I'm back ladies and gentlemen with some good news. The response to the last chapter was so large that it inspired me to actually write this chapter in about two or three days, can't be sure when I was finished with it generally. But, things have been coming up, I'm currently on vacation in South Carolina for little something before I head back home and study my ass off for the National Exam in week's time. Now, onto my responses to some questions I have received about this latest chapter.
To Edengrave, I guess I should have had a semi-chapter inbetween Chapters 3 and 4, eh? Really, the truth of the matter is is that Naruto, despite having four years to work on stuff, I had him be, well, lazy. The Shikamaru disease. He was lazy and therefore didn't try as hard as he should have. That was the real reason. It was only when Neji owned him in one-on-one competition that Naruto became aware of how his slack attitude had gotten him down to the lower ranks and he finally cared about his training and thus trained his ass off. Now at the end of Chapter 4 I said that in the long run, as in out of the whole class for the whole four year period, Naruto wasn't first, but if they had an award for best turn-around student, then Naruto would have won it for how he turned things around in the fourth year.
As for Sasuke and everyone elses progression, Sasuke was the best student still because the fact is that back in the actual timeline, he was considered a genius and he didn't have parents there to help him. In my story he does have parents and his brother is there to give him a goal to reach. If Sasuke didn't have his parents or his brother and he still was the best then how much better do you think he would be WITH his parents hmm? Also, as to what drives Sasuke? You'll find that out in this chapter.
Last Chapter and the response I received from the people who reviewed was awesome and I'd like to go ahead and say thank you to all of you who have read this story so far and have given me your reviews. I also want to say that I'm glad you all are enjoying it. Last chapter had a large approval and I'm hoping that as this story progresses that it will get more people interested. Now even though I said I won't plead for reviews, it would help for this chapter because this one I'm a little nervous about. It's my first attempt at a large fight scene. I'm hoping that I gave enough detail so that you will be able to visualize how the battle actually flows.
Another decision I have made. I have decided that, since some of you like my portrayal of the Yondaime, that I will probably have him in at least one scene per chapter. Writing the Fourth into the story has been fun, as has the whole explanation of politics and such - and I continue that with this chapter too. The first scene of this chapter, I personally believe, is the best I've done so far but you all may have a different opinion. Anyhoo, I hope you like it.
A/N: After much deliberation on the fact that I have yet to give a name to the Fourth Hokage for the reason that I just don't like the thought of naming him something then being wrong, I have decided to give him the name everyone else gives him in their stories. Hey...if I'm gonna be wrong then everyone else can be wrong with me and I wont look dumb :)
Chp. 5 - Cell Seven: Konoha's Royalty
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Kakashi stood next to his sensei, wearing the mask of the ANBU, but was obviously agitated. He kept tapping his fingers against his arms and biceps, and his foot kept tapping the floor in an annoying pattern that kept disrupting the blonde haired man behind the desk. After failing to find a suitable way to approach the tender subject, he chose to just attack it head on.
"Arashi-sensei, why wouldn't you let me have my own team? Why? You know that I have waited for the opportunity. So why couldn't I have had Team Seven? And why did you feel it necessary to pull Yamato from the ANBU as it's captain to teach a team and then appoint me in his place, hmm?" His questions, he knew, would probably have a cryptic answer that he would have to resolve like a riddle in order to find the true answer to his questions. What he expected, and what actually happened, were two different things though.
"Kakashi, you have taken Yamato's place for a reason. You belong in the ANBU. As the captain, too. And as for the reason I did not give you the team is because I wanted YOU to handle something for me." He then reached into a drawer in his desk and pulled out a folder and opened it, taking out a document of some kind and looking over it for a few moments. "As you know, some of our ninjas are over in Wave Country, helping to pick some of the communities up from the depths of poverty and destruction. In one particular town, a man known as Tazuna is attempting to build a bridge to help let traffic into and out of their little city in order to boost the economy of the area. There have been complications, however. Some of our finest have been taken down recently and it is becoming a hassle to protect the bridge builder."
"Our ninjas have been dying over there? Why haven't you done something about it? Who's killed them?" Kakashi asked, now frantic and upset at the fact that this was the first time he had heard of any deaths over in Wave Country. It was true that many ninjas were over there to help rebuild certain communities because of grinding poverty. Konoha had taken a position in the matter and started giving aid to certain parts that were in the most danger of dying and becoming uninhabital. For this reason, many ninjas were scattered across Fire Country and Wave Country, seriously depleting the amount of truly skilled shinobi in Konoha down to it's finest which was the reason for the lack of ninjas offered for this years class of graduees. And now, Kakashi was being told the ninja were being killed.
"Yes Kakashi, they've been dying. To your second question, I just have one question for you? What could I do against an unknown foe, hmm? If we did not have any knowledge of the enemy, then if I sent more ninjas over there to face the enemy, it would be like sending blind sheep to the slaughter. No Kakashi, I had to wait to do what was best for our people. But now we know who is responsible." Arashi layed a picture of a shady looking man onto the desk and slid it towards Kakashi, who picked it up to stare at it carefully. A smug, cruel smile and dark shades covering his eyes only helped to give the man a more shady appearance. The man's hair was gray and he had wrinkles on his forehead, signifying that he was old. The question now was who was this man and what did he have to do with everything? "That man, Kakashi, is a tycoon called Gatou. He came into Wave Country and pushed his power around, picking up the right people and gaining more and more territory. Eventually he had monopolized more than half of the country and oppressed them with his goons. Normally, these swords-for-hire would be easy enough for our chuunins to take down but apparently Gatou's wealth has been put into the pocket of a rather vicious and dangerous rogue nin from Hidden Mist by the name of Momochi Zabuza." Kakashi visibly tensed up after hearing the rogue nin's name.
"THE Momochi Zabuza? Momochi Zabuza of the Seven Swordsman of the Mist?" When Arashi nodded grimly, Kakashi gritted his teeth. "That bastard. He'll do anything for money. So, what is my role in this?"
"You, Kakashi, along with Itachi, Hayate, and Genma shall go and take down Zabuza, Gatou, and all of Gatou's men, understand? This will be performed swiftly, thoroughly, and with the utmost efficiency. I don't want any civilians caught in the crossfire."
"You really think Itachi will be necessary? Why not give me-" but he was cut off by the Yondaime's hand raising for him to stop.
"Itachi shall be coming because I feel it is necessary. Zabuza is not working alone. He has a young man with him too, probably his apprentice, if you can believe it. The young man has been heard to go by the name of Haku and seems to have a powerful bloodlimit that gives him special control over ice. You and Itachi should be more than enough for these men, though. There will be no negotiations this time around. Too much blood has been spilt over this matter. You will take them down by any means necessary. When these people decided to attack our allies and our own people, they forfeited all bargaining rights. We will show no mercy to those who attack allies, for it is as though they are attacking Konoha itself, which they have done. I want you all to leave by this evening and send me frequent updates. Two weeks should be enough for a mission of this magnitude. Now go!" he said with vicious intensity, his emotions climbing high as he explained the circumstances. Kakashi noticed this too and admired his sensei. The man, while having some quirks here and there and making a strange decision or two, always had the best of intentions for his village, his people, and his allies. Kakashi knew he couldn't fail in this mission, he would not let his sensei down, especially since it was his first mission as ANBU captain since...a while.
"Hai, Arashi-sensei." and with a quick wave, Kakashi disappeared in a puff of smoke. Arashi turned around in his chair and looked out the window and up to the sky. 'I've tried so hard to do so much for the village but it just seems that we end up getting dragged into these inter-country wars and disputes. Will we ever have peace around us?' He hung his head and, for the first time in a long time, while no one was around to see him do so, let his unwavering mask drop and he looked absolutely miserable.
"You look like you could use a drink, my friend." Arashi jerked his head up to see his sensei staring at him from one corner of the room with an understanding smile on his face.
"You read me like an open book, ero-sennin. Let us take a break." Jiraiya's vein on his forehead pulsed visibly at the sound of his pupil's nickname for him but just laughed whole-heartedly as his pupil did so. That was the power of the Yondaime. The power to change the atmosphere in a heartbeat.
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"So where are we heading, Yamato-sensei?" asked an impatient Naruto, as they calmly made their way through streets, heading towards one of the designated areas where training grounds were scattered about. In all of Konoha, Naruto remembered Iruka-sensei telling the class that there were approximately 48 training grounds. The ones that were most note-worthy were the last eight - training grounds 40-47 - because they were the most complex and dangerous, urban legends telling of strange things affecting those areas and only experienced ninjas can handle those areas. The place they were approaching, if he was right, was the designated spot for training grounds 7-13. Fact that they had enough space in Konoha for 48 training grounds baffled Naruto, helping him to understand the vastness of his village. Just goes to show how much Konoha had grown over the years.
Yamato continued to walk on while, Naruto thought, ignoring the question. The fact was Yamato didn't know really. He just chose a spot in Konoha where he knew there were training grounds and started walking that way. He wasn't really experienced in the whole training and mentoring thing. He was a fighter, a warrior, and he was put in charge of turning these three into the same thing. After realizing where he was heading to, he chose one of the grounds in the area mentally and addressed his team. "Training ground 13 has sufficient space, let's head there. First thing for the day, let's see how well you move. Hurry to training area 13 as fast as you can for speed assessment. GO!" he ordered, as he ran to the trees that were close by this time. Jumping from tree to tree in a blurring fashion, his students were left gawking at their sensei's speed.
"He's fast and I doubt he's really trying. This might prove to be interesting." said Sasuke, who had remained relatively quiet, as had Hinata. He then looked at his two teammates very quickly then moved towards the trees to go to their designated area. Naruto, not wanting to be outdone, ran to the trees as well, with Hinata close on his heels, but he was moving faster than she was and put distance between each other rather quickly. He was catching up to Sasuke, closing the gap between them, smiling as he did so. Sasuke was always a quiet guy in their class, not really very outgoing, always making himself more distant from those around him and never taking the initiative to get to know his fellow classmates. His confidence, though, was something that did not go unnoticed by Naruto. The young Uchiha was very confident in his abilities and would not go about in a manner as to not flount it. He wanted people to see him, it seemed, as though he desired the attention. If Sasuke were to have any thoughts that he might be held back by him and Hinata, then Naruto believed he had another thing coming.
When they finally reached Area 13, they came to a stop in front of Yamato, who was standing there as if he had been waiting for an hour. It had been only a span of two minutes but Naruto had pushed alot of chakra into his legs to give him a better jump across the tree branches. What Naruto was surprised about was the fact that he didn't notice Hinata had closed in on them. They damn near came to a stop at the same time.
Yamato saw how they had all picked up their speed and how they were all a little winded from that activity. He mentally cursed the fact that he would have to work on stamina, as well as some of the more advanced exercises to help their progression under him. He began to wonder if it was too early for one particular thing but he dismissed it when he heard saw that they had recovered their breath and were now staring at him expectantly. "Good, you all have excellent speed but seem to lack stamina. If you didn't notice, you were all using a bit too much chakra in your legs when you jumped." At their confused and curious looks, he continued. "You all put more chakra than was needed into your legs for the short jumps you were making. You should have been using less chakra for the small jumps and use more when you make a longer jump." All three's faces become suddenly solemn as they realized he had been right. Naruto was especially embarrassed. "I'll work with you all on that later. Right now, let's get a good, thorough assessment of you all. First, introductions. I know you all know each other, but I don't know you, and you don't know me. So I'll start. My name is Yamato. I enjoy relaxing in the sunshine and peace and tranquility. I dislike those who disregard the well-being of nature around them and those who abuse the land. I feel that people who litter and wastefully cut down trees are scum. My goal is to assist Konoha and the Hokage in keeping the country beautiful and peaceful. Who's next?"
Sasuke stood up next, looking at each of the people in his group. Letting out a sigh, he started with his introduction. "I'm Uchiha Sasuke. I enjoy the time I have to train and spar. I want nothing more than to become stronger. I dislike anyone who stands in the way of that path. My goal...is to become stronger than my brother." That was not what Naruto was expecting to hear out of Sasuke's mouth. Sasuke was wanting to be stronger than his brother and when he said it, he said it with a slight hint of desperation. Naruto decided he should go next so he stood up.
"I'm Uzumaki Naruto. I love ramen alot and never get tired of it. I enjoy being around my friends and hate uptight, smug, arrogant people." As he finished, he gave a quick stare at Sasuke, who noticed it and returned the stare. "My goal...is to become strong enough to protect those precious to me...I guess that means I would want to become the Hokage then." He chuckled lightly, finding amusement in that statement that no one else seemed to see. He rubbed the back of his neck for a moment more before he sat back down. Yamato was beginning to notice a pattern here but needed to hear Hinata's introduction before he could be sure, so he looked at her expectantly. She began to stand up, shaking ever so slightly and her face a little red.
"I-I'm Hyuuga Hinata. I enjoy spending time in the garden at our home and seeing people happy. I dislike pointless arguments and meaningless confrontations. M-my goal is become stronger so that I can gain the recognition of my family." When she finished speaking, her head hung a little bit and Naruto, once again, felt that twinge inside of him. She did nothing but try her hardest but was always overshadowed. Nobody saw it, nobody saw the truth behind Hinata. He could only hope that since they were on a team with this guy, Yamato, that she, as well as he, could become stronger.
Yamato nodded at her, closed his eyes, and took all the information into account. 'It appears that they all desire to become stronger so that they can be recognized. Each one wants to become strongers so that they can step out of the shadows of something. Sasuke wants to step out of the shadows of his brother's reputation. Naruto wants to step out of the shadows of his father's reputation. Hinata wants to step out of the shadows of her family's reputation. They all want to be seen as their own selves and not as someone from their families.' "Very well, now that that is out of the way, let's begin with a practical skills display. Show me something you are good at." They all looked at each other and Sasuke took the initiative to ask something that had been bugging him.
"What about you? What are you good at, Yamato-sensei? I mean, it only makes sense that our teacher would show to his students the reason he is our teacher, don't you think?" Yamato thought about the young boy's words, nodded his head in understanding, and walked to a patch of dead grass on the ground. Bending down, he performed a series of handseals - seven in all, Sasuke mentally noted - and slammed his right hand, palm open, onto the ground. They all felt the chakra swell in his hand and then disperse when it collided with the ground. Now they were all waiting for something to happen and wow, did it ever happen.
The ground started to tremor and they could see a faint green glow from the dead grass. Suddenly the dirt started to give way to a green vine that began growing straight up. The green vine started to become thicker and thicker, suddenly taking the color of brown, as long branches branched out in about nine different places. The leaves were of the healthiest looking green and apples even grew from it. Naruto's mouth hung open at the sight, as did Sasuke's, but Hinata smiled, thinking it was the greatest thing she had ever seen done. She marveled in its beauty and couldn't believe anyone was skilled enough to make such a tree grow. Yamato held out a hand as an apple fell into it and he casually tossed it Sasuke, who caught it dumbly. "There you go, that's one of my more common techniques. Your turn, Sasuke-kun." Sasuke's eyes changed from shocked, to surprised, to one of inspiration. He performed the required handseals and shouted his technique to them. "Katon: Fireball jutsu." He then breathed out a stream of fire that ignited the tree Yamato had just made and in a matter of seconds was turned to ash. Yamato had taken a few steps back from the heat and once it died away, his tree being reduced to ash, he looked at Sasuke with a mixed look of acknowledgement and regret.
"Sasuke, why would you do that to Yamato-sensei's tree?" Naruto asked, his anger rising at Sasuke's boldness.
"He asked for a practical skills display. I displayed one of my skills. Besides, that was a jutsu he used to create the tree, he can make another one. No big deal."
"Actually, Sasuke-kun, I can't just 'make another one.' The soil is finite. When the rich nutrients in the ground have been used up from growing plants and trees, then the soil dies and needs to be refertilized. What I did was not a technique to make a tree but a technique to reverse the effects of time on the soil. Therefore, whatever used to be in this area of dead grass would regrow. I didn't grow a tree, I regrew it. But what you did was impressive, that technique is chuunin level and very dangerous in the hands of someone who does not know how to use it. You have perfect control and I'm very impressed." While Sasuke would've smiled at the compliment, the knowledge of what Yamato did humbled him to great lengths. Growing a tree was a difficult task indeed, but if he did what he said he did then this man was performing techniques on ANBU levels, if he was right. "Now, let's see what you can do, Hinata."
'What can I do? I have nothing like Sasuke-kun has. What can I possibly do as a skill that doesn't involve me hurting someone else?' She looked at the apple in Sasuke's hands and came up with an idea. She had never tried it before but it could work. "S-Sasuke-kun, could I have that apple in your hand?" He shrugged his shoulders and tossed it to her. She caught it and held it in the palm of one of her hands. She then took two fingers - her index and middle fingers - and used them to poke the apple in a specific point. Yamato paid close attention and noticed that her eyes had veins throbbing. 'She activated her byakugan and I didn't even notice.' What happened to the apple really surprised him. It went from it's healthy and fresh looking green to a sickly looking brown in a matter of seconds. 'She put her chakra into it and killed it. Impressive.' "Very good, Hinata, I am impressed that you were able to do such a thing."
"What exactly did she do, sensei?" asked Naruto, a little puzzled.
"She closed off the chakra in that apple and it died. You see, since the tree was made with chakra, so were the apples that grew off of it. If the chakra is interfered with, it dies rather quickly." Naruto still didn't quite get it but he got the basics of it. Her family's ability helped her to kill the apple. "Now, Naruto, it is your turn. Let's see what you can do." Naruto rubbed his chin thoughtfully while trying to think of something. 'Well, I guess I could do that. Iruka-sensei was impressed with it.' Coming to a decision, he formed the ram seal and said his technique's name. "Kage Bunshin No Jutsu!" and poof, after the smoke settled, there stood three Narutos, all looking like each other perfectly. Sasuke didn't think it special until he realized exactly what he said. 'He can perform Kage Bunshin? But...' He couldn't think of anything else, the fact that Naruto had just done a jounin level technique blew his mind away. Hinata was in awe, she was so proud for Naruto that he had finally performed the technique he had been taught before he attended the academy.
Yamato was just as impressed as everyone else was. 'A girl who can even out a fight with a simple knick, even if she is overwhelmed. A boy who has the potential to master any jutsu he wants. And another boy who has mastered a jounin technique that is supposed to be forbidden. I'll have to have a talk with the Hokage about this but it still is impressive. These three have incredible potential.' "Naruto, how long have you been able to perform the technique?"
"Umm..bout a month now. I had been taught how to use only a necessary amount of chakra in a lot of the easier techniques that it took me a while to understand that the more chakra I put into this technique, the better the results." He then dismissed the other two bunshins and there was only one Naruto now.
"Very good, all of you. You have shown why you are who you are. Now, let's move on. Tomorrow, you will all meet me in front of the Hokage's Tower at 8 AM. There, we will speak with the Hokage as he gives us our first mission. I won't lie to you, they won't be anything dangerous or daring. They will be D-class missions that will involve you all doing tasks for clients inside of the village. Until tomorrow, since we still have plenty of daylight, let's continue with our routine. Next will be taijutsu. You each will have to try and land one strike on me. We'll go with 30 minute intervals or until you can't go on. In the case you do land a blow on me, you can stay by and work with whoever is not working with me. After about three hours we'll go on break and then we can resume. We'll start with you Sasuke."
Sasuke stepped forward without giving the exercise much thought. He personally believed it to be a waste of time but if he could just land his blow then he wouldn't have to do this stupid exercise and he could do whatever he wanted to. He crouched into a fighting position and stared at his sensei with unyielding eyes. The eyes were what Yamato were focused on and it was what happened next that made him realize that Sasuke was taking this quite seriously. The eyes went from onyx black to crimson dark red with two wheels forming on the sides. He had activated his sharingan and was leaving no room for a lackadaisical approach. Sasuke was going to come at him and the eyes showed a bitterness for some reason. Yamato did not get into a fighting position though and this was what surprised Sasuke but he didn't let it show.
He ran right at Yamato, swinging with a right hook but it was blocked by Yamato's right hand lazily. It appeared that by the way he blocked him that Sasuke would lose his balance but instead of tumbling to the ground, Sasuke put weight onto his right foot, balancing himself and swinging his left foot upwards, heel aimed for his face but it too was caught by Yamato's right hand. He gripped Sasuke's left leg, swung out his legs in a sweeping manner and tossed Sasuke haphazardly in a direction - which direction he didn't care - and Sasuke tumbled to the ground. Gritting his teeth in agitation, Sasuke rose to his feet, brushed off the dirt from his shirt and pants in a cool and calm manner, and suddenly formed a quick set of handseals and fired three small fireballs at him. Yamato did his own set of handseals, much faster than he had when he made the tree grow, and thrusted the open palm into the ground again. This time a wall of mud rose, blocking the fireballs and, after another quick six handseals, captured Sasuke in what looked like roots to a tree. He struggled to escape but could not do so, the roots being much stronger than ropes or any other binding tool. He was completely helpless as Yamato walked up to him and leaned into his ear.
"I did not say anything about using ninjutsu in a taijutsu practice but I'm willing to if you want. Wood is naturally burned by Fire styles and techniques, but in order to use the Wood element, you have to have become accustomed to Earth and Water chakra styles, both of which defeat Fire. So you can continue to try and use your techniques to defeat me but they won't work, young Sasuke." Sasuke visibly trembled with anger at being so easily handled in combat. He was embarrassed. "We are through. You need time to cool down. Hinata, your turn. Let's see if you can keep a cool head unlike our teammate here." Yamato then touched the bindings and they released him, sinking back into the ground. Sasuke stormed off to the sidelines and sat down, glaring at his teacher. Either Yamato didn't see it or he just didn't care. He was more interested in Hinata and how she would do. Sasuke, now noticing that the girl was about to fight, decided to let what happened to him drop.
Naruto, who wanted to tease Sasuke so badly for how he was just owned, was also paying attention to Hinata. He told her before she had gone up to do her best, that he knew she was capable of one hit. She shuffled her way up to be a little ways away from Yamato and stood there dumbly. 'Come on, Hinata. We're no longer in the academy. Granted it was just yesterday we got out but I know why you acted the way you did. Now's not the time for such thoughts.' He hated how she had not gotten the recognition she truly deserved in the class. She was damn near the best student in the class but she had a tendency to not give it her all in the department of fighting. A fighting style that could kill your opponent if you hit them the wrong - or right - way was an unnerving weight on the girl's conscience. She did not want to hurt people, it was just her nature, but she had stated that she wanted to be strong. The only way to become strong was to prove you had the drive. To prove she had the drive, she would have to combat their new teacher and from the looks of him, he was not going to be any slouch. He smiled with satisfaction though when she slid into her fighting stance, her byakugan activating. Naruto actually felt the hair on the back of his neck stand up slightly. He always got like this when he felt her attitude change. This was the Hinata he wanted to see. He wanted everyone to see this Hinata, the Hinata that you feared to go up against.
Yamato was silently amused by how Naruto's words, whatever they were, seemed to change her demeanor so quickly. Her byakugan now active and her fighting stance in place, it was simply a matter of waiting. She leapt into action, running at a good speed towards him, much faster than Sasuke had and thrusted an open palm for his stomach. He carefully blocked her by swinging his right hand down to chop at her extended arm's wrist, forcing her to detour to nothingness. She quickly recovered, like Sasuke had, and putting weight into her footing she spun a lot more nimbly through the motion and with her left hand aimed two fingers to his left side. He grabbed her left hand and gripped it, trying his hardest to not be hit by her or her chakra. Now with her left hand caught, she slid with her weight being on her left foot and turned to face him, thrusting with her right palm to his face. He caught this hand and she knew she had him. He had made a grave miscalculation. The only way he could now avoid being hit was to release her hands. Dipping her body to the ground slightly, she kicked up and thrusted her knee towards his midsection. He moved back just slightly, not releasing his grip on her hands and was completely taken off guard by the fact that she followed through with the knee thrust and thrusted her left leg at him in a bicycle kick. He released her hands and did a backflip. Now out of his clutches, she cheered a silent victory because now that he was off balance slightly, she could probably land a blow on him. After he landed, he saw her perform a cartwheel towards him. He stepped back to give himself some range from her. When she got out of the movement, she swung her left arm in a sweeping motion towards his exposed midsection, which he quickly blocked with his right hand but felt a slight sting on that arm after doing so. Looking towards the source, he saw two fingers jabbing into his tricep of the blocking arm. Smiling brightly at the young Hyuuga girl, he relaxed and bowed slightly. "Very good job, Hinata. You may go off and practice with Sasuke if you two wish to do so. I became sloppy trying to dodge your Jyuuken and ended up paying for it." She nodded at him, smiling as well at his compliment of her performance.
Naruto couldn't help but want to laugh at the look on Sasuke's face. It was of utter horror at how Hinata had bested their sensei in taijutsu. Naruto knew though, as Hinata probably did, that he was holding back. Naruto didn't want to face Yamato at full strength. He would probably get wiped off the face of the planet in a matter of seconds. He wanted to test them, not abuse and humiliate them. He did what he did to Sasuke because the dumbass needed to be humbled. As Hinata walked over to them, Naruto couldn't contain himself anymore. "Way to go, Hinata. I knew you could do it." She blushed lightly at his praise but nodded in acknowledgement. "Arigatou, Naruto-kun." He just smiled dumbly, stood up and walked over to Yamato, knowing that he was about to call him over.
Yamato, meanwhile, was rubbing his arm to try and get some feeling back into it. That attack to his arm was different from the normal hakke attacks of the jyuuken. He could still tell that chakra was running through that arm but it seemed that the muscle she had struck was numb. Trying his best to ignore it, he looked at Naruto who seemed to be itching to start. Finding it quite humerous that the boy was eager for a sparring session, he chose to not let the boy keep on waiting. "Come on Naruto, if you are ready." Naruto didn't even get in a fighting style position. He ran as fast as he could, which was incredibly fast, Yamato noted, and swung wildly. The problem with the way Naruto was fighting was that if an opponent wanted to hurt him then his attacks would leave him wide open. The problem with that approach against Naruto was the fact that the blonde was quick on the recovery. Every time it would seem he would miss and start to take a tumble he would just readjust almost immediately and strike at him again. If Yamato were to try and actually fight him instead of just blocking, he was pretty sure Naruto would be willing to trade a blow for a blow, which would be dumb. But that was how his fighting pattern right now was showing. It could be that Naruto realized that Yamato wasn't going to strike back and was just trying to avoid the one blow he had to land and therefore was just trying to attack as fast as he could, as unpredictably as he could. For about five minutes straight Naruto and Yamato went through the same process until Naruto had to stop real quick to catch his breath.
'Damn, he's a bit faster than I thought he would be. I know he's hold back against us but I didn't think he was using this much speed against Hinata.' He closed his eyes and calmed himself. He had 25 more minutes before he would be asked to sit back down. It wouldn't do to just expend so much energy the first time around that he would be exhausted the rest of the day, in case he didn't land his blow on the first try. Finally calming himself, he decided to take another approach. He was actually gonna pay attention to how Yamato was going about blocking and avoiding him. He didn't have Hinata's perceptive eyes - nor Sasuke's sharingan eyes, but he didn't know whether or not it was as perceptive as the Byakugan - so he would just have to focus his mind so that he could pick up any sudden openings whenever they appeared. Opening his eyes, he stared at Yamato with a determined look, grinned, and then bolted right at him again. This time, he was moving faster, pumping chakra into his legs and speeding his way towards the man, who took a defensive posture, ready for whatever happened.
Sasuke sat and watched with careful interest, wanting to scout out their sensei as much as possible. He too had noticed the fact that the man was holding back against them. One, Yamato only used ninjutsu against him but that was because he had used ninjutsu to attack him. Two, he wasn't doing anything offensively and while only on the defensive, even though it looked like he was blocking and dodging with speedy movements, they appeared to be sluggish and lazily performed. Yamato's speed was also being held back and that quickly made him realize why this man had that strange alure to him. Sasuke had felt something different about him, a strange aura radiated from him and Sasuke felt that this was the reason. The man was unnaturally strong for a jounin-rank shinobi. 'I would've thought that the team I would be put on would be lucky if we got a strong enough instructor like that Kakashi that brother has spoken about. But now, IF I'm correct, then we have an instructor who is ANBU level. This will prove to be very beneficial. He will definitely be able to help me get stronger.' Snapped out of his thoughts, he saw Naruto miss with an axe kick he performed in the air, while recovering from missing a horizontal kick to Yamato's head. When he landed, Naruto performed a backflip while thrusting his right foot at Yamato in a reverse crescent kick. Yamato backed up, narrowly missing the kick and was thrown completely off guard by Naruto's next move, as was Sasuke. 'Did Naruto just do what I think he did? He certainly is a bit surprising. Maybe those first years at the academy don't tell the story of him.'
Naruto, after attempting that reverse crescent kick, landed in a crouched position and focused all of his body's weight into the front part of his feet, his hands on the ground, fingers extended and used to keep him balanced, and he started to pump a large amount of chakra into his feet. Looking up, he saw that Yamato, who had just backed up to avoid his last attack, was vulnerable and left himself open to a sudden and lightning quick attack. Seizing this opportunity, the one he had been looking for for the past ten minutes since he changed his strategy, he launched himself right at Yamato, the chakra he had been building up in his feet giving him an enormous boost and propelling towards his target. Yamato couldn't, even if he was moving at top speed, recover from avoiding Naruto's kick and react to the sudden attack he was now performing. Yamato was hit, right at his sternum, the blow being incredible and with a surprising amount of force. What surprised Naruto was the fact that Yamato dissolved into dirt and he had nothing but air left to travel until he would hit the ground. Tucking himself into a ball, he slowed his movement and spun in a 360 degree pattern and landed on the ground, applying chakra to his feet again to stick to it and slide across the ground. He then looked to where Yamato had been and saw him appear from the earth.
"Sorry about that Naruto, guess it was just instinct." Yamato said to him, laughing lightly.
"Yeah, okay. But what was that just now? Some kind of Kawarimi?" Naruto asked him, not understanding what he did.
"Yes but it's a different variation of Kawarimi. I apply the same principle's but instead of switching with a log or a clone or something along those lines, I gather chakra into the soil underneath me, and the chakra I put into the ground takes the form of me and I just switch places with that one. Since my chakra has an affinity to water and earth, I'm able to do such things as that without much effort at all." Once again, Naruto was confused, but accepted the explanation. "Anyways, you passed that test. If I hadn't done that technique, you were definitely gonna hit me and probably do some damage. You have a good grasp on how to control chakra and focus it. Your speed is most impressive and you earned your victory. Go sit down and rest up. You probably used up a good bit of chakra so far today." Naruto nodded, smiling, and turned around to his fellow teammates, giving a thumbs-up and smiling at them in the 'victory' pose. Hinata giggled lightly while Sasuke gave him an incredulous look as Naruto walked over to them.
"Hey dobe, how come, if you are so good at chakra control, you had such a hard time in the academy." It was bothering him that the boy seemed to have a much better grasp at using chakra and applying it to his limbs to assist in movement and stuff like that. Naruto gave him a quick glare for the 'dobe' comment.
"Well, I don't really know why, I guess I just forgot about it. We were always doing 'practices' and so I never really felt threatened or provoked enough to focus chakra to assist me. That's how I learned to use my chakra in that manner. Only as necessity." Sasuke gave a thoughtful look at the blonde boy who had been pegged early after the way he barely scraped by in the first year at the academy as an idiot. He guessed that since Naruto was the Yondaime's son, that he expected more out of him. But all it really went to show was that you didn't have to be openly extraordinary to be good. Just because he wasn't good at academics didn't mean that he wasn't good at being a ninja. He smiled very slightly, so slightly it wasn't caught by Naruto, and stood up. He was determined to land his blow this time. He had enough time to calm down. If Naruto was able to do it, then he could too. Coming to his most recent conclusions, he decided that just because he was the best at the academy did not mean he was the very best around. All he had to do was land one blow and that was all. He wasn't expected to defeat their sensei, nobody could do that at their level. Walking towards Yamato, he stopped after only a few yards separated them.
"Have you had enough time to calm down, Sasuke?" The boy nodded. "Are you going to try and burn me?" The boy shook his head. "Good, then whenever you are ready." Sasuke didn't waste anytime. He activated his Sharingan and ran straight at him. But instead of swinging like he did last time, he chose to slide down by Yamato's feet. Stopping right there, he rolled on his back till his body weight was on the back of his head. Using his hands, which were positioned close to his head, he shifted till his legs were in the air and tucked against his chest and, pushing up with his hands, thrusted them right at Yamato's chest. Yamato did a couple of backflips and landed gracefully, sliding to a stop and awaiting Sasuke's next move. When he landed on his feet, Sasuke ran back to Yamato, aggravated that his attack didn't work but pushing his aggravations aside. Punches and kicks were performed in rapid succession from the Uchiha boy and blocks and dodges were performed against the assault by Yamato, and it went on like this for several minutes.
Naruto was watching them fight but decided to turn his attention to Hinata real quick. "So, you seemed to have the easiest time out of all of us. You did really well Hinata, I mean that." She again blushed from his compliment. Naruto was determined to get her out of her shell. She was still shy and a little timid, but she had definitely changed over the years. Her stutter had almost disappeared unless the attention of a group of people was put on her when she spoke. She still tended to remain quiet in a group but if you asked her questions, she would be more open with the responses. What really made Naruto happy though was that she wasn't nervous around him anymore. She tended to get red-faced a little when speaking to him or when he would speak to her, but she laughed more and relaxed more when he was around than when they had first started hanging out with each other. It started about the end of their third year and it slowly progressed more and more. He awaited her response to his compliment when she turned to look at him.
"Thank you, Naruto-kun. You did very well yourself."
"Yeah. I guess I did, even if I did it in an...unorthodox method." he responded, scratching the back of his head. He was still paying attention to the action going on between their sensei and Sasuke. Sasuke was still attacking but seemed to be getting winded while Yamato seemed to have not broken a sweat yet. "But what I did was nothing compared to you. You knew exactly what you were doing. I was forced to improvise." She giggled at him again, when he said that, the sight of him attempting a flying headbutt to their sensei being a very amusing thing to her. Naruto laughed too but then stopped when he saw that Sasuke had landed his blow. Even though it was a glancing one, he still struck Yamato.
Sasuke was getting fed up with constantly being blocked and dodged. He looked at how Yamato seemed to favor certain ways of blocking certain maneuvers and after he pondered everything he had seen from Naruto and Hinata fighting him, as well as what had happened this time around, he came to a conclusion he believed would work. If one hit was all it took then he would get him when he wouldn't expect it. Backing up a little from Yamato, Sasuke crouched down, took a runner's stance, and made a beline for him. When he was just a few feet away from him, he dipped down and gave a sweeping kick to Yamato's feet. When Yamato jumped back, Sasuke saw his opportunity. Since he had swept with his left leg from right to left, he was in a position to push off with his right leg to continue his pursuit against Yamato, which he did. Now with the advantage, Sasuke pushed off with his right leg and brought his left knee out in front of him to strike. Yamato caught it out of reflex and realized he made a mistake. Using his momentum, Sasuke followed through by bringing his right knee up to strike at his midsection but Yamato moved back to avoid that, only to be hit in his jaw by the same leg he just tried to avoid. Sasuke had extended the leg and aimed the toes out to strike at his sensei's jaw and connected, even if it was just a minor graze. He still had done it and was satisfied. It took about twenty minutes, but he had done it. Yamato rubbed his chin thoughtfully, not because it hurt. He smiled at Sasuke and was very pleased with their abilities already.
"Very good, Sasuke. Excellent, everyone. All three of you are far beyond my expectations already. Maybe you are ready for it." Sasuke was still smiling at his accomplishment but was slightly confused by Yamato's words. Same went for Naruto and Hinata.
"What is it that you mean, Yamato-sensei?" asked Hinata, standing up and brushing off dirt from her baggy dark pants.
"A very good question, and for you to understand why I wouldn't have thought that you were ready for it is because it is something that usually any shinobi doesn't do until probably the age of 15 or 16, but I think you are all ready for it. I'll explain during lunch. Let's go." They all set off out of their training area, making their way back to the main portion of Konoha and deciding on Ichiraku's Ramen, to the delight of Naruto.
(About ten or so minutes later)
Naruto had already gone through his second bowl by the time everyone else was halfway through with their first bowl. Sasuke looked at him in disgust, the sloppy eating habits being unappitizing, Hinata giggled whenever he sighed with satisfaction after finishing a bowl, and Yamato just looked at him in awe and horror. This could end up costing him a good bit of money. When Naruto's third bowl was served by the daughter of the man who owned the shop, he dug into it but gave a curious glance to Yamato, who noticed it. After slurping up some noodles, he tried to ask him something but the noodles in his throat got in the way. After gagging slightly and finally swallowing them, he proceeded to ask what he had tried to a moment ago.
"Yamato-sensei, you said you were going to explain this thing you were talking about, right?" Yamato snapped back to reality, realizing that everyone seemed to be waiting for him.
"Yes. Yes I was, Naruto. Thank you for reminding me. This thing I am referring to is way to find out what it is you specialize in. In other words, what your chakra is more comfortable with." The looks of his young genins were telling him to continue. "First off, before I get into this, I want you all to know exactly what your team is supposed to be. The past several years, the new genins have been separated into teams that specialize in a department, rather than just putting random people together that might end up not complimenting each other. In your class, there were nine who stood out. You three, the three in Team Eight, and the three in Team Ten each have a designated roll and were therefore teamed up for that purpose. Team Eight is taught by Kurenai, who is a master of genjutsu and is incredible in stealth. She will be teaching her team the art of spying and reconaissance. Team Ten is being taught by Asuma, who is the son of the Third Hokage, is an excellent strategist and grappler. He will be able to assist his team and teach them the art of investigation and capturing."
"So Team Eight is a spy team and Team Ten is an investigations team?" asked Naruto. Yamato nodded. "Then what is our team's purpose? What purpose do we serve?" asked Naruto again.
"Well, our team has no 'special' abilities that separate you into a particular class of ninjas. But as it was proven out in the training field today, you all are particularly well balanced in the art of combat. Team Seven was formed with the full purpose of being this year's combat cell. You all have incredible potential and it was felt that by putting you in a group that might not address that potential then you would be going to waste." Naruto 'hmm'd thoughtfully at the explanation. Sasuke was inwardly happy that that was their team's purpose, a combat cell. Hinata was a little mortified that she was put on a team that would be involved in combat more than the other teams but she believed that everything would be okay. Besides, she got what she wanted. She was on a team with Naruto, just like she hoped, and she had the chance to make something of herself in her clans' eyes.
"Having said that, after we finish eating, we will head back to the training area and find out just what it is you all seem to favor." Naruto nodded and continued eating, deciding that this fourth bowl would be enough till supper later that evening. They all made their way back to area 13 and were told to go ahead and relax or do whatever for a few more minutes, that he would be back after retrieving something from his home.
"So what do you guys think of all this?" Naruto asked Hinata and Sasuke. They both looked at him, Hinata looked she didn't know what to say and Sasuke just shrugged his shoulders. "I mean, I know he is skilled, you can tell that just by taking a look at him that he is skilled. But the whole thing about us being designated an attack team is kinda heavy. I want to become stronger and this seems like the best fit for all of us but look at who we are. Sasuke, you are the youngest son of the head of the Uchiha clan. Hinata is the eldest daughter of the head of the Hyuuga clan and is their designated heir. I'm...the son of the Hokage. We were all put on a team that will see more combat than the rest of the teams. Don't you think something is amiss about this?" Again, Hinata didn't say anything but you see that what Naruto said affected her. Her shoulders seemed tense, as did her hands, and her eyes were diverted to the ground. Sasuke decided to speak up though.
"Yeah, so what? Big deal. It just means that they have faith in us - or they are trying to kill us. Either way, it doesn't matter. If you aren't strong enough for this then you need to get out. Any second thoughts, need to get out. I won't let the fact that we will see a fair share of combat situations deter me from my goal. I will become stronger than my brother and gain my father's recognition." Naruto couldn't help but see Sasuke in a different light after that little display. Sasuke seemed truly passionate at that moment. Maybe there was hope for him after all. Or perhaps being humbled by their sensei an hour and a half ago helped deflate his ego.
Naruto looked over to see Hinata standing there, slightly less tense, but not relaxed like he wanted her to be. "Yeah, you're right, Sasuke. I was just thinking it curious is all. We were, in fact, placed on the team that they thought best suited us, from what Yamato-sensei told us. We'll become strong, hell, I'd wager we'll become the strongest in this village's history. What do you think Hinata?" She seemed to loosen up and when she looked up, there was new confidence in her.
"I think that maybe we can help each other achieve our goals. That is what a team is supposed to do after all." Naruto cheered inside. It might appear strange to someone else that Naruto would be happy when someone else succeeded but that was just him being him.
They then heard what sounded like something digging through the ground, turned around, and saw their sensei, arms crossed across his chest and looking at them with satisfaction. They seemed to fidget underneath his gaze, probably finding it awkward.
"Alright you three, I have something for you but before I give it to you, a few quick rules. One, don't do anything to it because if you damage it, I'll have to go back and get some more and these are really hard to come by. Two, listen to my instructions carefully after you receive yours." He then opened up one of his hands to reveal three sheets of small paper. Walking up to them, he handed Naruto, Sasuke, and Hinata one paper. They all looked at it dumbly, waiting for further instructions. "Good, at least you can follow simple instructions. Alright, now when I tell you to, I want you to force a fair amount of chakra into these sheets and wait for a reaction. The paper is of a special material that analyzes any chakra that is infused into it and the consequential reaction that occurs tells you what element your chakra favors. Sasuke, let's start with you." Sasuke looked at his sheet of paper and started to mold chakra into it. A few seconds later, it glowed a light, pale orange and then disintegrated into black ash and was blown away by a small breeze. "I should have expected but your chakra favors the Fire element. I'll be sure to help you in that field when we train. Next, you Hinata." Hinata molded chakra into her paper sheet and waited. It suddenly glowed a faint blue and became damp. "Hmm, your's seems to favor the water element, which is expected coming from your fighting style." He cut himself off though as he noticed that the damp material started to crumple slightly at the edges and was doing it more and more. 'Could that be just from the dampening of the sheet or could her chakra level already have two affinities?' He ignored it for now and decided to approach the matter later. "Naruto, now you." The boy molded the chakra and waited. Everyone looked at his paper sheet, saw it turn a light, hazy green, before it cut itself in half. "Wow, your chakra has an affinity towards the wind element. That is considered the most offensive of styles, Naruto."
"Now, the reason I did this is so I know how to approach you all when I train you. We will be working with taijutsu and I will help you in areas you are weak in, like genjutsu." he said, focusing his attention on Sasuke and Naruto, who just fidgeted under his gaze. "But as your papers have shown, you three have different affinities and therefore, do not share the ability to learn the same techniques. I will assist each of you individually in this approach and we'll see how everything ends up working out, okay?"
"Hai, Yamato-sensei." responded the three genin.
"Good, now, let's finish up with some stamina building drills and we'll call it a day huh?"
He had them working for the next five hours until they were on the brink of chakra exhaustion, which he preferred to avoid so he had them stop when he felt it necessary. Once the sun began to descend, he called for them to stop for the day. Quickly going back over their instructions for tomorrow, he sent them on their way back to their homes, where they would take hot showers or baths, trying their best to soothe and relax their tired and sore muscles. When they reached the point where they would split up, Naruto said good-bye to Hinata and Sasuke. Hinata responded to him, as he expected, and she extended a good night wish to Sasuke as well. Sasuke pondered for a second, then smiled very slightly again. Naruto thought that maybe his brain had played a trick on him when he heard Sasuke say good night to them.
"My god, did I just hear the great Uchiha Sasuke wish his teammates a good evening? Oh my god, Hinata, quick, my ears might start bleeding. Help me." he said in mock terror, eventually breaking down into gleeful laughter, grabbing his sides as he did so.
"Oh, Naruto-kun. That's not very nice now." she responded to him but found it hard not to join in with him. The boy's laughter was still as contagious as it was four years ago.
"Hey dobe, keep up the sarcasm and you just might need her help." said Sasuke, looking at Naruto, not in an agitated or aggravated expression, but also not in a very friendly way. At least it was more friendly than it had been. Naruto finally stopped his laughing and waved at his teammates as he went back to his home, excited about what tomorrow might hold.
Upon reaching his home, however, he found out from his mother that father hadn't returned yet and was probably still at the tower. 'What could he still be doing there at this time?' he thought to himself.
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The Yondaime was sipping his sake from a small saucer-like cup, his cheeks holding a slight red tint from a good buzz. Jiraiya was hiccuping and probably a good bit drunk. They were laughing about something but Arashi just couldn't recall what it was they were laughing about. He heard a knock on his door and told them to come on in but was instantly sobered by the face of the person that walked through.
"Arashi-sensei, I apologize but...Itachi didn't want to leave until he spoke to you about something." Upon hearing the young boy's name, Itachi walked into the room, taking a careful look at the Fourth and Jiraiya and the bottle of sake on the desk.
"Enjoying ourselves, are we, Hokage-sama?" asked the monotone voice of Itachi. Arashi chuckled but stopped quickly enough and gave a serious look at Jiraiya, who straightened up under his gaze.
"Jiraiya-sensei, go ahead back to the house and tell my wife and boy that I will be back in a few more minutes okay?" Jiraiya nodded and disappeared in a puff of smoke. Now it was just the three remaining. "Okay Itachi, you can seal the door now." Itachi turned to the door, making sure it was close, and put his hand gently against the frame. His chakra began pouring into the door and the doorframe, effectively sealing the room off. No one could open the door or listen in. Turning around, he looked at one of the few ninjas that he actually feared facing in a one-on-one encounter and took a seat across from him.
Arashi, finally shaking off the hazy vision from drinking sake slowly throughout the afternoon, rested his chin on top of his hands which were propped up by his elbows on the desk. The gaze of Itachi, while always appearing to be intense, seemed to hold an abnormal amount of tension in them. "I'm supposing that Kakashi can be trusted to be in here with us?"
"Yes, Kakashi is more trustworthy than my sensei, Jiraiya. Trust me when I say so. Now, do you have some news for me?"
"Yes, Hokage-sama. I have news that must come to your attention." Arashi paid careful attention to what might come next. "It's in regards to my father."
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So what do you think, huh? This chapter was sort of an experiment for me. I've never done a fight sequence before in any of my previous chapters so if you don't mind let me know if I did a good job. Might help in the long run because I'm gonna be doing more.
What could the information that Itachi has to tell the Hokage possibly be? What might Team Seven's missions be like? Could Sasuke be lightening up? Might Hinata be changing for the better? Could their chakra's elemental affinities really help them in their training to become stronger? Only one way to find out. Stay tuned for the next update.
Just to remind you, I'm on a little break so it might not be for another week that I update this story so don't worry if I don't update in two or three days. I'm not dead, I'm just relaxing, even though this story is as much fun to write as it is, or at least it appears to be, for you to read. Next chapter's preview.
Revelations from Itachi before he, Kakashi, Genma, and Hayate take off for Wave country. Naruto, Hinata, and Sasuke have discussions with members of their family about family business. Team Seven gets it's first missions and Yamato asks them to make a decision.