A/N: Okay, everybody, I'm feeling a little better now and I'm typing up the next chapter. I was feeling a little depressed earlier today, but I feel like writing again. Today is June 18, 2006 and I posted Chapter 10 yesterday. I hope you liked my last chapter, even if I didn't. If you ask me, it was too much like the manga version. I'm starting the Wave Country arc in this chapter so I hope it gets better. You'll start to see the changes that I made fairly well in this chapter. I hope I can keep it up. Wish me luck!
Here are the review responses! Thank you all!
Underdark Ranger: Did you really think so? I got the idea from Tellemicus Sundance's story "Legacy of the Rasengan." He made a technique in his story called Enmaku no Jutsu (Smokescreen technique). I warped that technique a bit and used it in my story. I recommend you read the story. It's great, if you ask me.
Silver-White-Tiger: I did this on purpose. You'll see soon enough. Also, Naruto is a master of escape and traps. He will be able to get out of anything Sakura and Sasuke throw at him.
LoveDetermination: I know what you're thinking. Naruto should have kept those things a secret for longer. However, you have to think in his shoes. Which is more important; becoming a genin or hiding a few techniques?
Mistassassin: I'm glad you liked them! I had fun making them and thinking of the possibilities.
Tellemicus Sundance: (laughs sheepishly) Sorry if it seems too similar to your fanfic. I hope you don't really mind all that much. Otherwise, I'm glad you like it so much. I like putting detail into my writing. You could say that "detail" is my middle name. By the way, I am not trying to upstage you, so please don't hurt me. Also, I have never heard of the story "Naruto: Different Beginnings". I'll give it a good look, though.
Nantukoprime: I did take some technique concepts from Legacy, I got to admit. I hope this doesn't become a mockup of Legacy. I am glad that my fanfic stands out, though. I plan on stopping the similarities at Juukai Enmu and a few of the battle scenes. The Kakashi vs. Naruto fight was my first, so don't really judge me on that one. I will try to make the battle scenes as fun to read as some of my pranks so keep your eyes open. Also, like I just told Tellemicus, "detail" is my middle name. I really like giving scenes life.
Demon of Konoha: (laughs sheepishly) Sorry about that. I'll fix it right away. Thanks for the comment. I am usually picky so I would go back and replace an entire chapter because of one mistake.
Dragon Man 180: Hmm, I really didn't think of it that way. Also, Naruto was able to avoid his own traps because he set them. It would be pretty embarrassing if Naruto got caught by his own trap.
Dual Rasengan: Um… what?
Orbrey: Really, it's actually starting to diverge? I'm finally getting a feel for this. I just hope I don't make the story too confusing to read.
Causeiambetta: Really, you think? I hoped I made enough changes to this and it seems I did a good job.
Narut0-fan101: I'm glad you liked it. It seems that I actually did a good job. That's good. That means the readers (namely you and the others that read this) can get a good experience out of this.
Trenchcoatgirl-Kyo: Pulling a Gaara? Oh, I get it. So I see you've been getting some sleep lately. I'm glad you like my story. By the way, the positive review beam thing feels pretty good. Thanks!
Anime-Boy07: (Sniff) You killed Edward. That's so mean! I'm glad you liked my story, but you killed my bunny! WAAAAAH! (Runs off crying)
I like the reviews. They are really mice to read, even if it is a criticism. Please review.
Here is the eleventh installment of "Cheerfulness Incarnate"
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. I have a friend named Ronald ready to beat the crap out of you. He just so happens to be a blue leopard so I dare you to try. Also, Anime-Boy07, this leopard comes armed with steel plated armor. Please don't kill him, he's actually nice.
(Chapter Begins)
Naruto hid in a tree, cursing his luck inwardly. "What was I thinking! I can't damage my cover any more than it already is. I'm going to have to work hard to try to get them to forget about those techniques. For now, I will probably be followed. That means I will have to come up with a distraction. I know!"
Naruto checked that the other two had left before executing his plan. He created one Shadow clone and had it jump out of the tree. Naruto then performed three seals and made his body invisible. He followed his clone to his own house, watching carefully on all sides. He spotted Sakura and Sasuke on many occasions as he followed him around. At this point, Naruto mentally instructed his shadow clone to head towards the Hokage tower and head towards Ichiraku's after it arrived there. The clone understood as it began to change course. Naruto, still trailing the two members of his team, noted that both Sakura and Sasuke were both becoming confused as the clone practically gave them a tour of Konoha. Naruto laughed softly as he left, instructing the clone to go in a fairly large circle, going to random areas and changing directions as soon as it arrived.
(POV change)
Sakura and Sasuke were traveling together to spy on Naruto. The boy had something to hide, and they were determined to find out what it was. Naruto headed towards a residential district at first. Suddenly, Naruto changed course and headed to the Hokage tower. After Naruto got there, he immediately changed course to go to a ramen stand. Naruto basically had the two genin running in a circle around all of Konoha. Naruto was also moving fairly quickly so they had trouble keeping up. Naruto walked around past dark, going to random areas. Sakura was unable to stay much longer since her family was probably worried about her. She left around 9:30. Sasuke continued the investigation alone, and got nowhere in particular. He too eventually got frustrated and gave up around 11:00. Sasuke grunted in frustration as Naruto burst into smoke. Sasuke began to get extremely annoyed as he realized he was tailing a clone all this time. As they both went to bed that night, they both thought about the same thing.
"Naruto, I'm going to find out what you're hiding tomorrow and you aren't going to get out of this one."
(Meanwhile)
Naruto ran about a half a mile into the forest before he dropped the technique. Naruto snickered as he emerged from the forest, well away from his clone. He spotted four people heading his way so he jumped into a tree.
About 30 seconds later, the four people arrived. Shino looked up immediately and directly at Naruto. Kiba sniffed the air and looked in the same direction. Hinata looked at them before activating her Byakugan and looking up as well. Hinata then smiled after seeing the figure in the trees. The fourth person noticed her students' reactions and called out shortly after.
"We know you're there. Come out!" She said warningly. Naruto sighed before jumping down. He received various greetings from the four people. Kiba immediately scoffed and looked away. Shino gave Naruto and acknowledging nod and Naruto returned it. Hinata stuttered a greeting, which Naruto returned cheerfully. He looked up to the oldest person of the four as she spoke.
"Now, Naruto-san, why were you hiding in that tree?"
Naruto looked nervous as he replied. Naruto scratched the back of his head while answering. "I'm sorry, Kurenai-sensei. I sensed a few people coming and I jumped up in that tree to conceal myself. I think it wasn't enough, though."
She only smiled in reply as she spoke again. "Well, Naruto-san, have you passed your genin test?"
Naruto only nodded nervously as Kurenai spoke again. "Well then, would you care to join us? We're going to a nearby Barbeque restaurant to celebrate." She said with a slight smile.
Naruto nodded enthusiastically as he followed them closely. He began conversing with Hinata as they walked to the restaurant.
"So, Hinata-san; how was your test?" Naruto asked with a smile.
"W-we didn't h-have a test, N-naruto-kun. Kurenai-sensei j-just g-gauged our abilities and s-said we were s-starting missions t-tomorrow." Hinata replied shyly.
"WHAT? Kakashi-sensei had us try to take some stupid bells from him! He then screwed with us after that, saying we should quit or some bullshit like that. That would be impossible because I never quit! That's my ninja way!" Naruto replied loudly.
The conversation stopped as the group arrived at the restaurant. The busboy scowled at Naruto while telling the group that there was no room. Naruto immediately got the message and struggled to maintain his mask. Inside, Naruto was absolutely furious! Another idiot wouldn't see past the stupid fox that was sealed in him. Naruto began to scream in his thoughts as he spoke to Team 8.
"Um, Kurenai-sensei, I think I forgot to do something. I'm sorry, but I have to go. I'll take your offer another time. Thanks anyway. Bye!" Naruto left shortly after, making a beeline to the forest, careful to not come across his clone. Team 8 stared at the blonde's retreating form as Kurenai began to speak to the ignorant busboy.
"You idiot; do you know what you have just done?"
"Yes, we have the right to refuse service to anyone and I have just exercised that right."
"On what cause, may I ask?" Kurenai's eyes shone with anger as the busboy began to get nervous.
"We will not have that thing eat in this restaurant. He is a menace to society and he will not be allowed in this establishment."
"I will be reporting this…incident to the Hokage. Let's see what he has to say about this."
Kurenai turned to walk away as she observed the rest of her team. She was surprised to note that somebody was missing. She looked up to see a person in a light lavender jacket heading in the direction that a blonde boy traversed not 5 minutes ago.
(Meanwhile)
He traveled about a mile in to find his clearing in the forest. Naruto walked past it as he went about 50 feet beyond it and started to smash trees as he thought indignantly. "Those people are complete and total idiots! When will they learn that the stupid fur-ball is sealed inside me? I am not the KYUUBI NO YOKO!" A tree fell after each mental syllable. Each tree that fell took a piece of Naruto's anger with them. Naruto did this whenever he got truly pissed. He came straight here and blew off as much steam as he possibly could, making sure that he would be able to take what was coming the next day. Naruto may not know exactly what would happen, but he definitely knew what the villagers would do.
After that outburst, 36 fallen trees were present. Naruto began to focus as he formed a number of hand-seals. Every time he did this, he was sure to re-grow the fallen trees using his immense chakra. He developed a technique for doing just this. He had to conceal this somehow. He knocks the trees down and grows them back and no one bats an eye. He finished the seals as his hands turned green. He placed his hands on a fallen tree trunk and said the name of the technique.
"Touboku Saisei"
The trees came back from the trunks of the fallen trees. 36 trees fell from his rage, 72 trees were grown from his chakra. Each tree was about three times Naruto's height. "There, that should be good enough. It's a good thing I have a lot of chakra because this technique sure uses a hell of a lot of it."
Naruto went back to the clearing and tended to his little garden. He then lay down on the soft ground as he drifted to sleep, exhausted. Unknown to him, a certain lavender-eyed genin watched him the entire time.
Light was still out as she traveled to the Hyuuga estate. To say that she was surprised would be an understatement. She had no idea how he was able to keep this a secret. Naruto was able to do an advanced technique which restored the results of his rage. She knew she would never be able to hold that much anger in for the amount of time that Naruto did. She noticed that Naruto kept a smile on his face, until he reached the forest, that is. Then, Naruto began to seem real as the smile fell and the rage and pain shone bright. She was absolutely surprised at the clearing he had for himself, but she was really surprised at his actions. Naruto leveled about 50 square feet of forest and regenerated it in the span of 20 minutes. This fact brought gave Hinata a newfound respect for the blonde child as she walked into her family's estate.
(The next Day)
Naruto woke up feeling somewhat relaxed. He looked at his makeshift clock to see that he had around 45 minutes to get ready. He slowly got up and started walking towards the normal meeting area to await Kakashi. About 50 feet away from the bridge, in the trees, Naruto remembered certain things from yesterday. Naruto immediately created some shadow clones and had one of them approach the other two members of his team. They were obviously waiting for him to interrogate him about yesterday's events. Naruto sat on a high branch as he generated clone after clone. He watched the play turning out as Sakura and Sasuke clobbered the Naruto clones. Naruto was barely winded as Kakashi showed up to find a pink-haired figure and a raven-haired figure attacking a blonde child. Naruto jumped down, scaring the crap out of Sakura and screaming at Kakashi.
"YOU'RE LATE!"
"Sorry, I got lost on the road of life." All of the present sweat-dropped as Kakashi's eye closed to form an upside-down "U". Practice proceeded with the genin running drills and doing D-class missions.
(Time Jump, about 2 weeks later)
"This is Raven; I am at point B" was heard through a two-way radio.
"This is Bubblegum; I am at point C" was heard soon after.
"This is Prank-Master; I am at point A" was heard about 5 seconds later
"Okay, everyone, that target is about 10 meters away, get ready." This voice was heard about 10 seconds after the last one. A silence was heard on the radio for about a minute.
"GO!" was suddenly heard as three figures jumped into action. Sounds of fighting could be heard as something is restrained.
"Confirm; the target has a red ribbon on its ear."
"This is Raven; target confirmed, mission successful."
Kakashi, sitting on a stump, chose that moment to pull the radio away to avoid an ear-spitting remark.
"CAN WE DO SOMETHING ELSE! THIS IS THE FOURTH TIME THAT WE HAD TO CATCH THIS DAMN CAT!"
(Scene change)
The three genin were standing in the mission center, awaiting the next mission. All of them were not willing to say it, but they wanted a better mission. Well, not all of them…
"Hokage-oji-san; we want a better mission! We've been doing this kind of junk for two weeks now!"
"Naruto; these missions are given to you for a reason! You aren't experienced enough to get a higher ranking mission!" Iruka yelled from his seat next to the Hokage. He was helping out the mission assignments today.
"It's okay Iruka; obviously he doesn't know how we work here. Now, Naruto, the missions are divided into ranks, A, B, C, or D. Genin are assigned D missions and some C missions. Chuunin are assigned C missions and some B missions. Jounin are assigned B missions and A missions. You are given missions to fit your experience…"
Sarutobi saw that Naruto had his back turned as he trailed off. He could hear the conversation as Naruto spoke.
"So, homemade ramen is much better than instant ramen. The instant ramen tastes unnatural. The ramen that you buy at a ramen stand is much better than the instant, but I still say that homemade ramen is the best…"
Iruka yelled at Naruto, seeing that he wasn't listening… again. "NARUTO, YOU LISTEN TO THE HOKAGE WHEN HE'S TALKING TO YOU!"
"But, Iruka-sensei, I don't have a problem with that. I just want a better mission. I didn't become a ninja to pull weeds and catch cats!" Naruto had an after-thought as he said this. "I became a ninja to be able to pay for the necessities. Your allowance doesn't go very far, Old Man."
"Okay, we'll give you a harder mission. It seems that more is better in this situation." Naruto began to cheer loudly as Sasuke and Sakura cheered inwardly. Kakashi then bonked Naruto's head, shutting him up quite easily.
"Your mission is to guard a couple of bridge builders from the Country of Waves. You will be going with Team 8 on this mission. Let the client come in, please."
Two men came into the room. One looked gangly as he drank from a sake bottle. The children winced at the strong scent. The other looked slightly less gangly and had his arms crossed.
"These are the people guarding us? They all look like brats, especially the short, stupid one. Isn't that right, Kito?"
"Eh, Tazuna, the short one's not that bad."
Naruto threw a kunai, which hit about an inch away from Tazuna's head. Tazuna looked scared shitless as he looked at the source. Naruto was visibly angry.
"See, Tazuna, I told you the little one wasn't all that bad." Kito said as Tazuna recovered.
The door crept open as four figures arrived through the door. Team 8 stood there looking at the people in the room when Kiba suddenly rushed out of the room holding his nose. When Kiba returned, they approached the Hokage to get the mission scroll.
"Team 7 will accompany you on this mission. I think you will find their abilities useful on the task ahead." The Third's voice dropped to a conspiratorial whisper as he spoke again. "Also, the people at that restaurant were punished for their actions. You need not worry about them anymore."
Kurenai smiled as the people cleared out of the room. The genin were to meet at the gate at 1:00 in the afternoon, ready to go.
(At the gate)
Everyone present was starting to get annoyed to a certain extent. The clients were sitting on the ground, waiting for one terminally late jounin. Kurenai and Kiba had similar expressions as they were ready to yell at the jounin. Shino was slightly annoyed but he didn't show it. He was currently involved in a conversation between Naruto, himself, and Hinata. Hinata was also slightly annoyed, but she was mostly embarrassed as Naruto was speaking to her. Team 7 was used to this so they waited while entertaining themselves somehow.
When Kakashi finally showed up, it was about 3:30 in the afternoon and the genin were pissed. The genin present, save for Hinata, Shino and Sasuke, yelled out in unison.
"YOU'RE LATE!"
The other genin glared daggers at the jounin as Kurenai smacked Kakashi over the head. The clients grumbled a "Let's go" and they left the gates of Konoha.
(A little Later)
The genin were on the road, surrounding Tazuna and Kito. The jounin were in front; Hinata and Naruto were on the clients' left side with Hinata closer to the front. Sakura and Sasuke were on the right side with Sasuke near the front and Shino and Kiba were on the rear end with Shino standing closer to Naruto than Sakura. The genin were involved in their own conversations as the traversed on the dirt path. Sakura and Sasuke were absolutely peeved since they couldn't interrogate Naruto. Naruto was obviously talking to Hinata and Shino as they walked. Shino responded to Naruto's questions with few words, but Naruto didn't pay any mind. Hinata was more active in her speech, though she always responded shyly.
"So, Hinata-san, Shino-san, how have you two been doing lately."
"O-okay, Naruto-kun; w-we've been h-having a few D-rank missions, b-but we mostly train in t-teamwork" Hinata stuttered out. Shino spoke up soon after.
"We have been practicing more than doing missions, but it's understandable. How have you been doing Uzumaki-san?"
"I would say it was alright, but both practice and missions are really boring. I can't believe that ninjas have to do this kind of stuff."
The group walked in silence for a few moments. Shino then spoke up again. The statement in question made Naruto freeze up in his mind.
"The bugs are grateful to you for your kindness. You have rebuilt their homes in the forest and they thank you for it."
Nobody else heard, but Naruto still was slightly flustered on the outside. In Naruto's mind, he was absolutely panicking.
"Oh, shit, damn, damn, damn, damn, damn. This is absolutely perfect. Now another one knows about it. How am I going to explain this! Okay, Naruto, calm down. It's just Shino we're talking about. He knows how to keep a secret. It's not like he's going to tell anyone else. If he did, everybody would be on my case for the rest of the mission. Alright, it's okay. You can relax. Take deep breaths. Calm down."
Naruto outwardly sighed as the hurricane of thoughts subsided. He looked around, reminded that he was on an escort mission. He then saw something out of place on the road. "A puddle; why would there be a puddle in this weather? Something's up; I just know it. I better make sure, though."
"Hey, Shino-san, can you send a few of your bugs to that puddle over there? I want to see something." Naruto said quietly. Nobody heard this other than the desired person and Shino gave a slight nod as he released his bugs. The jounin noticed a small swarm of bugs pounce on the puddle they were watching. All the people present then heard muffled screams as the bugs dug deeper into the puddle. Shino smiled as he called his bugs back and prepared for battle. The two rogue ninja rose quickly out of the puddle and headed towards the two jounin. The rogue ninja were connected by a large bladed chain and ran in unison as they closed in on their targets. The jounin were wrapped up the large bladed chain and ripped to shreds. At least, that is what a few of the genin thought. Two logs were suspended in the air, chopped to bits, for a few seconds before falling to the ground. They then started to head towards the people they thought were the weakest, namely Hinata and Naruto. Naruto whipped up and pushed Hinata out of the way, both genin falling to the ground. Sakura instantly stood in front of Tazuna and Kito as they stood in shock. Hinata recovered quickly and followed suit, dropping into a Juuken stance, Byakugan active. Sasuke uses Katon: Goukakyuu, but the nukenin dodged it relatively easily. The next thing the two saw was a swarm of orange heading towards them. The real Naruto was among them. The nukenin began to hack and slash through the clones as Naruto closed in on the two. Naruto felt a jolt of pain as the chain ripped through his skin. He threw a few shuriken and kunai, pinning them to the tree. Naruto then jumped back as Kiba tackled them with Shiyaku no Jutsu. As they tried to recover, Kiba jumped away just in time as the nukenin were hit directly with a Katon: Goukakyuu. The mist nukenin lay on the incinerated tree, unconscious.
The jounin came soon after and tied the attackers to another tree and left them to await a hunter nin. The two jounin then turned to their clients and asked them a single question.
"Why did you lie to us?"
The clients looked nervous as Naruto pierced his hand and let the poison leak out. Hinata watched closely, worried that he might leak out too much blood. Hinata then ran to her pack and dug in it, looking for something. Tazuna began to speak when Kito stopped him.
"Tazuna, I'll take care of this. You'll probably lead them on with something about Tsunami-chan and Inari-kun." Kito then turned to Kurenai and Kakashi and spoke again. "I'll explain as we move. As you can probably tell, it's not safe to linger very long."
Kakashi nodded as he took a look at Naruto's hand. His eye widened as the wound healed on its own. Hinata ran back, bandage in hand and quickly covered the wound from sight. Naruto then cheerfully thanked Hinata as the ninja moved back into formation. The group walked the remaining way to the docks and boarded a small craft as they rowed across the lake. Kito then started to explain as they moved along.
"Now, the explanation; as you probably know, we are building a bridge from that island to the mainland where Konoha is. What you don't know is that our country absolutely needs this bridge."
"Why?" Sakura asked, curious.
"Have you ever heard of Gatou?"
"What, the shipping company?" Sakura asked.
"That's the one. The shipping company is just a front to hide his real operations. He is a leader in smuggling drugs and illegal imports. He basically rules the economy over in our country. He does not allow many exports or imports so our town has become impoverished and famine-stricken. By completing this bridge, our economy can begin to recover. Gatou sees this as a threat and so targets us, the bridge builders. With us out of the way, the bridge can never be completed."
The people present wore looks of understanding as Kito continued. "My brother and I were barely able to scrape enough funds for a C-class mission let alone a B or A-class mission. We had to lie to get help and protection. Now, the choice at hand, you can either continue the mission or end it as soon as we land. If you follow the latter, my brother and I would probably be dead before we reach home."
Kakashi and Kurenai faced their pupils and waited for a response. Kakashi spoke to his students as Kurenai spoke to hers.
"That is up to you genin. Next time, the ninja will probably be at a jounin rank. Do you wish to continue?"
"Kakashi is correct. The choice is yours. You will be risking your lives in the next battle we face. Will you proceed?"
Naruto spoke up first. "That is what we agreed to do when we became genin. You said we were risking our lives in every mission yourself, Kakashi-sensei. I'm staying."
"Naruto is actually right for once. I'm still in this." Sakura said soon after. Sasuke grunted, which could only be interpreted as a "Yes".
"If the idiot can stay in this, I'm staying too." Kiba said confidently.
"I-I'm s-staying." Hinata stuttered. Shino nodded, signaling his support.
Kakashi smiled. "So it's settled. Tazuna-san, Kito-san, you have a few protectors on your side."
They reached land shortly after and traversed once again towards the bridge builders' house.
(End chapter)
Technique List:
Touboku Saisei: Fallen Tree Regeneration; made by Naruto, uses dead tree parts to re-grow trees. Naruto uses this technique to make the results of his anger almost unnoticeable. This technique uses a monstrous amount of chakra to perform.
Juuken: Gentle fist, fighting style used by the Hyuuga clan, requires the Byakugan to perform.
Shiyaku no Jutsu: Quadruped Technique, increases speed and power of the user, makes user like a four-legged animal.
(End Technique List)
A/N: Sorry to cut it short, but this is about as long as I'll go. I hope it is okay. I personally liked this chapter because it makes my story break away almost completely from the storyline of the real deal. I hope you liked it too. REVIEW PLEASE! PRESS THE PRETTY LITTLE BUTTON!
Revision notice: I noticed a few grammatical errors and Saotome Kyuubi noticed a few spelling errors. I am very touchy when it comes to these things so I replaced the chapter. There are only a few changes, but I fixed the chapter for a smoother read, if it wasn't smooth enough already. Thank you Saotome Kyuubi for your assistance.