and his student.
"Sound answer and one I was looking for, if partially. What you need to understand is that there are different kinds of knowledge. Can you think of what they are?"
Once again, Naruto played the half-deduction, half-guessing game of his teacher. He turned the problem in every way he could think of, trying to frame it within the scope of what a shinobi life entailed.
Naruto started to fidget uncomfortably the more he reflected on the question. Shinobi were sent on missions…
That was about all he knew about the lifestyle he had chosen.
Was that all he knew about the path he was treading? The blond's eyes widened with mild concern. Sure, he had dreamed of saving princesses, saving countries, and overall saving the day. He had dreamed of flinging jutsus around, beating on bullies, and becoming Hokage while, admittedly, a few girls would swoon over how awesome he was. But he was not so childish as to not realize those were fantasies. Naruto believed in dreams, not in daydreaming, despite what people might think.
He intellectually knew being a ninja was about killing, spying, and stealing but what did it mean really, practically?
Naruto resisted the urge to slap his forehead. He had never taken the time to properly consider what had been a kid's dream. Not that he was second-guessing his career but what was even his career to begin with? Why couldn't Tiger give him an answer rather than force him to figure things out for himself? It always created more questions that Naruto was not ready to take on!
The boy took a deep breath to center himself. Remembering some of Tiger's first words from a week ago -it was okay not to know- the blond accepted his answer would only be partial at best, incorrect at worst.
Since when was Naruto Uzumaki afraid of falling, anyway?
Shinobi went on missions. Relating the broad concept of knowledge to that was rather easy.
"So… I'd say the ninja must know what they can do and must know what they have to do."
"Elaborate."
"Well, if a ninja knows his skill set well and he knows as much as he can about his task, he can better prepare for it. Kinda like I do when I…" Naruto's eyes widened behind his mask and lost focus on the ground. "Prepare…" The blond whispered as realization crashed on him like a hammer on an anvil. "My pranks?" He said in a questioning mutter.
The blond looked up and saw Tiger chuckling while rubbing his hands like a maniac and nodding his appreciation. Strangely, Naruto felt compelled to smile as the sadistic cackle was not directed at him. Things would pick up for him apparently but it did not have to be bad, did it?
AN: I hope you enjoyed. Short chapter for a lot of introspection. Not too much I hope? My pieces are more or less where I want them to be. Send me some reviews for my breakfast!
P.S: To hell with this doc manager.