Disclaimer: Very doubtful.
"Alright," Kakashi rolled his shoulders as he centered himself in the middle of the field. They stood a few feet away from him, Naruto bouncing in excitement and Sasuke trying to hide how interested he was in this new jutsu. "This jutsu is called Hand of Waves. Watch my hands carefully and memorize the hand signs."
He went through the signs slowly before stopping on the final one and extending his right palm forward.
"Hand of Waves."
A large jet of water blasted from his right palm and extended nearly thirty feet before he cut the attack and turned to them. "This is the water style equivalent to your Great Fireball jutsu, Sasuke. It great for catching your enemy off guard and disrupting attacks. Now, do you need me to go through the hand signs again?"
The Uchiha shook his head immediately unknowingly sparking Naruto's competitive nature. Kurama rolled his eyes when the boy followed suit and refused as well.
"Can you show it to me again, sensei?" He asked, knowing he probably wouldn't be able to manage a water jutsu very well. He didn't want his brother to leave himself at a disadvantage because he wanted to act cool in front of the Uchiha.
The amusement in Kakashi's eye told him that this sensei knew exactly what he was thinking. "Alright, but if you can't do this one we'll work on a fire style jutsu for you."
He went through the signs again, then lined them shoulder to shoulder so they wouldn't hit one another with the blasts. Kurama twisted his hands into the different signs, slowly molding his chakra to the jutsu trying to mimic water.
Sasuke managed a small stream of water, while Naruto himself back with the force of his large blast, which acted more as an explosion of water than the stream of water. Kurama ignored them and concentrated on finishing the signs. His chakra rebelled being forced into its opposite element, but Kurama pushed onward.
He realized was going to happen a little too late to stop it.
His eyes widened when a blast of his pure flame-like chakra exploded from his hand throwing him onto his back a few feet behind him.
"At least Naruto's was actual water," Sasuke muttered, breaking the awkward silence.
Kakashi chuckled. "You're element's definitely fire."
Sasuke frowned. "What do you mean? I thought people only had an affinity for certain elements, they aren't the actual elements."
"Natsuki's chakra is a little different than most," Kakashi answered vaguely as he helped Kurama to his feet. "You two continue practicing, while I teach Natsuki something else."
"I'll definitely master this jutsu today!" Naruto responded. "And when I do you better get us a real mission."
Kakashi chuckled. "I said I'll think about it, but only if you manage this jutsu. You're running out of daylight so you better hop to it."
"Yes, sensei!"
Kakashi pulled Kurama away from them in order to give them space to practice.
"Natsuki," Kakashi started, once they were a decent enough distance away. "What fire style jutsus has Iruka-san taught you so far?"
"He taught me the Exploding Flame Shot," Kurama replied.
"That's all?" Kakashi questioned.
"He also taught me some genjutsus. He knew more of those than he did fire style jutsus."
"I see. Alright, show me the Exploding Flame Shot and then I'll teach you something else."
Kurama nodded and moved his hands in the proper hand signs for the jutsu. As his hands landed on tiger he felt the swell of his chakra create a ball of flames on his hands as he separated them. He glanced around for an appropriate target before tossing the one in his right hand towards a medium sized boulder. The Flames exploded upon impact sending rubble flying as the jutsu took out a chunk of the boulder. He tossed the other one to create another crater in the rock.
"Hm, good." Kakashi praised. "You didn't struggle with that at all even though it was a C-rank jutsu, most genin struggle with anything above D-rank. I suppose the amount and intensity of your chakra would make it easier, but you have good chakra control for your age."
Kurama smiled faintly.
Kakashi watched him for a moment. "The Hokage has talked to you about your chakra, right?"
Kurama grimaced at the memory of that awkward conversation. "Yes, he said that since I was born with no chakra coils of my own, that the fourth Hokage had to adjust the seal which allowed me to use the…Kyuubi's chakra as my own."
Kakashi nodded. "We don't really know the effects of your situation so…"
"I'm fine, aren't I?" Kurama snapped without meaning too. "I mean…I'm sorry…"
Kakashi waved his hand to show that he wasn't offended. "I know, don't worry. I think you're doing great despite the situation, but I just wanted to warn you that there are some people in some pretty high positions who don't necessarily agree with teaching you a lot of ninjutsu. Something about possession and superstition, honestly, I wasn't really listening. They pulled me into a meeting a few days ago to try and dictate what I taught you guys. I just wanted to let you know since it concerns you."
"Ah…" Kurama frowned thoughtfully. Possession? He wasn't sure he was even able to do that even as a biju. Sure his chakra could overwhelm the system and leave his unfortunate container in an animalistic state temporarily, but the seals he had been in protected the jinchuuriki's mind thoroughly. That's what made influencing them so difficult. He could only capitalize on strong emotions. "So…are you going to continue to teach me more ninjutsus anyway?"
Kakashi didn't seem the type to allow others to dictate what he did or didn't do. Kakashi winked at him instead of answering. Or perhaps he simply blinked. Even after years of chatting at night it was still difficult to judge some of his expressions.
"Between your brother's and your huge chakra reserves and Sasuke's exceptional skills, it would be a shame, a tragedy really, if I didn't teach you guy's any powerful ninjutsus. All of you guys. Now that I know what I'm working with I think I can create a sizable list for you. Your teammates will, of course, have much more variety with their jutsus, but I'll find you enough to keep up with them. Between your genjutsu and the abundance of fire style jutsus I'm sure we can make it work, the superstitious folks be damned."
"You don't think excessive use of the Kyuubi's chakra will get me possessed?" Kurama asked slyly.
Kakashi simply laughed.
"Ok, let's move onto the jutsu I want to show you." He hands began to move slowly through the signs. "This is called the Phoenix Flower jutsu."
His hands ended on the tiger and several small balls of flames appeared around him. With a flick of his fingers, he moved the volley of fireballs through the air, creating complicated patterns before letting the jutsu go.
"It'll only cause secondary burns if the enemy can't evade them, unlike the Exploding Flame Shot, this jutsu is used more as a distraction and doesn't have the same level of impact. The key is control. If you can control the flames completely then you can force your enemy to focus on evading, leaving no time for a counter attack. Go ahead and try it. Do you need to see the signs again?"
"No, I've got it," Kurama replied his hands already moving.
He manifested the same amount of flames Kakashi's did, and it wasn't long before he was sending them zooming around the field. His chakra happy enough to comply now that it wasn't being forced into a different element.
"You're learning curve is ridiculous," Kakashi muttered, but Kurama ignored him.
(Of course, he would be able to do something as simple as this. Fire was his element, after all. Controling it was child's play.)
As focused as he was on creating a complicated pattern he didn't hear the argument break out between Naruto and Sasuke. Nor did he feel the sudden influx of chakra as the two both decided to attempt to use their new jutsu on one another.
Kurama did, however, notice when he was suddenly assaulted by an ungodly amount of water and sent flying into the bushes lining the edge of the field...
"How are your scratches?"
Kurama lifted his hands up for the jounin to see. The wounds on his hands and arms from the thorn bush Naruto's and Sasuke's combined water ninjutsu had thrown him into, had already closed. Kakashi hummed in response as he settled down on the roof beside him. Naruto was snoring inside, while Kurama stretched out on the roof to watch the stars. Convincing Naruto he was fine on the roof was a struggle every night since the Mizuki incident, but he managed to prevail tonight. He figured it must have been because Naruto was still feeling guilty over throwing him into the thorn bush.
"So, are we going to get that C-rank mission you promised Naruto? He did manage to do it, even it even if it was mostly by pure luck and bullheadedness."
There was a soft chuckle. "I didn't promise anything. I said I'd think about it."
Kurama shot him a look.
The chuckle turned into a full blown laugh. "Alright, alright, I'll look around and see what's available. Give it a few days though I want to break you guys in on the new training before we take that step. Most C-ranks are outside of the village, you know."
"Naruto technically already completed an A-rank mission," Kurama replied, just to be contrary.
"True, true. How's the new couch?"
Kurama said up and eyed the man suspiciously. "How'd you know about that? You've been avoiding these talks since you became my sensei. Did that Genma, person tell you?"
"Has anyone ever told you that you're paranoid?" Kakashi rolled his eyes when Kurama simply narrowed his. "Genma and I are friends, he told me about the situation when I told him I was your new sensei."
A large hand descended on his head, ruffling the already messy locks.
"For the record," Kakashi murmured. "I'm sorry for not showing up for so long. I wasn't sure how'd you react to me being your sensei."
Kurama huffed. "How many years have you been keeping me company? You should know that I don't care. I'm just glad we have a sensei I can trust. One that won't ignore or be hostile towards Naruto and I."
"Hm, I suppose it was silly of me then. How well have you been sleeping? It's been a couple of weeks since I was out on a mission right before you graduated."
Kurama sighed and flopped back down in an undignified manner. "Same as before. I still struggle to fall asleep and get woken up by nightmares, but not as often as I did when I was younger. I can usually get about three or four hours of sleep each night."
"I supposed that's better than no sleep," Kakashi replied before sighing and running his hands through his hair. "Ah, I'm not a good adult. I should be telling you to get professional help."
Kurama frowned as an uneasy feeling washed over him. "I don't want anyone poking around in my head."
"I know, kid. Trust me, I know."
They switched the subject to something lighter and conversed for some time after that. Around midnight, Kurama felt his eyes grow heavy. He didn't fight it, knowing that his body really needed more sleep than he tended to give it. He felt Kakashi lift him up and deposited him on the bed with his still snoring brother before completely descending into unconsciousness.
The next day Kurama woke up first and silently got dress before heading to the kitchen to make breakfast. Naruto followed behind him a little while later, most likely having been woken up by the smell of food. He didn't immediately start pestering him for food, however, which made Kurama eye him in confusion.
"What are you looking at?" Kurama finally asked.
"Kakashi-sensei gave me a book about traps. It's really cool, Natsu!" Naruto tapped the page he was on for emphasis. "I didn't know you could do these things with ninja wire and kunai!"
"Ah," Kurama smiled in amusement at his brother antics before turning back to the omelets.
Naruto had been excited about learning about traps, easily relating them to his pranks. Kurama set the plates on the table and dished out the omelets. Naruto's eyes barely moved from the page as he tried to devour his food and continue reading.
They went to the training ground immediately after breakfast to continue training with their team. Two days seem to pass in a blur of team building exercises, taijutsu katas and sparing, and individual training. Kurama had no choice but to pass out at the end of each day, much to Kakashi's amusement.
Finally, at the end of the second day, they heard back from their sensei about the C-rank mission Kakashi promised them. The man gestured for them to sit at the base of the three poles at their usual training grounds while perching himself on the middle one. This spot seemed to have become their regular discussion place, Kurama noted with amusement as the other two boys fell into their normal spots. The Uchiha in a formal seiza position, while Naruto flopped down on his back still panting from their taijutsu practice.
Kurama sat down on Naruto's right and crossed his legs in front of him.
"Now that you guys have begun to get the hang of your training, I think its best that I keep my end of the bargain from a few days ago and allow you guys to go on a C-rank mission." Kakashi tossed them each a packet while he spoke.
Naruto sat up, his earlier exhaustion forgotten as he scanned the mission assignment in the packet excitedly. Kurama rolled his eyes and turned to his own packet.
"This'll be your first mission outside the village, but don't get too excited." His eye narrowed at Naruto, who smiled in embarrassment. "As the packet will tell you, this will be an escort mission. We just need to bring our target from here to his home in the Land of Waves. Since it's only a C-rank mission the most we'll encounter is a few robbers or wild animals."
"Don't get our hopes up sensei," Naruto muttered, but there was a flicker of amusement in his eyes and the curve of his lips proved that he was joking.
Kakashi just rolled his eye and continued. "I compiled a list of supplies I want you guys to get tonight. Meet me at the mission room in the Hokage tower tomorrow at 6 am sharp. Understood?"
"Yes, sensei." They chorused in return.
Kurama shared a small smile with his brother as they left the training grounds and headed towards the shopping district. Despite Kakashi claiming that it wouldn't be dangerous, it was still a mission outside of the village. Though Naruto was probably excited over the idea of seeing the world outside of the village, Kurama couldn't prevent the small bubble of excitement course through him at the thought of leaving the village he had been trapped in for so long. Whether it be in a seal or as a human child, he had been here long enough to feel a bit stir crazy.
He hoped a small journey would help ease his frayed nerves. He forced himself to go to bed earlier that night but still laid awake for several hours before he could fall asleep. The next morning was a whirlwind of excitement at their apartment as Naruto attempted to pack all of their material objects forcing Kurama to organize his brother's bag as well as his own, searching for useless items and putting them back in their proper place in the apartment.
The havoc nearly made them late, but a reckless run on the rooftops allowed them to stomp through the door with a minute to spare.
The Uchiha rolled his eyes at them but didn't comment. They waited in silence for their sensei to show up with their client. Chunin roamed the room chatting quietly, sorting mission scrolls and filling out paperwork. A few shinobi flickered in to hand over scroll while other's took off with one clutched tightly in hand.
Six turned to seven before slowly creeping into eight o'clock. By eight-thirty they were significantly less excited. Kurama sighed. Kakashi had mostly showen up on time, or nearly on time, for training. He had almost forgotten the man made them wait hours for the bell test. Some of the chunin chuckled at them, whispering about Kakashi's infamous lateness. Finally, their sensei arrived, with the client in tow.
He smelled like booze.
That was the first thing Kurama noticed about their client.
Why was the man already drunk this early in the morning?
Kurama wrinkled his nose as their client sauntered in the door, swaying on his feet as he made his way over to their group. He tried not to breathe too deeply when the man got close. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see the Uchiha's scandalized expression smooth into his perpetual scowl nearly as quickly as it came. His brother was shuffling restlessly behind him. He didn't blame him. They always had the worst trouble with drunks. Apparently, alcohol gave even the weakest man the nerve to attack the "demon twins".
"Alright kiddos, for our very first C-rank mission we'll be escorting Tazuna-san here back to his home in the Land of Waves and guarding him while he finishes his bridge." Their sensei cheerfully ignored their skeptical looks as he ushered everyone out the door despite the protest from them and strangely enough Tazuna, himself.
"Why did I get a bunch of kids?" The man muttered sourly, casting an assessing gaze over the three of them as they travel through the city towards the main gate. "I thought I told 'em that I wanted a shinobi escort."
"We are shinobi!" Naruto replied with a scowl.
"You paid for a C-rank mission, sir," Kakashi answered calmly, rubbing Naruto's head roughly in warning. "It is a fairly general rank that both chunin and genin teams can take. My students are new genin, but I think they're prepared enough to deal with a simple escort mission."
The man's scowl deepened and he took another long swig of his bottle.
Kurama frown at the mixture of emotions oozing off of him. He barely had to reach out to feel the anxiety, fear, and shame mixed into a depressed mess. However, the fleeting feeling of guilt caught most of his attention. He watched the man silently as the made their way to the front gate. Barely managing to reply to Kakashi's impromptu quiz on what they packed for the trip.
The man caught his staring and scowled at him, but his fear spiked drastically and the guilt made another appearance.
Kurama finally turned his gaze away when the man started to look visibly uncomfortable, but his mind was still puzzling over the oddness.
There were a lot of civilians who were scared of shinobi, but the man's fear didn't seem to be focused on him.
Did he not like seeing younger shinobi?
Kurama glanced at him again.
That was a possibility. Kurama had learned that humans were very empathic towards children, even those that weren't of their blood. Although they were considered adults by the shinobi law since becoming genin, a civilian might not see it that way. They were only twelve after all.
Kurama shook those thoughts from his mind as they reached the front gates.
Naruto practically leaped through them looking exceptionally excited to see the outside world. Even the Uchiha had a bounce in his step, his perpetual scowl nowhere in sight until he caught Kurama looking his way. Kurama rolled his eyes, but couldn't stop the smile creeping onto his own face as he took his first step out of the village, as a free being, in over fifty years. It almost didn't matter that he was still stuck in a human body with the ever present threat of being exposed hanging over his head. His eyes wandered over everything as they began their journey down the well-worn road.
Kurama eyed the large tree branches overhead. He wanted to run through the trees, but since it was an escort mission they'd have to stay on the ground with the client.
A hand settled on his head, breaking him out of thoughts.
He glanced up at Kakashi, who was looking at him in amusement.
"You've been very distracted this morning."
Kurama fought back a blush of embarrassment. "I'm just a little overwhelmed with leaving the village for the first time."
"Hm," Kakashi replied, retracting his hand after giving his hair a quick ruffle. "That's normal, I suppose, but you can't drop your guard even for a C-rank mission."
"Yes, sensei."
"Good," Kakashi replied before clapping his hands together, making everyone else jump. "Alright, since the journey will take approximately three days at least, we're going to do a little training while on this mission. I've seen those longing looks of yours, so today we'll start off simple with some branch running. Don't go any higher that the lowest branches and follow the road. I'm not going waste my time searching for a foolish lost genin. Also, try not to get ahead of yourselves. I know you've practiced a bit over the last couple of days, but unlike on the training grounds, we don't have a handy hospital for any broken bones. Now, shoo."
They were gone before he could even finish his last word. Kurama shared an excited grin with Naruto as they ran up the nearest tree. He could hear their client shout in surprise below them, but he paid him no mind.
As a human child these ancient trees, which barely scrapped his underbelly as a bijuu, were huge. Even the lowest branch was well above the ground, he glanced at his brother feeling slightly apprehensive only to find him preparing to jump to the next branch.
"Naru-"
"Catch me if you can Natsu! Whoooo!"
Kurama's heart nearly stopped as he watched his brother leap through the air nearly missing the next branch as his feet slipped slightly when his miscalculated the chakra need to maintain his position. That didn't stop him, though. He was off again in the next second, Sasuke close behind him. Kurama let out a sigh before jumping after them.
It was a struggle to maintain the proper chakra for leaps and landings at first, but once Kurama got the hang of it the run was exhilarating. He laughed as he startled a bird from its nest and watch as the ground nearly disappeared when he leaped into the higher branches. The wind whistled in his ear sending his braid flying behind him like a whip. He laughed again as he leaped passed the tree line and into the sky, allowing gravity to pull him down to the next branch. His weight made it shake from the impact and startled his brother this time.
He hadn't felt this sort of freedom in a long time.
"No fair!" Naruto shouted as Kurama passed him going upwards again. "Kakashi-sensei said not to go higher! Natsuuuki you cheater!"
Kurama only laughed in return, wishing he could tell Naruto how freeing this experience was to him. Naruto was excited because this was his first time out of the village, but he had never been trapped in a seal kept from the forest, his home, for years and years. He leaped up to the top of the tree line again and paused to watch the sky from the tallest branch able to support his weight. The sea of tree extended further than the eye could see in each direction, only broken by Konoha in the distance behind him. Though it too would soon become swallowed by the trees they further they got from it.
(He had always loved the way the forest did that. Swallowing up even his giant form once far enough away.)
He touched the trunk of the tree, reaching out to the natural chakra within the wood slowly and chuckling as it touched his own hesitantly at first then almost excitedly when it recognized his chakra. Even if his body was human, his chakra was still that of a bijuu and this was his territory in the past. He pulled away, not wanted to overwhelm his body with nature chakra. For all that it held up with his own intense chakra, the natural chakra of the world would still be too concentrated for his body to handle. He glanced down at his hands in disappointment.
(If he didn't have this body…if he just broke the already weakened seal….then he could…he could…)
He shook those thoughts away and leaped down where he heard his brother calling for him.
Kakashi reigned them in after an hour and had them running short scouting missions, observing the road ahead of them and coming back to describe what they saw. When Kakashi and their client reached the area they described, Kakashi would point out the things they missed.
They made camp several hours before the sun started to go down at their client's instance. Kurama helped Kakashi set up the tents and fire while Naruto and the Uchiha went out for firewood, water and to hunt some prey for food.
"Try to focus on their chakra rather than their emotions." Kakashi chided him as he had him practice sensing while working on the tents.
He only scowled in response. The multitasking made it difficult to keep tabs on chakra and Kakashi knew that. He could find Naruto's easily enough, considering the boy had the other half of his own chakra seal away, but the Uchiha's was proving to be more difficult even after the time they had spent training together and even longer in the same class at the academy. Kurama blamed his struggle on the boys overwhelming and constant irritation at the world. It got in the way of his chakra.
Or at least, that's what he told himself and Kakashi when he chided him again.
His sensei just rolled his eye. "That's not how chakra works and you know it."
Kurama felt the childish need to stick his tongue out at the man but refrained when the tent pole bent again and nearly took his eye out with the recoil.
"Didn't you guys learn how to set up tents in the academy?" Kakashi asked incredulously. The other two tents for him and their client already set up behind him.
"We were supposed to, yes, but Naruto pulled a prank on a couple of the girls during the camping exercise by scaring them with falling bugs while they were setting up their tent. They flailing caused their tent pole to tear through the cloth. So, Naruto had to give up our tent as punishment." Kurama replied tersely.
He didn't actually mind at the time, sleeping under the star was his preference, but in hindsight, he wished he had more experience with tents. They had only gone on one camping trip during the academy to learn the basics of survival in the wild, so now he was stuck with this monstrosity of a tent and a cackling sensei who apparently wasn't going to help him. Their client just raised his eyebrow from his position across the camp.
Eventually, Kakashi took pity on him and taught him how to put it together. By the time they were finished Naruto and the Uchiha had returned with a couple of rabbits and an ample amount of water and firewood. Kakashi then reviewed the process of skinning and cooking with them before shooing them off to work on their taijutsu katas and sparing.
The next day passed in a similar manner, though Kurama couldn't help but puzzle over their clients growing dread.
It wasn't until mid-day on the third day that they learned the truth.
They were all walking on the path as Kakashi described the different nations and hidden villages to them when Kurama sensed it. A small amount of ill-intent, too weak to be considered killing intent and therefore under Kakashi's radar, made him stop in his tracks. He glanced around trying to pinpoint where the emotion came from before his eyes landed on a pool of water behind Kakashi.
He frowned.
Why would a puddle have negative emotions, much less ill intent towards them?
His question was answered immediately when two shinobi rose from the water and trapped Kakashi in their chains.
"Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto shouted.
Kurama watched as the chain tightened and felt his sensei's chakra move into the trees beside the road as he made a very convincing show of being broken into pieces. When he didn't attack the enemy immediately Kurama decided that this was probably a hands on test for them.
He could feel Naruto's sudden spike in anxiety and fear at seeing their sensei's "death". He felt the other half of his chakra surge in response to his brother's emotions and tugged the boy's collar, sending him sprawled out behind him and hopefully snapped out of his haze.
"Team seven defensive position! Guard our client!" He snapped jumping away from an attack while pulling out a couple of kunai.
His order managed to snap Naruto out of his growing panic for which Kurama was glad. He didn't know if he could handle a berserk Naruto wielding his own chakra right now.
They formed a triangle with the client in the middle and the Uchiha on point. The enemy attacked a second later, only to run straight into the Uchiha's Great FireBall jutsu. As they jumped back, Kurama shared a look with Naruto and they both threw kunai to intercept and pin the enemy's chains to a nearby tree, halting their movement.
"Sasuke-teme. That jutsu!" Naruto shouted.
Kurama winced and stepped behind them pulling their client further away and preparing to launch his Explosion Flame Shot, just in case the enemy got through Naruto and Sasuke.
"Hand of Waves!" Naruto shouted when he finished the hand signs.
The enemy shinobi made to leap over Naruto and Sasuke toward Kurama and their client, but they were met with twin blasts of water from both Naruto's and Sasuke's hands. The force of Naruto's jutsu set him flying back onto his butt while Sasuke managed to maintain his footing, only sliding back a few inches.
The enemy shinobi, however, were now hanging from the branches of a nearby tree soaking wet and looking disgruntled.
"Nicely done, my cute little genin." Kakashi leaped back onto the road from his hidden position. "You too are ridiculous with that jutsu. It's C-rank you know, your average genin wouldn't be able to pull it off."
"Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto shouted happily.
Kurama relaxed when he felt the buzz of his chakra disappear from Naruto's system.
The man raised his hand in greeting. "Hi."
"Was that a test of our ability's?" Kurama asked.
"Yes and no." Kakashi snatched the two shinobi out of the tree before they could make an escaped and held them under his arms like naughty children. "Let's talk after we secure these two."
Once the shinobi were tied to a tree with their own chain Kakashi began to explain.
"I wanted to see how well you guys would hold up in a dangerous situation like this as well as observe who their target was." He tapped their forehead protectors. "Kiri isn't exactly our allies, but they haven't been overly hostile with us lately either. So, I didn't think they were attacking us, but I had to make sure. As it turns out they were aiming for our dear client here. Their attacks were a little too high to be for you guys. I image they wanted to get to the client and underestimated your defense."
He shrugged. "That was their mistake, in the end. Though, it must be embarrassing for a couple of Kiri shinobi to be defeated with a water style jutsu."
The Kiri shinobi on the right growled lowly, while the left simply glared.
"How did you find out about our attack?" The right one demanded his voice muffled by the underwater respirator attached to his face.
"Hm, a puddle in the middle of the road when it hadn't rained in a week?" Kakashi rolled his eye and gestured to Kurama. "Even my genin noticed something was wrong and he just graduated!"
Kurama refrained from correcting him, but he figured the man already knew. If Kurama hadn't noticed the ill-intent he would have likely passed the puddle unaware despite Kakashi's insistence on observing their surroundings. Naruto grinned proudly at him.
Kurama noticed Sasuke roll his eyes out of the corner of his.
"So," Kakashi continued as he turned to their client, his voice deceptively calm. "Why do you have shinobi after you? You only asked and paid for the standard escort, which most certainly doesn't cover defending you from enemy shinobi."
The older man looked down at the bottle in his hand as if he was debating whether not it'd be easier to drown himself in alcohol or answer the questions of an irate jounin. Honestly, with the way Kakashi's only visible eye was narrowed and focused on the man, Kurama didn't blame him.
"No answer? Alright, let me rephrase it." Kakashi gestured to them. "Why did you decided to put my students in danger by intentionally miss-ranking this mission?"
Alright quick update, but I my semester starts today so I wanted to get this out as quick as possible. I also had a lot of fun writing this, to be honest. I think I've got the Zabuza Arc ironed out now, so I should finish it in the next couple of weeks. After that, however, I might have to go on another hiatus due to my workload. I'm taking fifteen credits and have to observe school for eight hours each week on top of that, so it's going to be a struggle to find any free time to be able to write. I just wanted to give you guys a heads up.
Thank you guys for the responses to my question last chapter. I'm glad my explanation made sense and works with canon. I don't mind changing things (obviously considering this fics existence), but it's always nice when things line up with canon logic as well. I hope you guys liked the different jutsus I added in this chapter. I've been researching different ones for the team. I alway wanted to see more variety out of Naruto, so I'm taking this chance to give him a different arsenal of jutsus so he's not constantly using the clones or Rasengan. He'll still use those, but I wanted to expand as well.
We also get a little more info on Kurma's chakra. Since bijuu are pure chakra I figured his elemental affinity would be way stronger than your average humans and in fact resembles the element. That, of course, also makes it subjected to the faults as well, one of which being him being unable to change/mold his chakra into any water style jutsus. I dunno, I feel like I'm giving him a lot of handicaps, but at the same time that was one of the main premises of the fic, to follow his struggle as a human instead of an all powerful biju. It's not like he's weak by any stretch, he's considered a genius (I'll probably touch more on that in the chunin arc) and has considerable power and control over his movements and chakra. He just struggles with maintaining the power of a biju in a much weaker human body. He'll get better and stronger, eventually. I just have to shove his face in the dirt a little more.
Anyway, ramble over, thanks again for all of the reviews! They never fail to make me smile!
P.s. Kurama/Natsuki's hair is a burnt orange, so it's a little darker than Deva Pain's hair color.
P.p.s. Also! I had to rewatch episode six because I couldn't remember much of the fight and dear lord I forgot how sassy canon Kakashi was.