Disclaimer: See Ch. 1
Sorry for the delay in this chapter but I recently started a second story and, after it received a lot of support, felt obligated to post a few chapters of that first.
Something that didn't really help with was that I recently got a new puppy!
Another note for everyone reading is that College has finally restarted for me so Updates will now be released on a Scheduled basis. At this moment, it looks like any new updates will be posted on Sundays. Now that doesn't mean that I will only be posting one chapter a week as I'll probably be able to get around to posting more that one chapter at a time based on workload for that week.
I tried a slightly different writing style this chapter so leave me a review telling me what you think about it compared to the older chapters.
I'm Still Looking for a Beta. Message Me if Interested!
Thanks for all the support from you guys!
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From far away, if a civilian looked at a certain street in Konoha, they would see two orange figures moving down it at a leisurely pace.
If the civilian was in fact a ninja, they'd see that the two figures were Konoha's most unpredictable ninja walking down the street with a toad that came up to his knee hopping along beside him.
"So," Naruto spoke to Kishi as they continued down the path, " has Gamabunta gotten a new sword yet?"
"It's a tanto Naruto," Kishi chided, "and no, Pa hasn't gotten a new one yet because it takes time to build such a huge weapon."
"Neh, why you gotta be so mean Kishi?" Naruto asked, faking hurt in his voice, "Does it really matter what I call it?"
"You're one to talk," Kishi scoffed,"that poor brat ran off thinking that you were actually going to chase after him."
"You mean Konohamaru?" Naruto asked, " I'm just giving him a head start. I'm a genin who saved a nation while he's still an Academy student. It wouldn't be fair if actually tried."
"LAZY" Kishi croaked in response as his next hop shoved Naruto to the side.
"I'm not lazy," Naruto cried indignantly." I'm just...just...just being strategic. Yeah that's it, I'm being strategic. If I let Kono run around and tire himself out then he'll be easy to catch. It'll be a good lesson for him."
Naruto slammed a fist into his other palm as if he had accomplished something monumental. Kishi just gave a throaty chuckle and Naruto responded by sticking his tongue out at him.
Before either of them could bring up a new line of conversation, they heard a shout of fear from about two streets down and around the corner.
Both of them recognizing the voice, they hurried to reach the source of the commotion. As they came around the corner, Naruto noticed a few things right off the bat. The first was that Sakura was already there. The next and more pressing was that Konohamaru was being held by some black clothed clown with make-up on while a blonde chick stood nearby.
As his ears caught up to his eyes, he heard the tail end of the conversation that the clown was apparently having with Sakura."-I'll teach the brat to respect his elders."
Before the other boy could carry out his threat, Naruto spoke up, "Hey, clown face, let him go."
"Naruto-nii!", Konohamaru somewhat relaxing as he realized that his older brother figure had arrived.
"Naruto!" Sakura exclaimed, also relaxing at seeing her team member. Ever since seeing his accomplishments at wave, Sakura had greatly increased her respect for the loud blonde. Sure, she still denied his requests for a date, but she had finally realized Naruto's strength.
"Great another shorty," the make-up boy said exasperatedly. "Well try and and make me brat and I'll teach you the same lesson I'm about to teach the pipsqueak."
Naruto bit his thumb, drawing blood, and was about to proceed to summon Gamakaze.
The other boy was too far away for him to use his Doki and even if he used his Piston Steps, having named the speed increase he got when he used Doki in conjunction with his legs, to get next to the boy, he'd be vulnerable and wasn't sure he'd be able to get away with Konohamaru in tow. His only option was to summon a toad as he didn't have any long range attacks of his own.
Before Naruto could finish his hand signs, the boy in black cried out as something impacted with his hand and forced him to release the younger kid. Falling on his ass, Konohamaru quickly realized that he was free and ran to the other end of the street.
Naruto, meanwhile, had released the jutsu before finishing it and had looked to see where the projectile had come from to find Sasuke looking cool as a cucumber as he stood on a tree branch and leaned against the trunk, lightly tossing another pebble. Naruto scowled as Sasuke acting so cool when he could have handled it before freezing as he felt something else.
Naruto had never been good at sensing, but ever since Jiraiya had put that extra seal over his Eight Trigrams Seal, he had found that he could sense when someone with large reserves got angry. Right now, there was an absolutely enormous presence on the opposite side of the trunk from Sasuke, and it was raving mad.
"Sasuke!' Naruto yelled out in fear, "Get away from there!"
Not fully processing the command, Sasuke subconsciously took in the order and followed without hesitation, landing on Naruto's right while Sakura moved closer and stood on Naruto's left.
Looking back at the tree everyone could now see that a red haired boy with a gourd was standing on the underside of a branch on the same tree. The boy narrowed his eyes at being discovered before vanishing in swirl of sand, only to reappear in a similar swirl by the pair at the other end of the street.
"Kakuro, you're a disgrace," he spoke in a soft voice.
"But Gaara," the now named Kankuro tried to explain himself,"I was-"
"Shut up or I'll kill you." was the impatient response.
Naruto slightly shivered as he listened in on the conversation. Throughout the whole thing, everything about Gaara's posture and voice was calm, but Naruto could still feel the violent emotions that threatened to be unleashed. The other pair could apparently pick up on it as well since everything about their body language screamed extreme weariness.
"Come, let's go." Gaara declared and the boy turned to follow, only stopping when the, till now, silent girl spoke up.
"Wait," she said, bringing the two boys with her to a halt. "what's your name?"
"Why should I tell you my name," Sakura shot back.
"I wasn't talking to you pinkie," the blonde girl scoffed. "I meant your teammates."
Sasuke narrowed his eyes before responding, "Sasuke Uchiha."
"Oh?!" the girl exclaimed as the red haired boy started to look interested."So you're the Last Uchiha. And what about you whiskers?"
Naruto scowled at the nickname, annoyance temporarily overriding caution as he yelled back,"Naruto Uzumaki, Dattebayo!"
"Really," Kankuro asked, confusing Naruto with the sudden interest in the eyes of the other nin. Sasuke he could understand because the Uchiha was a powerful clan, but what was so special about his name?
"So an Uzumaki still remains in Konoha," the blonde girl said as Naruto was still puzzling over the sudden interest shown over his last name.
"Hey pigtails," Sakura called, annoyed at being dismissed so nonchalantly," what're Suna-nin doing in Konoha?"
"My name's Temari brat," the now identified girl yelled back as her eye twitched in annoyance before she calmed herself." And we're here for the Chunnin exams."
Before any more words could be exchanged, Gaara once more spoke up, apparently having grown bored."Temari, Kankuro, let's go."
His two teammate nodded in acquiescence before jumping away. Gaara remained for a second, staring both Naruto and Sasuke down.
"I hope to see you there," he eventually declared before he too jumped away.
Naruto, and Sakura stood together on the bridge while Sasuke stood a little further away.
"Dammit sensei!", Sakura yelled in frustration, "If he's going to call us on our day off then he should at least be on time. We've been waiting here for an hour already."
"We should be late too if sensei is always going to be late!" Naruto declared, trying to back Sakura up.
Sakura merely spun around and bonked Naruto on the head. This time he didn't crash to the ground as Sakura no longer put as much power into her punches after Wave, having accepted that while Naruto was an idiot, he was still a strong idiot and obviously worked hard.
"We can't do that baka," Sakura chided Naruto, "We're genin so we have to follow rules and do what our jonin-sensei says."
Naruto slightly pouted at being reprimanded, internally grateful that Sakura had toned down her monster punches.
"Neh Sakura-chan?" Naruto asked after a few moments of peaceful quiet, "Wanna go out on a date?"
This time Sakura didn't hold back and the unprepared Naruto was floored.
"Dammit Naruto,' Sakura yelled," just cuz I admit that you've gotten strong and work hard doesn't mean that I'll go out with you so stop asking!"
"My, my," came a voice from the end of the bridge.
The trio of gennin turned to see Kakashi walking towards them with his nose once more buried in a book.
"Aren't you lively today?" he asked as he put the book away in a pocket on his jacket, affectionately patting it as it slipped in.
"You're late Kakashi-sensei," Sakura and Naruto yelled in tandem, the latter still on the ground.
"My bad,' Kakashi apologized, though the expression on his face looked decidedly fake."but I was busy signing the three of you up for a certain test."
Sakura and Sasuke quickly connected the dots and their eyes widened in surprise.
Naruto, meanwhile, pouted as he got up from the floor of the bridge." But Kakashi-sensei, I don't wanna take a test!"
Underneath his mask, Kakashi's mouth quirked upwards at his third student, noting that other two somehow already knew what he was talking about.
"Trust me Naruto-kun," Kakashi said,"you'll love these tests. It's a simple event called the Chunnin Exams."
As Naruto finally understood, he began to jump around in joy.
Still amused at the blonde's antics, Kakashi reached into a pocket and pulled out a few papers.
"Here are the papers for you guys," he said and then handed them out to each of the three genin.
"Um Kakashi-sensei", Sakura said demurely,"do you really think we're ready for this?"
Sakura still remembered how useless she felt during the Wave Mission as Sasuke took out the water clones and Naruto ran Gato's army off.
Kakashi turned to Sakura and gave her an eye smile.
"You don't have to enter if you feel like you're not ready," Kakashi said reassuringly. "But I'm not worried, I wouldn't have entered the three of you if I didn't feel like you weren't prepared."
"Really?" Sakura asked as she looked at the jonin.
"Really," Kakashi confirmed, "Once you make up your mind, just show up where it says to, on the sheet I gave you, in a weeks time."
Sakura nodded before smiling.
"I have to go rub this in Ino-buta's face!" she exclaimed before running of the bridge into town.
Sasuke grunted out something that sounded like training before jumping onto the roofs and heading for the Uchiha compound, leaving Naruto and Kakashi on the bridge.
"Any questions?" Kakashi asked his final student.
Naruto stayed silent for a few seconds, looking at the sheet of paper in his hands and remembering the Suna-nin who were also entering.
"Kakashi-sensei," Naruto asked, his voice softer than normal. "Do I have a clan?"
Kakashi's eyebrows rose at the query, wondering how Naruto was clued in to something that nearly everyone but the eldest shinobi in Konoha had forgotten.
"Why do you ask?" Kakashi asked, trying to figure out how much Naruto knew.
"We met some Suna-nin earlier today," Naruto said, "and when I told them my name, they seemed really interested and one of them even remarked 'So an Uzumaki still remains in Konoha'."
Kakashi internally cursed. The Uzumaki used to be a big deal and it was not surprising that other villages still remembered the legendary clan even though Konoha had tried to suppress memories of their biggest failure.
Kakashi looked over at the Hokage monument as if he was trying to seek guidance from the fourth before finally coming up with a plan of action.
"This is a long talk that we shouldn't have in the middle of the village," Kakashi said. "How about you meet me at Training Ground Seven tomorrow and I'll see what I can tell you."
Naruto's eyes widened in surprise at seeming making a breakthrough in finding family before nodding like a bobble head and they racing off into the village, undoubtedly to get something to eat before camping out in Training Ground Seven for the night.
Kakashi sighed as he watched his sensei's son run off.
"Dammit Minato-sensei," Kakashi said under his breath, "you're son is just as troublesome as your wife."
Kakashi sat in the tree as he watched Naruto sleep against a post in TG 7.
Unsure about just how much to divulge, he had gone to see the Sandaime yesterday for advice. After someone talking between themselves and even bringing in Shikaku for his opinion, a decision had been reached.
Early on in the talks, it had been realized that they couldn't try to ignore this as it was unlikely that this would be the first time that Naruto would come under the spotlight for his name. Especially since Naruto was likely to announce it at every opportunity. They also couldn't tell him too much about his parentage as it would bring assassins down on the unprepared gennin's head. The final decision was to tell Naruto about the basic history of the Uzumaki while also telling him that the identity of his parents was classified until Naruto was stronger.
Looking at the position of the sun to see that it was around 7 in the morning, Kakashi jumped down walked over to the oblivious genin. Kakashi silently jumped atop the post Naruto was using as a back rest and looked down at the mop of blond hair. Remembering the eraser prank that Naruto had pulled on him, Kakashi decided that this was a great time to get some childish revenge. Putting his hands into a Dragon seal, Kakashi grabbed onto a glob of water from the nearby stream and brought it to hover above the sleeping boy. With a grin reminiscent of Obito, Kakashi released his hold on the orb of water and watched it splash over his student.
Naruto had been in beautiful dream about being served ramen by an unidentifiable woman with red hair while she bickered with a blond haired man sitting on the opposite side of the table. The peaceful dream was quickly ended as he woke up spluttering and wet.
Confused and cold, Naruto quickly jumped up from where he had been sleeping and yelled in surprise. He looked around, trying to figure out which rude asshole woke him up before hearing giggling behind him. Naruto turned to see his sensei crouching atop the same post he had been sleeping against, head once more buried in an Icha Icha as he giggled behind it.
"Dammit Sensei! You're…" Naruto yelled before trailing off as he realized that the sun was still low on the horizon, "on time? Is that really you? Are you sick?"
"Is it really that surprising that I came on time?", Kakashi asked.
"Yeah!" Naruto shouted back.
"Well I can come back and talk about your clan in two hours if you'd like" Kakashi said, standing up on the post and making as if he was about to jump away.
"NONONONO," Naruto said hurriedly. "It's perfectly normal for you to be on time." Naruto lied, trying to keep his jounin-sensei from leaving.
Kakashi smirked in victory as he crouched back down on the post.
"So I really do have a clan?" Naruto asked, remembering Kakashi's threat.
"Yes Naruto," Kakashi said as he settled himself in for what would be a long talk."The Uzumaki clan hailed from Uzushiogakure and were quite well known to the rest of the Elemental Nations."
Naruto's eyes widened at the information.
"What made them so well known?", Naruto asked, eager to learn more about his clan.
"The Uzumaki were collectively known as the peaceful dragon." Kakashi said, remembering stories that Kushina had once told him. "They didn't have much in the way of economic power and their shinobi never grew too large in numbers, but other villages were highly respectful of them to the point that the Big Five were considering adding them as a sixth. What made them so powerful were their Fuuinjutsu and large reserves."
"Fuuinjutsu?" Naruto interrupted,"you mean the scroll that you can seal kunai in?"
"Yes," Kakashi answered,"but that is only the lowest level of fuuinjutsu. True practitioners of fuuinjutsu can accomplish so much more. Take your seal that holds the Kyuubi at bay, it's actually an altered Uzumaki seal. With their long lives and large reserves, the Uzumaki could learn, create, and activate seals that were beyond the abilities of any other. Their reserves were especially useful as they could grow truly monstrous and allow them to effectively use chakra-seals."
"Chakra-seals?"
Kakashi nodded and held up one of hands."Unlike normal seals written in ink, Chakra-seals are made purely out of Chakra. This makes them extremely costly chakra-wise, but it also makes them much quicker to use."
Naruto watched as Kakashi released very light blue chakra from his palm and it formed undecipherable lines and squiggles in an invisible plane just in front his hand. Kakashi then slammed his hand onto the ground and then retracted it. Naruto saw that where he had slammed his hand, the same set of lines and squiggles appeared on the ground.
"As you can see," Kakashi continued after his demonstration, "As long as I have the seal firmly grasped in my mind, I can create it out of my chakra and place it on any surface it contact. What I used was a simple storage seal, but a seal master could use paralysation seals and chakra restriction seals in the middle of battle."
Naruto's mouth opened in astonishment before he cheered,
" Take that," he yelled to no one in particular, "my clan is friggin awesome."
Kakashi smiled at his exuberant student, happy that he was able to learn about his roots.
"Hey Kakashi-sensei," Naruto said turning to his smiling teacher, "can we please go to Uzushiogakure so I can meet my clan? Maybe I have cousins, or an aunt and uncle, or grandparents there."
"I'm sorry Naruto," said Kakashi, truly sad to have to break the next bit of information, " but Uzushi was destroyed at the start of the third shinobi war. There's nothing there but ruins there now."
Naruto's eyes widened before filling in tears.
"Is-is that how my parents died?" Naruto choked out.
Kakashi shook his head."You were born well after the end of the third war Naruto." He explained,"your parents lived in Konoha before they died."
"Oh," Naruto said, dejected and the two lapsed into silence for a few minutes. "Kakashi-sensei, who were my parents."
Kakashi prepared himself to answer the touchy subject, already knowing that Naruto wasn't going to like the answer.
"I can't tell you that."
"What! Why?", Naruto said angrily.
"It's not that I don't want to Naruto," Kakashi placated the mad blonde, " but you're parents were well known. It was deemed that, with you already being the jinchuriki of the Kyuubi, it would be safer if you didn't know till you were stronger."
Naruto grit his teeth at having the information he wanted most being held just out of his reach.
"Then how strong do I have to become?" Naruto asked brashly as he jumped to his feet and pointed at Kakashi.
"Well I'd say you'd have to be at least high chuunin for your mother. You'd probably have to be on the level of an ANBU captain for your father though" Kakashi said, tapping his chin in thought.
"Well then I'm going to blow past these exams and become jonin in less than a year!" Naruto declared.
'I have no doubt that you will' Kakashi thought as he watched Naruto begin to start pounding away at post.
Another chip of wood splintered of the post as a fist once more slammed against it.
Sasuke shifted to the side to let the sliver of wood fly past him before he brought his hand back in and slammed a kick into the beaten post. He didn't even notice the smarting of his knuckles as his thoughts were filled with something else. As he continued to wail at the post, Sasuke kept going over everything that had happened over the past few months.
Looking back, he realized that ever since passing the Academy Exam and becoming a genin, he hadn't really improved. Sure he could now work in a team, use the tree walking exercise, and had somewhat increased his speed, but compared to Naruto, he was making no progress.
The class dobe had grown in leaps and bounds, going from not even being able to create a clone to being able to summon giant toads and drive away an army of mercenaries all on his lonesome.
All the while Itachi was probably also growing at an equally scary pace. Being a genius that came once a generation, there was no way that the butcher of the Uchiha clan was anything but immensely stronger than he was the day he left.
Meanwhile, here he was, the rookie of the year and peer proclaimed strongest genin of Konoha falling behind both of them. How was he supposed to overtake Itachi and bring him to justice if he was already in danger of falling behind Naruto.
Naruto.
Sasuke grit his teeth and slammed against the post even harder, sending a crack running halfway down the length of wood.
After the battle, he'd asked Kakashi about the toads Naruto had summoned but hadn't been all that happy with the answer. Apparently Naruto had gotten the summons from the Sannin Jiraiya, an S-class Ninja who was on Itachi's level. The summons also meant that Jiraiya had taken Naruto as an apprentice.
It annoyed Sasuke that Naruto got an S-Class teacher while he was still stuck with Kakashi. Sure Kakashi was strong, but Sasuke had looked into some of the Bingo books within the compound and found that Kakashi of the Sharingan was still an A-Class Ninja.
Sasuke put another crack in the post as he was reminded of another sore point.
He still didn't have a Sharingan. At the age of 13 and already having participated in an A-Rank Mission, Sasuke was, according to the meticulous records kept by the Uchiha, behind in unlocking his Sharingan. Most Uchiha already had at least 2 tome by the time they participated in a B-Rank mission, but here Sasuke was, not even having unlocked his after an A-Rank.
With a final chakra fuelled punch, the post broke under the pressure and fell to the ground.
Something would have to change as Sasuke was determined to pass these exams and get himself a stronger teacher.
"Hey Naruto," Kishi said as the smoke from the summoning dissipated around him."What'd you summon me for?"
"Hey Kishi," Naruto said,, "When we faced off against those sand guys I realized that I don't have any long range attacks. I decided to start learning some and thought you'd like to train with me."
"Sure." Kishi said.
Naruto smiled at that before putting his fingers in a T shape. With a poof of smoke three Kage Bunshin appeared and looked to Naruto for instructions.
"I want you guys to go off to the side and practice that shield thing I did when I fought Haku. I want to at least be able to move while using it."
The three clones nodded before jogging of to a far away section of the clearing.
With the clones gone, Naruto bit his thumb and once more used the summoning jutsu. Kakashi had said that he wouldn't be able to teach Naruto any long range techniques as he was used to working up close and personal. Not knowing anyone else he could go to to learn long range techniques from, Naruto turned to his only other option.
Naruto slammed his palm on the ground and stood back to watch as the smoke cleared to reveal his latest sensei.
"Hey Gamakaze."
AN: Hope you enjoyed the chapter. Like I said up above, The next chapter/chapters will be out on Sunday.
If you want to read more of my work then go check out my other story Midday.