Chapter 47

I hope everyone had a pleasant Christmas and New Year.

Review Replies

GunBlade2018: Talk about a comment that makes your day, thank you!

Po: Apologies Po, I completely forgot to reply to your reviews in the last chapter. So after reading through all three of your comments, I frankly, agree with everything you laid out. Looking back at earlier chapters and Arcs some of my character building is quite simply, terrible. You highlighted perhaps one of the biggest examples of this and it is definitely something that will be getting a complete overhaul when I get to it in the remaster.

-(*)-

Use that Downtime wisely

"NARUTO!" a boisterous voice cheered at an uncomfortably loud volume mere moments after he'd walked into the bar. Naruto winced at the slurred voice that assaulted his ears but thankfully was able to home in on its source – one drunk Izumo.

"Who in the world is shouting?" Inuzuka Hana asked following Naruto in a few moments later, she too scanned the occupants of the bar and quickly spotted Izumo, "Oh no…" she whispered – "HANA!" Izumo drunkenly shouted. Next to Izumo was a very irate Anko, "Will you stop shouting?" she hissed venomously, her fingers massaging her temples.

"Uh hi, Izumo-san," Naruto and Hana replied lest he think they hadn't heard him and shouted again, something that would have quickly earned them Anko's ire.

The bar as a whole, however, was surprisingly quiet given a fair number of people were present, people spoke but their voices were barely louder than a whisper. "Seems nobody wants to annoy Anko," Naruto whispered to Hana as they walked to the bar, she nodded her agreement. Both quickly and quietly had their drinks in hand and seeing they knew nobody other than Izumo and Kotetsu decided to join them.

"Finally," Anko huffed in a slightly pained voice, "Someone I can talk to who doesn't shout." She winced and screwed her eyes shut as she groaned in pain. "You ok, Anko?" Hana asked tentatively not bothering with honorifics knowing of Anko's dis-use of them. "She's got a huuuge headache," Izumo cheered in a voice that was far too happy and again way too loud. The look he got from Anko was murderous.

Realising his mistake Izumo clamped his mouth shut and prayed Anko wouldn't vent her pain on him. He was visibly relieved when Anko turned to face Hana, "I'm hungover," she briefly explained. The two newly arrived Shinobi looked at one another then down at the small sake jar on the table in front of Anko. She spotted their gazes, "I was in no mood to cook bacon," she said.

Her excuse confused them more than anything, "Y-you could have just gone to one of the breakfast bars in the market quarter," Hana supplied.

Anko rested her forehead on the table with a groan, "Too far, walking here was hard enough," she tamely answered in an attempt to cover for the fact she'd completely forgotten those breakfast bars existed.

The two of them shared another perplexed look, they knew Anko's apartment was mere minutes from the market, in fact the bar they were in was further away. They were about to call her out of it but were prevented from doing so.

"NARUTO!" a second familiar voice shouted from across the bar. Naruto turned his head as Anko's fingernails dug into her temples, the noise further hammering at her already massive headache. Naruto quickly spotted Kotetsu approaching having just left the bathroom. And just like Izumo, Kotetsu too was drunk as evidenced by his attempt to give Hana a hug that almost resulted in them both ending up on the floor.

After the Inuzuka dragged him back to his feet he felt the full-force of Anko's glare upon him, he gulped as she spoke, "If either you or your idiot friend here shout one more time I'm going to castrate you with a snake."
"I-I-Is that even p-possible?" Izumo slurred. "We're five seconds away from finding out!" she snapped. "Gah," she immediately growled as her own voice spiked the pain once again.

Thankfully her warning seemed to have had the desired effect as both drunken Chūnin stood stock still, backs straight, a little colour drained from their red cheeks. The consensus was simple, you abided by Anko's warnings, not only were they creative but she would actually follow through on them. That crumb of common-sense broke through the veil of drunken stupor that clouded their judgement.

"Have you taken anything for it?" Hana asked. "Yeah," she said through clenched teeth, "I took the herbal remedy a while ago, still waiting for it to fucking work." Hana nodded in understanding, the herbal remedy for hangovers was effective, very effective in fact, the only problem was that it took an age to work. So all Anko could do was wait for its effects to take hold.

The minutes that followed passed in relative quiet, someone would say a sentence or two but it never sparked into a full conversation. Time passed and Anko's fingers, tensed again her temples and forehead began to relax, the remedy finally taking hold.

"Finally," she eventually said in relief standing up straight and rolling her neck to a series of satisfying clicks and cracks. "Feel better now?"
"Much," she replied to Hana's question, that trademark evil grin making its return. "So what did you get up to last night?" Naruto asked. She shrugged, "Same as usual. Found a bar – got drunk. Found someone who caught my eye – got laid," she casually answered.

"Funnily enough," she continued looking at Hana, "I spent last night with one of your clanswomen, feisty little thing she was," Anko said with a grin, "She really liked the biting and scratching."

Izumo and Kotetsu both snickered behind their hands in light of an Inuzuka seemingly living up the clans sexual stereotypes of preferring rougher sex than most, Hana meanwhile just rolled her eyes before addressing the drunk friends, "We can find out if dogs are able to give castrations without mangling everything else in the process," she said menacingly. The snickering stopped immediately, Anko and Naruto laughed.

"Maybe I should have been finding out if you're all bark, no bite last night," she joked. Hana grinned in return, "I'm flattered, Anko, but I just ain't a ladies lady."
"Oh you don't have to have to bat solely for the women's team, you can try out for both," her grin widened. "It's great fun – don't knock it till you try it is all I'm saying."
"Anyway, steering this conversation elsewhere. Chūnin Exams, anyone got a role?" Hana asked even as Anko pouted.

Naruto shook his head, "No, I got nothing." Anko's lips meanwhile contorted into a smug grin. Izumo and Kotetsu both looked as if they wanted to say something but held their silence, the earlier threats still at the forefront of their minds.

"What's with that look, Anko? What did you get?"
"Oh, nothing too important," she said with a dainty sniff. "I'm calling bullshit on that – spill," Naruto demanded. Instead of answering Anko instead checked her nails, breathing on then buffing them on the sleeve of her Trenchcoat. "Anko…" they all said drolly.

"Oh, ok," she said excitedly, "You're talking to the Proctor of the second exam!" she proudly exclaimed. "Seriously?" Naruto found himself asking as Hana gave her a congratulatory pat on the shoulder. "Yes, seriously. Hokage-sama called me to his office last week and told me I was going to be Proctor for the second exam. I almost jumped over his desk to hug him." That made Naruto laugh, "You should have done, the awkward look on his face would have been priceless. Anyway, congratulations," he finished sincerely if a little enviously.

"I wonder who the Proctor for the first exam is then?" Naruto questioned aloud. "Why only the first?" Hana asked, "Why not the thir… You know who the Proctor for the third is, don't you?" Naruto smiled sheepishly, "Yeah…" he admitted.

…

"Well come on then, tell us!" Anko demanded.

"We already know it isn't you," Hana muttered. "I wish it was but no, you technically aren't far off though."
"It's Tri," Anko said immediately. "No, not necessarily. We don't know what exactly he's referring to, he could have bee…"
"It's Tri-kun," he interrupted. "…Oh" Hana uttered, Anko smirking at her. "So that makes two, now I'm wondering who the third is?" Anko followed up.

"We know," Kotetsu squeaked breaking the two Chūnin's rather impressive bout of collective silence. The three of them all looked at Kotetsu, "You do?" they incredulously asked as one. "Uh huh," he said vigorously nodding. "Well spit it out then," Anko said blankly. "Only if you say please," Izumo retorted without thinking.

Kotetsu paled as Anko's eyes narrowed, her gaze burning into them, "Four seconds…"
"It's Ibiki-san!" Kotetsu said in alarm, desperate to preserve his ability to procreate. "Wow, I didn't see that one coming," Hana said just before Naruto started laughing.

"It does seem like the obvious choice though. Who better to test them mentally than Ibiki," Anko said in a moment of professionalism, "And what are you laughing at?" Anko also said, Naruto's laughter had continued all through her statement.

"Those poor Genin. They get subjected to Ibiki-san's test, then they get your multi-day combat exercise straight after. Are there going to be any left for Tri to officiate a tournament for?"

Anko grinned herself, "A fair question, but worry not I'm sure a smattering will survive to reach the finals – Not that it'd be my fault if none of them are able to complete what I've got in mind."
"You know what you're exam is going to be?"
"I may have had an idea or two."
"And how many is your idea going to kill?"
"Hey!" she said scandalised, "It won't be my fault if any of the Gaki's snuff it."

"I'll tell Tou-san to have a supply of body bags ready."
"If there's a body left to bag," Anko said quietly.

Her comment brought a moment's silence to the table that could be described as eerie.

"Okay then, definitely not worried about my Otouto's safety or anything," Naruto remarked before asking a question of the two drunk Chūnin, "You two have any idea what Ibiki-san's test will entail?" Both shook their heads, "No, *Hic*," Kotetsu said, "He's b-being very quiet about it," Izumo added.

"Won't it just be like every other opening exam, a written test of some kind?" Hana said. "Hmm, that's true but this is Ibiki-san we're talking about, there's no one better at mental manipulation. He'll have a way of really cranking up the pressure." Both women nodded their agreement.

"Hang on," Hana said in realisation, "How did you two know Ibiki-san is the Proctor?" she asked the lifelong friends. "Cause we're some of the Chūnin aids," Izumo answered as Kotetsu was too pre-occupied with drinking. "Ah, making sure the kiddies don't cheat," Anko smirked as a subtle saddened look crossed Naruto's face.

"What with the glum look all of a sudden?" Anko questioned. "Ah, nothing really. Just a tad envious of you and Tri-kun. Sitting on the sidelines just watching is going to be dull in comparison."
"Nawh, poor wittle Naruto," Anko teased reaching across the table to pinch his cheek. "Gerrof," he laughed lighting slapping her hand away. The T&I specialist playfully rubbed the back of her slapped hand, "Besides it's your own fault. You're the one who wanted to play babysitter for the Iwa girl."
"I suppose."

"Any idea how many are gonna show up?" Hana asked no one in particular. Again Anko shrugged her shoulders as Naruto spoke, "Hundreds by the sounds of it, Tou-san thinks this will be the biggest Chūnin Exams for years. It's going to get really busy around town when they all start arriving."
"You got that right. Getting my Dango is a respectable time-frame is going to be nigh impossible," Anko pouted. "Then to your Dango," Naruto laughed raising his cup. "That's something I can get behind, to my Dango!" she cheered, the others eventually joining in.

-(*)-

An hour later

"Aww, come on, do you really have to go? You've only just got here," Anko pouted following Naruto's announcement he had to leave. "I've been here nearly two hours Anko and yes I need to go, I'm helping Rezano-kun train… That's not going to work, Anko," he said as she gave him the crocodile tears treatment.

"Oh fine," she huffed, crossing her arms as she gave up. Naruto quickly bid his farewells and departed. Stepping out onto the street he drew a deep breath and opted to walk home instead of hopping across the rooftops, it wasn't that far anyway.

'Really glad I didn't drink anything strong, I was in there longer than intended,' he thought looking up at the suns position in the sky. After stretching his arms he reached behind him to ensure Kagizume was still secure in its sheath, losing it would have been rather embarrassing. Kuchibashi was still at home on the wall, the shorter Kagizume very much the weapon he carried daily.

Naruto weaved seamlessly through the throngs of people going about their business, it was one of the busiest times of day so the streets were busy. Most were civilians yet none stopped Naruto to talk despite his quasi 'celebrity' status that came with being a member of the Hokage family. He would still get waves and nods of greeting but they didn't interrupt him and that suited him just fine.

'It's busy now, I dread to think it's going to be like in a few weeks,' he noted. Before long the civilian crowds would be joined by hundreds of Genin and their accompanying Jōnin. And it would only get worse for the third exam a month later, that brought crowds of spectators and merchants from across the Elemental Nations. Hotels would be fully booked up, bars and restaurants would be crammed and the stadium on finals day would be heaving.

It didn't come as a surprise, there was a lot of money to be made on Chūnin Exams from gambling and such, especially ones featuring multiple major villages. 'Someone should probably keep an eye on Tsunade-sama on finals day.'

Making sure everyone behaved themselves would be a real pain and he didn't envy those who would be charged with those duties. There was very real potential for latent animosity to boil over into violence. Kurotsuchi had stressed this greatly during the meetings she and Hokage-sama had held over Iwa's participation. She'd sought substantial assurances over her Genin's safety, after all, Konoha, Suna and Taki would also be in attendance. So to ensure the rule of law was abided by ANBU had been drafted for policing duties.

And Naruto was almost certain that the Iwa Genin would be instructed by their sensei amongst others to push those boundaries as far as they will go. It was worth it in Naruto's eyes though, his favourite Iwa Shinobi would be here too.

A small smile crossed his face at the prospect of spending more time with Kurotsuchi. They'd have to be more mindful, there would be more eyes this time – a greater chance of being caught. She'd not been gone a fortnight and he still struggled to find things to occupy his evenings.

At that his smile turned to a frown, not even fourteen days gone, they'd been together not even a month and her absence was already having a detrimental effect on him, it was actually something of concern.

Yes, she was his first girlfriend so this was still a relatively new experience for him but as a Shinobi he was trained from an early age to set aside emotion, it made it difficult to form those personal bonds so to have developed one this quickly went in the face of his training and mental conditioning.

'Perhaps this is something I should discuss with her. It's too important to go through the scroll,' he wondered just as he arrived at the gate that led up to his family home. Even twenty years after first buying the place his parents still loved it, they were lucky it was still big enough.

From previous conversations with his mother and father Naruto knew that they'd only initially intended to have two children which would have been him and Rezano. But Tri's unknown arrival the very same day as Rezano's birth and subsequent adoption which was followed a few years later by the unexpected surprise of Minusha.

Minato had initially questioned whether they really needed a five-bedroom house but Kushina had stood firm, she'd fallen in love with the place, in what turned out to be an inspired decision.

That was something else Naruto needed to put some more thought into at some point, was it time he moved out and got his own place? He was in his late teens now and earning more than enough from missions to pay for it. The money he'd accumulated from his time as a Jūnishi meant he even had enough to buy a pretty big house outright, no need for a mortgage.

"There you are!" an annoyed looking Rezano complained. "Sorry Rezano-kun. I lost track of time a little," he apologised. Rezano, all geared up, had clearly been waiting a while huffed and grabbed him by the sleeve and proceeded to drag him towards their back garden via the kitchen so they could start.

"Hey Kaa-chan," he said spotting the woman sat at the kitchen table. She lifted her head from a letter to the amusing sight of her youngest son dragging the substantially larger frame of his older sibling through the kitchen. "Hey Naruto-kun," she smirked.

Their backyard was a large, open space well suited to light sparring such as this. Naruto was dumped at one end of the garden while Rezano positioned himself at the other. "You better be ready, Nii-san," he warned. Naruto grinned, drew Kagizume and adopted a defensive stance.

'He seems a little frustrated,' he noted judging from the glare he was getting as Rezano obscured his hands from view. 'Oh, what range are we going for, Otouto.'

He soon found out as Rezano unleashed his opening strikes from middling to long distance. Naruto parried and deflected each of them in turn hardly having to move his feet. The lack of movement meant he could better analyse Rezano's strike patterns.

Having difficult to read patterns was important for the Jinchuriki when using his chain kunai at range, there were only two of them and were often far apart, if his patterns were too easy to predict then an opponent could easily slip through his guard. It took a few moments to reel his chains back in to defend himself so for those few moments he was completely exposed.

And slip through was exactly what Naruto was going to do when he'd learnt these new patterns, these were more intricate than the lasts ones he'd observed so he was wary of deliberately placed 'flaws' in the pattern that was meant to ensnare him.

"Good, these attack patterns are better, harder to read," he commended as he learnt the pattern in its entirety. Rezano made the mistake of immediately repeating it and Naruto struck immediately. A low swing aimed to get Naruto off the ground was his downfall. Naruto instead used slipped the thin blade of Kagizume through one of the chain links and pinned it to the ground. In an instant a kunai was at Rezano's throat.

"You're getting better, faster too," he reassured him as the younger brother groaned in frustration. "Remember, no one, to my knowledge, has ever had a combat style like yours so this is all your work, you've very little to use as a foundation," he reiterated lowering his kunai. "I know," he sighed, "It's just… You always seem to find a really simple way through. It takes me hours to come up with these combinations and you slip through in seconds."

Naruto placed a hand on his shoulder, "I might slip through in seconds but what about your teammates? Those in your class in the Academy? Those are who you should be comparing yourself against. I'm years older and have a lot more experience to draw on. You will get better, much better – I guarantee it. You've still to incorporate high power Ninjutsu into this style and that is where your true strength lies. Those two elements blended together sounds pretty damn awesome."

His words of encouragement seemed to have worked as a small smile appeared on Rezano's face, "Thanks Nii-san."
"How's your defensive work?"
"I could do with some help," he admitted. "Let's work on that some then."

Naruto pulled Kagizume free releasing the pinned chain, after which they went through a series of Kenjutsu exercises of increasing difficulty. It was Naruto on offence and Rezano just defending and while Naruto limited his speed, he did not limit the complexity of his attacks. The aim was to force Rezano's to improvise on defence, improvisation helped train the body to act independently of the mind.

A problem for many Shinobi was that the speeds their body was capable of exceeded the speed at which their mind could think, and so the mind became a limiter on their continued development. Thus training one's body to react instinctively without the need for thought became a necessity. And although Rezano had yet to encounter this problem the successful training of this skill would allow for incredible reaction times.

The attacks to begin with were simple but far too many got through for Rezano's liking. Yet, paradoxically, as Naruto upped the complexity Rezano's defending improved, fewer attacks got through. 'He is succeeding in isolating his body from his mind.' Naruto grinned allowing him a brief respite. "Ok, Otouto. I'm going to start mixing in Taijutsu now."

The instant he finished speaking Naruto buried his foot in Rezano's stomach. "Gah," the Genin winced stumbling back unable to prevent himself dropping to one knee. "The hell, Nii-san?" he complained. "You got distracted," Naruto simply replied. "Yeah… Because you were talking."

"I was, however, you shouldn't be getting distracted by a sentence. You must always be mindful of potential breaks in your concentration," he said turning to return to his starting position.

'Look beneath the underneath,' Rezano thought recalling one of Kakashi's 'slogans'. Quietly taking one of his chain kunai he threw it around Naruto's ankles. "Yes!" he fist pumped jumping to his feet, the chain looping around his ankles. Naruto chuckled, "Better. But remember, take advantage of every opportunity given to you, and remember to press those advantages."

Then, the instant he finished talking, he was gone. "Damn it," Rezano muttered as Naruto was replaced by a log. Rezano hurriedly looked around but couldn't see him.

Remembering a previous training session he suppressed his chakra for a few moments to see if he could sense Naruto's. Immediately he felt something, something directly behind him. He spun as fast as he could and there was… nothing. "Where did he…" the blade of Kagizume was gently placed against his neck.

"Your spatial awareness is improving," Naruto noted, "It used to take you much longer to locate my chakra."
"Yeah I still struggle with it though, the problem is suppressing my chakra enough to sense anything," he glumly admitted. "It's not your fault, you just have so much chakra. Tri-kun's not very good at it either for the same reason. Rezano nodded, those with large chakra reserves tended to struggle when it came to sensory skills. To some it came naturally, they'd become sensory Ninja, something Konoha had very few of.

"Hey, Nii-san. While we're here can you take a look at my water walking?" he asked, chirping up a little. "Sure. I'd heard you'd been introduced to the exercise."
"Yeah, back in Nami no Kuni. I didn't get much time to practise it before… well, you know. But it's something I've been practising since I've been home and I think I'm getting better."
"Alright, let's see it."

Reeling in his chains he unhooked his kunai and replaced them in their holsters on his waist. They walked over to the garden's pond where Rezano slipped his sandals off before tentatively stepping out onto the calm water.

Naruto watched closely as Rezano struggled a little for balance on the calm surface, paying particular attention to how Rezano's feet contacted the water. He stayed silent as he observed. "How am I doing?" Rezano eventually asked. "Not bad. Your chakra control looks solid. Look at the ripples for an indicator, you want just a single ripple for every footstep, any more and you're not using your chakra as efficiently as you could. And where did you get the idea to take your sandals off?"

"Meshikamaru-san said it would be easier if I took them off," he answered. "And I'd agree, not having to push your chakra beyond your skin greatly simplifies the task until you're ready to try it with them on.

"I'd also recommend trying this as a chakra control exercise," he added kneeling down, he placed his hand on the water's surface and pushed. But no matter how hard he pushed his hand never plunged beneath the surface. "Water walking and tree climbing are great for learning to channel chakra to your feet. This is a simple way to practise channelling it to your hands. I presume you want to learn the Rasengan one day?"
"Uh huh," Rezano nodded. "This exercise will help you prepare for it as you have to channel a lot of chakra through your hands."

Rezano knelt down next to him and gave it a try, it took almost no force for his hand to pass into the water. "The more force you apply, the more chakra you need to use and the harder it is to control," Naruto explained

"Can you do this with your feet too?" That idea hadn't actually occurred to Naruto, "I've never thought of trying it but I don't why it would be any different," he admitted.

Rezano grinned as he quickly stood up to try it, his grin widened as he had to push down fairly hard to get his foot beneath the surface, it did work. "Nice going, Rezano-kun. I think you just came up with your first chakra exercise." His grin grew even larger and morphed into a proper smile at Naruto's words.

Kushina too was smiling, although she had continued her work unhindered, it was a nice day so she'd opened the window. She'd heard everything said between her two boys and she couldn't help smiling at the encouragement Naruto had given.

End Chapter