'Are you a shinobi?'
Came the voice from behind him, making him turn around. Perhaps, he should have kept his temper, but upon seeing the villager like the ones who usually ridicule him, all his anger and frustration that Naruto had been bottling up, came to the surface.
His normally smiling face adopted a look of rage, knowing that this old man was going to shout at him for being a demon brat – who knows why – and he yelled, 'Of course, I am! Are you blind, old man!'
Sheesh. What a stupid jerk. Not even asking him if he was okay when Naruto stood there, clutching his broken nose which still oozed blood.
What a nightmare. And how the hell had he fallen anyway? There was nothing in front of him?
Was he getting so clumsy that he was tripping over his own two feet, now?
'I don't know,' the man continued. 'You neither have your headband, nor do you look like a shinobi.'
Ugh. That did it! It's not his fault he lost his headband in the fight against Haku on the bridge!
'Stupid, old jerk!' Naruto whipped his head around, 'What do you know about being a shinobi anyway! I am NARUTO UZUMAKI. AND I WILL BE THE GREATEST HOKAGE EVER! BELIEVE IT!' he shouted, pointing his thumb at the grizzled old man.
He was feeling confrontational and this jerk was the first one to bother him when he was busy thinking about important thing. So, he was going to bear the brunt of it.
But unlike what he had been expecting, the old man merely raised one eyebrow at him. Even through that, nothing about his expression changed. For all it looked like, it was as If the man was seeing through him.
That if anything bothered him and his anger rose. How insulting!
Naruto marched up to the man and glared in the man's eyes. Or eye, as it were. Now that he saw it, half of the man's face was covered by bandages, including his right eye. As was his right arm, in which he held a wooden walking stick.
Perhaps, he might have been a shinobi at one time. But a shitty one obviously if he got himself beat up like this.
But the man didn't laugh at him like the rest of the villagers did whenever he proclaimed his dream of becoming Hokage. Maybe he was deaf as well? Or hard of hearing at least. Wouldn't be that surprising given his injuries.
'Well?' Naruto asked impatiently, narrowing his eyes at the grizzled old man.
'Well, what?' the man asked, his face impassive as always. 'It is clear you are not a ninja,' the man looked Naruto up and down, and for a moment his face adopted a sneer that Naruto had seen many times in the faces of many people. And he hated it.
'There's nothing wrong with my jumpsuit!' Naruto insisted, indignantly. 'Orange is great!' Okay, maybe that wasn't exactly the reason he was fond of his jumpsuit, but the point still held.
'If you want to get killed, yes,' the man replied without any hesitation.
'Yeh well, I don't care what you think, old…,' Naruto turned to leave but something caught his sight. Or scent, as it were.
He couldn't explain it, but ever since the battle of Wave, his sense of smell had increased by quite a bit. Nothing as extreme as an Inuzuka but it was noticeable. And his improved nose told him that someone was near.
Near but he couldn't see them. Which instantly put Naruto on edge. He had been attacked by idiotic villagers too many to be at ease with one of them. Especially whilst alone in said park, which he could have sworn had quite a few people strolling about.
Something fishy was going on here and Naruto didn't like it. There was a distinct smell of lavender in the air.
There! Something just moved in the shadows, by the trees, a few meters behind the bench the old man was sitting on. Whoever it was, Naruto couldn't sense them. Neither could he see them.
But they were there nonetheless. Naruto's hand inched towards his kunai pouch. He reeled back in shock as he felt for it on his leg. It wasn't there!
What the hell was going on?
But then the man spoke again, 'It seems you learnt nothing from Kakashi after all, Naruto Uzumaki.'
Naruto whipped his head around to shoot a glare at the man, now certain this creep was up to something.
'How do you know he's my sensei?' Naruto said, readying himself to fight at any moments notice. This was getting creepier by the second.
'I never said he was your sensei,' the man nonchalantly, as if discussing the weather.
'What the…,' Naruto started, then rubbed his hand on his forehead. He didn't have time to deal with this senile old man. 'You just said… You know what, forget it.'
Usually, Naruto was never one to run away from a challenge. Or a fight. But his recent mission had really put him on edge. And made him suspicious and untrusting of his own abilities. For the most part.
'I said you didn't learn anything from Kakashi,' the man added. 'I never mentioned him being your sensei, boy. That information, you gave me yourself.'
Naruto added his azure eyes at the man, glaring angrily. 'Why you!' He hated being used. And this man had done it so seamlessly and effortlessly that made Naruto's blood boil.
'What is a shinobi's greatest weapon?' the man asked, cocking his head to side and leaning on his stick, looking at Naruto curiously.
Why was he asking him such basic Academy questions anyway? Iruka sensei had literally beat it into his head. 'His mind, duh!'
The creep had the audacity to shake his head, 'No. Think it through.'
What? What did he mean no? Stupid, old man doesn't know shit. Why was Naruto here anyway, arguing with the fool?
'Of course, it's his mind,' Naruto exclaimed, waving his arms around. 'Other weapons like kunai, shuriken or swords are just tools.'
Still, the old man just shook his head, 'Repeating your answer will not make it right.' He was really starting to get on Naruto's nerves.
'Che whatever!' Naruto waved his hand and prepared to leave but was once again halted by the man.
'Sit!' the man said, motioning to the empty seat in front of him.
Naruto hesitated for but a moment. This man may have been a shinobi at one time but he was too old and too injured to do anything now. And if he tried, Naruto would hand him ass withered ass.
The man with the cross on his chin pointed to the board on the wooden table in front of him. 'It's called Go,' he informed him. 'Do you know how to play?'
Naruto sat there dumbfounded. What the fuck was going on? Where did the board suddenly come from? He could have sworn there was nothing there just a minute ago. And the man hadn't even moved.
Very clearly, something was wrong and Naruto had absolutely no idea what was going on? How come things were just appearing out of nowhere all of a sudden?
Did it have something to do with this weird board game that he had seen Shikamaru playing sometimes in the Academy? All Naruto saw a wooden board with a lot of boxes, and two bowls of pebbles, one filled with black and the other white.
Remembering that the man had asked him a question, Naruto forced himself to reply, ignoring the weirdness of this encounter for now, 'No.' He shook his head.
The man hadn't done anything remotely threatening but something about him just screamed dangerous. Though Naruto had no idea why. Maybe it was his emotionless face, or perhaps it was the way he sat completely still, yet still looking relaxed, somehow.
Whatever it was, it gave Naruto the distinct impression that the man had forgiven his earlier petulance but was not to be tested further. And that doing so would be hazardous to his health. And not knowing why he got this impression bothered him even more.
All in all, the blonde boy sat opposite the old man deeply uncomfortable, and not a little perturbed. The distinct lack of wind which had been there before and which he had definitely noticed increased his tension further.
The man had seemingly expected his lack of knowledge in a boring game and quickly summarised the rules for him. Basically, he had to get the most points by the end of the game to win.
'To get points, you capture opponent's stones, called Prisoners or capture empty territories,' the man told him as he placed black bead on his side and then revolved the board around so they were facing Naruto. 'You place your stones on the intersections. The intersections around them are called Liberties and when they are taken by your enemy, the prisoner surrounded is captured.'
Ignoring the distinct impression that this meeting wasn't by chance, Naruto nodded, and the game began. Ten minutes in, he had lost when all of his territories and prisoners were captured, with Naruto having no idea what had just happened.
'Again,' Naruto proclaimed and they reset the board.
Starting with only four pieces yet again, they set off.
'Who are you?' Naruto asked, when the man captured his primary territory yet again, just after he had managed to capture two of his prisoners. Every move he made seemed to have been for nothing.
For the first in the half an hour or so since Naruto had been talking to this strange man, Naruto saw his crooked little smile. And it creeped him out further. 'You tell me, Naruto Uzumaki.'
Ughh. He hated board games, and he hated mind games. And they seemed to be playing both. 'How the hell can I tell you. I don't know you!'
The man sighed, 'Seems you really didn't learn anything from Kakashi. As talented as he is, it is a wonder.'
Naruto bristled yet again, not liking this at all. 'Hey! I defeated Haku in Wave! And I mastered tree walking in only two days!'
The man smirked and shook his head, 'What is it that Kakashi keeps saying to you genin?'
Naruto glared at him as the man captured leaned forward and captured two more of his prisoners. Damn it. He hated losing. Even if they were playing on a seemingly easy but very complicated board game.
Naruto spit out the first thing that came to his mind, not knowing why the man was seemingly questioning him, 'Look underneath the underneath.'
Kakashi had said it so many times that Naruto could even hear it in his sleep nowadays. But he still didn't know what the hell it even meant. Trust his lazy ass sensei to talk in cryptic language that he didn't get.
The old man nodded, 'Good. At least you know something.'
He had just about had it with his constant ridiculing statements when he realised that this creep was testing him. Who was he to test the most amazing genin in the rookie nine?! The man merely raised his eyebrow at Naruto, obviously expecting him to continue.
Oh, what the hell. Since he was already playing this creep's game, why not go all the way and see what the hell he wanted with him. He was getting tired of being defeated in this game anyway.
'You're not a civilian,' Naruto started, looking at him squarely in the eye.
'Oh,' the man said. 'Why is that?'
'Other than the fact you seem to know Kakashi-sensei, you also know what tree walking is. You've obviously also heard what happened at Wave or you would have asked who Haku was. And I sense that this meeting was not a coincidence.'
'And?'
Naruto knew there were other signs as well. 'You asked me a question they teach us at the academy.'
'I could have just heard about it,' the man replied, waving his one good hand.
'I dunno. Your injuries suggest that you are a retired ninja. And that you got your ass handed to you by someone,' Naruto added, leaning back. 'Your eyes… eye is too sharp. And you seem to think you know what a shinobi is.'
'Good,' the man nodded, seemingly satisfied with his answer. 'But not good enough. Now let me tell you what I realised in our meeting. You have pathetic knowledge of the basics. You didn't pay enough attention in class or perhaps your knowledge was sabotaged and you did nothing to correct it.
You give information much too easily. One merely has to get you angry. For example, all I said was you didn't learn anything from Kakashi. It was you who supplied the information that he was your sensei. You yourself gave away the information on your current skill level and even your most recent mission. Another mistake. I could have just as easily been an enemy or a spy.'
Naruto's heart sank at the same time as speeding up as he realised the creep was right! His senses were on high alert now. Was this man an enemy? Why did he come after him though?
The man didn't seem to be giving any attention to increased apprehension, 'Your senses are sharp, however. Particularly your nose. But the fact that it took you a while to realise that someone was watching you, other than me, shows that it is a new development.
Your taijutsu is horrendous giving the sloppy defensive stance you attempted to settle in. And you know it, which is why you immediately went towards your kunai pouch. Which tells me that your shurikenjutsu is at least marginally better.
You are also horrible at genjutsu. Detecting or dispelling it. Because you did not notice the one hiding the Go box neither did you notice the genjutsu placed on you when your kunai pouch was taken. Or the genjutsus making those tree appear further than they are. All in all, if I was an enemy, you would have died at least four times over within the first few minutes of our meeting.'
Naruto sat there, stunned at the creep's assessment of his abilities. Only Iruka sensei knew more than this about him. And this man had learnt all of this within a few minutes of meeting him.
Needless to say, Naruto was freaked out. But then, slowly a grin stretched over his lips. So, this is what a Shinobi was! The old man was simply awesome! Before Naruto could beg him to train him, the man stood up, signalling the end of their meeting.
No! No! It was too early. Naruto jumped up, intent on making him wait a few more minutes.
'Now then, tell me. What is a Shinobi's greatest weapon?' the man asked his question again, stepping out from behind the wooden table.
Naruto now knew the answer, beyond a shadow of a doubt. It seems Iruka sensei was wrong. 'Deception.'
The man smiled, and Naruto felt the very rare warmth blossoming inside him when he got a question right in class.
'Until next time, Naruto Uzumaki,' the man started walking away.
'Wait wait…' Naruto exclaimed, jogging the few steps the man had walked. 'I have a question.'
But before he could say what it was, the man seemed to know what it was. 'I will not train you, Uzumaki.'
Crestfallen, Naruto nodded. But he refused to let this genius old man go without at least learning something he needed to know. 'Okay but tell me something else, please.'
A raised eyebrow was the only response he got.
He got the impression that the man's patience was running out and hurriedly asked him the question that had been bugging him ever since the fight on the bridge. 'What is a Shinobi?'
Naruto could have sworn he saw something like approval on the man's face before vanished too quickly.
Instead of answering, the man delved a hand deeper in his robe, and Naruto tensed, for just a moment. But he needn't have because the man drew from within his robes, a book?! What the hell. First a game, then a book. Why did he get the impression that this old man knew the Sandaime?
'There are some things you have to figure out yourself,' he said, tossing the book to him.
And before Naruto could process what had happened, faster than his eyes could follow, faster than even Haku, the old man had vanished. He moved even faster than Kakashi sensei and without leaving the cloud of smoke that his sensei did.
Who was this man?
Naruto looked down at the book in his hands.
'The Way a Shinobi Dies by Tobirama Senju.'