Well, last chapter went well...kinda. Anyway, shoutout to Apex Soldier. He told me that I messed up in earlier chapters with Misuro/Miruko's name. Sorry about that little lapse. I'll fix it soon. I was thinking of the perverted monk in Inuyasha whose name I've forgotten, but it's along the lines of Miruko...Muroku, or something. Anyway, off to the chapter!
Chapter 13
Boom!
"Dammit, Naruto! I told you not to scribble over that matrix converter! It frazzled the kanji and the chakra conductors!"
"WHAT!? CAN'T HEAR YOU!"
"I SAID DON'T DO THAT AGAIN, BLONDIE!"
Naruto furiously dug around in his ear. "SAY WHAT?"
TenTen responded by putting her hands around the blonde's neck and throttling him. "JUST TAKE THIS, NARUTO!"
"LET ME GO, WOMAN!"
Guy shook his head exasperatedly. He sat on a tree branch, looking out over the clearing in one of the Training Grounds. TenTen and Naruto had already done their exercises, and now it was their own personal training session, which involved fuinjutsu. Both had agreed to work on explosive seals despite that mission, and a crater and a soot-covered pair of Genin had been the result. Neji hadn't arrived to training that day.
Guy frowned as he thought about Neji. The Hyuuga hadn't come to training any that week, and Guy had inquired at the Hyuuga complex about him but received only customary glares. He shifted in the tree; what had happened to Neji exactly?
Down in the clearing, Naruto shook the soot from his hair, and he looked down at his clothes. "Crap, my new jacket is ruined." He glowered up at TenTen, "and it's your fault." Indeed, his new white jacket now resembled his old black one. He'd bought it at a small store for a decent price and had taken meticulous care of it. Now that care went out the window.
TenTen punched him. "Was not! You're the one who scribbled over the matrix converter!"
"How was I supposed to know it would go boom!?"
"The damn book said so!" said TenTen angrily.
"You know full well that I don't read instructions!"
"Well, you should start!"
"Hell no! What am I, a friggin' goody two-shoes?"
TenTen grabbed him into a choke-hold. "You better be with sealing!" she warned, giving the blonde a noogie, "or you're gonna die!"
"Yeah, yeah, thanks, Kaa-san," said Naruto sarcastically, earning him another noogie, "Ouch! Quit it!"
"No!" TenTen pulled out a small booklet and opened it in front of Naruto's face. "Read!"
"Ack! Agony of instructional booklets!" yelped Naruto, wrenching himself out of TenTen's hold. "I'll never read that monstrosity!"
"Yes, you will, blondie, or I'll make you!" TenTen chased after Naruto, who cried and took off into the forest. Guy smiled, amused and exasperated. Their squabbling had slowly picked up in intensity due to Neji's absence, sometimes bordering on bodily injury. Neji, whether those two wanted to admit it or not, was the peacemaker of the team.
Guy looked up at the sun, which was slowly reaching its peak in the sky. He needed to report at Hokage Tower at noon, which seemed to be an hour away. He stood and looked down to see his Genin entering the clearing again, TenTen clinging to the back of Naruto and shoving the booklet in his face. "Read, damn you!"
Guy jumped to the ground. "Break it up, you two. I have to end practice early today, so either stay here and strangle each other, or leave. Whichever suits you." He shunshinned off, leaving an annoyed Naruto and TenTen.
"First of all, TenTen, before you kill me," said Naruto, holding up a hand, "how about we get back to fuinjutsu? I wanna know how to do this before I haunt you for the rest of your life."
"Whatever, Naruto," said TenTen, "You couldn't haunt an eggplant."
"Don't doubt me." He held out a hand, and a standard explosive seal appeared in a puff of smoke.
"Showoff," muttered TenTen, drawing a grin from Naruto.
"Always, Buns," he teased. He examined the seal. "Looks like the matrix converter we drew was slightly off-center from the chakra conductors, and we accidentally reversed the kanji-,"
"And you didn't help it any by scribbling it all to hell," added TenTen.
"Looks like we completely screwed it up, TenTen," said Naruto, ignoring the comment, "We gotta start over. Again."
Guy opened the door to the Hokage Tower and scanned the room. About twenty Jonin were standing or sitting on small couches, and Anko, surprisingly, was there, arguing with a bearded man. Guy frowned but then shrugged; coming to this little event was more polite than necessary. Maybe Anko was trying to be polite, emphasis on trying.
He stood near the door, wanting this to be over quickly. Fifteen minutes later, the Hokage hobbled over to a podium. "I trust that all of you and your Genin are doing well?" he asked, his voice silencing them. The Jonin nodded. "And I trust that all of you know why you are here?"
"Nope," said Anko, drawing a glare from the bearded man, "What, Asuma? Got a problem?"
"We are here," answered the Hokage, cutting off a reply from Asuma, "to decide which teams are to enter the Chuunin Exams."
Anko's jaw dropped for a second, but then she closed it angrily. "Then why the hell am I here?" She stomped out of the room, slamming the door behind her. Several Jonins tittered with disapproval but were silenced by a look from the Hokage.
The Hokage continued, "Now, before some of you enter or try to enter your Genin, think carefully. Is your Genin team strong enough and experienced enough to handle the challenges of the Chuunin Exams? Can they handle it mentally? Could you, if your whole team died during the Exams?"
The entire room was silent, a few of Jonins looking unsure now. Guy himself was unsure about his answer to the question now.
Boom!
"Well, at least it didn't go off in our faces," said Naruto flatly, "We had about a second to run like hell."
"Which was a second more than last time," breathed TenTen, clutching her side, "What are we doing wrong?"
The blonde shrugged and studied the standard explosive seal again. He frowned. "We did everything right...What did we do wrong?" He turned it over. "Oh...well, that explains it."
"What?"
"There's a back."
Guy thought about his team. All of them were strong, strong enough for the Exams certainly, but the question was experience. Their mission record was twenty-seven D-ranks and two C-ranks, and Guy knew the average mission record for teams entering were about forty to fifty D-ranks and five to ten C-ranks. His team just didn't have enough experience.
However, what Team 9 lacked in experience they made up in teamwork and raw strength. Both Naruto and TenTen were talented in fuinjutsu, ninjutsu, and close combat, and Neji excelled in his clan teachings and dojutsu. Also, as shown by the real Genin Exam, Naruto could lead the team in the midst of battle and even formulate a pre-battle strategy.
Guy pressed his hands to his temples. It was a balancing act with his team. Could he enter a fresh Genin team into the Chuunin Exams just because they were marginally stronger than the average Genin team? Or should he wait until his students weren't so fresh?
"Have we decided, Leaf Jonin?" asked the Hokage, interrupting Guy's thoughts. The old veteran looked to the nearest Jonin. "Isama, what is your answer?"
The man looked thoughtful before nodding confidently. "Yes. I will enter my Genin into the Exams."
The Hokage smiled. "Remember that the final decision is up to your students. Do not force them or let them be forced." He handed Isama four slips of paper, and the Jonin saluted and walked out of the room.
Guy nodded to himself. He knew Isama and knew that his students had about five years of experience under their belts. A good choice, and it finally let his Genin put their skills to the test. He wished Isama good luck.
"We ready, Naruto?"
"Yeah, barrier in position and up!" Naruto answered, standing behind a hemispheric purple wall.
"Alrighty, setting it off in three, two, one!" TenTen sparked a bit of chakra into the seal and hightailed it over to Naruto's barrier. She slid behind it. "Will this thing hold?"
"I hope so. It's an intermediate-grade barrier seal, so it should-,"
Pshhh...
Naruto stared at the ash that had been the seal and swore. "Goddammit...it failed."
TenTen swore hotly and punched Naruto in the back of the head, forcing another curse from the blonde. So commenced another squabble.
The Hokage looked to another Jonin. "And your team, Miyuki?"
The Jonin stared at the ground for a second, her face troubled, but then she lifted her head. "No. I will not enter my students into the Exams. They...need to understand the real world first." She walked out, saluting as she went.
Guy understood her choice. Her team had just graduated just a year ago, and all three of them came from civilian families. She hadn't been as hard on them as she have been, but it was the right choice. Genin with civilian backgrounds usually fared worse with rigorous training regiments and real world situations than those with clan or military backgrounds. He recognized her wise decision. He was still considering his own.
TenTen carefully drew onto a slip of paper. "Alright, it was the timer kanji that burnt the converters last time, so tuning them down should do the-,"
Pop!
"Son of a-!" she yelled, dropping the burning paper, "Jesus, I hate this!"
"Hey, Buns! I got a seal ready!" said Naruto, waving his seal in the air. TenTen glared at him. "What?"
"You coulda told me that earlier, blondie," she replied petuantly.
"What do you mean, earlier? I just got it done! And it wasn't the timer kanji crossing the converters, it was the conductors criss-crossing the converters and the kanji! I saw it at once."
"The why the hell didn't you tell me!?" demanded TenTen.
Naruto crossed his arms. "Thought you knew."
"I can't read minds!"
"I didn't say that."
"You implied it!"
"How-,"
"Don't. Say. Anything," warned TenTen, waggling a kunai at him.
Guy wrestled with his thoughts. This had to be one of the hardest choices he'd ever made, apart from his accepting the Jonin sensei position. He thought through the mental dossiers he had compiled about each of his students. 'They're certainly ready physically...but mentally I'm not sure. So which is more important, mental and physical?' He snorted in frustration.
"Guy?" asked the Hokage, disrupting Guy's thoughts, "Have you decided?" The Jonin looked up and saw that he was one of the few remaining Jonin. He swallowed dryly. "Well, Guy?" He contemplated for a second, and the decision became crystal clear.
Guy met the eyes of the Hokage, and shook his head. "No. Team 9 will not enter the Chuunin Exams." He saluted rigidly, and exited the room. 'Now since that's over, I need to ask an old rival for a favor,' he thought, leaping onto the rooftops and heading toward the Memorial Stone.
Naruto carefully set on the ground the explosive seal he'd created, and ran back to the barrier. He grabbed the edge and swung in behind TenTen. "How long?"
"Three, two," counted TenTen, "ONE!"
Boom!
The seal exploded into a massive ball of flame, painting the clearing orange for a moment, but the flames slowly dissipated, leaving behind a crater bigger than any made before.
"Hell yeah!" shouted the both of them, giving each other high-fives. Naruto grinned giddily and leaped from behind the barrier to examine the crater.
"Frick yeah!" he whooped, "It worked and my barrier held!" At that, a sound of glass breaking reached his ears. He turned, and ran his hand through his hair as the barrier slowly cracked, purple slivers fading away as they fell. "Well, it mostly held," he said.
"Didn't hold enough for my comfort," said TenTen, still under the failing barrier, "Coulda broke under the explosion if it'd been just a bit bigger." She tore the tag from the ground, and barrier disappeared. She tossed it back to Naruto. "Here you go. Useless now, but oh, well."
Naruto looked down at the barrier tag. Its ink was running into his hand, a sign of overuse and the over-extension of its power. He sighed resignedly, and it vanished in a cloud of smoke. "To the trash seal it goes then. Gotta clean that out soon."
"Hey, Naruto-san, TenTen! How'd that big hole get there?" Naruto and TenTen looked up and saw Touza swinging his legs off a tree branch. "Hello!" he greeted happily, "Academy let out early...or something like that."
"Why?" asked Naruto, Touza climbing down, "Did it really close or did you just make that up?"
"Why would I do that, Naruto-san?" he asked innocently.
"To get out of the Academy early," replied Naruto, "Not that I can't say anything. I sneaked out everyday. I was a bad little kid."
"You still are," corrected TenTen, punching him in the arm.
"Am not. I am a bad little man now."
"You wish."
"But really, the Academy really did close," interrupted Touza, "Some boys of the older class and their dogs peed everywhere...it was really stinky."
Naruto grinned widely. "Looks like I really did teach Kiba well. He got his relatives into it too, looks like."
"You mean you planned this, blondie?" asked TenTen, a warning in her voice.
Naruto didn't catch it. "Nope. Wish I had though, but I don't have a dog. Would hafta just do it the old-fashioned way."
TenTen walloped him with her hammer, which sent him flying into a tree. "And that's what you'd get." Touza giggled childishly, and TenTen patted him on the head. "Don't ever listen to that guy right there about anything. Unless it's about fuinjutsu. Then you need to be quiet while he rants on."
"Damn straight!"
"Naruto, language! We got a kid here, y'know!" Naruto grinned impishly as he leaped from the tree he'd been whacked into. "I'll hit you into the tree again if you're not careful!"
"What for, Buns? Sheesh, the kid's probably heard worse."
"Yep!" happily cut in Touza, "All the older kids in the orphanage say that kind of stuff. I've heard fu-,"
"Touza!"
"Sorry, TenTen-san."
The next day, Neji still hadn't shown up to training, making that day the sixth. Naruto, after he was done with the exercises, commented on that. "Hey, where the hell has teme been? Did he die or something? If so, I ain't sorry..."
"Naruto! Neji could be hurt or something!" snapped TenTen, panting slightly.
"Sorry, TenTen. Defensive of your Neji-kun, are you?"
"Yeah, I-wait a minute!"
Naruto grinned. "Yeah, you are. Just can't stop worrying about your pet Neji-kun."
TenTen snorted. "I'd kick you if I felt like it...and no one could make Neji their pet."
"You could."
"I wish...hey!" TenTen unsealed her hammer and swung, but the blonde laughed and stepped out of her reach. "I oughta-,"
"Kill me? Gut me? Molest me-oh, wait, save that for Neji-kuuun."
"YOU'RE DEAD, BAKA!" TenTen made to chase after the fleeing blonde but was held up by Guy. "Sensei! C'mon, lemme kill 'im!"
Guy shook his head in annoyance. "There will not be any killing of teammates today."
"Tomorrow then?"
Guy sighed; he was starting to worry about these two's mental stability. "Maybe." Naruto came back into the clearing, seeing that TenTen wasn't going to give chase.
"What's wrong, Buns? Too tired? Don't feel like it?" he taunted, earning an enraged snort from TenTen, "Good Lord, you can sound like a bull sometimes."
"Sensei said I can't kill you today," said TenTen petulantly, but then she brightened, "But that gives me time to plan for tomorrow!" She skipped away merrily, leaving a confused Naruto and weary Guy.
"Huh?" The blonde looked to his sensei. "What was that about?"
"Nothing, Naruto. Just...be extra-careful tomorrow. Just some friendly advice." Guy created a clone, which saluted and followed TenTen. "Now for the personal training."
"Eh, sensei? I was hoping I could work with TenTen on fuinjutsu-,"
"So you wouldn't like to learn a new jutsu?" The blonde froze. Guy grinned. "Got your attention now?"
"Definitely."
"Good, but we'll have to wait for a minute-,"
"Hey, Guy? Is this the place?" A man walked out of the surrounding forest, and Naruto instantly recognized him.
"You! Scarecrow-lookin' guy!"
"Eh? Oh, hey, short stuff. Don't remember you at all."
"But I remember you," said Naruto, crossing his arms. He looked at Guy, "Seriously, what's he doing here?"
Guy smiled as he envisioned the blonde's reaction. "Kakashi's here to teach you your new jutsu."
"WHAT!?"
"Eh," said Kakashi, shrugging, "Anyways, sorry I'm late. This little old lady-,"
"Oh, you're just fine, my rival! You've finally arrived on time!" exclaimed Guy.
"That's-what? I'm on time?"
"Yes!"
"But you told me six'o'clock!"
"And I knew you'd be three hours late. So here we are now at nine in the morning, the time that we needed you," said Guy happily.
Kakashi glared at Guy. "Your students are rubbing off on you, aren't they?"
"This is great and all," butted in Naruto irately, "But why the hell is Mr. Cyclops-Crazy Hair teaching me?"
Guy smiled brightly at the blonde. "As you know, I'm terrible with ninjutsu, and this type of jutsu particularly."
"Is it not earth affinity?" asked Naruto. At this, Kakashi looked questioningly at Guy.
"He knows about affinities?"
"Yes," answered Naruto sardonically, "This little blonde midget knows about affinities. Or least a little bit. Earth is one, and I guess wind, fire, and water are the other three."
Kakashi shook his head. "You forgot one, kid: lightning."
"Lightning's an element?...Hm, whatever floats your boat, Cyclops."
"It's Kakashi."
"Alrighty, Kakashi the Cyclops." At a meaningful look from Guy, Naruto grudgingly added, "-sensei."
Guy nodded. "I'll be leaving the two of you. Goodbye." He shunshinned off. Naruto glared at Kakashi.
"Can you really not remember me?" he asked temperamentally.
"Nope. Nothing. Why?"
Naruto's voice came from behind Kakashi. "Because you helped me find this nifty jutsu." The man turned to see a clone of Naruto standing with arms crossed.
"Joy, I gave you the Clone Jutsu. How exciting," said Kakashi, "Big deal."
The clone gestured to the ground. "Look again, Cyclops-sensei." The Jonin looked to where the clone had pointed, and blinked in surprise.
"There's...there's a shadow," he said. Kakashi looked at Naruto again, and suddenly a day from almost two years ago came back. "You're that blonde kid...those whisker marks looked familiar. How the hell did you get the Shadow Clone Jutsu?"
Naruto grinned. "You don't need to worry. I got it...kinda not really legally. Doesn't matter now." Kakashi was dumbfounded for a second, but then he shook his head.
"Don't even want to know the story, anyway."
"Yeah, thought so. Anyway, when are you gonna give me the jutsu?"
Kakashi waggled a finger patronizingly. "Not yet, kid. You've got to train a little bit with the element first, and this is going to be much easier since you know about affinities."
"The name's Naruto, by the way, and you'll lose that finger if you keeping wiggling it," informed Naruto sullenly.
Kakashi pulled back his finger, and he reached and plucked a leaf from the tree. He handed it to Naruto. "Very basic fire training: burn the leaf."
The blonde's eyes widened. "Fire? A fire jutsu? Really?"
"No, you have to set fire to the leaf to learn water jutsu...yes, it's fire, kid!"
"Alright! Finally get something that could be really awesome!" exclaimed Naruto.
"Yeah, yeah. Now try to burn the leaf." The blonde happily nodded and set the leaf in his palm. He imagined the leaf burning, and slowly his palm heated up. "Feel it yet?" asked Kakashi.
"Yep, sensei. Kinda getting too hot." The heat was becoming uncomfortable in his palm, and with another concentration of chakra, it became unbearable. "Ouch! Hot...damn!" Naruto dropped the leaf and blew on his hand. "Son of a...that hurt!"
"You shouldn't have held it in your palm," said Kakashi, eye-smiling at Naruto who glared at him.
"You bastard. That would've been nice to know about a minute ago."
"Trial and error is the best teacher, Naruto, not to mention the fastest."
"And the most painful," muttered the blonde, shaking the burnt hand, "I could spare the pain."
"Pain is the best teacher."
"Whoever came up with that little phrase is an effin' masochist. Pain is the best way to go nuckin' futs if you ask me."
Kakashi chuckled at Naruto's dry sarcasm; this little guy was likable once you got over the blatant disrespect. "Back to the training, Naruto," he ordered, suppressing a few more laughs.
"Not until you tell me what the hell to do. I, repeat, do not like pain."
"Hold it with your fingers, and imagine the tip of the leaf burning. If you do get it burning, it should give you long enough to drop it." Naruto plucked another leaf from a tree and held it between his fingers.
He looked pointedly at Kakashi. "If I get burnt, you'll be my next prank target." He thought of the leaf burning again, the fire beginning at the tip and devouring the rest of the leaf. His fingers grew warm, and he poured chakra into the task.
"Ouch! Hot!" yowled Naruto, dropping the leaf again, "You said it would work, Cyclops!"
"You must've done something wrong," said Kakashi plainly.
"I-how!?" demanded the blonde.
"Dunno. You have to figure that out yourself."
"You, sir, are a pure-bred, unrestrained, uncaring bastard."
"Thank you."
Naruto glared at him but plucked another leaf down. He stared at it for a moment, trying to think what he'd been doing wrong. 'Fire...burns on contact...could I jump chakra to the leaf somehow and not friggin' burn my hand?'
He focused on the leaf, but now changed the flow of chakra to it. He made chakra reach his wrist, surface to his skin, and arc around his hand. Heat gathered at his wrist, but it was a strange, comfortable heat. The leaf's tip began to smoke slightly, and Naruto brightened.
"Hey, I-," The leaf curled up as it turned to crisp. "Huh?"
"You lost your focus," said Kakashi, "You were on the right track, but keep on it even when you see smoke. Smoke doesn't always mean fire."
Naruto grunted. "Hm...thanks," he said gruffly. He got another leaf and leaned back against a tree.
Kakashi regarded him, impressed with his progress. The kid had decent chakra control for his sizable reserves which were rumored to rival the Hokage's, or at least that's what the file had said. The Jonin watched for another hour as ashy leafs collected around the frustrated blonde, who'd growled as each leaf curled.
"Stupid...friggin'...forsaken leaf!" snapped Naruto as another leaf turned black. He threw it down. "I swear this is the most annoying thing I've ever done...besides waiting for ramen." He picked another leaf. "Still, I want a new jutsu."
"And that takes patience," said Kakashi, pulling out his orange book. Naruto frowned as he saw the title.
"Make-Out Paradise?...OK, not perverted in the slightest bit."
"It's actually quite phenomenal reading."
Naruto snorted, both at the comment and the blackening leaf he held. "Right, any book found at a goddamn porn store is worth reading."
"I didn't get at a porn store...and how do you even know they're in there?"
"I've...well, can't really say wandered as much as sneaked in there. First thing I saw was that book. And now I reflect the same question to you: how do you know they're in there?" Naruto grinned mischievously at Kakashi over a leaf.
The Jonin was silent and scowled at Naruto, but did answer. "You can pretty guess why."
"Not exactly. Kinda wanna know...actually, forget it. Mental images already too much." The blonde returned his attention to the leaf. Kakashi scowled for a while longer, but eventually his nose and eye dipped down to the book.
Naruto swore as he failed to ignite another leaf. He glanced at Kakashi, and glowered as he saw that the Jonin wasn't watching. 'I oughta try to light that book on fire. Damn thing deserves it more than a leaf.' He stared at a corner of the book and reached out with his chakra.
'C'mon, burn dammit. Burn!' The corner started to smoke. 'Yes, that's it! Burn!' A small spark fell to the ground, and a fire broke out on the top right corner of the book. 'Hell, yeah!' Naruto pumped his fist in the air, but his elation was squashed, much like the fire was by Kakashi's fingers.
"Nice one, kid. Wrong target, but still nice," complimented Kakashi, pocketing the book and pulling out a scroll. "You got it down, but try it on the leaf for sure." Naruto looked peevish for a second, but grabbed a leaf and set it alight. "Good. Catch." He tossed the scroll.
The blonde caught and unrolled it. He looked at the name, and a grin broke out on his face. "Uchiha would be so jealous right now...Fire Style: Grand Fireball Jutsu, awesome."
Guy came back after training with TenTen and then Lee and found an exhausted Naruto lying on the ground and Kakashi standing above him. The blonde tilted his head back to look at his sensei. "Hey, sensei...how you doing?" he mumbled, "Kinda late...I'm tired. Really tired." He put his head back down on the ground and closed his eyes. "Just gonna lay here."
Guy chuckled. "How did he do?" he asked Kakashi.
The man shrugged. "Decent. Can get about a fireball three feet in diameter. Not bad for one day. He's probably fine practicing solo now." Kakashi focused in more on Guy. "You said that this kid has a wind affinity?"
"I think so. We never actually tested him."
"Hm," hummed Kakashi, tapping his chin, "and he can make real clones. This fire jutsu and whatever wind jutsu he learns will be a killer combination."
"He already knows a wind jutsu," said Guy, "Great Breakthrough."
Kakashi's visible eyebrow rose and disappeared under his headband. "How powerful?"
"I've seen at about high-C to low-B. And that was his first time."
Kakashi whistled admiringly. "Really strong wind affinity. Give him a few years with both jutsu and he'd be unstoppable with the massive reserves he's got." With that said, he waved lazily at Guy. "Anyway, gotta go." He vanished in a swirl of leaves.
Guy nudged Naruto with his foot. "Naruto." The blonde grunted and opened an eye in question. "Come on, you can't sleep here all night."
"Watch me."
"I don't have that kind of time unfortunately," said Guy dryly, nudging the blonde again, "Now get up."
"Leave me alone. I'm fine."
"You're fine until something makes dinner out of you."
"At least I'll be in a deep, comfortable sleep when I'm unpleasantly mauled to death," grumbled Naruto, drawing a sigh from Guy. "Alright, quit that sighing. Help me up." Guy reached down and pulled the drowsy blonde to his feet. "Thanks for that." Naruto stumbled slightly. "Never done so much to get a damn beach ball of fire."
Guy clapped him on the back, nearly toppling the blonde. "You can make it back home. Just pull it together." Naruto mumbled incoherently, and he stumbled away in the darkening evening. "See you tomorrow, Naruto!" called Guy.
"Hermerdermerserter," was Naruto's unintelligible reply.
Neji lie in his bed, staring up at the ceiling. This was the sixth night of vain attempts to sleep, and the sixth night since the funeral. He'd been training rigorously with Hyoto, even disregarding his team's practices. He had now an a reason to train as hard as he did now: to punish any Main Family member that happened to challenge him.
The very thought of the Main Family flared his temper, and he grated his teeth. They had simply stood by as his mother died, ignoring her as a tyrant does his subjects. They called her 'a most beloved, cherished member of the Side Family' and yet spit on her memory by even mentioning her name. Neji's hackles rose, but he calmed himself. Soon, maybe, he would receive solace for his family's deaths.
Neji's eyes fluttered closed, and he felt sleep slide over him. 'Maybe tonight,' he thought tiredly, 'Maybe-,' The sudden image of his mother's coffin laying in its grave surfaced, and he recoiled and opened his eyes. He stared at the ceiling, sleep still evading him.
He rolled over to look at the wall. He needed something familiar to soothe his nerves, something that could remind of days where his mother hadn't been a painful reminder of the Main Family's tyranny. Unbidden, TenTen's face floated in front of his mind's eye and then Naruto's infuriating grin with Guy's over-optimistic voice in the background.
'I-I should go to training tomorrow. Guy-sensei's training.'
"Teme!" shouted Naruto, waving an arm at the Hyuuga, "You're back and not dead!" TenTen turned her head from a tree she was using for target practice, and she smiled and waved.
"Where've you been, Neji?" she asked, throwing a shuriken without looking. It thunked satisfying into the tree. "You've been incommunicado for about a week now."
"I've had...personal issues that needed to be taken care of," he answered.
"Eh...really?" said Naruto, "Erm...can I ask what kind?"
"No," said Neji bluntly, "You cannot, Uzumaki-san."
"Alright, looks like you've still got your wonderful personality," said Naruto, earning a glare from Neji.
"My personality is none of your concern, Uzumaki-san."
"Sure it is. If you suddenly get like sensei, you'll be why I go on a murderous rampage."
"And I will be the one to stop you from having delusions," countered Neji, the banter coming naturally to him.
"No, we'd both be in the asylum. In fact, I think all four of us should be in one."
TenTen snorted and threw a shuriken at the tree. "Three of you, maybe. I'm the only sane one here."
Naruto grinned at her. "If your definition of sane is that, then you are, for sure, insane."
"Shut up, blondie."
"I concur. Silence, Uzumaki-san."
"Love you too, guys."
Well, there it is. Hoped you liked it. Toodles.