AN: I recently realized I had entirely forgotten to put up a disclaimer! Gee, it sure is a good thing I noticed; I'm sure the lawyers were filling out the infringement suit paperwork as I wrote this chapter! Well, better late than never.
Disclaimer: Naruto©® and it's characters are not mine. It's owned by Kishimoto and some mighty fine companies that certainly wouldn't be petty enough to sue the likes of me, because they're oh so very nice. Not to mention the fact that, under the Fair Use Rule of the United States Copyright Act of 1976, they can't touch me. Furthermore, and most importantly, I have literally no money.
Despite some of the actual content of this story being mine, I have no effective way to enforce it. So while I'll ask you to please get permission before ripping off an idea of mine, that will only stop nice, cooperative people that I'd generally get along with anyway.
It's probably a good thing the general public really misunderstands copyright/trademark/patent law; not that I'm an expert on it.
oooooo
Sakura knocked on a door again.
Naruto soon appeared on the other side of the threshold. "Hey, something wrong?"
"Can I crash at your place tonight?"
Naruto groaned. "Come in, but this doesn't mean you're staying, just that I'll listen."
"Thanks."
The pair walked over to the sofa again and sat.
"So what's the problem?"
"I had a fight with my parents and stormed out. They want me to quit being a ninja!"
Naruto snorted. "It's a bit late for that. Why did they let you go to the academy in the first place?"
"That's what I said! They told me that the academy was the best education, and they had planned for me to switch to the civilian system when I was ten or so. Apparently, they thought my enthusiasm was 'a phase', and that I'd grow out of it! When I became a genin, they thought one or two missions in I'd give up and call it quits. Ugh, it's so patronizing of them! Sure, I was a bit girly, but I want to be a ninja, even if the work conditions do suck!"
"So you argued, and left? Hmm. That sucks, but they can't make you quit."
"I know, but they can try to make me want to quit. Thankfully they won't throw me out of the house; that would defeat the purpose of me taking over the family business. So I just need to borrow your couch tonight, I can handle things tomorrow."
"Why can't you just go back? Or crash at Ino's? She'd be happy to have you, right?"
"If I went home now, it would be a sign of weakness, that I depend on them. If I come back tomorrow after team time, I'll be much better off. As to Ino's, that's the first place they'd think of looking for me. Where else can I turn? I don't have my wallet, certainly not Sasuke, and sleeping in Kakashi's apartment would be weird. I'm not sure if it would be more or less improper to crash at my single sensei's apartment than yours; either way, you're less likely to tell my parents I was here. I don't want them to ever know where I went, it'll bolster my bargaining position."
"You really see your parents as the enemy?"
Sakura sighed, "I love my parents, but right now they are trying to stand between me and my goal. I'm nearly an adult, and this is the path I've chosen. It's too late for them to try and change things now. How would you like it if the Hokage tried to ban you from eating ramen?"
Naruto nodded. "He tried a couple times, as punishment. It… didn't work out well for anyone. I see what you mean. Fine, you can sleep on the couch tonight, but if you don't fix things with your parents, you can't stay here. I've got a girlfriend- remember? I don't know how I'm going to explain earlier as it is. Thank Kami she knows me well enough to expect these sort of shenanigans."
"How would she even find out?"
"Hinata is a Hyuuga, they can tell stuff. I might be able to keep what happened under wraps, but it isn't worth it. She'll be annoyed with me, but I think she'll mostly be disappointed that you and I have seen more of each other than she and I have."
Sakura's eyebrows rose. "Huh, shy Hinata? I wouldn't have guessed."
"They say to watch out for the quiet ones. I keep getting hints that in this case it's true."
Sakura held up her hand, "That's probably enough sharing on that front. Do you have any books? I usually read a bit before I sleep."
"I've got training manuals and educational stuff, or manga. Help yourself to what's on the shelf," he said, getting up and pulling a sheet off a bookcase packed with mostly action manga. Sakura stood up and started browsing the selections.
"Okay, it's getting late, so I'm going to bed too; oh, I do get first shower. If this afternoon was anything to go by, you'll use up all the hot water."
Sakura turned around and glared, but Naruto just grinned and winked before retreating to his bedroom. The girl rolled her eyes and grabbed the first volume of a samurai series that looked acceptable. She grabbed the sheet that had been covering the bookcase, and a couch pillow off the floor. Turning on the lamp, she turned off the ceiling light and slipped off her shoes. Curling up, she started reading, preparing for a night on an unfamiliar couch.
oooooo
After a morning full of awkward moments, such as Naruto walking out of the bathroom in a towel ("We must stop meeting like this, Sakura!"), the two were at training ground seven with Sasuke. All three were training while waiting for Kakashi's arrival, wondering what their next mission would entail. Today they didn't have to wait long. Kakashi appeared, as usual, without any warning.
"Well, seeing as you three did such a wonderful job, and since the mission involved C-rank obstacles, I'm giving you the day off. Please train some of the day, but you need a little R&R. Tomorrow is your scheduled day off of course, so when you come back in two days, we'll be training exclusively for a week before skipping straight to C-ranks if I'm happy with your progress.
Ah, one more thing before I leave you to do as you please, your upgraded C-rank pay! Don't spend it all in one place!" he said, tossing the envelopes to each genin. "Ja ne!" and he was gone again.
oooooo
Sasuke stayed at the training ground, which he had been doing more often, while Naruto, ironically, made a large number of clones then left. Sakura wanted to delay her homecoming for a while yet, so she too stayed and practiced her physical regimen.
Naruto stopped by the bank and deposited most of the mission earnings, before heading to the grocery store. He wasted no time in becoming Naruko, as he called his female self. Most grocers were too distracted by her assets to notice the whiskers, and he usually got a fair price, if not a slight discount. Taking mostly canned vegetables, along with his normal staples, Naruto wondered why the academy never mentioned the tendency for all your food to go bad while on missions.
oooooo
The blond tromped into his apartment with his food and started to put it away. Not too much of his food had gone bad, but he had to throw out some milk and some previously fresh produce yesterday when he had gotten back. Putting everything away, he got out his sealing book and a notepad and prepared to study.
oooooo
Naruto had been doing pretty well, although the occasional popping clone was a distraction. He was disturbed from his studies when he heard the door handle move. Putting his book down, he prepared to replace himself with the deck lounger on the roof, while reminding himself it was probably a friend.
The lock was picked quite fast, and shortly a jacketed girl was standing inside, hugging her boyfriend.
"I've missed you," Hinata said, obviously happy to be hugging him again.
"I've missed you too, I hope your mission went better than mine though."
"It was so boring. The most interesting thing was Kiba's fistfight with a few idiot yakuza. It wasn't even funny how he wiped the floor with them. While we were talking to the mission handlers I heard you had an upgraded mission! What happened?"
They had relocated to the sofa, and Hinata was sitting on Naruto's lap. The young man gave an overview of the mission, before going through the interesting bits. By the end, Hinata was hugging him again.
"Are you all right? How are your teammates?"
"None of us are hurt, we're fine."
"That's not what I meant, and you know it. All three of you made your first kills, and got into close combat. I'm really starting to dislike that sensei of yours, you shouldn't have had to do that so early."
"Hey, calm down. I can't speak for the others, but I'm glad for what happened. It's out of the way now, and I know I can do it. I feel more confident now, and none of us got seriously hurt. It turned out as well as it could have."
Hinata sighed, and put her head on his chest. "Fine, I agree that it went pretty well, I just wish it had happened a few months from now. You're leaving something out though, what else happened?"
Naruto rolled his eyes, and explained, "Well, as you can imagine, emotions were a little high, and Sakura did something sort of stupid. While Sasuke and I were bathing, she came down to tell us that Kakashi wanted to talk to Sasuke, which was true. She pretended that he had sent her with a cloth tied around her eyes to preserve our modesty and help her train blind fighting. Of course, he had done no such thing, and the cloth was sheer from her point of view. So we were getting dressed and I may have done some silly things, and she got an eyeful of us."
Hinata was growling, actually growling now, and Naruto knew he should get to the next part before Sakura got jyukened.
"So, um, we found out by chance, but didn't confront her. Instead, I planned a revenge prank."
Hinata stopped growling, and started groaning. "Naruto, did you actually think? Or has pranking become so ingrained it bypasses the brain and you do it by instinct? Please tell me you didn't Naruko your way into the woman's springs."
"No, that was plan F. I had a clone hide in her bathroom with a camera and wait for her to come out of the shower. Sasuke wanted a picture as preventative blackmail."
Hinata sighed and closed her eyes. "You know how you said you didn't know what to do as a boyfriend? I didn't think it would be this bad."
"Oh come on, I was practically forced to do it! She pranked the reigning master! A tooth for a tooth, a prank for a prank, an eyeful for an eyeful. At some point all the teams are going to see each other naked, it's part of ninja life. I'm not thrilled about Kiba seeing you like that, but I'm not going to raise a stink when it happens."
"I know that Naruto, I was being sarcastic- mostly. So what ended up happening?"
"Well, the plan worked, more or less. She came over later, upset and confused, and wanted the pictures and for me to promise not to do something like that again. I had realized what an idiot I had been when I saw her face when she realized what was happening. We talked, I gave her the negatives and told her Sasuke had one picture. We talked some more, I told her about the Green Pee Epidemic. For some reason she asked me out, I accidently let slip we were dating. I swore her to secrecy, and she went to get her photo from Sasuke."
Hinata started beating her head against Naruto's chest. Naruto let her for a minute until he held her still. She looked up, "You're leaving out parts again, but I suppose there was a lot to cover. Do you think she'll tell anyone about us?"
"I told her that this was a friendly prank. She knows that if she talks, I'll do an unfriendly prank. Anyway, she seems to think the story of the two of us is extremely romantic; if anything, she'll try and help us."
"We need to find your weirdness magnet, and flip the current."
Naruto smiled and kissed her forehead, "See, you get me, I'm an electromagnet. Sakura thought I was a rare earth metal."
Hinata grinned wickedly, "Well I can see her confusion. You are as dense as lead sometimes, though there's nothing rare about that."
"Oh, burned! I need some aloe vera over here. My girlfriend's an arsonist!"
Said girlfriend giggled and created a tiny flame on her finger.
"Whoa, not in the apartment!" he laughed, "The land lord would kill me."
She put it out, and they held each other for a minute.
"So are you mad at me?"
"… Annoyed; you need to think before you do stuff. I'm also pissed that you two have seen each other naked before we have."
"Heh, I knew you'd say that. You do realize that to create the sexy jutsu I watched the hot springs for a week when I was ten, right?"
Hinata facepalmed, then stood up, dragging Naruto with her.
"What?"
"Strip, we're getting naked," she commanded.
"Um, yes ma'am," Naruto acquiesced. There were some things you didn't argue with your girlfriend about.
oooooo
'Did that count as second base?' Naruto thought as he lay next to Hinata. They had put their underwear back on to prevent temptation to start again. 'The boys never could decide what second base meant; all the other bases were obvious enough. I guess I should call it one and a half-th base to be safe.'
"That was fun-"
"An understatement if you ask me," Naruto interrupted.
"-but I have to get back home; father might want a summary of my mission."
"Aww, will he even know you're back?"
"Soon he will. He seems to find out almost everything. All the teams have tomorrow off; I think they're trying to synchronize them in the beginning so we can all stay social. I hope it stays that way for a while."
"Yeah, it'll suck when everyone is out of the village at different times, and we can't meet up."
Hinata stood up and started putting on her clothes. "I'll see if I can get away before dinner. If not, we'll have tomorrow."
Naruto nodded, almost as happy to watch her put clothes on as watching her take them off. Hinata activated her eyes for a few moments, checking her clothing. Finding it acceptable, she smiled at Naruto. "Bye!"
"Later!" he waved as she left through the door. 'I think she's my karmic reward for the whole Kyubii thing. I wonder what her reward will be for putting up with me?'
oooooo
It was the day off for the genin, and the gang was hanging out in their hideout again. Everyone had something interesting to share; though as usual, Naruto's story beat the rest. It was approaching lunchtime, and the blond felt like having pizza.
"So, I want to take you guys to a secret ninja pub, but I'm not sure if it will be cool. Anyone want a harebrained adventure with lunch?"
Shikamaru groaned. "This 'Bunch of Grapes' you've told us about? Sounds troublesome."
"It's an awesome place, you all will love it. It feels like our hangout, only bigger, and you can order food. They even do soft drinks so ninja don't get drunk before shift. The only thing is, we only got in because Kakashi bent the rules to suit himself. If we try to just walk in, the patrons might not like it."
"You aren't going to let this rest, are you Naruto-kun?" Hinata asked from his lap. She was leaning back against his chest, with his arms around her.
"I think it's a cool place that you all deserve to go to, and Choji will go nuts for the food. I bet there's things there he's never even heard of."
"I'm sold," Choji said, unsurprisingly.
"Fine, let's see what we're up against at least," Shino decided.
"Ugh, I'm going to regret this, aren't I?" Shikamaru asked rhetorically.
"Let's find out! But let's for trouble, just in case."
oooooo
They stood in front of the Bunch of Grapes, waiting for Hinata's evaluation of the building and it's inhabitants.
"It's odd, there's only about ten people in there. It's a bit early for lunch, but it should be much busier at this time of day," she said. "There are seals between the foundation and the floor as well. The whole place has been armored structurally, and there are several secret entrances. You were right to say this feels like our hideout, Naruto. I believe that it, and the other buildings at this intersection, were built as secondary command posts in the event of an invasion."
Naruto whistled appreciatively. "I bet we're not supposed to know that. All right, let's go in and see what happens."
The rest of the group rolled their eyes, but followed him in nonetheless. Eyebrows were raised as they saw the shabby exterior change to a pleasant interior. They were rather conspicuous, but tried to be casual as they sat at a table. The bartender was the same man Naruto had seen wiping glasses every time he had been here. Shoshi looked up at them, pointed at Naruto, and made a come here motion.
Naruto walked over, a bit nervous.
"So you think you can invite anyone in here because Kakashi vetted you?"
"No, I think I can invite my four best friends because any place I'm good enough for, they're good enough for."
"You got big ones kid. I'll let you all order, but if the regulars don't like you, you're on your own."
Naruto nodded, and returned back to the table. "So far so good," he said quietly.
His friends looked at the menu. There were a ton of choices, and almost no descriptions; there was a name, a price, and sometimes a one line explanation.
"So you suggest this pizza stuff?"
"Yeah, you should get a medium supreme pizza, and a gyro with fries Choji. Trust me, you'll like it."
"Hmm."
"The calamari sounds good."
"I think I'll try a hamburger."
Naruto waited until they were all done, and walked back to Shoshi with a list. "Here's what we'd like. And thanks."
"Don't thank me yet, I haven't done anything," he said, taking the list. He looked at it a moment, and rewrote it on an order ticket. "Alright, it'll come when it comes."
Naruto nodded, and waved his friends over to a pool table.
oooooo
They had been playing pool for a while, waiting for the food to come. The pub had filled up a fair amount in a rather short time, and Naruto was getting nervous. None of the group had missed the looks they had been receiving. It appeared as if the situation was about to come to a head, as four chunin walked towards the table.
"You brats are playing at our table. Move."
Naruto looked at the two empty tables next to them. "Sorry about that, could we finish our game first? We'll move as soon as we're done. Our food is probably coming out any minute now anyway."
"That's too bad about your game, because see, that's our table. In the winter, that table is close enough to the radiator to remain warm and yet not so close as to cause perspiration. In the summer, it's directly in the path of a cross-breeze created by those fans, there and there. It's facing the radio at an angle that is neither direct, thus discouraging play, nor so far wide as to create distortion. It's our table, and you brats will move."
Naruto rolled his eyes. "Really? You're going to go with the stereotypical tough punk play? Show some originality, will you? You sound like a two bit thug, let me guess, next you're going to say 'That's a nice X, it'd be a pity for something to happen to it.'"
There was sniggering amongst the patrons; most of them had seen the blond teen in here at some point. While they acknowledged rules were rules, it was hard not to root for the kid.
The four tough guys straightened up and stopped looking menacing. Now they looked casual, but the mood didn't lighten a bit.
"Fair enough, not everyone's a fan of the classics. Let's get to the meat; all five of you, out. Blondie, you aren't allowed in anymore unless Kakashi brings you in. You have to earn the privilege of coming here, and fresh genin like you have no business here. Think of us as volunteer bouncers."
Naruto looked around the room, gauging the feeling. "One moment while I confer with my colleagues."
The five teens huddled together, and Naruto cast the sound-dampening version of the rain shield around them. This appeared to piss off the tough guys, and amuse the crowd.
"How does the crowd look, Hinata?"
"They seem to agree with our antagonists that we don't belong here, but they seem to like you, and I don't think they'll become aggressive towards either party no matter which way it goes."
"I agree. The welcoming party holds two functions: to keep out noobs, and as a test. If we can hold our own or defeat them, we belong here by the fact that they can't kick us out," Shikamaru explained.
"I wouldn't like the odds in a real world scenario," Choji put in, "but considering they can't do anything to bust up the place or kill us, we might be able to do this."
"As stupid as this is, our hand is forced. If we back down now we lose face. However, we must not lose, or we'll look even more stupid than if we walked away," Shino decided.
Naruto nodded. "Well, it isn't the stupidest thing we've done; still, I'm sorry."
The group spread out and Naruto dropped the rain shield. "I'm afraid we aren't leaving until we've eaten. We were all quite interested in our choices."
"Hmmph. They always pick the hard way. Alright boys, let's show them out."
The four started forwards, but stopped when their young opponent's group suddenly grew by a hundred. There were Naruclones everywhere, though they tried not to disturb the other patrons.
The leader rolled his eyes. "Ah, the Uzumaki kid, the one man shadow clone army. I hope for your sake that you're not a one trick pony. Shoshi, let's get a bit of juice running through the floor!"
Shoshi shrugged, "Sorry kid." He reached under the bar and did something. The next moment the entire room was covered in smoke from exploded clones.
Everyone who wasn't sitting at a table or behind the bar was gritting their teeth, as a small current passed through them via the floor. "No pain, no gain!" one of the toughs called, as they started towards the kids again.
Once again, they stopped, this time by Shikamaru who held them all captive. "Sorry, but my mom will be pissed if I let myself get beaten up. You will just have to take out your anger on one another." He punched the air at the same time as he kicked out behind him. All four men, who were in a rough diamond pattern, copied him. This led to the front and back toughs to hit one another.
The two effected grunted, and the leader rolled his eyes. "You don't get it, do you. We don't fight with ninjutsu here; it gets too messy. Shoshi, hit the dampeners!"
The bartender sighed, "Yeah yeah, Shoshi do this, Shoshi do that; Shoshi, we're loosing to some snot nosed brats, help us." Despite his complaints, he fiddled with something under the bar again.
This time, the genin could feel their chakra turn odd. Naruto made an amplified punch with no problem, but when he tried to wind whisper, found he couldn't expel chakra to form a jutsu.
"Hinata, can you still jyuken?"
"No, though I can activate my eyes."
"Shikamaru, can Choji still use his body enhancing jutsu?"
"Some of them may work, as they modify his body internally, instead of expelling chakra externally."
Choji nodded, knowing it was his time to shine. Stepping forward, he put himself between the rest of the group and the approaching 'bouncers'.
"So you guys want a taijutsu fight? That's fine by me."
"Tch, I'll take care of him," said the man on the right. He walked forwards and cracked his neck, then got into a stance.
Choji went into stance as well, and the two stood there for several seconds. Choji sprang forwards suddenly, much faster than his bulk would suggest, and the two started trading blows. The chunin had experience on his side though, and although Choji had slightly more power, the bouncer was faster. The Akamichi was on the losing end; things looked like they would end poorly for the boy. The crowd watched as the chunin pulled back to finish Choji off with a KO punch. The boy grimaced, and threw a punch at the same time.
Normally this would be a poor choice, seeing as Choji had less reach, and was already hurt. But most people's arms can't increase in size by a few hundred percent.
BAM
"CROSS COUNTER!" shouted Naruto enthusiastically. The thuggish chunin's fist hadn't reached Choji before he was launched back by the power punch. Choji's arm shrank back to normal as he grinned and prepared for round two.
The bouncers were… unhappy… to say the least about this turn of events, and the leader started giving the pre-beatdown speech. Naruto wasn't listening though, as Shoshi was signaling him. Naruto smiled and started gathering his chakra.
"What are you planning?" Hinata whispered.
"Fight smarter, not harder," he replied cryptically.
Despite the dampeners, Naruto's aura was showing again. This made everyone, including the patrons, uneasy. Naruto saw some ninja reaching for weapons, and couldn't blame them, considering what he appeared to be doing.
"Sorry, but we won't be staying for the knuckle sandwiches. Our food will taste so much better though, knowing we out ninja-d you bozos." With that, he switched himself out with a trashcan out on the street. A moment later, a Naruclone appeared behind the bar and handed Shoshi a fold of bills before popping. Next, Shikamaru, Hinata, Shino, and Choji all disappeared as they too were replaced by Naruclones.
The bouncers were a bit disoriented, and didn't realize they were being attacked as the clones threw paper containers at them. The clones smiled as the packets burst open, covering the pseudo-bouncers' faces in green slime. All but one clone popped, which proceeded to explain.
"Don't worry guys, it's not poison, it'll just turn your skin green for a week or two. Oh, and it will react to your skin oils soon, making the most hideous smell you've ever encountered. We'll be back next week if you want a rematch, but hopefully this will convince you not to mess with us."
The lead bouncer charged forward with a blow, but the clone disappeared before the punch landed.
Shoshi had an amused look on, "Hey fellas, if that crud is going to stink up the place, I'm going to have to ask you to leave."
oooooo
The gang was back at their hideout, eating the food the Naruclone had switched himself with before paying Shoshi. The barman had definitely earned his tip, putting the food in to-go boxes and signaling Naruto that it was ready.
"Alright, I admit, the food is pretty good. Still, that was troublesome."
"Oh come on, it was fun."
The group rolled their eyes and continued eating.
"So we're going back next week, right?"
Someone threw a fry at his head, but Naruto caught it in his mouth.
"…Yeah, we're going back," Shikamaru said defeatedly, "we know what to expect next time."
"And if I can get in after hours, I bet I could disable the seals."
The group looked at one another, and smiled. The bouncers wouldn't know what hit them.
oooooo
It was team seven's second day back, and Kakashi wasn't giving them an easy time. Yesterday they had sparred one another for half the day, Kakashi watching intently, and listing mistakes. Then they had practiced jutsu the second half.
This morning they were running up and down Teamwork River while floating leaves. This cross trained physical and chakra aptitude, and was surprisingly tough. Kakashi had actually joined them, though he was balancing kunai on his palms instead of floating leaves. The genin had lost count of which lap they were on somewhere in the 40s, and that had been an hour ago. Kakashi finally called for a halt.
"All right, I know I said we were going to do nothing but train this week, however we are going to be doing something slightly different today."
The genin waited for him to tell them what, but he seemed to be finished. "What are we going to be doing today?" Sakura prompted.
"Ah, glad you asked!" he smirked behind his mask. "One of the think tanks has decided that there needs to be more inter-team familiarity. Today, and once or twice a week, we will be meeting with the other genin teams to practice various multi-team tactics and get familiar with one another. Since this is an experiment, only the last two years of genin teams will be participating, as the older ones mostly have ongoing duties."
The genin looked intrigued.
"So here's what we're going to do, the four teams are going to meet at training ground twelve and get to know one another, before we go to lunch. After that, we'll start working with one another for the rest of the afternoon. It's about time, so we should start heading over."
The students shrugged and followed their sensei, as he traveled towards the meeting point.
oooooo
Team seven got there in good time, and were greeted by team eight.
"Hey, the weirdo team is here, Brainiac, Dumb-ass, and Emo-boy," Kiba announced.
Shino shook his head, while Hinata reached over and plugged a nonessential tenketsu on the loud boy's arm. Kiba yelped, then frowned and rubbed his arm.
"Sorry," he muttered.
"Oh good, someone is finally getting around to training you," Naruto smirked.
Kiba growled, and Akamaru joined in under Kiba's enormous hood.
"Simmer down, could you all try not to provoke one another? We're going to be spending a lot more time with each other," Kakashi mediated.
Kurenai stepped out from behind a tree, "Indeed we will, Hatake-san. I'm glad to see you on time for once."
"Ah, well, everyone has off days. And please, last names are too stuffy, Kakashi is fine."
The two teams' genin were eyeing the others' sensei, though Hinata and Shino were more critical, having heard of what Kakashi had put his team through.
"Hmm, I'll think about it, though I doubt we'll ever be close enough for that as long as you read your 'books' in public."
Kakashi shrugged and pulled out a well-read copy; he prepared to wait for the other teams. He had only read about ten pages when the group could hear a voice approaching.
"Hurry up you two, we're going to be late at this rate! Would you motivate them sensei?"
Sasuke groaned while some of the other genin chuckled. Shortly, team ten came into view, Ino grasped onto the two boys' hands behind her to speed up their pace. Asuma followed behind them; smoke trailing in his wake. He winked at Kurenai, and smiled, "Yo! Kakashi, Kurenai. Nice day, isn't it?"
Kakashi waved, and Kurenai smiled back with a short nod. Now that they were together, the gang of five wandered over to the side to talk, as did Sakura and Ino. Kiba was left standing with Sasuke, and looked unhappy about it.
Before the cliques could get too comfortable, everyone could hear a commotion headed their way. Two ninja were headed straight towards them at very fast speeds. Shortly, a large man in green appeared.
'Damn, he'd look frigging impressive if he didn't have that sense of "style",' Naruto thought.
The man was the embodiment of large. But not in the Akimichi sense. Under his spectacular whole-body green latex outfit were hard, dense muscles. Not the type found on bodybuilders, but the type found on wiry small dudes who could pick up a keg of beer without breaking a sweat. Only these dense, wiry muscles were large, making it obvious to all those present that he was a master of taijutsu.
Then a younger man in green came into sight, and things started getting weird.
"YOSH!"
The genin felt like they should have been thrown back by the energy released by the shout. Their ears were tingling and they could swear they heard a reverberation of 'fus-ro-dah' echoing faintly in the background.
"Sorry We Are Late, But We Were On A Youthful Run! Lee, You Did Not Keep Up! You Know What That Means!"
"Hai, Gai-sensei! I must run another five miles on my hands after this youthful inter-team event!" Lee shouted back.
While the genin recovered from this double shock against both eyes and ears, Kakashi tried to reign the duo in. "Gai, please stop frightening the genin, you know your youthful passion is a bit overwhelming for those not used to it."
"You are right again, Kakashi!" the man, apparently named Gai, continued in what mere mortals would normally think of as quite loud. "I don't want to scare away young ninja from the power of hard work and youth!"
A young man and woman entered into sight now, with deep, but slow and regular breathing.
"Ah, my students are all here now! The four teams have united to meet one another and become more youthful than we would be apart!"
The girl rolled her eyes and introduced herself, "Hello, try to ignore sensei; he's eccentric, but he means well. Since you all graduated together, we're sort of the outsiders, right? I'm Tenten, the most normal person in team Gai."
The boy, who was obviously a Hyuuga, frowned at this, but didn't say anything.
"This is Neji, and you've already met Lee and Gai-sensei," she continued.
"Ah, a most youthful introduction, Tenten-chan! Why don't we all introduce ourselves and say a bit about us?" Gai suggested exuberantly.
"I agree," said Kakashi, getting a raised eyebrow from Gai, "how about you start us off, and the rest of the Jonin can follow."
Kurenai nodded, and Asuma shrugged.
"Wonderful idea, my rival! My name is Mighto Gai, and I'm an elite Jonin, and friendly rival of Kakashi. Taijutsu is my life, though I'm capable in other ninja fields. Recently I was made instructor to team nine, including my shining protégé, Rock Lee!"
Lee burst out, "Gai-sensei!"
"Lee!"
"Gai-sensei!"
"Lee!"
Tenten yelled, "Close your eyes!"
The confused genin were too stunned at this display of youth to follow her advice however, and witnessed the full power of the Sunset Genjutsu. The two held each other in a manly embrace, as tears of joy sprouted from their eyes. After half a minute, the beach receded and the dazed genin tried to repress the memory.
"As I was saying, I train team Gai, formerly nine. My likes include hard work, one's passion for their job and life in general, my cute genin students, and beating Kakashi at our challenges. I hate laziness and sloth, and detest Kakashi's hip attitude!" He stared at Kakashi, hoping for some reaction.
"Hmm? You say something Gai? You know I have poor hearing when it comes to high youth frequencies."
Gai grimaced before continuing, "My goal is to make my students, and now all of you, become the best ninja you can be! I have two dreams, to spread my philosophy of the Springtime of Youth, and to see Lee surpass me in taijutsu!"
"Thank you Gai, I suppose I'll go next. My name is Hatake Kakashi, elite jonin, and reluctant rival of Gai's. My likes, eh, I have some, including reading porn in public. Dislikes, not that many. My goal is to make sure that all of you get good enough to live to retire, or at least go out in a blaze of glory after your 40th birthday. As my hobby may suggest, my dreams are rated above your age bracket, so I'll have to beg off. Although I suppose it is a dream of mine to be late to everything I can get away with, including, if possible, my funeral. Asuma, would you take over?"
Asuma stopped chuckling, and the two men avoided Kurenai's heated gaze.
"Ah, what to say? I'm Sarutobi Asuma, jonin. Yes, he's my dad, get over it; I did. I'm not quite to the lofty ranks that Kakashi or Gai are, but I could still kick all your asses at once. I'm rather laid back, and I like relaxing and playing shogi and go. I'm married to cigarettes, but in an awkward affair with cigars. I dislike disruptions to my tranquility, and loath people who try to create conflict to profit off it. My goal is to let them forge you into ninja, then make sure you stay human. I studied with the fire monks for many years; knowing yourself is crucial for your sanity. My dream is to find a wife, eventually have one or two kids, and retire from active duty to help raise them. Kurenai?"
She had a smile on her face. "Huh? Oh, introductions, yes. I'm Yuuhi Kurenai, and I'm a relatively new jonin. However, I am Konoha's leading genjutsu practitioner, which means I don't have to tire my foot out, I'd just make you kick your own asses. I like strong liquor, octopus with wasabi, and getting better at my art. I dislike beer, most cake, and openly perverted individuals."
Kakashi turned a page and whistled a few measures. Some of the genin who didn't know already were getting quite curious about what was in that book. Neji activated his eyes for a moment then hurriedly turned them off, trying to keep his face normal.
"Anyway, my dream is to push the boundaries of my field, and find and train someone in the next generation to be a master or mistress of genjutsu like myself. My goal is to get all of you good enough to detect and disrupt chunin grade genjutsu cast on you."
"All right! Who wants to go first?" asked Gai.
"Why don't we go by team number?" suggested Shikamaru. The people who knew him smiled; he just wanted to go last.
"Fine, I'm Uzumaki Naruto, and due to a cosmic hiccup, I have the largest chakra reserves in the land of Fire. I like ramen, kage-bunshin, my friends, and awesome jutsu. I'm beginning to like pizza as well. I dislike people who act like jerks, and ignorance, among other things. My goal is to be the strongest ninja in the world so I can protect the people I care about. I have a few dreams, but my favorite involves an Olympic size swimming pool and a different flavor of ramen filling said pool every day."
Sakura grinned and rolled her eyes. "I'm Haruno Sakura. I like Anko dumplings, and my friend Ino. I dislike spicy foods, and at the moment my parents, who are trying to get me to stop being a ninja. My goal is to be a strong kunoichi to help others. I'm between dreams at the moment, but I'm sure I'll find one soon."
"Hnn, I'm Uchiha Sasuke. I dislike lots of things, candy and sweets for example. I don't like much, but tomatoes are nice. Training isn't really a hobby I guess, but that's what I do. My goals and dreams are synonymous, kill Itatchi, and restore the Uchiha clan."
"I'll go next! I'm Inuzuka Kiba, and don't forget it! I love my partner Akamaru, who's starting to get too big for my head, and I like animals, except for the-cat-who-shalt-not-be-named. I love steak, well, almost any meat really. There are a couple vegetables I don't like. I enjoy taking walks with Akamaru, and doing everything together. Heh, dreams huh? I guess being famous for kicking ass. My goal is to be able to perform all the Inuzuka techniques with my buddy."
"I'm Hyuuga Hinata, I love cinnamon buns and pastries. I don't like shellfish, and I enjoy flower pressing. Ano, what else? Ah, my dream is to make my father proud of me, and become the head of the Hyuuga clan. My goal is to surpass myself a little everyday."
"My name is Aburame Shino. I like logic and honey. Entomology is my hobby, and I enjoy naming my insects on occasion. I dislike explaining things multiple times, and I hate insectivores. I also hate giant hornets. They are the assholes of the insect world. I don't have a grand dream, but I do wish to discover new species of insects, and my goal is to become a respected jonin."
"Yosh! My name is Rock Lee, and I am a genius of hard work! I am unable to perform ninjutsu or genjutsu, so I will master taijutsu in every way! If I kick your head in before you can cast a technique, I don't need to know them anyway!"
"LEE!"
"Gai-sensei!"
"Lee!"
"Not during introductions!" yelled Tenten, stopping the pair.
"Of course. Hmm, where was I? Right! My dream is to prove that with hard work, you can become the best, even with handicaps! My goal is to one day surpass my sensei, Gai!"
"Ugh, I have to put up with this everyday too. My name is Tenten. Don't ask about my last name, it's embarrassing. If you find it out, I will do unspeakable acts to you with a corkscrew, won't I, Gai-sensei?"
"Indeed, my torture at Tenten's hands was most un-youthful, she has a standing invitation for apprenticeship at the T&I department," Gai said in normal voice for once.
"That's right. That said; I like to have fun and relax when I'm not on sensei's crazy training schedule. I also like the three S's: shiny, sharp, and seals. If an object fits one of those categories, I probably own one and can kill you with it. I specialize in weapons, with an emphasis in projectiles. I like shrimp, and dislike grapefruit. My dream is to become a famous kunoichi like Tsunade to help prove that females can be just as good at being ninja as males! My goal is to become more proficient in sealing, which is a really tough field."
Neji frowned when he realized it was his turn, and there wasn't any way out. "I'm Hyuuga Neji, I like sesame seed buns with a bit of red bean paste inside, and dislike pumpkin. I enjoy meditation, and I hate fate, despite its dominion over all. My dream is impossible, and my goal is simply to always improve."
"My name is Yamanaka Ino, part of team ten and another generation of Ino-Shika-Cho like our fathers and ancestors. I like pudding, and dislike sashimi. I love to window shop, unless I have money, in which case I like to really shop. I hate trying to motivate my teammates. Oh, I also work part time in my family's florist shop, so I know and like flowers. As for dreams and goals… hmm. I recently learned that my previous one won't fly, so I guess I'm in between dreams at the moment. My goal is to find something I can motivate my teammates into seriously training with."
"I'm Akimichi Choji, and I love food. One of my favorite things to do is try a new dish or especially a new junk food. I don't like people who can't understand that my bulk is as essential to my style of fighting as an Inuzuka's dog is to them, or a Hyuuga's eyes are to them. I don't really have a dream or goal, I just sort of go with the flow."
Shikamaru sighed, "I suppose I have to go now? Troublesome. Fine, I'm Nara Shikamaru. I like taking naps, playing strategy games, and watching clouds. I like peace and quiet; mackerel and kelp are good too. Hard-boiled eggs taste unpleasant, and most things that require too much effort are troublesome. My dream is remarkably similar to Asuma-sensei's, and indicating the differences would be too much work. My goal is to be the most efficient ninja possible; that is, complete what is necessary using the least amount of effort possible."
There was silence temporarily, as they all digested the information they had learned about each other. Then Choji and Naruto's stomachs both rumbled in synch. They looked at each other and grinned.
Kakashi snorted. "I suppose it is time for lunch. Our team normally eats together at a vendor or restaurant, and the people who came up with this project suggested we all eat together. Does anyone object?"
Everyone looked around at each other, looking to see if someone would raise their hand. Sasuke and Neji looked tempted, but their teachers gave them a glare.
"Alright, barbecue is interactive and fun, why don't we do that this time?" Asuma suggested, having picked up the taste for it after Choji dragged them there so often.
The suggestion met a chorus of shrugs and nods, so it was decided that they would eat at a popular barbecue place in the market district.
oooooo
End Chapter the Eighth