Second Chances
By: FlameXFullmetal
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto and make no money from this.
A/N: Sorry that this chapter took so long to post. I really need to pay more attention to the dates that my stories are updated. I used to update them in the same week however, for some reason they were spaced so far apart that there has been a whole month between updates for this story. I apologize. Finally, I had originally intended to show more of the training and the missions however if I continue at this rate then we would be heading into the chunin exams around chapter thirty. The original timeline that I made for the story should have had us in the Tsunade arc by now. So I am condensing it and doing a time skip. Sorry to anyone that wanted it differently. Anyway you know the drill!
SFU: I would remove the reviews and use the private messaging system instead except not everyone has an account and if it is a question that I have received more than once than the answered review makes it possible to answer everyone at once. Furthermore, I thought I did a good job of including the question with the answer but I guess that I will have to work on that to make it clearer. Finally, no one that has read the story before needs the answers but those new to the story do so I can't remove them.
"hello" people (bijuu in human form) speaking
'hello' people (bijuu in human form) thinking/coded hand signals
"HELLO" bijuu (full demon form)/summoning/deity yelling
"hello" bijuu (full demon form)/summoning/deity talking
'hello' bijuu (full demon form)/summoning/deity thinking
hello jutsu
*****************Improvements, Missions and Returning***********
In the aftermath of the first mission the genin found their training doubled and more exercises added in. Apparently, Kakashi had taken the suggestion for a sensor on every team and decided to make sure that they all had some sensory ability. How did he do that when sensors were rare? Well when you start getting sneak attacked at night after a hard day's worth of training then you tend to pick up on the little things like that. After everyone had gotten the hang of basic sensory techniques they were put to the test so that they were always on. For Hinata and Neji this meant using their chakra to create a net that they would be able to track moving objects in. This also meant that they had to learn how to make their chakra thin and invisible to other sensors. Of course this meant trying to get it past Naruto, easier said then done.
Despite that they were back to doing missions in no time and by the time they reached the midway point in their training they had done well over 50 C-rank missions. Kakashi would also get multiple missions in the same area and have the teams do them all at once in order to get them used to working in a war time setting where breaks were rare. Despite this there were few if any problems. That was also when they got the surprise of their lives.
"Congrats everyone! Naruto and Sasuke just told me that you have surpassed your skill levels from the fifth war. Good work." Kakashi congratulated the genin who were twitching. "However, you are still not ready for the Juubi or Madara."
"Are you kidding me?!" Ino yelled. How the hell could they not be ready for the fourth war yet if they had surpassed their levels from the fifth war?
"Nope." Sasuke said and the two nodded at each other.
"If you want to know how you aren't ready then we will show you exactly where we were when we fought against Madara and the Juubi. Bear in mind that neither of us were a match for them." Naruto said and the two let the control they had on their chakra fall. Almost instantly they were coated in chakra and the ground seemed to almost shy away from the force that they were exuding. Naruto was almost instantly engulfed by gold, flame like chakra and black markings quickly made their way across his body. Grunting a little at the force of the chakra the two looked at their comrades who were staring in shock. Then just as quickly as it arrived the presence dropped leaving almost no trace that it had been there.
"That is where we were and we could barely fight Madara. Gai with all eight gates open only slowed him down for the fifteen seconds it took for him to regenerate the damage that it took. That is what you are up against. Bare in mind that Sasuke and I couldn't beat Madara nor could we stop him." Naruto said wincing a little as he moved his arm.
"Are you alright dobe?"
"My body still isn't ready to bear the force of Kyuubi's chakra. What I can use I can't use for long. My reaction times aren't back to normal and Senjutsu is out of the question right now. This isn't good I may still need it to fight Orochimaru..." He groaned.
"HOLY SHIT! Madara is stronger than you two? I almost passed out when your chakra flared!" Ino exclaimed feeling fear creep into her.
"Yes, but remember we still have time before we face Madara. We also know who resurrects him and as far as we know he is the only person other than Orochimaru that knew where to find his remains." Sasuke pointed out making the genin nod in fear. After a second Naruto sat down tiredly and looked at the jonin.
"I need advice. Sasuke and I have come to a roadblock that we need to pass before we can go any farther." The jonin gave a startled expression and sat down signifying a break.
"In the second phase of the chunin exams, Orochimaru attacks team seven and gives Sasuke the cursed seal of heaven. I've already told some of you this however, this is the problem that we are having. The seal is a major contributing factor in Sasuke's defection from the hidden leaf. Not only did it allow Orochimaru to access his mind, it forced his darker emotions and ambitions to the forefront of his mind and made him even more obsessed than he already was. Preventing that would ensure that there are no hiccups down the road. Even though I know that Sasuke is more mentally sound this time around it still has it's risks." Naruto explained. Asuma tilted his head and blinked in curiosity.
"Like what?"
"A ten percent chance of survival. Mental instability. The ability to be controlled and manipulated. Personality changes." Naruto rattled off.
"What is there to question then. It should be prevented right?" TenTen asked.
"However, it also allows the recipient to access Senjutsu without the training and get a quick power boost that could easily place an average genin on the same level as a jonin or even an ANBU." Naruto pointed out making the genin blink.
"Sasuke had mastered the seal to the point that he could pull Senjutsu through his Susanoo. It was actually a powerful tool in his arsenal. However, the Senjutsu is tainted and easily able to overcome the person using it and make them dependent on it. I have developed a seal that can remove the negative aspects of the seal and purify the Senjutsu but Sasuke and I are unsure if we want to allow this to happen or whether or not it is worth it. He could learn Senjutsu on his own so it isn't like he is cut off of it...but the seal negates the limitations of the real thing."
"Limitations?" Kakashi asked having never heard of it before.
"The time to gather the Senjutsu, the time limit to using it while moving and the fact that you can't gather the Senjutsu while moving. At least, I haven't found a way yet." Naruto sighed. Kakashi nodded. Those would be limits worth overcoming.
"I see. Add in the fact that Sasuke may die this time around and you have a very big risk."
"You have to factor in what will happen if Orochimaru fails to give him the seal this time as well." Shikamaru pointed out. The clearing went silent as the group tried to decipher the complex problem presented. All of a sudden Fu's eyes light up.
"You said that the main reason to have the seal was to keep Orochimaru from changing the plans and alleviate the constraints of Senjutsu right? If that is true, then why don't you make a seal that can isolate the heaven seal as soon as it is placed preventing its influence from spreading. Then after a preset amount of time remove the seal slowly so that if anyone is watching it they won't know until it is to late. That would also give you enough time to devise a seal that mimics the Senjutsu portion of the seal and use that to eliminate the weaknesses that you pointed out in the use of Senjutsu!"
"Brilliant..." Naruto breathed in wonder. Sasuke felt his eyes widen in wonder. How had they not thought of that? It allows them to take both courses of action and allows the dobe to use his Senjutsu more freely. It also means that he would be less reliant on the power of a madman.
"You are an absolute genius Fu!" Sasuke proclaimed in excitement. All the months of worry had instantly vanished.
"How will you convince Orochimaru that you have in fact received and are suffering the effects of the seal if it is isolated the moment you get it?" Ino asked in confusion.
"I know how it felt the first time and I am a shinobi. I can act as if it has taken root and place a very subtle genjutsu on him to make him see what he wants to see." Sasuke replied happily. The group nodded pleased that they had solved the problem and then moved back to their training.
Back in Konoha some time later...
"I see. The group has done an impressive amount of missions in the time that you were away and from your reports your genin are quite a bit more powerful." Hiruzen said after reading the reports given to him by the jonin in front of him. He had to admit that when the large group had entered his office he almost hadn't recognized them. The genin barely looked as if they had just graduated from the academy and looked more like veteran shinobi. They were alert and almost tense even though they were in friendly territory.
"Although it seems as if you have trained them for war, why is that?"
"You can never be to cautious. However, now that you mention it..." Kakashi mused and turned to the genin. "Relax you are on vacation until the chunin exams begin. However, I want each of you to practice your individual chakra exercises. Understood?" All of the genin almost instantly deflated at the declaration and went back to looking like new genin.
"Impressive isn't it?" Asuma whispered at seeing the Sandaime's face. "If need be they have the intimidation factor and at the same time they can make the enemy underestimate them merely by relaxing. Despite their looks however, they are still quite alert." The Sandaime had to admit that it was indeed impressive. He had never seen anything like it.
"Just what kind of training did you do to get this effect on them?" Almost immediately the genin had looks of horror on their faces and they began muttering things that suspiciously sounded like "evil", "sadist", "hell", "ambushes" and even "first rule of Kakashi's training do not speak about Kakashi's training". Sweat dropping he released the group from his office and sighed as the elders walked in almost instantly.
"I see they have returned. I still say letting them leave was a big mistake."
"I know that Homura but would you rather raise suspicion in front of the other jonin and genin? One of which was a Nara?"
"That is true but I still don't like it." Koharu sniffed.
"I also know that they may have held things back from their reports. There is no way that they spent that much time getting the genin up to mid-chunin level but I have no way to prove it. Questioning that in front of the genin would not have gone over well either." Hiruzen sighed. It seemed that the longer they tried to figure out what happened the more confusing everything got. He was to old for this.
With Naruto...
"Is there something that I can help you with?"
"I came with a proposition if you are interested."
"I will think about it Danzo." Naruto said before disappearing revealing himself to be a shadow clone.
'How did he know what I was about to ask and how did he know that I was following him?'
Four days later...
"As many of you know the chunin exams are coming up and any genin that has completed eight missions is eligible to enter." The Sandaime said to the group in front of him.
"Sandaime-sama I don't mean to question you however there is something that has been bothering me for some time now." Kakashi spoke making everyone turn to look in horror at the jonin who was on time. "If the requirement is so generic and lenient to boot, how do we still have genin after the chunin exam? There is no level requirements for the missions so long as eight have been successfully completed. That means that if a jonin wanted to quit trying they could complete eight D-ranks and then nominate their genin. If they fail there is nothing to worry about because genin fail all the time but if they die no one questions the jonin's training methods or the missions that they had done. Shouldn't there be a level requirement?" The room broke into murmurs as the man's words sunk in. They had never thought about that before. Why were the requirements to qualify so low?
"I understand what you are saying Kakashi but I have full trust in my jonin not to do something so reckless. Now then we will start with the rookie teams." As soon as he said this many of the jonin as well as Iruka thought that they would pass up on the chance. After all they hadn't been ninja near long enough.
"I, Hatake Kakashi, leader of squad seven consisting of Hyuga Hinata, Uchiha Sasuke and Uzumaki Naruto do hereby nominate my team for the chunin exams."
"I, Momochi Zabuza, leader of squad eight consisting of Aburame Shino, Uzumaki Fu and Yuki Haku do nominate my team for the chunin exams."
"I, Sarutobi Asuma, leader of squad ten consisting of Nara Shikamaru, Yamanaka Ino and Akimichi Choji do hereby nominate my team for the chunin exams." As soon as Asuma finished the room exploded into whispers about the genin teams.
"Now wait a minute. All three of the teams were my students and while I admit that they have improved they are no where near ready for the exams! It will destroy them!" Iruka shouted protectively.
"Actually I think that the chunin exams are no where near ready for them." Zabuza joked making some jonin scowl. As soon as they had heard that Zabuza had taken over squad eight they had expected this of him but not of Kakashi and Asuma.
"Iruka I understand your concern and while I admit that it is a good thing for you to have for your students you must understand that they are not your students any more and as such you need to have more faith in them." Kakashi chastised. "Furthermore they are soldiers and our soldiers at that. We have a better understanding of what they are capable of than you do."
"Kakashi!" Iruka shouted in shock not expecting that from the jonin that stressed teamwork above all else.
"Enough. Do you truly feel that the team is ready?"
"My team Sandaime-sama has already completed an S-rank mission I am more than confident in their abilities." Kakashi said without hesitation making many jonin sputter. Genin completing an S-rank mission was impossible!
"Very well. I have seen the results of your training with them and I must admit that I was quite shocked when you told me that they had defeated those three. Continue."
"I, Might Gai, leader of squad nine consisting of Rock Lee, TenTen and Hyuga Neji do hereby nominate my team for the chunin exams." The rest of the meeting went off without a hitch and soon everyone was filing out of the room. Iruka was quiet and somewhat sullen. He knew that the chunin exams had a high mortality rate and to top it off they had ended many careers of genin not ready for the stress. 'How could Kakashi be so irresponsible?' He thought.
"You are more than welcome to join us for a training session if you want to to see that I am not endangering them unnecessarily." Kakashi said from behind him. "I know that you care for Naruto more than the others. Trust me I would have not entered them if I didn't feel that they were ready. In all actuality, I would have preferred to enter them solo or into the jonin exams but that wouldn't have been allowed." Iruka glared at Kakashi but followed him anyway to the training field where team seven was meditating.
"I thought that I said you were on vacation?" He joked making the genin look up.
"We are. We haven't done any heavy training or missions." Naruto pointed out making Iruka groan.
"Well in that case you wouldn't mind a mild sparring session to keep your skills up." All three genin were on their feet in an instant and into their individual stances.
"That seems a bit different Hinata."
"It's a variation of the juken that I have been working on for a while but I need to field test it against someone that isn't Sasuke or Naruto." Hinata confessed. Kakashi nodded and the spar commenced.
**************T.B.C**************
A/N: As I said before I wanted to go more in depth with the training and the missions but then I would have never got to the chunin exams. More of their skills and what they worked on will be revealed during the exam itself. Also a bit shorter than I wanted but it will have to do. Again I am sorry for the long wait for the chapter but here it is. I will also try to be more aware of when the individual updates go up. 'Til next time! Ja ne!