Sooo... someone mentioned Sasuke would never call Naruto 'tomato' and being called a tomato by Sasuke is a compliment... yeah, I gotta agree with you there. I was just thinking about Kushina and how she was called 'tomato' and was annoyed by it. I like to think that Kiba or Ino made fun of Naruto for looking like a 'tomato' and Sasuke is just copying that.

Shades of Blue

Chapter 2

-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Naruto had done 10 D-Rank Missions all by himself and made a crap-ton of cash. Iruka got annoyed by Naruto who looked dirty and stinky and his clothes were ruined and stopped Naruto from taking any more missions.

"No, Naruto, other teams need to do these missions too. If you do all of them, then the other teams will have nothing to do." Iruka said sternly. Naruto pouted.

"Fine, dattebayo! I got enough money anyway." The redhead replied, looking at the money he had made. That... was a lot. It would probably last for weeks. Especially since Naruto didn't spend a whole lot. Ramen was cheap, and that was mostly the only thing he ate.

Iruka nodded and smiled, "That's good Naruto. I'm free now, let's go for a walk. What do you say?" He asked, looking at the boy.

Naruto blinked and grinned widely, "Sure thing, Iruka-sensei, dattebayo! Where do you wanna go? Ichiraku?" He asked.

Iruka tilted his head, "Of course, but first, we will go to a Ninja Shop to buy you some new clothes." He said, looking down at the hideous orange jumpsuit. Inwardly, Iruka was thanking Kami for giving him a chance to finally get rid of the stupid jumpsuit.

Naruto had a storm cloud over his head, "I know, dattebayo... this is... this is..."

"About time." Iruka muttered under his breath, "Come on, Naruto, let's go. You can buy clothes with some orange." Iruka said. He knew that it would be impossible to sway the redhead's mind away from orange. Doesn't he realize that red doesn't go very well with orange?

Naruto perked up instantly, "Thanks, Iruka-sensei, let's go, let's go, dattebayo!" Naruto said, "Later, Jiji!" He said, waving at the Hokage, who waved back with a smile on his face. Iruka shook his head, having long gotten used to Naruto's informal and slightly rude addressing of the Hokage.

Naruto and Iruka walked side-by-side towards the Ninja Shop... yeah, that's not very creative. Iruka asked Naruto how his training was going, and Naruto answered enthusiastically that it was going well. Iruka was a bit confused that Naruto was training solo rather than under Kakashi. He made a mental note to inform the Hokage about this.

"Oh yeah, I just learned that I can do days worth of training in hours, dattebayo," Naruto commented, nonchalantly.

Iruka blinked, "How so, Naruto?" He asked, intrigued.

Naruto grinned at him, "Did you know Kage Bunshin return their memories to the original after they dispel?" He said.

Iruka stopped for a second... he then remembered he insane number of clones that Naruto made to defeat Mizuki, there at least 500... then he imagined Naruto using them to train. 500 clones... he could do a year worth of training in days! But the mental backlash will probably leave him in a vegetative state.

"Naruto, I understand that this is a very exciting prospect, but please don't use so many clones at once," Iruka said sternly. He may not be Naruto's teacher anymore, but he still felt responsible to warn the redhead on the dangers.

"Eh, why?" Naruto whined.

"Did you ever get a headache after dispelling more than ten clones at once?" Iruka asked, frowning. Naruto nodded.

"Yeah, now that you mention it," Naruto said.

"That is dangerous Naruto. I know that it doesn't seem dangerous, but it could cause a lot of damage to the brain. It can even cause a brain overload that will put you in a coma. Or even in a brain-dead state." Iruka said, hoping that the boy knew at least about that.

Naruto blinked, then gaped at him for a few seconds... he had an idea of what a brain-dead state was. When he went to the hospital once, one of the doctors mentioned something about a patient being brain-dead after a mission.

"Ah... I... see," Naruto said, a bit disappointed. While he had no plans to spam 500 clones and make them train and dispel them all at once, it was still disappointing. Then he grinned weakly at Iruka, "Good thing I only used like, 20 clones at max, eh, Iruka-sensei?"

Iruka chuckled, "Yes, Naruto. I suggest that you use... 50 clones. Maybe a bit more. But you dispel them in groups of 2 and wait at least 2 minutes in between. Don't be disappointed, 50 clones are more than what your sensei Kakashi can make." He said.

Naruto grinned, "Yeah, I know, Kakashi-sensei mentioned that I have more chakra than him, Sasuke-teme and Sakura-chan combined. Maybe twice more than that." Naruto said, "Really sucks for my chakra control, so I'm having my clones work mostly on my chakra control from those Academy Books, and from Tree-Walking and Wall-Walking."

Iruka looked at Naruto, his jaw nearly on the floor, "Naruto... you read?" He said, his voice nearly trembling.

Naruto flushed a little bit, "I'm not that bad, Sensei!" He whined, "Yeah, I read those stupid books. I didn't have to read them, I made my clones read them and dispelled them." He said, embarrassed.

Iruka nodded sagely, "I see, that sounds more like you." He said, teasingly.

Naruto pouted again, "Humph. Jerk-sensei." He mumbled.

Iruka chuckled and patted the red-haired boy on the said red-haired head, "Naruto, you must admit that it's surprising. Oh, we're here." Iruka said, stopping in front of Higurashi's Weapons Shop.

Naruto shrugged and followed the man inside. Higurashi... he remembered that name. Wasn't that the name of the girl who was in the same class as him last year? What's her name...? He scrunched up his face but decided not to think about it too much.

Naruto and Iruka stopped in front of the counter, where a girl suddenly showed up. Her eyes were doe brown, and her hair was tied into two buns on her head. She was wearing a Konoha Hitai-ate on her forehead.

"Hello, welcome to Higurashi's- Oh, hey, Iruka-sensei!" The girl greeted him cheerfully. Iruka smiled at her.

"Hello, Tenten, how are you?" He said, politely. Naruto's eyes brightened in recognition. Tenten Higurashi! That's the girl's name. She was very interested in weapons if he remembered correctly. She gave off an air that said, 'Don't mess with me'.

Tenten smiled, "It's been great, sensei. Oh, hey, Naruto, right?" She said, politely.

Naruto smiled back, "Hey. Yeah, it's Naruto. Uzumaki Naruto, you're the weapons girl, right? The one who kicked the crap out of that guy who tried to bully you?" He asked, grinning foxily.

Tenten grinned back, "Glad to see my name is still so popular." She joked, "So, what can I help you with?"

Iruka stopped Naruto from saying anything, "Clothes for him." He said, flatly.

Naruto pouted, "Okay, okay, I get it, you don't understand the awesomeness of orange... but can it be a little orange? Please?" he asked, using his Puppy Eyes no Jutsu on the brown-haired girl.

Tenten gulped, "Of course!"

Iruka rolled his eyes, "Only a little." He said, sternly, and Naruto stuck his tongue out at him.

Tenten looked over at Naruto, "Hm... okay then... Alright, come on, follow me." She ordered Naruto. Naruto blinked and followed her.

She showed several clothes that would suit Naruto. In the end, Naruto decided on a black long-sleeve shirt, black ANBU pants with an orange stripe on the side, a burnt orange vest, black shinobi sandals, with his calves taped up. He taped up his right wrist as well and a burnt orange Konoha Hitai-ate, which he wore around his neck because it apparently protects the neck, eh, whatever. His hair hung free, with his bangs falling on his forehead. (A/N: Basically, he's wearing what Minato wears minus the cloak, and replacing the Jonin vest with Gaara's Shippuden vest with a burnt orange colouration.)

Tenten placed her hands on a pouting Naruto's shoulders, "There, you look much, much cooler this way!" She said brightly.

Naruto grudgingly admitted that he did look cool. While the orange colour wasn't as bright as he'd like, it was still orange. It looked cool enough, he supposed. Well, he looked a bit... depressing, but his hair gave off a cheerful feeling.

Naruto paid Tenten from the money he got from the stupid amount of D-Rank Mission he did with his clones. He was about to leave when something caught his attention. Naruto stopped, and Iruka stopped with him, looking at him, confused.

Naruto looked over at a sword... a Katana to be exact. He frowned, feeling a kind of... draw from the sword. Tenten raised an eyebrow and followed his line of sight to the sword, "Ah, that one. You wanna see it?" She asked. Naruto nodded mutely, which surprised Iruka and to a lesser extent, Tenten as well.

Shrugging, Tenten pulled down the sword and put it in front of him. Naruto looked at it, and Tenten explained, "It's a katana. It's a unique design that doesn't really seem to get anyone's attention so we placed it over there. Go on, take it out of its sheath."

Naruto took the sword and pulled out the sword. It was a black sword, large and light, and something seemed to click, "I want it." He said simply.

Tenten blinked, "You sure, Naruto? It's-"

"Yeah, I want it."

Iruka looked at him strangely, and Tenten looked miffed at being interrupted for a second before shrugging, "Sure." Naruto paid her and strapped the sword to his back. Tenten explained that it is a metal that can conduct chakra, and Naruto grinned in excitement, feeling very happy with the blade.

Naruto walked out of the shop along with Iruka who looked at him, "What happened there, Naruto?" He asked.

Naruto smiled at him, "I don't know, Iruka-sensei. I felt like... I needed to have it. It was like... the sword was calling to me. The sword feels... right." Naruto said.

Iruka raised an eyebrow, before smiling, "Well, I'm glad you're happy, Naruto. Do you know how to use it? Or anyone who can teach you?" He asked, and smirked at Naruto's downtrodden face.

Naruto wracked his brain for someone, "Eh, I'll just ask Jiji, dattebayo. If Kakashi-sensei doesn't teach me, that is." He added the second sentence after a pause.

Iruka blinked, 'The Hokage is his first choice? Why isn't Kakashi his first choice?' He was getting suspicious now.

The next day, Naruto woke up at his usual time. He made 20 clones but 25 came out. Naruto didn't care and made them all work on chakra control with the leaf sticking, leaf spinning, tree climbing, wall climbing and such. Naruto had a quick bowl of ramen, strapped his new sword to his back, put on his new clothes and walked lazily to the Training Ground 7. He had no intention to wait for Kakashi to show up. So he simply sent a Kage Bunshin Henge'd as a regular civilian to the library to look for other ways to improve his chakra control. Naruto didn't like reading, but technically, he wasn't reading anything. It was just his clones.

He arrived at the Training Ground 7 about 15 minutes late, and as expected, Sakura exploded, "Naruto-baka, you're late!" She screeched.

Naruto smiled sheepishly, deciding to do the same thing that Kakashi does, "Sorry, I went to water my plants, then realized that I don't have many plants, so I went out and got some plants, but the Yamanaka shop was closed, so I went out of the village to find some plants, but then realized that the ones I found were poisonous, so I went to the hospital and got myself cured." he said, smiling brightly at the two.

Sakura worked her jaw for a second, and Sasuke simply glared at him, "Does it really matter if Kakashi-sensei isn't here, though?" Naruto said, walking over to a tree and leaning against it, and relaxing.

Sakura growled and walked over to him, before Sasuke said, "Where'd you get that sword, done?" He asked, looking at him and his new attire. Sakura stopped in her tracks and looked at Naruto too.

"I found it on my mission to find plants." Naruto said, smirking, and Sasuke glared coldly, "Oh, take a joke, teme. I found it in Higurashi." he pulled it out of its sheath and showed it to them.

Sasuke looked at the sword and said, "...Why?"

Naruto shrugged, "Well, you know, it's like... it felt right." he said, shrugging, "Gonna ask Kakashi-sensei if he knows how to use it. If not, I'll ask the Hokage." He said, putting it back into its sheath. Sasuke looked at the sword in the sheath and shrugged, but there was a jealous look in his eyes. The sword was cool.

Sakura, of course, took this and Naruto's new look, as a way to look cooler than Sasuke and getting her out on a date, "Baka! You wouldn't know how to use it, you should just give it to Sasuke-kun. And what's with the look? You think just because you ditched the orange, you'll look cooler than Sasuke-kun? You'll never be as cool as him. Just give it up." She said, glaring at him.

Naruto looked at her with wide eyes, feeling genuinely hurt. Give his sword to Sasuke-teme...? Wouldn't know how to use it? Never be as cool as Sasuke? Did she really think that he did this to impress her? Sure, he did think that she'd be impressed with the sword and did actually hope that she would be impressed, but that wasn't his goal. He tried to hide the tears when she punched him.

"Stupid baka, trying to be cooler than Sasuke-kun." She grumbled, and then said, "That sword too. That attitude. Come on, Naruto-baka, give that sword-"

Naruto's had enough. Even he had a limit with Sakura. He had been nothing but nice to her. Even when she tried to punch him yesterday, he encouraged her and told her that they'd get stronger together. She hit him all the time, sure, him pestering her all the time probably annoyed her, but there was no reason to hit him the other times. He was starting to wonder why the hell he even liked her.

"Believe it or not, Sakura, my world doesn't revolve around you." Naruto said, glaring coldly at her, "I didn't buy this sword because of you, and I didn't buy these clothes to 'look cool', as you said. I bought them because my old clothes were ruined. I don't give a flying fuck if you don't find me cool. 'Give the sword to Sasuke-kun.'" He mocked in a high-pitched voice making her flinch, "You know, I don't like Sasuke, but I respect him. He's cool, sure, but he's also strong. Unlike you. We did something in the Wave, what did you do?" He asked, and she simply looked at him with wide eyes.

"I was nice to you Sakura, at all times. No matter what you did, no matter what you said, hell, I even encouraged you yesterday and taught you Wall Walking." Naruto said softly, before he glared at her again, "No more. If you hit me, I will hit you back. You're a Kunoichi, you can take it." Naruto said, storming off to another tree and sitting down.

Throughout this entire conversation, Sasuke said nothing. He didn't want to say anything. In fact, he even agreed with the dobe. He was right. While he didn't much care that the girl hit Naruto all the time with little reason, he did care that she does literally nothing and keeps pestering him all the time. He simply grunted and looked away when the girl looked at him as if expecting him to defend her.

Sakura looked down, eyes swimming with tears and for once, her inner Sakura was silent as she felt like she lost something precious.

They sat in uncomfortable silence while Naruto ignored Sakura and Sasuke ignored them both. Thankfully, Kakashi arrived, "Yo!" He greeted cheerfully.

Naruto looked at him, and said, "Yo, ero-sensei." he said lazily.

Kakashi was a bit put out with the nickname, but then noted Naruto's change in clothes, "Ah, you got rid of the horror, Naruto?" He asked.

Naruto deadpanned, "Yeah, clothes tend to be binned when they are destroyed, ero-sensei." He said sarcastically. Kakashi blinked at the sword.

"And the sword?"

"I bought it. Ya like?"

"Sure." Kakashi answered easily, "You know how to use it?" Naruto gave him a look as if saying 'What do you think?', and Kakashi eye-smiled, "Ah, well, I'm sure I can help you out later. I think you all are ready for some hell today." He said, grinning evilly.

"Wait, you're actually going to train us?" Sasuke asked surprisingly.

Kakashi nodded, remembering that the Hokage threatened to take him away from his precious books if he didn't train his team as he's supposed to. Kakashi then said, "Alright, stand shoulder to shoulder, and we'll begin." He said, grinning evilly.

Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura stood side-by-side, each of them feeling varying levels of excitement.

"Alright, first, Sakura," The pinkette looked up, "You will be training up your stamina and building up your chakra reserves." Kakashi made a Kage Bunshin, "My clone will teach you how to do that, so follow it." Sakura nodded and followed after the clone.

"Sasuke," The boy grunted, "You will need to build up your stamina and speed." Kakashi made another clone, "Follow my clone." he simply said. Sasuke nodded and followed the clone.

"As for you, Naruto," Kakashi said and Naruto gulped at the man's tone, "Your taijutsu is garbage. Your control must have gotten better after your wall walking sessions, and your genjutsu is non-existent." Naruto had a storm cloud over his head, and Kakashi ignored this, "I've heard that you know about Kage Bunshin's secret." He waited for the redhead to nod, and continued, "I want you to make 10 clones who will practise various taijutsu styles and we'll work out which one works best for you." He said, "Let's begin." Kakashi finished, cheerfully.

For some reason, Naruto felt a bit of dread as a shiver went down his spine as he swore that Kakashi's lone visible eye turn a demonic red as he grinned at him.

-x-x-x-x-

This chapter is garbage. Sorry.