Naruto X
AN: Maybe it's just me but I've never liked the sennin, any of them.
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As the days went by, team 7 continued to train. Naruto having taken on the role of the teams unofficial teacher while Kakashi was in recovery. Using the information he had acquired, he relayed techniques and jutsu to his teammates.
Naruto had taught Sasuke the hand signs for a jutsu and had even informed the boy that because it was a taijutsu specific jutsu, he could get mastery down to not needing hand signs for it, but for now he needed to get the technique to even work.
It was taking quite some time and that's what Naruto was counting on because teaching Sakura various sword stances was more time consuming. As promised, he began to teach her how to use the cleaver that Zabuza had and was going through the silent killing techniques with her.
That was only day one. On day two, Sasuke finally managed to make chakra visible from the attack, but he was having trouble maintaining it to actually punch with. Naruto told Sasuke that he was using too much chakra in the attack and try to tone it down which had yielded much better results.
Sakura was taking to the silent killing way easier than any other training Naruto had seen. When he complimented her on it, she made a remark that stealth was her specialty, Naruto gave her a blank stare indicating that he didn't believe a word of it which resulted in him getting a swat from the girl.
Day three Sasuke had finally started working on getting the jutsu down to the art of using them without hand signs. This task was way more difficult than previously anticipated and progress was nonexistent.
Sakura also began to get into the finer points of the silent killing style and had become proficient enough to swing the cleaver around with a single hand. While she wasn't nearly as strong or proficient enough to do much damage with one arm, it was still an intimidating sight for a girl with such a small frame to effortlessly swing around a sword that was nearly three times her size.
Day four had yielded results for Sasuke as he started to get tiny bits of the attacks to work, but he was still having trouble getting them to fully take. Naruto suspected he lacked control and so he made Sasuke double his weights and do his regular training routine for taijutsu while water walking.
Sakura meanwhile had taken to learning some of Orochimaru's sword style which she admitted was a bit troublesome to work with. The mans style required a flexibility the girl lacked and thus was forced into something Naruto had called ballet. The pink haired girl thought the idea was ridiculous, that learning how to dance was just going to be a waste of time, but once Naruto started making her do the exercises, she damn near wanted to kill the boy.
This was beyond torture, holding poses for almost hours on end? Bending herself to lie flat on her belly while her legs were out in front of her? Moving in a precise and rhythmic manner while her muscles screamed bloody murder? Oh yeah, if she didn't feel so much like crap after doing this workout, she'd swear she would cut the blonde apart.
Day five was a surprise. Sasuke finally got one technique down to not needing hand signs thanks to his extra control and he was making some good progress on the other one, Sakura meanwhile was doing better with the fitness training but she still looked very annoyed and wanting to murder Naruto half the time.
The surprise came though when both of them were only halfway through the routines and both of them looked drop dead tired. Naruto made them stop, had them eat and then told them tomorrow they would be resting, as much as they wanted to object, Naruto told them that overstraining their bodies would do no good and they would only wind up hurting themselves.
Sakura objected but cried out when Naruto merely poked her, her muscles screaming in agony. That was when he found out the both of them would continue training long into the night after they departed. The two were running themselves ragged and didn't want to stop, so Naruto was forcing them to take a break to rest.
That was day six, a day of rest where they went to see Kakashi in the hospital, who was quite pleased to see his team and even happier to learn they were still working hard in his absence.
Tsunade had apparently increased the medical training and staff since taking the job of hokage and was still in the process of learning everything from Sarutobi. They explained what had been going on to their teacher since he had been in the hospital and even smuggled him in some food.
After that, they had all gone to the command center to visit X and Zero. They found out the red hunter had gone out for a mission but X seemed pleased to see them. Sakura had gone to see Paramedic for a checkup on her eye while Sasuke was just content to look around, the technology fascinating him.
Then the raven haired boy wandered off and found himself near the simulation room and Axl was inside messing with something. Once he noticed Sasuke, he asked if he wanted to try something out, the boy shrugged and went in.
When Naruto finally decided to check on his teammates, Sakura walked out of Paramedics office looking pleased. Shrugging, they went to look for Sasuke and when they finally found him, they both had to suppress a laugh.
The boy was in a simulation room and was fighting another person. The man Sasuke was fighting was wearing a black shirt, green trunks and had green gloves on and while he was making the same moves and gestures as Sasuke, the man was no copy cat and was giving the poor boy the beating of a lifetime.
Sasuke would attack and the man would weave out of the way and counter attack. His attacks weren't telegraphed and Sasuke had issues dodging them. Finally the mans fist began to glow and when Sasuke tried to do a punching combo, he missed every hit before finally the man pulled back and with a solid hook that had a trail of energy behind it, Sasuke got knocked out with the hit and was down for the ten count.
The simulation ended and when they finally woke Sasuke, he was groggy and too dizzy to realize what had just happened. Then Sakura wanted a try and after going through a list of things, finally entered one where she was attempting to infiltrate a building armed with various guards. Once she was inside and moving towards her objectives, it put her into a situation she was not prepared for.
Armed with a weapon she had no knowledge on how to use, she was thrust into what was called a boss battle against a man in a trench coat that was managing to hit her by reflecting shots off the walls at her.
Eventually she lost because she didn't know how to use a gun and Axl quit the simulation before the girl took any serious injury. Naruto just shook his head before he drug them off and they went with X to one of the cities in their time.
Everything was very different from what they were used to. For starters, the money they had apparently didn't work in this time and the fashion was so bizarre and strange. Everyday devices hadn't changed much but still had changed in appearance to the times. Even building layouts and lighting had changed.
It was quite the shock to see these drastic differences but the three still never actually bought anything and went on their way. The three had returned to their own time and spent the rest of the day relaxing, however Naruto did take note that the sword Hayate had given Sakura was missing.
Figuring she might have just sealed it away like the rest of her swords, he didn't pay much mind to it.
On day seven, Kakashi had finally returned but was told to take it easy for at least two more days, so he told Naruto to keep their training going while he recovered. And continue it did, Sasuke was finally showing signs of being able to manifest all of his new jutsu without the use of hand signs and thanks to Naruto's instruction, had informed him the techniques he learned from Kakashi could also be mastered to such a level so now he was attempting to get those under control as well.
Sakura was doing much better in the exercises but it was obvious she was still struggling with some of it. As she was getting better however, Naruto finally began to teach her some of the snake sennins style and she had a much easier time adjusting to it than last time.
The next day was intense as Sasuke had finished making his jutsu require no hand signs while Sakura had gotten the hang of Orochimaru's style and now the two of them were instructed to fight Naruto in a no holds barred training match.
Sakura needed to get used to actually fighting with her new weapons and Sasuke needed to get used to activating his jutsu on the fly in a combat situation and that's pretty much what was happening.
Or rather what the two were attempting. Naruto had his titan armor on and while it was heavier than his other armors, it provided the most protection and it was necessary since Sasuke and Sakura were both way stronger than the last time he had actually fought against them. Sakura's new sword was almost able to cut through his armor and Sasuke's newest jutsu was actually able to push Naruto a foot back, since the jutsu was made specifically to give the user breathing room by blowing away a target.
The all out brawl went on until Sasuke ran out of chakra from activating so many jutsu in rapid succession and Sakura was starting to tire out, not just from constantly moving with a sword that weighted her down, but her muscles were still aching from the exercise.
It was then that Naruto was starting to notice a pattern. Whenever they walked somewhere, anywhere, Sakura had taken to riding on one of his shoulders. While the girl wasn't heavy, it was still a surprising habit that had formed out of nowhere. Sasuke didn't say anything about it but he seemed happy about the situation for some reason.
That is until they passed by a particular flower shop and suddenly team 10 appeared in front of them. "Well fancy meeting you here." Ino said as they walked up. She gave Sakura and Naruto a raised eyebrow glance but said nothing about it.
Sasuke gave a grunt while Sakura and Naruto nodded. The following silence was very off putting for team 10, Shikamaru gave a nervous cough. "Well how have things been?" he asked which made each member of team 7 shrug.
"Not bad. Just training a lot, not much else has been going on since we brought Tsunade back." Naruto said which made team 10's eyes widen. "YOU were the ones who got Tsunade to come be our hokage?" Ino asked.
"Oh trust us, we weren't happy about it and still aren't." Sakura grumbled as she reflected back on that mission. "But why? Lady Tsunade is the first female hokage, AND she's a powerful kunoichi!" Ino said but Sakura just made a "Pbbth." noise as she rolled her visible eye. "She's a drunk, has an attitude problem, has a gambling addiction, is running from debt collectors and we had to force her to come back. She was ready to defect from the village when we encountered her." Sakura said which made team 10's eyes widen in shock.
Shikamaru rubbed the back of his neck. "A troublesome woman, if that's all true then why is she going to become the hokage?" he asked as Ino glared at him. "Because the old man doesn't trust anyone else to take over for him." Naruto said with a shrug.
"I'm willing to give her a chance. That's all I'm going to say." Sasuke said and Chouji nodded in agreement. "Yeah, we don't know if she'll even be a good leader. Just let her have some time to prove herself." He added.
Naruto and Sakura nodded but said nothing else. That was when Ino got a teasing smile on her face. "So, what's going on here? Hitching a ride on Naruto?" she asked which made Sakura shrug. "Walking is a pain and Naruto doesn't seem to mind." She said, suddenly Naruto found himself carrying two girls as Ino climbed onto his other shoulder. "So I don't suppose there's room for more up here?" she said in a teasing voice before Sakura scowled.
"No there isn't, now get lost pig!" she said which made the boys sweatdrop, Sasuke meanwhile was staring at this scene in a stupor. Naruto had taken two of his biggest fangirls away from him! He wanted to shake the boys hand and that is immediately what he did which only served to confuse the poor blonde more.
Chouji had stopped eating and was staring while Shikamaru sighed and shook his head. The poor boy didn't even realize what just happened to him and he felt sorry for him. He knew that back in the day, Ino secretly liked Naruto but never acted upon her feelings, but after that day when Naruto announced that he liked Sakura, Ino had become bound and determined to get the girl hooked up on Sasuke which seemed to be working.
With Sakura going after Sasuke, she'd hoped that Naruto would give up on Sakura and she could swoop in on the boy, but sadly that wasn't the case. Seeing now that Sakura was acting nicer to the blonde scared Ino and now she was changing gears, or rather it looked like she was testing the waters to see if Sakura was indeed getting attached to Naruto.
Shikamaru could only shake his head. That girl was so troublesome, if she'd have just been braver in the beginning then none of this nonsense would be happening right now he bet. Speaking of girls too afraid to do anything, he noticed Hinata peeking out from a far off corner who immediately ducked back behind it when she noticed Shikamaru staring at her. He let out a sigh and rubbed the back of his head, Naruto had two girls that Shikamaru could confirm liked him and now it looked like he was picking up others for the ride.
The two girls meanwhile were having a stare down. Sakura looked quite serious and annoyed while Ino looked playful and teasing. 'Go away, you have Sasuke!' Sakura thought.
'And what if I don't want Sasuke?' Ino thought back.
Which only made the pink haired girl growl. Every male froze at that noise and immediately Naruto was pulled away as the two girls fell off of his shoulders while he was drug off. "HEY!" both girls yelled as the dust cloud got smaller and smaller.
Once they had gotten a fair distance away, they all came to a stop and Shikamaru let out a sigh. "Naruto, what the hell did you do?" and the blonde could only shrug. "I don't even know! I literally just stood there!" he said.
At that point Gaara and his siblings were walking by. They all stopped and gave a nod which Naruto returned. "Naruto." "Gaara." "It's a pleasure to see you. How have you been?" the redhead asked while Kankuro was making small talk with the other ninja.
As the two talked on, Temari suddenly stepped forward and smiled at Naruto. "I never actually thanked you for helping my brother. If it's fine with you, I'd like to treat you to dinner sometime." She said, to which the blonde smiled. "Sure, that sounds great!" he replied.
Sasuke's jaw dropped and Shikamaru just facepalmed. Once the trio walked off, Shikamaru grabbed Naruto by the shoulder and they resumed walking. "Naruto, you gotta learn a limit. Girls are just too troublesome." He said which just made Naruto have a confused look on his face.
As they were walking, they went near the hospital, suddenly Gai came bursting out in tears and nearly bowled everyone over. "Whoa! Super bushy brows, where's the fire?" Naruto said as the man wiped his face and sniffed.
"I'm sorry for the display, but the hokage has snuffed Lee's flames of youth out from under him. She's saying the damage done to him during the exam is too much and there's no way he can continue his ninja career because she can't heal him." He said, which made everyone's eyes widen in shock.
Naruto looked thoughtful before he placed a hand on the mans shoulder. "Wait here, I'll be back in a few minutes." He said before he suddenly vanished in a flash of light that flew towards the sky.
Everyone but Sasuke were caught off guard and when they turned to the Uchiha for an explanation, he just shrugged and said "He might know someone who can help." He said and the jounin looked absolutely ecstatic and was surprisingly waiting in a patient manner with hope in his eyes.
After about ten minutes, Naruto returned and he looked at Gai. "They will look at Lee and see what they can do." He said and Gai led them to Lee's room immediately. Once they were there, Naruto explained to Lee what was going on and with that settled, he was about to warp away with Lee, but the others wanted to come along.
Naruto thought about it for a moment before nodding and saying only if they promised to stay calm which they agreed to and suddenly a flash of light later, they were gone. Shizune then walked into the room to check on Lee but only found an empty room.
"Lady Tsunade, Lee has vanished!" she said as she ran from the room.
-Command Center-
Lifesaver gave a nod as he examined Lee's arm and leg. "There is only one way I can help you until X and Zero complete their mission." He started, which got the boys attention.
"I will replace both your arms and legs for the time being. While the new limbs will be mechanical, they will still be fully function like regular appendages." He said, the boy looked deep in thought for a moment before looking at the medic.
"How much will they weight?" he asked and Lifesaver responded with a mere shrug. "It's a special alloy that's incredibly strong but very light. Your head is most likely heavier. I've been told about your combat style from your friend Naruto and I can guarantee these limbs will work for you, they might even make you stronger than you are now." He said, which got the boys eyes to widen.
While Lee was in the hospital wing, Naruto was giving the others a grand tour of the place. Sasuke had already seen most of the place as well and had left to go to the simulation room.
By the time they had made their way to the place Sasuke went, they found him once again getting his block knocked off by that same guy from before. Gai looked amazed at the room before asking if he too could try what Sasuke was doing. Axl shrugged and set the guy up for the fight.
They were amazed to say the least as Gai was flying through opponent after opponent until he finally made it to the same person Sasuke was fighting, Gai easily towered over the black haired man from the simulation and once the fight began he rushed the man with green gloves.
To everyone's surprise, Gai's attack was dodged and countered which caught the green beast off guard. Suddenly his eyes narrowed and you could tell he was serious. Launching himself forward, he did a series of punches, kicks and other combos but the smaller man did an impressive job of dodging and blocking the attacks.
Gai finally unleashed one of the gates but to his surprise, the man kept up an impressive game of dodge and block, not even seeming fazed by the newfound strength the jounin was putting out.
And finally it happened, the man did a counter attack that made Gai stumble before following it up with a rapid series of punches to his face and stomach. Gai quickly blocked and the man switched targets and hit Gai in an open area which forced the man to drop his guard before the black haired mans fist began to glow and with a quick wind up, delivered a powerful punch to Gai's head that knocked the jounin to the ground and left him unconscious.
Axl shook his head in amusement. This was the most amusing thing he'd seen in ages and he had a feeling that they weren't going to stop trying anytime soon. After Sasuke and Gai regained consciousness, he let out a hearty laugh, saying that was the most fun he's had in ages.
X decided to treat them to a lunch and was amazed at how much the Akamichi was putting away before they had all departed. Once they were back in Konoha (minus Lee of course) Tsunade and Shizune came rushing outside and asked if they had seen Lee.
"Worry not Lady Tsunade, our youthful friend Naruto here has directed me to a second opinion and they will be taking care of Lee." He said, making the blonde narrow her eyes. "Really now, and where is this 'second opinion'" she asked which made Naruto step forward.
"Has the old man told you about Megaman X?" he asked which made Tsunade nod. "Well we went to see him." He said which got an "Hm" from the woman. "Next time I would like to be informed before you drag a patient off to god knows where." She said before her features softened. "So is he able to help Lee?" she asked which got a nod from Naruto.
"Yeah, Lee's going to be fine. He's in surgery now." He said which got a widened eyed look from the woman. "I think I'd like to meet this doctor of yours sometime." She said with a grin before going back into the hospital. Shizune bowed at them before going back in after her.
Gai gave a thumbs up before vanishing. The boys were about to continue walking when Neji and Tenten appeared, the latter holding a bouquet of flowers. The duo stopped by the four boys and nodded. "Well hey there. You're that guy from the exams." Tenten said as she smiled at Naruto, who just beamed back at her. "Yeah, I remember you. You're the weapons girl, Tenten." He said which got a giggle from her.
Shikamaru's eyes widened, his troublesome senses were tingling. "So what are you guys here for?" Chouji asked and Tenten held the flowers up a bit higher. "We're here to visit Lee and see how he's doing." She said.
At this point, Naruto began to retell what happened to this point and finished on Lee getting surgery. Neji gave a small smile of approval while Tenten was practically gushing. "You're so nice to everyone Naruto. You helped us during the exams, you saved the hokage and now you're giving Lee his ninja career back." At which she gave him a smile he'd never seen before. "Maybe some day I can pay you back?" she said which made the boys (minus Neji) grab Naruto and immediately run off with him.
"Damn it Naruto, what did I tell you earlier?" Shikamaru said as they ran to the outer edges of town. Once they were there however, Ibiki had shown up. "Uzumaki. T&I would like to require your assistance with some matters." He said.
Getting a nod from the boy, Ibiki turned and began to walk towards a bland looking building that looked worn from age. Before he stepped inside however, he turned back around. "You three can come with him but I must ask that you do not talk to any of the prisoners." He said, once he got agreements from them, he turned and went inside the build. Inside however, they were surprised at the security measures that all looked in great condition and all of the jounin on duty in the building.
The four boys walked in silence with Ibiki, trying to ignore the shouting and calls from the prisoners when they finally walked into one room where they saw a familiar black haired kunoichi who looked pretty sick.
Naruto and Shikamaru frowned. "What's she doing here?" the lazy boy asked to which Ibiki grunted. "We found her stashed away in a sealed container just outside of town. The other two we found were dead from chakra depletion, but this one isn't reacting to any chakra transfusions we give her."
The man turned towards Naruto. "You however, seem to be familiar with this ninja and the hokage has ordered me to recruit you into fixing two of our problems if you are able." He said which made the blonde blink. Two problems?
"I uh…I'll see what I can do…" he said before he walked up to the girl who was having trouble breathing. Ibiki then stepped forward and moved the girl to her side and moved part of her clothing to reveal a strange black hole sticking out from her side. "We also found this on her." He said, which made Naruto's eyes widen.
"Hey, I know what that is!" he said before he reached into the storage pack on his back and pulled out a round tank object and attached a cord to the spot on the girls side. The results were immediate as the energy drained from the tank and with a gasp, the girls eyes shot open and her breathing had calmed down.
Ibiki stared in silent amazement as the boy put the tank back in his backpack. He wasn't sure what the boy had done but it had cured the girl who was now looking around in a panic.
"Hey, hey, calm down." Naruto said which made her eyes widen in shock before she tried to crawl away from him which resulted in her falling off the table. "Owwww" she groaned.
"That looked like it hurt…" Chouji said as Sasuke just shook his head. Naruto was immediately by her side and held a hand out, she stared at him for a moment until she finally took his hand and let him help her up.
"Alright then, first question. What's your name?" Ibiki asked. She looked scared but decided to answer anyways. "Kin Tsuchi…" she mumbled before looking at Naruto. "Are you the one who healed me?" she asked which got a nod from the blonde, Ibiki cleared his throat. "And what were you doing in the forest inside of a sealed container?" he asked.
The girl frowned at that. "Lo-…Orochimaru…said because we had failed him during the exams that we were no longer worth any use to him and that we had one final job that we could do. He was going to use us in a jutsu called impure world resurrection." She explained as the man scowled.
"Well here are our conditions. You report to us anything and everything you know about your sound village and we can give you amnesty here in Konoha." He said. The girl looked up at Naruto before turning to Ibiki. "Could I become a leaf ninja?" she asked which caught everyone off guard.
"I'm sure you could if you are entirely forthcoming with what we want." He said which got a smile from the girl. She glanced up at Naruto again. "You made chuunin right?" she asked which got a nod from the boy.
"M-Maybe we'll get assigned to joint missions." She said with a small blush on her face. Shikamaru's eyes widened. "God damn it Naruto!" he shouted which made Chouji burst out laughing.
Ibiki shook his head, ah to be young again. He then made a motion for Naruto to follow him and he did so until they got to another section of the prison where a red headed kunoichi was locked in a cell. She looked up blankly before flipping them off.
Sasuke just raised an eyebrow at her behavior while Chouji looked nervous. "Uzumaki, I want you to scan this girl, and then I'm going to interrogate her. Nothing serious mind you, but it would be great to get some information out of her since she's one of the elite guards for Orochimaru." He said which got a nod from the blonde.
The redheads' eyes widened for a moment in confusion as Naruto scanned her and then Ibiki opened up the communication with the room. "I'm sure you're already aware of what's happening to any sound ninja captured because of the war." Ibiki started which the girl just looked away from him.
"However, we're offering amnesty to any ninja who cooperate with us." He said and the girl just flipped him off again. "Like you fuckers could protect me from the snake bitch." She said which made Ibiki burst out laughing.
At her confused stare, he put an arm behind Naruto and nudged him forward. "He killed the so called 'snake bitch'. So I doubt you need to worry." He said making the girls eyes widen in shock.
"Bull fucking horse shit!" she said. "That little shit killed Orochimaru? I don't fucking believe it!" she said as Sasuke and Shikamaru stepped forward. "We were there. In case you don't recall, I'm the one you fought while Sasuke here defeated your giant teammate. Naruto beat the blue haired one and then fought Orochimaru. We have the bounty to prove it." Shikamaru said which made the girl freeze. Her mouth moved but no words came out.
"So about that previous offer..." Ibiki said and the girl snapped out of her shock before looking right at the blonde. "I accept on the terms that he's the one giving me the protection." She said with a twisted smile on her face and Shikamaru immediately smacked Naruto upside the back of his head.
"Damn it Naruto, turn off the swag!"