Disclaimer: You know the drill, I don't own Naruto.
Sorry for the wait kinda got into reading some other fanfics.
Chapter 8 – The test
Last time:
At that moment Naruto sneezed. He was currently running through the village. He couldn't sleep so tried tiring himself out with a run around the village and adding a few levels to the weight seal of course. He just carried on running after the sneeze and hoped he was tired enough to sleep now and hoped he wouldn't end up being later that Kakashi that would just be embarrassing.
This Chapter:
Naruto woke up a little after 7am. He took a shower and got dressed fairly quickly, in the new ninja gear he got from Kyuubi, making sure he remembered the kunai holsters under his jacket, the goggles around his neck and a couple of breakfast bars from the cupboards in his kitchen.
On his way out the door Kyuubi spoke up. 'Hey Kit! I was hoping to get you before you got to the training grounds. About the seal last night, it lasted somewhere over 5 hours. If you're gonna be using it, make sure you want that person to stay paralyzed for a while unless you're willing to destroy the seal. Got that Kit?'
'Yeah, I got it Kyu-sensei. Thanks for the info.' Naruto thought back as he carried on out the door and turned around to lock it.
Afterwards he went straight for Ichiraku's and ordered only one bowl since it was for breakfast. When Ayame and Teuchi asked why he wasn't eating more he just said that he had to get to a training session and they left it at that.
Naruto finally arrived at the training grounds at 8:45am. When he arrived the first thing he saw were two very tired, very hungry looking genin hopefuls, namely, Sakura and Sasuke. They hadn't taken his advice about eating breakfast or getting there purposefully late and it had taken it's toll on them. Each looked like they were about to collapse in fatigue. He just sighed and walked over to them.
"I thought as much, neither of you took my advice did you? You do realize Kakashi-sensei only suggested that we skip breakfast? Also, you did notice how late he was yesterday?" Naruto sighed at the two again. "Well it's a good thing I brought these," he pulled the two breakfast bars from his pocket and handed one to each of them. "Eat up. It's not much but it should help you during the test."
Sakura took the bar with a silent "Arigatou, Naruto-kun." and continued on to eat it. Sasuke, on the other hand, looked at the bar like it was his worst enemy. "I'm not going to eat this! If I eat this Kakashi-sensei will most probably fail me straight away!"
"Listen Sasuke-teme think back to the academy. Every time we went out on survival training Iruka-sensei told us to have a hearty breakfast to make sure we would have enough energy to get our own food when we were in the forest. Think about it! Kakashi-sensei is probably trying to use our hunger to his advantage and unless you eat something, you're going to be a liability. Now eat that bar before I shove it down your throat, it's for your own good!" Lectured Naruto. Sasuke just glared at him and ate the bar slowly.
In a tree, a few 50 feet away, Kakashi was watching with interest at what was happening in the training ground before him. 'So Naruto's got the teamwork part down. Even if he does have to force it on the Emo-kid. I think this squad might actually make it... maybe.' Thought Kakashi. He then used the Shunshin no Jutsu to appear before the three pre-teens. "Sorry I'm late. I-" started Kakashi.
"LIAR! Don't even try it Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto broke-in.
Kakashi looked at Naruto with a fake hurt expression. "You didn't even let me try! Oh, well on to the test. It's pretty simple, all you have to do is get these bells off of me before noon." He took out two bells and held them up for the three to see. He also took out an alarm clock and set it for noon.
"But Kakashi-sensei! There are only two bells and three of us." Sakura pointed out.
"Exactly only two of you can pass. Once you have a bell you pass, if you don't get a bell then you fail and you have to watch as whoever did pass eat these two lunches I prepared." Kakashi pulled out a pair of bento boxes. Sasuke and Sakura looked at the two lunches and a small, almost inaudible growl came from their stomachs. While Naruto just looked at the boxes uninterested, since he had gotten a pretty good breakfast at Ichiraku's. "Also, if you fail you have to go back to the academy, although I'm guessing you already figured that out from what I said yesterday." Kakashi walked over to three posts on the other end of the training grounds and placed the two bento boxes and the alarm clock on top of the middle post.
"So when do we start Kakashi-sensei?" Asked Naruto with a smirk.
"Well first, I should tell you if you want to get these bells that you're gonna have to come at me with everything you have. That means you have to have an intent to kill, you can use anything you want, kunai, shuriken and anything else you may have." Replied Kakashi with an eye-smile.
"But that's too dangerous Kakashi-sensei!" Sakura yelled in fear for the jounins life.
"Don't worry, I'll be fine." He replied. "By the way the test starts now!"
At that, all three sped into the trees for cover. 'Hm, they have a pretty good grasp of stealth.' Thought Kakashi.
Naruto, in his hiding place, created four kage bunshin. He ordered two to find Sakura and for one to bring her to the meeting place he specified while the other performed a henge to take her place. He order one to take his hiding place and the last to follow him in order to get Sasuke.
The two bunshin sent for Sakura found her quickly and explained the situation to her once she got over the shock of seeing two 'solid' Narutos. One quickly performed a henge to turn into her and take her place, while the other guided her to the meeting place. Sasuke on the other hand wasn't so coopertive and the real Naruto ended up knocking him out and dragging him to meet Sakura while the bunshin took Sasuke's place under a henge.
While all this was going on, Kakashi was raising an eyebrow in surprise at sensing the four new presences. 'What's going on, a clone technique of some kind? Guess I'll just have to find out.' He thought as he started for the three still in the trees and he felt the other four moving away to the west. He Found 'Naruto' first and went through the usual plan. "Ninja lesson 1: Taijutsu." he said when he appeared behind the clone. The clone just looked at him unimpressed and got up to face the jounin. Kakashi took out his copy of 'Icha Icha Paradise' and went on to say. "Taijutsu no Ougi: Sennen Goroshi!" Kakashi then appeared behind the clone and plunged his his fingers into it's rectum. Unlike what he usually gets from that technique, which is a genin hopeful flying away, he was surprised to get a face full of smoke. 'Kage bunshin! When did one of them learn that?' He thought in surprise. He had read the three genin hopefuls personal files and it didn't mention anything about any of them learning the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu. 'If this was a kage bunshin then something tells me the other two still here are the same. I'll have to go after the other four.' He didn't get the chance to follow though because the other three bunshin appeared in front and behind him having gained the memories of their fallen brother. Their mission now was simple keep Kakashi distracted for as long as possible.
Elsewhere in a small clearing in the forest the real genin hopefuls were just finishing their plans. One obviously not liking the fact that he had been dragged into this. "Okay then now that that's sorted. You guys get going on the traps I'm gonna find a place to hide and wait for Kakashi. Hopefully one of the kage bunshin will be able to survive long enough to lead him to this place." Naruto said as he began to turn away and head for the trees.
"Wait a second Dobe why is it you who gets to go after Kakashi?" Asked Sasuke a little angry.
"Because I have the perfect way of bringing him down Teme. And don't worry you two can have the bells for all I care, I just want to see the look on Kakashi-sensei's face when I use my technique on him. Now get going, he's already gotten rid of two of my kage bunshin." Ordered Naruto.
Sakura went on to start on the traps with Naruto's weapon pouches and kunai holsters in hand. Sasuke on the other hand just walked behind her grumbling to himself.
Kakashi had just tried to use a genjutsu as lesson 2 on the clone that looked like Sakura and it had gone up in smoke. 'Another clone, why doesn't that surprise me?' He thought turning to the other two.
After each trap was set up perfectly using all the kunai and shuriken they had, they had created a menagerie of traps to keep Kakashi occupied. While they were looking over their handy work they heard Naruto whistle signaling that Kakashi had dealt with all but one of the kage bunshin and was currently on his way toward them. The two quickly hid behind the bushes were they could set off all the traps.
A few minutes later another Naruto landed next to them and quickly explained he was a clone not the real one, before they could complain. They then got up to see Kakashi standing a few feet from the bushes staring straight at them. "Alright, time's almost up, now are the real 'yous' going to finally try and get the bells from me or what?" Kakashi asked turning to his orange book about half way through his speech.
The three smirked at him and said in unison, "Hai!" As soon as the word left their mouth's a multitude of shuriken and kunai were thrown at him.
'Traps huh? That was their big idea? I would have at least expected the emo to try a katon on me.' Kakashi thought as he took out a kunai and blocked each and every weapon thrown at him not once looking up from his book. As he was still blocking the projectiles 'Naruto' and Sasuke jumped in to attack him. They both hit their mark only to have it turn into a log. The barrage of weapons had stopped now so the two looked around trying to figure out where he had gone.
'Where is he?' Sasuke thought while 'Naruto' was also looking around. All of a sudden the ground beneath both of them crumbled and Kakashi's hands came up, grabbed both their ankles and pulled them under leaving only their heads above ground .
Kakashi knelt down in front of the two as he said, "Ninja lesson 3: Ninjutsu, Doton: Shinju Zanshu no Jutsu." and was about to get up when suddenly, he couldn't move. "What's going on?" He asked no one in particular. His question was partly answered when the 'Naruto' in front of him went up in smoke. 'Another bunshin? I was sure this one was the real one! So where..?' he was thinking, wide-eyed, when Naruto stepped out into his field of vision. 'I couldn't even feel his chakra! He's better than he's letting on or was letting on at least.'
"How do you like my paralysis seal Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto asked the immobile jounin while he summoned some kage bunshin to get Sasuke out of the ground. Naruto went over to the jounin and unfastened the two bells. "I'll take these. Hey Sakura! Catch!" He yelled throwing one her way then holding the other out to Sasuke when he was out of the jutsu. Sasuke just glared at Naruto and snatched the bell from him. "So this means that they pass right Kakashi-sensei?"
"Yes." Kakashi answered.
"Good! Well see you guys! I'm going back to the academy since you two have the bells and I don't." Naruto said with a grin as he turned around and started for the academy when Kakashi spoke up.
"Stop Naruto! You all pass." Kakashi told him. Naruto already expected this and would have grinned but instead held it back, while Sakura and Sasuke just looked surprised and confused. "You realized the purpose of this test and got the three of you to work together to take me down. The purpose was to see if you could work as a team and you did. You knew that me telling you not to eat breakfast was so I could use your hunger against you, so you brought food for your teammates. There is a saying I like to follow, those who break the rules are scum but-"
"-Those who abandon their friends are worse than scum." Naruto finished.
Kakashi did an eye-smile and answered, "Exactly! Now that you all passed could you please take the paralysis parchment seal off me?" Kakashi asked with an eye smile.
"Why don't you just break it? Being a jounin you must have a strong enough will to break it. I mean it's a pretty simple seal." Replied Naruto hands behind his head.
Kakashi simply replied, "I'm too lazy."
Naruto sighed while the other two had a large bead of sweat appearing on their forehead. "Okay give me a second." Naruto walked back over to Kakashi. Once his eyes were out of sight of Sasuke and Sakura he activated his Kekkei Genkai and quickly destroyed the seal. Coming back from behind Kakashi who stood up, he pretended to stuff something into his jacket to make them think it was the parchment seal.
"Now then, you three can have tomorrow off. I need to get some paperwork done concerning you three becoming genin. Meet me here the day after tomorrow at 8am and we'll start on your training and missions. Dismissed!" Kakashi announced and started to leave for the Hokage tower while Sasuke and Sakura were leaving the training grounds. He would have carried on but was stopped by Naruto.
"Hey! Kakashi-sensei! Can I talk to you for a second?" The blonde asked his new sensei. Everyone turned to look at Naruto at that point. He quickly told Sasuke and Sakura to go on without him and that he would catch up. Sasuke 'hmphed' and carried on walking, Sakura nodded and followed Sasuke.
Once they were gone Kakashi spoke up, "So what is it you wanted to talk to me about?"
"I wanted to talk to you about my father and to thank you for saving me six years ago." Naruto replied.
Not many things can shock Hatake Kakashi and this statement was one of the few that did. "Well I'm surprised that you remember that. No problem by the way I was just following orders. But why do you want to talk to me about your father?"
"Drop the act I know that my father was your sensei. I know who my father was! So there's no point acting stupid. I found a place my father left for me thanks to a little help from a friend. I know my father was the Yondaime, The Fourth Hokage." Announced Naruto.
Kakashi looked at Naruto with slight awe now. "So is this place where you learned the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu?"
"Among other things, yes." Naruto answered. "I was also trained by the same friend who led me there. He trained me to the ground and helped me awaken my Kekkei Genkai, both of them!"
Kakashi was staring wide-eyed again at Naruto. "Both Kekkei Genkai!?" He asked in an incredulous tone.
"That's right. I gained my father's Kekkei Genkai and my mother's. I'm telling you this now so you don't find out later and question me. I have a good understanding of both Kekkei Genkai. In fact it was through my father's Kekkei Genkai that I was able to paralyze you and remove the seal. If I hadn't removed the seal or you hadn't broken it you would have probably been stuck like that for about five hours, by the way." Naruto informed the stunned jounin.
"This 'friend' you're talking about. It's Kyuubi isn't it?" Kakashi asked the awe still present on his face.
"Not lazy enough to figure that out are you? Yeah, Kyuubi trained me and everything and from the fact that your not shaking in your boots from talking about him, I'm guessing you know he didn't mean attack the village?" Naruto asked raising an eyebrow.
"Yeah I know all about how he went on the rampage thanks to someone from the Uchiha clan using the Mangekyou Sharingan on him. Minato-sensei explained it to me before he sealed Kyuubi in you. He wanted to be sure I wouldn't blame Kyuubi for the attack and I don't." Explained Kakashi.
"Good to know, so we won't have any problems with each other?" Naruto asked.
"No, I haven't got a problem with you or Kyuubi. I am afraid to say though that at your current level I probably couldn't teach you much anyway. Something also tells me you weren't even trying in the test today, you could probably take me on and have a good chance at winning." Kakashi replied with a small eye smile.
Naruto grinned at this and went on to say, "Don't worry, I know you were probably forced to take on Sasuke as your student so the council could get their emo-Uchiha to be stronger. Kyuubi says he can still keep training me as well, knowing him he probably hasn't taught me half the stuff he knows. Plus, I still got the scrolls in my dads library to go through anyway." Naruto's grin turned into a frown at this point. "I have got some concerns about Sakura though. She isn't strong enough physically, she has book smarts that's obvious but she needs to do more physical exercise and get her chakra reserves up. She's gonna be a liability at the best of times."
Kakashi nodded at this thoughtfully. "I know what you mean. I'm gonna be busy training Sasuke so I probably won't have that much time. That's not the only problem though, she's a fan-girl for the emo and I think she has her eyes on you too. Fan-girls are always more interested in going after their idol. Maybe you could train her? She might listen to you and you could train her away from emo-kid."
Naruto thought about this for a second. 'Guess it wouldn't be too bad. At least then I wouldn't be wasting my time when he's training Sasuke. Then again we'll be doing D-rank missions for a while which means there will be next to no risk. Maybe I can get something out of this.' Naruto got a foxy grin on his face."What's in it for me? If I have to train her when your supposed to be training all three of us I should at least get some of your paycheck or something like that. WAIT! I know. After every training session you have to take me out for ramen at Ichiraku's and pay for at least 5 bowls of ramen for me. Deal?"
'Nice one Kit. Less money you have to spend.' Kyuubi chuckled.
Kakashi sighed, had a large bead of sweat forming on the back of his head and damn near fell over all at the same time. 'Sneaky little gaki! Five bowls of ramen a day? I only get paid monthly and from what I can figure that ramen is gonna take away at least a quarter of my paycheck straight away and I'm not gonna get much from the D-rank missions we'll be doing. Stupid council! I'm gonna have to ask for a pay-rise or something. Oh well, doesn't look like I'm getting out of this.' Kakashi dropped his head in defeat. "Alright gaki, I'll get you your five bowls of ramen but only on days when you've actually been training her! I will be checking! So we got a deal?" Kakashi held out his free hand his other still holding his Icha Icha book.
"Okay!" Naruto grinned as he shook his new 'sensei's' hand.
After that was done they both said their good-byes and Kakashi disappeared in a puff of smoke while Naruto walked to the entrance of the training area. When he got there he was greeted by Sakura and noticed that the Uchiha was gone. "So where did Sasuke-teme go?" Naruto asked the down cast Sakura.
"Well he said he didn't want to waste his time on a dobe and an annoying fan-girl and walked off." She replied near tears.
"Hey, don't worry Sakura! Come on I'll take you out for ramen since we passed, my treat!" Naruto announced with a grin and putting his hands behind his head.
Sakura blushed at this and asked innocently, "You mean like a date?"
Naruto paled a little, not really thinking of it like that or wanting it to be like that. "Uh no, not a date. I mean you want to get Sasuke don't you? If he sees you out with me on a date he might not want go out with you. Let's just call it a meal between friends. How does that sound?" Naruto managed to get out before Sakura glomped him in happiness.
Sakura looked a little less happy about that but saw the logic behind it. "Alright! Lets go then Naruto-kun!" She screeched while grabbing his arm and leaning on him. Naruto looked a little pale at the high pitched voice but carried on walking to Ichiraku's, the thought of a few bowls of his favourite food let him get over the banshee on his arm.
"Oh! Wait a second, do you still have my weapon pouches and stuff?" Naruto asked suddenly remembering about the said pouches.
"Oh yeah!" Sakura thought out loud while she reached into her dress and pulled out the two utility pouches and all the kunai holsters. She handed them to Naruto with a slight blush realizing what she had just done in front of him.
Naruto accepted the equipment and quickly reattached it to the various pieces of clothing and limbs. Putting the kunai holsters that went underneath his jacket on though got the most attention from Sakura, as he had to take off his jacket revealing his upper body under the mesh shirt. Naruto noticed her stare he quickly pulled his jacket back on.
While walking through the village towards Ichiraku's, Naruto with Sakura attached to his arm he luckily, or unluckily, depending on your point of view, came across Ino, who had also passed her test making her a genin. The moment she saw Naruto she ran over and attached herself to his free arm and started a glaring contest with the pink haired kunoichi on the other arm. "What are you doing with my Naruto-kun? Shouldn't you be following Sasuke somewhere?" Ino asked Sakura with a bit of venom in her words.
Sakura just glared back at Ino and said. "We're going to eat lunch together, since we both passed the test as well. I'd almost say it's a date but I still want a chance with Sasuke-kun."
Ino visibly seethed at this. Naruto quickly realized what the outcome of this conversation would be and quickly invited Ino along for a meal as well. Ino quickly brightened and turned to the blond. "Are you asking me out on a date Naruto-kun?" She asked in a teasing way.
Naruto quickly shook his head. "No, just another friend going out on a celebratory meal. Wait, shouldn't you be with your other teammates?"
"Well they were behind me, so they should be over there." Ino replied, turning her head and pointing to a spot a few yards away. Naruto looked over and saw a very tired and bored looking Chouji and Shikamaru who were now walking over.
"Hey guys how'd you find the test? Was it troublesome or just 'hn'?" Naruto asked the two using Shikamaru's favourite words for describing something.
"Troublesome." Shikamaru replied simply.
"Wasn't too bad." Chouji replied, taking a break from eating his chips.
"You guys wanna join us? We're going to Ichiraku's to celebrate." Naruto asked with a look in his eye that screamed, 'Please help me out! I don't wanna be stuck with these two alone!'. The look didn't go unnoticed by Shikamaru, who instantly broke into a smirk and contemplated leaving him to the fan-girls. Eventually his friendly side won over and he nodded his head in a yes while muttering "Troublesome."
The five continued their trip and got to Ichiraku's without any other problems. They all had a couple of bowls except for Chouji and Naruto, who had ten bowls each. They all got a congratulations from Teuchi and Ayame, Ayame of course smiling at the blonde with the two girls either side of him, obviously expecting this to happen the morning he came in his new clothes.
After everyone finished their meals they headed back home. Naruto had to go home with the two girls attached to his arms, when they got to his apartment though they both unlatched and went to their homes. Naruto sighed when he got inside and went straight to the transport seal under the carpet and got to the compound. When he arrived he met up with Kyuubi and they went over the plans for his training of the pink haired banshee. Naruto also asked Kyuubi about copying the seals in his fathers library with the Kekkei Genkai and about learning some more jutsu from the vault. When they were done Kyuubi guided him to the seal library, Naruto thought for a second that they would be starting on the seal copying, oh, how he was wrong.
Kyuubi went over to the seals and started mumbling to himself. "I was sure he would put it somewhere near that weight seal. Where the hell is it?"As Naruto was going to ask him what he was looking for he suddenly cried, "Ah ha! Found it! Come on we're going to need some seal ink and the tattoo equipment."
Naruto groaned at this, it wasn't that the first seal on his back hurt that much. It's just that it took so much time and he hated sitting still. He followed Kyuubi over to the seal equipment and asked the obvious question. "So what am I getting this time? A stronger weight seal?"
Kyuubi smiled at his containers question. "No, the weight seal you have now is good enough. It let's you progress steadily and you can keep going exponentially so you'll be keeping that seal. The seal or seals I should say, I'm going to put on you now is so you don't give away the fact you have the weight seal. Right now I'm guessing the seal is increasing your weight way above the 6000kg mark, eventually you'll start making craters with each footstep if this keeps up. The seals I'm giving now are for your feet, they're cushioning seals. Having these seals on your feet will make it seem like you're a normal weight, even when people are holding you up or carrying you, to them you'll feel like you're a normal weight for a person your size and age."
Naruto just looked uninterested and slightly annoyed at the amount of time he would have to waste getting these seals done. "Okay, I guess it's a good idea to get this done. I want to know something though, will it be possible for me to deactivate the seals if I want?" Naruto asked as a foxy grin came over his face.
"You're already thinking of ways use this in combat aren't you Kit? You're as cunning and sneaky as a fox, maybe I've had too much of an influence on you, then again that isn't exactly a bad thing in the ninja line of work. Anyway, you can deactivate it if you want, after all it's your chakra that will be activating it, you'll be in full control of the seal don't worry." Kyuubi explained to the slightly happier Naruto.
"Well let's get the seals done then so we can go back to training." Naruto announced with his usual enthusiasm.
The seals only took a couple of hours to do thankfully. After the first half hour Kyuubi got annoyed with Naruto because he kept moving, he came up with a way to keep Naruto occupied though by giving him a few seals to copy and analyze. It kept busy enough that Kyuubi was able to do the seals without anymore trouble. Naruto of course didn't feel any different when he activated the seals but he didn't think anything of it and the two just went back to the usual training regime all the way into the second day.