Disclaimer- Characters from Anime belongs to Kishimoto however, this story belongs to me. Enjoy!
CHAPTER 5
Shizuku was delighted to know about kiri kunoichi. The little raved haired girl was bouncing like baby kangaroo with her short 4'6" figure.
Naruto had decent idea that it had something to do with ice jutsu and senbon needles.
"Can she stay here forever, big brother?" her hopeful coal black eyes shining with stars.
Naruto sighs at her demand, "Only if she wants to. You can't control ice like her, Shizu-chan. So stop bothering her!"
"I can and I will, just you wait!" her pink cheeks puffing at this vow, earning a curious glance from quietly standing Haku.
After that tragic accident with her parents, she always followed Zabuza, never looking back. But now, with her master gone, her eyes fixated on Naruto, but he shrugged his shoulders coolly.
"You can try to teach her. At least she'd stop nagging me. It's not like she can copy your blood line" responded Naruto, showing her guest room but a loud "yes" in background told him that, Shizuku ears were still sharp.
"You are very kind, Naruto-san" said Haku softly, she has never been treated with such generosity.
"Make yourself home. Ask Shizuku for anything you want. She has been going crazy about this ice of yours. I don't want her heart to break but she needs to know, one can't have everything in life" admitted Naruto and left Haku alone in her thoughts.
'You want me to teach her ice manipulation, Naruto-sama. I'll do it and make you happy' her tactical mind knitting various idea to impose her plan. Haku didn't know why, but she was feeling something that she's never felt before and it irked her deeply.
Everything has been normal for few weeks, except Haku taking Shizuku for training in evenings. Every time she'd come out with light bruises, her smile was enough to disarm his guard. If this could make Shizuku and Haku happy, then Naruto had no qualms with their little playtime.
Haku started working daytime in hospital as medic nin. She has opened up with Shizuku lately but was having rough time in her feelings department. It was all new experience for ice queen.
They'd shifted in better apartment. Naruto was thinking about changes in his life, when some tapped on his window.
"Come in sensei! My window is always open for you"
"My hotness must have alarmed you! Well, here's Chunin exam form. Sign it and meet me in forest, I've special gift for ya!" announced Anko and before Naruto could reply, she was gone.
"She always does that!" Naruto groaned irritably, opening his application form.
"What is this, Naruto-san?" asked Haku curiously, appearing from kitchen.
Naruto smiled at her, it was nice having someone more human in home. She was retaining more of her feeling with every passing day but was still over polite. Placing paper on the table, he replies "I'm applying for chunin exam, Haku. You can call me, Naruto. We are friends and we even live in same house, no need for this formality."
His reply took Haku by surprise. He was the only person to treat her nicely. He had given her shelter, food, a bed to crash on and never asked for anything in return. She was puzzled by his behavior.
"You should relax when you are in home, Haku. I have to go now, take care of Shizu-chan me!" his voice broke her from inner slumber as she nodded at dumbly him. Haku didn't want him to leave, but said nothing in return.
FORST OF DEATH-
After submission of his form, Naruto leaves to search Anko.
'I swear if she's up for another game, this will be her last day in Konoha' thought Naruto, stepping near river.
"Surprise!" as a giant water snake attacked him from behind, catching him off guard. He was sent crashing against tree, blood trickled down his cheeks.
"What the hell is this, sensei?" asked Naruto irritably, wiping blood from his chin.
"This is Kero-kun! You will have duel with him. If you win, then I will let you sign my snake summoning contact" announced Anko, patting a giant water snake, his slitting eyes turned to meet blue ones.
"It will eat me alive, sensei! You can't be serious?" but only reply was 'hiss' from Kero, as snake hardened his gaze, his predatory eyes getting ready for assault.
"Stop whining and entertain you sensei! If you can impress me, then I might just give you more than summoning contact" hinted Anko playfully, earning a frustrated groan from Naruto.
"You know what? I'll be looking forward to your extra offer" his counter attack surprised Anko, but she shook her head approvingly.
"All right Kero, here I come!" yelled Naruto, jumping over Kero with kunai in his hand.
Duel between two opponents was like dance of two snakes. With Naruto using Snake style to evade Kero's fangs and tail, and Kero's natural elegancy and fluid steps matching his movements, the battle of taijutsu and power was balanced from the start.
Naruto couldn't deliver any damage to Kero, because snake's water will always reform. He was getting tired, but Kero speed only increased with time.
Naruto was racing his brain's horse, when Kero's tail launched him high in air as Kero positioned himself below, a falling Naruto, with his mouth wide open.
'Shit, this thing is really going to eat me!' his previous word echoed in mind, his gaze turned to Anko but she was sitting there, watching him with an amused smile.
Naruto started to descend and within few seconds he'd find himself in someone's belly, if not for
"Shadow Clone Jutsu"
A clone puffed in mid air, descending parallel with him. They gripped each other's hand tightly and started spinning in mid air, forming mini tornado. Their velocity increasing as they neared Kero.
Anko's eye widened at his assault, "Goldie is going head to head with Kero-kun! I should have brought Kure-chan. It'd have been a nice show off."
Tornado clashed with giant water Snake, the battle between two forces of nature sent a shockwave in forest.
But air was too virulent for venomous water to withstand.
Kero's head blown away with 'splash', as a drenched Naruto stood victor on ground with goofy smile, but the smile that Anko returned, flared his senses.
"Shit!" he was tackled by Kero's tail; the said snake was reforming from water.
'How can I defeat him, if it just keeps reforming itself?' but it was not time for debate.
Launching explosive tags at water snake, Naruto waited for them to pierce through fluidity of Kero, but said Snake reflected this attack with his tail.
'So he knows what to dodge, I have to take him by surprise', forming handsigns
"Multi Shadow Clone Jutsu"
10 copies puffed in smoke. Getting nod from their leader, they launched kunai at different sides of Kero.
Seeing no explosives, Water Snake never attempted to dodge his attacks.
But before Kunais could completely pass through Kero's body, they were replaced by shadow clones. Clones were too heavy and large to penetrate thick fluid walls of Kero.
A single hand sign and clones activated explosive tags on their bodies, blasting Kero from inside. It was suicide attack from clone troop, but this time, there was no sound of splashing of water.
Where once stood giant water snake, was now enveloped with his water vapors.
Fire didn't left any solid trace of Kero. Naruto turned his focus towards river, but nothing came out.
"That was cool! I will give you that. Suicidal clones! But still not enough to impress me. It was your extra exam for chunin too, looks like you've passed" shouted Anko, happy with display of her pupil.
"What exam? I've submitted my form" but her sheepish laugh told him, there was something else.
"A genin can't take chunin exam without team. So I fought old man until he agreed with this pre-test. If you were to lose in this duel, there'd have been no exam for you" explained Anko, Naruto could only roll his eyes in frustration.
"Don't give me that! Here, bite your thumb and sign with your blood" said Anko, giving him a large gray scroll.
There was another name in the scroll above Anko's that he never heard of. Pointing at first name, he asked "who is this, sensei?"
Her face darkened at this, shaking her head, Anko replies "remember that pedo that I want to kill someday." Her tongue literally spitted venom, it was enough for Naruto to gulp and nod at his teacher.
"Good. Now we are fellow snake summoners of Konoha, but don't get yourself high! Follow these handsigns and try to pour as much chakra as you can" explained Anko, showing him handsigns for summoning.
Naruto repeats the handsigns
"Summoning Jutsu"
River shook lightly as Kero appeared from it. His body unscathed but he was not looking for another assault.
"I, Kero of snake clan, accept you as my summoner" Kero's announced, nodding his head in approval.
"You… can talk?" Naruto croaked at the sight of talking snake.
Kero bowed respectively, "Hai, Naruto-sama. Only you can talk to me or any other snake summoner, if they want to."
"But, I killed you right here! Didn't I?" his voice rising with confusion.
"You can't kill me, Naruto-sama. When you defeated me, I lost my chakra and was reverse summoned to my homeland" explained Kero, but Naruto was still struggling with truth.
"If it's true, then why are you here? Aren't we enemies?" snake shook his head in negative.
"We snakes don't allow weaklings to summon us. It was test of your strength, skill and mind. Now, you can always summon me to aid in your battles. You can summon others too, based on your needs."
"Thanks Kero, you can go now" said Naruto, his mind racing with speed of millennium.
Looking at fazed Naruto, Anko voiced "Well, that went fine. As for your reward, I'm going to teach you sunshine no jutsu."
"I…I'd like that very much. I never knew snakes were this cool. Duck-butt gonna piss his pants, when he meets Kero!" jeered Naruto, getting a happy nod from Anko.
"So, tell me how your sexy ice mistress is?" her query changed his demeanor.
"I have better chance with you, than her. And unless we do something, there is no Haku in the picture" Naruto shot back, trying to counter fire with fire.
"Oh! You are doing fine, Goldie. But you are not getting in my pants any soon. Jonin, remember?" laughed Anko, her fire dominant over his flame.
"One day, I'll take you down women!" yelled Naruto in frustration, why wasn't her sensei like other normal sensei's, instead of flirtatious and wicked women.
"I like it on the top, but it would work as well. Old man wants to see you, Goldie" finished Anko with her smirk, as Naruto lowers his gaze, his cheeks red with embarrassment as he immediately leaves to meet Hokage.
HOKAGE'S OFFICE-
Naruto was surprised to see Hiruzen sitting with another white haired man.
Unknown guest addressed him first, "you must be Naruto. Do you know me?"
"Your description matches with Jirariya of Sannin, but you can't be him. You look too goofy" replied Naruto monotonously.
Jirariya did his awkward dance, "I'm Jirariya, the greatest Sannin. Ladies beg for my company, men praise me like God. I'm greatest pervert on earth!"
"If you are going to let this man dance in exam, then I want to withdraw my name, old man" said Naruto, irritated at Jirariya's stupidity.
Hiruzen sighed at his outburst. This was not the first time when someone has shown distaste towards his student "I'm sorry, Naruto-kun, he is Jirariya. And he wants you to accept his apprenticeship."
"What can you show me Sannin-sama, that I can't learn from my sensei?" asked Naruto slyly, as Jirariya gave him a cocky smile.
Forming a blue spiraling ball, Jirariya responds "this is rasengan, invented by Yondaime. You want to see my power, here you go!"
Before Sandaime could stop his student, his desk was shattered by Jirariya's rasengan.
"Well, that jutsu did intrigue me. If you can teach me that, I will become you pupil" announced Naruto, he was immediately grabbed by Jirariya and sunshined to Hokage's outer premises.
"This time I escaped, but old man would demand more copies of Icha Icha in return for his table" said Jirariya, wiping fake sweat fromhis forehead.
Naruto was puzzled by his display of power and idiocy, "let's start with rasengan, exam is within a month"
"Aren't you a speedy little thing? Well, take these balloons, fill them with water and try to balance its water with chakra in your hand like this" said Jirariya, showing his the right way.
Naruto immediately began to practice the first step of rasengan, if he was some goofy idiot; it'd have taken him days but his control over kawarimi allowed him to balance water in 4th attempt.
"What is next, Sanin-sama?" he asked, stopping Jirariya who was about to leave.
"Well...I thought...it would take you at least a day. So the next step is to pour chakra in your palms and shape it into ball" explained Jirariya, doing the same.
Naruto didn't waste any time as he starts to concentrate on his physical chakra, but he couldn't form a ball.
It was evening, he decided to call it day and was about to leave the forest when some familiar voice grabbed his attention.
There was a tired looking Shizuku on water, while Haku was cheering for her on the ground.
'Since when did Shizu learned chakra control and how can she do this?' nothing made sense to him, Shizuku was from civilian side. There's no way, she could mold chakra with high density. But he decided to ask Haku about this after exams.
Three days later, Naruto was still struggling with second step, when Sakura found him in training ground.
"What is this, Naruto?" her abrupt question broke his concentration.
"This is jutsu, that Jirariya of Sannin is teaching me. But I can't get the 2nd step" said Naruto, frustration visible in his tone.
"Well, show me the first step and second. I may not be prodigy like you but I have got fine chakra control"
After his explanation, Sakura begins "don't try to make you chakra flow, add it in small amounts and do it slowly."
Naruto does as she said and he could see chakra ball in his hands but it diminished when he rushed to hug Sakura.
"Did I ever tell you, duck-butt is one lucky boy that you love him!" exclaimed Naruto happily, unaware of storm raging in kunoichi's mind.
"You are sweet, Naruto-kun. So when are you going to learn last step of this jutsu?" asked Sakura, biting her lips.
"Huh... third step? I have to find that weirdo Sannin" his reply ticked Sakura as she stared at him.
"Weirdo Sannin? Do you have any idea, how lucky you are to learn under Sannin!" said Sakura sharply, not happy with his disrespect. Her sensei had abandoned her, and her friend was disregarding great sage.
"You will understand when you see him. He has told me, where to meet him, follow me!" replied Naruto, jumping toward bathhouse as Sakura followed him.
"Ne Sakura, why aren't you with your sensei? You are entering exams too" asked Naruto, his eyes searching for Jirariya.
Sakura seem saddened a bit, "he...he left me for training Sasuke-kun, Sai... he is Sai, I guess."
"Well, I can teach you some tricks and genjutsu as your payment for helping me" offered Naruto, but before Sakura could say anything, he spotted Jirariya on roof of bathhouse.
"Come here, Pervy-sama!" his loud yell was enough for Jirariya to stop scribbling.
"What are you doing here this early? And who is this bubble gum babe? Are you here to learn some make out tactics?" Sakura could see the reason behind Naruto's calling him a weirdo.
"Umm...She's my friend and was passing by. I have learned second step sensei, so show me the third one" replied Naruto, covering Sakura behind him.
"Oh! Prodigy too! For the last step, use second step to gather chakra in your palms and then balance it like first step. It will take time, kid. It took me 2 years to master. Well, practice this later, I've special gift for you" said Jirariya, pulling out his summoning scroll.
Seeing familiar scroll, Naruto voiced "I can't sign this. I'm already a snake summoner."
Jirariya quirks his eyebrows at this, "that creates trouble for you, toads and snakes have bitter history. They will never allow you to have both contacts. So, let's cancel your snake summon first!"
"There's no way I'm leaving snakes for ugly toads!"
"Toads are better in battle than snakes!"
"Better my ass! Snakes are cool and dangerous!"
"Why you?" groaned Jirariya, his eyebrows twitching.
"You cannot become my pupil until you sign this contact" Jirariya rolled his final dice.
"I…I need more time to think of this" stammered Naruto, he was concerned about Anko. She was wicked, but has given her time to him. He felt like, he was betraying her.
"Very well. Now run, I have research to do" shooed Jirariya, reaching his peeping spot.
"Are you sure, he is Jirariya of the Sanin?" asked Sakura, not believing her ears. One of the most powerful being in fire nation was self proclaimed pervert and he was peeping on women's spa.
Naruto gives a sheepish laugh, "old man has told me. So let's train, you don't want to look bad in exam, do you? Ducky will never notice you then."
Naruto cheered her up, but she could only give a hesitant nod.
It was late night when Naruto enters his apartment. Not wanting to disturb anyone, he carefully steals a glance in Shizuku's room.
"What the hell?" was his response at the sight of frozen room. Mini ice blocks were scattered everywhere, it was a cold storage.
"Shizu-chan?" but a tired groan from sleeping Shizuku told him to avoid immediate confrontation, 'tomorrow, I'll ask her about this.' But tomorrow never came, his own preparation for exam and training with Sakura, kept him deprived of any additional time.
Exam Day-
Thinking about those strange suna siblings and lee's performance with Sasuke prior to first exam, Naruto was looking for potentially dangerous opponents.
Forest of death had its unique fearful aura, and Anko was not going to lessen it by her actions.
"No one cannot quit in the middle of exam. You will either make it there or belly of Forest! I must inform you that, no dead body has ever been found in this forest" chirped Anko, her smile unnerved several genins.
"Relax, it's not true! Few months ago, a chunins head was found hanging on trees" said Naruto, adding fuel to fire.
"Oh, courtesy of my boytoy! Now, hurry up and sign these papers" announced Anko. The participants soon left for forest, unaware of snake lurking in shadow.
"Find second scroll, race to tower and avoid deep shit. Sounds easy" repeated Naruto once again, remembering Anko's instructions.
It was his lucky day that he found Taki team on his second day. They were fighting amongst each other. Two male members of team were badmouthing their mint haired teammate.
Naruto aims explosive tag in middle of three members, breaking their team.
"Multi Shadow Clone Jutsu"
"Handle those two, I will see the girl" orders Naruto to his two clones.
"You seem to have some bad blood with your teammates, so threat of killing them may not work on you" said Naruto to Taki kunoichi, earning a meek nod in return.
"I'm sorry, but I'm bounded to help my bastard teammates" replies Fu sadly, looking down at her feet.
"I can kill you girl. It's pointless" Naruto throws rock at her, but the moment he substitutes himself with it, he was blown away by powerful thrust of air.
Fu reveals her wings, standing in defending stance. Her posture was something Naruto has only seen in trained Kunoichi. She was not some joke like his village.
Launching a barricade of kunai but they were deflected by her wings, same was with explosives, he was dodging his own attacks.
"I need to deliver my blow while evading her wings" concluded Naruto, creating an army of shadow clones. Giving mental command to them, Naruto throws a giant shiruken towards Fu, followed by smaller kunai, with his full strength.
Fu creates wind with her wings, once again deflecting his shiruken but her defense failed this time as clone army use their jutsu in unison.
"Wind Release: Shockwave Jutsu"
A series of air waves left clone's mouth, combining to neutralize Fu's wind and thrusting shiruken towards her. The ferocity of wave was enough for Fu to close her wings in order to avoid getting blown away.
Not trusting her eyes on dusty ground, she uses her sharp reflexes to dodge his shiruken but couldn't sense his hidden kunai behind it.
Her eyes widened at the revelation, but before kunai could hit her, it was replaced by Naruto, who quickly thrusts senbon needles on her neck.
"You were too slow to change tactics, but I won't kill you for the sake of exam. These needles have powerful sedatives. You will wake up within few hours. I'm taking your water scroll" said Naruto, catching her in arms. The sedative was doing its work on Taki jinchuuriki.
"You are from different village and yet, you are the kindest person I've ever met. I wish this could…" she mumbles, her vision blurring.
Naruto takes Fu near her two teammates but before he could tie them, a familiar voice pierced its way to him.
The petrified screams of Anko echoed in silent forest. He felt something, overwhelmingly evil in forest. It was unusual, even for even forest of death.
Leaving Fu, Naruto makes a mad dash towards the source of it.
Anko's bruised body was lying near a pale man, who seem to taking great amusement in mocking her.
"Get the fuck away from her!" yelled Naruto, racing towards his unknown intruder.
"Run away! He'll kill you!" snarled Anko, ignoring her battered state. But she yelped with pain, when Orochimaru kicked her on neck.
"Is this how you talk to master of your sensei, Naruto-kun?" mocked Orochimaru, getting confused look, he continued "I'm Orochimaru of Sannin. Your sensei was my wayward pupil, isn't it sweet, Anko-chan?"
But before Orochimaru could touch her bare neck, he dodges several kunai aimed for his head.
Orochimaru quirks his head at his assailant, "my serpent has surely failed you, Naruto-kun. I'll show you, how a real snake fights!"
AUTHOR'S NOTE- ' Dragon Country'- I tried :)
Credit: Novrier for his guidence.
'Battle with Orochi & meeting Kyuubi' in next chapter. I'm working on my 2nd fic too.
It was mainly about, Naruto getting snake contact & kyuubi's chakra (in next chapter). I'll start invasion early, why'd Orochimaru wait? He will not. Thanks everyone. You don't know how much your words means to me. No Hinata here, I'm unsure about Sakura though.
I won't stretch sidekick's fight (eg. temari vs shikamaru) like Kishimoto and others. Its highlighting diapers, when you wear none.
Keep sending your regards, you guys are the best!
Next chapter is coming soon. Take care.